A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 15 Aug 2021 to 21 Aug 2021.

WILT_2021-33

1. Beauty – Tigercub
2. Semilla – Lapola Kalu, Mente Orgánica
3. In The City – The Jam
4. Two Pages (Donato Dozzy & Daniele Di Gregorio Variation) – Bruce Brubaker, Max Cooper, Donato Dozzy, Daniele Di Gregorio
5. Harness Your Hopes (B-Side) – Pavement
6. Lose Your Soul – Dead Man’s Bones
7. In The Room Where You Sleep – Dead Man’s Bones
8. Buried in Water – Dead Man’s Bones
9. My Body’s a Zombie For You – Dead Man’s Bones
10. Pa Pa Power – Dead Man’s Bones
11. Flowers Grow Out of My Grave – Dead Man’s Bones
12. Annabi – Majid Bekkas, Goran Kajfes, Jesper Nordenstrom, Stefan Pasborg
13. Total Perspective Vortex – A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie, Dustin O’Halloran
14. Sinú – Nodes
15. Virtual U – oso leone
16. Best In You – oso leone
17. Gallery Love – oso leone
18. Vernal Pools – oso leone
19. Fontanel – Dal
20. Inner Circle – Rozi Plain
21. Suns of Gold – Leifur James
22. Broken Hearted Kota – Joseph Shabason

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-33

Notes

This week’s playlist prominently features two bands, Dead Man’s Bones, and oso leone.

Pa Pa Power resurfaced in a randomly generated indie rock playlist session and I decided to check out the whole album because the ensemble of children’s choir voices were exceptionally captivating, as well as the very primal and simplistic percussion work that conveyed a certain earnestness that guided the looseness of the performances, ultimately resulting in a type of joy that I wanted to hear more of.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that this was a musical project by Ryan Gosling, and while that did create an intrinsic interest to learn more about the music, it would be more specific to say that it created an interest to understand why a successful Hollywood actor had an interest to create this particular sound. Something that was not over-produced, not seeking perfection, and yet seemed held together by an idea or vision.

Together with counterpart Zach Shields (who also wrote on 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, and produced 2019’s Godzilla: King of Monsters), the duo set out to create music inspired by their combined fascination of ghosts, monsters and the supernatural, that resulted in a sound that I can only be described as “spooky”, because it is so humourously not scary or terrifying, as they sing about love that extends beyond the grave, and have a children’s choir dress up in Halloween costumes during performances. Deliberate, or randomly cohesive, it is fascinating to me that a project like this exists, and if it catches you at a particular point in time, it might just be what you have been needing to hear.

Moving on to oso leone, a band based in Spain. The first track that stood out to me was Virtual U, that I thought contained the sensuality of a Sade tune, the ease of space of reminiscent of HTRK, but with more tempo and instrumentation that pulls you into their inner musical world.

I gravitated a lot to their music, it seemed as thought they managed to combine so many facets of jazz, pop, R&B, soul, local influence, and electronica into their music. So much so that on the one hand, it sounds familiar, and on the other hand, it sounds completely their own.

It is fascinating how these two bands both shaped, as well as responded to this past week of listening. I remember thinking that I might explore the familiar territory of rock music, and it started out promising and I was introduced to some great music by Tigercub, The Jam, and Pavement, and beyond that, we also extend into some electronica experimental noise, and jazz. I do have to give mention to the playlist closers for taking a gentle corner into the home stretch with expert and measured instrumentation to create music that you can just lose yourself in, watch the city sleep.