A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 6 Feb 2022 to 12 Feb 2022.

WILT_2022-06

1. End Times – Hanging up the Moon
2. Here’s to Coming Out – Chloe Ho
3. Capitol Theatre – 10vacations
4. Human Thing – MATTIE, Black Taffy
5. Roden – The Growth Eternal
6. Big Science – Laurie Anderson
7. Goldmine – Kimbra
8. Namami Gange (Obéissance au Gange) – Houeida Hedfi, Planningtorock
9. Envol du Mékong – Houeida Hedfi
10. Cheminement du Tigre – Houeida Hedfi
11. Bottle Episode – Mandy, Indiana
12. Lilith – The Narcotix
13. Stuck – Martha Skye Murphy
14. Lilac Moon, Reflected Sun – Dear Laika
15. Black Moon, Lilith – Dear Laika
16. Adonai – The Narcotix
17. Remove The Talk – Shay Hazan
18. Virtual Self – Deantoni Parks
19. Une foule – Gaspar Claus
20. 2359 – Gaspar Claus

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2022-06

Notes

Last week I mentioned that shoegaze band names and song titles were more interesting than the music itself (subjective to my connection to the genre at the point in time). That sensation placed in brief moment of curiosity as to what would be the local zeitgeist for the moment? I have been listening in vacuum for the most part, so it made sense to seek out what other curators were compiling. In doing so, I sought out the indiego broadcast on meLISTEN, which is Singapore’s recently relaunched indie music station featuring some stalwarts of our local scene as curators.

Some locally composed tunes came into my orbit (props to Chloe Ho for writing a banger of an indie-guitar tune), and I thought that this might be a good moment to feature a playlist of locally written songs that I had not heard before. That idea lasted until the radio programmes shifted to FUTURE PROOF with Daniel Peters (new broadcast every Tuesday, 9pm–12am SGT/GMT+8), and some stupendous sonic ideas were heard. They were: Human Thing, Roden, Big Science, and Goldmine. The songs were bold and daring in their arrangements, particularly Big Science by Laurie Anderson, which creates a sprawling soundscape of organs, synthesizers, and an intimate and introspective vocal and spoken word performance.

If you have not given indiego a go, you ought to.

I cannot remember how Namami Gange (Obéissance au Gange) by Houeida Hedfi was introduced to me, but it really shaped the later half of this week’s playlist. Hedfi is a Tunisian multi-instrumentalist, and I am absorbed in the multitude of rhythms, melodies, and gorgeous instrument tones that paint a different sunset to the ones I experience on my side of the world.

Other standouts include music from The Narcotix, a West African art-folk band based in Brooklyn that seems to be combining Afro-centric musical elements with some elements from indie and art rock from America. I also enjoyed the music of Dear Laika (the moniker of the classically trained musician Isabelle Thorn), who presents a discordant and dissonant arrangement and performance on most of her music. Thrills from an assortment of stringed instrument coalesce into fragile, random sounds from the prepared piano as Thorn’s vocals emerge from the submerged, before suddenly being pulled back under. You never really feel at ease listening to the music, but somehow if you allow the chaos to embrace you, you do feel honesty’s warmth breathing on you.

I think the last four songs were from a Daily Mix playlist, for which I can thank for my new obsession with French cellist Gaspar Claus. I do gravitate toward the range and tones of the cello, and I think Claus is a masterstroke in the contemporary classical world who combines a multitude of techniques to express a spark of the existing human condition and potential.