WILT_2022-30

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 24 Jul 2022 to 30 Jul 2022.

1. Emley lights us moor – aya, Iceboy Violet
2. Cosmologies Pt. 1 – L’Eclair
3. Taken Back – Rich Ruth
4. Dervish Chant – African Head Charge
5. A Shot in the Dark – Dos Santos
6. Wicked Kingdom – African Head Charge
7. Wicked Kingdom – Noah House Of Dread
8. Hold Some More – African Head Charge
9. Anx – Belief, Boom Bip, Stella Mozgawa
10. 60 Rutledge – O’Flynn
11. Like this – 박혜진 Park Hye Jin
12. Le Temps de la Rentrée – Oke/a/, Philippe Gall
13. Nobody Home – Brady Watt, Brad Wilk, Robert Trujillo

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2022-30

Notes

I’m not exactly sure when in the year I stopped having the hang up of having 2022 playlists match the quality of 2021’s playlists, and when 2022 started becoming its own thing, and its own pursuits. Somewhere along the weekly repetition of preparing the materials for each week’s playlist, these menial tasks lost its meaning in the grand canvas, or the architecture of the curation philosophy of these lists.

I’ll be honest, there were days when preparing these posts felt like a drag, and if not for the compulsion of having a finished product, I might have taken a break and potentially ruined the spirit behind this project and its envisioned conclusion on week fifty two.

But there has been no break. Not since this project started in the final quarter of 2020, and I am actually quite proud of that, now that I happen to have paused and taken stock. When during the times it feels like plodding work, even a tiny bit accrues some meaning through dedication. (Written on Sun, 24 Jul 2022, 6:31pm)

I started the new listening week by approaching Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist, which I had not engaged for a few months now. It is pleasant to revisit these algorithms every once in awhile because sometimes your preferences accrue, and that’s when recommendations have a higher chance of landing.

Emley lights us moor, Cosmologies Pt. 1, Taken Back, Dervish Chant, A Shot in the Dark, are all selections from this listening burst. Rhythmic, and atmospheric, these songs all shine in their endeavour to sound different from the status quo. In particular, the vocal delivery on Emley lights us moor and the guitar tones on Taken Back scream out with a hidden darkness. I was also very taken with Dervish Chant, and so I went to explore more of their music. Wicked Kingdom is the result of those explorations. One, a live version by the band, and the other I suspect to be the original, by Noah House Of Dread, which is a side project of African Head Charge frontman, Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah.

Hold Some More arose from deeper listening into the reggae genre and features a juicy bassline processed through an envelope filter,

Anx, 60 Rutledge, and Like this are all recommendations of music like Jayda G’s track IDs.

The beat and bass on Anx is a tight-fisted flurry of punches, 60 Rutledge is a rolling river of percussion and banter, while Like this is effortless cool of a vibe driving down a boulevard at 4pm.

Le Temps de la Rentrée came about from my watching of the anime, Hisone to Masotan. I highly recommend this anime because of how warm-hearted it is, and it’s a story that only a format like anime/animation is able to tell. The song is from the ending credits, although I could not find the original performers from the anime. The original song is performed by France Gall.

Finally, Nobody Home was served to me while I was on YouTube one day. Of course I was intrigued by the line-up of Trujillo and Wilk, paired with Watt for a double bass assault, but I did not anticipate the desert rock psychedelia featured on the song, and I am all in for a double bass arrangement for the desert rock genre.

Writing this week’s entry was rather difficult, because in a twist of irony, one week after I wrote the initial paragraphs, I caught a cold, and the last thing I want to be doing is actually writing my thoughts on music.

I don’t know if it shows in the writing. (Written on Sun 31 Jul 2022, 5:57pm)