WILT_2022-39

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 25 Sep 2022 to 1 Oct 2022.

1. Old Man Yells at Clouds – Blockhead
2. Dark blue – caroline
3. there is always a girl with a secret – Mira Calix
4. Seventh Mirror – Trees Speak
5. Dunes – ECHT!
6. We Have To Leave This Town Because I Have Done Something Unforgivable – Peter Talisman, Slugabed, Samuel Organ
7. Swanky Modes (Dennis Bovell DubMix) – Jarvis Cocker, Dennis Bovell
8. Try to Reach Me – Sofie Royer
9. Channel Your Anger – Oscar Jerome
10. Epistrophy – Theon Cross
11. a mark of resistance – Mira Calix
12. Love Song – RIP Swirl
13. 57 Lashes of the Mallet – The Natural Yogurt Band

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2022-39

Notes

The inclusion of the first eight songs were courtesy of me spending time on Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist.

We start with Old Man Yells at Clouds, a pastiche of beats and samples, and a general tone that I have not heard in a very long while. It feels nice to revisit these type of sounds.

Dark blue is a melancholic hope, and the way the fiddle plays in the mix is both unnerving, as much as it is brash and hopeful.

there is always a girl with a secret has got beats for days. Definitely added for it’s minimal and somewhat abstract arrangement.

Seventh Mirror sounds like something I would have added before, but I have not. The rounded bass tone is what I associate with road music, and it does keep the song driving along.

I’m all for the sub-bass and trap beats on Dunes. Will definitely be exploring more of ECHT!

We Have To Leave This Town Because I Have Done Something Unforgivable is a soaring mish mash of ideas that somehow feel like it’s been deliberately caught in quicksand.

Swanky Modes is just a classy, sleazy dub arrangement. Nothing special on its own, but man does it create a vibe when you’re not expecting it.

Try to Reach Me comes into itself when the beats come on, gluing Royer’s wispy falsetto with the simplistic guitar arpeggios that colour the song. The song is layered in not the most complex of ways, but there is something satisfyingly addictive about how it all comes together.

Beyond that, I checked out Oscar Jerome’s new album, The Spoon (2022), and came across Channel Your Anger which got an immediate add after I noticed the flute going ballistic during the outro. The growl on the bass guitar may or may not have influenced that decision too.

From Epistrophy to 57 Lashes of the Mallet, I think the selections came from an amalgation of recommendations from the synthesis of the week’s listening, as well as The Spoon.

Epistrophy is just big. You didn’t know you wanted tuba, but Cross applying the tuba according to his own rules and vision, is exactly why I still love listening to music, and why I am still constantly surprised to this day.

Mira Calix finds her way back onto the list with a mark of resistance. Once again, the music is organic, human, and manipulated. There’s nothing wrong with manipulation when it’s able to extend beyond the conventional. Become a new convention. The song is catchy as f.

What is going on? Can such a bassline exist? RIP Swirl pulls into a black hole and takes out the tip of sub-frequencies to give us Love Song.

The jazz on 57 Lashes of the Mallet is free-flowing, referential of a psychedelic spirit and one that flits between the decades with its musical expression. Damn, I’m a new fan.