WILT_2023-18

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 30 Apr 2023 to 6 May 2023.

1. We Don’t Funk – KIRBY
2. Black Classical Music – Yussef Dayes, Venna, Charlie Stacey
3. GALILEO – PEDRO
4. Tayos Caves, Ecuador (Meditation Version) – Jon Hopkins
5. Hinoki Wood – Gia Margaret
6. Anxiety – Tim Hecker
7. Kingman, AZ – SUSS
8. My Wish is Your Command – Sphaeras, Odradek
9. Ghost Hunter – Amateur Takes Control
10. Blue Dream – Subsonic Eye
11. 末日快車 – The Hertz
12. No More Lies – Thundercat, Tame Impala
13. You’re Stronger Thank You Think – GoGo Penguin
14. Alice Lake – North Americans

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2023-18

Notes

It was late drive when We Don’t Funk by KIRBY got served. I believe I was listening to Natural by Brady Watt and Melanie Fiona because I was recommending that song to some friends that I was with, and then the radio feature kicked in and KIRBY entered my orbit. 

Black Classical Music is a new track by Yusseff Days and true to form, his percussion work is always so exciting. 

The playlist went through its first deviation with PEDRO’s GALILEO. I believe I was listening to BiSH again, and then this banger came on. Increasingly, I find Ayuni D’s voice and performance igniting. She pulls off this pop punk style pretty well, but I am wondering how much of it is novelty. The band and musicianship is tight and endearing, so I do not want to take too much away with that “novelty” comment.

Somehow we enter a stretch of ambient music. I was commuting to work and maybe I was feeling too tired from the previous two weeks of higher energy music. Tayo Caves (Meditation Version) came on as a recommended single, and I was drawn to it because it was just what I needed at the time. This was then followed by Hinoki Wood by Gia Margaret, Anxiety by Tim Hecker, and Kingman, AZ by SUSS. All of which contained something calming and healing in their music. There is some power in controlling a dynamic, or taking time to feel what needs feeling.

Yet again we come to another deviation. This time, I continued an evening drink by myself after a dinner with a friend at PIU M. As I was spending time by myself, I saw a promo for a radio show programmed by wweish and decided to check it out while nursing my drink. What follows is My Wish is Your Command by Sphaeras and Odradek, and Ghost Hunter by Amateur Takes Control. Both are great examples of highly proficient Singapore bands, all who play exciting and off-kilter rock songs.

Blue Dream by Subsonic Eye came on soon after even if it was not part of the programming. What intrigued me were the beats and ambient arrangements. It sounded like it was going to be an intro to something, but it never happened. So I will treat it as an interlude.

末日快車 (Doom Express) by The Hertz followed, and I was immediately taken by the simple groove and haunting vocal melody. The Hertz are a band from Hong Kong, and this could be an entry point for me into discovering more rock and indie music coming from East Asia.

And then No More Lies by Thundercat and Tame Impala comes out of the blue, and we arrive at a funk and jazz tinged psychedelic pop tune that does not seem out of place at all, considering both artists. In fact, I look forward to more collaborations by the both of them because their sounds are very complementary.

We revisit some of the ambient or instrumental music from earlier, but this time through GoGo Penguin’s You’re Stronger Than You Think. This is a somewhat hopeful-sounding song, but due to the lack of percussion, it is something to just lose yourself into.

And if you really want to lose yourself in a sound, then the timbre of the plucked guitar strings in Alice Lake by North Americans is a good one to drown yourself in.