WILT_2023-20

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 14 May 2023 to 20 May 2023.

1. Where The Angels Go To Die – Memphis LK
2. shut down entirely – meat computer
3. OBLIVIOUS – Mild Minds
4. IDK – Vaarwell
5. Goatmilk – Goat
6. Blow The Horns – Goat
7. not her – Ouse, Allday
8. You Always Know The DJ – Allday
9. Stolen Cars – Allday
10. Swing – Sofi Tukker, Allday
11. Sure As Spring – La Luz
12. Up From the South – The Budos Band
13. No Werewolf – Allah-Las

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2023-20

Notes

This week’s playlist feels a bit out of phase for me in that I was curious about certain things, but I am also not particularly satisfied with how things turned out playlist-wise. Still if anything, I do intend to keep a documentation of this week’s notes and perhaps various insights can be revisited in the impending future.

I follow the Tik Tok account, @alldaychubbyboy, and he does various dry humour skits with @lilsquishyface whom I also follow. Every now and then, their skits innocuously enter my FYP and then they also very ordinarily leave it. It is so every day, that usually I think nothing of it. Through these interactions, I am also aware that they were involved in music somehow, but I did not particularly know to what extent. I had also always wondered if the two were dating, so at the start of the week, my curiosity got the better of me and I prompted the search engine with my queries. 

Ah, so I did not know that Allday was quite a big deal, and Memphis LK was at the start of her musical endeavours. Where Angels Go To Die sort of captured my attention with its dance-y tempo and arrangements, as well as its rather laissez-faire vocal performance. It is a rather gentle opener to the week I suppose.

From there, shut down entirely by meat computer follows with OBLIVIOUS by Mild Minds and IDK by Vaarwell. 

‌shut down entirely also sorts of vibes in a similar way to the previous song. It is a very soft but also frenetic electronic music piece, whereas OBLIVIOUS comes across as more intentioned and with purpose. Both have their appeals, but it is just curious that you can hear the starkness between them.

I do enjoy IDK by Vaarwell. The soft beats are well paired with the ethereal synth arrangements and vocal melody. The music does take me back to a late afternoon chill session where you can just allow yourself to relax and contemplate.

I then went to revisit Goat, and I did not know that they had put out an album in 2022, so I decided to explore that. Goatmilk‘s wah-wah guitar intro was already hooking me in, but it is the way the guitar accents are on the off-time during the chorus that binds me to a spell. Oh, and that flute solo. I am reminded why Goat is one of my favourite live bands. Blow The Horns is next song on the album and it comes on seamlessly. I would not be surprised if it’s actually an extension of the previous song. I especially love the laid-back groove and fuzz elements in the song.

We then transition to a segment exploring all day. Perhaps this is the section that I am not particularly satisfied by as I alluded to at the start of this entry. I cannot say that I find the music particularly riveting, but I did include a few tracks more out of curiosity and some form of posterity. I can see why music like this is popular, but at the same time I am also reconciling the facet of the person I see on Tik Tok, and the facet of the person I hear on the music.

Allday has a pretty distinctive sound and voice, and he does incorporate catchy hooks while coming off aloof and effortless. There is a certain charm about it all. I think You Always Know The DJ encapsulates this particular mood, and you know what? Despite all that description about chill and relaxed, this is a tight production, one that particularly shines in its musical tensions.

Stolen Cars and Swing each could not be more different from each other. In another realm, Swing could sound cheesy (that intro), but when the beat comes on it does scratch some part of my lizard brain. I always think I am going to hate it, but then I end up grooving along.

Things stayed at a standstill for the next few days and no new music was added until the surf-ish Sure As Spring by La Luz came on. This is followed up by the slightly psychedelic Up From the South by The Budos Band whose trumpet arrangements do add a spicy dash to an otherwise normal sounding song and playlist.

However, the elements of psych and surf combine on No Werewolf by Allah-Las. The music has a bit of a cinematic quality to it and overall it is a decent send-off to another week.