WILT_2023-21

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 21 May 2023 to 27 May 2023.

1. The Dripping Trap – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
2. Magenta Mountain – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
3. Kepler-22b – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
4. Lunes 1 De Abril – The Holydrug Couple
5. The Narcissist – Blur
6. Grief – Joe Armon-Jones, Maxwell Owin, O the ghost
7. This Is The Music – Niki & The Dove, The Greys
8. Meant To Be – Jayda G
9. Honest Labour – Space Afrika, HforSpirit
10. The Three Realms – D.K.
11. Intimate Advance – Surgeons Girl
12. Inside – Jonny Nash, Suzanne Kraft
13. Moonlight – Koreless
14. Fantas for Electric Guitar – Caterina Barbieri, Walter Zanetti
15. People On Sunday – Domenique Dumont
16. Memories – D.K.
17. Together – Lord Of The Isles

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2023-21

Notes

I’m not exactly sure where this is going nor am I sure that it’s not going to be the same. 

I started the week listening to an album by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. They release so much music that it’s difficult to follow along, but also there is so much new music to discover every day that I very rarely follow release cycles anymore. 

Still, I decided to add The Dripping Tap for its sheer audacity. It’s the first song of their 2022 album, Omnium Gatherum. It is an 18 minute monster of a song that meanders across styles but all at 80 miles an hour. I think it would have been recorded live for the most part, and that’s pretty impressive all on its own. There are guitar solos and sick guitar riffs that would make any psych-rock fan spin in glee. 

Magenta Mountain follows this monster of a song with a melodic hook and instrumentation that reminds me of Yeasayer’s Madder Red. Meaning to say that it is an indelibly tasty hook.

Kepler-22b is another oddity in the overall universe of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Stylistically, it sounds a lot funkier than what we would used to, but it’s got enough of a laid-back groove that lets you both chill out or dance along. Plus, that bass line is the perfect tone for building bridges across sonic rivers, and the drum just sounds like it could land on any planet and make sense.

From here, the rest of the playlist meanders a little as well. I think I was letting a randomly generated playlist continue for the most part, and we end up with Lunes 1 De Abril by The Holydrug Couple as the only song that sort of caught my attention. I paid some attention to Blur releasing a new singles after god-knows-how-many years. The Narcissist sounds like something a band of their stature would write after not writing together fir god-knows-how-many years. 

There is a beauty in its simplicity, but I’m not sure any other band could pull a tune like this off—In that it would sound incredibly boring. However, if you are Damon Albarn, you already sound tired, and if you’re Graham Coxon, you already sound non-plussed and ironic, so that vibe sells the song A LOT. I’m especially a fan of the simple vocal countermelody afforded by Coxon. It’s sounds like what he would do if this were a Coffee & TV part two. That’s probably the charm of it. The outro is also pretty damn gorgeous with the entire band leading towards a crescendo that lands so well because they are so experienced in arrangements like this. 

Grief by Joe Armon-Jones, Maxwell Owin and Lex Arbor follows this and likely from a similar playlist. It’s a bit weird, but I’m not complaining. The delivery and arrangements are every bit engaging as they are unsettling. There’s a lot of talent on showcase here.

The bass line was what caught my attention for This Is The Music, but imagine my surprise that Niki & The Dove were behind this record. Last I listened to them, they had an incredible indie electro anthem that I spent my youth listening and dancing to, so this is a nice, warm surprise.

Jayda G’s Meant To Be is a groovy and soulful piece with a smooth vibe that seems to channel a bit of Sade, but with a bouncier energy.

At this time, half the work week had passed and I was feeling the effects of being physically tired and stressed. Some decompression was in order, and I immediately sought out Passing and Inheritance by Ellen Renton and Lord Of The Isles, two music and spoken word pieces that I sometimes listen to when I need to transport myself to the highlands, just to get away from the urban density of Singapore. 

As I decompressed, a couple of other songs came into my orbit as the playlist generated itself. Honest Labour by Space Afrika and HforSpirit repay us a visit from WILT_2022-31 and it is gorgeous as usual.

D.K. comes in with two songs, The Three Realms and Memories both of which showcase a beautiful appreciation for beat and rhythm. Not in a showmanship way, but in a confident understated way that respects the flow of music by being the banks that it carves through. 

Intimate Advance by Surgeons Girl is a phenomenal electronic track that perked my ears up and invigorated the tired mind. Truly one of the highlights on this list for me.

Next we enter into a realm of more ambient and minimally electronic music. Jonny Nash, Suzanne Kraft, Koreless, Caterina Barbieri, Walter Zanetti, Dominique Dumont are all clearly masters of their craft and this whole section was me floating down a river of calm, or sitting in the echo of a gorge. 

And then we end on Together by Lord Of The Isles, the producer that kickstarted this whole section. I cannot really put a finger on it, but the music sounds like a rave in a cave, surrounding a hearth where people are welcomed, and people are made to feel safe. Well, maybe that’s what it’s like to belong.