WILT_2023-26

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 25 Jun 2023 to 1 Jul 2023.

1. Use Me – Grace Jones
2. Nightclubbing – Grace Jones
3. I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango) – Grace Jones
4. Demolition Man – Grace Jones
5. Pull Up To The Bumper (UK 12″ Version) – Grace Jones
6. Big Muff – John Martyn
7. Peanut Butter – Gwen Guthrie
8. Love to Love You Baby – Tom Tom Club
9. Moody – ESG
10. Give Me Back My Man – The B-52’s
11. Deee-Lite Theme – Deee-Lite
12. Aht Uh Mi Hed – Shuggie Otis
13. Controversy – Prince
14. M.P.B. – Womack & Womack
15. Victor Should Have Been A Jazz Musician – Grace Jones

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2023-26

Notes

I mentioned last week that I had watched a video about Grace Jones, and I followed up this week by listening to the 1981 album, Nightclubbing. The video in question was The Bass Line That Made Grace Jones Cry by pdbass, and the song deconstructed was Pull Up To The Bumper, and damn it made me pretty interested in Jones’s discography. 

I picked out some of my favourites from the Nightclubbing album, but it was quite difficult because it was oozing with sensuality, raw emotion, and musicianship. 

The rest of the playlist was put together from algorithmically recommended music that were similar to the album. It’s a good mix with John Martin, Gwen Guthrie, The B-52’s, Snuggie Otis, Prince, Womack & Womack, ESG and Tom Tom Club. If there’s one thing that links everything together, I would say that it is a strong sense of groove. The pockets are incredibly tight, something I find missing in contemporary music because the tightness isn’t organic. 

Another wonderful thing about listening to the music from this era, is that it still sounds futuristic. It sounds like an alternate future, where in another timeline, this could be our present. I think The B-52’s Give Me Back My Man exemplifies this. Also, special callouts to that bass line running through an octave on Womack & Womack’s M.P.B, as well as the pure musicality leaking from Prince’s Controversy. That melody during the chorus is spellbinding and so confident to not be used as often as it does.