WILT_2023-46

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 12 Nov 2023 to 18 Nov 2023.

1. Forlorn Hope – Oceanvs Orientalis
2. Before the Storm – Santi & Tuğçe
3. Bending Heretic – The Smile
4. All Being Fine – King Hannah
5. Unfold – Melody’s Echo Chamber
6. Water Table – Cola
7. Come And Play In The Milky Night (Demo) – Stereolab
8. Empty Stomach Space Cadet – King Krule
9. Mystery – Turnstile, BADBADNOTGOOD
10. Champion – Warpaint
11. I Inside the Old Year Dying – PJ Harvey

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2023-46

Notes

This week’s playlist kicks off with Forlorn Hope by Oceanvs Orientalis and Before the Storm by Santi & Tuğçe, both of which I picked out from a Spotify playlist titled Orgánica. I was interested in this particular playlist because I was in the mood for electronic music that had organic elements to it. Both these tracks served that purpose particularly through beats with a slight shuffle. 

The rest of the playlist came from generated recommendations of music like The Smile’s latest single, Wall of Eyes. In this case I selected the second song off the single, Bending Heretic. The song is somewhat slow but carefully presented with gorgeous guitar lead by Jonny Greenwood. The crescendo comes towards the end with a momentous Penderecki-esque swell that goes on for an unsettling length before plunging into an abyssal guitar drop of leviathan groans.

All Being Fine by King Hannah comes next with a swampy blues groove that makes their alt-folk representation of the genre that much more captivating.

I am so in love with the syncopated melody line between the lead guitar and vocals during the chorus of Unfold by Melody’s Echo Chamber. It’s a really simple touch and used only once but it makes the song incredibly memorable.

Water Table by Cola is all about the drum groove that propels the song forwards. It is a sparse yet antsy musical arrangement the springs forth like a running creek of anxiety.

The demo version of ‌Come And Play In The Milky Night by Stereolab plays like wonderful lo-fi rendition of the original. The evocatively saccherine melody remains as the principle motif, but the lack of rhythm elements make this that much more transient and ephemeral. 

King Krule has an unmistakable voice and energy, and the moment ‌Empty Stomach Space Cadet came on, I started following along for the ride. Psychedelic, avant jazz and post-punk all rolled in one fat joint.

I was not prepared for this wonderful jazz rearrangement of Turnstile’s Mysteryby BADBADNOTGOOD but it is something that needs to be celebrated. BADBADNOTGOOD have done an amazing job re-imagining the original hardcore energy into an ethereal transcendental exploration of jazz through flutes and synths, changing the energy at a molecular level yet magically still retaining the DNA of this Turnstile classic.

Warpaint always finds its way into my playlists somehow not because I really like the band, but every now and then they always have songs that satiate an addiction I have to atmosphere, groove and sparse pockets. Champion is another of those instances that takes it time through the song before finishing with an outro of light overdriven guitars and a crescendo of delayed swells.

I Inside the Old Year Dying by PJ Harvey ends of this week’s playlist with a statement of song and arrangement. A short passage just under two minutes but with a haunting melancholy of lyric and steadfastness of song.