WILT_2023-48

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 26 Nov 2023 to 2 Dec 2023.

1. Somatic – Steven R. Smith
2. Irreversible Damage – Algiers, Zach De La Rocha
3. 73% – Algiers
4. Berlin ’87 – SQÜRL
5. I Am A Part Of The Wonder – Lonnie Holley, Moor Mother
6. Elysium Number Five – Sir Richard Bishop
7. Un œil dans la serrure – Forever Pavot
8. Rocky Passage – Jeremiah Chiu, Marta Sofia Honer
9. Death Is a Dream – HTRK
10. Shallow Where It Should Be Deep – Mark McGuire
11. Knowing – Trees Speak
12. Saint Of Fishermen – Six Organs Of Admittance
13. Today I Learned What Makes Bugs Sick and How To Tie My Shoelaces – Dylan Henner
14. Running Down the Hill – Domenique Dumont
15. Étoile – L’éclair
16. A Single Ray of Light on an Otherwise Cloudy Day – Trans Am
17. Heavy Cathedral – Damaged Bug
18. Apokatastasis Pantôn – Deathspell Omega

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2023-48

Notes

I started compiling this week’s playlist immediately after WILT_2023-47 as Somatic by Steven R. Smith came on just after the previous playlist finished playing. Enamoured by the song’s tonality of burdened hope, this composition will leave you both longing as well as satisfied. 

Next, I revisited the music of Algiers because I was still reeling from Matt Tong not being in Bloc Party and remembering that he was now the drummer of this band. Frenetic and bold, the music of Algiers is a clarion call to surge past the status quo and freely speak your voice and spark action instead of reaction.

Berlin by SQÜRL evokes strong shades of chamber-style post rock reminiscent of Godspeed You Black Emperor! and I am all for it. The guitars are crunched out fuzzy anvils that smash ploddingly into the earth and soon the crust shatters and magma oozes from cracks to burn all in its wake. 

I Am Part Of The Wonder by Lonnie Holley and Moor Mother is equal parts spiritual, groovy, and soulful yet retains a back-alley grime that makes this piece of music so fascinating. I am definitely interested to discover more of both SQÜRL’s and Lonnie Holley’s music after this. 

From here, I am not quite sure how the rest of the playlist took shape but this is where it segues into more short yet purposeful instrumental pieces. Elysium Number Five by Sir Richard Bishop is a wonderful jazz guitar piece whose percussive element comes from a simple latin-jazz chord progression, but it is the lead work that will astound you with its virtuosity and warmth.

‌ Un œil dans la serrure by Forever Pavot is a big beat sample fest transitions to a cathartic and organic synthesiser soundscape courtesy of Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer on Rocky Passage. Death Is A Dream by HTRK follows this and it seems that the group is leaning in more on their newfound approach to dreamy, ephemeral pieces instead of the lo-fi glitchy fuzz that I love them for. Still, this song manages to evoke pangs and longing for some unseen emotion or unmet desire. 

Shallow Where It Should Be Deep by Mark McGuire is a gentle, repetitive guitar riff that will wrap your ears like a breeze kisses the hairs on your calves. It’s so minute yet oddly specific to a particular sensation of peace and calm. Knowingby Trees Speak will then limber things up a bit by introducing some drum parts to this otherwise drumless segment of the playlist although that is short-lived as we go into an acoustic guitar instrumental with Saint Of A Fisherman by Six Organs Of Admittance that does evoke a sort of yearning for the ocean or beach. I can’t say for sure, but it sounds like something you would have heard in an independent short film where the protagonist contemplates something that’s supposed to be a cornerstone of their hero’s journey. 

We’ve heard Today I Learned What Makes Bugs Sick and How To Tie My Shoelaces by Dylan Henner before on WILT_2023-36 as well as the artist Dominique Dumont multiple times on these playlists, which made me wonder just how obvious my biases are particularly toward a particular brand of instrumental music. However the moment was brief because logically, of course I would be biased, and I started journaling this project to be aware of what I was listening to rather than be solely directed by algorithms. 

Étoile by L’éclair is the start of the final stretch in this playlist. The music is starting to get darker and more hazy. In particular, I am unnerved by the instruments passing off as horns or synth pulses. Very unnerving.

A Single Ray of Light on an Otherwise Cloudy Day by Trans Am buzzes into being with a square wave bringing forth the universe and extends into its brief life as quickly as it fades out. Truly wondrous how something so simple as a single tone can be music to my ears. 

Heavy Cathedral by Damaged Bug does sound like some kind of dark simple pop beat that goes nowhere but doesn’t need to go anywhere. In any case, it’s the last bit of calm before Deathspell Omega’s Apokatastasis Pantôn which is a reference to 

An English translation of a draft essay (Αποκατάστασις πάντων) by Leibniz from 1715, in which Leibniz argues for the conclusion: “if humanity endured long enough in its current state, a time would arrive when the same life of individuals would return, bit by bit, through the very same circumstances. I myself, for example, would be living in a city called Hannover located on the Leine river, occupied with the history of Brunswick, and writing letters to the same friends with the same meaning.” [Link]

I don’t really remember how Deathspell Omega entered my orbit. I think I was listening to Horrendous while at work and somehow the music got recommended to me. What definitely got my attention were the bass parts and how it anchored the counter melody as a driving force or motivation to push the plot forwards by being a source of antagony.