What I Listened To: WILT_2022-04

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 23 Jan 2022 to 29 Jan 2022.

WILT_2022-04

  1. Strange Times – Robohands
  2. Idiom – Jose Armon-Jones, Maxwell Owin, Oscar Jerome
  3. Trupé – Amaro Freitas
  4. The Wheel – IDLES
  5. Meds – IDLES
  6. Happy – bdrmm
  7. Gangs – Do Nothing
  8. World Impact – Drug Church
  9. The Crack – Goat Girl
  10. The Hunter – Slaves
  11. BLACKOUT – Turnstile
  12. Metallic Taste – Show Me the Body
  13. Exploding House – Geese
  14. In Between – Deafheaven
  15. Sad Cowboy – Goat Girl
  16. Sockets – Slaves
  17. Unconscious Melody – Preoccupations
  18. No Need – Oscar Jerome, Ben Hauke
  19. A Pegada Agora É Essa (The Sway Now) – Antonio Neves, Marcos Esguleba
  20. Miami – Baxter Dury
  21. Saul – The Limiñanas, Laurent Garnier
  22. Leak at the Disco Intro – Baxter Dury
  23. Leak at the Disco – Baxter Dury
  24. Slumlord – Baxter Dury
  25. Saliva Lord – Baxter Dury

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2022-04

Notes

I started the week by putting on the Amaro Freitas album Sankofa and when that album ended, the algorithm kicked in and I stumbled on Strange Times, which was just the most wondrous mood of a misty morning, hot coffee in hand as you look out into the great beyond.

I continue on this mood and vibe, chasing it but not really, as I diligently go through my work tasks, but at a comfortable pace. Idiom comes on, and the tight bass line sitting under shimmering piano and synth part till the beat comes on and you are just allowed to flow down the river that the song takes you through, letting your fingertips touch the water’s surface, brushing past the reeds.

Trupe starts dissonant and with intent, light percussion pulses through and clamours with the note choices, but spirit and joy bristles underneath, and Amaro Freitas continues asking if you enjoy the sights he is showing you, and the answer is yes.

Decided to listen to Idles, a band that I had heard being talked about in some social circles. That leads us down a path of fourteen songs that range across the genres of post-punk, no-wave, and dream-pop.

After Unconscious Melody by Preoccupations, another radio playlist was generated, but not in any music of similar vein to the previous fourteen songs. Instead, we get No Need, a surprising breath of fresh air, and a laid-back jazz/r&b tune to shift gears.

A Pegada Agora É Essa (The Sway Now) comes on next, and a brilliant energy percolates as Brazilian rhythms licked by free form jazz whisper from down the hall. It’s begging you to take a look, and you ought to go down the rabbit hole.

A Pegada Agora É Essa (The Sway Now) is Neves’ second album: a vibrant portrait of the current Brazilian music scene. From the regional to universal, popular to erudite, samba to rap, Latin rhythms to jazz, MPB and pop to good old rock’n’roll, Neves walks with fluency and mastery amongst all the musical genres that Brazil has to offer.

My offer to the musicians was complete freedom to express themselves through the songs I proposed – classics like “Summertime”, “Luz Negra” and “Noite de Temporal”, and compositions of my own – creating a space of authorship for the band and the guests. A space for inventions, purges, delusions, laughter. The idea was to bring the freedom of jazz crossed by Brazilian rhythms, such as the traditionals Partido Alto (A Pegada Agora É Essa) and Jongo (Jongo no Feudo and Luz Negra); rhythms of African-Brazilian religions like Candomblé (Noite de Temporal) and Umbanda (Forte Apache); and a tribute to newest Rio de Janeiro’s contribution to Brazilian music, the Funk Carioca (Simba)

From A Pegada Agora É Essa (The Sway Now) Bandcamp page

The bass line for Miami comes on and I am immediately hooked. It’s nothing special, but it sounds sleazy and downtrodden. The vocals come on, “Welcome to Miami. Broken promises are here.” Okay, let’s see where this goes. Then almost without warning (or rather unexpectedly), Baxter Dury’s dreary, cynical spoken word smokes into your ears. “I don’t think you realise how successful I am.” You’re right, I don’t. And now I’m in love. Tell me more. What do you have to say? I’m listening. You sound interesting. Tell me stories, tell me life, tell me about the thing that killed your soul and left you a wandering corpse.

The fascination with Dury continues and I select the sleaziest melodies and grooves (apart from Leak at the Disco) that I can get my ears on. It sounds like a shit-stained back alley where niceties are a luxury, but you cannot help but look closer because you know this is the reality of the human condition when it has been discarded.

This isn’t the only time he wails at the endless scroll of modern life…

… On ‘The Night Chancers’, 48-year-old Baxter sees a darkness. Life is bleak. People are lame. You can’t rely on anyone. Not even yourself. Stranded after a one-night stand on the title track, he finds himself kicking around a lavish hotel room with only his intrusive thoughts for company, his Estuary chirrup sounding more than ever like Mick Jagger doing spoken-word poetry.

From “Baxter Dury – ‘The Night Chancers’ review: groovy misanthrope chips in on the endless scroll of modern life” by Leonie Cooper

What I Listened To: WILT_2022-03

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 16 Jan 2022 to 22 Jan 2022.

WILT_2022-03

  1. Is It a Crime – Sade
  2. The Sweetest Taboo – Sade
  3. I.G.Y. – Donald Fagen
  4. If I Saw You Again – Pages
  5. Livin’ It Up – Billy LaBounty
  6. Perfumed Garden (Remix) – The Rah Band
  7. Seabird – Alessi Brothers
  8. Clouds Across the Mood – The Rah Band
  9. You & I – Dabeull, Holybrune
  10. L.A. Night – Yasuko Agawa
  11. I Thought It Was You – 笠井 紀美子 (Kimiko Kasai), Herbie Hancock
  12. Bittersweet – Lianne La Havas
  13. Sunlight – 笠井 紀美子 (Kimiko Kasai), Herbie Hancock
  14. BLACK JACK (ブラック・ジャック) – 加藤有紀 (Yuki Kato)
  15. 人はそれぞれ – 笠井 紀美子 (Kimiko Kasai)
  16. Sweet Power of Your Embrace – James Mason
  17. レティシア – Akira Inoue

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2022-03

Notes

I started down this path of listening after watching this video A Perfect Bass Line (With Only TWO Notes) by YouTuber, pdbass.

If you want to know what its like to ache for someone longingly, then Sade’s Is It a Crime evokes jazz-noir scenes of a smokey club where a singer dripping with sensuality reaches deep into a memory to conjure a longing, while her band guides her along a path one lamp post at a time, until finally the saxophone blares to life as we jump cut manically between memory, illusion, and reality.

From Sade, I checked out Donald Fagen’s album, Nightfly, also at the recommendation of pdbass, and that’s where Anthony Jackson’s superb playing on I.G.Y. can be heard.

Along the way, I decided to rely on Spotify’s radio function for recommendations and that’s where tracks like Perfume Garden, Seabird, and many more stood out for their musicality and innovation.

I am really into some of the chord voicings found on Clouds Across the Mood, coupled with outlandish syncopations, synth parts, and sample-laden adlibs that add a fun, self-referencing 70’s sci-fi flavour to this upbeat song.

The bass line on Sunlight is so full of energy, and the way Kimiko Kasai scats at the end alongside Hancock’s keyboard playing is simply jaw-dropping.

Somewhere along Friday afternoon, the playlist shifted toward city pop again because that was what was being recommended to me. I suppose we can see the co-development and similarity between Japan and America in this time period as Japan became increasingly influenced by western pop and jazz, and at the same time, masterful American session musicians were also starting to perform and record in Japan.

Through this playlist, it is quite apparent to me that this style of music that was prominent in the late 70’s and throughout the 80’s, that while developed in different musical scenes, there was a lot of cross-pollination of ideas and techniques, and they were also able to develop their own distinct flavours that can still be enjoyed in the present day.

What I Listened To: WILT_2022-02

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 9 Jan 2022 to 15 Jan 2022.

WILT_2022-02

  1. Bummer Summer – Charmer
  2. Sirens – Leifur James
  3. First Sleep – Cliff Martinez
  4. Tidal Wave – Butcher Brown
  5. Fill My Mouth – Goat
  6. Let It Burn – Goat
  7. Run To Your Mama – Goat
  8. Queen of the Underground – Goat
  9. Animal Noises – Here Lies Man
  10. Right / Wrong – Night Beats
  11. Charchez La Ghost – Orions Belte
  12. Harmonizer – Ty Segall
  13. Currency – The Black Angels
  14. The Ecstacy Once Told – The Dolly Rocker Movement
  15. Hold On Tight – A Place To Bury Strangers
  16. Golden Dawn – Goat
  17. Trippin’ Like I Do – Mystic Braves
  18. Home Town – WITCH
  19. Tunnel – Minami Deutsch
  20. Stayin’ Alive – Tropical Fuck Storm
  21. Beat It – The Traffic
  22. A Distant View – Flevans
  23. Antimatter Animals – Tropical Fuck Storm

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2022-02

Notes

This is a pretty long playlist, and there were two man beats in the week that just passed. One was the discovery of Goat, and the subsequent delve into psychedelic rock, and the other was catching up with KiDG and having certain conversations about how music curated or recommended by humans is so much more communal, than if it were just transactional between yourself and an algorithm.

With that setting the stage, perhaps it is time to make sense of the week.

Bummer Summer stood out from the vestiges of the previous week as being similar to the type music that Benton Falls would have put out, and which I now know is also a style developed through the mid-west emo scene.

Sirens was added the moment the beats that followed the string and piano intro came on. It just pulses with energy and purpose.

First Sleep has an unsettling sonic soundscape that just changes something in the air. It drives you to do things, which is somehow unsettling-ly productive.

We now arrive at Fill My Mouth by Goat. I am not too sure how this track got recommended to me, but I did not quite notice the song on the onset as I was probably deep in thought or work. But then at some point of the song, the flutes really stood out to me, most likely in the solo, and it is one of the moments you just pause to take it all in. The flutes are cacophonous and the percussion work is catastrophic on this track, and truly the highlight of my week.

I am pretty much obsessed with Goat at this point, and start listening to more songs on the 2021 album, Headsoup. I love the drumming and percussion work on Let It Burn, as well as the glorious fuzz bass that pretty much drives this song into a wah-wah guitar solo frenzy.

I start exploring the first album put out by the band, 2010’s World Music. At this point, the brazen Run To Your Mama almost chastises you if you happen to be scared, or negative of the band’s unapologetic music.

If you ever wonder what psychedelic rock is all about, then I Am The Queen of the Underground is my gateway to you. Sprawling, shamanistic, musical styles from all over the world intermingling with each other. There’s a taste of afrobeat, jazz, rock, black metal, all mixed into a swirling primordial slorp of pleasure before we even try to identify the different components.

I think by this time, the musical choices that appear are a result of Spotify’s radio algorithm kicking in after listening to Headsoup.

Animal Noises is a boogie rock number, that initially reminds me of The Black Keys’s Hell of a Season, and the guitar tones of The Doors’s Roadhouse Blues, but ends up being its own thing.

Tidal Wave is a smooth like butter performance without a healthy dose of chill and cool.

Added Right / Wrong by Night Beats because of some great vocal melodies backed by reverb-soaked guitars. Simple but tasty stuff.

Cherchez La Ghost is sleazy, slinky, and suavage. Why, this might just be the musical interpretation of that hideous word.

The clang of Harmonizer’s envelope filter ridden introduction immediately grabs your attention, and the song slowly builds more great fuzzed out guitar parts before launching eighty miles an hour down a desert freeway as it celebrates all the joys of sonic fuckyou-isms.

The psy-rock train continues pulling into stations, this time on Currency with some great guitar parts that will have you swaying along to a haze-fueled groove.

The Ecstacy Once Told sounds like Ennio Morricone writing something for spaghetti western set in space. But without the budget of The Mandalorian.

Hold On Tight is a love song written by A Place To Bury Strangers.

I probably listened to more Goat at this point, and probably added Golden Dawn for how the afro vibes mix so well with the rock elements. Or how the rock elements mix so well with the afro vibes. It sounds like a more acid rock version of something Fela Kuti and Ginger Baker might do.

Trippin’ Like I Do adds some upbeat folk energy to the mix. Felt a bit of Bob Dylan in this one.

WITCH really knows how to take it slow, and man, does Home Town make you slow down and feel things.

Tunnel is pure proto-beat krautrock by Kyoto band, Minami Deutsch. Very classy, and very easy to vibe to.

I’m not sure how this cover of Stayin’ Alive by Tropical Fuck Storm came to me, but I am so glad it did. The heavily distorted bass lines really sell the spirit behind this cover. Also, the outro guitar is exceptional, and the last time I heard something like that was Jonny Greenwood’s outro guitars on 2+2=5.

I definitely let KiDG know about this find, of which he rewards me with an introduction to the funk band, The Traffic, and that’s where I came across their terrific cover of Beat It. The brass and wind sections on this track a mesmerising, and the rest of the rhythm section plays with a sort of looseness that is incredibly relaxed, yet exceptionally spot on. It just sounds, free, and fun!

A Distant View features some great samples and tones amidst a minimal, but sprawling soundscape that takes you on an inspirational walk through a forest, that somehow also takes you to the edge of a cliff as you allow the elements to baptise you and you surrender to nature.

I listened to more Tropical Fuck Storm as the week neared its end, and Antimatter Animals just stood out for being both experimental, and extremely matter of fact. There’s nothing much to get about the music, apart from the fact that mainstream music is often predictable, and thus boring, and Tropical Fuck Storm does not see music or performance in such convenient templates.

What I Listened To: WILT_2022-01

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 2 Jan 2022 to 8 Jan 2022.

WILT_2022-01

  1. Chismiten – Mdou Moctar
  2. Old Friend – Nils Frahm
  3. 747 – Ludwig Goransson
  4. 24 Hour Charleston – Jonny Greenwood
  5. Preachin’ Blues – Son House
  6. efforts – fox capture plan
  7. Wake Me Up – Foals
  8. Don’t Forget Love – Neil Young
  9. Welcome Back – Neil Young
  10. Bamont – Febueder
  11. Invisible – Baby Combat
  12. Talk – Worst Party Ever
  13. Passion Fruit Tea – Retirement Party
  14. Meet Me In Montauk – Retirement Party
  15. Take Your Vitamins – Retirement Party
  16. Grand Am – Retirement Party
  17. Ollie North – Donovan Wolfington

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2022-01

Notes

What I Listened To will persist in 2022.

It felt a bit strange putting this one together. On the one hand, it felt like a continuation of the previous year, and on the other, it felt like an opportunity to reset.

I suppose the first sounds my ears perked up to were from Mdou Moctar. It felt like a good way to start the year, and I thought the week would continue with us exploring more Saharan-styled blues.

But then a new pang emerged, and I started listening to movie soundtracks from more recent times.

Then I started referring to Spotify’s Release Radar to see what had apparently been in my orbit, and that’s where we get fox capture plan, Foals, and Neil Young. I am almost convinced that Foals arranges their music to be like dance music bangers.

And then I came across Invisible by Baby Combat, and that really made an impact on me. Like I had almost missed the energy and melodies of a well-written power pop song. From there, Retirement Party came on, and I found that I really love what that band is doing, and then that sort of put me on a path to exploring more of that indie-punk style, as well as starting to journey into the midwest emo development. But maybe more on that next week.

I felt rather dreary writing this post because I just had my booster shot yesterday.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-52

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 26 Dec 2021 to 1 Jan 2022.

WILT_2021-52

  1. Three Sisters – Wednesday
  2. Gary’s – Wednesday
  3. Ghost of a Dog – Wednesday
  4. “Quotations” – Water From Your Eyes
  5. My Lights Kiss Your Thoughts Every Waking Moment – Lucy Gooch
  6. Possibility – Pavel Milyakov, Yana Pavlova
  7. Doomseeer – True Widow
  8. İsyan Manifestosu – Gaye Su Akyol
  9. Macchina – Sungazer
  10. Lunar – Sungazer
  11. A Song With No Words – Sungazer, Aberdeen
  12. Dread Are the Controller – Linval Thompson
  13. This Life Makes Me Wonder – Delroy Wilson

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-52

Notes

We made it. Fifty two entries of faithful weekly publication of my music listening notes, as well as some personal reflections every week.

I also published a short reflective of the music I discovered in 2021 that you can read here.

This has been a very rewarding process for me as a way to catalogue 2021 through the lens of music discovery. I remember starting the year being bored of American and British-centric guitar-based rock music and its sub-genres, and after an entire year, I am no longer anxious of this previously identity-shifting anecdote, because music discovery is an organic, and personal journey that never really ends. Ultimately, this process has bolstered my belief that while human beings do many questionable things to hurt one another, we are able to transcend, or even tap into something primal, to create a glorious and beautiful medium of expression, and that is music. If you pause to listen to another culture’s mode of expression, you might find that we have similar desires for ourselves, to better the self and our surroundings. To question the things we do not understand, to either have faith and hope, or explore the dismal abyss of our despair. I do not know what the answers are, but it is human to question the cosmos both in space-time, and within our souls.

The final week of 2021’s WILT starts with some of the indie-fuzz courtesy of Wednesday. Three Sisters starts of with an ultra-fuzzy guitar riff that makes me wish I were enjoying the energy at a club gig all over again. Gary’s features an interesting guitar arrangement that somehow creates a fuzzy country music vibe. Ghost of a Dog is an absolute blast of lyrics. It might be a metaphor for something, or it could be literal, but either way, this simple piece of songwriting is emotionally compelling.

“Quotations” has such a beautiful and ethereal arrangement, and it truly astounds me how some artists see or hear the world. A looping vocal sample, with some pizzicato strings confidently fill the first half of the song, before the a foundations gets laid in the second half. It’s short, but so haunting and hopeful at the same time.

Time stretches on My Eyes Kiss Your Thoughts Every Waking Moment, and you can’t help but be pulled into the singularity created by Lucy Gooch’s tremendous performance and instrumentation.

I think it’s a bass saxaphone on Possibility? And it’s absolutely gorgeous as a solo accompaniment to the song.

Things slow down, darken, and take a bit of a tumble with Doomseer. I find it absolutely fitting to follow up Possibility with Doomseer. The sludgy groove of the song puts in an contrast to the whimsicality of the previous song, and roots it down harshly with a by the numbers no-wave rock groove. However, because they are in very similar registers, the impact felt is gloriously seismic and earth shattering.

From the crushing depths, the Turkish-tinged psychedelic-rock of Gaye Su Akyol’s İsyan Manifestosu lifts us out effortlessly and establishes a new tempo and energy to swim freely in a clear blue ocean, the sun’s warmth still penetrating two meters into the water.

The next block of music comes courtesy of Sungazer, a band I came to know from YouTuber, Adam Neely, as it is one of his music projects. He was sharing about some music found on Sungazer’s new album, Perihelion, by exploring how concepts like time signatures, instrumentation, and musical arrangement create “gnarly grooves”.

Macchina, Lunar, and A Song With No Words are all songs that combine beautiful, progressive and tasteful melodies with some brain-crunching time-measures and arrangements to create some very vivid musical ideas and statements. It’s a little hi-fi in tone, but still a stellar proclamation of progressive jazz.

Finally, the final playlist of 2021 closes with highlights from a recommended album by my good friend, Thomas. He brought to my attention a compilation of reggae songs compiled by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood titled Jonny Greenwood Is the Controller. The first featured track is Dread Are the Controller by Linval Thompson. It’s pretty standard as far as a reggae groove goes, but there is something unmistakably rebellious, or defiant in the lyrical art and performance. I felt energised, invigorated to not bow to the pressures and burdens that hope of a new year sometimes place on us.

And then we close with This Life Makes Me Wonder by Delroy Wilson. The frenetic guitar playing is not what I expect from most reggae, but it goes so well with painting a hopeful energy to the externalised contemplation of where the future can potentially take us.

So maybe that’s how I will go in 2022. There are some unknowns, but I’ve been blessed, as much as I know where I’ve been lacking, but I still look forward to new discoveries, and new experiences. I expect growth in some form, and spending time on the people and things that I enjoy.

Happy new year everybody. Thank you for taking this journey with me and I look forward to 2022 with you.

Favourite Artists I Discovered in 2021

  1. Amaro Freitas
  2. Kerala Dust
  3. Shizuka Kudo
  4. Brandee Younger
  5. Dezron Douglas
  6. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
  7. Jab
  8. Emma-Jean Thackray
  9. Star Feminine Band
  10. Fulu Miziki
  11. Lord of the Isles
  12. Greg Foat
  13. SAULT
  14. Dead Man’s Bones
  15. Chico Hamilton
  16. oso leone
  17. Death
  18. Gaye Su Akyol
  19. Ayyuka

Videos that shaped my year in listening

Shizuka Kudo – Kindan no Telepathy | SUBBED

The performance that made me sit up and notice the Japanese City Pop revival that gripped 2021. I love this performance because it features a genre in development, and also how the camera work and editing does not seem to know how to react to the studio performance. It is so dissonant, progressive, and somehow packages itself into a very compelling piece of music and performance art.

Tikanga – – – Fulu Miziki Kinshasa Music Warriors

This performance embodies my love for music. Passion, resourcefulness, and a sick groove.

How Jonny Greenwood was Influenced by Penderecki

If you are familiar with Radiohead’s discography, this is an essential watch to understand parts of Johnny Greenwood’s creative performance. It also shines a light on why there will never be another band like Radiohead, or a musician/composer like Johnny Greenwood.

Kiesel Thanos Bass – Stomp (Bass Cover)

I just love the sick tones that Ben Jones gets from his bass. I came across this video when I was exploring Kiesel basses, which are the main basses played by Amos Williams of TesseracT.

Bass Albums That Changed Music. Ep1. Tony Levin / Peter Gabriel

I love the format and research that went into the production of this video. If you are a bass player, this is an amazing breakdown of Tony Levin’s bass playing and creativity.

Brandee Younger & Dezron Douglas | Live from Columbia

One of the best discoveries I made in 2021. The amount of beautiful energy and marriage of tones between a harp and double bass is exemplified in these two prolific musicians.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-51

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 19 Dec 2021 to 25 Dec 2021.

WILT_2021-51

  1. No Other – Gene Clark
  2. Silver Raven – Gene Clark
  3. Find It – L’Rain
  4. Bat – L’Rain
  5. Space 1 – Nala Sinephro
  6. Twin Plagues – Wednesday
  7. discrete (the market) – Claire Rousay
  8. Station to Station – Mega Bog
  9. Strong, Calm, Slow – Astrid Sonne
  10. Reconstellated – Karima Walker
  11. tusk – Claire Rousay
  12. Drunk – More Eaze, Claire Rousay

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-51

Notes

For chronological reference, this was Christmas Week. Christmas falls on a Saturday this week.

I discovered the music of Gene Clark through a playlist that features recordings tht renowned bass sessionist, Leland Sklar appears on.

No Other was immediately captivating for its melodic, octaver-processed bass lines, gospel-style backup vocals, and predates the psychedelic folk rock coming out of America’s west coast in the late sixties.

Somehow came across L’Rain’s music which I found immediately gravitating for her experimental and hypnotic vocal performances and musical arrangements. Find It really stands out as a drifting song that flows head first into some sort of unknowing excitement.

There is also some really good ambient and experimental music being featured in this playlist. Space 1, and the music featuring Claire Rousay. A highlight to me is the percussive cacophony of tusk.

Twin Plagues by Wednesday is just some really, really good no-wave hard rock that is reminiscent of bands like True Widow and Bardo Pond. I really miss this music. I might start re-exploring the sub-genre and revisit old favourites.

Strong, Calm, Slow by Astrid Sonne is also a haunting vocal-only recording that I just had to include because of how aching everything was.

This playlist doesn’t sound like Christmas was on it, but it’s got a chilly warmth that you sometimes find just as the sun is setting on a snow-dusted day, or how the sun rises after a night of blizzard-ry.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-50

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 12 Dec 2021 to 18 Dec 2021.

WILT_2021-50

  1. Silkworm Society – Now Vs Now, Justin Tyson, Jason Lindner, Panagiotis Andreou
  2. Morocco – Masayoshi Fujita
  3. Impressions in F Major – Brian Green
  4. Impressions in D Major – Brian Green
  5. Mother’s Love – The Vernon Spring
  6. The Trees Are Starting to Have Personality – Nate Mercereau
  7. Impressions in C Sharp Minor – Brian Green
  8. Le soleil dans le monde – Domenique Dumont
  9. We Can Work It Out – Scary Pockets, Judith Hill
  10. Cherry Blossom – Otomizu
  11. Elfe – Dario Lessing
  12. The Hut – Waldo’s Gift
  13. Sustain – Sam Gendel
  14. Invisible – MonoNeon
  15. July Play (Tiny Room Sessions) – Greg Spero, Ronald Bruner Jr., MonoNeon, Ruslan Sirota
  16. I’m A Raggedy Bitch, But My Heart Is Amazing – MonoNeon, Polychaos
  17. Beginner’s Luck – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
  18. Planet B – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
  19. Noble Soldier – The Murlocs
  20. Friends – levitation room

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-50

Notes

I have been pretty excited to present to you this week’s playlist. The compilation has been relatively smooth sailing to put together, and features music from the realms of contemporary classical, jazz, ambient, and rock.

Silkworm Society features an exceptional free-flowing fretless bassline, backed by bright summer-tinged synthesisers.

Morocco is a calm and driving melody for you to take any afternoon in.

I discovered the music of Peter Green, and his gentle electric guitar musings that will put any a weary heart and tired mind to ease.

I love the piano motif on Mother’s Love.

The Trees Are Starting to Have Personality is really relaxing jam of hip hop beats and soulful melody. Almost reminds me of Mux Mool’s music.

Sway along to Le soleil dans le monde, and dance to the ditty of a solo in the middle.

The pockets in the soulful We Can Work It Out are bound to make you scrunch your face in ecstasy.

Feel the sunshine and a cold wind brush your face in the atmospheric Cherry Blossom.

Get lost in the contemplative and expressive piano arrangement of Elfe.

I know the moment when I added The Hut. It was when the pulsing quarter notes of the octaver-effected bassline came on during the chorus. Expanding on that, it is a very exciting progressive jazz performance.

We immediately put the brakes on the previous performance with Sustain’s languishing synth arrangements.

We are now entering the realm of MonoNeon, an eclectic and colourful bass player. His bass lines shine in funk and soul, and he is able to incorporate very warm tones to more modern arrangements, allowing for a very tasteful dichotomy. There is also some exceptional jazz performances and arrangements in July Play (Tiny Room Sessions).

Added Beginner’s Luck for its beautiful psychedelia and standout closing guitar solo and outro.

Did you know that King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard had a metal-themed album? Listen to Planet B and I guarantee you that it is some of the best old-school thrash metal that you have heard, combined with all the great psychedelia, imagery and exceptional instrumentation that only King Gizz can conjure. You should also listen to the rest of the album.

It seems appropriate to close on Noble Soldier and Friends. I think I am starting to find my way back to incorporating guitar and rock music back into my listening diet. There is a place for them, and it addresses a different palate on the intensity spectrum. Something about the instrumentation and ideas that can only be successfully expressed through the genre.

What The Internet Did To Garfield, and The Bizarre Modern Reality of The Simpsons by Super Eyepatch Wolf

Youtuber Super Eyepatch Wolf, just released one of the most in-depth analysis’s of Garfield Internet fandom titled What The Internet Did To Garfield. I would say that this is required viewing for understanding subcultures that have been enabled through the Internet, and the growing post-truth that confronts a new generation of cultures and societies. Plus, he is a very entertaining presenter and makes this content superbly engaging.

Do also watch The Bizarre Modern Reality of The Simpsons, which is an earlier video that Super Eyepatch Wolf made, that also explores similar existential crisis’s, variations of horror, as well as the absurdity of chaos and cycles through the lens of a popular culture product, and its facsimiles.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-49

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 5 Dec 2021 to 11 Dec 2021.

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  1. Monsieur Dutour – Bernard Estardy
  2. Marcheta – Chico Hamilton
  3. The Sage – Chico Hamilton Quintet
  4. The Quest of Chico Hamilton – John Carroll Kirby
  5. Blue Sands – Chico Hamilton Quintet
  6. Suite For Horn – Chico Hamilton
  7. Vidage – 1000mods
  8. High Strangeness – Mothership
  9. Lazy Bones – Brant Bjork
  10. Raspletin – Kadaver, Elder
  11. Blood Moon Night – Kadaver, Elder
  12. Blooms of Oblivion – Emma Ruth Rundle
  13. The Body – Emma Ruth Rundle

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-49

Notes

The first half of the week was dominated by an exploration into drummer and bandleader, Chico Hamilton’s innovative discography. I was intrigued when I learned that his early jazz work featured the performance of a cello, courtesy of Fred Katz. Whenever there is an intersection of classical and jazz, I feel as if the collision of ideas creates a singularity of creativity, and something new and exciting is born, if for a brief moment.

I then found myself drawn to the stoned and psychedelic. Elder had recently launched a new album, in collaboration with Kadaver, and I then got hypnotised by the monotonous riffage of 1000mods. Finally, Emma Ruth Rundle’s new album, Engine of Hell came into my orbit, and I once again found myself mesmerised. Closing on The Body seems like an exceptional bookend, sorrow and hope all mixed in a single offering.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-48

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 28 Nov 2021 to 4 Dec 2021.

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  1. Morning – Azymuth
  2. Nergal – Marcos Resende, Index
  3. Pangea – Kit Sebastian
  4. Passion and Pain – Womack & Womack
  5. Voice – Hiromi, Anthony Jackson, Simon Phillips
  6. Top Of The World – Shonen Knife
  7. Little Sunflower – Dorothy Ashby
  8. La rue – Cortex
  9. A Song the Children Dance To – Warmth
  10. Conquistadores – Chico Hamilton
  11. Love & Light – Emanative, Liz Elensky, Dan Jose, Deoke
  12. Rua Dois – Jose Mauro
  13. Red Clay – Jack Wilkins
  14. Morango Encantado – Jose Mauro
  15. Tyranny 20 – Kit Sebastian
  16. Roda Mundo – Ana Mazzotti
  17. P64 By My Side – John Carroll Kirby
  18. Ayeye – Amaro Freitas
  19. Feel Like Making Love – Ana Mazzotti
  20. Bis – Arthur Verocai, Azymuth
  21. Baquaqua – Amaro Freitas
  22. Agora ou Nunca Mais – Ana Mazzotti

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-48

Notes

I believe I started the week as a continuation of my exploration into the broken beat genre, but that path forked after Shonen Knife’s exuberant cover of The Carpenters’ Top of the World. Honestly, I thought I would finally find my way back toward more indie or rock music listening, but nothing really stuck.

Instead, there was a wealth of soul, jazz, Latin, and Afro inspired sub-genres to listen to, and so many found their way into this week’s playlist.

Standouts include the wonderful solo flute performance in Warmth’s A Song the Children Dance To, and the effortlessly lazy yet captivating musicianship in Chico Hamilton’s Conquistadores. Music like this just somehow make you feel alive while lounging in your receptacle of choice.

The rest of the playlist follows this theme of effortlessness. As if the musicians have somehow transcended trying to impress, to just letting loose and expressing a sort of innate joy or catharsis that they were carrying at the point of performing and recording.

From Jose Mauro’s psychedelic reverberations throughout his guitar playing, the slightly husky sensuality found in the timbre of Ana Mazzotti’s voice, to Amaro Freitas’ prodigious piano playing, it is easy for a musical voyage to span genres, continents, and eras, when a simple joy is all it takes to transport the listener across galaxies and cultures.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-47

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 21 Nov 2021 to 27 Nov 2021.

WILT_2021-47

  1. Fastlove, Pt. 1 – George Michael
  2. Older – George Michael
  3. Would I Lie To You – Charles & Eddie
  4. Burning Down The House – Tom Jones, The Cardigans
  5. Trouble – Eddie Chacon
  6. Hurt – Eddie Chacon
  7. Under the Thunder – Reuben Vaun Smith
  8. Marimba Theme – D.K.
  9. Trip on New Shores – Reuben Vaun Smith
  10. Drive (First Gear) – Womack & Womack
  11. Josephine – Chris Rea
  12. Paradise – Sade
  13. Lay Me Down – Renee
  14. High On Love – Eddie C

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-47

Notes

We are opening with George Michael’s Fastlove because of a conversation I was having with KiDG.

We were discussing about the developments of Japan’s new music/city pop movement from the 70’s, and how they presented a sort of technical mastery alongside extremely melancholic lyrics, and how that deviated from the development of pop music in markets such as US and the UK. From there, he brought my attention to how George Michael’s, Fastlove, is pretty underrated from a technical standpoint, but in actuality has an extremely soulful and funky DNA stemming from George Michael’s impeccable taste. He goes on to share an anecdote about how the saxophone part to Careless Whisper was chosen after multiple tryouts and ultimately went to a more inexperienced sessionist, but was able to nail one of the most iconic arrangements in contemporary music’s history.

Back to Fastlove. I remember not being impressed much when it was released back when I was about 15 years old. Pop music drivel I probably imagined. But now with an appreciation for the artistry and form for more kinds of music, Fastlove is very funky and soulful, but not in an over the top manner, but rather in its tone. From there, it only felt natural that we follow up with Older, and now as a man in his late thirties, the melancholia presented by Older is oddly resonant.

From there, Spotify’s recommendations brought me to the music of Charles & Eddie’s hit, Would I Lie To You, which the rest of this playlist sort of stems from. Before going into that, I did add the recommendation of Tom Jones’ and The Cardigans’ cover of Burning Down The House which I did note for having some great vocal performances, that I would not have otherwise thought to complement the rock genre.

Purely by happenstance, I decided to find out more about the artists Charles & Eddie, and learned that Charles Pettigrew had passed on from cancer, and that the duo were a one-hit wonder in the 80s. There was however, an article by the Guardian about Eddie Chacon, which I just decided to read for knowledge.

Today the hair is shorter, and greyer, the beard salt-and-pepper, but he still looks good, like a tired lion. On one level, he’s just another old soul singer making a comeback – but if you’re expecting Pleasure, Joy and Happiness to be one of those cookie-cutter retro-soul revival albums, you’d be dead wrong. Recorded with Solange and Frank Ocean collaborator John Carroll Kirby, it’s an ethereal, stripped-down collection of haunting confessionals, Chacon’s hypnotic falsetto shrouded in Kirby’s vaporous melodies. It’s also an album of proud middle-age, made by a 56-year-old man revisiting past failures and regrets over blurred synth lines and skeletal drum patterns: Krapp’s Last Tape via Channel Orange. “I always said if I got my head screwed on straight I could make one record where I was honest with myself,” says Chacon. “I’ve wanted to do it my whole life, but it’s taken my whole life to get there.”

Charles & Eddie’s Eddie Chacon: ‘It took me 10 years to recover from being a one-hit wonder’, Andrew Male for The Guardian, 1 Sep 2020

I bought this paragraph hook, line, and sinker. More of us have been defeated by the music industry rather than thrived in it, and here was a person who still found a way to create music, collaborating with an amazing musician like John Carroll Kirby (whom I’m so glad to have listened to thanks to this journey), to create something honest despite the challenges and disappointments. We’re all getting older, remember?

So yes, after coming across Eddie Chocan, the rest of this journey features music of a similar vibe. Melancholic, soulful, minimal, electronic, etc. Nothing seems to go above a certain threshold, content to just languish in a gentle pool resignation and surrender.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-46

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 14 Nov 2021 to 20 Nov 2021.

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  1. Dream for 2 – Naoko Gushima
  2. Unshaken – D’Angelo
  3. Cherry-coloured Funk – Cocteau Twins
  4. Pitch the Baby – Cocteau Twins
  5. Go! – Public Service Broadcasting
  6. Fair Chance – Thundercat, Ty Dollar $ign, Lil B
  7. When You Speak to Mingus – Febueder
  8. Your Teeth In My Neck – Kali Uchis
  9. Two Hearts – Zola Blood
  10. RAINY DRIVER – Hitomi Tohyama
  11. Blue Coloured Mountain – Szymon
  12. Idol Eyes – Common Saints
  13. OSAKA – Athletic Progression
  14. Stumbling Down – Tony Allen, Sampa the Great
  15. Sankofa Song – Andrew Ashong, Kaidi Tatham
  16. He Laughs She Cries – Kaidi Tatham
  17. These Things Will Pass – Kaidi Tatham
  18. Lost – Robohands
  19. Figure Numatic – Nubiyan Twist
  20. Castelo (Version 1) – Azymuth
  21. I Love Louis Cole – Thundercat, Louis Cole
  22. Unrequited Love – Thundercat

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-46

Notes

I think I made a conscious effort to move away from the listening habits of previous weeks.

I threw abandon to the winds of Spotify’s Daily Mixes, and found myself back in the currents of contemporary jazz, shoegaze, and broken beat.

In doing so, there is a part of my disposition that feels like it has come full circle, and other parts that feel like I have only scratched the tip of the iceberg. An example of these would be that I have more of an appreciation for Thundercat’s music. While previously I found it self-indulgent, or derivative of the fusion that had come before, now I find exploratory and innovative to combine influences that go beyond music, but culture and aesthetic as a whole.

I think this week also helped re-frame why I embarked on this listening journey for the year, which was to go beyond what I think I knew, and just celebrate music as a constant journey and evolution, whether it comes from the past, present, or future.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-45

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 7 Nov 2021 to 13 Nov 2021.

WILT_2021-45

  1. Phoenix – 1986 Omega Tribe
  2. Candy – Naoko Gushima
  3. Counterlight – 1986 Omega Tribe
  4. YOU’RE MY BABY – Hiroshi Sato
  5. midnight cruisin’ – Kingo Hamada
  6. Lazy Night (2018 Remaster) – Makoto Matsushita
  7. 誤解 – 加藤有紀 (Yuki Kato)
  8. TOKYO GIRL – Minako Honda
  9. Bakamitai (Taxi Driver Edition) – Kazuma Kiryu (Takaya Kuroda)
  10. Messages from the Stars – The Rah Band

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-45

Notes

A short list this week because I was busy with an event that our team was organising.

Selection is from more Japanese pop-jazz-fusion from the 80’s because that seemed to be the vibe that would ease the stress that amounted from the day’s toil.

In the end, we got through it.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-44

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 31 Oct 2021 to 6 Nov 2021.

WILT_2021-44

  1. ワインの匂い (Wine no Nioi lit. “Bouquet of a Wine”) – Off Course
  2. Older Girl – 1986 Omega Tribe
  3. 愛を奪って心縛って (Ai wo Ubatte Kokoro Shibatte lit. “Take Away Love and Bind Your Heart”) – Wink
  4. WAKU WAKUさせて (Waku Waku Sasete lit. “Excite Me More”) – 中山 美穂 (Miho Nakayama)
  5. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) lit. “Dancing Hero (Eat You Up)” – 荻野目 洋子 (Yoko Oginome)
  6. 夏をあきらめて (Natsu Wo Akiramete) – 研ナオコ (Naoko Ken)
  7. 哀しいくらい – Off Course
  8. Temptation (誘惑) – 本田美奈子 (Minako Honda)

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-44

Notes

Quite a slim playlist and post today because work is in the final stretch for the event we are organising for. Multiple meetings and briefings take a lot out of me, and sometimes you do not feel like listening to music.

However, I did find a pocket of time where I started to delve into the new Japanese music from the 70s and 80s again. Somehow, it brightened the mood with a sort of hopeful charm. There is a certain excitement that there was something new in that era of popular music, and it really rubs off on me more than 30 years later.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-43

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 24 Oct 2021 to 30 Oct 2021.

WILT_2021-43

  1. Alpha Alpha – Aural
  2. Equinox – Dezron Douglas, Brandee Younger
  3. 愛・おぼえていますか (Do You Remember Love?) – Mari Iijima
  4. CAT’S EYE (NEW TAKE) – Anri
  5. Just Communication – TWO-MIX
  6. 『82.99 F.M』 – Macross 82-99

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-43

Notes

Listen to Alpha Alpha with ear-buds on. It is akin to having a massage inside your skull.

There is something very primal and intimate in the duet between the harp and double bass performances of Brandee Younger and Dezron Douglas. There’s a clash of creativity when you encounter the harshness of the double bass’s fret buzz against the angelic resonance of the harp strings. It is this sort of friction that creates universes.

I was prepared for this week’s playlist to end at the first two songs because of how busy with work I had been the past week. However, I did feel nostalgic on Friday evening for an old anime that I used to adore, Macross: Do You Remember Love. I came across this beautifully remastered animation of the movie’s theme song, and if you have similar memories as I do of this iconic media franchise, you will undoubtedly enjoy the video.

As anthemic as the chorus to 愛・おぼえていますか (Do You Remember Love?) is, I live for the bridge’s melody.

I’m not alone anymore now that you’re here with me

愛・おぼえていますか (Do You Remember Love?), Mari Iijima

Came across Anri’s music, and I’m a new fan.

More techno blasts from TWO-MIX.

Dirty, dirty bassline on 『82.99 F.M』

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-42

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 17 Oct 2021 to 23 Oct 2021.

WILT_2021-42

  1. Already There – Taylor McFerrin, Robert Glasper, Thundercat, Marcus Gilmore
  2. The Idea – Blue Lab Beats, Nubya Garcia, Dylan Jones, Sheldon Agwu
  3. Love & Light – Emanative, Liz Elensky, Dan Jose, Desoke
  4. Kirwani – Tenderlonious, Jaubi
  5. Tanto Tiempo (Village Cuts Remix) – Scrimshire, Penya, Village Cuts
  6. November Blue – S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe, Kiyotaka Sugiyama
  7. The Ideas of Autumn – Slow Meadow
  8. Ultra Facial! – James K
  9. Kindan No Telepathy – Shizuka Kudo
  10. Mysterious – Shizuka Kudo
  11. 1986年のマリリン – Minako Honda
  12. 1/2の神話 (nibunnoichi no shinwa) – Akina Nakamori
  13. Brutal Kings – GRID
  14. Not Around – Uffe
  15. Jungle Kitten (Full Version) – Da Lata
  16. Henny (Resavoir Remix) – Dougie Stu, Resavoir, Jeff Parker

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-42

Notes

No words today. I’ve had an incredibly long week and a long Sunday.

Please be somewhat satisfied that one of my favourite finds from this week is this live studio performance of Kindan no Telepathy by Shizuka Kudo, and that it really shaped an appreciation for this genre of J-Pop that was developing from the 80s. The performance, the musical arrangements, the aesthetic, there are countless things to pay attention to. But perhaps when I have a bit more time.

(Telepathy)

I feel a goodbye coming

(Telepathy)

I might feel sad

But I love you

So hang on for a second for what I’m gonna say next

In the meantime, these are some additional notes I captured in the week prior to today.

The horn arrangements on November Blue are so incredibly frenetic. Instant add.

Very intrigued by the tasty psy-trance arrangements on Ultra Facial!

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-41

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 10 Oct 2021 to 16 Oct 2021.

WILT_2021-41

  1. Lullaby (feat. Nels Cline) – Sara Schoenbeck, Nels Cline
  2. Demon – Moonchild Sanelly, Sad Night Dynamite
  3. L-GAIM (Time for L-GAIM) – MIO
  4. MEN OF DESTINY – MIO
  5. RHYTHM EMOTION – TWO-MIX
  6. メロスのように ~LONELY WAY〜 (蒼き流星SPTレイズナー) – Hironobu Kageyama
  7. サイレント・ボイス (Silent Voice) – ひろえ純 (Hiroe Jun)
  8. Depression Is No Fun – Bomb The Music Industry!
  9. Only Wonder – frederic
  10. ゲッターロボ (Getta Robo) – Isao Sasaki
  11. If – Shizuka Kudo
  12. Cold Morning – Kiang Lim
  13. THE WINNER – Miki Matsubara
  14. 失われた伝説を求めて (Ushinawareta Yume o Motomete / In Search of Lost Legends) – Performed by アンディ(Andy), Arranged by 久石 譲 (Joe Hisaishi)
  15. Currents – Jab
  16. ガラスのPalm Tree (Glass no Palm Tree) – S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe, Kiyotaka Sugiyama
  17. Rewind – Runners Club 95
  18. Desire – 18 Carat Affair
  19. Children of the Omnissiah – Guillaume David

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-41

Notes

The guttural tones of Sara Schoenbeck’s bassoon playing dug deep into my instincts. They battled with the measured accompaniment provided by Nels Cline’s melancholic chord voicings, but ultimately the chaos of the universe broke through and all that is left in its wake are the birth pangs of pain and anguish silently screaming through the void of empty space.

I just love Moonchild Sanelly. Happy to include any new music of hers into these playlists so that listeners can enjoy her talent.

This next section of the playlist came from a deep journey into the rabbit hole of playlists curated by Spotify user, Beef / Kealan. I was revisiting the Patlabor animated movies, and started searching for music from the soundtrack. What I found was Beef / Kealan’s account, and playlists that captured some very endearing aesthetics from my formative pre-teen years.

For example, a playlist titled || BEST MECHA VOCAL SONGS || is indeed supercharged by conjured imagery of giant robot savagery.

From there, I was immediately taken by L-GAIM (Time for L-GAIM), which was an immediate inclusion because of the running eighth-note bass lines transitioning into a daring half-time pocket-inducing bass lick during the pre-chorus that allows the chorus to really launch into the stratosphere. And the robo-disco background vocals just kill it for me.

MEN OF DESTINY. Or as a comment I read on YouTube, the Gundam series’ most testosterone-fueled song is performed by a woman.

This is where I also tell you that I really love the voice of the performer, MIO, and that I learned that there is a group of musicians in the Japanese music culture known as “anison” musicians and performers, who are associated with performing music for the anime/animation medium.

RHYTHM EMOTION is added for purely nostalgic reasons. I think Gundam Wing was the first Gundam anime I was exposed to, and while I did not really enjoy this brand of techno in my youth, I have come to appreciate the sheer intensity and bombastic music production found in the genre.

メロスのように ~LONELY WAY〜 (蒼き流星SPTレイズナー) and サイレント・ボイス (Silent Voice) are extremely catchy, and make me wish I could sing them at karaoke. Also, the staccato strings that accent the moments just before the verse starts are extremely anticipatory.

I started exploring more of Beef / Kealan’s playlists, and that is why Depression Is No Fun, a ska track appears without any other context. I was drawn to this song because of the underlying frustration that undercurrents the whole song. The crunching downstrokes of distorted guitars, coupled with chaotic feedback swells during the chorus subvert the expectation of joyful, cheeky sounds that third-wave ska is typically known for.

The multi-toned guitar lines on Only Wonder really stand out for me. It’s extremely catchy, and quite testament to the innovativeness of Japanese rock.

ゲッターロボ (Getta Robo) is the theme song to one of the first Japanese mecha anime. The timbre in Isao Sasaki’s voice pairs really well with the 70’s orchestral pop arrangement found in so many TV shows from that era.

I think If is where we transit to a exploring some of Beef / Kealan’s city pop playlists. I really enjoyed the elegance of Shizuka Kudo’s vocals and the synth work found in the song.

Slight deviation so that I can feature Lim Kiang’s Cold Morning. A new track from a new album by the original and surviving member of Stray Dogs, one of Singapore’s most popular blues bands in the 60’s. Cold Morning is full of attitude, introspection, and extremely swampy slide guitar work. Not something you associate with the surgical city state of Singapore, and that’s what I love about the track.

THE WINNER sounds like it was inspired by Kenny Loggin’s Danger Zone. But once that chorus hits, it’s a catchy 80’s disco-rock vocal melody line that will have you raising your hands in celebration.

失われた伝説を求めて (Ushinawareta Yume o Motomete / In Search of Lost Legends) is the opening song to the anime Genesis Climber Mospeda, which in my pre-teen years was actually Robotech: The New Generation. Obviously, back then I had no bearing on how amazing this song actually is, but listening to it now, it’s funky, dance-y, full of wonderful horn-based accents and syncopation, one of the rare instances where I feel that slap bass really fits the pop or rock song genre. And I live for that airy falsetto that takes place over four measures in the tail end of the chorus. It is so close to pitching out of tune, but somehow does not. It is butt-clenching.

By the time we get to Currents, I think I realised I had been featuring way too much music from one particular playlist. Currents is here because I was having a rest and listening to one of my daily mixes, and the moment the bongo beats came on, I immediately added it to this playlist. Why? Because bongo don’t stop. Bongos immediately make me assume that the song is going to be great, and have not been wrong yet.

ガラスのPalm Tree (Glass no Palm Tree) is a really classy city pop track, and I recommend checking the entire album out.

Rewind and Desire lend some much needed chill-wave aesthetics to cleanse the palette a little, and somehow Children of the Omnisiah‘s chilling, gothic arrangements of the synth, bass, voice, and percussion, really cap off the last leg of the playlist very well. Pure coincidence that it ends of with some form of western mecha culture.

Giant robots are the best.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-40

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 3 Oct 2021 to 9 Oct 2021.

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  1. Beato Classico – J Lloyd
  2. I Need A Minute – sir Was
  3. Pasiphae – Febueder
  4. Another Son (Ted Jasper Remix) – Otzeki, Ted Jasper
  5. Phase One Million – Vanishing Twin
  6. Summer Sun – Cari Cari
  7. Belo Horizonte – Cari Cari
  8. Little☆Date – Ribbon
  9. Hinageshi – Michiyo Nakajima
  10. Atomb Bomb (Atomix 6) – Fluke
  11. It’s Love (Trippin’) [EPTN Mix]- Gold Trix, Andrea Brown
  12. Lungo Mare – Time To Sleep
  13. Hello – Axel Boman

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-40

Notes

I did not spend a lot of time recording notes for why I included these songs because how I was in between these decisions to include the songs. I cannot fully remember what I was exploring before adding the first song (might have been algorithm-recommended tracks from the previous week’s playlist), but this week’s playlist definitely started taking shape after I added Beato Classisco due to its whimsical synth flairs in this retrofuturist disco-funk number.

I am pretty sure I added I Need A Minute for its beat sample and arrangement.

Pasiphae was added because I really like Febueder and their brand of music that reminds me of Foals, Yeasayer, mixed with their own unique approach to instrumentation and arrangement. I love how this song takes has so many meandering musical ideas, it’s like floating downstream on a gentle river.

Another Son (Ted Jasper Remix) features a great tech-house beat that engages the brain during the mid-afternoon slump.

There’s a lot of classic funk and soul arrangements mixed with psychedelia in Phase One Million. I was probably brought into a state of focus through this song, so I added it.

I was drawn to the music of Cari Cari because there is something in the simplicity and taste of all the individual components of the recorded performances. Summer Sun reminds me of something that The xx would perform, yet brighter, warme, and ultimately be its own song, especially with their big guitar arrangement that adds an air of freedom to the music.

Oh snap. That bassline on Belo Horizonte. I want to do all sorts of nasty finger-plucking and fret-muting on some old-ass flatwound strings. And c’mon! How sensual is this entire song??? I think I will be finding my way back to this repeatedly.

Little☆Date and Hinageshi were added because I started watching the 90’s classic Ranma ½ and wanted to include the opening and closing songs from the first season, but these aren’t it. Instead, they’re from some user-generated Spotify playlist that I was exploring, and potentially feature in later seasons. Little☆Date has some great galloping eighth-note basslines, and Hinageshi has some great fretless basslines that I appreciate more now in 90’s pop music production.

I added Atom Bomb (Atomix 6) because it’s got such a great techno beat. I came across this while exploring the music from the video game Wipeout. I always remember that the music from Wipeout was incredibly exciting and heart-thumping, and there a lot of good gems in playlist I found.

For the last leg of this playlist, I am featuring some tracks that I lifted from Gui Boratto’s track IDs.

It’s Love (Trippin’) [EPTN Mix] is the kind of house music that comes on just before midnight, and right before the DJ takes the set to celestial levels. I’m all for that anticipation though.

Lungo Mare is the type of electro-house that will send me into a tizzy because of the pulsing arpeggio bass lines and skittish melodic lines that dance around the mind and cause the brain to keep surging forwards.

The moment the beat for Hello came on, I knew I had to add this track to the playlist. I love, love, love the off-beat that features on the song. It lifts the mood and it is such a burst of fresh air, like lifting your head from under the ocean and feeling the sun brush past your face for the first time in a long while.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-39

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 26 Sep 2021 to 2 Oct 2021.

WILT_2021-39

  1. Don’t Be Afraid – Diplo, Damien Lazarus, Jungle
  2. By Your Side – Sofia Kourtesis
  3. Never Come Back (Koreless Remix) – Caribou, Koreless
  4. Something in the Water – Carrie Baxter
  5. Es Vedra – Linkwood, Greg Foat
  6. La Perla (Tourist Remix) – Sofia Kourtesis, Tourist
  7. Wind – John Carroll Kirby
  8. 5,6,7,8 (Dance Is Life) – Jab
  9. So Humble The Afternoon – Julia Holter
  10. Drown – NewDad
  11. summer bruises – april june
  12. Ghostride – Crumb
  13. Humid Mood – John Carroll Kirby
  14. Oiran II – Meitei
  15. Inheritance – Lord Of The Isles, Ellen Renton
  16. Evening Shadows – D.K.
  17. Soared Straight Through Me (Kareem Ali Remix) – Tom VR, Kareem Ali
  18. I Had To Slow It Down – Galcher Lustwerk
  19. Gush – bdrmm

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-39

Notes

Jungle collaborated with Diplo? That sounds interesting. Ooooh, that sounds nice. Somewhere in the middle, the song seems to shift from oganic to electronic. Very cool.

By Your Side reminds me of those 4pm afternoons at drinking holes where the alcohol flowed and the music was good.

I am living for that sub-bass in Never Come Back (Koreless Remix).

There’s really something in the water for Something in the Water. The energy of the performance immediate perks you up. It’s not about intensity, but about confidence and intent. It is a very purposeful performance, as if the musicians did not squander a single measure.

So immersed in the nebulous nature of Es Vedra by Linkwood and Greg Foat. Apparently there’s an album called Linkwood & Foat. I will check that out.

The pulsing hypnosis on La Perla unlocks some chamber of euphoria within the brain.

Just taking in the piano work by John Carroll Kirby.

And damn, the marriage of beatwork, percussion, and string arrangements on 5,6,7,8 (Dance Is Life). This is music to lose yourself in.

I decided to play a dreampop playlist because I wanted some music to relax to which was not just binaural beats. It turned out to be a real surprise, because the dreampop curated in this playlist is quite different from the dreampop I grew up with. The chord phrasings and melodic arrangements are more sophisticated, and the ethereal nature of the music is more nuanced. However, the vulnerability and soft melancholia is still there, waiting to be discovered if you just dig a little.

The melody to So Humble the Afternoon reminds me of Sing to the Moon. [Spotify / YouTube]

Love the tone of the intro chords to Drown. And damn, playing bass on this track sounds fun.

I just like the simplicity and raw nature of summer bruises. There is a certain nostalgia and naivety in the song. I remember being drawn to the guitar tones and lines, as well as the primal interplay between bass and drums.

Ghostride exemplifies what I mean by the aperture of dreampop opening up. There are some sonic ideas from nu-soul leaking into this easy sunset vibe of a song. I’m all for it.

We transition out of dreampop back to soundscapes and beat maps. John Carroll Kirby takes us on another sojourn with Humid Mood.

The samples and arrangements on Oiran II are sick. What a great burst of sonic ecstasy.

The spoken word performance of Ellen Renton in Inheritance is a fragile beauty when backdropped against the cautious and contemplative synthscapes of Lord Of The Isles. I am so in love with this duo.

Evening Shadows came on for a split second before I had to do something else, but the introduction was promising enough to let me know that the song was going to be synth-glorious, and I have not been disappointed.

Adding Soared Straight Through You (Kareem Ali Remix) because of how deep the house beats and bass are.

There is a very awkward sexy confidence behind I Had To Slow It Down.

I’m happy to close out the list with Gush, a pleasant and earnest dreampop number with all the right amounts of decay in the delayed guitar lines.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-38

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 19 Sep 2021 to 25 Sep 2021.

WILT_2021-38

  1. Childhood – KIDSØ
  2. Bitter Streets – SAULT
  3. Why We Cry Why We Die – SAULT
  4. Energy – Alfa Mist, Emmavie
  5. Yukadans – Ayyuka
  6. Hacia el Vacío – Mabe Fratti, Claire Rousay
  7. Last Night – Arooj Aftab
  8. Bicicleta – Lapola Kalu
  9. Nordstar – KIDSØ
  10. Like My Way – Logic1000
  11. Robber – The Weather Station
  12. A Mermaid in Lisbon – Patrick Watson, Teresa Salgueiro
  13. Nothing Else Matters – Miley Cyrus, WATT, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo, Chad Smith, originally performed by Metallica
  14. If You Say The Word – Radiohead
  15. Ageispolis – Aphex Twin
  16. Subcoinscient Lamentation – Payfone, Tigerlight
  17. The Chapel – Ishmael Ensemble
  18. 90’s Baby – Red Astaire, Olivia Ruff
  19. Sung’ali – Mário Rui Silva
  20. Journey In Satchidananda – Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-38

Notes

When the beats to Childhood came on, it was an immediate addition. The vocal samples of children singing really add an air of warmth and charm.

Was drawn to the basslines, tones, and relaxed grooves in the tracks by SAULT.

Definitely included Energy because of arrangements on the Fender Rhodes.

Ayyuka is a Turkish psych band.

Hacia el Vacío means “Into the Void” in Spanish.

Last Night (my beloved was like the moon.)

The evening extends on Bicicleta.

Really like the deep house beats in on Nordstar and Like My Way. I definitely felt a craving for some deep house this week, and it’s sort of acting as a focus mode for me by combining the elements of repetition, hovering synthesizers, and muted basslines that create a desire to keep moving.

Indie rock/folk that do not feature guitars? That’s interesting, Robber.

A Mermaid In Lisbon is a very pleasant indie-folk tune. I am glad that I appreciate string arrangements now, and it is very stirring in this particular setting.

Miley Cyrus covered Nothing Else Matters and her vocal performance is emotive and compelling. She also sounds like Stevie Nicks. I thought the bass tone was killer, and no surprises, it was by Robert Trujillo. Lastly, I was wondering why the cello and piano arrangements were so prominent, lo and behold, they were by Yo-Yo Ma and Elton John.

Radiohead has a new song, it has a nice melody. The music video is nice and engaging too.

Enjoy the chill vibes of Aegispolis and Subcoinscient Lamentation.

Once again, Ishmael Ensemble makes it to the list. At this point I might as well put the whole album on a list.

90’s Baby is just super fun with a nod to 100% Pure Love.

Sung’ali is the evening sun on your face, and a cool breeze at your back.

The music of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders is dimensional. What an astounding trip.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-37

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 12 Sep 2021 to 18 Sep 2021.

WILT_2021-37

  1. Springtime – Linying
  2. Wrong on Right (Acid Rain over Berlin Mix) – Kai Tracid, A*S*Y*S
  3. Girl in Amber – Nell Smith, The Flaming Lips, Nick Cave
  4. Vortex – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
  5. Sundays (Just Piano Version) – FKJ
  6. You Can’t Fail Me Now – Joe Henry
  7. Litany of The First Encounter – Nicholas Lens, Nick Cave
  8. Litany of The Yearning – Nicholas Lens, Nick Cave
  9. Litany of Transformation – Nicholas Lens, Nick Cave
  10. Khidr + Ilyas (Dub) – Mehmet Aslan
  11. Demedim Mi (Pt. 1) – Insanlar, Cem Yıldız, Barış K
  12. They Were Here Before Us – Klopfgeister
  13. In My Heart feat. Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Khidja Remix) – Tapan, Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, Khidja
  14. Maasai (Dr Flake Remix) – Kutiman, Dr Flake
  15. Crenshaw – Black Nile, Tru
  16. Your Saint – Oscar Jerome, Brother Portrait
  17. Empty Hands – Ishmael Ensemble
  18. Haha – SAULT
  19. London Gangs – SAULT

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-37

Notes

This playlist did not shape up the way I thought it would shape up.

At one point, I thought it would go down a road of hard trance because I needed something to perk up my work productivity, but that musical energy dovetailed when I started exploring the other creative pursuits of Nick Cave, such as the litanies he wrote for Nicholas Lens’ chamber opera, or his replies to fan questions on The Red Hand Files.

The path may fork at any turn, and you have to decide where you would like to commit.

After the litanies, I realised that trance was not what I was looking for. I dabbled in listening to some techno, but ultimately settled on deep house to be my productivity fuel. From there, Spotify has a playlist titled Organica, and that informs the entire second half of the playlist, save the final two songs. The music from Organica is described as deep tribal sounds combining electronic elements and organic instrumentation, and it was the ideal hypnotic and drone-ish arrangements and beats to pound out some writing and productivity.

SAULT rounds out this week’s playlist with the first two tracks from their 2021 album, Nine. It is a little poetic that the final tracks here suggest a continuity somewhere else because I do not feel that this week’s playlist truly ended. Who knows why? Perhaps it is the way that this week’s final days bled into each other, and you feel like today is still yesterday.

Things come and go–Yet even still…

Those days at São Pedro’s were simple and good. They were the best of times. Now, developers are tearing the bar down and building a luxury apartment block in its place. I understand that this is the way of world — things come and go — and I know that we are facing more pressing problems than the demolition of a little bar in Sao Paulo, yet even still, a piece of Vila Madalena’s soul will be lost when they rip that place down, and a piece of mine too.

Nick Cave, The Red Hand Files, Aug 2021

Nick Cave’s response to the questions:

  1. What is your favourite bar and can we have a drink there?
  2. Nick, the bar “Mercearia São Pedro”, a place you used to go when you lived in São Paulo, will close its doors and be replaced by an expensive building. What do you think about it?

I was very taken by Nick Cave’s articulation of the tension between the head, and the heart. So many times I feel this way about development and progress, versus memory and soul.

It is the way time works, that we exist in it, and belong to it, yet we take from it, and create from it.

Alas, time is a lion and you are a lamb.

Time is a lion, and you are a lamb.

Joe Henry, Time is a Lion, 2007

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-36

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 5 Sep 2021 to 11 Sep 2021.

WILT_2021-36

  1. Girls and Boys – Blur
  2. End of a Century – Blur
  3. Crosstown Traffic – Jimi Hendrix
  4. Speak to the Wild – Thurston Moore
  5. United States of Whatever – Liam Lynch
  6. Getaway – The Music
  7. Breakerfall – Pearl Jam
  8. Quick Escape – Pearl Jam
  9. Riot Radio – The Dead 60s
  10. White Horses – Low
  11. Demon in Profile – The Afghan Whigs
  12. Untitled #1 – Spain
  13. Me Again – J Mascis
  14. So You Wanna Be A Superhero – Carissa’s Weird

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-36

Notes

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate how innovative Alex James’ bassline on Girls and Boys is? There was always something carnival-esque about this song, and while I used to think it was down to the organ arrangements, the sheer cheekiness of this bassline by a notably cheeky gentleman and cheese maker, really sells the flippant, rebellious joy against any preconceived structures of old.

I also included the original recording of End of Century because it is in such stark contrast against this live performance in Hyde Park in 2015. While the 1994 version a youth arrogance, wondering why old people are the way they are, the 2015 version looks back on one’s storied life with finally an understanding of why old people are the way they are. A combination of successes and failures, and of happiness and sadness. A kind of life where…

We all say we don’t want to be alone. We wear the same clothes because we feel the same. We kiss with dry lips when we kiss goodnight. End of a century, it’s nothing special.

Blur, End of Century, 1994

The hammer-ons used by Graham Coxon in End of Century made me think of Jimi Hendrix’s playing, and maybe there is some similarity or inspiration. Not so much in the employment of the scales they use, but in their approach to guitar playing, where it’s almost ad libbing and an extension of the melodies that they sing.

The playlist is starting to take shape as an exploration into the alternative guitar music rumblings of the 90’s and 00’s. I definitely sought out Pearl Jam, because I have always loved Breakerfall for just being an explosion of guitars and bass, and the kind of music I would just love to jam out to. Timeskip 20 years, and you have Quick Escape which reminds me of the same musical energy but with a more mature vocabulary and swagger through the combination of Stone Gossard, Matt McCready, and Jeff Ament. The interplay between all the musicians in the outro coda is pure rapturous bliss.

White Horses by Low is new one from 2021, and is a very daring recorded performance of staccato guitar buzzes that sound like someone finally figured out how to use effectively use Effector 13’s Torn’s Peaker in a song.

We round out the playlist with some some quieter and more somber arrangements that really highlight the heights of vulnerability and intensity that artists from this era were capable of reaching. Immensely captivating, such outward emotion only draws listeners in, and kind of makes you fall back in love with tired, but sincere sounds.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-35

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 29 Aug 2021 to 4 Sep 2021.

WILT_2021-35

  1. Sun – Emma-Jean Thackray
  2. Movementt – Emma-Jean Thackray
  3. Red, Black, and Green – Roy Ayers Ubiquity
  4. Stepping Into Tomorrow – Madlib
  5. Green Funk – Emma-Jean Thackray
  6. Golden Green – Emma-Jean Thackray
  7. Spectre – Emma-Jean Thackray
  8. Drinking from the Cup of Bob Knob – Surprise Chef
  9. Idiom – Joe Armon-Jones, Maxwell Owin, Oscar Jerome
  10. sparko – Joy Orbison, Herron
  11. Glad I Lived – Alfa Mist
  12. Lingus – Snarky Puppy
  13. Red Clay – Jack Wilkins
  14. Love and Hate in a Different Time – Gabriels
  15. Right Is Alright, Wrong Is To Belong – Moin
  16. Since We Broke Up – Anna B Savage
  17. Serious – Mansur Brown

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-35

Notes

I am not sure how Emma-Jean Thackray’s music came onto my radar. I literally opened my Spotify app, and there her name was as a previous search term. Having absolutely no idea how her name appeared there, nor what she sounded like, or what her music was about, it was about as blank a state as you could get.

Imagine my surprise and wonder, when it turned out to be a beautiful and free-flowing jazz, full of cosmic wonder reminiscent of Sun Ra, under-and-other-worldly percussion and basslines to create the primodial current on which creation is allowed to exist. Listening to Thackray’s music, the musical vision of this bandleader is bold, intrepid, and respectful–not of what came before, but where it could go if left unchecked.

Music to move the body, move the mind, move the soul

Emma-Jean Thackray

The rest of the playlist is built on the foundations of easy and relaxed beats, with some spiraling flourishes of creativity and technical mastery. (I’m looking at you, Snarky Puppy).

I would recommend enjoying this playlist on a cool, breezy afternoon, just before the magic hour. If you have access to a calm and peaceful environment, then the music here would make for a lovely, captivating companion.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-34

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 22 Aug 2021 to 28 Aug 2021.

WILT_2021-34

  1. TRUMPETS – _BY.ALEXANDER, 070 Shake
  2. It’s My Time – Mansur Brown
  3. Suit of Armour – Danika Smith
  4. Mumma Don’t Tell (Faltydl Remix) – Leifer James, Faltydl
  5. 4:20 – RAS
  6. I Want Troll With You (Gentle Dom Remix) – Connan Mockasin, Andrew Vanwyngarden, Gentle Dom
  7. Enumerating – GODTET
  8. Flowers – Andrew Ashong, Theo Parrish
  9. Charger (feat. Grace Jones) – Gorillaz, Grace Jones
  10. A Shade of Steam – Sight of Wonders
  11. In Dreaming – Suzanne Doucet, Gary Miraz
  12. You asked for this – Halsey
  13. Young Stuff – Snarky Puppy
  14. Something – Snarky Puppy, Lalah Hathaway

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-34

Notes

Sonically speaking, this week’s playlist has entered the orbit of the outer rim planets.

The songs sound familiar yet new.

The beats and instrumentation are homages to the greats, the arrangements have broken out of the boredom of familiar formula.

Vocals haze in and out, melodies start, stop, and staccato; beats drone and pound, climaxing into crescendo, resolving into coda, the waves carry on. Repeat, repeat, the next one will carry on.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-33

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 15 Aug 2021 to 21 Aug 2021.

WILT_2021-33

  1. Beauty – Tigercub
  2. Semilla – Lapola Kalu, Mente Orgánica
  3. In The City – The Jam
  4. Two Pages (Donato Dozzy & Daniele Di Gregorio Variation) – Bruce Brubaker, Max Cooper, Donato Dozzy, Daniele Di Gregorio
  5. Harness Your Hopes (B-Side) – Pavement
  6. Lose Your Soul – Dead Man’s Bones
  7. In The Room Where You Sleep – Dead Man’s Bones
  8. Buried in Water – Dead Man’s Bones
  9. My Body’s a Zombie For You – Dead Man’s Bones
  10. Pa Pa Power – Dead Man’s Bones
  11. Flowers Grow Out of My Grave – Dead Man’s Bones
  12. Annabi – Majid Bekkas, Goran Kajfes, Jesper Nordenstrom, Stefan Pasborg
  13. Total Perspective Vortex – A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie, Dustin O’Halloran
  14. Sinú – Nodes
  15. Virtual U – oso leone
  16. Best In You – oso leone
  17. Gallery Love – oso leone
  18. Vernal Pools – oso leone
  19. Fontanel – Dal
  20. Inner Circle – Rozi Plain
  21. Suns of Gold – Leifur James
  22. Broken Hearted Kota – Joseph Shabason

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-33

Notes

This week’s playlist prominently features two bands, Dead Man’s Bones, and oso leone.

Pa Pa Power resurfaced in a randomly generated indie rock playlist session and I decided to check out the whole album because the ensemble of children’s choir voices were exceptionally captivating, as well as the very primal and simplistic percussion work that conveyed a certain earnestness that guided the looseness of the performances, ultimately resulting in a type of joy that I wanted to hear more of.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that this was a musical project by Ryan Gosling, and while that did create an intrinsic interest to learn more about the music, it would be more specific to say that it created an interest to understand why a successful Hollywood actor had an interest to create this particular sound. Something that was not over-produced, not seeking perfection, and yet seemed held together by an idea or vision.

Together with counterpart Zach Shields (who also wrote on 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, and produced 2019’s Godzilla: King of Monsters), the duo set out to create music inspired by their combined fascination of ghosts, monsters and the supernatural, that resulted in a sound that I can only be described as “spooky”, because it is so humourously not scary or terrifying, as they sing about love that extends beyond the grave, and have a children’s choir dress up in Halloween costumes during performances. Deliberate, or randomly cohesive, it is fascinating to me that a project like this exists, and if it catches you at a particular point in time, it might just be what you have been needing to hear.

Moving on to oso leone, a band based in Spain. The first track that stood out to me was Virtual U, that I thought contained the sensuality of a Sade tune, the ease of space of reminiscent of HTRK, but with more tempo and instrumentation that pulls you into their inner musical world.

I gravitated a lot to their music, it seemed as thought they managed to combine so many facets of jazz, pop, R&B, soul, local influence, and electronica into their music. So much so that on the one hand, it sounds familiar, and on the other hand, it sounds completely their own.

It is fascinating how these two bands both shaped, as well as responded to this past week of listening. I remember thinking that I might explore the familiar territory of rock music, and it started out promising and I was introduced to some great music by Tigercub, The Jam, and Pavement, and beyond that, we also extend into some electronica experimental noise, and jazz. I do have to give mention to the playlist closers for taking a gentle corner into the home stretch with expert and measured instrumentation to create music that you can just lose yourself in, watch the city sleep.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-32

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 8 Aug 2021 to 14 Aug 2021.

WILT_2021-32

  1. Junk 75 – Dope Body
  2. Super Zodiac – The Comet Is Coming
  3. Tarova – Snarky Puppy
  4. Lauren – Men I Trust
  5. Owl – Ryat
  6. Night Bunny – Alister Fawnwoda, Suzanne Ciani, Greg Leisz
  7. limited daps – Kenny Segal
  8. VBS – Lucy Dacus
  9. The Other Lover (Little Dragon Vocal Celebration Mix) – Little Dragon, Moses Sumney
  10. Yebo Teacher (Extended Version) – Moonchild Sanelly
  11. Outlook Remains Untouched – ||||||||||||||||||||
  12. All Of The Time – Jungle
  13. Fire – Jungle
  14. Just Fly, Don’t Worry – Jungle
  15. Heavy/Like a Witch – All Them Witches
  16. Cosmic Exile – Antarticus
  17. Some Feeling – Mild Orange
  18. Birth of Creation – The Comet Is Coming
  19. Tourniquet (P O R T A L S) – TesserecT
  20. Parabola – Tool
  21. Natural – Shelly
  22. Way to be Loved – TOPS
  23. Soft Drink – Cherry Glazerr
  24. This Journey VIP – Blackdown
  25. Dark Gethsemane – Burial
  26. Arklight (Blackdown Remix) – Heatmap, Blackdown

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-32

Notes

Hopelessly we entwine. That is the vibe I checked as I listened to Night Bunny.

I deliberately sought out a more aggressive tone at the start of this week’s playlist because I felt that I had not been listening to much rock music of late. I dabbled with the different daily mixes that Spotify curates for me, and landed on one that started with music by Dope Body, a noise-hardcore band. The aggression in the instrumentation does scratch a certain itch within me, though I do not know how long that comfort lasted.

It did however prime me to listen to music that had percussion in it, rather than the drone-ish or orchestral music I had been listening to in recent weeks.

The discovery of the band, Men I Trust, is a highlight for me. The basslines are unmistakably played on flatwound strings, which always get me in a body-bopping sort of mood. The pop vibes exuded by the music also remind me of the east-coast rock sound reminiscent of The Eagles.

Poetry was so bad

It took a lot to not laugh

VBS – Lucy Dacus

The simplicity and insightfulness of this line in VBS are some of most savage lyrics I have had the pleasure of listening to in a song. The crunching guitar parts in one of the later breakdowns also receive a nostalgic nod from me that remind of the first time I heard Creep.

Nostalgia as a general emotion features in a small number of this playlist’s notes. It definitely has something to do with listening to guitar-based again music after an extended absence.

Jungle has a new album, Love In Stereo, and it is massive. I have included some selections with standout bass arrangements.

Shoutouts to brilliant arrangement, production, and vocal takes on the tracks by Little Dragon, Moonchild Sanelly, and ||||||||||||||||||||.

I somehow also settled into the mood for some stoner/desert rock. Enjoy what I think are tracks that feature enjoyable guitar riffs. Special mention to Parabola by Tool, which was pulled out at random when I had developed a craving for the polyrhythm-defying nature of their guitar riffs but ended up getting reminded of how addictive their guitars tones and bass tones are. I remember deciding to include this track because it is rather run-of-the-mill by Tool standards, a bit of a mid-album signpost, which was why I thought this would exceptionally highlight how captivating their guitar tones are.

The playlist went into overtime on Saturday evening with some standout indie-pop melodies courtesy of TOPS and Cherry Glazerr, as well killer beats from May 2021 EP by Blackdown and Burial, Shock Power of Love EP, whose arrangements remind me of a hybrid between trance, IDM, and that classic Burial sound.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-31

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 1 Aug 2021 to 7 Aug 2021.

WILT_2021-31

  1. Delta Flow 108Hz–111Hz – Binaural Lazers
  2. Waiting in the Arisaig – Lord of the Isles
  3. Causalities – ||||||||||||||||||||
  4. Ecce! Ego! – Leon Vynehall
  5. Red Storm – Kelly Moran
  6. Dream Puppy – The Sweet Enoughs
  7. Le début de la fin – Domenique Dumont
  8. Pêche II – h hunt
  9. Broken Brights – Angus Stone
  10. Bird On the Buffalo – Angus Stone
  11. Carnival of the Animals, XIII. Le Cygne (the Swan): Le carnval des animaux: No. 13. Le cygne – Camille Saint-Saëns, Clara Rockmore, Nadia Reisenberg
  12. In Dream – Suzanne Doucet, Gary Miraz
  13. His Rope – Burial, Four Tet, Thom Yorke
  14. Khalifa Golf Club – Gigi Masin
  15. 3 Old Viennese Dancers: No. 2 Liebesleid (Arr. for Theremin & Piano) – Fritz Kreisler, Clara Rockmore, Nadia Reisenberg
  16. A-001 – Corntuth
  17. A Forest – alva noto

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-31

Notes

Plenty of the songs featured in this playlist came from sessions of rest.

I have found that listening to binaural beats helps guide my mental focus towards whichever state I desire, be it rest or focus. I thought it would be pleasant to open this week’s playlist with a track from one of the focus relaxation playlists I follow.

From there, the listening journey explored many iterations of electronic-based music, and also found its way into early performances of electronic music. Clara Rockmore came to my attention as one of the pioneer theremin players, who also performed rearrangements of classical pieces.

If there is anything that I want to note from this week’s playlist, is that I enjoyed the time of rest that music and listening was able to afford me this week.

Rest, when respite presents itself to you.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-30

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 25 Jul 2021 to 31 Jul 2021.

WILT_2021-30

  1. Still Steeve – L’éclair
  2. Street Fighter Mas – Rodrigo y Gabriela
  3. Fire Tower – The Grid, Robert Fripp
  4. Bremen – Håkon Kornstad
  5. Force majeure – Gaspard Augé, Justice
  6. Sonatas & Interludes for Prepared Piano: Sonatas Nos. 14 & No. 15 “Gemini” (After Richard Lippold) – John Cage, Margaret Leng Tan
  7. String Quartet, Op.11: 2. Molto adagio – Samuel Barber, Keller Quartett
  8. In A Landscape (1948) – John Cage, Stephen Drury
  9. Living Like I Know I’m Gonna Die – Genevieve Artadi
  10. De Natura Sonoris No. 2 – Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Nationales Polnisches Rundfunksinfonieorchester

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-30

Notes

I am writing this very late in the day because I have been feeling under the weather.

It is curious how when you feel physically repulsed, the ability to write or remember flatlines because the body now is not given any respite to remember comforting things.

Pain, melancholia, aches, lethargy, etc… They are all very present ailments and emotions. They are the “now” of reality. And you seek relief in the present, not in memory or future plans.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-29

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 18 Jul 2021 to 24 Jul 2021.

WILT_2021-29

  1. Solitaries – Max Richter
  2. Prelude 2 – Max Richter, Mari Samuelsen
  3. A Sparrow Alighted Upon Our Shoulder – Jóhann Jóhannsson, Air Lyndhurst String Orchestra, Anthony Weeden
  4. Reminiscence – Ólafur Arnalds, Alice Sara Ott
  5. Because This Must Be – Nils Frahm
  6. On The Nature of Daylight – Max Richter, Louisa Fuller, Natalia Bonner, John Metcalfe, Philip Sheppard, Chris Worsey
  7. Blessing It [Remix] (Feat. Substantial, Pase Rock) – Nujabes, Substantial, Pase Rock
  8. Default – Atoms For Peace
  9. Light Over The Moor – Sophie Hutchings
  10. Nana (Like A Star Made For Me) [Julianna Barwick Remix] – Malibu, Julianna Barwick
  11. You, at the End [Laurel Halo Version] – Lafawndah, Laurel Halo
  12. Prickly Pear – Portico Quartet
  13. Closer – Kerala Dust
  14. You Look Certain (I’m Not So Sure) [WXAXRXP Session] – Mount Kimbie, Andrea Balency
  15. I’m The Echo – DARKSIDE
  16. Crow (DJ-Kicks) – Forest Swords
  17. The Chain – Kerala Dust
  18. Motions – Kerala Dust
  19. Night Bell (Arizona) – Kerala Dust
  20. Stormy Drums – Sol Monk, Avri Borochov
  21. Caroline – Arlo Parks

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-29

Notes

I particularly enjoyed listening to this week’s playlist because I think there are very exceptional musical ideas presented in it. We explore contemporary classical, drone, minimalism, electronica, jazz, and new soul.

I remember starting this week thinking it was going to be a reminiscing of string ensemble music, but that took a turn when DARKSIDE’s latest album Spiral launched on all streaming services. I have been looking forward to this album, and it does not disappoint at all. Be sure to listen to I’m the Echo, a snaking electronica track with melodic and drone inspirations from the Middle East and North Asia, yet the groove is all about the tight pockets found in soul, jazz, funk, and tasty electronica. And the musical interlude featured? It is so disconcerting that it keeps your soul awake.

From there, I also came across Kerala Dust, which makes up a large portion of the second half of the playlist. To me, they sound a lot like DARKSIDE, but there are also brief moments where they take on a shivering dance music tangent that makes the music all on their own.

The music here makes me excited about what else the human race will produce, and is capable of producing. The sensation of limitless expansion comes so rarely these days, that I am just grateful to have grasped a wisp of it.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-28

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 11 Jul 2021 to 17 Jul 2021.

WILT_2021-28

  1. La Jeune Fille en Feu (Bande originale du filme) – Para One, Arthur Simonini
  2. 28 – Agust D, NiiHWA
  3. Same So – Protoje
  4. Blaze Away – Konshens, Collie Buddz
  5. A Vibe (feat. Wiz Khalifa) – Protoje, Wiz Khalifa
  6. When Will I See You Again – Idris Ackamoor, The Pyramids
  7. One Last Kiss – Utada Hikaru
  8. A Cruel Angel’s Thesis (Neon Genesis Evangelion Rework) – Ginger Root
  9. No Title – NSDOS
  10. Turncoat – Goldmund
  11. Glory Box (Live) – Portishead
  12. I. Lento—Sostenuto tranquillo ma cantibile – Henryk Górecki, Beth Gibbons, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Krzysztof Penderecki
  13. III. Lento—Cantabile-semplice – Henryk Górecki, Beth Gibbons, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Krzysztof Penderecki
  14. Under the Weather MIX (Electric Counterpoint Remix) – Steve Reich, Magnus Frykberg, Jay-Jay Johanson, Mats Bergström
  15. Godspeed Remix (Nagoya Guitars Remix) – Steve Reich, Mats Bergström
  16. lobby (@ The W) – YELLO DICAPRIO, SnailGod
  17. Losing My Way (Live at O2 Academy Brixton, 2019) – FKJ, Tom Misch
  18. BROKE AF – YETI PACK, J.SON
  19. FENGSHUI – YETI PACK
  20. LONELY – YETI PACK, PARINDA
  21. The Four Horsemen – Aphrodite’s Child
  22. Jump Into The Fire – Harry Nilsson
  23. I Got The… – Labi Siffre
  24. Plastic Love – Friday Night Plans

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-28

Notes

This week’s playlist went through a few branches. Let me see if I can recount them.

I remember being drawn to the clapping percussion and choral arrangements featured in the track by Para One and Arthur Simonini, but I have no idea why I started listening to a selection of contemporary reggae tracks after that. I believe the playlist I came across was called “Irie”. Also, it tickles me that all the songs I selected to feature all profess an uncompromising love for the green machine, and the desire to stay vibed.

Past that were explorations into music inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion, as well as electronic music, and Wednesday was the day I remember revisiting Portishead’s groundbreaking live performance of Glory Box, after a friend played a vinyl pressing of the live NYC recording circa 1997.

That definitely caused the branch into some classical performances because I discovered that Beth Gibbons sang on some arrangements by Henryk Górecki and Krzysztof Penderecki, and by golly are they gorgeous performances. Remixes of some Steve Reich compositions also feature by way of this subtrail, and I can never pass up a good droning arrangement.

By Friday evening, I relaxed by shutting down to TikTok and YouTube because it was an absolutely bonkers work week. I came across YELLO DICAPRIO’s work because of a TikTok video he did, and that brought me to discovering Drill music, and Singapore’s Drill culture. Drill is something like Trap but more melodic, and that’s all I really know. But it has a chill vibe and the deep basslines somehow soothed my mind at the time. I’m not a fan of the more sexualised and what I perceive as misogynistic lyrics, but when the genre does shine for me is when a collective performs, and you get YETI PACK. There seems to be an open exchange of cultures and ideas, as well as an attitude of positive humour, and I can get behind that.

The playlist closes on some tracks I came across from Jungle’s F1 playlist that they were commissioned for. And lordy, are there some bangers on it. The Four Horsemen features a driving proto-rock groove about the apocalypse (what else?). And Jump Into The Fire just has an absolutely filthy bass tone that I got excited about.

Everything pads out with a city pop track that emerged at the eleventh hour because of how poppin’ that bassline is. All in all a fun week of listening, although a bit too meandering for my liking. But maybe that’s more a critique of the way I wrote this post.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-27

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 4 Jul 2021 to 10 Jul 2021.

WILT_2021

  1. The Night Unfurls (BGM: Title Screen) – Ryan Amon
  2. Hunter’s Dream (Location: Hunter’s Dream) – Ryan Amon
  3. Cleric Beast (Boss: Cleric Beast, Vicar Amelia) – Tsukasa Saitoh
  4. The Hunter (Boss: Father Gascoigne) – Ryan Amon
  5. Blood-starved Beast (Boss: Blood-starved Beast) – Tsukasa Saitoh
  6. The Witch of Hemwich (Boss: The Witches of Hemwick) – Michael Wandmacher
  7. Hail the Nightmare (Location: Hypogean Goal) – Ryan Amon
  8. Darkbeast (Boss: Darkbeast Paarl) – Tsukasa Saitoh
  9. Watchers (Boss: Shadow of Yharnam) – Yuka Kitamura
  10. Rom, The Vacuous Spider (Boss: Rom, The Vacuous Spider) – Yuka Kitamura

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-27

Notes

This week’s notes are going to be pretty straightforward because I barely did any active listening. For work, I have been experimenting with binaural beats and sine doping, and these methods have been very effective for me to immediately immerse into focus mode, which is oftentimes one of the biggest obstacles for me when it comes to desk work. As you can also imagine, there is not much I would like to feature on that by way of this playlist.

One thing I can feature though, is a playlist of music I have been listening to passively during my after-work hours.

To decompress, I have been re-attempting to complete the 2015 classic video game, Bloodborne, develop by FromSoftware and published by Sony Computing Entertainment. It is known for its its Lovecraftian plot and cosmic-horror environmental storytelling immersive level, character, enemy, and boss design, as well as its punishing and grueling difficulty. In fact, it has become a bit of a mark of pride when a gamer can say that they have completed a game by FromSoftware, but at least only to other fans of the developer. In any case, I completed another game prior (Dark Souls 3 sans the final two bosses of the Ringed City DLC), and I thought it was about time to re-attempt this task because it was one of those things I wanted to achieve.

I have not been disappointed. Something has clicked in me this session and I have managed to get more used to the pace of the game’s combat system, because that was something I struggled with when I first attempted Bloodborne years ago. As such, I have been having thorough fun exploring the created worlds, learning about the lore behind each story beat and setting, as well as holding my own against some of FromSoftware’s most difficult boss fights.

To that end, I have decided to feature the music that accompanies each boss encounter in the order that I have successfully defeated them, as well as music from some of the iconic moments within the game.

And while it does not need to be said that the music and scoring for Bloodborne is phenomenal, the music and scoring for Bloodborne is absolutely phenomenal. Treat yourself to choral and orchestral arrangements that are both enchanting and harrowing all at once. One moment you are being swayed by an ancient rite of horror calling upon a Great One to deliver you, and the next you are screaming in terror as the staccato of violin notes assail upon your flesh and render you an eviscerated flesh heap as your mind recoils in madness.

It is rare for the background music of a video game to be given such a generous featuring in the medium, but for fans of the game and the developer, FromSoftware games do feature music prominently because they recognize that music and atmosphere are important elements to create unparalleled immersion into a created world. Here is the behind-the-scenes look of the musicians that performed on Cleric Beast, one of the first bosses you encounter, as well as a medley performance of music composed by Ryan Amon for Bloodborne.

If you are curious also, here is me defeating the bosses, Shadow of Yharnam, and Rom, the Vacuous Spider. It looks pretty slow and uneventful on screen, but trust me when I say that these were methodical tactics to ensure survivability, damage potential, and visibility on what the bosses were telegraphing for eventual success. You did not see me dying up to five times per encounter to learn from my mistakes, and what was going through my mind as I made split second decisions to not die, because everything in a FromSoftware game kills you. (Background: Most video games make use of UI or a HUD to explain to the player that this something might kill you. FromSoftware believes they have given you enough help in the game, and that your skill and willpower is enough to carry you through.)

So yes, this week is about a video game, and about music I listened to in a video game. In my opinion that still counts as What I Listened To.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-26

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 27 Jun 2021 to 3 Jul 2021.

WILT_2021-26

  1. Porsche 944 – Laurent Bardainne, Tigre d’Eau Douce
  2. Rogue – Yagi Michiyo
  3. Take You Higher – LEISURE
  4. Don’t Hold Back – DRAMA
  5. 9 – Adeline
  6. Liquid Deep – dreamcastmoe
  7. Brangelina Fanfiction – Melodiesinfonie, Fiona Fiasco
  8. Highly Medicated – Mara TK
  9. Will I See You Again – Thee Sacred Souls
  10. Inner Rhythms – Koji Ono
  11. Haro no Umi (for Violin and Harp) – Miyagi Michiyo, Gidon Kremer, Yoshino Naoko
  12. Kazum-zum-zum – Mário Rui Silva
  13. Slip Away – Pat Metheny Group

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-26

Notes

I had a lot of fun experiencing this playlist come together. When I first heard Porsche 944, with its earworm of a sax line, I had no idea it would subconsciously set the outlook for the rest of the playlist. While I did seek out more music by Yagi Michiyo, thinking that I would carry on with the previous playlist’s theme of traditional instruments, I also stumbled across the music of LEISURE, which ultimately shaped the majority of this playlist. Nonetheless, Rouge by Yagi Michiyo is a phenomenal koto performance that I need to bring to your attention, for it is full of intense emotion and marvelous virtuosity.

I cannot remember how LEISURE came back into my listening orbit, but Take You Higher was such a joy to listen to with its incredible lightheartedness that I had to check out more of their discography. From there, I listened to their artist-curated playlist, 48 HOUR LEISURE PEOPLE, and was treated to dozens of choice cuts of easy, sundowner music that will put a calm on your heart, and a smile on your face.

Standouts for me include Don’t Hold Back by DRAMA with another melodic synth earworm, Liquid Deep by dreamcastmoe with its cheeky liquid bassline, and Brangelina Fanfiction by Melodiesinfonie and Fiona Fiasco for its seductive and tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Finally the soulful Will I See You Again by Thee Sacred Souls caps off our time with LEISURE’s playlist. Follow it, and do not look back.

Our final leg takes us to Kazum-zum-zum by Mário Rui Silva, a track that has recently been re-discovered by crate diggers around the world. And rightfully so, it is full of joyous percussion and swaying organ sounds that will have you enjoying your vice of choice as you watch the world fade to a blur. A surprise bit of poetry that the last track on this list is Slip Away by the Pat Metheny Group.

The notes for this week include more descriptions of the music I came across. I do not know if its a conscious effort, as much as it is an experiment on my part to chronicle my opinions and interactions with the music that I come across, but I think it would be good for some level of posterity that I also capture this aspect of my state of taste, as much as I sometimes capture my state of mind in other posts. And this has been a rare moment in my listening journey since I started this project, in that it does not seem too serious, and it feels like we are finally having some fun. Fun in the sun.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-25

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 20 Jun 2021 to 26 Jun 2021.

WILT_2021-25

  1. Japon – Etsuko Chida
  2. Sangai-bushi, Sado Okesa – Kouta Katsutaro
  3. Akita Nikata Bushi – Sanae Yamubuki, Umewaka Asano
  4. Ukifune – Japanese Shamisen Jiuta Ensemble
  5. 秋の言の葉(抜粋) Aki No Koto No Ha (Ba Sui) – 宮城道雄 (Miyagi Michiyo)
  6. Remedy – Anchorsong
  7. Get It Right – Latanya Alberto
  8. Chivalry Is Not Dead – Hiatus Kaiyote
  9. That’s On You – Joyce Wrice
  10. Blue – Shay Lia, KAYTRANADA, BADBADNOTGOOD
  11. Care Less – Latanya Alberto
  12. About To – City Park
  13. On II U – Alex Isley
  14. 12AM in Bali – SMANDEM., Elena Pinderhughes
  15. Feet Don’t Fail Me Now – Joy Crookes
  16. The Taste of You – Ritual Howls
  17. ANTI-LIFE [Feat. Chino Moreno] – HEALTH, Tyler Bates, Chino Moreno

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-25

Notes

We are starting this week’s playlist by featuring the traditional Japanese instrument, the Koto (箏), and some of its associated ensembles. The reason for this is because I started watching an anime called Kono Oto Tamare! Sounds of Life, which is a “slice of life” genre series about high school students and their adventures and coming of age from being in their school’s Koto club.

I think this listening path also put me on another musical exploration journey into different traditional and classical forms of music besides the Western / European styles and systems, and to explore equally rich forms that contribute to musicology as a whole.

Midway through the week, I remember a refocusing of my interests towards the new vanguard of soul and R&B. As always, the rhythms, melodies and textures are futuristic, yet grounded in a foundation of what it is building off. The ideas by the artists featured in the latter half of this playlist are bright, sunny, and hopeful, yet realistic and measured in that it is not a blind exuberance, but rather a chosen one.

Which makes the closing two tracks somewhat out of place. But I did finish the week listening to noise-based bands that are able to deliver crushing performances through their tools and sheer force of will.

Three words come to mind to describe the past week’s choices: Enchantment, Acceptance, Exasperation

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-24

WILT_2021-24

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 13 Jun 2021 to 19 Jun 2021.

  1. Howler – Martin Gore
  2. Everything is Different (To Me) – quickly, quickly
  3. Op – Bremer, McCoy
  4. My Own Soul’s Warning – The Killers
  5. Pedas – Wany Hasrita, Sophia Liana
  6. Hyper Worm Tamer (Remix) – Grinderman
  7. Blue Splinter View – Me And My Drummer
  8. Echolocation – LITE
  9. Hunter – LITE
  10. Moya – Godspeed You! Black Emperor
  11. Seven Nation Army – Scary Pockets, Elise Trouw, originally performed by The White Stripes
  12. Mutantes – Fermín Echeveste, Juana Aguirre
  13. Algo de Lo Que Me Pueda Quejar – Doble Pletina
  14. Slipping Away – LEISURE
  15. El secret més ben guardat del pop – Nyandú
  16. Lovertaker – Gary Wright, Wonderwheel
  17. Chicha Nola – Gitkin
  18. Dream (Arr. M. Leng Tan) – John Cage, Margaret Leng Tan

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-24

Notes

I remember starting this playlist with a certain fear of judgement by observers, about what they might think about the choices I made on what to highlight. If I am being honest, this thought does come into my mind every now and then, especially when I consider the representation of what I have been listening to, as well as what I have been choosing to feature. To a degree, some level of bias already exists.

I truly believe that music is a beautiful language that allows human beings to connect across cultures and traditions, that if we do not allow music to define our egos, that it is a way forward beyond our prejudices and biases. Why? Because music has the ability to speak without words. It allows you to feel emotions. But it is our preconceived notions that colour our perception when we hear something different, or not to our taste. But if we recognise that this is a taste for another person, or another culture, we are in no positions to judge someone else’s choices. We are each on this earth for a finite amount of time, our egos have no place in trying to convince any culture, longstanding or emerging, that their preferences are wrong or tasteless. We listen at the place we are at. We enjoy music at the place we are at. We are moved by music at the place we are at. Many times they are miniscule specks in a grand canvas of egos, and I have found that the smaller the ego, and the more open-minded, have the ability to connect across more individuals, rather than remain closed to one particular sound, one particular generation, or one particular bias.

I suppose this is why I feel slightly unnerved whenever I come across a comment of people claiming a particular culture or history as theirs, when it should be the opposite. Your culture and your history is what you choose to contribute to it. Culture and history is not for you to take, it is what you give.

Back to the actual notes of this playlist. I thought it would be a journey into experimental drone projects, music and ideas that I would somehow gravitate towards when I need to concentrate, yet provide enough dimension and hiss to push through creative and motivational barriers. But that all changed early on in the week when Jenna let me listen to The Killers’ anthemic My Soul’s Own Warning, which is not the best Killer’s song, but the newest one that I listened to after a very long time. It brought a sort of nostalgia, yet enough growth in their songwriting and arrangement to make me curious about rock music again, or rather, interested in the energy that comes from rock music. I decided on listening to more music by LITE, which scratched an itch for more progressive music, and also came across some video recordings of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, which back in the day, were extremely elusive. They still are extremely elusive, but thanks to the Internet, I can now experience some of their live performances to a degree.

But even that did not last very long as there were some interesting forks in the road as I got exposed to Spotify’s Borderless playlist and was exposed to more non-English indie pop sounds. The energy and the sounds were new and interesting enough to my ears and I greatly appreciated the injection of their local flavours into music.

We are close to the end of with a bangin’ track that I got introduced to from this extremely fun mix by Krishna Villar. Chicha Nola by Gitkin made me sit up with its cheeky and fun percussion, as well as its cinematic guitar runs and instrumentation.

And finally we end off with a piano and toy piano arrangement and performance of John Cage’s Dream, by Margaret Leng Tan. Margaret is a Singaporean treasure and she recently performed this track, as well as others in response to beautiful works by some of Singapore’s pioneering artists like Kim Lim and Eng Tow. You should watch the video performance by National Gallery Singapore’s programming team here for aural delights and art education and appreciation.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-23

WILT_2021-23

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 6 Jun 2021 to 12 Jun 2021.

  1. Better Change Your Mind – William Onyeabor
  2. Afro Harping – Brandee Younger
  3. Sekt um 12 – Modeselektor
  4. Night – Kelly Lee Owens
  5. Abu Simbel – WhoMadeWho
  6. Want You So Bad – The Vaccines
  7. 廻廻奇譚 (Kaikai Kitan)- Eve
  8. Windswept (Acrone Remix) – Acrone, Jonny Jewel
  9. Pink Lunettes – Pond
  10. YYZ – Rush
  11. Talk About it – Jungle

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-23

Notes

This week features an exceedingly haphazard playlist. Work has been quite intense so a lot of music faded into the background for me. I suppose I also did not spend a lot of time with music in my downtime as I did start watching two animes recommended by the folk at Bonsai Pop. The track 廻廻奇譚 (Kaikai Kitan) is the opening sequence to the anime 呪術廻戦 (Jujustu Kaisen), and it did spark a shortlived trek into the lands of Math Rock, which I did notice that many younger bands seem to be gravitating towards. I think there’s something about the technicality of the genre that some younger markets gravitate towards because it is potentially a counter culture to the more manufactured mainstream popular music.

I believe I started the week by coming across William Onyeabor’s Better Change Your Mind on an radio mix put together by Shigeto and broadcast by NTS. Lyrically, it grabbed my attention when I was on one of my walks, as it seemed to encapsulate the macro forces shaping each nations’ foreign policy and economic policy, and it stands out more poignantly because nothing seems to have particular changed from a macro perspective between 1978 to 2021.

Everything else feels like a mish mash of electronic, funk, dance, rock. It might be interesting that rock is making a comeback. I do remember listening to some tracks by Bloc Party and Foals as they do feature more frenetic rhythms, but I did not think to include them here.

This feels like a weird, lackluster musical week. I do wonder what the cause of this apathy is.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-22

WILT_2021-22

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 30 May 2021 to 5 Jun 2021.

  1. Green Eyes – Arlo Parks
  2. It’s a Moot Point – Melanie Faye
  3. Fall Again – Duval Timothy, Lil Silva, Melanie Faye
  4. Connaissais de Face – Khruangbin
  5. (Don’t Let The Dragon) Draag On – King Krule
  6. The Healer – Erykah Badu
  7. Smoke – Mac Ayres
  8. Ferel (letherette Remix) – Elder Island, letherette
  9. Revolutionize – Adrian Younge
  10. Inth the Stratosphere feat. Nir Felder – Hironori Momoi, Nir Felder
  11. Get Sun (feat. Arthur Verocai) – Haitus Kaiyote, Arthur Verocai
  12. Freedom at Sunset – Doug Carn, Ali Saheed Muhammad, Adrian Younge
  13. You and I – Kan Sano
  14. Is It Because I’m Black – Syl Johnson
  15. I’m Talkin’ ‘About Freedom – Syl Johnson
  16. California Soul – Marlena Shaw
  17. Inspiration Information – Shuggie Otis
  18. Walk On By – Isaac Hayes
  19. Billy Jack – Curtis Mayfield
  20. Kerosene! – Yves Tumor
  21. You Make Me Feel Brand New – Dezron Douglas, Brandee Younger
  22. Mohabbat – Arooj Aftab
  23. Theme of the Stargazers – June Tyson, Sun Ra & His Arkestra
  24. Man From Tanganyika – Adele Sebastian
  25. Castaways – Adam Neely, Martina DaSilva
  26. Castaways (Indie Pop) – Andy Yu
  27. Castaways – The Backyardigans
  28. OwO – Adam Neely, Ben Levin

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-22

Notes

This week’s playlist features one of the longest compilations that I have put together. It starts with an initial listening of the contemporary R&B and Soul from upcoming artists like Arlo Parks and Melanie Faye. Personally, I find this emerging genre of New Soul very exciting, and also very respectful of of the rich pedigree before it. The ideas are fresh, the performances and instrumentation are bold, and where there are lyrics, written by a new generation for a new representative society.

Speaking of rich pedigree, one reason why this playlist started meandering and building is because many of the ideas featured here can probably be traced to Jazz and its culture, history and ideas. Jazz is very exciting to me because as a musical language and idea, it feels so alive. Classical, or European/Western-style music does feel too structured at times, though there are many moments when it feels equally impassioned, if expressed in a different manner. One other word that comes to mind with Jazz, is “freedom”. I will leave it at that, as it might be a loaded concept to some, but I do feel free and alive whenever I hear Jazz happen.

One of the standouts to me this week happens to be an idea and performance that marries both of what I enjoy about Classical music and Jazz, and that is the performance by Brandee Younger (Harp) and Dezron Douglas (Double Bass). This particular pairing explores the sonic ranges of the harp and the double bass, both traditionally “classical” instruments that have been adapted into the fold of jazz performances, and explores the musical energy and language of Jazz through certain song standards and multiple improvisations.

The bookend of this playlist comes in the form of the song “Castaways”, written for and performed in a children’s TV show called “The Backyardigans”. One unique footnote about this TV show, is that every episode featured a song arranged in a different genre, which actually made the show one of the few that explored a rich musical vocabulary for the benefit of its young audience. “Castaways” is also extremely popular on TikTok now, and has been featured in multiple posts on the social media platform, and in an exploration by musician and YouTube, Adam Neely, Why Castaways is a Masterclass in Songwriting.

Adam Neely is also a YouTube personality that I recommend anyone reading to follow, as his content is extremely educational for anyone who loves music and creativity, and has an open minded and genuine love for music as a language and form of expression.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-21

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 23 May 2021 to 29 May 2021.

WILT_2021-21

  1. Heroes – Flying Lotus
  2. Post Requisite – Flying Lotus
  3. Spontaneous – Flying Lotus, Little Dragon
  4. Coronus, The Terminator – Flying Lotus
  5. Moon Rock – Tammy Lakkis
  6. Temple of the Circuit – Gustav Brovold
  7. Bridge the Gap – Moses Boyd, SW2
  8. Dirty South – Moses Boyd, SW2
  9. Drawn – Kiasmos
  10. Dissolve – Absofacto
  11. Come Home (feat. André 3000) – Anderson .Paak, André 3000
  12. Reachin’ 2 Much (feat. Lalah Hathaway) – Anderson .Paak, Lalah Hathaway
  13. Winners Circle – Anderson .Paak

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-21

Notes

I noticed that rhythms had been missing from my listening diet of late. I decided to revisit Flying Lotus and the Brainfeeder and Portage Garage Sounds back catalogue to see if there were any particular sonic ideas that had emerged while I was not looking.

I think one of the hallmarks of the artists represented by Brainfeeder, is how progressive their rhythmic ideas are. It always sounds exciting, sometimes abstract, and almost always done in good taste. I also realised that I enjoy Thundercat’s bassplaying when he takes on a more supportive role than his solo work, but I think that’s because I have more issue with his vocal performance than his bassplaying. I took a look at Moses Boyd as well, one of my go-to jazz drummers to see what other projects he was working on, and what new progressions were happening in the UK jazz scene. UK jazz sounds very different to American jazz for me. There are more global influences in UK jazz, which suits my current palette.

We end off with some work by Anderson .Paak who I had been meaning to explore sooner rather than later. He is very talented has some very tasteful music, and definitely worth exploring his body of work more.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-20

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 16 May 2021 to 22 May 2021.

WILT_2021-20

  1. FAITHFUL SERVANT FRIEND OF CHRIST – Lingua Ignota
  2. DO YOU DOUBT ME TRAITOR – Lingua Ignota
  3. Rebirth – Hélène Vogelsinger
  4. Auദen – Lambert, Tre B. Mal
  5. Viola – Acra
  6. Total Falsch – Bohren & Der Club Of Gore
  7. Sabbat Schwarzer Highway – Bohren & Der Club of Gore
  8. Be Like Water – Mark Pritchard
  9. Reminiscence – Ólafur Arnalds, Alice Sara Ott
  10. Frost (C) – Sunn O)))
  11. The Silent Flight Of The Owl – Manu Delago
  12. The Walk With Me (feat. Asheber) – Joe Armon-Jones, Asheber
  13. Pot au Feu (BBC Version) – Delia Derbyshire
  14. Phaser – Superdrag
  15. Roatating In Unison – HAAi
  16. Broke – Girls in Airports
  17. Malagueñas 2 – Javier Segura

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-20

Notes

I don’t think anything prepared me for Lingua Ignota’s performance in DO YOU DOUBT ME TRAITOR. As she wails the lines “I don’t eat! I don’t sleep!”, one wonders at what terror has gripped this individual so, that she exorcises her inner demons in such evangelical terror that you wonder if she witnessed the doors of heaven closing on her very existence. One cannot say, and one can only assume.

The rest of the playlist was built on this exploration of other experimental arrangements and performances. I think almost every other entry in this playlist does not have a discernible melody apart from Superdrag’s Phaser (which has an amazing guitar intensity and hook that evokes some form of shouting into the wind.)

I think you have to be in a sort of mood to spend time with this playlist, but I think it is also worth spending a bit of time with this playlist, which by extension is spending a bit of time with yourself and allowing the cosmos to wash over you and bathe you in the intoxicating fragrance of randomness.

Also, Bohren means “drill” in German. And I love that.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-19

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 9 May 2021 to 15 May 2021.

WILT_2021-19

  1. Dolmen Music – Meredith Monk, Andrea Goodman, Monica Solem, Paul Langland, Julius Eastman, Robert Een
  2. Viola Sonata: I. Impetuoso – Rebecca Clarke, Philip Dukes, Sophia Rahman
  3. Symphony in E Minor: I – Florence Price, New Black Music Repertory Ensemble, Karen Walwyn
  4. The Calm Before – Poppy Ackroyd
  5. Intro – Stimming x Lambert
  6. Hysterias – SebastiAn
  7. Spinning a Yarn – Dobrinka Tabakova, Roman Mints
  8. It Will Be Summer Soon – Paradise Cinema
  9. Movement 6 – Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, London Symphony Orchestra
  10. hahaha – ABANGSAPAU
  11. Medusa (Fauxstix Remix) – Jasmine Sokko, Faustix
  12. Keep Moving (The Blessed Madonna Remix) – Jungle, The Blessed Madonna
  13. Perfect Day – Karen O, Danger Mouse, originally written and performed by Lou Reed
  14. Pretty Boys (feat. Khruangbin) – Paul McCartney, Khruangbin
  15. Apply – Glasser

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-19

Notes

I remember starting this week’s playlist looking for female composers to listen to. I had been noticing that the classical pieces I listened to over the weeks did not feature many or any female composers. I do not know much about music history, but I would not have been surprised if many of the women in music’s history had become unmentioned outside of academic study. Thankfully, I did not have to do much research to get started as Spotify does have a playlist featuring “Women of Classical”, which is a good entry point to become acquainted with works composed or performed by women.

Of course, in an ideal world, there would be no gender distinction for creative endeavors. But in a world of recommendation algorithms and echo chambers in community groups, we are but finite and fallible creatures, and if we do recognise a blindspot in our worldview that potentially harms another group due to our ignorance, then we owe it to a social inclusivity to acquire more culture and knowledge, and bridge the distance between our hearts and minds.

Not every track here features a female creator, but I think it is erstwhile to continue the spirit of this playlist series by curating based on my own amorphous filter of intrigue and interest, rather than a particular agenda I might have that week. To that end, I have included an eclectic mix of classical, experimental, electronic, pop, hip-hop, and rock, to hopefully display how expansive music is without needing to mention anything further on polarity. And this only touches on a western civilisation’s approach to music. There are uncountable branches when you begin to explore the music histories of other cultures, each with their own memories and omissions.

What I find useful to frame discussions on culture and inclusivity, is to see everything on a spectrum rather than on opposing sides of a line. Sooner or later, you just see the line and not the ends. And the line never ends.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-18

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 2 May 2021 to 8 May 2021.

WILT_2021-18

  1. Spirals – Django Django
  2. You Ain’t Taking My Man – SPARKLE DIVISION
  3. We Are Really Worried About You – Divide And Dissolve
  4. Blue Crystal Fire – Fire! Orchestra
  5. Silver Trees – Fire! Orchestra
  6. Waking Up – Django Django, Charlotte Gainsbourg
  7. On GP – Death Grips
  8. Death of the Soul – Perturbator
  9. What A Wonderful World – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
  10. ISN’T EVERYONE – HEALTH, Nine Inch Nails
  11. SEN2333 – Hatena
  12. All About You (feat. Foster The People) [Gentle Dom Remix] – The Knocks, Gentle Dom, MGMT, Foster The People
  13. Wellwave – Lucid Express
  14. Ten Times Fold – Baby Combat

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-18

Notes

This week’s playlist is quite schizophrenic. I went down a particular path of noise and industrial but did not fully commit and somehow found myself also being intrigued by some smatherings of indie and psychedelic rock. There is a certain melancholia or frustration behind some of these choices, which might have something to do with the meandering nature of the previous week.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-17

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 25 Apr 2021 to 1 May 2021.

WILT_2021-17

  1. Sounds of Revelation – Tom Wax
  2. Liberation – Youen
  3. Sway – Józef Gatysik
  4. Sway, Sway – Heinali
  5. Do Not Disturb – Ryan Adams
  6. The Letter (Demo) – PJ Harvey
  7. Vivaldi, The Four Seasons: Spring 1 (Recomposed by Max Richter) – Andre de Ridder, Daniel Hope, Konzerthaus Kammer Orchester Berlin, Max Richter
  8. Floe (Remix): Specially Mixed for Your Personal Cassette Player – Philip Glass, Michael Riseman, Philip Glass Ensemble
  9. CHIAROSCURO – Alessandro Cortini
  10. Jeanette (Edit) – Kelly Lee Owens
  11. String Quartet No. 5: Movement V – Philip Glass, Tana Quartet
  12. Metamorphosis No. 2 – Philip Glass, Jenny Lin
  13. While Elephant – Nick Cave, Warren Ellis
  14. Dry Fantasy – Mogwai
  15. If We Don’t Make It (Ronin Edit) – UNKLE
  16. In My Heart – Mark Pritchard
  17. Helm – Wim Mertens
  18. Ritchie Sacremento – Mogwai

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-17

Notes

We start off with two very strong techno tracks that I think came from Boris Brejcha’s track IDs. I included them at the start of the week because I have not started on such a note before, and I do reminisce the deep nights at Zouk when we could lose ourselves to the swirling atmospheres never ending rhythms created by masterful DJs.

Philip Glass’s work features a fair amount in this week’s playlist and is definitely worth exploring on a long-term basis. There is new material by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, and Ryan Adams has also released a new single. As usual, Ryan Adams seems to come absolutely leftfield with his musical arrangements, referencing ideas that are familiar, yet unfamiliar for his pre-existing body of work.

What was a surprising discovery for me were the included tracks by Mogwai. I thought I was over the post-rock genre, but perhaps not listening to it for such an extended period of time has allowed me to re-appreciate some of it’s more tenable elements, such as hyperfuzzy tones and ethereal counter melodies.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-16

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 18 Apr 2021 to 24 Apr 2021.

WILT_2021-16

  1. Timber: Part 1 – Michael Gordon, Slagwerk Den Haag
  2. You, at the End – Lafawndah
  3. Solid Ground (Virgil Abloh Remix), Michael Kiwanuka, Virgil Abloh
  4. Skywalker – STUFF.
  5. Death Pacito – Triorität
  6. Endongo – Nihiloxica
  7. Great Coat – LYR
  8. Alouatta (hembra) – Lion’s Drums
  9. Shadow Puppet – Bardo Pond
  10. The Limit – DARKSIDE
  11. Possible Futures – Paradise Cinema
  12. L.M.G.D. – Military Genius
  13. Monk’s Robes – Deradoorian
  14. Polyesterday – GusGus
  15. Lost At Sea – Marcus Hamblett, Kate Stables
  16. Street Pulse Beat – Special Interest
  17. Baresi – Daniel Avery, Alessandro Cortini

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-16

Notes

I am very satisfied with how this week’s listening experience played itself out. There is a lot of unique and future-forward music on this playlist, many of which are new listens for me. Plenty of the tracks featured here touch upon the threshold what has been done before, and what still needs to be done. It is music like this that makes me excited for how else music and culture are developing, and ultimately evolving in being a system of human expression and passion.

Future jazz is probably one of the highlights that caught my attention. Shoutouts to the Virgil Abloh remix of Michael Kiwanuka’s Solid Ground, as well as an incredible performance by STUFF. on the track Skywalker. The tone on that bassline has such a warm growl you don’t even realise that half your arm’s been bitten off.

Speaking of tone, that is another way of describing this week’s joy of listening. I think I selected a lot of these tracks because of how much the tone stood out on various instruments and arrangements. Whether it’s harsh, smooth, tight, warm, cold, every track is identifiable in what they are striving to bring forth. Tone is also one of those musical qualities that let me judge if a particular piece is alive or not. Without good tone, you’ll always sound like too much time has passed beyond each note. And if it’s just dead space, it’s worse than silence.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-15

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 11 Apr 2021 to 17 Apr 2021.

WILT_2021-15

  1. Still Life – Fougère
  2. It’s Raining – Henning Flintholm
  3. Soul I (Avow) – Sebastian Plano
  4. It Is Time: I. Metronome – Steven Mackey, Sō Percussion
  5. In Cold Light (Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres Rework) – Vanbur, Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres
  6. The Swan – Camille Saint-Saëns, Sebastian Comberti, Miriam Keogh
  7. The Night Gatherers – Judd Greenstein, Chiara String Quartet
  8. I Dreamed I was Floating – Joshua Penman, Jody Redhage
  9. Harlem River After Hours Dub (Peaking Lights Remix) – Kevin Morby, Peaking Lights
  10. Falling Colour – Vanbur
  11. Coma (for Strings) – Her Ensemble, Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres
  12. The See Within – Echo Collective
  13. Blooming – Richard J. Birkin, London Contemporary Orchestra

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-15

Notes

Last week I stumbled across an amazing live version of Push The Sky Away, performed at the Sydney Opera House by Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, and accompanied by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs (Hyperlink: YouTube). It is a beautiful and extremely heart-wrenching rendition that culminates in a (bittersweet) joyous pride exuded by all performers, and an absolutely heartfelt embrace between collaborators Cave and Ellis. This moment of embrace is a precious moment in my memory and interpretation of Nick Cave and his body of work.

The reason for the earlier anecdote is that it reinforced my preference of listening to the classical genre for the week. I also spent more time with contemporary performances and arrangements because of the video essay How Jonny Greenwood was influenced by Penderecki (Hyperlink), and was curious about what contemporary composers were accomplishing today.

One more note that stuck in my mind this week was that I sometimes face anxiety about what to publish, especially if I did not have a particularly noteworthy week in terms of musical listening, discovery, or reflection. But I did come to a conclusion that if I did not have anything to say that week, I should feel free and at ease to say that I do not have anything noteworthy to share. Any pressure that I felt, was placed entirely by myself, and after I rationalised that, I did start to feel better and this project/process became more enjoyable due to the lessening of anxiety.

How Jonny Greenwood was influenced by Penderecki

A amazingly well-researched video essay exploring by content creator, Listening in, on how Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki influenced on Jonny Greenwood career in Radiohead, as well as being a contemporary composer. This was excrutiatingly insightful because of the current journey that I am on, and how much I love the ideas on A Moon Shaped Pool as well as Greenwood’s compositional endeavors. It is delightful and illuminating to learn from a content creator who knows better, and is ultimately educational for musical appreciation. Watch this, and uncover a never-ending pursuit of the sounds that we hear.

Hyperlink to YouTube video: How Jonny Greenwood was influenced by Penderecki

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-14

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 4 Apr 2021 to 10 Apr 2021.

WILT_2021-14

  1. Blue Sky Moon – Daniel Norgren
  2. The Flow – Daniel Norgren
  3. Meftunum Sana – Gaye Su Akyol
  4. UNGLUED – 72 HOUR POST FIGHT
  5. Surface Currents – Kutiman
  6. Sleepy Pietro – Machinedrum, Hamasyan
  7. Tokaido – Minihai
  8. Farewell (Amtrac Remix) – UNKLE, Ysée, ESKA, Elliot Power, Keaton Henson, Liela Moss, Miink, Dhani Harrison, Steven Young
  9. Flyder – sir Was, Casper Clausen
  10. Hemşerim Memleket Nire – Gaye Su Akyol
  11. Furnance Skies – Dirty Three
  12. Sometimes I Forget You’ve Gone – Dirty Three
  13. Let Love Run The Game – Daniel Norgren

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-14

Notes

I am pretty excited to share my discovery of Turkish singer Gaye Su Akyol who has a mesmerising voice and performance, as well as extremely engaging musical arrangements and prolific musicians accompanying each song. As someone who is ignorant about Turkish culture, this is a wonderful gateway into exploring the musical history and developments of the long-standing society.

I also learned of Dirty Three, another project by multi-instrumentalist by Warren Ellis, who is also known as being Nick Cave’s frequent musical collaborator. Frenetic, cathartic, and fearless, the music by the experimental trio is unconcerned with appreciation, and go all out to induce exorcism, incantation, or perhaps even possession.

There is also a healthy dose of soundscapes and beat therapy. Music to intoxicate, as much as accompany or prompt a meridian response. Who knows what the new week will bring? But I will see you here regardless.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-13

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 28 Mar 2021 to 3 Apr 2021.

WILT_2021-13

  1. Cabin Fever – Subsonic Eye
  2. Fruitcake – Subsonic Eye
  3. Watarase (Henrik Schwarz Version) – 板橋文夫 (Fumio Itabashi), Henrik Schwarz, Kuniyuki
  4. Watarase (Kuniyuki Version) – 板橋文夫 (Fumio Itabashi), Henrik Schwarz, Kuniyuki
  5. Watarase (Cover) – Takeyo Moriyama, original performance by 板橋文夫 (Fumio Itabashi)
  6. Watarase – 板橋文夫 (Fumio Itabashi)
  7. Vultures – Melé
  8. We Like It – STR4TA
  9. CCMYK4 – Henrik Schwarz, Alma Quartet Amsterdam
  10. Night Forest – Kuniyuki

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-13

Notes

This week’s edition starts with a recommendation by a friend featuring Singapore indie band, Subsonic Eye’s new single release Cabin Fever. I haven’t been listening to much music in this genre for awhile, but I want to highlight some of the band’s new material because it is icredibly infectious and tasty. Fruitcake stands out for me because of its melodic confidence, excitable rhythms, and lyrical innocence.

The rest of the list is built around some music I heard on a recent radio show hosted by Giles Peterson, Words & Music from Pino Palladino, released on 13 Mar 2021 on BBC Radio 6.

Four of the tracks this week are alternative performances of Watarase, originally composed and performed by 板橋文夫 (Fumio Itabashi). I believe I heard two tracks back-to-back on Giles’ show, the Symphonic Poem version and the version remixed by Henrik Schwarz. Watarase’s melody is both haunting and enchanting, and it’s through these recent rearrangements that I also became acquainted with the works of Henrik Schwarz and Kuniyuki. What really grabbed my attention was the percussiveness of their electronic arrangements and I hope to explore more of this in the future.

Lastly, I also got turned on to the percussive style of Melé’s work and would like to bring to attention one of Giles Peterson’s latest projects, STR4TA, a collaboration between Giles and Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick (Incognito).

I am probably late to the party, but Giles Peterson is an absolute tastemaker and truly sees a musical world without boarders.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-12

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 21 Mar 2021 to 27 Mar 2021.

WILT_2021-12

  1. Franklin’s Tower – Devendra Banhart
  2. Monique’s Mood – Teeth Agency
  3. The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers – Yin Yin
  4. Gospel Trane – Dezron Douglas, Brandee Younger
  5. The Gone Away – Belbury Poly
  6. Europa, Pt 1 (Max Cooper Remix) – Jim Wallis, Max Cooper
  7. Anima Latina – Lucio Battisti
  8. Paper Trails (Live in D, 17 July 2014) – DARKSIDE
  9. People On Sunday – Dominique Dumont
  10. Phasma Gigas – Molero
  11. Brasil – EOB
  12. Robber – The Weather Station
  13. Metallic Taste of Patience – Eartheater
  14. Chance of a Day, Pt 1 – Erik Von Spreckelsen, Bo Stief
  15. Handmade Cities – Plini
  16. Keep Moving – Jungle
  17. The Beginning – Andy Stott, Alison Skidmore
  18. Don’t Go (Portico Quartet Remix) – GoGo Penguin, Portico Quartet
  19. Airbreaker VIP – Goth-Trad
  20. One Line (Demo) – PJ Harvey
  21. Southern Nights – Michael Andrews, Inara George

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-12

Notes

This week’s list is much longer than the previous week because I spent more time listening to music while on some commutes back to the office. I explored Spotify’s Release Radar playlist and Discover Weekly playlist, which are both always good jumping-off points when compiling these lists because the recommendation algorithms are aligned with my tastes.

WILT_2021-12 is quite instrumental and background, and it offers a selection of songs that you can take your time with. At least, that seemed to inform my own selection of songs that piqued my interest this past week. Of note will be the new single, Keep Moving released by one of my favourite bands, Jungle. We can also expect a new album, Loving in Stereo, this year. I am really excited about this development, because there is something richer, and more realised in the music that seemed missing in the previous two albums. I read that the band recorded at The Church studio and that live strings are also involved. I think it shows in Keep Moving as there is a particular warmth that is captured in that recording.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-11

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 14 Mar 2021 to 20 Mar 2021.

WILT_2021-11

  1. Warm Healer – Everything Everything
  2. Ekuté – Pino Palladino, Blake Mills
  3. Saturine Night – Deradoorian
  4. Crystal – Stevie Nicks
  5. Golden Axe (Maida Vale Session) – Flying Lotus
  6. Safe and Sound (WWW) – Justice
  7. & Down – Boys Noize
  8. Let There Be Light – Justice
  9. Canon x Love S.O.S. (WWW) – Justice

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-11

Notes

Not much exploration this past week. Some new material by Pino Palladino was exciting to listen to, as well as an alternate recording of Crystal by Stevie Nicks. The second act of this playlist came in the form of being reminded of Justice’s discography due to the lawsuit that Ed Banger is bringing to Justin Bieber for copying the “Justice” mark for the cover art of the singer’s latest album. Tiresome stuff by Bieber really. But at least it resurfaced some of the sickest sounds I used to listen to.

Maybe next week will be great.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-10

WILT_2021-10

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 7 Mar 2021 to 13 Mar 2021.

  1. Rew Be Me – Star Feminine Band
  2. Bakunda Ulu (feat. Maiya Sykes) – Jupiter & Okwess, Maiya Sykes
  3. Iseo – Star Feminine Band
  4. Montealla – Star Feminine Band
  5. Black Woman – Sonny Sharrock
  6. Black Woman – Egypt 80, Seun Kuti
  7. Sky Opus Fire – RIOPY
  8. Oh Well – Billy Gibbons & Co.
  9. Poems – Nearly God, Terry Hall, Martina Topley-Bird
  10. C – toe
  11. Parasol (Excerpt) – Lubomyr Melnyk

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-10

Notes

Last Monday was International Women’s Day (8 March 2021). It was a stroke of happenstance that the Star Feminine Band was introduced to me via a Spotify playlist that I follow (Afro Indie). What stood out for me was a naive innocence and exuberance in the musicality of the performers. I loved it on first listen, and if I am to believe the promotional material, they are a group of all-female musicians who love music, love performing, and love sharing their music with their community. I thought the energy behind what I was listening to was undeniable, and it was incredibly infectious and I continued listening to more afrobeat throughout the week.

Perhaps it also felt opportune to share one of the songs by Egypt 80 and Seun Kuti that I really enjoy as we commemorate and acknowledge the strength of women in our community. It’s a masculine-sounding song, but with a reverance in the lyrics that wholeheartedly acknowledges the feminine strength. I think through this song, we can see how important language and is. Firstly, they are references to feminity that are paired with references to strength, independence, identity, not possession and property. Secondly, It’s not about a man attributing or assigning the value of strength or equality to a woman, but they are acknowledgements of the strength that are already inherently displayed and embodied by the women.

So sing, dance, and celebrate the women in our families and community. Together we are stronger.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-09

WILT_2021-09

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 28 Feb 2021 to 6 Mar 2021.

  1. Utopia Symphony: Part 1 – Vladimir Martynov, Vladimir Jurowski, London Philharmoic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Choir, Jun Hong Loh
  2. Verses – Ólafur Arnalds, Alice Sara Ott
  3. IV: What You’re Thinking – Bell Orchestre
  4. V: Movement – Bell Orchestre
  5. Lasem – Gamelan Semara Pegulingan
  6. Chasing Destruction (Live) – Aisyah Aziz
  7. Kapak – Fauxe
  8. Hati – Fauxe
  9. Arisen My Senses – Björk, Acra
  10. Black Lake (Viola Organista Version) – Björk
  11. Minimum Brain Size – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
  12. Straws In The Wind – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-09

Notes

I don’t think I will be getting very introspective in this post. I am just feeling really tired and I would rather get this particular writing over and done with. But that isn’t doing very much justice for some of the performances that I would like to feature this week.

Something I could not shake this past week was what I had shared last week in WILT_2021-08 about being bored with the rock music genre. I have been carrying a burden of guilt, or perhaps a panging anxiety that I had been overly dismissive or elitist in sharing that. While I still predominantly stand by what I said, that I am somewhat bored with the rock music genre, by no means am I saying that the genre is boring. It is just a particular annecdote of where I am at, musically, at this point in time. However, I am also realising how limiting it is to air such thoughts into the ether, because it sets your mind down a particular path. Of inquiry perhaps. But I do find myself either seeking things out to prove my bias, or to oppose it. Either way, you create friction to find a path moving forward. You steer your ship by navigating against the current, rather than see where the sea takes you.

In this particular path, I did initially seek out more orchestral music, although that did not last very long. I stumbled across a symphony about Singapore composed by Vladimir Martynov, and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as commissioned by the Foundation of the Arts and Social Enterprise. That was interesting to me in of itself, and I have been curious about what would warrant such a commission, but I have not come to any conclusions of my own just yet.

This also then set me on a path to seek out more indigenous music to the Southeast Asian region. We definitely think of gamelan ensambles within a Javanese context, but what might be more pertinent would be the music that we find preserved within Malaysia and Singapore. Malaya if you will. That is where I think producers like Fauxe are researching something important, to understand the indiginous history of a land, to understand the journey of a culture across time, rather than just at time. That is also where I find contemporary singers like Aisyah Aziz, who are able to connect with both traditional and contempoary audiences through their talent to be important bridges to understanding some of the music history of the region.

In short, this past week I did start some initial explorings into the regional music of Malaya, and I hope to explore more traditional and historical styles of music to better understand the land I grew up in, as well as currently live in, even if my heritage is different. And I do wonder if my musings from last week have also come full circle as I started listening to more music by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. It’s rock music and guitar music, but somehow it is also meandering, psychedelic, Indian-classical inspired, as well as percussion-driven. It sounds like something familiar from the sixties, and it also sounds like something exploratory from the 2020s. Who knows? I simply enjoy it when music takes me places, to worlds I scant remember or universes I inhabit and find some place in.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-08

WILT_2021-08

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 21 Feb 2021 to 27 Feb 2021.

  1. Lament I, “Birds Lament” (Instrumental) – Louis Hardin, Moondog
  2. Glad – Andrew Bird
  3. Abide – Minco Eggersman, Theodoor Borger, Óskar Guðjónsson
  4. Offering – Ravi Shankar
  5. Weeping Birch – Dan Deacon
  6. THEEM AND VARIATIONS – Sam Gendel, Sam Wilkes
  7. The Roots – Long Arms
  8. Sunrise in Beijing – Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
  9. La Plus Belle Africaine (Live at Cote D’Azur, France, 28 July 1966) – Duke Ellington

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-08

Notes

I’ve been very bored of rock music recently. It’s slightly alarming because the genre has been a staple of my listening preferences for over two decades, but this past week I could barely stomach it. Whether it contained complex time signatures of progressive rock, or intensely brutal riffs signature of heavy metal, the idiotic frenzy of punk, or the stoner grooves of desert rock, everything in between sounded flat and tiresome as I tried listening to my old favourites or exploring new recommendations from various playlists.

Somehow I keep coming back to music featuring orchestral arrangements or classical instruments, to beats that come in the shape of jazz, afrobeat, or broken beat. I’m not turning my nose up at rock music and it’s probably just a phase or season. But with the right songs, I find myself drwoned in the melancholia of a consumed cellist, or lost in the forest of a marathon percussion solo. It’s difficult to visualise this sort of imagery in most rock music arrangements or instrumentation, and I suspect that’s one aspect of why I’m bored of rock music. Rock music relies on electric instruments to convey their energy and message, but in these other forms of music, the electricity is bio-electric. There is a certain electricity in the myriad of tones that comes in measured, self-contained instruments, but explode in a universe of creative chaos, ultimately settling on a particular order. Something I’ve been missing out on for a very long time.

Biophilic Design in Singapore

I recently stumbled upon the concept of biophilic design, or design that incorporates the “love of life”. It is a lovely notion, and heartening to know that the city I live in has been leading and incorporating many of its design principles over the past decade into the residential and urban planning of Singapore.

Typically, biophilic design features elements such as nature, sustainability and eco-friendly systems to create a more cohabitative relationship between human society and the natural environment. Leveraging on the blessings afforded by nature, more greenspace, sunlight and natural air-flow, we can potentially reduce our impact and toll on the planet, while also enjoying the mindfulness of being surrounded by naturalistic elements.

I think it’s good to look at two videos that explore this appreciation of biophilic design, and see how it could relate to our own spheres of influence.

Hyperlink to Biophilic Architecture in Singapore by Summer Rayne Oakes (YouTube)

Hyperlink to Using Biophilic Design to Heal Body, Mind, and Soul by Amanda Sturgeon | TEDMED (YouTube)

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-07

WILT_2021-07

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 14 Feb 2021 to 20 Feb 2021.

  1. She’s Lost Control (2019 Digital Master) – Joy Division
  2. Rock-N-Roll Victim – Death
  3. Where Do We Go From Bere??? – Death
  4. Politicians In My Eyes – Death
  5. Lost at Sea – Marcus Hamblett, Kate Stables
  6. Babybaby No Yume – TANUKI
  7. 5D Soundtrack – Aldrena
  8. Vector Traveller – Tanukia
  9. Space – Tanukia

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-07

Notes

This edition of WILT is quite random and I’m struggling to recognise any patterns in my listening preferences.

What I can tell you is how this playlist started, and where it sort of fell apart.

It all began from being served a YouTube video recommendation called A Band Called Death – Before There Was Punk. On the thumbnail were three men of African descent. This was a curious video suggestion that I had to click on because the punk movement is more associated with Caucasians as well as working-class struggle and ethos. I haven’t finished the documentary. but suffice to say I was curious enough to listen to the music and read up on the band’s history. It seems that they’re now classified as some form of proto-punk band (Their active years as a band was 1971–1977) with some musical roots in garage rock. With the benefit of hindsight, they truly were ahead of their time as they were developing their sound off templates that had not really been created yet.

From there I went the other end of the spectrum and re-visited the no-wave punk music of Joy Division. Also because I wanted to re-listen to She’s Lost Control which was also the label of the Fragola (Isabella) created by Ochota Barrels that I recently drank. It was here that you could observe two different perspectives. One of something that had not been created, and the other, the almost ideal entropy of something that had run its course.

After that, looking out for patterns became a bit difficult. Probably because I had already formed one in my head, and I wasn’t particularly interested to look into the rest of the details that made up the tapestry.

The playlist then continues as a further exploration into the break beat genre. Why it deviated to this I’m not quite sure. There definitely still is a lot more history to uncover in the cultural phenom of Black musicians performing the punk genre, as well as their participation in the punk movement. The movement definitely should not be a white-washed movement as how mainstream media typically depicts, as there are many other threads to pull, especially when you explore punk’s negotiations with other cultures and genres like reggae and first-wave ska. Immigration, cross-polination of cultures and ideas, socio-economic oppression that is agnostic of race, etc… Many annecdotes make up the background of a movement, not all find its way into the narrative, but let us chronicle what we can for posterity’s sake. So that someone after us might continue the story.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-06

WILT_2021-06

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 7 Feb 2021 to 13 Feb 2021.

  1. Huntress (Cara) – Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
  2. Kiss of Death – Morabeza Tobacco
  3. Orinoco – Morabeza Tobacco
  4. Movement 1 – Hauschka
  5. Solved Quick – ||||||||||||||||||||
  6. I Own The Night – Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
  7. New Jack Bounce (Interlude) – Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
  8. In The Beginnning – Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
  9. I Gave You – Bonnie Prince Billy, Matt Sweeney
  10. Tusk – The Crystal Ark
  11. Rhodes – The Crystal Ark
  12. Yamerarena-I – Pixeltan
  13. I Told You So – Pixeltan
  14. Ode to Solitude (Gavin Russom Remix) – HIM, Gavin Russom

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-06

Notes

Melody is dead. Long live the beat.

This is the phrase that played out in my mind this entire week.

Obviously the phrase is hyperbole and clickbait, but if you examine the notion, there are some specks of truth in them. Contemporay music is dominated by the use of beat, percussion and groove. You might say we’re almost reliant on it to make a piece of music enjoyable for popular consumption, especially in recent times.

However, theres’s plenty more to discredit that sentiment. Strong melodic ideas will always have a way of evoking a set of emotions within the listener. There is something about the space between each note, as well as how each beat makes us a feel a certain way. You might say that it’s the punctuation within musical ideas that allow us to make sense of we listen to, what we feel, what we negotiate, and how we choose to react.

So with that, I’ve had a really enjoyable week exploring the music of Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah across multiple albums in his discography. I chose Huntress (for Cara) to open this week’s playlist because of the mesmerising performance by the flutist (I think it might be Elena Ayodele). It is also a counterpoint to dominant phrase in my head. I don’t really think that melody is dead, and there will always be a place for it especially when ideas are elevated through the conflation of all the beautiful aspects of music.

Deeper in my exploration of Christian Scott’s music, especially from his Centennial Trilogy, the pieces that really stood out for me were the percussion solos. Or I at least selected some of them to be part of this playlist. While I was high on afrobeat in the last quarter of 2020, it is especially enlightening to listen to the ideas of contemporary jazz musicians explore their cultural heritage to perform their negotiations with the present day. It is very exciting to observe another intersection of different musical ideas from across continents, time periods, cultures and more, just for the pursuit of elevating one’s relationship with an ephemeral expression such as music.

But something interesting found it’s way into my listening journey last week. Some mention of upcoming work by Matt Sweeney and Bonnie Prince Billy. Sweeney I was familiar with (I still love ZWAN), but Billy I was not. Curious, I pulled on that thread and was perhaps confronted with the contrast of my rhytmic slant. Here was Billy, singer-songwriter who duetted with the melodic meanderings of Sweeney, chord choices reminiscent of the American iconography as well as lyrical ideas of modern day poets. Truly another way of looking at the world.

And from there, seeing that Billy and Sweeny contributed to a tribute album to Fleetwood Mac (one of my favourite bands), and coming across the musical duo, The Crystal Ark who covered one of my favourite songs, Tusk, in a manner that was in my opinion, respectful of the source material, unique in its arrangement, and fun in it’s performance. From there, I could start digging into a few more acts stabled by DFA (Pixeltan, Gavin Russom), who also bent towards fluid melodic and rhythm choices.

So perhaps I might need to rephrase.

Melody is dead. Long live Melody.

Long live the beat. The beat is dead.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-05

WILT_2021-05

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 31 Jan 2021 to 6 Feb 2021.

  1. X. Adjuaj (I Own the Night) – Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
  2. Electric Counterpoint: II. Slow – Steve Reich, Mats Bergström
  3. Igarka (Instrumental Version) – Ansatz Der Maschine
  4. Mud – Nicolas Jarr
  5. .oOo. – Mette Henriette
  6. Repetition (ChangesNowBowie Version) – David Bowie
  7. Lazarus – David Bowie
  8. Yellow House (feat. Yama Warashi) – Ishmael Ensemble
  9. The New Normal – Madlib
  10. Manta – MJ Cole
  11. XI – Rioter
  12. All Under One Roof Raving – Jamie xx
  13. Time Will Tell – Blood Orange
  14. Is This The Life – Cardiacs
  15. Jibber And Twitch – Cardiacs
  16. The Witching Hour – Echo Collective
  17. Doing The Beeston Bump – Leafcutter John

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-05

Notes

I’ve been listening to a lot more beat-related music this past week, particularly landing on Four Tet’s ever-growing Spotify playlist (currently at 51 hours of music) as well as some recommendations from Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist. Mid-way through the week I was also recommended some interviews done with David Bowie that revealed what a thoughtful and creative person he was, and that sparked an interest to explore his discography. Prior to this week, I’d only heard about his legend but never pulled on any particular thread for my own education.

I’m still in a headspace of exploring unique, intense and passionate rhythms, and as the new week approaches my first port of call will be listening to more music by Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah because I am immensely taken by the raw energy, virtuosity and elegance present in the performances of him and his band.

On a final note, I also started watching Sons of Anarchy, thirteen years after the pilot first aired (2008).

David Bowie on creating art and dysfunction

There’s something volatile, emotive, and… and something that makes me really quite angry about going through the process, of both making music and doing visual arts…

David Bowie, 31 March 1998, Interview with Charlie Rose

Hyperlink to YouTube video David Bowie: To be an artist is to be “dysfunctional” (Mar. 31, 1998) | Charlie Rose

Transcript from 00:01:03

Charlie Rose (CR): Tell me the satisfaction of completing a painting that you… that… where you’re on, that you like a lot…

David Bowie (DB): For me, to be quite frank, it’s finishing it so that I can get on to something else. I mean it’s just weird, it’s getting through it. It’s the process, there’s something in it that just turns me to jelly. Turn my heart, my mind, just… just… I can’t explain it, it’s a very strange feeling. It’s not particularly pleasant either. I can’t really say that I enjoy… I can’t really say that I enjoy music or painting in quite that… I mean it’s not like sex or something which you can kind of really enjoy. [CR: I knew you get back to sex! DB (laughs): It’s important!] There’s something volatile, emotive, and… and something that makes me really quite angry about going through the process, of both making music and doing visual arts… but you know what? I guess that’s my problem.

CR: No… but let’s deal with your problem. (laughs)

DB: But if you deal with my problems, I might not be able to do these things again. (laughs) You see, I’m wary about analysis.

CR: Yes Sir, but let me point out to you… Knowing your history and knowing your family, and knowing your background, you have always, always resisted any notion that this creativity that you have comes from any form of dysfunctional or…

DB: You know…

CR: … Madness out of family.

DB: I think… I’ve often wondered if being an artist of any way, of any nature… is a sign of a certain kind of dysfunction, of social dysfunctionalism anyway. It’s any extraordinary thing to want to do, to express yourself in such… in such rarified terms. I think it’s a loony kind of thing to want to do. I think the saner and rationale approach to life is to survive steadfastly and create a protective home and create a warm loving environment for one’s family and get food for them. That’s about it. Anything else is extra. All culture is extra. Culture is you know, I guess it’s a freebie. It’s something we don’t… We only need to eat, we don’t need a particular colour plate or particular height chairs or anything… I mean anything will do but we insist on making one thousand different kinds of chairs, fifteen different kinds of plates. It’s unnecessary and it’s a sign of the rationale part of man. We should just be content with picking nuts. Not mine I might add.

Thoughts

The main thread that stuck out for me was hearing David Bowie describe his emotions of the creative process. I think it’s very important to lend credence whenever artists or creative types talk about the pangs of creating. Many times the non-creative, or non-artistic world see the whimsicalities, or only the finished works, and assume that the process of creation, or the application of creativity is not at all torturous, labourious, or perhaps even maddening.

I think there are clues in the ending statement by Bowie, about how humans only need to eat to survive. By extension, we only need to perform the act of copulation for reproductive purposes. But when you see how he compares how the artistic process should be fun, like sex, it’s dissonant to the point he is trying to make.

Whether he knows/knew it at the time or not, I think he’s right that all art and culture is indeed a freebie, or an icing on the cake. And in the same vein, art and culture is proof of the meaning that we humans create in our feeble lives, or it is what can give life meaning. The act of creation can be a meaningful endeavour. Or if it is indeed a freebie, then it is also a windfall of grace that we should be visited by a muse to taste this particular enjoyment.

I’m thankful that there is a record of Bowie’s articulation of his creative process at the time. I think there are facets of some high functioning dysfunction. There is a palatable negotiation of catharsis versus compulsion, and the anguish that bubbles beneath. And should we all be so fortunate to live a life of meaning or be consumed by demons lurkin within.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-04

WILT_2021-04

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 24 Jan 2021 to 30 Jan 2021.

  1. ҉.·.·*´¨.·*:･✧๑ඕั ҉ // ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ
  2. Entreat – ||||||||||||||||||||
  3. 　̟̞̝̜̙̘̗̖҉̵̴̨̧̢̡̼̻̺̹̳̲̱̰̯̮̭̬̫̪̩̦̥̤̣̠҈͈͇͉͍͎͓͔͕͖͙͚͜͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢ͅ 　ఠీੂ೧ູ࿃ूੂ✧ළʅ͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡(ƪ❍⊁◞..◟⊀　̟̞̝̜̙̘̗̖҉̵̴̨̧̢̡̼̻̺̹̳̲̱̰̯̮̭̬̫̪̩̦̥̤̣̠҈͈͇͉͍͎͓͔͕͖͙͚͜͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢ͅ  // ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ
  4. Larks’ Tongues in Aspic: Part One (Live) – King Crimson
  5. Alone, Note Alone – Tiny Leaves
  6. Kaleidoscope – Hiromi
  7. Can You Feel It – Tom Misch, Yussef Dayes
  8. Visit Croatia – Alabaster DePlume
  9. Will The Feelings Leave – cktrl
  10. A Bottle of Rum – Xiu Xiu, Liz Harris
  11. The Handle/The Blade – The Body
  12. DAWN feat. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (Hayden James Remix) – BRONSON, Hayden James, ODESZA, Golden Features, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
  13. Don’t Give Up – Peter Gabriel

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-04

Notes

The main thing I want to say is fuck ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ.

For the following reason: It is extremely frustrating having a compulsion to verify the wingdings of the song titles across various streaming services. For background, Spotify does not allow you to copy text, so while there is a popular notion that ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ is Four Tet and it’s easy enough to research discographys of the particular artist, track listings are a slightly different sorry and because of the nature of wingdings, these symbols sometimes end up being transcoded differently on various platforms.

So yes, I did spend the last twenty minutes or so attempting to verify whether the track title 　̟̞̝̜̙̘̗̖҉̵̴̨̧̢̡̼̻̺̹̳̲̱̰̯̮̭̬̫̪̩̦̥̤̣̠҈͈͇͉͍͎͓͔͕͖͙͚͜͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢ͅ 　ఠీੂ೧ູ࿃ूੂ✧ළʅ͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡(ƪ❍⊁◞..◟⊀　̟̞̝̜̙̘̗̖҉̵̴̨̧̢̡̼̻̺̹̳̲̱̰̯̮̭̬̫̪̩̦̥̤̣̠҈͈͇͉͍͎͓͔͕͖͙͚͜͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢ͅ  was indeed what the artist intended it to be in its expressions across the Internet. I will admit, I did give up on my quest after arriving at a personally satisfactory conclusion, and a tryst with my inner monologue that neither the artist nor I need to take this endeavour too seriously.

This past week I peeked a bit deeper into a group of artists with indecipherable or unpronounceable artist names. Not that I did a lot of deep research, but that it was a jumping-off point for how I wanted to steer this playlist. Unfortunately I also got side-tracked by a video exploring Tony Levin’s involvement as a bassplayer on Peter Gabriel’s So (1986) record. Which explains two of the tracks I’m featuring in this playlist.

In the end, I still find myself being very drawn to rhythms, tones and melancholia. In short, this playlist is a real vibe check with some sick beats.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-03

WILT_2021-03

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 17 Jan 2021 to 23 Jan 2021.

  1. Jamibi – Tool
  2. Motormouth – Periphery
  3. 命売ります (Inochi Urimasu) – 人間椅子 (Ningen Isu)
  4. 陰獣 (Inju) – 人間椅子 (Ningen Isu)
  5. なまはげ (Namahage) – 人間椅子 (Ningen Isu)
  6. Aka – Bo Ningen
  7. Minimal – Bo Ningen, Bobby Gillespie
  8. strange hours – Glassjaw
  9. MAKE TOTAL DESTROY – Periphery
  10. The Bastard Son (Live at Freakvalley) – Monolord
  11. Causalities – ||||||||||||||||||||
  12. Don’t You Mind People Grinnin’ In Your Face (Chicago Radio Broadcast 19 April 1965) – Son House

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-03

Notes

This playlist started specifically because I was extremely taken by the absolutely bone-crushing distorted bass tones from Justin Chancellor in Jambi‘s intro immediately after Adam Jones’ stellar riffage. It’s a plundering bassline that steals every last dredge of your soul’s syrupy sin and coaleceses it into a crystaline prism of dark fractcal light.

Ouch. My eyes hurt after reading that.

Discovering Ningen Isu was also a highlight of the week. They’re a heavy metal band from Japan that started in 1987 and their influences really do show. The metal is tasty, sludgy and full of attitude. They have a unique aesthetic that only they could pull off with earnesty, and I do think enjoying their visual language is part of enjoying their music as a whole.

In all, this past week has been quite rock and metal influenced, which is a great shot in the arm to get certain energies moving. However, toward the end of the week, some interesting tunes began to reveal themselves and we could potentially be exploring more of that next week.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-02

WILT_2021-02

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 10 Jan 2021 to 16 Jan 2021.

  1. Minor Silverstein – John Raymond, Gilad Hekselman, Colin Stranahan
  2. Went (Original Mix) – John Roberts
  3. All Thoughts Are Prey To Some Beast – Bill Callahan
  4. E 79th – Martin Brugger
  5. The Garden – Brad Mehldau
  6. Carry Me Home – KOKOROKO
  7. Fall High – Sun Glitters
  8. Raga Puriya Dhanashri – Sharan Rani
  9. Don’t Waste My Time – SAULT
  10. Strong – SAULT
  11. Monsters – SAULT
  12. Red Tide – Loscil
  13. Mandy Love Theme – Jóhann Jóhannsson
  14. Waltzing Beyond (The Song on the Day the World Ends) – EABS
  15. The Pleasure Principle – Janet Jackson
  16. Glo – Concave Scream

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-02

Notes

One of the most exciting listens this past week has been SAULT. It scratches that afrobeat itch I left behind in October last year as I started to listen to more classical and contempoary classical music. Now that the group has been brought to my attention, I am happily listening to the unit combine elements of afrobeat, jazz, R&B, funk, and soul to create a wonderful amalgation of rhytmns, groove, soul and attitude. Definitely someone on my 2021 interest list.

I also gave some attention to Bill Callahan for some reliable alt-folk, as well as felt very nostalgic for Singapore band Concave Scream’s brand of dreampop-shoegaze rock. Seriously, the distorted guitar tones put me in a sort of aching trance.

What I Listened To: WILT_2021-01

WILT_2021-01

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 3 Jan 2021 to 9 Jan 2021.

  1. ʅ͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡(ƟӨ)ʃ͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡ ꐑ(ཀ ඊູ ఠీੂ೧ູ࿃ूੂ✧✧✧✧✧✧ළඕั࿃ूੂ࿃ूੂ // ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ
  2. －－ ･ －･･ ･ ･－･･ ･－ // ･ ･－･ ･－ ･･･ ･ －･･
  3. －···－－·－·－··－－·－－－－－······… // ･ ･－･ ･－ ･･･ ･ －･･
  4. Catch Your Tears – Sol Monk, Jarvis
  5. Fundamental Values – Nils Frahm
  6. The Runaround – Sufjan Stevens, Lowell Brams
  7. Quarrel – Moses Sumney
  8. Son of Parasol – Lubomyr Melnyk
  9. Panic – Forest Swords
  10. Almeda – Solange
  11. Yefkir Engurguro (Mixed) – Hailu Mergia, Maribou
  12. Handel: Serse, HWV 40, Act I: Frondi tenere… Ombra mai fu – George Frideric Handel, Anonymous, Marina Rebeka, Modestas Pitrenas, Sinfonietta Riga
  13. The Dive – Peter Gregson, Lambert
  14. Lost At Sea – Marcus Hamblett, Kate Stables

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-01

Notes

Hello 2021. The first WILT playlist of the year kicks off with some very cryptic song titles that were recommended to me by Spotify through pure happenstance. Morse code and a bunch of wingdings brought my attention to the Erased Tapes record label (Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds, Rival Consoles, Penguin Cafe… etc), as well as other experimental and electronic music playlists that I will probably spend the next few weeks unpacking.

2021 opens with a mysterious uncertainty and misplaced hope that our listening pleasure this year will be exciting as well as boringly stable due to my biases. Join me for the next 52 installments of WILT_2021.

PS

Scouring the internet to copy-pasta the morse code track titles was quite the frustrating task.

What I Listened To: WILT_2020-14

WILT_2020-14

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 27 Dec 2020 to 2 Jan 2021.

  1. Bhuti – Ms. Cosmo, Boity, Moonchild Sanelly
  2. Get The Hell Out – Nine Horses
  3. Shake Well Before Use – YSI
  4. Fight! Fight! Fight! – Two Fingers, Amon Tobin
  5. Isekai (Accidental Spirals) – Claude Glass
  6. A Thousand Lonely – Sewerslvt
  7. Imperial Smoke Town – Ichiko Aoba
  8. Do You Have My Money – Flanafi
  9. Hours – Intriguant
  10. There Were Days – Kin Leonn
  11. Matches (Day 1) – Ludovico Einaudi

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-14

Notes

I count this as the final WILT of 2020. Fourteen weeks have passed since I first started this project and it is both encouraging and exploratory that it has been sustained thus far, and also still interesting to upkeep and publish. Some of the artists listed here were recommended by a friend and have been a welcome shot in the arm to invigorate some of the pleasure I get from loud, bombastic noises and beats.

As we enter 2021, I’m heartened that I have a brief record of 2020 if at least to compare notes and perhaps reflect upon in 52 weeks time.

What I Listened To: WILT_2020-13

WILT_2020-13

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 20 Dec 2020 to 26 Dec 2020.

  1. All I Need (Rudimental Remix) – James Bugg, Rudimental
  2. More Milk – Penguin Cafe
  3. Bookmarks – Richard Luke
  4. A Sea of Love – Huerco S.
  5. Intro – Mayer Hawthorne
  6. The Other Lover – Little Dragon, Moses Sumney
  7. Aura – Ambient Jazz Ensamble
  8. Titanic Berlin – Joha
  9. Moonlit Sky – Colleen
  10. Clockworking – María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, Nordic Affect
  11. Wheels Within Wheels – Penguin Cafe
  12. Believe In Me – Makoto, Paul T & Edwards Oberon
  13. 誰にも言わない (Darenimo Iwanai) – Hikaru Utada
  14. Pain (Live) – The War on Drugs

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-13

Notes

What a whirlwind of a week! But also, what a marvelous time of catching up with family and friends, especially with blessings of fellowship, unity and delicious food and drink. I never used to be very festive in my youth, but it is something I am learning to be a more active participant in through my marriage. Jenna is an extremely dedicated individual, and she chooses to make a difference in the lives of the people around her by being there for them through symbols and gestures. The Christmas season is a sparkling opportunity of seeing that good heart in action, and I consider it a privillege even if I’m just provding an extra pair of hands to her efforts.

Speaking of action, one other thing stood out for me as I attended church service. To maintain safe management measures, there is no live music or singing in the pews. So to work around this, the worship session is now a pre-recorded music session with a volunteer team performing actions to the lyrics of songs! Now this might sound awfully childish, as if we were being led through a children’s TV show segment, but I actually found it incredibly liberating.

On a surface reflection, it’s because sometimes I get distracted by music performance or arrangement, as well as my own singing, struggling to stay in pitch for an arrangement that was not catered for my range. In essence, it takes a while to surrender your pride to actually worship with an abandon. However, through this novel workaround, I found myself absored in following the gestures that were being taught to me. Yes, I had to surrender some personal pride to participate, but what the heck, it’s Christmas time and I thought I would try something new instead of being my usual critical self.

And I am really glad I tried this out. It was actually liberating because while we could not speak or sing out loud, through action we were also able to express what was inside. And that is bolstering because resilience will find a way. In times of crisis, perhaps we can find another way. Perhaps if we allowed another way, we can continue to be there for others and help break the cycle of whatever is holding us back.

It is the thirteenth installment of WILT_2020 and I am really heartened that it has been going on for as long as it has. Thirteen has always been a symbolic number for me. It is known as the unlucky number but I always tried to specially look out for it because I did not want to believe that it was a bad sign. I think it had to do with a youthful exuberance of not wanting to allow superstition and limits to oppress the limitless imagination.

I look forward to doing WILT_2021 for a full 52 weeks and seeing what new musical adventures and reflections await us, but the fourteenth installation first.

PS

I would like to make a mention that this is the second time that Pain (Live) by The War on Drugs has made an appearance on WILT. The first time was on WILT_2020-03, I think when the single version was first released or at least brought to my attention. However, I’ve been spending more time with this live album these past two weeks and everything in the lyrics, arrangements and performance of this song really stood out for me. Lyrically, I interpret the song as being about depression, but the performance is full of a desparate anguish and melancholic surrender, which is so achingly and beautifully presented in the way Adam Granduciel sings, almost shouts, or mutters under his breath “I resist what I cannot change / Like a demon in the doorway / I want to find what can’t be found.” All this is encapsulated in the closing guitar solo after the last sung line, and Granduciel plays the same guitar note for at least twenty four counts. As the chord changes and instrumentation progress under it, the pitch of his note stays the same but the dynamics increase in aggression. It is a hugely emotional moment in the song, that bears multiple listens and perspectives. As a band leader, he’s taking the band on incredible highs and lows, but as a band, they are incredibly consistent. Not boring mind you, but extremely dependable to never outshine their leader, but giving him all the support needed to exorcise whatever demons are within, to participate in whatever conjuration necessary to deliver healing in this shamanistic ritual.

What I Listened To: WILT_2020-12

WILT_2020-12

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 13 Dec 2020 to 19 Dec 2020.

  1. Love – Boris, Merzbow
  2. Hollywood – Emma Ruth Rundle, Thou
  3. Rabbit Hole – Cherry Glazerr
  4. My Friend the Forest – Nils Frahm
  5. Fried for the Night – TOKiMONSTA, EARTHGANG
  6. City Life: I. Check It Out – Steve Reich, Holst Sinfonietta, Klaus Simon
  7. Imminent – The Comet Is Coming, Joshua Idehen, Marcel Jean Baptiste
  8. The Roots of Coincidence – Pat Methany Group
  9. These Are My Twisted Words – Radiohead
  10. Pastoral – Christian Löffler
  11. Monolith – Emma Ruth Rundle, Thou

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-12

Notes

We open with with an incredibly sludgy sequence of electric instrumentation by Boris. As the first few notes of melody scream through your ears, nothing really cuts through because there’s a myriad of other noises accompanying the mix.

Oh no. We’ve entered my appreciation of heady experimental noise.

I don’t seek noise out, but when it does appear, I tend to pause and let it envelope me. To see if there’s anything there that the artist is trying to say, or tell me, or for me to interpret. A lot of this reaction stems from one of my favourite articulations on grief by HTRK:

That changed after Sean died. [Nigel’s] attitude was, ‘Make this as lo-fi as possible.’ Looking back I think grieving had a lot to do with that. All those sounds make no sense when you’re grieving. Instead it’s lo-fi, gritty and just a bit ‘fuck you’ when you’re in a lot of pain.

Jonnine Standish, Frustrated Desire, Twists and Turns: An Interview with HTRK (The Quietus, 2011)

This week’s playlist is pretty haphazard, powered a lot by algorithm. However, if there’s a red thread through all this, is that I sense a synthesis of styles and ideas that would not be otherwise be traditionally paired. For example, renowned jazz-guitarist Pat Methany’s combines the electronic elements and groove of the drum ‘n’ bass genre and smashes it together with jazz improvisation solo segments in The Roots of Coincidence. Or How neo-jazz outfit, The Comet Is Coming incorporate the UK Garage sound with the unbridled organic power of the saxophone to create a sonic layer that you don’t otherwise find in a lot of electronic music in the track Imminent.

There’s so much more, I hear famed classical composer Steve Reich combine samples and elements of hip-hop in his arrangements for City Life: I. Check It Out to create both a complex rhythm of percussion instruments with an intricate layer of sonic elements that you find in the work of some great producers.

But perhaps one collaboration that really excited me in this week’s playlist is between Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou. Rundle collaborates with so many different types of bands, lending her voice to rock, folk, dreampop, shoegaze, etc… to some extent it was also a matter of time before boundary-crossing sludge metal band, Thou, met her in the middle. And what a head-on collision of bliss this is. I’m not sure how many fucks were given when they decided to write and perform together, but I feel like the answer is zero. The music just works, and it meanders, it boils, it clubs you to death, and it resurrects.

May your feet find the friction to walk forwards.

What I Listened To: WILT_2020-11

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 6 Dec 2020 to 12 Dec 2020.

  1. Welcome to the Hills – Yussef Dayes, Charlie Stacey, Rocco Palladino
  2. Floating Island – Matthew Halsall
  3. Flight 19 (In Isolation) – Danny Keane
  4. Sun and Clouds – Richard Koch Quartett
  5. Kingsfold – Jane Mark, Arve Henriksen
  6. Melody Day (Four Tet Remix) – Caribou, Luke Lalonde, Adam, One Little Plane, Four Tet
  7. The Limit To Your Love – Feist
  8. Recomposed By Max Richter: V – Max Richter, Daniel Hope, Konzerthause Kammerrorchester Berlin, Andre de Ridder
  9. Time Is the Enemy – Quantic
  10. The Pit – Public Service Broadcasting
  11. Ma mère l’oye, M. 60 (Version for Piano Duo): III. Laideronette, imperatrice de pagodes – Maurice Ravel, Louis Lortie, Hélène Mercier
  12. In a Landscape – Murcof, Vanessa Wagner
  13. She’s The Star/I Take This Time – Arthur Russell
  14. 18 – Moscow Apartment

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-11

Notes

This week’s list pretty much started when Spotify’s Release Radar playlist highlighted that Yussef Dayes had a new song. I had to listen to it immediately, and from the onset of audience cheers, I knew it was going to be amazing, because I always love a good live performance.

It starts off with a generous and skittish drum pattern, and immediately brings into foray the sensitivities of the other members of his trio, Charlie Stacey (Guitars) and Rocco Palladino (Bass). I do enjoy this new movement of jazz, as they explore even more elements of subculture and electronic music, while also combining many romantic elements of the great standards as well as the rare happenstance geniuses that make up the rich profound history of this celebrated musical style.

There’s a lot more drumming and beats in this week’s playlist because that’s how profound the first track can be. It could potentially set in motion a journey different from what you’re used to making. For this, one song held my attention for a playlist, and it led me down several paths. Smatterings of jazz, electronic, indie hip-hop and classical all combine to a journey that doesn’t seem to end anywhere.

But it stops, on the last song. Something that was born from a conversation by my bandmates in Shelves, asking if our individual versions of the Shelves Radio Playlist was personalised. And I think it was. I listened without intent till I heard Moscow Apartment’s 18, and the innocence and aching-ness shone through the music, and for a moment I was transported back to being 17 years old, remembering the simple, dumb and youthful emotions you torched for your crush. The awkwardness, the wishing you were older, the unfocused bravado that we used to have because we knew so little.

Funny how this last week went by.

What I Listened To: WILT_2020-10

WILT_2020-10

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 29 Nov 2020 to 5 Dec 2020.

  1. Computer Love – Balanescu Quartet
  2. Mäßig Bewegt (feat. S/QU/NC/R) – Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, S/QU/NC/R
  3. Fables – Girls in Airports
  4. Burnt (Lubmyr Melnyk Rework) – Kiasmos, Lubmyr Melnyk
  5. Gaia – Bremer/McCoy
  6. Peace of Mind (with John McLaughlin) – Shakti, John McLaughlin
  7. Sekoilu Seestyy (The Madness Subsides) – Pekka Pohjola
  8. Amjad Sleeping Panorama – David Lang, Njo Kong Kie, Jennifer Thiessen, Jill Van Gee, Elisabeth Giroux, Gavin Bryars
  9. Autowave – Kelly Moran
  10. Oh Where – Kronos Quartet, Sam Amidon
  11. Rambling Boys of Pleasure – Kronos Quartet, Olivia Chaney
  12. Helicopters Hang Over Downtown – Kros Quartet, Laurie Anderson
  13. Cadences I – Gavin Bryars, Sonic Open Orchestra, Jason Martin Castillo, Zachary Paul, Drum & Lace, David Valdez
  14. A Thousand Feet of Sound (Trois cents metres de son) – Joseph Bertolozzi
  15. A sodium codec haze – Tim Hecker
  16. Anona – Otto Totland
  17. This life – Tim Hecker
  18. Spring Nocturne – Angus MacRae

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-10

Notes

I know I’ve been going on week after week about his busy I’ve been. Somehow or rather, I’ve still been busy this week, but I’ve had a lot more time to create tangible documents and outputs, versus spending too much in meetings. This means that I had the opportunity for deep focus at work, and deep listening with music.

Discoveries this week would include Kronos Quartet and Gavin Bryars, as well as the “genre” of style of music known as “Chamber music”. Which if my understanding is as barbaric and un-nuanced as I think it is, is something like punk rock for the classical and symphonic orchestras.

Fine, that was a pretty obtuse and poor comparison. Really, it’s just a smaller scale of musicians playing music, versus a large symphonic orchestra with multiple individual musicians and instruments playing in concert. But I did make the comparison because punk rock was an antithesis to rock. It was a simplification of an musical style, and a transformation of attitude, made possible by advancements in amplification technology, and perhaps also a response to the societal climate in that time. Similarly, a small chamber group is able to navigate the cracks of society by playing in much smaller venues, and without the perceived rigidity of a large orchestral ensemble.

One is not necessarily better than the other as I think they can be considered two sides of the same coin. Or, they’re all individual facets of the diamond. Music is music, and I adore the beauty in that concept.

What I Listened To: WILT_2020-09

WILT_2020-09

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 22 Nov 2020 to 28 Nov 2020.

  1. Waiting for You (Live at Alexandra Palace, 2020) – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
  2. Mélodies (Transcription pour piano de Liszt, S.561/8: Der Leiermann) – Frank Schubert, performed by Lazar Berman
  3. Il bell’Antonio, Tema III – Giovanni Sollima, performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-09

Notes

This week features an extremely short playlist because I did not have much time to either listen to music, or mind it enough attention. However, what stood out was the resonance happening in some of these songs. And I mean it as a physical resonance.

I encountered most of the music listed here at the end of a work day or work cycle, with a head full of pressure from various work demands. Through some respite, Nick Cave’s magnetic voice permeates my body, alleviating and opening previously blocked mental passages. It is a brief but welcomed respite.

The reverberations of piano keys hitting strings is also another healing tone. I can’t fully explain it, maybe there isn’t a science to it, but one of the new perspectives opening up to me right now is that the music I’ve been listening to recently is simplified to a very base or empirical desire of _expression_. Simplistically, musical expression has been “pure” in this journey. An artist or musician directly interfacing with a physical instrument. Tones, melodies, pitch, dynamics, vibrato, tensions, release, volume, etc… they’re all directly controlled, or expressed by the performer. No lyrics to tell a story, no intermediaries to colour or facilitate. Just a direct relationship and expression. It is a beauty we are afforded through the wonders of recording technology.

Perhaps the next step, is to encounter directly music performed just for you. Maybe that is the next closest you can get to being the musician yourself, and letting the muse possess you, and you simply become a vehicle for what the universe is wanting to perform through you.

What I Listened To: WILT_2020-08

WILT_2020-08

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 15 Nov 2020 to 21 Nov 2020.

  1. Time – Poppy Ackroyd
  2. Arctic Tern – Aaron Lansing
  3. Papillon – Johannes Motschmann
  4. Modul 20_14 – Nik Bärtsch
  5. Hurricane – Slow Meadow
  6. Spark – Niklas Paschburg
  7. Purples – Sebastian Plano
  8. Everything in Its Right Place – Brad Mehldau Trio (original by Radiohead)
  9. Juniper – Slow Rolling Camera
  10. Après un rêve” (Op. 7, No. 1) – Gabriel Fauré, performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott
  11. Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: III. Courante – Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Yo-Yo Ma
  12. 2400 – Martyn Heyne
  13. Hiddensee – Ceeys
  14. Cop Killer – John Maus

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-08

Notes

One of the things that really stood out for me as I’m reflecting on these notes, is how much I feel like I dislike the image choice that I chose to front this playlist.

A bit of background into this process, is that at current, these images are captured by me, and manipulated / de-saturated and shared on my Instagram account. I’ve been picking out these images at random from a folder, and selecting the image for the playlist before I even know what songs will populate the list. Call it a terrible experiment to see if there is any order in chaos, or any logic to happenstance, to see if the universe aligns a random premeditation to a random reaction.

I do not have any conclusive findings, and like most things, the universe is chaos. The things that happen are chaos, and/or my perception is chaotic. Or it might be full of order and as it should be. Maybe these images, sounds and words bring order to someone in its current context. Maybe someone or something is able to perceive an order into this wonderfully complex or benignly simple system. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that order and chaos are the same. They might be concepts that are dichotomous, but I think they exist in the same existence, consciousness and perception. And there isn’t a need to choose, because ultimately you choose whatever answer brings you comfort at that point in your life.

Dear reader, I hope you enjoy this playlist. I’m listening to it again as I’m typing this, and it is amazing what humans are capable of creating. The music I’ve been drawn to this week is minimal in its instrumentation, but rich in its emotive appeal, and flamboyant at times in its virtuosity. I’m still drawn to the contemporary classical types of music for the moment, because there is a certain exploration of the tension between traditional forms and contemporary expression. I’m not a trained musician, but my ear is picking up some of these tensions and releases in the performances of the musicians captured in these audio recordings.

What I Listened To: WILT_2020-07

WILT_2020-07

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 8 Nov 2020 to 14 Nov 2020.

  1. In A Landscape – John Cage, Herbert Henck
  2. Rideaux Lunaires – Chilly Gonzales
  3. Une larme – Modest Mussorgsky, Maria Yudina
  4. Charlotte’s Thong – Connan Mockasin
  5. My Pillow Is The Threshold – Silver Jews
  6. An Ocean Between The Waves – The War on Drugs
  7. Symphony No. 3, Op. 36: I. Lento – Sostenuto Tranquillo Ma Cantabile – Henryk Górecki, Dawn Upshaw, London Sinfonietta, David Zinman
  8. Take My Heart (Mark Hand Rework) – Portable, Mark Hand
  9. Special Re: Quest – Daedelus
  10. Arterial – Lusine
  11. Articulation – Rival Consoles
  12. Suffer Not (Goth Trad Remix) – Submotion Orchestra, Goth-Trad
  13. Bushmills – Yppah
  14. Second Sun – Bonobo
  15. Ao – Submotion Orchestra, Catching Flies
  16. ferne – Yoko Komatsu
  17. Bambro Koyo Ganda – Bonobo, Innov Gnawa

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-07

Notes

I’ve been exceptionally busy at work this past week, so I don’t know how much bandwidth I have for reflection. However, I really enjoyed how this playlist came together. It’s a mix of classical and orchestral leanings, with some very subtle and tasteful electronic beats. If anything, I enjoy the complexity of this playlist being incredibly accessible by the ghostly melodies that permeate throughout most of the songs on display.

What I Listened To: WILT_2020-06

WILT_2020-06

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 1 Nov 2020 to 7 Nov 2020.

  1. Slo Bird Whistle (Peel Session) – Aphex Twin
  2. Night Society – Silver Jews
  3. You Without End – Deafhaven
  4. Othello – Yussef Dayes, Rocco Palladino, Charlie Stacy
  5. Lemon – TATRAN
  6. Living Like I know I’m Gonna Die – Genevieve Artadi
  7. Pull Away/So Many Times – Dust
  8. Kangaroo (Remastered) – This Mortal Coil
  9. 20:17 – Ólafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm
  10. The Brain Dance – Animals As Leaders
  11. Reimagined – The Contortionist
  12. Pink Noise Theta 30-36hz – Mindful Meditation World, Yoga, Zen Music Garden
  13. Give Up the Ghost (Orchestral Variation) – Minor Victories
  14. Aurolac – Rumpistol

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-06

Notes

The first thing to note is that this list is now being published on a Sunday. This is due to a clerical error on my end when I first started this list. With this fix, a WILT list should now reflect more truly the range of music listened to from a previous Sunday to the most recent Saturday. Hurray if you like things in neat little boxes.

What to say about this list? I think you’ll find it rather incongruent from how it starts and progresses past the first three songs. I suppose there is a lot of instrumental music, and I am in a phase/haze with hypnotic tempos and ethereal swirls. It’s actually quite pleasant to be wrapped in a cocoon such textural swathes and rhythms.

I suppose there’s been less listening this past week because the news was streaming more often in the background. This was the week of the US Presidential Election 2020, between Trump/Pence and Biden/Harris.

In closing, I do recommend this playlist on a cold, rainy afternoon. There was a lot of it last week and I think it influenced some of the affinity I felt towards these songs. Oh, and when you get to Pink Noise Theta 30-36hz, indulge me and close your eyes for those three minutes. You might find that you like it.

What I Listened To: WILT_2020-05

WILT_2020-05

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 18 Oct 2020 to 24 Oct 2020.

  1. In the Jungle (Instrumental) – The Hygrades
  2. Motherless Child – Romare
  3. This (Radio Edit) – Modeselektor, Thom Yorke
  4. Rolling – Michael Kiwanuka
  5. Every Season – Tony Allen, Damon Albarn, Ty
  6. Silly Me – Sleafod Mods
  7. Allah Wakbarr – Ofo The Black Company
  8. Cosmic Echoes – Lord Echo
  9. arms aloft, – Telefon Tel Aviv
  10. Urantia – Deftones
  11. Matter of Balance – Theo Alexander
  12. Corner Painter – Tal Wilkenfeld
  13. Bottoms Up – Peter Green
  14. Electro – Sungazer
  15. Another Day – West End Motel
  16. I’ll Stay – Funkadelic
  17. Door of the Cosmos – Sun Ra
  18. Moonshake – CAN
  19. Home Is Where the Hatred Is – Gil Scott-Heron
  20. Counterfeit – Tal Wilkenfeld
  21. Haunted Love – Tal Wilkenfeld
  22. A Go Go – John Scofield
  23. Strand – Agent Blå
  24. SoLong – School ’94

Hyperlink to the Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-05

Notes

This week’s feels like why I started this playlist series in the first place. A bit of a passive curation that comes from exploring different playlists and different discoveries, collected in a somewhat chronological fashion of what stood out these past seven days.

Rhythms feature a lot in WILT_2020-05. I think it has something to do with the amount of deep focus work I’ve been doing the past week, that the rhythms help put me into a state of movement that let’s me feel some of the words coming out of my person. Almost like I’m coaxing something from within onto a screen.

If you can picture it, I’m currently working from home using a standing configuration. I put my earphones or headphones on, and I’m enveloped in a sonic blanket that pulls my focus to what I want to put on screen. As I’m typing, and reading back the words and data, my head is bopping, my feet are pulsing, and there’s movement in my body. Sometimes you have to break out of the confines of sitting at a desk. Sometimes the mind is trapped in the prison of a body. Sometimes the body needs to free the mind. Do what works for you. Enter different states for different results.

Almost every track in this playlist is a standout, and I full recommend listening to this playlist standing up.

What I Listened To: WILT_2020-04

WILT_2020-04

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 18 Oct 2020 to 24 Oct 2020.

  1. Funkier Than a Mosquito’s Tweeter – Nina Simone
  2. Black Woman – Sean Kuti, Egypt 80
  3. We Stayed Up All Night (Matthew Dear Remix) – Tourist, Ardyn, Matthew Dear
  4. I Was A Fool (Matthew Dear Remix) – Teegan and Sara, Matthew Dear
  5. Clockwise (Matthew Dear Rmx) – Hakan Lidbo, Matthew Dear
  6. Gimmie Shelter – The Rolling Stones
  7. When the Sun Hits – Slowdive
  8. Apocalypse – J Lloyd
  9. If I Fall Under – J Lloyd
  10. Falling Colour – Vanbur
  11. mercy seat – winterreise: Sweetheart Come (Arr. Tobias Schwenke) – Performed by Charly Hübner, Ensemble Resonanz, Kalle Kalima, Carlos Bica, Max Andrzejwski, Written by Nick Cave
  12. Lóa (Niklas Paschburg Rework) – Gabríel Ólafs, Niklas Paschburg
  13. Loom (Feat. Bonobo) – Ólafur Arnalds, Bonobo
  14. (flake) – Jameszoo, Metropole Orkest, Jules Buckley
  15. Low Tide – ISIS, Aereogramme
  16. Cremation Ghat I – OM
  17. Farewell – Boris
  18. Isn’t It Midnight – Fleetwood Mac
  19. Over & Over – Fleetwood Mac
  20. Kobe – Bossk
  21. Febersvan – GAUPA
  22. Five Ten Fifty Fold – Cocteau Twins
  23. Sugar Hiccup – Cocteau Twins
  24. in Our Angelhood – Cocteau Twins

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-04

Notes

This past week of listening has been a beautifully lush journey of swirls and lashing of staccato. I remember starting the week starting percussive-ly with a Nina Simone recommendation featuring some alluring and hypnotic afrobeat arrangements, combined with her free-form jazz vocal style.

The rest of the week explored remixes by Matthew Dear, as well as the discovery of a Spotify playlist called “Classical X”, which pulled me into a realm of contemporary classical musicians who were negotiating with the established form. Arresting stuff really. Do listen out to the rearrangement of Nick Cave’s “Sweetheart Come”, as well as the Niklas Paschburg rework of Gabríel Ólafs’s “Lóa”

Somehow or rather, I also went down a path of shoegaze, dreampop and post rock. It’s something that’s always been in the background of my consciousness, but I was a bit more concerted with my listening this week. I revisited the Cocteau Twin’s early work, and was just arrested by how some sounds just stand the test of time, despite being so ethereal sounding.

I realise that there isn’t really much of a narrative to this entry, and I definitely have not been able to anecdote everything, but every song here meant something at the time this past week. I do wonder whether we’ll start seeing repeat songs in the future.

A Day in the life of Lex Fridman

I chanced upon Lex Fridman, an AI scientist doing research at MIT, and became rather fascinated with how he’s chosen to structure his life. His methodology might seem rigid at first glance, but on closer inspection, it actually helps to one prioritise tasks, create meaning and purpose through the pursuit of goals, as well as allow for moments of humanistic joy,

Increasingly, the idea of this structure appeals to me because society’s expectations of us have changed, and yet we try to apply an antiquated paradigm to define a life well-lived. I’m not saying that Lex’s method is the only way, or the new way, but if you listen to what he’s actually saying, it’s that your life is up to you to define, and that you should take charge of your own destiny. I just like the sound of that.

Hperlink to the video “A day in my life | Lex Fridman” hosted on YouTube.

What I Listened To: WILT_2020-03

WILT_2020-03

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 11 Oct 2020 to 17 Oct 2020.

  1. So Hard to See – Violens
  2. Don’t Make Me Promises – Maribel
  3. Pain (Live) – The War on Drugs
  4. S – LITE
  5. Apex (Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas Remix) – Jaga Jazzist, Lindstrøm, Prins Thomas
  6. Real Headfuck – HTRK
  7. Morning Yawn – Febueder
  8. Before – James Blake
  9. Feel Something – Beacon
  10. to Perth, before the border closes – Julia Jacklin
  11. Shuggie – Foxygen

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-03

Notes

This past week went by as a sonic blur because I’d been listening to Whitney Cumming’s podcast, Good For You, while at work. Surprisingly, listening to podcasts is not really distracting for me if I’m working, not unless I need to concentrate at length for creative writing.

What I Listened To: WILT_2020-02

WILT_2020-02

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 4 Oct 2020 to 10 Oct 2020.

  1. Carousel – Haken
  2. The Crystal Ship – The Doors
  3. Sing! – Petula
  4. UNFUTURE – Pain of Salvation
  5. RESTLESS BOY – Pain of Salvation
  6. Physical Education – Animals as Leaders
  7. Of Mind – Nocturne – TesseracT
  8. Of Mind – Exile – TesseracT
  9. Of Matter – Proxy – TesseracT
  10. Of Reality – Calabi-Yau – TesseracT
  11. 1759 (Outro) – Richard Spaven, Sandunes
  12. Only You – Jihae
  13. Beneath My Skin / Mirror Image – TesseracT
  14. Explore, Be Curious – Cloudkicker
  15. golgotha – Glassjaw
  16. King – TesseracT
  17. Hexes – TesseracT

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-02

Notes

This whole playlist started because I was sharing with a friend that I was coming out of my progressive metal listening cycle (For whatever reason, just a lot of the Dream Theater album “Distance Over Time), and he recommended me two more bands, Haken and Pain of Salvation, which were both really good and started me on a further journey into the genre and my preferences.

For example, Haken demonstrates very strong prowess in musical arrangements and melodies, and there was a certain warmth to the production quality. However, I was still quite taken in by the cold, djent quality (I was also feeling slightly nostalgic to unpack the 2000’s trainwreck genre of nu-metal), so I re-explored the band Periphery, but it would be the band TesseracT that ultimately captured my ears last week.

By all accounts, I should not have been that taken by the band, the singer was technically very competent, but he sang in really high registers ala metalcore, that I generally find irritating ad-nauseum. But I suppose the entire band was combining many different textures, styles, techniques, grooves and melodies in their individual arrangements that just created a very complex, yet brutally simple canvas of sounds and ideas. I really hate that the band name is stylised as “TesseracT” though.

Other highlights came from the discovery of Jihae when my wife and I endured the movie, Mortal Engines (2018), and discovered that one of the actors was also a singer/artist, creative-creator. So Jihae’s got some interesting musical ideas, and I bookmarked some of her music just to perhaps refer back to in the future. It’s slightly avant, but without being tryingly so.

See you next week!

A Singaporean is the new head chef of world-famous restaurant Noma in Denmark/ CNA

After completing National Service, “I made a very conscious decision, together with my parents, to formally pursue a career in the culinary arts. My parents raised us in a fairly hybridised home, ostensibly Asian in the best ways but with the freedoms of western doctrine. They saw the passion I had for cooking and sent me to get a formal education at the Culinary Institute of America, in New York.”

Acknowledging that he feels “extremely privileged” for the opportunities he’s had, Foong credits his parents for encouraging him to choose a career path that diverged from his peers’. 

Hyperlink to article “A Singaporean is the new head chef of world-famous restaurant Noma in Denmark” by May Seah for CNA Lifestyle

When I was told by my friend that a Singaporean was now the head chef of Noma, I was very pleasantly surprised, and proud for the chef who had achieved this particular accolade. Noma has been listed as the World’s Best Restaurant multiple times, and while I’ve never eaten there, the episode on Chef’s Table featuring René Redzepi and his restaurant, Noma, surely brought this culinary institution to more mainstream consciousness.

The article by May Seah for CNA Lifestyle features an interview with the new Noma head chef, Kenneth Foong, who strikes me as a very grounded and self-aware person, and this particular sensitivity possibly contributed to the decisions he took to achieve what he currently has. For instance, he very clearly brought up the hybrdised upbringing that he’s had, of both European liberalism and Asian pragmatism.

This negotiation of cultures and ideas seems like the necessary recipe to thrive in today’s complex and borderless world, and I can’t help but wonder how many of us miss out on opportunities because we prefer clear compartmentalisations over a blended spectrum.

WILT_2020-01

What I Listened To: WILT_2020-01

WILT_2020-01

The playlist below is a collection of music I enjoyed over the listening period of 27 Sep 2020 to 03 Oct 2020.

  1. Holy Forest – Pinkshinyultrablast
  2. Thursday – Asobi Seksu
  3. 23 – Blonde Redhead
  4. Crucifixion / a Prophet – UNKLE
  5. The Other Side – UNKLE
  6. Feel More / With Less – UNKLE
  7. Last Chance To Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled – Porcupine Tree
  8. Veil of Shadows – The Budos Band
  9. Olympik – EOB
  10. Humboldt Currant – Ozric Tentacles
  11. It’s Not Easy – Ofege
  12. Soubour – Songhoy Blues
  13. Akula Owu Onyeara – The Funkees
  14. Biscuits for Smut – Helmet
  15. Caffeine – Faith No More
  16. The Day The World Went Away – Nine Inch Nails

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2020-01

Notes

I’m excited to start something new on this blog.

Sharing music has always been a passion of mine, and I love connecting with individuals with an open mind towards music and its possibilities. Where I am now is probably also a synthesis of past experiences, whereby I am untoward force-feeding my preferences onto my sphere of influence, but rather I try to maintain a delicate balance of sharing what I like, what I find interesting, what I find fascinating, what piqued my curiosity, while also not being particularly militant in the way I share these discoveries and oddities.

Thus, I stumbled upon this idea to present a loose collection of music that I had listened to over a period from the previous Sunday to the current Saturday. Where possible, I’d like to publish this collection every Saturday.

What I like about this presentation, is that it’s not an active curation on my part, but a low-commitment negotiation with a music streaming service’s recommendation algorithm, as well as my own active seeking out of musical ideas and/or nostalgia.

If you like the sound of that, you can look forward to a new playlist every Saturday on this weblog, or seek out the public WILT playlists on my Spotify profile.

A final note about this particular WILT playlist, is that I felt nostalgic for shoegaze and dreampop, explored more into afrobeat, and suddenly felt nostalgic for nu-metal after coming across an interesting YouTube documentary that explored the beginnings of the sub-genre.

Singapore Community Radio in 2020

SGCR exists to champion music and creative culture in Singapore and provide the platform to help it grow and thrive. Besides serving the local community, we are also looking to connect to the creative scenes worldwide.

Singapore Community Radio (SGCR) recently made an announcement that they would be returning with revamped programming. (Link to NME article) For a clearer breakdown of what to expect, Timeout does a better job breaking down the new programmes on SGCR. (Link to Timeout article)

I really welcome this new direction because I’ve been on the lookout for independent radio shows. After listening to music for so long (self-curation), and also having streaming services like Spotify recommend me songs or playlists (automated / AI curation), I’ve felt a longing for a human to curate my listening experience. I also felt drawn to the idea that the curator should be Singaporean, because they would have a shared experience with me by virtue of geography and society. I’d always known about SGCR, but their Mixcloud account was dormant for the majority of 2020. So it’s really great that they’re back in the saddle, and I’ve really been enjoying the programming based on the one or two streams I’ve listened to.

Hyperlink to Midnight Ambient Hour with Evening Chants #1 by SGCR, hosted on Mixcloud

Ephemeral Tombstones

It’s funny, my first post here isn’t actually my first post. I think I had something written down a year ago, followed by a few more posts, and then I deleted everything and now I’m starting again.

The Internet and hyper-connectivity has allowed us to archive “things” indefinitely as well as allowed us to erase them from existence as if they had never existed in the first place. It’s entirely up to you or by the powers that be, but the potential to be all or nothing at all is there.

That got me thinking about art, museums, and archival. We are immensely precious about the things we choose to archive, yet it’s alarmingly precarious that anything can be edited or deleted at any time. In the end, so much meaning is put on something that’s published online, and at a whim or fancy, that meaning changes.

So really, all I can offer are notes and anecdotes, not to guide you to where I am, but so that if I get lost maybe I can find my way back.