I made this playlist for a friend who had been looking for songs that were similar to the stuff played on a certain late night CBC Radio 3 show. I’m blanking on the name of the DJ, but the friend described it as electronic-leaning pop, pretty downtempo and most importantly, it made them feel very cool while listening. I made this mix for them and I think they forgot to download the WeTransfer before it deleted itself. A year later, a Spotify playlist was born.
This was made in early 2018, so my brain was still dunked in 2017’s juices. Overall playlist focuses on music from the 10s. Most of these songs are also just songs I greatly enjoy, and you’ll probably see them in many of my other playlists I’ve made.
Again – this is sequenced! Feel free to shuffle it, but I tried to make everything flow nicely. There were a few tracks that I had in the original playlist that aren’t on Spotify, so you can find those songs linked below the following track list. Cheers!
For this month’s edition of Recommended Albums, I had a bit of trouble bringing my list to 10. There were a few albums that came out this month that I was really excited to listen to leading up to their release, but ended up disappointing me. However, current WV 2019 Top 5 records, Aldous Harding and Weyes Blood, were both gifted to the world, so that’s worth something, right? We’ve really got it all in the bunch I’ve pulled, though – I think you’ll like it a lot, just as I have: bossa nova hybrid, synth pop, Japanese hardcore, sludge metal, Swedish house, Iranian experimental, Irish post punk, and a whole mess of other tunes in the Spotify playlist. Hope you enjoy!
Aldous Harding – Designer [4AD]
Having an existential crisis after meeting an ersatz version of yourself on vacation.
Claude Fontaine – Claude Fontaine [Innovative Leisure]
A widow waits on a tropical island for their partner to return from the watery depths.
Fontaines D.C. – Dogrel [Partisan]
A low rumbling turns to cacophonous buzzing that echoes through cold city streets.
Grace Ives – 2nd [Dots Per Inch]
Feeling extremely ready to party all night long but likewise ready to sit on the couch at said party and play video games.
Inter Arma – Sulphur English [Relapse]
A remote, midwestern town being slowly pulled into the center of the Earth.
Kornél Kovács – Stockholm Marathon [Studio Barnhus]
A free roaming, momentum-based 3D platformer video game modeled after Sega Dreamcast classics, with bright floating cubes to jumps on.
Lowly – Hifalutin [Bella Union]
Finding divine comfort in caressing the smooth, rubbery surfaces of houseplants at a socially uncomfortable house party.
Otoboke Beaver – ITEKOMA HITS [Damnably]
Rage building from your unfulfilling daily routine violently bubbles over at the workplace.
Sote – Parallel Persia [Diagonal]
A mad scientist deconstructed various stringed instruments from around the world to create a furious creature cast of wood, steel and wires.
Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising [Sub Pop] Actors on soap operas being forced to act minute before the sun explodes rewrite their lines as messages to their loved ones.
Somehow, someway, I was able to anticipate that the electronic music genius (and certified doctor!) Holly Herndon was going to be deriving great inspiration from the assaulting and euphoric harmonies of Sacred Harp singing. I mean, it makes sense. Her music has always examined the balance between the human voice and computer speak, why not engage one of the most intriguing and beautiful examples of the human voice coming together as one giant chorus, but also as standalone entities, finding ways to work within and without each other.
Not to focus on me, but you may remember I posted about Alan Lomax’s Sacred Harp recordings earlier this year. I then listened to this song, finding great similarities between the two. THEN I read the press release and was affirmed. What a great feeling, combined with the fact that her experience in the hollow Sacred Harp square sounds incredible:
“I went to an international Sacred Harp Meetup in Berlin where I live, which was jointly led by Evelyn Saylor (an ensemble collaborator who helped to arrange “Frontier” to more accurately reflect the tradition), and people gathered in a square to sing facing each other. When I stood in the middle the power of the voices brought me to tears. It was partly pure sonics and the beauty of the songs, but also the sight of witnessing people from all different backgrounds come together under such a simple and elegant premise. There were visitors from afar for whom the experience clearly had some deep religious significance. There were even more visitors clearly drawn to the event for other reasons, albeit the nature of the communion itself, or just to nerd out on the music. It felt like a rare union.”
This is a meeting of the waters kind of thing for me. Deeply significant, rich traditional music merging with the absolute cutting edge of technology. Can anything be better than this? I honestly don’t think so. The song is gorgeous, terrifying and cathartic. I cannot wait for the rest of the album and her live performance at Pioneer Works in a few weeks.
Top hype band of 2019 black midi are putting their money where their mouth is by following up their outrageously tight, glorious live shows with studio recordings that actually do justice to their live energy. “Talking Heads” is one of the more straightforward songs in their set, its backbone being a rigid, hyperactive guitar line and flourished by flashes of virtuosic drums.
Of course it’s fair to reference an influence in the song title’s subject matter, Talking Heads, and all the bands that were in turn inspired by them, filtering down into this one track in 2019. But Black Midi are really sounding like nothing besides Black Midi right now, and that’s exciting.
Although Kornél Kovács new album Stockholm Marathon doesn’t reach the euphoric highs of his last album The Bells, there are some really blissful moments like on opener “Purple Skies”. The whole record features guest vocals from Swedish electronic duo Rebecca & Fiona, which at first glance filter into some sort of PC Music / Kaskade hybrid, but come out in a more dreamy, subtle headspace. The vocals are never truly at the forefront of the mix, allowing them to float in and out of the listener’s consciousness while glittering synths and bouncing bass volley around the soundscape.
Although it doesn’t make me want to hop off my apartment’s stoop and start a night on the town like The Bells, it does make me want to get up on my roof and gaze at the sparkling city lights from a distance, taking it all in and dousing myself in deep introspection.
I’ve had this compilation Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll sitting in my library for a few years now and I haven’t really delved into it until now. It’s actually the soundtrack to a touching documentary about Cambodia’s music scene before and during the Vietnam War & Cambodian genocide. The music on the comp is mostly garage rock and early psych rock, but there are some striking ballads like this one.
This song here is of course a cover of James Taylor’s “You’ve Got A Friend” from singer Pou Vannary, whose whereabouts have been unknown since the genocide like most Cambodian musicians of the era. Compared to the rest of the comp, the style of this song sounds more like something Brazilian rather than the high-pitched, high-energy pop. I guess that comes with the territory of covering this song, but with the context of what’s going on in the film, plus the sound of this recording itself, makes this song incredible. It struck me to my core. I have yet to watch the documentary, but I’m adding it to the top of my queue for when I can.
Fuck Nixon. Fuck Kissinger. Fuck Johnson. Fuck Pol Pot. Long live the music.
Portland group Reptaliens released their sophomore LP VALIS on Captured Tracks this past Friday (4/26), and I’ve been lucky enough to dig on it for a bit before its release. It’s one of those records where I wish I knew about it before I locked in the tracks for my playlists Essential Oil Dimension and Rose Garden 2AM. Their lightweight, groovy, and uncanny sound is a perfect match to exist in those universes. Smeared, romantic and sincere.
I still really dig one of their singles “Venetian Blinds”, but you should listen to the whole thing (pasted below) if you get the chance. The weather is nice this weekend – a perfect pairing.
Only fair for me to hop on sharing this absolute classic. To anyone who thinks they can’t get into house music, take a listen to this. Really poignant lyrics that still ring true today, perhaps even more than ever. And the beat still kicks. Tunes like this make me want to start DJing, even though I have nearly no other knowledge of house. Shout out to the kings.
After listening to my favorite playlist Essential Oil Dimension on loop for nearly a year, I decided that a spiritual successor should come soon. And thus, we have ROSE GARDEN, 2AM. While it doesn’t have as much of a fleshed out universe in my head as the EOD, it at least has a concept around it. Plus really enjoyable music, at that, featuring artists like Angel Olsen, Nina Simone, Jessica Pratt, TOPS, Tirzah, Weyes Blood, Haruomi Hosono and more..
As the protagonist prepares for a night out, the scent of roses wafts in from their open window. They look outside and see a shadowy figure standing on the street below, looking up at their window, before walking off into the night. Intrigued but still set on sticking to the plan set about by your group of friends for the rest of the night, they embark on an odyssey of parties.
Despite talking to many interesting people that they at least partially fancy, the protagonist keeps sensing the presence of roses surrounding them, submerging them into a sweet, haunting fragrance. They abandon their group of friends to search for the source of the smell, bringing up feelings of excitement of a potential new love interest, but likewise digging up old memories of their love’s past. The protagonist is led through the nocturnal landscape, through different bars and house parties, meeting different characters along the way, but being narrowly evaded by the alluring figure all the while, slowly succumbing to some sort of love-crazed madness.
I don’t have the rest of the story all parsed out, but I’m sure with those building blocks, plus with the aid of the music, you can write your own end to the story. Or imagine your own story altogether. I want the sequence of the music to envelop you, bringing you into its universe and letting all previous worries and concerns to the wayside.
A stream of consciousness music blog, active since 2010. Established in Ann Arbor, MI, currently in NYC.
Send me music: warmsubmissions @ gmail
I hope you enjoy your time here.
Join 68 other subscribers
Upcoming Releases:
August 7: Ceremony - Tell Me Your Dream DMA'S - DMA'S Hana Stretton - Tiarn Lawrence English - The Rest Is My Ghost Man/Woman/Chainsaw - Cannonball Margaret Glaspy - I Am Both Maya Ongaku - Nothing Space Music The Mountain Goats - Days Overmono - Pure Devotion Prairie Princess - Jewish American Prairie Princess Ravyn Lenae - Blue Island Roy Montgomery & Martha Skye Murphy - Nebular Slow Magic - Emotion Engine zzzahara - Distant Lands
August 14: Dana and Alden - Papa's Boat Dent May - The Big One Hovvdy - Big World James Ellis Ford - Lost In Another World Jungle - Sunshine Kiwi Jr. - Blowin' Up L'Rain - fata morgana MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS - 祝おう Nina Winder-Lind - Wild Love Phoebe Bridgers - Lost Weekend Radiator Hospital - Distorting Time Sweeping Promises - You Say I Romanticize The Womack Sisters - The Womack Sisters
August 21: Antony Szmierek - Decoding Birdsong Black Marble - Life In Small Spaces Brennan Wedl - Brennan Wedl Chelsea Wolfe - The Dark Frances Chang - been thinking bout confession Jam City - My World Julia Holter - Materia Lusine - Melting Days Ok Cowgirl - Rhinestone Cowgirl Sondre Lerche - Acrobats Squirrel Flower - Say A Prayer To The Gods Of Getting Going Westside Cowboy - It Goes On
August 28: Allah-Las - Sirenas Dinosaur Jr. - There Near Floating Points & San Francisco Ballet Orchestra - Mere Mortals Interpol - This Mirror Weighs A Ton Le Ren - Don't Be Funny Without Me Marci - Mask Lady and the Late Night Girl Russian Circles - Nine Sarah Davachi - The Will of Tongues
September 4: Arab Strap - Half-Told Tales Chat Pile - Who Loves the Sun corto.alto - SOME SMALL FORTUNE Lily Seabird - Lightspheres On Their Way Personal Trainer - Human Assholes Sharp Pins - Mod Mayday 23 Sofie Royer - before/after Told Slant - What's Up
September 11: Bonobo - Distance in Static Colin Stetson & Brìghde Chaimbeul - All the light in the world FKJ - Tyber Haruomi Hosono - Yours Sincerely Ibibio Sound Machine - Chopping Mountain Sylvan Esso - Ow ∞ This Is Lorelei - The Singer in My Band The Tubs - Hard Life
September 18: Actress - Radical Frame Babehoven - I See Them, I See Me beabadoobee - Pylon Beck - Ride Lonesome Boy Harsher - Get Mean Carly Rae Jepsen - Day and Night Echo & the Bunnymen - Apples For Isaac El Búho - Hogar Emma Ruth Rundle - These Killing Times Empress Of - Dream House Ezra Collective - Here Because of Hope Frankie Rose - HILA Freak Slug - Amulet Krallice - Scour Order Orville Peck - Mule Slow Pulp - Melodie Tinashe - Popstar
September 25: Adult DVD - Adult DVD Blondshell - Violins Bullion - Nearly Dungen - Vidrig Vår Gurriers - Nobody's Coming To Save You Hermanos Gutiérrez - Los Ojos Del Cóndor Julia Jacklin - The Gem Kiefer - Memory Bomb Lawrence Rothman - Here Lies Love / Sawdust to Stardust M83 - I Wrote You A Letter Protomartyr - Hotel Usona Space Afrika - Quiet Storm Starcleaner Reunion - Umbrella Tinashe - Popstar
October 2: Blossoms - Songs From The Wedding Cake Emily A. Sprague - Cyano Fat Dog - Cancel Me (I'm Tired) Greg Freeman - All Set The Bone Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Ruin: It's Not Just Music Logic1000 - Confirmation! Vanishing Twin - Archives Wishy - Nature's Pill
October 9: Girl Ultra - RRRomeo HAAi - DIGITiSE Jess Williamson - A Mile South of Heaven Marina Herlop - Dja Dja Teenage Fanclub - Do Not Dare To Dream
October 16: Gotts Street Park - Somewhere Between The Mars Volta - Lucro Sucio; Unfinished Business Two Shell - Infinite Now @ - Autosmile
A stream of consciousness music blog, active since 2010. Established in Ann Arbor, MI, currently in NYC.
Send me music: warmsubmissions @ gmail
I hope you enjoy your time here.
