06/23 - All Wrapped In Plankton

It's summer now. I'm for it. I love this month. Even though I'm working a little bit too much right now, I'm exhilerated by life. Lush vibes call for lush music:

 

Astrud Gilberto - Nega Do Cabelo Duro

This playlist is full of those amazing little details that raise a song from being great to making me positively obsessed. Case in point: Astrud's way of transforming the words "pente que te penteia" to a staccato rhythmic device. Impossible to not "chi-qe-chi" with her on the sly.

 

 

Cosmo Sheldrake - Bathed In Sound

Whale song music, but good? Yes, Cosmo Sheldrake used actual underwater recordings to make a song about underwater life, in what on paper is the most literally cheesy concept imaginable, but in practice turns out to be absolutely envelopingly gorgeous. Thanks in no small part to a lovely, lovely melody.

 

 

Caroline Polachek - Billions

Caroline Polachek is another of those artists who can turn any phrase into a great hook, just by force of phrasing and intonation. She does a different version of her magic trick on pretty much every song she releases, and this time is no different; in that it is different. 

Zzay, zzzay, zzaae, zzaay... something to me

And then she goes and tops it off with a children's choir. Shamelessly delightful.

Rosalía - Candy

She did it before with Justin Timberlake, and now Rosalia takes the most iconic melody fragment from Burial and makes it unfamiliar, new and emotional on another level.

Braxe + Falcon ft. Panda Bear - Step By Step

And finally for the song that's been most indelibly stuck in my head for the past few weeks. Instant classic in my world. This chorus already feels like it has always been around.

I found a reason to stay
And then it faded away
And I'm already on
On my way out

05/23 - Show Me How To Split The Real

Needed some pep and energy to get out of a slump. Found it – as per ushe – in music.

The Clash - What's My Name

I needed to rediscover something. Dug out old feelings with a ladleful of The Clash's faultless debut. Got so exhilerated I was dancing and laughing on the ferry. It's still there, sometimes you just need to shake it awake.

What the hell is wrong with me?
I'm not who I want to be

 

 

Sahra Halgan - Talo

Went to one gig since last list. And what a gig. Somaliland's best voice according to me (I don't know that many singers from Somaliland if I'm honest, but if there's more like this I don't know how they're keeping it hidden from me). She started out smooth and lulling, but gradually raised the intensity throughout the concert until we were in a land of high pitched ululations and frantic riffage, all while Sahra stood softly swaying and smiling, like an eternal, reassuring but potentially world-wrecking force of nature.

 

 

Nilüfer Yanya - midnight sun

Her song Melt was one of my favourite tracks of 2019. I still love it so much, so that just hearing her voice again at the beginning of this track made me fistbump the sky. But this track is a different animal, that prowls around and around until it suddenly roars, at 3:47. The last few weeks I have lived for such violent joyful release. Spring hormones, perhaps.

Danny Brown - Ain't It Funny

Mania over lethargy. Danny Brown makes me want to bounce around on a dance floor, recklessly. Less reck. Less deliberation. More abandon.

Beyoncé - All Night

The video version of Lemonade suddenly came on my random playlist, and I couldn't bring myself to skip it, so sat through the whole visual album, as I hadn't done since it came out. I'd forgotten how it floored me the first time. It's a good music album, but watching it as well packs an extra punch. By the time All Night came around I had happy tears in my eyes. When she whispers in the finale I don't know if I want to be with Beyoncé or be Beyoncé. Man, she's amazing. Controversial opinion, I know.