The tracks filling my head space these month’s
Firstly, sorry to all for having to wait so long for monthly music post, and the latest playlist(s) that go with. Unfortunately my gran passed away quite quickly and suddenly at the beginning of March. As a result, I’ve not really felt in anyway shape, or form like doing one of my eclectic music posts. I have continued to listen to music, so I will share my playlists for the months of February and March. However what I will do is present the 2, separately, in this one article.
February 2022
Unfortunately this month seen the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a very sad thing to see in this day and age. Something that seems like nothing but pure warmongering to the height degree, and not the best thing to see in the world after the last few years we’ve all experienced globally. Who knows what the answer is there? Unfortunately if it’s show us anything, is that we now live in a time were morally although the whole world sees this as being morally wrong, we can’t intervene for risk of full global conflict, and potential nuclear war. This playlist is semi-reflective of my state of mind this month, reflective, melancholic and varied in taste, tempo and mood.
As you guys will know the lists are always varied, and eclectic (hence the name). We’ve everything here from spoken word tracks, 70’s, 80’s, indie numbers, minimalist, classic soul and R&B numbers, ambient Punk, Dance, Poetry, Leftfield and a whole lot of others that are perhaps genre-less. There is a whole section of this (extremely long) playlist which is quite downtempo, ambient and quite minimalist, with not much in the way of lyrics. All I can say is that it was probably definitely reflective of my mood. Sometimes when you feel down (for me anyway) it seems easier to just listen to these types of songs, but it’s a fine line as they can sometimes cause you to lean too much into feeling melancholic and raw. But in some ways that can be cathartic in its own way. Don’t be put off though, as even though the playlist has its lows, it also has peaks.
Unfortunately this list is 4 hours and 10 minutes long, so can totally appreciate it being too long for most people (if not everyone but myself). As I always do I’ve boiled down what I feel I wouldn’t want you to miss out on:
John Cooper Clarke – Midnight Shift
Gil Scott-Heron, Jamie XX – I’ll Take Care of U
DNA feat, Suzanne Vega – Tom’s Diner
Yppah – Autumn Phase
The Clash – The Magnificent Seven
Big Hard Excellent Fish – Imperfect List
Supertramp – Goodbye Stranger
Halsey – I am not a Woman, I’m a God
Mark Morrison – Return of the Mack
Orbital – Copenhagen
Class Actress – Journal of Ardency
XTC – Making Plans For Nigel
Lone – Airglow Fires
Stealing Sheep – Jokin’ Me
Luniz – I Got 5 On It
Pet Shop Boys – Left To My Own Devices
Nite Jewel – Nowhere To Go
The Trammps – Rubberband
Bernard Wright – Haboglabotribin’
Ulrich Schnauss – Monday Paracetamol
This month’s list features North Downs, John Cooper Clarke, Gil Scott-Heron, Queen, Jamie xx, Labi Siffre, Public Image LTD, Devo, The Clash, Big Hard Excellent Fish, Halsey, DNA, Jona Lewie, Supertramp, XTC, Lone, Aphex Twin, Orbital, Boards of Canada, Ulrich Schnauss, Stereolab, Bibio, Harold Budd, Yppah, Four Tet, Orbital, Stealing Sheep, Opus III, MArk Morrison, Chaka Khan, Telepopmusik, Luniz, Pet Shop Boys, Nite Jewel, Hall & Oates, The Trammps, Class Actress, Bernard Wright, Future Four. As always, this list is for listening to anytime but probably best enjoyed loudly or with a good set of cans on your ears.
March 2022
This was an exceptionally difficult month, largely due to the fact my gran passed away very suddenly. This isn’t the place to delve into that, but it was definitely influential on my choice of music, and mood, hence it’s worth stating for context. For me this was what was most prominent in my life for this whole month (and still to a large degree just now), this and work, then back again helping my family deal with the situation, and then trying to deal with all my own feelings and thoughts on the situation. Anyway not to sound selfish, or behave like I’m the only one to ever lose someone close to me, but if you know, you know what it’s like. Also how hard it can be. Music helped, maybe not as much as it has in the past, but it tried it’s best.
In a rare departure, and in part flying in the face of my eclectic playlist. This one was quite heavily built up of dance music, and so isn’t as varied as it usually is. Don’t get me wrong, there is different genres of music here, but it’s mainly at the beginning. The dance music however is varied within itself here too. There is slices of electronica, deep house, minimalism, and old school trance (as well as a few more sub, sub-genres of dance if I was being a purist). Perhaps on some subconscious level it was easier to listen to music without lyrics, that might stir up some feelings or emotions. Or perhaps I just felt comfort in some of these songs. I can definitely say that one night a few days after my grans passing, I was still awake at about 3:00 am going down a rabbit hole of old trance classics and adding them to this list.
As always (and you should expect it by now) the playlist is 3hours and 12minutes long. So I have tried to shorten it down into this YouTube playlist of song’s, I feel are definitely worth giving a listen to and not missing, but they are all dance bangers this month:
AIR – Sexy Boy
Booka Shade – Mandarine Girl
Plump DJs – Morning Sun
Steve Lawler – Rise In
BT – Never Gonna Come Back Down
BT – Flaming June
Atlantis Vs Avatar – Fiji
OT Quartet – Hold That Sucker Down
Paul Van Dyk – Tell Me Why
Alpha 9 – The Night Is Ours
Way Out West – Ajare
BICEP – Aura
Crazy P – Echo
Plaid – Maru (Orbital Remix)
CamelPhat, Cristoph – Breathe (ft Jem Cooke)
Ara Koufax – Natural States
Alex Metric The Q
This month’s list features music by Gorillaz, Air, Roger Daltrey, Santos, Booka Shade, Plump DJs, Steve Lawler, Deep Dish, BT, Atlantis, OT Quartet, Paul Van Dyk, Roots Manuva, ALPHA 9, Way Out West, Coldcut,, Bicep, Crazy P, Plaid, CamelPhat, Ara Koufax, Denis Horvat, Alex Metric, Crookers, and Propaganda. I usually say at this point this music is for listening to anytime, but I would say this is a heavily dance influenced list this month, so just remember the neighbours when you play it ha-ha! Until next month, when normal service will resume, be safe, and take care of one another.