POTW (2019/8): Classic Electronic Music

This week’s selection for Playlist of the Week is ‘Classic Electronic Music’ by Spotify user ‘lodolf’. It focusses in on the more melodic and cinematic side of electronica, which has roots in classical and orchestral music. In fact, some of the pieces included are actually classical orchestral music being played on synths, e.g. Synclassica’s renditions of Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi and so on. Another notable piece is Arvo Pärt’s moving minimal work, Spiegel im Spiegel.

There is a lot to like here. This is a well thought out playlist of instrumental music, with selected pieces of electronica from the 1970s onwards. There were a few surprises – I didn’t expect to hear ABBA’s Arrival or, for that matter, any Bowie. (Benny Andersson of ABBA also snook in again with his cinematic Skallgång.)

That insistence on shying away from the obvious is one of the playlist’s major assets – it includes a generous smattering of emerging artists, examples being Easily Embarrassed, Bassic, Animobo, Firechild, Didymos, and the list goes on. This led me to discover at least a handful of artists who weren’t even near my radar, let alone on it.

If I’m going to be really picky, this playlist focusses a bit too heavily on certain artists, albeit with some heavy hitters fitting that category, such as Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis and Tangerine Dream. That has not taken away from this playlist being a thoroughly enjoyable listen, however, as the ‘over-represented’ artists are all fantastic.

POTW (2019/7): Anima 27 by RE Junesworth

This week’s Playlist Of The Week is RE Junesworth’s lovely Anima 27: Surreal / Cosmic / Lo Fi / Synth / Psychedelic / Atmospheric / Ambient which they describe as, “a selection of electronic music with industrial influences, downtempo and lo fi, and some ambient tracks for calm breaks”. With it being instrumental, it’s the kind of playlist you can put on and leave playing in the background, allowing you to dig into work that requires some fairly deep concentration. And at over 8 hours long, you’re not going to need to worry about what to play next in the middle of a tricky task. Tracks range from those from better-known artists like Alan Gogoll, Lemongrass, Seneca B and Shpongle, to some hidden gems from some underground acts.

Although they would sit well in this playlist, it doesn’t include any Flungundi tracks at the time of writing. Flugundi is the home of RE Junesworth’s own artistic endeavours, which are well worth checking out.

And, if you enjoy this playlist and would like to explore further, there are actually a whole load of other Anima playlists from the same curator, with emphasis on different genres each time, but staying within the realms of chillout music.

POTW (2019/6): Electronica by Independent Female Artists

This week’s POTW is another compiled by Line Munch-Petersen (ENILSounds). In this playlist, she features tunes by female electronic artists who are unsigned or with independent record labels.

The music ranges from ambient through to electro-country with various shades of electronica, pop and rock in between. Some of the tracks have a darker feel to them, like Brexistentialism and The Elders Secret and some have clubby vibes, e.g. Corazon de Lluvia and There’s a Place for You. There are a lot of tracks on this playlist from artists I’d never heard before, so it’s a really good one for new music discovery, too. And if I’m not mistaken there’s a European flavour pervading the list, Brexistentialism included.

Rating: PG – it has a song or two flagged ‘explicit’, but is mostly ‘clean’.

POTW (2019/5): Yoga Chill by Michelle Qureshi

This week’s playlist of the week is Yoga Chill, from Michelle Qureshi, and brings together a selection of beautiful pieces in the chill out, new age, ambient and acoustic genres. You don’t need to be doing yoga to enjoy this playlist – it makes great background music for reading, studying or other non-physical activities, which is great if you’re an unbendy couch-potato like me.

Michelle Qureshi is an acoustic artist in her own right, writing and recording almost classical style new age and ambient pieces, often guitar based. She has several tracks in the playlist, so you can get a feel for her style. (She’s also included a couple of tracks by Andy Salvanos, who I’ve mentioned before in the blog.) Michelle brings a great deal of feeling to everything I’ve heard her do, and pieces like Never Odd Or Even can leave you floating off into some imaginary sunset, so I think you’ll really enjoy listening.

POTW (2019/4): Anything New

This week’s Playlist of the Week is more conventional – lots and lots of new music, collated by Trent Herzman, who is an indie artist himself, from Oceanside in California. If you’ve not heard Trent’s work before, check out the first couple of tracks for a sample, he has a great voice, a 60s psychedelic vibe and you can really hear the Californian influence.

Trent’s playlist Anything New is a collection of recent songs by independent artists. It’s not exclusive to any particular genre, but rock is well represented. It’s a nice quality collection – great recordings and production, strong melodies and lyrical content.

POTW (2019/3): Audiobooks and More!

And now for something completely different! I’ve featured a lot of music playlists in this feature so far, but this is the first time I think I’ve come across an audiobook playlist in my meanderings. This particular playlist also includes other spoken recordings. There are some classics on here, so it’s worth checking out to see if there is anything in this collection that you’ve always fancied reading or watching an adaptation of.

POTW (2019/2): Chillout at the Moondreams Cafe

Apologies, this is almost a day later posting than expected – I got knocked out of action by a New Years’ cold for a few days there. (Recovering now; normal service to be resumed ASAP).

This is one of my favourite playlists at the moment for when I’m doing non-musical work like filing my tax-return, which I did the other day. It does exactly what it says on the tin, as they say, with a bunch of songs familiar and new, many from artists you may well not be familiar with. There are covers, acoustic versions, and original versions and all perfectly suited for that half-listening-but-definitely-enjoying thing you do when the music is in the background to your main task.

The brains behind this list is Susan Moss of Moondreams Music, whose playlists I’ve featured before. This has got to be one of her best yet – enjoy!

Playlist of the Week (2018/52)

Playlist of the Week No 52, 2018 Winter Wanderer, curated by Barry McLoughlin

You’ve probably still got a way to go with last week’s Alternative Christmas playlist, but here’s another choice for your Christmas listening, and it’s very classy.

Our POTW this week is the lovely Winter Wanderer playlist, compiled by Barry McLoughlin, whose Acoustic Treasures playlist I featured all the way back in August. This set of songs is in much the same folky singer-songwriter vein, with a fair sprinkling of songs about Christmas, snow and the winter season.

I imagine you’re more organised than me and had the Christmas presents wrapped months ago and you’re pretty much all set to go. (I always manage to leave something to the last minute).  Hopefully you have some time off over Christmas, for time with family and time to reflect on the actual meaning of the season as well as enjoying the trappings and a glass of something comforting.

So it’s a very happy Christmas from me… I’ll be bringing you some more playlists in due course, but would love to know what you’ve thought of the series so far and where you’d like it to go next year.

 

Playlist of the Week (2018/51)

Playlist of the Week No 51, 2018: Stoneygate's Alternative ChristmasYou can’t get to this point in the year in a series like this without having a Christmas playlist. It’s becoming a tradition of mine to put Christmas music on whilst I wrap the presents, mainly to try to persuade myself it is that time of year and I need to get a move on otherwise I’ll run out of time.

I enjoy some of the golden oldies, but they do get, well, old. So, a couple of years back or three, I started to compile a YouTube playlist of various lesser known Christmas songs, the ones that you don’t hear over and over again in the shops all the way from about September. It became more than a little obsessive and the list got extremely long, because just about everyone has done a Christmas song.

So this week’s POTW is a bit of a cheat, but it’s my collection of some more obscure Christmas songs, some secular, some sacred, some just plain daft and some serious. It’s got a wide variety of styles, from punk to an African childrens’ choir. There are a whopping 320+ songs included, so it will keep you busy for hours on end whether you’re hanging up the decorations, making the mince pies or preparing the Christmas dinner.  The mood of the songs is mainly grouped together, so if you want more variety, hit the shuffle button.

Playlist of the Week (2018/50)

Playlist of the Week, No 50: Chill Sesh by FancyFoxx #POTW

This POTW has been on my list to cover for a while.  It’s Chill Sesh, from Fancy Foxx Music. This is one smooooth playlist, steeped in loungey, funky-jazz vibes.  It feels both clubby and yet very horizontal.  It’s a bit late in the year, I know, but some of the songs feel quite summery, too, as there are various songs that are either reggae beat or have a clear West Indian influence. We can dream of beaches in the middle of autumn, right?

Fancy Foxx is a small label that has been around for a couple of years, and has a handful of artists associated with it. Their image is very much ‘the life & soul of the party’, whereas this playlist is more like the after-party wind-down at 2am or so when most of the few remaining participants still awake have collapsed into the comfy chairs and have started having deep and meaningful conversations and don’t want to go home. There are still a few people dancing, though – the music’s funky.