POTW (2019/25): Adventures in Space & Time – Unsigned Artists

I recently shared Skyline Tigers’ playlist Making Waves after a long wait. Well, here’s another of hers, to make up for lost time – my choice for this week’s Playlist of the Week is her Adventures in Space and Time – Unsigned Artists collection. It’s great to see that she has a brand new single out, A Space Lullaby with DaveyHub and Nicky Havey, too.

How to describe this playlist? It’s frequently upbeat, but has a spacey feel about it. That’s not too surprising, as most of the songs are space-themed and there are a lot of synths. There are very occasional breaks from the theme, though – Superstar, GJART’s collaboration with Deggsy is a witty skewering of the search for fame, and is the most obvious departure.

A 90s Dance Influence

The mood of this list is a little trippy at times, but rarely heavy. Tracks such as Trip’s 13th Star to the Left convey a clear 90s dance influence, but the playlist also has very current-sounding pieces. There’s even some 60s style psychedelia.

Skyline Tigers hasn’t shied away from including longer tracks, which playlisters sometimes avoid to fit more in. The longest track here is still less than 10 minutes, though, and the average song length under 5 minutes; that leaves plenty of room for a lot of different unsigned artists to contribute.

Down The Wormhole

Standout pieces for me have been Daveyhub’s Prodigy and Chemical Brothers-inspired Terraforming, Bufinjer’s frenetic Down The Wormhole, a dark collaboration between Vandalamp and Craig Manga, Germ 10001, and Amphlux’s EDM piece Mercenary. There are also some lovely chilled out tracks, notably Tuuligan’s Year 4101 at Lagoon Nebula 140616 and 10 Million Days from arcaans the LightProvider.

Overall, the playlist has a good energy level; you could easily cook or clean to it – or drive for that matter. You might not want to study to this one, though: there are tracks with lyrics, and the energy level is probably a bit too frenetic at times. (But feel free to disagree!).

Duration: 3h 51min, 51 songs

Rating: I reckon this one’s a ‘PG’; some of the tracks might be a little bit scary for a very young audience!

POTW (2019/21): Electronic Independent

Electronic Independent, this week’s Playlist of the Week, is more upbeat than what I’ve brought you the last couple of times. It’s another playlist that features independent artists, but it has a different focus. This one centres around tracks with pumping beats for the gym or the dancefloor (without ending up in hardcore EDM territory). It could help keep you alert on a long drive, or motivate you to keep going while cleaning the house. (I’m thinking of a few jobs I should be doing).

As with most playlists, there is the odd curveball; you might notice an 80s-style throwback with a busy, funky bass-line (e.g. Toy Shoulders’ Eternull), or a blues-swing jazz track (Hey Buffalo!’s Duele). Generally, the sound is fairly chart-orientated, though.

Electronica Independent features several tracks from Ce Ce Hemmings, the playlist’s curator, a.k.a. Hemmingway, who I’ve mentioned before. There’s also an abundance of energetic tracks from other fab electronic artists like Lyia Meta, Fans of Jimmy Century, Bufinjer, etc. And Flavolous, who I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing live at Sonophilia last year, is also present with Favela Flair.

Duration: 4h 12min / 61 songs

NB: I listen to Spotify with ‘explicit’ songs filtered out. There is one such track on this list at the time of writing, and I haven’t heard it! If you think this may be an issue, please apply the filter on your account before listening.

Playlist of the Week (2018/36)

Playlist of the Week (2018/36): Adra Sengué's Independent Vol. 1

This Monday morning’s POTW is another one from Adra Sengué, manager at the independent electronica label Rogalist Records, whose ‘lis’ playlist I featured earlier in the year.

Independent Vol. 1 consists of some very listenable electronica – and other genres – from a range of independent artists.  The clue is in the title, of course. The electronic sounds are  supplied by such accomplished artists as Dephinite, Spaceschneider, Bufinjer and Leg Puppy; on the rock and acoustic side, Levy, Crooked Cat Adams, Errol Chugg and Deleo are among the goodies present. Not to mention the pop sensibilites of Kristina Lachaga and Electric Casanova.  Like the earlier playlist, some of the electronic artists are from the Rogalist stable, but not exclusively.

NB. Please be aware that a small proportion of the tracks on this playlist carry the ‘explicit’ label, so this playlist is not suitable for play within earshot of children or bosses.