Discover My Weekly #3 | 9/1/2019

The sun was out properly for the first time in forever yesterday and I saw three guys out together in sunglasses - so England lol. It wasn't even bright in the slightest and it's still freezing, although it's London Fashion Week and this was in Shoreditch so maybe they were trying to make some sort of (weak) statement. It's a symbol of the days starting to get longer anyway, so let's cheers to that. I've got quite a few exciting gigs coming up this month that I can't wait to talk about, but so far this year I've just been taking it easy post-new year and focusing on work. I'm going to take this post to share some Discover music as it'll probably be a while before I do it again. Good news is, it's all great stuff. Most of the songs are quite summer vibes-y, so maybe I'm not any better than those three guys in trying to force it...

#1 - Flowers - Sampa The Great, REMI

First of all, I have a special place in my heart for the flute trill at the opening. The instrumentation is generally very varied, classical instruments, wind chimes and different percussion, it modifies and stays fresh throughout. There's a lot going on but that doesn't prevent the song from maintaining a soothing, carefree atmosphere. Born in Zambia, Sampa The Great came through Botswana, LA and San Francisco to Sydney in Australia - maybe this is a factor in why her accent when she sings is so mesmerisingly unique. When she sings the descending patterns on 'free' her voice is like a whistling breeze, it's stunning. Against this, REMI's verse provides a moment to take you out of the trance, which is refreshing in itself. The melodies have this strange quality to them that paired with the rhyming pattern makes it sound like some sort of spell. The drum beat is nice and chilled, but the shaking tambourine leading up to a cymbal crash allow points of climax in the texture which stops it from getting boring and too clearly repetitive.

#2 - Akanamali - Sun-El Musician, Samthing Soweto

Feel good music! It's a South African pop song, it's straightforward to listen to, and it's very enjoyable. The production isn't trying too hard but there's a few little things I really like. The outro solo on the synth from about 4:26 brings a nice resolution to the song. The bassline made from a vocal pitch-shifted down a few octaves is wavey on its own, but next to Samthing Soweto's transcendental and effortless voice, there's a beautiful collision of the high and low. The lyrics are quite standard pop love song in meaning, but to my easily-pleased English ears they sound so poetic. All in all, both singer and producer seem to be on the same wavelength, which results in pleasant vibes achieved through effective simplicity (aka good pop music).

#3 - Do It, Try It - The Blaze Remix - M83

I'm a big fan of The Blaze - their album 'DANCEHALL' was one of my favourites last year - but I had never heard this remix before. It's totally different to the original, and you really can tell its their version just by hearing those distorted and reverbed vocal samples - so it's peng to see totally different interpretations from two French electronic artists. In the opening, the piano chords remind me of Eric Satie's 'Gymnopedies', then one minute the tension begins to build, to 1:21, and the heavy beat allows the electronic side to take precedence. The suspense and texture falls and rises through the next few minutes until we ultimately return to those 'Gymnopedie' chords - genius. It tells such a story, even when the vocals are distorted beyond understanding. The high-pitched synth chords and techno kicks keep the intense moments alive, and at times there's an exhilaration in the lack of warning we're given before they come in. Also, bass is present and important, but it isn't too heavy which I think is vital in allowing the two sections of the song to be able to gel together and fluidly cross over. I really enjoyed the original too, so check that one out also!

#4 - Pineapple - Blue Lab Beats, Moses Boyd, Nérija

Quite the sick little jazztronic number. Blue Lab Beats are a duo from London, Golders Green to be exact. Their style seems to rely quite a bit on experimentation, which is cool, and I appreciate how much they talk about the process on their website, you don't often get that with a lot of musicians. The structure seems something along the lines of intro, A, sax solo, A, B, A, and the melodies are all gorgeous. The solo is balanced and explores a range without going over the top, and whereas the melody in A almost glides through the bars seamlessly, in B it almost struts across, making the section distinct and breaks up the song agreeably. It all comes together to make a great chillout tune, and the more modern/electronic jazz I see the better to be honest.

That's all for today, not quite my average selection and I guess not my most usual genres, but I'm quite gassed for myself to add these to my playlists. Can't stop listening to 'Tin' - Daphni at the moment either, but that's not a new discovery. Hope you enjoy them, and don't wear sunglasses in January. xxx

2018?? I don't know her x

Hello hello lovely people! Welcome to my last post of the year, the last ramblings that rattle through my brain before 2019 hits and we're back and ready to do it all over again (10 points if you know the meme). Ramblings is actually very accurate, as I just want to chat about bits and bobs rather than have a specific theme. Let's look back over the year and enjoy some nostalgic vibes.

I hope you all had lovely Christmases by the way. I haven't stayed at home for over a week in a long time; it was a really needed break and peng to have some proper family time, fights included. I was actually given a vinyl player, amp and speakers by my rents, something I've wanted for a couple years now and I'm majorly hyped for. I've been shopping about to start to build up a collection. Peggy Gou's 'Once' EP I felt was a good start, then I found Burial's 'Untrue' and Basement Jaxx's 'Rooty' for some throwback feels. A nice mix, but it's really made me think about the logistics of album content; there's been an ongoing discussion for a while of whether it's a dying art form, but I really don't think it's going anywhere. There's such a beauty to how you have to consider the general atmosphere an album will create if you pop a vinyl on rather than just picking the best songs to queue. It's a different experience but the outcome can be even more effective, especially when that one song does come on halfway through and everyone gets gassed together. I think albums define the direction an artist is going in when they release their latest music, and even as playlists are becoming ever more popular, I don't reckon they're going anywhere.

On that note, how do you build a playlist? I always used to just base everything off the first song I put in it and then over time it wouldn't make much sense - everything would somehow link to that first song in a way, but as a whole it wouldn't really gel. To break out of that cycle I've done two things; I've started playlists based on a few of my friends, so that way I know what I need to share with them and people with similar taste, and also I get this peng side effect where if I miss them, I can just listen to it and feel closer to them!! Awww, cringe I know, but it does work. Anyway, the other thing I've started doing is giving playlists names that in my head I really relate to a certain feeling music might give me. For example 'oi oi' for when a tune is pure YES no matter where/when it comes on, or I have one called 'boo' for those songs that are cool and interesting but always seem to be a bit spooky or west to put on in most contexts. Honestly, it genuinely seems to be forming more cohesive sets as a whole, so by all means follow my (slightly west) lead.

Spotify's 'Wrapped' playlists have been interesting too. I'm baffled by how much my music taste changes over the year - not just from beginning to end, but even each couple of months, and so the 'most listened to' playlist has been jokes. My top song is 'Let Me Go' by Branko which will come as a surprise to absolutely no one who knows me, I don't think I'm ever going to get over that banger. I've even gotten into the remixes of it again recently, and then re-listened to the original and it's like it's fresh and new again once more. Looking back over it, it's weird to see so many memories that I'd sort of forgotten because I had stopped listening to those songs after a while. In some ways, you can really define who you were at points in your life by what you were listening to, but I didn't realise the accuracy of that could come down to different sections of a year. How certain songs are perfect in just the right moment is something else that struck me scrolling through. Shy FX's 'Gold Dust' edit was the absolute faultless choice at the point it came on during Rudimental's Bestival set and I haven't been able to forget it since. 'Flowers' is always the perfect moment at a house party, no matter what, and nothing bangs better than Jamie XX's 'All Under One Roof Raving' during a long, rainy bus ride, trust me. On a similar train of thought, 'Evening Side' works best in the morning and 'Morning Side' at the end of the night, in my humble opinion.

So, there's just a quick few things I wanted to spill before the clock strikes twelve. Have fun tonight everyone! Be safe and dance well - by your own standards, not other people's. Oh, by the way, I've been listening to my Discover Weekly during this, so check out Misty Cold, Endless, Lit, Soak It Up and Induction when you get the chance. Lots of love xx