September 2023: Well I've just started college so I thought this would be an interesting project. I'm just going to go through music I'm listening to from the perspective of a nonmusician. Let's start with Odessa by Caribou. This song has some really unique instrumentation with some sounds I don't think I've ever heard. It has very soft vocals that make it feel a lot more relaxed than the tempo would lead you to believe. There's definitely a ton of influence from the 80's and disco, but it's clearly electronic.
Next is Nujabes, just in general probably one of the best artists to ever release music. People describe them as the original Lofi Hip-Hop which is essentially hip hop, but to relax to. A great introduction is Samurai Champloo, but Modal Soul is great as well. It's just a good example of how to make music with some sampling, but mostly just strong instrumentals and a little bit of rap.
The real meat comes from The Weeknd who I thought I absolutely hated until I recently re-listened to their music. The obvious choice for what to listen to is Starboy if you're looking for an interesting beat with some funky (strange not like the genre) instrumentals along with some hitting beats and it has producer credit from Daft Punk which automatically makes it great. A lot of his work is about abusive or toxic relationships specifically where he is the abuser which he covers extremely well and is extremely vulnerable. The real thing that stuck with me was the line "When I'm fucked up I'm the real me." On the track The Hills on the album Beauty Behind The Madness not because it means a whole lot beyond the words, but I don't know it just hit me as funny.
Laufey came out of knowhere for me just like this paragraph and has a beautiful voice. She's from Iceland and I barely know anything about her except for her most recent songs. I recommend From The Start. It's great on its own, but the rest of her E
P California and Me. It's described as jazz pop and I'd agree. She played with the Philharmonia Orchestra for one of her songs as well.
Wlfgrl by Machine Girl struck me with no lyrics and some of the best tracks I've heard in awhile with heavy sampling. I really don't even know how to describe it besides Electronic. Although the descriptions of it seem to be leading to aesthetics from the cyberpunk genre and anime.
Blood Orange surprised me with it's album Coastal Grooves which is perfectly imperfect with vocals that somewhat seem like they shouldn't fit with the incredible distant guitar and simple drum. It honestly reminds me of home in a strange way even though it has no relation, but I think the voice just makes me comfortable. Champagne Coast stuck out to me the most and I think it's their biggest hit. It's just a perfect song.
I really hope you give these a listen or even listen to them while reading if you can do that. I really cannot. I hope you'll stick around because I wanna do this every month or two. BIG WARNING DO NOT PLAY THROUGH THE WEB IT IS VERY LOUD.