Mood Swings: Oct 11, 2016
Hey there. Welcome!
This is going to be a weekly round-up post of five songs I’m into that week or lately or whatever. I was getting tired of people only hyping the Top 40 stuff, and while I’m a huge fan of all those good tunes, I’m kinda looking to try to bring attention to lesser-known or just starting out artists once in a while. I mean, not to say that this is going to be all totally indie, unknown music. I’m sure some of you will have heard some of the songs I’m going to post before. But I at least want to create something to catalogue the tunes I listen to, to share good things that deserve to be shared, and to write something I like for my sake. I love talking about music, and I miss it. So thanks for reading, and please enjoy the first edition of Mood Swings.
Sueño Latino — Illusion First Mix
The theme for this week is kind of, like, working music. I’ve been working on my computer a lot lately, typing, writing, thinking, etc, and I needed some tunes that would keep me focused and solid. I really like Spotify’s Brain Food playlist for this — actually, one or two of these tracks I got from there, so I guess I can’t claim full originality for finding the latest new music right now. But whatever! I’ve been busy! And there’s so much good stuff on the way from me, guys — you don’t even know. Anyway, this song isn’t on Spotify’s playlist, and it’s pretty good. The Paradise remix of this is pretty great too, but I prefer this one for the droning beats and on-and-on sound. I like repetitive music when I’m doing repetitive tasks, and this is one I kind of stumbled upon. It’s an unofficial remix of the self-titled Sueño Latino song. Sueño Latino were an Italo house band in, well, Italy, obviously, in the late 80s/early 90s. I dig the flow and the build up and the overall ambience of it all. I actually found this while looking for Manuel Göttsching’s classic extra-long song/album E2-E4, which was released in 1984. So there’s a few layers to this track, which I find pretty interesting, but I just like to get caught in click holes.
Dirty Doering — Cape of Good Hope (Original Mix)
I really like this song. I like longer electro/house songs, I like, like I said, repetitive songs. I like the house-style vibe of this beat, the dreamy atmosphere it creates. I swear I must have put it on repeat a few dozen times over the course of a day. This beat gets me so focused on my work grind I don’t even notice what’s happening around me. It’s a great track to keep as background music while writing, and it’s also something I’d love to mix into another track, or even play at the beginning of the night at a party. I think this is what Adderall sounds like.
La Fuente — 4000
This song has an excellent drop, with a crazy high-pitched riff in it that just sounds so wildly 80s to me. I find this track hella retro and I just wanna pound out my work when I’m working. This beat is pretty new and it’s sexy in just the right way — not so sexy that you wanna fuck but a sexy enough tune that you feel really good while listening to it. Just an absolutely fantastic house/EDM track that sounds and almost tastes good.
RDGLDGRN — Karnival
“Karnival” is really upbeat and fun, and it served well to break the monotony of the constant vibe of chillwave electro I’ve been listening to. It’s a good thing to listen to to kind of step away from work for a second, to look around, bop your head or eat a snack or whatever. It’s a fairly recent song, and it’s been a regular on my playlists since it came out Sept 20th. A nice snap back to reality, if you will. I love the casual flow between rap and a breezy indie feeling.
Bassnectar — Reaching Out
Finally, Bassnectar provides a beautiful, spacey rhythm for working. It’s one of those rare songs that makes me feel a funny, quivering feeling in my heart and stomach. It oscillates, almost, the beat slowly getting more and more complex as drums and synths are layered on top of each other in such precise way it feels almost mathematical. This song seems math-like, actually — it’s true. This too has somewhat of a retro vibe to it in my opinion, like those neon-on-black graph paper patterns that vibrate to the beat, like I’m in Tron, like I’m escaping, like I’ve already escaped. It’s got a beautiful, downtempo rhythm to it that I can’t quite put my finger on. I played this track on repeat a few times too — I just had to. It creates a perfect dreamscape, a soundtrack to watching, observing, working, seeing, breathing. Even the name is fitting — like floating through space in a bubble or something, watching myself reach out to…what? Whatever is out there. It’s a track I absolutely cannot get enough of. I want to devour it whole, to be as close to it as I can because sometimes there are songs like that, where listening is not enough, where I almost just want to eat it, swallow it, inhale it, to have the sound inside of my heart the way I feel and imagine it vibrate inside my chest. I turn the volume up to max but even that is sometimes not enough to describe how much I want to keep listening to this song.
Also — check out that video. Wow.
If you like these tracks and want more music recommendations from me, feel free to follow along on my Mood Swings Spotify playlist, which I’ll be updating every time with the five songs of the week.
