Song of the Week Archive

Sashasonjon - Jon Appleton

I've been exploring some older synthesizer works again and I happened to stumble across this wonderful piece! It was written for the Synclavier, one of the first digital synthesizers. Not only are the timbral choices very vast and interesting, but I love the different "movements" throughout, with very unique sections that are quite contrasting to each other. Usually electronic music from the 70s/80s can be very formless (in a bad way), I think this isn't like that, which works in its favor.

The River - King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

I will fully admit that I'm not an expert on the King Gizzard catalog. If you saw their discography, you'll understand why. However, this is one of my favorite songs by them! Yes, it is a ten-minute track, but it does not disappoint. It's got a groovy beat (in 5/4, my favorite time signature) and some cool switch ups towards the middle. It's a chill rock banger, and a song I come back to pretty often.

When the Shit Hits the Fan/Sunset Blvd. - Todd Rundgren

So I've been relistening to Todd Rundgren recently, specifically the album "A Wizard/A True Star". It's a really cool album with an interesting production history! While there's so many tacks I could've chosen to highlight, I've been playing this one a lot. I think it encapsulates Rundgren's unique, yet versatile compositional style, plus I love the instrumentation too.

Poison - Bell Biv DeVoe

I'll be honest, I don't listen to hip hop very often. There isn't a specific reason, I just tend to listen to other things instead. However, I do have a soft spot for older hip hop from the 90s. This song especially scratches that itch for me. I love the chorus, the samples they chose, and how they implemented it all together. Maybe this year I'll listen to more hip hop.

10000 CURRENCY 貨幣 OFFICIAL WILLEM - ThorHighHeels

Feeling a bit pseudo-nostalgic, so I chose to do a pseudo-nostalgic song! When I was a kid, I used to listen to a lot of interestingly produced beats on SoundCloud. While I haven't explored any of ThorHighHeels' music until a year or so ago, his stuff brings me back to that place. This track especially envoles that same feeling of intrigue and wonder that other artists' beats did when I was younger. The fact that Thor wrote this song about his newly adopted cat is just really sweet too.

GIRL HELL 1999 - femtanyl

The hardcore, drum n bass scene is something I've been interested in getting more involved in. I wanted to showcase something I found while snooping around for some neat tracks, and this song slaps sp hard. I love the beat, I love the timbre of the synths, I love how harsh it is while also being super groovy. It scratches all the itches for me, and I can't get enough.

Ladytron - Roxy Music

I've been listening to a lot of Roxy Music lately, and I didn't know what song I wanted to showcase. I decided to go with this one, as it includes some fun synthsizer work from Brian Eno. Yeah, he was in a band before he went solo and created some ambient music! It's such a strange song, but I love how these different timbres/musical styles combine. It definitely showcases the experimentation of the band. Once Eno left, Roxy Music would become a lot more like a traditional rock band, though still writing good tunes. You should listen to Roxy Music if weird, experimental art-rock is your thing.

Slinky - King Krule

You know, I'm kinda surprised I haven't uploaded a King Krule song to my Song of the Week list, but better now then never! This is such an underrated track to me. I think especially in terms of production, it shows what Archy is so good at; making sad boy bangers that sound like a bunch of instruments wailing into a microphone. Personally, I'm a big fan of the delay used on the vocals, it's the first time I've noticed how effective it can be in a song. The saxophone goes hard too, as well as those warbly synths. Truly a wonderful King Krule song.

4 Illustrations Havkongens slot (the Palace of the Sea King) - Else Marie Pade

Another cool woman electronic composer! Not only was Else Marie Pade well known for being a part of the Danish Resistance (which included spitting at Nazis), she also was the first Danish person to engage in the style of concrete music (aka musique concrete). Think proto-proto-plunderphonics, with an heavy emphasis on creating music through found sounds in the area you live in. This is one of my personal favorites from her catalog, she knows how to take samples and morph them into something completely different, something that wasn't common in this style. It sounds so haunting too! Else deserves so much more love, in my opinion.

You Make Me Real - The Doors

We're going real old school now! The beat just goes so incredibly hard, and I love the timbre of each of the instruments, especially the piano. I am a huge fan of the sound of those out of tune pianos. It definitely has an older aesthetic to the songwriting, but so what? It's just a fun song!

Stadium (Ignition) - Teamm Jordann

This time around, we got a vaporwave plunderphonics banger! This song just scratches itches very few other tracks can for me. I love the beat, I love the timbre of the samples, I love how it's kinda offkey. It's all in all just pure vaporwave goodness! I hate how it keeps getting removed from straming services every 5 minutes, because I think anyone whose a fan of vaporwave/plunderphonics should give this track its well deserved love.

Незнакомая сила - Utro

Inspired by Soviet/European post-punk bands of long ago, Utro brings a sound that's unique yet feels grounded in ideas you've probably heard before. I think this entire album is pure Russian punk awesomeness, but this track really solidifies my point. It's simple, yet effective, and rooted in a sonic aesthetic that sounds unlike anything else I've personally come across.

Beginnings - Ruth White

If you've played the RPG Maker game "Space Funeral", you're most likely familiar with this piece. I just think Ruth White and her music is so cool! I especially am a fan of this piece, as it has these really interesting timbres that create this haunting, yet has this sort of prog rock feel to it. A lot of her stuff is a lot creepier than this, but I think this shows her ability to write a really sonically neat work, especially with generated sounds that are more familiar to our ears!

Brilliance - Cristoph de Babalon

An absolutely incredible song from an absolutely incredible album. Most of the songs on "If You're Into It, I'm Out Of It" consists mainly of hardcore drum n bass and breakbeats, but there are a couple of truly mesmerizing dark ambient tracks. This one is the least unnerving of those tracks, but it still has a bleak sound palate that is unlike anything else. A real highlight from one of my new favorite music projects!

The Gladiator with the comb - VANITAS命死

Here's another vaporwave cut, and a really cool one in fact! The vibes are very awesome in this track, and I'm especially a fan of the instruments/synths used. It's a song I've been going back to more and more often recently, so it deserves a shoutout here.

The Plateaux of Mirror - Harold Budd and Brian Eno

Sticking with the ambient theme I've got going on right now, I've included what is one of my personal favorites from Eno's Ambient series. It is the first of what would be several collaborations for Eno, especially with Harold Budd. I love the combination of the sweeping, calming yet creepiness of the soundscapes, with Budd's delicate and evocative piano playing. The way this was produced too is wellcrafted, and it gives a wonderful sense of quiet unease.

Jynweythek Ylow - arranged by Simon Farintosh

A really cool and relaxing guitar arrangement for what is a really cool Aphex Twin piece. A lot of the tracks on this album are good, but this one is easily my favorite. It's just expertly crafted, and hearing an electronic piece be converted to an acoustic instrument so flawlessly just makes my head explode a little bit.

Femme Bitch Top - Tribe 8

Time to visit a pure punk banger, with a strong queercore twist! This band is not only so invalidating to me as a horny, genderqueer, he/him lesbian (the lead singer is a transmasc lesbian, and the band talks about gender issues a lot in their albums), but their music is just pure hard rock goodness. I love the percussion in this song especially, the "whip" sound effect is intimidating and awesome.

It Appears to Have Done So Without - Wouter Veldhuis

It's time for some drone music, and what better way to express my love for the drone than with this! The ways notes float in and out of each other, the touches of higher frequencies to balance out the lower ones. It's so calming, easily an underrated track in my opinion.

Remember This Night - Cosmic Cycler

It's just really good, classic, chill vaporwave. The song's got a bit of a seductive feel to it too, which isn't something commonly invoked in this particular genre, but I like it so I'll take it when it comes. Expereinced best while looking at some skyscrapers at night (kinda like the album cover suggests).

Doin' Time - Sublime

"Summertime, and the livin's easy" indeed. Easily my favorite song from Sublime, full of really amazing samples from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and the Beach Boys. Despite the subject of the song, it's so fun and feel-goodthat Sublime was really good at crafting. It really does go hard when you're doing outside chores during the hot summer days too.

Naminote - Susumu Yokota

This song rules actually. It comes from Sakura, one of my favorite instrumental albums ever, which makes sense considering how much of a wizard Susumu Yokota was. This is one of the more jazzier, more upbeat tunes, and it's just so awesome.