This week is about pleasure sounds — smooth beats, crisp hi-hats, oscillating synths, funky bass lines, bongos, slide guitar. As usual, it spans genres and geography.
We start in Italy with a compilation of dream house tracks from a “secretive group of audio scientists,” the first of its kind. The sounds are untraceable to a particular region, with influence from Germany to Detroit, which is precisely what these Italian producers were trying to do. It’s what makes the tracks vibe in ways that are unspeakable, where to find the words?, and makes them unlike anything else.
Where these Italian sounds radiate euphoria, the tracks in Obscure Sounds for Small Clubs take us underground to a darker, sexier place. The EP is a tour of danceable psychedelia. A descent down dark stairs, the opening of a wooden door to reveal a space full of fog and people dancing, dancing, dancing. It’s something just like that.
Then there is the “father of exotica,” Martin Denny. The earnest piano melodies, maraca shakes, marimba vibrations and dream-like combination of sounds create a crescendo into a past that isn’t real, but feels much better than where we are today. Something like a lo-fi dreams.
Arbete/Fritid translates from Swedish into “work” and “free time.” Point taken. The lo-fi tropicalia sounds move us from where we are, likely our computer screens, into a paradise. The sounds are simple, only a few things going at a time, but they give us the chance to focus on the modesty of daydreaming.
We close out the week with Jayda G. If you haven’t yet seen her most recent Boiler Room, I highly recommend including that in your rotation this week as well. Her album Guy was just released, a tribute to her late father, and is a tour through the sounds that define her DJ sets, like R&B, pop, funk, deep house. It’s end of the week music.
Enjoy.
The playlist is here.
Monday
Welcome to Paradise - Compilation (‘89-’93)
Spotify / Apple Music / Bandcamp / Other streaming services
Tuesday
Obscure Sounds for Small Clubs - Hadi Zeidan (2019)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Wednesday
Exotica - Martin Denny (1957)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Thursday
Arbete/Fritid - Prins Emanuel (2016)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Friday
Guy - Jayda G (2023)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Pair with:
Chicken, zucchini and tomatoes on the vine (with capers!). Easy, peasy seared and roasted chicken with capers. It’s very pretty — completely a dinner party recipe — and would pair well with the vino mentioned below.
Niepoort "Drink Me Nat'Cool" Branco Vinho Verde. This is the best natural wine I’ve had all year. It’s crisp, affordable, the bottle is 1L. Portuguese wine always feels like it’s just here to have a good time.
This impractical, delicious, crochet bag. You can basically only put your phone in here, but, wow, isn’t she cute as hell?
Handblown highball glasses. I don’t know exactly what makes Mexican hand crafted glassware so sumptuous, but these are my go-to for morning iced coffee and afternoon spritzers.
Thank you, thank you. Have a great week.
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