Playlist 508: Mar 2020, Quarantine of Hope Mix (44)

These are a bunch of songs.

Primarily they’re all songs or tunes I love. They all mean something to me.

But I was also thinking about music during a pandemic.

Music that can unite as all the best music does.

That’s universal.

Music when you’re stuck somewhere – at home, maybe, or somewhere not many other people are – and what it can do for you.

Music when you’re looking for meaning.

Music when you’re isolated.

Distanced.

Music when you need hope or inspiration or comfort.

Or an uplift.

Or strength. Music when you’re worried.

It turns out songwriters and composers have addressed these themes. A lot.

Like Talking Heads giving paranoia a cathartic groove.

Lambchop paying tribute to people in the form of an irresistible soul singalong.

Songs of love for someone in particular (I’ll light your way back, You’re the one, Can’t do without you, Heart of chambers).

Songs about love more generally (Undying love for humanity, Triumph of a heart).

Songs of yearning (Low, Kacy & Clayton, The Go Betweens).

Songs of comfort or reassurance (Although we cry, I shall be released, Un dia, Something to believe, Weightlifting).

Then pieces of music that just seem to strike the right tone at a time like now (The Beach Boys, Ennio Morricone, Bill Callahan – It’s time to put god away).

For pure joy of the beat and the melody there’s The Go! Team, Kamasi Washington, Twen, Cocteau Twins, Seti The First, plus The Rajasthan crew.

Sometimes a song can just be something beautiful – Mambo Noir Trio, Matthew Bourne, Cluster.

And songs that unwittingly address the moment in time we’re in, with humour or romance or whatever works – Pray them bars away, Tonight the streets are ours.

Enjoy, stay safe and keep listening.

x



Playlist
Trashcan Sinatras – Let me inside (or let me out) (Victor Entertainment)
Paul & The Tall Trees – Although we cry (Big Crown Records)
The Band – I shall be released (Capitol)
The Beach Boys – Feel flows (Brother)
Lambchop – Up with people (Merge)
The Catenary Wires – I’ll light your way back (Tapete Records)
Twen – Holy river (Frenchkiss)
Cocteau Twins – Iceblink luck (Capitol)
Seti The First – New brass bird
Juana Molina – Un dia (Domino)
Esquivel – My reverie (RCA)
Khruangbin – Rules (Dead Oceans)
Ennio Morricone – A Lidia (from the soundtrack of the film Listen, let’s make love) (GSF)
Talking Heads – Air (Sire)
The Go Betweens – Part company (Sire)
Gene Clark – Something’s wrong (A&M)
Kacy & Clayton – A lifeboat (New West Records)
Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble – Undying love for humanity (Drag City)
Vanishing Twin – KRK (At home in strange places) (Fire)
Low – (That’s how you sing) Amazing Grace (Kranky)
The Altered Hours – I’m on a high
Gabriel Naim Amor – Just before revelation (Vacilando ’68)
Kamasi Washington – Truth (Young Turks)
Caribou – Can’t do without you (Merge)
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – Careen (Western Vinyl)
Cluster – Sowiesoso (So not so so) (Sky Records)
Weyes Blood – Something to believe (Sub Pop)
The Carpenters – Rainy days and Mondays (A&M)
Petula Clark – You’re the one (PYE)
Lee Hazlewood – Pray them bars away (Smells Like Records)
The Beach Boys – Our prayer (Brother)
Damien Jurado – Silver Timothy (Secretly Canadian)
Charlotte Gainsbourg – Rest (Because)
The Go! Team – Doing it right (Memphis Industries)
Richard Hawley – Tonight the streets are ours (Parlophone)
Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood & The Rajasthan Express – Roked (Nonesuch)
Bjork – Triumph of a heart (One Little Indian)
Mambo Noir Trio – Love (Oona Recordings)
Matthew Bourne – Isotach (The Leaf Label)
Beach House – Heart of chambers (Carpark Records)
Bill Callahan – Faith/Void (Drag City)
Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat – And so we must rest (Chemikal Underground)
Kathy McCarty – Living life (Bar None)
Trashcan Sinatras – Weightlifting (Picnic)