Album of the week
Personal album recommendations: new music, rediscovered albums and special recordings. With artist stories and my own listening impressions.
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Sting – The Night Watch: Live at the Rijksmuseum
I have been a great Sting fan for a very long time — both from his years with The Police and later as a solo artist. But if I had to name the moment when his music opened up for me in a completely different way, it would be “…Nothing Like the Sun” from 1987.
Topics: Acoustic · ARTE Concert · English · Jazz · Exploring soundscapes · Live album · Pop · Rijksmuseum · Sting · The Night Watch · The Police · Winding down
Philipp Poisel — Projekt Seerosenteich
Sometimes, it takes surprisingly little to give you goosebumps. A voice, a piano, a few strings — and above all, someone who makes you feel they are telling a story just for you.
Topics: German · Emotion & goosebumps · Live album · Philipp Poisel · Pop · Projekt Seerosenteich · Singer-Songwriter · Winding down
Stephen Dawes – Skin to Skin
Sometimes TikTok does have something going for it. Among all the things the algorithm serves up, Stephen Dawes appeared in my feed one day. I stopped scrolling because I immediately thought: this sounds a little different. Not completely new, but not like the next song you feel you have already heard a hundred times either.
Topics: Electronic · English · Emotion & goosebumps · Indie-Pop · Exploring soundscapes · Rock · Skin to Skin · Stephen Dawes · Studio album
The 1975 – The 1975
Some of you will probably know The 1975. And I could easily choose one of their later, musically even more ambitious albums. Yet I keep coming back to their debut. Perhaps precisely because here you can hear a band exploring everything it might become.
Lloyiso – Seasons
For everyone who found my actual album of the week a little too rocky: here is the opposite.
In Color – Snow Day
For my friends who love indie rock, and those who might yet become fans.
Topics: Alternative Rock · English · EP · In Color · Indie-Pop · Indie-Rock · Rhythm & energy · Snow Day
Ruth B. – Peace To Make
And by “quiet”, I do not necessarily mean the volume. It is more a record that is not constantly fighting for attention. No overloaded productions, no choruses that insist on being bigger than the song itself. Instead, a voice, piano, guitars, warm textures, subtle beats, and a surprising amount of space between them.
Topics: English · Emotion & goosebumps · Peace To Make · Pop · Ruth B. · Singer-Songwriter · Studio album · Winding down
Rosehardt – the world gets smaller each day it seems to shrink
For anyone who finds Leon Bridges a little too smooth this week, I have a second suggestion, and it is almost exactly the opposite.
Topics: English · Funk · Emotion & goosebumps · Hip-Hop · Exploring soundscapes · R&B · Rosehardt · Soul · Studio album
Leon Bridges – Leon
“Leon is not a record for showing off a hi-fi system. It is a record to live with.”
Jon Keith – AND FLY
Something happened to me with AND FLY that I really like about good records: I only meant to listen briefly, and at some point I realised my foot was already tapping along.
Topics: English · Hip-Hop · Jon Keith · Exploring soundscapes · R&B · Rhythm & energy · Soul · Studio album
Oklou – choke enough
Sometimes you hear a record and immediately have an image in your mind. With Oklou’s choke enough, for me it was an enchanted forest.