Recommended Listening

HWY by Jianghu YT

Recommended by Lucy Aldous

For me, the best songs are the ones I want to play again as soon as they end. I’m not sure how many times I’ve played this song since I first heard it on an old Soup to Nuts w/ Anu & M.I.C. (SOUP TO NUTS W/ ANU & M.I.C 22nd August 2023 | Listen on NTS) a few weeks ago – but it’s been a lot. Listening to this feels like swimming in a deep, inky blue ocean at night – without any of the fear that might normally come with it. The sound is expansive, deep, melancholic.

WED 21 by Juana Molina

Recommended by Jon Jacobsen

Spring is here and Juana’s sound makes me think – this must be how flowers feel in bloom: jumpy, cheeky and full of colour. Her sound palette is unique, and she’s one of those rare artists whose albums somehow keep getting better with each release. You can sing along without overthinking a word, since it’s all joyful gibberish anyway.

Enchanted by Larry Heard

Recommended by Allison Fonder

Larry Heard is one of my favourite artists of all time. Did you know he recorded Can You Feel It and Mystery of Love (two songs that essentially kicked off the deep house genre) within just three days of buying his very first synthesiser and drum machine? He's a genius. I’m always digging for more from him, and I love this tender deep cut.

Can’t Stop by FKJ featuring Little Dragon

Recommended by Kurston Melton

Anything Little Dragon touches feels so lush and dreamy. Now that it's springtime in New Orleans, I’ve been cruising through the city with the windows down and this song on full blast.

Ziu Ziu (Reprise) by DJ Narciso 

Recommended by Andy McAllister

After recently spending a weekend at Sónar Festival in Lisbon – where the spotlight was on the city’s local electronic scene – I thought I’d do the same. DJ Narciso is a member of the RS Produçẽos crew, and this track is the opener of his first solo full-length album, Diferenciado, recently released on the Príncipe label. On the album, he evolves the Batida sound that both the production group and label are known for into more experimental territory. This track has motion and energy, underpinned by an undefinable but ever-present sense of unease. It’s only upon further listening that it becomes evident although the track is rich in rhythm, it is almost entirely devoid of drums. Instead, the rhythms are presented through interlocking fragments of chopped vocals, insistent clave patterns and a lolloping sub-bass line. The track not only sets the mood for the rest of the album, but also maps out what this evolving music scene is capable of.

Camel Walk by Memphis Electronic

Recommended by Riccardo Trabattoni

I first stumbled across Camel Walk while listening to Inoxydable – Sasham’s immaculate monthly transmission of French pop and rock from the 60s to the now – on LYL Radio, where every track feels like it’s been pulled from some imaginary jukebox flickering in a Lynchian backroom. And Camel Walk hit me like a brick: direct, minimal, noisy in a way that feels purposeful. It thumps and hisses with that same haunted romance you find in Suicide’s early recordings – Alan Vega and Martin Rev in a dive bar séance. The track is a cover, originally by The Ikettes in 1964, but here it’s recast in Memphis Mao’s (to the registry Didier Balducci) unmistakable voice – grimy and raw, yet elusive. The song is part of his first solo LP One+One=One, a lo-fi odyssey of 18 tracks that shuffle between trash-glam, proto-punk and slow-burning ballads that sound like they were recorded in a living room, in the middle of the night – probably just what happened. A raw, unfiltered piece of work that feels more like a diary than a record. You don’t listen to it; you let it haunt your living room for a while.

calvin/haris by ULTRA TWO 

Recommended by Joe Muggs

This is the benefits of real world, never-mind-the-algorithms discovery... currently on my first ever trip to Japan with the family, my wife scoured local Subreddit for music recommendations and the first and only venue I made contact with turned out to be the incredible Tangle in Shibuya, run by partners Michael and MIO, who both host and play deep, intense, abstract music on beautiful speakers in their beautiful space five nights a week. ULTRA TWO is Michael's music duo, an incredible beyond-genre melding of mad glitches and dreamy songcraft. And, after lots of to and fro via Google Translate, they let me DJ!

BB by Tim Bernardes 

Recommended by Luísa Bartz

This is a song called BB (like baby) by Brazilian musician Tim Bernardes. It’s from his latest solo album, Mil Coisas Invisíveis. He’s also in a band (O Terno). I love that he’s part of a movement of new voices in MPB in Brazil. We have Tom Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes, Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Maria Bethânia, but all of these geniuses are getting old (or are no longer with us). I think Tim Bernardes mixes traditional chords with a modern touch very well and has set his song with lyrics that seem to speak to many young adults living in downtown São Paulo.

NANA フリーク版 by AKRIILA

Recommended by Valentina Palange

I’m someone who dabbles in a lot of different genres, always exploring something new. Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of music in Spanish – maybe it’s my way of getting into that summer mood early. What’s really been bringing me joy is neo-perreo, a subgenre that evolved from reggaeton. It’s funny because I never used to like reggaeton  probably because of the themes and all that macho energy – but neo-perreo feels different. It’s all about free self-expression, often featuring women rapping over experimental yet sensual beats. (Hello, Rosalía fans!) It’s kinda dirty in the best way – this wild fusion of Latin grooves with electronic influences, full of digital culture and underground vibes. My brain honestly short-circuits a little when I hear it, and I love that! One artist who’s really growing on me is AKRIILA, a queer Chilean trap artist in her early 20s, rising out of the country’s Estallido Social. She’s super cool...

Mestaneyak by Aziza Galal

Recommended by Christina Fakhry

It may be over four decades old but Mestaneyak (Waiting for You) by Moroccan diva Aziza Galal remains one of the best Arabic songs ever made, and not just in my opinion. Composed by Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi and recorded in Cairo, the love song propelled Galal to the forefront of the music scene after its release, met with popular acclaim and topping the charts across several Arab countries. Two years later, the acclaimed singer retired at the height of her fame and moved to Saudi upon her marriage, leaving Mestaneyak as her prime contribution to Arab music heritage. Since then, the song has been covered many times by renowned singers and amateur talent show contestants alike. It tackles themes of love and longing with incredible elegance, brought to life by Galal's angelic voice. A true timeless masterpiece. I randomly remembered the song a couple weeks ago so I searched for it on YouTube and indulged in rediscovering its beautiful melody. Needless to say it was stuck on replay for days.

You Got Time and I Got Money by Smerz

Recommended by Sophia French

A woozy, deliciously understated song from Norwegian duo Henriette Motzfeldt and Catharina Stoltenberg that is both kitsch and graceful. Cheeky lyrics lounge across an alluring tone, “Baby, can I see you naked? (please) / Even though I love how you dress”. As it plays, frames from a 1970s school dance click across my mind – puffy sleeves, satin sashes and charged gazes. Catharina’s voice glides over wistful strings and sultry drums, her deadpan delivery charming and wry. There’s a nonchalance to the track which only adds to its appeal. The single forms part of Smerz’s sophomore LP Big city life, which will be released in May via Escho, the label Astrid Sonne, Fine and Molina also call home, and that is central to the off-kilter, enchanting alt-pop sound Copenhagen is becoming famous for.

Mindful Stoicism

Recommended by Jon Jacobsen

When I’m not building campaigns or brand strategies, I guide creatives in transition, turning their fog into frameworks, realigning their careers with clarity, direction and something deeper than just online performance. One tool that's helped me (and them) reframe chaos into clarity has been this podcast by psychotherapist Donal Robertson. It's a sharp, grounded podcast housed in the Waking Up app, mixing ancient philosophy with emotional intelligence, without the fluff. It taught me to reframe uncertainty as opportunity in a deeply human way, and nudged me to adopt stoicism as a daily practice. The app is paid, but you can apply to scholarships and it's worth every minute.

Today in Focus

Recommended by Lucy Aldous

The Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast takes its listeners “behind the headlines”. Its recurring hosts Michael Safi & Helen Pidd go deep on the stories they cover, bringing in personal accounts where relevant. The episode on Adolescence: what teen boys really think of girls, influencers and porn has stayed with me since I listened to it last week. We’ve all been talking about Adolescence since it came out, and personally it made me realise how little I know about how it is to be a young person today.

Host Helen Pidd talks to five teenage boys at a sixth form college in Manchester, highlighting that it’s their voices that have been missing from the debate so far. This brings real-life context to the subject: they chat about how their peers are afraid that people might take a photo of them at any time, “laddish” culture at school, Andrew Tate’s bait videos, their lack of role models and about what masculinity means to them. I’d recommend this to anyone keen to know more about the topic. Whilst the reality is bleak, these discussions offer some hope for the future.

Back from the Borderline

Recommended by Allison Fonder

This podcast is a more recent discovery for me and it's a little hard to define. It delves into mental health through the lens of spiritual and mythological lore, digital technologies, pop culture, etc, delivered in the form of an incantation or poem. The episode called i miss who i was before the internet knew me hit the nail on the head as to why today's version of the Internet, despite all it offers, has us longing for more.

The MagCulture

Recommended by Kurston Melton

I'm an avid indie magazine collector. I've learned so much about my favourite publications and found new recommendations.

Doing Music 

Recommended by Andy McAllister

This podcast, produced by Ableton, is a series of conversations between host Craig Schuftan and a range of guests, mostly music producers from a range of genres and backgrounds. Although this podcast is facilitated by the production software maker, rather than being overly technical in nature, the interviews focus on the mindset and process of creating music. Schuftan’s humble and inquisitive style of questioning draws thought-provoking answers from his guests and makes a podcast that will appeal to anyone interested in music and creativity. Start with the Gavsborg interview, then enjoy the remaining 15 episodes in the show’s first season.

Doomscroll

Recommended by Riccardo Trabattoni

A friend dropped this gem in a conversation and I’ve been living inside it since: Doomscroll by Joshua Citarella, a kind of longform therapy session for anyone who's ever fallen down a cultural YouTube rabbit hole and come out the other side asking deeper questions. Citarella – a visual artist and internet culture ethnographer of sorts – sits with guests to dissect the undercurrents of our digital lives, from meme economies to the death of subculture. To me, the real standout is the episode with Matty Healy of The 1975. Across nearly three hours, the two dissect everything from the commoditisation of counterculture to why the elite have stopped caring and giving back to arts and society (and how we all feel it). It’s messy, brilliant, vulnerable, occasionally unhinged – and precisely because of that, completely riveting. As @bridgebop put it best in the comment section under the video, “I could probably listen to AT LEAST another 2-3 hours of this.”

Drowned In Sound

Recommended by Joe Muggs

I don't have much mental bandwidth for podcasts but I do always make sure to check in on Drowned In Sound for unflinching looks at the problems facing grassroots music and the people fighting for it, and No Tags for, well, very much the same thing but with a much more rave scene focus. Both fighting the good fight!

Radio Ambulante 

Recommended by Luísa Bartz

I chose to put something in Spanish because I think more people can understand it than in Portuguese, and it also has an English transcript. Radio Ambulante is an NPR podcast that tells stories about Latin American characters. They are curious, different, exciting, or even common stories – that remind us of the richness and cultural similarity of Latin American countries.

Design Emergency

Recommended by Valentina Palange

I love Design Emergency by design curator Paola Antonelli and design critic Alice Rawsthorn. I discovered it after reading their book by the same name, which was gifted to me. I discovered so many cool and inspiring projects that really give me faith in people who are building a better future.

I never thought design could be so deeply interconnected with climate change, human rights, and other social, political and ecological causes. It’s so much more than a visual tool and I really enjoy the interviews because they are highly educational and invite experts from design, engineering, science etc who are often overlooked (and I love a good story highlighting underrepresented people doing cool stuff). I always realise how wildly creative we can be and it’s so encouraging to see people using that for the greater good and collective liberation. I’m generally quite a pessimist when it comes to my views on the future of human beings and society, but I’m also very happy to see real-world examples of things that show me otherwise!

Lucky Boy 

Recommended by Sophia French

I’ve become consumed by almost every podcast Tortoise has put out. Dangerous Memories and Hoaxed particularly interested me because of the way they probed into power dynamics, how plastic our beliefs can be and the sharp, persistent impact of manipulation. Lucky Boy is a story which continues the investigation into these themes. In the four-part series, we learn that Gareth, 14, begins a relationship with his 27-year-old teacher, Sally Anne Bowen. At the time, he felt on top of the world, but her abuse, and the failure of the school to prevent or even recognise it, has far-reaching ramifications. Hearing Gareth speak, his acute emotional intelligence is striking. He prefaces and edits his thoughts as he speaks, emphasising the internal torment he feels between his child and adult understanding of what happened to him. Chloe Hadjimatheou is sensitive with Gareth and all he has endured, while definitely confronting the apathy and denial from teachers who knew what was happening and chose to look away. Even in the present day, when Chloe gives ex-teachers and classmates the opportunity to admit simply their awareness of the situation, they quash any such suggestion. Whether out of fear or disregard is not determined. It has taken immense courage for Gareth to share his story and he deserves to be heard.