This Week's Playlist #89 - The Solidarity edition
Songs from Libya and Morocco and my current rotation
Hello everyone!
This Week's Playlist - Season 2, Episode 37.
Two major natural disasters happened in a couple of days this week. Earthquake in Morocco and Storm Daniel floods in Libya (not counting the various conflicts in the area), so an eclectic mix for this week's newsletter: Music from Lybia and Morocco and some more of my recent rotation.
TL;DR: I'm running a musical newsletter with a new guest sharing 5 songs each week.
There is a YouTube link for each of the songs on the cover, and here are the playlists for each streaming platform:
Tidal (coming soon)
Deezer (coming soon)
1. Ibrahim Hesnawi - Never Understand
Habibi Funk (the German label re-issuing old Arabic funk music records) just released a fundraiser compilation for Lybia (with all profits proceeding to relief efforts), where I am shamelessly on the opener track.
Ibrahim Hesnawy is the father of Lybian reggae. Literally, the one who introduced reggae music into the country in the 70s. And if you want to know more about him, read the release notes of the record.
2. Naab - Tamghra Nouchen
I dug into the Moroccan alternative music scene and, by extension, the electronic music crucible.
Naab is one of the gems of the Moroccan diaspora. He moved to Europe and roamed through fusions of electro, funk, jungle, breakbeat, and traditional raw sounds from his native land.
NB1: I could not find a music fundraiser (if you know about one, please let me know), but I found this emerging artist photos print sale: https://artistsformorocco.com/
NB2: I can’t find this song on Spotify so you’ll have to liste to it here.
3. A Perfect Circle - Weak and Powerless
We're moving away from North Africa for a classic of A Perfect Circle, with a song title which reminds us that Mother Nature can sometimes be relentless.
I listened a lot to A Perfect Circle lately, and to paraphrase my last week's newsletter, APC albums are like good wines, getting better with time.
4. Explosions in the Sky - Ten Billion People
One of my favourite instrumental post-rock bands is back with a new album, so I thought I'd post it there.
Epic guitar noises and massive drums for a nice wall of sound feeling.
5. Blur - Barbaric
Another recent release, with one of the singles of Blur's latest album, to finish this week's playlist.
A typical Blur song: contrasting hopeless lyrics with upbeat melodies.
Until the next time, Godspeed!
Thomas
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