Slowing down, relaxing enough, having enough room in your life for music is such a luxury. One I've learned to take for granted, savor, even protect, so when I lose that musical feeling, feel like I can't listen to music, whether crowded out by work or distracting emotional stresses, I grow manic, brittle, and burnout quickly. (Something like this happens with reading too.) I'm like a battery running down fast without regular recharging. Haven't felt like I could listen to music, beyond a few patches of very distracted background streaming, in two weeks or so, so splurging on underdog superhero Lil B and then some groove-oriented Krautrock and a double-shot of Frankie Knuckles' style House music.
"Vans," The Pack (2006): East Bay hybrid hiphop artists do skateboard raps. Lil B startup.
"Unchain Me," Lil B (2011): Lil B, The BasedGod, Im Gay (Im Happy) at a spiritual peak. On a short list of great ambient hiphop albums, as far as I know anyway which is admittedly very limited.
"Synthesist," Harald Grosskopf (1979): Percussionist with Ash Ra Tempel, Cosmic Jokers, and Klaus Schulz's solo work. Late Krautrock as ambient electronic groove music.
E+MC2 (Jelly & Fish remix), Giorgio Moroder (1979/2020): Peaked at number 4 on the charts. Moody, relentless, a cheap shabby beautiful grandeur. Elemental traits of robotic space disco like Kraftwerk and gothic disco like New Order.
"Move That Body," Marshall Jefferson (1986): "The House Music Anthem." Trax Records. Deceptively simple and catchy and fiercely vamping workout of piano, kinetic polyrhythms, clapping dub effects, and chanting "rock your body" dancers: "The music is going to set you free." You gotta believe it.
"Que Tal America," Two Man Sound (1979): This is the 12" version but also appears on an album called Disco Samba. In the squiggly sonic details, a thicket of melodic polyrhythms (uptempo funk, basically), churning, unfurling mesmerizingly elongated grooves and intoxicating repetition transcends monotony. Get it on and let Two Man Sound take you for a ride. Dance music ASMR.
Thank god it's disco Friday!