Quarantine Jams: Top Albums From Our Storytelling Agency Team
For the latest blog in our quarantine content series, we asked members of our storytelling agency team to tell us the album that they can't live without at the moment. Some chose upbeat music that's keeping their spirits up, others went for electronic instrumental albums that help them focus on work, and a few selected more downbeat records to reflect their slowed-down lockdown lifestyle.
Whatever your musical tastes, we're sure you can find something to groove to among this diverse musical mixture.
Julian – Shpongle Static (Live at Ozora, 2019) by Shpongle & Eat Static
I find this album helpful when I'm editing and working from home because it's instrumental and gets me into the right headspace for hours of editing and post-production work (some of which I am now doing from my indoor exercise bike!). Shpongle and Eat Static are both electronic music projects from England and this live album is from their amazing collaborative live show at the Ozora Festival in Hungary. It's a full-on astral and musical journey of exploration.
Read more: “WhereNext People – An Interview with Julian Manrique”
Chris – Saint Cloud by Waxahatchee
Katie Crutchfield, or Waxahatchee (named after a creek in her home state of Alabama), has just released, in my opinion, the album of the year (so far). Saint Cloud is a ruminative and delicate slice of Americana, the sound of a wonderfully gifted songwriter getting sober after many years and coming out into the light. One review I read described it as "a record that suggests maybe if you slow down, life slows down with you." My life has slowed down significantly over the past couple of weeks, but this beautiful record is helping me relax into those changes with some acceptance.
Other close contenders include "Murder Most Foul," Bob Dylan's new 17-minute reflection on the JFK assassination and Aporia, a lovely improvised, instrumental record by (probably my favorite artist) Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams.
More ideas from Chris: 'Solo But Not So Low': Chris’s Quarantine Tips
Matilde – In Colour by Jamie xx
I love the flow of this album, the ways the songs all connect and merge. It's a cohesive record but with a great mixture of styles and genres woven into it, from electronic to pop, hip-hop, and reggae. That makes sense, because the artist is a DJ and remixer (and a member of the also-amazing English band The xx). I also like how positive and upbeat the music sounds. I don't really want to hear sad or downbeat music at this moment in time!
Jeremy - 3.15.20 by Childish Gambino
Donald Glover (a.k.a. Childish Gambino) has just released a new album, 3.15.20, that is an immediate contender for album of the year and will doubtless be remembered as a Whitmanesque "barbaric yawp" opening an insane-on-arrival decade. It is as funny, furious, weird, and dark as it is sexy, hopeful, hypnotic, and soulful. Beyond practicing a genre-agnostic musical alchemy reminiscent of the envelope-burning post-Dylan Beatles, this virtuosic artist rewards your trust as he embraces vocal ventriloquism and fearless experimentation, building a true headphone album that, for the patient, answers downtempo meditations with bursts of glorious contrast and hooky juxtaposition. Sometimes joyful and menacing from one moment to the next, the playful, kaleidoscopic 3.15.20 is also a stone groover. You've got to move.
Bibi - Más Profundo by Bruxas
Why am I listening to this album a lot at the moment? Three reasons:
1. I love electronic music.
2. I like the upbeat tone of this album.
3. And at the same time, although throughout the song you hear different sounds and melodies, I like the monotony of it. It goes in line with the life that I'm living at the moment. The thing is it slowly builds up to something, something good. Which is what I expect is going to happen after quarantine: something good. (Positive vibes maintain a positive outlook).
Santiago – Planet Hearth by Calibre
In these times, when we all have to slow down, this album has helped me to stay calm and rethink the rhythm with which we all live our day-to-day lives. I feel like when I listen to this record, I can reflect on the role that humanity plays in the world. The album’s celestial vibes are really helping me to stay chilled out and not worry too much. And that name—Planet Hearth—is a pretty spot-on metaphor for all of our lives right now, when our entire world has been reduced to our homes.
Pipe – Two Shoes by The Cat Empire
The Cat Empire is a great band to listen to to get your spirits up and feel more upbeat and positive: loads of trumpets and trombones and plenty of swing! It's a cool album from an Australian rock band that was recorded in Havana, Cuba, and has a distinctly danceable, Latin flavor. I'm also pretty sure it was recorded 'live' in the studio, like loads of old salsa records (and everyone who knows me, knows that I love salsa!).
Listen to more music and read Pipe’s Tips from a Quarantined Climber
Sandra – Putumayo Calypso: Vintage Songs from the Caribbean by Various Artists
Why am I listening to this compilation? For starters, it is joyful. It also reminds me of the love my parents have for calypso and the Caribbean and of why they chose to stay in these tropical lands (they are originally from Switzerland). I have been listening to this record since I was 18 when I bought it at Tango Discos in El Bulevar (I always asked for gift cards to buy records for birthdays and Christmases). I still love to listen to it when I'm on road trips in my car. Yes, I still have a CD player in my car. And I can't wait to listen to it on more road trips in the future.
Daniel – Salvavidas de hielo by Jorge Drexler
At the moment, I’m listening to a lot of music by Jorge Drexler, a Uruguayan musician, and doctor. I’ve had his album Salvavidas de hielo in my head constantly during this period of lockdown. What I love about this record is that it’s all made with guitars, even the percussion was created by hitting a guitar case!
It was a Grammy-winning album and what I really love about it are the lyrics. Drexler uses poetry to tell stories through his songs. And his musical compositions are quite unusual in the world of commercial music; songs are usually in 4/4 time and he often composes in 7/8 time, for instance. His main songwriting subjects are romance, uncertainty, the world, randomness, and destiny: a lot of which are quite relevant at the moment!
Stephan – Mose Allison Sings by Mose Allison
I love Mose Allison, he’s an incredible musician who doesn’t take himself too seriously. This is a great jazz album with highly entertaining lyrics and musical arrangements. He also wasn’t afraid to get political or philosophical. Witness Allison’s reworking of Bukka White’s blues song “Parchman Farm” which talks in stark terms about life in a prison work camp.
Enjoy more music, stories, and tips: ‘Sequestered at The Shack’: Stephan’s Work from Home Tips
Gregg - Music of The Howard Stern Show YouTube Playlist
I've been keeping a YouTube playlist of the music of The Howard Stern show playing in the background. I like having it on while I work, I like seeing the artists in person and seeing them perform their songs. The playlist keeps me in a good mood and the selection of artists represents some of my favorite songs from my generation, I guess you'd call it Generation X.
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If there's one sport that defines our global creative agency, then it's cycling. The WhereNext story began with a two-year cycling odyssey and it's not uncommon for our team to squeeze in daily mountain climbs on their bikes before work. For the latest blog in our quarantine series, our Head of Video, Julian Manrique, shares his top tips for cyclists training at home.