I mostly use Spotify for parties. Perhaps unsurprisingly, my parties tend to be attended by a lot of musos, so it’s a big responsibility. My staples are Michael Jackson, James Brown, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. If I’m being honest, I quite fancy myself as a DJ, though I love it when people send me playlists; especially in my circles, where I’m often accused of not listening to anything post-60s – so Spotify is a lifesaver because it allows me to keep up.
New music names often come up during conversation, but these days I try not to nod along if I don’t know who someone’s talking about – I’ll ask, because for me that’s a really authentic kind of music discovery.
In some ways my music taste has stayed the same since I was a kid, but in other ways it’s also changed a lot. I liken it to my changing feelings towards the classic Caribbean-style soup my family liked to eat on a Saturday: dumplings, plantain, vegetables, chicken – all in a broth. When I was a kid, I found the soup too weighty. Now, making time to enjoy a bit of “Saturday soup” almost feels like a healing ritual. And that’s what music has become to me, especially older music.
In 1992, 1993, I listened to Eternal and Michael Jackson. Later it was the Spice Girls, Blackstreet, Usher, and then Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and Motown. But the first music that became my own was Miles Davis’s Kind Of Blue. During my college years I also to listened to a lot of British composer Michael Tippett and choral music.
These days I mix things up. The last artist I had on repeat was Everything Everything – they’re incredible. On my “to-listen” lists are the cosmic virtuoso saxophonist Kamasi Washington, and plenty of hip-hop, which I want to get stuck into because I wasn’t raised on it like so many other people. For some reason, it’s really captivating me right now. I also need to listen to Beyonce’s Lemonade.
My schedule this summer has reflected my tastes in many ways. I’ve been playing mainstream festivals like V, indie ones like Latitude, international jazz festivals, and I’m doing Afropunk in Brooklyn and London at the end of August and beginning of September respectively.
Before I made my latest album, The Dreaming Room, I struggled a bit because all of the influences felt so drastically different. But now I’m really embracing it, and that’s where the concept of The Dreaming Room comes from – what it truly means to be yourself and at home in your own skin. So now I love the differences.
For this reason, I’m really eager to see what’s in my Discover Weekly playlist. I immediately home in on Hiatus Kaiyote. This was on my “to listen” list ages ago – it’s cool, vibey and soulful. I like it a lot. On to Jamie Lidell – I hadn’t heard his work until now, but on the basis of this track, I think I’d like to delve into more of it.
Roy Hargrove is a nice surprise. I happened to see him playing a jam session in New York about a year ago, but I haven’t had the chance to explore his catalogue yet, so it was cool to hear this tune. In many ways it sounds like a lot of the music I listened to in my younger days. Which brings me to Diana Ross – it’s great to see her included here, as I grew up listening to her. I came from quite a religious household, but my mum loved Diana Ross and The Supremes.
Jamiroquai is a blast from the past – I used to listen to them a lot, but haven’t for about five years. When I was learning piano, I found Jay Kay’s approach to music really helpful as it gave me an understanding of memorable, soulful melodies with chord structures that you might not necessarily hear in the pop charts.
This is the first time I’ve listened to my Discover Weekly playlist. If I put together a playlist, it tends to be things that are less familiar, so this is a new concept to me. There isn’t much here that I don’t get, or that doesn’t resonate with my tastes and experiences in one way or another – I’d definitely use Discover Weekly again.
Spotify user? See what’s in your Discover Weekly playlist
