OREO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB8qCwIsE04 I can’t really explain this. It’s just very silly and it made me laugh!
Good Stuff
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pat's soundhouse - Car Alarm (extended reprise)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcutNFPwXPE I’d never seen this instrument before, it’s called a Khaen and this is a beautiful piece inspired by a car alarm.
Boko Yout - BOYFRIEND
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrGD6w6n0LA Boko Yout is some kind of alien character learning to live in a human world. This is a catchy song!
Vulfmon & Glitter Party - i finally feel funky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pukmm5OcH0g Lofi, funky jam to strut to. Hit that hihat!
Laura Jurd - The Big Friendly Album
https://laurajurd.bandcamp.com/album/the-big-friendly-album Laura Jurd is a UK based trumpet player (Thanks Jason for the tip!). This album is on the playful side of her work, it’s a happy time!
offline.kids
https://offline.kids This is a great collection of screen-free activity ideas for kids, filterable by age, time and mess. Lots of obvious stuff but some nice ideas and reminders in there. Save the kids from the attention vortex 🌀📱🌀 for as long as possible!
"How to Orchid" by Telepathic Instruments
https://youtu.be/hbO1z13WP8o The funniest music tech product demo I’ve ever seen, featuring Matt Berry and Jermain Clement.
Mushroom in the Wild Playing Keyboard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbP2DgDp890 A mushroom hooked up with robot arms that are triggered to play a keyboard when the mushroom’s bio-electrical signal fluctuates. So cute!
Passpartout Duo - From Narva
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KFFlZUZsR0 It’s satisfying to watch these two musicians locked in with each other and the interlocking rhythms they’re playing in this mesmerising piece.
Felbm - Cycli Infini
https://felbm.bandcamp.com/album/cycli-infini I’ve been listening to this album a lot while doing things. It’s meditative, but rhythmic and with momentum, repetitive but varied. Lovely stuff!
Chantlings
https://www.iorama.studio/chantlings This musical app is actually magic… You sing to these cute characters on your phone and they join in glorious harmony!
Nuala Honan - White Feathers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stFUuib1iv4 My pal Nuala is getting some new songs out there, with a new album in the works. Here’s a beautiful, raw acoustic live session.
Kowloon - Wake Up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Id2hNfVjZQ I love the psychedelic retro animation style in this music video 🐸
Hologram Electronics - A Nice Song for Spring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7VWp9pw6no Probably one of my favourite product demo videos ever! A sweet, sunny jam.
Photay - Low Pressure System
https://photay.bandcamp.com/track/low-pressure-system This track by Photay caught my ear - feels like an adventure flying through a colourful miniature world.
Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Ghanaian Blues 1968 - 1981
https://soundwayrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ghana-special-modern-highlife-afro-sounds-ghanaian-blues-1968-1981 Highlife is the happy sound of sunshine to me!
Love & Purpose (Volume One)
https://firstwordrecords.bandcamp.com/album/love-purpose-volume-one A compilation of UK soul from (I think) the 80s to present day artists. Good barbeque tunes I reckon!
Sessa - Estrela Acesa
https://sessa.bandcamp.com/album/estrela-acesa Beautiful laid back songs with lush string arrangements from São Paulo, Brazil.
Skinshape - Craterellus Tubaeformis
https://skinshape.bandcamp.com/album/craterellus-tubaeformis Playful psychedelic songs made with warm sounding vintage gear. Lie under a tree and daydream to this if you like that kind of thing.
Matthewdavid - Mycelium Music
https://matthewdavidmcq.bandcamp.com/album/mycelium-music A psychedelic journey through a miscroscopic world inspired by fungus.
Omni Gardens - Golden Pear
https://omnigardens.bandcamp.com/album/golden-pear Cosy music :)
Wonky
https://pudding.cool/2023/06/groove/ This interactive website exploring the way legendary hip hop producer J Dilla creates his wonky grooves is fun to play around with.
Carl Peck's Newsletter
https://carljpeck.substack.com/ My good buddy and longtime collaborator Carl Peck has started a comic strip newsletter where he shares his work in progress on a bizarre and intriguing new story and behind the scenes titbits. His work is rad and the insights into his process are v interrresting.
Sam Greenfield - Sam Greenfield Sucks
https://samgreenfield.bandcamp.com/album/sam-greenfield-sucks This super playful jazz funk funtime fusion album by Sam Greenfield puts both a smile and a funk gurn on my face simultaneously, which is not a pretty sight I can tell you.
Benny Sings Young Hearts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLPm6vxA_y8 Loving this song and playful music video by Benny Sings. Silly Robo-Benny!
Rozi Plain - Prize
https://roziplain.bandcamp.com/album/prize Rozi Plain’s new album is a laid back journey through another world, padded with warm synths and gently driving rhythms. I love it!
Rozi Plain - Help
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTBDfpPHsak This song and surreal music video by Rozi Plain transports me to another realm, I love it!
Spencer Hansen's Creature Sculptures
https://spencerhansen.art/ Spencer Hansen makes weird and wonderful creature sculptures out of reclaimed materials. Lots of them look very huggable, I want to be friends!
Louis Cole - I'm Tight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9XrWB-u1vc This music video by Louis Cole is full of beautifully understated and ridiculous dance moves, choreographed by Louis himself!
How To with John Wilson
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0cltlm3/how-to-with-john-wilson I’m really enjoying this humorous documentary series at the moment! John films loads of weird, amusing, or eyecatching stuff in his daily life around New York and beyond, then cuts it together around a theme and narrates it in a dryly comedic, almost poetic manner.
Jacob Collier Improvises the Audience
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPtM9PByK_4 This musical performance gave me tingles when I first watched it. There’s always something amazing about a mass of people joining together in music, and it’s even more special that Jacob plays with people’s intuitive understanding of musical scales to play them like an instrument! See also Bobby McFerrin doing the same kinda…
Smac Mccreanor - Hydraulic Press Dance Series Compilation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWqB6UxERAk A wonder of a physical comedy / dance video - Smac McCreanor mimics hydraulic presses crushing different objects, but with her body representing the objects being crushed!
Emerson Kitamura - Rock'n Roll no Hajimari wa
https://emersonkitamura.bandcamp.com/album/rockn-roll-no-hajimari-wa This E.P. of chirpy organ music has been giving me the grins recently. Start from track 2 for maximum chirp!
I was on Blind Date
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl4zpMU9gmI Musical comedy man Brett Domino took an old episode of Blind Date and superimposed himself into the show, this comedy short really tickled me!
Postmodern Jukebox ft. Gunhild Carling - Happy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xywNeumntoE Gunhild Carling is a Swedish multi-instrumentalist jazz musician who has a flare for entertaining in playful ways! I saw a video of her playing 3 trumpets at once, which led to this video of her playing Happy on a bunch of different instruments, including a triple-trumpet parp-bonanza! Toot-toot-toooooot!
Solopsist
https://www.tiktok.com/@solopsist I haven’t been on tiktok much at all, but I recently found a link to these amazingly surreal short videos based around a phone booth, which make liberal use of practical effects to twist things into freakin’ weeeird territories, man.
Rocks
https://www.netflix.com/watch/81040791 A touching and superbly acted British film about a teenage girl whose mother suddenly leaves home, leaving her to fend for herself and her brother. The film was developed and written in conjuction with the cast who are mostly non-professional actors from the area of London it was shot in. It feels amazingly natural!
Graham Kartna - TMP2
https://grahamkartna.bandcamp.com/album/tmp2 This wonky, silly, electronic album by Graham Kartna has been filling my glad bags with happy pixels on repeat recently!
door.link
https://www.door.link/ A curated selection of small, cosy, unusual music . I’ve been enjoying listening to this while practising coding 🤓
Feels by Games for Crows
https://gamesforcrows.itch.io/feels This is a cute and fun little game - it’s like Where’s Wally but with emojis 😊
Yokainoshima: Island of Monsters
https://thamesandhudson.com/wild-japan-9780500544594 I love this intriguing photo book showcasing the elaborate and imaginative outfits of Japanese folk traditions. There are amazing costumes representing different deities and monsters to celebrate festivals and rituals of abundance and fertility. There’s an interesting interview with the photographer and more images here .
Kinopio
https://kinopio.club/ I’ve not used this visual thinking tool yet but it looks really cool! You can make cards of texts and images and link them together with coloured lines to create groups and flows of thought. The design is fun too!
John Carroll Kirby - Rainmaker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3ob71OfLJY I made the mistake of playing this retro smooth synth funk music video to my toddler and it’s now become a multiple times daily ritual that we watch this extra-long-ponytailed man emote on his synthesizer. But I don’t mind because if my baby’s into synthesisers then as far as I’m concerned I’ve done my job as a father…
Flock of Dimes - 2 Heads
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHONaf73FGU A beautiful vocal and analogue synthesiser performance. Oh there’s a cello too! It’s powerful and spacious at the same time, like THE UNIVERSE ITSELF WHOAAA 🌌
Sonic Blooming
https://www.sonicblooming.com/ An ambient sound/music project by sound artist Crystal Cortez which uses the electrical impulses of growing plants to create musical pitches and sounds. The pieces on this website were made from plant data and field recordings collected at the International Rose Test Garden in Portland Oregon.
astronaut.io
http://astronaut.io This is a fascinating website which displays a rapidly changing stream of YouTube videos with very little or no views, which tend to be unpolished personal videos. The result is a sense that you are peering into the lives of everyday people all over the planet - like an astronaut exploring life on earth.
The Westerlies - Dover
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2SFCd7GRZ0 I love this brass quartet piece by The Westerlies, it’s kinda joyful and beautiful! If you like this, their album Wherein Lies The Good is definitely worth a listen, some wonderful stuff on there 🎺
Verity Standen - Where Do You Hide
https://vimeo.com/514614842 My friend Verity Standen made this beautiful song and music video in the depths of the pandemic. I first watched this a couple of months ago feeling deeply exhausted with it all, and I proper blubbed, I tell you, blubbed all down my face.
MakeSpace
https://makespace.fun/ I’m currently beta testing this innovative co-creation platform . It’s a fun, malleable space to converse with video streaming and visual elements you can position wherever you like - like if Zoom was a creative collage you could move around in real time!
Mmm
https://build.mmm.page/ Mmm is a super playful one page website maker with drag and drop abilities to quickly and easily make a characterful collage/comic/website. Looks fun!