“You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.” is a quote by Pema Chödrön that I love. I read it some time ago on the daily-tear-off Zen calendar that I have had for the past couple of years. It’s simple, clear, and straight-forward – good one to keep in mind.
This week, the weather in Amsterdam has been very April-y (like, the actual weather, not the metaphorical one from the above quote). In German, we say “April, April, der weiß nicht was er will.”, which means as much as April doesn’t know what it wants. Right now, we are close to 20 degrees with some blue skies and sunshine, but we have also had cold, wind, rain. And for me, it kinda goes two ways: Sometimes, I will listen to music that puts me in a certain mood (brings about a certain kind of weather, if you will), and other times, the weather will determine the music that I feel like listening to.
So, as I was thinking about what this week’s music rec should be about, there were a couple of different contenders: Crisp spring day? 80s Japanese city pop. Rain-splattered office windows? Post-punk, jazz fusion. Deviously cold gusts across our local flatlands? Shoegaze.
And then, yesterday, as work was coming to a close, and I was rotating between the office “happy hour” social drinks and my laptop, my mind went to what felt like a laid-back vibey place – and so I was catapulted back to 2016, when KAYTRANADA released his debut album, “99.9%”.
Not entirely sure where I first came across him, but it might have been in relation to Anderson .PAAK, who was popping up more and more around the same time that this album came out, and with whom KAYTRANADA had been working extensively. Or maybe, actually, as I think about this more, it must have been me hearing “LITE SPOTS”, a song from the album, on my favorite radio station and being captivated by the creative sampling and bumping beat.
Either way, having just started living in Amsterdam and newly leading the life of a university student during a gorgeous late summer, this album would come to dominate quite some time for me. The music, a funky blend of electronic music, hip hop and R&B, not only is a joy to listen to as it stands, but also lent itself (and still does) to the lazy afternoon, basking in the summer sun in the open field of a park with friends. Listening to some of the songs reminds me of a super-closeup of ice cream melting (e.g. “YOU’RE THE ONE”). While digging deep into musical references, it never seems to fall into taking itself too seriously – hilarious radio (?) snippets being spliced into some of the songs, reminiscing the jovial spirit of cheeky back-and-forths among friends (“DESPITE THE WEATHER”).
From the time that I started writing this, with clear skies, to me wrapping up now, moderately overcast, the album’s kept me at a nice and sunshine-y place (in the Pema Chödrön sense). Hope you enjoy!
Have a lovely weekend
Coryphe 