July 26-Aug. 2, 2025

2025 New Year’s Playlist: Tracks To Love and the Stories Behind the Music

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube

 

Dear reader,

 

As we slowly get our footing in this new year (as it’s almost February), I’ve made a playlist with the music I have enjoyed listening to the most in recent months to help get through the grey winter days and long nights. I hope that there will be a thing or two that you haven’t heard before and I hope you find a few tracks that you’ll come to love as much as I have.

 

If you’d like to hear some stories and anecdotes about the music, read on. Otherwise, the playlist links are below. Enjoy!

 

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube

 

Efterklang: Dreams Today (2012)

Efterklang’s Album Piramida has a fantastic backstory. They shot a documentary about the making of the album, which took place in the ghost town Piramida on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, a now-abandoned workers utopia colony from the USSR north of the Arctic Circle. 

 

The pitter-patter of steps you hear at the beginning of this song is the band’s drummer running down a long wooden boardwalk through the beautiful arctic landscape, with a microphone picking up his every step.

 

Efterklang is the Danish word for reverberation or reverb. 

 

Dawn of Midi: Ymir (2013)

A friend told me that listening to Dawn of Midi’s album Dysnomia from beginning to end, especially live, is a life-altering event. Dawn of Midi is, by instrumentation, a jazz trio, but the music feels more like if Philip Glass started DJ’ing house music. Dawn of Midi has opened for Coldplay and Radiohead, playing everywhere from arenas to small clubs. 

 

In spite of the fact that Dawn of Midi has not performed publicly for several years, you may have a unique opportunity to have that life-altering experience for yourself this summer if you’re in Nebraska in late July.

 

DakhaBrakha: Sonnet (2020)

DakhaBrakha is rooted in Ukrainian folk singing – raw, searingly beautiful, and from the gut. They are iconic for their experimentation with genre and for their instrumentation – vocals, percussion, keyboard, and cello – and for their hats.

 

During a recent concert in Hamburg, Germany, the many Ukrainian refugees in the audience were sipping beers, singing and dancing along to all of the songs. During the single short monologue in Ukrainian dedicated to this crowd from the stage, you could feel the surging energy in the room transform into a fierce and defiant cheer. It felt like a camera came abruptly into focus: the war, and its effect on all of those in the room with me, became real.

 

Arooj Aftab: Man Kunto Maula (2015)

Arooj Aftab burst onto the scene after her 2021 release “Vulture Prince”, from which the track “Muhabbat” won the Grammy for Best World Music Performance.

 

Her music is mesmerizing, combining the sweet and slippery nuances of Hindustani traditional music with the smooth edge of indie pop. My favorite track from her discography, Man Kunto Maula, comes from her first album Bird Under Water  years before Vulture Prince.

 

“Man Kunto Maula” is a phrase from a well-known Islamic hadith (a saying of the Prophet Muhammad) that is widely used in Sufi music, such as qawwali, where it symbolizes love and devotion.

 

Björk: Frosti (2001)

Were you surprised that this was Björk? This little gem from Vespertine was played on a music box and although it’s a bit of a transition piece on the album (and on this playlist), it is a little work of genius in its own right.

 

Authentic Light Orchestra: Yarimo (2019)

In Buddhism, “Authentic Light” can be understood as a poetic or practical way to describe the luminous quality of the awakened mind. It represents genuine insight or wisdom that dispels ignorance and reveals the mind’s natural clarity. 

 

Valeri Tolstov, the Armenian/Swiss organist, bandleader, sound engineer, circus composer and overall renaissance man behind the group, incorporates world music in creative ways – in this track you’ll hear instruments like the Arabic Oud and the Ukrainian Kalyuka, or overtone flute.

 

John Hadfield and Rachel Eckroth: Saturn (2024)

If you had to describe John’s personality, his Instagram handle says it best: @MrSunshineBeam. That sunny personality shines through in the playfulness, humor and sick skills emanating from each of his records.

 

This is the first studio recording of a new collaboration with Rachel Eckroth a fantastic pianist, synth enthusiast and composer who’s day job is as the keyboardist for the indie rock star St. Vincent. This song is a riot of synths and insane drumming. 

 

Jeff Buckley: Corpus Christi Carol (1994)

Jeff Buckley is most associated with alternative rock, and in that sense, this track is a bit of an outlier.  Then again, Jeff Buckley’s modest output was so diverse in style and genre that perhaps it isn’t so surprising after all.  It’s hard to imagine what kind of music he would have come up with, if it hadn’t been for his tragic death in 1997.

 

His voice was often compared to that of an operatic tenor. I can imagine him singing Orfeus in Monteverdi’s Orfeo and I’m certain that the gods would not have been able to refuse his pleas. If you’re a fan of Buckley’s, I’m sure this track has already worn a deep groove in your brain. If you were like me and didn’t really know his debut album Grace, listen to what has been described as possibly the best album of all time. You won’t regret it.

 

Layale Chaker and Sarafand: Ocean to Ocean (2024)

If you’re familiar with Layale’s work, you’ll probably know her best as a violinist and composer. When her new album Radio Afloat came out, I was surprised to discover that she sings as well, as gracefully and intuitively as she plays violin. You only hear her voice on a few tracks like this one – a special treat within a thoroughly excellent album.

 

Another insider tip: you may be able to hear this song and the album it comes from live in Nebraska in late July. Stay tuned.

 

Kinan Azmeh: Wedding (2013)

This wedding dance is dedicated to “all the people in Syria who still have the hope and courage to get married”. It is a loving tribute to the strength and resilience of those who stayed behind, even while so many others fled.

 

Improvisor Suite, in which this song was later included, is probably Kinan’s most iconic work. My favorite recording of the suite is a live recording from the Nebraska Crossroads Music Festival in 2019, but this version was recorded long before it became an orchestral piece and has its own charm.

 

If you’ve never heard him speak before, Kinan’s way of talking is almost as beautiful as his playing: hear him in an interview talking about the meaning of home, belonging, and Nebraska in this episode of the PlainStory Podcast from Nebraska Public Media.

 

Bitoi: OO (2023)

Imagine going on a walk in the forest, and drawn by a rhythmic pulse vaguely tingling the hairs on the back of your neck, you peer though a crevice in a nearby rock face to discover a glittering cavern where the last elves of middle earth are having an epic cave rave.

 

Ritualistic, profound, evocative and super groovy, BITOI stands for Bass Is The Original Instrument. Sure enough, every time the beat drops in this track, I start smiling and bobbing like a Hobbit on horseback. The lyrics are based on phonetic pronunciations of bird sounds – an ancient language indeed.

 

Keep an eye out in March for the release of BITOI’s upcoming full-length album.

 

Sandeep Das and Mike Block: Maspiel (2021)

At first, I was convinced that this track was based on a particular raga and tal or rhythmic cycle and I set out with my newly purchased iTabla app – the best metronome money can buy – to solve the mystery. However, after lots of searching and following Reddit threads way too far down, I couldn’t find any 2+3+2+2 rhythmic cycles in the presets, even on the paid Pro version. Then suddenly, to my surprise, I found that the title actually refers to a John Zorn song of which this track is an inspired cover.

 

Regardless of the origins of the melody and rhythm, if you close your eyes and listen with headphones, you can still smell the sweet scent of the night rising after a gentle rain on the subcontinent.

 

MOONPIE: LET GO (2024)

It’s easy to love the music of people you love – and that’s especially the case for this music. You won’t find more creative, curious, delightful moments in this music and it reflects the personalities of the two people, Fredrik Serholt and Paulina Délin, who created it.

 

You can also listen to the live version of the song, but I’d most recommend to listen to the whole album (Apple MusicSpotify) from beginning to end. It’s surprising, cheeky, gorgeous and with enough depth to make you listen again and again. 

 

VOCES8: Fljótavik (Sigur Rós, arr. Lawson) (2024)

A choir specializing in renaissance repertoire that has the prescience to arrange a Sigur Rós song – what’s not to like? This version really gets the essence of the vocal quality of the original, keeping its rugged beauty in tact.

 

Sigur Rós is one of the most iconic bands from Iceland, an island with one of the most prolific music scenes anywhere despite being home to more sheep than people. 

 

Abel Selacoe: Voices of Bantu (2023)

Marin Marais’ most evocative work for viola da gamba and a hearty, round and soft singing voice – this song has it all. In both his playing and singing, Abel Selacoe emanates a gentle warmth, a perfect way to close out this playlist while you finish your coffee in the cozy spot of the kitchen.

 

The instrumental part is based on a movement from Marais’ second book of pieces for viola da gamba subtitled “Les Voix Humaines”, or “the human voice”. It is ostensibly called this because it mimics the characteristics and qualities of the human voice. Perhaps, though, it is voice of humanity it is meant to express. What do you think? 

 

 

 

Thanks for listening and reading

and Happy New Year!

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