What you should be listening to this month

Welcome to “What you should be listening to this month”. The sole aim of this section is to introduce you to new music and set you on the voyage of discovery we mentioned in the “About” Section. Each month there will be two playlists, one based around what’s happening musically in an Andaz hotel and a second playlist based around a particular theme like “Sunday Morning” or “The City Never Sleeps”. For each track we’ve chosen, there’s a set of iTunes links so you can listen to and purchase the track in question and each artist's name is also a link, so you can delve deeper into what they’re up to and if you like what you hear, explore more of their music.

Remember, these tracks are just the starting point – where they take you and where you end up is totally up to you!

"Andaz London Morning Vol 1"

"Andaz London Morning Vol 1"		Purchase
TITLE	ARTIST	EUR	USA	JPN
Soul Horizon	The Beauty Room
Robinson Crusoe	The Art of Noise		n/a	n/a
Dust	Bombay Dub Orchestra
Marmalade	Caged Baby	n/a	n/a	n/a
The Barney Fade	Fragile State
Clowns (instrumental)	Goldfrapp		n/a
Millions of Moments	John Beltran
Ralome	Plaid			n/a
Serendipity	Tom Middleton			n/a
Alone in Kyoto	Air

Here’s a taste of what’s happening in Andaz London musically in the morning, as the city eases into the day.

We’ve featured The Beauty Room track ‘Soul Horizon’ before and rightly so, as it is a perfect morning song, echoing the best of 70s soul instrumentation with a beautiful yet powerful vocal.

To people growing up in the 70s, the theme tune from Robinson Crusoe should need no introduction, as it recalls summer holiday morning TV at its best. This re-interpretation from ambient pioneers Art of Noise captures the essence of the original, whilst still steering it into a new vibrant, yet calming direction.

Bombay Dub Orchestra represent the best of the new chillout / ethnic acts and this track oozes quality with their signature orchestral sounds, as you drift away on the simple, movie-esque melodies. This is followed by beautiful morning jazz from Brighton’s Caged Baby and then onto the theme to a movie not yet made by Ben Mynott’s sublime chillout project Fragile State, with the track ‘The Barney Fade’.

Track 6 is the simple yet evocative instrumental from Goldfrapp’s new album ‘The Seventh Tree’ - pastoral music at its best, before we head back into movie-esque theme-land with a potent orchestral track from John Beltran’s gorgeous album ‘Human Engine’.

Electronica pioneers Plaid follow with the hypnotic ‘Ralome’, a pleasure to listen to at any time of the day. DJ, Producer and compiler of some of the world’s best compilations Tom Middleton is next, with one of the stand out tracks from his recent artist album ‘Lifetracks’, before we end with the pure, musical sounds of Air and their beautiful track ‘Alone in Kyoto’. The title itself conjures up a multitude of images and the track doesn’t disappoint, as it takes you on a journey around your head and back again.

 

"Andaz Summer's Coming"

"Andaz Summer's Coming"		Purchase
TITLE	ARTIST	EUR	USA	JPN
Since I Left You	The Avalanches			n/a
Where I Belong	Honeyroot
Lovely Day	Bill Withers			n/a
Long Hot Summer	The Style Council
Harvest for the World	The Isley Brothers			n/a
Up, Up & Away	The 5th Dimension
Stay with You	Lemon Jelly
Back to Life	Soul II Soul
Getting it on	Only Child	n/a	n/a	n/a
Riverbed (feat. Thomas Dybdahl)	Morcheeba			n/a

We know the weather's not that great yet, so this is the perfect time to give you a taster of the sunny months ahead and hopefully put a smile on your face at the same time!

We’re off to a great start with The Avalanches and their sunshine Anthem ‘Since I left you’. Honeyroot features Glen Gregory from Heaven 17 and this track was one of the soundtracks of last summer, from their brilliant album ‘The Sun will Come’.

Bill Withers needs no introduction and Paul Weller’s second band after The Jam (and last before going solo) follow with one of the classic summer tracks of all time ‘Long Hot Summer’, the perfect accompaniment to lazy summer afternoons by the river.

‘Harvest for the World’ is another track that doesn’t need any introductions from us, its perfect for this playlist, uplifting, sunny and guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

A little bit of easy-listening next, with the glorious ‘Up, up and Away’ from The 5th Dimension. You may not recognise the title or band, but you’ll certainly recognise the music as soon as you hear the vocals!

Lemon Jelly are one of the quintessential ‘English’ bands and their sound is a perfect match for long sunny days. If they represent the ‘countryside’ of English Life, then Soul II Soul are the perfect follow up, representing a hot summers day in the city like no other.

Manchester’s Only Child come next with a real dose of pure sunshine and we finish with Chillout heroes Morcheeba and one of the standout tracks from their new Album ‘Dive Deep’, the quietly uplifting and contemplative track ‘Riverbed’, the perfect end to the start of our Summer.