Many of you may be working from home during this uncertain time and although it feels like everything has changed, it doesn’t mean the creativity has to stop. Music has a unique power to heal and bring people together and we’ve already seen the music community find new ways to entertain and inspire, offering intimate live-streamed concerts and much-needed messages of encouragement to fans around the world. A variety of artists and labels are also sharing curated playlists – featuring everything from calming sounds to vintage rarities.

So, if you are one of the people who are able to work from home, that doesn’t mean the music stops. For those who are adjusting to new working spaces and need tracks to help them focus, we would like to share a playlist from the Abbey Road team. We’ve been asking our team to send in the tracks that have been keeping them going in these unprecedented times. Whether it's a track they use for a mixing reference or one they've recorded themselves, find out more about the selection below. We will be adding to this playlist each week so make sure to follow!

You can access the playlist on Spotify and Apple Music.

1. Like It Is - Yusef Lateef

Meditative sounding jazz blues - perfect for concentrating or turning off to. This track has been a favourite of mine for a few years now, and I keep on coming back to it.

2. Dove - Cymande

More slow burner sounds. I’m quite into psychedelic music at the moment, the ultimate form of escapism is going down the rabbit hole. This one's got a nice combination of funk and psychedelia, perfect for switching off to.

3. Garbagemx - Autechre

I love the way this track builds. The whole thing is a total soundscape leading to this incredibly immersive experience. To think this track is over 25 years old is mind blowing, it sounds so futuristic. To me it sounds like a UK interpretation of what was going on in the Detroit electro scene in the late '80s early '90s, with groups like Drexciya.

4. Strangers - The Kinks

I love this track because it reminds me of a very close friend of mine. I think in times like this you want to stay close to your friends in any way possible, because you can’t have that immediate intimacy with them.

Music is a great way of feeling connected to those who mean a lot to you. The friend this reminds me of is currently on the other side of the world in Canada, and I suppose we couldn’t be further apart in these uncertain times. I find some of the lyrics in this song particularly emotive. ‘Strangers on this road we are on, we are not two we are one’ and ‘If I live too long I’m afraid I’ll die’.

5. Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem

This is a great reference track for me at the moment. There’s a difference between mixing something so that it sounds musically balanced and clean, and mixing something so that it sounds cool. Quite often as engineers we end up striving for things to sound super clean, and forget that some of the coolest, most soulful music isn’t always like that.

In this particular song there’s a synth line that comes in at around the half way mark which totally erupts and takes it to a very different place.
The particular synth in question is so outrageously loud in the mix, but it’s cool as hell and totally works.

1. Ross - Model Man

I do manage this band, but before I worked with them this song always gave me feeling of melancholic positivity.

2. Undo - Bjork

It's hard to find a Bjork tune that stays vocally inside itself. This whole album is perfection.

3. Ingenue - Atoms For Peace

The vocal just warms me and stays so delicately gentle throughout.

4. Outro - M83

Two giant crescendos - Mr. Gonzales took an album or two to start singing on his music, but his vocal performances and this just lifts me. I love hearing the French accent singing in English.

1. Let You Know – Robin Hannibal Rework - Flume, London Grammar & Robin Hannibal

2. Falling Water - Maggie Rogers

3. I Think - Tyler, The Creator

4. Luna - Bombay Bicycle Club

5. Don’t Leave Me Lonely - Mark Ronson featuring Yebba

All of these tracks motivate me. Even though some may not tell the happiest story, they make me feel empowered which in turn elevates my mood.

1. Greeting to Saud - Pharoah Sanders

Featuring some gorgeous shimmering percussion and beautiful piano from Joe Bonner, this is from my favourite Pharoah Sanders album and one of the most blissful/peaceful tunes I can think of. It's like a sound bath.

2. Ball - Duval Timothy

A prime track from his excellent 'Sen Am' album, a simple piano melody builds and coalesces into deep chord progressions and synthesiser pads. A real beaut!

3. Bubbles - Yosi Horikawa

My friend Joe (who makes lovely music under the name JQ) introduced me to this track. He would often play it at our New Atlantis socials and every time I'd run over to ask for the track ID. I love the sound-world created in this track from the synthesisers and the impeccable sampling of what sounds like bouncing ping pong balls.

4. Hari Meru Meru - Hailu Mergia

This is my favourite track from his amazing 'Classical Instrument' album, the dreamy accordion and synths are joyous and completely transportive.

5. Galaxy In Turiya - Alice Coltrane

One of my favourite Alice Coltrane pieces from her World Galaxy album. Impossibly deep and meditative music for your stretching breaks from work.

6. Thousand Knives - Ryuichi Sakamoto

There are about a hundred Sakamoto tunes I could've chosen for this playlist, but I went with the classic Thousand Knives as it's such a catchy and playful bop and always cheers me up.

1. Der Osten Ist Rot / Rome Remains Rome - Holger Czukay
2. Canaxis - Holger Czukay

I'm putting two albums down, rather than tracks. I find listening to whole albums helps, instead of jumping from single to single. We've got time to listen and experience the 'journey' some musicians design when picking the order of the tracks. They also sometimes follow an intensity curve so you can move from low energy to high energy and back down.

Both are by Holger Czukay, post his involvement with Can. He studied under Karlheinz Stockhausen so he injects some experimental modern classical elements into his already incredible Krautrock base. Sparse lyrics help concentrate, and the dissonances, well, they are there for those that like that kind of stuff!

1. Colours - Beck

For when you’ve been sat there half-working in your comfy trousers for a little too long. This track (and the album that follows) is my go-to when it’s time to get something done. Whether it’s putting the washing that’s been staring at you all week in the machine or walking into a (zoom) meeting with your boss, this track can can handle it all.

2. Pounding - Doves

Doves are one of my all time favourite bands and back in the ‘before times’ I was lucky enough to attend their reunion gig at the Royal Albert Hall after a 9 year hiatus. The anticipation and excitement was palpable in that room, and the response as they were playing was fantastic. It’s a nice reminder of the effect of a group of people pulling in the same direction can have.

Oh, and the whole thing was in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust. People are great.

3. A Thousand Trees - Stereophonics

This is another nostalgic one. As a man hailing from the other end of the M4 I’ve never had to look much further than Stereophonics for inspiration. This track simply reminds me of home but, as a song about the mini-dramas of a small community in everyday life, I hope it provides some escapism from the global situation we currently find ourselves in. Even if it’s for just 3 short minutes (and 3 seconds).

4. Deadweight - Be No Rain

This is a fantastic track that I had the pleasure of mastering from stems. The youthful nostalgia in this song is perfectly crafted and will leave you with the same warmth you might get after watching a classic teen-movie. Pick up a hairbrush and sing along, or slow dance with your pet.

5. Breathe This Air - Jon Hopkins

I think during this time it’s just as important to stop and reflect as is it to keep busy. Jon Hopkins is more often than not an ideal accompaniment to that process. I could have picked anything from his incredible catalogue, but settled on track three from 'Immunity' - the Mercury-Nominated album that brought him firmly into our collective consciousness.

1. Aint No Brakeman – John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers – Spinning Coin
As a big motorsport fan I’ve been missing the start to the racing season because of the lockdown, so to get my fix I watched a documentary about the 1995 running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race. This was used heavily in the soundtrack. Great under a montage!

2. Balfour Road / The Weatherman – Kinnaris Quintet – Free One

A friend of mine recently turned me onto this fabulous, all female, band of folk musicians.Combining their collective love of Trad folk with a more modern sensibility, this track feels both funky and spacy without straying from their roots.

3. Daily Battles – Thom Yorke & Flea – Motherless Brooklyn Soundtrack

I had the pleasure of working on the score to this Noir-ish detective story some time ago and always loved the melancholy mood of the track. Just as the recent madness began I took delivery of a Challen upright piano, much like the ones at Abbey Road, and it’s soft tone put me in mind of this song; I’ve been sat working it out since…

4. Love In The Underground – Bandits on the Run – Single

Hands in the air! This is a stickup! This single was released just before the country went into lockdown. I was listening to it on my final morning commutes; It’s an autobiographical account of how two of the members of the trio met before they all went on the run together. Last seen holding up some juke joint in the Midwest…

5. Shit Witches Do – Coven

With the country going into lockdown so many of our friends and colleagues have suddenly found themselves having their upcoming gigs, tours and festival appearances cancelled. But, having had the rug pulled from under them, I’m incredibly proud of how many of them have adapted to the situation and are pressing on regardless. This video was put together, with the participants collaborating remotely, to present at the Beam musical theatre conference in Birmingham.

1. Suffering - Satchel

Singer Shawn Smith is sadly no longer with us, but if he was, I’m pretty confident he could stand up in a room and sing the contact list from his smart phone and make jaws drop. I first discovered Shawn Smith's voice through his side project Brad, and for some reason never explored Satchel till recently on Spotify. Just as the lyrical content suggests, I think we are all suffering a little right now in our own personal ways.

2. Wave Goodbye - Sia

I’ll never forget the first time I heard this song during the closing scene to Nicolas Winding Refn’s disturbing film The Neon Demon. I slumped into my cinema seat watching the credits roll past my eyes, processing the unsettling images I had witnessed whilst listening to this brilliantly up lifting sounding tune – it felt like a juxtaposition. Currently, lots of feelings and emotions feel like a juxtaposition.

3. Thoughts of You - Dennis Wilson

Denis Wilson, the troubled Beach Boys drummer, was the first member of the band to release a solo album and it was the finest Beach Boy solo album by far. Ocean Pacific Blue is a hauntingly beautiful collection of songs and this one is no exception. The current circumstances we find ourselves in were unexpected by most. Ocean Pacific Blue was unexpected by most.

4. Saddest Generation - IDER

One of my favourite songs from the amazing debut album by the London based duo. The album’s title is Emotional Education. The lyric emotional education is sung during this song. I think we are all experiencing some sort of emotional education during these strange times.

5. Surfs Up - The Beach Boys

Quite possibly my favourite song of all time. I had the album on cassette when I was a kid and fell in love with it. Most people quite rightly reflect on Pet Sounds when they think of The Beach Boys, but this is album is their hidden gem. No matter the circumstances, I always fall back to the song Surf’s Up, a masterpiece as far as I am concerned.

1. Once I Was - Tim Buckley
2. Rambling Man - Laura Marling
3. Pink Moon - Nick Drake
4. Alfonsina y El Mar - Michel Camilo
5. Española - McCoy Tyner

Reason: relaxing escapism

1. Rush – Little Dragon    

I’ve been waiting for their new album for a while. It did not disappoint and was released with the best live lockdown stream I’ve seen so far: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV9Wc5LcFbM

2. Obama Shuffle Strut Blues – Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela

RIP. Tragic loss of the Afrobeat King last week. Tony joins Hugh in the land of musical gods. Thankful to see Tony perform at the brilliant Church of Sound just before lockdown.

3. Emergency on Planet Earth – Jamiroquai

(The whole album!). Finally I have some time to pick up my bass guitar again! Revisiting the unreal basslines of Stu Zender has been fun.

4. Someone Like You – Drumtap x SHELLS

This time last year I did FOH for SHELLS at a wonderful venue/café in Bow called Muxima. Shout out to all venues and their crew going through a brutal time right now.

5. Having a Party (Live at Red Rocks) – Nathanial Rateliff & The Night Sweats w/ Preservation Hall Jazz Band

There’s going to be one huge party when all this is over. Nathanial & Co’s live rendition of a Sam Cooke classic doesn’t hold back, and neither will we!
 

 

You can access the playlist on Spotify and Apple Music.