🎸 Instrumental Inspiration

In line with the Weekly5 values, I’ve to apologize for two mistakes in the last issue:

First, I wrote that FINE. was an artist from Geneva. This is incorrect; she is actually from Germany. Secondly, I wrongly wrote Le Femme instead of La Femme in the song description.

The mistakes have been corrected in the online version but communicating them transparently to you is equally important.

Moving on, I welcome the new subscribers to Weekly5. I hope you’ll find new music and artists you like. Check out the previously featured songs on Spotify.

So without further ado, let’s dive into this selection:

Sensu – Drawn

Everything but the usual can be expected from the Swiss producer Sensu. Drawn, her latest single, makes no exception but builds further on her reputation as an extraordinary artist.

Sensu’s variety spans from hip-hop-inspired tracks like Outspoken to bass-driven electronica, as demonstrated in Escape. The new track definitely belongs to the latter.

Drawn is an instrumental work that defies conventionalism. The complex structure and intricate rhythm make this single edgy and fascinating.

Schiller & Alphaville – Summer in Berlin

Summer in Berlin had a difficult standing on Alphaville’s 1984 album Forever Young next to the namesake hit and the unforgotten Big In Japan. But there was Christopher von Deylen, a teenager who absorbed the song.

Today, von Deylen is known as Schiller. “Back then, ‘Berlin’ sounded like the ultimate wanderlust to me,” he explains. The rework of the Alphaville song is the heart of a new Schiller album.

Adding the well-known Schiller sound, Summer in Berlin transpires to a contemporary electronic masterpiece without losing the unique 80s feeling.

Elder Island – Purely Educational

With Purely Educational (and Trailblazer on the b-side), the Bristol trio Elder Island announces their second studio album Swimming Static.

A funky beat lays the foundation for an energetic song. Purely Educational is an invitation to the dancefloors that we all miss dearly. Memories of shimmering lights in the fog machine’s mist drip from every line, sung by Katy Sargent.

Elder Island provide us with an addictive electro-pop track to recreate the indie disco ambience at home. And that’s all we can wish for nowadays.

AMARA ctk100 – You Don't Wanna

Featured worldwide, including tastemaking BBC 6 Music, AMARA ctk100 is no secret tip anymore. The London-based Swiss singer and producer collaborated with S.G Cackle to create You Don’t Wanna.

The track’s an intense mixture of cotton candy pop, obscure electronica, and futuristic glitch. Straight from the internet’s underground avant-garde, YouDon’t Wanna is breaking through the darkness like the flickering neon lights in a cyberpunk world.

You Don’t Wanna acts as social observation. It’s a commitment not to engage with toxic people and their games anymore.

Christian Löffler – Moldau

Parallels: Shellac Reworks may be one of the best albums of 2021. German techno producer took some of the oldest recordings of classical masterpieces on shellac and created a centuries-spanning experience.

Moldau, composed in 1874 by the then entirely deaf Czech Bedřich Smetana, is the best-known part of My Fatherland, a six-part cycle of symphonic poems.

In Löffler’s rework, ambient sound embraces the dusty 1920s recordings, and a crisp and rich bass drives this musical time travel.

There’s a nice gimmick available: You can create your own rework of Moldau here. And here’s the Weekly5 rework.

Protection was released as part of Alcest’s 2019 album Spiritual Instinct. It’s a brute force that combines the very best that the French blackgaze and post-rock duo offers.

Although the acoustic instrumental version dates back two years, the official single release was this January. This iteration of Protection, however, is something that not only die-hard metal fans can enjoy.

Long and winding, the guitar-focused version is an ambient beauty—the perfect soundtrack to dream.