Travelmarx Summer 2026 Playlist – Never Be the Same

A composite image of 36 albums used in this playlist.

For our summer playlist, we chose the title "Never Be the Same." It feels right for this moment because the pace of change can seem too quick, and it’s easy to look at a place, situation, or people and think that’s it; it’ll never be the same. Either in a good or a bad way. This playlist doesn't propose anything other than acknowledging this feeling.  Spotify link. 

We picked the title just because we liked the song of the same name by Yana Pavlova & Pavel Milyakov from the album "Thrill". Later after including it in our playlist, we learned (here, here) that Pavlova passed away in February 2025.

18 Rays – EP"18 Rays", track "I Feel Rain"
Steve Gunn – EP "Shape of a Wave", track "Shape of a Wave"
Samantha Crain – single "Belly"
Landhouse – single "Long Dark Tunnel"
RICEWINE – single "Uncut"
Mac DeMarco – album "Salad Days", track "Salad Days"

exmagician – album "Sit Tight", track "Storyline"
Astral Bakers – album "Vertical Life", track "No Rain On Internet"
Sterling Grove, Ellyn Woods – single "Sound of Home"
Lilly Miller, Damien Jurado – single "It Will Come Back"
Golden Ivy – album "Kammarn", track "Vandringslåt"
fastmusic – album "I Want to Love, and I Love", track "Wow"

Sunrom – single "Glory"
Fink – single "Wishing For Blue Sky"
Alela Diane – single "In My Own Time"
Elder Island – EP "Seeds in Sand", track "Black Fur"
JAGUARE AFFAIR – single "Comment lui dire"
bby – album "1", track "In Spite Of My Head"

Little Joy – album "Little Joy", track "Brand New Start"
The Holydrug Couple – album "Sesión En Vivo Estudio Novena CDMX (Live)", track "Concorde (Sesión En Vivo Estudio Novena CDMX)"
Yana Pavlova & Pavel Milyakov – album "Thrill", track "never be the same"
Vicky Sometani – single "Keep Coming Back To You"
Gem Club – album "Emerald Press", track "Sea So White"
Aufgang – album "Broad Ways", track "Épopée, pt. 1"

Darkstar – album "Civic Jams", track "Blurred"
Jitwam – album "selftitled", track "later..."
Williams & Chaz Bundick – EP "Trance Zen Dental Spa", track "Luxury Vinyl"
Common Saints – EP "Starchild", track "Starchild"
Autograf & WYNNE – single "Nobody Knows"
Kimi Hird & Yukimi Nagano – album "Moving On", track "Keep You"

Assaf Spector – single "New Wave"
Rozi Plain & Alabaster DePlume – album "Prize", track "Spot Thirteen"
Gizmo Varillas – album "The World in Colour", track "Follow the Sun"
Hanakiv – album "Goodbyes", track "Goodbye"
Tash Sultana – album "Notion", track "Jungle"
Tatanka – single "Alfaiate"

Travelmarx Spring 2026 Playlist – Powerless

A composite image of 36 albums used in this playlist.

Our spring playlist's title is Powerless, from the first song in the list by Balthazar. Theodor W. Adorno (1903 – 1969) said in 1951 “The almost insoluble task is to let neither the power of others, nor our own powerlessness, stupefy us.” Happy listening. Spotify link.

Balthazar – album “Sand”, track “Powerless”
Matt Berninger – album "Serpentine Prison", track "Silver Springs"
Aim – album “Cold Water Music”, track “Cold Water Music”
Fabienne Debarre – album “Welcome to the Age of Broken Minds”, track “Welcome to the Age of Broken Minds”
Shana Cleveland – album “Manzanita”, track “Faces in the Firelight”
Wallners – album “Ships”, track “Ships”

Doc Rhombus – album “Distant Generation”, track “Never Thought”
Black Sea Dahu – album “Ants on the Wall”, track “One Day Will Be All I Have”
Honahlei – album “Nosara Tapes”, track “Gone Away”
Fellini Félin – album “Oddy”, track “Charlie”
Eola – album “Dang”, track “And I Know”
Heartless Bastards – album “A Beautiful Life”, track “A Beautiful Life”

RHODES – track “Sleep is a Rose”
Bertrand Belin – album “Watt”, track “Watt”
Jode – album “Jode”, track “Tomorrow is Gone”
Blanco White – track “So Certain (Something Reminds Me)”
Ocie Elliot – album “In That Room”, track “Forest Floor”
Al Nicol – album “Only Hoping”, track “Marylebone”

Sabine McCalla – album “Don’t Call Me Baby”, track “Sunshine Kisses”
Nick Hakim – track “Waiting”
Midori Hirano – track “Illuminance”
La Luz – album “News of the Universe”, track “I’ll Go With You”
Thomas Dybdahl – single “Hard Liquor”
Anna von Hausswolff – album “The Miraculous”, track “Stranger”

These New Puritans – album “Field of Reeds”, track “Organ Eternal”
Little Element – album “Fire”, track “Tel Aviv”
Timmy Thomas – album “What Can’t We Live Together”, track “Why Can’t We Live Together”
John Martyn – album “Grace & Danger”, track “Some People Are Crazy”
Nicolas Michaux – album “Les Chutes”, track “Amusement Park”
Pedro Mizuntani, Skinshape – album “Mostrando Os Dentes”, track “Sozin”

Robot Koch – album “Hypermoment”, track “Dreams”
Common Saints – album “Cinema 3000”, track “Sweet Release”
David Bowie – album “Young Americans”, track “Win”
Lapcat – album “She’s Bad”, track “Lavender”
Duke Garwood – album “Garden of Ashes”, track “Blue”
The Bamboos – album “Medicine Man”, track “The Wilhelm Scream”

Travelmarx Winter 2025 Playlist – Black Sheep Boy

A composite image of 36 albums used in this playlist.

“I’m the family’s unowned boy”...We like that phrase from Okkervil River song "Back Sheep Boy" and decided on that for the secondary title for this season’s playlist. Being a “black sheep” is a badge of honor. A badge that means independence, creativity, or in the least, the courage to defy expectations. We don’t need our wool dyed so black is fine. The playlist is here on Spotify.

Beirut – album “Gallipoli”, track “Corfu”
Nev Cottee – album “Broken Flowers”, track “Open Eyes”
Okkervil River – album “Black Sheep Boy", track “Black Sheep Boy”
Hannah Miette, Rozi Plain – album “Hanna Miette”, track “Let Me Know”
Habe – album “Far From Everywhere”, track “Not Anywhere”
Grayson Hamm – single “Whiskey River”

Jonathan Jeremiah – album “We Come Alive”, track “How Can I Shake You Out of My Mind?”
John Stammers – album “Waiting Around”, track “Waiting Around”
Fink – album “Sort of a Revolution”, track “Walkin’ in the Sun”
The Saxophones – album “No Time of Poetry”, track “Wayward Men – feat. Indigo Street”
FC Atlaska – album “Rhythms from the Schelde Valley”, track “Two Moons Away”
Later. - album “The Daydream (EP)”, track “All the Time”

Toro y Moi – album “What For?”, track “Lilly”
Steve Gunn – album “Daylight Daylight”, track “A Walk”
MEZERG – album “Extended Play”, track “Sitting on a Log”
Clara Rockmore – album “Music In and On the Air”, track “The Swan”
Luce – album “Blue Star Soft Eyes”, track “Shadows and Shells”
Pharaoh – album “The Heat Warps”, track “Pharoah”

Alan Sparhawk, Trampled by Turtles – album “Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles”, track “Get Still”
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – album “Gush”, track “Gush”
Velvet Meadow – album “Saturday Morning Meadowlies”, track “The Velvet Showdown”
Flavor Crystals – album “The Shive of the Flavor Crystals”, track “Antenna House”
Aunt Cynthia’s Cabin – album “Misty Woman”, track “Misty Woman”
Bahamas – album “Pink Strat”, track “Whole, Wide, World”

Marty O’Reilly & The Old Soul Orchestra – album “Pray for Rain”, track “Cinnamon Tree”
Ask Carol – album “AC II: Desert Sky”, track “Cold July”
Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp – album “We’re OK. But We’re Lost Anyway”, track “Blabber”
Monde UFO – album “7171”, track “Lowered Shelf”
Saya Gray – single “ANNIE, PICK A FLOWER..(MY HOUSE)”
Chinless Wonder – album “Moon Phaser”, track “Ynda”

Alex Maas – album “Luca”, track “Shines Like the Sun (Madeline’s Melody)”
CCFX – album “CCFX”, track “The One to Wait”
Jerkclub – album “Night Fishing On a Calm Lake”, track “Night Fishing On a Calm Lake”
Vinnie Who – single “Blue Blue Sky”, track “Velvet Sleep”
Kyle Scott Wilson – album “Journey to the Center of the Egress’ dream”, track “Traveling High”
NIGHTIES – single “saying hi”

Travelmarx Fall 2025 Playlist – Our Lovely Days

A composite image of 36 albums used in this playlist.

We wrote about them in the Vajont – Vittorio Veneto post, and here we go again: biases.

We based the name of this playlist on the Brian Eno, Beatie Wolfe track “My Lovely Days”. We were thinking that we should celebrate these lovely days of our lives. Our desire is to counteract our “sometimes” biases of:

• Declinism – our world has passed it’s high-water mark and is in decline.
• Rosy retrospection – glossing over bad times in the past.
• Nostalgia bias – longing for the “good old days”.
• Chronocentrism – what we grew up in is superior to the turbulent present and an uncertain future.

Our feelings have names and descriptions. What we are feeling is not new. That’s reassuring...I guess.

Anyway, here’s to lovely days. Smile, chin up. There are good days ahead. The playlist is here on Spotify.


Brian Eno, Beatie Wolfe – album “Luminal”, track “My Lovely Days”
Nina Storey – album “Nina Storey”, track “Be With You Tonight”
Oisin Leech, Steve Gunn, Tony Garnier – album “Cold Sea”, track “Colour of the Rain”
Captain Planet – “Tony’s House”
Clarissa Connelly – album “World of Work”, track “An Embroidery”
Ebony Lamb – album “Ebony Lamb”, track “Salt Sand Sea”

Maladé - album “Mezz’Aller”, track “Ripagnola Alle 19”
Chapelier Fou – album “Muance”, track “Philémon”
Enji – album “Ulaan”, track “Taivshral”
Room Service – album “Things Left to Do”, song “Good Morning”
Keeley Forsyth – album “Debris”, track “Start Again”
The Fantasy Orchestra – album “The Bear and Other Stories”, track “One Rainy Wish”

Tosca – album “Tlapa The Odeon Remixes”, track “In My Brain Prinz Eugen - Richard Dorfmeister vs Madrid De Los Austrias Ybbs Version”
GHOSTWOMAN – album “Ghost Woman”, track “All the Time”
mark william lewis – album “Still Above”, track “Still Above”
Chilly Gonzales – album “L’Accident de piano”, track “Maglie Postlude”
noonday underground – album “Surface Noise”, track “The Surface Noise”
Josin, Lambert – track “Traveller - Lambert rework”

Delayan – album “Looking Towards the Atlantic”, track “English Motorbike”
Midnight Sister – album “Painting the Rose”, track “Satellite”
40 Winks – album “Field Recordings”, track “We’re Flying”
Freedom Fry – album “Rio Grande”, track “Rio Grande”
Wau Wau Collectif – album “Yaral Sa Doom”, track “Mouhamodou Lo and His Children”
Danika – track “For My Baby”

Natalie Bergman – track “Dance”
Velvet Meadow – track “Silent Crying”
RIO KOSTA – track “Unicorn”
Céline Dessberg – album “Hödöö”, track “on est pareil”
Assaf Spector, Tom Meira Armony, Tamir Muskat – track “Monochromium”
Vaughn – track “Mystic Vale”

Brightblack Morning Light – album “Motion to Rejoin”, track “Hologram Buffalo”
Alex Maas – album “Luca”, track “500 Dreams”
O & The Mo – album “Make Way for the Sun”, “I Don’t Know”
Júníus Meyvant – album “Floating Harmonies”, track “Signals”
Toshizo Shiraishi – album “Oasis Session Vol. 1”, track “Iizuna Forest (feat. Yoshio Kobayashi, Jody Tenku & Marter”
FKJ – track “Is Magic Gone”

Travelmarx Summer 2025 Playlist - Bourgeois Manqué

40 album covers for Travelmarx Summer 2025 Playlist – Bourgeois Manqué

Ah yes, the annual Travelmarx summer playlist—where we cast our hot musical selections into the cosmos of infinite choice. Perhaps, one day, curiosity will strike, and we’ll find ourselves wondering, "What was that one song?" 

We’ve named this playlist Bourgeois Manqué, inspired by Dean Wareham’s opening track. The term captures a yearning or striving for middle-class stability that is just out of reach. Financial constraints, missed opportunities, self-sabotage? All of the above. 

So here it is. A collection of songs for the aspirational, the wistful, the resigned. Enjoy. Spotify.


Dean Wareham - album “That’s the Price of Loving Me”, song “Bourgeois Manqué”
Lael Neale - album “Tell Me How To Be Here”, song “Tell Me How To Be Here”
Dana Gavanski - album “Wind Songs”, song “I Talk to the Wind”
The South Hill Experiment - album “EARTHBREAKS”, song “Name a Star”
Baqui - album “Oxis”, song “Baqui”
Saul Adamczewski, Marley Mackey - album “The Coward”, song “Cholera”
Tunng, William Doyle - album “Snails (William Doyle Remix)”, song “Snails - William Doyle Remix”
Saya Gray - album “SAYA”, song “10 WAYS ( TO LOSE A CROWN )”

Woo - album “Music to Watch Seeds Grow By 001: Woo (Sweet Peas)”, song “H2O Revisited”
Papooz, Erlend Øye - album “Make It Work”, song “Make It Work”
Panda Bear - album “Sinister Grift”, song “50mg”
Youth Lagoon - album “Rarely Do I Dream”, song “Canary”
Ledus - album “Beloved”, song “Beloved”
Adrian Crowley - album “Measure Of Joy”, song “Measure Of Joy”
Dark Dark Dark - album “Bright Bright Bright”, song “Bright Bright Bright”
Japanese Breakfast - album “Soft Sounds from Another Planet”, song “Diving Woman”

POLIÇA - album “Madness”, song “Alive”
Heather Woods Broderick - album “Glider”, song “A Call for Distance”
Jenny Hval - album “Classic Objects”, song “American Coffee”
Lady Blackbird - album “Black Acid Soul”, song “Collage”
Scrimshire, Miryam Solomon - album “Nothing Feels Like Everything”, song “Heron”
Jack J - album “Blue Desert”, song “Born Without a Smile”
Tunng - album “Turbines”, song “By This”
Blonde Redhead - album “3 O'Clock”, song “Where Your Mind Wants to Go”

Loren Kramar - album “Glovemaker”, song “Hollywood Blvd E”
Molly Burch - album “First Flower”, song “To the Boys”
Alex Maas - album “Luca”, song “Been Struggling”
Big Black Delta - album “Big Black Delta”, song “Love You This Summer”
Michael Kiwanuka - album “Light (Edit)”, song “Light – Edit"
Yukimi, Little Dragon - album “Sad Makeup”, song “Sad Makeup”
The Leisure Society - album “The Sleeper & a Product of the Ego Drain”, song “We Were Wasted”
anaiis, Grupo Cosmo - album “anaiis & Grupo Cosmo”, song “B.P.E”

Erika de Casier - album “Essentials”, song “Little Bit”
Chris Cohen – album “Paint a Room”, song “Dog’s Face”
helen island – album “silence is priceless”, song “me & who ?”
Chinese American Bear – album “Wah!!!”, song “Magic Number”
Azymuth – album “Zé e Paraná”, song “Zé e Paraná”
Samantha Crain – album “Pick Apart”, song “Bloomsday”
Death Machine – album “Orbit”, song "Isle of Mine”
Camp Saint Helene – album “Of Earth and its Timely Delights”, song “Anniversary”

Travelmarx Spring 2025 Playlist – Unknownia

36 album covers for Travelmarx Spring 2025 Playlist – Unknownia

For the secondary title of this playlist, we selected “Unknownia”. The word comes from a track in this playlist by Domenique Dumont, a collaboration between Latvian multi-instrumentalist and producer Arturs Liepins and vocalist, ethnomusicologist Anete Stuce.

We are not sure of the intent of the song, but the title resonates with where we are heading in this world: to an unknown state or “unknownia”. This playlist is here on Spotify.

Teens of Style – album “Car Seat Headreat” (2015), song “Maud Gone”
Domenique Dumont – “To Unknownia” (2024)
The Saxophones, Maston – “Take My Fantasy – Maston Remix” (2022)
Dodie – “Old Devil Moon” (2024)
Michael Kiwanuka – “Beautiful Life” (2021)
Yard Nule – album “Yard Nule” (2021), song “Haunter”

Anika – album “No One's There” (2011), song “He Needs Me”
Ora Cogan – album “Shadowland” (2016), song “Too Long”
Arthur H – album “Adieu to Tristesse” (2005), song “La chanson de Satie”
William Z Villain – album “William Z Villain” (2017), song “Anybody Gonna Move”.
Death Machine – album “Cocoon” (2017), song “Disco Blues”
Malena Zavala – album “Aliso” (2018), song “If It Goes”

DJ Tennis – album “DJ-Kicks" (2017), song “Melody Day (Four Test Remix)”
TM Juke – album “Maps from the Wilderness” (2003), song “Just for a Day – Sunday"
You'll Never Get To Heaven – album “Images” (2017), song “Images”
Valerie June – “With You - A Sweet Little Love Song Demo” (2017)
Reptaliens – album “VALIS” (2019), song “Wake Up”
Clark – album “In Camera” (2024), song “Superstar”

Morbo y Mambo – album “Noches de Morbo Vol 1”, song “Nigerian”
Natalie Bergman, Beck – “You’ve Got a Woman” (2021)
DelicTrips – album “Motivated Abstract”, song “Sunset Hills”
Saya Gray – “Shell (of a man)” (2024)
Steve Stout – album “Sunday Stars (demos)” (2023), song “Save It For a Rainy Day – demo"
Westerman – album “Call and Response” (2017), song “Lie”

Nadine Shah – album “Ville Morose/The Devil (2014), song “Ville morose”
Bobby Lee and Mia Doi Todd – “Walking With Trees” (2021)
Slow Pilot – album “Falling Off the Earth” (2024), song “No Man Is An Island” with C Duncan
Anjalts – “Just Stay 4 Awhile” (2025)
WOOM – “Walk” (2020)
Suzanne Kraft – album “Talk from Home” (2015), song “Flatiron”

Annahstasia – album “Surface Tension” (2024), song “Sunday”
Family Time – album “The Golden Years”, song “Ropa Vieja”
Hether – album “Covered in Hether”, song “Smoke Rings”
Kristine Leschper – album “The Opening, or Closing of Door”, song “Blue”
Tunng – album “Love You All Over Again”, song “Didn’t Know Why”
Juniore – album “Ouh Là Là”, song “Le cannibale”

Travelmarx Winter 2025 Playlist – Heavy Air

36 album covers for Travelmarx Winter 2025 Playlist – Heavy Air

And so we end 2024 and start (Winter) 2025 with a playlist and a heavy sigh. There have been a lot of changes this year, some for the good and some for the not so good. We picked the title “Heavy Air” because this instrumental song by Pure X captures the what we are feeling. Happy listening. This playlist is here on Spotify.


Dream Sitch, Michael Nau, Floating Action - “Now On”
Radiotrónica - “Nodos”
Cloth - “Felt”
Jack Name - “The Devil Comes Inside”
Lætitia Sadier - “Find Me the Pulse of the Universe”
Pure X - “Heavy Air”

Laura Gibson - “Skin Warming Skin”
Leifur James - “Magic Seeds”
David O’Dowda - “Breathe Like Animals”
Terra Twin - “Eastern Boy”
Baby Alpaca - “Sea of Dreams (Turbotito Remix)”
Youth Lagoon - “Prizefighter”

Fable - “Orbiting”
Sam Evian - “Life Go Low”
Charlie Megira - “The Girl Who Was Frightened of Ashtrays”
Swing Slow - “Western Bolero”
O Terno, Shintaro Sakamoto, Devendra Banhart - “Volta e Meia”
Gregory Alan Isakov - “Big Black Car”

Cos - “Oostend, Oostend”
Ronald Langestraat - “You need to cry”
CV Vision - “Tropical (Tune In)”
Lesiman - “Messaggio”
Japan - “The Experience of Swiming”
The Budos Band - “T.I.B.W.F.”

Theodor - “Glades and Avenues” 

Langkamer - “So Long Little Rock”
Fhin - “A Song with My Dog”
Andrew Bird - “Hole in the Ocean Floor”
Felt - “Primitive Painters”
Baby Cool - “The Sea”

Lichen - “The End is Near”
Heather Woods Broderick - “From the Ground”
Douglas Dare - “Swim”
Sam Amidon - “Sugar Baby”
Peel Dream Magazine - “Central Park West”
Erland Cooper - “First of the Tide”

Travelmarx Fall 2024 Playlist - Goodbye House

36 album covers for Travelmarx Fall 2024 Playlist – Goodbye House

As usual, our playlists are a summary of music that we’ve heard and liked in the past few months. We are a bit surprised in this list how many are new releases of 2024. Okay, the starting song “Show Biz Kids” is not new, but we included it because the second song (before lots of edits to the playlist) was Frank Ocean’s “Super Rich Kids” and “Show Biz Kids” came immediately to mind. We changed the second song out for X-Press2 “Lazy” for better flow.

Special call out to Aaron Embry’s “Raven’s Song”. It’s beautiful. And, Jessica Pratt’s latest album is one in constant rotation at Travelmarx headquarters.

As to the title of the playlist: these were songs we were listening to as we got ready to sell our house. You can hear this playlist here on Spotify.


Rickie Lee Jones - “Show Biz Kids” (2000)
X-Press 2 – “Lazy (feat. David Byrne)”
Thundercat - “Funny Thing” (2020)
Orville Peck / Beck - “Death Valley High” (2024)
Emilíana Torrini - “Let’s Keep Dancing” (2024)
Mirama - “Did You Mean It” (2024)

Jay-Jay Johanson - “Lujon” (2024)
Jessica Pratt - “Better Hate” (2024)
Hermanos Gutiérrez - “Cumbia Lunar” (2024)
King Hannah - “Big Swimmer” (2024)
Meltt - “S.O.S.” (2019)
Tindersticks - “New World – Edit"

Claudio Constantini - "Étude 4 (Estudios Efímeros)" (2024)
Andrew Bird - “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” (2024)
Chartreuse - “Morning Ritual” (2023)
Donna Blue - “In Blue” (2024)
Loma - “Affinity” (2024)
Ka Rica-Tar - “"Kingdom of D'mt" (2015)

Aaron Embry - “Raven’s Song” (2012)
Sainkho Namtchylak - "Let the Sunshine" (2000)
Febueder - “Dire Science” (2023)
Black Pumas - “Colors” (2019)
Sonic Boom, Panda Bear, Mariachi 2000 de Cutberto Pérez - "Peligro" (2024)
Helado Negro - “Out There” (2024)

Teignmouth - “Questo Mostrarsi” (1991)
Rosinha de Valençia - “Summertime” (2000)
John Grant - "All That School For Nothing" (2024)
Mondo Cozmo - “Shine” (2017)
Magdalena Bay - “Death & Romance” (2024)
Allah-Las - “Keeping Dry” (2019)

Bonny Light Horseman - “I Know You Know” (2024)
Fink - “Looking Too Closely” (2024)
Floating Action - “Feel My Love” (2023)
Cat Clyde - “Everywhere I Go” (2023)
Ofege - “It’s Not Easy” (1973)

Erlend Øye, La Comitiva - “You and Only You” (2024)

Travelmarx Summer 2024 Playlist - Out of Time

36 album covers for Travelmarx Summer 2024 Playlist – Out of Time

“Out of Time” is a Blur song I didn’t pay attention to when it came out in 2003. But some 20 odd years later, I can’t get enough of it. It’s the second song in this playlist of 36 songs. I especially like the version included in this playlist with the Orchestra of Syrian Musicians. The song’s lyrics feel appropriate these days. The song starts off “Where's the love song to set us free, too many people down, everything turning the wrong way round...”. The appropriateness of the lyrics to me may also be because I'm reading Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein. " In the Mirror World, there is a copycat story and answer for everything...."

You can listen this playlist on Spotify.

How did we come up with this playlist? These are songs we heard by chance or were introduced to by friends in the last few months since our last playlist Travelmarx Spring 2024 Playlist – Anti-Rage Time.


Washed Out – "Don't Wanna"
Damon Albarn, The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians – "Out of Time"
Mr Day – "Queen of the Minstrels"
Still Corners – "A Kiss Before Dying"
Bulgarian Cartrader – “LAB”
Kid Loco – “Three feet high reefer”

Jacob Slade – “In-Between”
Frazey Obadiah Ford – “U kin B the Sun”
Jesse Woods – “UFO"
Beck – "Stratosphere"
Ezéchiel Pailhès – “Unless”
JitJam – “Opendoors"

Ironsides – “Changing Light”
Wax Machne – “Glimmers"
“Skinny Pelembe – “Who By Fire”
Jerome Harvey – “Enter the Night Veil”
Ora Cogan – “Holy Hells”
Bajaka – “The Landing”

Anna Ash – “Righteously"
Tim Hill – “Bitter Drip”
Real Estate – “Green Aisles”
Hollow Covers – “Coastline”
Rogér Fahkr – “East of Nowwhere”
Johnny Hollow – “Bloodsuckers”

Perera Elsewhere – “Drunk Man”
Anna Leone – “Remember"
Beth Gibbons – “Floating on a Moment”
Black Belt Eagle Scout – “On the River”
Chris Staples – “Hold Onto Something”
Calvin Love – “Night Songs” (Love this album!)

Ryan Gebhardt – “yelling at my piano”
Tommy Guerrero – “The Pilots Vessel”
Romare – “Walking in the Rain”
Saschienne – “November”
You Man – “Who We Are”
CoveVZ, Valentina Magaletti, Zongamin – “Suono Assente”

Travelmarx Spring 2024 Playlist – Anti-Rage Time

36 album covers for Travelmarx Spring 2024 Playlist - Anti-Rage Time

Our Spring Spotify playlist (link) is dedicated to “anti-rage”. We’ve seen too many stories in the news dealing with rage (justified or not) and wondered if there was an opposite term. There doesn’t seem to be and when I asked my friendly AI chat bot it said: ““anti-rage” is not commonly used or recognized in the English language. The concept of ‘anti-rage’ could potentially refer to a state of calmness, tranquility, or peace, which would be the opposite of rage.” We like that.

The playlist has 36 tracks released between 1966 to 2023. Out of shear laziness, we arrange the tracks in chronological order.

1966 Astrud Gilberto – “Berimbau”
1976 Lou Reed – “Charley's Girl”
2004 Jake Fior – “For Lovers”

2007 Lonely Drifter Karen – “The Owl Moans Low”

2008 Neko Case – “At Last”

2008 Sophie Hunger – “Shape”

2009 Matias Aguayo – “Rollerskate”

2009 Neko Case – “Magpie to the Morning”

2011 John Stammers – “Idle I’m”

2012 John Maus – “The Law (2003)”

2012 Lawrence of Arabia – “The Listening Times”

2012 Soko – “I Just Want to Make It New with You”

2013 The Magnetic North – “Betty Corrigall”

2014 Liz Green – “River Runs Deep”

2015 Hindi Zahra – “Can We Dance?”

2015 Papooz – “Ulysses and the Sea”

2015 Vashti Bunyan – “Train Song”

2016 case/lang/veirs – “Greens of June”

2016 Papooz – “Ann Wants to Dance”

2016 Ultimate Painting – “Lead the Way”

2016 Waldeck – “Una volta”

2016 Weval – “You Made It (Part 1)”

2017 Gabriel Garzón-Montano – Fruitflies

2021 Aaron Frazer – If I Got It (Your Love Brought It)

2021 trentemøller, Tricky – “No One Quite Like You”

2022 Alela Diane – “Paloma"
2022 Danielle Ponder – “So Long”

2022 Kendra Morris – “Dry"
2022 Maxwell Farrington – “I Had It All”

2022 Nev Cottee – “The Ring”

2022 Panamá 77 – “Patria"
2023 Barry Can’t Swim – “Deadbeat Gospel”

2023 Jon Kennedy – “Monsters”

2023 Loverman – “Differences Aside”

2023 The Clientele – “Blue Over Blue”

2023 The Leisure Society, Brian Eno – “Brave Are the Waves”

Travelmarx Music Picks - Winter 2024 - Harbor Mind

Composite image of 25 albums featured in the Travelmarx Winter 2024 playlist.

Our first post of the new year and it’s a playlist (Spotify link). Some thoughts about this playlist:

• Melody Nelson appears in two songs, the 13th Ward Social Club’s “Melody Nelson”, and Mick Harvey’s “Melody Nelson”. The name refers to the concept album “Histoire de Melody Nelson”, by French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. Released in 1971, the album’s story follows the romance between the middle-aged narrator and a 15-year-old girl named Melody Nelson.
• The track "Social Roll” is from the second album “Social Limbo” from the Italian group Opez. (Really loving their music and they are Italian!) The album is a collection of eleven dreamy and haunting acoustic instruments. We like the idea of “Social Roll” as when you dive into the world of social media, you get rolled (taken advantage of). That’s our interpretation, not Opez’s.
• The harbor mind.
• This term describes a mindset or way of thinking that is influenced by the rhythms and transience of coastal life. This concept is often associated with the early Greeks, who lived near the sea.
• While this theme doesn’t appear directly in the playlist, it influenced us when selecting the tracks. Specifically, we had just finished the book “How to Be: Life Lessons from the Early Greeks” by Adam Nicolson where one of the central ideas is the harbor mind.
• In October, we had a chance to visit of the cities (Miletus, Priene, Ephesus) that are discussed in Nicolson’s book. (See 18 Days in Turkey, Postcards from Istanbul, Let’s Do the Pamukkale).
• What an emotional ode to Kate Bush by Pone. We include the track "Breathing - ICU". Read more.

13th Ward Social Club - "Melody Nelson"
Assaf Spector - Gitkin - "The Last Chuck"
Aze - "Sudoku"
BALTHVS - "All is One"
Benjamin Clementine – "Difference"

Beth Gibbons Rustin Man - "Romance"
Emiliana Torrini The Colorist Orchestra - "Racing the Storm"
Fabio Viscogliosi - "Camera"
Harry Paradise - "Slow Walk Mango Promenade"
Howe Gelb - "Running Behind"

Jay-Jay Johanson - "Cheetah"
Jeb Loy Nichols - "Big Trouble Comes in Through a Small Door"
Kid Local - "A Grand Love Theme"
Mick Harvey - "The Ballad of Melody Nelson"
Mieke Miami - "Cry Baby Cry"

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - "Breathless"
Nicolas Godin - "Team Vulcan"
Opez - "Social Roll"
Pone - "Breathing - ICU"
Quantic Alice Russell - "Travelling Song"

Spain - "Before It All Went Wrong"
The Good The Bad and The Queen - "History Song"
The Handsome Family - "Far from Any Road"
The Movers - "Give Five or More"
The Walkmen - "Red Moon"

Travelmarx Music Picks - Fall 2023 - Grab Bag

Composite image of 25 albums featured in the Travelmarx Fall 2023 playlist.

It’s a grab bag for the Travelmarx Fall 2023 playlist. The oldest song in the playlist goes back to 1967 with Brigitte Bardot’s “Contact”. The newest song is Huw Marc Bennett’s “Y Gwydd” released in the summer of 2023. Enjoy! Spotify playlist.


Baxter Dury – “Celebrate Me”
Young Fathers – “Rice”
Holy Hive – “Ain't that the Way”
King Hannah – “All Being Fine”
Sure Sure – “Lonely One”


Motor City Drum Ensemble – “Again (Scratch 22 Remix) - Mixed”
Wildcookie, Anthony Mills, Freddie Cruger – “Serious Drug”
Huw Marc Bennett – “Y Gwydd”
Meltt – “Blossoms”
A Decade Deeper (Mexican Summer) – Tonstartssbandht – “Livin’ in Hope”

Michael Nau – “No Quit”
Anchorsong – Salamanda – “Windmills (Salamanda Remix)”
Sudan Archives – “Selfish Soul"
Brigitte Bardot – "Contact”

Juniore – “Les héros de Barbès”


Jonathan Wilson – “Charlie Parker”
Kishi Bashi – “Winter's Eve”
The Mango Furs – “Got Me Floating”
Angelo De Augustine – “The Ballad of Betty and Barney Hill”
Nick Waterhouse – “Looking for a Place”


The Saxophones – “Boy Crazy”
Jaguar Jaguar – “So Long”
Peggy Gou – “(It Goes Like) Nanana”
Michael Kiwanuka – “One More Night”
The Last Shadow Puppets – “My Mistakes Were Made for You”

Travelmarx Music Picks - Summer 2023

Composite image of 25 albums featured in the Travelmarx Summer 2023 playlist.

There's no theme for this playlist other than some fun songs we discovered recently. A few of the songs come from a week we spent in Lyon, France. 

Some artists we’ve been digging these days and that are represented in the playlist: Oracle Sisters (various countries), Cari Cari (Austria), Warhaus (Belgium), Alex Serra (Spain), Black Sea Dahu (Switzerland), Johnathan Jeremiah (Britain), Gizmo Varillas (Spain, Britain), and Desmond Cheese (Australia). Is it interesting that many of our “discovered” songs (a la Spotify) are not US-based? Here are 40 songs for the summer. Enjoy!  (Spotify link.)

The List 

Oracle Sisters – Tramp Like You [We are suckers for whistling. "I wanna be a tramp like you

I wanna have all my tales broken"]

Cari Cari – Welcome to Kookoo Island [Seems like an old-timey song but it isn’t! Aren’t we all living on KooKoo Island?]

Nerdstar, Chet Baker – There Will Never Be Another You [Gin tonic anyone?]

Warhaus – Desire [Smooth]

Dean Blunt, TYSON – Rinsed [Erie and likeable song.] 

 Erasmo Carlos – Gente Aberta [Carlos passed away in November 2022. Love this whole album.] 

 Alex Serra – Outter Space [Lyric: “You bring the beauty and light to this World we live in”]

 Ella Grace – I Wonder 

 Elle Valenci, Lecomte De Brégeot – Perfect Blue 

 Rinôçérôse – While My Guitar Gently Funks [This French group is a guilty pleasure for us.]

Jonathan Jeremiah – Horsepower for the Streets

Bill Withers – Better off Dead [Going back a few years, but Bill Withers always sounds good.] 

Joan Armatrading – Down to Zero [It’s important to have your feet on the ground...]

Gizmo Varillas – Give a Little Love [Infectious]

Black Sea Dahu – Big Mouth

Paolo Conte – En Blue Marine

Nick Mulvey – Fever to the Form

Angus & Julia Stone – Paper Aeroplane

Moderator – Harlem River [Interesting remix of Kevin Morby song.]

Rhye – The Fall

Jockstrap – Concrete Over Water

Drug Store Romeos – Wondrous Place

Locust – No-One in the World [Haunting Karen Carpenter voice sample.]

Richard Ashcroft – Music is the Power [That's why we make these playlists.]

Jonnine – Tea for Two (Boo)

Ours Samplus – Blue Bird

Guts, Patrice, The Studio School Voices NYC – Want it Back

Wax Tailor – Que Sera

Desmond Cheese – Dope Vhs

Master Jungle – Casio

Grace Cummings – Heaven
Jeff Tweedy – Warm (When the Sun Has Gone)
Palace – Bitter (Acoustic)
Josh Pyke – The Summer
David Bowie – Sound and Vision [Love this version.]

Bibio – lovers' carvings
Voice Actor, Joseph – Carefully
Bon Entendeur, André Popp – Love is Blue
Zackfourteen – Eslovenia
Inna De Yard, Ken Boothe – Let the Water Run Dry (featuring Ken Boothe)

Travelmarx Music Picks - Spring 2023 – Los(t) Days and Desert Echoes

Composite image of 25 albums featured in the Travelmarx Spring 2023 playlist. Theme: desert and lost days.

We’ve been staying close to home, savoring our new place and all the effort that went to move into it. (See An International Move Story - Advice and Tips for Moving Your Household Goods from the US to Italy.) There are days where we don’t step out the front door and time stands still: lost days. Lost days but not in a bad way.

A friend recently purchased a second house in (and has practically moved to) Palm Springs. She is like many we know from Seattle. Are we destined to become the snowbirds we turned our noses up at when younger? Growing up on the East Coast, the snowbird destination of choice was Florida. The affluent north goes goes south; the less affluent south goes north. Koyaanisqatsi? (One of our favorite soundtracks.)

Listening to our Palm Springs friend and her adventures takes our minds to the desert. However, we think of a different desert. The Palm Springs area is nice but further south is where it gets interesting, down into Imperial Valley. The Salton Sea's wasted beaches, the dry dusty agricultural areas south of the sea, the sand dunes, the slabs, and Salvation Mountain are where we have spent a lot of time. And not to forget the special quesadilla! This play list is for our time and memories there.

In this playlist expect slow reverb guitar, pedal and twangy guitar, and a touch of cumbria with the likes of Los Days, Marisa Anderson, Opez, Hermanos Gutiérrez, Tommy Guerrero, Adrian Quesada, North Americans, Jake Xerxes Fussell, KATZROAR, Nicola Cruz, RICEWINE. There are two Italian artists in this playlist: Opez and Roberto Musci. (Spotify link.)


Hermanos Gutiérrez – “Hijos del Sole”
Los Days, Tommy Guerrero – “Travelling Light”
Marissa Anderson – “Into the Light”
Opez – “Balera De Mar”
Adrian Quesada – “Noble Metals”

North Americans – “Classic Water”
Jake Xerxes Fussell – “Frolic”
Skúli Sverrisson – “Instants”
Misha Panfilov Sound Combo – “Together”
KATZROAR – “Pomegranate Seeds”

Nicola Cruz – “La Mirada”
RICEWINE – “Photo”
Curls – “Golden Gate”
Jeffrey Silverstein – “Trip Sitter”
Gitkin – “El Millonario”

Gene Sikora – “A Song for Mary”
Tommy Guerrero – “Zapata's Boots”
Monster Rally – “Niñas De La Selva”
Roberto Musci – “Water Music” - Love me some Roberto Musci!
Skinshape - “Behind the Sun”

Tommy Guerrero - “By the Sea at the End of the World”
Will Van Horn - “Lost My Mind”
Jerkcurb - “Midnight Snack”
Orions Belte - “Bean”
Desmond Cheese - “Morning Glory”

Travelmarx Music Picks - Winter 2023 - Awe

Composite of 25 albums covers in the Travelmarx Winter 2023 playlist.

Our first post of 2023 and let’s start off with some new music and a little awe[1]. There is so much interesting music to discover. We are always amazed how new music can transport us out of ourselves and give us a little awe.  

Every weekend we set aside a few hours to go through all the songs we texted ourselves or Shazamed throughout the week. Our ears are always tuned in. Here are on some of our picks that stood out for us in the last few months in one Spotify playlist. About half the tracks are recent, released after 2020.

[1] We recently saw this article How a Bit of Awe Can Improve Your Health in the NYT and we completely agree with the idea of cultivating and celebrating awe. Good music helps. From the article: “Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world...".

Rayland Baxter – “If I Were a Butterfly” (2022)
John Cale – “Story of Blood” (2022) - really loving this new Cale release!
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Burning” (2022)
Juan Wauters – “Todo Terminó” (2015)
Caetano Veloso – “You Don’t Know Me” (1972)

J.J. Cale – “After Midnight” (1972)
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Nathaniel Rateliff – “S.O.B.” (2021)
Leonard Cohen – “Is This What You Wanted” (1974)
Andrew Bird – “Atomized” (2022)
Tess Parks – “Happy Birthday Forever” (2022)

Sam Evian – “Freezee Pops” (2021)
Jon Kennedy – “Enchantica” (2017)
Zola Jesus – “Lost” (2022)
Lucrecia Dalt – “Atemporal” (2022)
Panda Bear, Sonic Boom – “Go On” (2022)

Allah-Las – “No Voodoo” (2012)
Yeahman, Hajna, Mina Shankha – “Miniyamba” (2018)
Bodies of Water – “Open Rhythms” (2011)
Clinic – “Ferryboad of the Mind” (2019)
Broadcast – “Accidentals” (2006)

Sparklehorse – “It’s a Wonderful Life” (2001)
Jerkcurb – “Night on Earth” (2019)
Los Days – “Traveling Light” (2020)
Nicola Cruz – La Mirada (2015) 

Peter Zummo – “Highway Brain Planet (Credits)” (2021)

Travelmarx Music Picks - Fall 2022 - Home

Composite of 25 albums covers in the Travelmarx Fall 2022 playlist on the subject of home.

In honor of our upcoming move into a new home, we present a themed Spotify playlist about home. Is home a state of mind, a physical place, a community of family and friends, or a word that’s too amorphous to pin down? After a recent 18-day stint of cleaning out of our storage unit, packing, and giving stuff away – we thought about what home is and isn’t. For us, it’s more friends, family, and community and less physical things. 

We are ready to put this playlist on and relax in our new home.

Side note: It was fun digging through our virtual music collection and searching for titles with “home”. Our way of managing our music is discussed in the post Scrapbook Platform – A Personal Information System – Ten User Scenarios.

The Cinematic Orchestra - "To Build a Home" (from the album “Ma Fleur”)

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - "Home" (from the album “Up From Below”)
Radical Face - "Welcome Home, Son" (from the album “Ghost”)
Aurora - "Home" (from the album "All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend")
Edith Whiskers - “Home” (from the album “Stop Stealing the Covers!”)
Julia Holter – “Sea Calls Me Home” (from the album “Have You in My Wilderness”)

Leon Bridged - “Coming Home” (from the album “Coming Home”)
Vacations - “Home” (from the album “Vibes”)
C Duncan - “Holiday Home” (from the album “Health”)
Emiliana Torrini - “Home” (from the album “Tookah”)
k.d. Lang - “Coming Home” (from the album “Watershed”)

Jun Miyake - “Home” (from the album “Memories du Sapa”)
Zero 7 – “Home” (from the album “When It Falls”)
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - "Our House" (from the album “Déjà vu”)
Madness - "Our House" (from the album “The Rise & Fall”)
Blessid Union of Souls – “Home” (from the album “Home”)

Jonathan Wilson – “New Home” (from the album “Dixie Blur”)
Supertramp – “Long Way Home” (from the album “Breakfast in America”)
The Sharp Things – “It Took Forever to Get Home Tonight” (from the album Here Comes the Sharp Things”)
Dead Can Dance – “Tell Me About the Forest (You Once Called Home)” (from the album “Into the Labyrinth”)
Mojave 3 – “Baby’s Coming Home” (from the album “Out of Tune”)

Carole King – “Home Again” (from the album “Tapestry”)
The Walkabouts – “Feel Like Going Home” (from the album “Satisfied Mind”)
Vagabon – “Home Soon” (from the album “Vagabon”)
Vanishing Twin – “KRK (At Home In Strange Places)” (from the album “The Age of Immunology”)
Simon and Garfunkel – “Homeward Bound” (from the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme”)

The playlist link is https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Q1JBAXZCQXwOtjXQ3hq7U. You can use the ID "2Q1JBAXZCQXwOtjXQ3hq7U" in our Visualizing a Spotify Playlist - Simple Python Flask Web App Container Running Locally or in Azure post to see each album covers.

Travelmarx Music Picks - Summer 2022 - Unpeopled Spaces

Composite of 25 albums covers in the Travelmarx Summer 2022 playlist.

It’s late June and Italians have flown the coop for their first vacation of the summer. Vacation one (that’s our name for it) is right after school ends and the prices are still low for flights and lodging – as was explained to us. The main vacation for Italy is the revered August vacation. We tend to avoid vacationing in August. We associate August vacations with crowds of people in places we’d rather not be. Hence this playlist’s name: Unpeopled Space or at least the desire for them.

The playlist name comes from a track by Daniel Rossen from his release You Belong There. The track is “Unpeopled Space”. We added the S.

The Spotify playlist is here.

Daniel Rossen – “Shadow in the Frame”
Cate Le Bon – “Dirt on the Bed”
SKYGGE, Benoît Carré – “Ocean noir”
Animal Collective – “We Go Back”
David Byrne, Yo La Tengo – “Who Has Seen the Wind?”

Alabaster Deplume – “Don’t Forget You’re Precious”
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Emile Mosserie – “Log in Your Fire”
Joyful, Joyful – “Marrow”
Bitchin Bajas – “Outer Spaceways Incorporated”
Vanishing Twin – “You Are Not an Island” – We are really enjoying Vanishing Twin these days at Travelmarx central.

Aldous Harding – “Zoo Eyes”
Carolina Eyck, Eversines – “Waves”
Buzzy Lee – “Strange Town”
Mega Bog – “Station to Station”
DARKSIDE – “I’m the Echo” – Another artist on heavy rotation for us, DARKSIDE.

Jackie Lynn – “Dream St.”
Efterklang – “Living Other Lives”
Laetitia Sadier – “New Moon”
Kelpe – “Whirlwound”
Lala Lal, WHY? – “Siren 042”

Camel Power Club – “Laika”
Stubbleman – “Badlands Train”
Jon Kennedy – “Lovesick”
Van Hai, Ripperton – “Dernier Amour – Ripperton’s No Love Lost Reshape”
Sarathy Korwar, Zia Ahmed, Mirande, Swadesi – “Birthright”

Travelmarx Music Picks - Spring 2022 - Slow the World Down

Composite of 25 albums covers that in the Travelmarx Spring 2022 playlist.

This list started when we heard the track "Say Word" by Mo Kolours. From that song, we started a playlist named "Slow the World Down". We were feeling like the world was moving too fast. Pandemic. War. We needed a pause to catch our breath, even if just for a moment musically. What's this playlist like?  Downtempo with contributions from French, German, and Latin American and Latin American-influenced artists.

Here's the playlist on Spotify.

Tracks 1 – 5

Mo Kolours – "Say Word" (2014). This track is from the self-titled debut release.

Clutchy Hopkins – "Sound of the Ghost" (2008) from the release "Walking Sdrawkcab".

fLako – "Gelis" (2013) from the "Natureboy" release.

Dimlite – "Can't Get Used to Those (Afterlude)" (2010). This is from the album "Prismic Tops". Dimlite (now defunct) is Dimitri Grimm. Love the swirly, boozy feel of this track.

fLako – "Mating Dance" (2012) from the "Eclosure" release. From Wikipedia " Clutchy Hopkins is purportedly a multi-instrumentalist musician based out of California. His existence has not yet been fully verified, though he is widely believed to be a pseudonym for one of several popular DJs. The true identity of the person (or people) behind the music is not publicly known."

Tracks 6 – 10

Souleance – "J'aime Marcher" (2017). Souleance is a collaboration between DJ Soulist & Fulgeance.

Féloche – "Silbo" (2013) - French singer Féloche dedicated this song to this traditional singing called Silbo from the island of La Gomera, one of Spain's Canary Islands. The song opens with they lyrics: "There's a place where people speak like birds; on the island of La Gomera, we hear the echo of el Silbo." More of on the background on this traditional singing and this song is here.

Hermanos Gutiérrez – "Cuando Llora El Cielo" (2018) from the release "El Camino de Mi Alma". Hermanos Gutiérrez is a two-piece band formed of the brothers Alejandro and Estevan Gutiérrez.

Jean du Voyage – "Remembering" (2016). A debut from a Fench musician that spins dreamy landscapes.

Joaquín Cornejo, Alex Serra – "Las Frutas" (2021) from the EP of the same name. Cornejo is a DJ, producer and composer born in Quito, Ecuador, now based in Manchester, UK.

Tracks 11 – 15

Moderator – "Rose" (2020) is a track by a Greek producer of cinematic beats.

FEATHERED SUN: Christopher Schwarzwälder, Nu, Raz Ohara – "Ocean Tree" (2016) from the single "Bulbo". Feathered Sun are the collaborative project of Nu, Jo.Ke, Raz Ohara, Chris Schwarzwälder, Iannis Ritter, Johannes Laumer and Acid Pauli.

Leifur James – "Salaninam" (2018) from the release "A Louder Silence". James is always in rotation at Travelmarx HQ.

Romare – "Hey Now (When I Give You All My Lovin')" (2013) from the release"Love Songs: Part One". Cut and paste at its best.

Ocelote Rojo – "Untitled 1" (2012) from the compilation Digging the Blogosphere featuring a selection of underground electronica, hip hop, jazz and future beats.

Tracks 16 – 20

Mo' Horizons – "Dance Naked Under Palmtrees" (2001) from the release "Remember Tomorrow". Mo' Horizons is a duo of DJs from Hannover, Germany: DJs Ralf Droesemeyer & Mark Foh Wetzler.

Deadbeat – "Ain't No More Flowers" (2015) from the release "Walls and Dimensions". Deadbeat is Scott Monteith, based in Montreal, who has been releasing dub laden minimal electronics since 1998.

Hugo Kant remixed by Zé Mateo – "This Old Relaxation – Remixed" (2012) from the release "Another Point of Mix I". Hugo Kant is Quentin Le Roux Trip-hop/Downtempo musician and producer from Marseille, France.

FEATHERED SUN - "How Strange" (2017) is from the EP of the same name. FEATHERED SUN are the collaborative experiment of Nu, Jo.Ke, Raz Ohara, Chris Schwarzwälder, Iannis Ritter, Johannes Laumer and Acid Pauli.

Noir Désir – "Le vent nous portera" (2001) from the release "Des Visages Des Figures". Noir Désir ("Black Desire") was a French rock band from Bordeaux. They were active during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, and have had two albums certified double platinum in France and three certified gold. T

Tracks 21 – 25

Mop Mop – "Adhara" (2016) from the release "Lunar Love". Andrea Benini (born March 14, 1977), better known by his stage name Mop Mop, is an Italian musician and producer. He performs with his band, the Mop Mop Combo, as well as a DJ worldwide.

Acid Pauli – "Euology to Eunice" (2012) from the release "Mst". Console (also known as Acid Pauli) is an electronic music project founded by Martin Gretschmann, the former lead programmer for the German band The Notwist.

Bertrand Belin – "Douves" (2015) from "Cap Waller" release. Bertrand Belin is a French singer, composer, lyricist and session guitarist.

El Búho – "Chucum" (2017) from the "Balance". Robin Perkins aka El Búho was born in the rolling hills of northern England but found his musical home in the forests, rivers & mountains of Latin America.

Martin Léon – "Va savoir pourquoi" (2010) from the release "Les Atomes". Martin Léon is a French-Canadian singer, music composer, arranger and producer.

Travelmarx Music Picks - Winter 2022 - No More Blue Mondays

Composite of 25 albums covers used in the Winter 2022 playlist.

Here are 25 tracks to liven up your winter day. The playlist is on Spotify at Travelmarx Winter 2022. Toward the end of the playlist, the tracks tend toward psychedelic and downtempo. The 25 songs in this playlist are listed below.

In Italian, we would say that all these tracks are orecchiabile (catchy). The word has as its root orecchio (ear) with the addition of the suffix abile (reinforces that what goes before). If we translated it literally, we would say "earable music". For these earable tracks, we reach back to 1972 for the oldest track "Tudo Que Voce Podia Sera", by the Brazilian group Quarteto em Cy.

In the Northern Hemisphere, December 21 is often regarded as the first day of winter with the solstice falling on the 21st or 22nd. Winter solstice is the day with the fewest hours of sunlight in the year. The lack of sunlight can have a strong impact on well-being, which is why were were surprised to learn that the term Blue Monday, a Monday in January, is said to be the most depressing day of the year.  By then, we are past the shortest day. The idea was born in 2005 as what looks like a marketing term to sell vacations and but is now largely considered pseudoscience. We learned about the term Blue Monday recently visiting the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci (aka the Science Museum in Milan). In the museum, a small exhibition called Sociocromie – 100 years and 25 colors, designed the architect Giulio Ceppi, associates 25 colors with significant events and movements in Italian society. The color (R: 125, G: 159, B: 196) for the year 2004 was for the term Blue Monday. With all that said, you won't find New Order's "Blue Monday" in this playlist!

Left: Blue Monday from the Sociocoromie - 100 years in 25 colors exhibit. Center: Sociocromie logo. Right: The colors covered in the Sociocromie exhibit.

Tracks 1 – 5

Cayucas – "Bigfoot" (2013). Track "High School Lover".

Jon Batiste – "WE ARE" (2021), track "Freedom". Love the video to this song.

Sleigh Bells – "Treats" (2010). Track "Rill Rill".

Cults – "Cults" (2011). Track "Go Outside".

Caroline Rose – "LONER" (2018). Track "Jeannie Becomes a Mom". Love the cover showing Rose (?) with a mouthful of cigarettes.

Tracks 6 – 10

Ezéchiel Pailhès – "Tout Va Bien" (2017). Track "Éternel été". Damn catchy tune.

The Blaze – "Dancehall" (2018). Track "Places". Another French group.

Alabama 3 – "Exile on Coldharbour Lane" (1997). Track "Ain't Goin' to Goa".

Lana Del Ray – "Norman Fucking Rockwell!" (2019). Track "Doin' Time". Originally a Sublime song that sampled George Gershwin's "Summertime".

Jadu Heart – "Melt Away" (2017). Track "I'm a Kid". A band from Huddersfield & London whose music is a mix of psych rock, electronic and indie music.

Tracks 11 - 15

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down – "A Man Alive" (2016). Track "Meticulous Bird".

Malik Djoudi – "UN" (2017). Track "Allant vers, à l'envers".

Brazilian Girls – "Brazilian Girls" (2005). Track "Lazy Lover". Brazilian Girls is a band from New 

York, United States, known for their eclectic blend of different musical styles.

Shannon Shaw – "Shannon in Nashville" (2018). Track "Broke My Own". Shaw is part of the indie band Shannon and the Clams.

William Onyeabor – "Who is William Onyeabor" (2013). Track "Body and Soul". Onyeabor (1946 – 2007) was a Nigerian funk musician and businessman.

Tracks 16 – 20

Buddy Sativa – "Deus Ex Machina" (2011). Track "Una Peripecia".

Mountain Man – "Magic Ship" (2018). Track "Rang Tang Ring Toon". Three woman and two llamas on the cover, what's not to like about that from this American trio?

Gruff Rhys – "Seeking New Gods" (2021). Track "Loan Your Loniless". This year a lot of music from France and Wales has been circulating in our house, including this by the Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker, and author.

Jane Weaver – "Flock" (2021). Track "The Revolution of Super Visions". Weaver is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

Pond – "Tasmania" (2019). Track "Burnt Out Star". We like our psychedelic rock and we like Pond, a psychedelic rock band from Perth, Western Australia, formed in 2008. The track "Burnt Out Star" changes in the middle to a good groove built around the date 1917. Meaning?

Tracks 21 – 25

Warhaus – "We Fucked a Flame Into Being" (2016). Track "Time and Again". Warhaus is Maarten Devoldere, is a Belgian singer-songwriter and music producer.

The Colorist Orchestra, Emiliana Torrini – "The Colorist & Emiliana Torrini" (2016). Track "Catepillar". The Colorist Orchestra is a pop/chamber music collective that rearranges the repertoire of an invited singer-songwriter, in this case Emiliana Torrini.

Quarteto Em Cy – "Quarteto Em Cy" (1972). Track "Tudo Que Voce Podia Sera". The group's name Quarteto em Cy is a play on words of the Portuguese for Quartet in B by poet and lyricist Vinicius de Moraes. Quarteto em Cy is a Brazilian girl group originally composed of four sisters from Ibirataia, a in the Brazilian state of Bahia: Cybele, Cylene, Cynara and Cyva.

Leifur James – "A Louder Silence" (2018). Track "Mumma Don't Tell". James is a London-based experimental producer, composer and vocalist known for his esoteric avant-garde style.

Kraak & Smaak – "Juicy Fruit" (2016). Track "Hands of Time". We end the playlist with a track from the musical production trio from the town of Leiden, Netherlands.

Travelmarx Music Picks - Ambient Christmas 2021

A composite of 25 album covers used to create this playlist.

Welcome to the Travelmarx 2021 ambient Christmas mix. We generally tire of Christmas and Christmas songs by Thanksgiving because the reductionist thinking of marketing - if a little is good, more is better - is such that the Christmas cycle kicks off sometime in late August.

Anyway, we thought as an antidote, we would present a different Christmas soundtrack of interesting ambient tracks we've enjoyed this past year. The 25 tracks in this playlist are decidedly not Christmas music. You won't find any artists with the names Bublé, Carey, Sinatra, Crosby, Wham!, Lennon/Ono, or the Chipmunks. This playlist can be found on Spotify.

Tracks 1 - 5

Febueder – "Hans" (2018) single. In their own words, "Febueder are an avant-indie duo from Ascot, England."

Chassol – "Big Sun" (2015). A strange and beautiful release from the French pianist, composer, and arranger Christophe Chassol. We include "Birds, Pt. 1" on our Christmas playlist. Always pleasant to hear birds especially in winter.

Son Lux – "Lanterns" (2013). "Lanterns" is the third studio albumfrom Son Lux and it features the track "Easy".

Susumu Yokota – "Sakura" (1999) and the track "Tobiume". You might recognize Yokota's work from his 2005 album "Symbol", an ambient album primarily composed of samples from classical orchestral pieces. The track "Traveller in the Wonderland" is used on RAI in Italy.

Martin Glass – "The Pacific Visions of Martin Glass" (2017). Track "Paradise Bubble" is on our playlist and sometimes you just need to create that for yourself.

Tracks 6 – 10

Leon Vynehall – "Nothing is Still" (2018) – From this British artist and producer, we love the track "Movements (Chapter III)".

Freescha – "Kids Fill the Floor (Remaster Extended Edition)" (2021) – From this California duo, we include the lead track "Every Shiney Night".

Mark Pritchard – "Under the Sun" (2016). On the track included here "Give It Your Choir", we love the lyric "Wrap it in ribbons, Carve it a tomb, Speak of it highly, speak of it often, Take it to hear, And whisper it softly."

Nils Frahm – "All Melody" (2018) is one of our favorite releases from the German musician, composer, and record producer. We include the track "A Place".

Clark – "Playground in a Lake" (2021), the track "Lambent Rag". Clark is Christopher Stephen Clark, a British electronic musician.

Tracks 11 – 15

Neutron 9000 – "Lady Burning Sky" (1994). We go with the slow build-up of the lead track "Lady Burning Sky". Neutron 9000 is the alias of Domenic Paul Woosey, a trance, techno, and ambient producer of the 80s and 90s.

Grice – "One Thousand Birds" (2019). Jim Peters, London-born musician, singer, and songwriter. Track "One Thousand Birds".

Bola – "Soup" (1998). Darrell Fitton is an abstract, downtempo and IDM producer from Manchester, England. From the "Soup" release, we include the track "Aguilla".

Anchorsong – "Ceremonial" (2015). Anchorsong is Masaaki Yoshida, based in Tokyo. We include the track "Butterflies". (What an interersting album cover.)

Roberto Musci – "Tower of Silence" (2016). This Milanese (Italy) artist plays with different instrumentation and scales influenced by his travels around the world. We love the haunting "Lullabies… Mother Sings… Father Plays…".

Tracks 16 – 20

Grimes – "Geidi Primes" (2010). We include the track "Caladan". The album's title refers to the fictional planet Giedi Prime, from the Dune novels by Frank Herbert.

Gigi Masin – "Calypso" (2020). An Italian composer, musician, and producer from Venice. We include the title track "Calypso".

Tomaga – "Intimate Immensity" (2021), track "Intimate Immensity". London based experimental duo.

Les Hommes – "The Sinner" (2017), track "Canticle" from this East Lond group.

Islet – "Eyelet" (2020), track "Geese". Islet are a pyschedelic pop band from Wales.


Tracks 21 – 25

Julianna Barwick – "Healing is a Miracle" (2020), track "Inspirit". Barwick is an American musician.

Cluster – "Sowiesoso" (1976), the track "In Ewigkeit". We are reaching back in time to this release from the German musical duo.

Duval Timothy – "2 Sim" (2018), the track "First Rain". Duval is a multi-disciplinary artist from South London. Duval currently works and lives between London, UK and Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Kelly Lee Owens – "Kelly Lee Owens" (2017), track "S.O". Owens is a Welsh electronic musician and producer. (Side note: In the past year, we discovered a number of Welsh artists.)

Panda Bear – "Buoys" (2019), track "Dolphin". Panda Bear is Noah Benjamin Lennox and co-founding member of the American experimental pop band Animal Collective.