Jazz

Sounds even better on headphones while walking through the park on a cold night.

Don't sweat the year of creation, the sound quality on this album can stand up against any music released these days. It's magnificent at the end of a hard day in a dimly lit room after a spliff or two.

Holy fuck dn, that album destroys, I was sold on the opening track.

40, I can never resist an opportunity to spam Zappa. You might like this album!

The theme of this year for me is mental health, specifically learning to accept myself, love the world and all that "gay" stuff. I found that Pharoah Sanders' spiritual jazz is perfect for this kind of introspection. He used to play with the legendary John Coltrane and later went on to record his own albums, taking the meditative aspect of Coltrane's music even further. He has many long repetitive songs which you can use as a background while working or just thinking about life.

Harvest Time is probably my favorite: it's extremely chill and pleasant all the way through. Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt is more random, which can be a good thing depending on your mood, and it ends with an incredibly uplifting and hypnotizing section. Izipho Zam is like an advanced version of Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt, clocking in at almost 30 minutes with lots of experimentation, which becomes much easier to enjoy if you play the song a few times. The Gathering is an emotional journey with a noisy section in the middle that's absolutely bananas and will probably make most people close the window, but I think this sort of cacophony exists for a reason and expresses feelings that you can't really express with "normal" music. Also, there is a very good comment under the video that can help you see it as something more than just a bunch of loud sounds.

I feel like by listening to this kind of "crazy" music you can discover something new about yourself since these chaotic parts really challenge you to look for deeper meaning in things. It's almost like developing a new sense or learning a new language: you gain a power to understand stuff that used to seem completely incomprehensible.

Underrated channel alert!