21 Tracks
for the 21st Century
A series of playlists organised in collaboration with Q-02. Each time, we invite one artist, thinker or musician to prepare a playlist of those sounds, songs and pieces of music that will best equip their listeners to approach what is left of this young century.
9 April 2024
Sandar Tun Tun
Sandar Tun Tun is an artist, DJ and composer based in Marseille and Geneva. Core to Sandar’s practice is a highly refined and unconventional use of the humble CD-DJs. Under Sandar’s hands, this ubiquitous instrument becomes less a means of playing back music and more a multifaceted tool for incorporating and manipulating sound and placing it into 3D space. Ahead of their much-anticipated appearance at this year’s edition of Oscillation Festival in Brussels, Sandar compiled this playlist for their 21st Century. Heavy base-lines and even heavier emotional arcs lend this playlist a thickly visceral air. Drone collapses into poetry and piano collapses into drum breaks. Please.
1. Dreamcrusher – Antifa Baker
‘NIHILIST QUEER REVOLT MUSIK’ – this is a good place to start. ‘Antifa Baker’, much like Dreamcrusher’s many other tracks, makes me squint and nod, like I’m absorbing a lesson.
2. 700 bliss – Living
The combination of Moor Mother’s poetry and vocal delivery with DJ Haram’s production and overall vibe has been a significant influence for me ever since their debut album. The way their music conveys a political message, extending beyond lyrical content through the intentional and experimental approach taken in crafting each track, has been truly inspiring.
3. Backwash – BLOOD IN THE WATER
Backwash’s gothic rap, cult-like atmosphere and dark, unforgiving themes reflect a raw, urgent energy. She confronts oppression and abuse head-on, expressing horror frontally with a visceral intensity that is both compelling and thought-provoking. ‘Blood in the water’ is produced by the experimental hip-hop group Clipping, whose production is also very interesting to me.
4. Golce – Undateable
I’m absolutely enamoured with Golce’s sound design and way of testing music’s limits, whether in the experimental club mood, the dubstep style, or the sound art side. What also really gets me is the groove of this particular track, something that can be hard to find within this type of aesthetic.
5. Pisitakun – Gaeng Massaman Gai
Thai artist Pisitakun skilfully blends traditional themes/melody and instruments with hardcore electronics, drawing inspiration from club music and employing complex composition structures. Their dedication to addressing Thailand’s political landscape strikes a chord with me.
6. Aya – iinnnn mm m my y yy ww wwaa y yyy
This is what I’m talking about when I say remix.
7. Chuns!ut – Breathless luv
Queen of cuntology, Chuns!ut productions exude a playful energy within the pop genre, infusing overly sentimental and dramatic elements to create epic songs in a uniquely adorable and edgy manner. I love feeling the attitude behind her synth and vocal work.
8. Mhysa – bbygurl
Mhysa’s voice and tender, profound rawness go straight to my heart. I’m fascinated by the way their recording of acoustic elements brings a sense of background, of being transported somewhere and witnessing a scene. The environment feels significant, and the context has all its weight and echoes.
9. Elysia Crampton Chuquimia – Willow Sips Water w/ Tomás Urquieta Drums for Elysia DJ edit [2019]
To me, DJing is about creating live compositions that tell a story through raw expression and intuitive yet purposeful choices. I see it as a practise that allows one to establish a special bond with music, to look at it from the inside and to translate a specific standpoint. The complexity of Elysia Crampton Chuquimia’s DJ work is a major source of inspiration. The eclecticism of her musical selection and the way she mixes instrumental improvisations with thick, saturated rhythms has always captivated me, as has the way she infuses her sets with political significance through storytelling and contrasting genre/cultural references that also echo her engagement with questions of identity, colonisation and resistance.
10. Ohyung – shenme gui (ft.space meow doll, qing liberty)
The energy of this track, please. It’s so immediate. I have no language other than a physical response.
11. UMMO (Aditya Mandayam)
I did a gig with Aditya Mandayam in Warsaw in 2018, crafting a busted-out quadraphonic soundsystem and setting up our machines without any idea about what we would come up with, but so excited to do it together. Of course, it was epic, as was every second spent with him. Aditya Mandayam (1983-2019) was an Indian artist, filmmaker, writer and musician. UMMO was his solo musical project combining West-Coast modular synthesis with Indian classical singing and creating layers of ambisonic feedback, resonance, xenharmonic noise and Carnatic vocals that he called ‘modular folk’.
12. Klein – another day in the sun
I’m always on the lookout for a piano work that will reach me profoundly, and I was delighted to find this one in the latest album by Klein, an artist whose DIY-approach has always appealed to me.
13. Fitnesss – Holy Motor
Someone dear to me recently introduced me to Fitnesss’ live performance. There’s no going back from this experience. As cathartic as it is beautiful, as dramatic as it is down-to-earth, as brutal as it is emotional. His work on sound, light and performance is just transcendental, bringing so many bodily resonances that I can’t even begin to explain it.
14. Pat waing
The ‘pat waing’ is a traditional musical instrument from Myanmar (Burma). It is a circular ensemble of 21 tuned drums, often played in traditional Burmese orchestras known as ‘hsaing waing’. Each drum is tuned to a specific pitch, and they are arranged in a circle, with the larger drums placed towards the centre and the smaller ones towards the periphery.
15. Ozone – Murderer
My two greatest loves: an intensely dramatic drum and bass/dubstep track paired with gritty guitar string textures blended into one song.
16. PRYVYD – Underground
I’m obsessed with dubstep anyways, but the drop of this song is really something.
17. Abdessamad El Montassir (in collaboration with Matthieu Guillin) – Al Amakine
‘Al Amakine’ revives the micro-histories and non-material archives from the Sahara to the south of Morocco, made invisible. Transmitted orally by the local populations in a poetic language, these testimonies recount important political, cultural, and social events that took place in this geographical space and constitute essential historiographical material.
I find that the delicacy and sharpness of Matthieu Guillin’s sound treatment on the poetic audio material, along with the tension in the compositions, are truly beautiful aspects of this collaboration, alongside the scope of this project.
18. Giant Claw – Soft Channel 007
‘Soft Channel 007’ continues the exploration of avant-garde soundscapes and experimental electronic music that Giant Claw is known for. This instalment in the Soft Channel series could offer listeners a blend of intricate textures and unconventional rhythms.
19. Chou chou – On Borrowed Wings (ft. INBIO)
Moved by the delicate and bold atmosphere and inspired by the different chapters in the arrangement of this track.
20. Zuli – Bussra
‘Bussra’ is a track that really delves into bass music, with mastery of low-end frequencies and rhythmic intricacies. Zuli’s bass modulation and manipulation give the track a dynamic edge, with the basslines weaving in and out of the mix, creating this mesmerising journey of sound. It’s been really powerful to witness his work live.
21. Ettternalriot – stttereo luv
Please.