# 3 Curated Focus Weekly: Being awake
Curated Focus Weekly, a musical experiment to start the year with good ear
THIS WEEK: Deep House · Free Jazz · Disco Classics · Ambient · Soft Rock · J-Pop
Being awake during the cold seasons can be challenging, specially if you live in a place where there is no much sun. Even if you are not in a place where is summer, being awake and active during very hot days has its tricks too.
This week we got some musical cures that can boost you during that tiredness.
One thing before we dig in; we are keen to hear what are you listening to, and share it. Just send us an email!
UP
Playlist: Armen Miran & Hraach
Listen on: SoundCloud by Michael Dietze / Spotify alternative by Julian Nikov
Genre: Deep House
Pair with: Concentration, get out of procrastination, feeling adventurous
Armen Miran is a Dj / Electronic music producer, Born in Los Angeles, and Hraach is an Armenian born producer currently living in Ontinyent, Spain. Together, they have made a bunch of crazy good sets. They mix oriental sounds with deep house. Today we got these two sets for you, which we hope get you moving the feed under the table, without annoying your neighbor. (Thank you Jens)
More about Michael Dietze
More about Armen Miran & More about Hraach
Album: Africanasia by Claude Delcloo & Arthur Jones
Listen on: Youtube / Spotify /
Genre: Free Jazz
Pair with: Feeling weird, need to be awake
A set led by drummer Claude Delcloo, but which features great performances from a variety of other musicians too – not just alto saxophonist Arthur Jones, who gets a lot of solo space in the set – but also Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman on reeds, Clifford Thornton on congas, Malachi Favors on log drums, and Earl Freeman on gong and percussion! Kenneth Terroade is also on the set on sax, and the album features lots of spare, stripped-down, AACM-ish moments – on the record's one long track, "Africanasia".
Read more about Arthur Jones & Claude Delcloo
MID
Playlist: Rayowa Radio Vol I by Rayowa
Listen on: Spotify /
Genre: Disco classics
Pair with: Food comma, Trying to be awake at work, or just doing something you enjoy
Rayowa is a band of three brothers, Dan, Reece and Luke who all share a love of soul, funk and pop music. Their sound is classic and contemporary: mixing the crystal-clear falsetto and chiming guitars of disco with slick production and effortless charisma.
This playlist from this band creates a sense of bittersweetness. All the songs match the mood of their last single "better man". Yet there are vocals in the playlist, you can enjoy it while working on something that you already master, right after lunch during your food comma, or just at home while cooking and unwinding your evening.
Read more about Rayowa
DOWN
Set: Organic Music w/ Chee Shimizu & Tsukasa Ito
Listen on: NTS / SoundCloud /
Genre: Ambient, Soft Rock
Pair With: Deep focus
We chose this set because is filled with such a dynamic variety of sounds, genres and mixes from all around the world, that will keep surprising you, and exactly that is what we wish you for 2020! The set is made by two Tokyo based DJs, Tsukasa Ito and Chee Shimizu.
Tsukasa Ito a DJ and respected record collector from Japan. Finding information about him was not so easy, but found a podcast with an interview to him who described his style as: he is playing ultra rare records on high quality sound systems around country. Now Tsukasa is also an expert in Ondas record store. His mix for us feels like a meditation session by the sea circa 1989. Keep on reading to learn more about Chee Shimizu.
Set: Organic Music Tokyo W/ Chee Shimizu
Listen on: NTS /
Genre: Ambient, J-Pop
Pair With: Deep focus
If you liked the Organic music, we got this extra one for you. This time from Chee Shimizu alone. He is the owner of an Organic Music record store, and melomaniac I'd say. He is such a great artist and with his online store he shares more of the good music he finds with his customers. The point is, as the article of strange sounds says his music lives and breathes – sometimes heavily, sometimes lightly, but it transcends the idea of rigid music styles, and you can hear that in this mix. Interesting fact: He makes his music to sound at BPM – say 90 to 110.
Read more about him
Yay or nay? What do you thing about curated focus? Have some shareworthy music for the next issue? Send us an email
Until the next!
