Instrumental music: A force to be reckoned with?

Over the last few weeks and months I’ve written about my favourite song releases of that certain time, and they’ve all been very different in terms of the genre, the style, and whether or not they’re an instrumental piece or whether they conform to the norm of music and include lyrics.

For example, funk trio, Khruangbin released their 3rd studio album in June of this year and it was the first time they’ve ever included lyrics in a song, let alone a full album. Are they heading towards the mainstream or are they merely just exploring their musical prowess? I feel it’s the latter, as they’ve already proved to everyone that they’re more than capable of producing flawless instrumental music.

I do feel however, that there are more and more non-vocal tracks being released than there were 10 years ago, and I love it, because it is focussed entirely on musical instruments and the production of the piece. These bands and producers don’t have to worry about what the song will be about as they don’t need to write any lyrics, which is half the battle, and can concentrate solely on what the song will feel and sound like.

Instrumental music can transport you to another world, as with the lack of vocals, you can concentrate on whatever you like, and choose which part of the song is your favourite.

All these tracks that I’ve picked out have been released since the start of 2020, and considering I was spoilt for choice when it came to deciding which songs to pick, it backs up my original observation that music is going all over the place, more instrumental and more experimental, and to be honest, I’m here for it.

Romare - The River

Romare, whose real name is Archie Fairhurst, is an electronic producer and began mixing his music with old records when he acquired a set of turntables when he finished university, and still to this day, it’s a huge factor of how he produces his music today.

This track is part of his record, ‘Home’, that he released this year, and marks a big and new chapter in Fairhurst’s life, as he was constantly traveling around the world with his parents who had to move for work etc. He finally decided on settling in the UK, helped by his first album that was voted album of the year by various magazines, which enabled him to tour with the record and essentially finance a move to London.

The River is undulating and highly uplifting and you can hear the ambition in the production, perhaps suggesting that Fairhurst himself, is confident in what he does. When you listen to it, you can tell how good it’d sound live. The repetitiveness of the piano notes, the beat and the massive bass line are highly effective, again, suggesting the confidence he has in himself.

Defo one for the ongoing playlist I’ve been curating, or maybe it’s time for a new playlist, consisting of instrumental pieces only?

BALTHVS - Colombian Girl

Don’t ask me how to pronounce this artist because I’d get it terribly wrong, unless you’re meant to pronounce them like initials. However, that’s quite long-winded.

Anyway, these remind me a lot like Khruangbin, but seem a little bit more upbeat, the guitar seems to be turned up a little bit more and they seem more focussed on the guitar riffs rather than the bass fills.

They released their first few singles in early 2020, as lockdown hit. They went off to a barn in the Andes in Central Colombia (alright for some, isn’t it?) and went digging, before ending up in a rabbit hole of forgotten music from the 70’ s and 80’s.

According to their Spotify profile, they’ve been inspired by music from across the globe, and it really shows. From Turkish psychedelic funk, to Chinese hip hop, to traditional Ethiopian music, they’ve explored anything and everything and have produced this brilliant track, Colombian Girl, which is filled with summery vibes and groovy guitar riffs, and are contemplated by sophisticated bass lines alongside complete dum fills.

Considering they’re a band that formed during a pandemic, so have never had the opportunity to play in front of a single person, I’d be very interested to see if they could put these stunning pieces of music into practise and wow an audience.

Maribou State, Yussef Dayes - Strange Habits

I’ve already written about a song from the album that this track is from but this one contains no lyrics, but does have some sort of dialogue that no one can make out. So it’s kind of a cheat entry but you’ll understand what I mean when you listen to it. I can’t make the words out, so it counts.

Dominated by the piano, a lot like the Romare track, Maribou State included this in their latest album, ‘Fabric presents Maribou State’, which is made up of mixes and compilations and is ran by the record label ‘Fabric’ in London. The whole album is well worth a listen as every track is different, helped by the fact that some of the artists they teamed up with are poles apart from other artists.

This track, that features drummer Yussef Dayes, who subsequently featured in my top 5 albums piece when he collaborated with Tom Misch to produce the flawless ‘What Kinda Music’.

Strange Habits gives you a sense of freedom and ‘letting it all out’, whilst the piano is simple and juxtaposes the rest of the tune, as it’s calming and alleviates the pressure that the synths and the unerring drums put on us.

However superior this song may sound, my favourite song in the compilation is by far and away the one that comes immediately after it in the track listing, ‘Gentlemen’s Whistle Club’ which features Shire Tea, who, when looking into them, have only ever worked on two songs, which were both on this album.

I can’t recommend this album highly enough if you’re after something with a bit of everything.

WheelUP - Ndebele

This one seems unique to me as I’ve not heard a song like it before. Apparently the genre of this music is one I’ve not heard of before. Broken beat is a style of music that originated in the 1990’s and was rife in the West London area. It can be characterised by syncopated rhythms. In other words, displacing beats in a rhythm, so the strong beats become weak. Makes sense? No, thought not.

‘Ndebele’ was produced in homage to his heritage as Ndebele people were the tribe of his father, who was originally from Zimbabwe. Here, he pushes the boundaries of broken beat (you’ll understand what it is when you hear the song) and in turn, fuses together elements of jazz, echoes of disco-cuts and leftfield house/techno.

I first heard this thanks to Mary-Anne Hobbs on 6 Music and immediately looked it up, researched it and added it to a playlist, before playing it over and over again. The more you listen to this, the more you hear and the more you discover what broken beat sounds like.

WheelUP aka Danny Wheeler, has also received praise from music know-all Gilles Peterson and Toddla T of Radio 1, so he must be good, mustn’t he?

Tom Misch, Yuseff Dates - Kyiv

My 5th and final choice is from an album that I’ve already reviewed but this song had to be included. Big up to Yuseff Dayes for featuring twice in this piece by the way, he plays the drums like an absolute dream.

When you listen to this song, you’ll love it but when you read that it wasn’t rehearsed and was just of the pair of them jamming on stage, you’ll love it even more. It’s titled ‘Kyiv’ as that’s where they were on tour at the time of recording a random jamming session, and they loved it that much that it made the cut to their impeccable record.

It’s overwhelmed by dreamy guitar riffs and typical Yuseff Dates drum fills and I suppose those two things put together is the perfect recipe in the music world.

My best advice is to listen to it on your own, with the volume on 10 and allow it to transfer you into another dimension, it really is that good. It’s arguably one of the best tracks on the record, and considering it doesn’t consist of even one ‘meh’ song, it’s bound to be sublime.

That concludes this insight into how and why instrumental music is, in some ways, better than vocalised music. It enables us to listen to it and interpret it however we want to, and it’s not being tampered with by words that would otherwise force us to focus away from the music and concentrate more on the lyrics.

Some of these songs, and some that I’ve not mentioned, are just as quality as those with lyrics. We’ve got hundreds, if not thousands of tracks with lyrics out there at the moment that are deemed classics due to the crowd being able to sing them at a gig, or purely being able to shout them in the car on the way home from work, but we’ve not got many, if any, ‘classic’ instrumental songs, yet.

Thanks for reading, and if you think I’ve missed an open goal and left a 2020 released song out, then let me know!

Keep on exploring the weird and wonderful world of music.

Joe