Front Page Music Entries
Here is a collection of songs that have made an impact on me in one way or another. The list is ordered newest to oldest, so when something changes it will be immediately apparent.
Jean-Jacques Grünenwald - Sonate Pour Orgue, Mvt. IV - Final
I don't have the vocabulary or understanding of advanced organ composition to really describe what is going on here. You really should just listen to it. It's beautiful, very dense, complicated, a colorful shimmering tapestry of sound. My favorite version, linked above, is the Jean-Claude Reynaud performance, recorded in 1973, as featured on the LP box set "A Survey of the World's Greatest Organ Music - France - Volume VI: The 20th Century Composer". You can find a video performance of this piece here. This version, played by Anthony Gritten, is the one of the only videos of a performance I could find. For a piece like this, it helps to follow along with the movements of the player, though the pedals are not recorded here.
David Alvarado - Mayasongs
Really good deep house. Has a soothing quality to it, and feels like there's a lot of movement to it, if that makes any sense. Favorite tracks are My Plea, She, and Misty. My introduction to Alvarado and still my favorite thing he's made. See also: Love Has from the also very good album David Alvarado feat. The Sun Children. Soundscapes: Live from London is a great mix.
Model 500 - Starlight (Intrusion Dub)
When I feel like I can put my feelings about this track into words, I'll write it here. How do you even describe this kind of emotion?
Leoš Janáček - Violin Sonata
I heard this sonata for the first time about a year ago, and it has become one of my favorites. Janáček's musical style is uniquely beautiful.
The Extremist - Journey to the Other World
This is my favorite thing Ulrich Schnauss has made. It feels different from a lot of DnB from the era I've listened to, but I'm not an experienced enough listener to really know why. Regardless, it's very fun to listen to. I love driving fast at night with this on the stereo.
Laurie Spiegel - Voices Within
There is not much I can think to say about this piece, except for how immediately captivating I found it. It is terrifyingly beautiful. The fact that it was produced before the digital age enhances the experience for me. It also has many examples of that specific sound I love but cannot explain well, the wobbly sound, the "beats." When you ring a bell or shift pedal tones on a pipe organ or pull a piano string up to pitch. The slow convergence of two pitches. This sound is, actually, part of the reason I love bells and organs so much. I hope someone knows what I'm talking about.
Richard Hayman - Anna
Another song which is not especially well known. It's a very fun tune, something that easily could've come from a 1950's movie soundtrack. Richard Hayman composed works of his own, made plenty of very famous arrangements, and is most known for leading the Boston Pops Orchestra. I'm certain I have a few of those records floating around. Speaking of, I only know about this track because it was pressed on a shellac disc I found in a box. I doubt there was any possibility of finding it otherwise. Part of the wonder of physical media is being able to find something completely forgotten just sitting around, waiting to be played again.
Update on this one, I was relistening to Since I Left You by The Avalanches and found out this was sampled! How wild is that! I don't remember exactly where in the album it was, but if you listen to that song and then the album, I'm sure you can find it.
Mr Fingers - Can You Feel It
The absolute best deep house track. I heard this and was hooked for life.
Tim Hecker - Trade Winds, White Noise
This album is especially important to me. It has accompanied me through the most hopeless points in my life in the past year. Until this I had never heard something that embodied what I find so beautiful about winter so perfectly. It is cold and somber.
8/25 I didn't spend enough time talking about what this means to me. I am in that place now. Nothing feels real. I feel like I will wake up soon. This music guides me. I am being gently pushed and pulled in a cold ocean with no surface. I am alone, and it hurts, and the broken sounds are soothing me.I am not loved, but I am understood. I don't want to die. When I wake up, I hope it will be winter.
Last updated: 2026-09-24