Welcome to week #5 of the Steel Orca Songs of the Week.

A lot of changes at the Steel Orca this week, and hopefully more to come if all goes well. Basically we’re trying to be more professional. Another writer mentioned that post format and timing of delivery (i.e. consistency) seemed to make the biggest difference in attracting readership , so we’re trying to establish that starting today on week #5 (which came quick 📆💨). Add a comment below and let me know what you think of the “new format”.

On another note, as you can see above, we went for a walk in the woods this past weekend. Given that it’s fall, the colors were beautiful. So was the weather. It has been unseasonably warm here. They (the proverbial and ubiquitous they) say it’s supposed to be a cold winter on the way 🥶 but that seems a ways off for now.

Finally, wishing a joyous Diwali to everyone celebrating it. 🪔✨ For families, Ramayana: Divine Loophole by Sanjay Patel (artist and veteran Pixar animator) is particularly loved here at the Steel Orca (although some parts 👹 may be scary to younger kids).

Playlist Breakdown

Here are the songs for the week of October 21st, 2022.

The playlist selections came together relatively quickly earlier this week (I think Monday) but ended up going through a few different iterations before this post.

I realized a couple of things this past week relative to how I’m going to approach this moving forward:

1. I’m not a DJ (though the future is wide open), so if the mix doesn’t sound great given the choice of music, it doesn’t really matter. This is about the individual songs as opposed to the “continuity” of the playlist itself. The playlist is just so you don’t have to press play ▶ on the songs below one by one (though you’re free to do it that way if you want). Like I said in the About page, this is meant to be in the style of Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 📻 (that emoji is a radio, by the way).

2. Song length/popularity of artist/release date/anything unrelated to the actual music itself should not factor into being on the list. This is strictly about how much I enjoyed or repeatedly listened to the song during the week in question.

3. I’m only ever going to pick 5 songs each week no matter how short (time-wise) the playlist itself ends up being.

4. I will likely be adding a Youtube music playlist as well (due to overwhelming demand) but I just don’t have time for it yet.

These are guiding principles for me so I know how I’m approaching this moving forward, mostly so I can ensure that my writing stays somewhat organized. I’m sure this will continue to evolve.

With all that out of the way, on to the actual music:

Joyzu (featuring Olivia Reid) - Hear You Say

This song came out in 2016 (shockingly 6 years ago now 😲). Joyzu has actually since broken up, according to their Instagram. I’m obviously a bit late to this party.

Joyzu was a duo from Sacramento, and this song actually came out when both guys were working and going to school. Olivia Reid (music artist + creative strategist, according to her Instagram) does a great job on the vocals.

I think what I appreciate the most about this song is that the “chorus” doesn’t have any lyrics (like Ziggy Stardust). I guess this is probably not exactly abnormal in modern electronic music. The chorus is actually the synth line, and the “I wanna hear you say” just repeatedly leads the song back into the main instrumental “chorus”. So this is really call and response (even from the beginning of the song) where Olivia Reid is basically asking a synthesizer if it will tell her it loves her (spoiler: it never does 👩💔🎹). Then the music gets progressively more desperate sounding as she continues to repeat the same lyrics. Great song.

Trickshot - Homeskillet

I just looked this up and it’s considered future bass. I don’t think anyone can appreciate how good that makes me feel. If someone asks me now- “Hey, Steel Orca! What kind of music do you like?” I’ll respond, “A little of this, a little of that. I’ve been getting into future bass lately.” And everyone will be very impressed with how deep and complex my musical choices are 🤩. “The Steel Orca is a well that has no bottom,” I’ll tell them. Then everyone in the room will nod approvingly and clap. “What great taste Steel Orca has,” they’ll whisper.

This song came out February, 2018. Trickshot only has two songs on Spotify, and his profile picture is him giving us the finger. How rude. He has an Instagram, but it has no posts. I had a look on Soundcloud thinking maybe he was doing mixes there, but no such luck.

Anyway, I like this song. It’s very quick, well produced, and tight. This is my cool guy 😎 theme song. A song like this is why I’d want to get rich - so I can blast this in my Ferrari. One day.

obylx - Turning

As life turns to dust
And dust returns to life
Earth will stand watching
Just sharpening her knife

This song is excellent. I absolutely love the fact that the song just starts with him playing piano and singing for the first 40 seconds or so. Then, it signifies the switch from the analog to the digital with a single clap (no big build up) and we’re fully into super bouncy electronic music (it does this through the song repeatedly).

I couldn’t originally figure out what he was going for with obylx, but I think it’s a reference to obelisk (what else would it be).

Anyway this song was almost the song of the week given how catchy it is. I really love the cover art of this album too. Honestly, I’m surprised this guy isn’t a bigger act.

According to his Twitter, obylx is based out Bristol, England.

Owl Vision - BL00D

This song is off of Owl Vision’s album titled PAIN.EXE.

This song is 1 minute and 42 seconds of aggression.

I really love this song. It reminds me of what I always wanted a great MSTRKRFT show (during their original run) to be when I was younger - fun, sort of scary, dangerous-feeling dance music (in the case of MSTRKRFT, fueled by a forty pounder of Crown Royal). Sweaty/spill drinks on your shoes/lose your coat check ticket type music (my friends know what I’m talking about). I would imagine an Owl Vision show would be pretty enjoyable (though probably messy).

Song of the Week 🙌🎵

Creaky Jackals - Odd

My new format resolution (as of this week) is that for every Song of the Week (i.e. the best song from that week) I’m going to listen to the full album/record that that song is from (assuming it’s from an album and wasn’t just released as a single). My thought is that people forget that the collection and ordering of songs into an album also constitutes an art form, and that it behooves (🐎) us as consumers of art to experience the album as a whole instead of just cherry-picking songs based on algorithms 🤖.

So based on this song, I listened to the Creaky Jackals' album Black and White while I was vacuuming my basement. Suffice to say, Odd actually constitutes the least dubstep, most melodic song on that album. After a very cursory listen I liked this record but probably need to listen to it in more depth another time through. My initial response is that I would probably categorize it as an album I would listen to while snowboarding (for example). 🏂

This song is fully instrumental. Good thing too, as Creaky Jackals are a DJ duo from Paris, France, and I don’t understand French. They made this week’s Song of the Week easy on me.

That’s it for this week from all of us here at the Steel Orca.✔️👋

Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and leave your thoughts by commenting below. 🗣️

Leave a comment

Follow the ongoing Steel Orca Spotify playlist Admin Login 🎧: