Music That Sparks Joy
The world's hard enough. Let's be a counterbalance.
Among this week’s selections: A set of songs generated by asking people what kinds of music were joyful listening experiences to them. The results surprised me in a good way, and really expanded my horizons in relation to what types of sounds people include in their own personal practice of listening-joy.
Tragic counterpoint, 2025 edition: [waves hands at all of the terrible shit in the world]
As the barrage of terrible shit transpiring globally doesn’t appear to be receding near-term, I figured it would be good to focus my attention through a different lens. So, I asked the Bluesky community about songs that brought them joy. I don’t know what I expected exactly, but the outcome was much broader than that. It served as a reminder about the value of getting outside one’s bubble every now and then. In an age of extreme algorithmic personalization, it’s so easy to forget that there are so many wonderful bubbles you can enjoy when you take measures not to get stuck in just one.
This week is an arrangement of tunes that people sent in response to the prompt, “What’s an example of joyful music for you?”
Thanks to everyone who sent a song. If you missed it the first time, drop your song in the comments or on BlueSky. Maybe we’ll do a follow up edition with more picks…
Did you know there’s a bias in the brain to view the first item on a list as the most important? Fight that urge here because we’ll be on a whole journey today. #ListeningHabit
We’ll start with a few that felt like they existed within the terrain of possibility when I originally posed the question. Not to say I would’ve thought of them myself, per se, but that I felt a flash of recognition, like “yup, I get it.”
Fatboy Slim - “Praise You”
Shout out to the early 40-somethings that have a strong association between this song and high school. What I had kind of forgotten was this music video, lol. Spike Jonze in his prime. “In 2001 it was voted no.1 of the 100 best music videos of all time, in a poll to mark the 20th anniversary of MTV,” according to the description.
This is still a big tune.
Speaking of Fatboy Slim, he’s not completely disappeared from the scene and still operates a label called Southern Fried Records that is putting out some cool jams. Here’s a sneaky-fun house single released last month by an artist named Dukwa.
Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock - “It Takes Two”
This was one of the first songs that popped into my head when thinking about joyful listening experiences. Loose on the dancefloor. That kind of unencumbered sensation.
There was a whole dungeon-synth tangent that started from this song when I shared it because someone commented that DJ EZ Rock accidentally invented dungeon-synth with this intro section. However, they didn’t realize that bit was a sample from this record, “Space Dust” by the Galactic Force Band.
Anyway… I think it’s important to acknowledge so many years later that Rob Base and EZ Rock are right — it does take two…
Toots and the Maytalls - “Pressure Drop”
Speaking of joyful tunes, I was glad to see this classic dropped into the conversation. It’s no wonder all three of them are smiling in this pic if they had this song on when the photo was snapped. Let’s all try and show some teeth this week. The world needs more of this energy right now.
Ritchie Havens - “Here Comes the Sun”
As a younger person, I listened to a bunch of Ritchie Havens (his epic performance at Woodstock, for example), but it’s been many years since I’d thought to put one on, so this was a nice reminder; a refreshing brush of nostalgia. No stretch to find joy in this one.
Mort Garson - Plantasia
One more on the nature tip… Shout out to everyone who remembers when we talked about Mort Garson way back in LH-003 (“Music for Plants”). I’m always glad to see this jewel of radiant ‘70s flora-synth compositions show up in the replies. There was a vinyl re-issue of this record a few years ago that really expanded the audience for Garson 40+ years later. I love when stuff like that happens. This is a wonderful restorative soundtrack to summer’s bounty.
Here are a few of the ones I was not expecting in the least when I sent this prompt out into the worldwide web.
Bulgarian State Television Female Choir - “Polegnala e Todora” (Love Song)
I thought for a moment someone might’ve been messing with me when this one popped up, but as soon as I pressed play I understood what I’d been missing. More than (Love Song), this is a lovely song I love. Angelic. I feel physically lighter after listening to this song because it has lifted my spirit so noticeably.
This album, whose title translates to The Mysterious Voices of Bulgaria, was originally released on Nonesuch in 1987 (when Bulgaria was still part of the Soviet sphere). It’s been added to the list of records I want.
Bnet Marrakech - “Chama’a”
I was introduced to a bunch of exciting international treasures, including this ecstatic number from a group of Berber vocalists, who I’d never heard before. The video description on YouTube was in French, so the following has been run through Google Translate. It’s an interesting story.
For Berber women, singing punctuates important moments in life, whether religious festivals (weddings, births, circumcisions, etc.), Mouled (Islamic saints' festivals), or the henna ritual. Initially called Bnet Houariyat, the five divas of Bnet Marrakech (literally "the girls of Marrakech") come from a modest background, the Berber Houara tribe settled near the city of Taroudant, in southern Morocco. It was in the working-class neighborhoods of Marrakech, where four of them were born, that they first became known before being noticed by French producers in 1990 and embarking on a series of tours abroad (Rome, Paris, Switzerland, Holland). Fifteen years later, their musical repertoire, originally composed of Berber songs learned in their childhood, has grown considerably. Against all odds, the Bnet Marrakech, respected by their peers, have acquired professional status.
Masayoshi Takanaka - “Tropic Birds”
If you aren’t familiar with Takanaka, his career has spanned more than 50 years, including several bands and extensive solo work. He was part of the Sadistik Mika Band alongside YMO’s Takahashi Kaneshiro, to mention one of many notable collaborations. I learned all of this after Takanaka’s 1976 album Seychelles came highly recommended, along the lines of “every song on the album is a joy of a listen.”
And it's a crisp slice of late-70s Japanese jazz-funk indeed. The album’s closer, “Tropic Birds” is epic. It starts mellow and beachy before smoothly building to a big orchestral crescendo.
Daedelus - “Our Last Stand”
Of course, the unexpected discoveries weren’t limited to international antiquities. I’ve enjoyed a bunch of Daedelus’ output over the years, but I wasn’t familiar with this one. It’s a gem. Mayhem in the best way and full of surprises. It builds in a way that makes my heart want to explode. Great listening adventure.
Super Turrican OST - Stages 1-3
Have you ever played this Super Nintendo game from 1993? As a 12 year old, I thought I was on top of SNES in those days, but I missed this one. Looks a bit like a cross between Metroid and Contra in the side-scrolling, alien-blasting adventure.
The soundtrack is a 16-bit synthy wonder originally composed by Chris Hülsbeck. I can see how this would be joyful, but I definitely wasn’t expecting to learn about a ‘90s video game I missed as a child during this adventure.
Stump - “Everything In Its Place”
Really glad to have learned about this band from Cork, Ireland in the early 1980s that has an angular, experimental post-punk/rock sound influenced by Devo, Talking Heads, et al. on the structured side and Pere Ubu on the deconstructed side.
After this song I’m definitely interested to listen and learn more. I’ve queued up an oral history of the band, gathered shortly before the death of frontman Mick Lynch in 2015. His songwriting was truly unique (in a surreal and funny way) as evidenced here. Definitely a joy.
Niños del Cerro - “Contigo”
Here is some really interesting (and joyous) Spanish-language, psychedelic post-rock from Chile in 2018. This song is crazy in a great way. I’m queuing up their follow-up record from 2022 right after this one…
There were a bunch more amazing discoveries, but I’m afraid we’re running out of room, so send over more suggestions and maybe we’ll do another round at some point down the road. It’s always interesting to learn about music from humans, and humans from music.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for spending some time listening with us. We’ll be back next week with something completely different. Until then, make some space for joy.