Floom Sounds: from the jungle to the garden

We're once again digging deep into the record crates of one of our more musically geeky contributors to find some (tenuously) flower-related aural gems for your listening pleasure – provided they’re on Spotify of course. Let’s see how it goes, hey?

The thing that we love about the flowers on Floom, if we do say so ourselves, is the sheer variety of eye-catching blooms on offer. They may essentially all come from the same place – a wild and untamed jungle perhaps; a meticulously cultivated garden perhaps – but my goodness what wonderful shapes and sizes and shades. And all crafted into utterly singular new creations by our talented florists.

Which brings us to this month’s selection of songs, which despite being worlds apart stylistically and thematically are all inspired by either the jungle or the garden, to varying degrees. They’re also all brilliant, which is good for anyone who actually wants to listen to the tracks rather than just marvel at the high-concept collating of track names.

First up we have gonzo dub experimentalists Sun Araw and a track from their collaboration with arguably the greatest reggae group of all time, The Congos. Of course they made something called ‘Jungle’, and it’s tailor-made for this hallucinogenic heatwave we’re all living through. Next up, it’s your boy Drizzy Drake! His ‘Jungle’ is one of the best tracks on what is probably the 6 God’s most overlooked/underrated release, ‘If you’re reading this it’s too late. It’s vintage Noah Shebib moodiness behind the controls and that trademark neurotic, caramel-smooth hang-on-he’s-actually-a-massive-weirdo-isn’t-he crooning from Mr. Fragile Masculinity himself (sample lyric: “put a bib on me, I’m just like a baby, drooling over you…”). What’s the point in having a record collection if you’re not gonna throw in a super rare Japanese deep house track with a 17 minute running time and outrageous six-times-what-you-paid-for-it resale price on Discogs? The transcendent ‘Esprit de la Jungle’ by Double K ticks all the boxes this month. The final pair of tracks then we take things to ‘The Garden’. First up is an iconic track from German industrial pioneers Einsturzende Neubauten (amazing band name translates as ‘Collapsing New Buildings’), followed by what sounds in many respects like an homage of sorts from the increasingly brilliant Blackest Ever Black leading light, Carla dal Forno. Rich pickings indeed!

Take a listen to the playlist and check out the new tracks below. Also remember to subscribe and listen to the full playlist here!