We lost Ryuichi Sakamoto on March 28, 2023. The legendary Japanese composer, performer, and cultural icon was seventy-one. He left behind an astonishing legacy – forty-eight years of musical innovation that crossed cultures and genres from techno-pop to Oscar-winning film scores. His influence runs through me like a pulse. With a catalog as vast and diverse as his, I tremble at the thought of telling his story. I can share how I became aware of him, and dive deep into my favorite Sakamoto pop album, Smoochy (1995), but a broad look across his career is too monumental a challenge. That changed a few weeks ago, when a package arrived from Japan containing the 1985 documentary Tokyo Melody: A Film About Ryuichi Sakamoto – an artifact I’d never seen. It moved me so deeply that I understood immediately this was the story I needed to tell first.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

Sakamoto is best known for his first score, written for Nagisa Ōshima’s 1983 Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence – a movie he acted in alongside David Bowie. The instrumental theme, a synthesized take on Japanese music for Western audiences, is a reference point throughout this story. For forty years Sakamoto performed it more than anything else he ever composed.

Collecting Sakamoto

I inadvertently started collecting Sakamoto’s work in 1993 when I purchased the new album from one of my favorite bands, Aztec Camera. Dreamland, released May 17, 1993, was Aztec Camera’s fifth studio album, produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto. I had zero awareness of him prior to this point, but I recognized something special in the production.

In a 1999 interview with The Scotsman, Aztec Camera mastermind Roddy Frame recounted that he wanted an album that sounded like Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence while Sakamoto wanted one that sounded like the band’s own 1983 debut, High Land, Hard Rain. “He took a lot of persuading to plug the keyboards in and I took a lot of persuading to bang on the acoustic guitar again.”

In addition to producing the album, Sakamoto contributed synths, sampling, percussion, and piano. Frame told The Observer in 1993 that Sakamoto’s “beautiful piano playing” influenced the mood of the record, and that “Ryuichi tends not to fully state each chord, so that the songs became more airy, less grounded.” The perfect example is the opening track “Birds.” It instantly swept me off my feet and was my favorite song for at least two decades (I stopped picking favorites some time ago). I adore its atmospheric layers, sophisticated synth lead melody, and the yearning in Frame’s swooning vocal.

In 1993 I didn’t have the internet to look him up, but the sound of Dreamland made the name Ryuichi Sakamoto stick. It was only a few years later when out CD shopping at Barnes & Noble in College Station, Texas, that I came across an album with arresting artwork featuring a triptych portrait of a very stylish Japanese man on a white background, and “RYUICHISAKAMOTOSMOOCHY” written in bold, all caps, black sans serif type. I bought it on cover art and name alone, and raced to my car, unwrapped the jewel case, and delicately snapped the CD into my Sony Discman D-2 – car stereo enabled by Sony’s CPA-7 Car Connecting Pack.

The sounds filling my car on the drive home to my college apartment were from another world – I was immersed in the futuristically rhythmic, synth and electric piano soundscape of the opening track “Bibo No Aozora” – and feeling the full, warm embrace of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s hypnotic and soothing vocal delivery for the very first time.

Over the years I’ve curated a decent collection that is still growing. In 2006, Sakamoto started his own imprint commmons under Avex, Japan’s largest independent record label. The catalog itself is administered by Kab Inc. and Kab America Inc., Sakamoto’s management and publishing office. His studio albums, live recordings, collaborations, and soundtracks continue to be remastered and repressed. As a collector, having this journey continue after his death is an incredible gift. It has given me the opportunity to discover new aspects of his career and to own recordings that were previously unobtainable.

A couple of times a year I receive a shipment from Japan containing a record or two, sometimes a book or a film. My most recent delivery included two Sakamoto soundtrack LPs, and a newly 4K-remastered lost artifact, the 1985 documentary Tokyo Melody: A Film About Ryuichi Sakamoto. Resurrected out of obscurity, the film is available on disc for the first time in decades – I had no idea what to expect. Scenes of a vital thirty-two-year-old Sakamoto moved me so deeply that I knew I had to share it. Tokyo Melody tells the Ryuichi Sakamoto story I couldn’t fathom writing.

A brief history of a technology pioneer

“Technology is progressing on its own. The gears are moving more and more efficiently. We’re beginning to discover possibilities that exceed our imagination and horizons. This is clear in the field of biotechnology, or in the fifth-generation computer. I’m not rejecting or approving this form of progress. I don’t say: ‘Return to nature.’ Or: ‘Return to pre-modern times.’ I don’t want to go against the flow. I’m interested in the cracks in technology. In other words, errors or noise. They are the things that really interest me, and I wonder if new cultural trends could emerge from this deficiency. This concern is behind all my work.”
_{– Ryuichi Sakamoto, speaking in Tokyo Melody, May 1984}

Sakamoto entered the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1970, where he had access to Buchla, Moog, and ARP synthesizers – cutting-edge instruments in the ’70s. He left with a Bachelor of Arts in music composition in 1974 and a Master of Arts in electronic and ethnic music in 1976.

His career as a recording artist under his own name began in 1978 with the release of his first album Thousand Knives in October, followed by the debut album a month later from his new band, Yellow Magic Orchestra, formed in Tokyo by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, vocals), and Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). YMO achieved national and international success – they were the best-selling act in Japan through 1982 – and they continued releasing pioneering electronic music until they stopped group activity in 1984.

Accompanied by Hideki Matsutake, YMO’s programmer and de facto fourth member, the band worked with the Roland MC-8 Microcomposer, the first standalone computer sequencer. They were also among the first bands to record with the now-iconic Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer drum machine. They played a key role in the rise of synth pop and techno, pioneering the use of digital music technology in the city where the machines were being invented.

Eventually the instruments themselves weren’t enough. In 1999, Sakamoto staged his first opera, LIFE a ryuichi sakamoto opera 1999 – seven sold-out shows at Osaka-jō Hall and the Nippon Budokan – for which he would sit at the piano and lead the orchestra. This presented a unique challenge: the lid of conventional grand pianos creates a boundary between the player and the ensemble. To solve for this, he commissioned the Opera Piano, designed by the Yamaha Design Laboratory. Stripped of all decorative elements to reveal the piano’s function and outfitted with a transparent lid, the Opera Piano enabled Sakamoto to play and conduct at the same time.

Ten years later, Sakamoto conceived of a way to duet with himself. On his Playing the Piano 2009 tour, two Yamaha grand pianos were onstage, Sakamoto played one, and the other was equipped with Disklavier technology reproducing a pre-recorded performance of his own. This created the effect of two hands playing the work of four – all the notes performed by Sakamoto himself.

The end before we begin

Although Sakamoto was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and 2021, he lived his life out loud and continued making inspiring and deeply touching music. Stephen Nomura Schible’s 2017 documentary Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda follows Sakamoto for five years, first exploring a Yamaha concert grand recovered from the gymnasium of Miyagi Agricultural High School after the 2011 tsunami. “I felt as if I was playing the corpse of a piano that had drowned,” he says in the film. It then follows him through a year off after his 2014 diagnosis and his decision to break his recovery hiatus to score Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant. He later told IndieWire, “I couldn’t say no to [Iñárritu] because I admire him too much.” It concludes with Sakamoto at home in New York, composing music for his nineteenth solo studio album async (released March 29, 2017) amid real-life adjustments due to his cancer treatment. The film is an insider’s view into his wildly experimental creative process and makes it undeniable that a once-vibrant star had begun to dim. For me the film struck a perfectly delicate balance between beauty, peace, and denial.

In 2022, Sakamoto prepared a solo piano retrospective of his entire career – each song hand-selected and arranged to be performed one last time. Neo Sora, Sakamoto’s son, directed Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus, filmed over twelve days that September in Studio 509 at the NHK Broadcasting Center in Tokyo – a few pieces a day with no audience, because Sakamoto no longer had the stamina for a full concert. His final performances spanned YMO through his last studio album 12, months before its release on January 17, 2023. The film was shot in black and white, each song set up with unique lighting and camera angles. He died six months later.

Parts of the film were released before his passing in the form of Ryuichi Sakamoto: Playing the Piano 2022, a “concert” streamed one time on December 11, 2022. Opus was officially announced in August 2023 and released theatrically for a limited run at the end of March 2024 – I approached it as a memorial for a lost love. I bought a ticket to see Opus at the iconic Plaza Theatre – Atlanta’s longest-running independent cinema and an Art Deco treasure. It did not occur to me until arriving at the theater that I was watching it on the first anniversary of Ryuichi’s death, March 28, 2024. I settled into my seat in a tiny upstairs theater, only two or three other people there to pay tribute. Twenty songs, each a subdued and calming performance, a hundred minutes of tranquil remembrance. The end credits appeared unobtrusively during the final song “Opus - ending” – a haunting piece featuring a spacious, floating melody reminiscent of Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies. The words on screen were just enough of a distraction. It took me a moment to notice that when the camera changed angles, Sakamoto was gone. What read as a magic trick in 2009 was now a conscious acknowledgment of his own mortality. The keys on the piano continued to play, as if by Sakamoto’s ghost – just as he intended. The uncontrollable feeling of loss and sadness in the gut, the shiver of electricity up the spine, lungs heavy with sobs, face contracting to hold back the well of tears. It’s getting to me as I write about it now.

After his death, the Opera Piano was exhibited at Ginza Sony Park in December 2024 for the launch of sakamotocommon – an initiative to share his estate, instruments, library, intellectual property, and field recordings as a common resource for “the benefit of future creators.” The piano used automated playback data from Sakamoto’s own performances of “Aqua,” “energy flow,” “put your hands up,” “Poppoya,” and “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.” That same month, seeing sound, hearing time opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, December 2024 to March 2025 – twelve large-scale installations built from concepts Sakamoto left the museum before he died, one of them an automated piano playing his own performance with a life-size video projection creating the illusion of him sitting behind the keyboard. The same technology he used in 2009, and that delivered the emotional impact of Opus, was on public display. Only the man was missing. He had arranged for it.

Tokyo Melody: A Film About Ryuichi Sakamoto

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1983. In the audience was American photographer and director Elizabeth Lennard, who told Ultra Dogme in 2023 that she was “bowled over by his music, and by seeing him.” After the screening she ran into two producers she knew from the French Institut national de l’audiovisuel (INA), who had also just discovered Sakamoto and said to her, “If you have some way of getting in touch with him, we might have some budget for you to do a film about him.”

Living between New York and Paris at the time, Lennard was dining out at Odeon in Tribeca and ended up at a table next to A&M Records executive Jeff Ayeroff for whom she had previously made hand-painted album covers. The label distributed YMO in the United States, and as fate would have it, also at Ayeroff’s table was Kiki Miyake, YMO’s U.S. tour manager in the 1970s. Miyake made the introduction to Sakamoto.

Lennard shot Tokyo Melody: A Film About Ryuichi Sakamoto over seven days in May 1984 with a small INA crew. Shooting coincided with Sakamoto beginning to record his landmark 1984 solo album Ongaku Zukan, released internationally as Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia. The documentary is an intimate behind-the-scenes glimpse into his thinking and creativity, as well as a snapshot of the sounds and bustle of street culture in 1980s Tokyo. Few films document a creative process this closely. Lennard, in an interview conducted for the 2026 4K restoration, explained, “I was aware, even at the time, that it was a very fortunate moment to be filming. Ongaku Zukan was his first fully realized solo album, and more broadly, it felt like the beginning of his solo career – or perhaps a return to being a composer. Yellow Magic Orchestra had disbanded, and he was beginning to carve out his own path. A number of favorable circumstances came together, and that’s how this film was made.”

After its completion in 1985, Tokyo Melody was screened at international film festivals and was released in Japan at the inaugural Tokyo International Film Festival. It aired on French television a year later and was then released on VHS and LaserDisc in Japan before disappearing from the market. Its modern resurrection began on YouTube, where the film developed a cult status, quietly racking up more than 400,000 views. This caught the attention of Alexander Fee, a programmer at the Japan Society in New York, who contacted Lennard in 2023 about screening it on 16mm for Japan Cuts – the largest festival of contemporary Japanese film in North America. Lennard had a 16mm print stored in her basement, and Light Cone in Paris inspected the print to ensure it was suitable to screen. The full 4K digital restoration was subsequently commissioned and produced by Kab Inc., Kab America Inc., and the INA using the original 16mm negative image and 16mm stereo magnetic tape. It was screened internationally in early 2026 and is now commercially available through commmons on Blu-ray and DVD, and streaming on The Criterion Channel. Watch the trailer.

The film opens with Sakamoto in a park playing with a toy space gun, voicing over a quote from Claude Debussy, “I am working on things that will only be understood by the grandchildren of the twentieth century.” In choosing this quote from his lifelong hero, Sakamoto appears to signal his continuation of Debussy’s mission – foreshadowing his own decades-long success in experimental music. Next, Lennard cuts to an extreme closeup of Sakamoto’s face in stage makeup before placing us in the studio – a reel of 2″ analog tape spinning on a 24-track recorder, Sakamoto notating music on a score sheet in the control room. The abstract and the concrete – key themes of the film immediately established.

A stylish Sakamoto strikes a contemplative and very staged pose in front of the enormous video screen at Shinjuku Alta in Tokyo. On the screen we see live concert footage of Yellow Magic Orchestra performing the song “Behind the Mask.” As someone who has loved Sakamoto’s music as long as I have, and who is still grappling to comprehend his expansive solo career, I honestly have not spent much time listening to YMO. My familiarity was strictly limited to songs like “Tong Poo” and “Perspective,” which he has played as solo piano pieces over the decades. I was blown away hearing this song in the film – it immediately resonated with me and opened the door to their music.

Throughout the film, a wide range of sounds from subway stations, pachinko parlors, busy city streets, and religious festivals are heard in contrast to Sakamoto’s music. There is a scene of him in the studio overdubbing piano on the song “M.A.Y. in the Backyard” from Ongaku Zukan. The cacophonous music becomes the fitting soundtrack to scenes of Tokyo commuters, utility and construction workers operating machinery, and pedestrians crossing busy intersections – you quickly recognize this is where Sakamoto drew inspiration for the sounds he was creating.

Next we see Sakamoto performing a solo piano version of “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,” which he arranged for his 1983 album Coda – a stripped-down reinterpretation of his film score. He plays the song with vigorous authority.

There is a highly entertaining scene of Sakamoto demonstrating how to use the Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) – a groundbreaking digital synthesizer, sampler, and workstation first introduced in 1979. This was cutting-edge and incredibly expensive technology – costing around $32,000 in 1984, the same as a new Porsche 911 Carrera. Here we see Sakamoto treating it like a new toy and fumbling to show off some of its capabilities.

The most touching footage comes late in the film and features Sakamoto playing a piano duet with his wife Akiko Yano – a renowned pop and jazz musician and singer in her own right, achieving overnight success with her 1976 debut album Japanese Girl. The couple wed in 1982, and Yano frequently collaborated as a touring keyboardist and vocalist with Yellow Magic Orchestra. Lennard told Ultra Dogme in 2023, “I had asked Ryuichi Sakamoto if we could film him playing the piano at home and he said, ‘Okay, but I have to ask my wife, because in Japan, the wife is in charge of the home.’ She agreed that we could come there with our little crew to film and we brought our lunch and all had a picnic in the backyard… We asked her if she would be willing to do a duet. It was apparently a truly rare moment, totally unplanned.” The couple appear together behind the keyboard, four hands on the grand piano playing the YMO hit “Tong Poo.” This scene is juxtaposed with perfectly blended cuts of the song from the 1984 concert film YMO Propaganda. Their chemistry is palpable, both swaying to the rhythm, trusting each other fully. They end the song with smiles on their faces. Afterward, Sakamoto voices over, “There aren’t many Japanese people with whom I can work with on the same level. My wife, Akiko Yano, is an exception.” Lennard believes this is the only footage of the two playing together in their home.

At the end of the film, Sakamoto is in the studio recording piano on “Self Portrait” – a standout track from Ongaku Zukan. If this truly is a self-reflection, Sakamoto presents himself as confident, regal, and timeless – all qualities matched in the emotion of the song. Once again I am watching him play piano as the end credits roll. It’s the counterpoint to Opus. There, the technology replacing the man delivered the emotional blow. Here, the thirty-two-year-old is completely alive with so much yet to accomplish.

“Dearest Ryuichi, Would you like to play piano four hands together again? I miss you very much.”
_{– Akiko Yano, April 4, 2023}

Press play: Ryuichi Sakamoto – Tokyo Melody

Last year, before I’d heard of Tokyo Melody, I discovered the Ongaku Zukan album version of “Self Portrait.” I had only known this song as a solo piano piece from Playing the Piano 2009 Japan Self Selected. The fully produced original version reopened Sakamoto’s earlier albums for me to explore – just as Tokyo Melody opened the door to Yellow Magic Orchestra. This playlist features a selection of YMO songs, the pivotal “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,” and highlights from Sakamoto’s Ongaku Zukan. Together, they are a soundtrack to Tokyo Melody as I hear it – the sounds of Sakamoto’s Tokyo

^{Save the playlist and follow Collected Music on Spotify.}

Liner Notes

Yellow Magic Orchestra, “Perspective”
My favorite YMO track is from their seventh studio album Service, released on December 14, 1983. The sounds encapsulate everything I enjoy from this Sakamoto era. I love his lead vocal and the lyrics – mundane daily rituals that sound like tasks from the future.

Every day I open the window
Every day I brush my teeth
Every day I read the paper
Every day I see your face

Yellow Magic Orchestra, “君に、胸キュン。(浮気なヴァカンス)”
“Kimi ni, mune kyun. (A holiday affair)”
A breezy tune with a catchy melody, composed by all three members with lyrics by Takashi Matsumoto. YMO had finished their sixth album, Naughty Boys, when they were asked to write the jingle for Kanebo Cosmetics’ summer campaign. Released as a single in March 1983, two months ahead of the album, it reached number two on the Oricon chart – YMO’s highest-charting single.

Yellow Magic Orchestra, “Behind the Mask”
Sakamoto originally composed it for a Seiko watch commercial in 1978. The song was rerecorded by YMO with lyrics by Chris Mosdell for their second album Solid State Survivor, released on September 25, 1979. Michael Jackson recorded a version for Thriller, but it was cut from the album because no royalty arrangement could be agreed upon. It was also covered by Eric Clapton on his 1986 album August and released as a single in January 1987, reaching number fifteen on the UK charts.

Yellow Magic Orchestra, “音楽”
“Ongaku”
Yukihiro Takahashi’s shuffling drum rhythm drives this Naughty Boys album track. Sakamoto wrote it for Miu Sakamoto, his three-year-old daughter with Akiko Yano. The translated lyrics read like a childlike reflection on the joys of singing and dancing together.

Yellow Magic Orchestra, “ファイアークラッカー”
“Firecracker”
This cover of the 1959 Martin Denny exotica instrumental was featured on YMO’s eponymous debut album, released on November 25, 1978. Issued on the “Computer Game / Firecracker” single in the United States, it launched the band globally – YMO performed it live on Soul Train, and Afrika Bambaataa spun it in his DJ set captured live and released as Death Mix in 1983. I respect how the band’s subversive mechanization of this song twisted Western exotica stereotypes into their own success.

Ryuichi Sakamoto, “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence”
The soundtrack to Nagisa Ōshima’s film was released on May 1, 1983. Sakamoto won the BAFTA for best Score For A Film the following year. The beauty of this melody is accentuated by its simple repetition. This instrumental theme set everything in the Tokyo Melody story in motion.

Ryuichi Sakamoto, “Aopenki no Naka no Boku no Namida”
In Tokyo Melody, Sakamoto says of the Ongaku Zukan sessions, “I recorded about 30 pieces. I’ll choose about 10 of them to put on my new solo album. I might throw some of the others out, or use them for commercials, or perhaps keep them for another album.” This is one of the songs that didn’t make the album. It later surfaced on the deluxe, remastered Ongaku Zukan - 2015 Edition. The title translates to “My Tears Inside Blue Paint” – the tender melody sounds like a lullaby.

Ryuichi Sakamoto, “Paradise Lost”
The highlight of this album track from Ongaku Zukan, released in late 1984, is its rhythmic reggae swing and samples of shortwave radio. Together they create a dreamlike atmosphere. Listening for the first time, I was blown away by how much it reminded me of “Dennogiwa” and “Poesia” – two of my favorite songs from his 1995 pop masterpiece Smoochy. Sakamoto’s sonic blueprint drawn up over a decade in advance.

Ryuichi Sakamoto, “Mori no Hito”
This Ongaku Zukan album track, translated loosely as “Forest People,” is a ballad carried by a soft drumbeat and sampled bell sounds. Sakamoto delivers a bare and beautiful vocal over the atmospheric backing track.

Ryuichi Sakamoto, “M23 Ballad”
Another outtake from the Ongaku Zukan sessions appearing on the 2015 reissue, this song strikes me as a quintessential ’80s synth tune. It would have been perfect on a Jerry Bruckheimer movie soundtrack.

Ryuichi Sakamoto, “Self Portrait”
There’s a touch of Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D major in this song. I imagine it playing while students walk across the stage accepting their college diplomas – the world filled with promise, their hearts ready for adventure. It sounds like the template for David Foster and John Parr’s songs on the St. Elmo’s Fire soundtrack, a year before it came out. “Self Portrait” has become one of my favorite songs from Sakamoto’s entire career.

I never know when new music is going to move me. One day I just hear something that checks all the boxes, flows through every filter, and hits me in all the right places: the heart, the gut, the mind. That’s how I discovered Maye Osorio. I spend a lot of time in the car listening to music with my twelve-year-old son, Julian. Over the years I’ve transmitted everything he needs to hear in order to develop good taste in music – the generational exchange that is the responsibility of every parent. Now that he’s exploring music on his own with access to virtually every song ever recorded on streaming services, our drives together have become fascinating and enlightening musical journeys. He exposes me to music I would normally not have the opportunity to listen to. On one such occasion, Julian played me the latest addition to his My favs playlist, the outstanding song “See You Again (feat. Kali Uchis)” by Tyler, the Creator. It was the last track on his playlist so we decided to take a chance and let Spotify’s algorithm serve up the next few songs. It went something like this:

Ok!

Oh yeah?

Oh my.

Oh my god.

“There’s a transportive quality to these songs – the uplifting sounds and Maye’s vocal charm make her music so easy to love.”

I was immediately captivated by the sweet melodic intro of “Versos de Placer,” and completely struck by the drop and Maye’s silken and sultry voice. I had been exploring international artists for a retail music curation project (more on this in another story) and was listening to a lot of Spanish, French, and Italian music. During a deep dive later at home, my ears were primed to hear how Maye translates her Latin heritage into her songs. I adored how she embraced Brazilian bossa nova on songs like “Peter Pan” and Cuban bolero on “Tú” – effortlessly weaving different threads of Latin music through her singles. There’s a transportive quality to these songs – the uplifting sounds and Maye’s vocal charm make her music so easy to love.

Maye’s melodies are original yet familiar – sublimely crafted, and heartbreakingly beautiful. More than anything else, I discovered that Maye’s music is the perfect easy listening to deliver you from the noise, distractions, and nonsense of everyday life.

María Alejandra Osorio

Music is written into Maye’s DNA. She was born in Caracas in 1993 and raised in Miami – Venezuelan by birth, American by upbringing – the daughter of Latin Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Fernando Osorio. She started writing songs around the age of eight, at first only in English, but her father nudged her toward writing in Spanish. “My dad always told me, ‘Why don’t you write in Spanish?’ and I thought it was a nuisance,” she told Indie Rocks! in 2019. “In the end I realized it was a mistake, since I’m part of both.” Maye’s career had a quick trajectory, landing a Warner Chappell Music publishing deal after releasing her debut solo single “My Love” in March 2019. She followed with her second single “Tú” in September, which earned critical acclaim and massive online streaming success. She continued releasing a string of successful singles including “Descifrar” in early 2022. That same year she was invited to open for The Marías on their North American CINEMA tour – the same band that would ultimately lead me straight to her music four years later. To understand where Maye’s voice comes from, you have to meet her dad.

The inheritance of song

Fernando Osorio was born in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1964 and raised in Caracas. By age seven he had learned to play violin, viola, flute, and the cuatro – a four-string nylon instrument from the guitar family and the rhythmic core of Venezuelan folk music. In 1982 he met Juan Carlos Pérez in a church choir, and the two formed the pop duo Fernando y Juan Carlos. They recorded and released their charming debut album Uno, in 1985.

The album made the duo a minor pop phenomenon in Venezuela, and established their reputations as prominent pop singer-songwriters. Fernando’s breakthrough as a songwriter started in 1986, composing the song “Vamos a Dejarlo” for Ricardo Montaner’s self-titled album, which reached number one on the Billboard Latin Pop Albums chart. Two years later he wrote the hit “Sólo Con Un Beso” for Montaner’s second album, Ricardo Montaner 2, which peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart.

By 1997, Fernando had topped the charts with two songs – first with “Lloraré” written for Puerto Rican singer Jerry Rivera, reaching number one on Billboard Latin Tropical Airplay, and “Moja Mi Corazón” for Spanish pop singer Marta Sánchez, hitting number one on Billboard Latin Pop Airplay. Then in 2001, Fernando was enlisted by producer Sergio George to help reinvent the late career of the Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz. Together they wrote “La Negra Tiene Tumbao” for Cruz’s fifty-ninth studio album. The song was nominated for Record and Song of the Year at the 2002 Latin Grammy Awards. Finally, in 2003 Fernando and George co-wrote the last song Celia Cruz recorded before her death. “Ríe y Llora” was featured on her final album Regalo del Alma, topped the Billboard Tropical Songs chart for eleven weeks, and won the pair a 2004 Latin Grammy Award for Best Tropical Song.

By this time, Fernando had a ten-year-old Maye at home playing and writing music. “My earliest memories are of him singing to me,” she told Rolling Stone. Over the years he helped her start a professional music career, and around 2019 wrote a bolero for her. Interviewed by fellow musician Omar Apollo for Ladygunn in 2021, she recalled that her dad “tried to write a song pretending he was me, and he showed me the chords and I wrote the lyrics. Boleros have always been a personal thing for me and I’m happy it worked out.” The song “Tú” was her breakout hit – a year later it turned up on Barack Obama’s summer playlist.

That inheritance was on full display when she was invited to perform an NPR Tiny Desk Concert to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in September 2021. Staged inside her favorite Venezuelan restaurant in Miami, the performance is built on family and friends – her sister Ana play percussion and singing backing vocals, and her dad sitting in on the cuatro, the folk instrument from his own childhood.

Before she was Maye

Before she started her solo artist career as “Maye,” she followed her dad into the family trade of writing songs for other people – inheriting not just his music, but his profession. In 2017, Maye started writing for the likes of Colombian singer-songwriter Juan Pablo Vega, Colombian singer Fonseca, Spanish pop star Aitana, Venezuelan singer and producer Danny Ocean, Peruvian-American actress and musician Isabela Merced and Leslie Grace – a solid run of success with rising Latinx pop voices, and becoming the go-to pen for the women of her generation.

Highlights from her early songwriting years:

Juan Pablo Vega “Las Olas” single (2017) – a warm, acoustic tropical tune blending samba and calypso.

Aitana “Nada Sale Mal” from the album Spoiler (2019) – an energetic, contemporary pop song.

Danny Ocean “Dime Tú” from the Venequia album (2019) – a percussive Latin pop song co-written with Maye’s father.

Leslie Grace “Bachatica” single (2021) – a fusion of syncopated Dominican bachata with a trap-inspired beat.

For these early co-written songs, Maye put herself in the shoes of each performer, delivering something that matched their genre and cultural heritage. As she told Ladygunn, “Sometimes for other people I tap into different characters or experiences.” She can write in anyone’s voice, but there was one thing she didn’t give away – the boleros, her own heritage and the thing that sets her music apart.

bolero noun
bo-ˈle-rō
: a music genre that originated in eastern Cuba in the late nineteenth century – characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love, it has been called the “quintessential Latin American romantic song of the twentieth century.”

Hers from the start

From her earliest singles under her own name, the sound Maye kept for herself was bolero. “I’ve always loved listening to Los Panchos or Celia Cruz’s album Boleros,” she told SPIN in 2025. “I always got this nostalgic feeling from that time when I heard them. I grew up with them and wanted to make them my own.” And like a ghost from the past, Celia Cruz re-enters the room, tying together these two threads – Maye’s teenage bolero obsession and her father writing Celia’s last recorded song. Which brings us back to “Tú,” Maye’s breakout single. This is the song her father co-wrote “pretending he was me,” the song that Maye described to Rolling Stone as “a tribute to all old boleros.” The bolero – the yearning torch song driven by bongos and acoustic guitar – runs through Maye’s singles all the way up to her 2025 debut album Música Para Abrir El Cielo.

Maye’s signature move was reinventing bolero. These songs were never for sale – they were hers from the start.

Full circle

Maye has built her career inside the Venezuelan diaspora and the music community that runs through Miami. Writing songs for Venezuelan artists, guesting on tracks by others, staging her NPR Tiny Desk at her favorite Venezuelan restaurant, La Latina – she has put her heritage front and center, building a community and a career on her roots. As she prepared to embark on her debut headline Música Para Abrir El Cielo Tour – 18 U.S. cities over the summer of 2025 – she enlisted the perfect opening act: her dad. Fernando Osorio walking on stage with an acoustic guitar to play his hits before his daughter played the boleros she’d made her own.

I look back at my own discovery of Maye and can’t help but smile. My son Julian’s playlist opened the door and handed her to me. Now I’m passing her on to you. I hope her music moves you too.

Here’s a concert film from Maye’s headline show at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles on August 2, 2025.

Press play: Discover Maye

There’s a common vibe across her songs, but each is its own sonic landscape – new voices, textures, and emotions that make the listening engaging. For this playlist I’ve hand-picked 12 songs spanning her career so far.

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Liner Notes

Six highlights I keep coming back to.

“Favorite Place”
An airy pop song built on melancholic synths and a tender vocal, every instrument played with a delicate touch. The lo-fi lead guitar throughout is entrancing.

“Tú”
The way this song builds is brilliant. A slide guitar lead, bass, and vibraphone meet bolero percussion and Maye’s subdued vocal, making room for the chorus to breathe. Each verse adds another layer. A perfect pop song.

“Yours”
An ’80s-inspired, synth-laden groove. The melodies in this one make me melt – my favorite song she’s released.

“Peter Pan”
Built almost entirely on acoustic instruments and percussion, this one hits more Latin notes than anything else in her catalog, right down to the classic trumpet section.

“Luna de Miel”
Warm and hazy late-night vibes – the blend of synth pads and percussion is sublime. It’s the soundtrack to a dream.

“Kaleidoscope”
Bare and intimate, with experimental percussion and electronics balanced against soft synths and tremolo guitar. Maye strips everything away and loses nothing.

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have been making music together as Pet Shop Boys for four decades. Neil – intellectual, observant, and articulate, Chris – stoic, deadpan, and enigmatic – their dynamic and witty partnership has yielded many of the greatest pop songs of a generation. Longevity isn’t their most remarkable accomplishment – it’s that after forty years, they continue to release vital and relevant music that reaches millions of listeners around the world.

I was twelve years old when I first heard the street noise and iconic Oberheim DMX hi-hat in the opening strains of “West End Girls.” Neil’s half-spoken vocal, the bassline and the synth-pop sounds in this song transported me to a place I’d never imagined – escapism beyond the myopic scope of my childhood. Over the summer of 1986 I listened to my older brother’s cassette of their debut album Please hundreds of times. It was the first music that expanded my horizons beyond the suburbs of Dallas, Texas – and for this reason alone, Pet Shop Boys are a significant influence in my life. I’ve been a fanatical Pethead ever since.

Pet Shop Boys are the most successful duo in UK music history. Over the past forty years they’ve released 15 studio albums, 5 live albums, 9 compilations, 5 remix albums, 5 soundtracks, and over 70 singles – selling more than 100 million records worldwide. Their singles include 4 number ones, 22 top-10 hits, and another 20 reaching the top 30 on the UK Singles Chart. In May 2022, the duo embarked on a ongoing victory lap around the world with their Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live tour, performing to well over a million people across 108 shows in 27 countries. So how does a band at the peak of their success celebrate forty years of overachieving pop dominance? In true Pet Shop Boys fashion, just what you'd least expect – they took a break from their world tour to host seven intimate club shows across London and Berlin, where they intentionally didn't play any of the hits.

Obscure, London, April 6–10, 2026

Obscure Pet Shop Boys was a week-long residency running from April 6–10, 2026, at the Electric Ballroom in Camden Town, London, providing an extraordinary opportunity to see the global icons in an intimate club setting. The shows were promoted with the promise to only play “b-sides, album tracks and fan favourites” – an even more extraordinary reward for the true fans who secured tickets. The Electric Ballroom holds just 1,500 people. To no one’s surprise, all five nights sold out in minutes.

As a diehard fan with a soft spot for their warm and wistful ballads, I’d often fantasized about this type of Pet Shop Boys show – a small, somber affair, Neil and Chris dressed to the nines, perhaps in tuxedos. The closest I’d come to realizing this dream happened in 1998 while living in London and working at Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley’s Westside Studios. I was home in my garden flat on Saturday night, April 11, 1998. Gin and tonic in hand, I retired to the couch to watch the BBC Two broadcast of the Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noël Coward star-studded charity gala held on January 15, 1998, in the ballroom of the Park Lane Hotel, Green Park, London. Organized by Neil Tennant, the concert and accompanying album released on April 20, 1998, raised funds for the Red Hot AIDS Charitable Trust. Alongside stellar performances that night from Elton John, Suede, Marianne Faithfull, The Divine Comedy (absolutely sublime), Sting, and Robbie Williams – I was deeply moved by Pet Shop Boys’ beautiful renditions of Noël Coward’s “Sail Away” and “If Love Were All.” Chris in his finest Stüssy SS Link cap and black fur coat, and Neil actually wearing a tuxedo, the duo’s performance was as tender and endearing as I’d always imagined. You can watch the entire show hosted by VHS Artifacts on YouTube. I’ve cued up the Pet Shop Boys appearance below.

When the dates for the Obscure Pet Shop Boys shows were announced, to my good fortune, I happened to have holiday travel booked to London with my wife and twelve-year-old son. I was going to be able to catch the first show.

“Tonight, no hits. B-sides. Album tracks. Fan favourites.”

Due to the Electric Ballroom’s 14+ age policy, I did not get to fulfill my standing promise to take my son to his first Pet Shop Boys show (technically he attended the Electric Tour in utero in 2013). With the family tucked away at the hotel in Soho, I set off on a solo voyage to Camden Town. The sun was still up as the taxi let me off near the venue. The scene outside was subdued – only a few concertgoers milling around. Inside, however, was an entirely different world. The ballroom was already packed, and the energy was buzzing. Original Blitz Kids scenester Princess Julia was setting the mood with an energetic DJ set of electro-house, Italo-disco, and Hi-NRG bangers. I took in the pre-show entertainment while queuing for the Pet Shop Boys Lounge – a premium merch experience offering one-off clothing, autographed records, and memorabilia.

I soon settled into the crowd about halfway back, in direct view of Chris Lowe’s keyboard setup, just as Princess Julia wrapped up her set. While the DJ equipment was whisked off stage, I made friends with a few adjacent fans who had also traveled from North America for the show. Before we could properly share our experience so far, the pre-show music “Music for Boys” erupted from the speakers and before we knew it, the show was beginning. The audience was gripped by intense excitement and anticipation as the band walked on stage. Neil stood center stage near a seated music lectern he’d use later to read lyrics during the night’s live debuts, Chris on stage left behind two synthesizers and a computer screen. The duo were joined by touring stalwart Clare Uchima, a deeply talented multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, “new drummer” Max Blunos, and longtime programmer and music director Pete Gleadall with his playback technician Alan Pollard, lurking behind screens and racks of computer equipment. We all had songs we wanted to hear and knew we wouldn’t get, songs we didn’t know we wanted that we might get, and songs we’d completely forgotten about that would deliver sheer surprise during the show. All of our wondering about the obscure possibilities would soon come to an end.

Much will be shared later in this story about the music actually played on this and subsequent nights, but let’s say Pet Shop Boys delivered the goods. I was so satisfied by the seventh song, I could have gone home completely fulfilled. The opening run included Please fan favorite “Two Divided by Zero” and the first-ever performance of “Jack the Lad,” a b-side from the same era. Then came “To Face the Truth,” one of my favorite ballads from Behaviour, followed by three more live debuts in a row – including Bilingual-era b-side “Hit and Miss” and a song I’d completely forgotten about, the one that delivered my sheer surprise: “Always,” a b-side from the Release era.

Throughout the show, Neil and Chris were incredibly relaxed – relishing an evening of low stakes and high expectations, with no pressure to meet them. Neil provided levity and banter between songs, introducing many of them and probably making it up as he went along. The sound in the venue was exceptional. With no amplifiers on stage, the volume stayed at a comfortable level without losing any energy from the performance. Every detail in the music was perfectly in place – the mix balanced, each synth sound and riff immediate and recognizable. It was a feast for the ears. Rarely have I heard a band sound this good in a room this small.

On the opening night of Obscure, the night I attended – Pet Shop Boys played 10 songs live for the first time ever, including a new song “I Dream of a Better Tomorrow” that is yet to be released, with many others performed for the first time in over 30 years. Across all 5 sold-out London shows, they played 34 unique songs (22 to 23 each night), including 17 live debuts.

Obskur, Berlin, July 12–13, 2026

The duo continued their fortieth anniversary celebration, bringing the acclaimed Obscure concept to Berlin’s historic Huxleys Neue Welt for two exclusive Obskur Pet Shop Boys shows on July 12–13, 2026. As in London, both shows at the 1,600-person venue sold out within minutes.

Over the two Berlin Obskur shows, the duo performed 28 unique songs, including 2 live debuts – “Party in the Blitz” and “The Resurrectionist,” neither of which was performed in London. In total, Pet Shop Boys performed 36 unique songs and 19 live debuts, with 6 songs played just once across the entire run.

The table below compares the setlists from all seven nights, highlighting live debuts, one-night-only performances, and special guest appearances.

What they played

The first of two Obscure playlists presents every song from the entire run of concerts, in the relative order they were performed across all seven shows – with the exception of “I Dream of a Better Tomorrow,” which has never been commercially released.

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Liner Notes

Highlights from what they played.

“Jack the Lad”
B-side to “Suburbia” – released on September 22, 1986, as the fourth and final single from their debut album, Please. From Chris Lowe’s evocative piano playing – echoing Erik Satie’s “Gymnopédie No. 1” – to the sounds, melodies, and arrangement, this song captures the sonics and mood of the entire Please era.

“Always”
B-side to “Home and Dry” – released on March 18, 2002, as the lead single from their eighth studio album, Release. Hauntingly beautiful, astonishingly chill, and incredibly simple – this song is in my Pet Shop Boys top 10.

“Do I Have To?”
B-side to “Always on My Mind” – non-album single, released on November 30, 1987. A far superior song to its a-side, which reached the coveted Christmas number-one chart position in 1987. The deeply emotional production and complex arrangement would not have been out of place on the album Actually.

“The Theatre”
Album track from their fifth studio album Very – released on September 27, 1993. From the energetic intro giving way to such a sweet melody, to the drama of the chorus, this song always evokes mental images of London – Regent Street, Soho, Regent’s Park. I loved it from the first time I heard it.

“It Couldn’t Happen Here”
Album track from their second studio album Actually – released on September 7, 1987. This mournful, cinematic song is an unlikely collaboration with legendary Italian composer Ennio Morricone. The underlying music was composed by Morricone for the 1983 French film Le Marginal but left out of the final cut. Pet Shop Boys kept the chorus and built the song around it. Morricone’s original remained unreleased until 1999. Have a listen:

“Miserablism”
B-side to “Was It Worth It?” – non-album single, released on December 9, 1991 – one of two singles released to promote their first greatest hits album, Discography: The Complete Singles Collection. My first exposure to this highly arpeggiated, upbeat pop song was a year before the single was released, having acquired it on the mini-CD single included in the Japanese special edition box set of Behaviour, which I purchased from RPM Records on Centerville Road, Garland, Texas, November 1990.

“King of Rome”
Album track from their tenth studio album Yes – released on March 23, 2009. Neil wrote this song using Napoleon’s son as a symbol of exile and tragic loneliness – a theme completely upheld in its lush synths and airy production. It’s my favorite song from Yes, and I was stunned to hear Pet Shop Boys perform it live for the very first time in London.

“Requiem in Denim and Leopardskin”
Album track from their eleventh studio album Elysium – released on September 10, 2012. Neil wrote this elegy about the December 2005 funeral of famed makeup artist Lynne Easton, who helped Boy George refine his look in the 1980s. She also handled makeup for Pet Shop Boys’ publicity and video shoots, the Performance (1991) and Discovery (1994) tours, and the Somewhere residency at London’s Savoy Theatre (1997). It’s a glittering tribute to the excess of the 1970s and ’80s London scene.

What they didn’t

Very few bands are as prolific or generous as Pet Shop Boys. For every single they’ve released over the decades, there are two or three times as many excellent b-sides. These aren’t throwaway tracks recorded to satisfy a record label. They’re songs written and demoed with the same intention, production value, and attention to detail as anything that made the albums. There were a hundred songs I would have loved to hear in person in London. This companion playlist collects my absolute favorites among the “b-sides, album tracks and fan favourites” that didn’t get played – presented in chronological order.

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Liner Notes

Highlights from what they left out.

“My October Symphony”
Album track from their fourth studio album Behaviour – released on October 22, 1990. This song is a mini pop masterpiece written about the Bolshevik October Revolution. Every element is perfectly in place, from the percussive beat and bouncing bassline to the wah-wah guitar, incredible backing vocals, and exquisite string arrangement by Richard Niles. It’s the sound of autumn.

“Hey, Headmaster”
B-side to “Can You Forgive Her?” – released on June 1, 1993, as the lead single from their fifth studio album, Very. The sampled drums and bassline groove elevate this melancholic gem to varsity-level greatness. It’s a reflective song in which Neil takes an empathetic tone toward an uptight school headmaster, then offers great advice in the bridge – “There’s an invitation in the post / to a reading party on the coast.”

“It Always Comes as a Surprise”
Album track from their sixth studio album Bilingual – released on September 2, 1996. This bossa-nova-inspired song opens with a mysteriously edited, backward sample of “Corcovado” by Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, and features a heavily Getz-inspired saxophone solo after the bridge. It’s not only Pet Shop Boys’ most beautiful and tender love song, but it contains Neil Tennant’s most direct and poetic lyrics:

I don’t know why
it always comes as a surprise
to find I’m here with you
You smile and I am rubbing my eyes
at a dream come true

“The View From Your Balcony”
B-side to “Somewhere” – non-album single, released on June 23, 1997. The a-side is a cover of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s hit from West Side Story. The b-side is probably my favorite Pet Shop Boys non-album track – another gorgeous love song about the irony of the breathtaking panoramic London view from a lover’s tower-block apartment.

“Sail Away”
Cover song featured on the tribute album Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noël Coward – released on April 20, 1998. The production of this song perfectly captures the feelings of freedom and ascension – two essential themes from Noël Coward’s romantic ballad about escaping heartbreak by taking an ocean voyage. “Sail Away” has navigated me through many tough times.

“Silver Age”
B-side to “I Don’t Know What You Want but I Can’t Give It Any More” – released on July 19, 1999, as the lead single from their seventh studio album, Nightlife. This is one of Pet Shop Boys’ most compelling soundscapes. Driven by a lumbering rhythm, strings, and ethereal guitar stabs, the song shines and fades at the same time.

“Burning the Heather (radio edit)”
Album track from their fourteenth studio album Hotspot – also released as a 7-inch single on December 13, 2019. This radio edit cuts out an entire verse and flows much better than the album version. It’s a beautiful, sweeping, autumnal reflection on loss and personal rebirth, and features Bernard Butler on acoustic guitar. The b-side “Decide” is also on the playlist – a driving dance track containing a rare and fantastic vocal from Chris Lowe, who sings:

Do we want to fight
or do we want to love?
Can’t we just live together?
Do we want to stay
or do we want to run?
Could this dream not last forever?

“The Lost Room”
Track on the Lost EP – released on April 14, 2023. The brooding music, electronic textures, and bright percussion counter Neil’s dark lyrics about Austro-Hungarian military school bullying, based on the 1906 Robert Musil novel The Confusions of Young Törless.

Special thanks to Wayne Studer, Ph.D., whose website Commentary – interpretation and analysis of every song by Pet Shop Boys – helped me find the story within the story for this edition of Liner Notes.

Welcome to Collected, my home for sharing stories about music worth discovering. I am a music obsessive. As far back as I have memories, they all include music – the soundtrack and driving force in my life. I’m a musician and performer. I’ve worked professionally in recording studios. I’m a record collector and music curator, but most importantly I’m a fan.

“Collected is a transmitter of discovery moments for music you haven’t heard yet, aimed at sparking the same passion in you that it sparked in me.”

Collected gives me the curatorial authority to write about the the music I love and tell the stories from my unique experiences. Some of you will find Collected because we listen to the same records – I want you to feel seen. But in its purest form, Collected is a transmitter of discovery moments for music you haven’t heard yet, aimed at sparking the same passion in you that it sparked in me.

About the author

I grew up in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas, and currently live in Atlanta, Georgia. These two places, and everywhere in between, are recurring locations in my stories. I’m married and my wife and I have a 12 year old son who has embarked on his own music exploration. They’ll turn up here from time to time too.

At the time of posting this introduction I’m 51 years old. This puts my sweet spot on the musical timeline between 1984-1996 although my taste extends well beyond these years in both directions. I listen to music broadly ranging from left-of-mainstream to the esoteric. Collected will neither appeal to the masses nor alienate the uninitiated – it sits in that interesting space in between.

A few non-negotiable truths

1. Paul Weller is a god.

2. My first true love was Depeche Mode.

3. I generally prefer synthesizers over guitars.

4. I was eq’d for melancholy music from a very early age.

5. I sympathize with anyone whose adolescent soundtrack wasn’t sung by Morrissey.

“just when you least expect it, just what you least expect”
_{– Neil Tennant, Pet Shop Boys “Love Comes Quickly”}

Press play: Just what you least expect

Putting a playlist together is an art form to me, a creative expression of balance and flow – unexpected styles, eras and moods, blending and shifting together to create a unique listening experience. There’s no better way for me to share what Collected is about than for you to hear it with your own ears. The first playlist is anchored by foundational artists Pet Shop Boys, The Style Council, and Ryuichi Sakamoto, to name a few, surrounded by recently discovered artists, representative styles, eras and moods that capture the essence of Collected. It’s filled with surprises and detours, and like Neil Tennant sings on Love Comes Quickly, “just when you least expect it, just what you least expect.” I hope you discover something that moves you.

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This is just the beginning. The music and stories I have to share have been with me for decades – now they have a home. Stay tuned in.

Liner Notes

If you’re like me, you’ve spent countless hours thumbing through cassette jackets, CD booklets, and LP inner sleeves, reading every word while the music plays. Liner notes are the key to decoding the mystery in the music – or sometimes adding to it. Whether it was lyrics, production credits, or a thank-you list of meaningless names, that bonus information provided a connection to the artist and made the experience deeper. Here are a few words on each track in the Collected playlist, in the order they appear.

Tamaryn, “Cranekiss”
LA-based Kiwi whose 2015 release evokes the best of 1980-90’s alternative, dark wave and shoegaze.

The Style Council, “A Man Of Great Promise”
See fact #1 above.

White Denim, “A Place to Start”
A smooth, shuffling, keyboard groove from Austin, Texas, stylistic chameleons.

Saint Etienne, “Glad”
The last stop on a 35 year journey that I’ve been on since day one. Featuring contributions from Chemical Brother, Tom Rowlands, and Doves guitarist Jez Williams, this song is as good as they come.

The Style Council, “My Ever Changing Moods”
In my opinion, Weller’s best tune. Indulge me in indulging myself.

Damien Jurado, “Call Me, Madame (Non-Smoking Version)”
Out of left field instrumental with a Motown feel from prolific Seattle-based singer songwriter. He’ll get a Collected album feature in the future.

Slowdive, “40 Days”
The best song from the best shoegaze band, period.

Chapterhouse, “Mesmerise”
Transcendent opening track from non-album EP released in the wake of their monumental debut album Whirlpool. This song is a revelation. More on it to come.

Lloyd Cole, “Travelling Light”
A delightfully bright star in the oftentimes dour universe of beloved Commotions front man. One of my favorites of his career.

The High Llamas, “Cookie Bay”
An accessible tune from a foundational band featuring Mary Hansen and Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab on lead vocals. Two birds, one stone.

O & The Mo, “Make Way For The Sun”
I know very little about this duo from Wellington, New Zealand, but I know I love the hushed, melancholy and surreal sonic landscape they’ve created.

Lords of Lounge, “Abigél”
A sublime guitar instrumental, beautifully recorded and performed by Berlin-based virtuosos.

Tindersticks, “Stars at Noon”
The Nottingham, England, troubadours wrote a song so beautiful and cinematic (composed as the title track for the 2022 film of the same name) there will be a Collected feature about it.

Ryuichi Sakamoto, “Tango”
The perfect introduction to the great Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto highlighting his piano playing, pop production, a rare vocal performance and his penchant for bossa nova.

Pet Shop Boys, “Love comes quickly”
An excellent place to start, but literally replace it with any song by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe. Pet Shop Boys are a desert island duo.

Neggy Gemmy, “Mysterious Girl”
FKA Negative Gemini, AKA Lindsey French, this song and the 2025 album it’s included on where my highlight of last year. Seeking inspiration from 1990-93 Saint Etienne and flawlessly executed.

The Clientele, “Geometry of Lawns”
A vital blend of 1960s influenced hazy, swirling chamber pop from the band that started my obsession for collecting vinyl 25 years ago.

Pernice Brothers, “Discover a Lovelier You”
A lovely instrumental from a lovely album of perfectly crafted indie rock songs.

Candyland, “Something To Somebody”
A lost gem from early 1990s London-based alternative dance no-hit-wonders. Remarkably discovered 35 years ago on the airwaves of alternative radio in Dallas.

Diamond Day, “Fiction Feel XR (Robin Guthrie Remix)”
Included as an homage to foundational band Cocteau Twins – a young Montreal duo discovered by way of this remix by Cocteau guitar maestro Robin Guthrie.

Satoshi & Makoto, “Diverge Grid”
Recently discovered Japanese ambient electronica representative of my love for this style of hypnotic, uplifting instrumental music.

Presence, “Act of Faith”
Haircut One Hundred, Prefab Sprout, China Crisis, The Smiths, and James nicely packaged together in this The Cure adjacent, quintessential sounding 1980-90s UK indie rock song.

The Smiths, “Half a Person”
See fact #5 above. A keystone tune from my adolescent soundtrack.