Essential Listening at 35,000 Feet

Airlines do their best to provide a decent selection of in-flight entertainment. They are, however, usually more focused on licensing the most inexpensive possible content, rather than focusing on delivering the best music to enjoy on board. Frequent fliers will know this and should always have a curated selection of “go to” classics saved on their devices. Here, I share my essential listening that keeps me sane on long haul voyages.

William Orbit – Pieces In a Modern Style

Probably somewhat tragically, this is my sleep music for any voyage. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t gripping music, but Orbit’s reinvention of classical pieces as ambient, largely synth based ethereal works provides the perfect chill-out background palette for relaxing and drowning out noisy neighbours. It is best experienced on a pair of decent noise cancelling headphones to immerse yourself in the rich world.

Orbit also did a Pieces in a Modern Style 2, although I prefer the first album for listening on streaming services. The second record comes bundled with dance mixes which – while cool – are maybe not the best transition from relaxing. The two records were released quite a long way apart with the second album coming in 2010, so perhaps we’re due for another addition to the series soon.

Soulwax – Essential

As the story goes, Soulwax were asked to do a two hour DJ mix. Instead, they decided to simply make an hour of new music, and themed the whole thing around the word “Essential.”

The record has an odd start (including a narrator describing the above), but it’s an hour of a smooth mix of new electronic music that’s easy to get into to pass the time, albeit with a few typically wacky and challenging parts scattered throughout.

The highlights would be “Essential Three” and “Essential Four,” by which point the listener should be deep in the groove. Essential listening indeed.

The Kajitsu Playlist

According to the New York Times, legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto walked out of restaurant Kajitsu owing to how bad the shop’s music was. Then, he got in touch with the chef and assembled this collection. It is meant to have transformed the experience for customers at Kajitsu, and while I haven’t experienced that restaurant yet, it is certainly on the to do list.

This is a very soothing, piano led playlist, and while it is meant as the soundtrack to a dining experience, it also works well on planes. The relaxing collection is perfect for gazing out of the window, tuning out the cabin noise or simply drifting off to sleep.

As should be expected, the segues here are seamless.

Brian Eno – Music for Airports

It’s always funny to me how many airlines try to create a cool vibe by playing various kinds of ambient music, low-fi dance (think: a bargain basement Hotel Costes) or even inoffensive classic pop hits when you board their planes.

Perhaps this is an obvious choice for this list – nominative determinism etcetera and so on – but the understated moods that punctuate this 48 minute ambient instrumental work make for perfect airplane listening. It quite literally does what it says on the tin.

The calmness of this record makes it ideal for relaxing moments in what can be an otherwise hectic travel experience. It is good music both to lull one to sleep or to drown out other undesired sounds. It even sounds good when played quietly among the din of onboard announcements. Music for Airports is a record that was very much both of and ahead of its time. Airlines would do well to consider it.

Blur – The Magic Whip

It’s possible that this is a strange choice. The Magic Whip is so disconnected from the band’s popular output that it can in fact feel more like one of its members’ various side projects (although it did, for the first time in 16 years, contain all of the quartet’s constituent parts).

It is rare that an album recorded in a very particular location not only takes on so much of that environment, but translates it somewhat accurately to record. That said, this Hong Kong inspired – and largely recorded – LP does very well to translate the moods and sounds of that incredible city.

The album even goes as far as to namecheck places that have been special to me in my travels to that region (Lantau Island, etc). While this album is not exclusively tied to Hong Kong, and while I certainly do not exclusively travel to Asia’s World City on my journeys to that region, the feelings and sounds in this album never fail to fill me with happy thoughts and plenty of inspiration to go to a far off part of our world.

n.b.: It should be said that it is also not the first Damon Albarn related work to be connected to Hong Kong. A beautiful Gorillaz b-side was in fact titled after/recorded in the city some 10 years prior.