Talkhouse Weekend Playlist: MARBLES’ Musical Friendship

Classic prog rock, jazz beats, and "fire flate" awaits.

This weekend’s playlist centers around musical friendships. Based out of Kolbotn, Norway, MARBLES is an indie-pop group who just released their second album, Humour, last Friday. Check out the album’s closing track, “Cold Water.” The band’s shimmering indie/dream pop sound is reminiscent of fellow countrymen Gold Celeste (revisit their weekend playlist here). Producer and synth player Adrian E. Sandberg compiled these songs that the band has traded between each other over the years. It’s a playlist that describes their friendship.
—Keenan Kush, Talkhouse Director of Operations

Caroline Polachek — “Billions”
An electronic production masterpiece, and that is putting it lightly. If we ever get to make something even close to this quality, I think we all could die happy. How the song moves, all the details, everything is just pushing the limits of electronic production in a very magical way. And her voice, I mean… words can’t describe how beautifully she sings.

King Crimson — “I Talk To The Wind”
An oldie, but also a Goldie! A song from arguably the best progressive rock record ever. The best songs just transcend genre and time. I don’t look at this as a progressive rock song; it is more in the folk genre and the drums are very jazz-oriented, but it still is its own thing. Makes you feel like you are in another magical world.

Daniel Ögren, Anna Ahnlund — “Idag”
This song predates their project Dina Ögon. Love them, but this particular song has a certain magic to it. I remember hearing this for the first time while taking the Amtrak from New York to Hudson — which was also the first time for some of us being in the States. It was such an adventure, and this song is an adventure of its own.

Judee Sill — “The Kiss”
Imagine sitting on a rock by a huge river: It’s summer and you are watching the sunset. On each side of the river, there are only trees. A road made by a tractor is the only thing connecting the edge of the river and the main road with some acres of forest in between. Bugs are dancing on the surface of the water. “The Kiss” by Judy Sills plays from the car speakers.

Jungle — “All of the Time”
This song is just pure joy. The drum sound here is one of our favorite drum sounds. Organic and tasty disco beat — “fire flate*,” as we say in Norway. (*Four flat/four on the floor)

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — “Work This Time”
Early Gizzard — this record is almost 10 years old! And their third record out of… I’ve lost count. Their pace is extraordinary, and they put out so much interesting stuff. But never forget the old ones, it is really good stuff!

Sam Evian — “Time to Melt”
Speaking of good stuff, this is an artist/musician/producer that deserves much more attention. This is the title track of an album that probably is our most played record collectively in the band. It is so good and has a beautiful balance and flow to it. This particular song is just so cool in the way it bounces along like a rabbit on a mushroom trip. You just feel good.

Kavinsky — “Nightcall”
Yup, the song from the movie Drive with Ryan Gosling. So badass.

Frank Zappa — “Peaches En Regalia”
This is the music we put on when we go full on deep dive music nerd, usually accompanied with a glass of wine while air-drumming to the jazz beat. The whole album is killer.

Bon Iver — “Holocene”
When Marius (our drummer) throws us out of his apartment after a night of partying and/or listening to music, he often serenades us goodbye with this song. It is beautiful, but Marius plays it and sings it even more beautifully. He says he does it to impress the ladies, but we think he just loves to sing it to his friends. And yes, it is forever caught on camera.