What Music Do You Listen To?¶

People often ask me what kind of music I listen to, and in my mind I almost never remember. Today I wanted to write a little bit more about the music I listen to and share some of my favorite albums with you. A lot of this has been co-written with the Spotify API, so everything is as true as it can be.

I think my couple of favorite artists are just Chet Baker, Daniel Caesar, and Mk.gee. There's a kind of longing that I really resonate with. Artists like HYUKOH as well, but I also like to listen to a lot of guitar and ambient, trumpet and a bunch of other things.

Ambient¶

Ambient is probably the genre I play the most, primarily because it plays in the background forever while I work for many hours without interrupting anything. It doesn't pull at your attention the way most music does — it just holds the room.

Nala Sinephro¶

London-based harpist and composer, Barbadian-Belgian. Part of the South London jazz scene alongside Floating Points and Yussef Dayes, but her sound is the most inward of any of them. She was honestly the first ambient artist I really got into — Space 1.8 especially has a special place in my heart. Worth noting that not all of it is easy listening: the first couple tracks are smooth, but things get pretty heavy at points. Which is actually part of what I love about it.

Space 1.8¶

The one that started it. Long arcs of harp and synth that feel like watching light move through water — and then, without warning, something heavier comes through. That contrast is what makes it worth returning to.

Endlessness¶

The follow-up, and she went even further inward. More orchestral, more patient. The title is accurate.

Floating Points¶

Sam Shepherd — British musician and neuroscientist. Came up through the London club scene making modular electronics, then pivoted toward jazz and orchestral work. One of the few artists who sounds equally at home in a warehouse and a concert hall.

Promises (with Pharoah Sanders & London Symphony Orchestra)¶

One continuous piece across nine movements. Like Sinephro, it starts smooth and gets heavy — there's real weight in the later movements. Pharoah Sanders was 90 years old when this was recorded, and you can hear a lifetime in every note.

Leon Vynehall¶

British electronic musician who makes conceptual records — the kind where there's a story underneath the sound even if it's never stated. His music has a warmth that most electronic music doesn't bother with.

Nothing Is Still¶

A concept album about his grandparents emigrating to New York. The opening track, From The Sea/It Looms (Chapters I & II), is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music — the way it builds and resolves feels like watching a city arrive out of fog. If you only listen to one thing on this list, make it that track.

92914¶

Japanese lo-fi and ambient artist. Minimal information available — which suits the music. Quiet guitar, soft percussion, the feeling of being somewhere late at night. I found the first record at 2am and it hasn't left my rotation.

By The Calm Water¶

Where I started. Night is the track. Quiet and unhurried in a way that feels earned rather than ambient-by-default.

Home¶

Companion record, same mood. Someday is the one — quiet guitar, late-night feeling, nothing explained.

Okinawa¶

Named after the island. The whole record sounds like being somewhere warmer than where you actually are.

Classic Jazz¶

Chet Baker¶

American jazz trumpeter and vocalist, 1929–1988. My most-played artist, all time. His voice and trumpet tone are essentially the same instrument — soft, unhurried, and a little heartbroken. He is honestly the reason I learned to play the trumpet. Time After Time is a song I want to play at my future bride's wedding. My Funny Valentine I've memorized on trumpet and sing to my lover. There's something in what he does with space and silence that I keep trying to understand.

Chet Baker Sings¶

The one that started everything. Recorded 1954, still sounds like 3am. Every standard on here has been covered a thousand times, and his versions are still the ones I go back to.

I Can Dream, Can't I?¶

One of my most-played tracks. The restraint in his phrasing is remarkable — he knows exactly when not to sing, which is rarer than it sounds.

Ryo Fukui¶

Japanese jazz pianist, 1948–2016. Largely self-taught. Spent his whole life in Sapporo, barely toured, barely left Japan. For years his records were nearly impossible to find outside the country. The internet eventually found him and now he has the cult following he always deserved.

Scenery¶

Recorded in 1976 in Sapporo. Piano trio jazz that sounds like it was made in a snowstorm — clear, cold, and alive. Like Sinephro and Promises, it has a heaviness in places that catches you off guard. His touch on the keys is something else.

Frank Sinatra¶

American singer, 1915–1998. The voice of the 20^th century, which is not an exaggeration. His phrasing — the way he breathes through a lyric, the way he sits behind the beat — is something every vocalist since has had to reckon with.

Nothing But The Best¶

Fly Me to the Moon is the reason I'm here. There are songs that feel like wishing for snow in spring — nostalgic for something that hasn't quite passed yet. That's this song. It's impossible to hear it and not feel something.

鈴木 弘 (Hiroshi Suzuki)¶

Japanese jazz trombonist and bandleader. His 1975 album Cat became a cult classic of Japanese jazz-funk decades after it was recorded — warm, melodic, and with a production quality that still holds up. I found him the same way most people do: through a YouTube rabbit hole at midnight.

キャット (Cat)¶

Jazz-funk from 1975, and one of the warmest-sounding records I know. ロマンス has one of the most immediately inviting opening bars of any album in my library.

R&B¶

Daniel Caesar¶

Canadian R&B singer-songwriter from Toronto. He makes records about intimacy — not romance exactly, but the feeling of being close to another person and not quite being able to say what you mean. Every album he's made is worth listening to start to finish. His voice is one of the great voices working right now.

Son Of Spergy¶

His latest. Every track does something interesting with space and silence. The features are perfect — Sampha, Bon Iver, Yebba. The longest album he's made and it doesn't drag anywhere.

NEVER ENOUGH¶

More polished, more commercial — but Ocho Rios is one of his best songs and that alone justifies it.

H.E.R.¶

Where he broke through. Best Part is still one of the most perfectly constructed R&B songs of the last decade — quieter and more personal than anything he's done since.

Frank Ocean¶

American singer-songwriter from Long Beach. Two studio albums in fifteen years, and both of them are landmarks. He writes about memory and longing and the distance between people in a way that doesn't feel like writing — it feels like something he couldn't help saying.

Blonde¶

The only thing I listened to for my entire first four months in New York City. Every time I hear it now I'm back in Bushwick — taking the L, walking to whatever I was walking to, doing all of it for the first time. I don't think there's another album that does that to me. It's permanently embedded in a specific place and time.

Moon River¶

A cover of the Audrey Hepburn classic, two minutes long. He does more with restraint here than most artists do with full albums.

daoud¶

Independent R&B artist. His music is minimal and a little raw — bedroom recordings that stayed bedroom recordings because that's the right format for what he's saying.

soda¶

Lo-fi R&B that sounds like a text you weren't supposed to send. The production is stripped back so you end up listening to the words whether you meant to or not.

YELLOW黃宣¶

Taiwanese singer-songwriter and actor. Makes music that sits between indie pop and experimental R&B — bilingual, with a production sensibility that doesn't fit neatly into any scene.

翅膀和泥土¶

The title translates to something like "Wings and Soil." The title track loops in my head for days — melodically intricate without being fussy.

Indie Soul¶

Mk.gee¶

American guitarist and songwriter, real name Mike Sclafani. Just incredible guitar. He plays it the way Chet Baker plays trumpet — you're always aware of the silence around the notes. His sound is hard to place: too slow for indie rock, too guitar-driven for R&B, too weird for either. I have nine tracks from Two Star in my all-time top 50.

Two Star & The Dream Police¶

His debut album. Guitar-driven, slow, slightly off-kilter — sounds like it was recorded in a room where everyone was half-asleep in the best way. Put it on and let it run.

ROCKMAN¶

A single, but the title track is a statement of intent. Three minutes of exactly what he does, distilled.

Fool¶

Earlier EP, before the sound fully crystallized. The bones of Two Star are already here.

Lonely Fight¶

One song. Plays like a closing argument. I keep coming back to it.

Dijon¶

American singer-songwriter Dijon Duenas, from Los Angeles. His music sits at the intersection of R&B, soul, and something that sounds almost like classic country — confessional, melodic, and not interested in being fashionable.

Baby¶

His debut album. R&B that leans toward classic soul — Baby! opens the record and you know immediately what kind of artist he is.

Absolutely¶

Earlier EP with a rawer, more country-adjacent feel. The Dress and Big Mike's are two of his best songs. Worth going back to after Baby.

Tom Misch¶

British guitarist, producer, and singer from London. Started releasing music as a teenager from his bedroom — jazz guitar layered over hip-hop drums and soul vocals. The early recordings have a looseness that's hard to manufacture.

Geography¶

His debut album, and the one that showed he could sustain a full record. Features De La Soul, Loyle Carner, GoldLink. It runs through a lot of ground without losing its thread.

Six Songs¶

The early EP that put him on the map. Better Days is the track — jazz guitar over a hip-hop beat, effortless in a way that takes real skill to pull off.

FKJ¶

French multi-instrumentalist, full name French Kiwi Juice. He plays everything — piano, guitar, saxophone, bass — and most of his recordings are essentially live solo performances layered on top of each other. The result is something that sounds effortless and took enormous craft. He and Masego also recorded Tadow together, which is one of the best jazz-soul collaborations of the last decade.

French Kiwi Juice¶

His debut album — warm, live-feeling, and melodically generous. Lying Together and Better Give U Up are the ones to start with.

Masego¶

American singer, saxophonist, and producer. He coined the term "TrapHouseJazz" for what he makes — jazz harmony and saxophone over trap production — and it's a better description than anything I could write. His voice is warm and a little playful, and his records feel like parties where everyone actually knows how to play.

Lady Lady¶

His debut album, and it's confident from the first track. Tadow (with FKJ) became the gateway for a lot of people — including me. The whole record holds up.

G-DRAGON¶

Korean rapper and artist, leader of BIGBANG. One of the most influential figures in K-pop and Korean hip-hop — not just as a performer but as a stylist and tastemaker. His solo records are weirder and more personal than the group work.

POWER¶

I know. But POWER is one of the most purely fun records I've heard. The production is absurd in the best way — maximalist, committed, and completely uninterested in being cool about it.

If you want to trade recommendations, I'm @jxnlco on X.

On Vinyl¶

Most of these are available to buy. Prices as of April 2026.

Comments