Lighten Your Lockdown: Music Edition
Play our Music Game
Most of the Bora team are entering their 4th week of lockdown and social isolation, so we thought it might be fun to share with you the music that we cannot live without! We’ve changed the original idea a little to comply with a more modern world. So read on as we are going to play you our desert island discs. 🎵🎶🎶🎵🎵🎶
What Exactly is ‘Desert Island Discs’?
Desert Island Discs is a musical and talk radio show that was first pitched in 1941 as follows,
“if you were to be cast away alone on a desert island, which eight gramophone records would you choose to have with you, assuming of course, that you had a gramophone and an inexhaustible supply of needles”.
How Did It Work?
The premise was that this castaway question was asked to a well-known person during a radio recording where the music would be played. Roy Plomley’s idea was promptly picked up by the BBC. The first program was recorded in the Maida Vale bomb-damaged studio in 1942.
Where can I find the official Desert Island Discs?
The BBC Radio 4 Website for “Desert Island Discs’ is extensive and archives date back from 1942 through to 2020:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5qhJd1byxhTBYbSCFmw580y/desert-island-discs-podcasts
Self-isolate with our recommended discs
So during another global crisis and a time of isolation, the Bora team will make your lockdown easier by letting you know what we are listening to. The original castaways only get eight recordings but we have listed three albums each! Maybe you’ll find something here that you’ve never listened to before and hopefully, your imagination will direct you to your island of choice.
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Tassos:
Having to choose only three all-time favorite records is a hard thing to do. Only three? Whatever, here we go:
- Café Del Mar, Volumen Uno
I am a big fan of the Café Del Mar series, especially the ones compiled by Jose Padilla. I choose the first volume of the series, simply because this is the one that introduced me to the marvelous sound of Ibiza sunsets. If you are to listen to one song out of this Volumen Uno, listen to Sun Electric – Sundance.
- Moby – Play
When this phenomenal album came out in 1999, it struck me like a revelation. The combination of electronic music with gospel, soul and blues was a pleasure to my ears. My son, aged 12, listens to it and adores it. If I got to choose only one song, that would be Porcelain.
- Thievery Corporation – Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi
I strongly urge you to listen to Thievery Corporation. Honestly very difficult to select just one album. Although The Mirror Conspiracy, The Richest Man in Babylon, The Cosmic Game and The Temple of I & I are among my all-time favorite ones, I choose their first album, Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi. Turn up the volume and enjoy the musical genius of Rob Ezra and Eric Hilton. If I was to choose just one song from this album, that would be Shaolin Satellite.
Can I choose the island where to be cast away? (Coming soon…Travel Anywhere Edition!!!)
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Emma:
I seem to seek out a broad variety of music so I wanted to share with you some of my recent discoveries which I absolutely love and are well worth a few minutes of your time. Have a listen and see why.
If you haven’t yet discovered Hannah James and The Jig Doll Ensemble you are in a for a treat here. The Woman and Her Words titular song is my absolute favourite from her album. Beautiful storytelling, folk style but very much a modern tale. When I first heard this song it was on repeat for weeks, with no other song coming close.
Check it out here:
- Daði Freyr – Think About Things
If you are still mourning the cancellation of the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, I have some good news for you. I have discovered that the undisputed winner of this year’s competition would have been from Iceland! Iceland’s Daði Freyr just makes you smile and the video is worth 4 minutes of anyone’s time. If you discover somewhere I can get a sweater like that, let me know.
- Grace Petri – Black Tie
OK, so this isn’t AS recent as the others but I’m betting you haven’t discovered it yet. Lefty singer Grace describes herself as, “So sickeningly worthy I almost choked on my falafel burger”. She’s a powerful singer-songwriter from Leicester, UK. The song I’ve picked from her catalogue is Black Tie, her most commercial song to date. Whilst it’s probably about one of her most personal songs (addressing her year 11 self heading out to her school prom) it is really about shrugging off whatever expectations society has of you and finding the courage to be yourself.
Check out her album Queer As Folk whilst you are it. And also Pride, Iago, The Vegan Song, Nobody Knows That I’m a Fraud, Ivy and also…oh I have to stop apparently.
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Jo (me):
This is an almost impossible task as there is so much great music out there and my tastes are so varied. I literally like a bit of everything! So if I think about me on that island alone with only three albums, which ones would I really, really want for the duration?
When this young lady rocked onto the music scene with Ocean Eyes, she turned my head. Her haunting yet melodious voice paired with deep beats really work.
Even though she is only 18 years old, the lyrics she writes are meaningful and are relatable in the modern world. Her vibrant and sometimes angst-ridden music videos are all worth a watch too. Album favourites have to be When The Party’s Over, All The Good Girls Go To Hell and Bad Guy.
I would have to sneak in a copy of Ocean Eyes and her latest No Time to Die as they are not on this album.
- Vivaldi – The Four Seasons
On a desert island, I could not be without this masterpiece. To me, the sentiments and sounds of nature and the outdoors, of human nature and the psyche have been captured in these strings.
When I listen to this my heart beats to their rhythm, which is a part of my rhythm, and I experience life with all its joys and sadness, peaks and troughs. Exquisite.
- Now That’s What I Call Music! 104
This is a bit of a cheat as it contains lots of artists but I have got to have something that I can dance to! I have been collecting these albums for a good few years now. Now, as I like a lot of modern pop and electronic music, I have all my favourite songs (including the Latin ones, that I adore).
I also find them great value for money. You end up with up to 50 songs which amounts to hours of listening. These albums came out when I was in my teens, so now we are on version 104 (they release several a year so no, I am not that old! Ha Ha!)
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Patrick
I’m one of those people who ties a song to memories. I don’t have any favourite tunes in the traditional sense, but many songs will stir a memory of some long-forgotten event and for a few minutes, I am taken to a particular time or event in my life.
So instead of sharing what I will couped up listening to, here are three tunes that always take me somewhere else:
- Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Come on Eileen
Not some memory of boozy nights out in a local pub that is having an 80s night. I am mortified, as someone who lived through that particular decade of bad taste, that some people think it a good idea to relive them. No, not of boozy nights but of leaving junior school at age 11. Saying goodbye to the friends and classmates that I’d known since starting school as we all went off to separate high schools. It was the last innocent summer of my childhood. It was all downhill from there.
- Phil Collins – Another Day in Paradise
I was thousands of miles away from home, literally on the other side of the world and my mate had this song played on the radio for me. The occasion? It was my 21st birthday. Even though the song was written about sadness, the memories of that particular time makes me smile whenever I hear it.
- The Real Thing – You To Me Are Everything
It was my wedding song. Nothing else needs to be said, except that because I’m dead romantic I got married on February 14th. Oh and somehow, I am still married and to the same person! She has the patience of a saint.
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DT
It is so hard to pick a selection of top three all time records when I have heard so much great music, but I’ve managed to select a few albums I listen to which have a number of great tracks.
- Ministry of Sound – Annual II
An amazing double album released in 1996 with 29 tracks compiled by Pete Tong and Boy George. It features some great artists like Armand Van Helden and The Prodigy, but the best track is the massive Faithless Insomnia (monster mix) amazing played at full volume!
- Lighthouse Family – Ocean Drive
Fantastic debut album released in 1995 kicking off with ‘Lifted’ a great way to get your spirits up. I saw them live at Wembley and they were equally as good as the album, amazing.
- Usher – Confessions
This is my favorite going to sleep album. If I’m stressed and not going to sleep on a flight or in bed, I get earbuds in and Usher does his thing…in a good way. Great relaxing album.
There were so many albums that didn’t quite make the cut, Michael Jackson, SASH ‘It’s My Life’, and Plan B with the amazingly titled ‘The Defamation of Strickland Banks’. Try them if you have time.
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Downloading Music and Videos from the Internet & Cybersecurity
There are always slight risks when downloading from the internet. Free internet music is often corrupted and may contain malwareWhat is Malware? Malware, a portmanteau of "malicious software," constitutes a broad category of software specifically designed to infiltrate, damage, or disrupt computer systems, networks, and devices without the user's... or a trojan. So what are some of the dangers of downloading music and is there any risk to privacy when using popular platforms like YouTube and Spotify?
Patrick answered this question with general good advice by saying:
Protect your passwords, ensure your privacy settings are at the level that you what you want them. Don’t download files from unknown sources because of piracy laws and the risk of malware. Proper platforms are generally safe for security, but they can use your data for commercial purposes.
Tassos also pointed out the risks of downloading freely. He says:
Risks for downloading music songs – downloading from peer-to-peer sites is illegal – hence risks of fines because of intellectual property violation.
Downloading from legitimate sites entails the same risks as any other software download – be aware of bogus sites, sites impersonating legitimate sites that might distribute malware.’
He also pointed out the risks concerning kids using YouTube without parental guidance and gives useful advice on how to modify their settings. He says:
YouTube privacy risks are mostly related to kids. In fact the US Federal Trade Commission has probed an investigation for improperly collecting data from children. The video streaming giant is accused of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA. There are also concerns about inappropriate content appearing in searches for children’s videos.
Users can minimize these privacy challenges by modifying the video preferences. See how here:
Similar concerns were raised for Spotify as by default the service shares your listening activity and history with anyone who has a profile. You can change this setting, but by default it is set to share.
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And finally…
If you haven’t seen our other editions to this lockdown series, you can read our Netflix recommendations here and our podcast recommendations here.
