As the sun creeps out of its shell, spring is in full swing and music once more takes on the responsibility of maintaining the momentum that will transition us from now to summer. On your marks, get set… Go!

1. House of the Rising Sun – Nina Simone

>> Nina Simone at the Village Gate (Colpix, 1962)

>>> Fast-paced, head-nodding, feet-tapping, sweet, jiving, soulful blues. Despite the underpinning morose lyrics of struggle and strife, Nina and the harmonica will infect any listener of this track with vibes of joy. The non-stop tempo is also worth noting as a refreshing take on the forever re-worked folk song. RIP Nina and thank you for once again bringing New Orleans back to life so vigorously, in the rawest yet happiest way possible.

2. Death and the Flower – Keith Jarrett

>> Death and the Flower (Impulse!, 1975)

>>> By now, you should have caught on to the fact that musically, I’m a lover of epics… This example is no different. Keith Jarrett is a maestro. The title track, Death and the flower is an almost 30 minute odyssey daring one to explore the realms of Africa, the Middle East and beyond. The track starts as experimental world music with recognisable yet undefinable percussion, flutes and all sorts of other instruments that pay homage to the ethnic world. When most songs would finish, at around 6 minutes, he finally decides to switch gears and grace us with his ever-loyal piano, sparsely weaving in and out with jazzy adlibs. Later on, Redman’s saxophone and the rest of the 5-piece join in adding yet more layers. Listeners trust me, be patient with this track – I promise, it will touch all of your senses and reward you for your time. Bursting with positive energies.

3. Reckoner – Radiohead

>> In Rainbows (XL Recordings, 2007)

>>> Yes, this album got rinsed but rightly so. I personally believe that this is Radiohead’s best album since OK Computer. Thom Yorke and posse get this track so spot on (along with Jigsaw Falling into Place, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi and Nude). When they opened up the remix competition on their website a few years back, I diligently listened to about 60 versions of Reckoner hoping to find a re-edit that would supersede the original, to no avail. In that sense, I think Cee-Lo nailed it by merely duplicating the song in Gnarls Barkley’s live performance. The negro-gospel breakdown proves that this band is not constrained by their genre, the disharmonies are so beautifully awkward and the strings are just taking the piss on a different level. If you’re a smart person with good taste, you will pay Radiohead a lot more attention than their ‘alternative/indie’ counterparts. In fact, don’t bother with the rest of them at all.

4. Yes We Can – Oliver Koletzki & Roland Clark

>> Yes We Can EP (Hell Yeah Recordings, 2009)

>>> House music: the biggest thief of inspiring rhetoric, has Obama to thank for resurrecting the spoken-word element in electronic music. From the moment he entered into the political domain, his impassioned public speeches have been sampled all over house tracks. This one, although confusingly titled to imply that the words come from one of Obama’s many speeches, is actually written by Roland Clark. Deep house producer Koletzki, tastefully edits Clark’s lyrics to invoke the right emotions in a way that is reminiscent of classic detroit techno. Do not Resist.

5. A Song for Assata – Common

>> Like Water for Chocolate (MCA Records, 2000)

>>> Keeping on the hopeful tip, this track (along with a trillion others) proves why Common is ridiculously underrated. NO-ONE in hip hop tells such vivid stories as Common does. Not only does he tell the moving tale of Assata Shakur, a Black Panther activist, who was unjustly incarcerated, now exiled with political asylum in Cuba; he also enlists Cee-Lo to contribute his trademark rich, velvety vocals and James Poyser (Soulquarians) to display his talents on production. To understand how deep this song goes, Common actually travelled to Cuba to meet Assata Shakur and features an excerpt of her speaking at the end of the track. For the geeks out there, if you listen well, you can hear Macy Gray, D’Angelo and possibly Erykah Badu singing in the background towards the end (uncredited).

6. Waka / Jawaka – Frank Zappa

>> Waka / Jawaka (Reprise Records, 1972)

>>> As far as prog-rock, jazzy fusion is concerned, it doesn’t get any more psychedelic than this. Guitars riffs, horn motifs and synths galore. Every solo is outstanding and along with that, the arrangement is second-to-none allowing for diverse melodies and seemingly impromptu improvisation. Zappa masterfully brings this ensemble piece together like a trippy-happy-puppeteer controlling a tribe of hippies.

7. Superman on Ice – 13 & god

>> 13 & god (Anticon, 2005)

>>> Probably the most miserable song in this playlist but I couldn’t resist. Dreamy, weeping strings with slightly creepy vocals but for hip-hop,* this is interesting. This underground (American/German) collective deliver quite a niche, almost wabi-sabi sound – you’ll either like it or you wont. Lyrically speaking, 13 & god have a high-pitched, sped up Quasimoto-esq style and talk about abstract concepts that explore both existentialism and metaphysical oddities such as “one day the moon might hold a half a million nice size hoods” and “fast restaurants…” Maybe they just smoke too much green.

*I stand corrected, they call this kind of music ‘indietronica’ apparently.

Imagine Led Zeppelin and Radiohead tinged with a high dosage of blues and soul… Well for those that don’t remember, this is what Questlove, Robert Glasper and a crew of other heavy-duty bandsmen offered when they performed as Bilal and The Witness Protection Program at Okayplayer’s Holiday Celebration a few years back.

Finally Questlove has posted up the entire set on his SwiftFM page for all to indulge in. This all seems very timely as alongside Glasper, Bilal has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance and there’s word that he will also finally be releasing his sophomore effort sometime early this year.

With Mayer Hawthorne and soon to come Bilal, Sade and Gil Scott-Heron, I wonder if 2010 will be the year that represents the revival of soul music.

Thanx to Questlove for making the entire set available… Baby Since I’ve Been Loving You/Everything In It’s Right Place/Sometimes (Live). Click here to check it out.

Catch Billboard’s in-depth interview with Bilal.

Bilal’s Twitter page.