Midas is here to help you get your culture fix whilst self-isolating!
We will be suggesting our favourite culture cures for isolation in a series of blogs – whether it is books, podcasts, TV shows, virtual museum tours and more. Check out the team’s top fiction books, podcasts, virtual museum/art gallery tours, films and recipes for self-isolation.
More than ever before, the global Covid-19 pandemic has reminded us of the importance of music to our wellbeing. From apartment block sing-a-longs to virtual concerts on Zoom, people across the world are using music to uplift their spirits while isolating at home, and the Midas team are no different! Whether you’re looking for comfort, inspiration, or simply a dance around the living room, we’ve got you covered with our Top Albums & Playlists for Self-Isolation…
My quarantine must-listen has to be the album Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa, which has proven a greater mood lifter during isolation than banana bread, social distancing memes or family Zoom calls (sorry Mum). It’s got wall to wall bangers, with a little something for everyone. ‘Physical’ and ‘Hallucinate’ are a gift for fans of 80s and 90s synth pop. Disco baby? Grab your jumpsuit and whack on ‘Don’t Start Now’ or ‘Levitating’. At the exact point in a breakup where you want to be sad but also be dancing? ‘Break My Heart’ is for you. Truly this album is the music equivalent of a selection box, but without any rubbish flavours. So leave the Dettol and the UV alone, and do the sensible thing, inject yourself with some 2020 disco-pop-dance tunes! And remember, there has never been a better time to dance like no-one’s watching. Because nobody is. – Ben McCluskey, Senior Account Executive
In lockdown, my main criteria for music appears to be a) fairly high tempo b) any genre goes c) school nostalgia, so my go-to playlist for working at home has been Spotify’s ‘UK Garage Classics’ playlist. With singalong classics like ‘Flowers’ by Sweet Female Attitude, Artful Dodger’s ‘Moving Too Fast’ and a couple of M with the I with the S T double E Q (Mis-Teeq)’s gems… this is the perfect pick-me-up listening. Nights of sweaty clubs and dancing to MJ Cole come flooding back (for me anyway… oh how I would welcome a drunk dance in a pub right now) and a reminder of my love for The Streets and Mike Skinner. This playlist features ‘Has it come to this?’ by The Streets, but I also urge you to listen to their new tracks about lockdown… ‘Where The F*&K did April Go’ indeed. – Ashley Baugh, Account Director
The Prince of Egypt (Original Cast Recording) by Stephen Schwartz
This may come as no surprise to those who know me but my favourite album during isolation is the newly released original soundtrack to The Prince of Egypt which opened at the Dominion Theatre earlier this year. It’s the last production I saw before lockdown, it had JUST opened for previews. My heart goes out to every single actor, producer, director, writer etc whose livelihoods have recently come to a halt. I hope the UK’s phenomenal arts scene can reopen soon so we can enjoy the magic of performing arts but for now… this is how I’m getting my musical-theatre fix. What I especially love about The Prince of Egypt is the underlying message of hope and freedom – something we all can relate to right now. – Suzie Jacobs, Senior Account Manager
While most of the world has come to a halt during lockdown, many musicians are still choosing to create and uplift by pushing forward release dates or surprising us with unannounced songs – music still moves even when we can’t! So for my isolation playlist, I’ve put together a selection of tracks that have all been released in the past few months. Made up of mainly R&B, neo soul and hip-hop/rap songs, the first half has a smooth, chill vibe for when you’re sitting back and relaxing – with records from artists like Jhené Aiko, dvsn and Mahalia. The second half is more up tempo and energetic, so you can imagine you’re back in the club – my highlights are tracks by Nafe Smallz, Lil Durk and ‘Dior’, a Congolese remix of Pop Smoke’s smash hit that has gone viral during lockdown! – Bei Guo, Account Executive
For my isolation playlist, I went with a selection of some classic all-time favourites of mine. I made sure that they were all upbeat songs that evoke happy memories – ones that I can get excited about hearing when I’m finally back in the pub or having dinner parties with all of my friends! Thank God for Spotify and all of our favourite artists. A lot of these would be my Desert Island Disc selections (still waiting for them to ask me on the show) so I hope that you enjoy! – Phoebe Swinburn, Senior Account Manager
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