For full setlist visit yeahyal.substack.com

Episode 37 takes a picture so it will last longer—in fact, an additional hour to make up for the long delay, consisting of 59 songs total.

This episode’s highlighted track: Track 55

Nils Frahm - Says

Hamburg-born, Berlin-based composer Nils Frahm has made a career out of dissolving the boundary between modern classical performance and electronic sound design, building a cult following through his hybrid setups of grand pianos, analog synthesizers, vintage instruments, and tape-era outboard gear. From his 2013 live album Spaces on the Erased Tapes label, “Says” pairs a looping, arpeggiated analog synth pattern generated from his custom rig with a moody, melodic, reverb-drenched piano. The piece evolves almost entirely through gradual filter movements and subtle layering, slowly opening the harmonic spectrum over its eight-minute runtime. Recorded live, it captures not just the sound but the physical presence of the room, with Frahm shaping and automating the tones in real time.

The effect is hypnotic, somewhere between Steve Reich’s phase minimalism and the analog glow of early Tangerine Dream. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Frahm perform a few times and always leave a little stunned. His shows feel part recital, part laboratory experiment, featuring rare instruments like the glass armonica,* played by gliding wet-gloved fingers across the rims of rotating glass bowls, not unlike rubbing the tops of wine glasses. His music trades virtuoso flash (though he is an exceptionally skilled player) for something far more immersive: texture, space, and the emotional power of small sonic shifts unfolding over time. Even without the visual spectacle, “Says” builds and blooms with such dramatic force that by its final moments it’s hard not to erupt in awe as the sound reaches its towering climax.

*Invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761.

The setlist:

Artist / Song Name / Album / Year

Amiina / Sexfaldur / Kurr / 2007

Thomas de Pourquery / Back from the war / Let the monster fall / 2024

Sault / I.L.T.S. / 10 / 2025

Little Carlos / Got to Be Free / Presents: How & Little - T.M.F. / 2020

ESG / Dance / Come Away with ESG / 1983

SHADED / Naughty Mofo / Naughty Mofo - Single / 2023

Connie Francis / Pretty Little Baby (可愛いベイビー) - Japanese Version / Connie Francis Sings Greatest Hits In Japanese / 1962

SBTRKT & Little Dragon / Wildfire / SBTRKT / 2011

Count Basic / Speechless Drum & Bass (Kruder & Dorfmeister Remix) / Conversions: A K&D Selection / 1996

Dionne Warwick / Heartbreaker / Heartbreaker / 1982

Daphni / Carry on / Joli Mai / 2017

The Invisible / K-Town Sunset (feat. Connan Mockasin) / Patience / 2016

Tricky / Overcome / Maxinquaye / 1995

Elias Rahbani / Dance of Maria / Mosaic of the Orient / 1974

Bobby O / She Has a Way / Freedom in an Unfree World / 1983

Rhye / Hymn / Hymn - Single / 2018

Joubert Singers / Stand On the Word (Larry Levan Mix) / Electric Chair Saved My Life / 1985

Andrea Laszlo De Simone / Ricordo tattile / Una Lunghissima Ombra / 2025

Mac DeMarco / Holy / Guitar / 2025

The Brian Jonestown Massacre / Anemone / Their Satanic Majesties’ Second Request / 1996

Flora Hibberd / Fern / Swirl / 2025

The Walkmen / We’ve Been Had / Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone / 2002

The Brothers and Sisters / Lay Lady Lay (feat. Edna Wright) / Dylan’s Gospel / 1969

Belle and Sebastian / Piazza, New York Catcher / Dear Catastrophe Waitress / 2003

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott / Diamond Joe / Ramblin’ Jack Elliott Sings Woody Guthrie and Jimmie Rodgers and Cowboy Songs / 1976

El Shab Arab / Lw Kan / Lw Kan / 1976

Camille Yarbrough / Take Yo’ Praise / The Iron Pot Cooker / 1975

Rose Droll / Opening Doors / With Strangers / 2024

Skeeter Davis / What Does It Take (To Keep a Man Like You Satisfied) / The Essential Skeeter Davis / 1967

Chrome Sparks / Marijuana / Marijuana - Single / 2018

Ty Segall / Imaginary Person / Melted / 2010

Mhaol / Pursuit / Something Soft / 2024

Prince Buster / Madness / I Feel the Spirit / 1963

Erasmo Carlos / É Preciso Dar um Jeito, Meu Amigo / Carlos, Erasmo / 1971

Night Beats / Nightmare / Rajan / 2023

Girls At Our Best! / Politics! / Pleasure / 1981

The Damned / Morning Bird / New Rose / 1977

Melissa Manchester / You Should Hear How She Talks About You / Hey Ricky / 1982

Aera / Future Holds / Fever - EP / 2023

Bill Nelson / When Your Dream of Perfect Beauty Comes True / The Love That Whirls / 1982

Beck / Rowboat / Stereopathetic Soulmanure / 1994

Micah P. Hinson / Beneath the Rose / Micah P. Hinson & the Gospel of Progress / 2005

Razzy Bailey / I Hate Hate / Color My World / 1973

The Honeydrippers / Impeach the President / Impeach the President / 1973

Jorge Cafrune / No Soy de Aquí... Ni Soy de Allá / Esenciales / 1973

Olivia Newton-John / Magic / Xanadu / 1980

The Donkeys / Lower the Heavens / The Donkeys / 2004

Dave Van Ronk / He Was a Friend of Mine / Folksinger / 1962

Earth, Wind & Fire / That’s the Way of the World / That’s the Way of the World / 1975

Neil Young / Separate Ways / Homegrown / 2020

Elizabeth Cotten / Freight Train / Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes / 1912

Kingsley Bucknor / You Gotta Keep on Luvin’ Me / Just U and Me - EP / 1985

Suki Waterhouse / To Get You / Memoir of a Sparklemuffin / 2024

Ashley Wass / 3 Gnossiennes: No. 1, Lent / Black & White / 2024

Nils Frahm / Says / Spaces / 2013

Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth for Christ Choir / Nobody Knows / Like a Ship (Without a Sail) / 1971

Shana Cleveland / Face of the Sun / Night of the Worm Moon / 2019

Crowded House / Into Temptation / Temple of Low Men / 1988

Aphex Twin / #3 / Selected Ambient Works, Vol. II / 1994

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Mix also available on Soundcloud.

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