KYLE’S SELECTIONS · 4 PLAYLISTS · 48 RECORDINGS
A few things I’d
love you to hear.
Start with a track. Follow a sound. See where it takes you.
These playlists move across generations, connected by feel. Soul and samples, inner worlds, heavier emotions, and records that reward a little more attention. Start wherever you feel at home.
Kyle Rich Founder, The Listening Project
Soul & Substance
Soul & Substance · 01
Color Of My Soul
Pretty Lights
Choose a recording to listen through its official player.
Open the official recording ↗Select a recording to explore its listening notes.
A listening note
Follow one sound through the opening. When the beat arrives, does that same sound feel different?
BEHIND THE RECORDING
Meet the making.
Pretty Lights’ A Color Map of the Sun documentary opens a window into the performances and recording process behind the album.
Listen first, then watch. Which part of the creative process changes what you notice when you return to the music?
Watch the documentary on YouTube ↗FROM A PLAYLIST TO A SHARED EXPERIENCE
What would you bring?
A song, a question, a story. That’s the starting point for the Lounge, Library, Retreat and Workshop programs we’re developing in Southwest Florida.
Explore the program concepts ↗Playlist collections
Soul & Substance
Warmth · rhythm · roots
Soul, funk, spiritual jazz, hip-hop and sample-rich blends. Records that move the body and leave something with you.
Color Of My Soul
Pretty Lights
A warm, expansive opening that brings the old-record feeling into a new setting.
Time: The Donut of the Heart
J Dilla
A small loop with a lot of feeling.
Can You Get to That
Funkadelic
Acoustic snap, deep voices and a communal lift.
Mothership Connection (Star Child)
Parliament
Loose, playful funk with room for everyone.
The Bottle
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson
An insistent groove with a story at its center.
On & On
Erykah Badu
Unhurried, earthy and quietly magnetic.
You Got Me
The Roots feat. Erykah Badu & Eve
Live-band warmth and a beautifully grounded chorus.
Working The Plan
Daily Bread & Jonah Cruzz
A modern stop where hip-hop and electronic production meet.
Lady
D’Angelo
A deep pocket and a voice that feels close.
Move on Up (Extended Version)
Curtis Mayfield
Open-hearted momentum, with time to let the band run.
As
Stevie Wonder
An expansive, joyful release.
Journey in Satchidananda
Alice Coltrane feat. Pharoah Sanders
A spacious closing turn into harp, bass, saxophone and stillness.
Inner Worlds
Atmosphere · wonder · reflection
Early electronic explorations, emotional electronics and immersive textures. Familiar feelings in unfamiliar shapes.
Love on a Real Train
Tangerine Dream
This just feels like an opener. Open up.
Computer Love (2009 Remaster)
Kraftwerk
Human longing carried by precise electronic repetition.
Xtal
Aphex Twin
Hazy voices and a beat that makes you float.
Dayvan Cowboy
Boards of Canada
Wide skies, blurred edges and a slow-building lift.
Acadia
Of The Trees & Player Dave
A world of small details and deep, spacious ethereal movement.
Colour Dance
KOAN Sound
Intricate rhythms and complex pockets that keep finding new shapes.
Teardrop
Massive Attack feat. Elizabeth Fraser
A steady pulse with an otherworldly voice that pulls you in and out.
Roads
Portishead
A bare, emotional aching center of gravity.
All Is Full of Love
Björk
Somehow this track is both dark and bright. A tender juxtaposition.
Svefn-g-englar
Sigur Rós
EXPAND
First Light
Jónsi
A quiet euphoria.
An Ending (Ascent) (2019 Remaster)
Brian Eno
Definition of “space between the notes”
Feeling in Full
Release · urgency · catharsis
Early metal, punk, emo, post-hardcore and modern heavy music. Rough edges, open hearts and somewhere to put the intensity.
War Pigs (2009 Remaster)
Black Sabbath
The weight and fierce space of early metal that laid the foundation for most of my generation’s formative metal records.
Search and Destroy (Bowie Mix)
Iggy & The Stooges
Iggy Pop – the godfather of Punk rock. Raw, restless energy that pushed everything forward.
Blitzkrieg Bop (1999 Remaster)
Ramones
You’ve heard this one. The legendary short, sharp burst of collective punk energy. Once thought to be the sound of anarchy, now played at professional major sporting event across the globe.
Waiting Room
Fugazi
Tension, restraint and a bass line that pulls you in.
In Circles (Remastered)
Sunny Day Real Estate
A turn inward. SDR inspired much of what my generation knows to be “emo”.
Understanding in a Car Crash
Thursday
Fragility and urgency pressed close together.
Helena (2025 Mix)
My Chemical Romance
Big emotion and a chorus that encapsulates a generation of youth angst.
Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)
Deftones
Heavy yet sensual tension, with a horizon inside it.
Chicago
The Devil Wears Prada
A moody, emotionally charged track that is a departure from TDWP’s typical cadence.
Snowblood
ERRA
Precision, speed and progressive melodic release.
Better Hell
Bilmuri
A poppy change of pace that keeps the emotional stakes across a plethora a genre influences.
The Summoning
Sleep Token
A closing track with more than one kind of release.
Closer Listening
Warmth · presence · detail
Intimate voices, rich arrangements and recordings worth settling into. Analog-era favorites alongside modern records with the same invitation to stay.
Juna
Clairo
From Charm. A warm, intimate invitation into the room.
Deacon Blues
Steely Dan
An arrangement with something tucked into every corner of the space.
Kiss of Life
Sade
Beautifully restraint and a close-up voice.
Friday Morning
Khruangbin
THIS is being “in the pocket”.
Dreams (2002 Remaster)
Fleetwood Mac
A familiar song that will deserve attention to it’s small and quiet elements for eternity.
Court and Spark
Joni Mitchell
Piano, phrasing and a story unfolding at dynamic pace.
Come Away With Me
Norah Jones
A gentle, touch-your-ears-with-her-lips track.
Pink Moon
Nick Drake
Small arrangement. Giant world inside it.
Andromeda
Weyes Blood
Modern songwriting with a lush, enveloping glow.
Cold Little Heart
Michael Kiwanuka
A patient, expansive build before the voice arrives.
Us and Them
Pink Floyd
It’s so difficult to choose only one track from this record. Need I say more?
I Believe in You (Single Version)
Talk Talk
A quiet interpretive soundscape wy ahead of it’s time.