Samuel Joseph Kim

If not now, then when?

From the past several years I could tell I was not exploring music from other artists as I had in the past. This year I wanted to open my heart more to what was going on in music scenes and I found there was so much music to digest in 2025. Here are my favorites loosely ordered.

I found some great places for recommendations and then it just set me in a lot of new directions. I’m reminded there is still so much to take in and learn. I’m leaving things out but I’ll hear them when the time is right.

Djrum, "Under Tangled Silence"
Mary Somerville, "Luster"
Barker, "Stochastic Drift"
Voice Actor & Squu, "Lust 1"
Jay Som, "Belong"
Whirr, "Raw Blue"
Runo Plum, "Patching"
Raven, "Gnosis"
Matthew Herbert and Momoko Gill, "Clay"
Oneohtrix Point Never, "Tranquilizer"

HAAi, "HUMANiSE"
Deep Sea Diver, "Billboard Heart"
Jeff Tweedy, "Twilight Override"
Lucy Daucus, "Forever Is A Feeling"
Rival Consoles, "Landscape from Memory"
David Allred, "The Beautiful World"
Annahstasia, "Tether"
Sharon Van Etten, "Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory"
Thredd, "It's Lovely, Come On In"
Kieran Hebden and William Tyler “41 Longfield Street Late 80s”

Tim Hecker, "Shards"
Verses GT, Nosaj Thing & Jacques Greene
Xexa, "Kissom"
Winter, "Adult Romantix"
Julien Baker & TORRES, "Send A Prayer My Way"
Bicep, "Chroma 000"
Matt Berninger, "Get Sunk"
Tortoise, "Touch"
Casual Hex, "Zig Zag Lady Illusion II"
Blonde Redhead, "The Shadow of the Guest"

Juicy J & Endea Owens, "Caught Up In this Illusion"
Hiromi, "Electrifying Piano"
Johnny Nash, "Once Was Ours Forever"
Intrusion, "echospace313-3-:P-2"
James K, "Friend"
Clark, "Steep Stims"
Surgeon, "Shell-Wave"
Open Mike Eagle, "Neighborhood Goes Unlimited"
Ceri Wax, “ONDATONDA”
Blood Orange, "Essex Honey"

William Tyler, "Time Indefinite"
Chika, "Wish You Were (T)here"
Thom Yorke and Mark Pritchard, "Tall Tales"
Sally Shapiro, "Ready To Live A Lie"
Karis-Lis Coverdale, “From Where You Came”

Thank you to everyone who saw me play tonight at the Longest Night. I was so grateful for your kind attentiveness. It was so special to share that time with you. In the bio you can find a link to the playlist of some of the ambient songs in my setlist. Much gratitude to DJ Ari for the beautiful visuals.

Hey everyone, I'm one of the featured artists performing at the Longest Night event hosted by ARTS at King Street Station on Dec. 21. It will be an all ambient performance that's free and open to everyone. I'll be on from 6:30-8pm. If you're looking for a kind and friendly space for the Solstice, come join us!

LONGEST NIGHT - Arts | seattle.gov A communally-minded, season-inspired Solstice party that brings light to the liminal space of the year’s darkest day.

I will be one of the featured artists at Seattle's 2025 Longest Night event at King Station (Dec. 21). For those seeking some kind of respite for the Winter Solstice, drop by this free event! Here's a look at last year's event:

LONGEST NIGHT 2024 December 21, 2024 - ARTS at King Street Station hosted a celebration of the longest night of 2024 full of music performances, guided movement, wellness activ...

For my final release of 2025, I have a new single, "Layered Hope."

It's been a hard year to process. I turn 50 today, and I wanted this milestone year to be something creatively significant, but I just didn't have the energy within me to do what I originally thought I would do. I did end up producing 5 releases for 50, which is no small thing. At the beginning of the year, I thought I would do so much, but it has been hard navigating this year as my sister battles with leukemia. The relentless chaos and upheaval in the world and the country where I live also bear heavily on my mind daily.

This single may turn into an album one day (or it may not), but the steady inspiration behind this single was remembering Emily Dickinson's, "'Hope' is the thing with feathers." The other song, "Reflection," is another ode to my love of shoegaze and dreampop in its ability to take us somewhere far and beautiful through its cacophonous veil of distortion and reverberation. For the first time, I've decided not to make the lyrics available, because these songs are much more than words being sung. It's an honest call into the dark for some light to come forth..

Link in bio.

The poem by Dickinson:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

My view from the stage…