52/13 - I'm Clearing Zones Like I'm Indy Jones

It is the last Monday of the year. And what a year! As far as new music is concerned, I think 2013 is one of the best years I've lived through. It's offered so much goodness, I'm not even gonna bother sticking to the Top5-format in bookending it. So without further ado, here are my two top 10s of the year gone by:

TOP 10 ALBUMS 2013

Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

After all, a perfect pop album is a rare thing. For once they managed to mix it all in exquisitely balanced measures: intellectual cleverness and emotional resonance; complex arrangements and catchy melodies; popcultural references and spiritual longing. There is nothing here not to love.

James Blake - Overgrown

The sound of loneliness perfected once again. The beauty of the world at its most piercing. The release of a masterfully crafted beat.

Savages - Silence Yourself

Finding a new favourite band is wonderful. It's more than music. It's that feeling of, yes, this is now, this is mine, ours. These guys know exactly what they're doing, and I'm with them all the way. Awe, trust, power. Then; catching them live. Getting blown away. Feeling like this is what it would have been like if I'd been at one of those legendary gigs of the bands and musicians who passed long before I had the chance to see them. Knowing that this is something I will talk and brag about for a long time yet. Knowing that Savages will make more music, and they're just not the kind of band that will conform or falter. Ever.

Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels

Last year they separately released one of 2012's best albums, and one of 2012's best songs. This year they joined forces for the least laid-back victory lap ever. No other rapper came close, in my book. Sure, Kendrick's Control-verse was fierce, but this album is like that verse stretched out for forty minutes, and delivered by two, equally ruthless and relentless voices. And the music! Ohmagahd. There's dronestrikes, there's guitarsolos, there's dolphins... If the rhymes did not have me so pumped up and razorfocused, my jaw would drop to the ground in pure sonically induced astonishment.

Darkside - Psychic

One of our time's great geniuses of sound strikes again, in another new constellation. This might be Nicolas Jaar's finest production yet. It's certainly the most impressive, album-wise. A fearlessly composed journey, from the first spacey drone, to the last echoing note. Music for an altered state of mind.

The Knife - Shaking the Habitual

Nothing else sounds like the Knife. Not even the Knife. Noone else dares to make music as weird, political and sincere as this. Not much makes me hopeful about the world's destiny. But listening to this does. We can do whatever we want. We can create new ideas. We can change the world. We will.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away

The phantom menace. Skeletal incantations that seem to encompass the dark history of the world within its tiny minimal walls. Repetition and fragmentation in a classical, modern and postmodern song-cycle.

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

Easy to sing along to. Easy to get lost in. Easy to pick apart in pieces, and still enjoy immensely.

Julianna Barwick - Nepenthe

I'm of the old-fashioned opinion that albums should be enjoyed as a full package. I still buy cds. Some albums really make it worth it. An elegantly designed cover, a series of atmospheric photographs inside the sleeve, a list of beautifully titled songs. It all adds up. To a subtle, sublime and seductive whole.

Janelle Monáe - The Electric Lady

It's just one amazingly great tune after another. On a concept album about a cyborg rebel. It's almost too much to take in. Which is why I know I'll keep listening to it and rediscover it for years.

And here's a string of other albums I've enjoyed this year, that would've easily made top 10 of any lesser music-year: Sigur Rós - Kveikur, Atoms for Peace - Amok, Earl Sweatshirt - Doris, Arcade Fire - Reflektor, The National - Trouble Will Find Me, Julia Holter - Loud City Song, Iron & Wine - Ghost on Ghost, Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus Seven, Kanye West - Yeezus, Queens of the Stone Age - Like Clockwork, Arctic Monkeys - AM, Junip - Junip

TOP 10 SONGS 2013

Darkside - Golden Arrow

Orgasmic build-up of the year

James Blake - Retrograde

Voice-scaling of emotional mountaintops of the year.

Janelle Monáe ft. Miguel - Primetime

Retro-futuristic powerballad of the year. Is that ok? Yes. Yes it is.

Vampire Weekend - Step

Joyously melancholic meta-pop of the year.

The Knife - Raging Lung

Post-patriarchal, anti-capitalist marching song of the future.

Savages - Strife

Invincibility song of the year.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Sacrilege

Plead and pray of the year.

Daft Punk - Get Lucky

Irresistible even-my-mum-loves-this megahit of the year.

Arcade Fire - Here Comes The Night Time

Genius tempo-change of the year.

David Bowie - Where Are We Now?

Saddest song of the year.

Oh and Queeblo released his first song this year too... And tbh, it might be the best of the bunch.

51/13 - Look, there lies in the dark stable...

It is christmastime, and it's time for a touch of spirituality on the blog. A slightly secular selection of seasonal atmosphere, and a pre-taste of next week's yearly summary:

Julianna Barwick - Forever

A building bliss

Julia Holter - He's Running Through My Eyes

Oh, this time my stubborn mind will take his love seriously. 

But when the summer’s over, will he remember winter words?

Do men’s hearts grow old, Lullaby? 

He’s running through my eyes.

James Blake - Life Round Here

Actually this is too sad to be christmassy. But there's something in the notes used that makes it fit. Except when they break and distort, but then again, that's the best part of the tune.

Vampire Weekend - Worship You

And this one is actually about US foreign policy according to the author. But it's a bit about religion too I guess.

J.S. Bach - Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248: Part two, for the second day of christmas - No. 17 Chorale: "Schaut hin, dort liegt im finstern stall"

But this. This is sacral and christmassy all in one!

And to top it off, the year's best christmas video:

50/13 - I Let It Out, I Couldn't Let It In

Last list from Scotland this year. I'm off home to Sweden this evening. Tunes are a collision of past and future.

Bob Dylan - Copper Kettle

I wanted to have the version on Another Self Portrait, which is slightly less over the top with the arrangement, but this one works too. It's the pastoral bliss of the lyrics that's the main thing anyway.

We'll just lay there by the juniper, while the moon is bright
Watch them jugs a-filling in the pale moonlight

Steve Mason - I Let Her In

This christmas shall bring peace of mind.

Serge Gainsbourg - Cargo Culte

The culmination of a fantastic album and the best stop-then-start-trick in the book.

Dawn of Midi - Io

Was introduced to this band via Radiolab, and still haven't actually had time to listen to the whole album. But I know I'm gonna love it. Because it begins like this. And there's 40 more minutes of this. I mean; even the first few seconds are enough to sell me. When something starts like that; like a small stone meteor hurled towards you from deep empty space, you can't but keep your eyes on it, transfixed, while it picks up speed, grows in your field of vision, spins, gives off sparks, and hits the atmosphere in a cloud of fire...

The Mountain Goats - Woke Up New 

...and then you wake up. Fresh, but empty. Confused. What's this winter to bring?

49/13 - It's Been Building Up Inside of Me For I Don't Know How Long

Big Boi - Night Night

The boys will drop their jaws in awe, for here comes something new

Solange - Losing You

It's taken me a little while to come around to the younger of the Knowles sisters, but this week I fell head over heels for this here song. Much thanks to its nostalgic shimmer, and this beautiful evocative video:

Hugh Masekela - Bring Him Back Home

Well, it's all been said this week. What a brilliant guy. I remember when I first heard this song on the bootleg of the Graceland African Concert, and it just struck me as so powerful; that just seeing someone take a walk with his wife in his hometown would be counted as a victory.

The Beach Boys - Don't Worry Baby

Been watching the 5th season of Misfits, and this wonderful song came on. Made me all gushy inside.

Portishead - Over 

Beth Gibbons is one of my favourite singers of all time, and this is one of my favourite live albums of all times. Strangely enough, since it does nothing a live album is expected to do: it doesn't expand on the songs, it doesn't include any rarities or covers, it doesn't even fill the spaces in between songs with applause. It's just a perfect collection of compositions, with small but extremely powerful little tweaks of atmosphere. Like how the beat really crashes into this one, how Beth's voice suddenly rise and reverberate towards the end, and how the strings build up on all sides – all components that build towards that final moment when the lone guitar notes ring out in a tense space where you sense, but not quite yet hear, an absolutely awestruck audience.

48/13 - We'll Meet On Edges, Soon, Said I

A list for the little moments in between; the flailing attentions; the steps from home to where you're going.

Múm - A Little Bit, Sometimes

Múm, masters of the tiny universes. Sometimes veering into cutesy, but often balancing it out just right with vaguely threatening backdrops.

Pink Floyd - Wots ...Uh The Deal

Pink Floyd's in-between period – after Syd Barrett crashed and burnt but before Dark Side Of The Moon made them a stoner arena band – is full of little gems. On the two soundtracks, More and Obscured By Clouds, especially, they perfected a certain kind of warm and gauzy impressionist songwriting. See Green Is The Colour, Cymbaline, Burning Bridges and Stay for more in a similar vein. Perfect music for lazy days of contemplating nature.

The Hollies - My Back Pages

For a 60s boy band this Dylan-cover has a brilliant production. The bass sound especially is kind of special.

Del Shannon - Keep Searchin'

Two things that set this apart from Del's numerous other surf-pop songs: The awesome high-pitched vocals in the end, and, even more than that; the ridiculously over-the-top handclaps in every chorus. They're like clumsy seal-claps, amplified in an echo chamber. I love them.

Beyoncé - End Of Time

The brass. The bounce. The Bey.


I also want to include Eminem's new video. I don't know if I think it's good or not, but I am a sucker for rapid raps, and this pretty much sets a new bar...

47/13 - Like When Galileo Dropped His Orange

Back on track. Monday is list day again. Let's celebrate with an energy-injection.

Janelle Monáe ft. Prince - Givin Em What They Love

What an exquisitely cool and genius pairing. I think especially of Janelle's voice at 2:40, met by an equally screeching Prince-guitar. Not many people that could sing a duet with the purple one and come out his equal.

Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention - Peaches en Regalia (live at Fillmore East)

Hayden was making muffins, so obviously me and John had to put on Muffin Man, and then it just carried on from there. Zappa-week!

Beastie Boys - The Sounds of Science

< Nice transition there. The ultimate Beatles-beat; Sgt. Pepper's and The End with a little bit of When I'm 64 and Back In The U.S.S.R. 

Omar Souleyman - Yagbuni

So many songs culminate around the 4 minute mark. Here again, as infectious as the rest of the track is, the little break at 4 minutes is to die for.

Pharrell Williams - Happy

I'll admit I'm hooked. For the past couple of days I've checked in on 24hoursofhappy.com to see who's dancing at that very moment and my mood has been infinitely the better for it.

Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof!

46/13 - All For You Oh Hungry Moon

Right. Really late list. No matter. Here it is. Gotta catch up with myself next week.

The Smiths - Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me

Well you, know, the story is old, but it does go on and on.
Actually I dreamt about my late cat, Hobbe, last night. He's been dead for 8 years now, but it was really vivid and I missed him a lot.

Goldfrapp - Thea

Pretty good tune from the new Goldfrapp-album.

Peter, Bjorn and John - Inland Empire

Pretty weird track. Appropriate for the title.

The Knife - Behind The Bushes

Pretty eerie.

Rodrigo - Fantasía para un Gentilhombre: II. Españoleta e Fanfare de la Caballeria de Nápoles: Adagio

Pretty pretty.

Spike Jonze directed a live music video for Arcade Fire during the YouTube-awards. It was the best part of the show:

45/13 - With a Smile On Your Face and a Tear Right In Your Eye

Late list due to bad internet. Bad, bad internet!
I'm all about the guitars this week.

Kent - Livräddaren

Old emo-teenage-years classic for me. Still lovin it. The guitar sounds at around 4:00 especially...

Savages - No Face

Feels a bit silly to indulge in starstruck idolisation at my age, but if you'd been at the Classic Grand on Sunday, when Jehnny Beth entered the stage, you would understand. The conviction, the intelligence, the charisma, the style.... I think it was around the time they played this song that she climbed the fence just in front of me, reached down and held my hand for a second.
What a perfect band. I reckon this is what I would have felt like if I had seen, say, the Clash at the beginning of their career.

bob hund - Allt På Ett Kort

One of the best rock songs of all time. I cried happy tears when I heard it the other day.

I've forgotten my first summer
I've forgotten my first winter with snow
But I've still got a picture of father

Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Miles - Them Changes

Top 10 of historic concerts I would've wanted to go to? This one, probably in top 3.

The Rolling Stones - Shine a Light

For wee Peter, the night porter at the hotel, who turned 63 the other day. He buys everything Stones-related in two copies. One to put on a shelf and one to listen to/watch. Me, I'm happy with one copy, of anything up to and including this album.

44/13 - Give Me Something To Give

I'm not topical, I'm just a raging lung.

Barry McGuire - Eve of Destruction

Yeah sure, it's just a little crisis. Yeah sure, capitalism has always existed. Yeah sure, there is nothing exceptional about the past 100 years of accelerating expansion. Yeah sure, we're gonna come up with solutions that let us go on with it infinitely. Yeah sure, it was Greece's own fault. Yeah sure, it was Portugal's and Ireland's own faults too. Yeah sure, it's just about fine adjusting a winning system. Yeah sure we are riding a wave, and we don't need to think too much about those under the surface. Yeah sure, we don't need to change... ?

The Doors - The Changeling

See me chaaaaaaaaaaange

Patti Smith Group - Privilege (Set Me Free)

Take me Patti. Build me a dream. A furious, young, naïve dream of a new world. The only kind that counts.

Juana Molina - Bicho Auto

Fuck yeah. I'm dancing. I'm shaking my head. Dance with me Emma Goldman. We are beautiful, radiant things.

Sun Kil Moon - Sí, Paloma

It was the antagonism between those who wished the revolution to go forward and those who wished to check or prevent it—ultimately, between Anarchists and Communists. 

-George Orwell, 'Homage to Catalonia', 1938

The Spanish war and other events in 1936-37 turned the scale and thereafter I knew where I stood. Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it.  

- George Orwell, 'Why I Write', 1946

And with that, let's end on three awesome music videos:

43/13 - For Some Place You've Never Gone Before

Well, this turned out different. Suddenly the hero Lou Reed died and I felt I wanted to have at least two songs by him on the list. But after having spent the entire day trying to choose just two it was quite clear that if there was ever a call for a full tribute list, it was today. So let's have five instead.

Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning

To think that he actually died on a Sunday morning...

I started thinking back to my early teens. Getting the 'Peel Slowly And See' box set out of our local library for weeks on end, completely immersing myself, trying to explain to my classmates how beautiful ugly sounds can be, and how cool these guys were.
And then I thought of the many late teenage house parties. The ones where we'd sleep over together in a pile on some parent's bed. Wake up feeling rough but full of laughter, wade out through the empty vessels from the night before, and put this song on the first thing we did. The best hangover song in the world.

Lou Reed - Goodnight Ladies

Ah, the sleaze, the sneer, the slyness, and tucked in amongst it all; the pure sentiment. A formula he perfected.

Velvet Underground - I Found A Reason

I do believe
You are what you perceive
What comes is better than what came before

...I'm not so sure Lou. But it's a grand and necessary delusion if nothing else.

Lou Reed - Sad Song

Berlin, one of the bleakest, most affecting albums I know. The Bed is almost too much to listen to, esp. now, but then comes this, and what a perfect closer it is. Unbearable sadness made to sound like a triumph. An overcoming. A lifesaver.

Lou Reed - The Raven

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!

Thanks for the songs Lou. Thanks for making wonderful  life-changing music out of the ugly, odd and painful things in life.

42/13 - I Have My Books and My Poetry To Protect Me

Posting early this week, doe to upcoming camping-trip, but it's another solid autumn-list. If the last two lists explored a mystical modern take on the dark season, this goes for the traditional october-sounds; i.e. melancholic, wistful songs.

Oneohtrix Point Never - Still Life

Have patience, the songs are coming. This is the perfect transition from last week's list though. A masterful, disjointed moodsetter.

Damien Jurado - Museum of Flight

Fragile falsetto. Floundering feeling. Flight? Fall.

Vashti Bunyan - Wayward

Can't wait til tomorrow, when we will defy the rain and walk for hours straight into the most desolate highlands landscape. Corrour here I come!

All I ever wanted was a road without end

Tindersticks - This Fire of Autumn

What would autumn be without Tindersticks? My most loyal twilight companions.

Simon & Garfunkel - I Am a Rock

Emo, sure, but sometimes you can't help but sink into this feeling.

Hiding in my room
Safe within my womb
I touch no one and no one touches me

A wonderful video:

41/13 - A Singer With Eyes Closed

The wind is strengthening. Autumn is clenching the city in its fist. Out seeps distilled emotions.

Julia Holter - World

...in which Julia Holter pulls off the trick that is making the lyric "all the hats of the world" sound both mesmerizing and full of meaning.

Julianna Barwick - The Harbinger

Listen to those piano chords heavily settling into place, making the song sway like a treehouse in an October storm.

Sigur Rós -  Brennistein

Sigur Rós mix up the ethereal with some menace and violence. It's a glorious punch. They hit me and it felt like a kiss – to paraphrase the Crystals.

Darkside - Heart

Darkside again? Yes, it is that good.

Shane Carruth - As If It Would Have a Universal and Memorable Ending

When I watched the film, I felt certain it had to be another of Cliff Martinez' masterful soundtracks. I lingered in the cinema to have it confirmed by the end credits, but nothing there. On the internet I discovered that despite the sonic similarities to Cliff it was in fact another string on the lyre for the writer, director, and lead actor of the film. The title of the track makes me think of pigs. Watch the film.

40/13 - He's Drilling Through the Spiritus Sanctus Tonight

October is a month of mystery. I've happened upon the perfect music for its rainy black asphalt evenings.

Darkside - Golden Arrow

Oh. My. Another contender for album of the year just dropped. Psychic is so beautiful, consistent and distinctly original I'm absolutely flabbergasted. And to lead off the album with this absolutely epic grower! Each minute the tension is brought up another notch, until at 8:00 - 8:30... musical orgasm.

The Walker Brothers - The Electrician

Watched Scott Walker - 30 Century Man. A reminder that I want to be an artist for life, and that I want to be as diligent and uncompromising about it as Scott. Also a reminder that the second phase of his ingenious evolution started all the way back in 1978, with the reunion album Nite Flights and this wonderfully evil song.

Laurie Anderson - My Right Eye

Unstoppable time. All the things you left behind.
In the night. In the night.
Concentration. Empty your mind.
Let the rest of the world go by.

Mock & Toof - Get Out the Way

Perfect break at 3:10. The rest of the tune sounds like Martin Denny having a nightmare about a skyscraper-covered earth.

Arctic Monkeys - Knee Socks

Catchy as hell, and with a fantastic set of scene-setting lyrics:

You got the lights on in the afternoon
And the nights are drawn out long
And you're kissing to cut through the gloom
With a cough drop coloured tongue
And you were sitting in the corner with the coats all piled high
And I thought you might be mine
In a small world on an exceptionally rainy Tuesday night
In the right place and time

39/13 - They Don't Sleep Anymore On The Beach

Late and slightly haphazard list. Reflective of my life.

TV on the Radio - Dreams

I've had a few lows this week, thinking of lost times.

You were my favourite moment
of our dead century

Anna Meredith - Unicron

She's from Edinburgh. She directs symphony orchestras. She released the amazing EP Black Prince Fury, and now there's another; Jet Black Rider. Hoping for a fulllength before the year is over. Crazy undefinable music.

Beth Orton - Couldn't Cause Me Harm

There's just something about her voice. And that lush production. It's comforting.

Björk - One Day

The epitome of youthful optimism. Oh young Björk, I still love you.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Sleep

Maybe a bit long to have on a list like this, but gah, it's so beautiful.

Also, they're such an admirable bunch those canadians. Respect.



Janelle keeps rocking the world:

38/13 - I Hope to God You're Not As Dumb As You Make Out

Another brilliant week. Some more brilliant songs:

Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention - Mother People

Woah! Suddenly Zappa is on Spotify! And to coincide I've been listening to We're Only In It For The Money in the studio this past week. Don't forget you're the other people too!

Keith Jarrett - Mortgage On My Soul

Finally this tune found its place on a list, after months on heavy rotation. It's a monster. One of jazz's most esteemed pianists suddenly switches to saxophone, and, by the sounds of it, tries to stab the other saxophonist to death over an absolutely relentless wah-wah bass-riff. I think this will still knock my socks off after 100 listens.

 

Orange Juice - Rip It Up

Classic song by a classic Glasgow band, but I had actually never seen the magnificently cool video for it until this week:

Rage Against The Machine - Pistol Grip Pump

Jo does an awesome singalong to this.

Janelle Monáe ft. Miguel - Primetime

Song of the week, and powerballad of the year; complete with an 80s guitar solo. Janelle can do anything at this point. Expect more goodies from this album on future lists.



Finishing off with a fantastic, and creepy, video diptych for an album I haven't given enough attention to yet:

37/13 - Pluck All Your Silly Strings

This week I've queued up some lifesavers from my adolescence days. Not that I'm particularly mopey - quite the opposite in fact - but y'know, for ole times sake:

Neutral Milk Hotel - Oh Comely

An acoustic guitar, some killer visceral lyrics and a few trumpets; that's all you need to make something this bombastic. If you're Jeff Magnum that is.

We know who our enemies aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare

Bright Eyes - Sunrise, Sunset

Let's give in to the emo. Been years since I was into Bright Eyes, but this is still a solid tune.

The Cardigans - Great Divide

Was listening to one of Chris Morris' old music shows, with lots of goodies from the 90s. Reminded me Cardigans had some nuggets on their early albums too. Like this.

Bob Dylan - I Threw It All Away

They've released another entry in Bob's Bootleg Series, and on it is a version of I Threw It All Away that completely killed me on my first listen to the album. There was tears.
Unfortunately that version isn't on Spotify yet, but it is a devastating song in its Nashville Skyline guise as well. I threw it all away. Bugger.

George McCrae - Rock Your Baby

Thanks goes out to Amalie for introducing me to this sweet clip:



The story goes that the song was written for his wife, Gwen, but when she didn't show up for the session George stepped to the challenge , and well, nailed it.


...Which smoothly leads us over to another singer who nails it. At about 3:40 Ken Turner opens the gates of hell and descends:



And then, two videos sorted under the label "cool effects". I kinda like the tunes as well...

36/13 - Raise the Double Standard

All is good. All is funky.

The Cannonball Adderley Quintet - Sticks

How can you argue with this? How can you argue with a man as rotund as this who calls himself 'Cannonball'? How can you argue with one of the swaggest jazz albums ever?

The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury

Just as Eminem proclaims a return to straight hip hop, John starts pumping the Heroes in the kitchen. Why not make it funky and political like this folks? Maybe it's because:

It's tough to make a living when you're an artist
It's even tougher when you're socially conscious
Careerism, opportunism
Can turn the politics into cartoonism

Outkast ft. George Clinton - Synthesizer

Listening to Aquemini I just want to put every track on a list, but something about Synthesizer makes it one of the most special and ungraspable tracks in Outkast's catalogue. Apart from the obligatory killer Andre-verse (the way he flows in and out of staccato rhymes in that midpart gets me every time), it's also got the emperor of funk, and a dreamy fingersnapping outro that seems to gel from nowhere.

Said she'd tapdance on your laptop
while your laptop's in your lap

Earl Sweatshirt - Hive

Finally an Odd Future release that I have no qualms about at all. Partly because I can't even decipher the potentially disgusting things he says. Why do I find it so enjoyable to listen to words so complex I don't even understand them? Partly I guess it's that jawdropping "woah"-feeling. Partly it is because it does give musical and sonical pleasure. It's onomatopoetics made even more exciting by the fact that it's built out of actual words. Language as a pure material; in visual arts as in music. And here's a new master of it.

From that city that's recession-hit
With stress, niggas could flex metal with peddle to rake pennies in
Desolate testaments trying to stay Jekyll-ish
But most niggas Hyde and Brenda just stay pregnant
Breaking news: death's less important when the Lakers lose
It's lead in that baby food, heads try to make it through
Fish-netted legs for them eyes that she cater to
Ride dirty as the fucking sky that you praying to

Fever Ray - Coconut (live)

The most threatening song about laying back with a big cigar ever.

35/13 - I Need A Drink of Cool Cool Rain

Just back in Glasgow, but this list is dedicated to Sweden, my Shangri-La:

bob hund - Dansa Efter Min Pipa

Words cannot describe how much I love this band. They've picked me up and put me right since my teenage years. The perfect blend of pop and politics, anger and joy, experimentalism and rock, humour and heart.

Ulrich Schnauss - As If You've Never Been Away

I walk into Gothenburg and pick up where I left off last time. It's as if I've never been away. My ongoing tale of two cities.

Bob Dylan - Time Passes Slowly

This whole lyric

Time passes slowly up here in the mountains
We sit beside bridges and walk beside fountains
Catch the wild fishes that float through the stream
Time passes slowly when you’re lost in a dream
Once I had a sweetheart, she was fine and good-lookin’
We sat in her kitchen while her mama was cookin’
Stared out the window to the stars high above
Time passes slowly when you’re searchin’ for love
Ain’t no reason to go in a wagon to town
Ain’t no reason to go to the fair
Ain’t no reason to go up, ain’t no reason to go down
Ain’t no reason to go anywhere
Time passes slowly up here in the daylight
We stare straight ahead and try so hard to stay right
Like the red rose of summer that blooms in the day
Time passes slowly and fades away

I can take it for two weeks, but then I feel I gotta bustle again.

Kjell Höglund - Myten om Shangri-La

Don't think there's any point in trying to explain this. Those who understand why it's great, do. Those who just think it's cheesy and silly are right on some level too I guess.

The Who - Love Reign O'er Me

Come on now, love. Come on.
Think I'm gonna watch Quadrophenia during my nightshift at the hotel tonight.


Two nice pre-taste music videos to weigh up the male dominance on this week's list:

34/13 - As We Grow Out of Our Bruises

These are the sounds of a week of pure leisure. Rarely do I feel this relaxed and guiltless over my relaxation. Tunes from a hammock:

Hanne Hukkelberg - Searching

Norwegian jazz-singer turned experimental pop-troubadour. A headphones-album, perfect for bustrips home from the day's swimming excursions.

Lambchop - The New Cobweb Summer

One of my all-time favourite lazy summer albums. It feels like this can only be properly listened to in a garden full of sun-drowsy insects.

Taken By Trees - Anna

When in Sweden, listen to swedes, recorded in Pakistan.

Yusef Lateef - Love Theme From Spartacus

So elegant it melts in your ears like a mango-sorbet on your tongue.

Fela Kuti - Zombie

I watched Music Is The Weapon and spent the whole next day blasting Fela in the garden.
This tune is awesome for so many musical reasons (Fela's saxophone-workouts spring to mind), but there's also not very many single tracks which have had such an immense political and personal impact. From Allmusic:

Since the groove was so absolutely contagious, it took the nation by storm: People in the street would put on a blank stare and walk with hands affront proclaiming "Zombie!" whenever they would see soldiers. If "Zombie" caught the attention of the populous it also caught the attention of the authority figures – this would cause devastating personal and professional effects as the Nigerian government came down on him with absolute brute force not long after the release of this record.

The brute force referred to is the 1000-man-strong military storming of his compound during which his studio, instruments and tapes were burnt, his head was fractured, and his 82-year-old activist mother was thrown out a first-storey window – later dying from her injuries.
How something so horrible can come from something so groovy is hard to understand, but if a single one of your songs indirectly leads to your mother's death, your own exile from your mothercountry, and the formation of a new political party, and you still go on recording even more politically charged music, well... you are pretty fucking serious about music.

33/13 - Breakin' Rocks In The Hot Sun

Some energy-boosting rock, bookended by some lovely floating-away-music.

Yo La Tengo - Wizard's Sleeve

A tune to celebrate the holiday. I have two weeks in Sweden ahead of me, and they're gonna be just as dreamy and laidback as this melody.

Savages - Strife

But before I left Glasgow, up til the very last minute, I was crazy busy, casting concrete again. With this, very loud, in my headphones. The sweat pouring, gloves and facemask on, hammer in hand. You feel strong then.

They wonder how we do it

The Clash - I Fought the Law

Just a reminder in case anyone forgot that the Clash were one of the best bands ever to walk the planet.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Funky Monks

As always when I'm back in the parental home, it's time for a little teenage-revival. This is the only RHCP-album worth a beginning-to-end listen. Better songs than the earlier stuff, rawer and funkier than their later foray into radiopop-land. The outro is splendid Flea-Frusciante workout.

David Bowie - Warszawa

...again, back to the present. The sun is beaming down over Partille. Fran has just arrived and is having a nap, while I'm looking up exhibitions we might go see later today, if we don't take the canoe out for a coffee on an island. A choir of 110 David Bowies are buzzing like summerbees.


This week I also liked this (of course):

32/13 - I Didn't Want To Be The One To Forget

Mondays are supposed to be the days when I make these lists, so to catch up and get in phase again, I've put together a little best of leftovers. It's a pretty bouncy collection.

Modeselektor - Panaria in Bukarest 2000

The baaaaassssssssssssssss!

Ladytron - Discotraxxx

Classic tune. Always lovely to hear. And how about that bulgarian announcement eh? Pretty catchy, yes.

Prez gorite, prez poliata
Pod zvezdite, nad zhitata

Daft Punk ft. Julian Casablancas - Instant Crush

Pop. Pure pop.

Beck - Nicotine & Gravy

 I'll leave graffiti where you've never been kissed

Les Amazones de Guinée - Samba

This just grooves so bad. Can. Not. Resist. And just look how fuckin cool they are:

Second tune to surface from new Arctic Monkeys turns out to be awesome as well:

31/13 - The Future Is Certain (Give Us Time To Work It Out)

Yeah so this list should have been up Monday, but I had an exhibition on, and I actually hung the last piece like 5 minutes before the opening. So here it is now, in the calm after the storm.

Animal Collective - Amanita 

As many others I find Centipede Hz more than a little dense to take in as a whole, but picked apart there are some nuggets. This chimes especially well with the work I put in my show.

I'm gonna bring back some stories

Junip - The Ghost of Tom Joad 

One of the best songs ever, based on one of the best novels ever. And of course the original is in its way unsurpassable. Likewise RATM's version is an absolute showstopper. But this week it was Junip's slow crescendo of a cover that blew me away for the hundredth time. I can think of few other songs that would be as perfect for this band to cover.
And just by the way, this is not the only song inspired by The Grapes of Wrath; Woody Guthrie's take is a 6 and a half minute retelling of the entire plot, meant as a way to spread the socialist essence of the book to the masses who didn't/couldn't read it.

Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’—I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry n’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there.

Savages - She Will

I'm gonna go buy more black clothes. I'm gonna be righteously angry. I'm gonna be like Savages in every way I can, because they're the coolest and best there is.

Talking Heads - Road To Nowhere

An artist anthem. What genius to put it to marching drums.

TV on the Radio - Killer Crane

As their new album is soon to drop I revisit their latest one and fall in love with another of their ballads. The break into the chorus is so bloody gorgeous.

30/13 - A Weekend In Utah Won't Fix What's Wrong With Us

OK, quick one again. No time to elaborate.

Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know?

Always had a soft spot for Arctic Monkeys, and this might be one of their tastiest, sleasiest, most tongue-in-cheek tunes yet. Instant infatuation. Stylish video too:

 

Easy Star All-Stars - Paranoid Android

Screeching dissonant brass solo, yes please! Jah loves his children, yeah!

Marilene - Sinal Vermelho

Samba, to remind me to enjoy the summersun in between all my parallell jobs.

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - I'm Not Gonna Cry

Some wonderful tuba notes in this one.

Mountain Goats - The Mess Inside

Almost negating the former tune: I'm not gonna cry.... but I very nearly did cry in the library, when I listened to this while vectorising some euro-notes. If this song doesn't break your heart, I have no idea what material it is cast in.

Over and out! Next week might be more elaborate.

29/13 - Kinda Like the Loose End At the End of the Night

Busy week. Belated list. Rounded up some stuff that hadn't made it onto the last few lists and ended up with some remarkable transitions, if I may say so:
 

John Martyn - May You Never

When noone else is around, I let music take care of me. Pat me on the head and say 'there, there'. After a day of concrete-casting, the gentle blessings of John Martyn cradled and reassured me.

Iron & Wine - Low Light Buddy of Mine

Got a little bit of money in my pocket for once. Couldn't help but indulge in some new CDs. Ghost on Ghost delivers exactly what I expected from it. I love his forays into jazzy arrangements.

Andre Tanker - Living for Lena

Get a grip Lena! Can't you hear how bad you're treating Andre? Bad, bad, bad!

It's so bad to be alone!

Tanya Tagaq - Surge

 Hebbe-be-habbe-be!

The Kills - No Wow

Modern classic. So angry. So sharp. So crampedly restrained. So good.


And one of my favourite tracks from last year has been adorned with a gorgeous music video by one of my favourite filmdirectors ever (Paul Thomas Anderson):

28/13 - Unfold In A Generous Way

A week in Sweden has refilled my heart. My friends' children, the beauty of nature, the comfort of family... Love feels closer. Cynicism and anxiety are on a break.

Björk - Undo

Hello, Vespertine old friend. How many times will you need to caress my brain and re-teach me these lessons? It's not meant to be a strife. 

I'm praying to share me.

Broken Bells - The High Road

...but the high road is hard to find.
Broken Bells is an album well worth a revisit. I find it has matured beautifully, like a fine wine really. For a side-project, its songs sound remarkably like full-bodied statements and its sentimental weight only grows in hindsight.

 

Roberta Flack - Go Up Moses

For once I found that someone else has already written a minor essay around this commanding fighter-track, so allow me to simply cut in on that:

Co-written by Flack, Dorn and Jesse Jackson(!), and is an answer to the traditional spiritual Go Down Moses. It exhorts Black America to quit begging off Pharoah and just let HIM go. Powerful stuff, delivered in this kind of spooky 'night-tripper' groove that just keeps building...

John Smith - A Long Way For A Woman

This was on my iTunes. Mark must have put it there. Another in a long line of revivalists of course, but when the song and the playing is this solid, I don't care whether it was made in 2010 or 1960 or 1910. More to learn here.

Jo Stafford - No Other Love

This song is not about silly love. This song is about sitting by a lake at dusk, watch the swallow swoop and the goose glide, see the treetops reflected in perfect stillness and feel everything at once. Despite what logic tells you; life is love and this song is eternal. Maybe I should go religious.
Also, check out the instrumental version.

27/13 - Summers Past

I'm back in Sweden. Sitting in my parents' home it feels like the past envelops me again. At the same time here is a rich and full present that puts Glasgow in perspective. If my life was a sentence I wouldn't know where to place the parenthesis. I guess I probably won't til I reach the punctuation, and by then it'll be too late.

Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes

Classic Bowie-penned rock anthem injected with just enough melancholy to shift it from embodying debauchery and youth, to looking at them as though from the future. A eulogy for the ever-slipping present. Nostalgia for what is happening right now. And now. And now... The sleeve-art is perfect too:

Nina Simone - Love Me or Leave Me

Strange thing about Nina Simone, she's one of those most instantly recognizable and universally appreciated voices (and rightly so), but at the same time her actual discography is almost ignored. Completely drowned out by hundreds and hundreds of compilations (just hav a wadethrough of her artist page on Spotify), noone ever lists Wild Is the Wind or High Priestess of Soul or Nina Simone in Concert amongst their favourite albums ever. Why that is I can't understand. This album is another case in point. Every damn track is solid gold. It should belong up there with the best albums of the 60s. It does for me. And this tune... As much as her fantastic singing dominates – just listen to the sheer force with which she drives that last verse home! – it also proves what a brilliant pianist she was.

I intend to be independently blue

The M*A*S*H - Suicide Is Painless

Has got to be the most brilliant and bizarre themetune ever. Lyrically composed by a 14-year old and intended to be "the stupidest song ever", it's the perfect combination of pitch black emo and jaunty barbershop. It's been covered by everyone from Marilyn Manson to the Manic Street Preachers, but you really need those wonderful choirs of the original (sung by the cast of M*A*S*H) to pull off the weird alchemy of melancholy and light-heartedness.

Joe Hisaishi - Kids Return

You know Joe Hisaishi? Yes you do. He's only composed the music for almost every Miyazaki-film there is. Plus he's made a number of soundtracks for that other japanese film-legend; 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano. This tune from the bittersweet nostalgic Kids Return is totally made for bikerides on a sunny summerday.

Abdelrahman Elkhatib & Solar Plexus - Ah Ya Zen

I've been a bit obsessed with this epic track since last week's Kieran Hebden/Gilles Peterson-binge. It seems to include pretty much everything. Frantic rhythms. Emotional crooning. Uplifting choirs. Exquisite instrumental solos. Surprising breaks. Ecstatic chanting. Pure funk. Stay with it til the end!



Finally this video is a brilliant accompaniement to an expertly tongue-in-cheek song. The dove made me laugh out loud.

26/13 - Alter Your Speech

This week my life has been enriched by two flawless mixes I found on the web.

Those who have followed my musicblogging for a long time (i.e. probably noone) would know about my great appreciation for Awesome Tapes of Africa; probably the most valuable music blog on the web. Now another of its fans has chosen some of his favourite laid back tunes from this treasure of african music and made a Slow Music Mixtape. If there's the slightest hint of sun where you are; if you have a hammock, a blanket, or simply a lawn/beach to stretch out on; do yourself a favour; throw away whatever summer hits you had queued up and download this batch. It will be better, I promise.

As if that was not enough, a few days later, Kieran Hebden and Gilles Peterson drop this monster of a session. These guys simply have the most exquisite taste in music, and I had to lay on my bed for two hours, doing nothing but listen, because after every amazing track there came another, even more amazing track. Do give it a listen, but if you don't have two hours to spare right now, you can always start with my little 23-minute list first, as no less than 80% of it is lifted straight from that revelatory mix. ENJOY.

Albert Ayler - Heart Love

Leading off with an unusually and almost impossibly catchy number from the man who's more known for aggressive freejazz. I've never heard Albert like this, with backing vocals and all, but I ain't complaining, and the solos, although quite mainstream compared to some of his more out-there work are still absolutely raving.

Willie Wright - Right On For The Darkness

The "right on" at which the drums break in at 0:40 is so cool I can hardly believe this guy self-released two albums and then more or less disappeared. This track alone should have made him a legend! Even if it is a Curtis Mayfield-cover.

William Adamson - Foggy Dew

Who is this? What is this? It's released this year, but could just as well be 40-50 years old. It's riddled with dark crawling spirits. It's emerged from an evil swamp. It has me hooked to say the least.

Rachel Sweet - It's So Different Here

Four Tet definitely used a sample of those twangy little notes in some track. But I have yet to go through them all to figure out which. I can definitely see why though. What a lovely production! Another artist I can't wait to listen more closely to. I LOVE DISCOVERING NEW MUSIC.

David Sylvian & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Forbidden Colours

I could continue to add tracks from that Four Tet/Gilles-mix, but I'll save some for another week and finish with a track from my own collection, to add a slight touch of originality to this list. Large flamboyant feelings perfectly matched by dreamy keyboardwork and those strings in the outro are so wonderfully dramatic.



And how good is it to re-familiarise yourself with the sound of the Pixies? It doesn't feel cramped, it doesn't feel like a tired reprise of older material. It just sounds like Pixies. Easy and natural and joyfully aggressive.

25/13 - The Last Moment Ever On Dry Land

Let's get strange. Let's find solace in the odd corners of the world where resistance grows against the streamlining new economy. Let's bin the polished turds and dig for pearls buried deep in fertile dirt.

The Knife - Stay Out Here

How about that growing drone for an introduction? Yes, this week's list will rely on prolonged weirdness. Stay with it, it's quite gorgeous and, dare I say, well-composed. As is this epic, euphorically dystopic track.

Most things we love are open ended 

Stay out here, it will get more frightening 

Lose your way

Earth - Crooked Axis For String Quartet

Let's refuse moving fast. Let's refuse making money. We were not meant to suffer from anxiety or stress. We were meant to roam. Let's hide. Let's not seek. That will teach them. The greedy scumbags.

Soulfly - Karmageddon

Drums. Sometimes all you need is drums. Heavy drums. Visions of big campfires. Savannas. Animals like us.

Ulver - Dressed In Black

Ulver is not like other metal-bands. Ulver sets whole William Blake-eppossen to music. Ulver makes ambient electronic soundtracks. Ulver subverts cliché emo-tropes into questions:

Eternal?

Like hell  

we are 

all dressed in black

Jimi Hendrix - 1983...(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)

To finish off, a soundeffect-laden plan to become aquatic, in order to escape the manmade apocalypse, from one of the most unimpeachable music-albums ever made. If all psychedelia sounded like this I would become a hippie. Amongst many favourite details, Jimi's (Noel did not play on this one) dripping and plopping bass-lines in the second half, the mechanical seagulls and of course the glorious way the melody is brought back into focus at 11.20

As a companion to that finale, watch this disconcerting but gorgeous performance:





...and finally, the best, strangest comics I've seen for a long time. (click image for more bizarre visual jokes)

24/13 - Very Brief In The Night

'My mother is a fish.' is the full content of an extremely short chapter in William Faulkner's stunning novel As I Lay Dying. A wonderful interpunctuation of an unfolding rumination on death. Like a rock song on a boring Tuesday, or a drumfill in a desperate lovesong.

Harry Nilsson - Jump Into the Fire

4 minutes in comes one of the best breaks/outros I've ever heard. The over-enthusiastic drums would've been good enough on their own, but when the bass subsequently rolls down into a cellar of low frequencies I am right there; on the brink of jumping into the fire. Harry, you mad genius.

David Lindley - Mercury Blues

Speaking of energetic drumfills – it was actually all I thought I liked about this track when I first heard it in one of my many downloaded episodes of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour. After all, cheesy macho-rock about cars is one of few genres I advocate a healthy skepticism towards. But then, after repeated listens I can't deny that there's something cheeky and infatuating about the whole song. And after looking up David Lindley's CV I'm growing a real respect for the guy; not only has he played on a majority of Jackson Browne's and Warren Zevon's recordings – he's also one of the uncredited musicians on one of my favourite albums of all time: Songs of Leonard Cohen. Guilty pleasure grown considerably less guilty.

Grandaddy - Chartsengrafs

Here is where today's list veers off into slight sadness. One of the catchiest, yet most unashamedly depressed songs off that masterpiece of contemporary ennui; the Sophtware Slump.

Yeah, I traded laughs, in for chartsengrafs.
But all of that is only fun, until evening comes.
Your guess is as good as mine, as to just what kind
Of trouble I might find, tonight out of my mind.

The National - Pink Rabbits

This whole song is like one big gentle heave of the sea. It starts out low, desperately low. Then comes that subtle lift – I was solid gold – that builds into a fleeting beautiful crest. And then it just sinks back again. In the middle of it, one of the best lines this year:

I was a television version of a person with a broken heart

Stina Nordenstam - I See You Again

It is high time that I introduce Stina to this blog. One of my big idols she is. It's a slightly misleading cliché to present her as Sweden's equivalent to Björk or Kate Bush, but she does belong to that calibre of solitary, independent and unique boundary-pushing artists. While her vocals may come off as quaint,  even cutesy, at first listen, it takes only a little scratching on the surface to reveal a vast, complex and dark body of work. She started out as a jazz-singer, but stopped performing live in 1991. Since then she has shied away from media attention, rarely gives interviews or appears uncamouphlaged in photographs, and has released only six albums, each one vastly different. Her songs has dealt with everything from child-murderers and race-crimes to the invention of airplanes. This is from her second album; it's the first I've ever heard from her, and I remember the moment exactly. It's been 9 years since her last (and arguably finest) album. Here's hoping there's a new one in the works!

If not Stina, then at least Julia Holter is offering a new release soon, and I'm having high hopes for it after this pre-taste:

23/13 - I Start To Climb

Oh man, this week was one of those when I had a bunch of songs saved for my top 5, and when listening through them the transitions were just perfect straight away. Strange bedfellows they are, but listen to how they segue...

Queens of the Stone Age - If I Had A Tail

They're sounding poppier than ever. As I'm a fan of their heavier jams (like the majestic Song for the Dead), I thought I'd be disappointed, but... it's actually quite good. Lovin how the chorus just comes tumbling over the strutting verses like a rock bouncing down a hillside.

David Bowie - 5 Years

Definitely in my top 5 of Bowie-songs. I guess I have an apocalyptic mindset, because this song really gets to me every time. Somewhere there's this genuine fear that I will live to see the day this song foretells. Not because of some alien annihilation-scheme of course. Just the actual collapse of our society, and the ensuing knowledge that there's only a short time left to enjoy the gifts of the earth.

Never thought I'd need so many people...

Tindersticks - A Sweet Sweet Man

Tindersticks go a bit free-jazz for this full length version of their classic debut-album-suite. Such a simple, almost lullaby-like song, with such a vast emotional range.

Scott Walker - Montague Terrace (In Blue)

Speaking of range. The man's a genius. Voice and arrangements almost threaten to overshadow some of his finest scene-setting lyrics:

Your eyes ignite like cold blue fire The scent of secrets everywhere A fist filled with illusions Clutches all our cares

Slick Rick - Children's Story

So many old hip hop-albums I need to discover. Roc Marciano led me to this one. Effortlessly spellbinding.