Don't have time to write much, I'm off to Arran! But these are some fine tunes right here:
Laurent Garnier, Bugge Wesseltoft, Philippe Nadaud & Benjamin Rippert - Barbiturik Blues
Spacey..
Daft Punk - Touch
Don't know what everyone is complaining about – RAM is a fine album. This stretch in the middle, with this lovelorn track segueing into Get Lucky makes for some of the most uplifting minutes of music this year.
JJ Doom - Banished
Watch DOOM's laser Will graze ya more worse than an Occam's razor Not to interrupt But anybody else notice time's speeding up?
K.M.D. - Soulflexin
Oh yeah, ole school sunshine hip hop. Just soulflexin...
Vampire Weekend - Unbelievers
If J.D. Salinger had formed a pop band, it would've been Vampire Weekend. That slightly scottish-sounding brass section never fails to give me an extra spring in my step, and this has been my 'going home from the park in an exuberant mood'-soundtrack this week.
Speaking of spring in the step. I wanna lose myself to dance soon:
Just came in from a morning in the park. The world is marvellous, really.
Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant
What a life I lead when the sun breaks free as a giant torn from the clouds
Loosegoats - Mother's Cry
Loosegoats is a swedish 'alt-country' band that I listened to a lot for a while. Their main singer and songwriter is Christian Kjellvander who has since made sublime solo-albums. But after Christian's brother and former Loosegoats-member Gustaf died of an overdose last year Loosegoats got back together and recorded a new album. Which in turn prompted me to go back to listen to their back catalogue which I know by heart. There's a directness of sentiment that I can't guard myself against.
J. Tillman - Laborless Land
I will keep plugging this guy, because his songs, whether under his own name or under his latest moniker Father John Misty, are of a rare beauty and honesty and he deserves much more recognition.
Hank Williams - Long Gone Lonesome Blues
Leonard Cohen once sang "I said to Hank Williams: 'How lonely does it get?' Hank Williams hasn't answered yet." What are you talking about Leonard?! He's trying to measure out the answer in almost every song! Here, he's so lonely as to wail like a squealing donkey. But in a good way.
Vampire Weekend - Diane Young
I love Vampire Weekend's new album. Wholeheartedly. Every detail chiselled out with utmost skill, intelligence and emotion. Even the ending of every song is designed to sound different and unexpected, like the little extra drumbeat here.
Live my life in self-defense You know I love the past cause I hate suspense
I'm making an effort to become a romantic again. This together with watching the devastatingly great This Is England '88 gets me well on my way there.
Oh if only you'd come back to me If you'd lay by my side I wouldn't need no mojo pin to keep me satisfied
Belle & Sebastian - Sleep The Clock Around
This is my favourite Belle & Sebastian album. It was the first one I heard, because they had it in the school library back when I was 16-17. To me every song on it has this wonderful mix of warm summery feeling and deep melancholy.
Thom Yorke - Atoms For Peace (Four Tet Remix)
Basically Four Tet could remix just about anything and I would love it, but when he chooses to remix one of my favourite living artists it just gets that little extra bit amazing. The rolling drums!
As sole bonus this week: David Bowie's fantastic tongue-in-cheek blasphemy:
An anonymous week. Been spending far too much time in front of my laptop, tinkering with my new portfolio website which will hopefully go up very soon. Great gig with MMM at the union, but otherwise not much of note. Some tunes on top of that:
Just Friends - Avalanche
The best of two worlds. One of my favourite electronic producers (that's Nicolas Jaar hiding behind that moniker, plus Steven Spielberg's daughter) riffing on one of my all-time favourite songwriters' and one of his very best songs. The bit at 4:45 is magical.
Justin Timberlake - Mirrors
It's been around for a couple of months now, and now that the initial release-hype is over it's time for me to proclaim to the world that I love this song. When I was a kid this guy used to be my fav hate-object on the music video shows; nowadays he's adopted a very Petter-approved style and making at least onesong per album that's completely irresistible. This time around it's this epic track. The final 3 minutes especially.
Looptroop Rockers ft. José Gonzalez - Priset På Allt
Living in Scotland I've slightly lost track of the swedish music scene. My fav artists' new releases I get around to sooner or later, but the latest hypes completely pass me by. Which is quite a relief most of the time. Found out this week that the old kings of swedish underground hip hop have released an album in swedish. While I prefer their older english rhymes, the guest spot on the refrain by José raises this one above the rest.
They know the price of everything But not the value of anything
Juvelen - Of Course I Remember
Another swedish act. This one I know next to nothing about, but at some point in the past I downloaded a few of his songs, and this has reappeared lately. Nice housey take on post-Prince sleaze.
Wim Mertens - Wound To Wound
Been a while since I had an epic Wim Mertens-track on a list. Should be a mainstay.
A few wonderful acoustic reinditions in the video-section this week:
And everything I've heard from Vampire Weekend's new material (except the album title), is top notch. As clever and infectious as always, and I love the kids in the background:
