14/15 - There Are Drums Beyond The Mountain

Eight days in Spain. Songs from the car stereo.

Fleetwood Mac - Dreams
Let's start from the beginning. Heading out from the airport at sundown in a rented car, with the sea behind us and arid mountains ahead. Listening to maybe the ultimate roadtrip band; the Mac.


Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
A happy shivers moment. Leaving the house on the final morning, sunshine and fantastic views all around, we're all singing along to the "do-do, do-do, do-do" at the top of our lungs.

Joni Mitchell - Dreamland
A song for Jochi - teammate and spreader of joy.


Johnny Cash - Drums
We went to the desert. Amongst cacti and deserted adobe-houses we listened to Johnny and felt very very wild wild west.


Taken By Trees - Day By Day
Wen the day's been long and hot and the eyes tired and aching after squinting at eagles in the sky, one needs a soothing homewards song.

I wish I knew what it takes to make you stay
My feelings for you growing stronger day by day
I could hold you for a hundred years
Take away your greatest fears

13/15 - And There's A Madness In Your Smile

Back from Glasgow. Heading to Almeria tomorrow. Feeling strong. Feeling good.

Marianne Faithfull - Monday, Monday
Tomorrow morning (Monday) commences 8 days in a farmhouse in Spain, with good friends, good wine, and maybe even some peace of mind. Monday. Monday.


Hyetal - Phoenix (Fantastic Mr. Fox Remix)
Don't know what to say about this, except that it's awesome and it just gets awesomer as it goes along.

Airhead - Pyramid Lake
Some of the most physical music I've heard lately. Feels like hanging over a cliff, swaying in the wind. In a good way.


Suede - Down
Suede's most underappreciated. The whole sound of this takes me back to my late teens/early twenties, but it's not just nostalgia. There's something truly awesome and original about that bass, that guitar line and that cyclical melancholic descent.


Pentangle - Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
Finally getting into Pentangle, after having listened to Bert and John for a long time, and after both of them died. Don't know what took me so long.

12/15 - There Are Times When All the World's Asleep

An intense week in the almost empty Lauriegrove Baths, trying to prepare as best as I possibly can for three crazy weeks ahead. Install in Glasgow Tue-Sat, Spain residency Mon-Tue, install and opening(s) in Glasgow Thu-Mon. But don't worry, I've got three lists lined up already, so Top 5 won't suffer. Here's the first:


Supertramp - Logical Song
Clinical, intellectual, cynical... Save me from myself.


Davy Graham - Maajun (A Taste of Tangier)
My sister was in Morocco a few weeks ago, and my housemate is there at this moment. And I wish I could go there again too.

Shye Ben-Tzur - Daras Bin
Crazy heaving crescendo after 4:00. Yes, please.


YACHT - Psychic City
Cities, within cities, within cities. That's where my head's at atm.


Saramba Kouyate - Toumbou
Turn the volume UP! Oh, the underappreciated GENIUSES of music production hanging out in little studios in Bamako. Rolling, tumbling, slithering, biting; this track layers all its movements into an unstoppable beast!

Oh and Chance the Rapper is winning my heart, bit by bit. First it was the verse on Baby Blue, and now this:

11/15 - And Then the Body Moves On

My grandma passed away early this morning. I don't think she ever listened much to music. I don't really have any songs I associate with her. But these are for her.



Devendra Banhart - The Body Breaks


Aphex Twin - Avril 14th


Nils Frahm - Four Hands


Miles Davis - Some Day My Prince Will Come
Oh to end with a snap of one's fingers.

Múm - Finally We Are No-one