Well, that went tits up. Five more years of Tory rule in Britain. Another failed UN climate summit. Another step towards right wing authoritarianism in Europe. Another hope for a transition to something different, something better, quashed. It's hard to feel merry this season.
Jlin - Challenge (To Be Continued)
The title says it. It was a challenge. It will be even more of a challenge now. But the marching drums will keep rolling, fractured, disjointed, and eventually the beat and the movement will coalesce again.
Arca - Desafio
Right now though, it's hard not to wail in anguish and sadness when thinking of the state of the world. In a desperate lament like Arca's.
Nils Frahm - Chant
People will suffer because of this election result. Some won't survive because of this election result. And here I'm sitting in Sweden by my laptop and listening to sad tunes and feeling guilty, angry and near hopeless, but of course we can't allow ourselves to be. And I worry that posting a playlist like this might come off as somehow glib. But Nils Frahm's piano won't.
Kate Tempest - People's Faces
Have courage UK. Remember that none of this was written in stone.
More empathy Less greed More respect
Augustifamiljen ft. José González - Waterfalls
And finally. Find comfort in the small everyday things. Like the fact that one of the best pop songs of our time exists in a cozy, loveable, family-friendly cover version.
My asian autumn is over, UK goes to the polls, and I'm home in Sweden after a decade of living abroad. Everything feels strangely afloat.
Paul McCartney - Come On To Me
Shih-Yao played this in the car on the last Taiwanese road trip. The drums and the bridge makes it way more appealing than late Paul solo stuff should be.
Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer, Béla Fleck - Bubbles
This was on my iTunes. I can't remember wherefrom it comes. I downloaded it in 2010 apparently. Glad I did, because it's fantastic. The string bit that starts at 3:33 particularly rocks.
Wanfang - 聽風的歌
Ashamed to say I didn't explore the local music much when I was in Taiwan, but once when Yu-Cheng and I were driving to Moon World, this song came on the radio, and while it's fairly cheesy, there's something about the soundscape and the chorus that was really lovely to listen to while driving through bamboo-flanked roads.
Chang Kiha
- Cheap Coffee
In Seoul, Zbong and I had a DJ battle and she introduced me to this Donovan-esque song about coffee. It's made extra charming by how sincere and serious he looks while singing it.
Cho Yong-Pil - 이젠 그랬으면 좋겠네
Another Korean classic. Sentimental, sincere and unhip, and quite lovely to give in to. I Wish It Could Be That Way Now!
Right, I'm in the last phase of one of the most exhausting builds/installs ever (this is basically every install for me, but this one really is extreme). Just nine more days. Power me up power-women!
Beyoncé - Drunk In Love (Homecoming Live)
One of the best songs of our century in a live version that feels like a collective power surge.
Ana Tijoux - Cacerolazo
Solidarity with the protestors in Chile. Solidarity with the protestors in Iraq. Solidarity with the protestors in Hong Kong. The neoliberal order's chickens are coming home to roost. We have to make sure that what grows through the cracks comes from the left, not the neo-fascist right. Bang those pots and pans with Ana, my new crush and idol.
Robyn - Indestructible
Just the song for late night concrete-mixing in a cloud of cement dust and mosquitos.
Grimes - California
To quote another song; anger is an energy.
Rosalía - BAGDAD - Cap. 7: Liturgia
"Look, Cry Me A River is a brilliant song, but don't you think it would become even better if we did it in Spanish, and added a couple more irresistible melodic hooks?"
"Um. Yes. But only if you also included some flamenco handclaps."
Ugh, every time Rosalía hits those high pitched lines backed by the choir I get all fluttery inside.
It is anxiety-season as my exhibition deadline is approaching and my project, as usual, has proven to be just a little bit too big and ambitious for me to carry out comfortably. So I play these songs to reminnd me that at the end of the day, this is what I want, and it will probably turn out alright again.
Fever Ray - Idk About You
Stress can be remade into party.
Belle & Sebastian - For the Price of a Cup of Tea
The teashops of Jiali are legion and very good for a comfort treat after a long day cutting bamboo. Give me a milk tea with ice cream, bubbles and some herbal jelly and I'll be happy.
Jess Sah Bi & Peter One - Apartheid
Just discovered that my favourite Ivorian country album is available on Spotify. Support Palestine.
The Impressions - People Get Ready
I don't need religion. I just need those harmonies at 2:20.
Kate Tempest - Hold Your Own
Oh Kate Tempest, you've only gone and made me tear up again!
Nothing you can buy will ever make you more whole This whole thing thrives on us feeling always incomplete And it is why we will search for happiness in whatever thing it is we crave in the moment And it is why we can never really find it there It is why you will sit there with the lover that you fought for In the car you sweated years to buy Wearing the ring you dreamed of all your life And some part of you will still be unsure that this is what you really want Stop craving Hold your own
Lovely life-affirming sounds from the midpoint of a tropical residency.
Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining
How long has it been since you heard that gorgeous elegiac intro? I heard it just the other day, thanks to my rich, life-spanning iTunes library.
The Beatles - Let It Be
Far from my favourite Beatles tune (I'm a Lennon-guy, obviously), but when you're driving zig zag up a Taiwanese mountain and that excellent George-solo comes on just as you turn a corner and gasp at the view of some most spectacular bluish green hilltops, you can forebear some Paul-schmaltz. And those tom-tom tumbles by Ringo are so funny and brilliant.
Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
What a stunner of an album this is! String arrangements and vocal performances to bore into your soul. This is what an artist sounds and looks like at her most invincible.
Chance the Rapper ft. Darius Scott and Nicki Minaj - Zanies and Fools
Been having Nicki-times in the studio. Revisited Queen, and then she popped up again on the jittery conclusion to Chance's latest, with another awesome verse. I love how she can just nonchalantly pull out this kind of super-flow as a little side thing.
Swet Shop Boys - Birding
This might be the best song in the world. I love it so much! I listened to it back when it came out and then just suddenly remembered it the other day, and astonishingly hadn't included it on a list til now. And yes, it happens to be about a dear interest of mine, and it's funny, but it also happens to be genious! The amount of mileage he can get out of this wordplay, or the bit where he tries to figure out the very sample he is rapping over (personally I believe it is a common loon, heavily edited)! In total he manages to namecheck no less than 46 birds, together with the wry ironic challenge "If you tried to rhyme bird names you would fail!"
Here're five multicultural party tunes. Because life is a multicultural party.
Run The Jewels - Paw Due Respect (Blood Diamonds Remix)
I'm getting itchy waiting for RTJ4. So much so that I even give Meow The Jewels a spin. For being a remix made of cat samples, it's not bad. Not bad at all.
Cut Chemist - The Garden
That's a track off my favourite Astrud Gilberto album, wrapped up in a wondrous concoction of other samples. Heeeere weeeee go!
Panjabi MC - Mundian to Bach Ke
This is one of the best-selling singles of all time. It's because it's good.
Wu-Tang Clan - Gravel Pit
Irresistible classic clan. Each verse a gem, the hook a diamond.
Youssou N'Dour - Birima
One more blast from the past, then I have to get back to studio work. The quintessential sing-along-with-words-you-don't-understand song.
I'm in Taiwan, and the days blend into each other in a sticky, wide-eyed state of exploration and wonderment. So blogging has not been on my mind. However, the music stacks up..
Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
I might come to regret this in future revisits to the archive playlist, but it can't be helped; Alina and Johanna arrived at the residency and forcefully made this its theme song. Most mornings, and most occasions for "party", these emblematic muted guitar-gallops are the first thing on the playlist. Can't deny it puts the pep on.
Daniel Johnston - Unpack Your Adjectives
There are so many sad Daniel Johnston songs to mourn his passing by, but I feel like they've already been shared. And he was more than a tragic anti-hero. He was also a brilliant oddball, who wrote ingenious songs explaining the use of simple grammar in describing bear encounters. True love will find you in the end DJ.
Brian Eno & John Cale - Footsteps
From Lay My Love, via Cordoba and Spinning Away, to The River, this has long been my favourite travelling album. It calls up shimmering mirages, chance meetings, unexplored cities, letters back home... that ecstatic feeling of revelation in a new place:
All is clear I can see for miles and miles
Paul Simon - Born At The Right Time
Excuse the uncomfortable sincerity for a moment; I just want to note how privileged I am to get to do this. How, despite the general fuckery of the world, when I cycle the lanes along rice paddies in the sunset with my camera and binoculars, I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoy life, and I'm grateful to all the living organisms that allow me to share this space with them.
Angel Olsen - Lark
This is visceral. An evasive, hard-to-grasp, but monumental song that out of nowhere (each time) suddenly leaps at you and ravages your soul with massive string glissandos. The video emphasizes the sheer force of this beast.
It is my last full day in London. Tomorrow I'm off to Taiwan. Via Hong Kong. To assuage my nervousness, this is what I listen to:
Ella Fitzgerald - Cow Cow Boogie
Having Ella's voice around is like having a comforting hand on your shoulder. It makes me feel safe and warm and happy inside.
Bob Dylan - One More Cup of Coffee
So I got around to watch Martin Scorsese's Rolling Thunder Revue on Netflix. Not sure what I thought of the film, and its strange fakery, but the magic of Bob Dylan himself will always work on me. Those live performances were intense.
The Whitest Boy Alive - Fireworks
Random blast from the past. Still groovy.
Nils Frahm - A Place
Went to see Nils Frahm live for the third time, last weekend. Had a slight headache, but he was as excellent as ever, and when these choir samples echoed in the postindustrial cathedral that is Printworks, things turned absolutely majestic.
Fred Astaire - Never Gonna Dance
This is an excellent song. Although I am going to dance. And so would Fred.
It is now a week since I went to the last day of the Way Out West festival in Gothenburg and saw one of the most amazing compressed festival line-ups ever. Five gigs in 5,5 hours, all rating from excellent and upwards.
Earl Sweatshirt - Faucet
Earl served as a bit of a warmup and didn't reach the heights of the later gigs. No crowdpleasing hits, no big showmanship. But uncompromising, highly accomplished rap music that I can't help just getting hypnotised by.
Christine and the Queens - Girlfriend
Now, this was a surprise. As much as I loved Tilted, I didn't expect more than a nice pop concert. But then she appeared on stage, with six dancers and some fireworks, and electrified the audience from the very first note. I've rarely seen someone whose charisma and voice so completely transcend the circumstances. By the end of the gig I had tears running down my cheeks and just kept dancing. And turning around I saw other people next to me who like me, were cry-dancing. It's pointless trying to put into words. Even now, listening through her albums, I only find evasive hints of that experience. Just go see if you get the chance. She's magical.
Erykah Badu - Window Seat
After that lightning-strike of emotions and energy the rain started again and my sky-high expectations for Erykah were somewhat muted. But for no reason as it turned out. Because Erykah Badu is supernatural. Supernaturally talented. Supernaturally cool. Supernaturally in control. My mouth remained opened, gasping and screaming. I don't need God or religion as long as there are performers like this to elevate me to a higher plane.
Stormzy - Crown
I love Stormzy. The kids love Stormzy. Sweden loves Stormzy. A strange feeling to see something so rooted in South London suddenly make my hometown go mental.
Solange - Binz
Stormzy moshpits made me forget my age. By the time of Solange I started to get tired. But what a solace for aching feet and ears she is. The elegance. The sensuality. The fierceness.
Two weeks of proper Swedish summer are coming to a close. A lot of things are coming to a close. It's a light, free feeling.
Hans Appelqvist - För mig är det inte verkligt
The only Swedish tune on the list comes from an old mixtape I did a decade or so ago and that I rediscovered at my parents' house. Need to catch up with Hans Appelqvist. A small scale visionary.
TLC - Waterfalls
Thinking back to a late evening roadtrip to Finland's biggest waterfall back in April. Robin played this in the car and it's just a perfect pop song really. And Left Eye rules.
Chance the Rapper ft. Childish Gambino - Favorite Song
Chance is the emotion 'giddy joy' personified. I'm gonna listen to his mixtapes and his new album for the rest of the summer because this is the season for it.
Stormzy - Vossi Bop
Am I gonna bop to this when I see Stormzy live at Way Out West this evening? Yes. Yes, I am.
Fuck Boris!
Leonard Cohen - A Street
Let’s drink to when it’s over And let’s drink to when we meet I’ll be standing on this corner Where there used to be a street
City summer days slip away to the sound of rap music and flamenco.
Anna Meredith - Paramour
Here we gooooooooooo!This is so ridiculously enjoyable!
Stormzy - Return Of The Rucksack
I know I'm late on this ball, but Stormzy at Glastonbury – quite the gig eh? Quite the gig. If you haven't seen it yet you can still be awed here.
Miss Red - Shut In Your Head
Speaking of awesome gigs. I heard this new single from Miss Red on the radio the other day and remembered hers and The Bug's jawdropping performance at Le Guess Who? last year. Missing that festival this year is the only regret I have about going to Taiwan for three months.
Rosalía - Dio$ No$ Libre Del Dinero
My infatuation is growing. Rosalías new double single pairs an ironic ode to wealth with this sorrowful plea to free us from money. Welcome to capitalist schizophrenia.
Nostrum Grocers - medium
Another BBC6 discovery. I still can't believe that's not Earl Sweatshirt on the second verse.
Since last list, decisions have been made, preparations begun. Upheaval is on the agenda.
Belle & Sebastian - Expectations
I often miss being an art student in Glasgow. Rarely more so than when I listen to Belle & Sebastian's perfect debut.
Making life-size models of the Velvet Underground in clay
bob hund - Nu Är Det Väl Revolution På Gång?
Sometimes I miss being a teenager at a rock festival in Sweden. Often that feeling is induced by listening to a live recording of one of the best live bands in the world.
Beth Orton - Daybreaker (Four Tet Remix)
All this looking back just serves as a reminder that there are alternative lives out there, and changing it up is worthwile.
We're burning a new sunrise into yesterday's skies
Janelle Monáe - Django Jane
The future could be gorgeous. Post-capitalist, post-patriarchal, post-anthropocentric. I'm up for it.
Vampire Weekend - This Life
One of 2019's catchiest songs, with one of 2019's most poignant lines
Our disease is the same one as the trees Unaware that they've been living in a forest
Once again, a group of tunes to raise as a weapon when the infuriating world situation of 2019 batters your heart and soul.
PJ Harvey - The Crowded Cell
The Virtues - a four-episode gut punch by genius Shane Meadows, with the superbest of acting and a commissioned theme tune by PJ Harvey. There are still things to admire in the UK even in these ludicrous times.
Fugazi - Break
Masters of unconventional song structures break it down with a multilayered program declaration:
We take apart everything we build
Rage Against The Machine - Calm Like A Bomb
The situation is getting more dire, and RATM more relevant. I'm getting genuinely sick to my stomach by watching this stereo-screen shitshow of the Trump administration's abuses and the bigoted, misogynist Tory powergames. We've gotta kick the fascists and the capitalists in the nuts. Now.
Kate Tempest - Holy Elixir
Just in time, Kate Tempest arrives with a new album to dress this murky situation in blistering words. I have not listened yet, but this pre-taste gives me great comfort and raises my expectations.
Your loneliness is the symptom, not the sickness
Beyoncé ft Jay-Z - Deja Vu
Pray to Lady Bey. She reassures us that we'll see her again, and again, and again. Maybe it's what we need to get us through.
Heavy manual work and biking among the fumes in the heated city requires adrenaline in the soundtrack
Run The Jewels - DDFH
El Producto bringing the heavy artillery as per usual. Tambourines and drones. I will never ever get tired of this album. Or any of RTJ's faultless trilogy.
The Clash - Police On My Back
The Clash, as the omnivorous, hyper-enthusiastic genre-hopping outfit they were, took an already great song, sped it up, and made it virtually synonymous with restless movement.Rarely has Mick Jones' sloppy, breathless singing sounded so good.
The Roots - Act Too (The Love Of My Life)
Du-du-duuuu
Rosalía - Pienso En Tu Mirá - Cap. 3: Celos
I spent a good hour last week watching all Rosalía videos I could find on YouTube. It was the best hour of the week. She's so awesome. I ❤ her a lot. Handclap-percussion to everything!
Soulfly - Bleed
I want to be in a Soulfly-moshpit again! That's all.
Caught up with the latest episodes of Song Exploder, and fell in love with a new song by Panda Bear. It's sumptuous and hypnotic.
Dirty Projectors - Unto Caesar
On an album full of the most intricate vocal arrangements in pop, the second half of this is basically just bragging masquerading as self-mockery.And I'll take it!
Miles Davis - Fishermen, Strawberry and Devil Crab
For when the midday sun hits and you just want to melt into a puddle of bliss.
Charles Mingus - Open Letter To Duke
1:54 is what it's all about. The city moves around you at chaotic speed, but every now and then there's a synch and it all locks in for just long enough to propel you forward, towards those tip-toeing last notes leading to rest.
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - No Bad News
Will Oldham's voice with Dawn McCarthy harmonies is what sweet dreams are made of.
I finally got around to watching The Square. I thought it was rather brilliant, as most of Ruben Östlund's oevre is. And I loved how unnerving the recurring Bobby McFerrin vocals were. The last 3-4 minutes of this track are extraordinary.
Tunng - People Folk
Being back in London. Taking the first signs of summer – swifts arriving, warm sunny days in flowering gardens – with the congestion, the hayfever, the crowded commute... People had to run...
Andrew Bird - Imitosis
So many people around me again. Yet, most evenings, a profound sense of detachment and, dare I say it, loneliness.
Vampire Weekend - Sympathy
The new Vampire Weekend album is finally here. And it's loose, catchy and summery! I listen to it all the time. This song was one of my first standouts. Pure fun.... until you take heed of the lyrics.
John Martyn - Call Me Crazy
John Martyn – master of outros. That thing that happens at 4:25 is basically the aural equivalent of me coming home after a day's gardening and slumping down in a chair in my own garden, blackbirds serenading from the chimneystocks in the evening sun.
A third and final Finland-inflected list as I head out on my penultimate leg of the return journey.
Richard Galliano & Michel Portal - Mozambique
The Mushroom Mix CD, a legendary companion on all big group excursions from the Mustarinda house. Full of weird and organic grooves and atmospheres, like this pulsating accordion growth.
Kullervo Kivi - Lapin Tango
What would a Finnish residency be without some Finnish tango?
Forest - Graveyard
The crown jewel of the Mushroom Mix. An unshakeable melody perfectly synched to the recurring themes of the whole residency. Dark, folkloric and posthuman.
Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté - Hawa Dole
The wordless, melancholic beauty of the world while bags are being packed. The forest at sunrise, now, a hundred years ago and a hundred years from now. The capercaillie stepping aside from the gravel road as we set off in the morning to catch the Kajaani bus.
Nino Ferrer - Looking For You
Leaving Mustarinda feels like heartbreak. I'm in love with that place, and I miss it terribly already. An inner landscape seeks its match. I'll be looking for you, further ahead.
This is my latest playlist of five tunes that I have listened to in recent times. Here in the forest, music gets parsed out in small portions, which makes it extra precious.
Aquabella - Levan Polka
Not my favourite version of this Finnish classic, but close enough to make you hum this earworm of earworms forever and ever.
Hamlet Gonashvili - Kakhuri Nana
Norwegian composer Martin Bauck just left the residency today. For easter he treated us to some smooth angelic favourites, like Hamlet here.
Callum Easter - Fall In Love
From the studio next to mine, this random discovery drifted over from George's streaming radio.
The Knife - Parade
Roadtripping music I. Swedish electronica with melodic influences from Ethiopian jazz (surely you can hear echoes of Hailu Mergia in there?) turns out to be the perfect accompaniment to stopping by the Kainuu roadside and watching black grouse displays.
The Doors - Soul Kitchen
Roadtripping music II. Classic albums rarely sound as good as when heading into an epic sunset in all kinds of shades of pink while singing along.
A typical day at Mustarinda art residency, in the deep Finnish forests.
Fennesz - We Trigger the Sun
I wake up at 7 and glance out my window towards the forest edge. If the weather seems clear, I quickly dress and slip out into the kitchen to brew some coffee for the flask. I put the flask into my coat pocket, grab my binoculars and my camera, and leave the house before the others are awake. Down the road a few meters, then up to the left, past the wooden 'kota' shelter, and into the forest. Here, I have to place my feet carefully on the narrow trodden path, as a slip to either side of where the snow is compressed means I sink down with my entire leg. The sense of walking on the ground is an illusion – there's almost a meter of snow between me and the forest floor. The morning sun slips through the branches and illuminates tufts of beard lichen hanging from the old trees. 700 meters in I arrive at the viewing tower, climb up to the top, and have my first sip of coffee while gazing out over a vast expanse of ancient forest. A gust of wind bites the cheek with cold, some crystals in the sprucetops refract the light in little sparks of colours, somewhere further in the three-toed woodpecker hammers a staccato, and under my feet a patch of icy snow creaks. Interpreted, extended and amplified, the whole vision would sound something like this new track from Fennesz.
The Matthew Herbert Big Band - Be Still
I get back to the house to have breakfast in the kitchen while the other artists filter in. After that, at least an hour of reading, and then maybe some writing in my studio, bathed in bright sunlight. Despite seven people living and working in the old schoolhouse, everything is absolutely silent and still. A time of pure concentration.
Kings of Convenience - Scars On Land
After lunch I might strap on skis and go out sliding through the forest again. The whole landscape is criss crossed by tracks. My sharing the space with other lifeforms becomes both visible and tangible; from the smallest meandering vole tracks to the massive hoofprints of moose and reindeer. An ephemereal infrastructure incised in snow.
Keren Ann - Not Going Anywhere
Late afternoon I treat myself to a nap. Rarely have I lived in a more peaceful place, but even here life's anxieties come pawing at my chest. Am I not supposed to be moving forward anymore? Am I stuck, or am I just at rest? Tide will rise and fall along the bay...
Little Simz - Sherbet Sunset
The sun sinks behind a black jagged treeline. I sit at my desk, scratching away at a drawing of a bird to still my Protestant-Capitalist guilt. Melancholy nordic tales of love and heartache drift by somewhere off in the distance. Every day I get a little bit closer to myself.
So, Scott Walker is dead. And that fucking sucks. The man had more masterpieces in him.The man was a masterpiece.
Grinderman - Evil (Silver Alert remix ft. Matt Berninger)
The world is a cluttered room, with walls and floor bending and crying from the weight. You can feel it all caving in, can't you?
Little Simz - Boss
Stop. Stop. Stop. Stand in awe. Punch a hole. Take the lead. Charge into the cataclysm. Little Simz is boss.
Róisín Murphy - Overpowered
Super-classic. Can't believe I've never had it on a list before. Well, now that's over. Alien feelings we have to accept.
Pentangle - House Carpenter
I've listened to this so many times in the past couple of weeks so that it's starting to sound otherworldly. That, or it was always otherworldly, what with its sitar- and tabla-seasoned Scottish folk, trailing the way from homely comfort to catastrophe. Despite its dire warning, I'm leaving tomorrow on a train, and I'll even get on a ferry down the line. Here's to a month in the Finnish forests, or, if my fate should be that of the besung fickle lady, an eternity in hell!
There's really very little going on. The city and work take it out of me. Ambitions wither. Feelings become muddled. It is a time of ascetic waiting.
Scott Walker - Two Ragged Soldiers
You cling to the sentimental moments in a day. Adorn them with Scott Walker arrangements and the odd perfect little phrase. You drag your heels through fantasies...
Nick Drake - Fly
For a foreigner like me, it's sometimes hard to tell whether this song exists because of sudden sunlight in English gardens, or whether sunny English gardens were invented to accompany this song.
Frank Ocean ft. Andre 3000 - Pink Matter
Really, I wanted the remix that has Big Boi on it as well, because it's just perfect, but there Spotify let me down once more. Nevertheless, Dre's rap and Frank's melancholy wail combine like warm milk and honey, creating something like a hazy memory of sex.
Radiohead - A Punch Up At A Wedding
I used to think this was one of the weaker tracks on Hail To The Thief. But sometimes a song just waits for its time to shine.Suddenly the barely suppressed fury and frustration, sung through clenched teeth, is just the injection of life I need this anaemic season.
Björk - Ambergris March
Transition from Radiohead to this courtesy of iTunes shuffle. Those fluttering toy-imitations of drumrolls give me shivers. Here's to marching for a waxy sperm whale secretion!
Well, this took a while. I blame February. February's been dismal. I was bedbound for 2,5 weeks straight and the rest of the time I've just been trying to make up for lost income. But in between, these tracks played:
Nils Frahm - Human Range
I listened to this when I had high fever. It was disorienting, but beautiful somehow.
Caetano Veloso - Dreamland
I listened to this while I was waiting for a train at Crystal Palace. There was a blunt sun and wood pigeons among the blankets of ivy that cover everything there.
Tony Allen - Don't Fight
I listened to this on the radio, in the kitchen. Fela Kuti's keyboard player, Dele Sosimi, was playing afrobeat favourites, and I was hypnotised by this serpentine, slithering incantation.
Brad Mehldau - River Man
I listened to this melody all my adult life. Oh how they come and go...
Pussy Riot - Organs
I watched all of Russian Doll. The next to last episode was the best. Not least because of Pussy Riot as outro music. If you know, you know.
I haven't found love, don't be silly. But it's nice to imagine isn't it?
Julia Holter - I Shall Love 2
The sheets are creased, crumpled, miscoloured, like an old man's face. Emptied painkiller maps are on the bedtable and on the floor, together with orange peels and empty cups. The fever has subsided for a little bit and I close my eyes in blessed exhaustion. I decide to fantasise about being in love.
Jens Lekman - Your Arms Around Me
The smallest, everyday things become magnified. What in the middle of the night seemed to have lost all meaning, all coherence, suddenly regains beauty and the power to comfort, with the dawn chorus, the warmth of a radiator, the crunch of a piece of toast. The very thought of someone putting their arm around someone else suddenly touches me to the core. Illness made me weak and soppy, but I allow myself to be.
Vashti Bunyan - Rainbow River
The parakeet couple that comes to the garden every day are sitting on a branch, preening and kissing each other in the morning backlight. This is the central London version of a Vashti Bunyan rural idyll.
James Blake - I'll Come Too
The melody moves like a model train through an exquisitely built miniature landscape, weaving in and out through tunnels and valleys, taking each turn gracefully, never speeding up or coming to a stop. Despite being almost too saccarine, I get transfixed, sucked in, until its felt mountains, picturesque details and romantic reassurances make me almost dizzy. Or maybe that's just my fever flaring up again, I don't know...
Vampire Weekend - Harmony Hall
I'm so fucking sick of this flu now. Get me out of this bed!! I don't wanna live like this...
Time to kick off another year of Top 5s!
I added some festive colours to the blog, because – fun fact – this year will be the 10-year anniversary of me making "weekly" Top 5 lists! (it started on another blog in 2009, together with six Swedish friends). There are currently 1,994 songs, totalling more than 155 hours, in the archive-playlist of former Top 5s! (If anyone wonders why that is not an even number, it's beacuse Spotify have at various points taken part of their catalogue down from the service, including quite a few songs that I had listed in the past) Last year I posted 27 lists, which is at least more than one every second week. Not bad for a completely unasked for, and largely ignored, endeavour of crafting miniature playlists for the masses!
So here goes, my first five tracks of 2019. As per usual, a labour of love:
Gidge - Norrland
It was the second day of the year, and five of us, crammed into a small car, meandered along the gentle glacial curves of Southern Scottish hills. As Jo was the driver, she served up the music, and when the glen opened up its most majestic embrace, she pinpointed peak synergy with this gorgeous piece of expansive electronica from the north of Sweden. My native country and my favourite part of the UK merged in a reverb-laden landscape in the winter sun. If you listen closely around 2:40 - 3:00 you can hear the cranes calling...
Kelis - Aww S***!
Are those still cranes I hear? Nah mate, those are motors revving up as we prepare to roll with the realest in the new year. Aaww shhhhhhhhhiit...
Lizzo - Boys
2019 motto: Take everything that's been misused, and use it right again. Like Lizzo does.
Vince Staples - FUN!
Also 2019 motto: We just wanna have fun!
Radiohead - Ill Wind
Reality check: not everything will be fun. An ill wind will continue to blow. But as we learnt in the Dumfries ravines at the beginning; the glacial will still leave beauty in its tracks.
There we go, we're on the road again. I've already got more goodies lined up for next list...
