12/20 - Now We're Swallowing The Shine of the Summer

This is a list that represents the split vision of living on a summer-fragrant island while the world is coming apart at its seams.

The National - Runaway

Feels like I've escaped here. But I'm not an escapist. I won't be no runaway. Cause I won't run.

We've got another thing coming undone

Amen Dunes - Miki Dora

A song about a criminal surfer that feels as blue and hazy and contradictory as this final day of May.

Purple Mountains - Storyline Fever

This album might be the happiest-sounding super-depressed album I've heard. Fits with the message. Don't get caught up in the narrative...

...'cause defeat is where your demons lurk

Sleigh Bells - Riot Rhythm

Yeah, I know, we're all righteously quoting MLK now, but still, "a riot is the language of the unheard" is what needs to be said. Solidarity with the protestors.

David Byrne - Hell You Talmbout

George Floyd. Say his name.

(Yes, this is a cover version, and it is a bit of a shame having to use a version by a white man - no matter how much I adore him - but it's the one that's on Spotify. See below for the original by Janelle Monáe & Wondaland)

11/20 - Standing In Pajamas With Bananas and Candid Cameras

It's time for a Sunday kitchen party, and here are the five bangers I've lined up for us to bob our heads to.

Erykah Badu - Danger

Quite often I reminisce about Erykah Badu's gig at Way Out West last year. One of the best in a long time.

Tyler, The Creator - I Ain't Got Time

I'm not the first to note that the experience of time is taking strange turns during this pandemic. My four-day weekends go by like gusts of wind, and I always end up feeling like I didn't get to the stuff I meant to do, even though I should logically have more time than ever, seeing as my calendar is virtually empty. But I've always got time for Tyler's inventive productions.

A$AP Rocky ft. Kendrick Lamar, Joey Bada$$, Yelawolf, Danny Brown, Action Bronson & Big K.R.I.T. - 1Train

A behemoth of all-star posse cuts. The transition between each rapper is thrilling, but the moment Danny Brown jumps in is my favourite. I don't know what it is about his voice and flow that just gets me pumped every time I hear him...

Non Prophets - Damage

A blast from the past. I used to listen to a lot of Sage Francis back in the day. Saw him live some time in the early 00's. It was just him, a CD-player and furious non-conformist energy, best summed up in the immortal line:

I go to Fugazi shows requesting Minor Threat songs

Run The Jewels - Yankee and the Brave (ep. 4)

What brought this rap party on, you might ask? Why, Run the Jewels announced that RTJ4 will be released on June 5! That's less than two weeks away. I have pre-ordered what will undoubtedly be the album of the year, and if you're reading this, so should you.

10/20 - We Can All Pull On Through

Some oldies goldies, some newbies:

Mohammed Rafi, Shamshad Begum - O Gaadiwale

I watched Mother India (1957) the other week, and now I feel like doing a deepdive into classic bollywood films. How can you make an epic tragedy about poverty, debt and tilling the earth and then have the main characters and a bunch of dancers suddenly break into this song in a field of wheat, without it being corny? I don't know, but they did.

U.S. Girls - Pearly Gates

OMG what a song! Where has this been all my life? In a way it feels like it's always been there; it's that instantly unevadable. Angry, sacrilegious, witty and catchy. This verse about St Peter's sexual misdeeds is just something else:

Peter bragged he was good at pulling out 
He always knew the right time to take a bow 
He practiced it every single night 
It hadn't failed him yet 
He'd been doing it a long, long time 
And Peter just does whatever Peter likes

David Bowie - It Ain't Easy

Nothing should go back to normal.

When you climb to the top of the mountain 
Look out over the sea 
Think about the places perhaps, where a young man could be 
Then you jump back down to the rooftops 
Look out over the town 
Think about all of the strange things circulating round

The White Stripes - Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine

Don't drink bleach. Fill in the waiting time for a vaccine with some Jack White guitarwork.

Nick Drake - Magic

When a tune makes me cry, it ends up on the list. Such are the rules. I've listened to this so many times, but suddenly there comes a time of extra receptiveness. I had just finished one of the last chapters of Selma Lagerlöf's gorgeous debut novel, and was already welling up a bit when Nick's melancholy tale of wonder ambushed me and pushed me over. The world is gorgeous.

09/20 - At Night In My Sleep, I Hear Voices

Here's some serene music for those lovely mornings when the sea lies heaving in purple swells.

King Crimson - Cadence and Cascade

King Crimson is a surprising band. I never gave them much thought, but every now and then they pop up on my random iTunes because of some time when I decided to download some of their stuff, and I never know it's them, because the tracks might as well be quintessential 70s prog, hypnotic rhythmic stuff, or, like here, gorgeous little serenades. Fascinating.

Rokia Traoré - Mouneïssa

In the absence of a DAB radio in my kitchen, I have made a breakfast playlist, and this hidden gem from one of my favourite Malian singers is on it, because it makes me feel really good about starting the day.

múm - Weeping Rock, Rock

Every day that I'm not working and the weather is decent I get up early and take a walk around the island before breakfast, because it's still an absolute wonder to me to be alone with the birds and deer on the rocks.

Nina Ramsby & Martin Hederos - Fredrik Åkares Morgonpsalm

On the aforementioned breakfast playlist there are three versions of this song (because it has the word 'morgon = morning' in the title, which is how I first started the playlist), and it's well worth it, because there's something about these lyrics that just gets deep down in me.

Oscar Brown, Jr. - World of Grey

I know nothing of this. It's from a record my uncle left behind. But it's a moody and poignant song, isn't it?