16/21 - You Can't Stop Me

Christmas time. Maybe, probably, the last top 5 list of the year. Peaceful, although no christmas tunes. But mostly new favourites from this year.

 

Galya Bisengalieva - Aralkum

I was supposed to go to the Le Guess Who? festival back in November, finally, after so much pandemic cancellations. But on the day of travel I woke up with a bad cold, and spent the whole festival weekend at home in bed instead. So I MISSED IT. But I had already listened to the festival playlist quite a lot, so even though I didn't get to see them live, I made some new discoveries. Isn't this just a magical meditative piece?

 

Arooj Aftab - Suroor

This was high on my list of artists to see at Le Guess Who?. One of my favourite albums of 2021 I think.

Bobby Hutcherson - When You Are Near

The only oldie on this list. It just fits so well with the quiet winter mood right now.

 

Majid Bekkas ft. Goran Kajfes - Annabi

Looking back to the festival I did get to attend this year – Clandestino – I'm still having Majid Bekkas on heavy rotation. Perfect soundtrack for christmas scrabble games.

Little Simz ft. Obongjayar - Point and Kill

No festival discovery. Old idol, new album, and what an album it is! Definitely on my top 5 of the year if I'll be bothered to do one. (Haven't actually bought enough new albums this year to make a fair selection)
 

15/21 - Carry Away My Old Leaves

Time is not on my side at the moment. I wrestle and wrangle with it and I keep coming out having lost another week. As Bright Eyes once put it: I keep doing these to-do-lists and nothing gets crossed out. Well, I'm damned if I'm not gonna get another few Top 5 lists out before the year is over. Important matters.

 

Yamasuki - Yama Yama

Who hasn't got a weak spot for Japanese children's choirs?

 

 

Mag - Riot On Your Own

I saw Mag play at an exhibition opening in September and it was really really good. Trombone noise rock.

Richard Thompson - I Misunderstood

A record that's been on my iPhone for a while lately is Action Packed: The Best of the Capitol Years, with some selections from Richard Thompson's solo career. He's one of those songwriters that, even when he veers into what should be cheesy territory, there's a lyric, a phrasing, or a composition twist that makes it undenyingly something else, somethign intelligent and gripping.

 

Ibeyi - River

Something as precious as a French-Cuban twin duo singing about West African religion in English and Yoruba. Music to my ears.

Loosegoats - Stum Mountain Man

It's late autumn so I'm giving in to some nostalgia for past times, past infatuations and past gigs.
 

14/21 - I've Been Normal, I've Been Ostracised

Here's a list of goodies that's been stewing for a while. I think I managed to get the flavours just right.

 

Pa Salieu ft. Ni Santora, Lz Dinero, Stizee & Shakavellie - Active

Discovered this trough a Quietus list a while back and only just realised he's also playing Le Guess Who? this November. Love the 80s progrock vibes of the intro. 

 

 

Antipop Consortium - NY To Tokyo

One of my suggestions for the most overlooked album of the 2000s. I love every strange angular sci-fi track on it and I have since it first came out.

Nadine Shah - Buckfast

Back to newer discoveries. The namechecking of Glasgow's favourite pastime: getting Buckfast pissed, would be enough to land it on a Top 5, but it also happens to be an amazing chugging standout on an album full of amazing songs and thrilling husky vocals. The brass stabs at 2.20 are perfection.

 

Erik Lundin - Jag Räcker

Generally not a big fan of Swedish rap and not keeping track of its scene, but I heard this on the radio this summer and it hit a spot somehow. Like with Pa Salieu it's the mixing in of unexpected music that really adds the spice to the concocture: the singing in the chorus turns out to be a Gambian lullaby.

James Blake - Say What You Will

James Blake heads deeper into pure crooner-territory, and while on the one hand he is getting close to crossing the border to cheesy. But on the other hand it is also disarmingly gorgeous. You can't stay cynical after that 3.20-3.40 wail.
 

13/21 - Open Your Heart

I don't know how to handle time. Here is a tributary Top 5 to this year's Clandestino Festival that is already three weeks in the past. But it was my first experience of live music since the pandemic began, so it needs to have a list of its own, no matter how belated. I don't know if it was that all my reference points have faded, but each one of the four gigs I managed to catch felt like an absolute revelation. Such joy!

 

Islandman - Shu!

This Turkish trio arrived from an arduous journey an hour before their stage time, didn't have time to soundcheck, but still managed to effortlessly slide into the most blissful groove of eclectic ingredients. And their album is almost as good as the live experience!

 

 

TootArd - Open Sesame

The loveliest, charmiest band from the Golan heights is named 'strawberry' and makes irresistible Arab folk pop about love and freedom. The Covid regulations for the whole festival required seated audiences, and it was frustrating to have to sit-dance through all these gigs, but at TootArd's set it became almost impossible. Some couldn't help but take to their feet, only to be urged to sit down again. 

Free Palestine!

Goran Kajfeš Subtropic Arkestra - Dokuz Seki/Esmerim

My first gig of the festival might have been the best. Not only were we treated to cosmic jazz jams but also a guest appearance by Moroccan master guembri player Majid Bekkas. I had almost forgotten how important live music is to me and what incredible highs I can get from it, but this concert immediately reminded me.

 

 

MC Yallah ft Debmaster - Dunia

The hardest gig of the festival set Kenyan-Ugandan rhymes to French-German beats and the result was immense. MC Yallah flowed in four different languages and connected in each one. She's one of the coolest rappers I've ever seen.

 

Mazhar Ve Fuat - Adimiz Miskindir Bizim

Mazhar Ve Fuat did not play at the festival, but through an amazing coincidence covers of this song were played independently and uncoordinated by two different acts; Goran Kajfeš and Islandman. After their gig, the guys from Islandman showed us this original version of the tune and its melody has since infiltrated my brain.
 

12/21 - To Travel Beyond The Wall of Sleep

Been home a little bit more than a week, and it's going well, but I still miss Mustarinda, so here's the rest of July's melancholy soundtrack:

 

Panu Räisänen - Moon-Power

A song from Panu, who gave us a little rehearsal concert in the loft studio one day.

 

 

Fred Åkerström - Berceuse

A song from the leaving day's car ride to Kajaani, rightly insisted on by Panu.

njihe - Muka kevät

A car trip DJ choice by Totti. A "spring song". 

 

 

Cumulus - Höstvisa

Surprised that I haven't had this on a list sometime. A lifelong favourite and the most beautiful song about the end of summer ever. Written, of course, by Tove Jansson.

 

Elena Kamburova - Маленький принц

Elli's gift to us all was to introduce us to this gorgeous children's song about a little prince. As all-pervasive a melody during the month as the Finnish Whistler was.

 

11/21 - Laughter Heals All That's Torn

Sitting on a train from Stockholm to Gothenburg on the final stretch of my homeward journey from Mustarinda. I have felt happy for a month, now I'm trying to fight off the dread. Am I going back to a trap of continued anxiety attacks, or can I start afresh? Changes are needed. A studio, more cultural inspiration, more social life. More strangeness, less monotony. This kind of weird wonderful:

 

SAULT - Strong

A fight song to start with, to summon determination and optimism.

We're moving forward tonight
Gotta fight, gotta fight

 

 

Shugo Tokumaru - Tracking Elevator

Much love and thanks to my co-housekeeper Panu who made the month caring, fun and meditative from the first day, and who introduced me to this song during a japanese-themed kitchen DJ-battle.

Deerhof - Spirit Ditties Of No Tone

This has been in the Top 5-queue since many weeks back when our gig club watched a great Deerhof festival set. A band that I've always been dimly aware of, but whom I needed to see in action to fully appreciate the genius of.

Bless spirit ditties of no tone

Inspirations
Unsensations

 

 

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - K.G.L.W.

Same as above. But also, lizards, frogs and toads have been companions during the month in the forest, so this weird theme tune seems fitting now.

 

Roger Whittaker - Finnish Whistler

Frequent soundtrack on our car trips. No one knows what it has to do with Finland. Also a great tune to play in canon from several sound sources if you want to approach a gentle madness.

10/21 - To Sing And Have Something Left To Say

Phew, that was a long break(down). Over the last couple of months I lost enjoyment in most things, even to some degree in music. It's been hell. Definitely one of the worst mental health periods I've ever had. But now I'm in the Finnish forest and it feels like it's finally over, and it's such an enormous relief. Here's to finding my way back to some semblance of peace of mind.

 

 

Sharon van Etten & Angel Olsen - Like I Used To

Two of the most powerful voices around teaming up to utterly rule my heart and tell me to recuperate my joy in life.

Lighting one up like I used to 

 

 

Self Esteem - I Do This All The Time

BBC6 wore me down with this. At first I thought it a novelty. Then I really started to like it. Then I watched the video, and now I can't go a day without playing it. The ending carries me each time.

I'll take care, I'll read again, I'll sing again, I will

 

Lou Reed - Sad Song

A contender for best album closer of all time. The juxtaposition of the tragedy hinted at in the lyrics and the almost jubilant contradictory way the chorus crescendos makes this an ultimate song of acceptance and letting go.

 

 

R.E.M. - Why Not Smile

Dedicated to me.

 

Vesa-Matti Loiri - Itkevä huilu

And to round up, a thank you to the beautiful country of Finland for making me feel good again. Pipsu was singing this song in the kitchen the other day and it was beautiful. Then she also played this version, and while her acapella version was the most gorgeous, I've gotten a bit obsessed with the sound and arrangement of this recording.

09/21 - I Can't Set Myself Free

Things have kept deteriorating in my head. These songs do not reflect anything, they're just an anchorpoint in reality.

 

 

David Bowie - Right

Never no turning back

 

L'Impératrice - Voodoo?

My new band crush, since we watched a concert stream of theirs in our pandemic gig group. It's French, it's slick, it's full of amazing arrangement details, and it's infinitely enjoyable.

 

 

Flight of the Conchords - I Told You I Was Freaky

Comedy and music still works on me, intermittently. 

Here I am all dressed in snakeskin
Now I'm in your kitchen making love to your cake tin
Oh no, is this the one you bake in?
I told you I was freaky, did you think I was faking?

 

Vanishing Twin - Cryonic Suspension May Save Your Life

Suspend me

 

Meridian Brothers - Cumbia del Pichamán

🤷‍♂

 

08/21 - I Never Thought That I Would Find A Way Out

Just crawling out of a deep pit of anxiety that lasted the weekend and some and completely incapacitated me. Only soothing sounds pls.

 

 

Nicolas Jaar - Tourists

I love pretty much everything Nicolas Jaar produces, but his alternative soundtrack to The Colour of Pomegranates hasn't been the record on most heavy rotation. But then this came on between some other random tunes and it was so subtle and understated it gave me shivers.

 

 

DJ Python - Pia

New discovery. Very slow build album. Love music that takes its time to unfold.

 

 

Bess Atwell - Co-op

I've returned to listening to BBC6 in the mornings, because I need voices and some sense of communal life to keep me distracted from bad thoughts. Then this came on and it was very beautiful. It felt like I was back in London for a bit.

 

Mary Lattimore - Thirty Tulips

Attention to small things helps. Insects, flowers, smells. The world.

 

Dua Lipa - Love Again

Only gave Dua Lipa a proper listening to last week and was surprised at how much I liked this, and then my former housemate and good friend Miriam just posted videos of her performing with Dua Lipa today. Including this song. So this is clearly the bridge from soothing to cheering up.

 

 

07/21 - Candlesticks In The Dark, Visions of Bodies Being Burned

I'm frantically trying to get a writing project to gel, so I'll save my words for that this time. There are so many words in these tracks anyway. This list goes from positive to negative, but can be listened to in the opposite order if you feel that's too heavy.

 

 

Deltron 3030 - Positive Contact

🚀

 

 

J Hus - Triumph

🎺🎺🎺

 

 

Little Simz - Venom

Easy to be completely mesmerized by Little Simz angry, razor-sharp presence, but also save some love for the great organic groove of the production. The whole, fantastic album is full of it.

 

clipping. - Say the Name

Things are getting dark, but still shimmering with brilliance.

 

FKA Twigs - sad day

😢 😭

06/21- A Pale Imitation With The Edges All Sawn Off

Everything seems to require such an effort these days. I'm trying to keep the mood up, keep my body from slumping, and I'm trying to make art. But even these relatively trivial tasks force me to really gather strength at this point. Some music here to get over the treshold with.

 

 

Fat White Family - Rock Fishes

Getting out of bed. Getting out of lethargy. Love the hazy, surreal determination of this song.

 

José González ft. The String Theory - Crosses

Haven't listened to José in a while, but he came up in conversation and following that I discovered he'd released a live album. This song used to be strongly associated with spring in Gothenburg to me, and might become so once more with this lush orchestration. 

 

St. Vincent - Regret

I'm not completely convinced by St. Vincent's new releases yet, but they did occasion me to seek out some old favourites, and since then this riff has been pulsing in the back of my head.

 

 

Radiohead - Bodysnatchers

The squirming, lashing guitars in the end perfectly encapsulate the battle that is getting back to artmaking at the moment. Gonna punch through that wall eventually.

 

Vampire Weekend - Don't Lie

I wanna know, does it bother you
The low click of a ticking clock?

05/21 - We're Never Leaving This Place

It only took a slight change in the weather. Now I'm feeling low, lonely, sentimental again. Thusly, here follows five sad songs. Not gonna cottonwrap it.

 

 

Tiger Lou - Sam, As In Samantha

This song used to affect me severely back in my early 20s. Now, almost two decades later, partly thanks to a pandemic setting, it hit a soft spot again...

Sitting around every day
Amounts to nothing and there's no way
I'm doing this for another ten years
That's one of my worst fears

 

Lianne La Havas - Bittersweet

No more hanging around

No more hanging around

No more hanging around

No more hanging around

😔

 

 

Wire - Humming

I can't quite remember
When it went wrong
Someone was humming
A popular song

 

 

Julien Marshal & Ed Tullett - Scalped

I listen to Julien Marshal every second day as my breakfast music. Usually it's a suitably serene and wondrous mood setter. Then I found this particular collaboration, and suddenly I was left to finish my scrambled eggs to the the tune of infinite sadness...

 

Lhasa de Sela - El Desierto

Started with an old favourite; ending with an old favourite. We have arrived at the desert. Which direction to get out of here?

 

 

04/21 - Spin Me Round So I'm Unwinding

Let's have a dance party. It's been too long.

 

 

Karenn - Taste Yourself

First we have to establish a beat. Untz, untz, untz, untz... Yeah, there we go.

 

Kelly Lee Owens - Melt!

Then, space out for a while, as the beat builds and layers of sound fill the room and push aside language and worries.

 

 

Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure?

Now we need a disco diva. Jessie Ware does take on that mantle, with the honour, on her latest record.

 

 

Róisín Murphy - Narcissus

OK, we're getting warmed up. Now is the time for an epic breakdown, buildup and subsequent beat drop. And few people have studied that science more thoroughly than this mad Irish genius. As evidenced by this absolutely fantastic tune from last year's brilliant album.

 

Maxwell Udoh - I Like It (Don't Stop)

And to top it off Alex introduced us to Nigerian Maxwell Udoh, who's adding that little wistful lovey-doveyness every good dancefloor needs.

Let's have some fun
Come on, let us have some loving

Soon we'll meet in a club.

03/21 - There's Hideous Demons and Creatures At Play

A healthy dose of anger and unruliness. See it as a gift.

 

 

Rage Against The Machine - Sleep Now In The Fire

I try to cancel YouTube's autoplaying to not get sucked in, but the other day the algorithm threw up one of the best music videos ever, and I could not help but let it play. There might have been a time when I thought I was over my RATM phase, but these days I capitulate: they're jsut as good, if not better, as I thought when I was in my teenage years. Why do they hold up? Because they were right, they were righteous, and they had the best riffs.

 

 

Bonnie 'Prince Billy & Matt Sweeney - Make Worry For Me

A while ago I ventured that OD'd in Denver was the best of Will Oldham's collaborative singles from last year, but I don't know. This might have the edge after all. Meaner, grittier and with a venomous guitar solo to match.

 

 

These New Puritans - Where The Trees Are On Fire

Don't get used to dystopia.

 

 

Memnon Sa - Golden Ram of the Sun

I heard a hedgefund manager on the radio, saying everything was fine and that he was just doing his part to make the system work optimally. I heard billionaires saying more capitalism will solve the climate crisis. I heard centrist columnists equate right wing extremists and socialists...

Here's an incantation to exorcise the demons of neoliberal hegemony.

 

Phoebe Bridgers - I Know The End

A song that claims to know a few things about ends, and goes on to prove it by providing a rather spectacular ending of its own. A musical impression of "do not go gentle into that good night"...

02/21 - Boss Up And Change Your Life

OK, sulking time is over. Time to shape up and do something productive. Here we goooo!

 

 

Idris Muhammad - Could Heaven Ever Be Like This

Speaking of being productive, at work the other day we listened to this, and I tell you, with Idris Muhammad in the bluetooth speakers even making minute retouches to dark brown windowframes becomes a labour of love. Although by the time you get to that fuzz guitar solo at 7:17 the brush might need to be put aside. Careful antique conservation doesn't always go well with getting over-excited. I believe we learnt that from 'monkey jesus'.

 

 

Lizzo - Good As Hell

After almost a year I've finally added some pandemic-specific social habits. A zoom drawing club and a concert stream chat group. In the latter we simultaneously press play on a chosen YouTube concert every Sunday eve. A couple of weeks ago we watched Lizzo's Glastonbury gig, and if you need some pep and good feeling, that's the prescription. Just do your hair toss, check your nails, and... off you go!

 

 

U.S. Girls - 4 American Dollars

On my to-do list now that I've decided to be proactive: abolish capitalism. Preferably with this joyously sarcastic tune on the stereo.

I don't believe in pennies and nickels 

And dimes and dollars and pesos and pounds 

And rupees and yen and rubles, no dinero

 

 

Helado Negra ft. Xenia Rubinos - I Fell In Love

Well, I didn't. As usual. But you know, it's a nice sentiment. Presented in a really lush, sweet and compassionate way. Would have been my Valentine's tune if I'd chosen to recognise that day.

 

 

William Doyle - Blue Remembered

Posting this list on the heels of one of the most astounding long winter weekends I can remember, with each day outdoing the last in terms of sunrises, sea vistas and crispy, blistering icescapes; the colour I see when I close my eyes is definitely an icy blue remembered. This kind of beauty can be difficult to handle. You feel compelled to stay outside until frost starts biting your cheeks and you're getting a headache from all the intense white light, and exactly like this piece of music, the crescendoing, layered intensity of experience needs to be cut off, just so. 

But the easement came
In the form of the terrain
Colour spread again
Blue remembered
Freedom downhill came
With the fall of the terrain
Colour spread again
Blue remembered,
Green and red regained

01/21 - Did You Miss These Rhymes When I Was Gone?

What's up with the colours of this blog?, one might ask. Well, I have gone through the yearly process of considering whether it's time to retire this unpopular endeavour, only to end up with a whole bunch of tracks I still feel the urge to make into an impeccably curated playlist, non-existant readers be damned! So here's yet another revamp. This time slightly sickly and dark, like the times. And since I haven't made a list since the news of his passing, I can't move on before posting a tribute to the creative genius of Daniel Dumile. DOOM will live forever!

 

 

Madvillain - Figaro

I've stated before on this blog that my job's not done until every track from this album has been on a list. So I guess that's as good a reason as any to keep posting. Truly one of the most sublime records in the annals of rap.
 

 

 

 

Beverly-Glenn Copeland - River Dreams

I considered putting nothing but MF DOOM tracks on today's list – and I certainly had enough candidates – but I liked the idea of spacing them out with some reflective, serene pieces, like a proper commemoration service.

 

 

MF DOOM ft. Mr. Fantastik - Rapp Snitch Knishes

Not only did DOOM build up a whole universe with different pseudonyms of his own, but he also introduced mystery collaborators. As far as I can figure out the identity of 'Mr. Fantastik' is still not known. Considering he almost manages to hold his own next to DOOM it's pretty insane that he's stayed anonymous, and hasn't – as the song would have it – snitched on himself.

True, there's rules to this shit, fools dare care 

Everybody wanna rule the world with tears for fear 

Yeah, yeah, tell 'em tell it on the mountain hill 

Running up they mouth bill, everybody doubting still

 

Ana Roxanne - Suite Pour L'invisible

...

 

 

MF DOOM - That's That

Surgically splicing together more rhymes in a single line than some rappers use for an entire track, only to without warning disappear into an imaginary and imaginative parallell cartoon world. And that's that.