12/23 - Before We De- Or Ascend

The last list was a bit dark, so here are five pick-me-up tunes that I've been blasting when I can't allow myself to wallow anymore.

Rosalía - Chicken Teryaki   

According to Spotify Wrapped, I listened more to Rosalía than anyone else this year. So I think she is my girlfriend now. Even at her silliest, like here, she has me hooked. Something about the phrasing, the production, the cultural mishmash...

 

 

Anna Erhard - 170   

A little lesson on height. One of my pet hates is people writing nothing but their height on dating profiles, but apparently it's very important to some.

I don't want you to be wrong
I just wanna hear you say that
I am 170 and you are not
Say it!
Let's settle it!

 

 

Cornelis Vreeswijk - Fritiof Anderssons Paradmarsch

Some of the best alliterations put to music. 

Bugen er I borgare i Birka och Borås!

Panic Shack - The Ick

Two and a half minutes of solid, classic-sounding punk, with a good amount of cheek and a bridge to mosh to.

You put the nail in the coffin!

Björk ft. Rosalía - Oral

One of the few true geniuses of our time keeps sending blessings. While I adore her later sonic experiments, hearing her flex her melodic pop muscles again is a gorgeous winter treat. ANd Rosalía's second appearance on the same list!? We're definitely a couple now...

🇵🇸 Free Palestine! 🇵🇸

 

 

11/23 - This Is Not A Terrapin With Its Shell Torn Away

Man, it's been a dark autumn. Shitty weather, right wingers on a roll, wars, ethnic cleansing, cowardly politicians and hypocrits all around. And no surprises, my anxiety came a-knockin again. Knockin me off my feet. But I'm up again. This is what I was listening to when I was teetering.

Scott Walker - Clara   

Is there a more inspiring album than The Drift? I had a rare moment of just getting transported and forgetting everything but art in the studio, and this is part of what did it. The sheer ambition, the negative amounts of fucks given, the giant leaps of associative creativity, the attention to detail... Scott Walker 4eva!

 

 

NZE NZE - Alu Da Ke Yang   

Who knew that reinvented warrior songs of a Central African Bantu tribe was what I needed when my chest contracted?

 

 

Shovel Dance Collective - II: Pump organ bellows being pushed by hand, the River Chess trickles, The Watermans Dance

Highly recommend listening to this full album. It's a portal into ancient times. 

Mastodon - Crystal Skull

Again, an amazingly soothing album to listen to when your brain is in turmoil. Riffage to die for, stories to live for.

Fleet Foxes - Silver Dagger (Solstice Version)

Long time fan of Joan Baez's version of this traditional, but Robin Pecknold's voice does something gorgeous to this melody, weaving the notes together into a beautiful shawl to wrap oneself in.

For I have been warned and I've decided

To sleep alone all of my life

🇵🇸 Free Palestine! 🇵🇸

 

 

10/23 - Time's Fickle Card Game With You And I

All my lists are late and far between now. But who minds? Over two weeks ago now, I spent a weekend in the countryside, celebrating the 40th birthday of my dear friend Dan with a lovely combination of debauchery and nature. So this list is dedicated to Dan and the nice time we had.

 

 

Atoms for Peace - Before Your Very Eyes...    

To start with, the tune I kept humming on during the weekend. I remember being quite disappointed with AMOK when it came out, and to be honest I still feel like the album falls far short of the amazing live performances that Flea, Thom and the others put on before the studio versions were dropped. But taken on its own, there is still some undeniable magic to mr Yorke's songwriting. An oddly attractive melody.

 

 

DARKSIDE - A1   

As the celebrations began, we had a bit of a DARKSIDE revival. Haven't listened to them for a while, but this must be one of the most perfectly executed side projects of all time. A handful of singles, two albums, a few remixes, a deliciously suggestive live show - and every single sound element spine-tinglingly superb!

 

 

Röyksopp - The Drug

A surprise track brought to the playlist late at night. Never listened much to Röyksopp, but this turned out to be perfectly attuned to our level of intoxication at that time.

Spandau Ballet - True

Another one that I wouldn't have picked out of a line up, but that at the particular moment when I was exuberantly chopping up some mushrooms for dinner hit me just so! Takes a certain kind of genius to make what sounds like a hummed outro into the recurring and irresistible hook of a song. It's almost so that you forget the rest of the song once you start singing along to those "huh huh uh-huuuh hi..."s...

Tigran Hamasyan - The Year Is Gone

Ok, so by now we were definitely into the small hours and starting to transition from beat drops to lullabies, and that's when I was introduced to this bewildering and bewitching new acquaintance. Strength to the Armenian people! 🇦🇲

09/23 - Give Me Scissors And I'm Running On The Tightrope

Went to another festival. These were my highlights:

 

 

Sara Parkman - Öppna Spjäll

Powerful opening concert.

 

 

Caroline Polachek - Caroline Shut Up   

The one I looked most forward to and the one that lived up to my expectations. Amazing artsy pop diva experience. Top notch stage design, stage presence, hits, and spinetingling vocal acrobatics.

 

 

Pusha T - Diet Coke

Best mosh pit!

Blur - Country House

My second blur "reunion" concert at the same festival. Last time was in 2012 and this time was as good or maybe even better. A reason as good as any to post one of the best upper class charicatures, disguised as a perfect pop hit, referencing Orwell's Animal Farm, ever.

Blow, blow me out. I am so sad, I don't know why...

Håkan Hellström - Valborg

It was years since I saw Håkan, and this wasn't quite the experience I remembered. A little bit too showy, not quite feeling the genuinity. It made me a bit sad, wondering whether it was me who'd finally lost contact with my teenage self. But then, the wistful slower numbers managed to reach through and squeeze some emotions out of this withered 40-year-old.

08/23 - I'm Not From 'Round Here, But I Am

July, shifty summer weather, a mix of work and play. After a fleeting resurgence of anxiety I am treating myself to all my best activities. As Björk said: I am only into this to enjoy. And this is the music I enjoy:

 

 

Rosalía - La Fama (live en el Palaus Sant Jordi)

As followers of the blog know, I've been a Rosalía fan for some time, but it was this amazing bonus track from Motomami that made me sign up for her mailing list, because I. Want. To. See. Her. Live. Now!

 

 

Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul - Thank You    

I love me some dripping sarcasm in music. Few people have done it well since Bob Dylan, but this takedown of jumped-up, patronising opiners and critics is absolutely delicious. This whole album is fantastic: equal doses of humour and sincerity around identity politics set to giddy danceable productions.

 

 

Yard Act - Fixer Upper

Oh man, I hate Graham. But I love, love, love the way Yard Act put him to music.

Jaako Laitinen & Väärä Raha - I tåget finns en restaurangvagn

Looking forward to do some travelling again at the end of summer. Not to Finland this time, but I do hope the train has a dining car! Saw this outstanding Rovaniemi act live at the end of last year, and it was a party!

Ethel Cain - Thoroughfare

I didn't know this was the music I craved, but late summer can indeed be the time for epic rock anthems. Masterful crescendo, with a broadlegged guitar solo to boot. To be listened to as the sun sets over the sea while you think of friends and lovers past.

07/23 - Nice-Nice

This year's Clandestino festival finished up three weeks ago already, and of course it was brilliant, but I just haven't been in blogging mode since. So here is my traditional roundup of highlights, belatedly:

 

 

Ghosted - I

This was the finale of the festival, the last concert of the more laid back Sunday, and it was hypnotic and great. Clear Dawn of Midi-vibes here, and since their Dysnomia was such a favourite of mine, I am very much welcoming more in this vein!

 

 

BCUC - Ntuthwane

My third time seeing the best live band in the world. The circumstances weren't quite as idal as the two earlier times, so they had to work a little harder. But if there's one band that knows how to work up a frenzy from nothing, it's BCUC. Their new album is great too.

 

 

Ukandanz - Lebèsh kabashen

Best gig of the first festival night came courtesy of a short, stout Ethiopian superstar of a singer - Asnake Guebreyes - and his brass-heavy French backing band. Phenomenal headbanging grind with insanely good vocals.

Derya Yildirim & Grup Şimşek - Bal

Big surprise of the festival for me, and my favourite gig of the year. Went in expecting some interesting psychedelic folk rock, came out shook to my emotional core. At some point during the concert, the voice of Derya Yildirim just pierced through all my defenses and I found myself weeping helplessly to songs in a language I couldn't understand. Their recorded output does not make her phenomenal voice and presence justice, but I'm still gonna listen to this music a lot from now on.

Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo Sèw

Even though I felt emotionally drained after the previous gig, seeing the old master of Ethio-jazz perform with a big band was a powerful experience. Classic melodies like this were performed with amazing arrangements and stunning musicianship.

And since they're not on Spotify, I'm adding the fantastic Congolese street mavericks Kin'gongolo Kiniata as a YouTube-bonus. Definitely the most I danced during the festival:

06/23 - All Wrapped In Plankton

It's summer now. I'm for it. I love this month. Even though I'm working a little bit too much right now, I'm exhilerated by life. Lush vibes call for lush music:

 

Astrud Gilberto - Nega Do Cabelo Duro

This playlist is full of those amazing little details that raise a song from being great to making me positively obsessed. Case in point: Astrud's way of transforming the words "pente que te penteia" to a staccato rhythmic device. Impossible to not "chi-qe-chi" with her on the sly.

 

 

Cosmo Sheldrake - Bathed In Sound

Whale song music, but good? Yes, Cosmo Sheldrake used actual underwater recordings to make a song about underwater life, in what on paper is the most literally cheesy concept imaginable, but in practice turns out to be absolutely envelopingly gorgeous. Thanks in no small part to a lovely, lovely melody.

 

 

Caroline Polachek - Billions

Caroline Polachek is another of those artists who can turn any phrase into a great hook, just by force of phrasing and intonation. She does a different version of her magic trick on pretty much every song she releases, and this time is no different; in that it is different. 

Zzay, zzzay, zzaae, zzaay... something to me

And then she goes and tops it off with a children's choir. Shamelessly delightful.

Rosalía - Candy

She did it before with Justin Timberlake, and now Rosalia takes the most iconic melody fragment from Burial and makes it unfamiliar, new and emotional on another level.

Braxe + Falcon ft. Panda Bear - Step By Step

And finally for the song that's been most indelibly stuck in my head for the past few weeks. Instant classic in my world. This chorus already feels like it has always been around.

I found a reason to stay
And then it faded away
And I'm already on
On my way out

05/23 - Show Me How To Split The Real

Needed some pep and energy to get out of a slump. Found it – as per ushe – in music.

The Clash - What's My Name

I needed to rediscover something. Dug out old feelings with a ladleful of The Clash's faultless debut. Got so exhilerated I was dancing and laughing on the ferry. It's still there, sometimes you just need to shake it awake.

What the hell is wrong with me?
I'm not who I want to be

 

 

Sahra Halgan - Talo

Went to one gig since last list. And what a gig. Somaliland's best voice according to me (I don't know that many singers from Somaliland if I'm honest, but if there's more like this I don't know how they're keeping it hidden from me). She started out smooth and lulling, but gradually raised the intensity throughout the concert until we were in a land of high pitched ululations and frantic riffage, all while Sahra stood softly swaying and smiling, like an eternal, reassuring but potentially world-wrecking force of nature.

 

 

Nilüfer Yanya - midnight sun

Her song Melt was one of my favourite tracks of 2019. I still love it so much, so that just hearing her voice again at the beginning of this track made me fistbump the sky. But this track is a different animal, that prowls around and around until it suddenly roars, at 3:47. The last few weeks I have lived for such violent joyful release. Spring hormones, perhaps.

Danny Brown - Ain't It Funny

Mania over lethargy. Danny Brown makes me want to bounce around on a dance floor, recklessly. Less reck. Less deliberation. More abandon.

Beyoncé - All Night

The video version of Lemonade suddenly came on my random playlist, and I couldn't bring myself to skip it, so sat through the whole visual album, as I hadn't done since it came out. I'd forgotten how it floored me the first time. It's a good music album, but watching it as well packs an extra punch. By the time All Night came around I had happy tears in my eyes. When she whispers in the finale I don't know if I want to be with Beyoncé or be Beyoncé. Man, she's amazing. Controversial opinion, I know.

04/23 - A Conversation Waiting For The Wake

It was a quiet Easter. I was mostly on my own. Spring keeps wobbling back and forth, and so do I.

 

Celestial - At The River's Edge

A breezy, floaty feeling, with some threatening bass churns underneath, but in the end, the shaky cyclical melody lands and it's like shrugging off your confused negative waking-up thoughts and finally putting your feet on the floor.

 

Marco Shuttle - Winds Of Cydonia

Drops from above, ooze from below. Some determination can be intuited. Many a creature working in symphony towards an indeterminate goal.

 

 

Florist - Sci-fi Silence

We're in movement, but to what end? I feel like I'm losing my focus over and over again. I'd like some company please. Someone to take the lead, or just take my hand.

Comе, you're not what I have but what I love

Hatis Noit - Sir Etok

An analogue futurity, a call to creativity. Distilled but layered to fuck. One of the acts i look most forward to at this year's Clandestino festival. Was listening to her album as I did the translation for the programme, and fell in love.

Lucrecia Dalt - Dicen

All I ask is to be mystified. New soundscapes, new seasons, hopefully new ideas. Lucrecia Dalt plays the alien card expertly and turns the familial inside out. To my delight. Another day of not going to bed bored.

03/23 - A Carrot In The Cages

It's April! Time for some pop songs!

 

 

Mitski - The Only Heartbreaker

Let's get straight into it, with the song I've been obsessing most over lately. The confidence such an epic song like this exudes! When it rips into that synth solo at the 2-minute mark you just know that this is an artist at the height of her powers.

 

Amber Mark - Bliss

Continuing on the anthemic theme. it's all about the delivery, from that little breath-catching semi-pause before the title-word, to the greatest bit at 1:20:

All I really wanna do is stop time
Didn't really plan on getting this high
My soul is shining, changed my life with perfect timing

 

 

Ed Dowie ft. Robin Foster - Dear Florence

A bit more laidback than the previous two, but you can feel the nervous cycling bass is just waiting and waiting for a wordless crescendo to break out. Very much spring feels to this almost dumbly obvious and irresistible melody.

Arab Strap - Fable of the Urban Fox

What? A composition about urban wildlife and hostile architecture, mixed up with heavy political undertones? Did someone write a song just for me? And then you topped it with an absolutely glorious string riff? Can't believe it's taken me this long to properly get into a Scottish national treasure. This album is the bomb. Oh, and just for form's sake: Fuck the tories, forever and ever.

Lorena Álvarez - Soy un Olmo

Waiting for a new Clandestino season to begin, I think back to a wonderful gig with wine glasses, nylon string guitars and elegant dresses on stage in a little rural community hall last summer. Smiles all around. I'm an elm, don't ask me for pears!

02/23 - Roses Have Thorns, And Silver Fountains Mud

Not a blogtastic start to 2023, but here's one more top 5. I spent the whole of February in Mustarinda, one of my favourite places in the world, deep in the Finnish forests. With a group of lovely people spanning six nationalities, the playlists got predictably diverse:

 

Dakh Daughters - Rozy

Starting with a contribution from Ukraine, it was a somber experience spending the anniversary of Russia's full scale invasion together with Rehina, a Kyiv resident, and hearing about her experiences. Dakh Daughters is another constellation with members from my previous Ukrainan favourites DakhaBrakha, that Rehina brought to the kitchen soundtrack.

 

 

Čokovoko - Sebevražda

Not entirely sure who added this to the playlist, but some Brno electro pop is always welcome. There's something about certain languages and genres, and Czech just sounds perfect to this kind of music. Especially the sung section after 3:10.

 

 

Nuova Compagnia Di Canto Popolare - 2° Coro Delle Lavandaie

One could imagine this comes courtesy of our resident Italian, Giacomo, but it was in fact brought to the mix by dinner guest Tuomas, architect and connoisseur of washer women chants from obscure Italian movies.

Cucina Povera - Kärpässieni

From Finland via one of my other favourite places – Glasgow – come the perfect woozy sauna night vibes, introduced by Kati. I can feel I'm gonna listen to a lot of this in coming years. Bird sounds mixed in with rhythmic vocalisations is very much my jam.

 

Aapo Similä, Lauluyhtye A-men, Joose Vähäsöyrinki - Laulu Oravasta

We watched the highly recommended sauna documentary Steam of Life again, and it ends with an absolutely tearjerking rendition of this children's song about a squirrel, and the melody just stuck with us, throughout the month. Gorgeous sylvan melancholy – what Finland does best. 🇫🇮

01/23 - Years Spin Round On The Foyer

New year, new colours, just shy of a month late! Let's get some oomph! into this grey and depressing January:

 

 

PJ Harvey - Hook

One to wrestle the winter blues, pin it to the ground and punch it out. Really I wanted the unequalled raw power of the 'Live at Glastonbury' version released as a B-side to Send His Love To Me, but it wasn't on Spotify. Still, in any guise this is one of the most deliciously violently venomous songs I know.

 

 

HAIM - The Wire

I didn't see many new movies in 2022, but even if I had, I think Licorice Pizza would have ended up on top. A clammy hot afternoon in Glasgow; a cool refuge at my favourite cinema in the world - GFT; a perfect movie experience; and now I have a refound admiration for the HAIM sisters. Time to dig out this decade-old irresistible rocker again, and headbang to Licorice Pizza-lead Alana shouting those cool "HEY!"s in the chorus.

 

 

bob hund ft. Popkollo - Blommor på brinnande fartyg

Even if everything else turns to shit, bob hund will still be awesome. The modulation at 3:55 is the soundtrack to stepping it up and meeting another year with joyful determination. 

Flowers like you, only grow on burning ships

Beirut - Mimizan

Dark Was the Night is an allround excellent compilation album that I've owned since it came out, and this is just one of many amazing exclusive tracks on it. Captures the achy feeling of longing and dreading for a new adventure to start...

 

José Gonzalez - Hand on Your Heart

The best Kylie-cover. Put your hand on your heart and tell me 2022 is really over! Here's to another 12 months of endless, hopeless Tinder-swiping...