Melodies collide with melancholy and psychedelia in our January 2018 playlist, featuring some of the finest in indie pop, folk, rock and electronica released in the Fall-Winter 2017/2018.
Loud Open Mind, Cry Out For The Cause - collage by GoodMorninCaptn
AFTER THE TOP #30 TO #19 RECORDS, LET’S KEEP ASCENDING THE STAIRS OF 2010 WITH THE SECOND PART OF OUR FAVORITE RECORDS, MOSTLY POP AND FOLK, WITH SPARSE JAZZY OR NOISY TOUCHES.
12 years after “Swans Are Dead”, Michael Gira’s noble bird turns into a Phoenix and resuscitates with a strikingly powerful album. Eden Prison by Swans
> Listen to My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky on Spotify.
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15) CLOGS – “The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton” (Brassland)
For the first time, the instrumental quartet has invited some distinguished friends over to sing along: Sufjan Stevens, Matt Berninger (fromThe National, with whom Clogs share one of their founders and masterminds, Bryce Dessner), and most notably Shara Worden (aka My Brightest Diamond) all take turns and grace the lush and brilliant compositions with their unique vocal presence. Not the least of its qualities, Clogs‘ fifth album is nicely packaged in a beautiful hommage to Douanier Rousseau by Hvass&Hannibal, also known for designing recordcovers and directing a video for Efterklang.
Listen to “On The Edge“, featuring Shara Worden, from “The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton“:
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> Listen to The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton on Deezer.
Wildbirds & Peacedrums‘ third album is the reunion of 2 EPs, Iris and Retina, where the Swedish duo mixes its warm, soulful voice and tribal rythms with the Icelandic avant-garde. Rivers indeed was recorded by Ben Frost and mixed by Valgeir Sigurðsson, with an Icelandic chamber choir arranged by Hildur Guðnadóttir.
Thomas is back with a beautiful EP, the poetry of which we love to get immersed and lost into. A nice preamble to his new full-length album to be released in 2011.
Listen to “Climbing The Fjelds Of Norway” from “Cardiac Maformations“:
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> Listen to Cardiac Malformations on Deezer or Spotify.
Björk’s protégée and Múm collaborator Ólöf Arnalds releases a lovely new album produced by Kjartan Sveinsson (Sigur Rós), at times heavily orchestrated with uplifting choirs, and at times stripped down to only Ólöf’s high-pitched voice and simple strings.
2011 HAS BARELY STARTED, AND… OH, SURPRISE! GOODMORNINCAPTN ISN’T QUITE DEAD YET. LET’S CELEBRATE AND HAVE A QUICK LOOK BACK AT WHAT EXCITED OUR EARS IN THE LAST YEAR, COMPLETE WITH LINKS, MP3s AND VIDEOS. SET YOUR EARPHONES AND FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS, AS THE FIRST PART OF OUR TOP 30 RECORDS OF 2010 HAS US TRAVELLING BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN NORTH AMERICA AND NORTHERN EUROPE.
Let’s now head down to sunny California and witness Dawn McCarthy’s possessed folk invocations.
Listen to a clip from “Housekeeper“ from “Light of a Vaster Dark“:
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With a slightly reduced line-up (now only one guitar, 2 violins, contrabass and drums), Silver Mt. Zion seem more focused and inspired on this racy imprint, their 6th full-length in 10 years.
I Built Myself A Metal Bird by Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
A pick whose presence in this selection has been highly debated. All tasteful considerations apart, the psychedelic back-to-the-eighties aesthetics of the album may be quite enjoyable and somehow much representative of 2010.
25) WILL STRATTON – “New Vanguard Blues” (self-released)
The young American singer-songwriter recorded and mixed his 3rd album over 48 hours before making it available through the Internet 2 weeks later, with a simple yet charming result.
> Listen to (and/or buy) New Vanguard Blues on Bandcamp or Spotify.
After 2 much praised solo records, Berlin piano-wunderkind Nils Frahm joined forces with cellist Anne Müller for a post-classical record which in its best moments has us dream of Rachel’s classy compositions discretely but insidiously deconstructed by Oval’s digital experiments.
Listen to “Let My Key Be C (Thriller Edit)” from “7fingers“:
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Thomas Meluch, better known as Benoit Pioulard, released his 3rd album for Kranky, filled as usual with ethereal, cloud-like layers of evanescent guitar, DIY rythms and lost voices.
Bradford Cox delighted us in the Fall of 2009 with his second solo record released under his Atlas Sound moniker, and once again did not disappoint us with the latest Deerhunter album.
While their fellow Danes Efterklang got poppier and brighter on Magic Chairs, Under Byen persist in exploring dark and twistedly beautiful territories.
Listen to title track “Alt Er Tabt“:
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Co-produced by Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor, Big Echo, which has turned out a deserved break-through for its creators, is an uplifted and nicely orchestrated pop record, graced with the spontaneity of youth and a pleasantly retro sound.
RACHEL GRIMES – “Book Of Leaves” (Karate Body / Ruminance). First piano solo album from one of The Rachel’s core members. More info and MP3 here.
ISLANDS – “Vapours” (Anti). The Canadians seem to have lost most of what once made them interesting. You may still listen to “Vapours” on their MySpace to prove me wrong.
NOAH AND THE WHALE – “First Days Of Spring“. Sophomore album and accompanying film are coming out this week in France (already out in the UK; 2 more weeks to wait for the US release). See the trailer below.