02/01/2024
Right, it's the last day of 2023, so while I have my coffee, let's get my OBSESSIVE LISTENING LIST done.
I had to interrupt things for NYE celebrations, but a couple of days into Jan is fine, right?
Here's all the music I couldn't take off repeat for days (weeks) at a time:
Au Suisse "Au Suisse" - Electronica that's right out of the 80's synth revival playbook. It's fantastic and I will not apologise for loving anything that makes me think immediately of Depeche Mode.
Goon "Hour Of Green Evening" - Beautiful and ethereal, a mix of dreampop vibes and ambient electronica.
Aldous Harding "Warm Chris" - Art rock at about the most arch that I can enjoy, this is a lush and warm album.
Taylor Swift "Midnights" - FU***NG COME AT ME BRO. Yes, the NFL/Kelce/Swift crossover stuff annoyed me as an NFL fan but this album is fantastic pop and I love it.
Arooj Aftab "Vulture Price" - A stunning album in a genre/style of music I know too little about. Heavy influences from her Pakistani roots, mixed with classical style composition and with more contemporary flavours mixed in. A spellbinding set on the Garden Stage at End Of The Road Festival.
PVA "Blush" - Intense electronica, think punk/krautrock but heavy on the synths.
Andy Shauf "Norm" - Gorgeous folk, as you'd expect from this underrated Canadian singer-songwriter.
Alvvays "Blue Rev" - Lovely indie dreampop from this lot, as you'd expect.
Panda Bear and Sonic Boom "Reset" - Uplifting dancey psych-rock/pop with plenty of synths. Brilliant late night set at EOTR playing this whole album in full. I had a blast!
BC Camplight "The Last Rotation Of Earth"- I don't normally pick out an "album of the year" because normally it's too hard. This year it's not. This is one of my albums of the millennium so far, brilliantly written, scathing, funny, self-deprecating and musically fu***ng insanely good.. Maybe the best break up album since Rumours. Yes, I really think it's that good.
Cloth "Secret Measure" - One of the year's hidden gems. I've seen them twice in tiny venues and they deserve to be playing *much* bigger ones next time around. Softly spoken lyrics, gorgeous guitars, quietly very loud.
Leftfield "This Is What We Do" - Yep, exactly what they do. Great warehouse-rave friendly music.
Yot Club "Off The Grid" - One man, from somewhere in middle America, quietly becoming a BBC Radio 6 Music favourite. Fantastic garage (surf-ish, maybe?) rock. Saw him 3 times this year, and each time he seemed utterly baffled as to why anyone was there - it's because you're fu***ng brilliant, Ryan.
Gaz Coombes "Turn The Car Around" - It's Gaz Coombes, if you've missed out on his solo career post-Supergrass then you need to catch up. Indie, but with an art-rock filter. Love it.
The National "First Two Pages Of Frankenstein" - Not their last entry on this list, I suspect (and amazingly this is the weaker of the two, and it's still fantastic). This was the first album that they recorded following a long patch of depression and writer's block suffered by lead singer Matt Berninger.
Django Django "Off Planet" - I love The Djangos, so this was always making the list (getting to see them in a tiny venue in Bristol was a treat this year). Could maybe do with a bit of a trim, not every track is a winner, but that didn't stop me going back to this plenty.
Ocie Elliott "We Fall In" - Found thanks to a friend putting it on while we were shooting, I love it's bombastic folksy vibe.
Avalon Emerson "- & The Charm" - I fell in love with this album and was determined to see them live this year, sadly they had to cancel a lot of dates (due to illness I think?). Fingers crossed for next year.
bdrmm "I Don't Know" - Old school shoegaze leaning into dreampop. It's great, they're great live.
Pale Blue Eyes "Souvenirs" - More dreampop/shoegaze, no apologies - it's my genre of the year I think. This lot are brilliant and ace live too.
Lawi Anywar "Everything's Fine" - Funky psych-rock. Found thanks to ArcTanGent.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard "Petrodragonic Apocalypse" - This lot. Honest. What can you say about a band who can do any genre they like and smash it out of the park? This is a thrash-rock/metal post-apocalyptic concept album, because why not? They were so good at EOTR that Linz Smith suggested that set might be in his top 3 of all time, and he's seen *a lot* of good music.
CVC "Get Real" - One of my finds of the year. This lot will be headlining festivals and playing arena tours within 5 years or there's no justice in the world. 70's vibes (think later Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, T-Rex, etc etc). Musically incredible and fu***ng amazing live.
Bully "Lucky For You" - Garage rock? Grunge? Indie? Maybe a bit of each - Henry Salmon is to thank for this addition.
Yumi And The Weather "It's All In My Head" - Continued love for the shoegaze revival, this one has fuzzy guitars and sometimes-fuzzy vocals. Saw them live in a bowling alley (it's a Bristol thing) and they were great.
The National "Laugh Track" - Their second entry on this list. Something about this album edges it for me, maybe it's Bryan Devendorf's drumming vs the programmed electronic drum tracks he provided on "TFTPOF". Whatever it is, "Deep End (Paul's In Pieces)" is one of my favourite tracks of the year.
Sufjan Stevens "Javelin" - This might be up there with "Seven Swans" and "Carrie And Lowell" as one of my favourites from this brilliant folksy singer songwriter.
Pale Blue Eyes "This House" - The National aren't the only band who've managed a two-fer with Pale Blue Eyes releasing a fantastic dancier album that still has plenty of dreampop vibes.
annie hamilton "the future is here but it seems kinda like the past" - I do not know how this passed me by last year as I *loved* her previous release, but this has been getting a tonne of airplay from me recently. I was gutted that her gig in Bristol in Sept clashed with EOTR or I would have been delighted to attend. Oh, more shoegaze/dreampop for those who are wondering - I love the way she layers her vocals.
Luluc "Diamonds" - And this is why I leave it late to make this list. Found in mid-December and on a regular loop since, fans of Haim and This Is The Kit will love the gorgeous honeyed vocals and soft folksy vibes (Becky and Grace loving this album confirmed that to me).
That's it! Onwards to 2024, let's hope it's just as productive as 2023 for music that I just cannot get enough of.
