My faves for October 2005 – April 2006

For the last two or three years, I felt incapable of producing a best-albums-of-the-year list. I guess this is due to the incredible amount of music I listen to every day, which prevents any single album from implanting itself on my brain.

From time to time though, I manage to compile some favorite tracks. So, here’s my newest offering, with cover/tracklist (PDF) and some rambling notes to follow. I can’t provide a download link for obvious reasons, but if you know me, you’ll know where to find this. For all others: Well, I think it was the Pittiplatsch 3000 fanzine that used to do similar “virtual compilations”, followed by the slogan “Ausschneiden, Aufnehmen, Glücklich sein!” (cut out the cover, record the songs, and be happy) …

idha – sorry sorry Hah, 3 songs from Sweden at the beginning! And more to follow for sure. Concerning Idha, see my earlier blog post.
the concretes – on the radio All in all, I find their new album slightly disappointing, because they lost the truly original sound of their earlier stuff. Now they sound more like some american folk pop bands like Tilly and the Wall or Rilo Kiley (and no wonder since their new album was produced by RK’s producer.) “On the Radio” is a cool and uplifting song nonetheless.
doris – you made a fool of me See my earlier blog post.
shizuka – cherry people I’ll fall for a northern soul beat any time… To be found on the Spanish label Elefant.
the loveninjas – keep your love This band is a relatively new signing on one of my favorite labels, Labrador Records. Not all of their material is as strong, but they do have a knack for cheeky song titles.
jenny wilson – summer time – the roughest time This was on one of my albums of 2005. Jenny Wilson’s music is not exactly spectacular, but it has a certain wayward charm that I like. A better Feist. I also liked her live performance supporting The Architecture in Helsinki here in Berlin a few months ago.
imogen heap – headlock From her 2005 long player Speak for Yourself, which is a really strong album taken as a whole and a huge leap forward compared to her debut solo outing. She also serves as singer in the electro pop duo Frou Frou.
the knife – take my breath away A slightly irritating voice, but still a cool song. Hey, they even played that one on Radio Eins. There is still hope.
the delays – you and me See my earlier blog post.
ladytron – international dateline I must listen to Ladytron all the time, because The Girlfriend has chosen “Playgirl” as her mobile ringtone… I liked “International Dateline” best on their last album, because it has a nice, slightly weird atmosphere.
kill city – cease to exist Raw Power! This one I owe to my pal OurFrank. Only took me a year or two to finally listen to it properly for the first time…
the tough alliance – koka-kola veins Wow. Weird. And charming. “We got Koka-Kola veins, we don’t use our brains… bla bla bla bla”…. I ordered the album straight from those nice guys at their tiny Swedish label Service (also home to other fine artists like Jens Lekman or Embassy).
som tres – homenagem a mongo This one is on a cool compilation called samba soul 70! that has all that stuff that I usually only get to listen to in clubs and that makes me wonder “who that might be that now?”.
astrud gilberto – the shadow of your smile Oh so nice. I listened to a lot of Astrud lately.
sufjan stevens – the predatory wasp of the palisades is out to get us Sufjan Stevens …. is the new Belle and Sebastian. This guy oozes creativity. He must be scribbling notes all day long. I like his lush arrangements.
keren ann – greatest you can find This woman made me finally check out the French Le Pop scene.
pelle carlberg – go to hell, miss rydell Somehow I never got into his band Edson, but his solo album is great, not the least for its poignant lyrics.
the innocence mission – moon river This is some of the music i listened to while our cat was dying. There must be hundreds of cover versions of this song, and this is certainly one of the finer ones. I really recommend this band, all their work is amazing. As a Christian band, they sing about Jesus all time, but in a really touching way.
sylvain chauveau – blanc Sylvain got some attention last year when he released an album of acoustic depeche mode covers, but I like his original work much better. Lots of room to breathe here. Reminds me of my all-time hero Mark Hollis at times.
halfset – riversong This one I discovered via my last.fm neighbor radio. Obscure Irish foktronica outfit who released an excellent debut album, dramanalog, last year. The Girlfriend thinks it’s “boring slideshow music” though, so beware. I might be terribly misguided after all.
boards of canada – sherbert head At first i was somewhat disappointed, but boc’s last year’s album the campfire headphase proved to be a real grower. This is a stand-out track that I could listen to all the time.
bitstream – retreat pod I only discovered them fairly recently. Their newer work is sometimes a bit to abstract for my taste, but they have produced some real gems so far, like this one.
gridlock – chrometaphor Gridlock have this cool thing of lulling you in at first and then stabbing you in the back with some deep bass. Awesome.
chessie – the century Another band I discovered via last.fm. This track is different from the rest of their usually more electronic work, but I chose it because it is so powerful and emotional.
ms. john soda – a million times From their new album. No suprise here, just some excellently executed indietronics chamber music.
moderat feat. paul st.hilaire – let your love grow This one I owe to Sven. To be found on the Debug 100 compilation. Normally I don’t like any Ragga-related music, but this track is different, and it only shows a fairly small ragga influence.
apparat (with ellen allien) – bubbles See my earlier blog post.
mr. suitcase – la menteuse (feat. angelique) This one is on the excellent “Monotoni Vol. 2″ compilation. Both volumes are very good, but so hard to find (be it on the Web or in the real world) that they seem to be no more than a myth. All I can find on the web are two blog posts in Swedish. Maybe you have more luck – the monotoni.se website is not really helpful right now.
“Gros bisous au Mont Ventoux, … Les Pet Shop Boys…. Je vous aime de tout mon coeur…” Indeed! If you’re interested in those names dropped at the end, like Les Mathematiques Modernes, you should check out the electro pop compilation So young but so cold. So cold indeed, but very interesting, too. (As an aside, until searching for a link, I didn’t even realize this stuff was from the 70s/80s. I assumed these were modern-day underground french artists?! Probably speaks for the quality of the music – it hasn’t aged that much. Or you might take it as proof that history repeats itself.)
karin filipsson & mont ventoux – your daft punk records This one is from the predecessor Monotoni Vol. 1. Mont Ventoux hasn’t released that much yet, but all of his pulished work is brilliant. “Now you must leave / but your Daft Punk records stay here with me / you won’t be missed / and you can see / that your Daft punk records mean more to me”…
radio dept. – lost and found (mont ventoux’s vänersborg all-nighter edit) Mont Ventoux strikes again. You should also check out his Radio Dept. cover of their song “Bus”.
freezepop – parlez-vous freezepop? (intersect rmx) A strong remix of a great original.
vitalic – u and i The next two tracks are from Russia, which has developed a strong electronic scene. This track reminds me of Daft Punk’s “Human” that was featured on my last compilation.
vesna – mesmeric diamantine A nice track from their acclaimed Snow Sences album.
m83 – don’t save us from the flames Wow. Such a unique sound… “Heart of the flames, a piece of brain in my hair”… Kool-Aid, anyone?
pet shop boys – london (genuine piano mix) A nice ending note for this compilation. A good song needs no more than a voice, a piano, and, uhm, a vocoder? In this version I understood the lyrics for the first time. They reminded me of Jasper Fforde… Maybe you need to dig a little into Thursday Next’s bio… Uhm, and please don’t ask me why the Pet Shop Boys are #2 on my all-time last.fm artist charts.
   
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Published:
17.04.06 / 9pm
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