January/February
As you might have read in the 2025 Tunes article, the painful way writing it turned out made me consider changing tack for 2026. I was initially going to do a monthly thing, and it may well be that from March on, we shall see. For now, you’ll have the first two months at once.
I was originally planning to write on February 1st, or shortly before, or after, but I didn’t feel quite ready, so the 28th will do. In the style of the end of year things, I will first write this as a kind of reflection on a fairly tough couple of months. To be fair, there wasn’t much music to enjoy, and it was not all down to mood, it’s just because no new release really excited, and so once more, the more ‘enjoyable’ stuff was mostly electronic, or old, and wasn’t even that enjoyable possibly. Just now, I am starting to look back a bit at the past two months and, maybe it’s still too early to have the required distance, I’m still recovering from that tough start, but I have flashes of feeling like myself, a little more lucid again. [I think this progressed also as I wrote on, I felt like, yeah, it was fine and I didn’t really need to refer to notes, I have added/edited later if I felt there was something I wanted to express and that was missing, but that was extremely minimal in the end]
Anyway, if I were to summarise, I’d say January was depressing and depressed, while February was just mostly shit. Though I think it’s being tough on February, it improved a bit more than that at times.
[The Ramblings]
January though, I started very down as I did finish the last few days of 2025. So I dropped any idea that I’d restart on making music straight away, tried to work on slowly going out of depression again. There were times I felt I wasn’t part of this planet, also I remember a particularly bad nightmare involving war and torture. I tried to set myself some kind of timed targets (this is not about running, just about doing things/progress by a certain date) on a path to a better feeling, but it was a struggle. Things seem to possibly improve a bit gradually (I was glad there was no gig planned in the early weeks), but, while doing dry January, the defeat against Man U while watching the match just next to the away fans was a painful experience, I didn’t even go back to the pub after the match, and fell back into a very bad week to finish the month. To top it all (though maybe in the end it helped refocus), I fell ill on the Tuesday late at night (after a run in terrible weather in particular), puked all of Wednesday morning (and a bit on Thursday) and so was floored for a couple of days more or less, leading me to miss out on the only two gigs that I had planned for January (I wasn’t in the mood to write reports though, and both were kind of late additions, not ‘must go’, so perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing). Erase and reset (nearly a Cardigans song there). To give you a gory detail, on that Wednesday morning I ended up puking in the sink in the loo to avoid shitting myself. And no amount of product seemed to unblock the sink, so I had to let this fester for a bit while laid low before thinking of a solution. And so the last but one morning of the month, as I was starting to feel better and get a grip, I managed to pull the trick by using a long bread knife, while wearing a FFP2 mask leftover from Covid days. Honestly, over 48h of brewing this shit, it was literally getting toxic and dangerous and took a few more days (even with spraying air freshener about) to completely get rid of the odour (conclusion: better shit yourself while puking that vomit in the sink, short term is unpleasant but longer term is healthier). All very unpleasant, but that Saturday felt like a possible turning point, with some other weird but pleasant thing happening (that probably led to nothing but helped me focus differently and better).
The music? As I said, not much, and since I’m grouping both months, I’ll finish writing about February before sharing some music.
The first week of February promised to be very busy, with three gigs (including one in London, I decided I wouldn’t add a second), a Comedy show and a football match to attend. I wasn’t entirely sure I’d be able to do it all well, so considered extending Dry January to Februadry after the travails of that first month. In the end, I compromised and decided to just be reasonable and pick my battles, so waited until the second gig on the Thursday to have a pint (just one that night). I have to say that, managing the recovery from the illness and the depression was handled OK. I had limited energy, but all those gigs, very different, were good, one on my own, all the other stuff with different company each time (including, once more, a magical meeting of someone not seen in ages (see the Mew gig review)), and so, especially with a brilliant time in London again, that helped me. There were a few difficult days after, and all was not linear, but that was a good reminder that good times could still be had going forward. I forgot to mention the work situation above, but yeah, work was another major factor in feeding depression. Thankfully, during the course of this month of February, there were a few good signs that I wasn’t done, and there were some activities happening and coming back. I didn’t go out that much during the rest of the month for various reasons, but I could feel that while I was still feeling shit a lot and not always so happy, it wasn’t ‘depression’ anymore. Not sure I can explain, but it’s something you can feel, it’s different. I got really fed up with all that rain though, but longer days might have helped at times, and here I am on the last day of February, when the weather has been a little better. I even managed to vaguely start recording the idea of a new song, from simple not very original chords, but putting a bass line and extra guitar on it. We’ll see what shape it takes, when I manage to get back to it more seriously. Hell, I even bought some effects pedals in the January sales. The last eight days of the month have just seen two more excellent gigs with again different company, so that’s been good. Fairly importantly to me too, while my left knee has been bugging me since the start of December and there seemed to be very little improvement, the last week or two seemed to have shown proper progress, leading me to hope, once more, that I could play football again soon-ish. I certainly can sprint again without much pain at all, and the following days seem to be recovering better now (so I can more or less negotiate stairs). All of this gives me hope that, maybe, March and the upcoming Spring will bring some joy and happiness again. Hell, perhaps Arsenal will once more follow my mood again and bring trophies home. Hope springs eternal. Is that what kills you? Or the reason to fight on and survive (ignoring the way the world at large seems to still be going to pot, with no sign of the fall into the abyss slowing down, really).
Anyway, yes, music.
[End of the ramblings, start of The Music]
As usual I started with just a few leftovers (maybe less than usual, I truly am getting more selective) from 2025. Nothing truly remarkable though, but if you want a couple of decent tracks (none that would have made my Ultimate list), I’ll give them to you.
I realise that doing a monthly or bi-monthly post means the quality threshold will probably be lower, so maybe at the end of the year, I will still have to come up with a list of the truly essential tracks, it may be ten, it may be twenty, who knows yet? Anyway, yeah, given the nature of these first two months, there won’t be much emotional association either, just doing some relistens today I am enjoying music a little more though (one track I won’t include though as it was there last year is better joy’s Steamroller, definitely a top tune, one of those that makes me feel alive, unfortunately, no gig in Paris, and I’ve just found out they are playing in London on a night I have another gig there, oh well I hope they come here later in the year – but I digress even further). So yeah, lower quality, less emotional content, might be more akin to the music reviews I was doing by e-mail/on the old site to some extent.
Let’s start with something from a decent album from the end of 2025, The Hellp’s Riviera, indie with a little electronic twinge among the guitars. The song is called Country Road. There were a couple of other half-decent or even decent songs there, like Meridian and Here I Am.
A little bit of shoegaze now, again something that wouldn’t have troubled any top of 2025 lists, and can be occasionally a bit too boring or up itself like most shoegaze, the Subtext EP from Lemondaze. Most of it if very listenable, and in fact pleasant, but perhaps the best track here is Gravemind. It’s the kind of music I could occasionally listen to in a haze at the confusing/down start of this year. I listened to not a lot of music, it had very little effect, meant practically nothing, so in a way it worked, and now I can listen to it again and appreciate it a little more. C=Bain from that EP is pretty good too.
Is the start of the year always a little more electronic for me? Not sure. But still on the leftovers from 2025, Sofia Kourtesis (can’t remember if I posted something from her a year or two ago, or maybe even three, the past year was so odd, but I remember she had some decent music out then already) released the Volver EP, that has a couple of excellent tracks to my taste. Corazon is the one I will put here, but Canela Pura is pretty good too.
After all this, Doves’ Lean Into The Wind may sound too ‘classic’, but it’s a pretty good one-off single released on the occasion of a new Best Of from them last year, and as it was pointed out to me and others by Benoît, I listened and thought I quite liked it. It might have even made some emotional sense if didn’t have such a dismal January. It’s a very good tune, to be honest, that could be tempting for a best of at the end of the year. 2026, but 2025. So I don’t know.
The last catch-up album from 2025, selected a little randomly, as it appeared in maybe one best of list at the end of the year, and I remembered the previous album had some very good reviews, was yeule’s Evangelic Girl is a Gun. It’s uneven but there are some pretty good songs in it (mostly the ones that are titled after names, oddly): Eko, Dudo and Saiko, but on relisten, they don’t really get me, oddly, as initially I thought this was a good album, but then I guess I was all over the place. The title track is good too, maybe it’s the one worth posting.
And before we move on to actual 2026 music, one last one, not from 2025, but all the way back from 2020. While I wasn’t entirely convinced by Kelly Lee Owens’ latest EP, and so her last album to date may be the only release of hers I truly like, her 2020 album, Inner Song, was available for a decent price, so I tried it. It’s a mixed bag, doesn’t hit the euphoric highs of Dreamstate from 2024, but again, has a couple of decent tracks. And this one particularly hit home when I was feeling so shit, it sounded like the kind of gentle wake-up call I needed. Because I need gentle when I feel shit. So here is, quite naturally, ‘Wake-Up’. Other lovely tunes include On (would be worth the list too on musicality, beautiful, the first half of it anyway…), Jeanette (a longer one that holds over the duration) and to a lesser extent, L.I.N.E.
And now we can really move on to 2026, though still in January. The first noticeable (rather than notable) album for me was Sleaford Mods’ The Demise of Planet X. But is there really anything new about Sleaford Mods these days, rather than the tried and tested formula? Turns out there kind of is. I still passed on the gig, but while I tried to convince myself that the previous album offered more modernity and richer sounds, I think this one truly is it in terms of sound evolution. It’s probably their most ‘listenable’ album. Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s enough to get me back about caring about their sounds when the voice is the same. So the message is what it is, all right, and very pertinent, but the only track I felt I liked was…Gina Was. It has a decent (bass) sound, is nearly melodic, you feel Jason could nearly be tempted to actually sing.
I haven’t even really filtered out anything so far, that’s the danger of these intermediate lists, but maybe I will next. Whitelands’ new album. People say it’s great, shoegaze, etc., though maybe a bit of sunny shoegaze at times. I was slightly on the fence with their first album, but this one leaves me completely cold. It’s not unpleasant, but for some reason, while I can understand the appeal, I absolutely cannot connect with it. It’s only 33 minutes long, yet it bores me pretty much from start to end. There are a couple of tracks that might rescue it, but just about. Not enough for inclusion, though maybe it’s because I’m getting tired, Sleaford Mods didn’t necessarily warrant a YT either….
Softcult? It is a little more varied with a few ‘harder’ tracks and therefore more interesting than Whitelands (16/25 might be worth your ears but doesn’t quite clear the bar), but overall, not really remarkable or enjoyable (it’s just an odd mix of styles, as it starts with a few shoegazy numbers, then we have a few angry ones that are probably the better bit of the album, before it reverts to boring shoegaze, only interrupted by a short 1 min-ish angry burst). Sure I am more selective with my buys these days, but I still sometimes go on a limb and get things wrong. So no dice, no youtube for this lot from me.
No, the first properly ‘good’ album from 2026 was again mostly off the normal rock or indie path, some more electronic stuff from Craven Faults. I first heard of this artist through his remix of The Cure last year, not the best remix, but intriguing all the same. And the atmospheric instrumentals that constitute the album, Sidings, are mostly very good. The opener, Ganger, is the choice cut. Be prepared, as it is over 16 minutes long… Note also that the second track there, Stoneyman, has something of a more synthetic Carnage Visors vibe to it, so you can definitely sense a Cure filiation. The rather good closer, Far Closes, ends proceedings in a similar vein.
And that’s about it for January.
February wasn’t that much better in terms of new releases, but as it started with a few gigs, the opportunity was there to revisit some old favourites, and a new artist. I’ll take these in the order of the gigs. I didn’t listen to very much music either, even these, but it’s nice that gigs get you back to some music you love.
And so, first of all, Kelly Moran. I posted from the 2024 album in 2025, and here I am, in 2026, posting from the 2025 album. But apart from one or two new numbers, that’s what she played, and so I got to appreciate that while Sodalis (II) was still probably superior, the Sans Sodalis version more than holds its own and sounded very excellent live.
That evening was also the chance to discover another artist, Rosa Anschütz, who opened the proceedings. I found her interesting and so got her latest album, Sabbatical, also from 2025 (so far, I have posted far far more tunes from 2025 than 2026, whatever that says about the music released so far this year, or my approach, though this is one is really circumstancial). It really is a very good, fairly hypnotic album, packed with splendid songs. Here’s the truly excellent Plaster Copy for your ears, one of the very best songs I have heard so far this year, but there’s plenty more where it comes from, Fire Lily, Not A Myth, Watch Me Disappear,… an excellent find.
Next gig: Mew. Lots of stuff, obviously Frengers is one of the best albums ever released by anyone, so I could pick any of the usual Comforting Sounds (but I posted it a few years ago), Snow Brigade or the ever fabulous 156, but while I will still pick something from that album, She Spider, for some reason, while not the song that struck me most on the day, followed me around in my head for a while. It is, quite obviously, still an amazing song. A mention too for I Should Have Been a Tsin-Tsi for You, which I didn’t know for some reason but was their first ever single (though never released beyond promo), that elicited mental reaction from a girl or two behind me.
And the last gig-related one, with A.A. Williams. But this time, yes, something from 2026. She did release a single already in 2025, Just A Shadow, that I had liked a lot but didn’t get then, thinking I’d wait for a future album, but this new single is even better I think and certainly made a great impression live. So saving myself from posting the magnificent Pristine or Evaporate (but you can check them again or any of the powerful live versions floating about), here’s Wolves, from hopefully a new album coming up this year, that would likely be one of the excellent albums of the year.
And now we’re reaching the new stuff from February, scarce as it was. Although to be fair, it may be partly because I’m keeping a release or two from 27/2 for the next edition as obviously it is a little short to actually include any of these in this month’s write-up.
A new Howling Bells album? I thought that could be exciting but no. It’s OK but pretty standard, nothing bad, but nothing to really get me going and no real stand-out track either.
A little discovery on the other hand was Ninush and her EP, The Flowers I See You In. Mostly gentle folk stuff with some classical instrumentation (harpsichord anyone?). Pretty much everything is very nice here, but the top track has to be I Don’t Mind (well I hesitate with Lady In Waiting, but very few things above have a video, so maybe it’s nice to post something with an actual video clip this time!).
After two months, you can say there’s really been a dearth of excellent new tracks or albums.
However, a new artist with a debut album that I quite liked on first listen, released in February, was Ellur and with At Home In My Mind. Not sure it’s enough or reaches an incredible level, but it’s quite enjoyable and has a little something. Again, it’s pleasant, but I’m not convinced it will stay with me for anything. In fact as I listen again, now I remember who that reminds me of: Sam Fender. So yeah, heard it before, some of it, and I’m unlikely to not get bored with it, we’ll see. I’m pretty sure it won’t make any ‘ultimate tracks 2026’ list of mine, or we might have to call it quits, but you can have the opening track to make your own opinion. In fact, as I go further through the album, I think it’s just one of those that caught me at a good moment and I might have initially overrated. A bit like the new Boo Radleys a few years ago, although here I was not even in as good a moment, nowhere near, but maybe just ‘up’. Anyway, here is God Help Me Now.
And so to the actual last new album I listened to in February, IST IST’s new offering, DAGGER. And now, that one I really like, my first ‘very good proper album’ of 2026. Plenty of excellent tunes there. Sure, I feel that it is slightly hindered by the singer’s rather non-variable voice, that, on some songs, or maybe on being there all the time, stops some of the tunes to reach a further level. But he’s part of the sound, so what can you say? Have the opener I am The Fear to get you going, it’s a stomping tune. Lots of New Orderish/Joy Division there, they can really never deny their inspirations. I mean, take the second song, the equally excellent Makes No Difference (seriously, I could have picked any of several songs for you to listen to, it is by far the best thing so far this year, for my tastes), it basically has the Hooky bass sound. I Remember Everything (heh, they even aped the title of a Joy Division song there (I Remember Nothing) is another excellent one too, but quite frankly, I am at track 7 now, and while some songs are better than others, there is not one so far that I don’t like or even close. Even the voice doesn’t grate after all (and on this latter song it is even better), so this is an example unlike above where second listen is even better than first (I am fine today, and so the initial impression is not always JUST down to mood –just being more stable and knowing what I really like/feel makes a difference). This is definitely the first very probable candidate for a best of list at the end of the year.
Actually, I forgot because it was a bandcamp only download, but The Others’ new album, When In Doubt, was the actual last one for the month. They re-formed some time ago, though obviously for me it will always be about those first two albums, but there’s some decent tracks on all of the (three) new ones, and this one has some, with added brass and stuff. The opening track is quite good, and even if the last third of the album is a bit poor, it’s a decent release overall. So here’s something that does a great job in the middle of the album: Met You In A Bar.
One last one for the road, back to gigs. No, not Nurse Depression from Coach Party. It could qualify and has the merit of being an actual 2026 release, but while it works very well live, I’m not sure I’d want to listen to it that much on record. So instead, from the gig just before, one of the early singles from Nightbus that I had missed at the time. Average Boy could do, but you can have Mirrors from 2023 instead, and understand exactly the Joy Divison comparisons and Shadowplay influence there, it’s not even hidden.
See you in a month. Or two.
March to July
[The Ramblings]
Or five as it turned out! I’ve been playing catch up with music most of this time. Summer was always going to give more of an opportunity, with less releases, less gigs, and maybe a little less work. Also no football. Still, at various stages I was close to thinking I’d do it, especially May with the holidays, but it never felt I quite had the space or was in the right position mentally. Heatwaves, every month since the end of May, didn’t help, as well as Arsenal winning the title.
What happened personally in these months was kind of ‘more of the same’, i.e. not very much. Looking back maybe not so little, but really, it’s been a continuation of the ups and downs, a mental rollercoaster at times, albeit at a higher level from the earlier months of the year, so never really too close to depression (just despair and frustrations), but a little wild at times. Work was thankfully busy enough at times, but not always (and people retiring means I feel more and more isolated), physical rehab continued, so I managed to run a half-marathon in April (just before our – probably last, at least in that format- annual work event), and within the target of 2h I had set myself (about 1h52′) which was far from certain, and I finally started playing football again in May. Not all swift, pain is often sill there, especially post-effort, and that left knee doesn’t really want to be completely fine again, but now after just over 100 physio sessions, I might have to stop these, and just do sports as I can and adapt training and exercices according to my own judgment.
In terms of making music, while I still haven’t got round to master tracks and post them on this website, I recorded a few new ones, although actually I think there was only one new one, and the others were re-recording of some of these unfinished demos. With new instruments, hell I even got a proper Fender VI in the process. There a period in maybe April and May when I was productive again, at least a bit, but I lost it after the final bit, I had one more I was unsure of doing, and started doing in very very small bits only over the last few weeks, late July, early August. Still no lyrics or singing, mind! A bit of a struggle at times.
Going out wise, in some ways I felt some of the spirit of 20 years earlier come back, I had some excellent good times, though not everything was quite right, and I’m still kind of ‘too’ controlled at times, trying to stop myself from falling close to near-mania. It’s fine but a little frustrating. Arsenal finally won the League 22 years later, which altered some plans, when I got the luck of a match ticket, and also to finish my holidays, as I decided that going to celebrate in London with people from afar would be great, the day after the Champions League final. And it was a monumentally excellent and fun day, even if far too many people in a way made it impossible to meet all, but great weather and fun. The Champions League Final itself was lost, but somehow I wasn’t gutted, that celebration taking over everything. This also had an impact during those holidays as I had to be reasonable at my nephew’s wedding near Toulouse as I wanted to drive back for the last match of the season in Paris for celebration with the local Gooners. Sobriety for that then! (But I had my fun visiting friends on the way down). After that, well, it was mostly a case of heatwaves. The end of May saw the hottest May temperatures ever, and the end of June the hottest June ever, it became very hot and I felt incapable of doing much. After just about one week of respite we had another serious and very long heatwave mid-July, and just as it finished I went for a couple of extra days in the heat of Nice, though thankfully with air conditioning this time. Things have been OK since, the ‘fourth’ heatwave wasn’t much of a heatwave, at least near Paris, just one very hot day, easy to deal with in the office. Apparently though, there may be more, longer heat next week,oh dear.
There was also a World Cup to boycott (I did so more thoroughly that the Qatar one, avoiding any football information and sometimes just normal information to hear as little I could about it – you can’t fully avoid it when you meet people, at work or in a bar), and that kind of got me off football, after that I wasn’t interested in transfer speculation or even anything Arsenal, so I am going to mostly not be much in touch with the football world before the new season starts. I am/was kind of falling out of love with the all things now, I mean the commercial aspect, etc. and our success now turning us into just another machine, and a lot of supporters just into your regular glory-hunters. Fuck success really.
After a barbecue (catching up with old friends); and a birthday (catching up with others and some more recent ones, and a chance to meet new people for once) ended July (well, into first of August), August was always, finally (before the end of the month where football will restart and I will be on holidays, with busy weekends), going to be a chance to breathe again. So trying to make music, and, finally, writing this piece, having more or less caught up with the music I wanted to catch up with.
So yes, above, very many words to say nothing happened, really. Emotions were few and far between, yet there were some good gigs, some excellent times, sometimes fun, and, after all the point of this post, good music. A couple of truly excellent albums, but a few good other ones too, so let’s now proceed, in a sort of chronological release or purchasing order. Where did I stop last? Where do I start now? In the future, I might dispense with the waffle, especially if nothing truly happens and just post the music. Also I realise that with doing this more regularly (even if there will end up being just three maybe four, possibly five posts this year), things are kind of shifting to what I used to do all these years ago (although on top of the website, I used to actually send the e-mail to a few people, had free CDs to give occasionally, and it is the e-mails that got the interactions, never the website, now with just the website, I feel it’s a pointless task, I wanted so much to share the music I love, but even on the few times I posted the links on some social media or other, very little reaction, so I’m passionate about this, but in vain really, so it feels at the moment, and I’m kind of retreating within myself again, giving up, even though at times, a spark comes that makes me think I still have a future, may have a life, but I forget I am 53…). Anyway, I meant to say I may still have to do an extra ‘end of year’ post with the tunes that truly were above all else.
[End Of The Ramblings]
For now, I’ll start gently with something from the new Anna Prior EP, released at the end of February in fact (True For You and Beside You from the same EP are pretty good too).
If you liked the most recent Trentemoller album, you’ll probably also like TVAM’s Ruins. Nothing to change your world there, all quite dark but pleasant, the opening track, Comfort Collar, may just be worth your while.
Changing style completely, ahead of an album later this year, Master Peace released an EP called Stupid Kids, and it’s quietly excellent, with no bad track, even if nothing completely grips me, but maybe given the right (party?) mood, this would be completely great. It’s certainly got potential, so let’s have.There’s No More Underground: ‘they’re cutting down the Amazon to make more room for Amazon’, great lyrics that! Good Times could also fulfill your more classic indie needs.
Next is not a 2026 release, but an early release from Nightbus. I ended up seeing them twice, and still they didn’t play that, but I think it’s the best of their early songs however. So let’s have you Exposed To Some Light, from 2023.
Deadletter released their second album, Existence Is Bliss. I wasn’t quite enamoured with it, it doesn’t offer the same feverish ‘hits’ as their first, and this was confirmed live, but it is still a strong album (remember that old category I had in previous years: great album, but nothing reaches ‘track of the year level’, in this new format I can indulge posting music from it, I think I’d sort of already started last year anyway), though hard to really lift a track from it maybe? Opener Purity I is pretty good and sets the tone for what follows, but the central piece here may well be the rampant It Comes Creeping.
There are very few only gig-related tunes because I went to not that many gigs, but also most of the bands I saw were bands who actually had album out in the first part of the year. And just like Deadletter, that is the case for Chalk. I expected good things from their debut album, Crystalpunk, and I was not disappointed. With the passing of time, I didn’t go back to it that often, so maybe it won’t make the top 10 at the end of the year (at the moment I think I have a clear top 2 or 3, but that’s it). Still, listening again, it’s a fairly constant and consistent assault of electro-punk of sorts. It starts well with Tongue and the slightly more settled Pain, Longer is excellent if not revolutionary, the retro-vocodised One-Neight-Eight-Zero has some appeal, the Underworldisms of Béal Feirste are on point, but I think the best tune here may still be the very danceable I.D.C.
The new Art School Girlfriend album, Lean In, was not unpleasant, but a disappointment, never reaching the heights of the best bits of her previous one. In fact, it does get a little boring midway through, and the best tune is still L.Y.A.T.T. that I posted last year and shall therefore not repost. I may just about save a couple of tunes, including Lines, that could easily have featured on her previous album, but I may be slightly generous, listen for yourself.
A little similarly, the best tune out of Ladytron’s new album, Paradises is, by far, I See Red, released last year. With the album being probably twice too long (nearly 70 minutes) and featuring 16 songs, there are still some very good tunes, so it’s easier to pick one or several others. Or so I thought, but on relisten, even the tracks I had earmarked as good or potentially very good are not all that, and I can just about save Kingdom Undersea. Needless to say, this won’t make the top of the list at the end of the year, neither as album or as top track (due to I see Red being 2025 in my mind still, when it first appeared).
Time to move from established artists and disappointing albums into a new band and an EP: Dead Air, with World Wide Villainy. Also immediately moving from anything electronic to rawer punk-rock vibes. Fast Food World is very good, but ‘Do It For The Pay’ is practically certain to figure in my ‘tracks of the year’ (so yes there will definitely be a possibly purely musical end of year selection in these pages). Definitely one to mosh to, if ever I feel able to!
You’ll notice that so far, even more than the first two months of the year, and unlike previous year even though stuff was written at the end of the year, the progression is both more following a timeline, and completely away for it as I don’t even mention time, at least so far in this sequence. Quite primarily because of what I mentioned at the outset in this update: no particular associated emotions or phases or people. God, I feel so far away from everything at times, it feels so shit, sometimes there’s a hint that all’s not lost, but I’m not sure.
Is the Anna Calvi EP worth a mention? It has a nice track with Iggy Pop, but it feels like an udate on The Passenger, very good, to be honest, but not really anything new. There’s a couple of other good songs there really, making it an excellent EP. The title track, Is This All There Is? (withe The National’s singer Matt Berninger) is worth your ears, borrowing as it does, from some Bowie influences (THAT sound is directly from Heroes, isn’t it?).
After a lot of personal turmoil from the lead singer, and back to a core duo, The Twilight Sad finally had a new album out. And despite much fanfare and universal critical acclaim, it didn’t impress me the way the previous one did. Although I’ll admit it may be a grower and benefits from repeated listenings. The live impression wasn’t really different, tracks from the previous album touching me more. Still, there’s enough good stuff there, on top of the track posted last year. And it’s not ALL down to Robert Smith’s influence I reckon, though he appears on a few songs. So yes, once more the best track was released before the album, but this time at least, there’s other very good ones. My picks are the opener GET AWAY FROM IT ALL, and this number : INHOSPITABLE/HOSPITAL.
Now for something completely different, newer and more popular worldwide, I think. Mainstream? Not sure what is mainstream anyway, but Slayyyter’s album, WORST GIRL IN AMERICA has plenty of appeal, starting from the opener DANCE… through to closer BRITTANY MURPHY. But the ‘hit’ GAS STATION still gets my vote, just ahead of UNKNOWN LOVERZ.
A new Miki Berenyi Trio single didn’t do much for me, a new Roshâni single was pretty good yet lacked a little of an appropriate context to really make it stand out from previous ones, but still at about that time of the year, whatever it was (only late March apparently, that would be when I took a semi-impromptu week off to take only three in May and as I was saturating), another excellent suprise came in the shape of the new Avalon Emerson album, Written into Changes; that was even better than her previous and had plenty of good tunes. My favourite happened to be ‘Happy Birthday’, quite interestingly as this was released shortly before my actual birthday. I suspect I only listened to this much later (again why I can’t really correlate release dates and events, a lot of times this year I found myself buying music but not listening to it until much later). Plenty of other good tunes there, like opener Eden, or the excellent, vaguely 80s disco-infused Country Mouse.
Now a little trip back down all the way to, er, …2025 again, an album I nearly got then, but for some reason stalled on. The Dears ‘Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful!’, well it’s really because there didn’t seem to be enough good/new things on it, or maybe partly to not force me to go to the gig, but the truth is there were a couple of tracks I knew I’d really like on pre-listening, so given it was reasonably cheap, during a gap in buys I decided to go for it. All the good tracks are in close proximity on this album at the start of the second half, Dead Contacts comes a close second (check it really, it’s stunningly good, but maybe too reminiscent of something from No Cities Left), but the standout is Tears Of A Nation.
Next is a single from a forthcoming album (that wasn’t announced at the time), that really impressed. I always loved Blood Red Shoes (you could argue about the shoes or the band in fact), didn’t quite know where they would go after touring a lot recently, but this new single sounded so very excellent. Now that the album has been announced, I am waiting before I get it, so not completely gone through the three or so new songs released since, but they pretty much all sound good, so it’s an album I’m looking forward to hearing before the end of the year. I’ve also booked a gig again, having skipped their last couple, even though at the moment it might still clash with an Arsenal match scheduled that weekend. Anyway, here is Screams.
I liked the previous Lime Garden album, and this new one, Maybe Not Tonight also has a lot of attraction. Enough to make me decide that having missed out on them live last time for whatever reason (holidays if I recall correctly), they would be worth seeing again (and Nick’s in for this one too). Having said that, I only put three songs as ‘loved’. But a quick relisten suggests there’s plenty more that are actually good and this is likely to be a feelgood gig, I wish I would take the time to feel, be with people I loved, just fed up with being on my own sometimes, the missed life and sometimes the missed opportunities, getting old and feeling I have not really fully lived the way I’d have wanted/should have, mired in the limitations of a restrictive education. Cross My Heart reminds me of something else I’m sure, but try telling me it’s not a fun track. I will put Body just ahead of it, as it’s got just a little more ‘depth’ for me, but yeah try these two for a start.
And having gone through this good album, next you can throw yourself into the next two (seems like it was a golden few weeks for albums) who are, after seven months, by far my favourite two of this year. Absolutely incredible stuff.
New German Cinema: where do I start? A little history, this is the solo project of Jessica Weiss, ex from Fear Of Men. And her album is actually a step above the great ‘Loom’ from them. In fact, it’s a struggle to select a track for you, the whole thing is coherent, from A to Z, including the very short linking pieces, and outside that, every song is a winner. I’ll go for the obvious and select I Become Heavy. But you know, the first proper track Swirling Pain is a beauty, as is Being Dead. Eyes? Water Drops? Cracking tunes, ethereal sounds and voices. There is one duet (My Mistake) and it takes a bit of time to get going but then soars just the same as the rest. All That Heaven Allows is equally good, maybe the last two tracks are slightly below par, or rather, below the others, but that’s because the standards are so high. This album feels, glides, fills you with dark beauty, and at 32min, it’s perfectly timed to never bore you. My regret is not going to see her live. I mean, it’s tempting as she supports another artist on September 5 in London, towards the end of my holidays, but the costs involved in staying a Saturday night in London make it slightly unreasonable. We’ll see, I may decide on a last minute madness. Shame I don’t have Eurostar points left to use, if it was just hotel I think I’d do it. Anyway, yes, here’s just I Become Heavy, it might be the most accessible as the most dynamic, but if this album doesn’t get to you, I believe you have no soul.
A bit like last year, I feel I’m going to have two albums so far ahead of the rest, different enough to make a choice nigh on impossible for the number one.
As it is The Itch’s It’s the hope that kills you may just edge it, maybe aided by having seen them live (and having at least one Arsenal-supporting member – I am joking, this doesn’t come into play). It’s completely different, danceable, and unlike the New German Cinema one that came out of the blue for me (I am grateful for Sound Of Violence often reviewing things I don’t see mentioned elsewhere), The Itch, as I have mentioned before (in last year’s pages?) was a debut I was looking forward to with a lot of anticipation. Fair to say it didn’t disappoint. And selecting a track is an impossible job. Again it’s a case of the tracks I like least are still excellent (and live drove the point home) and have to be listened in context for better appreciation. I posted Ursula last year, and it’s the one ‘older’ track included on the album so that makes it easy to exclude, but Space In The Cab (more on it later in this post), Pirate Studios, the title track, Never Change? All true bangers. I think I’ll post two then (and again, I can ‘exclude’ one as you will see later, this post will have three Itch tracks in fact).
Let’s have Pirate Studios, because outside of the opener, that was the second track that hit straight home, and also because it’s the one song I wanted to hear they didn’t play at Hasard Ludique.
I’m torn as to my second pick. The title track could be it, but perhaps for the sake of a live reference, I’ll just put Never Change as it’s the one that got me most live, possibly because it’s a very easy one to shout along to, so it makes so much sense at a gig. Either way, as implied, listen to the whole album anyway, there isn’t a minute lost, and the lyrics are excellent too if you can relate. Mostly, and unusually, it’s the songs that didn’t seem to make it as single that I prefer.
Going away from really good things now. There was a new EP (or two) from a band called Balancing Act, highly recommended by Nick. They played a gig at Supersonic Records, and I was nearly tempted into it but not quite. Well, I don’t think it will feature in any great tracks list for me this year, but perhaps It Girl is worth a very quick mention/listen, it has a nice, er, balancing rhythm and a few decent sounds, but frankly, it’s me putting an easy track or two for your good ears.
Purity Ring released a single that was recorded during last year’s album sessions but didn’t fit in they said. It’s maybe not one of their best, but it’s very nice all the same so worthy of inclusion, more than some other tunes I put in today, though it didn’t make it to their setlist in June. A gig by the way, that didn’t quite feel as magical as it probably should have, although the visuals were great and the potential there, but I guess I was struggling a little too much to just enjoy the moment. Here’s just lemonlime for you.
There was Makeshift Art Bar who supported Chalk, they released an EP, but having bought a previous one on the strength of my very short live acquaintance with them, I wasn’t so impressed. It’s OK, fairly industrial, but I think they are a more interesting proposition live than on record, so no dice.
Metric, on the other hand, have been one of my favourite bands for a while, if you haven’t noticed. So I was happy to get a new release from them, while not knowing quite what to expect, but the thing is, no matter what, there will always be some good tunes in there. So yes, it’s not one of their best, maybe I wasn’t so impressed on first listen, but it’s a grower in parts, easily bears repeated listenings, and there’s a couple of cracking tunes that I immediately liked. The fact that there seems to be a decent amount of Fender VI on some tracks further heightens the enjoyment. There is a little lull in the middle with the three weaker tracks there, but that is quickly forgotten afterwards. Favourites include Crush Forever, Antigravity, and the perfect closing title Leave You On A High, but the top tune here has to be Time Is A Bomb, practically an instant Metric classic. All in all, a very good album after all.
I’ve mostly gone away from Swedish Pop since I’m not so much in touch with Labrador’s output or have not been convinced by a lot of the recent ones, but time and again, Nick or someone redirects me to some band I don’t know. So Girl Scout was heavily recommended. A pretty good album of Swedish Pop altogether, plenty of good tunes in fact, with the highlight being undoubtedly the splendid Crumbs. Reminds me of, I don’t know, maybe some pop sounds I am now more used to hearing from the other side of the world, namely Australia (think Middle Kids or The Buoys perhaps).
A bit of a random buy next, as it popped up on new things on iTunes, and it linked to a song Ruth Radelet had played last year at her gig. So I got ‘Bloom & Rage: The Lost Tapes’, which are just outtakes/remixes (included one from The Veil that I got isolately from the original), released this year from that soundtrack (is it a film? a video game? can’t remember), not all of it Ruth Radelet tunes, but a quick listen and the cheapness of it made me think it would be worth it. And well, there’s some good stuff there, so why not share indeed? The RR tracks are nice, but to expand the horizons, I will post of of the two non Ruth tracks, so here’s Milk&Bone’s Forgone (Alternative Version), I quite like that. But of course, Ruth Radelet’s Dreamers (well it’s her along her old Chromatics acolyts still, obviously sans Johnny Jewel) is very good (and the other versions of various songs too), and perhaps I should consider checking more of the original soundtrack….
A band I never heard of but again were reviewed on SOV are White Flowers. This year’s album is called Dreams Of Somebody Else. The review gave a mixed impression, but my selection is practically always based on what I hear rather than what I read, and a quick listen quickly persuaded me that I liked the sound of this one, and I wasn’t disappointed when I got it, I very much like this album, straight from the opening bars of the opening song, the excellent Spinning. Backseat has to compete for posting here, and there’s a couple of other good songs there, so this album could be worth a little of your time (Heart Breaks is good, Visuals very very New Orderish, in a good way, as is the album closer, Thinking Of You. Anyway, here’s Spinning.
Radically changing style now with the (in)famous KNEECAP. Somehow I should try their first album, because while I liked the collaborative single released last year, I tried this album and find it actually excellent, a good mix of traditional hip-hop (Beastie Boys style?) rap-ish sounds and other more technoid varieties (like the excellent Liars Tale), it’s kind of hard to select a tune. The aforementioned Liars Tale is tops, but maybe the title track, FENIAN, has to be it. There’s a relentless marching rhythm to some of their best tunes, but I don’t know, it just works, I don’t even have to care about the message, I like what they do and this track is totally excellent. But if you want other good stuff, there’s plenty there, like the equally excellent and danceable Cold at the Top (it was a tough choice there), or the closer, Irish Goodbye, featuring Kae Tempest.
A new Alt Blk Era single? Don’t mind if I do. Gutted I had to miss them live last time, but this little number is good, hopefully they’ll come back.
I think in terms of listening chronology we may be towards the end of May, but in terms of release not so much, so the next little sequence, that will conclude my writing for today (not sure why I thought I could do it all in one day, as it’s a whole five months of music there, but I think (hope) tomorrow’s write-up to wrap up these months should be a lot shorter, as the plan was to also make music today, now we shall see tomorrow) related to a little ‘back in the ’00s ‘ gig from early May. So the soundtrack shifted a bit, let’s have a classic from Battle, Tendency.
And a Mardous one to conclude the day. What about Tonic and Gin?
And after a little 15km morning run, we restart, back to Nightbus, with a remix, a track that was actually released some time before the second (identical) Pop-Up gig. So here’s a Tom Sharkett Remix of their best tune, Angles Mortz.
Slightly out of sequence as it was bought some time later, I’ll give you another Tom Sharkett Remix. I was quite surprised, but maybe shouldn’t be, it shows a consistence in taste that a release of Space In The Cab by the same Tom Sharkett found its way to my ears a month or so later (although this remix actually pre-dates the Nightbus one by many months). It’s great again, but to be fair, in both cases, the original song was already an absolute banger. So yes, back to The Itch for one last time in this post (I did warn you), though maybe not for the last time this year as there is five months left and after all they already played a new song at the end of May.
Moving away from the dancefloor, another nice discovery courtesy of SOV with The Haunted Youth’s Boys Cry Too. (Seriously I wonder how many songs/album titles/lyrics or film names Boys Don’t Cry has inspired). Or so I thought but looking back I find no trace of that review, was it NME or possibly Pitchfork (though their new pay system makes it unlikely)? Either way, I came across that album one way or another, and it’s quite nice. They’re from England, but there’s a hint of Royel Otis here and there, maybe a little darker (more ’emo’? They’ve got a track called ’emo song’ after all). Opener in my head is good, but maybe deathwish is the best? You’ll definitely hear the Royel Otis similarities, they’re right there.
I was considering skipping the Boo Radleys album altogether initially (I don’t mean in terms of this post), but somehow having read good things about it, I gave it a try, it’s mostly nice, a couple of good songs (including the joyous Bring Them Back Again), but mostly, there’s this excellent number with its classic Boo chorus.
The new Lykke Li album, The Afterparty, allegedly her final album was pretty good, the start of it in particular. I never know how to pin her down musically, but I enjoy her output. Nothing really sticks despite most being very good (Knife In The Heart? excellent) yet Lucky Again, with its kind of Ennio Morricone intro, is a superb track.
A new MUNA album? Dancing On The Wall is a mixed batch. In fact, it’s mostly forgettable, but there’s a couple of tracks, following each other, that completely rescue it. Big Stick is excellent, in fact, will likely feature in a ‘best tracks of the year’ list so please listen to it, but a bit like they had one absolutely fantastic track on the previous LP, Mary Jane simply steals the show.
There’s never a lot of French music in my lists, but Autour de Lucie got a new album out, and out of the blue I’d say, maybe over 10 years after their last? (apparently they released a single in 2020 though, featuring two tracks, one of whic,h Rouge Invisible, is included here). It’s not their best, but it’s still enjoyable, and Valérie Leulliot’s voice is still something special. So maybe you can enjoy Mes Raisons. (Diana is rather decent too).
A new one-off single from Patrick Wolf was released, and well, it’s OK, again not going to feature in a best of list, but I enjoy listening to it enough to put it in this very generic not-too-filtered post.
In the absence of a new release, Lust For Youth updated their album with Croatian Amor into a Deluxe Edition (much earlier this year in fact, but I finally got round to it during my May holidays I think?) with a couple of extra tracks that hold on their own, so I’ll give you the very ambient Parasol.
The new Night Swimming EP, Melting, Sometimes Bleeding, is fine on balance. I’m intrigued about probably seeing them live later this year (it’s a free gig at Supersonic, so the option not to go is still open). It still doesn’t quite stand out with any great track, but the overall quality makes it worth a mention. I’m still not 100% sure I like their stuff, on relisten, it’s an odd one. I probably shouldn’t even bother putting it here, this is becoming a nearly extensive run through stuff I bought and sometimes very briefly listened to without liking all that much. An end of year list with the best tunes (I won’t repost videos!) will definitely have to be done. Anyway, in the meantime, you can have the last track there, the slow-building but most pleasant Dark Clouds.
While I’m here, a new Library Card single? Why not? It’s still good and enjoyable, even though they might soon just end up repeating themselves musically.
I’m nowhere near as enamoured with BIG SPECIAL as Nick is, but somehow even in that new EP, O’JOY!, I’m finding an interesting song. The very Western-sounding SLUGLIFE (but you might prefer the more ‘classic indie’-ish HOTEL).
Now for something completely different. Sometimes I don’t know how some artists find themselves reviewed on SOV. But so I had a listen to Poppy Ackroyd. Not a million miles away from the random Pitchfork-induced discovery (sadly, as mentioned above, these things have now become unlikely) of Kelly Moran, I found myself faced with what is essentially classical-style piano work. Maybe less electronic than Kelly’s recent works, and with the addition of other instruments. Nonetheless, something at times breathtakingly beautiful, so worth a post here. I’m unlikely now to investigate Ludovico Einaudi, but I guess the bottom line is that to break in this field, talent is not enough and you need to work on your media work/acquaintances and possibly get a lucky break. Anyway, Shimmer and The Unknown practically sound like Debussy when they start (of course when I said ‘classical’, I think less of Mozart or Bach now than of late 19th/early 20th century composers), the whole album is enjoyable, but if you’ve got to keep only one track, Continuum it has to be (a song with added strings). A song of incredible beauty, one of the best things I’ve heard this year, music to make you cry out of the sheer beauty of it, really. Yeah, I think I still know someone who would truly love it, but…
The new Death Cab for Cutie album, I Built You A Tower, is a mixed bag (but aren’t all their albums), has a few good songs, doesn’t quite have a ‘Pepper’ like the previous one, but Pep Talk may be the closest to that sort of touching me there.
Right, it’s getting to lunch time, I haven’t yet finished though I’m nearly there (and yes I’m not writing an article for a magazine or a commercial website, so quite happy to keep these awkward live references, a life between these pages, obviously people who are paid also have that, but have to suppress it all the time for the sake of legibility among other things, but I can indulge, although I know that indulging the etats d’âmes in work essays was frowned upon, the couple of times I did it…nobody’s marking me here, that’s handy!), but let’s have Olivia Rodrigo before a break. She started big and has become bigger, and obviously the big news this year, beyond her already proferred love of The Cure and Robert’s appearance at her Glasto set last year, was yet another appearance of Robert on stage at a festival (Primarera this summer), this year not for some Cure covers, but for a brand new OR song featuring Robert on her new album. You could say the album is heavily influenced by The Cure not just through this, as Just Like Heaven is explicitly referenced in a song, and in fact, there is a song (obviously not about the band, but I doubt the title is innocent) called, precisely, The Cure. And yet, I am not going to select any one of these. The duet sounded very promising when I first heard it in its live version, but on album, it’s good, it’s go Robert’s voice, and yet it’s not one of my favourite songs there and his voice is too low in the mix in the duet bits – he has some solo singing too. The album’s very good still, possibly her best so far in terms of overall quality? Weirdly though, my top 3 from this album come in succession in the middle of the album, starting with ‘maggots for brain’ . I’ll pick the middle one there ‘u+me = <3’, and guess what? It’s probably the most Cure-sounding song here, very much like a modern take on, well, obviously Just Like Heaven, isn’t it? A superb pop song.
I’ll actually put the last song in that sequence too, because it’s different and also so very good.
By the way, I know Robert Smith collaborated on the Rolling Stones album released later (only musically though I think?), but don’t ask me about it, I had a brief listen to some bits, and it feels like a curio rather than a bona fide contribution.
So, getting to the last straight. It’s a long time since I had listened to a new Mull Historical Society album. I let most of his output pass me by as I only found about it many years later and haven’t tried, but the first two or three albums really had some gems. And he always seemed like a great bloke to me. I did get that box set a few years ago, but it was all about early recordings too. Still, I decided to give this new album, In My Mind There’s A Photograph, a go. It’s fine though will come nowhere near troubling a best albums/best songs list. I’ll single out two tracks, and I’m not sure which one I should put here. The Soldier and The Waitress has a lot of appeal, but somehow, despite a weaker end, Charing Cross Canyon may be the most obviously immediate to like.
Francis Of Delirium next, and it’s a difficult choice to make. There’s a case to be made, once more, that the best song was the one released last year, Little Black Dress. Is Run, Run Pure Beauty not as good an album as their first one? I’d say so, though maybe context also plays, as that one shone as the first consistently good album a couple of years ago, whereas this one is a bit lost near the middle of the year. And yet, it also has a certain consistent quality to it, and I find that Jana’s voice is better and more impressive than ever, a brilliant thing as she also doesn’t sound like anyone else, just an amazing singing voice. The trouble is, there really are plenty of good tracks, but I’m struggling to find one that truly stands out and make me think ‘wow!’. No ‘Something Changed’. So almost my default, I’ll give you what’s one of the best there, I think, hard to rate but easy to appreciate: Sucker Punch.
The number of new Irish bands who manage to get out of their borders is still and again growing, and THEATRE pass muster with the EP ‘Incarnate’.
A few good songs there, and the opener Gaudete gets my vote here. Truly excellent, listen for yourselves.
Coach Party got pretty heavy with new single Over, and well, while I don’t think that particular one will stay long with me, that still sort of works.
There was a new Madonna album released in June, Confessions II, and it’s been hailed as a return to form and got some good reviews and personal opinions from people on SOV. I have to say that while too long and uneven, it’s got a few good dancey tracks (for example Good For The Soul and Read My Lips). And yet somehow, I think the stand outs for me are two quiet ones : Bizarre is beautiful (actually, it’s also a dancey one, not sure why I had filed it otherwise in my head), and Fragile just takes the prize, a very touching number actually, with the music to go with it. Cut the fat, and you’ve got a very good album there.
Yard Act now, on the other hand, got mixed reviews overall, mostly positive though, and lots of plaudits on SOV. I was a rare one who preferred the second album to the first overall though, and this one just absolutely doesn’t do it for me. There may be a lot of Pulp parallels in terms of lyrics/social observation, but that’s never or very rarely my relation to music, and so I found practically nothing that gets me going on this album (no ‘Dead Horse’ which married superb lyrics and music, or ‘We Make Hits’ – style hit, never mind a ‘Trenchoat Museum’ type of tune. The only song I quite like here is the more dynamic Cherophobe Rock. Yes, naturally, it is rocking, while not forgetting melodies in the chorus, it may be the only song I like on the album, but it is actually great in fact. To be fair though, while I might need a third listen to form a more definite opinion, it may be a grower, as I found more stuff to like on a second listen. [26/8 well a third listen kind of got me back to square one, there’s a couple of half-decent tracks on top of this one, and Thrill Of The Chase is probably great live, but that’s about it, the rest really doesn’t do it for me).
A new Tricky album is always worth a listen, again this one got great reviews, I’m not sure it’s up there with his best, but it’s pretty good and grows as it progresses at least in its first half. Plenty of decent to good or great songs, and my pick goes to Paris Maybe (naturally?).
And we reach the last album for this post, Gracie Abrams’ Daughter From Hell. As often I like a few songs from her, rarely a whole album, and I’m probably only still drawn to her production by the memory of some of the early tracks that I really really liked. She’s obviously huge now (well, nowhere near as big as OR, I think), in some way, there are parallels with Olivia Rodrigo. Parallels or competition? Sure, she had the celebrity father so that’s a big difference, but the voices are so similar I keep confusing them sometimes[not so much on relisten, mind]. Her palette may be more reduced, but funnily I remember she also covered The Cure’s Just Like Heaven at a festival, in fact, wasn’t it the same Glastonbury Olivia Rodrigo did, just a night or two before? Plenty of amusing parallels (or was it just a Primavera this year, I can’t remember). The album’s OK, even mostly enjoyable on a re-listen though too long really, there’s a few songs I like here, though again nothing really stands out like it did on her first EP and her first album and a selection is really not proving easy. What about….Death Wish? That’s good, but I’ll give you Look At My Life, though I feel I have to listen to the whole thing one more time to be sure, so might, exceptionally, come back on this post. It’s not really such a good track, so I’m kind of just filling up the end ot his post here. [26/8, yeah the tracks marked good were not so good overall in fact, and the one I had selected doesn’t cut it. Most of the better tracks bookend the album in fact, decent start, and two good quiet duets near the end, but the rest is utterly forgettable. I might have rushed the end of this post in the first place, so now I feel I have to post a track from this, but it’s hardly worth it. I’m struggling to decide on a quick listen, maybe I’ll go with one of the duets for all you Mumford aficionados, but I’m dragging my feet there.
And that’s it, five months finally covered. There may still be some July releases that will leak into August (there doesn’t seem to be that many interesting releases in August, though it’s already a week old and I know there are a couple of rumoured-to-be-good releases that happened already), but they will be for the next post. Whenever that is, I can’t promise. Logically, it should be October (December is always pretty empty for releases, so to have a post in October and one early December would make sense), but then October is chock-full of gigs, so see if I find the time or if there will be just once more a post covering 4-5 months of music before a wrap-up with the very very best of tunes. I wish something would also happen in life (and I mean something good, meaningful, not more catastrophes), but I can’t decide that, mostly.