Guest Spot Best of 2013 - 'The Swede'

Guest Spot Best of 2013 - 'The Swede'

BC Camplight Best of 2013 Bombay Bicycle Club Houndstooth Kiran Leonard Low The Swede

In the essence of our blog, we asked some friends from blogs that we follow to share with us the tunes that stood out for them in 2013. We love to hear what other people listen to and the reasons why they tick the right boxes musically and of course to hear the stories associated with them. Whilst also hopefully discovering things that otherwise would have passed us by.

Now we have  'The Swede' who is responsible for the brilliant 'Unthought of, though, somehow' blog.

We think of him as a real life version of Rob Fleming,

But that's enought from us, here is The Swede....

'Thanks to everyone at Tune Doctor for another 12 months of fine music and for once again inviting me to contribute to this end of year extravaganza. Here are 20 of my favourite tracks from 2013, which, with one exception, are in no particular order. 

Compliments of the season everyone!

The Stepkids - 'Sweet Salvation'
Yo La Tengo - 'Well You Better'
Micah Blue Smaldone - 'Time'
Wolf People - 'All Returns'
Eleanor Friedberger - 'When I Knew'
Cate Le Bon - 'Are You With Me Now?'
Ezra Furman - 'My Zero'
Midlake - 'The Old & The Young'
White Denim - 'Pretty Green'
Younghusband - 'Comets Crossed'
Robyn Hitchcock - 'Be Still'
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - 'Swim & Sleep (Like a Shark)'
Steve Mason, Emiliana Torrini And Toy - 'I Go Out'
Gaz Coombes - 'One Of These Days'
H.Hawkline - 'Telegram'

BC Camplight - 'Thieves In Antigua'

BC Camplight is the artistic nom de plume of  American singer-songwriter Brian Christinzio, who now resides in Manchester. 'Thieves in Antigua' has a spooky Beach Boys quality - oddly unsettling and hard to shake off once it has it's hooks in you.

Kiran Leonard - 'Dear Lincoln'

'Dear Lincoln' was written and recorded by Kiran Leonard in June 2010, when he was just 14 years of age. The song had been knocking about the internet for a while, before receiving an official release this summer. Kiran has a lot of music available to check-out via Bandcamp and Soundcloud, including an incredibly ambitious 24 minute prog epic, 'The End Times', but with 'Dear Lincoln' he says all he wants to say in 112 thrilling seconds.

Houndstooth - 'Ride Out The Dark'

'Ride Out the Dark' by Houndstooth is a subtle grower - an album, after several months, I still enjoy more with each successive play.  Lead track 'Canary Island' stutters, Neil Young-like, into life,  before blossoming into a thing of true beauty. 

Bombay Bicycle Club - 'Carry Me'

Usually, the earlier in the year that a track appears, the more time it has to burn itself into the consciousness and thus become a contender for an annual musical retrospective such as this. Not so 'Carry Me' by the Bombay Bicycle Club, which was only released a couple of weeks ago, but is already much loved by Mrs S & I. Whenever it gets a spin on the wheels of steel here at Swede Towers, we’re compelled to break into our own peculiar form of angular dancing...and this is before we've started on the Christmas booze!

Low - 'Just Make It Stop'

I'm notoriously reluctant to nominate singular favourites when it comes to year-end round-ups, traditionally preferring to offer a selection of titles 'in no particular order' to sum up the preceding 12 months. In 2013, however, I think we have a winner. Low may just have pulled off the coveted triple whammy of favourite gig, album and in 'Just Make it Stop', tune of the year.

sfw Pada 10:28 Komentar

TRACKS OF THE WEEK - 07/04/13 - John Grant, Black Books, Farewell JR, Primal Scream, Low

TRACKS OF THE WEEK - 07/04/13 - John Grant, Black Books, Farewell JR, Primal Scream, Low

Black Books Farewell JR John Grant Low Primal Scream Tracks of the Week

Kim Jung Un, you're getting on our Pyongyang's! Relax! Just everybody meet up and sort it with a karaoke showdown with these 5 love missiles.

Shell Hunter:-
Primal Scream - 'It's Alright, It's OK' (2013)

I couldn't believe it, yesterday I drove home after a horrid day at work and the sun was shining! I could feel the heat in the car and even though I was trying desperately not to drift onto the rummblestrips (a hazard often fought against when driving home after getting up at 03:45 am) I was smiling! This song is what you would get if summer was bottled and what you would find in the dictionary as a description of Primal Scream: A feel good beat, gospel choir backing and sing a long lyrics! Perfect for the 90's indie revival we seem to be having!

London Scouser:-
Black Books - 'Favorite Place' (2013

Despite the Arctic conditions we seem to be having this week I was actually happy to be blown away. I stumbled across this Texan 5 piece band and their Aquarena EP. Since then I've probably listened to the 4 tracks about 10 times each. They are all winners and it was difficult to choose 1 and disappoint the other 3 !! I chose this track because it instantly hooked me, and like a good book I couldn't put it down. The chorus of 'I couldn't breathe, you're exceptional' sticks in my mind for hours afterwards (in a good way !!) I almost forgot to mention the excellent video that accompanies the song, all I can say is that it must have taken a long time to make. They have been favourably compared to a few bands, amongst them Arcade Fire, which I definitely get, but also for me they sound like Embrace, especially on the track 'For All The People'. I for one was a huge fan of Embrace so I can't complain at that. They will be over this side of the pond in May supporting The Flaming Lips. I definitely don't want to miss them, that's how much they've impressed me.

Old Pa's Corner:-
Low - Plastic Cup (2013)


 

This is the first track on Low's new album The Invisible Way (2013) it is typical Low, a slow understated burner which will creep up on you and pounce. I have been listening to the album this week quite a lot and it is worth the effort.  The album is being described as 'Heartbreaking beautiful music'  Spot on, I agree

The album was produced by Jeff Tweedy and recorded at Wilco's studio too.

SFW:-
Farewell JR - Night Wolves

Great atmospheric track by, (fans of Larry Hagman), Farewell JR, which features on their recently released, Health EP. It's still a bit cold to lie down on the floor to stare at the stars, but I'd do it anyway for this.  Would be great on a soundtrack. Perfection.
Flycasual:-
John Grant - 'Black Belt' (2013)

I had the pleasure of listening to John Grant's album, 'Pale Green Ghosts', whilst painting my son's room last week, I hate DIY but when I finished before the album ended, I desperately tried to find something else to paint. The man who played with Midlake and gave us the Rock/Folk ballad about the woman who made me the man I am today, 'Sigourney Weaver' (I'm an Aliens fan), has made an incredible electronic album. It's as if the best bits of Rufus Wainwright, LCD Soundsytem and Vangelis have all been put into a musical blender and produced a tasty disco biscuit of a record. It's a collection of heartfelt songs of love, loss and personal tragedy beautifully sung with wit and humour. including some very memorable lines, which, at times, had me saying 'ooof' while shaking my head to the visually descriptive lyrics. The brilliant 'Black Belt' is one of my tracks of the year from, hands down, my favourite album of the year so far.

John Grant's website

Checkout previous Tracks of the week here

Listen & Subscribe to our 2013 Tracks of the Week Spotify Playlist

sfw Pada 06:57 6 Komentar

GUEST SPOT'S Best Of 2011 part 1

GUEST SPOT'S Best Of 2011 part 1

Best of 2011 Bombay Bicycle Club Emma Guest Spot Iggy Pop Laura Marling Low Peaches She Keeps Bees Singing Bear Stuart The Chapel Club The Vaccines Tom Waits Twin Shadow

We did not want this site to be all about us, we wanted people to contribute their musical experiences, favourite tunes, musical memories, legendary gigs etc and as a result we have compiled a number of excellent posts which have enhanced our site and our music collection. It's with great thanks to you guys for putting in the time and effort to write and share these experiences with us. Thanks again for contributing for the best of 2011 post too. Remember, feel free to submit any contributions at any time, they are always welcome and we enjoy them greatly.

Singing Bear:-
Singing Bear is a self confessed old school music lover who runs a blog which all of us here at TuneDr follow. Grownupbackwards is a real treasure trove of forgotten gems, classics and rarities, so go and check it out. Here are 3 of SB's best.

Low - 'Try to Sleep'
'Try To Sleep' is the opening track on Low's excellent album, C'Mon. These Minnesotan 'slow-core' merchants have been around for a while now but it's taken me until this year to really take note of their rather wonderful stripped-down sound. I love their harmonies and insistent guitar work, which, over the course of an album, can take you on a journey to places where you feel, at once, at home, if somewhat uneasy. Sometimes, life just has to get slow.

Laura Marling - 'Don't Ask Me Why'
'Don't Ask Me Why' by Laura Marling is from her beautiful album, A Creature I Don't Know. I has guilty of avoiding Ms, Marling for far too long, having been put off royally by her connections with Mumford and Sons and Noah and The Whale. Should we judge people by the company they keep? Perhaps there are times when we should look beyond that because in the case of Laura Marling, I think she out-grew that gang some time ago. So, I eventually opened my ears and heard all this fine music from one so very young. All three of her albums are very good indeed but one gets the sense of real maturity on A Creature I Don't Know, which, at times, leaves you breathless with its melodic and lyrical invention. She's going to get even better, I'm sure.

Tom Waits - 'Hell Broke Luce'
One of my all-time favourite artists came back to us this year as Tom Waits released his new album, Bad As Me. In certain respects it must be said that what you get on Bad As Me is what one would expect from old Tom - some demented howling at the moon with a little nod to his jazz-bo, beatnik past thrown in for good measure, but that's no reason for complaint: the quality of the songs is top-notch. There aren't many artists of Tom's vintage still regularly creating such vital music. It's good to have him back. There's a host of great things on Bad As Me but I've chosen 'Hell Broke Luce', which is Tom's take on the US war machine and some of its more recent activities. Wild and hard-hitting.

Stuart:-
Stuart is a man of little words and wanted the music to do the talking instead. Have a look at his Mother Love Bone post, where he takes you back to a simpler time where you caressed your records.

Bombay Bicycle Club -'What You Want'  

The Vaccines - 'All In White' 

Chapel Club - 'Blind' 

Emma Bazeley:-
Emma Bazeley, introduced me to White Denim this year and her excellent review of a She Keeps Bees gig compelled me to investigate further.

She Keeps Bees - 'Vulture'
The drumming and compilation just get me.

Twin Shadow - 'Slow'
I discovered them this year and love the 80s feel and George's voice.

Peaches - 'Kick It' Featuring Iggy Pop
I love this just as much for the zombie video and the fact Peaches and Iggy refuse to grow old gracefully!

Fancy a Guest Spot? Then don't hesitate to contact us...

sfw Pada 22:00 10 Komentar