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

GUEST SPOT #57 - Motörhead - 'R.A.M.O.N.E.S.'

GUEST SPOT #57 - Motörhead - 'R.A.M.O.N.E.S.'

Guest Spot Motörhead The Swede

It's Monday, and it's guest spot day again. We would like to take a moment to thank 'The Swede' for sending us in this great story. He certainly knows his stuff! Check out The Swede's eclectic blog, 'Unthought, of though, Somehow', it's like walking into your favourite record store....and there's not many of those left!

You see it's that easy, so if you would like to contribute a guest spot then email us or click here...Tell us your favourite song, memory or gig, we'd love to hear from you.

Motörhead - R.A.M.O.N.E.S. (1991)

Gabba Gabba Who?

I was at Virgin Records HQ one evening in the early 1990s, attending an album launch party for a long-since forgotten generic pop act - beer in hand, wearing a Ramones t-shirt and leather jacket. A lady from the record company in her mid-20s, champagne in hand, schmoozed her way around the gathered throng of fellow record store managers and buyers, telling all and sundry how great the band were and how huge they were going to be. She reached me and asked what I thought of the album, which was by now blasting through the room at ear-splitting volume. 'Unutterable shite' I thought. 'Great' I said. She seemed happy enough with that, but as she moved away she turned back, pointed at my t-shirt and said,'By the way, what is ram, ones?'. Ram...pause...ones, as in the number one. She was serious. 'Ramones..,' I said, suppressing the urge to pour my beer over her perfectly coiffured head, '...one of the most important bands of all-time?'

Her eyes glazed. She looked through me as if I'd suddenly started talking in a foreign language and wandered off. I had clearly lost her. I was incandescent. I mean, how can you occupy even a minor position within the record industry and not have at least heard of The Ramones? Specially as they were still a going concern at the time! I necked my beer and left the party early.

If only I could have had Lemmy on hand to spell it out for her.

I'm waiting for your comments.

sfw Pada 09:28 5 Komentar

GUEST SPOT BEST OF 2012 - 'The Swede'

GUEST SPOT BEST OF 2012 - 'The Swede'

Best of 2012 Lord Huron Night Works Tenniscoats The Swede

In the essence of our blog, we asked a few friends and blogs we follow to share with us their top tracks of the year. We are always interested in what makes people musically tick and hear the stories associated with them. At the same time maybe learn a thing or to or maybe catch something we've missed. So a big thank you to you all for taking the time to contribute.

We have 'The Swede' from the 'Unthought of, though, somehow' blog. It's just like walking into your favourite record store! 

Night Works - 'I Tried So Hard'

Former Metronomy bassist, Gabriel Stebbing, chose Record Store Day back in April to formally introduce his new band, Night Works, via the seductive single 'I Tried So Hard'. After a first play, I came away thinking that it sounded like a composer's demo, with tune and chorus in place and just the verses needing to be added to fill it out. Silly me. Hasty me. I very quickly re-evaluated that initial opinion and now consider that any half-decent dictionary should have this tune referenced as the definition of the word Earworm. Once it has you, you'll want it to go on forever and indeed there is an excellent, fairly straightforward, extended version available, amongst the usual plethora of remixes and re-imaginings, on the Night Works Soundcloud page, which I highly recommend you check out. Here though, is the single edit, complete with accompanying video, which, like the tune, is mysterious, engrossing and faintly unsettling.

Night Works release their 4th single 'Long Forgotten Boy' in January, followed by their debut album, 'Urban Heat Island' in March.

Tenniscoats - 'Yume wa Sukkiri'

Tenniscoats are a Japanese duo who make music together, individually and with an  assortment of collaborators. I picked up on them in 2008, with their 6th release, the  superb 'Tan-Tan Therapy'. Since that time there's been a further six albums, including  two in 2012 alone! From the second of those, 'All Aboard', comes the beautiful 'Yume wa Sukkiri', which translates as either 'Neat Dream' or, even better, 'Dreams Are Neat'. The tune, particularly the long, languid melodica outro, certainly does have a dream-like quality, only spoilt a little by the uploader jumping in a bit early and snipping the last few seconds from the end of the track. 

Lord Huron - 'Lonesome Dreams'

To show that it isn't all moody introspection over at Swede Towers, here's a more uptempo recent discovery - so recent in fact, that the album isn't even out in the UK until January. Thanks, however, to this new-fangled internet thing everyone's talking about, I've been digging 'Lonesome Dreams' by Lord Huron since it's US release in October. The lead track, 'Time to Run', has a Paul Simon feel while the album as a whole has an Fleet Foxes vibe about it. A strong set of songs and a band to watch.

I know I've missed some corkers, but here are the other 17 in no particular order...

Clock Opera - Once and For All 

Graham Coxon - What'll It Take 
Sam Lee - The Ballad of George Collins 
Leonard Cohen - Going Home 
Richard Hawley - Down in the Woods 
Bill Fay - Never Ending Happening 
Toy - Motoring 
Beak - Wulfstan II 
Father John Misty - Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings 
Beth Orton - Call Me the Breeze 
Milk & Biscuits - White Noise 
Tim Burgess - A Case For Vinyl 
Teen - Roses and Wine 
Howler - Back of Your Neck 
Jagwar Ma - Come Save Me 
Pete Seeger - Fields of Harmony
Stealing Sheep - Rearrange

                                    Compliments of the season to everyone! 

sfw Pada 22:00 2 Komentar