(a small note, that came to after the post) It is now the year 2006. One of the things that I regret about last year was that I did not buy a new chord to my headphones! It is now 12pm and I was in the middle of a film and right now I can not even hear myself think with the rockets and bombs and what not. I hope people are drunk enough to pass out or run out of these explosives so that I can continue with my new years eve (and no, I am not a cynical and bitter person hehe).
I had thought about making a list, then I thought that I had to put time into it and go through all my records to find the ones that were from 2005. So I dropped it. I felt that there was no need for it. But now there is, I can not keep it inside anymore. Not since I got hold of particular record, that very record is playing right now. It will be my #1 for 2005 and I will tell you why. But before I write some words about it I will write about the other lovely records that I have bough this year. Here is a small list, in no particular order, they are all my #2.
The year of 2005 with theepoweroftwee:
Celestial – s/t (the one that starts with ”Lace como”)
The first song starts with some lovely classic indie tunes. Lovely guitars and lyric-lines like ”she´s a victim of her time / how can sorrow be a crime” and ”like a feather in a hurricane / every effort seems in vain / lace como in her heart”. And ”Lace como” is in my heart! The EP continues with what I right now think is the best song by Celestial, ”Nothing happens; twice”, there is not many words to be said about it. It is great and should be played at clubs and in the homes and minds of poeple. If you like pop that breaths the air that the ”Sarah”-pop took from you, then this is worth a listen.
Decoration – Don´t disappoint me now
In my mind there is not that much good music coming from the UK these days, but that may be the fact that I live in Sweden and we get so much good music back home. But there is still music from the UK that can be very good, unless they fall into some kind of NME-trap or something. But Decoration go on a path of their own, releasing a record on the leading indie label SL. The 7” took me by suprise, so I bought the album. But I must say that I was a bit disappointed, but since that day the album has grown on me with every listen! So that is why it ends up here on my list. If you like a bit of accent and a (at times) David Gedge like voice. Classic lineup with two guitars, a bass and drums, and music that sounds like a mix of Ballboy and Wedding Present. A group I would love to see live!
Ultrasport – Nothing can go wrong / Red Carpet – The Noice of Red Carpet
Since there is not so much good ”pop” coming from Finland (if you don´t count Cessna, 22-pistepirkko, Cats on fire and a few more), it was for me a fun year with Quince-records. First Ultrasport and then Red Carpet. They kind of sind alike, but with Ultrasport being a notch better. No offence. They are both great. It all started with me getting my fingers on a copy of ”Hey! Where´d the summer go?”, a Humblebee-recordings compilation, on it was Ultrasport – ”Sharing secrets” and it was instant love for me. Well, what more is there to be said, when the album came I played it on repeat and then I played ”The boy that never lied” on repeat and so on… Red Carpet is still quite new to me, but the first song ”My first goal!” sets the pace, a pace that is held along the whole album. Solid, good.
Cats On Fire @ CosyDen
Thought that it would be fitting to continue with finnish pop. I have heard people say things like ”…it must have been like this when people saw the first gigs The Smiths did”, and it is something in the likes of that. The gig at CosyDen was good, people sang along, they played extra songs. The atmosphere was great, people were nice, and the music was as good it ever could be. At least that is how it felt then=)
CosyDen (RIP)
That Cats On Fire (should add that All of my brothers girlfriends also played that night) was the first and the last band to play in the apartment. An era is dead, or is it just born? It is still remains to be seen.
Well, pay a visit to the homepage and see/read for yourself.
The Honeydrips @ Sommaren i city
Continuing with gigs, we went to see Khonnor and it bugged me that it was the same night as The Honeydrips. Especielly when I had read and heard that Khonnor would be crap live. So I mailed ”Sommaren i city” and asked when it would start, it turned out that I could make it to both. And he kindly added that ”khonnor is a punk who shouldn´t play live”. After about 1½ song into the gig I came to think about something that Nick Hornby wrote, if it sucks you can go away. So that is what we did. We headed to the subway and made it to see The Honeydrips dance the whole gig. You would have had to be there to understand it so I will not write anything else, oh yeah, he makes great music and he can play live! Not like the punk Khonnor.
Camera Obscura @ Svenska Musikklubben
Sadly at a crappy place like Debaser. You could hear people talking everywhere during the gig. And that is one of the reasons why I do not like going there. But I made the best of it, I stood up front and sang along, and made it one of the best things I witnessed live this year. I should add that they are among my favourite groups… And yes, Tracyanne was just a sweet as you could ever have imagined (not that I talked to her, but I think you know what I mean).
Erland Oye @ Frukostpop
Since I helped out with the ”Frukostpop” I knew about the bands in advance (among them The Honeydrips, The Budgies etc. etc.) and I can tell you that Erland was not part of them hehe. He had come with The Polyphonic Spree from britain and he decided that he would like to play. But both the scenes at the festival (Emmaboda) were full, so they phoned Nicke who has the Frukostpop and that is how it came to. At a otherwise quite rainy festival the sun shone and Erland played and sang. People sat everywhere (about 200 people) and it was just lovely. Just thinking about it makes me warm.
Now to add some records that I come to think of right now sitting here (as I´ve written many times now, I didn´t go through the records to see which had 2005 on the back of them, so in reality this list should be 10-20 titles longer):
The Radio Department – ”This past week” CDEP
The Charade – ”The best is yet to come” CD
The Go-Betweens – ”Oceans apart” CD
Evergreen Days – ”Something we once had” CD-r
Her Name In Lights – ”Into the light again” CD
Annemarie – ”The Living model” CD-r
Tullycraft – ”Disenchanted hearts unite” LP
Right now it feels like I have to share the #1 spot. I could not do it in any other way. So here they are, the two records that got the tightest hold of my heart. I will start with the one that I felt had to share this spot:
Vashti Bunyan – Lookaftering
She released her first album in the seventies and this year she released her second one. One that has come to become better and better by every listen. Since I am a sucker for voices like hers, it was no suprise that I fell in love with it. But it is not just the lovely voice, it is also the music. It is simple, with not too big arrangements and pampy productions. It is just simply beautiful. In swedish I would say ”avskalat” but I can not come to think of an english word equalent to it. Well, right now I find myself listening to it daily, dreaming my days away.
The other one, the one that I felt was in a class of it´s own.
Penny Century – Instructions on how not to do it
I read something about this strictly limited 3” CD-r released by My Secret Garden, made in only 25 copies. After that I knew I just had to have a copy of it. And lucky as I was I managed to get my hands on one. Besides the music, I am also much into covers that are different. Practically covers that are everything else than the numb pieces of plastic that jewlecases are (there is no art to be put in that). And this is by far the best and most innovative among the ones that I have! It is a mini-dvdcase. The fact that it has been done in only 25 copies, that also adds to it all. I like limited releases. Well, enough about that. I think it was about a year ago that I got aquanted with the music that Penny Century made. But the songs that I heard then are a lifetime from this. I can not find words for how good this is. The nearest that I can come to think of is when I for the first time heard The Radio Department – ”Lesser matters”. All the five songs on it are great! They are all hits! They should be loved by everyone that have a decent taste in independent music. It should be written about everywhere, or maybe not. I feel like I want to keep this for myself. Like Popkompis felt with Radio Dept., they were his and now they are everyones. I do not even know if this is for real. Could such a good record have been made without the public ”indie-eye” noticing it? Well, if they do not notice it, I do not care. I have these five songs and they make my body fuzz with warmth everytime I play them. As I said, I can not almost understand how good this is. Now that I think about it (with the ep playing in the background), this is the only #1 of 2005. A pure work of art!
