Top-20 Countdown - no.16

Gotye - Making Mirrors

This album, by Wouter "Wally" De Backer, the Belgian-Australian artist better known as Gotye, does not only contain one of the best songs of the year (Somebody That I Used To Know). It is also addictive, catchy, quirky (in that great Australian way only Antipodeans know how), rich, with lots of musical influences, intelligent, pop, intriguing. He knows his craft well and avoids the traps of over-producing while still offering a rich sonic landscape to pick from. If Peter Gabriel was emerging now on the music scene, he would sound a lot like this.

So far:

17. Austra - Feel It Break
18. Soley - We Sink
19. Cat's Eyes - Cat's Eyes
20. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

Top-20 countdown - no.17

Austra - Feel It Break

Canada keeps churning out so much good music that I am starting to think the northernmost countries must have something in their water that influences their musicians so much. Austra has the wonderful Katie Stelmanis as a singer and main driving force, an incredible voice that transforms their music and makes it instantly identifiable. A début album that has half its songs as potential singles is, for me, quite a formidable achievement. The music is strong, spare, electronic, addictive. 

So far:
18. Soley - We Sink
19. Cat's Eyes - Cat's Eyes
20. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

Top-20 Countdown - no.18

Soley - We Sink

She was introduced to me by a friend - he asked me if I knew where to find her music. I had not heard of Soley before, so I looked her up. It was love at first listen. Calling her music ethereal might conjure false expectations, but it is one adjective that could describe her songs. Another is magical. She stands somewhere between Soap & Skin and Russian Red - the only other artist that comes to mind being as close to her would be Sarah Worden aka My Brightest Diamond. Definitely a keeper and one of the best débuts this year.

So far:

No.19 - Cat's Eyes - Cat's Eyes
No.20 - St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

Top-20 Countdown, no.19

Cat's Eyes - Cat's Eyes

Modern retro sound, clever riffs, dreamy vocals, catchy tunes. Do you need anything more to be entranced by an album? Guess not. They never get boring, drowning their sound in reverb and distortion, avoiding the more obvious retro influences for darker details - this one is their only defect too: too much and they miss their uniqueness. Most interested to see how they progress.

no.20 - St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

Top-20 countdown - no.20

St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

One would think, upon a quick first listen, that St. Vincent, or Annie Erin Clark, had gone commercial. No fear for that though. Although this is the most coherent, well-produced and defined of her albums up to now, she definitely remains the quirky, unpredictable, charismatic artist we loved with Actor - and still do. Like that very good friend that you have not seen for oh so long, but you only need to look at each other to make sure that it's all OK.