Top-20 countdown - no.11

Little Dragon - Ritual Union

Little Dragon come from Sweden, like so many other exceptional musicians. They took their name from the nickname of their Swedish/Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano's nickname (she got it because of the way she defuses during recordings). Their music is seductive: electronic, synth-pop, with soul and chill-out elements, it hypnotizes you, driving you where it wants to take you. This, their third album, continues the tradition of the previous ones, with beautiful, well-made songs, that when you listen to them once, stick in your mind and haunt you. It is not simply luck that successful series like Grey's Anatomy or Gossip Girl pick Little Dragon songs for their soundtracks.

(this was first published as a review of the album in the free-press Fagazine issue 02 for November 2011)

So far:

12. P.J. Harvey - Let England Shake
13. Scott Matthew - Gallantry's Favorite Son
14. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
15. Patrick Wolf - Lupercalia
16. Gotye - Making Mirrors
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.12

P.J. Harvey - Let England Shake

Pre-recorded in a 19th century church at Dorset, England, the new album of British singer-songwriter PJ Harvey finds her return to her folk - blues roots. Her songs tell us stories from wars and battles, bloody events that she deftly weaves into her web with the proper musical thread to give us a complete album, mature, catalytic. An exceptional moment that you must not pass by indifferently, even if you have never heard even one of her songs before.

(review first published in Greek free-press magazine Screw, issue 26, 2011)





So far:

13. Scott Matthew - Gallantry's Favorite Son
14. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
15. Patrick Wolf - Lupercalia
16. Gotye - Making Mirrors
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.13

Scott Matthew - Gallantry's Favorite Son

Third album for one of my favourite Aussies. Scott, an old fashioned gentleman if there ever was one in the current music scene, sounds happier in this record, more uplifting than ever. He sounds content, though still that eerie melancholia that characterizes his work is unmistakably here. Love, loss, loneliness, ghosts are very much alive and well. And that voice... oh that voice. For me he currently has the best male voice around. He sounds nonchalantly sexy and lonely. And that is a dangerously attractive combination.

So far:

14. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
15. Patrick Wolf - Lupercalia
16. Gotye - Making Mirrors
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.14

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Sophomore album for Bon Iver, that finds Justin Vernon taking a different approach to his music. I like artists that are not afraid to move forward (or sideways) from their previous work, even if that was successful. It means they are alert, curious, creative. And Vernon is all that here. Sophisticated, expansive and more evolved than his first album, this one employs a diversity of musical influences that lift it quite apart from the folk label that one would expect. Each song represents a place, and has the title to match. It is much more open to the world, even though the lyrics verge on poetry. But there are no pretences here. Just the joy of someone who enjoys and loves what he does best. And shares it with everyone else.




So far:

15. Patrick Wolf - Lupercalia
16. Gotye - Making Mirrors
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.15

Patrick Wolf - Lupercalia

Patrick found love this time. It infuses his music in this album, probably in much the same way as it does his life. He sounds optimistic, inspired, happy. It even shows on the bright white cover, with only his shock of red hair as a coloured splash on it. Playing again with is surname for the title (lupus=wolf), Patrick serves us with a collection of songs that is bound to please even his most difficult fan. And yes, they are approachable, maybe for the very first time. No, he has not sold out. He's simply in love.

So far:

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