The usual end of year mix cd:
1. Burn The Witch - Radiohead
A Moon Shaped Pool (XL, 2016)
So I caught up with The King of Limbs and A Moon Shaped Pool at the start of the year and it turns out Radiohead still have plenty to say to me. This song sounds, as Yorke sings, like a low flying panic attack.
2. Do You Need My Love - Weyes Blood
Front Row Seat To Earth (Kemado, 2016)
What an epic. The album is full of these, dramatically, sweepingly on the verge but never quite tipping into being too much.
3. Heartache Is An Uphill Climb - Tift Merritt
Stitch of the World (Yep Roc, 2017)
Merritt has been great for ages, and Stitch of the World might be her best yet. In some ways this song is pretty straight-up, but I can never resist this kind of flowing, rootsily golden thing when it’s done as well as it is here.
4. Bad Reputation - Haley Bonar
Last War (Memphis, 2014)
Speaking of things I have a weakness for, hello more brightly sulky and 90s alt-y sounding pop from the excellent Haley Bonar.
5. Sweet By And By - Miranda Lambert
Southern Family (Elektra, 2016)
This winsome, sweetly lilting track on someone else’s project got me paying attention to Lambert again …
6. Runnin’ Just In Case - Miranda Lambert
The Weight of These Wings (RCA, 2016)
… which led me to this super-impressive double album, 24 richly emotional but very rarely sentimental songs which pretty much all land right in the sweet spot. “Runnin’ Just In Case” is the first track and it sets the tone.
7. The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness - The National
Sleep Well Beast (4AD, 2017)
The National, so reliably great.
8. Don’t Pass Me By - Laura Marling
Semper Femina (More Alarming, 2017)
This has been one of the really big ones for me this year (along with the Tift Merritt and Miranda Lambert records); on it, Marling taps something very spectral, very human, and never more than on “Don’t Pass Me By”. A special song, delicate and powerful.
9. Finish What We Started - Jessie Ware
Glasshouse (Island, 2017)
This latest smoothly heartstruck record from Ware is her third wonderful soulful modern pop album in a row, and the thing about “Finish What We Started”, the thing is that it soars.
10. Over Everything - Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile
Lotta Sea Lice (Matador, 2017)
Delightful throwback rock-y songwriter collab. First heard during a cheeky ‘writing’ session at the Grace Darling one sunny weekday afternoon — it turns out, the perfect circumstances for it.
11. Mountain - Holly Throsby
After A Time (Spunk, 2017)
This is the second time that I’ve been ambushed by one of Throsby’s melancholy Australian-summer tunes at the end of a year. The last time was in 2011; some things have changed since then, some things have stayed the same.
12. Strangest Thing - The War On Drugs
A Deeper Understanding (Atlantic, 2017)
Arriving with immaculate timing the day before I set off for Zanzibar and beyond, the wide open roads sounds of this one have soundtracked this trip so far — especially “Strangest Thing” in all its expansiveness.
***
And the ones that I nearly included, but in the end didn't: Jen Cloher, The xx, Spoon, Aimee Mann - four excellent albums by existing favourites of mine, all of which I listened to more than at least some of those that actually made it onto the final mix, but there you go.
[edited 31/1/18 with a track order tweak]
1. Burn The Witch - Radiohead
A Moon Shaped Pool (XL, 2016)
So I caught up with The King of Limbs and A Moon Shaped Pool at the start of the year and it turns out Radiohead still have plenty to say to me. This song sounds, as Yorke sings, like a low flying panic attack.
2. Do You Need My Love - Weyes Blood
Front Row Seat To Earth (Kemado, 2016)
What an epic. The album is full of these, dramatically, sweepingly on the verge but never quite tipping into being too much.
3. Heartache Is An Uphill Climb - Tift Merritt
Stitch of the World (Yep Roc, 2017)
Merritt has been great for ages, and Stitch of the World might be her best yet. In some ways this song is pretty straight-up, but I can never resist this kind of flowing, rootsily golden thing when it’s done as well as it is here.
4. Bad Reputation - Haley Bonar
Last War (Memphis, 2014)
Speaking of things I have a weakness for, hello more brightly sulky and 90s alt-y sounding pop from the excellent Haley Bonar.
5. Sweet By And By - Miranda Lambert
Southern Family (Elektra, 2016)
This winsome, sweetly lilting track on someone else’s project got me paying attention to Lambert again …
6. Runnin’ Just In Case - Miranda Lambert
The Weight of These Wings (RCA, 2016)
… which led me to this super-impressive double album, 24 richly emotional but very rarely sentimental songs which pretty much all land right in the sweet spot. “Runnin’ Just In Case” is the first track and it sets the tone.
7. The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness - The National
Sleep Well Beast (4AD, 2017)
The National, so reliably great.
8. Don’t Pass Me By - Laura Marling
Semper Femina (More Alarming, 2017)
This has been one of the really big ones for me this year (along with the Tift Merritt and Miranda Lambert records); on it, Marling taps something very spectral, very human, and never more than on “Don’t Pass Me By”. A special song, delicate and powerful.
9. Finish What We Started - Jessie Ware
Glasshouse (Island, 2017)
This latest smoothly heartstruck record from Ware is her third wonderful soulful modern pop album in a row, and the thing about “Finish What We Started”, the thing is that it soars.
10. Over Everything - Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile
Lotta Sea Lice (Matador, 2017)
Delightful throwback rock-y songwriter collab. First heard during a cheeky ‘writing’ session at the Grace Darling one sunny weekday afternoon — it turns out, the perfect circumstances for it.
11. Mountain - Holly Throsby
After A Time (Spunk, 2017)
This is the second time that I’ve been ambushed by one of Throsby’s melancholy Australian-summer tunes at the end of a year. The last time was in 2011; some things have changed since then, some things have stayed the same.
12. Strangest Thing - The War On Drugs
A Deeper Understanding (Atlantic, 2017)
Arriving with immaculate timing the day before I set off for Zanzibar and beyond, the wide open roads sounds of this one have soundtracked this trip so far — especially “Strangest Thing” in all its expansiveness.
***
And the ones that I nearly included, but in the end didn't: Jen Cloher, The xx, Spoon, Aimee Mann - four excellent albums by existing favourites of mine, all of which I listened to more than at least some of those that actually made it onto the final mix, but there you go.
[edited 31/1/18 with a track order tweak]
