My song of the year is this slice of country tinged perfect pop from Angel Olsen. The chorus is a joyus burst of love that I can't help but sing along too. I'll also admit there's been kitchen dancing at times too. During a year that has been shit on so many levels Shut Up Kiss Me put a smile on my face and that's worth a lot.
Happy Christmas everyone, I hope you all have a lovely day.
Meilyr Jones has been my artist of the year without doubt. The lyrics to this song, released back in January, seem prophetic as Meilyr has recieved a lot of praise this year and is surely on the cusp of breaking into mainstream consciousness. Featured Artist is one of my favourite tunes from his brilliant debut album.
Check back tomorrow to find out my Song of the Year. I know it's wrong to have an advent with a door on Christmas Day but I had 25 songs to fit in and forgot how this annoyed me last year (I'll trim it to 24 if you all remind me next year).
This is just a lovely song. A gentle country guitar melody that backs Rebecca's sumptuous vocal and really lets her shine. I saw Slow Club play an in-store at Rough Trade and it was spell binding live too.
I've not been a close follower of the ongoing misadventures of the Fat White Family. I know they have a bit of a reputation as wild characters who have a tendacy to get naked during live appearances but I haven't seen them myself. Breaking Into Aldi doesn't feature on the Songs for Our Mothers album that came out at the start of the year but for me it's the best thing they've done so far. I imagine it captures the zeitgeist of post-Brexit Britain, assuming I know what a zeitgeist actually is, either way this is a blast of punk of energy.
Some of my favourite songs of the year are by bands I know very little about. The Goon Sax are a trio from Brisbane featuring Louis Forster, James Harrison and Riley Jones. Up To Anything is the title track of their debut album and another slice of perfect pop. This is all the more remarkable as the band are all still in their teens. Louis is the son of former Go-Between Robert Forster but this is a band that seems more than capable of making their own way in the music business.
Claire Martha Ffion McKay is an Irish songwriter based in Glasgow and Wallflower is as perfect a pop tune as you're likely to hear. This was a proper ear worm and one of those songs that put a smile on my face everytime I heard it.
As opening lines go this one is up with the best. I also love the contrast between Emma & Darren's vocals. It's just a brilliant single and was my introduction to Emma Kupa, who's other band - Mammoth Penguins - I may have avoided due to confusion with the jazz influenced band GoGo Penguin. My brain often does this, especially when it comes to working out which bands I want to spend time with. I have since rectified the Penguin based confusion and discovered I am a huge fan of all Emma Kupa related projects.
The last few days have got a bit melodic so I think it's time for some proper noisey rock'n'roll. The Blind Shake are a punk trio from Minneapolis formed by brothers Jim and Mike Blaha. They are good friends with John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees fame and it was seeing them live supporting Dwyer's band that really broke them for me. They were blistering live and their subsequent album, Celebrate Your Worth, is one of my favourites of the year.
Palehound are ostensibly the songwriting vehicle of singer & guitarist Ellen Kempner. I first heard them via the single Molly which has a corking noisey guitar riff that I like but it's the title track of the album that claims the number 9 spot in my songs of the year. Dry Food is a song I've found on loop in my brain thanks largely to it's lyrical refrain "You made beauty a monster to me, So I'm kissing all the ugly things I see". I think it nails the impact of a failed relationship in two simple lines.
Julia Jacklin's debut album has been one of my sleeper hits of the year. A record I've enjoyed more and more with each play and is still on heavy rotation at Top 5 HQ. Her vocals remind me of Sharon Van Etten and this song in particular has a haunting quality about it I very much like.
