Sredzkistraße

Music discoveries of 2009 – Part I

Something I’ve been meaning to get around to for a while. Well, here it is. 2009 was a particularly good year for finding good music, new and old, so I’m going to share some of my most treasured discoveries here. Being anything but a fan of music journalism, I’ll let the music speak for itself, adding as few words as possible.

This first installation in the series will focus on more “traditional” music in comparison to the music that will be featured in the following parts. In other words: plenty of singing; plenty of guitars and drums.

Any artists or record labels who take issue with me sharing these songs need just contact me in order to have the material removed.

Sparklehorse – It’s A Wonderful Life

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Beautiful tune from Mark Linkaus, with PJ Harvey as guest vocalist. Unfortunately Mark killed himself a few months ago, so we’ll have no more incredible releases like “It’s A Wonderful Life”, “Good Morning Spider” or his Fennesz collaboration…

Grouper – Cover The Windows And The Walls

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A few months ago I would’ve pointed to Grouper’s “Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill” as her best work, but I’ve since realised that CTWATW is much more of a grower and absolutely consistent… Certainly the “new music find of 2009″ I’m most happy about, easily the most difficult choice in selecting a single track from the album for this blog post, definitely the best music in this blog-post. Genius.

Minimum Chips – Lady Grey

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Australian indie band, shamefully under-acknowledged. Perfect album from start to finish.

Cortney Tidwell – Boys

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“Oh, Suicide”, a very slow reprise of this song justifies buying this CD alone. I chose instead to put the more upbeat version here to lift the mood a little.

Tape – Luminarium

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Killer keyboard part for this tune. Gorgeous stuff.

Jack Rose – Jack Rose

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Interesting guy, considering his main project was as a guitarist in a Doom Metal band. Only now do I learn he died suddenly last December of a heart attack. Tragic.

The Gentleman Losers – The Gentleman Losers

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Mirah – C’mon Miracle

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Inextricably linked to memories of wrestling with Wikimedia’s parser in the early hours of the morning, working on my final year project.

The Album Leaf – Into The Blue Again

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This too. Pretty drab and dreary, cheesy lyrics and arrangements: the very essence of “folktronica”. I enjoyed it at the time, though, for some reason, so it deserves a place here.

It Hugs Back – Inside Your Guitar

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Absolutely stunning album, perfect from beginning to end. Support them by buying it!

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions – At The Doorway Again

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Heather Woods Broderick – From The Ground

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Sister of Peter Broderick and impressive songwriter and musician in her own right, it was difficult choosing a song from this one too.

Beach House – Beach House

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A nice one to end on, no?

The next installation in this series will most likely focus on ambient noise and will appear in a week or two.