Top 5 - David Landgren
1) Tranquility Bass Let The Freak Flag Fly (Caroline/Astralwerks). I came across this sometime in July and it has never been far from the player ever since. A blend of 60s vibe with 90s technology. Despite a couple of track oddities, this has been by far the most frequently played CD this year.
2) Baby Bird Dying Happy (Baby Bird Recordings UK). After being bitterly disappointed by Ugly Beautiful, his studio effort, I was overjoyed to pick up Dying Happy, another selection of 4-track recordings from the archives of Mr. Baby Bird. This is his most coherent work to date, a dark album full of melancholy and despair. The last four tracks are simply brilliant.
3) Luscious Jackson Fever In, Fever Out (Capitol /Grand Royal). It's a pity the world insisted, yet again this year, on paying attention to another completely manufactured group of five scantily clad women with no musical ability or artistic merit. Because it meant that a lot of people deserving recognition simply disappeared from the map. Luscious Jackson are four girls who play their own instruments, and write their own songs of love, sex and nudity, are produced by Daniel Lanois and have honed some delicious pop. This is an album that grows on you.
4) Divine Comedy A Short Album About Love (Setanta). The French call Neil Hannon "The pope of pop". It's a pretty good assessment. Here then, are 7 songs, all about love, performed with strings, woodwinds, brass, the whole bit. Where most people would stumble before the pitfalls in such a genre, Mr. Hannon pulls it off with remarkable aplomb. I play this to cheer myself up.
5) Laika Sounds Of The Satellites (Too Pure/Virgin). At times, this sounds a lot like Single Gun Theory; breathy vocals, quiet grooves and keyboard riffs that snag you in. Lots of excellent tracks on this one, although there are a couple of things in here that need tightening up. Points lost for having one of those ghastly "mystery tracks" at the end of the CD. People who do this obviously have never used a shuffling multi-CD player. Just say no.
