samedi 18 Aoû 2012, 11h48m
Here follows my ten favorite albums. Many of these albums have been with me for years, one of them is only a year old. I always find new music. In other words, this is the list for 2012, and maybe the list for 2013 will be different. However, one thing is for certain: none of these albums will ever be forgotten.
This album is my very favorite album in the world, but still, it is impossible to describe it with words. It tocuhes something deep within me, that I can relate to. It is as if Van sings about life itself, the way I feel life is like. It's about the lyrics in combination with his voice, the way he sings it, from his heart, and the music, subtle and, at times, heartbreaking, but always hopeful, always forgving, always understanding. But no need for more words, this album needs to be heard to be understood.
Favorite track: Madame George
With Blue Joni created the most intimate female singer-songwriter album, one that has become so acclaimed and influential that it almost defines the genre. And it is well deserved. Every emotion is deep and pure, every melody strong, and Joni's voice is beautiful and sad.
Favorite track: The last time I saw Richard
What's going on - Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye created the master piece of his career when, instead of caring about "hit-material" created an album where each song contributed to the bigger picture, where each song became stronger because of the songs around it, and where the beauty of these 9 songs combined form a deeply personal whole. But at the same time as it is directed inwards it is also directed outwards, directed towards the war in wietman, directed towards how we destroy each other and our world. It is without any doubt a master piece everyone who loves music must listen to.
Favorite track: Flyin' High (in the Friendly Sky)
The Queen is Dead - The Smiths
This was my very favorite album for many years, until Astral Weeks came. Still, it could very well hold the first place together with Astral Weeks, and often I say that they do, and that these two albums together, are my favorites. And they are very different, contribute with different things to my life. The Queen is Dead shows all the best sides of the The Smiths, it has the quick humour and the wit in Vicar in a Tutu, it has the darkness, the loneliness, the heartbreaking sadness of being alive and alone and outside, in I know it's over and Never had no one ever, and it has the beautiful and melancholoic pop in The Boy with the thorn in his side and There is a light that never goes out. This album is beyond words.
Favorite track: I know it's over
The master piece of the Cure. Perhaps the most melancholic and atmospheric album ever created. The lyrics are poetic, sometimes utterly hopeless, sometimes hopefullly sad. The anger of pornography is not here, even though some anger can show through, in some songs, but sadness is everywhere. The atmosphere is beautiful and brilliant, Smith's voice touches like a knife.
Favorite track: The same deep water as you
Jeff made one full-length album in his life but that one album is so emotionally strong that it can sometimes be hard for me to listen through. Every feeling is so strong, so to the bones, so to the heart. I also love his second post-humous release with my whole heart, but Grace, is, as an album, stronger. However, Jeff was at his best live, in front of an audience, not restricted by any thoughts about "making the perfect song by a million takes" but just living for the moment. Still, Grace is a master piece, created by a genius, with a beautiful soul and a strong individuality. His tragic death is too sad for words … and the loss to the world of music is incomprehensible.
Favorite track: Dream Brother
Fevers & Mirrors - Bright Eyes
It's not the album I listen to most of the time when I listen to Conor nowadays, but it will always be my favorite since it helped me through the darkest and most lonely period of my life. For that, I will always be grateful. And it is a fantastic record, and probably the most personal album I've ever heard.
Favorite track: The Center of the world
Sigur Rós created a unique and minimalistic soundscape on this album, with heavier drums and less violins than on the previous album, making it darker and less accesible. It fits them extremely well, once you've given it a few listens, being one of those "hard to get into but very rewarding once you're there" albums. Some accuse it of being good background music, music to fall asleep to, but no, this is music to lose yourself into, to get lost in. I've got lost in this album many times, in the free lightness of Samskeyti, the heavy death-ridden atmosphere of Dauðalagið and the melancholic madness of Popplagið.
Favorite track: Popplagið
Kent, being my favorite Swedish band, did with D&JD manage to combine the indie-rock with the more radio friendly pop, the poetic lyrics with touching music well fitting his melancholic words. D&JD has the sad ballads (Järnspöken, Rosor & Palmblad) as well as the guitar-driven rock (400 slag), and the knife cutting voice of Jocke Berg contributes with every song feeling real and true … the ending is one of the finest songs in the world of pop-music.
Favorite track: Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år senare)
For emma, forever ago - Bon Iver
Justin Vernon is one of our very finest and most interesting "newcomers". I know he will continue to create many more fantastic albums in various constellations. This is his breakthrough. He isolated himself in the woods when he wrote these songs. He sings about broken love, about trying to live on with it. These are songs no one cannot relate to. It is beautiful, it is music for our souls, music we need.
Favorite track: Re: stacks