Whenever September is knocking on the door, it is the beginning of the end of the year, which means the beginning of end of year listicles. I mean, I am sure there is Christmas decoration being sold in some supermarket somewhere in the US or England.
The summer for me was marked by going to Primavera Sound in Barcelona for the first time and the whole festival was excellent. My previous festival going experiences always included mud and/or sand so being in such a beautiful clean space was extraordinary (I am getting old, I know). Then, of course there was a fantastic line-up which fulfilled my indie-cravings from the drama of Arcade Fire to Mac DeMarco’s on-stage antics.
Anyhow: here are the top tracks that were on my playlists this summer, in the reverse order of preference.
7: Leif Vollebekk – Elegy
Canadians, from Neill Young to Bahamas have always done it for me, and Leif’s fantastic song is no different
6: Taylor Swift – Look What You Made Me Do
Self-referential, dramatic and poppy, this tune is peak Taylor Swift, especially the cringy spoken part… and what more can we ask
5: Ed Sheeran – Castle on the Hill
“Me and my friends have not thrown up in so long
oh, how we’ve grown”
…. and it is a great driving song.
4: Rostam – Bike Dream
I really miss Vampire Weekend and Rostam’s new album promises to deliver the goods until VW get their stuff together and release a new one. I also got into cycling this summer…
3: The XXs – Say Something Loving
I never seriously listened to the XXs before Primavera, but their gig left me awed at how good these awkward people are to get people fired up for very emo-songs. Say Something Loving, though, is lyrically fantastic and very haunting, to the point that I caught myself singing it non-stop…
2: Broken Social Scene – Hug of Thunder
This song gave me the chill when I heard it live at Primavera. Feist’s vocals are superb.
1: Magnetic Fields – 74: No
“50 Song Memoir” is by far my favourite album this year for its ambition and consistently great music. It was a toss up between the awkward reassurance of “15: Somebody’s Fetish” and the resigned nihilism of this one, but this one won because, at the moment, bleakness seemed more appropriate.
Hvala.