Playlist

OCTA Weekly Playlist Episode #49

No Comments

Another week, another weekly playlist.

There was not a whole lot of movement on the release front due to summer and especially because there was 4th of July festivities in the US. There was some great ones from other markets though. The albums from Emma Russack, Jesca Hoop, Jack Cade and The Soft Cavalry (Steve Clarke and Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell) were on my radar. I’m sure there was more than that. However, the slow week gave me opportunity to look back on things I’ve missed during the year and I found some gold (and a huge hole in my Australian music education that I tried to fill a bit) and therefore these 2019 albums/eps make first time appearance on the playlist this week: Rose City Band, Hectorine, Louise Connell, Lolas (I didn’t even know they were still active), Carla Geneve EP (I had the single, but managed to miss the release of this great EP), Gena Rose Bruce, Shane Smith & The Saints, Jade Jackson, BATTS, Asha Jefferies EP and Renata Zeiguer EP.

On the singes chart, the biggest one is the Finnish summer jam from Jari Raaste. Esther Rose, Garrett T. Capps and The Commonheart I managed to miss last week, so they are here now. Other international (should be)-hits came from Kacy & Clayton, Dylan Earl, Jacob Faurholt, Christopher Gold & The New Old Things, Dolly Valentine, Melissa Mary Ahern.. oh well, I might just as well namedrop them all. There’s lots of older singles too.

Anyway, that’s it for this week. I made a quick mid-year report earlier in the week, if you want to know my biggest favorites of 2019 so far. Back next week with episode #50. Do I stop there yes/no? Is there a need for a weekly playlist or would bi-weekly or monthly be better?

OCTA Weekly Playlist Episode #49

1. Emma Russack – Winter Blues (Winter Blues, Spunk Records, 2019)
2. Kacy & Clayton – The Forty-Ninth Parallel (single, New West Records, 2019)
3. Esther Rose – Sex and Magic (single, Father/Daughter Records, 2019)
4. Dylan Earl – Just Because (single, Rootsy Music, 2019)
5. Garrett T. Capps – All Right, All Night (single, Shotgun House Records, 2019)
6. Rose City Band – Rip City (Rose City Band, Jean Sandwich Records, 2019)
7. Jari Raaste – Ilmalaiva (single, Fonal Records, 2019)
8. The Commonheart – Do Right (single, Jullian Records, 2019)
9. Christopher Gold & The New Old Things – Thirty Five (single, 2019)
10. Jacob Faurholt – Dark Moons (single, Raw Onions Records, 2019)
11. Hectorine – Old Man Willow (Hectorine, Galaxie Records, 2019)
12. Dolly Valentine – Michigan, 1997 (single, Holy Golden Music, 2019)
13. Jesca Hoop – 01 Tear (Stonechild, Memphis Industries, 2019)
14. Jack Cade – He Lies on His Side (Bear Bones, 2019)
15. Ainslie Wills – Fear Of Missing Out (single, 2019)
16. Karine Polwart – Chance (single, Hegri, 2019)
17. Louise Connell – Most Righteous People (Squall Echo Rale, 9th Story Records, 2019)
18. Frank Turner – Sister Rosetta (single, Xtra Mile, 2019)
19. Attic Lights – King Of Whatever (single, Elefant, 2019)
20. Lolas – A Dozen or Seven Tapestries (A Dozen or Seven Tapestries, 2019)
21. Parsnip – Lift Off! (single, Trouble In Mind, 2019)
22. String Machine – Eight Legged Dog (single, 2019)
23. Molly Drag – Out Like a Light (single, Egghunt Records, 2019)
24. Carla Geneve – I Hate You (For Making Me Not Want to Leave the City) (Carla Geneve EP, Dot Dash, 2019)
25. Melissa Mary Ahern – Maria, Maria (single, 2019)
26. Gena Rose Bruce – I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You (Can’t Make You Love Me, Dot Dash Recordings, 2019)
27. Jess Cornelius – No Difference (single, 2019)
28. Erin Durant – Sand Dunes (Islands, Keeled Scales, 2019)
29. Nev Cottee – Morning Sun (River’s Edge, Wonderfulsound, 2019)
30. Harrison Whitford – Both My Friends (Afraid of Everything, Screwdriver Records, 2019)
31. Chris Staples – Running Out of Time (Holy Moly, Barsuk, 2019)
32. Espanola – Espanola (Espanola, Surly Young Records, 2019)
33. Shane Smith & The Saint – Oklahoma City (Hail Mary, Geromino West Records, 2019)
34. Jade Jackson – Secret (Wilderness, Anti-, 2019)
35. Asha Jefferies – Chaos (Hold Yourself Together EP, 2019)
36. BATTS – Don’t Treat Me Like You Do (The Grand Tour, THAA Records, 2019)
37. Renata Zeiguer – Permanently Lonely (Faraway Business, Northern Spy, 2019)
38. Long Beard – Sweetheart (single, Double Whammy Whammy, 2019)
39. Mega Bog – Shadows Break (Dolphine, Paradise of Bachelors, 2019)
40. The Soft Cavalry – The Light That Shines on Everyone (The Soft Cavalry, 2019)

Playlist link

Oh and do buy the vinyl/cd/download. Spotify and other streaming services are perfect for these introductory purposes, but try to buy at least the music that matter the most to you

If you are looking this after a week has gone, the embedded Spotify will show the latest playlist. I’ll just update the same playlist because a) if someone wants to follow it, they can just follow that one list and will get a new set of songs each Sunday b) so that I don’t have a trillion of different playlists on my Spotify account

Continue Reading

Top lists

Mid-Year Report: Favourite Albums, EPs and Songs of 2019 (so far)

1 Comment

Hey it’s mid-year and a perfect time for pointless lists. So count me in. Here’s some of the music I’ve listened and loved the most during the first half of 2019. I didn’t spend ages on this one, so I’m sure I forgot something super important. Obviously there’s so much I just haven’t listened to enough at this point of the year. That’s why there’s no Bill Callahan for example. I know I will love that record, but I haven’t listened to it all that much so far. These are in pretty random-ish order. Just picked the biggest favorite of each category and then just wrote what popped into my head. Maybe they are a bit top heavy, but flipping them over wouldn’t really make them any worse. Steve Sloane’s song Let All In and the albums from Matthew Milia and Ylva Haru have shaped my year and are able stand out even from this brilliant crowd. Nevertheless, I love all of these and I could also quite easily triple these lists without any drop in quality. Doing the playlist every week has really skyrocketed my already excessive listening habits and I’ve already heard over 100 albums that I like. So this is just a small sample of all the great music 2019 has given us. I have to quit the blog before the actual year-end lists. Otherwise I will end up doing something absolutely ridiculous like a list of TOP 200 albums. Anyway, here’s the quick mid-year report. Back to normal duty on Sunday with the weekly playlist.

ALBUMS – INTERNATIONAL

Matthew Milia – Alone at St. Hugo (Sitcom Universe)

Anna Tivel – The Question (Fluff & Gravy Records)
The Delines – The Imperial (El Cortez / Decor)
Caroline Spence – Mint Condition (Rounder Records)
Steve Sloane – Near Death
Damien Jurado – In The Shape of a Storm (Mama Bird Recording Co / Loose Music)
Shane Leonard – Strange Forms (Wayward Chicken)
Erin Durant – Islands (Keeled Scales)
Julia Jacklin – Crushing (Transgressive Records)
Ian Daniel Kehoe – Secret Republic (You’ve Changed Records/ Tin Angel Records)
Tiny Ruins – Olympic Girls (Marathon Artists)
Pony Bradshaw – Sudden Opera (Rounder Records)
Ian Noe – Between the Country (National Treasury Recordings)
Kassi Valazza – Dear Dead Days
Bob Sumner – Sings Wasted Love Songs
Craig Finn – I Need a New War (Partisan Records)
Clara Baker – Things To Burn
Robert Ellis – Texas Piano Man (New West Records)
Katie Spencer – Weather Beaten (KRS Music)
Steve Lambke – Dark Blue (You’ve Changed Records)
Charles Wesley Godwin – Seneca
M. Lockwood Porter – Communion in the Ashes (Black Mesa Records)
TK & The Holy Know-Nothings – Arguably OK (Mama Bird Recording Co)
Natural Bridges – Residual Daydreams (Royal Oakie)
China – And Then Nothing Happened (Royal Oakie)
Jeremy Squires – Poem
Bedouine – Bird Songs of a Killjoy (Spacebomb)
Steven Lambke – Dark Blue (You’ve Changed Records)
Small Houses – I Don’t Know What’s Safe
Yola – Walk Through Fire (Easy Eye Sound)

Bonus: Harrison Whitford – Afraid Of Everything (Screwdriver Records) (first time on LP/CD)

ALBUMS – FINLAND

Ylva Haru – Linnut (Soit Se Silti)

Sur-rur – Hattarahiukset (Joteskii Groteskii / Roku Records)
Salaliitto – Puolet (Soit Se Silti)
Hullu Ruusu – Rehab (Helmi Levyt)
Janne Tapion Sisäinen Avaruus – Maapallon Hautajaiset (Lumpeela Julkaisut)
H.C.Slim – Sings (Svart Records)
Joose Keskitalo – En lähde surussa (Helmi Levyt)
Lokit – Lokit LP (Combat Rock Industry / Joteskii Groteskii / Roku Records)
Tomi Nordlund & Syvä Joki – Viisi vuotta myöhemmin (Soit Se Silti)
M – Näytän missä asun (Solina)

EPS – INTERNATIONAL

Twain – New Miami Sound EP (from two EPs) (Keeled Scales)

Tiffany Williams – When You Go
Charlie Whitten – Tiny Horse
Kathryn Legendre – Making It Up (Shotgun House)
Johanna Samuels – Have a Good One (Basin Rock)
Charlie Marie – Charlie Marie
Lydia Cole & Hailey Beavis – Among Horses IV (Son Canciones)
The Rumblings of Spring – The Rumblings of Spring
Erin Rae – Putting On Airs 4 Track Demos EP (Single Lock)
Courtney Marie Andrews – Acoustic EP (Loose Music / Fat Possum / Mama Bird Recording Co)

EPS – FINLAND

MeriTuuli – Yö Saimaalla

Tams – Aikahyppy 1 EP
Eden Prairie – Ana Lucia

SONGS – INTERNATIONAL

Steve Sloane – Let All In

Joanna Sternberg – This is Not Who I Want to Be (Team Love)
Matthew Milia – Alive at the Same Time (Sitcom Universe) (or well any other song from his album)
Matthew Ryan – On Our Death Day
Anna Tivel – The Question (Fluff & Gravy)
Caroline Spence – Sit Here & Love Me (Rounder Records)
Le Ren – Love Can’t Be The Only Reason to Stay
Erin Durant – Rising Sun (Keeled Scales)
Christian Lee Hutson – Northsiders
Julia Jacklin – Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You (Transgressive Records)
Pony Bradshaw – Josephine (Rounder Records)
Charles Wesley Godwin – Seneca Creek (Seneca)
Tiffany Williams – Big Enough to Be A Mountain
Ian Daniel Kehoe – Evil People (You’ve Changed Records / Tin Angel Records)
Micah Schnabel – New Shoes
Craig Finn – Something to Hope For (Partisan Records)
Esther Rose – Don’t Blame it on the Moon (Father/Daughter Records)
Kassi Valazza – Mama
Robert Ellis – Father (New West Records)
The Delines – Holly The Hustle (El Cortez / Decor)
Damien Jurado – South (Mama Bird Recording Co)
Rachel Toups – Foxes (Peconic)
Emily Scott Robinson – Dress
Ryan Tanner – A Hymn for Me and You
Bob Sumner – Ticket To Ride
Katie Spencer – Weather Beaten (KRS Music)
Ian Noe – Letter To Madeline (National Treasury Recordings)
Charlie Shafter – Chainsaw
Twain – Death (or S.F.?) (Keeled Scales)
red steppes – Madera (Native Cat Recordings)
Black Sea Dahu – How You Swallowed Your Anger

And here’s an ongoing “best of” 2019 playlist. I put these on top, but there’s about 150 more that are equally good. I think that Steve Sloane song is the one that I love the most, but other than that I could have just as well put this playlist on shuffle and the result would be as good as the list above.

SONGS – FINLAND

Amuri – Halla (Helmi Levyt)

Ylva Haru – Oikeiden luona (and/or Tähän hetkeksi jään) (Soit Se Silti)
Janne Tapion Sisäinen Avaruus – Kaikki oli paremmin ennen (Lumpeela Julkaisut)
Sur-rur – Fleetwood Macin villi välikausi (Joteskii Groteskii / Roku Records)
Iron Country Sisters – Leaves (Soit Se Silti)
Astral Brain – The Field Trip (perhaps this should be on the international list)
Kielo Kärkkäinen – Keitä me olemme (Texicalli)
Hulda Huima – Outo tyttö (Helmi Levyt)
Jari Raaste – Ilmalaiva (Fonal Records)
Maustetytöt – Se oli SOS / Tein kai lottorivini väärin (Is This Art?)

And same as above. Lots more finnhits on this ongoing playlist that features my favorite Finnish songs of the year.

Continue Reading

Playlist

OCTA Weekly Playlist Episode #48

1 Comment

Another week, another weekly playlist.

Sorry for the delay. I was away for the weekend and then there was the NHL Free agent frenzy on Monday. Trying to do this every weekend can become a bit of a burden when there’s other life things in the mix, but I’ll do at least 50 episodes because it’s so close. Maybe that would be a good time to ask myself why I’m spending hours every weekend to create something that has very little relevance. Anyway, due to the reasons above, this one is a bit shorter and I missed a ton of stuff. Some that I am even aware of, but just didn’t have the time to listen to them at all. I’ll catch up next week, because there might be a bit less going on due to 4th of July.

This week was again a pretty awesome week for new albums. Erin Durant’s beautiful album came out on Keeled Scales and Screwdriver Records started their career with a culture award worthy release of Harrison Whitford’s Afraid of Everything on LP/CD. Canadian studio wizard, pedal steel master and liner note hero Aaron Goldstein takes the spotlight this time around with releasing his own music under the name Espanola. Long time favorites Matt Woods and Chris Staples released their new excellent albums. Those were highest on my personal list, but the week also gave great new albums from Mega Bog, Nev Cottee, The Black Keys, Erik Koskinen, Daughter of Swords and Molly Parden & Hollow Hum. There was way more, but I still haven’t had the time to dive into the Shane Smith and Jade Jackson albums for example.

And then there were the singles. So many beautiful ones. Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster and Joe Pug released impressive first singles from their forthcoming albums. I also loved the new songs from Jordan Moser, RF Shannon, Black Sea Dahu, Lucy Dacus, Ana Egge.. oh well actually all of these.

That’s it for this week. It would also be the time for the mid-year lists, but I’m not yet sure am I going to do them. Plus I should also work on the OCTA 18 year Anniversary thing that takes place in September, if I manage to do something (september comes surprisingly fast). Don’t know is such insanity worth celebrating though. 18 years is a long time to do absolutely anything and a pretty ridiculously long time to write a music blog. But what can you do if you love music, but have zero musicality. You’ll just listen, love and share.

OCTA Weekly Playlist Episode #48

1. Erin Durant – Highway Blue (Islands, Keeled Scales, 2019)
2. Harrison Whitford – Strangers in the Making (Afraid of Everything, Screwdriver Records, 2019)
3. Espanola – Ever Kind and True (Espanola, Surly Young Records, 2019)
4. Matt Woods – Hey Heartbreaker (Natural Disasters, Lonely Ones Records, 2019)
5. Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster – Take Heart, Take Care (single, Big Legal Mess, 2019)
6. Joe Pug – Exit (single, 2019)
7. Lucy Dacus – Forever Half Mast (single, Matador Records, 2019)
8. Jordan Moser ft. Molly Burch – Road to Trouble (single, Keeled Scales, 2019)
9. Black Sea Dahu – How You Swallowed Your Anger (single, 2019)
10. RF Shannon – Angeline (single, Keeled Scales, 2019)
11. Chris Staples – Halfway Over (Holy Moly, Barsuk Records, 2019)
12. Mega Bog – I Hear You Listening (to the Bug on My Wall) (Dolphine, Paradise of Bachelors, 2019)
13. Nev Cottee – Roses (River’s Edge, Wonderfulsound, 2019)
14. Florist – Time is a Dark Feeling (single, Double Double Whammy, 2019)
15. Goodnight Texas – Tennessee (single, 2019)
16. Ottoman Turks – Glass Bottles (single, State Fair Records, 2019)
17. Coyote Brother – Alberta Goddamn (single, Piasa Recordings & Green Canoe, 2019)
18. Ana Egge – Cocoaine Cowboys (single, Storysound Records, 2019)
19. Erik Koskinen – Losers Like Me and You (Burning the Deal, Tone Tree, 2019)
20. Angela Perley – 4:30 (single, 2019)
21. Michael Nau – Rides Through the Morning (single, Colemine Records, 2019)
22. Rayland Baxter – Objects in the Mirror (single, ATO Records, 2019)
23. Slow Healer ft Devon Sproule – Businessman (single, 2019)
24. Molly Parden and Hollow Hum – Sweetheart (Why Worry: A Collection of Covers, Tone Tree, 2019)
25. Daughter of Swords – Gem (Dawnbreaker, Bella Union, 2019)
26. The Rumblings of Spring – Southern Gulf Islands (The Rumblings of Spring EP, 2019)
27. Kurt Baker Combo – (I Can’t Help) Failing in Love (single, Wicked Cool, 2019)
28. The Black Keys – Breaking Down (Let’s Rock, Nonesuch Records, 2019)
29. Pony Bradshaw – Bad Teeth (Sudden Opera, Rounder Records, 2019)
30. Fernando Viciconte – Is This Normal? (Traitors Table, Fluff & Gravy Records, 2019)
31. Native Harrow – Happier Now (single, Loose Music, 2019)
32. Shakey Graves – A World So Full of Love (single, The Next Waltz, 2019)
33. Sunny War and Edith Crash – The Place (single, Hen House, 2019)
34. Jesca Hoop – Outside of Eden (single, Memphis Indrustries, 2019)
35. Tanya Tucker – Hard Luck (single, Fantasy Records, 2019)

Playlist link

Oh and do buy the vinyl/cd/download. Spotify and other streaming services are perfect for these introductory purposes, but try to buy at least the music that matter the most to you

If you are looking this after a week has gone, the embedded Spotify will show the latest playlist. I’ll just update the same playlist because a) if someone wants to follow it, they can just follow that one list and will get a new set of songs each Sunday b) so that I don’t have a trillion of different playlists on my Spotify account

Continue Reading

International music

Four Arms to Hold You: Harrison Whitford, Erin Durant, Bedouine and Lucy Roleff

No Comments

A busy weekend, but first one of these round up thingies. The weekly playlist might also be delayed until Monday. I’m not yet sure.

A new UK-label Screwdriver Records starts it career with a bang by releasing Harrison Whitford’s amazing album Afraid of Everything on the 28th of June. It’s an album that deserves a lot of love and recognition and I couldn’t be happier about it getting a proper LP/CD release. Nashville-based Harrison Whitford is a long time collaborator of Phoebe Bridgers and he self-released this remarkable record about a year ago. The fragile honesty wrapped inside poignant and eternally beautiful songs has been quietly haunting me ever since I first heard the record. So take a listen below and follow my lead to the label website and purchase copy of Afraid of Everything.

Harrison Whitford at Facebook
Screwdriver Records Website

New Orleans-born and NY-based songwriter Erin Durant has already been mentioned on these posts, but hey nobody’s counting. And there’s several great reasons to mention her magical songwriting again like a) Her wonderful album came out today on Keeled Scales b) I haven’t posted the album opener Rising Sun which is a song that I love wholeheartedly. So let’s go back to Islands, a place of spellbinding beauty.

Erin Durant Website

There’s also a stunning new Bedouine album Bird Songs of a Killjoy in this beautiful planet of ours. Spacebomb released it a week ago on the 21st of June and it’s like a perfect antidote against the every day hustle of the modern world. A moving light breeze that evokes deep emotions.

Bedouine Website

Tonight this journey ends in Melbourne, Australia with the enchanting new Lucy Roleff album. Left Open in a Room came out on the 15th of May on Lost and Lonesome Recording Co, Little Lake and Oscarson and contains absolutely mesmerizing chamber folk songs that will drift your troubles away.

Lucy Roleff Website

Four Arms to Hold You is an ongoing feature with a weird name. It might not contain a whole lot of words, but it does contain a whole lot of love towards the featured songs. Basicly this is just four albums / songs / artists that have done their part in holding me together and therefore I want to tell the world or the seven readers of this blog how much I love them. Not entirely sure do these kind of posts serve any kind of purpose and I do hope I manage to write longer posts too. Right now it just feels like the playlists and these kind of short posts are the only way to keep this dear hobby alive. Plus it’s really the music that matters, not my random ramblings and these posts will always contain magical music.

Continue Reading