News, Playlist

OCTA Music Weekly – Episode #118

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Another week, another new music weekly.

Another year too. It does seem that breaks are bad, because I really struggled to find the motivation and energy to start again. Maybe I’ll get the hang of this soon, because I do want to continue through this 20th anniversary year. I did this first one rather quickly, so I’m sure I missed a ton of releases. I also trusted my memory far too much, because I didn’t take any notes through the break and sort of thought that I will remember what came out. There’s at least some late December album releases that I couldn’t for the life of me remember anymore. I’ll include them later, if my memory gets better but I doubt it. I think one that I meant to listen had something to do with Dylan Rodrigue. It wasn’t his, but maybe he played on it or just shared it on social media. Not the Izaak Opatz one. I did cover that. Anyway, here’s the new playlist. It features the new January 8 releases plus some stuff from the earlier weeks.

The big new album releases came from Aaron Frazer, Steve Earle and Darci Phenix. In fact, those are only new albums on the list. Besides them, we got some fantastic new singles this week from Clara Baker, The Weather Station, Dillon Warnek and Sun June. Some earlier personal favorites on the list are the singles from Dylan Rodrigue, Heather Valley (Molina cover), Libby DeCamp and Sie Sie Benhoff. But as usual, I might as well namedrop them all.

The Finnish highlight of the past weeks is Kyyhky by Marian Valinta. It’s a song that I loved madly in the early 00s and apparently I still do. One that always hits the core of my heart. Other Finnish treasures this week are the singles from Hot Heros and Janne Laurila, Icons of Elegance and Mama Longhorn.

Anyway, that is all for this first week. Hopefully I’ll do a better job next week. Now some grocery shopping, dinner and back to NFL playoffs. Love from a distance.

1. Aaron Frazer – You Don’t Wanna Be My Baby (Introducing.. Dead Oceans / Easy Eye Sound, 2021)
2. The Weather Station – Atlantic (single, Fat Possum Records, 2021)
3. Clara Baker – Body (single, 2021)
4. Darci Phenix – Bruised Knees (Wishbone, Team Love, 2021)
5. Steve Earle – Lone Pine Hill (J.T. New West Records, 2021)
6. Dillon Warnek – Good Man (single, Unsigned Records, 2021)
7. Tommy Alexander – River Run Down (single, 2021)
8. Charley Crockett – I Can Help (single, The Next Waltz, 2021)
9. Dylan Rodrigue – Forgetting (single, 2021)
10. Marian Valinta – Kyyhky (single, 2021)
11. Adeline Hotel – Photographic Memory (single, Ruination Record Co, 2021)
12. Cassandra Jenkins – Michaelangelo (single, Ba Da Bing Records, 2021)
13. Sun June – Everything I Had (single, Run For Cover Records, 2021)
14. Buck Meek – Candle (single, Keeled Scales, 2021)
15. Heather Valley – Whip Poor Will (single, 2020)
16. Sunny War – Nothing to Lose (single, Piece of Pie Records, 2021)
17. Aaron Lee Tasjan – Feminine Walk (single, New West Records, 2020)
18. Mo Troper – The Perfect Song (single, Tender Loving Empire, 2020)
19. Randolph’s Leap – Moment Passed (single, Fika Recordings, 2021)
20. Valley Maker – No One Is Missing (single, Frenchkiss Records, 2021)
21. Ian Daniel Kehoe – Don’t Stop Fallin In Love (single, Tin Angel Records, 2021)
22. Icons of Elegance – Two Coffee Morning (single, Dinner With Daisy Records, 2021)
23. Bergen – Det Jag Vill Minnas (single, Skulden, 2021)
24. The Boys With the Perpetual Nervousness – Can’t You See? (single, Bobo Integral, 2020)
25. Diners – In the New Year (single, 2020)
26. Hot Heros and Janne Laurila – Aurinko uppoaa (single, Playground, 2021)
27. Vagabon feat Courtney Barnett – Reason to Believe (single, Nonesuch Records, 2021)
28. Lyre – Season to Change (single, 2020)
29. Colby Falkner James – You Will Always Change Your Mind (single, 2021)
30. Kassi Valazza – Cayuse (OurVinyl Sessions) (single, 2021)
31. Libby DeCamp – Orchard (single, 2020)
32. Maya De Vitry – Working Man (single, Mad Maker Studio, 2021)
33. Sie Sie Benhoff – Night Train (single, Texas Forever, 2021)
34. Timbo – How Much Did it Cost (single, Cardinal Club, 2021)
35. Mama Longhorn – Black Bridge (single, Soit Se Silti, 2021)

Playlist link

Playlist Archive

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.

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General

Christmas Playlist and Thank You

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Thank you for following this blog adventure during the year. I will take a small blog break to rest and recharge, so there won’t be a new playlist for couple of weeks. I think the music weekly will return on the weekend of 9-10 January. Maybe a week later if the release calendar or my batteries are still empty at that point. The blog will hit a ridicilous 20 years in September 2021, so hopefully I’ll figure out a decent way to celebrate that during the forthcoming year.

Before that I’ll share some great new Christmas songs. The big one for me this year is the new Matt Dorrien EP My Christmas Plea. I think listening to this will become a part of my yuletide tradition for years to come. Too bad I missed the Matt Dorrien / Mama Bird yuletide special, because that would have been a perfect watch for the holidays. Just had to get the eoty lists done first.

Kelly Finnigan released a great soulful Christmas album A Joyful Sound

This yuletide song Merry Christmas Asshole by Brennen Leigh is an instant classic.

Very much enjoyed this new Kyle Cox song as well.

Joe Algeri and his Christmas Crew has been making a new Christmas song every year for 20 years. That’s some yuletune commitment. Here’s the new one called Won’t Be Leaving Home For Christmas.

And that was just to name a few. I made a playlist out of these because there were so many. It includes new songs and new cover versions. Feel free to drop me a note, if I need to add something to it. This is all for 2020. Thank you all dear readers and listeners. See you in 2021.

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Finnish music, Top lists

Favorite Finnish Songs of the Year 2020

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And here goes the final year-end list. No reissues lists anymore, because there’s so much new music that a) I don’t really have the time to listen to reissues b) I most definitely don’t have the money to buy reissues. Anyway, here are are my favorite Finnish songs of the year. This is mostly just a big playlist with 80+ Finnish songs. Mostly one song per artist with some small exceptions. Veli has two. One in English and one in Finnish. Kielo Kärkkäinen has the new solo single and a song from the 2020 EP with Matti Salo. And well Kalevi Suopursu and Mikko Siltanen have a few too, but different projects. Haamusoittajat is only available on Bandcamp, so you won’t find that from the playlist. I typed about 40 of the biggest favorites here in random order, but that’s barely enough to get started so the playlist has about double. Only top 3 are sorta “ranked” and even that is not important. It’s just a playlist of Finnish songs I loved during the year.

Haamusoittajat – Ahvenheinä (not on Spotify, listen/buy at bandcamp)
Robert Ensio Niemistö – Tasahaikka (Jukan Musiikki)
Metsäheikki – Puut tanssivat hiljaa (Helmi Levyt)
Isse – Loimii (Helmi Levyt)
Joni Ekman – Mikään ei riitä (Soit Se Silti)
Sam Shingler – Fight or Flight (Soit Se Silti)
Matti Jasu – A Love Story
Message Field – Numbers (Soit Se Silti)
Verandan – Pink Clouds (Soliti)
Arppa – Laavalamppuja (Arppa Music)
Janne Laurila – Neljä tonnii pilvee (Soit Se Silti)
Bizzarro & Jukka Nissinen – Rankaisen lempeydellä (Humu Records)
Litku Klemetti – Mona (Luova Records)
Antero Kaksikäsi – Yödösä (Hyvät levyt)
Janne Tapion Sisäinen Avaruus – Rantaan vie moottoritie (Iso Pinkki)
Vino Puu – Hullu Lintu
Bad Sauna – Tehdään jotain tyhmää (All That Plazz)
Maustetytöt – Äiti älä huoli (Is This Art?)
joku iiris – Hyvä tyttö (Humu Records / Jukan Musiikki / Hillotehdas)
Joose Keskitalo – Nukkekoti (Helmi Levyt)
Mitä Helvettiä Nyt Taas – Et ole yksin (Nature Sucks Anyway Records)
Sami Heikkilä – Eiväthän kukat (Luova Records)
Punomo – Anna aikaa (Solina Records)
Lätsä – Keskiyön Cowboy (Helmi Levyt)
The Sugarrush – Yeah (Nature Sucks Anyway Records)
Puhelinseksi – Valomerkki (Svart Records)
Mummypowder – Sara’s Song (All That Plazz)
Kielo Kärkkäinen – Saman ihmeen nähnyt (Texicalli)
Viljami Kukkonen – Heikolla päällä (Karhuvaltio Records)
Rock Siltanen – Tulevaisuus ei oo sitä mitä se oli (Joteskii Groteskii)
Guggenheim-projektz – Matematiikon poika (Helmi Levyt / Jukan Musiikki)
Jani Matti Juhani feat Sini – Talven kylmät kyyneleet (Ainoa Productions)
Tvärtom – Järkytys
Teini-Pää – Hotelliin (Pop-Antik Kustannus / Goosebumb Record) – also check out their perfect ABBA cover 112 here.
Amuri – Masa (Helmi Levyt)
Veli – Elokuussa (Evil Veli Recordings)
Rosita Luu – Kuollut Monta Kertaa (Helmi Levyt)

3. Nightbird – Travelin’ Baby (Ella Ruth Institutet)

This great album from singer-songwriter Nightbird aka Anna-Stina Jungerstam has several songs worthy of a spot on this little list, but perhaps this album opener and title track is sthe finest of them all.

2. Kalevi Suopursu – Sinä olet minun sunnuntai (Helmi Levyt)

Sinä olet minun sunnuntai by Kalevi Suopursu is the the Finnish song I listened to the most this year. Not necessarily the best song from the album, if you use some silly objective parameters but definitely the one that I loved the most. That chorus is just pure perfection. Probably because I never learned to love the weekdays.

1. Laura Moisio – Kaukana onnesta (Texicalli)

My favorite Finnish song of the year 2020 is Kaukana onnesta by Laura Moisio. I instantly fell in love with it when I first heard it January and it never lost its poignant and profound beauty. In fact, it may have found even new and deeper levels during the year, because back in January I was still blissfully unaware how this year would unfold. I’m grateful that I had this compassionate song on my side warning me about the dangers of sinking in too deep. The devastating darkness of this song might have been the shining light that I needed. A work of art.

And here’s the big playlist with 80 plus Finnish songs from the year 2020.

Playlist link

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Top lists

Favorite Songs of the Year 2020 Part Three (incl. Song of the Year + Playlist)

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And here’s the final part to this with the song of the year and longer playlist than anyone is willing to listen. I could go on and on and write 20 parts, but I don’t have the time and well nobody would probably care anyway. So let’s wrap this up now. First a few randomly selected picks from the playlist.

Part Three
Part Two
Part One

The Posies – Sideways (23 Records)

Like everyone knows The Posies is my all-time favorite band and Amazing Disgrace is my all-time favorite album. So it’s a big deal when there is a no The Posies song. This one is mighty good too. Classic Jon Auer therer for you.

Teenage Fanclub – Home (PeMa)

Like everyone knows Teenage Fanclub is on the second place on that all-time favorite band list and Grand Prix is second on that all-time albums list. So it’s a big deal when there is a new TFC song.

Benchmarks – Technicolor

I think my lists need a bit of rock too and who better to provide it than Benchmarks. I really love this song Technicolor from their new album.

Kyle Nix – Blue Eyes (Bossier City Record)

I have no idea why this album from Kyle Nix wasn’t on the album list. For some reason, I just haven’t listened to the whole album that much yet. I need to work on that, because I absolute love some of these singles. This Blue Eyes especially. lovin’ and losin’ sure beats not living at all. Now that’s an universal truth.

Nat Vazer – Like Demi (Hotel Motel Records)

Something from Australia for a change. This is a really wonderful opener from Nat Vazer great record Is this Offensive and Loud?.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apr1iEYFOwI

Gus Clark and the Least of His Problems – Thoughts and Prayers (Plastic Pistol Records)

Gus Clark is one of the many songwriters I’ve found thanks to the Western AF video channel. He had a bunch of great singles and all of them become favorites.

Lily McKown – B-Team

This song from Lily McKown’s excellent debut album resonated with me deeply.

Ashley Ray – Warm Body

Ashley Ray also released a damn good album. The highlight for me was this powerful song called Warm Body.

V.V. Lightbody – If It’s Not Me (Acrophase Records)

This V.V. Lightbody song is a spectacular anti-jealous anthem.

Waylon Payne – Shiver (Carnival Recording Company)

Speechless.

Abby Hamilton – Change Things

And before the song of the year, I want to share a couple of songs that I really loved this year. These did appear on the earlier eoty lists, but they mattered and the songwriters perhaps aren’t that household names yet. First Abby Hamilton who made one of my favorite EPs of the year. This live video is how I fell in love with the song.

Jeremy Ferrara – Ourselves

Jeremy Ferrara’s great album With Every Change has a lot of beautiful songs, but Ourselves is the one that made the biggest impact on me.

McCarthy Trenching – Asking for a Friend

What a sweet story song. I can listen to it on repeat for an hour and I still enjoy it every time. And even though I know how the story unfolds, I’m always very relieved that Bruce is just fine.

Flora Hibberd – I’m Gonna Leave You

Flora Hibberd made my favorite EP of the year. I love all five songs and I can’t really pick a favourite. So I’ll cheat a little bit and post the video of I’m Gonna Leave You and put It Will Come True on the playlist. Now what do I with the other three beauties. Incredible EP from start to finish.

Evangeline Gentle – Sundays (Sonic Unyon Records)

Evangeline Gentle was a big new favorite and I really love her album. Half of the songs could be on the songs of the year list, so let’s use the same cheating method and put the video of Sundays here and the beautiful album closer Good and Guided to the playlist.

Everything before was not on any order. I just wanted to highlight some artists that weren’t on the earlier lists along with a couple of big new favorites. The playlist is slightly top heavy, so you’ll find the album cuts that made a big impact on me. There’s plenty of songs that should have essays written about them. But yeah, I do want to select the song of the year and it has never been easier.

J.E.Sunde – I Don’t Care to Dance (Vietnam)

The song of the year is I Don’t Care to Dance by J.E. Sunde. I’ve loved this song since I first saw the live at Pony Rug video back in 2018. I’m thrilled that it finally arrived to a record and that it sounds absolutely perfect. I’m happy they kept it small, because a song so pure at heart don’t need any sugarcoating. A dance at a wedding reception. A kind gentle sway against toxic masculinity. Subtle, but full of heart. I’m a shy, self-doubt ridden, overly romantic unmanly man and this song is everything to me. A very few songs have ever resonated with me as deeply I Don’t Care to Dance. I love it as much as you can possibly love a song.

And here’s the insanely long playlist with more 2020 favorites. And no I don’t expect anyone to listen to whole 26 hours of it. I’m 100% sure something very important is missing from it, because it’s hard to control such a monster. At least with my non-existant organizing skills. It’s just difficult if not impossible to remember what I already added and what I didn’t. But there sure is plenty of great songs on it and should keep you busy for a little a while. It’s slightly top heavy, but not in any order after J.E. Sunde. And completely random after first 50 or 100.

Playlist link

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