Millencolin – SOS

Current dose of punk rock. The album cover and the title track music video are just unfathomable bad, no excuse for that. But the music still rocks.

Note: I liked their 2015 album, too, a lot actually, I wonder why that didn’t end up here. Funny thing is it was among my ten most listened-to records that year, but didn’t make the final cut of the Top 10 at the time.

Burzum – Sôl austan, Mâni vestan

What I like about Burzum is that it’s soothing like My Dying Bride but doesn’t have the doom edge to it. I love listening to The Angel and the Dark River, the only caveat is that it sets my mood and mindset to a specific place. Burzum leaves me where I am, it just provides calmness and space for me to float in. Well, maybe not all Burzum records, but this one and Hliðskjálf certainly are like that.

Modeselektor – Wealth

Just like recently going through everything Booka Shade in 2018, I did now the same with Modeselektor. They were not that productive, but the 4th Modeselektion is still not bad, and my favorite of the year was Wealth. Reminds me of the heavy-hitting flow that took me by surprise when The Dark Side of the Sun appeared.

CUTS – A Gradual Decline

Melancholic, part wondering, part sharp and penetrating, electronic with a shoegaze attitude. And a powerful concept: “addresses the planet’s current fragility using actual field recordings of ice collapsing from glaciers.”

Alice Merton – Mint

I was thinking how are some of these tracks  so familiar? Then I realized No Roots is a single from 2017, and a soundtrack on The Blacklist, and I also heard her perform live last year. And then I remembered that her concert was raw, under-produced and kind of amateur, which is a striking contrast to what I hear on this record. Her quality as a pop music performer and the stage presence of her band were so much out of sync, and this new debut album underlines this again, at least the part about her potential. I wonder if she will drop her skin and move on with a professional band at some point, or will choose a non-mainstream route and stick with the “high school sweethearts”.