At last, it's the end-of-year musical list that all stay-at-home dads long for and live for. I won't bore you with too much prose this time, having long since run out of new adjectives to describe sounds that deserve more than mere phrases. As always, this is in no way a professionally assessed list, it's a rundown of the recordings I enjoyed listening to most, in approximate order. My apologies to the thousands of artistes I never heard, or have never heard of. It was already a good enough year without me needing to hear any more.
30. Tift Merritt - Traveling Alone (Yep Roc)
Track: Traveling Alone
Listen to: ooh, I don't know. When traveling alone?
Listen to: still traveling alone, dreamily driving across vast, unpopulated midwest landscapes (never done this, but it's a plan).
28. Air - Le Voyage dans la Lune (EMI)
Track: Sonic Armada
Listen to: while watching the disconcerting 1902 sci-fi film of the same name that Air belatedly put a soundtrack to.
27. Mark Lanegan Band - Blues Funeral (4AD)
27. Mark Lanegan Band - Blues Funeral (4AD)
Track: The Gravedigger's Song
Listen to: while celebrating decay.
26. Amadou and Mariam - Folilo (Nonesuch)
26. Amadou and Mariam - Folilo (Nonesuch)
Track: Oh Amadou
Listen to: when reading reports from northern Mali about how brutal Islamic fundamentalists are suppressing all forms of music beside religious incantations.
25. Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls (Ato Records)
25. Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls (Ato Records)
Track: Hold On
Listen to: for old-fashioned musical virtues - raw, head-ripping, down-to-the-bone brilliance.
24. Cate le Bon - Cyrk (TCG)
24. Cate le Bon - Cyrk (TCG)
Track: Fold The Cloth
Listen to: when you're wishing the Velvet Underground and Nico had made a few more albums.
