1. Ringo Deathstarr – Ringo Deathstarr
Like everyone, in this year of all years, comfort from music has never been so important, especially in it’s ability to create diversion and distraction. Ringo Deathstarr’s eponymous 6th album was released back in March just as we went into lockdown, and gripped me from first playing of the opening, swirling strains of Nagoya, and stayed with me regularly for the full 45 minutes.
Fabulously uncommercial, off trend and uncompromising, the Austin 3 piece create a wall of sound on a par with MBV, and pitch themselves somewhere between Cranes and Slowdive if you need a reference point. Shoegaze, if you will. You won’t be hearing this on the 6Music daytime playlist, nor will you be singing along with the lyrics anytime soon, but this created enough headphone filling mayhem for me to return to it again and again when I needed it. Brutal, beautiful, difficult at times but adrenaline inducing distraction at it’s best.
2. Mildlife – Automatic
3. Message to Bears/Will Samson – Together
4. Laura Veirs – My Echo
5. Darlingside – Fish Pond Fish
6. Hailaker - Holding
7. Bibio – Sleep On The Wing
8. Damien Jurado – What’s New, Tomboy ?
9. And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead – X: The Godless Void and Other Stories
10. Katy J Pearson – Return
Single of the year : The Orielles – Come Down on Jupiter
5 fabulous sweet minutes of pop/prog playfulness.
Cheers. Merry Christmas !
Keith
