Tag: Pale Blue Eyes

Categories
Albums

Best albums of 2025: Honourable mentions

I know most people are not a fan of Mondays, given that it’s the start of a new work week and all that that entails, but I like the idea of new starts and all of the potential they bring. And what better day than a Monday to start a new series… and one that celebrates another year of great music at that.

Yes, indeed, it is that time again.

And though I’m not one to want to wish the days away, I gotta say I won’t be sad to kiss 2025 goodbye. It’s been, for the most part, an uneventful year, but also one that I won’t ever forget. I’ve spent the lion’s share of it in recovery mode. Health concerns that I don’t really want to get too deep into here but ones that, at many times this year, have had me worried that I’d never fully recover from. I am only now just returning to work after a long period away and that in itself is its own challenge.

All this to say, there were but a few bright spots to point out from 2025. I can include all the precious time I was able to spend with my lovely wife as one, of course, and all the quality time whiled away listening to great music as another. Yes, I devoted as much time as I could spinning records and exploring new music and old favourites on the streaming sites on the old Internet. The pure joy of music was almost as much a part of my recovery as the balance of rest and calm and fresh air.

So, yeah, by my quick glance at the calendar, I see we’ve got just over five weeks left of 2025 and my plan is to share, interspersed with my regular blog programming, some of my favourite albums that the year has offered. I’m starting today with some honourable mentions, albums that didn’t quite crack my top ten but that are definitely worth your time, and I’ll be back soon with a start to the countdown of my ten faves. Enjoy.

bdrmm “Microtonic”:  Hull, England based outfit imbues electronic dreams into their shoegaze arsenal for their third outing with brilliant results.
Check out: “John on the ceiling”

Ezra Furman “Goodbye small head”:  Always raw and immediate, the American singer/songwriter’s 10th album is filled with personal tales that at the same time feel quite universal.
Check out: “Grand mal”

Just Mustard “We were just here”:  The Irish quintet’s third album smacks equal parts of the haunting goth of Cranes and the noisy experimentation of Sonic Youth.
Check out: “We were just here”

Amy Millan “I went to find you”:  The Stars’ co-frontwoman’s* third solo album moves away from the folk/country of her first two releases and into an indie pop sound that feels like a warm comforter on a cold Canadian winter morning.
Check out: “The overpass”

Pale Blue Eyes “New place”: More beautiful and danceable dream pop ecstasy from the trio originally from Sheffield, songs that feel blissfully eternal.
Check out: “Scrolling”

Sloan “Based on the best seller”: The Canadian alt-rock icons doing what they do best on their fourteenth studio LP – just keeping on keeping on bringing the rock.
Check out: “Dream destroyer”

The Veils “Asphodels”: The latest by Finn Andrews’ musical vehicle is typically dramatic and epic, and worthy of another David Lynch soundtrack.
Check out: “The ladder”

*Whose last name I learned this year that I’ve been mispronouncing for two decades.

I’ll be back very soon with albums #10 through #6 for my Best albums of 2025 list. In the meantime, you can check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.

Categories
Playlists

Playlist: May (or May not)

It’s been quite a while since I’ve put together and shared one of these playlists on here. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I purposely put together a mix of any sort, even for myself, for my own consumption. I typically just press shuffle on a massive collection I have on Apple Music of some of my favourite songs and go with whatever Apple puts forward. And yeah, of course, it’s always good. However, I felt inspired this week, even as I recover from a nasty spring cold, and decided a new mix was in order.

The inspiration? This winter felt very, very long to me, even longer than normal. December and January actually feel like a complete void to me because of the health issues I was experiencing at the time and then February got cold, real cold, and we received dumping after dumping of snow. March was a mixed bag weather-wise and April seems to have been unseasonably cold and rainy*. Things finally felt like they turned the corner when the calendar was flipped to May last week, even though I haven’t necessarily felt well enough to get outside to enjoy it just yet. The sun has been out, brightening everything and warming everything up. I’ve heard the chirping of birds every morning, the grass on the ground is coming in green and the trees lining my street are starting to bud. All of this has cheered me considerably and has me hoping for good things for the rest of the year.

So I wanted to put together some tunes that reflect this feeling. You know? A collection of the kind of songs that just scream sunshine and flowers. A melody that brings a smile to your face and lyrics that beg to be sung along with. Tunes that perk you up from the very first notes and have you wanting to get up and dance, wherever you are, whoever you’re with.

Many of these songs are old favourites (like “Lay back in the sun”, “Everything you’ve done wrong”, and “Movin’ on up”) and have appeared on many of my mixes over the years, some of which may have already appeared on playlists on this site. Some of these songs are newer ‘classics’ (like “Weighty ghost” and “Dreaming of you”) and some are even brand new tunes that I can’t seem to loosen from my head when the mood takes (like “Somebody new” and “Simmering”).

I’ve kept the playlist to twenty-five songs to keep it from being unwieldy but there were many more that I could have added. Perhaps there will be a volume two to share if the summer turns out to be as positive as I’m hoping it will be and if the mood takes me to make another mix to share so soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this collection of songs as much I’ve enjoyed putting it together and that you play them on repeat like I’ve been doing this week. Perhaps they’ll bring the same wide smile that I’ve had on at times while listening. I sincerely hope so.

For those who don’t use Apple Music, here is the entire playlist, with links to YouTube videos:

1. Spiritualized “Lay back in the sun”
2. Bedouin Soundclash “When the night feels my song”
3. The Waterboys “Glastonbury song”
4. The Cure “Friday I’m in love”
5. The Submarines “You me and the bourgeoisie”
6. The Verve “Bitter sweet symphony”
7. Real Estate “Somebody new”
8. Wintersleep “Weighty ghost”
9. Sloan “Everything you’ve done wrong”
10. Pixies “Here comes your man”
11. The Coral “Dreaming of you”
12. Suede “Beautiful ones”
13. Luna “California (all the way)”
14. Doves “Catch the sun”
15. Violent Femmes “Blister in the sun”
16. Allo Darlin’ “We come from the same place”
17. Primal Scream “Movin’ on up”
18. Morrissey “Sing your life”
19. Belle & Sebastian “The boy with the arab strap”
20. The Radio Dept. “This time around”
21. Young Galaxy “We have everything”
22. Blind Melon “No rain”
23. Pale Blue Eyes “Simmering”
24. The Clientele “Bookshop Casanova”
25. The High Dials “Our time is coming soon”

And here is the promised link to the Apple Music playlist.

*Yeah, I know, April is known to be rainy… but still…

If you’re interested in checking out any of the other playlists I’ve created and shared on these pages, you can peruse them here.

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Pale Blue Eyes “This house”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Pale Blue Eyes
Album Title: This house
Year released: 2023
Details: clear

The skinny: From the ‘in case you missed it’ files, I’ll be replaying my top five albums from 2023, albeit in a ‘vinyl love’ format, over the next few weeks; partially because I love these albums and partially because I have them all on vinyl and want to show off their physical beauty as well. My number five album of 2023 came courtesy of a band I hadn’t even heard of at the beginning of last year. Pale Blue Eyes is a trio that until recently hailed from South Devon, England, and formed just before the start of this pandemic madness. “This house” is the group’s sophomore record and as I wrote about it before: “It is 44 minutes of transporting music, songs that stick to your bones and seep into your skin, and make you want to live in the music and let it delay what comes next just a little while longer.” It also happens to be the last of this top five that I purchased for my shelves, ordered from the online shop of one of my trusted UK record vendors just back in November. It’s the standard clear pressing but you’ll hear no complaints from me on that count.

Standout track: “Simmering”