Woods – My (life in) music lists

Playlist: New tunes from 2023, part three

Ok. Fine. I’m really late with this one. I typically try to post my quarterly updates to my ongoing playlist featuring new tunes of the year within a couple of weeks of the end of the quarter. We’re getting near the middle of November and it’s already starting to feel like winter. Summer would normally be a distant memory… except…

Except it was an excellent summer.

I started off July at Ottawa’s Bluesfest and saw some excellent sets of music over the course of its just over a week and a half duration. Then, a road trip at the end of that month brought new experiences, beaches, a hike on a mountain ridge, great food, and craft beer. In August, there was a hiking trip in Algonquin park and in September, a quick getaway to squeeze in the last dregs of summer. Definitely one to remember, especially with all the other craziness going on in the world.

Musically, there wasn’t a lot of new music that came across my desk that caught my ears and attentions. However, and as you will see below, what there was was all very excellent and in fact, many of the albums in which these songs appear will likely find their way on my on to my year end best albums list*.

If you want, you can check parts one and two of the playlist before you peruse further or you can just skip to the new songs below. If you’re one of those that find twenty-five tracks overwhelming and you just want some highlights, you could do worse than start with these:

- - Canadian singer/songwriter, Colter Wall, and his deep, deep voice are back with a new album and “Corralling the blues” is just a tumbleweed blowing across the deserted highway
  - “The narcissist” by one of my all-time favourite bands, Blur, spearheads a surprising new twist and turn for the band on its latest reunion album
- - Speaking of returns of favourite bands, the eight and half minutes of “Fables of the silverlink” shouts The Clientele from far and away and allows the echoes and reverb speak for themselves
- - Drab Majesty recently toured with Slowdive while supporting their new EP of dark and shadowy dream pop, of which “The skin and the glove” is the most upbeat and accessible
- - “Simmering” by Pale Blue Eyes is anything but – boiling over is more like it and like it a lot I do
  - Canadian indie pop quartet The Beaches invoke a lot of memories and laughs with “Shower beer”, just one of the many fun tracks on their latest
  - Soccer Mommy has released an EP of great covers by bands like R.E.M. and Slowdive but I am really digging her version of Sheryl Crow’s “Soak up the sun”

Here is the entire playlist as I’ve created it:

1. “Portrait of a clear day” Julie Byrne (from the album The greater wings)

2. “Independence day” Palehound (from the album Eye on the bat)

3. “Corralling the blues” Colter Wall (from the album Little songs.)

4. “The narcissist” Blur (from the album The ballad of Darren)

5. “Fables of the silverlink” The Clientele (from the album I am not there anymore)

6. “Close to the clouds” Art School Girlfriend (from the album Soft landing)

7. “Jaws” Dizzy (from the album Dizzy)

8. “Too far gone” Islands (from the album And that’s why dolphins lost their legs)

9. “The skin and the glove” Drab Majesty (from the EP An object in motion)

10. “Home” Hannah Georgas (from the album I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care)

11. “Morning zoo” Ratboys (from the album The window)

12. “Kisses” Slowdive (from the album Everything is alive)

13. “Simmering” Pale Blue Eyes (from the album This house)

14. “What’s the point in life” Coach Party (from the album Killjoy)

15. “Weak in your light” Nation Of Language (from the album Strange disciple)

16. “Between the past” Woods (from the album Perennial)

17. “Shower beer” The Beaches (from the album Blame my ex)

18. “Bug like an angel” Mitski (from the album The land is inhospitable and so are we)

19. “Stop talking” Will Butler + Sister Squares (from the album Will Butler + Sister Squares)

20. “Soak up the sun” Soccer Mommy (from the EP Karaoke night)

21. “Foreign land” Teenage Fanclub (from the album Nothing lasts forever)

22. “Dead man” Postdata (from the album Run wild)

23. “Everything at once” Bleach Lab (from the album Lost in a rush of emptiness)

24. “Cramps” Slow Pulp (from the album Yard)

25. “Snowman” Blonde Redhead (from the album Sit down for dinner)

Apple initiates can click here to sample the above tracks as a whole playlist.

And as always, wherever you are in the world, I hope you continue to be well. Above all, enjoy the tunes.

*If I ever get it pulled together and drafted…

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.

Playlist: New tunes from 2020, part four

Good morning, good morning. I hope you’ve all had a wonderful holiday weekend and if you celebrate them, a merry Christmas and a fruitful Boxing day… well, as merry and as fruitful as possible, given the circumstances.

We’ve finally nearly reached the end of this crazy year 2020 (give yourselves a congratulatory pat on the back). We’re now just two days removed from New Year’s eve and the unveiling of my favourite album of the year, and here I am unleashing the fourth part of my ‘New tunes of 2020’ playlist series. This is the first time in the past three years of doing these playlist series that I’ve actually managed a fourth part, even though it has always been planned in the past. And this is only partially because of life getting in the way of my blogging and playlist creation fun. In reality, one of the biggest roadblocks to managing a fourth part for the fourth quarter has, in the past, been the lack of quality new releases. I’ve always found that the new music release calendar trails off a bit after November, brand new music giving way to reissues and best of compilations, just in time for Christmas giving.

I was more successful putting together this fourth playlist this year because I accepted these limitations and decided to make this a b-sides compilation of sorts. The first half of these tracks are new tunes that came out in October and the first half of November and the rest are tracks that didn’t make the cut, for one reason or another, for the first three playlists of this year but were still great enough to share. You may want to check out the other three mixes first (here, here, and here) but I think you’ll find this one just as excellent.

So let’s have a look at some of the highlights of this ‘b-side’ playlist:

- - “Hold my hand”, a raucous psych-rock mess by Death Valley Girls, aka a song pulled from the pages of a book called “Why haven’t I heard of this band before?”
  - A heavy-duty, jangly bundle of energy called “Love comes in waves” off the debut solo album by Ride’s Andy Bell
  - “Stay out”, a banjo barn stomper off “Keeper”, the latest album by Canadian alternative country trio Elliott Brood
  - Isobel Campbell’s soft touch cover of Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ down a dream”
  - A super fun, eighties throwback called “On division st.” by Brooklyn indie pop act, Nation of Language
  - “Vibrant colours”, the dreamy single off the debut album by new Canadian artist, Zoon, cheekily coined moccasin-gaze

For those who don’t use Spotify or if the embedded playlist below doesn’t work for you, here is the entire playlist as I’ve created it:

1. “Hold my hand” Death Valley Girls (from the album Under the spell of joy)

2. “Trade it” Slow Pulp (from the album Moveys)

3. “Waving at the window” Travis (from the album 10 songs)

4. “For sure” Future Islands (from the album As long as you are)

5. “Impossible weight” Deep Sea Diver with Sharon Van Etten (from the album Impossible weight)

6. “Worth it” beabadoobee (from the album Fake it flowers)

7. “Distant axis” Matt Berninger (from the album Serpentine prison)

8. “Say less” Nothing (from the album The great dismal)

9. “Love comes in waves” Andy Bell (from the album The view from halfway down)

10. “Stay out” Elliott Brood (from the album Keeper)

11. “Weight of the world” 5 Billion In Diamonds (from the album Divine accidents)

12. “Barcelona” Twin Atlantic (from the album Power)

13. “Runnin’ down a dream” Isobel Campbell (from the album There is no other…)

14. “Southwark” Yumi Zouma (from the album Truth or consequence)

15. “Electric roses” Basia Bulat (from the album Are you in love?)

16. “I got the hots for Charlie Watts” The Exbats (from the album Kicks, hits and fits)

17. “What I’ve done to help” Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (from the album Reunions)

18. “Can’t get out” Woods (from the album Strange to explain)

19. “Shake your diamonds” The Rentals (from the album Q36)

20. “Chaos and confusion” Venus Furs (from the album Venus Furs)

21. “Party with the kids who wanna party with you” Bad Moves (from the album Untenable)

22. “The way things are” Porcelain Raft (from the album Come rain)

23. “On Division st.” Nation Of Language (from the album Introduction, presence)

24. “Bad girls forever” Pins (from the album Hot slick)

25. “Vibrant colours” Zoon (from the album Bleached wavves)

And as I’ve said before, I’ll say again: Wherever you are in the world, I hope you are safe and continue to be well. Until next time, enjoy the tunes.