Everything we’ve been listening to all year long, condensed into a musical segment of forty tracks long. The fundamental producers and fresh formations have stirred our hearts and clouded our minds with soulful rhythms and free interpretation of genres. All of our light matter, energetic gusts that shake the imagination, barely perceptible, captured longing like picture cards are tucked away in this playlist. Let’s salute these bold compositions and reminisce about 2019:
One of the coolest tracks from Friendly Fires this past year! A soft pop vibe, a manifesto against formulaic pop music, drippy vocals and a fast tempo. Run The Wild Flowers came out after the band’s creative hiatus of eight years.
Bold experimenters, true gurus of psychedelic music – Australians Gold Fields have taken up the baton of “breaking the pattern”. The sound of their synths comes from the outer reaches of space and beyond the realms of imagination. Amazing falsetto vocals, indie, authentic electronica and revived disco in Cocoon really delighted us.
A revelation for us was the musician Oliver Tree, who not only wears a stylish 90’s outfit, but also creates no less bright tracks! His composition Miracle Man is chaotic and full of undisguised post-punk fervor. The provocative look of the artist is supported by a bouncy combo of indie electronica and carefree guitar sound.
Another track is a real drip-pop gem from Dutch electro-coudesters Kraak & Smaak. Well-lubricated lo-fi arrangements, unhurried downtempo and inimitable vibe of analog synths in collab with Californian indie folk project The Palms – this is a rare find indeed!
Yes, we love disco! And Luis Dubuc from Mystery Skulls has uncompromisingly delivered a hit disco-boy in the best traditions of Daft Punk and Prince! The sounds of old-school synths and driving vocals of the track left a deep, sparkling trail of color-music in our hearts and minds!
The genre marathon was kicked up by a languid, sensual and summery warm track from the Australian nu-disco adepts of Miami Horror. It’s got something of ’80s R&B, spiced up with great vocals and a unique vibe of live instruments. Restless also came out as a stylish music video.
And on the same pedestal with Nick Murphy appeared Frenchmen FORM with their fresh incarnation of neo-soul and non-trivial synth arrangements. Three bodies and one soul are encapsulated in the track trigger. It’s post-Riohead inspiration, similarities to Chet Faker’s vocals and authentic electronica in the arrangements.
An ideological follower of the era of the birth of an entire musical culture, producer Luxxury has recorded a veritable disco anthem called Turn Off All The Lights. The resident of Kitsuné and Eskimo Recordings’ labels hit the bull’s-eye of ’70s thematic sound with his flawless aesthetic.
Many more musicians with their bold, daring and taste-defying tracks were memorable for us: Cubicolor, released on the cult label Anjunadeep, Twin Shadow with their both humdrum and unconventional ballad Curshed, trendy post-disco stylists Low Island – they all gave us the pleasure of belonging to truly iconic music, creating here and now a genre evolution!