Vecka 48-49

Anna Ternheim

Detta blir den sista listan med nya låtar för detta år. Sedan kommer det en tredje delfinal. Det är mycket amerikanskt och många ganska okända, men spännande namn. Sen har vi en postum låt med tyvärr avlidna Sharon Jones. Hon har varit med här förut, men dog alldeles för tidigt i cancer i år. Sen har vi en ny sång av svenska Anna Ternheim och fransyska sångerskan och skådespelerskan Charlotte Gainsbourgh.

 1 The Dials (UK) I’ve heard this kind of thing done before. Or should I say, attempted. Close multi-harmonies, a la Byrds/CSN&Y, in the modern day with a 60s retro psychedelic vibe. There’s a bunch of youngsters called The 27 who do it quite nicely.But no one I have heard does it anywhere near as good as Brighton band The Dials, and their superb fourth album since forming back in 2002 – this line-up set in stone for the last four years or so. They have released five singles and one EP, along with three previous albums. This is clever stuff. A lot of graft, blood, sweat, tears and perhaps dosh has been injected / invested here in these dozen original cuts. Gorgeous Hammond and Vox organs, synths and swirling guitars. It’s all very much vintage, but with a contemporary twist. musicrepublicmagazine.com

2. The Green Pajamas (US) The Green Pajamas have something to say and they are saying it now. “Kill The Power” is their new digital single and video; clearly they do not like the presidency of Mr. Trump one bit. 
Historically, the Green Pajamas have not been a political entity. In this  new world, that has changed - this is their second political video since the election and kicks things up a notch from their first, their version of Woody Guthrie’s Deportee (Plane Crash At Los Gatos), which was released before Trump’s inauguration. 
Pajamas’ leader Jeff Kelly: This song is not about violence. “Kill the Power” is a phrase, like “cut (or kill) the lights,” and is stated in a theatrical sense - almost a pun, upon these troubled times. Greenmonkeyrecords

3. Anna Ternheim (SWE)  Vägen fram till hennes nya album For The Young krävde ett varv runt jordklotet och var långt ifrån smärtfri. Men nu är Anna Ternheim tillbaka i sitt naturliga habitat både musikaliskt och geografiskt. Musiken har blivit en bra indikator på Annas själsliv.
– Att ljuga för sig själv funkar inte så bra med att göra musik, det går liksom inte.

Låten Keep Me In The Dark är nästan plågsam i sin uppgörelse med den trasiga relationens självbedrägeri. ”If you have someone else in mind, keep me in the dark” sjunger Anna Ternheim som för att övertyga sig själv åtminstone en dag till innan tillvaron raseras. 
– Man vet ju hur läget är, oftast. Ända från början har man vetat att man bedrar sig. Och samtidigt måste de där känslorna komma ut.  NG.se

4. Charlotte Gainsbourgh (Fr) On her first LP in seven years, singer-actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (daughter of Sixties French pop star Serge Gainsbourg) exudes the same droll, distracted sense of uneasy whimsy she's brought to her screen performances and previous music projects. Fans of spacey Nineties lounge-pop like Air or Broadcast will drift along happily to pillowy confections such as "Ring-a-Ring O'Roses" and "Rest," a collaboration with Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel.  RollingStone

5. The Deep Dark Woods (CAN) Canadian folk band the Deep Dark Woods embraces gothic surrealism on its latest album, Yarrow, diving headlong into a particularly bleak strain of storytelling. Across the album's nine tracks, frontman Ryan Boldt conjures visions of loss and woe, sometimes in contradiction to the Byrds-esque melodies and instrumental interplay that punctuate the songs. Standout cuts include "The Birds Will Stop Singing," which delivers a sufficiently grim sound to match its title, with Boldt finding just the right quaver in his voice as the track builds steadily over its nearly nine minutes.  AllMusic

6. Sharon Jones & The Dapkings (US) Sharon Jones struggled as a singer for too long to let anything interfere with her success when it finally arrived. That’s the impression you get from “Soul of a Woman,” the final album this tough, leather-lunged R&B belter made before she died in 2016 of pancreatic cancer. Nearly a year after her death, the 11-track set was recorded in the wake of some serious professional accomplishments, including Jones’ first Grammy nomination and an acclaimed documentary that examined her unlikely breakthrough at age 40 following years of unnoticed labor in gospel choirs and wedding bands around New York.  LosAngelesTimes

7. Bent Knee (US) In a perfect world, art would never be pigeonholed, but the sad fact is that we live in a world where everything is expected to be placed into a very specific category. The six musicians who make up Bent Knee, however, don’t seem to care about classification. That is a good thing. Formed in Boston in 2009 around the hothouse musical environment of the prestigious Berklee School of Music, Bent Knee have released four albums since 2011 and their latest, Land Animal, shows them branching out even further past the imaginative art rock they’ve been perfecting for the past several years. Popmatters

8. Roadkill Ghost Choir (US) is an American alternative rock band from DeLand, Florida. In January 2014 they performed on Late Night with David Letterman, and have had notable appearances at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and Governors Ballfestivals. In August 2014, the band released their debut full-length album In Tongues. Their sound has been described as "combining the experimental edge of Radiohead and the dusty roots-rock of Tom Petty, tailor-made for arena-sized, prog-rock festivals and grassy, pastoral stages alike. Wiki

9. Theory of a Deadman (CAN) are back with their sixth album ‘Wake up call’. The hard rockers have moved away from their almost Nickelback-esque sound to deliver something different. The album opens with ‘Straight Jacket’ one of the albums heavy hitters. The track opens with some repetitive piano that combined with the drums creates a smooth jazz-esque sound. This up-beat sound work well with Tyler’s lyrics which are beautifully Tyler. Tyler Connolly, lays down some brilliant lyrics that are sharp and snarky just like we like him. Outrightgeekery.com

10. OJR (US) Brooklyn’s Evolfo bring their swagger and mix of psychedelic garage, punk sensibility and glimmery bits of soul to their new EP, Last of the Acid Cowboys. Marrying the crunchy riffs of White Denim, the dark psychedelia of the Black Lips and the seditious energy of King Khan and the Shrines, Evolfo creates a resonant weirdness all their own. Thewaster.com

Ni har två veckor på er att lyssna på dessa tio alster. På söndag den 10 december sa ni ha lämnat era poäng. Här är länken.