Anna Ternheim is a singer/songwriter from Stockholm who has just released the album, Leaving On A Mayday. Her music has a dark touch about it which hints at influences from Nick Cave and PJ Harvey.
El Perro del Mar / L-is for love I heard the song Dog a couple of years ago and was quite impressed. I love the production, the way it builds up and how the beat intensifies throughout the piece. At the same time, the song shows a great deal of restraint. It’s cold, hard, dark, and very beautiful.
Australian singer-songwriter Brian Campeau is to a guitar what a Thai stripper is to a ping pong ball, both utilising their ‘instruments’ in the most unconventional ways. His new album, Mostly Winter Sometimes Spring, sees him take a very different approach to songwriting, while continuing to make the most of his gift for melody and mood. One instrument was chosen for each song on the album, and played in whichever way worked best at the time. Imagine melodicas, cellos, harmoniums and glockenspiels caressed, thrown, strummed, and deliberately misused in a bid to express Campeau’s experiences over the last two years.
Nina Simone / Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues Probably the saddest Dylan cover in history. Unbelievably simple, the band never overplaying, and her vocal is beautiful. Totally effective in creating immediate depression.
DM Stith recently signed to Asthmatic Kitty, the same label as Sufjan Stevens, and has a new EP out this week titled Curtain Speech, featuring contributions from Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), Rafter, Sebastian Krueger and the string quartet Osso. Think Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear meets Arthur Russell.
The Shangri-Las / Out In The Streets 1:22 – 1:43 is a miracle. I’ve never been so obsessed with twenty seconds of high-hat and high school girl shrieks: it’s a raging teenage fantasy that all the composition notebooks in all the lockers of 1965 couldn’t write better. That the singers have managed to preserve their naivety perfectly in this three minute song may be the reason I feel recording pop music is worthwhile.
Melbourne-based rock band, Children Collide, are one of the hottest emerging artists of 2008. They’ve just been added to the Big Day Out bill, and currently have the featured album on Australian radio youth network, Triple J, with their recently released debut long-player, The Long Now.
Sonic Youth / Schizophrenia The opening track off what is probably my favorite Sonic Youth album, Sister. I used to play this song in bands when I was fourteen. That was a while ago now and it still holds exactly the same weight with me as it did back then. A true classic.
My Secret Playlist is a music discovery website and weekly email publication. We invite our favourite bands and musicians to give us the rundown on their eight favourite songs right now. These are their words on the music that inspires them.
