The Tracks Of My Year

I'm currently trying to hammer out a list of my favourite 10 albums of the year and as time wears on, I realise that it's a task I should've started a lot sooner. So while I'm mulling it over for the millionth time, here are 5 of my favourite individual tunes of 2015.

5. Drinks - Hermits on Holiday. When I posted this in May, blogging chum Swiss Adam memorably described it as 'weirdo lo-fi shit, in a good way'. Couldn't have put it better myself.

4. Lonelady - Hinterland. The scratchy post-punk-funk of Lonelady (think Gang of Four meet A Certain Ration) was pretty much the soundtrack to my year. One of my live highlights too.

3. Birds of Hell - Hometown Rage. This haunting lo-fi snapshot of Pete Murdoch's childhood concludes with a genuinely moving snatch of a 78rpm recording of his late Grandmother's voice, echoing down the years.

2. Daniel Knox - Blue Car. Singer, songwriter, part-time movie projectionist and Instagram artist extraordinaire, Daniel Knox played locally in March. Standing a couple of feet away from him as he sang the stunning 'Blue Car' was an absolute 2015 highlight.

1. This Is the Kit - Silver John. The lyrics are a gentle musing on the end of life as we know it, but in spite of the heavy subject matter, 'Silver John' is like a thick warm coat on a bitterly cold winter evening.

Out Of Town

By the time you read this, Mrs S and I should, all being well, be in the middle of a short stay on the North Norfolk coast. Our destination is only an hour and a bit away from Swede Towers, but rather than coming and going, we thought we'd snag a B&B for a couple of nights and make a break of it. The plan, as always, is for a bit of walking, a bit of eating and, who knows, maybe even a bit of drinking, though these days anything more than a couple of glasses of wine at one sitting sends us quickly on our way to snoozeville - lightweights!

My CD collection is still (still!) stored away in the spare room following our move in 2011, but whenever we travel I always have a fish about in the boxes and grab a few albums for the road. For this trip I've also lovingly hand-crafted a couple of brand new CDr compilations, the first in absolutely years. Here's a great live version of a tune that made the tracklist of one of those compilations, 'Hinterland' by Lonelady, a firm favourite round these parts since its release in March.

Hermits on Hiatus

Were I not a little long in the tooth to use such an expression, I might well have described 'Hermits on Holiday' by Drinks as being my latest jam. Drinks is a collaboration between Tim Presley of White Fence and the great Cate Le Bon, both of whom have featured on these pages in the past. 'Hermits on Holiday' is the title track of their debut LP, due for release at the end of August. This is the stuff.