Diagrams – Chromatics (2015)

The first time I saw this album was probably in Rough Trade's albums of the month. Back then I thought this would've been a new album by the band Chromatics and when I listened to the album, I was really surprised that it didn't have that similar kind of electronic dream pop sound as the previous Chromatics songs I had heard. This was more melodic and more traditional indie pop music in the style of The Shins. I really liked this and soon realised that Chromatics was actually the name of the album rather than the band. The band is Diagrams, an indie band from South London that has some previous members of Tunng, which I also really like. I was really impressed by the album and I bought it quite soon after first hearing it. This was the kind of early 00's style indie that I had adored for years, but that had virtually disappeared from the map by 2015.

The Five Corners Quintet – Chasin' the Jazz Gone By (2005)

I've already mentioned in my previous posts how great the jazz scene is in Helsinki. The Five Corners Quintet is one of the greatest jazz bands from Finland's capital. It gets its name from a spot in Helsinki where five streets unite, thus creating five corners. This area is known for its record stores, including Digelius, which is one of the oldest record shops in Helsinki and which focuses on jazz and world music. The Five Corners Quintet started merely as a studio project, but with fame from their recordings, they also decided to tour around Europe, Asia and America. The band was really popular in Japan and this album has won awards from there in addition to awards won in their native Finland. The band includes some of the best jazz musicians in Finland. I guess you might even talk about something of a supergroup with this jazz band.

Helloween – Chameleon (1993)

We're now entering the world of bands that I adored as a pre-teen, but that I haven't listened to since. When I was 10 years old and learning to play the guitar, I mainly listened to Metallica, Guns n' Roses, Megadeath, Iron Maiden and Helloween. Of course, even the name of this German band seems to reveal that the music is meant for pre-teen boys. They've made a bad pun with halloween and hell. In the 90's, most of the boys in my age group were really interested in these kinds of bands and their interplay with monsters and satanic aesthetics. Helloween wasn't really as heavy as many other metal bands, but it was more melodic, which has always appealed to me. Therefore, Helloween became one of my favourite bands. I even made a clock in shop class in school that was in the shape of the pumpkin Helloween used in their album covers.

The New Pornographers – Challengers (2007)

Canadian indie rock band The New Pornographers is one of the greatest supergroups ever existed. Their albums tend to be actually slightly better than any of the members' own projects. Especially this fourth album of theirs is an amazing piece of music. The early albums had a more punk attitude and therefore some people prefer those albums, but personally, this album is the hight of their career. Challengers has a selection of excellent melodic power pop songs where the compositions are carefully crafted. All of the instrumentation and backing vocals are also close to perfection. If I have to say something negative about the album, it's probably that it has one of the worst album covers of all times. Although, it is in fact so ugly that it's actually kind of cool in a similar way as Beck's Midnite Vultures. The covers don't make these masterpieces any less worthy.

Mummypowder – Centuries Later (2011)

The title of the album, Centuries Later, is quite appropriate, considering that most people thought this band didn't even exist anymore when the album came out in 2011. The previous album had came out seven year earlier in 2004 and pretty much nothing had been happening with the band in years. I was a big fan of the said previous album Consternation! Uproar! so I was thrilled when I heard Mummypowder was making a new album. Also, this time, my friend played guitar on some of the band's gigs to promote the album. I also know the bass player, so I guess you could say this is a very familiar band to me. Even though I talk about band here, Mummypowder is really almost a solo project by the lead singer and guitar player Janne Lehtinen, who has in the past done almost everything on Mummypowder albums.

Beth Orton – Central Reservations (1999)

For a few years I always seemed to bump into Beth Orton's music in various places. Her new albums were mentioned in albums of the year lists by record shops, Spotify was recommending me some of her songs and this very album was in my book 1001 albums to hear before you die. But it took me a while to actually start listening to her music. When I did, I checked her albums in play.com and they were all ridiculously cheap, so I bought many of them at the same time, including this one. Central Reservations is my favourite of Beth Orton's early albums. It has some acoustic folk songs and some more electronic pop songs, but the compositions are very good throughout. Although I feel like Beth Orton isn't that well known, she was nominated for the Mercury Prize with this album and she actually won best British female artist BRIT Music Award.

Band of Horses – Cease to Begin (2007)

Cease to Begin is the second album by Band of Horses. It's also my favourite album by them. Although, talking about them is a bit misleading in this situation. All of the original members of the band, apart from the lead singer Ben Bridwell left the band after the first album. Bridwell seems to be the person who writes the songs anyway, so you can't really hear the changing of the band that well on the album. Cease to Begin has a bit more acoustic elements on it than the debut album that was fairly straightforward indie rock album. I really like that tone down. I would say that the songs are a bit more maturely composed on this album. This was the first Band of Horses album I ever listened to, so that might also influence my judgement of this one being the best. I have a personal emotional attachment to many songs on this album which makes it more special.

Elbow – Cast of Thousands (2003)

This was the first Elbow album I was ever aware of. I remember seeing the album cover many times in record shops and thinking that I should listen to it. But back then, it wasn't as simple as now to just listen to the album at home. Of course it would've been possible to get my hands on this album, but I just never did. I had maybe heard a song or two from this album around that time though, because I had an impression that this music was very strange and kind of difficult to approach. People wouldn't really say that about Elbow anymore now that they're one of the biggest bands in the UK, but at the time they were really obscure and alternative. It's great to think that a band that makes this obscure music could rise to become so popular at least here in the UK. There are a few more approachable songs on the album, which might have sparked interest more widely.

Bright Eyes – Cassadaga (2007)

Many true Bright Eyes fans saw the release of Cassadaga as selling out, because the songs are significantly less lo-fi than on the earlier albums. I don't, however, think that this is necessarily a bad thing. Even though I adore some of the songs on the earlier albums, I really liked the straightforward nature of the songs on this album. This shift could also be seen in record sales. This album made it quite high on various charts considering we're talking about an alternative folk album that starts with several minutes of noise, a trick well known from all the previous Bright Eyes albums. Conor Oberst has commented that this technique is to repel occasional listeners. It might have just been a joke, but at the same time, if he was telling the truth, it's kind of great. Cassadaga is named after a town in Florida that is known as a community of mediums and followers of spiritualism.

Case/Lang/Veirs – Case/Lang/Veirs (2016)

Sometimes albums made by so-called supergroups are not as great as the acts behind it. I think this is normally the case since all the members have to make compromises while working with other people with strong opinions what their music should sound like. This is not, however, the case (pun intended) with Case/Lang/Veirs album. It takes the strengths of each of these singer-songwriters and makes something beautiful out of their collaboration. The album doesn't sound like a collection of three different artists' songs, but like a true band effort. All of these three women are known for their great solo careers making Americana folk music. On this album, the best parts are the ones where they use their recognisable vocals in turns and sing harmonies for each other. The songwriting is definitely as strong as you could find on any album released by any of the three.

Calexico – Carried to Dust (2008)

Calexico is an indie rock band from Arizona, who combine lots of different styles in their music, most notably some Mexican stylings and alternative Americana country. Carried to Dust is already their sixth album and in my opinion, it's probably their best album to this day. As much as I like the Mexican music bits in their music, I felt like in the early albums, Calexico failed to really have their own unified sound together, which meant that some songs were excellent while some others didn't really work at all. Carried to Dust is a feast from beginning to finish. There are still many different styles on the album, but it all still sounds very together. Also, some of the best hit songs from Calexico's career can be found on this album. The album cover also looks great, like from a noir-type comic book where the album could work as a soundtrack.

Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell (2015)

I think it's fair to say that Sufjan Stevens is one of my all time favourite artists. His album Come on Feel the Illinoise made a huge impression on me the first time I heard it. That album, however was the last folk album by Sufjan Stevens in a long time. After this, most successful, album of his, he returned to his early roots to make strange noise music with lots of electronic elements. In his early musical career he had made this sort of noisy music. His parents ended up paying most of his living costs, because his music really wasn't commercial. Then his stepfather made Sufjan Stevens focus on more approachable styles. He then made a few amazing folk albums of which the album dedicated to the state of Illinois was the greatest one using innovative techniques to make one of the most amazing folk albums ever created. After that album was such a success, he felt more free to start experimenting again. He didn't return to folk properly again until Carrie & Lowell about a decade later.

Laura Veirs – Carbon Glacier (2004)

The first time I heard about Laura Veirs was when I had just started dating my wife and she bought her album Troubled by the Fire. I liked that album, but I wasn't completely convinced about Laura Veirs until I heard Carbon Glacier which I borrowed from the library. This album is probably darker than any other Veirs album and that's probably why I like it so much. It took me quite a long time to find it anywhere, so I didn't by it until years later here in London. If I had to choose now, I would probably say that The Triumphs and Travails of Orphan Mae is my favourite Laura Veirs album, but Carbon Glacier is way up there among the best Veirs albums. Laura Veirs is a singer-songwriter, who makes modern Americana folk with great storytelling and amazing sounds. She's one of my favourite folk singer-songwriters of the 00's. More recently, the sounds on her albums have gone a bit more towards normal indie rock.

The Lemonheads – Car Button Cloth (1996)

Car Button Cloth was not commercially as successful as the previous two albums by The Lemonheads. It's neither the album people normally mention first when talking about The Lemonheads. The most well-known album is probably It's a Shame About Ray, which, I agree, is a brilliant album. Nevertheless, there's something about Car Button Cloth that I really really like. It's not quite as straight forward college rock as the previous albums. There's great variety between the different songs, which makes it very interesting from beginning to the end. I first heard this album when me and a few of my friends were having an evening where we each would bring some albums that other people might not be that familiar with. We would then listen to the albums together. It was a great way to hear some new music. A friend of mine brought this album and I've been hooked ever since.