Lillie Mae - Forever and Then Some (2017)

This is one of my favourite albums from recent years. When I was writing my top 10 albums list for 2017 I had only just discovered this album, so I didn't rate it as highly as I would now. In the last few years, I've really been into modern country music. Country music has a bad reputation amongst most people in Europe, probably because of all the absurd "patriotic" cowboy artists and bands out there in the US. But once you find the right artists, you'll find out there are some absolute jewels within the genre. This is one of the best country albums that I've ever heard. Lillie Mae started performing live already when she was 3 years old and she's played guitar and fiddle from very young age. Before her solo career she performed on Jack White's solo records and on The Raconteurs album. Her solo stuff outperforms both of those projects in my opinion. Especially Forever and Then Some, which so far is her best piece of work.

Broder Daniel - Forever (1998)

Broder Daniel was a Swedish indie rock band. Their songs usually have quite dark melodies and there's youthful enthusiasm that shines through from their almost punk-like attitude. Especially the early albums are also quite lo-fi even though the style is much bigger than for most lo-fi bands. The vocals are kind of endearing as they are not very strong. The attitude is definitely the best feature of this band. I first heard about the band when we were having an evening with friends where each of us presented an album other people probably hadn't heard before. Someone brought in Broder Daniel's later album Cruel Town. I didn't think I had heard this band before, but later I did discover that I probably had heard the band's songs in the film Fucking Åmål (Show Me Love in English), a film by Lukas Moodysson. This music is perfect for that film as I think the music really represents teenage rebellion, that the film also represents.

MJ Hibbett and the Vaidators - Forest Moon of Enderby (2010)

MJ Hibbett is one of those personalities that have a cult standing in London, but is hardly known outside the city. I remember first seeing him play at a small music festival called Pop Fest back in 2012. He was this nerdy guy with an acoustic guitar playing songs about old computers, dinosaurs and nerdy indie kids of the 80s. His act was as much of a stand-up comedy show as a musical performance. The songs are really well made though. I ended up buying this album along with a couple of others in a box set, because they cost next to nothing. Since then, I've seen MJ Hibbet a couple of times at a pub in Fitzrovia, where he had his own club. The other acts in that club were quite similar to his. I remember, for example, seeing a musical version of Jurassic Park in there, that was quite brilliant. I haven't seen MJ Hibbett now in years and I don't even know if he's still performing, but if you get a chance to see him, it's all good fun!

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)

I really do like stories like the story behind Bon Iver's debut album. It seems to be quite a common story with musicians, where they have tried everything they have in breaking it in the music business and just when they're almost ready to give up, something changes everything. I don't think anyone, least of all, Justin Vernon himself, could've predicted what kind of success would follow this album. While living in South Carolina, Vernon fell ill and was very frustrated with songwriting and his life. He travelled to Wisconsin, where he was originally from, to be alone with his thoughts. He hunted his own food and was completely isolated from other people. While there in the cabin, he wrote songs, first without lyrics, that became later this album with added lyrics about lost love and feelings of mediocrity. This melancholic album then unexpectedly proofed very popular and made Bon Iver one of the biggest names in the indie circles.

Belle & Sebastian - Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant (2000)

This was the first Belle & Sebastian album I ever listened to. Usually the first album you listen to from a band maintains a special place in your mind. For quite a long time I thought this was the best album by Belle & Sebastian, but now I do have to admit that If You're Feeling Sinister and Boy With the Arab Strap are better than this one. It doesn't, however, mean that there would be anything wrong with this one either. It has some of my favourite songs from the band such as I Fought In a War, The Model and There's Too Much Love. This fourth album was a bit of a change from the earlier albums. The overall sound is still quite similar, but the lo-fi expression has been mostly replaced by more polished finish and there are more band members in addition to Stuart Murdoch singing the lead vocals in different songs. Specifically, Isobel Campbell's vocals are noteworthy.

Them Bird Things - Fly, Them Bird Things, Fly! (2009)

This is one of the most random albums I own. When I had lived in London for a while, I felt like I didn't know at all what was happening in the music scene in Finland anymore. So, I tried to keep up by doing a bit of research online and Them Bird Things was one of the bands that caught my eye. I ended up buying quite a few CDs I could find second hand when visiting Finland, this among them, to keep up with Finnish music as well. I have to admit that I have hardly listened to this album since I bought it. I kind of do like the sound, but it's not an album I would often choose. Them Bird Things plays indie rock that has influences from 60s style surf rock. In a way, you can recognise the Helsinki sound in the album. I can't quite put my finger on what exactly it is that makes up the Helsinki sound, but there were quite a few indie albums like this released there towards the end of the 00s.

Julee Cruise - Floating Into the Night (1989)

There are many good movie soundtracks out there, but usually they are either instrumental score pieces, or collections of pop/rock songs from various bands and artists. In any case, they're usually not fantastic albums in their own right. To be fair, Floating Into the Night isn't a soundtrack per se, but many of the songs are most well known from David Lynch's movies or television series. Some of them were even made particularly for those productions. The album however, isn't a soundtrack to any single one of those productions. Songs of this album can be heard in Lynch's Blue Velvet, Industrial Symphony No.1 and television series Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks is where I know this album from. I always loved the music of Twin Peaks even when I didn't really know who the artist was, or that this album existed. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that not only was there a soundtrack album with these songs, there was an actual album featuring these songs and more.

Matthew Halsall - Fletcher Moss Park (2012)

Most of my favourite jazz albums are from late 50s or early 60s. That's when jazz had it's golden years. There are only few albums from recent years that I think can compete with some of those albums. Fletcher Moss Park by Manchester-based trumpeter Matthew Halsall is one of them. This album takes clear influences from that early 60s period and I can hear similarities to such artists as Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bill Evans. The studio quality of the 21st century gives this style of jazz a magical sound. Most of this album is quite relaxed in terms of tempo and sounds. The amazing harp played by Rachel Gladwin gives the album a magical sound. The trumpets played by Halsall are subtle yet very eloquent. Like Miles Davis proofed in the 60s, sometimes the notes that are not played are just as important as the notes that are played. 

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008)

I've heard many times the claim from slightly older people who have dedicated their lives to music that everything has already been done and nothing new can be made in music anymore. Getting older myself, I start to see this point. Pretty much all the music nowadays sounds a bit retro. Then again, I feel like this has probably always been the case. Younger people just don't have the experience yet of having listened to all of those old genres. Then again, something did change in the 00s. This was time when albums began being released that were so blatantly retro that they seemed like an intentional attempt to go back in time. At first thought, this might sound like a very negative thing, but I actually think this has many positive sides to it as well. When bands don't have to think about what's fashionable right now, they will focus on just making music that they really like, which usually is a much better approach. 

Ace - Five-A-Side (1974)

I think it's quite fascinating how some bands that are somewhat popular in their time are completely forgotten while others gain a cult following. Ace very much belongs to the first group of bands. I don't think there are many people who didn't live in the 70s who would have any idea this band ever existed. I certainly didn't before, as a result of rummaging through the vinyl albums left at my grandmother's place by mu father and uncles, I took this home along with many other vinyl records. I can see why Ace hasn't secured its place in memorable classic rock bands. There is nothing particularly original in these songs. There's a strong AOR vibe in the songs and the style is very 70s Americana rock. I was a bit surprised to find out that the band is actually from UK from Sheffield. Back in the time of its release, the album did make it quite high on the charts.