Andy Shauf – Bearer of Bad News || A beautiful album. Full of stories, full of feelings.Breakfast in Fur – Flyaway Garden || Very nice, melodic indiepop album on Bar None Records.Broen – Yoga || A refreshing, beautiful and fun album from Norway’s Broen. Full of creative arrangements and great melodies. Definitely a band between a lot of genres.Darren Hayman – Chants for Socialists || The very active songwriter Hayman made several good releases in 2015. This is one of them.The Fireworks – Switch Me On || Fuzzy, jangly indiepop, with some gorgeous melody gems behind the noise.Lowpines – Lowpines || I often get teary eyed while listening to Lowpines. Not because the songs are so sad, but because of the beauty of his music. I’ve got a deep love for these songs.Marika Hackman – We Slept at last || Dark, dreamy, atmospheric folky songs.Susanne Sundfør – Ten Love Songs || Always a deliverer of quality, Norway’s Sundfør does it again. Dark, semi-electronic love songs.Tigercats – Mysteries || A well produced and beautiful album from Tigercats.Trust Fund – No One’s Coming for Us || Jangly, lofi loveliness. Love the stories they tell.The Unthanks – Mount the Air || A new album by The Unthanks is always a pleasure, and this is another brilliant folk-album.The White Birch – The Weight of Spring || So long since the last album, and it was lovely to hear his calm, thoughtful songs again. Very nice!February Records – 5: A February Records Anniversary Compilation || This great label celebrated their 5 year anniversary by releasing a compilation with bands they have worked with. Includes so many wonderful songs from bands like Finnmark!, The Swapsies, Onward Chariots and others.

SINGLES I LOVED THIS MONTH

C. Duncan

Beach Baby – Ladybird || Great song with lots of ooooh’s and a strong, easy to remember chorus.C. Duncan – And I || C. Duncan is one of the artists who have defined this year from me, with gorgeous orchestral pop on both very strong singles and a lovely debut album. Perfection.Charles Howl – Going down with a Hi || An upbeat rocker, this one, with driving guitars and a warm vocal melody line on top. Addictive.Colleen – Captain of None || I’ve been a fan of experimental artist Colleen for a long time, and this creative, rhythmic single is the closest she comes to a pop song. Very nice!Death and Vanilla – California Owls || Sweden’s D&V’s “California Owls” is full of 60s feeling, great melody and weird spacy sounds.The Elwins – So down low || This is close to the outside of what I normally like, but it’s so insanely catchy that I can’t resist.Fyfe – Solace || Somewhere between folk, electronic, soul, indie whatever… It’s beautiful, and that’s all you need to know, isn’t it?Jacco Gardner – Find Yourself || 60s inspired psych pop in a modern sounding way, and very accessible. Nice.Kid Wave – Wonderlust || Insanely catchy and good powerpop/shoegaze/fuzzpop track. Love it!Magic Potion – Deep Web || Slow, jangly, lofi popsong with a brilliant melodic hook.Nadine Shah – Fool || I usually think Shah’s music is too dramatic for my taste, but this one stuck.

EPs I LOVED THIS MONTH

Diet Cig

Anomie – Anomie EP || A very nice EP on Father/Daughter Records. Fuzzy pop, American flavor.Diet Cig – Over Easy || Really nice indiepop EP, with jangly guitars and great melodies. Also on Father/Daugher Records.Featherfin – Butterfly Girl EP || Well, it’s my own EP, but it of course means a lot to me and was released in February, so it deserves a mention. And it is amazingly good, of course. 😉Girlpool – Chinatown || Slow, simple songs with lots of feelings and good lyrics. I especially love “Cut Your Bangs”.Juan Wauters/Carmelle – Wearing Leather, wearing fur || In its digital version ONE 14 minute track containing several songs, and they are all very beautiful. Acoustic, on Captured Tracks.Snails – Talking to Anthony/Winter Hearts || Very good double A-single/EP. Great melodies and harmonies, brass, flutes, boy/girl vocals, a slight 60s touch, nice lyrics. Both songs are very good.Space Daze – Phases || A remix/remake EP with new versions from Tiny Fireflies, Watoo Watoo, The Very Most and Shiny Times. All add something of their own to Space Daze’s songs, while keeping the essence. The result is one of the best remix EPs I have heard.Testbild! – Belka & Strelka || Spacy, kosmische pop songs from Sweden.