What have you been listening to this week?

3x3, 7 Days Chart

• Marika Hackman - We Slept At Last: One of those albums I've listened to back to front so many times that whenever a song ends, my brain can already anticipate the familiar sounds of the next song during the space between. It's dark and murky, but fluttering and elegant at the same time. My initial listens were when I first visited the misty coastal village where my mum lives. It's sparse and there are few people, so there's a lot of space to walk alone amidst the trees and the water. It's hard to divorce the woodland scenery and the feelings of isolation from the sounds of this album. Open Wide is still a deeply chilling highlight. It very much reminds me of Blue Foundation's Eyes on Fire or Paramore's Decode. I think it's because both songs are on Twilight soundtracks, and our village is very Pacific Northwest/Forks-like.
• The Antlers - Burst Apart: I love the devastating Hospice, and I followed the singles for Burst Apart when it first came out (Parentheses, Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out) but I never did listen to it front to back. I would start at the beginning and get about 6 songs in (loving every minute), then the instrumental Tiptoe would kill the momentum for me. But after @precise posted Putting the Dog To Sleep (the last track), I figured I should probably give it another go. It still hasn't really clicked for me, but Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out still slaps.
• Aldous Harding - Designer: This is one of those albums I feel I should like, and lots of people I respect give it tons of praise, but it didn't really stick with me on first listen. It reminds me of Cate le Bon's Reward or Weyes Blood's Titanic Rising. Pretty, pristine, artsy folky pop with rich instrumental palettes that critics love, but that feels too detached and far away to hit me in my feelings.
• Saintseneca - Piller of Na and The Wandering Star: See last week's post. The Wandering Star is a very different sort of song for Saintseneca. They usually make such dry, crisp, sharp music, but this song is muddy and smeared and blurry. It's the drums, I think? And the echoing vocals? I like it, though.
• Dan Mangan + Blacksmith - Club Meds: I love the two songs Kitsch and Forgetery. I found out about the latter track through a mix CD by HI54LOFI on Mixcloud, a service I like to use for music discovery. The album cover reminds me of the movie The Lighthouse, so I feel these brooding, haunting, rumbling, masculine feelings whenever I listen to these two songs. They're far apart in the tracklisting, so I usually end up listening to the whole album front to back (it's good!), but those two are the most memorable standouts.
• Runnner - Ur Name on a Grain of Rice,
• Adult Mom - Berlin,
• AJIMAL - Above All Else, Be Kind: The first three songs on my Spotify "Missed Hits" playlist for 2020. Surprise, the algorithms know my tastes! I like all three a lot. I don't have enough to say about them yet, though. :)

Just one album I break out for precisely one week each year. :)

• Vince Guaraldi Trio - A Charlie Brown Christmas

There has never been and probably never will be a better Christmas album than that one, at least in my book.

Little Saint Nick by The Beach Boys has been my go-to Christmas tune lately.

August Burns Red Christmas

You’re welcome ;)

Somewhat weirdly, When Johnny comes marching home by Patrick Gilmore, a US Civil War song. Also both versions of Dixie (Union version) (Confederate version)