In addition to my year-end list, here are a few songs that didn't appear on it but should not go unmentioned. The list does not contain a rating of the songs.
Mark Peters, an English songwriter, musician and producer released last year Red Sunset Dreams, one of those albums I always come back to during the last six months. I follow him since his since he released his Innerland albums/remixes and for me it was an album I can relax by and get rid of many thoughts that buzzed around my mind. A peaceful, warm and relaxed album filled with songs you can drift away. Some might reduce him to another artist surfing on the Balearic scene but for me his songs has a deep like I listened seldom to. That he had the chance to collaborate with Dot Allison for a couple of songs makes them brighter than most others. This is a newer remix by Richard Norris and he made a great song better than expected.
Part two of this little retrospective bring us a band that now after The Fall has gone are the last survivors of 80's indie-rock. Nigel Blackwell and HMHB are too long in business to make any worse album an so is The Voltarol Years another example how indie-rock should sound today. Powerful guitars and intelligent lyrics.
Mark Peters returned after his fantastic Innerlands from 2018 with another excursion into a wide country of guitar based sounds with Red Sunset Dreams. An album you can drift away and as the sound is not much enough Dot Allison lends her velvet voice to a few songs.
Antoine Harispuru aka Golden Bug is a French DJ and producer and I follow his works since a couple of years. Now he released Piscolabis his first full length record. A trip through electronic and guitars that I can't compare with any other artists - maybe The Limiñanas with electronics.
Another indie-rock and legends of experimental rock returned with rehearsals of their last period in the beginning of the new century. It is not necessary to explain Sonic Youth and In/Out/In didn't got much critical acclaim but for are these songs better than many others released this year. Maybe only because I always loved their music.
One of the most mysterious albums this year came from France. Société Etrange released with Chance a milestone of electronic music. Six songs without words, equivocal rhythms, accented bass and drenched in melancholy took me several times in 2022 into a trip to another dimension of sound.
A Mountain Of One is a London based band and if you want you can file them under progressive and psyche rock. But this is not all because you can find on Stars Planet Dust Me much more influences from music of the last decades. An album that grows the often you listen to it.
Our cosmic shaman also released another album. Nothing new or different to his former albums just a few good-time songs for feel-bad days.
Another band that can't make any bad album Reading's Sea Power. Everything Was Forever is just what I expected - a bunch of melodic guitar-pop with elements of electronica and post-punk.
It is still summer and we will have many very hot days ahead here in Southern Germany. I am still off for another day with my colleagues from our workers council for an education in social payment. It is in a small hotel close to my living place so that we have time enough to sit together and talk about many things we haven't the time for during regular working days. Even if it is summer more and more bands sent announcements for their upcoming records. There are so many that I can't listen to all of them but there are some pearls I found. One of them is the new album by British musician, songwriter and producer Mark Peters. I got aware of his music when he released several albums with electronic artist Ulrich Schnauss during the last years. For Red Sunset Dreams he collaborated with Dot Allison for a few songs - the rest will be instrumentals inspired by old Western movies. This song is a perfect symbiosis of Dot's clear voice and Mark's psychedelic guitar sound.
Three years ago English musician, producer and songwriter Mark Peters released his first album Innerland his interpretation of a native or resident of Lancashire. Eight instrumentals I can't more than describe them as beautiful tracks somehow between late Talk Talk, The Durutti Column and minimal Brian Eno. I got aware of him because of his collaborations with Ulrich Schnauss and found this record on my hard drive a few days ago. It is one of those records you owe, listen, enjoy and forget until the time has come to see the beauty in the songs.
