At the end of every year I post various Top 5 lists. I’ve been working on the post for 2023, and decided I’d re-post my Top 5 Releases by year as they appeared on the prior iteration of Life in the VInyl Lane, along with the commentary.
In looking at these lists it becomes clear how Iceland-centric much of my music listening is. Out of 55 albums, 31 of them are by artists that are either from Iceland or have ties to Iceland, and the top spot has been awarded to an Icelandic performer eight times. (Spoiler Alert! – the top spot on my 2023 list will also be occupied by an Icelander)
There are also a number of repeat performers – so perhaps my tastes are becoming more solidified as I become older. Or I just like what I like.
Top 5 New Releases in 2022
1. Sá Yðar Sem Syndlaus Er – Plagan (Iceland)
2. The Pearl – Sensational ft. Planteaterz (US)
3. Venezuela – Ohm & Octal Industries (Iceland)
4. Tröð – Dalalæða (Iceland)
5. Cosmic Dub Hop – DJ Kalish Youze (Iceland)
This is the first time I’ve ever done a year-end Top 5 list that doesn’t include at least one artist that could be classified as “rock”, which is a bit startling to me but does reflect how my listening habits have changed.
My favorite release was Sá Yðar Sem Syndlaus Er. While put out under the name Plagan, this is in fact the work of Þórir Georg. The music was part of Þórir’s art degree project. The piece as a whole was inspired by Mark Fisher’s concept of “boring dystopia”, which Þórir applied to the seven deadly sins by combining modern- sounding music with something considered kitsch, cross-stitching, which is, or at least was, quite common and prevalent in Icelandic households. Sonically dense and varied, it is an outstanding piece of work. You can find it on streaming services, though if you want a physical copy, good luck – only 10 copies were pressed on vinyl.
Top 5 New Releases In 2021
1. Generation Loss – Steve Summers (US)
2. Mobile Home – GusGus (Iceland)
3. Ashamed – Mad Foxes (France)
4. Music Library 02 – Hvörf (Iceland)
5. Nightshade – NAOS (Iceland)
If you’ asked me at the start of December which album would top this list, I’d have said Mobile Home. But then a box of records I bought on a Bandcamp Friday from the L.I.E.S. label arrived and Steve Summers blew my mind. I’m not sure I can explain precisely why I love Generation Loss. I just know that when I put it on, I enjoy every single thing I hear, and if I play it on Spotify I also like almost everything the algorithm throws at me once the album is over. I suspect in 2022 I’ll be digging into his catalog and grabbing some of his earlier 12ʺ singles.
GusGus is one of my all-time favorite groups, and Mobile Home did not disappoint, the duo of Biggi and Daniél adding Vök vocalist Margrét Rán to the lineup to give an ethereal quality to the new album. This is the first time since I started doing these year-end lists that GusGus put out a new album and didn’t take the top spot on my Top 5. Don’t let that fool you – they’re hardly slipping, and GusGus remains a group I go back to time after time after time.
I first heard about Mad Foxes thanks to Mrs. Life in the Vinyl Lane, who texted me when she heard one of their songs on KEXP and said I needed to check them out. By the time she got home a few hours later I had already ordered their new album Ashamed as well as their 2018 CD Desert Island Wish. A bit punk-ish, a bit post-punkish, their sound orbits a lot of styles and bands I like. Hvörf made my Top 5 “New To Me” list in 2019, and their electro-library music is great for just chilling out. NAOS rounds out the list with his edgy, techno Nightshade cassette. This one is tough to find, and I don’t think any of his stuff is on Spotify either, but it’s worth the effort to track down.
Top 5 New Releases In 2020
1. The Ghost Choir – The Ghost Choir (Iceland)
2. Farmacia – Farmacia (Argentina)
3. The Rise of India (Deluxe Edition) – IndiaBoy & Pési-B (Iceland)
4. So When You Gonna… – Dream Wife (UK / Iceland)
5. Neyslutrans – Hatari (Iceland)
Most years selecting my favorite release of the year isn’t hard. Sorting out the rest of the Top 5 can be a bit tricky, but generally there’s one album that hits my like a lightning bolt and rockets right to the top of the list.
That didn’t happen this year. In fact, I didn’t decide on the order of the first three spots until I sat down on Christmas morning and listened to the three albums one more time, and even then it was still tough. What it came down to, ultimately, was this – not only have I played The Ghost Choir a ton, but it’s also the album I recommended to people the most often, and all those folks told me they liked it. Stylistically it reaches across categories – electronic, classical, jazz, soundtracks… there’s something there for almost everyone. It truly is an outstanding record.
Farmacia dropped on December 23, so I have only had a few days with it, but man is it killer. As always, brothers Ariel and Diego Sima stretch the boundaries and expand my mind with their electro compositions. Had this been around for a few months would it have taken the top spot? We’ll never know. My understanding is that this will be coming out in a limited vinyl release soon, so be on the lookout for that, and I’ll likely do a blog about it soon. The Rise of India was probably my biggest surprise Top 5 entrant being that I’d never heard of anyone involved in the album prior to playing it for the first time. It’s a ton of trap fun.
Top 5 New Releases in 2019
1. I Don’t Know How To Be Happy – Deli Girls (US)
2. Return – Foreign Monkeys (Iceland)
3. Shlon – Omar Souleyman (Syria)
4. OHMelectronic – OHMelectronic (Canada)
5. Blizzard People Compilation (Iceland)
By my count I posted about 51 different 2019 releases this year, excluding re-releases. There were also handful of things from this year I heard but didn’t write about for various reasons, including laziness. While I posted about a few more new releases in 2018, I feel like overall my consumption of new music was about the same as last year.
My favorite release for 2019 is Deli Girls’ I Don’t Know How To Be Happy. This is perhaps an unusual selection for Life in the Vinyl Lane not because of the genre, which is in fact difficult to define, but instead because it never came out, to the best of my knowledge, on any kind of physical medium. Nope. This one was digital only.
And I’ve played the hell out of it. A blend of techno, experimental electronica, power electronics, and punk, I Don’t Know How To Be Happy is one of the rawest things I’ve heard in a long time, like a hot spot on your arm that you can’t stop scratching even though you know you should. The music grates on your sanity to create an emotional edginess before the vocals come in and pummel you into paste. I couldn’t get enough of “Officer” and “I’d Rather Die” on my iPod, though that might say as much about my daily commute as it does about anything else.
Next up was the triumphant return of Iceland’s Foreign Monkeys after a decade-long hiatus, the appropriately named Return. We loved their debut Pí, and the follow-up put more emphasis on the garage rock side of their sound, stripping things down to the core elements. For years we regretted that we’d never caught them at our first few Airwaves festivals, but this year we got the chance and jumped at it – and the album captured their live set well. Omar Souleyman tried to sneak one past me late in the year, but I caught wind of Shlon in time to pre-order the vinyl (which comes out in January) and get the digital download. I’m considering this part of 2019 since the download is available now. Shlon definitely sounds like a Souleyman album, but it also shows more range than some of his previous works with some slower and more sonically emotional moments. You can never go wrong with Omar Souleyman.
The Top 5 rounds out with some great EBM/industrial from Canada’s OHMelectronic and a comp out of Iceland called Blizzard People. I debated on whether or not to include Blizzard People, since putting a comp on a list like this seems a bit lazy. But here’s the thing, or more precisely things. These six tracks are all relatively new. And I’m certain I played this album more than any other in 2019. Every song is a burner, and Logitech’s “Leather Forecast” is the best jam I heard all year. Plus it’s my blog so I can do what I want, so there.
Top 5 New Releases In 2018
1. Lies Are More Flexible – Gusgus (Iceland)
2. Electrostatic – Individual Totem (Germany)
3. Death Is A True Prophet – ERZH (Iceland)
4. Bring Down The House Lights – Dirty Sidewalks (US)
5. Digital Garbage – Mudhoney (US)
2018 was a truly outstanding year for music, both generally and for me personally – quite a few of my favorite artists put out releases. In fact, of the 24 different performers who have graced my Top 5 New Releases lists since 2012, 10 of them put out new albums this year, including three who held down the #1 spot on a previous list. To get to the Top 5 this year we started with about 60 albums, whittled that down to the final 20. and then listened to those again over the last few weeks. Arriving at the final seven was easy, but trimming that down to five… man, it was tough.
The top spot, however, was a pretty easy choice for me. I’m a huge fan of Gusgus and have been through their various iterations and changing styles. Their latest release, Lies Are More Flexible, found the group down to just two core members and moving in a more heavily musical direction with outstanding results. I know not everyone is sold – most of my friends who are also Gusgus fans lean towards either the instrumental or the vocal tracks on the album, loving half of it and not caring as much for the other. But to my ears it’s all outstanding.
The next two albums weren’t released on vinyl, but that wasn’t going to keep them off the list. I was a latecomer to the world of Individual Totem, but their new CD creates a dark electro buzz in my brain that has me wanting to explore their back catalog. ERZH’s Death Is A True Prophet is the third heavily electronic album on the list, one physically released only via cassette from Iceland’s FALK label, which continues to pump out infatuating albums by little-known hyper-talented artists. The Top 5 rounds out with a pair of Seattle-based bands, newcomer psych-stars Dirty Sidewalks and grunge/punk veterans Mudhoney. Mudhoney edged out a few other challengers (most notably Fufanu) for the #5 spot primarily on the strength of Digital Garbage‘s lyrics, a combination of snark and venom aimed at the direction things are taking in American society these days, which I found to be poignant.
Top 5 New Releases In 2017
1. Neysluvara – Hatari (Iceland)
2. Midnight Champion – Legend (Iceland)
3. Suero – Farmacia (Argentina)
4. Space Cadaver – Space Cadaver (US)
5. Sports – Fufanu (Iceland)
There were two albums I knew were going to be in my Top 5 even before the scrum board experiment – Neysluvara and Midnight Champion. They were clearly head- and-shoulders above all comers in 2017. While Legend held an edge over Hatari by virtue of the fact that they put out a full album while their island-mates only gave us a four-song EP (and one that was only on CD to boot!), we were both simply blown away by Hatari. Neysluvara‘s brand of IDM has been pumping out of my iPod almost non-stop over the last two months and it doesn’t get old. If I’m being honest Hatari probably gets a little extra lift by the fact that we saw them live this year and they blew us away. I get that that shouldn’t impact a top album kind of thing, but as Holly pointed out, this is a blog and music is a personal experience, and it’s hard to separate out those personal experiences from the music itself. So as much as I love Midnight Champion, both musically and lyrically, I’m giving the top spot by Hatari.
Suero had fallen off the radar for a while and revisiting it reminded me of just how good it is. If there’s one thing that separates it from Space Cadaver and Sports, it’s the sonic experimentation the Argentinian’s do. Sure, it’s all electronic music; but it’s all over the board, from pure dance numbers to crazy experiments. And I’d be lying if the personal connection we made with the Sima brothers earlier this year on our visit to Buenos Aires didn’t have an impact on my feelings about this album. Space Cadaver is unquestionably my favorite metal album of 2017, and while I think it’s only available on cassette you owe it to yourself to get a copy and go buy a cheap boom box at the pawn shop so you can listen to it (or, of course, simply buy a download, you know, if you’re lazy like that), and Fufanu hit it out of the post-punk park with Sports. From a genre standpoint I’m very happy with this Top 5 list as there’s great stuff here for people of almost any musical taste.
Top 5 New Releases in 2016
1. Ash & Ice – The Kills (US / UK)
2. EP01 – Dream Wife (UK / Iceland)
3. Hope – Iiris (Estonia)
4. Kælan Mikla – Kælan Mikla (Iceland)
5. Redemption & Ruin – The Devil Makes Three (US)
Sometimes I find myself thinking about how I’m going to write on certain topics, and that happened to me recently with respect to my Top 5 New Releases list. I was super excited about Dream Wife and their EP01, enough so that I felt like it was deserving of the top spot on the list, which would also conveniently supply me with a narrative arc since lead singer Rakel was also the vocalist on my pick of the best album of 2015 as part of Halleluwah. Man, this was going to be so easy to write!
But then I remembered Ash & Ice. I’ve played the hell out of this album over the course of the year, and I love it more with each and every spin. So while I certainly root for the little guy (and girl) and Dream Wife in the top position would have made for a great story, it simply wasn’t authentic. The Kills killed it, and that’s that, putting out an album that is, to my years, light years ahead of everything else I heard in 2016.
There is another thread in this list, however, as all of the top four performers have female vocalists, and the fifth, The Devil Makes Three, has a female bassist who does backing vocals. So every band/performer on the list has at least one woman involved. I think we’re seeing more and more opportunity for women in rock and outside of the traditional singer/performer format, especially in rock and metal, which is outstanding. We saw lots of women performing great music this year at Airwaves as part of outfits like Hórmónar, Singapore Sling, Samaris, aYia, Thunderpussy, and Let’s Eat Grandma, and I for one couldn’t be happier about it.
Top 5 New Releases in 2015
1. Halleluwah – Halleluwah (Iceland)
2. Lífsins Þungu Spor – Dulvitund (Iceland)
3. .A:A. Mix. 1 – Alexandra Atnif (Romania)
4. II – Albino Father (US)
5. Grey Tickles, Black Pressure – John Grant (US / Iceland)
A lot of great music came out in 2014, and I had a hard time whittling down my initial list of a dozen albums to pick the Top 5. In fact I thought I had my list ready to go until I played Lífsins Þungu Spor for the first time about two weeks ago, and it actually bumped another album off of the list. I was confident in my choice of Halleluwah for the top spot because I’ve been playing their debut (not available on vinyl at this time) a ton, and it’s actually the second time they’ve made my year end best of list, with their 10ʺ K2R (which stylistically is miles away from Halleluwah) held down the #4 spot on my 2012 list. Dulvitund, Alexandra Atnif, and Albino Father were all performers I encountered for the first time in 2015, and John Grant rounds it out with his second appearance on one of my Top 5 New Releases lists.
I’m particularly happy with this list because, unintentionally, all the performers fall into different genres. Halleluwah brings a sort of old school popular music sound, something that reminds me of an updated version of Edith Piaf; Dulvitund is electro darkwave; Alexandra Atnif creates some edgy experimental industrial beats; Albin Father is the second coming of garage psych rock; and of course John Grant is John Grant in all of his loquacious brilliance. There’s something for just about everyone on that list.
Top 5 New Releases in 2014
1. Mexico – Gusgus (Iceland)
2. MALLEVS – MALLEVS (US)
3. On Top! – Mudhoney (US)
4. Skálmöld Og Sinfóniuhljómsveit Íslands – Skálmöld (Iceland)
5. Lese Majesty – Shabazz Palaces (US)
I was torn when it came to the top two spots on this list. I really, really, really wanted to go with MALLEVS – they’re “the little guy,” they just got a limited vinyl pressing of their album, I randomly ran into the label guy in Portland… but at the end of the day, Mexico is just too good of an album to not hold down the top spot. Staggeringly good. Both the 2014 Skálmöld releases have been growing on me in a big way over the last month or so, and I could have just as easily gone with their studio album Með Vættum… but frankly the live CD with the orchestra is just too awesome to not make the list. I feel like Sólstafir’s Ótta may have deserved a spot in the Top 5, but honestly I just didn’t listen to it enough, so maybe that’s on me. This the second year in a row that Mudhoney made the Top 5, with Vanishing Point in the #2 spot last year, and Skálmöld also gets props for a repeat Top 5 appearance as they held down the #5 spot in 2012 with Börn Loka. Honorable mentions go out for Shellac’s Dude, Incredible, Slow Dance’s Hunks, and the self-titled debuts from Börn and Kiasmos.
Top 5 New Releases in 2013
1. Pale Green Ghosts – John Grant (US / Iceland)
2. Vanishing Point – Mudhoney (US)
3. Yesterday’s Graves – The Weir (Canada)
4. I’m A Stranger Here – Devil Makes Three (US)
5. Þorgeirsboli – Slugs (Iceland)
I listened to more new releases this year than I normally do, and there were a few other solid albums like David Bowie’s The Next Day and Omar Souleyman’s Wenu Wenu that could have very easily made it into the Top 5. The albums in spots two through five could be in any order – they’re my favorites for sure, but I can’t say that any one of them is head and shoulders above the others. Except, of course, for Pale Green Ghosts. Which is flat out amazing. I haven’t been this excited about something new musically in a while. My current obsession with Pale Green Ghosts means that I’ll probably burn out on it in the next few months, but experience tells me that if I take a bit of a cooling off period after that, when I come back to it I’ll love it even more. I only have three of these on vinyl, with The Weir on digital download and Slugs on CD. The one thing all five have in common is that I’ve played the hell out of them this year.
Top 5 New Releases in 2012
1. Fearless – Legend (Iceland)
2. Live at Gamla Bíó – Agent Fresco (Iceland)
3. Division of Culture & Tourism – Ghostigital (Iceland)
4. K2R – Halleluwah (Iceland)
5. Börn Loka – Skálmöld (Iceland)
I feel like this list might seem a bit pretentious, since all these bands are from Iceland… and I am not. However, with Iceland Airwaves being the biggest week each year on my calendar, and considering how many bands I saw there this year (36), it kind of makes sense. Ironically the only one of these I have on vinyl is K2R, though I do have the limited edition vinyl release of Ghostigital on order. And unintentionally this is a pretty good mix of genres – goth/electronic (Legend), alt (Agent Fresco), industrial (Ghostigital), hip hop (Halleluwah), and hard core metal (Skálmöld).