Stuart Young

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Day 23 / 50

Black Hole - Emma-Jean Thackray ft. Reggie Watts (2024)

Wah-wah P-funky track about about the power of music to elevate mood.

"I'm in a black hole of despair - only the beat can pull me out".

youtu.be/c6Ak75xR6l4?...

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Day 22 / 50

All Comes Down to This - A Certain Ratio (2024, UK)

I've studiously avoided artists from the previous century but this is wonderful with a totally irresistible groove and a lot of squelchy noises. As The Quietus said - their best work since 1982.

youtu.be/r9XI0es77iw?...

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Day 21 / 50

I Was Gonna Fight Fascism - Soccer96 ft Alabaster DePlume (2020, UK)

A droll send-up of excuses for not taking action set to a brilliant psychedelic motorik beat.

youtu.be/ijZbNyVvTmY?...

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Day 20 / 50

The Ick - Panic Shack (2022, UK)

A gang of Welsh girls playing punk-pop with their tongues firmly in their cheeks.

youtu.be/3SoDdD4xAd8?...

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Day 19 / 50

Dollar Bill Bar - Sierra Ferrell (2024, US)

Storytelling country with blue grass influences but really this is an pop song with infectious melodies and clever lyrics, playful and catchy.

youtu.be/e3FQpE99zCo?...

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Day 18 / 50

Lawn - Aldous Harding (2022, NZ)

More indie-folk but much more left-field, almost abstract. Wonderful and compelling. About getting free of a relationship that was only B-sides.

youtu.be/9ylzXnxFpYQ?...

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Day 17 / 50

Crop Circles - Odie Leigh (2022, US)

Warm and gentle indie-folk about a desire for personal change, breaking out of cyclical thoughts and behaviors that my children turned me on to. Apparently it was big on Tik Tok.

youtu.be/i5jTp7j5BTg?...

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Day 16 / 50

dickhead blues - Kara Jackson (2023, US)

Bluesy-folk singer-songwriter with a track that is part doleful affirmation and part embittered diss of asshole lovers, that no longer amuse her.

youtu.be/r7QnY3RVwHE?...

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Day 15 / 50

Mindful Solutionism - Aesop Rock (2023, US)

A wordy rap about the dangers of technology. An earworm of a track.

youtu.be/T7jH-5YQLcE?...

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Day 14 / 50

Y.A.A.M. - Soulwax Version - Marie Davidson (2024, Canada)

Electronic art-pop with a banging remix - she wants your ass on the floor. From City of Clowns, her concept album about the ethical failings of big tech.

youtu.be/W_87lKpUlyY?...

After a dozen doubly compliant picks this is my my first singly compliant one.

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Day 13 / 50

No Calories In Cocaine - The Howl & The Hum (2024, UK)

Confessional indie-rock about the health benefits of drug-fueled benders and walks of shame.

youtu.be/hNwZDaJ_v9U?...

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Day 12 / 50

Funk This Up - Jessica Winter (2022)

Pumping, 80s-inflected, exuberant and theatrical synth-pop banger with falsetto vocals and ghostly backing vocals.

youtu.be/ZtQYV3Uu5G8?...

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Day 11 / 50

Emptiness Follows - Aoife Nessa Frances (2022, Ireland)

Lush and utterly gorgeous song about intimate small moments of friendship with a wonderful arrangement with harp and brass and a lovely vocal high in the mix, up-front and vulnerable.

youtu.be/LcJO4zR8qks?...

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Day 10 / 50

Tiny Garden - Jamila Woods (2023, US)

Nourishing and uplifting love song. Starts with a subtle shuffle and blooms into something more.

youtu.be/t6G9eEZtpxY?...

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Day 9 / 50

Lonsdale Slipons - The Bug Club (2024)

Cool riff and groove and packed full of vocal hooks: Indoor voices ... uh-huh ... these drugs are tasty as hell

youtu.be/n6ckxeEAvSQ?...

Pleasantly surprised to see this. Mighty Vertebrate is my favorite album of 2024.

It was me that nommed it for PPP (bonus). It's going to miss my list but definitely get an HM.

This will be my Sofia pick as well. I'm considering an HM for one of the others too. Don't think vote splitting is going to be too damaging.

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Day 8 / 50

Sharevari - Aidan Noell ft. Nancy Whang (2022, US)

Retro electro dark synth pop, a contemporary reimagination of an 80s early Detroit techno track.

youtu.be/i69USAPXfEo?...

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Day 7 / 50

Cheater - Wilma Archer ft. Sudan Archives (2020, UK/US)

Unique instrumentation arrangement with marching beat and sudden stabs with a lovely soulful vocal.

youtu.be/GpjK57J3WLY?...

Awesome!

Happy birthday. Hope you get a great present ... of NO entries today by white men with guitars who have been recording for 40 years.

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Day 6 / 50

Agreeing For Two - Rozi Plain (2022, UK)

Gentle, delicate and comforting. Breathy and floaty with perfectly complimentary Alabaster DePlume saxophone.

youtu.be/NhFxzf7bHOk?...

Missed my list but likely I will HM

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Day 5 / 50

Letter of Resignation - Problem Patterns (2023, UK)

Catchy feminist punk rock from Belfast. Tear it all down.

youtu.be/6sTb6c8_rd0?...

This is the only George Riley track I've heard but researching her for this post it sounds as though I need to explore more.

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Day 4 / 50

S e x - George Riley & Hudson Mohawke (2023, UK)

An absolute banger of a club classic.

youtu.be/8ohEwFUqLJQ?...

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Day 3 / 50

Below my skin - Ruth Goller ft. Tom Skinner (2024)

Utterly singular and mesmerising, this truly sounds like nothing else and presents a genre description challenge - ethereal minimalist avant-garde jazz?

UK, from album SKYLLUMINA
youtu.be/ef2nHha7YMU?...

That was a fun diversion thanks for the discovery. I listened to half a dozen of their tracks. Though that was because it started raining and I couldn't use my phone screen to change! Great stuff. I must tell my daughter.