08 From 08

Most new and interesting records which were heard at StellaVista Towers during 2008 have their own blog-post here. So, in no particular order, a recap of the tracks and albums that entertained me this year. The links lead to an earlier blog entry which either contains one or two streams or a Youtube-link.


Club 8: With "The Boy who couldn´t stop dreaming", Karolina Komstedt and Johan Angergård made one of their most restrained and breezy albums. Sun-drenched, fragile, Swedish summer-pop that is almost disappearing into thin air. I actually preferred the earlier "Strangely Beautiful" which was also re-released this year.


Morgan Geist: "Double Night Time" is Geist´s first album after his debut "The Driving Memoirs" from 1997. The whole album is great, but it´s the opener "Detroit" which really stands out for me.









Cut Copy: The first half of "In Ghost Colours" is a superb succession of hit after hit. Especially the album track "Out there on thin ice" with it´s crowd noise and euphoric lines "If that´s what it takes - don´t let it tear us apart - even if it breaks our hearts" is amazing.
The fact that I can still enjoy listening to "Hearts on fire" - after all the hype and the inevitable re-release of Guru Josh´s "Infinity" (which was definitely spawned by the success of Cut Copy) shows that CC really know how to assemble their citation-pop.


Private In fact "My Secret Lover" was already released in 2007, but this stand-out single "We got some breaking up to do" came out this year along with a remix/dub album. Private are from Denmark and have produced the most shamelessly 80s rip-off album in a genre that has many similar artists. If you are not entertained by Private you should leave this site now!


Rex The Dog "The Rex The Dog Show" is part debut album, part compilation of own and commissioned remixes. It is surprisingly nice, despite featuring a mix of the drab The Knife.
The single "Bubblicious" features the best Yazoo/Alison Moyet sample ever. It is certainly no surprise that this appeared along with the Yazoo re-union concerts.


DJ Cole Medina vs Bee Gees "Love you inside out (Pinches Mix)". This blissed out re-edit of the Bee Gees track (from "Spirits Having Flown) was listened to endlessly on my car-trip to Vancouver. Pure magic!




AxUs "Love your Brother (Abacus Rethink Dub)" marked the return of Austin Bascom. With this deep as shit production he proved that he was and is one of the most prolific deep-house producers around.






Ladytron "Velocifero" did still not bring them the desired mass appeal they so crave for.
Still, on the borderline of electro-rock Ladytron are still the best thing around. I always fall for their airport-announcer-vocals. Someone recently said they sound like Nico fronting the Marc Bolan Band. Spot on!