Elliphant - Down on Life

I could use a break ... 

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Sam Smith - Latch (Acoustic)

Get ready for some full-blown drama! Even though I'm no great fan of Sam Smith' other stuff, I like his acoustic version of Latch even better than the one with Disclosure. And that means a lot, as I really did love the Disclosure one nearly to death a few months ago.

If you like things a little faster and more electronic:

Joy Wellboy - Lay Down Your Blade

I just love how laid-back Lay Down Your Blade by the Belgian duo Joy Wellboy is. 

Ella Eyre - We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off

This is pretty much perfection. Ella Eyre is a nineteen year old singer & songwriter from the UK. For some days now I’ve been hooked on her version of JermaineSteward’s “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off”, which is from the 80s and not really my thing. Ella Eyre takes the song to a whole new level with her great voice and the emotions she puts into it, so bittersweet. BTW: If the chorus seems familiar you probably know it from Gym Class Heroes’ “Clothes Off!!”. 

Black Nights feat. John Frusciante - Roundtable Discussion

This a very nice song by two rappers called Black Knights who I have never heard from before and who are quite ungoogleable. (At least if you're not very motivated, which I am. They are somehow associated to Wu-Tang, if anyone cares.) What makes it so nice is that the song has been produced by John Frusciante - and you can definately hear that. Especially the beginning is quite Frusciantesque (voice and beat wise) ... only after 2:15 it becomes a little too rap-cheesy for my liking.

My 2013 In Music

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I guess I’m a little late with this review of my personal “2013 in music”. But as it has been specifically requested (even if only by one person and I’m also not quite sure he really meant it), I decided to deliver. Better late than never et cetera.

So what did 2013 have to offer to me – music wise? There have been a few great indie releases, for example by Cold War Kids, Everything Everything, Foals, Arctic Monkeys or Arcade Fire. At the same time I’ve been a little (or even quite a bit) disappointed by Phoenix and The Strokes. Also I have been kind of addicted to powerful electronic pop – often London based – by AlunaGeorge, Disclosure, S O H N, Banks or Chrvches. Generally it seems that most of the music I loved in 2013 has been British – like King Krule, James Blake, Tom Odell, Bear’s Den or Daughter. But that might actually be due to the fact that I’ve become a great fan of the BBC 6 Playlists on Spotify … Still the artist that inspired me the most this year has probably been the German hip hop poet and philosopher Käptn Peng.

Below you find most of my favourite songs of 2013. For 2014 – like every year – I only have two modest wishes: the comeback of Jamie T. and Ben Howard returning to Haldern.