In no particular order, I've selected the favorite tracks from 2015's playlists for our fourteenth annual Choice Cuts end-of-year mix. The next four:
13. Hard Time -- Seinabo Sey
Writes The Guardian: "Seinabo Sey, with her motley take on pop, surely puts up with a lot of hyphenated descriptors. The singer-songwriter is Swedish-Gambian for starters, daughter of late musician Maudo Sey and his partner Madeleine Sundqvist. Then, there’s the issue of categorising her sound. As is the case with so many musicians of her age, the 25-year-old rummages around in a grab-bag of influences to make this tightly performed, if not slightly over-polished, debut." I found "Hard Time" in a blog post of songs that "public radio can't get enough of."
14. Chains of Love -- The Arcs
Dan Auerbach, the singer-guitarist-songwriter of the modern-blues duo the Black Keys, finds a lower-key (pun intended) but still soul-infused sound with side project The Arcs. Rolling Stone writes: "the bleak R&B beauty "Chains of Love," Auerbach hands the chorus to the female singers Mariachi Flor de Toloache, who haunt the space behind the beat and spindly guitars like a ghostly Shangri-Las.
15. Never Ending Circles -- CHVRCHES
From the second release from Scottish synthpop band Chvrches -- sorry, CHVRCHES -- I fell in love with lead vocalist Lauren Mayberry's sound all over again.
16. Ocean To City -- High Highs
One of my favorite songs of all time is Ocean Blue's "Ballerina Out of Control." Perhaps it's just a weird coincidence, but High Highs' "Ocean to City" has a very similar beautiful-yet-melancholy sound to it.
The final tracks tomorrow!
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