Chortles
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Last Active 05-20-20 4:11 pm
Joined 08-28-12

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 Lists
01.03.19 Chortling through 2018 ♦06.01.18 Chorti's Summer of Endless House ♦
01.04.18 The Chortles 2017 Bonanza ♦08.17.17 A Year Abroad ♦
04.19.17 listen to these 73 albums12.29.16 The Chortles 2016 Spectacular: Best Of ♦
11.29.16 Essential Hardcore ('81-'84)

A Year Abroad

up close and personal
1The Mountain Goats
Sweden

last year, i graduated college and was offered a job which would relocate me to Sweden for a year. personally, i did not give much of a sh!T about the job itself, but the opportunity to travel and live abroad was quite hard to argue with. so, i accepted, applied for my visa, packed a few suitcases and moved my life to this promising, foreign land. i'm not trying to tell the full story here in this little list, but rather use it to share and have a place to remember the scattered fragments of the moments, travels, adventures, and observations that seemed most meaningful in what ended up being the most meaningful year of my life. and, of course, since we are on a MUSIC WEBSITE, to point out all the incredible tunes that came along with it, which are inevitably tethered to these memories
2Kate Carr
Fabulations

first, tjena to all my sput swedes, wherever you all are. and i would like to put it on record how disappointed i am that i never met up with Havey to make field recordings at any point during my stay. now then...
3Red House Painters
Red House Painters

sverige // staring out the window on the ride from the airport to my city and just being transfixed with the endless sea of beautiful, tall, narrow trees which engulfed the highway. breathing the cleanest air. listening to people speaking swedish. everything is strange. an outsider looking in
4Vikki Jackman, Andrew Chalk, Jean Noel
A Paper Doll's Whisper of Spring

jönköping, sweden // the city i would call home for the next year. it's not your glamorous side of sweden, but when the weather is good (as it was on the warm, summer day i arrived), this lakeside town has a special, quaint beauty that is hard to match
5Elliott Smith
Roman Candle

culture shock // lying motionless in a tiny, sparse apartment, in this strange, foreign place. at least elliott was a known quantity.
6My Bloody Valentine
Loveless

but, you learn. how to get around, how to ask for help, to buy groceries, to speak the basics of the language, to work, to live, to be. when you are forced to adapt, it isn't as hard or as different as you might think. thankfully, those boundaries were constantly pushed, as i experienced more new places than i ever would have imagined through work and personal travels
7Modest Mouse
This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About

the north of sweden // the first was to a tiny village in the north of Sweden, where the company I work for originated. it is an isolating place, especially in the winter (a second trip followed in february...), but i can see the appeal - the beauty and the quiet is stunning, and the peoples' way of life is so much simpler
8The Knife
Shaking the Habitual

stockholm, sweden // my girlfriend was equally keen to go abroad, and we were fortunate enough that she was able to find an opportunity to work temporarily in stockholm starting in the fall. her arrival marked the first of dozens of trips to the capital, and was one of the last days before (record-breaking?) snowfall began to hit. this beauty of a city became my second home, and one of the only ones i spent enough time in to truly begin to uncover many of the hidden, rewarding details
9Okkervil River
Away

milton keynes, uk // a city of squares and blocks and gray buildings and little else.
10Stimming
Alpe Lusia

*still finding the time to get caught in sput hype....*
11Whirr
Distressor

jakarta, indonesia // i cannot listen to this album anymore without being immediately transported to this time of constantly sweating profusely and/or having the worst shits of my life. whirr wasn't really that fitting, but regardless, distressor was my nasty jam during those times - especially "sandy". what a fascinating place it was, though
12Edamame
Ochre

holiday time in sweden, and the joyous feasts and dainty christmas markets that came with it // warm sweaters and downtempo delight every night of this season
13Andy Stott
We Stay Together

learning the metro system of Stockholm - one which is beautiful in unexpected ways, with unique and colorful station designs at seemingly every stop. shout out to Stadion - a stunning display that i passed every time i used the tube // despite the metro's frequent vibrancy, it's only fitting that stott's grimy beats would become my go-to for the cold underground. a cog of many in perfect unison
14Boards of Canada
Geogaddi

the long, solitary winter nights // getting snuggly w/ the occult
15The Microphones
The Glow Pt. 2

the countless bus rides to and from Stockholm and Gothenburg // the frigid solidarity of winter gusting by, made comforting by Phil's warm guitar
16Tim Hecker
Ravedeath, 1972

amsterdam, netherlands // i already feel like i can't avoid cliches while describing this place, so i'll just stop here. but what. a. city. more to come...
17Voices From The Lake
Voices From The Lake

getting lost // regardless of season, Sweden's forests hold a special beauty - always made better with a friend to trek or camp out with. voices from the lake was often a suitable companion for wandering through the trees, and though i have listened to it with some frequency for the last few years, it only began to fully reveal itself to me during my time in Sweden. dazzlingly hypnotic and deeply engrossing in each passing moment, VFTL is the most adroitly executed piece of music i've ever heard - an actual "perfect" album, i say
18Grouper
Ruins

belgium // brussels, gent and bruges crammed into a ridiculously stressful 3-day weekend (worth it for gent - jaw-dropping)
19DJ Sports
Modern Species

falling into routine // after settling back in jönköping for awhile again, i fell into a predictable routine. go to work, come home, cook dinner, do yoga, smoke and listen to stuff like voices from the lake, dj sports and the like on repeat (any recs for anything with similarly natural aesthetics - hit me!). life was normalized again
20Nicolas Jaar
Time For Us

the evenings dedicated to food and friendship // long nights of cooking delicious multicultural dinners, getting stoned and dancing to "mi mujer"
21Women
Public Strain

the first real days of spring, taking in the sunshine by lake vättern // usually i (and most others, i think) associate public strain with extreme weather, but it was the sun bleached tracks like "eyesore" that made me feel the freest as warmth finally came
22Terveet Kadet
Aareton joulu

booze cruises to finland // getting loose with drunk old-timers on the dance floor to terrible covers
23John Talabot
Fin

familial love // my parents planned their vacation to visit my girlfriend and I once the warm came to stay in mid-May. to live in the same state as them for my whole life and then to show them everything that I had learned and experienced in my time in Sweden was uniquely heartfelt
24Efdemin
Efdemin

london, UK // visiting a friend, but more importantly....
25Forest Swords
Compassion

field day 2017 // seeing war it live: 12/10
26Sinkane
Life & Livin' It

field day 2017 // i never listened to this dude before but my girlfriend liked him; either way i started getting drunk as hell at this point and it was so much fun. great crowd and vibes at this 1
27Nicolas Jaar
Sirens

field day 2017 // nic became an obsession of mine after sirens came out and my desperation to see him is partially what led me to this festival in the first place. jaar had just as enigmatic of a stage presence as i would have expected and played in an amazing venue (enormous hangar). quite the surreal show, three sides of nazareth in particular was :-O
28Slowdive
Souvlaki

field day 2017 // incredible. alison :')))
29Flying Lotus
You're Dead!

other sets: flying lotus, loyle carner, lady leshurr (yep), run the jewels, tsvi, kaitlyn aurelia smith
30Radiohead
In Rainbows

ericsson globe, stockholm // at the time, i kind of forgot about this due to buying the tickets so long ago and it being directly off the heels of field day, but seeing them was really something of high school me's squirmiest dreams, and seeing them abroad is never something that version of me would have ever expected. i hadn't listened to them much in the time since those days, but (as good shows oft do) i honked that replay button on their records for weeks after, finding so much unexpected life in an old favorite
31Today Is the Day
Willpower

doing the dishes // always there to make the mundane a little more eventful
32Gas
Nah und Fern

the long twilight of summer nights // suitable for sleeplessness
33Susanne Sundfor
The Silicone Veil

the end of midsummer marks the beginning of over a month of travel with friends, wrapping things up and seeing as much as I can before returning back to what is inevitably a post-trump wasteland...
34Digable Planets
Blowout Comb

stockholm, sweden // it's worth mentioning again if only for the complete 180 between the city in the winter and in the summer: though it is stunning either way, there is an attitude, a certain sense of freedom and joy in the air during the short summer that i hadn't witnessed before
35Trentemoller
The Last Resort

copenhagen, denmark // the last trip to copenhagen. spending the sun soaked days with friends at nyhavn, christiania and papirøen - i don't know if there is a happier combination
36DJ Tennis
DJ-Kicks

berlin, germany // berlin had perhaps a greater impact on me than any other city I have been to. seeing a place so shaped by its recent history and the people who have inhabited it was just stunning – biking through these spaces, not only seeing but truly feeling a raw beauty that can be observed in each small detail, is something I’ll never forget. and the night clubs – unbelievable. Watergate, you have my heart (we went there the night !K7 was throwing a party to celebrate this mix's release, which happens to be the best dj-mix I've ever heard. happy coincidence)
37Husker Du
Zen Arcade

prague, czech republic // the beautifully baroque
38Pantha Du Prince
Black Noise

austria // just astounding. bike rides in the wachau valley, small mountainside towns and pantha du prince, the best train ride companion for the endless wonder and beauty passing by
39Various Artists (Techno)
Mind Over Matter

munich, germany // we only passed through for a day, but in that day i had some of the best food and beer i have had in my life
40Swarms
Old Raves End

amsterdam & haarlem, netherlands // the second time around, we skipped being tourists and just enjoyed the city for all of its charm and bustling activity and endless places to be, but with no rush to be anywhere. our accommodations were in haarlem, which is such a quaint, small scale version of Amsterdam and an amazing place to unwind
41Moodymann
Silentintroduction

buiten westen 2017 // the second day, a dutch friend took us to a festival. i was nervous going with a group of electronic skeptics to a house/techno fest, but in the end, it was better than any of us could have ever imagined. everything was beyond words - the atmosphere, the people, the weather, the food, the drugs, THE DJS. moodymann was unbelievable and definitely a crowd favorite, especially when he came down from the table to talk to everyone in the front and pour grey goose shots - i don't like vodka, but of course i took one - if that isn't a life defining moment, i dunno what is. legitimately the best night of our lives, surreal in the purest sense of the word and an experience of truly unadulterated joy. my only concern is: why does this kind of incredible festival culture not exist in the US? (or if it does, please direct me to it)
42DJ Koze
Amygdala

buiten westen 2017 // SPELLBINDING
43Daniel Avery
Drone Logic

buiten westen 2017 // CHILLING
44Perfume Genius
No Shape

italy // a perfect encapsulation of the love and heartbreak of a distressing, but ultimately beautiful 10 days trekking about
45Cigarettes After Sex
Cigarettes After Sex

ex dogana, rome // these guys happened to be playing while we were in rome so why not. pretty much in line with my feelings about the album though - very nice and dreamy and pretty and other words but ultimately a bit lukewarm I M O. their openers were really something though
46Fever Ray
Fever Ray

gothenburg, sweden // after almost a year, i had never visited gothenburg other than the airport, so i'm so glad it was my last stop before heading back home. gothenburg is so different from stockholm, and the contrast was staggering. to me, it felt like sweden's own grungey sub-culture (meaning it's still quite nice, but compared to the posh perfection of stockholm, it was night and day). the relaxing end to an exhausting and tumultuous period of travelling, and a welcome return to sweden for my final days.
47Claro Intelecto
Reform Club

jönköping, sweden // in my last few hours here, in the midst of cleaning my apartment and packing up all my belongings, i could not shake the sadness and emptiness that leaving gave me. i thought back to that first night in the same, tiny apartment, being scared and exhausted and alone, and how different that person was. what seemed like every memory, every fleeting moment of each day of the past year spun around in my head until everything collided and i broke down. sweden gave me a home, a means to travel, a job, a life, friends, but most importantly, it gave me meaning, and i couldn't admit that until these final moments. i am forever changed
48Boards of Canada
Tomorrow's Harvest

dallas, tx // home
49Prince Of Denmark
8

wew
50Kelly Lee Owens
Kelly Lee Owens

good album
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