My favorite songs discovered (though not necessarily released) in 2023.
The 1975 – I’m in Love with You
All Time Low – Blinding Lights
All Time Low – Tell Me I’m Alive
Billy Joe Armstrong – I Think We’re Alone Now
Blue October – Shut Up I Want You To Love Me Back
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Bauhaus Staircase
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Kleptocracy
A Story Told – Better Than Heaven
My favorite songs discovered (though not necessarily released) in 2022.
Brimheim – Can’t hate myself into a different shape
Dave Hause – We could be kings
Ethel Cain – American teenager
Homeschool – Smartest Man (feat. Samia)
The National – Somebody desperate
Pronouns – I’m right back in it
Taylor Swift – All too well (Taylor’s version)
Artist:
Vivid
Spotify:
Not on Spotify
Video:
Favourite Lyrics:
it won’t be the same again
feel the open wind my friend
don’t you know this is the end of this game
“means nothing to me”
Thoughts:
Nearly 25 years old and still one of my all-time favorite songs from a severely underrated band (they don’t even have an entry on the English Wikipedia). The songs evokes a weird melancholic optimistic sadness in me.
Artist:
The Magnetic Field
Spotify:
spotify:track:4I1eZhhSus3KZw4di2aiet
Video:
Favourite Lyrics:
The book of love has music in it
In fact that’s where music comes from
Some of it’s just transcendental
Some of it’s just really dumb
Thoughts:
The idea for the song is just brilliant.
Notable Covers:
The Airborne Toxic Event, Peter Gabriel
Artist:
The 1975
Spotify:
spotify:track:4AQzk2yNWKs6sYhZi6NzVN
Video:
Favorite Lyrics:
I had a dream where we had kids
You would cook, I’d do the nappies
We went to Winter Wonderland
And it was shit but we were happy
Thoughts:
The song needed a few rotations to grow on me, but now it’s in my Top 3 for 2020. It’s lighthearted yet sincere, upbeat yet lamenting.
I really like the lyrics above because of they convey the beautiful idea how your spirits are elevated just by spending time with the right person, no matter what is happening around you.
Artist:
Boygenius (Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, Kucy Dacus)
Spotify:
spotify:track:4q9w3UGW3utmeUruBLUoZZ
Video:
This Live version is even better than the studio version.
Youtube comment: i heard there was a small town in Norway that was getting 50% of its renewable energy from phoebe’s voice at 2:39
Favorite Lyrics:
I never said I’d be all right
Just thought I could hold myself together
…
I wanna be emaciated
I wanna hear one song without thinking of you
Thoughts:
This incredible powerful voice carries so much sadness and vulnerability. The lyrics are authentic and touching. The song brings back memories of lost love I had not thought about in years.
I got a second macro lens, the Sony 30mm F3.5. Although inferior to the 90mm in every way but weight, I hope it still has its use. The plan is to have it in the bag together with the 16-55mm and 55-210mm for a lightweight travel package that’s ready for every situation.
Shooting with the 30mm for the first time was a bit of a mixed bag. The lack of in-lens image stabilization is noticable and I found the manual focus very slow and quite uncomfortable. Looking at the zoomed-in pictures in camera, I was quite disappointed, but it turns out the image quality is better than I initially thought, so I don’t regret the purchase.
However, I’m not sure whether I will keep the 30mm or replace it with a fast manual 35mm because I’m having lots of fun with the manual Zonlai 22mm F1.8. We’ll see.
I have switched camera systems (from Sony A-mount to E-mount) and my new macro lens, the 90mm 2.8 OSS, arrived today. I took it out during my daily “exercise” and immediately came across a caterpillar posing for me.
The lens is absolutely lovely. I never really took my old Minolta 100mm macro out because I felt I could never get a sharp image handheld, despite the A77’s built in stabilizer. It seems the combined effect of the lens’s and the A6500’s stabilizers really makes a difference.
1. The Police – Don’t Stand So Close To Me
2. Alanis Morissette – Hands Clean
3. Garbage – The Trick Is To Keep Breathing
4. R.E.M. – It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
5. Dan Wilson – Breathless
6. Billy Idol – Dancing With Myself
7. Bleachers – I Wanna Get Better
8. Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime
9. Eric Carmen – All By Myself
10. Bette Midler – From A Distance