GBG Belongs To Us (A Love Letter In 3 Parts)

There's a quote saying "a city is not just a home, it's a lifelong companion". And then comes the epic love letter in 3 parts to their hometown Gothenburg. One part is their own personalized guide to the city. The second, a new glorious song, free to download. And the third one is a gorgeous teaser video. I just have to add that all this comes from my favourites Air France and you'll know why the day suddenly got so much better:

gbg belongs to us (a love letter in 3 parts)

Best Of 2008: Top 35 songs

2008 had a lot of songs to remember, so much so that I expanded this list to 35 entries and still had to leave out many other great ones. Each song comes with a stream, or when not possible, with an external link where you can hear it. Ready? Enjoy...

35. Grace Jones - Corporate Cannibal






34. Guillemots - Get Over It



(audio)


33. The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition






32. Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake - 4 Minutes






31. Boy Crisis - Dressed To Digress






30. Grammatics - The Vague Archive



(video)


29. Goldfrapp - A&E



(video)


28. Mystery Jets - Two Doors Down



(audio)


27. Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream






26. Britney Spears - If U Seek Amy



(audio)


25. The Tough Alliance - Lucky






24. Pictureplane - Flashion (You Designed My Mind)






23. Deerhunter - Little Kids



(audio)


22. Kleerup feat. Lykke Li - Until We Bleed






21. Kanye West - Love Lockdown






20. Cut Copy - So Haunted



(audio)


19. Lil Wayne - A Milli






18. The Pan I Am - Young God / Bad Thing






17. Kanye West - RoboCop






16. Los Campesinos! - Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks

15. Frankmusik - Done Done






14. Little Boots - Stuck On Repeat






13. Dan Black - HYPNTZ



(video)


12. Passion Pit - Sleepyhead






11. Pacific! - Sunset Blvd



(audio)


10. The Honeydrips - Trying Something New






9. MGMT - Kids






8. Matt & Kim - Daylight






7. Britney Spears - Amnesia






6. frYars - Benedict Arnold



(audio)


5. Usher feat. Young Jeezy - Love In This Club






4. Friendly Fires - Paris (Aeroplane Remix)






3. MGMT - Time To Pretend



Generational anthems don't come that often, but "Time To Pretend" had it all and even made it look like doing one was the simplest thing in the world, from the most amazing synth line ever to the inspirational lyrics so easy to relate to. Celebratory? Yes, but with two sides of the same coin: "I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw, I'm in the prime of my life"..."I'll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone."




2. Air France - Collapsing At Your Doorstep



We all know by now that the Swedes are the best in making luminous pop music. But this? This piece of aural fantasy not only beat real sunshine at its game but it was even able to transport us to the most amazing places. The best to do was just to let ourselves go while the song's lyrics translated our thoughts: "This place is amazing"..."Sort of like a dream? No. Better."




1. Bag Raiders - Shooting Stars



What can I say? I'm a sucker for songs based upon involving keyboards and delayed gratification, something this one does so perfectly that it really seems like, hum, riding a shooting star. And nothing beats the feeling of euphoria induced when the best chorus of the year finally kicks in at more than two thirds into the song. "I'm in love with a shooting star, but she moves so fast, when she falls here, I'll be waiting."

Air France - Collapsing At Your Doorstep (video)

Swedish label Sincerely Yours latest output is this video for the better-than-wonderful "Collapsing At Your Doorstep", one of the best songs of the year so far. I've already written more than a few superlatives over Air France's latest EP here, so this time just enjoy it with some idyllic windmill images (apparently filmed by none other than Eric Berglund from label mates The Tough Alliance). Really, with a song like this, it's easy to say: "This place is amazing..."

MySpace page

Air France - No Way Down EP

Slowly but surely, Gothenburg-based Sincerely Yours is becoming one of the most interesting music labels out there. A small independent structure created by the one-and-only The Tough Alliance almost 3 years ago, this has been home for some great projects like The Honeydrips, Jonas Game, Joel Alme, Skimret or Air France, besides of course the always-too-good TTA themselves, with a very intriguing catalogue that is worth exploring in its own entirety (you can do it here). One of its latest releases is this second EP from Air France, and the least we can say is that it lives up to Sincerely Yours very own spirit (creating art in general and music in particular as the ultimate form of evasion and escapism) and even manages to improve it, if that could ever be possible. A collection of 6 songs clocking in at 23 bright-sunny minutes, "No Way Down" uses traces of tropical and Balearic elements and inserts a whole lot of fantasy and sincere joy to create a new world of dazzling beauty. Full of affecting moments, gorgeous sounds and elegant catchy grooves, what then takes everything apart is the feeling of innocent fun that is all over the place, increasing even more the intensity felt in here. Make no mistake, these guys really had no shame in imagining an idyllic paradise very far from reality, making music that could be its aural translation: out-of-this-world. Or, as the lyrics to "Collapsing At Your Doorstep" go: “Sorta like a dream? No — better.” (9,5/10)

MySpace page