cimorene

This is kind of a seasonal playlist - my top picks for the past month or so. I always have a seasonal playlist at any given time, but I usually don't like them as much as this, and I even went to a lot of trouble to decide on a track order and everything this time, so I wanted to upload it to excuse part of that labour.

Late spring playlist 2007 [zip, mp3s and m4as, 182mb]

May - Sayonara no hizashi. Japanese. Pop-rock, retro. Mellow.

Utada Hikaru - Flavor of Life. Japanese. Pop-r&b. Upbeat ballad.

The Academy Is... - We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands. Pop-rock. Catchy and quick.

Paperboys - Fall Down With You. Canadian indie Celtic-folk-country-bluegrass-rock. Mellow.

Indica - Ikuinen virta. Finnish. Pop-rock. Upbeat, catchy.

Tatu - Friend or Foe (album version). Pop. Upbeat and kind of... euro/dance music.

Fall Out Boy - A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me. Pop-punk-rock. Very catchy.

Panic! At The Disco - But It's Better If You Do. Pop-rock with various retro swing and honky-tonk influences ("Punk cabaret" is their own term). Swingy and catchy.

Snow - Bleach. Japanese. Pop-rock. Wistful but forceful and insistently catchy.

Lee Hyori - Toc Toc Toc. Korean. R&B. Catchy and kind of, uh, sweaty.

Bloc Party - Blue Light. Rock. Simultaneously mellow and upbeat.

PMMP - Taiteilia. Finnish. Pop-punk-rock. Loud and forceful and dancey.

Kokia - Someday when you love someone (anthem version). Japanese. Pop... I guess? This is a slow, slightly eerie, sweet ballad, gentle and wistful. Beautiful.

Ladytron - Another Breakfast With You. Electronica. Mellow, insofar as danceable electronica can be.

Utada Hikaru - Blue. Japanese. Pop-r&b. An upbeat ballad, with piano.

Zen Café - Piha ilman sadettajaa. Finnish. Pop-rock. Catchy. This song has been stuck in my head for weeks.

Gym Class Heroes featuring Patrick Stump - Cupid's Chokehold. Hip-hop, but melodic, with these really catchy bits of melody.

The Killers - This River Is Wild. Rock. My favourite track from the album - kind of haunting.

Sarah Slean - When Another Midnight. Indie piano-driven Canadian folk rock. This is a fast, slightly sinister-sounding track.

Kokia - Moonlight Shadow. Rock. A simple cover with a lot of voice.

Bennie K - Moonchild. Japanese. Hip-pop. Sweet, infectious Caribbean-, Spanish-, and Latin-influenced female duo who combine rap and singing.

Autumn's Grey Solace - The Unshakable Demon. Eerie, kind of haunting, trancey music. The real name of the genre is apparently "ethereal shoegazer". Huh.

Jorane - dit-elle. French. Classical-influenced, also rather eerie, voice and cello. Catchy, though.

Sugar Soul featuring Kenji - Garden. Japanese. Hip-hop. Kind of slow and mellow, but pretty and catchy. The more I listen, the more I like it.

Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Goin' Down. Pop-punk-rock. Still incredibly catchy.

Bright Eyes - Take It Easy (Love Nothing). Typical Bright Eyes - insistent beat, angsty whiny singing, sort of awesome and hilarious.

The Academy Is... - Slow Down. Pop-rock. A song with a funny balance between slow and fast, driving catchy sections. Also has been stuck in my head for weeks.

Beyoncé featuring Shakira - Beautiful Liar. Pop. Tons of beat, oddly unmelodic, but catchy - typical Beyoncé.

Utada Hikaru - Uso Mitai Na I Love You. Japanese. Pop-r&b. Driving and insistent, mournful (fast) pop ballad. Minor key! My favourite song by her.

Snow - sign. Japanese. Pop-rock. Slightly funky, with a plinky little piano hook going through the entire thing. Catchy.

Arashi - Itsumademo. Japanese. Pop. Upbeat, cheesy, silly, catchy, sweet.

Kent - Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år senare). Swedish. Rock. Mournful and wistful and slow with a very long crescendo. Incredibly evocative. One of my favourite songs.

Bonus track! Utada Hikaru - Flavor of Life -Antidote Mix-. A remix of the second track.

This playlist is slightly less than half in English (8 Japanese, 3 Finnish, 1 each Korean, French and Swedish), so I also uploaded just the English tracks.