Kentuckyseven

1. Jason Isbell ­­– Southeastern (2013)

Kentuckysevens definitiva soundtrack till 10-talet. Jason Isbell från Green Hill, Alabama, grävde djupt och golvade oss. Öppningsspåret ”Cover Me Up” sätter tonen till ett album som spränger alla gränser, ny dynamit i varje text och i varje låt. Känslorna svallar över – tack för allt, Jason.

2. The Head and The Heart – The Head and The Heart (2011)

Bandet som levde upp till sin hype, som tog över livescener runtom i US och Europa. Kentuckyseven lyckades fånga dem på Pustervik, och knäcktes fullständigt. Stämmorna och instrumenten på deras album låter som man inte trodde var möjligt längre. Ett folksound som vi älskar fortfarande.

3. City and Colour – Little Hell (2011)

Det finns skivor som man spelar sönder, sen finns det skivor man spelar om och om igen, men aldrig tröttnar på. Dallas Green skapade City and Colour, sen skapade han Little Hell. Skivan tar med oss på en musikalisk resa som man aldrig vill komma tillbaka från. Vi är kvar på resan fortfarande in i nästa decennium.

4. Chris Stapleton – Traveller (2015)

Musik från the Heartland som knäcker alla grenar på sin spikraka väg upp mot toppen. Chris Stapleton från Lexington, Kentucky, har rösten som får alla andra att darra. Vi har lyssnat sönder ”Traveller” och har inga planer på att ändra beteende. Ett sound och ett skägg att leva för.

5. John Grant – Queen of Denmark (2010)

Att göra ett personligt album där man lämnar ut allt, vrider ur känslorna som nytvättade kläder och låter dem skölja över lyssnaren, det är inte för alla. John Grant, som var på botten av sitt liv, skapade detta magiska album tillsammans med medlemmar ur Midlake. Resultatet är magiskt. Själarenande och känslostarkt. Odödligt är ordet.

6. The Black Keys – Brothers (2010)

De svarta tangenterna från Akron, Ohio, har i två decennier gjort mäktig, svettig, massiv bluesrock som ingen annan. På ”Brothers” föll allt på plats. Lyssna på ”Tighten Up” eller ”Howlin’ For You” och försök att sitta still: mission impossible. Riff på riff som svänger sjukt så sjukt.

7. Tyler Childers – Purgatory (2017)

Mannen från Paintsville, Kentucky, gjorde den perfekta country/bluegrass/folk/americana-plattan när debutvaxet föll hårt på världen 2017. Producerad av Sturgill Simpson där Childers röst erövrar varje textrad. Lyssna på avslutande ”Lady May” och låt dig monteras ner. Autentiskt som Appalacherna.

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••• Decenniets 7 bubblare:

John Moreland – In The Throes (2013)

Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues (2011)

Deer Tick – The Black Dirt Sessions (2010)

Sarah Klang – Love In The Milky Way (2018)

Håkan Hellström – 2 steg från Paradise (2010)

The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream (2014)

Sturgill Simpson – A sailors guide to Earth (2016)

And: it begins! The valley of our dreams, the woods of the castle, the rhythm of our hearts. The festival of our home town.

• THE WAR ON DRUGS

• 6/7 Kentuckyseven’s

Photo: Jonas Löfvendahl

Adam Granduciel is a hero. Together with Kurt Vile he started The War On Drugs and he’s still here on stage swinging. It’s all very Dylanesque, the throw-out-songstyle, and still very much his own thing. In one word: space. They fill a room, and certainly the entire Slottsskogen with swift greatness. It’s music no one can really tag or understand, it’s plain War On Drugs. The drummer, the saxophone, The Grand Parade. Great gig!

• BECK

• 4/7 Kentuckyseven´s

Photo: Jonas Löfvendahl

Becks first gig in Sweden in 14 years. Well almost, anyway. He played Pustervik yesterday in a bad-PR-stunt that backlashed on the Way Out West-crew. Not Becks fault. Now he’s here and starts off with a messy Devils Haircut and then dives into Loser and then rolles the surf-pop-vibe all over the big crowd. Didn´t get me going, but Beck worked hard and played hard.

FKA TWIGS

5/7 Kentuckyseven’s

Photo: Jonas Löfvendahl

Tahliah Debrett Barnett is an English superwomen with the alternative soul-corner all messed up. The tent of Linné is jammed with rowdy people and when FKA TWIGS (signed to Young Turks) gets started the hurricane arrives. This is star material, no doubt. She dances heavily to the electronica, it’s part The XX and part Massive Attack. But the best part tonite is the audience, on red alert: an impressive following!

• We head on with cruel, beautiful, nervy, wonderful, Swedish, Americana music. The Tarantula Waltz is fronted by Stockholmbased singer-songwriter Markus Svensson who played with badass greatness´ as The War on Drugs and First Aid Kit.

Later this year Tarantula will announce their second album, produced by The Tallest Man On Earth aka Kristian Matsson himself. Check out song 17 – ”I wish I was wiser when I was seventeeeeen…” – from the album Tinder Stick Neck.

1. Joe Purdy – Eagle Rock Fire

• Joe Purdy made the best album of 2014, no doubt in our mind. His talking blues wanders the tender streets of Townes van Zandt, Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson. The LA-mans 12th album over 8 years shows he’s on top of his game. Listening to this record, we remember what music is all about; why Kentuckyseven is still around. A humbling experience – thanks Joe.

2. Broken Twin – May

• Sometimes music gets deep under your skin, into your gut. Broken Twin, the wonderful Danish 25 year-old songwriter Majke Voss Romme, does exactly that. It’s a lo-fi wholeness, an important piece of haunting art, back to basics. A divine debut record to really care about.

3. Gary Clark JR – Live

• This blues rocking Texas guitar man got the balls to release a double disc live album. And man, he delivers. 15 songs that create a six-string thunder, a raw edged monster of a record. Gary Clark Jr is building his house brick by brick as a modern day travelling blues man. We’re forever in his yard.

4. Eli Rhodes – Running Out Of Jesus

• Nashville-singer/songwriter Eli Rhodes debut EP had us from the get-go. Five songs that are easy-going yet troublesome, tales that sum up the emotions of a young man. He got the swift air of greatness about him, a clean-cut record that made our everyday life a bit more wonderful.

5. Horse Thief – Fear in Bliss

The Oklahoma band that totally swept us of our feet this year. The album Fear in Bliss was released in April and has been spinning ever since. This is the sound that will keep us listening to music. There is hope for the future. For all lovers of Band of Horses, The Magic Numbers or My Morning Jacket… This is for you. This is the next generation.

6. I’m Kingfisher – Avian

Thomas Johnsson, the Swedish genius that released one of 2010’s absolute greatest album came back with nothing less than a masterpiece, once again. The Swedish melancholy mixed with tunes that are so in tune with the now that it is almost frightening. And mr Johnsson’s voice is probably the only one that can accompany that. An album that only needs a larger audience.

7. Strand of Oaks – Heal

Just when you thought that you found the cure. This album came back with an itch. I love the way it keeps changing and growing. Synthezisers join classic guitars, and everything just blends in a magical harmony. Timothy Showalter has created something that leaves no one unaffected. This year we really felt the love. And we will go on loving.

#CloseCalls – 7 Great Albums We Also Absolutely Adored 2014

• Noah Gundersen – Ledges

• Jamestown Revival – Utah

• Josh Nolan – Fair City Lights

• The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream

• Hurray for the Riff Raff – Small Town Heroes

• Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

• Ryan Adams – Ryan Adams

• Timothy Showalter makes his Strand of Oaks twirl our world around. Huge music for huge emotions. If you dig Phosphorescent, My Morning Jacket, The War on Drugs – you’ll dig this.

Check out devestating song JM from 2014-album Heal out on Dead Oceans.