Don't Die Wondering.

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[dontdiewonderingmusic]

Favourite Songs 2016

Adult Jazz - Ooh Ah Eh

Amrit - Mouth

Cassius - Blue Jean Smile feat. John Gourlay

Cassius - Blue Jean Smile (feat. John Gourley) (Ibifornia Album) (2016)

Daniel Woolhouse - Soup For Brains

DJ Sotofett - Current 82

Ersatz - Warning!

Flume - Never Be Like You feat. Kai

Let's Eat Grandma - Deep Six Textbook

Kanye West - Real Friends

Kehlani - CRZY

Mocky - Soulful Beat (Mr Oizo Remix)

NDF - Another Year

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - I Need You

Rae Srummurd - Black Beatles feat. Gucci Mane

The Blaze - Virile

The Garden - Call This # Now

The Maghreban - Brooklyn

The Rhythm Method - Party Politics

Whitney - Golden Days

Yves Tumor - The Feeling When You Walk Away

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21 Favourite Tracks 2015

Ladies and gentlemen, the fidgety arms of the clock have suffered long enough: it’s time to count down the Don’t Die Wondering 20 favourite tracks of the year, in alphabetical order.

What’s changed since we were last here? Russia annexed part of the Ukraine, the ancient sites of Nimrud, Hatra and Dur-Sharrukin are a thing of the past, a defiant ISIS instilled an existential crisis at the heart of western psyche. The worst refugee crisis since WW2 challenged European notions of identity, sovereignty and solidarity. The economy dipped - then plateaued - then reared its mongrel head again. Grexit almost happened, and Brexit went from bro-con fantasy to a tangible possibility. The interminable cancer found yet another back door into our day to day decision making via the supermarket meat aisle. A risible real estate mogul went from political punch line to formidable presidential candidate. The Pope released an album. El Niño raged in the Pacific. Mother’s Day was beset by freaky Tropical Storm Ana in what is likely to be the hottest year on record, and in Wimmera, Australia, the harvest season made its earliest arrival to the Byrons’ doorstep in four generations.

I know what you’re thinking - this guy is stalling for time. And you’d be 100% on the money. No one exists in a vacuum. This site needs traffic like an asthmatic person an inhaler, and these session times, click-throughs and engagements aren’t going to generate themselves. This is a full time position I’m holding down here, believe it or not.

In the comments section please write what is the most significant thing that has changed in YOU this year as well as your favourite song from the list below.

Anna B Savage - I

Club Cheval - Discipline

Galantis - Peanut Butter Jelly

Jack Ü - Where Are Ü Now

Jam City - Today

Jenny Hval - Take Care Of Yourself

Kablam - PRIÈRE

Kamixlo - Contigo

N/A

King Chip - BLK On BLK

Mocky - Late Night Interlude

Natalie Prass - My Baby Don’t Understand Me

Nick Höppner - Mirror Image

OMI - Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix)

PNL - Je Vis, Je Visser

Reckonwrong - Tucked Away

Róisín Murphy - Uninvited Guest

Sporting Life - Badd

Sun An - Feeling

The Weeknd - The Hills

TIEKS - Sunshine

Westkust - Jonna

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20 Favourite Tracks 2014

Ashanti feat. Rick Ross - I Got It

Beyonce - Haunted

Dean Blunt - Forever

Deptford Goth - Two Hearts

Hannah Diamond - Pink And Blue

How To Dress Well - Repeat Pleasure (A. G. Cook Remix)

I Love Makkonen - Too Much

Lana Del Ray - Shades Of Cool

Late Ride - Touch

Leon Vynehall - Butterflies

Perfume Genius - Queen

Roman Flugel - We Have A Nice Life

Rahel - Serve

Ryn Weaver - OctaHate

Say Lou Lou - Games For Girls (Alex Metric Remix)

Sean Nicholas Savage - Darkness

Sinkane - Mean Love

The Rosebuds – Sand + Silence

Tinashe - 2 On

Vessel – Red Sex

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20 Favourite Tracks Of 2013

In alphabetical order:

Arca - &&&&& Mixtape

Banks - Change

Benoit & Sergio - Shake Shake

Gesaffelstein - Pursuit 

Gesaffelstein - Pursuit (official video) from Parlophone France on Vimeo.

GFOTY - Bobby

Jessy Lanza - Keep Moving

Julianna Barwick - Forever

Kanye West - Bound 2

Kingdom - Bank Head (feat. Kelela)

Lorde - A World Alone

Maya Jane Coles - Burning Bright (feat. Kim Ann Foxman)

MGUN - Jijijijij$ijijijiji [Don't Be Afraid]

Miley Cyrus - Adore You

Nick Cave - We No Who U R

Rudimental - Spoons (feat. MNEK & Syron)

Sophie - Nothing More To Say / EEEHHH

The Juan Maclean - You Are My Destiny

Todd Terje - Q

Tree - Hurt (feat. Teddie Caine) 

Tropic Of Cancer - Children Of A Lesser God

[dontdiewonderingmusic]

22 Favorite Tracks 2012

In alphabetical order...

Actress - Raven

AlunaGeorge - Just A Touch

Andy Stott - Luxury Problems

Ariel Pink - Baby

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Baby" from I.J. on Vimeo.

Brackles - Never Coming Down

C4 - Off Track

Citizen - Room Service

Darling Farah - Body (Jimmy Edgar Remix)

Deptford Goth - Life After Defo

Disclosure - Latch

Ellie Goulding - Anything Could Happen

Frank Ocean - Forrest Gump

Girl Unit - Ensemble (Club Mix)

Jam City - Strawberries

Jeremih - Rosa Acosta

Kuedo - Live, Work & Sleep In A Collapsing Space (Laurel Halo Remix)

Miguel - Do You...

Mac Demarco - Ode To Viceroy

Nicki Minaj feat. Cassie - The Boys

Sky Ferreira - Everything Is Embarrasing

Tree - Die

Vessel - Lache

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Ake Djassen

six cups white vinegar

a bit of the eggplant frying oil

salt, pepper + 1/2 tbsp sugar

for two large eggplants

six minced garlic teeth

argh...

Ake Djaseen - Fortune

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Empress Of

Empress Of - 2

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Unknown

Unknown - Seeing Double

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Deptford Goth

❤

Deptford Goth - Life After Defo

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SOHN

Emanating from some point between Vienna and London, fifteen seconds of stuttering electronic percussion introduce Oscillate by SOHN, when it proceeds to do exactly that: undulating seductively with slow-mo, r&b flavored arpeggios, bubbly percussion and Grand Canyon-deep pads that sway as one in calm, natural rhythm, a distantly lamenting melody delivered by a stirring, ghostly voice.

SOHN - Oscillate 

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Tree

Tree - Bold Nigga 

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Fishing For Crabs

Fishing For Crabs is the work of 19 year old, Doncaster-based Lewis Murray, who's glacial, hideaway bedroom transmission of the slightly Ashes To Ashes-esque Feels Right we featured here the other day. His songs under Fishing For Crabs are more direct and take focus on skipping acoustic guitars, watery pianos and silky harmonies with certain Alt-J reminiscent intonations, while retaining the certain sense of gentle wonder and pale melancholy of that aforementioned track.

Fishing For Crabs - Falling Down A Hole

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Devoted Friend

Hide And Seek by Manchester's Devoted Friend shuffles along pleasantly with wall-to-wall carpeted chords until coming to a halt, only to unexpectedly reactivate into a coda suffusing the passion of the Goo Goo Dolls soundtracking a million teenage girls shattered romantic dreams and the disorderly incense of a small rooms walls narrowing to the point of bone break. And you think that description sounds a bit rich and over the top? Well well, just you wait and see what is lined up for the next installment of Don't Die Wondering ®.

Devoted Friend - Hide And Seek 

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Lewis Murray

Everything in the room is ostensibly in its normal place, but the undeniable touch of a foreign hand is present in it: the notepad for quick scribbles that is a permanent fixture of your small bedside table is set at a jerkily unfamiliar angle, a drawer hangs limply ajar, and there is a mildly dusty footprint of a strange shoe just underneath the overhead window. There is a hint of a scent in a room. You imagine it to be the scent of clothing, a cheap nylon tracksuit, perhaps, meshed with a smoked cigarette on the way and the cold wind blowing outside. Not your own scent, anyway. That recently mentioned overhead window, incidentally, is closed, but only on the face of it, as closer inspection reveals it hadn't been properly latched to its bolt. Not in a million years would you have left the room to go to work leaving such unfinished anomalies in it. Moreover, your desktop computer that sits under the desk is no longer there, as is your passport and hi-fi sound system. The television, DVD player, and Xbox, however, are exactly where you left them and appear untouched. Flicking your eyes across the room, you notice that the Rothko replica on the wall hangs crooked. You go to adjust it's angle, only to find your feet encountering a sock that lies lifelessly on the ground. Unlikely. Your eyes follow the assumed falling trajectory from which the sock came from to find the dresser, which shows signs that it has obviously been trifled through. You rummage through it. Your father's old watch, given to him as a retirement gift from the security firm where he had toiled for 15 years, is missing, and the cabinets are in a state of utter disarray. Will there be no end to these unpleasant discoveries? 

By the seventh time you rise from your bed that night to reorganize the placement of a book, push in a chair, or adjust the angle of any object that may or may not have been tampered with, or equally might have been left that way by yourself and now just appears to have attained a queer posture - you sit down and pour yourself a glass of water. These never-ending imperfections to what was a perfectly orderly room, and for what? For a three year-old IBM computer that was verging on theobsolete at the time of purchase and takes five minutes to start up? Surely the brand new Xbox is worth more. For a mid-price, leather-strap watch whose sole possible value in this world was emotional and evident to yourself and yourself alone?  No doubt the digital camera can be sold for infinitely more. The hi-fi system you can understand, it was quite expensive. You have no doubt been visited by a very curios burglar, and infuriatingly so.

Lewis Murray - Feels Right

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Sophie

I recently saw Sophie play live and while general opinion seemed divided I personally really loved it. Each to his own I guess!

Sophie - OOH (Preview)

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Bernard + Edith

Been enjoying the quietly brooding songs + sullen campfire atmospherics of Manchester 1+1 piece Greta Edith Butler Carroll + Nicholas Bernard Delap that make up Bernard + Edith having come across their music on Lost Lost Lost a little while ago. Check out their EP on bandcamp ! Replenish that half-empty glass of yours with more drink !

Wurds:

"how a poppy grows in a wild bush 

where a fire fly makes the beetle blush  were the flowers grow  the wolfs roam  were a cub kills amongst the pine trees  and the shadow grows of a lone wolf  were the moon rains  the wolfs adhere"

<a href="http://bernardedith.bandcamp.com/track/wurds" data-mce-href="http://bernardedith.bandcamp.com/track/wurds">Wurds by Bernard+Edith</a>

[dontdiewonderingmusic]

Tmmrw

Tmrrw - Ocean