Photo by Flickr user liz west (Creative Commons).

For some years now, I have made these monthly summaries of what I really, really liked that month.
Here is my summary of the releases I loved the most in OCTOBER.

This month have been really awful for me personally, and I have been sick the entire month. This Best of-list has suffered a bit because of that
. I had to reduce the descriptions to mostly short genre descriptions, and not proper reviews. Hope it works well anyway.

The list is in no particular order, but the ones I loved the most are marked with a red ||.

A Spotify playlist with songs from this list can be found below or via this link.
Did you miss the other posts in this series? Click the link to view them. 

SINGLES I LOVED THIS MONTH

Jouska

From the singles this month, I especially liked the new songs from:

Jouska – “Time will show”  Electronic pop from Norway, full of charm, creative, interesting elements and beautiful vocals. I am in love with this song. (Spotify)

Wanpaku Graffiti – “Shake your ghost/Devil World!!!”  Rough, fuzzy garagy pop from Garry Hoggan’s (The Color Waves/All My Friends) new side project. Both songs are amazing. (Spotify)

Gulp – “Morning Velvet Sky” Futuristic, dreamy synth pop. (Spotify)

Say Sue Me – “Good for a reason”  This upbeat and catchy indiepop song is not easy to get out of your head. It’s too lovely to let go of. (Spotify)

The Just Joans – “Biblically speaking”   I just love The Just Joans’ melodies and lyrics, and this indiepop song is great. Can’t wait to hear the new album. (Spotify)

You will find even more of my other favourite singles in the Spotify list.

ALBUMS I LOVED THIS MONTH

Girl K

Girl K – Sunflower Court || Melancholic, charming, bedroomy indiepop. Sometimes a bit Alvvays’y? One of my absolute favourite albums this month. (Spotify)

Cults – Offering || Lush, bright, big-sounding, highly melodic pop.  (Spotify)

The Legendary House Cats – Greatest blips, vol.1 || Dreamy, electronic-based pop from former Aberdeen member John Girgus. Lovely melodies and warm sounds. Great blips, indeed.(Spotify)

Makthaverskan – III || Rough, catchy Swedish indiepop with a touch of post-punk and really strong vocals. Brilliant all the way through.  (Spotify)

(more releases after the photo)

Sound of Ceres (photo by chad stockfleth)

Sound of Ceres – The twin || Spacey, dreamy, electronic pop. Somewhat similar to Broadcast and Cocteau Twins. The band includes members of Candy Claws, The Drums and The Apples in Stereo. (Spotify)

Alex Lahey – I love you like a brother || Super-catchy, fuzzy indie. (Spotify)

My Sad Captains – Sun Bridge || Folky indie with lovely melodies.  (Spotify)

Yumi Zouma – Willowbank || Peaceful, airy pop.  (Spotify)

Who is She? – Seattle gossip || Members of Tacocat, Chastity Belt, and Lisa Prank. Punky pop.  (Spotify)

(more releases after the photo)

Half Forward Line (Photo by Keef Wallace)

Half Forward Line – The back of mass || Jangly, refreshing indiepop. Lovely, lovely melodies and lyrics.  (Spotify)

Pale Honey – Devotion || Cool, powerful pop from Sweden. Not too far from The XX in sound, but with more fuzz and rougher guitars. (Spotify)

Lost Film – Broken spectres || Warm, melodic, soft-voiced and interesting indiepop. (Spotify)

Arts & Leisure – Rescued objects || I am so happy that they rescued these objects. Great to have one of my favourite bands back again. A really good album, – again. Indiepop/powerpop.  (Spotify)

(more releases after the photo)

S L Y C (Photo by Sissyfus)

S.L.Y.C. – Say, the illocuted way || Lovely, dreamy, kind of Stereolab/Broadcast-sounding experimental pop. One of the albums I have listened the most to this month. Perfect. (Spotify)

Last Leaves – Other towns than ours || 3/4 of The Lucksmiths. I miss the last 1/4. (Spotify)

The Luxembourg Signal – Blue field || Catchy, classic indiepop. Great songs! (Spotify)

Charles Howl – My idol family || Slightly psychedelic pop album from Proper Ornament’s bassist.  (Spotify)

(more releases after the photo)

Marble Season

Marble Season – Childhood, Death and Existential Dread || The title sounds depressing, and sometimes the lyrics are pretty dark, but the Liverpool-duo’s music is not of the kind that makes you sad. Lovely melodies and lyrics. Style? Not sure, really. Indiepop? Bedroom electro-pop? Chamber-pop? Twee-pop? Something inbetween that, I guess. (Spotify)

Strange Hellos – Chromatic || Melodic dreampop from Norway. Some real gems on this one. (Spotify)

Slaughter Beach, Dog – Birdie || Indie with a flavour of rough folk. (Spotify)

Jake Bellissimo – The good we’ve sewn || Very nice orchestrated indiepop from Rochester, New York. Reminds of Belle and Sebastian or Jens Lekman. (Spotify)

EPs I LOVED THIS MONTH

Halo Maud

Halo Maud – Du pouvoir || Melody’s Echo Chamber’s guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Maud Nadal. Slightly psychedelic and dreamy French pop.   (Spotify)

Surf rock is dead – We have no friends? EP || surfy dreampop. (Spotify)

Verandan – Verandan || New band from members of Cats on Fire and The New Tigers. Warm indiepop, (Spotify)

Miss World – Waist management EP || Catchy, rough garage-pop with sarcastic lyrics. (Spotify)

COMPILATIONS I LOVED THIS MONTH

There’s a fine 30 year retrospective compilation of the music of Sarah Records’ band The Orchids out now.

The 30 tracks compilation “7 inches for Planned Parenthood” includes both musicians and comedians (among others there are great songs from Sharon Van Etten, Mitski and Chvrches). It’s released for a very good cause, so play it on repeat, or buy the box-set/donate on their website

.

There is also an interesting DIY compilation called “No such thing as too old! A cute compilation!” featuring great songs from bands like Trust Fund, Squirrel Flower, Boosegumps and more. It’s released by the label It Takes Time Records.

Listen to songs from this list on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/user/eardrumspop/playlist/5qlcqUJ1ooS79CBo3gMFFK