Some Albums For However You May Be Feeling....

Stuck in a musical rut? Even the most musically minded of us sometimes feel like they've run out of stuff to listen to, and perhaps them even more so than others, with that in mind, I've selected some aural delights for you - tailored to the mood you might be in, and maybe even something you've not given a proper listen to before.

 

Now, this list is only six albums long, but I'm not suggesting that you've only got six possible options to feel. Well, you might do. It's not really any of my business. No, instead I've picked eight albums that have a tangible thematic link within them, so that rather than the perfect tear-jerker ending, and your ears being filled with major chords and tambourines, you can finish your weeping in peace. The same applies to other emotions obviously, but I'm assuming you're all the types that will empathise with misery more than anything else.

Everything's Getting Older - Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat

Joyous to melancholic:

As the title may suggest, this one is in part for those evenings sat at home (alone), with a glass of something, while you ponder on how "there's at least a hundred billion galaxies with a hundred billion stars, and every single one could be a sun just like ours...all life is finite, so use your time wisely" (as heard on 'The Greatest Story Ever Told'). However it's also got some truly beautiful and joyous moments, 'Tasogere' and 'Let's Stop Here' (mentioned as one, because of how closely they fit) are equal-parts euphoric and heart-wrenching.

Allo Darlin' - Allo Darlin' 

Not alone:

This one's for holding hands, smiling and wearing nice jumpers to. Seriously, it's almost unbearably cute, it teeters on the nauseatingly adorable, but tracks like 'Heartbeat Chilli' and 'Let's Go Swimming' just about brings things back, and you can almost hear the Polaroid sunsets, but maybe steer clear if you're feeling a little lonely.

Crystal Fighters - Star Of Love

Like dancing: 

There's dark, thudding bass on 'Solar System', as well as crashing drums and almost unbearably joyous choruses on 'At Home', all of which will make it nigh on impossible to listen to and stay still.

Picastro - Whore Luck 

Sleepy and a little sad:

Sinister, dark and eerie at times, this could also have fitted nicely into a wintry playlist, but with the lurching violin, on tracks like 'Hortur', and Liz Hysen's soft but cutting vocals, it's marked out as more than just your average morose listen. 

Death From Above 1979 - You're A Woman, I'm A Machine

Angry: 

Normally, a bad mood means Mclusky or Bikini Kill for me, but I decided to go with this DFA1979 record, because it's cleaner, catchier and deeply cathartic. 

Sam Cooke - The Best Of Sam Cooke

Everything else:

Whenever I'm unsure about what to put on, I invariably turn to this, and it's also great for background/dancing to when you've got people over - I'm yet to befriend anyone who doesn't enjoy it, even if they've not heard anything from him before. 

 (Look! I’ve put them all in a handy Spotify Playlist for you! Although they don’t have the correct ‘Best Of…’ for Sam Cooke, but the rest are all here)