(Make Me A) TRISTE© Mixtape Episode 186: Alpaca Sports

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Alpaca Sports (@Jonas Borjesson)

Alpaca Sports is a Swedish indie pop band founded in Gothenburg (SE) in 2011 by Andreas Jonsson, Amanda Åkerman and Carl Jirestedt. Their music has a cheerful yet bittersweet vibe, with catchy melodies and romantic lyrics. Influenced by twee pop and C86, they’ve released a couple of EPs and two albums: Sealed with a Kiss in 2014, through Dufflecoat Records, and From Paris With Love in 2018, on Spanish label Elefant Records, and have gradually gained a lot of fans around the world. Portland, Oregon (US) based multi-instrumentalist Lisle Mitnik (Fireflies, Tiny Fireflies, Very Truly Yours) joined Alpaca Sports in 2014 for the release of the mini album When You Need Me The Most (their first release with the Spanish record label Elefant Records,) and has since then been writing the songs together with Andreas. The group has toured worldwide, including shows in New York, London, Paris, and Madrid, been on two tours of Japan, and played several popfests around the world. Now they’re back with their third album, Another Day, once again produced by Ian Catt (Saint Etienne, The Field Mice, Trembling Blue Stars) and released by Elefant. The album’s ten songs celebrate the hazy spaces and golden hours when the day turns into night, when summer becomes fall, and all the other in-betweens in our lives that are full of fears, doubts, hopes and dreams.

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Le firme di TRISTE©: il 2024 di Francesco Giordani

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Francesco Giordani per TRISTE©

Mentre tutti ci interroghiamo su quale possa essere oggigiorno il senso di compilare una classifica delle migliori pubblicazioni musicali dell’anno -lo avete notato? Mai come oggi abbiamo la sensazione di ascoltare tantissima musica, mai come oggi abbiamo la sensazione di non riuscire ad ascoltare tutta la musica che vorremmo…- non avendo in tasca risposte particolarmente brillanti alla pur legittima domanda, mi limito a segnalare gli album che, fra le “novità”, più ho ascoltato con sincera emozione nel corso dell’ultimo anno e ai quali si legherà la gran parte dei miei ricordi datati 2024.

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Le firme di TRISTE©: Francesco Amoroso racconta il (suo) 2024

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Francesco Amoroso per TRISTE©

In this long (and frankly, somewhat pointless) list of the 100 albums that shaped my musical 2024, you’ll find albums that I truly appreciated, albums I think are important, albums I loved, and those that moved me to tears.
I don’t believe this list holds any critical value, and I’m sure there are many more albums that could have made the cut (I listened to nearly a thousand records in 2024).
While I remain convinced that rankings are ultimately a waste of time in the realm of art, I still present mine every year, hoping that someone might discover (or rediscover, or re-evaluate) an album through it.
I apologize to all English speakers for my broken English, but as for the content of these writings, it comes straight from the heart (even if I fear this isn’t quite justification enough on its own).

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Bananagun – Why Is the Colour of the Sky?

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Francesco giordani per TRISTE©

Il notevole videoclip di Mind’s A Lie dei londinesi High Vis pare a tratti raccontare il sequel  delle imprese del giovanissimo protagonista di un altro videoclip, ovvero This Can’t Go On di Bill Ryder-Jones, che tanto avevamo amato nei primi mesi di quest’anno. Nella staffetta tra il primo e il secondo tempo del racconto, esaurita la spinta idealistica della prima giovinezza, l’ex adolescente ormai adulto continua la sua folle corsa a testa bassa, che appare improvvisamente come priva di una meta, più simile allo sbattere d’ali di un uccello in gabbia o allo smanacciare di un pugile che prende a pugni la sua ombra, tenuto in vita solo dal vibrare della propria rabbia.

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(Make Me A) TRISTE© Mixtape Episode 185: Trust Fund

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Trust Fund (©James Hankins)

Trust Fund is the musical project of singer-songwriter Ellis Jones. The band, which featured a rotating lineup of musicians, self-released an EP titled I’ve Been Ages in 2012, followed, one year later, by a second, Don’t Let Them Begin, and a split EP with the Welsh band Joanna Gruesome in 2014. In early 2015, Trust Fund signed to Turnstile Records for the release of the first full-length album, No One’s Coming for Us, and in the autumn of the same year, the second album, Seems Unfair, followed on the same label. After moving from Bristol to Leeds, a third album, We Have Always Lived in the Harolds, was released in June 2016 without a record label. The title is a reference to Shirley Jackson’s 1962 novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle. In July 2018, Trust Fund released their fourth full-length album, Bringing the Backline, which was intended to be their last and coincided with the decision to disband. It was only in March 2022, that Jones decided to go back to the Trust Fund name and began releasing new singles. On November 1st 2024, Trust Fund released a new album, the fifth, Has It Been a While, recorded in Sheffield by producer and close friend Joe Mackenzie Todd, via Tapete Records. On Has It Been A While? Jones strips his songs down to classical guitar and vocals, supported by captivating string quartet arrangements provided by Maria Grig.

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