Amazon exiles discussion

It's the end of July wand it's the last round of our best of 2024 so far. Have you kept the best till last?

The next FIVE themes are:

Theme 428 - "Read all about it" - song titles which could be a newspaper headline - Tim
Theme 429 - "In The Beginning" - Song titles phrased in the manner of something starting/beginning/commencing and so on - The Duke
Theme 430 - "Like Night and Day" - song titles containing the words "night" or "day" (or both) - Helen
Theme 431 - Kitchen Confidential: songs about cooking, chefs, kitchens. - Grimmy
Theme 432 - "I'll have a vowel please, Carol." - Any song by an artist whose band name or surname begins with a vowel. No Kate Bush, but Tori Amos is ok. No Blur, but Oasis is ok (...no Oasis...) - Sera

and new themes are welcome at:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

#1 - sung by John Grant. Linda's composition, but spasmodic dysphonia makes it impossible for her to sing now.

John Grant - Linda Thompson
L'Enfant De La Lune - Alcest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcZp5...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Mix...

After Tim

John Grant - Linda Thompson
L'Enfant De La Lune - Alcest
Cairo - Feral Family
Blink - Zodiac ft Nathan Nicholson

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mPyW1wX...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QTCLZRh...

NB. The Feral Family song was uploaded onto YouTube a little while ago but is actually on their album, Without Motion, that was released earlier this year.

after Helen

John Grant - Linda Thompson
L'Enfant De La Lune - Alcest
Cairo - Feral Family
Blink - Zodiac ft Nathan Nicholson
Let Me In - Checker Bloom
Get Deep Fried - Jam Mechanics (feat. The Narcissist Cookbook)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6LMK...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfyBJ...

After Sera

John Grant - Linda Thompson
L'Enfant De La Lune - Alcest
Cairo - Feral Family
Blink - Zodiac ft Nathan Nicholson
Let Me In - Checker Bloom
Get Deep Fried - Jam Mechanics (feat. The Narcissist Cookbook)
Heaven - The National
Going To Georgia - Jake Xerxes Fussell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXZj1...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUdxu...

After Val:

John Grant - Linda Thompson
L'Enfant De La Lune - Alcest
Cairo - Feral Family
Blink - Zodiac ft Nathan Nicholson
Let Me In - Checker Bloom
Get Deep Fried - Jam Mechanics (feat. The Narcissist Cookbook)
Heaven - The National
Going To Georgia - Jake Xerxes Fussell
Drive Shaft - Bill Nelson
Angel - NewDad

https://billnelson.bandcamp.com/track...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnZ-3...

I'm pretty sure that NewDad have been nominated for a theme by someone else in the not-to-distant past, but I checked back and couldn't find them, so I hope I haven't used the same track.

Hi Fishy, I nominated this song for the winter cream of 2023.

Mr B nominated his favourite track from this talented Nigerien artist's latest album in round 1; here's mine: a protest song of the country's former colonial rulers. And a track from a another new to me band i found on web:

John Grant - Linda Thompson
L'Enfant De La Lune - Alcest
Cairo - Feral Family
Blink - Zodiac ft Nathan Nicholson
Let Me In - Checker Bloom
Get Deep Fried - Jam Mechanics (feat. The Narcissist Cookbook)
Heaven - The National
Going To Georgia - Jake Xerxes Fussell
Drive Shaft - Bill Nelson
Angel - NewDad
Oh France - Mdou Moctar
Out There - Helado Negro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z67lq...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grRXO...

After theDuke

John Grant - Linda Thompson
L'Enfant De La Lune - Alcest
Cairo - Feral Family
Blink - Zodiac ft Nathan Nicholson
Let Me In - Checker Bloom
Get Deep Fried - Jam Mechanics (feat. The Narcissist Cookbook)
Heaven - The National
Going To Georgia - Jake Xerxes Fussell
Drive Shaft - Bill Nelson
Angel - NewDad
Oh France - Mdou Moctar
Out There - Helado Negro
Plat du Jour - Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard
Brother (feat Dave Gahan) - Humanist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsQlV...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6CLq...

FIVE votes each and here's the playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

Apologies for leaving off the bandcamp track:

https://billnelson.bandcamp.com/track...

...

NewDad - 5
Checker B - 4
Maxwell F - 3
Linda T - 2
Helado N - 1

John Grant - Linda Thompson - 2
L'Enfant De La Lune - Alcest
Cairo - Feral Family
Blink - Zodiac ft Nathan Nicholson
Let Me In - Checker Bloom - 4
Get Deep Fried - Jam Mechanics (feat. The Narcissist Cookbook)
Heaven - The National
Going To Georgia - Jake Xerxes Fussell
Drive Shaft - Bill Nelson
Angel - NewDad - 5
Oh France - Mdou Moctar
Out There - Helado Negro - 1
Plat du Jour - Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard - 3
Brother (feat Dave Gahan) - Humanist

Not to be a dick, but NewDad is from 2023. I nominated it in the Cream of 2023.

After Helen

5 - Mdou Moctar
4 - The National
3 - Feral Family
2 - Alcest
1 - New Dad

John Grant - Linda Thompson - 2
L'Enfant De La Lune - Alcest - 2
Cairo - Feral Family - 3
Blink - Zodiac ft Nathan Nicholson
Let Me In - Checker Bloom - 4
Get Deep Fried - Jam Mechanics (feat. The Narcissist Cookbook)
Heaven - The National - 4
Going To Georgia - Jake Xerxes Fussell
Drive Shaft - Bill Nelson
Angel - NewDad - 6
Oh France - Mdou Moctar - 5
Out There - Helado Negro - 1
Plat du Jour - Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard - 3
Brother (feat Dave Gahan) - Humanist

Re Nick's comment of the NewDad single - it was released as a single in September 2023, however the the album it's on, was released on 26th January, so i think it still counts? But I did check back and i had voted for it in round 3 of the winter rounds. So, I dunno!

Sods law. I checked back all of this year looking as I knew a NewDad track had been nominated at some point, but I didn't check 2023 and I just happened to pick the same one as TheFoe.

Just to be forewarned for the next round, did anyone nominate the band Omni in the last 8 months or so? I don't want to fall into the same trap twice.

Listen, ignore me. I was probably in a shit mood when I posted that. We've accepted songs from albums released in the present year, even if they've come out a year earlier, so let's roll with it.

I don't have any problem. One of the tracks I nominated was released early as a teaser on Bandcamp but the album officially came out in July. It'll all come out in the wash. And who knows, maybe we'll like something more second time of listening.

Apologies to Jim.

I left the Bandcamp link off when I compiled the playlist.

it's here:

https://billnelson.bandcamp.com/track...

after Sera

Mdou Moctar - 5
The National - 4
NewDad - 3
Maxwell Farrington etc - 2
Humanist - 1

John Grant - Linda Thompson - 2
L'Enfant De La Lune - Alcest - 2
Cairo - Feral Family - 3
Blink - Zodiac ft Nathan Nicholson
Let Me In - Checker Bloom - 4
Get Deep Fried - Jam Mechanics (feat. The Narcissist Cookbook)
Heaven - The National - 8
Going To Georgia - Jake Xerxes Fussell
Drive Shaft - Bill Nelson
Angel - NewDad - 9
Oh France - Mdou Moctar - 10
Out There - Helado Negro - 1
Plat du Jour - Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard - 5
Brother (feat Dave Gahan) - Humanist - 1

After Tim

Jam Mechanics - 5
Maxwell Farrington - 4
Checker Bloom - 3
John Grant - 2
Humanist - 1

John Grant - Linda Thompson - 4
L'Enfant De La Lune - Alcest - 2
Cairo - Feral Family - 3
Blink - Zodiac ft Nathan Nicholson
Let Me In - Checker Bloom - 7
Get Deep Fried - Jam Mechanics (feat. The Narcissist Cookbook) - 5
Heaven - The National - 8
Going To Georgia - Jake Xerxes Fussell
Drive Shaft - Bill Nelson
Angel - NewDad - 9
Oh France - Mdou Moctar - 10
Out There - Helado Negro - 1
Plat du Jour - Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard - 9
Brother (feat Dave Gahan) - Humanist - 2

After Val

New Dad - 5
Checker Boom - 4
Helado Negro - 3
Feral Family - 2
John Grant - 1

John Grant - Linda Thompson - 5
L'Enfant De La Lune - Alcest - 2
Cairo - Feral Family - 5
Blink - Zodiac ft Nathan Nicholson
Let Me In - Checker Bloom - 11
Get Deep Fried - Jam Mechanics (feat. The Narcissist Cookbook) - 5
Heaven - The National - 8
Going To Georgia - Jake Xerxes Fussell
Drive Shaft - Bill Nelson
Angel - NewDad - 14
Oh France - Mdou Moctar - 10
Out There - Helado Negro - 4
Plat du Jour - Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard - 9
Brother (feat Dave Gahan) - Humanist - 2

After Nick:

Maxwell Farrington et al - 5
Checker Bloom - 4
Jake Xerxes - 3
Bill Nelson - 2
Feral Family - 1


John Grant - Linda Thompson - 5
L'Enfant De La Lune - Alcest - 2
Cairo - Feral Family - 6
Blink - Zodiac ft Nathan Nicholson
Let Me In - Checker Bloom - 15
Get Deep Fried - Jam Mechanics (feat. The Narcissist Cookbook) - 5
Heaven - The National - 8
Going To Georgia - Jake Xerxes Fussell - 3
Drive Shaft - Bill Nelson - 2
Angel - NewDad - 14
Oh France - Mdou Moctar - 10
Out There - Helado Negro - 4
Plat du Jour - Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard - 14
Brother (feat Dave Gahan) - Humanist - 2

Sera takes out first place in our final round with 15 votes for Checker Bloom. Tied in second are FishyJim (NewDad) and The Foe (Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard ) - both on 14 votes. Third is Duke with 10 votes for Mdou Moctar.

A wooden spoon will make its way to Helen and Zodiac ft Nathan Nicholson.

Thanks to all who nominated and voted in this half-year's Cream Of. Hopefully all the gang will reunite as we go back to our usual format.