Ah, 2002. Who could forget the International Year of Ecotourism, Mountains, and the Outback (in Australia)? If that wasn’t enough, the queen celebrated her golden jubilee, the king came back with a bang to win the World Cup, and Hollywood decided it would release (almost) nothing but sequels. Of course, there was also a lot of great music, and here’s a selection of our favourites.

Tracklisting:

1) Broken Social Scene – Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl
2) Say Hi To Your Mom – Kill the Cat
3) The Decemberists – July, July!
4) Spoon – The Way We Get By
5) The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part 1
6) The Mountain Goats – The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton
7) The Libertines – Time For Heroes
8) Mclusky – To Hell With Good Intentions
9) Pavement – Baptiss Blacktick
10) Sleater-Kinney – One Beat
11) The Mountain Goats – No Children
12) Okkervil River – Westfall
13) Thee More Shallows – Where Are You Now?
14) Julie Doiron – All Their Broken Hearts
15) Múm – Green Grass of Tunnel
16) Iron & Wine – Faded From Winter
17) Carissa’s Wierd – So You Wanna Be A Superhero
18) Wilco – Radio Cure
19) Songs:Ohia – Didn’t It Rain
20) Sigur Ros – Untitled I

What did we miss from 2002? Let us know via the usual channels! Be sure to check out our posts on 2000 and 2001, and come back next month when we’ll be turning our attention to… 2003.

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Oh, and there’ll one a month from now on, which will give us plenty of time to have a think of a new idea before we catch up to present day.

The year 2000 was remarkable for lots of reasons. We got to be the first people to see a new millennium in, well, a millennium, Putin took over within the Kremlin, Bush Jnr. all but made it into the Oval Office, films such as Gladiator, O Brother Where Art Thou? and the indomitable Chicken Run thrilled the public, and, most importantly, Roberto Di Matteo won the cup (again). There were also some pretty notable musical releases, and we’ve cherry-picked some of our favourites (admittedly in retrospect) for your listening pleasure below:

Tracklisting:

1) Shellac – Prayer to God
2) The New Pornographers – Letter From an Occupant
3) Pedro the Lion – Simple Economics
4) Johnny Cash – I See A Darkness
5) Bratmobile – It’s Common But We Don’t Talk About It
6) Elliott Smith – Son of Sam
7) Cat Power – Satisfaction
8) Sleater Kinney – You’re No Rock ‘n Roll Fun
9) Lifter Puller – Nice Nice
10) At The Drive In – One Armed Scissor
11) Dillinger Four – Who Didn’t Kill Bambi?
12) Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Lift Yr. Skinny Fists, Like Antennas to Heaven…
13) Yo La Tengo – Everyday
14) Múm – Asleep On a Train
15) Sigur Ros – Staralfur
16) The Weakerthans – Left & Leaving
17) Damien Jurado – Johnny Go Riding
18) Songs:Ohia – The Ocean’s Nerves
19) Ryan Adams – Come Pick Me Up
20) Smog – Permanent Smile

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You should probably know from the outset that Yucatan are from Wales, a location which the band rely on for much of their inspiration. Indeed they describe their music as recorded “beneath vaporous skies, at the foot of slate grey peaks…from where song rises from within the soil.” The band come from Snowdonia, an area of incredibly scenic mountainous national park, and capture the natural beauty of their homeland by writing almost exclusively in their native tongue (the title of the album translates as ‘Above the Mountain Summit’), a language of which J.R.R. Tolkien said “For many of us it rings a bell, or rather it stirs deep harp-strings in our linguistic nature”. As someone who is currently attempting to learn the language for more practical reasons, it’s nice to hear it used to construct something so otherworldly, to be reminded its mythical, ancient quality.

The album opens with ‘Ffin’ (which translates roughly as border or frontier), with its thudding drumbeat and quivering violin/cello in background. Things are lushly understated until halfway point, when big guitars enter the fray and things get a little more bombastic. ‘Cwm Llwm’ (‘Bleak Valley’) is a patient build, its soft guitars and vocals undergoing a gradual increase in intensity, eventually joined by an insistent, anticipative drumbeat and mournful strings, the eventual payoff arriving as everything marries together and drums come crashing down. The track also has a piano-led cooling off period, ending in atmospherics that sound like ghosts real or imagined on misty a hillside. This is followed by the only English-language song on the album, ‘Word Song’, which begins with gentle icy tinkles before blossoming with lush arrangements and cooing background vocals. Next up is ‘Halen Daear a Sŵn y Môr’ (‘Ground Salt and the Sound of the Sea’ – I think!), another shimmering slice of panoramic beauty.

‘Ochenaid’ (‘Sigh’) continues in the ethereal majesty with glacial vocals and strings, minimal electric guitar and thumping The National-style drums, while ‘Llyn Tawelwch’ (‘Peace Lake’) opens with sparse instrumentation, the vocals taking centre stage, building and building to a finale which swoops and soars over snowy peaks. Lead single ‘Angharad’ twinkles and floats before a pounding, cymbal-heavy climax. The title track closes up in suitably resplendent fashion, its triumphant horn-led final third finishing things with a celebratory air.

You can buy Uwch Gopa’s Mynydd right now as a download, CD or vinyl (heck the Yucatan website for a list of suppliers). People of Germany, Austria and Switzerland can grab a copy via Stargazer Records.

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“For many of us it rings a bell, or rather it stirs deep harp-strings in our linguistic nature. It is the native language to which in unexplored desire we would still go home.”  

‘Angharad’ will be released on Recordiau Coll on the 1st June, with the album following later in the summer.

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The two Jurado covers are from Slowcoustic’s fantastic Covers Project, the Rufus Wainwright one is from Pickwick’s Fuel/Friends Chapel Session and the Dire Straits cover was included after reading an article on the late Matt Ryd on Cover Lay Down. I have no idea what is going on in the Mac DeMarco track.

Tracklisting:

1. Falling (Twin Peaks Theme) – Field Mouse
2. You Took Your Time (Mount Kimbie Cover) – Julia Losfelt
3. Talamak (Toro y Moi Cover) – Houses
4. Thinking About You (Frank Ocean Cover) – Typhoon
5. Heysátan (Sigur Rós Cover) – Leif Vollebekk
6. No Other Love (Jo Stafford Cover) – Night Beds
7. Foolish Love (Rufus Wainwright Cover) – Pickwick
8. Beacon Hill (Damien Jurado Cover) – Small Houses (w/ Kevin Killen)
9. We All Make The Flowers Grow (Lee Hazelwood Cover) – Siskiyou
10. Father and Son (Cat Stevens Cover) – Johnny Cash & Fiona Apple
11. Indie Queens Are Waiting (Dan Mangan Cover) – Will Driving West
12. Fade Into You (Mazzy Star Cover) – J Mascis
13. Fit (Windmill Cover) – Snob Dylan
14. Don’t Let Them See You Cry (Manchester Orchestra Cover) – Ted Monday
15. Isolation (Joy Division Cover) – If Thousands
16. Medication (Damien Jurado Cover) – Wes Tirey
17. Drive All Night (Bruce Springsteen Cover) – The Swell Season
18. Romeo & Juliet (Dire Straits Cover) – Matt Ryd
19. Gypsy He-Witch (Jason Molina Cover) – Will Oldham
20. Medley (Various Covers) – Mac DeMarco

As always, the mix is intended as an introduction to these artists. I have put links in the tracklisting so you can explore a bit further. Enjoy!

The Covers Mix: Volume #9 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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Buy it on Bandcamp.

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You can purchase the album on a name-your-price basis over at the band’s Bandcamp page. This includes paying absolutely nothing but I’m sure a small donation would be much appreciated (and in fact would go towards buying the necessary equipment to embark on a tour of live shows – according to Fricke).

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P.S. Also check out Úlfur’s previous project Klive.

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