The world has always been ending, but 2001 really upped the stakes for the first time since the end of the Cold War. Terror became the buzz word in a world of televised attacks and indefinite wars, Wikipedia emerging just in time for us to catalogue such events and believe they were getting more frequent, more severe, closer and closer to home. While art was probably playing catch-up to developments, cinema went for the escape route, with Shrek and Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings beginning their own seemingly endless campaigns, while music reminded us that, for the majority, life went on as normal. Here are some songs that let us know while the world has always been ending, in ways both crushingly huge and pathetically small, we’ve got little choice but to keep on living.

Tracklisting:

1) Tonight Was a Disaster – Castiotone for the Painfully Alone
2) TV Zombie – The Rondelles
3) Ice Cube – Clem Snide
4) I Remember Me – Silver Jews
5) Adopduction – Les Savy Fav
6) Lucky Number Nine – The Moldy Peaches
7) Jenny & the Ess-Dog – Stephen Malkmus
8) Confusion is Nothing New – Beachwood Sparks
9) Miss My Lion – Scout Niblett
10) Wonder Wonder – Edith Frost
11) Up to My Neck in You –  Mark Kozelek
12) It’s a Wonderful Life – Sparklehorse
13) Sunflower – Low
14) Parks – Four Tet
15) Unearned – Patrick Phelan
16) I Want Wind to Blow – The Microphones
17) Bitters & Absolut – The National

Did we forget your favourite? Are our musical opinions now null and void? If so, let us know on Twitter or Facebook or something. Also, if you didn’t see it last month, you can find our post for the year 2000 here. Otherwise, we’ll see you next month as the world’s least efficient/useful time machine chugs along to 2002.

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The music defies simple description, although artists such as Sparklehorse, Vic Chesnutt and dEUS have all been mentioned in comparison. If you are a fan of any of these artists, of experimental, lo-fi music in general, or of any of the other mini50 records artists I have featured previously (such as the aforementioned Old Earth or Hiva Oa) then I highly suggest you give A New Start a shot. A video has been made for the title track, which you can check out below:

Similar to their recent Old Earth release, mini50 records are currently offering pre-orders of the album in a number of packages, from a simple CD to a bumper package that contains a CD, bonus EP, tote bag and artwork by Benjamin Løzninger himself. The proceeds of the pre-orders are required to make the album a reality, so be generous. Pre-orders can be placed here. If you do want to get the record, then I would hurry up, as only 100 copies are being produced.

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If you like what you hear and find yourself in London TONIGHT (10th Sept) then get down to The Borderline to see Lowpines support Hurray For The Riff Raff (who we spoke to here).

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The self-titled album is out on Kranky (US) and Erased Tapes (International) and features guest appearance by Peter Broderick and Hildur Guðnadóttir.

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