Sweden’s Tiny Fighter share their Top Ten Albums for 2022
1. Ruby Fields – Been Doin’ For A Bit
Showing my Australian bias but this was my absolute favourite release of 2021. Ecstatic, bittersweet and beautifully sad all at once. Ruby’s Like A Version cover of The Church’s Unguarded Moment is also worth tracking down.
2. BVG – Temple Garden
Randomly stumbled on this gem thanks to Lofi Girl’s brilliant study beats 24-hour YouTube stream. Absolute chilled bliss.
3. Vulkano – Drunk About It
My all-time favourite Swedish art-punks. Dare anybody not to dance to this. Video is also hilarious.
4. The Beths – Jump Rope Gazers
Technically released towards the end of 2020 but really blew up in 2021, amazing indie guitar from New Zealand. Perfect from first to last.
5. Sathi – Ritviz & Nucleya
We’re suckers for well-crafted, ultra-catchy hindi-pop and this gem from Pune’s Ritviz Srivastava is an absolute banger.
6. Adna – Black Water
Also hailing from our hometown of Stockholm, Adna is really one of a kind. The huge wait between albums was definitely worth it.
7. Cyberpunk 2077 – Original Score
Video game scores have been punching way above film soundtracks for a while now and this is one of the very best. Brilliant game too.
8. Lucy Dacus – Home Video
Discovered Lucy through her cover of Dancing in the Dark and never looked back. Great record.
9. Snail Mail – Valentine
Super dreamy, super brilliant.
10. No Time To Die (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – Hans Zimmer
Hans is my not-so-secret guilty pleasure. Seeing “Time” from the Inception soundtrack performed live in Stockholm’s Globen concert hall was perhaps my all-time favourite live music moment. I was always a big David Arnold fan and never thought anyone could do a better Bond soundtrack. But I think Hans may have done it!
Tiny Fighter were formed in 2017, originally as a collaboration between a truck driver from Kalmar in the deep south of Sweden and a doctor from the deep south of Australia, before extending into a full band of players from all over the globe (Poland, Israel, UK, Australia, Sweden). After racking up 1 million views on YouTube, over 700000 Spotify streams and successful tours through the US, Canada and Europe, Sweden’s Tiny Fighter were poised for a small but significant slice of world domination. But then came COVID, effectively putting the brakes on the whole machine. Faced with an extended period of no touring, a fan-campaign led by a collection of locked-down Tiny Fighter supporters began to follow-up the band’s celebrated Loft Sessions (Live in New York) album. The problem – there was no live music, much less any touring. The solution – record a completely new record combining brand new songs with re-interpretations of some of their fan-favourites. And thus our latest record Rewind was born.
In short, an incredible year of music – despite the lack of live concerts. Maybe it was this isolation from audience that encourage as to go a little deeper with our music, both in terms of discovering new instruments and exploring new artists and styles. Our top 10 for this year definitely reflects this!
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