Check out the A-Side from the forthcoming 7" from Heavenly Beat, the side project of Beach Fossils" John Pena. It's got kind of a Balearic beat meats island jam vibe. Lovely. Listen to "Faithless" below and get the record from Captured Tracks.About Me
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Heavenly Beat
Check out the A-Side from the forthcoming 7" from Heavenly Beat, the side project of Beach Fossils" John Pena. It's got kind of a Balearic beat meats island jam vibe. Lovely. Listen to "Faithless" below and get the record from Captured Tracks.
Julia Holter - Marienbad
Realizing that we just posted about the lovely Ms. Holter for the first time the other day (late to the party as always), finding out that she has a new album coming out from RVNG in March just makes our day. "Ekstasis" feels like it will be just as heavy and full as "Tragedy," but this time around, some of the cold and doom and gloom have been lifted to reveal a lusher, clearer production. The single "Marienbad" feels almost whimsical, but it's a beauty. Listen below. (The album cover reminds me of something that Coil or Chris and Cosey would have done.)
Attack The Block
Everything about this movie is awesome. I can't believe it took me this long to see it.Saturday, December 10, 2011
TRS-80 & Daft Punk & Ariel Pink
TRS-80 reworks the Daft Punk song "Sky Sailor" from the "Tron: Legacy" soundtrack with a little help from Ariel Pink singing some new vocals for the piece. Meditative robot rock. Hazaa! Get the 10" release from Vinyl International and listen to the jam below.Friday, December 9, 2011
Glass Candy's tribute to Drive
Here's a nifty little tribute to one of the best movies of the year featuring music from the always groovy Glass Candy. Enjoy.Thursday, December 8, 2011
Julia Holter
"Tragedy" comes to us from Cal Arts alum Julia Holter. It's an intriguing record that draws from the Greek tragedy "Hippolytus," from Euripides, and slowly unfolds in a swirl of nonlinear melodies: synth bits, jarring pieces of sound, drone and human ambience, discordant sections of strings and vocals, and the crackle of phonographic recordings and far away drums. The sense of doom pervades. Listen to "Try To Make Yourself A Work of Art" below and buy the 2nd press of the LP from Leaving Records.Because you demanded it...Favorite Songs of 2011
Hooray! Another year end list! Because if i don't chronicle and categorize all the things i liked, then how will we know if they truly existed? I've limited myself to one song per artist, with the exception of any collaborative efforts. You gotta have rules and standards man. Here's the jammy-jams i've been diggin' on for 2011: 52 songs, one for every week of the year. (You can probably find all of them on Soundcloud or The Hype Machine or any other number of music streaming sites for your listening enjoyment.) So without further ado:1. Active Child - Hanging On (White Sea remix)
2. Alvarius B. - You Only Live Twice
3. A$AP Rocky - Palace
4. Azealia Banks - 212
5. Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
6. Bjork - Crystalline (Omar Souleyman remix)
7. Cities Aviv - Float On
8. Cults - You Know What I Mean
9. Cults and Freddie Gibbs - Bad Things (remix)
10. Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi (with Norah Jones) - Black
11. Death Grips - Beware
12. Lana Del Rey - Video Games
13. Destroyer - Kaputt
14. Dirty Beaches - Lord Knows Best
15. Ducktails - Killin' The Vibe
16. Xander Duell - Emma Baby
17. Dum Dum Girls - Coming Down
18. Ford & Lopatin (with Shannon Funchess) - Snakes
19. Fucked Up - The Other Shoe
20. Gang Gang Dance - Adult Goth
21. Ganjatronics - Sorrow Tomorrow
22. Girls - Vomit
23. The Go! Team - Back Like 8-Track
24. PJ Harvey - Written On The Forehead
25. King Dude - Born In Blood
26. Locrian - Chalk Point
27. Julian Lynch - Terra
28. John Maus - Believer
29. M83 - Midnight City
30. MIA - Bad Girls
31. Mike G. - Forest Green
32. Panda Bear - Benfica
33. Peaking Lights - Tiger Eyes (Laid Back)
34. Preteen Zenith - Breathe
35. Pure X - Twisted Mirror
36. Fatima al Qadiri - Hip Hop Spa
37. Radiohead - Staircase
38. Sad City - Jaya
39. The Sandwitches - In The Garden
40. Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX - NY Is Killing Me
41. Ty Segall - You Make The Sun Fry
42. Britney Spears - Til The End Of The World (Salem screwed mix)
43. Thee Oh Sees - The Dream
44. Twin Sister - Kimmi In A Ricefield
45. Tycho - Hours
46. Tyler The Creator - Yonkers
47. Washed Out - Eyes Be Closed
48. Weyes Blood - Romneydale
49. White Denim - No Real Reason
50. Hank Williams III - Guttertown
51. WU LYF - Heavy Pop (album version)
52. Zombi - DE3
This list could have gone on and on and on and on...
Twin Sister & Lindstrom & Prins Thomas
Check out this groovy disco reworking of Twin Sister's "Bad Street," courtesy of Lindstrom and Prins Thomas. Fun stuff.Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Favorite Albums of 2011
It's December. I'm a music blogger. Do the math...it's end-of-year-list time. It was kinda hard to bring it down to only 20 albums this year. Having to leave records off the list makes me sad, but it's time to man up like a black metal kitten. Here are my 20 favorite albums of 2011. Sound the trumpets.
Alvarius B. - "Baroque Primitiva" - A lo-fi session from a member of Sun City Girls consisting primarily of Ennio Morricone covers that sound like they were recorded in a bathroom somewhere. It's really basic, but beautiful, raw, and honest. This is the kind of stuff dudes should play on their acoustic guitars to woo the ladies. Oh, if we only lived in a perfect world.
A$AP Rocky - "LiveLoveA$AP" - Mixtapes kicked me in the ass this year. One of the best comes from New York rapper A$AP Rocky. From his laid back flow to the production from Clams Casino on key tracks, it's easy to understand how this kid rose from a Youtube video to a record deal over the course of three months. Can't wait for a proper release.
The Caretaker - "An Empty Bliss Beyond This World" - Beautiful. Otherworldly. Leyland Kirby's concept behind this remarkable record is based on research with Alzheimer's patients where bits of memory could be retrieved based on music snips from said patients' pasts. The whole thing is a hypnotizing, haunting mix of distorted old big band jazz 78 recordings. The fact that this album exists is reason enough to give it a whirl.
Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - "Rome" - A concept album from producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse with Italian composer Daniele Luppi that pays homage to the old Spaghetti Western soundtracks made famous by the maestro Ennio Morricone with several of the original musicians on board, and also featuring vocals from Jack White and Norah Jones? Where do i sign up?
Death Grips - "Exmilitary" - Another mixtape, and the most recent thing on this list that i've discovered. It's insistence is that immediate. Aggressive raps over even more aggressive beats, and random samples throughout, and featuring the always awesome Zach Hill. I fucking love this album.
Destroyer - "Kaputt" - This is honestly the best thing that Destroyer has ever done. Ditching a lot of the old freak folk and moving full steam ahead with an almost Hall and Oates-like, smooth 80's jazz-pop/soft-rock thing seems to work. And that's awesome.
Xander Duell - "Experimental Tape No. 2, Vol. 1" - Unsure of how to actually describe this record, so i'll just let the label do it instead:"It’s going to take more than the space provided here to sum up the ideas and talent of NYC’s Xander Duell, who has fused decades’ worth of nuance into these thirteen songs. The implication in the title of this one is at least somewhat correct in that the experimental nature of Duell’s music rears its head in style and content atop songwriting that touches the emotional core without hesitation or regret. There is joy and sadness here, electronics and guitars, grandeur alongside the neon-lit sleaze. Calibrate your expectations appropriately on this one, but be prepared to have them shattered by this outsider work, in the spirit of Scott Walker’s numbered albums and the prime cut of ‘70s soft rock."
And it kicks ass too.
Fucked Up - "David Comes To Life" - These Canadian hardcore punk rock art kids have yet to disappoint, either through each subsequent release, or their amazing live shows. The new record is a rock opera about a young, factory-working punk in love, and it's amazing. Every band should have a big, fat, bald, naked, hairy guy sweating and screaming at you.
Gang Gang Dance - "Eye Contact" - Well, Gang Gang Dance finally went and did it. They made the best album of their career. This one pulls a little bit from all they've ever done, touching on the dance music, the world music, the hip-hop, and the prog weirdness to create a beautiful and cohesive work that puts the group into a genre unto themselves. Yeah. (All i could find was an edit of "Glass Jar.")
PJ Harvey - "Let England Shake" - Oh Polly Jean, how i long for you. And how you delivered with your best album in years, a bit of a concept album about war that feels like you've been hanging around Nick Cave. Hallelujah!
Julian Lynch - "Terra" - Julian Lynch is another one of those indie-wunderkinds who puts out consistently good jams every year, but goes unnoticed for the most part. On "Terra," he combines his indie folk leanings with a bit of prog rock, some jazz elements, and a vibe that makes the record feel like it's the soundtrack to some nostalgic trip that you never actually took.
John Maus - "We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves" - Honestly, there is absolutely no reason that a man on stage by himself, with only a mic and a sampler should be nearly as entertaining as John Maus is. But he is. He pours himself headfirst into his little pop masterpieces like a madman on speed, and that energy and love works its way onto every track of this awesome album that would have fit perfectly into a John Hughes film...the best John Hughes film. Bravo.
M83 - "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming." - Speaking of perfect music for a John Hughes movie, enter the latest opus from M83, a sprawling yet tight double album of 80's-hued dance-pop jams that beg you to look back at your childhood days and dream and rejoice for a little while. Midnight City by M83
Panda Bear - "Tomboy" - A perfect mix of Beach Boys-inspired harmonies, drone and reverb, and wistful vocals creates a dreamy vibe to just surf on for awhile. This is the music of dreams.
Peaking Lights - "936" - "936" is a scratchy mix of reggae, dub, psych-rock, and all around weirdness that sticks in your brain and squishes around in there like the best hallucinogenic drugs in the world. Coming down is not an option. You're one of us now.
Pure X - "Pleasure" - These Austin boys crafted the kind of album that was perfect for the 100+ degree days we had over the summer: music that kind of slows and melts in conjunction with your breathing and sweating. It's like a downer country or blues album with the reverb all the way up, echoing out into canyon, into the sweltering night.
Tyler The Creator - "Goblin" - So much press and hype on this album. At SXSW in March, the kids from Odd Future jumped from mid-bill to headliner in a matter of days. They are the hip hop collective equivalent of a punk rock band, all snot-nosed and middle fingers...a giant "fuck you" to everything and everybody, and Tyler is at it's center. This is the kind of stuff kids dig that pisses off their parents. Love it or hate it, it's kind of hard to ignore.
Washed Out - "Within And Without" - While i detest that label of "chill wave" and whoever spawned that stupid, fucking phrase, the style of music it attempts to describe can be pretty awesome when done right. Washed Out first surfaced a couple of years ago with a killer EP and some good singles. This year, they outdid themselves, transcending simple bedroom recordings to something grand and warm, like the best summer beach jams.
Weyes Blood - "The Outer Room" - This is one of those records that feels like you've just stumbled into and old and forgotten house. Cobwebs cover everything. Gloom hangs in the air like the dust. The melancholy atmosphere overwhelms. But, it's just all so beautiful, like you've discovered something precious that needs to be protected and held dear. Something like that. Haunting, psychedelic folk music for the modern man.
Hank Williams III - "Ghost To A Ghost/Guttertown" - A blistering mix of old-school country, punk rock, metal, folk, zydeco, ambient drone, and experimental tinkerings straight from the grandson of a country music originator and the son of someone who for years asked me if i was "ready for some football," Hank 3's double album (one of three different records released this year) is such genre-leaping, career-defining work, that it really does take multiple listens to grasp the whole thing. I realize that this whole list has been in alphabetical order, but this is my favorite album of 2011. I think it's a masterpiece.So there you go. Be back tomorrow for my favorite 52 songs of the year, that is if you're into that sort of thing.
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