Category Archives: music

2011, 31 days of good, music

(31) Days of Good: Day 7

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2011 was full of discoveries.  Some of these acts released their debuts this year, while some have been around for quite some time and I just caught wind.  But new or old, discovering new music is one of life’s small pleasures, and I truly hope that I’ve helped you discover something new.

 

Adam & The Amethysts is a psychedelic pop band led by Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist and prodigious home-recorder, Adam Waito. The first Amethysts release was Amethyst Amulet, released in 2008 and recorded by Adam at his apartment.  The second Amethysts album, called Flickering Flashlight, was recorded by Adam at home over the two years following the completion of Amulet and released this last October. [source]

♪ Adam & The Amethysts – Prophecy (from Flickering Flashlight)

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Battles is an American experimental rock group, founded in 2002, in New York City.  Their first full-length album, Mirrored, was released in 2007.  The album received positive reviews and appeared on several top album lists that same year.  Battles’ second album, Gloss Drop, was released this last June and features an array of guests, including Gary Numan, Kazu Makino, Yamantaka Eye, and Matias Aguayo.  This month the band will curate the All Tomorrow’s Parties “Nightmare Before Christmas” festival in Minehead, England alongside co-curators Les Savy Fav and Caribou.

♪ Battles – Ice Cream (feat. Matias Aguayo) (from Gloss Drop)

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Boiling up from the independent musical cauldron Hotlanta has become, Gringo Star has followed up 2008′s critically acclaimed debut,  All Y’all, with Count Yer Lucky Stars, a collection of catchy and instantly classic pop music.  You won’t be able to stop humming this spate of new and bright tunes, music that lifts the spirit.  In this Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley, Deerhunter) produced record, the surge of primordial forces that reveals itself through rock and roll only about every other generation has infected these multi-instrumentalists and the result is an upbeat album of raw energy and positivity. [source]

♪ Gringo Star – Shadow (from Count Yer Lucky Stars)

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Skying is the third studio album by British band The Horrors.  The album was released this last Summer recorded entirely by the band in their self-built London studio — the first record the band has produced themselves.  Two months prior to the album’s release the song “Still Life” was premiered on Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 show as his ‘Hottest Record in the World’ where it was played in its entirety.  This was the first track to be released from the album and the first indicator to fans of the direction the album would take.  I really enjoyed this album and The Horrors were easily one of my favorite discoveries this year.

♪ The Horrors – Still Life (from Skying)

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The Jezabels are a four-piece musical group based in Sydney, Australia.  Hayley Mary (vocals) and Heather Shannon (piano/keyboard) first began playing together in Byron Bay before moving to Sydney to attend university, where they met Nik Kaloper (drums) and Sam Lockwood (rhythm guitar), and formed the band.  The band’s sound is not exactly the easiest to define.  They’ve been compared to such bands as Fleetwood Mac and Banshees, and sound like a blend of indie pop, rock, and disco pop.  The band themselves often describe their sound as “intensindie”.  Now I’m not exactly sure what “intensindie” means, but I don’t care and neither should you.  All you should care about is that The Jezabels make fantastic music.

♪ The Jezabels – Endless Summer (from Prisoner)

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WALLS’ Alessio Natalizia and Sam Willis don’t deal in perfect wholes. The Kompakt duo return swiftly on the back of 2010’s critically lauded self titled debut, an album that picked up Mojo’s coveted Electronic Album Of The Year, featured in NME’s end-of-year lists, not to mention winning fans such as of Jamie XX, Caribou, James Holden and impressing US trio Battles so much that they’ve invited the pair on tour around the US this coming October. Yet it isn’t these admittedly impressive accolades that make the announcement of second LP “Coracle” such an anticipated one; what makes WALLS so alluring is the fully immersive experience of their mellifluous electronica – reaching out far and wide to pull influences sonic, emotional and theoretical together into patterns of blissful phantasmagoria. [source]

♪ WALLS – Raw Umber / Twilight (from Coracle)

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What were your favorite discoveries this year?

2011, 31 days of good, music

(31) Days of Good: Day 6

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If you know me at all, then this first track might surprise you a bit.

R&B, particularly 90s R&B, might be my least favorite genre of music and I normally wouldn’t feature a track by the likes of 90s R&B/vocal group H-Town.  But if there’s one producer that can make bad music good, it’s UK producer Star Slinger (aka Darren Williams).  Star Slinger put out a lot of top notch remixes this year, including Childish Gambino’s “Freaks and Geeks”, Alex Winston’s “Sister Wife”, and Washed Out’s “Eyes Be Closed”, but his remix of H-Town’s “They Like It Slow” is easily my favorite of the year.  It’s pretty incredible that a song I really don’t care for can be transformed into a legitimate favorite of mine.  Maybe that’s why it’s a Star Slinger Refix, rather than a Remix, but either way, my hat goes off to you, Mr. Williams.

♪ H-Town – They Like It Slow (Star Slinger Refix)

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American trip-hop duo, Phantogram, treated us to one the best EPs of the year, Nightlife.  I pretty much love every single track on the EP, but the single “Don’t Move” is a definite must listen.  NPR sums it up best — “Many bedroom producers adopt a “more is more” approach and stuff a track full of as many sounds as possible without any apparent editorial process, but Phantogram has enough good taste to piece together an array of sounds into an arrangement that makes sense. The duo has been playing to this strength more with each successive release, and it seems likely to help Phantogram endure: The band isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, just searching for new ways to make it spin smoothly.”

♪ Phantogram – Don’t Move (from Nightlife EP)

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Australia’s Cut Copy released Zonoscope this year, the band’s third studio album.  The album’s second single, “Need You Now”, is the album’s standout track (at least in my opinion).  I really love the way it builds and builds and keeps you wanting more.  If it doesn’t draw you in right away, be patient and give it a chance, you won’t regret it.  I should also add that the album’s cover art, created by the late Japanese photo montage artist Tsunehisa Kimura, is amazing.  Definitely my favorite of the year.

♪ Cut Copy – Need You Now (from Zonoscope)

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2012, music

[hot off the press] Islands//This Is Not a Song

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Islands are set to release their latest album, Asleep & A Forgetting, on Feb. 14th.  Between this, as well as new stuff from The xx and Sleigh Bells on the way, 2012 is shaping up to be another good year for music fans.  In the meantime, enjoy the new song, “This Is Not a Song”, which, contrary to the title, is in fact song.

♪ Islands – This Is Not a Song

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2011, 31 days of good, music

(31) Days of Good: Day 5

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I love pop music, I really do.  Unfortunately, because of all the garbage that gets played out on the radio and the dime a dozen award shows these days, I feel like pop music gets a bad rap.  But take a look beyond all of the Rihana’s, Beiber’s, Ke-dollar-ha’s, and Usher’s out there, and you’ll find that pop music really isn’t all that bad.  So without further ado, some of my favorite pop songs of 2011.

 

I wish I could write songs half as well as Brett Dennen.  The folk/pop singer-songwriter released his fourth studio album this year and it was packed with some truly fantastic and infectious pop songs.  As good as an album Loverboy is, it was actually very easy to pick just one track.  “Sydney (I’ll Come Running)” is most definitely one of my favorite songs of the year and it’s one that’s been on constant repeat since first listen.  I dare you to listen just once.

♪ Brett Dennen – Sydney (I’ll Come Running) (from Loverboy)

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Hailing from Lafayette, LA, GIVERS are an indie pop quintet that specialize in youthful songs filled with optimism and positivity.  They have a peppiness to them that reminds me of Vampire Weekend, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., and Pepper Rabbit.  In 2010, the band was named the ‘Best of What’s Next’ by PASTE Magazine and a ‘Band to Watch’ by Stereogum, who describes their music as “packed with that sort of psychedelic buoyancy, homegrown exoticism… and rattling optimism/joy.”  Today’s track come from the band’s debut album, In Light, and expect to hear a lot more from GIVERS, I don’t expect them to slow down anytime soon.

♪ GIVERS – Up Up Up (from In Light)

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Library Voices are a Canadian indie pop band from Regina, Saskatchewan.  Formed in 2008 as a ten-piece group of musician friends, they have released two EPs and two full-length albums.  Their second full-length album, this year’s Summer of Lust, has a number of post-worthy tracks, but if you can only listen to one, “Generation Handclap” is a no-brainer.

♪ Library Voices – Generation Handclap (from Summer of Lust)

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What were your favorite pop songs of 2011?

2011, 31 days of good, music

(31) Days of Good: Day 4

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2011 was full of debuts and followups from ladies that know a thing or two about making good music.  So on this 4th Day of Good, please enjoy this small sample of what some very talented ladies brought to the table this year.

 

Eleanor Friedberger is one half of the brother-sister, indie-folk duo, The Fiery Furnaces.  This year she dabbled in a solo career and released her debut, Last Summer.  If you’re a fan of The Fiery Furnaces, don’t expect the same exact sound (which is a good thing in my opinion) but you’ll definitely still enjoy this record.  NPR’s First Listen put it best, “Fans of her main project will surely consider it worth the wait, but there’s also plenty here for the unconverted. Last Summer sounds more intimate and accessible than any of her band’s nine albums; it’s a perfect soundtrack for an afternoon spent sifting through a box of old Polaroids.”

♪ Eleanor Friedberger – My Mistakes (from Last Summer)

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EMA (aka Erika M. Anderson) is a singer/songwriter from South Dakota.  She was originally in drone folk band Gowns, but went solo this year releasing her debut album Past Life Martyred Saints.  The album debuted to critical praise from both music critics and music bloggers alike, for both its emotional depth and raw pain.  It’s hard to pick just one track to highlight and I went back and forth between “The Grey Ship” and “Marked”, with the latter of the two coming out on top.

♪ EMA – Marked (from Past Life Martyred Saints)

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When I think about who was the most buzzed about band or artist of 2011, American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey always comes to mind.  Her first single, “Video Games”, blew up all over the music charts and blogosphere this year and she deserves the success, the song is really good.  Her debut album, Born to Die, is due it out early next year (Jan. 30) and i’m definitely looking forward to hearing more.

♪ Lana Del Rey – Video Games (from Video Games/Blue Jeans EP)

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Lykke Li’s follow up to 2008’s Youth Novels was one of my favorite albums of 2011 and I have a feeling it’s gonna be showing up on a lot “best of” lists.  There really isn’t a bad song on Wounded Rhymes, but the third single, “Sadness Is A Blessing”, is easily my favorite.

♪ Lykke Li – Sadness is a Blessing (from Wounded Rhymes)

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St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) released her third album this year and you don’t have to agree with me, but she keeps getting better.  Strange Mercy is a really powerful and facsinating record and I really dig Clark’s vocals and lyrics.  I expect to see St. Vincent all over “best of” lists this year as well.

♪ St. Vincent – Cruel (from Strange Mercy)

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Zola Jesus (aka Nika Danilova) is one rad chick.  Early on, she studied and performed opera off and on for 10 years, but struggled because of anxiety.  In her teens, she started to experiment in a more rock-orientated format, and Zola Jesus was born.  Danilova has now released three studio albums as Zola Jesus, Conatus being the most recent.  I saw her perform with M83 last month and her stage presence and vocals were incredible.

♪ Zola Jesus – Avalanche (from Conatus)

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