T H I S M U S I C W I N S

Resonance FM #34 Kinlaw, Wild Nothing, In India, North Bay,...

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:18:40 +0000

Resonance FM #34 Kinlaw, Wild Nothing, In India, North Bay, Derek Piotr, Beach Fossils

Listen live on Resonance 104.4 FM Saturday evening at 6.30pm (GMT). Or stream/download the 34th This Music Wins below.

Listen/Download: This Music Wins #34 (MP3)

1. Kinlaw - BRA§E

2. Wild Nothing - Nowhere

3. In India - Spring Song (Glossolalia)

4. North Bay - Echo (via Gold Flake Paint / Crack In The Road)

5. Derek Piotr - Focus (Jhom’s Repetez Remix)

6. Beach Fossils - Shallow

Swansea Recreation Centre + Blood Rexdale And The Walls Are...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:54:31 +0000

Swansea Recreation Centre + Blood Rexdale And The Walls Are Blonde - Unchained Swan Blood

I’ve always considered the humorous element to Swansea Recreation Centre’s music one of its defining features, so I was pleased to see its patent exaggeration on this collaboration with Toronto folk band Blood Rexdale And The Walls Are Blonde (who provided vocals), for this bouncy synth-pop influenced quasi-cover of The Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody”. The video teeters on the cusp of sublimity, and I’m so taken up in the Ariel Pink-esque vibe of the whole creation that I felt an urgent need to post it up here. Here’s some thoughts on SRC’s previous releases, the bandcamp page of BRATWAB (also worth checking out) and a link to SRC’s heavily stylised, entertaining and oft-updated tumblr page.

Major Napier - Major Soldier EP I first introduced Australian...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:58:01 +0000

Major Napier - Major Soldier EP

I first introduced Australian artist Major Napier to you last November; a time when I was particularly enamoured with his cover of Sharon Van Etten’s Lovemore. Almost immediately after I wrote, he released a free download EP of bedroom-recorded songs entitled ‘Major Soldier’, which I was reminded of via an enthused post on Zen Tapes today. The slow, booming drum-sound prevalent throughout “Crowning Observation” (below) is idiosyncratic of the whole release, Johnny Ross careful to keep the beat sufficiently organic-sounding and sunken in reverb to explicate the full aura of lo-fi ambience. There’s a new electronic dimension here; and a wide-ranging set of angular multi-layered harmonies which are decidedly direction-less. ’Amazing/ A Tribute to Jan Zajíc’ is a frivolous and swirling hip-hop influenced piece of folk-induced electronica, with a loose Kanye-style autotune (which works in the least obnoxious way possible) and Braids-esque psychedelic grandeur in the instrumentals. The limited-run CD will set you back just $10 Australian dollars, the download is totally free. Both options workable from Major Napier’s Bandcamp page.

Resonance FM #33 In India, Memoryhouse, IVVVO, SNOWMINE, Coma...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:58:00 +0000

Resonance FM #33 In India, Memoryhouse, IVVVO, SNOWMINE, Coma Cinema, Carnivals

LISTEN: This Music Wins #33 (MP3) 28/1/2012

Tracklist

1. In India - Chime Dance

2. Memoryhouse - The Kids Were Wrong

3. IVVVO - Forests

4. SNOWMINE - Curfews

5. Coma Cinema - Only

6. Carnivals - Ino (Parts I + II)

New: StaG - Lived Like String Some of the ambient music which I...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:33:00 +0000

New: StaG - Lived Like String

Some of the ambient music which I find most compelling is the kind in which reverb decorates a steady, driving percussion. Similarly, much of the value of music I find consists in what the musician chooses to leave out, rather than what they choose to include. On StaG’s newest single, ‘Lived Like String’, I’m hearing a sunken, Church-like drift suggestive of enormity, hinting at an reserved emptiness which is totally out of reach of the listener. The beat is slow, mechanical and restless but not at the cost of organicity, and a kind of spiritual solitude and richness displaying itself in the follow up to their first full-length album is consistently vast and flowing. Rifle Meeker was one of my top albums of 2011, and perhaps Lived Like String will be up there with my songs of 2012.

New: Carnivals - Absences/Ino (Parts 1 & 2) Having uncovered...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:43:01 +0000

New: Carnivals - Absences/Ino (Parts 1 & 2)

Having uncovered Carnivals’ first release just under a year ago in the form of the Mavi Kara EP, I’m seriously excited for the year ahead now the Sheffield ‘romanticist’ producer has returned with a double sided single ‘Absences / Ino (Parts 1 & 2). In a field of moody electronica suffering saturation and lacking true pioneers, Carnivals is leaning towards an amalgamation of his former sounds: leading to the minimalist and vaguely exotic hip-hop sound particularly prevalent on ‘Leeda’ (which I broadcast at the Netaudio Festival in May), and its being combined with the claustrophobic tendencies, overcast, disconsolate murmurs and climactic, scintillating motifs to bring us ‘Absences & Ino’. One of this year’s most promising surprises has come very early on indeed..

Live: M83 + Porcelain Raft @ Concorde 2, Brighton January 22nd...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:43:23 +0000

Live: M83 + Porcelain Raft @ Concorde 2, Brighton January 22nd 2012

Porcelain Raft and M83 certainly share a penchant for the ethereal, even if Porcelain Raft instantiate this through a totally unpretentious set of bedroom loops and samples and M83 do so through sheer size and spectacle. The opening act, a duo fronted by London-based Italian Mauro Remiddi and recently signed to Secretly Canadian, release their much-anticipated debut album ‘Strange Weekend’ on January 24th.

Though working within a similar sound-pallete, Porcelain Raft eschew the kind of sprawling, multi-layered, synthesized bombast of M83 in favour of some gentle backing drones, live drummer and fleeting guitars. It still swirls, but in tune with a classic 60s vibe, particularly on the mildly anthemic ‘Unless You Speak From Your Heart’. ‘Put Me To Sleep’ brews a powerful mood from stark beginnings anticipated in a searing, rushing ambience.

‘Strange Weekend’ at Secretly Canadian

M83, having broken through in the UK on a previously unimaginable scale, largely due to the strength of ‘Midnight City’, released album ‘Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming’ in the UK in 2011, the follow-up to 2008’s excellent Saturdays = Youth. The show began with this creature’s atmospheric entrance before a show dominated by older songs kicked into force. ‘Graveyard Girl’ was a mysterious absence; ‘Couleurs’ a predictable highlight with exaggerated middle-techno section. The airy strides of ‘Kim & Jessie’ as second song made way for a substantial section of the middle being made up of new, abstract and essentially more minimalistic, space-age and European themed dance tracks - altogether with less harmonies and more instrumental. Not quite so engaging on an individual level, though in the context of a live show defused the sheer power of their ‘wall of sound’ in to something with a little more dynamics.

M83 “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming”

Porcelain Raft - Put Me To Sleep (MP3)
M83 - Midnight City (MP3)

Resonance FM #32 Aaron + Alia, Dorian Concept, Matthew Dear, J...

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:02:24 +0000

Resonance FM #32 Aaron + Alia, Dorian Concept, Matthew Dear, J Biscuits, Porcelain Raft, SEVERAL SYMPTOMS

LISTEN: This Music Wins #32 (MP3) 21/1/2012

Tracklist

1. Dorian Concept - Greenish Things

2. Porcelain Raft - Unless You Speak From Your Heart

3. J Biscuits - The Fatigue

4. Matthew Dear - Headcage

5. SEVERAL SYMPTOMS - Stylist

6. Aaron + Alia - Wicked Game (Chris Isaak Cover)

This Music Wins #32 on Resonance 104.4 FM 21/01/2012

This Music Wins Review Of The Year 2011 on Resonance FM After...

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:57:08 +0000

This Music Wins Review Of The Year 2011 on Resonance FM

After writing an albums of the year list longer than probably all my posts across the entire year put together, putting together a 90 minute radio show for Resonance FM seemed like a breeze. So, here it is: 15 or so of my favourite songs of the year in Radio Show format. View the written list here.

DOWNLOAD: This Music Wins Review Of The Year 2011 (MP3)

To air New Years Day 10pm (GMT) on Resonance 104.4FM London, and again Saturday 7th January 10.30am.

1. Kuhrye-OO - Soul Handsome

2. Kurt Vile - Runner Ups

3. Mutual Benefit - Auburn Epitaphs

4. Swansea Recreation Centre - First Time European

5. Youth Lagoon - July

6. Woodsman - In Circles

7. Twin Sister - Kimmi In A Rice Field

8. Deptford Goth - Real Love Fantasy

9. Dead Gaze - Fishing With Robert

10. Evenings - Lo-Velo

11. Little Dragon - Ritual Union

12. Conifers - Legs And Arms

13. How To Dress Well - Here In Heaven (Elite Gymnastics Cover)

14. Ricky Eat Acid ft. Arrange - P.S.L.W

15. Dive - Sometime

16. Porcelain Raft - Amateur’s Feeling

17. Braids - Plath Heart

18. The War On Drugs - Come To The City

19. Fleet Foxes - The Shrine / An Argument

And with these musical highlights of 2011 in mind, we can put it behind us. I wish everyone a great 2012.

# ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 # What a great year 2011 has been for...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:07:00 +0000

# ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 #

What a great year 2011 has been for music, fascinating and fast moving as always. No amount of words will do having these top 50 records justice, but I felt that there’s nothing so impersonal as a list with no explanation. At the same time, writing about 50 albums has consumed so many hours of my time. These numberings aren’t infallible, nor are they particularly objective. Look at this post more as a collection of albums which excited me in 2011, and which formed the great part of my music taste for the year. Some of them I got totally absorbed by - lost inside. I hope that you’ll get something out of reading and listening - though I don’t expect anyone to read the whole thing. Opinions, thoughts, etc etc are all welcomed and encouraged.

SKIP TO TOP #15

#50 Walls - Coracle - Sunporch (MP3)

Banjo Or Freakout’s Alessio Natalizia partners with one half of Allez-Allez to createWalls, who released their enchanting debut album ‘Coracle’ on Kompakt records towards the end of 2011, with accompanying tour. Its heated and swirling electronica which retains the gentle organic feel of his BOF solo project, but with an overbearing ambience and driving euphoric dance beat. You can stream the album in full here.

#49 Korallreven - An Album By Korallreven - The Truest Faith (MP3)

The debut full length release from Swedish tropical pop band Korallreven, featuring one half of The Radio Dept. as well as contributions from Taken By Trees’ Victoria Bergsman and American musician Julianna Barwick. Acephale Records released this LP in November, and it was championed all round for its blissful and expansive sound, infused with an icy electronic soundscapes, reggae rhythms and dense instrumentation.

#48 StaG - Rifle Meeker - Tired (MP3)

StaG’s Rifle Meeker, an album recorded in Colorado (though lamenting a move from California), is notable not least for its instrumental use of floating reverb as very much part of the song structure. The melodies drift with a distant spiritual grandeur, evoking at times such a grey and colourless cloud but other times a rich gold and red as these compositions climax. ‘Tired’ pertains to a staccato tremolo for a wrangled and distorted opening, which at its mid-point speaks something of what I described above in its understated and softly spoken summits. Name your price at the StaG bandcamp.

#47 Jessica Jalbert - Brother Loyola - Necromancy (MP3)

Edmonton, Canada presents Jessica Jalbert’s debut record, Brother Loyola - a playful cavort in to the realms of 60s girl groups (Paris Green), crunchy midwestern guitar tones and wallowing keyboard vibes (Any Day Soon). Necromancy is a song sunken in amongst a bed of strings, and picked up a wonderful remix from Born Gold’s Kuhrye-oo, cementing this one of Canada’s finest - presented by prolific local label Old Ugly.

#46 Amen Dunes - Through Donkey Jaw - Christopher (MP3)

Amen Dunes is the project of New York’s Damon McMahon, who on his return to the US after a brief two year spell in China in 2009, has begun to release music again, firstly with 2009’s DIA (on Locust Music), and now with 2011’s Through Donkey Jaw, a limited edition CD/LP release on NYC cult label Sacred Bones Records. Its a blend of distant post-punk music with a fluttering and reverb-soaked ambience, ‘Christopher’ recalling the glistening guitar tones of label-mates Crystal Stilts (who incidentally feature next), or even, perhaps, the visceral and tonal bedroom recording sound of Pure X.

read #45 - #41 / skip to top #15

ALBUMS OF 2011 #45 - #41 #45 Crystal Stilts - In Love With...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:04:13 +0000

ALBUMS OF 2011 #45 - #41

#45 Crystal Stilts - In Love With Oblivion - Shake The Shackles (MP3)

Brooklyn garage rock at its finest; ‘In Love With Oblivion’ comprises of crisp and courageous, and occasionally gallant post-punk from apparent veterans of the scene Crystal Stilts. The 2011 Slumberland release is afflicted with the dark and incommutable vocals, strange key changes and strikingly full melody. An instant classic of the era it evokes, summed up thematically in the black and white colouration of above album cover.

#44 Grimes / D’eon - Darkbloom Split 12” - Vanessa (MP3)

Grimes is Claire Boucher, a solo electronic artist known for her retro 80s sound, and less so, for her discography of donation only releases via Arbutus Records. This latest EP ‘Darkbloom’, a collaborative split LP with D’eon and his idiosyncratic skittering fusion of percussion and RnB tinged arrangements, is available, albeit digitally, for just £3.95 via Boomkat.

#43 DUDES - Narcissists Anonymous - TURF TALK (SWAG EDIT) (MP3)

Lo-fi recorded and funk-induced (in the sleazy Ariel Pink sense of the word) dance music with muffled vocals and scratchy vocal samples shifting in and out of focus. This is a limited edition cassette tape riddled with cheesy melodies and discordant electronica. DUDES hail from San Diego, and have their tape available on the GrizzlyRecords band camp page over here. The digital release is free.

#42 Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams - Coming Down (MP3)

Dum Dum Girls’ Only In Dreams is a far cry from their first effort, originally a parallel to the media crazes centring upon Vivian Girls and Best Coast in 2009. Two years on and with an album and EP under their belt, Dum Dum Girls present an incredibly well produced and matured effort of powerful girl group pop, a personal highlight of mine being the thunderous atrophy of six minute song ‘Coming Down’ - the others being a little more punchy in comparison. Buy here from Sub Pop.

#41 Young Prisms - Friends For Now - Breathless (MP3)

Young Prisms - overwhelming and pungent surf noise with a sunken, almost inaudible vocal buried deep in the mix; the results are expressionless and emotionless songs with a kind of instant appeal which is interesting in and of itself but bereft of any elements which command repeat listening. Noise and punk as an art form which I vividly remember catching at Digital Brighton alongside No Joy and Kanine label-mates Surfer Blood. Available to buy here.

read the full list / read #40 - #36

ALBUMS OF 2011 #40 - #36 #40 Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:00:51 +0000

ALBUMS OF 2011 #40 - #36

#40 Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost - Vomit (MP3)

Arguably Girls’ most courageous attempt yet, here the San Francisco surf rock band venture in to the realm of classic rock, not stopping short of cheesy licks, walking bass-lines or even gospel choirs. The soulful backing singers and hammond organs characterise most of ‘Vomit’, a song which strikes at the heart of Girls’ sound in pinpointing something deeply moving in amongst an otherwise brilliantly orchestrated and uplifting arrangement. FSHG was released on September 17th viaTrue Panther Sounds.

#39 Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise - I Got A Woman (MP3)

The earlier of Nicolas Jaar’s three releases thus far in 2011, ‘Space Is Only Noise’ sees the Chilean-American Brown University student on an investigative mission in the niche which lies somewhere between ghostly minimal techno, world folk and classical music. This is something like how I’d imagine Jordan Busson’s music to develop one day, abstract sounds and unconventional percussion, tinges of world jazz and understated, deformed classical melodies. Recently revealed as Rough Trade’s number two album of the year.

#38 Peter Wolf Crier - Garden Of Arms - Settling It Off (MP3)

Characterised by a woody gauze of forest colours and grainy tones, Peter Wolf Crier field ‘Garden Of Arms’ in a context more furiously charged, moody and painstakingly restrained than ever before. The duo depart ‘Inter-Be’ in favour of a more weathered, Radiohead-esque collection which oozes maturity as much as it does idiosyncrasies of PWC’s past. Tightly strung enough to cause serious discomfort inside 2 and half minutes, I’d have very much liked to listen to a 6-minuter play out. Album stream still up in full over at MTV USA and I recommend you spend some time with it.

#37 Jape - Ocean Of Frequency - The Oldest Mind (MP3)

Ocean Of Frequency plays out a little simply to warrant a significant rant, but its highlights are really special. Jape’s ‘The Oldest Mind’ is a pulsating dance track with a lingering acoustic twang hovering in the mist, a searing keyboard sound and multi-layered vocals taking on a the form of a dream-like electronica. The Oldest Mind is the perfect balance between the dreamy and the over-emphasised.

#36 High Places - Original Colours - Year Off (MP3)

First and foremost a pop duo, High Places have abandoned much of the darker side of their experimental sound for something furiously dubby on ‘Original Colours’. A new emphasis on the vocals makes for a cavernous, spoken-word sound encased in a willful percussive section. The Thrill Jockey record shares some atonal motifs with Animal Collective’s playful repertoire, but Original Colours is no flailing psychedelic album, it is more carefully considered, warm and measured. A cult sci-fi filmic feel and at times a thoroughly disturbing listen.

read the full list / read #35 - #31

ALBUMS OF 2011 #35 - #31 #35 Destroyer - Kaputt - Poor In...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:58:28 +0000

ALBUMS OF 2011 #35 - #31

#35 Destroyer - Kaputt - Poor In Love (MP3)

A January release date rendered Destroyer’s Kaputt one of 2011’s first great records. Its the ninth studio album from Vancouver’s Dan Bejar, a re-imagining of 1980s synthpop and glamorous shoegaze, laden with female harmonies and brass sections, squealing dance synths and seamless intertwining transitions of close-mic vocals, watery background noise and modern synthesisers.

#34 Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact - Mindkilla (MP3)

Glittering and defiant psychedelic disco with a heavy dance beat, sprawling laser-like melodies and an intense sci-fi feel. ‘Mindkilla’ I find a truly very disturbing and confusing experience, and wonder where people like Gang Gang Dance come from? As far as electronica goes this is some of the most outgoing and tropical and awe-inspiring I’ve come across. Otherworldly pop music.

#33 Lady Lazarus - Mantic - The Eye In The Eye Of The Storm (MP3)

Lady Lazarus is the solo project of Californian singer-songwriter Melissa Ann Sweat; her sound is something of Northern America, and she’s fearless to meddle with the drone in ways markedly similar to Sharon Van Etten. Her vocals are buried in the instrumentation in a similar occasionally raspy manner, skipping and sliding in and out of timings and outlining sparsely told stories in a strong country accent. Manticreminds me of Jessica Jalbert’s stunning ‘Brother Loyola’ a little.

#32 Akron/Family - S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT - Silly Bears (MP3)

Akron/Family are a caricature of what I’d imagine a nightmarish Wolf Parade era-Mount Zoomer (anyone remember Kissing The Beehive?) to sound like. ‘The Cosmic Birth..’, reportedly written next to a Japanese volcano and recorded in an abandoned train station in Detroit, is a purpling guitar-ridden epic, coalesced into the jottings of an over-amplified freak folk jam session. Eclecticism is Akron/Family’s defining feature here as ever. Buy here from Dead Oceans.

#31 Little Dragon - Ritual Union - Ritual Union (MP3)

Little Dragon, a Swedish electronica act formed in Gothenburg in 1996, might have just brokered some real success with their third record ‘Ritual Union’. Interpreting the sparse, sample-based drumming of dubstep in terms of TVOTR and Jamie XX and striking this against the girlish neo-soul vocal of Swedish-Japanese Yukumi Nagano with a band who made their livings as session musicians has won them fans inclusive of Jimmy Fallon, and collaborations with Dave Sitek, SBTRKT, Jose Gonzalez and Gorillaz. With an arrangement which could easily have left their sound icy and unconvincing, comes the forever-repeatable title song ‘Ritual Union’ a sleek, stylish and soulful.

Read the full list / read #30 - #26

ALBUMS OF 2011 #30 - #26 #30 Tycho - Dive - Dive (MP3) In...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:55:46 +0000

ALBUMS OF 2011 #30 - #26

#30 Tycho - Dive - Dive (MP3)

In addition to being a fairly successful graphic designer (as indicated above), Scott Hansen has also been performing as electronic act Tycho since 2002. ‘Dive’, aGhostly International release from 2011, eschews paranoia in its constantly unfurling, dream-like soundscapes and vast, holistic appeal. Its recorded with live drums, but assembled on the computer, this approach dowsing a pulsating deep bass with a sun-soaked tone which revels in its own warmth. Buy the album or check out Hansen’s extensive design collections at the Tycho website.

#29 Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place - The Magic Place (MP3)

Has there ever been a more fitting name for an album? This hymnal interpretation of chamber folk music echoes the hovering mystic ambience of experimental acts such as Volcano Choir, but in an entirely different context; Julianna Barwick’s ‘Magic Place’ is an adventurous yet solemn voyage into the empyrean, far-removed from reality and modern times not just for its distinctively sunken reverb sound, but for use of choir and vocal layering to present a magical, textured and idiosyncratic ode to religious music.

#28 Toro Y Moi - Underneath The Pine - Still Sound (MP3)

Somewhat divorced from the more clear-cut themes present on Toro Y Moi’s debut LP ‘Causers Of This’, ‘Underneath The Pine’ asserts itself less decisively in its incessant darting between 70s disco and soul, Eastern-tinged psychedelia and retro hip-hop. ‘Underneath’ is altogether impeccably eclectic, ‘Intro’ splutters a churning, scintillating feedback, ‘Before I’m Done’ a squeaky acoustic opening, and ‘Still Sound’ a cheesy Ariel Pink-era disco beat. A solid scoop of a second LP from Washington’s Carpark Records.

#27 Connan Mockasin - Forever Dolphin Love - Forever Dolphin Love (MP3)

New Zealander Connan Mockasin’s previous incarnations have unsurprisingly left their mark on his sound, his former blues arrangements (under the “Connan & The Mockasin’s” moniker) deftly transposed via bass line into the midst of his extended psychedelic performances on new LP ‘Forever Dolphin Love’. The record, released by Because / Phantasy (2011), is a languid, spacey and post-modern affair, and from a salient chiming and stringent, dissonant keyboard vibe resurges the main form of the song, a triumphant, riddling funk-bass and an eerily theatrical, Bowie-like set of almost alien utterances.

#26 Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica - Sleep Dealer

A record of cavernous depth and schizophrenic sampling, Oneohtrix Point Never’s eerie and writhing electronic arrangements commenced streaming via Mexican Summer in November. Stream the whole album and read my words on this highly disturbing release by visiting my earlier post.

read the full list / read #25 - #21

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR #25 - #21 #25 Sleep Over - Forever - Casual...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:51:00 +0000

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR #25 - #21

#25 Sleep Over - Forever - Casual Diamond (MP3)

The now-defunkt Pitchfork subsidiary Altered Zones presented, amongst many others, an album stream for Sleep Over’s Forever in 2011, the haunting solo project of Stefanie Franciotti. I missed them in Brighton with Pure X in the Autumn, but ‘Forever’ has been a regular spin encouraged by its gangly synthesised riffs, mountainous mid-range and haunting Warpaint-esque female voices in constant competition.

#24 Dirty Beaches - Badlands - Lord Knows Best (MP3)

Alexander Zhang Hungtai is a Taiwan-born Canadian immigrant and lo-fi musician who operates under the ‘Dirty Beaches’ moniker. ‘Badlands’ is his debut LP, a jagged and manic rockabilly record gauzed by his heavily stylised lo-fi recording filter. It recalls the overdrive-heavy aesthetic of 70s and 80s wild-western films, with hints of Lynch, Jarmusch and particularly Tarantino, decorated, uniquely, by a disturbing, Elvis Presley-type babbled monologue. The later tracks do well to slow down, and ‘Lord Knows Best’ is a crackling comedown, a comfortably trippy, slow-dancing lo-fidelity ballad.

#23 Co La - Daydream Repeater - Egyptian Peaches (MP3)

Listen enough to Co La’s Daydream Repeater, and you start to appreciate how its put together; most of the album is contained in the drums, and the melodies come not as something divorced from the rhythm, designed to lace the drums as time-keepers, but instead as very much a part of the tribal and exotic percussion. The skeleton is laid bare and built upon, and the artistic element is clear in every disorientating sample and prudent momentum shift. As Altered Zones puts it, Co La exudes ‘the exotic and the luxurious’ - full stream here.

#22 Balam Acab - Wander / Wonder - Apart (MP3)

Balam Acab is 20-year old Pennsylvania-dweller Alec Koone, famed for his down-tempo allusions to witch house on his 2010 debut EP ‘See Birds’. The following year saw him expand in some ways, but drop a little of the hip-hop element in favour of a watery percussive palette and a jangling and flowing electronica sound. Wander / Wonder prides itself upon its subtlety and fluidity, but here ‘Apart’ resonates with that jarring, room-shaking witch-house bass.

#21 Radiohead - King Of Limbs - Lotus Flower (MP3)

Does the assessment of an album include its performance? I’d say no - and subsequently I’m committed to the statement that though Radiohead’s ‘In The Basement’ performance of The King Of Limbs is possibly one of my single biggest musical inspirations of the past few months, I don’t think the recorded album is quite so masterfully orchestrated. ‘Bloom’ is an emotionless uphill surge, ‘Lotus Flower’ bassy, trip-hoppy and moody turned (at precisely 2.02) by Thom Yorke’s vocal performance into a tight and claustrophobic experimental rock gem.

Read the full list / read #20 - #15

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR #20 - #16 #20 Peaking Lights - 936 - Key...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:48:00 +0000

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR #20 - #16

#20 Peaking Lights - 936 - Key Sparrow (MP3)

Peaking Lights are a relatively new phenomena in my world; their sound is one characterised by thick, dubby basslines and wrangled psychedelic vibratos. This isn’t reggae, but has some of the same appeal, especially when taken with the sunken Warpaint-style vocals which weave throughout ‘936’. As the band themselves put it on the Domino website, interestingly, “it’s not linear, it’s a cycle. A bunch of circles rotating at different speeds but still intertwined like the Mayan calendar or how I visually imagine gamelan.”

#19 Milagres - Glowing Mouth - Glowing Mouth (MP3)

After a few records and one significant reincarnation, Milagres are finally starting to be labelled a serious upcoming band. They’re visiting the UK in the first few days of 2012 (with Cymbals Eat Guitars), from the back of their new album ‘Glowing Mouth’, picking up some sophisticated press (bigger things than these pages, anyway), and most importantly, becoming musically stronger and stronger. Its not so much in the architecture as its in the emotion, and Milagres (‘miracles’ in Portuguese), paints a beautifully organic, scenic imagery afflicted with greens, browns and slow cinematic arrangements. ‘Glowing Mouth’ (on KRS) is beautiful and a sign of more things to come.

#18 Pure X - Pleasure - Dry Ice (MP3)

Rarely have I come across such an incredible wah sound (excuse guitar terminology) as demonstrated on Pure X’s zoned-out shoegaze record, hedonistically titled ‘Pleasure’. It teeters between spacey psychedelia and krautrock with an idiosyncratic segueing ambience, stopping only occasionally to twinkle and splutter (and even feedback, a little) between one blissfully languid psych-jam to the next.

#17 Phantogram - Nightlife - Don’t Move (MP3)

Phantogram’s Nightlife EP is a glitchy electronic and uniquely explosive record, duly thrust in to the public eye for its hip-hop splendour and socially volatile personality. The vocals resemble a smoothed and significantly less nasal PNAU, the synths something of Phoenix and the hard-edged techno beat which underlies recalls contemporaries Class Actress, Active Child and the like.

#16 The Dodos - No Color - When Will You Go (MP3)

Breakthrough LP ‘Visiter’ posited indie folk project The Dodos as a furiously over-charged acoustic duo with a frenzied guitar-picking style; its follow up, studio-ready ‘Time To Die’ felt a little underwhelming in comparison. Meric Long and Logan Kroeber subsequently revived John Askew in production and recruited Neko Case for backing vocals and a raw, ready, top-heavy and arrhythmically-timed LP in ‘No Color’ was conceived in March 2011.

Click here to read #15 / Click here for full list

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR #15 Two Bicycles - The Ocean Instrumental...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:46:21 +0000

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR #15 Two Bicycles - The Ocean

Instrumental music to wallow in and surround yourself with; from electronic producer Teen Daze’s side project Two Bicycles comes an immensely powerful vocal-less mix, of which the Vancouver producer provides this insight:

“The record tells the story of a night spent at sea. The beauty and hope that comes with the watching of the sun set, swimming in the moonlight and looking back at life back on land in fondness and happiness. But as the night falls, and the endless ocean reveals itself as the chaotic, exilic wilderness, the main character begins to feel isolated and on edge. The ocean can bring both optimism and fear, hope and loneliness. ”

Two Bicycles - Moon Colours (MP3) Buy from bandcamp

Read the full list / Read number #14

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR #14 LITTLE WINGS - BLACK GRASS The...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:44:22 +0000

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR #14 LITTLE WINGS - BLACK GRASS

The almost-retired pseudonym for label owner, artist and musician Kyle Wilson is Little Wings, who released his first album in four years in February on his own label, RAD Records. ‘Come Fall’ is a good summation of the kind of sound ‘Black Grass’ was sold to me for; with a shuffling acoustic rhythm and thick, anguished yet gently elated vocal, polished Devendra Banhart-esque lo-fi recording style and similarly European tinges, I get the impression Kyle Wilson isn’t going to stop churning out these simplistic, rural folk songs as long as he lives.

Little Wings - Come Fall (MP3) Buy from Marriage Recs

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ALBUMS OF THE YEAR #13 The Antlers - Burst Apart ‘Burst Apart’...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:39:00 +0000

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR #13 The Antlers - Burst Apart

‘Burst Apart’ turned out a controversial secondary to The Antlers breakthrough second LP ‘Hospice’; they discarded their widely revered elegiac songwriting and thematically conceptual outlook, in favour of an album, crucially, with hope. The songs are simpler, merrier (French Exit, Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out), but still draped in a sombre and vast curtain of coldness. Silberman’s striking, life-affirming falsetto is again a defining feature best exemplified in the attached ‘Rolled Together’.

The Antlers - Rolled Together (MP3) Buy from The Antlers

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ALBUMS OF THE YEAR #12 Wye Oak - Civilian A crunchy and...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:38:00 +0000

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR #12 Wye Oak - Civilian

A crunchy and glistening shoegaze record which in its gleaming blueness and tranquility, echoes something of their excessively dynamic and overdriven past, but for the most part executes the choral vocal duets of Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack with an ambience previously only hinted at.

Wye Oak - Civilian (MP3) Buy from Amazon

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