One of the nicest/friendliest musicians i’ve ever met in my life has to be Teen Daze, his happiness just rubs off on you, you could be at a trendy bar just acting cool ya know maybe leaning against a wall in a dark corner trying to watch a band play and you end up talking to Teen Daze and 5 minutes later you’re skipping along like a Gummi Bear to the bar getting yourself a Dr. Pepper. The music is great and all and you know that but I just wanted you to know if you ever see the guy he’ll be soo kind to you.
I’ve probably looped this song by Au Palais 20+ times in the past 72 hours, it was suggested to me by Rami who co-runs Pop Gun Booking(they book the Glassland shows in Brooklyn). This song in particular stays with me, its rides that catchy end of when M83 writes something slower and foggy while also channeling a more melodic Zola Jesus.
Sometimes I don’t want the Forma song i’m listening to to end so i’ve found a solution, download and listen to this 24+ minute live radio session, its completely satisfied that craving.
I’m a fan of Deerhunter and an even bigger fan of Atlas Sound so automatically i’ll listen to their bandmate Lotus Plaza(again). What i’m realizing after listening to the new album is that these guys are the best bet for a noisy rock band to get in the pop world. I mean ambient aware/wall of sound controlling noise which I think might be the most beautiful sound and thinking about it actually getting to a mom’s sirius radio and her liking it bends my mind but not too much, but if anyone is going to do it it’s going to be these guys.
Turn down the lights, fire up the projector and light a candle if that’s your style…here’s my picks for the Top 15 Music Videos Of 2011. I tried to encompass a lot of image styles and music in this list. There’s all types of directors and production scales ranging from Canon 7D equipped bare bones budgets to freaking Michel Gondry shooting stop motion on a Bolex (or so I read). I think that’s what’s crazy and great about being a director and designer in this time. If you want to, you have access to pretty much everything (visually speaking) if you put time into it. Hopefully some directors, DPs and photographers are inspired by this, it was a good year for the moving image and I suspect it to only get better and more creative in 2012. Hope you all dig the list and if you make it through each video all the way through, no skipping…you can rule out any form of attention deficit disorder.
I haven’t listed any of these in a rank, only because they’re all good at specific things. However, if I had to pick one favorite, it’d be Eric Epstein’s magically haunting work for Memory Tapes.
Here it is, I hope you all like it, as always any feedback is great, I know I might be missing your favorite song but maybe you’ll enjoy this listen, thanks again. Tomorrow i’ll do Honorable Mentions.
IN ORDER:
25. The Drums – Money
24. ASAP Rocky – Wassup (Prod. By Clams Casino)
23. Walls – Sunporch Reprise
22. Austra – Lose It
21. Deepchord – Balm
20. Cut Copy – Blink and You’ll Miss A Revolution (Tornado Wallace Remix)
19. Sepalcure – Pencil Pimp
18. Peaking Lights – Amazing and Wonderful
17. High Wolf – Free Your Energy Field
16. The Field – Is This Power
15. Beirut – Port Of Call
14. Holy Other – Yr Love
13. Keep Shelly in Athens – DIY
12. Hype Williams – RIse Up
11. Warm Ghost – Myths on Rotting Ships
10. James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream
9. Benoit & Sergio – Boy Trouble
8. Toro Y Moi – I Can Get Love
7. Neon Indian – Polish Girl
6. M83 – Midnight City
5. Real Estate – Green Aisle
4. Gang Gang Dance – Glass Jar
3. Belong – Perfect Life
2. Gotye – Somebody that I used to know
1. John Maus – Streetlight
It’s a reaaaaaally slow week for shows coming up but I definitely wanted to list a few things, if you haven’t been to St. Vitus I highly recommend it, i’ll be there tomorrow to see Scott Mou (half of Jane with Panda Bear) and a helpful and wonderful Other Music employee.
Fri. 11/25
NY: The Cure @ Beacon Theater
LA: N/A
Sat. 11/26
NY: Scott Mou (DJ set) @ St. Vitus
LA: Plaid @ El Rey Theatre
If you’ve seen the Drive movie you’ve probably looked for the soundtrack and you’ve figured out that College did the song you loved off of it, soo happy to see this music finally getting some recognition beyond Daft Punk. I went over to College’s soundcloud and found this great mix he recently did, download it and enjoy.
TRACKLIST
01 – Stephen Falken – See The Unseen
02 – Ken Scott – Dancer (Single Version)
03 – Freak Electrique – Cloud Surfer (Remix)
04 – Electrick Dragon – Italian Inspiration
05 – College – Blue Camera
06 – Maethelvin – Looking For Love
07 – Young Monday – A Written Description
08 – Yellow Beach Balls – Kissing Tail
09 – Smackos – The Age Of Candy Candy
10 – Gianni Rossi – Theme From Star Vehicle
11 – The Parallax Corporation – Lift Off (Album Remix)
12 – Teenage Bad Girl – Keep Up With You (Lifelike Remix)
13 – Synergy – Warriors
14 – M83 – Midnight City
Track Listing
Tycho – Hours
Neon Indian – Polish Girl
Toro y Moi – I Can Get Love
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – FFunny Frends
M83 – Midnight City
Poolside – Harvest Moon
Gotye – Somebody that I used to know
Beirut – Santa Fe
Thundercat – Goldenboy
Peaking Lights – All The Sun That Shines
Little Dragon – Ritual Union
Andre Obin – Soft Rain
Benoit & Sergio – Let Me Count The Ways
Kolombo – Waiting For
Washed Out – Amor Fati
The Field – Is This Power
John Maus – Streetlight
Jacob 2-2 – LeVar [ISO50 Exclusive]
Soft Metals – Psychic Driving
Burial – Shell of Light (Shlohmo Remix)
Clark – Absence
Atlas Sound – Terra Incognita
18 Carat Affair – Watching Your Dance
Trouble Books & Mark McGuire – The Golden Waste
Total 12 is ready to go in 2 weeks, for anyone that has been following the Total series from Kompakt you’ll know that its always the compilation to check out no matter what style of music is trending, here’s a sneak peek of the intro track from Kolombo, its a must have for M83 or even those MFA fans, follow Kompakt on facebook to get more info on release plus other news from this legendary label.
I feel like Little Dragon might be inching towards Top 40 quickly and the first half of this song is pop radio ready but what really makes me appreciate them still is the synth sounds that aren’t typical in the second half, big changes for a band but the path feels right, good luck guys.
Gold Zebra, with a name like that I had to check them out because another color/animal band really makes anyones eyebrows rise these days….and i’m surprised how much I love them, They have the appeal of The xx but with more resonances.
I have a feeling this Neon Indian album will be in my top 5 favorite albums of the year but i’m not into this first single but you should still download it for free here.
After hearing this song by Austra more then 15 times day I feel like i’ve officially fallen in love with this song, I can’t believe we have to wait until May for the album, nice signing Domino.
I first heard this song when Machinedrum sent it to me on aim years ago but it was a radio rip so it was never worthy of a post, finally I found a solid recording of this Daft Punk-ish track by Fred Falke, its one of those New Years night dancefloor must haves.
I think Slow Hands debuted on ISO50, if I remember correctly this mix he did for us was a huge hit and his covers of Aphex Twin and M83 as Addled were definitely loved. Well I have exciting news he recently just released on K7 Records on the famous DJ-Kicks compilation series with this original track, so congrats Ryan!
This won’t be the last Craft Spells song i’m posting I promise you that, I want more of this for the summer, hear’s a taste though.
