2009 was a creative year for musicians like City Center who has the perfect voice and a natural sense for lo-fi singer songwriter material, if you’ve worn the groove out of your Panda Bear record then look no further and pick up his self titled LP. We saw Dubstep take over in the US and UK clubs with unique takes on albums from Martyn, 2562, and many others. Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear showed the top 40 charts that indie rock has a big say in what people want to own and even Jay-Z thought so. Lo-fi is back on all different levels like surf, folk, and a fusion of a ton of different genres which really had a big impact on my daily listening.
I’m not going to ignore that some people didn’t like my #1 song and #1 album of the year and I kind of want to share why I liked it so much. At first they were a band that i wanted to sign but after seeing a few shows of them playing live I was hooked, soo much energy, passion and catchy parts plus the band is just fun to watch, the tambourine player even was more hyper than any musician I saw all year. The songs all have this mash of a lot of music that I grew up on and still to this day listen to frequently. I see them as a band that can jump into the top 40 and get a budget to be a great band to see live and I guess the live show did it for me this year and I loved sharing the bands songs with friends, so I guess those are some of the reasons why I loved The Drums release.
*Please note I did not include any releases by Ghostly International, Moodgadget, remixes, Tycho songs and ISO50 exclusives just to make this a fair collection. If you like this list then take a second and check out ISO50’s 2008 list.
We’re getting down to the select few, some serious time listening to these tracks, the play counts in my iTunes for all these songs are in the double digits and have had the loop function on my iPod used heavily on them, enjoy.
I know it’s been a long wait but the sixth installment of the ISO50 Playlist is finally up. Sam Valenti IV — the man behind Ghostly International — was kind enough to put together this latest edition of the playlist. Here’s a few words on the selections from Sam:
“This playlist is beats-heavy, they feel right for uncertain times.
There’s also a tip of the hat to some 90’s nostalgia: a hint of Drum &
Bass and filtered House thrown in for good measure. All in all, it’s
a set of listenable wares, without a lot of tire spikes to get caught
on.”
Track Listing: Phantogram – When I’m Small (Barsuk/BBE)
Memory Tapes- Run Out (HSR)
Zomby – Digital Flora (Ramp)
The Go Find – Over The Edge (Morr Music)
Omni Trio – Skeleton Keys (Omni Trio Remix) (Moving Shadow)
A Mountain Of One – Freefall (10 Worlds)
Lali Puna – Clearcut (Arovane Remix) (Morr Music)
Syntaks – Buio Omega (Ghostly)
CFCF – Letters Home (Paper Bag)
Paul White – The Punch Drummer (One-Handed Music)
Bear In Heaven – Ultimate Satisfaction (Home Tapes)
Midlake – Roscoe (Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve Remix) (Bella Union)
BGM – 900X (Asthmatic Kitty)
Mux Mool – 1st and 4th (Ghostly/Moodgadget)
Grizzly Bear – While You Wait For The Others (Warp)
DJ Q- We Are One (Filter)
Dominik Eulberg – Daten-Uebertragungs-Kuesschen (Sistema Remix) (Traum)
Saint Etienne – The Place At Dawn (Sub Pop)
I know i’m not the person that should be writing this since some of you who follow the blog sometimes have to snowshoe/pull your hair/wade through my odd writing style, but I just need to get all this off my chest. It started off with this Facebook post I wrote because I was just so bothered after putting on MTV for the first time in I don’t know how long:
“Took a peek at the MTV’s music video awards tonight to see if pop music has stepped it up but still no luck at all especially instrumentally, christ! What do they do with their money? Big time creativity/musicianship/entertainment fail. Let’s just hope people like Fever Ray, Matthew Dear, Atlas Sound, SVIIB, Erlend Oye, and Benoit Pioulard keep pushing forward because that was embarrassing to watch.”
Went to Bowery Ballroom last night to check out The Drums, I fell in love with the music, the combination of eras in the sound was really refreshing. At times I thought Grizzly Bear meets The Cure and the guitar really keeps it catchy while the singer serenades and keeps the crowd feeling like you’re invited to dance on stage with him. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
I posted back in December on Lone’s LP Lemurian and got a lil bit of love and hate but I still listen to the record quiet a bit and so should you if you ever picked it up. ONe of my favorite labels just put his new EP at Werkdiscs which is run by Actress, definitely a great label and good pick up on that roster. This song Sunset Teens is a faster tempo compared to his LP songs but he still makes it sound Lone-ish, take that BoC comparsions, jk.
Kompakt’s 200th release is approaching and i’m anxiously waiting to hear what Wolfgang and Jorg are going to do. Back when Kompakt 100 came out I loved this Sascha Funke remix of Thomas Fehlmann, I just of played it everyday for months.
When I was following Trent Reznor on twitter I realized he kept talking about Mew and I remember never giving the band a proper listen, now i’d of loved to see this band live, a lot of detail here, do they really bring a vibraphone on stage or is that just played off a laptop somewhere on stage?
Petar Dundov made an epic piece that reminds me of those Sesame Street songs that were used when you watched something grow or being built in time lapse, always loved those songs.
Le Loup is very similar vocally to something that is on tip of my tongue but its not coming to me, any one know, its not Animal Collective or Grizzly Bear i don’t think but maybe it is. Either way the music starts off like something that Mum might of done then fills with claps and The Chap like melodies into a really catchy track that you might end up playing over and over like I do.
Theo Parrish demolishes an edit, untouchable, test it out yourself.
The label Rush Hour has been front and center this year releasing some of the best non vocal House records in my opinion. This Nebraska 12″ keeps that ball in the air even though its a reissue, the keys and how sweet the loop is just has me playing this song over and over.
I know, it’s been way too long since we updated the Playlist, but the third installment is finally here. It’s sort of all over the place and I tried to add in a few extra tracks to make it worth the wait so there should be a little something for everyone. This will be the last one I personally compile for a little while, we’ve got some guest playlists lined up for the coming months and they should drop more punctually than this one (once a month or so). Also still working on the recall feature so you can go back and listen to past playlists, I’ll post on that when it’s ready. For now, sit back, relax, and click “Play” at the top of the center column (RSS readers must visit the site). Enjoy!
800BELOVED – GALAXIES
THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART – YOUNG ADULT FRICTION
GRIZZLY BEAR – CHEERLEADER
THE WHITEST BOY ALIVE – 1517
BIBIO – AMBIVALENCE AVENUE
DEERHUNTER – AGORAPHOBIA
EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT – UPPER EAST SIDE
BULLION – LONG PROMISED – ORIGINAL MIX
J DILLA – GOBSTOPPER
MUX MOOL – NIGHT COURT
ELIOT LIPP – BEAMRIDER
MODERAT – A NEW ERROR
DEASTRO – LIGHT POWERED
MAX TUNDRA – WHICH SONG
NATHAN FAKE – SUPERPOSITIONS
ROYKSOPP – HAPPY UP HERE
DAMN ARMS – DESTINATION PT. I
EVERYWHERE FT. MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD
FEVER RAY – WHEN I GROW UP (VERSION BY LISSVIK)
TIM HECKER – SEA OF PULSES
TYCHO – COASTAL BRAKE MANUAL REMIX
PANDA BEAR – I’M NOT
A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW – WATERY (DROWNING IS JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR BEING BURRIED ALIVE UNDER WATER)
AIRIEL – CINNAMON
SHIGETO/A SETTING SUN – POLAROID ROMANCE
ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI – FOR KATE I WAIT
CHRIST – PYLONESQUE
