Saturday, December 31, 2011

Top 25 Albums of 2011

An inordinate amount of my favorite albums this year were debut releases. While that might mean 2011 was a relatively light year on fantastic albums from established acts, it's cool to have some new blood.


25)  Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Hysterical 

After the disappointing 'difficult second album' Some Loud Thunder and a long hiatus, Hysterical is an enjoyable effort from a band I wasn't sure I'd ever hear from again.

24)  Wild Beasts - Smother   


"Lion's Share" is great.


23)  Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver
  


I've seen this record topping a lot of lists at #1. I just don't find it as compelling or exciting to place it that highly, but there is some beautiful music here. "Holocene" is a great song.


22)  James Blake - James Blake

Although officially released in 2011, I most listened to James Blake back in December 2010. Admittedly, I have to be in the right mood for this, but it is an interesting sound. Kudos for showing me that it's possible to use auto-tune and have it not be terrible.

I don't know shit about dubstep, and I don't really plan on rectifying that anytime soon, but James Blake has established himself as an artist of interest.

21)  Caveman - CoCo Beware


"Thankful" is fantastic.



20)  Radiohead - The King of Limbs

Damn that album art is cool.


I was disappointed by
The King of Limbs upon first listen, and I can't say my feelings about this record have radically changed. Previous record In Rainbows showed us that Radiohead could be post-Kid A weird and could still rock out (see "15 Step"). The King of Limbs was essentially Radiohead telling me "but we don't want to rock out".

I still hate opening track "Bloom", which remains insufferably minimal and clicky and totally non-musical.


So how is this one of my favorite records of 2011? Well it's still Radiohead. Thom Yorke's voice is still amazing. Not to turn a positive into yet another complaint, but I'd have to say Radiohead are coasting on Thom's voice with this record. You don't have a great singer on here and a number of these songs would be dismissed immediately.


Anyway, this album is saved for me by Side B, starting with 'single' "Lotus Flower" and especially the hauntingly beautiful piano-driven track "Codex", one of my favorite songs of the year.


19)  Mister Heavenly - Out of Love 

I won't really get into how Mister Heavenly are a supergroup of sorts. I was interested because of Nick Thorburn's (Unicorns / Islands) involvement, and I was not disappointed.

This group/record coined the term 'doom wop', which I guess means it has a poppy sound but with some menace underneath. Some fun and catchy songs.

18)  Active Child - You Are All I See 

Active Child employs harp and electronics in his dream pop music. "Hanging On" was a monster song for me, loved it. And "Playing House" featuring How to Dress Well is an interesting slice of alternate universe R&B music.

Ultimately I might have liked the overall direction on Active Child's EP better, but this is a solid album with a handful of great songs. I'll be excited to see what he does next.



17)  Washed Out - Within and Without

As with Active Child above, Washed Out's debut LP Within and Without is not as impressive as his EP Life of Leisure. I've heard this effort described as 'lazy', and I can't really refute that.  Still, songs "Amor Fati", "Eyes Be Closed", and "Before" are great 'chill' electronic music.


16)  Destroyer - Kaputt
  

I'm a big fan of Dan Bejar, but I will admit I generally like him better when he's collaborating with A.C. Newman in The New Pornographers. Kaputt might be the best Destroyer record though.


15)  Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation


Youth Lagoon's debut record The Year of Hibernation was a surprise for me, and it took me a little while to get into it. Vocals being distorted and buried under reverb and other effects is very much in vogue nowadays, but even still, this dude from Youth Lagoon, his vocals are ultra fragile. If he's 'hibernating', his vocals are coming to the song from a distant place, from deep inside a cave somewhere.

Anyway, this makes it a bit difficult to connect with the vocals at first. But you let the songs play. A typically used song structure here is the song starts off slowly and builds, and then the undercurrent explodes. And those buried vocals nonetheless manage to effectively convey some powerful emotions. Now I'm really enjoying this.


14) Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital


I was very sad to hear about Wolf Parade's 'indefinite hiatus', and while I still am, Handsome Furs, which features Dan from Wolf Parade and his wife, came along with by far their best record yet, giving me hope for a post-Wolf Parade career.

There are some interesting themes in the lyrics, about being in another land, about censorship and oppression.

"Memories of the Future", "When I Get Back", and "Repatriated" are favorite tracks of mine.


13) Mother Mother - Eureka



This Canadian band is massively underrated, at least here in the US. Some of the best alternating male/female vocals I've ever heard, wonderful pop sensibilities. Every song on here is super catchy. If you like say, The New Pornographers, absolutely check this out.


12) Starfucker - Reptilians

I wrote a lot about this record when it first came out, so I'd best simply direct you to my review.


11) TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light

TV on the Radio return, and they're not producing edgy spacey music so much anymore. No, here on Nine Types of Light, they're more into balladry. Still it's damn good stuff. Easily one of the most underrated albums of the year.


10) Nerves Junior - Bright As Your Night Light

Another fantastic debut record. Thanks go to We Listen for You for making me aware of this band. They remind me of Radiohead in some ways, but maybe with a bit more swagger? There are some spacey electronics, but they are used more to add additional texture, rather than being the driving force of the songs. Just listen to this record.


09) Gauntlet Hair - Gauntlet Hair



And yet another debut. Gauntlet Hair have some of the tribal singing elements that remind me a bit of Animal Collective, but way more rockin'. Strong percussive grooves, fun and very energetic songs.

"Lights Out" especially is amazing.



08) The Antlers - Burst Apart


I completely ignored Antlers' previous record Hospice, and I still haven't quite put the time in to try and get into it, but I love this record, Burst Apart.

Emotional, tightly crafted songs.



07) Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost


Girls have a more 'straightforward' rock sound than most groups I would rank as my favorites. As in, they don't do electro-pop or none of that stuff that I'm often drawn to. But Girls make well-crafted music that comes off as genuine and heartfelt, and that stands on its own.


06) M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

The criticism that applies to virtually every double album ever released also applies here - there is some filler. But M83 was going for big and epic here, and he achieves it. The level of imagination is high, and there are some gorgeous sounds.

"Midnight City" might just be the single of the year.

05) Atlas Sound - Parallax


What would a year end list be without a contribution from Bradford Cox, the insanely prolific frontman of Deerhunter who releases his solo material under the moniker Atlas Sound?

Bradford has never done such singer-songwriter material before. This doesn't have quite the same edge for me as Logos, which is likely the point - this is far and away the most accessible Atlas Sound record.

"Te Amo", "Mona Lisa", and "Angel Is Broken", among others, are beautiful.


04) Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Whoa, where did this come from? Unknown Mortal Orchestra, or UMO, have a sound that feels both vintage and modern, kinda bluesy, with a really deep low end.

"Jello and Juggernauts", "Ffunny Ffriends", and "How Can U Luv Me" are all fantastic. 


03) Neon Indian - Era Extraña

With Era Extraña, Neon Indian delivered for me on the promise of Psychic Chasms, made more of a pop record, with perhaps some darker material underneath. Alan Palomo gave us more of the pure pop he was working with in VEGA, and he really hit my pleasure center with those bleeps and bloops and synths.

"Hex Girlfriend" is my favorite. "Polish Girl" is crazy catchy. "Arcade Blues" has grown on me to become another favorite.

An incredibly addictive listen overall.


02) Toro y Moi - Underneath the Pine

What a fucking year for Toro y Moi. 2010 saw Toro emerge as a promising new artist with his debut Causers of This. His brand of electronic-based music was grouped together along with Neon Indian, Washed Out, Small Black, and others under the 'originally a joke' term 'chillwave'.

Toro resurfaced quickly in 2011 with Underneath the Pine, switching it up and exchanging his electronic samples for more standard instrumentation, going for a more organic feel. And it fucking works. The sound is lush, really paints an atmosphere. Toro definitely proved for me he is not to be pigeonholed in any one sound, and he gave us some great songs in the process.

The funky "New Beat", "Still Sound", and especially my favorite cut "How I Know" are all great.

To say nothing of the fact that Toro y Moi followed this up with the EP Freaking Out, which is something of a mix of the styles from Causers of This and Underneath the Pine, and is also fantastic.


01) Cut Copy - Zonoscope
 

Cut Copy's Zonoscope came out early in 2011, and I can't say that it jumped to the top of my list immediately. Over the course of the year, however, my love for this band and this record grew. Ultimately, I have to say this is my most consistently enjoyable collection of songs to be released this year.

Yes, the record is somewhat 
front loaded, though I honestly I can't imagine being in a band and not putting my best foot forward when making a record. Also, late track "Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat" is amazing. 15-minute song "Sun God" might stretch on for too long, but is an interesting experiment, and works as a closer.

"Need You Now" and "Blink And You'll Miss A Revolution" are absolute bliss.

Finally, that album art is just the best.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Top 100 Songs of 2011


In alphabetical order by song title:

01) Cults - Abducted
02) Youth Lagoon - Afternoon
03) Girls - Alex
04) Toro y Moi - All Alone
05) MGMT - All We Ever Wanted Was Everything
06) Washed Out - Amor Fati

07) Atlas Sound - Angel Is Broken
08) Neon Indian - Arcade Blues
09) Nerves Junior - As Bright As Your Night Light
10) Mother Mother - Aspiring Fires
11) Destroyer - Bay of Pigs
12) Washed Out - Before
13) Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Bicycle
14) Cut Copy - Blink And You'll Miss A Revolution
15) Mister Heavenly - Bronx Sniper
16) Wavves - Bug
17) Starfucker - Bury Us Alive
18) The Go! Team - Buy Nothing Day
19) Youth Lagoon - Cannons
20) Nerves Junior - Champagne & Peaches
21) Destroyer - Chinatown
22) Radiohead - Codex
23) Starfucker - Death As A Fetish
24) The Antlers - Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out
25) Washed Out - Eyes Be Closed
26) Neon Indian - Fallout
27) Mother Mother - Far In Time
28) Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Ffunny Ffriends
29) The Antlers - French Exit
30) Cults - Go Outside
31) The Strokes - Gratisfaction
32) Active Child - Hanging On
33) Cut Copy - Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat
34) Dom - Happy Birthday Party
35) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
36) Neon Indian - Hex Girlfriend
37) Bon Iver - Holocene
38) Girls - Honey Bunny
39) Girls - How Can I Say I Love You
40) Unknown Mortal Orchestra - How Can U Luv Me

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

of Montreal - 'Paralytic Stalks' Details


I was disappointed by recent oM releases False Priest and thecontrollersphere. However, this new record is being hyped as a 'back to basics' release, and preview cut "Wintered Debts" suggests that might not be bullshit - it's quite good.

The new LP is called Paralytic Stalks, and it drops February 7.

Tracklisting:

01) Gelid Ascent
02) Spiteful Intervention
03) Dour Percentage
04) We Will Commit Wolf Murder
05) Malefic Dowery
06) Ye, Renew the Plaintiff
07) Wintered Debts
08) Exorcismic Breeding Knife
09) Authentic Pyrrhic Remission

Typical weirdo song titles. I especially like "We Will Commit Wolf Murder".

The relatively short tracklisting is also encouraging - hopefully suggesting this record is tighter and more focused.

The Shins - 'Port of Morrow' Details


The Shins are back! After frontman James Mercer's time with Danger Mouse as the group Broken Bells, The Shins are set to drop their 4th LP Port of Morrow in March.

Intrigued to hear what The Shins circa 2012 sound like - it's been a while.

Tracklisting:

01) The Rifle's Spiral

02) Simple Song
03) It's Only Life
04) No Way Down
05) September 
06) Bait and Switch
07) Fall of '82
08) For a Fool
09) 40 Mark Strasse
10) Port of Morrow 

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Walking Dead - Season 2 Trailer



The Walking Dead returns this October.  Excited.

Neon Indian - Heart: Decay (Video)

NEON INDIAN - HEART : DECAY from gorillavsbear.net on Vimeo.

Neon Indian's sophomore LP Era Extraña (dropping September 13th) includes 3 tracks with a 'Heart' theme. You can preview one of these tracks, titled "Heart: Decay" in the video above.

I loved Psychic Chasms, and this is easily one of my most anticipated releases of the year.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Atlas Sound - "Cherry Incognito"



It's been over 2 months since I've posted anything - madness! Sorry to anyone who reads this blog. Sometimes I will keep up with posting, and other times I will not.

Anyway, my favorite Bradford Cox performed a brand new Atlas Sound song at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in England last weekend, and someone was gracious enough to record the performance and put it up on YouTube. 


Check out the video above. And thanks to P4K for the heads up.

Friday, March 11, 2011

TV on the Radio - "Caffeinated Consciousness" Free Download


"Caffeinated Consciousness", the 2nd song to be released from TV on the Radio's new record Nine Types of Light, is now available for free download.

Check it out here.

Nine Types of Light drops April 12.



Saturday, March 05, 2011

Toro Y Moi - "Blessa" Video



This is hardly new. It's the video for the very first song off Toro Y Moi's first record, Causers of This. Meanwhile, his (awesome) sophomore record Underneath the Pine just dropped.

I'm just way into Toro Y Moi right now, and this is new to me. And it's a great video.

Friday, March 04, 2011

MGMT - Congratulations Remix EP


I've been very vocal about the fact that I absolutely love MGMT's sophomore record Congratulations from last year, and was frankly baffled by the fact that a lot of people hated it.

And so, despite the fact that I'm not too thrilled with the concept of 'remixes' in general, I'm excited to hear that MGMT are releasing an EP with 3 remixes from their latest record.

It's called Congratulations Remix EP, which is as self-explanatory as it gets. Drops March 15.

Tracklisting:

1) Congratulations (Erol Alkan Rework)
2) Siberian Breaks (Ed Banger All Stars Remix)
3) Brian Eno (Cornelius Mix)

of Montreal - thecontrollersphere


of Montreal have sneak attack released their latest work, an EP called thecontrollersphere.

Here's the official word on the EP:

"A mini-album of sorts, thecontrollersphere is a folk album only in the way of Montreal could envision a folk album.

Clocking in at 23 minutes, thecontrollersphere includes the long-awaited studio version of live favorite "Black Lion Massacre" -- a pulsing sonic freakout that is the darkest and noisiest song Barnes has ever written and serves as thecontrollersphere's mission statement."

A mini-album of sorts, eh? Well I actually love the EP as a format of music, so I'm not complaining. Sometimes you don't have a full 40 minutes to an hour to listen to a full album, and then an EP can be perfect.

You can purchase thecontrollersphere from Polyvinyl Records here.

Physical release date is April 26, but you can download the 320kbps MP3s right now. Available in black or limited edition blue vinyl.

Finally, here's the tracklisting:

1) Black Lion Massacre
2) Flunkt Sass vs the Root Plume
3) Holiday Call
4) L'age D'or
5) Slave Translator

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Starfucker - "Quality Time" Video


Starfucker /// Quality Time from Liberum Pictures on Vimeo.

Thanks to Pretty Much Amazing for the heads up.

The Strokes - "Under Cover of Darkness" Video

Kurt Vile - Stream 'Smoke Ring for My Halo'


Kurt Vile's new record Smoke Ring for My Halo drops next Tuesday, March 8.

NPR has the record available for streaming in its entirety. Check it out here.

Broken Bells - Meyrin Fields EP


One has to wonder if The Shins are ever coming back, at this point.  Their third and most recent LP Wincing the Night Away dropped a little over 4 years ago. There was news of changes in the band's lineup. And now Shins frontman James Mercer has formed a new project with producer Danger Mouse in Broken Bells.

Broken Bells released their self-titled debut last year, and now they have a new EP. It's called Meyrin Fields EP, and contains 4 tracks.

Here's the tracklisting:

1) Meyrin Fields
2) Windows
3) An Easy Life
4) Heartless Empire

Meyrin Fields EP drops March 29.

Broken Bells

Monday, February 28, 2011

Wavves - "King of the Beach" Video



Official video features Snacks the Cat, weed, counterfeit money, a jewel-encrusted bong, and the beach. Everything you should have been expecting.

Stream Starfucker's 'Reptilians' In Its Entirety


Starfucker's sophomore album Reptilians is easily one of my favorite records of 2011 so far.

Check out my review here.

You can now stream the record in its entirety via the Soundcloud below.

  STRFKR - Reptilians by Polyvinyl Records

Saturday, February 26, 2011

LCD Soundsystem - "Dance Yrself Clean" Performed by Muppets



Unofficial, yet essential.

In response to a situation where scalpers scooped up many of the tix for his final show at Madison Square Garden show on April 2, James Murphy added 4 LCD Soundsystem shows at Terminal 5 on March 28-31. So hopefully everyone in the NYC area who wants to gets the chance to see LCD Soundsystem perform one last time.

Still don't understand why you feel you need to retire, James. But anyway, psyched for the MSG show.

TVOTR - 'Nine Types of Light' Album Art


Here's the album art for TV on the Radio's highly anticipated new record Nine Types of Light, which drops April 12.

You can listen to first single "Will Do" via the Soundcloud below.

TV On The Radio - "Will Do" by Interscope Records

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Panda Bear - Techno


Yes, Panda Bear is releasing another record, and it's still not Tomboy. "Techno" is a song that will be on Tomboy, but will first be released as a single on March 14, completing the series of singles that Panda started last year.

Tomboy will then follow on April 12.

Do we think this song will actually sound anything like techno?

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

TV on the Radio Tour Dates


I can't tell you how excited I am for TV on the Radio's new record Nine Types of Light. A new record of course also means the band will be touring.

Here are some dates:

04/08 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
04/09 - Charlottesville, VA - Jefferson Theatre
04/10 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
04/13 - New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall
04/16 - Boston, MA - House of Blues
04/17 - Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis
04/18 - Toronto, Ontario - Sound Academy
04/20 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrew's Hall
04/23 + 04/24 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
04/25 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
05/02 - San Diego, CA - 4th and B
06/22 - Zagreb, Croatia - T Mobile Inmusic Festival
07/03 - London, England - Wireless Festival
07/08 - Bilbao, Spain - BBK Live Festival

Monday, February 21, 2011

Wavves - Horse Shoes


Nathan Williams has released another new Wavves track called "Horse Shoes".

You can download it from the Wavves blog here.

This track, which features drumming by the awesome Zach Hill, was previously performed on the Wavves Daytrotter session.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Soundgarden Live on I-5


Soundgarden have reunited. They played some shows in 2010, and are recording new material for a 2011 album.

We're also gonna get a live album from the group. It's called Live on I-5. Drops March 22. The recordings are from a variety of performances in 1996.

So even if new material from the disappoints (hopefully not though), this release is virtually guaranteed to be awesome.

Here's the tracklisting:

01) Spoonman
02) Searching With My Good Eye Closed
03) Let Me Drown
04) Head Down
05) Outshined
06) Rusty Cage
07) Burden In My Hand
08) Helter Skelter (Beatles cover)
09) Boot Camp
10) Nothing To Say
11) Slaves And Bulldozers
12) Dusty
13) Fell On Black Days
14) Search And Destroy (Iggy And The Stooges cover)
15) Ty Cobb
16) Black Hole Sun
17) Jesus Christ Pose

You can get more specific details (exactly where and when the performance of each song is taken from) directly from the band here.

Community: Complisult + Explanabrag


Complisult - Mix between a compliment and an insult

Explanabrag - Sneaking in a brag about yourself while explaining something to someone

Swanson Pyramid of Greatness


This is awesome. In an episode of Parks and Recreation earlier this season, character Ron Swanson is coaching a kids' basketball team. He introduces them to the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness, a calibrated system of personal achievement that he's been working on for years.

Entries include:

  • Capitalism: God's way of determining who is smart, and who is poor
  • Greatness Itself: The best revenge
  • Discipline: The ability to repeat a boring thing over and over again
  • Intensity: Give 100%. 110% is impossible. Only idiots recommend that
  • Honor: If you need it defined, you don't have it

Donald Glover Is Childish Gambino


Donald Glover, who puts in fantastic performances every week on the NBC comedy Community (check out this week's episode, where his character Troy is put into a catatonic state when he encounters his hero LeVar Burton - "You can't disappoint a picture!") has a rap persona as Childish Gambino.

IAMDONALD

In his EP I Am Just A Rapper, Childish Gambino raps over songs from Sleigh Bells, Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Yeasayer, and Neon Indian. This is pretty awesomely nerdy hip hop.

Kanye West - All of the Lights (Video)

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Beach Fossils - What A Pleasure EP


Brooklyn band Beach Fossils released their self-titled debut last year. They escaped my notice then - I had heard about them, but they got lost in the shuffle. I blame their name - there were a lot of 'beach' and beach-related band names last year.

Anyway, Beach Fossils have now caught my attention with their new EP, called What A Pleasure. It's really good.

Here's the tracklisting:


01) Moments
02) What A Pleasure

03) Fall Right In
04) Out In the Way (feat. Jack Tatum from Wild Nothing)
05) Face It
06) Distance
07) Calyer
08) Adversity

What A Pleasure drops March 8.

Handsome Furs Tour Dates


Handsome Furs is Dan Boeckner, singer/guitarist for Wolf Parade, and his wife Alexei Perry. They've released two albums so far - Plague Park in 2007 and Face Control in 2009.

With Wolf Parade announcing they're going on 'indefinite hiatus', Handsome Furs may be Dan's primary musical outlet for the foreseeable future. It's rumored that they are recording their third album, to be released in 2011.

Some tour dates have been announced for the group. I saw them open for Spoon a couple of years back - it was a very enjoyable experience.

03/07 Recife, Brazil – Rec-Beat Festival
04/13 Boston, MA – Great Scott
04/14 Brooklyn, NY – Bell House
04/15 Richmond, VA – Gallery 5
04/16 Clemson, SC – Clemson University
04/17 Raleigh, NC – King’s Barcade
04/18 Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie

Thanks go to Wolf Parade Fansite for the info.

Lotus Plaza - The Floodlight Collective


If you're a fan of Deerhunter, you should definitely be familiar with frontman Bradford Cox's other project Atlas Sound, responsible for one of 2009's best albums, Logos.

You should also make yourself familiar with Lotus Plaza, the other project for Deerhunter's guitarist Lockett Pundt. Lotus Plaza have a single album so far - it's called The Floodlight Collective.

A lot of the special qualities that make Deerhunter the band it is can be found here as well. There's a dreamy, hazy, atmospheric nature to most of the songs.

Standout tracks include "What Grows?", "Red Oak Way", and "Quicksand".

Tracklisting:

01) Red Oak Way
02) Quicksand
03) These Years
04) Different Mirrors
05) Whiteout
06) What Grows?

07) Sunday Night
08) Antoine
09) The Floodlight Collective
10) A Threaded Needle

Soundgarden Are Making A New Record


Soundgarden, my all-time favorite 90's alterna-grunge band, reunited last year. I only heard about them performing in their native Seattle, and then for Lollapalooza in Chicago. I have been patiently waiting for an NYC performance.

You never know what's gonna happen with these reunions. Pixies have been reunited and touring for years now, but they haven't attempted to make a new record, nor does it seem like they have plans to do so anytime soon. This is perhaps for the best. A reunited band does a service by allowing more and more opportunities for their fans to see them perform, but you don't want to tarnish the band's legacy by releasing music that would be considered sub-par compared to the band's canon.

Well for better or for worse, Soundgarden intend to make a new record this year.

Here's the official message from the band's website:

OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS, WE'VE BEEN BUSY JAMMING, WRITING AND HANGING OUT TOGETHER - EXPLORING THE CREATIVE ASPECT OF BEING SOUNDGARDEN. IT FEELS GREAT. WE HAVE SOME COOL NEW SONGS THAT WE ARE GOING TO RECORD VERY SOON. THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE SUPPORT!
LOUDEST OF LOVE,
BEN, CHRIS , KIM AND MATT

Personally, I'm excited. Chris Cornell still has a one-of-a-kind amazing voice. I have faith that this band can make a quality record in 2011. Hopefully they won't let me down.

Also, please perform in NYC soon. Thanks.

MGMT - Qu'est-Ce Que C'est La Vie, Chaton? (Live At The Bataclan)


MGMT have released a mini live album of sorts. It's called Qu'est-Ce Que C'est La Vie, Chaton? That title translates to "What Is Life, Kitten?" Wacky.

Only 5 songs on this mini live album - the fantastic "Destrokk" from their early Time to Pretend EP, only "Weekend Wars" from their breakthrough debut LP Oracular Spectacular, and then "Flash Delirium", "Congratulations", and "Brian Eno" from their sophomore record Congratulations.

If you're a fan of MGMT and you haven't heard "Destrokk", you really must. I've honestly come to think of it as one of their best songs.

I would have killed for a full length live album, but this is a solid bite-sized taste of live MGMT.

Tracklisting:


01) Weekend Wars
02) Flash Delirium
03) Destrokk
04) Congratulations
05) Brian Eno

Radiohead - Lotus Flower (Video)



This is pretty much an "Optimistic" from Kid A type situation, where Radiohead have taken one of the only tracks from their new record that works as a standard 'song', so they can make it a single and shoot a video for it.

There's a whole meme of taking this video footage of Thom Yorke dancing and setting it to different music, for comedic effect.

Tyler the Creator - Yonkers



I know fuck all about hip hop, and I'm not gonna pretend otherwise. Nonetheless, the buzz surrounding this dude Tyler the Creator and his hip hop crew Odd Future has become too deafening to ignore.

This track and corresponding video "Yonkers" is hot shit. Yonkers, represent!

Mother Mother - Eureka


Mother Mother are a Canadian band that produces awesome power pop. Never before have I heard guy/girl vocals blending so seamlessly and beautifully at the core of a band's sound. These guys need to be on your radar.

Mother Mother drop their 3rd LP Eureka on March 15.

Here's the tracklisting:

01) Chasing It Down
02) The Stand
03) Baby Don’t Dance
04) Original Spin
05) Born In A Flash
06) Simply Simple
07) Problems
08) Aspiring Fires
09) Getaway
10) Far In Time
11) Oleander
12) Calm Me Down

Yeasayer - I Remember

Friday, February 18, 2011

Radiohead - 'The King of Limbs' Out Now


Christmas has come early for Radiohead fans, as the band's just-announced album The King of Limbs, which was set to be released tomorrow, is available NOW.

The King of Limbs

You can pay the $9 for the record, or you can stream it below.

Radiohead - The King Of Limbs by KROQ

Wavves - TV Luv Song


Wavves have released a fun little tune called "TV Luv Song". That Carl Winslow (from the sitcom Family Matters) artwork above is awesome.

Straightforward lyrics about wasting your time and not giving a shit, because you have TV, and that's all you need.

Wavves - TV Luv Song by Ragged Words