Best Coast

I'm fast becoming a fan of Best Coast, despite the fact that the band name is an affront against the region I call home (as in, West Coast is the best coast, yo).

Real name Bethany Cosentino, Best Coast are kind of like a female Wavves.  Or if you don't know Wavves, think Beach Boys sunny melodies, but with a shitstorm of distortion and reverb.

Best Coast don't have an album yet, though they've released a number of 7" singles.  So currently I just have an assortment of random songs of theirs on my iTunes.  Enough to cobble together a makeshift album, if I wanted to do such a thing.  In this interview with Free Williamsburg that I just read, Bethany says that a proper album is forthcoming in 2010.  And she doesn't hate the East Coast, really.  Great place to visit.

While we're waiting for the album to drop, check out some of these songs.  How great is "Sun Was High (So Was I)" as a song title?  Love it.

Best Coast - When I'm With You

Best Coast - Something in the Way 

Best Coast - Sun Was High (So Was I)

New of Montreal Album

Stereogum have issued a progress report on the status of the new of Montreal album.  As I start to read it, I realize just how excited I am to hear new material from this band.  I'm sure the new Panda Bear record will be awesome, but...after the recent EP Fall Be Kind, I'm still gorging on Animal Collective.  But it feels like I've lived an entire lifetime since of Montreal's last album.  This is my most anticipated album of 2010, easily.  (Yeasayer's fantastic second album Odd Blood, which I've now listened to over a dozen times, doesn't count, even if it doesn't officially come out 'til February)

Frontman Kevin Barnes says he's wavering between calling the new record False Priest or The Controller Sphere.  They're both good choices, I'm not sure which I like better.  Apparently Kevin is determined to title all of his records with lyrics from the song "Faberge Falls for Shuggie" from now on.  The title for 2008's Skeletal Lamping was also a phrase pulled from there.

Anyway, the album is going to be produced by Jon Brion.  Kevin is planning to have a bigger band for future live shows (10 or so musicians) and is guiding the sound of the record accordingly.  70's funk and R&B serve as inspiration.  Cameos from Solange Knowles, Janelle Monae, and "one or two other people" will be included.

The record is due in August or September...shit that's a long wait.  I need something to make me happy now, dammit.

Soundgarden Reunion

Fuck yeah!  There's honestly no other band out there I've wanted to reunite more than Soundgarden.  One of my all-time favorite bands for a number of years, and I never got the chance to see 'em live.  They've announced that they're reuniting for a handful of festival dates.  Count me in.  Now must listen to Badmotorfinger and Superunknown in preparation.

Soundgarden World

"Show me the power, child.  I'd like to say that I'm down on my knees today.  Yeah, it gives me the butterflies, gives me away, 'til I'm up on my feet again." 

Soundgarden - Outshined

"Just when every day seemed to greet me with a smile, sunpots have faded.  Now I'm doing time.  Now I'm doing time."

Soundgarden - Fell on Black Days

Owen Pallett

There are still two more days left in 2009 and I already have a Top 4 Albums in 2010 list:

01) Yeasayer - Odd Blood
02) Owen Pallett - Heartland
03) Beach House - Teen Dream
04) Broken Bells - Broken Bells

Anyway, this guy Owen Pallett used to make music under the name Final Fantasy, inspired by the epic Square Enix video game series.  His new album Heartland is the first to be released in numerous regions across the globe, including Japan, where Final Fantasy is bigger than Jesus, so he decided he was better off dropping the stage name so as to not incur the wrath of copyright law.

Owen's music is like mixing classical and pop music together.  Lots of string instruments and whatnot.  It kind of reminds me of a movie score, except some guy's singing over it, and it sounds good.  There are some catchy tunes on Heartland that are getting stuck in my head.

I'll have to check out Owen's previous album (under the name Final Fantasy), He Poos Clouds.  Wow that's a ridiculous title.

Jay-Z - Young Forever Video

Jay-Z has premiered his latest video.  It's for Blueprint 3 closer "Forever Young".

Mix 15 - Quick Forgiveness

01) Atlas Sound - Quick Canal (feat. Laetita Sadier)
02) Lupe Fiasco - The Coolest
03) Animal Collective - In the Flowers
04) Sunset Rubdown - They Took a Vote and Said No
05) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Y Control
06) Phoenix - Big Sun
07) Wavves - Gun in the Sun
08) MGMT - Of Moons, Birds & Monsters
09) Jay-Z - Young Forever (feat. Mr. Hudson)
10) Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
11) Deerhunter - Microcastle
12) Jay Reatard - Oh It's Such a Shame
13) Dirty Projectors - Temecula Sunrise
14) jj - Ecstasy
15) Kid Cudi - Hyyerr (feat. Chip the Ripper)
16) Yeasayer - Forgiveness

Atlas Sound - Quick Canal (feat. Laetita Sadier)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Y Control

Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms

jj - Ecstasy

Yeasayer - Forgiveness

Mix 14 - Optimistic Intervention

01) Radiohead - Optimistic
02) Animal Collective - Kids on Holiday
03) No Age - Sleeper Hold
04) Lupe Fiasco - Go Go Gadget Flow
05) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Soft Shock
06) Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
07) Raekwon - Kiss the Ring (feat. Inspectah Deck and Masta Killa)
08) Pixies - Broken Face
09) Dan Deacon - Surprise Stefani
10) Phoenix - Armistice
11) Them Crooked Vultures - Mind Eraser, No Chaser
12) Deerhunter - Strange Lights
13) Spoon - Don't Make Me a Target
14) Grizzly Bear - All We Ask
15) Arcade Fire - Intervention

Animal Collective - Kids on Holiday

Pixies - Broken Face

Dan Deacon - Surprise Stefani

Deerhunter - Strange Lights

Arcade Fire - Intervention

Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension Video

Phrazes for the Young, the solo debut from Julian Casablancas, lead singer of The Strokes, is surprisingly good.  It's got a very 80's sound to it.  I especially like the first single "11th Dimension".

Julian just released a video for the song, and it's cheesy awesome. Check it out.

2009 Albums I May Have Missed

Whether it's an album I already knew about but have started to appreciate more the more I listen to it, or someone I never even heard of until I saw their album on somebody else's "best of" list, there are a number of really good albums I may have missed when putting together my best albums of the year.

Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II
There are two awesome Wu-Tang related albums released in 2009 that I'm only really starting to listen to now.  Here's one.

Ghostface Killah - Ghostdini the Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City
And here's another.

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
I've had this album by the French band Phoenix for a while and the singles "Lisztomania" and "1901" were frequently included on my playlists, but I didn't go much further than that.  Those two songs start off the album.  Now I've been listening to the whole album and it's stellar pop all the way through.

EPs of 2009

Some of the year's best music didn't come in albums, but in EPs.  I'm not sure what the strict definition for an EP is exactly, but it's shorter than an album.  The ones I've got here are 3-8 songs long.

An EP can be perfect when you want to listen to a singular body of music, but you don't have the time or the patience to listen to a full album.  Sometimes I'll get in the car and I'll figure that the time of my trip is just about right to listen to one of these.

I think the EP is a good compromise between the ADD nature of our society, where people more often than not just listen to their iPods on shuffle, and the desire for a band/artist to release a piece of music greater than just a single song.  We might see more music released in the form of EPs in the future.

Anyway, a list of my favorite music of the year would be incomplete without mentioning these awesome records.

Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind
Animal Collective had one helluva year.  They started it by releasing the fantastic LP Merriweather Post Pavilion and they ended it by releasing this EP, Fall Be Kind.  The name is a play on the daylight savings time phrase "fall behind", reminding you to set your clocks back one hour (rather than spring forward).  Merriweather Post Pavilion has a very spring/summery feel, and they recorded this as an autumn record.  It's a sweet companion piece to MPP, and the Grateful Dead sampling track "What Would I Want? Sky" is incredible. 

Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Bradford Cox's other band Atlas Sound released the full album Logos this year, but with Deerhunter he decided to go the EP route with Rainwater Cassette Exchange.  This honestly might be my favorite Deerhunter record.  The title track starts things off with kind of a surf rock vibe.  "Disappearing Ink" and "Famous Last Words" are bangin' rockin' tunes.  Then it gets mellow with the beautiful "Game of Diamonds".  "Circulation" closes the record with a wall of noise.  Five awesome tracks, no filler.

Mix 13 - Eraser Corrected

01) No Age - Eraser
02) Jay-Z - Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
03) Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes
04) Lupe Fiasco - Real
05) of Montreal - A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger
06) Yeasayer - Mondegreen
07) Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
08) The Beatles - Come Together
09) Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange
10) Radiohead - Pyramid Song
11) Wolf Parade - Call It a Ritual
12) Micachu - Vulture
13) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Warrior
14) Phoenix - Rome
15) TV on the Radio - Dirtywhirl
16) Vampire Weekend - I Stand Corrected

of Montreal - A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger

Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)

Micachu - Vulture

Phoenix - Rome

TV on the Radio - Dirtywhirl

Mix 12 - Maps in Your Pocket

01) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
02) Broken Bells - The High Road
03) Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
04) The Beatles - Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
05) Passion Pit - Seaweed Song
06) Jay-Z - Takeover
07) Grizzly Bear - On a Neck, on a Spit
08) Phoenix - Love Like a Sunset Part I
09) Kanye West - Spaceship (feat. GLC & Consequence)
10) Lupe Fiasco - Fire
11) Animal Collective - Chores
12) No Age - Boy Void
13) Yeasayer - No Need to Worry
14) DOOM - Angelz (feat. Tony Starks)
15) Destroyer - Painter in Your Pocket

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps

Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal

Phoenix - Love Like a Sunset Part I

Lupe Fiasco - Fire

DOOM - Angelz (feat. Tony Starks)

2010 Anticipated Albums

2009 has been a great year for music. It looks like 2010 is gonna pretty sweet too. There are a bunch of albums I'm looking forward to in the new year...

Spoon - Transference
The last LP we got from Spoon is 2007's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, with fantastic songs like "Don't You Evah", "The Underdog", and "Don't Make Me a Target". This year we got an EP from Spoon called Got Nuffin. It turns out that EP was an appetizer for the new album, with the title track "Got Nuffin" showing up on Transference as well. I didn't think too much of that track at first, but it's definitely grown on me. And now we have the piano-based single "Written in Reverse", which I'm loving. It sounds vaguely menacing and has a cool groove to it. Spoon have been producing solid albums time-after-time for many years now. I don't expect this effort to be any different. One interesting tidbit that I heard is that the band produced this album themselves for the first time.

Yeasayer - Odd Blood
Yeasayer's Odd Blood is the album to beat for 2010, so far. How can I say that? Um, because I've listened to it 7 times already. It's a funny world we live in now where albums are leaked out onto the internet months before their official release. But you've gotta draw the line somewhere, and my Best of 2009 list is already written. This album has a little less folk and world music influence than Yeasayer's All Hour Cymbals, and a little more electro pop and funk. I love All Hour Cymbals, but I don't need another one. I'm happy with the direction Yeasayer have moved in. These are catchy, incredibly listenable tunes. "Ambling Alp", "Madder Red", and "ONE" are early standouts.

Mix 11 - Lasso a Rabbit

01) Phoenix - Lasso
02) Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire
03) Neon Indian - Terminally Chill
04) No Age - Cappo
05) Kanye West - Gold Digger (feat. Jamie Foxx)
06) Sunset Rubdown - Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh!
07) Yeasayer - The Children
08) Rain Machine - Give Blood
09) Deerhunter - Backspace Century
10) The White Stripes - The Hardest Button to Button
11) Mos Def - 24 Hour Karate School
12) Weezer - The Prettiest Girl in the Whole Wide World
13) Modest Mouse - Ocean Breathes Salty
14) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Date With the Night
15) Passion Pit - I've Got Your Number
16) Jay-Z + DJ Danger Mouse - 99 Problems
17) Animal Collective - Who Could Win a Rabbit

Phoenix - Lasso 

Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire

No Age - Cappo

Mos Def - 24 Hour Karate School

Animal Collective - Who Could Win a Rabbit

Animal Collective @ The American Museum of Natural History

I got so excited when I heard that Animal Collective are performing at the American Museum of Natural History on January 8.  Turns out it's only a DJ set.  It should still be an awesome night though.  Much better than that Ben Stiller movie, I bet.

Here's the generic description from the museum's website:

Launch your weekend with drinks and dancing at the most explosive party this side of the Milky Way. See and be seen under the stars as live bands, DJs, and VJs present the hottest music and project dynamic visuals at the Rose Center for Earth and Space. Cocktails keep the party going. Presented by The Fader.

Tix are $25.  You can buy 'em here.

This is as good an excuse as any to post the videos I took of AnCo performing at Prospect Park in Brooklyn back in August.  After the jump...

Kevin Barnes' Favorite Albums of 2009

The British music site Drowned In Sound has a feature with various artists listing their favorite albums of the year, including Kevin Barnes, frontman for the band of Montreal.

of Montreal are one of my favorite bands, so it's not surprising that Kevin and I have similar musical tastes.  Kevin lists two of the albums that made my Top 10 (Animal Collective and Passion Pit), as well as one album I've only started to get into but could definitely be a contender (Dan Deacon).  That leaves Fever Ray and Micachu and the Shapes.  I haven't heard either of these albums.  I need to check 'em out ASAP.

Kevin's comments:

Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion
Like everyone else in the world, I love this album, perfect soundtrack for knife fishing, as well as symbolic theft, not that i do either of those things, just seems like it would work for both.

Dan Deacon Bromst
This is the sound you'd hear if you died of playstation, that is a cause of death, right?

Fever Ray Fever Ray
Vampires who like rainbows like this album and so do i

Passion Pit Manners
Barely asian semi-quad tone electronica, with a touch of old world harmonic maleficence, quite reminiscent of early Robert Horry, but with slightly less emphasis on the perimeter play. The three point shooting is almost identical however.

Micachu and the Shapes Jewellery
She/they top the list of artists i'd love to see live, seems like it would be a thunderdome

I eagerly await the next of Montreal album, which I fully expect to be on my Best of 2010 list this time next year.

The White Stripes - Under Great White Northern Lights

So who wants to get me this ridiculously extravagant and expensive White Stripes live box set for Christmas?  Anyone?

The set includes...

• DVD of the tour documentary Under Great White Northern Lights
• DVD of the 10th anniversary show Under Nova Scotian Lights (exclusive to the set)
• Double LP (CDs and Vinyl) of 16 live tracks
• Exclusive 7" on colored vinyl
• Exclusive silkscreened print
• Hardcover book of photography 

The set costs $179 now, but the price jumps up to $229 after New Year's...ouch.

The White Stripes

Broken Bells

James Mercer from The Shins + Danger Mouse = Broken Bells

They've got a full album coming out in March, but they're offering the first single The High Road for free on their website now.  Check it out here.

Christoph's Top 10 Albums of 2009

10) The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
I love the bass sound on this album.  Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots was my last experience with the Lips - for some reason I never got around to listening to At War With the Mystics.  Anyway, where Yoshimi was sunny and poppy, Embryonic is dark and heavy and intense.  Both are awesome flip sides of the same coin.  Album closer "Watching the Planets" is the standout track for me.

"Oh, oh, oh, finding the answer.  Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.  Finding that there ain't no answer to find."

09) Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
Sunset Rubdown is supposedly the side project of Spencer Krug from Wolf Parade, but this being Sunset Rubdown's 4th album compared to Wolf Parade's 2, you could be fooled into thinking this was Spencer's main gig.  Anyway, while previous albums Shut Up, I Am Dreaming and Random Spirit Lover are really good, I think Dragonslayer is their best set yet.  It's got more of a live sound than its predecessors, and the strong female backing vocals really compliment Spencer's yelp quite nicely.  Album opener "Silver Moons" grabs me from the start.

"I believe in growing old with grace.  I believe she only loved my face.  I believe I acted like a child, making faces at acquired tastes.  And now silver moons belong to you..."

08) Passion Pit - Manners
I love Passion Pit.  I first starting getting into this Massachusetts band a few months before this album came out.  Their first release was an EP called Chunk of Change.  It featured an incredible song called "Sleepyhead", with chipmunk vocals and an awesome beat.  That track is included here on their debut album Manners as well, for good reason, but there are new tracks that match that song's gloriousness.  "Make Light", "Little Secrets", "The Reeling", and "Moth's Wings" are all spectacular.  Passion Pit have a bubbly electro pop sound with strong falsetto vocals from singer Michael Angelakos.  This is happy music, it puts a smile on my face.  A very impressive debut, and I can't wait to hear what they come up with next.

"Let this be our little secret.  No one needs to know we're feeling...higher and higher and higher, higher and higher and higher."

Atlas Sound

Atlas Sound is the solo project of Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox.  The first Atlas Sound album, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, has primarily a bedroom electronics type of sound.  His second album Logos has more of a folk sound and includes guest vocals from Animal Collective's Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) and Stereolab's Laetita Sadier.  It's without a doubt of the best records to be released in 2009.

Atlas Sound feat. Noah Lennox - Walkabout

Atlas Sound - Logos

In addition to the albums, Bradford is constantly releasing free music on his blog.  With the combined output of his two groups, I don't know where the dude finds the time to make so much music.

I caught Atlas Sound play at Music Hall of Williamsburg back in October, as part of the CMJ Music Marathon.  It was a stellar show.  I took some videos with the iPhone.  Check 'em out.