Dive- Sometime

From the guitarist of Beach Fossils.

Tanlines - Brothers

Catchy-catchy stuff.

All you do is click on that there link and it starts playing for your ears. Magic.

Link, Magic, Ears

Best Albums of 2011: Peaking Lights, Clams Casino, Tokyo Bloodworm

Clams Casino Instrumental Mixtape [Type Records] [Self-Released digital]

Clams Casino really blew up in 2011 and he did it the best way possible: by playing by his own rules. It started with this, his self-released FREE mixtape, then he followed up with a release for Tri Angle and then appeared all over one of the best hip hop mixtapes of 2011. Clams has this sound that sometimes plays out like TV on the Radio turned into DJs; it's big, it's dirty, it's evocative. This is one for anybody who likes music at all ever.


Download for FREE





Peaking Lights - 936 [Not Not Fun]

Now this is an ALBUM. You have to play it from beginning to end and once it's over you'll hard pressed to find a world like it to immerse yourself in. Dub, pop, lo-fi experiments, radiophonic weirdness; it all comes together to form one of the hookiest records of recent years.





Tokyo Bloodworm - Palestine & Palestine Remixes [Moteer]

I reviewed this album for Fluid Radio earlier this year here. Of all my selections this takes the most time to grow, but when you get there..wow.


Honourable Mentions:
E and I - An Indescribable Brightness Shone (Nathan Thomas's review for Fluid Radio here)
Hakbune- I Discover I'm missing (my review for Fluid Radio here)

Best of 2011: Holy Other - With U (12" EP)

When Holy Other dropped his 7"single via Transparent in 2010 it sort of felt out of place. Transparent has their finger on the pulse but due to the diversity of their roster it was hard to really locate Holy Other's music on any continuum. And the single itself was half greatness with Yr Love and half unassured exploration with We Over. However, if Transparent was an odd birthing place, Tri Angle seemed a perfect homebase to unleash With U on the world. Somehow, an artist who seemed mysterious, got even more mysterious... but his sound had evolved too; he sounded much more assured as he was getting bolder, which is a rare balance to strike.

Every song on With U is totally different, however they fit thematically. With U is the sort of musical introduction by an artist that suggests they are drawing from this rich palette, and just by combining elements in different increments they arrive at very different results. I'm thinking of, say, Seasons (Pre-Din) who blends drone, modern classical and out and out experimentation, but by combining them in different ways he creates works that are all unique. Holy Other has a similar ability, whether it's RnB, techno, ambient his ability to blend chopped vocal samples or a deep sub-bass synth lines with skittish beats in different increments seems to create not only very different songs, but songs that almost seem like they are in totally different genres. It almost seems an injustice to label With U as anything other than simply an 'electronic' album because any other genre or even sub-genre name just seems too limiting. With U is the sort of rare musical moment where an artist seems to be offering a brief of history of electronic music up until now combined with elements that hint at a bold future for a myriad of genres and electronic experimentation in general. Either way, this is the sort of confident songwriting that few artists have the capability of, especially when they are seamlessly blending genres like this. How does he do it? With U is the sort of album that wins over people that don't like this 'type' of music and leaves those that do love it in awe of the slight miracle of its existence.

Best songs of 2011: Danny Brown - Monopoly

It's been a minute (read: almost a decade) since a Hip Hop Artist really caught my ear. There have been songs but not artists that really grabbed me. Genres fluctuate. This year I'd be hard-pressed to name an indie rock outfit that even edged on to my radar. However, Hip Hop got really interesting. And for me that began with Danny Brown. When I first saw the cover to DB's XXX mixtape I was intrigued. When I saw it was on A-Trak's label, Fools' Gold, I was further intrigued. Then I head Monopoly. Honestly, I probably played this song more than any other this year.

Danny Brown's flow plays like a Jekyll and Hyde routine with DB playing both parts. Honestly, the man sounds crazed. His voice has this menacing high pitched thing going on that just furthers that mad-man mystique. And his flow is just bizarre. BUT the man knows what he's doing. His lyrics often blend the mundane (check the"Hoes-Toes" line), the profane ( check the "Doritoes" line) and the profound ("Fiends on their menstrual" line). And half the time you have to stop yourself just to process how the ideas connect.

Add in the weird haircut, missing front teeth, and skinny jeans and this guy is just plain interesting. And the beats and samples on this track by Quelle are unbelievable - seriously, this guy deserves more recognition. In a recent P4K post Brown said he keeps his ear to the ground for UK producers because they are ahead of the game. That says something about how serious this guy takes his craft. Enough chatter. Hit play. Then hit Repeat.

Download the FREE mixtape via Fool's Gold:
http://www.foolsgoldrecs.com/xxx/

Owen - The Armoire (Nervous Energies session)

Mike Kinsella (AKA Owen, that dude form American Football, etc) is one of my favourite musicians of all time. I'm pretty picky when it comes to the whole 'just a guy/gal and an acoustic guitar' thing but Kinsella's sense of melody is just ...well, sublime is about as good of a word to describe it as I can come up with.

As for this video, I've been playing it on repeat for days; its just mesmerizing. Owen's new album Ghost Town is out now on Polyvinyl Enjoy this over and over and over again.

** Be warned: Mike's dog starts barking at about the 3 minute mark and it scared the crap out of me and MY dog the first time I heard this.

Demdike Stare- Irrational Advice Mix

Just like a Christmas gift (that arrives so late you cant afford it!) Demdike Stare released part 1 & 2 of Elemental, a new 4 part album set to complete in 2012. With that same giving spirit in mind, and thankfully-so for those of us who already blew our 'me' fund for the holidays, they now bring us 'Irrational Advice', a new and FREE 51-minute mix. Not many bands are fitted to dust off 50+ minute mixes without a sweat but Demdike was designed for this sort of thing, hence the loooong/multi-part albums. Enjoy. And Seriously, don't be scared of that duration; it flies by...
Demdike Stare - Irrational Advice
Demdike Stare - Irrational Advice by modernlove

Korallreven - As Young as Yesterday (music video)

Peaking Lights - Hey Sparrow (official video)

Definitely one of my favourite albums of 2011. Check it, if you haven't.

Purity Ring, Blood Diamonds do that remix thang

S.C.U.M-Summon the Sound (Purity Ring remix) by Mute UK
Apache Beat-Another Day (Blood Diamond Remix) by Jax1188

ASAP Rocky -Bass (prod Clams Casino)

Fabio Frizzi - Zombie (Main theme)

Halloween is sort of my favourite holiday of the year, mainly because I get to immerse myself in the world of horror films and Millennium re-runs with purpose. As a guy who writes horror films, it's borderline religious. This Saturday here in Ottawa is the annual Zombie walk in support of the Ottawa Food Bank. However, the night before, the Mayfair Theatre is doing a midnight screening of Lucio Fulci's 'Zombie'. And having had to sit through that trailer 4 or 5 times this month already, this little piece of music by Fabio Frizzi has become lodged in my brain and is easily my favourite piece of music I've heard in the last month. I haven't seen 'Zombie' in years and certaintly don't remember the score, but damn this thing sounds great. This theme music has a very mournful quality and those tinny sound drums remind me of Salem in many ways. You can see the influence on every italo-disco influenced act of today that's for sure.

Glass Candy - Warm in the Winter

Italians Do It Better bring us more Glass Candy and hopefully the attention paid to the 'Drive' soundtrack will lend this great label even further momentum. As for 'Warm In the Winter', it's an unapologetic slice of dance floor fun. Besides, who doesn't like when a band tells you they love you over and over again in song?

GLASS CANDY / WARM IN THE WINTER 12" SINGLE by ITALIANS DO IT BETTER

m83 - Midnight City (official music video)

Album is out today in the US/Canada.

M83 - Midnight City from naiverecords on Vimeo.

Matt Christensen - Someday I Won't Matter Anymore

Matt Christensen is a member of Zelienopleand and this song is taken from his release "A Cradle in the Bowery" which was released on the incredibly excellent Under the Spire label. This album was actually released earlier in 2011 but I just received my white label via Chris at UTS and have been digging this one. This is a seriously underrated song for 2011, it has a sort of dark take on Americana to it, but the adept songwriting is reminiscent of someone like Neil Finn/Crowded House in that it is perfectly written, arranged, layered, produced, etc. This one is kind of dark, but kind of fun. Do it.
Matt Christensen - Someday I Won't Matter by Under The Spire

Lana Del Rey - Video Games (Balam Acab remix)

These first two Lana Del Rey tracks from her debut 7" are really killing it for me. And now we get Balam Acab to give 'Video Games' that extra midas touch with this ethereal, hissy mix.
Video Games (BALAM ACAB Remix) - Lana Del Rey by BALAM ACAB

More recent Lana goodness. Live on Jools Holland:

Purity Ring - Belispeak

Purity Ring just plain kill it on this new split 7" with Braids out this week on Fat Possum.

Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans/Video Games 7"

I've sort of been putting Lana Del Rey on the back burner for a moment. All the usual suspects have been touting this girl and she looks so Hollywood-hot I had to wonder. Now that it's been a minute I've given her due and the girl's got chops. Honestly, this girl could pull an Amy Winehouse and creep into mass consciousness. Everything about her just works: the music, the image, the videos. She's the product of pop-culture but makes no qualms about it and is as drawn to the dark allure of it all as she is swept up in the saccharine sugar-coatedness. In a way she reminds me of JJ in her ability to cull from different sources and create a pastiche of influences that almost run counter to each other. Hit play on each of these songs more than twice and the girl owns part of your soul...and I mean that in a Robert Johnson sort of a way. See you at the crossroads.

Order the 7" here. It should be a collector's item in about 5 seconds.

YOURS0173 - Sincerely Yours - "Maria"

More mysteries from Sweden.

YOURS0173 from disco naïveté on Vimeo.

Blood Diamonds - Grins

And from Grouper, we move to another one of my favourite 7s of the year. Now, Transparent recs/blog are usually on point with their releases but occasionally they release something so good you know they've tapped an artist with serious talent. Such was the case with Purity Ring's 'Ungirthed' earlier this year and now Blood Diamonds brings us 'Grins'. When I first heard this Blood Diamonds 7 it absolutely did not work for me. In fact, I turned it off half way through the first track. It sounded like one too many layers to my ears. A month later I gave it another shot and it all clicked. This big-orchestral-melodramatic-pop-by-way-of-stuttering-electronic-beats sound that is Blood Diamonds finally made sense to me. And dammit, it works well. Give this one a minute. Absolutely lovely stuff.
Blood Diamonds - Grins by TransparentRecs
Blood Diamonds - Move The Stars by TransparentRecs