I heard there was loads of demand for another end of the year list so I decided to throw in my 2 cents! These are not in any order btw as I'm too indecisive.
First up is a track I first heard in May and was gutted to miss their gig at KCLSU. Luckily I got to see them do a brilliant yet very short set at Lovebox and the song went on to become a massive summer anthem (although rather overplayed!)
Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks
Next up is another act I saw at Lovebox, who gave a powerful and unforgettable performance...
Lykke Li - Youth Knows No Pain
Now a song that also reminds me of summer and I got to see performed live at Bestival whilst wearing a rather dodgy fancy dress costume but also a lovely mask donated by the band.
SBTRKT (featuring Little Dragon) - Wildfire
This leads on nicely to my next choice, which is a super catchy tune of brilliance. Looking forward to seeing it live at the Forum next year.
Little Dragon - Ritual Union
Finally, I'm going with a track by a band who I saw briefly after they had been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, in a horribly crowded experience in the Psychadelic Worm tent at Bestival. Thankfully, I got to see them properly a couple of weeks later in a much grander setting, The Royal Albert Hall, and they were great! Tempted to go with The Bay, but it's going to be...
Metronomy - The Look
So it seems I favour bands that I have seen at festivals, or remind me of sunnier times, but these are the tracks that I have listened to the most and have made me happiest this year.
Honorable mentions go out to:
Warpaint - Undertow
Woodkid - Iron
Baxter Dury - Leak at the Disco
Real Estate - It's Real
Los Campesinos! - By Your Hand
The Strokes - Under Cover of Darkness
Rihanna - S&M
The 2 Bears - Bear Hug
The Naked & Famous - Punching in a Dream
Jamie Woon - Night Air
Alex Clare - Up All Night
Fixers - Another Lost Apache
Cold War Kids - Louder than Ever
Lianne La Havas - Age
CSS - Hits me like a rock
Florence + The Machine - Shake it out
Big Boi - Shutterbugg
Monday, 26 December 2011
Thursday, 22 December 2011
The Maccabees - Pelican
Cool video for The Maccabees new track Pelican by David Wilson
The Making Of is quite interesting too:
Heard some of their new stuff at Bestival and was pretty impressed. Worth checking them out on their tour, which starts in January.
The Maccabees - Pelican from David Wilson on Vimeo.
The Making Of is quite interesting too:
The Maccabees - Pelican - Making Of from David Wilson on Vimeo.
Heard some of their new stuff at Bestival and was pretty impressed. Worth checking them out on their tour, which starts in January.
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
The FADER presents: LISTMANIA 2012
I tweeted this earlier but just wanted to pick out a few of my faves from this chucklesome listmania from The Fader.
Top Eight Lyrics from Beyonce’s 4 That Inspire a Belief in the Institution of Marriage
8. So in love, I don’t care what they say, I don’t care if they talking tomorrow
7. It hurts my pride to tell you how I feel/ But I still need to, why is that?
6. Boy your lips taste like a night of champagne
5. Nothing’s perfect, but it’s worth it after fighting through my fears
4. Ladies, if you love your man show you the flyest/ Grind up on it, girl, show him how you ride it
3. Still all up on each other, ain’t a damn thing change
2. Yup, I buy my own, if he deserve it, buy his shit too
1. There’s ups and downs in this love/ Got a lot to learn in this love
Significant Figures in History That Have Equal or Less Days Dedicated to Them Than Bon Iver
4. Jesus
3. Martin Luther King Jr.
2. Veterans of war
1. Presidents
Top Three Raps About Naps
3. Some slept on me, other niggas took a nap. -ASAP Rocky, “Out of this World”
2. Real hustlers don’t sleep, we taking naps. -Juicy J, “Real Hustler’s Don’t Sleep”
1. Got racks on racks on racks, naps on naps on naps. -Wiz Khalifa, “Racks (Remix)”
Top Three Things Our Moms Said About Adele
3. Who is this Adele person I keep hearing about?
2. I really love Adele.
1. Is this Adele song popular?
Weirdest Things Mariah Carey Did in 2011
4. Posed naked with her husband while pregnant
3. Played sexy Mrs. Santa Claus in video with Justin Bieber
2. Acted super-confused in a Home Shopping Network appearance
1. Forced the hospital to play her own songs while she gave birth to twins
Top Five Frank Ocean Lyrics That Sound Like Excerpts of Dialog From The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
5. You let yourself inside with no respect for privacy
4. I woulda put tints on my windows but what’s the difference
3. I can’t feel my face. What are we smoking anyway?
2. Baby, I still got one bullet left in my nine
1. The entire earth is fighting, all the world is at its end
Also loved 'Top Seven Dogs in Real Estate's "It's Real" video' but rather than me copy and paste 7 photos, check out the full list!
Top Eight Lyrics from Beyonce’s 4 That Inspire a Belief in the Institution of Marriage
8. So in love, I don’t care what they say, I don’t care if they talking tomorrow
7. It hurts my pride to tell you how I feel/ But I still need to, why is that?
6. Boy your lips taste like a night of champagne
5. Nothing’s perfect, but it’s worth it after fighting through my fears
4. Ladies, if you love your man show you the flyest/ Grind up on it, girl, show him how you ride it
3. Still all up on each other, ain’t a damn thing change
2. Yup, I buy my own, if he deserve it, buy his shit too
1. There’s ups and downs in this love/ Got a lot to learn in this love
Significant Figures in History That Have Equal or Less Days Dedicated to Them Than Bon Iver
4. Jesus
3. Martin Luther King Jr.
2. Veterans of war
1. Presidents
Top Three Raps About Naps
3. Some slept on me, other niggas took a nap. -ASAP Rocky, “Out of this World”
2. Real hustlers don’t sleep, we taking naps. -Juicy J, “Real Hustler’s Don’t Sleep”
1. Got racks on racks on racks, naps on naps on naps. -Wiz Khalifa, “Racks (Remix)”
Top Three Things Our Moms Said About Adele
3. Who is this Adele person I keep hearing about?
2. I really love Adele.
1. Is this Adele song popular?
Weirdest Things Mariah Carey Did in 2011
4. Posed naked with her husband while pregnant
3. Played sexy Mrs. Santa Claus in video with Justin Bieber
2. Acted super-confused in a Home Shopping Network appearance
1. Forced the hospital to play her own songs while she gave birth to twins
Top Five Frank Ocean Lyrics That Sound Like Excerpts of Dialog From The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
5. You let yourself inside with no respect for privacy
4. I woulda put tints on my windows but what’s the difference
3. I can’t feel my face. What are we smoking anyway?
2. Baby, I still got one bullet left in my nine
1. The entire earth is fighting, all the world is at its end
Also loved 'Top Seven Dogs in Real Estate's "It's Real" video' but rather than me copy and paste 7 photos, check out the full list!
Thursday, 15 December 2011
February is not just about Valentine's Day
I'm getting a bit bored of everyone's "Best of 2011" lists so I thought I would look ahead to 2012 as there are some exciting gigs coming up, particularly in February.
Here's my pick of the bunch:
21st January - SBTRKT with Sampha + Thundercat + Michael Kiwanuka @ Koko (sold out)
6th February - Howler + Man Made @ The Lexington
8th February - Lianne La Haves + The Staves + Rae Morris @ Borderline
9th February - Slow Club @ Heaven
9th-11th February - The Black Keys @ Alexandra Palace
22nd-24th February - Alabama Shakes @ Boston Arms
23rd February - Baxter Dury @ XOYO
24th February - Little Dragon @ Forum
If you think I've missed any or would like to join me at any of the above, holler at me.
Here's my pick of the bunch:
21st January - SBTRKT with Sampha + Thundercat + Michael Kiwanuka @ Koko (sold out)
6th February - Howler + Man Made @ The Lexington
8th February - Lianne La Haves + The Staves + Rae Morris @ Borderline
9th February - Slow Club @ Heaven
9th-11th February - The Black Keys @ Alexandra Palace
22nd-24th February - Alabama Shakes @ Boston Arms
23rd February - Baxter Dury @ XOYO
24th February - Little Dragon @ Forum
If you think I've missed any or would like to join me at any of the above, holler at me.
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Girls Play For No One
Girls 'Love Like a River' - this is pure, brilliant and lovely:
Part of the For No One series - an intimate glimpse of bands playing to a room without a crowd, also featuring Neon Indian.
More on Portable
Girls | FOR NO ONE from FOR NO ONE on Vimeo.
Part of the For No One series - an intimate glimpse of bands playing to a room without a crowd, also featuring Neon Indian.
More on Portable
New Music Tips of the Day
Tunes I'm listening to today as recommended by:
Post ATP Welton
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
Post Gig Nate
Mister Heavenly - Out of Love
Trendsetter Tee Dubya
Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation
Post ATP Welton
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
Post Gig Nate
Mister Heavenly - Out of Love
Trendsetter Tee Dubya
Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation
Monday, 5 December 2011
Neon Indian at Heaven
On a Thursday some weeks ago now I went to see Neon Indian at Heaven.
It was two nights of gigs in a row with Nate and Brad but luckily I wasn't bored of them yet +2.
To warm up for the gig we went for some yummy pizza at Soho Joe's +3 followed by a perhaps misguided Garlic Beer at Garlic & Shots -4.
We arrived at Heaven and were greeted by a poster of Olly Murs and the promise of every X Factor loser performing there on a Saturday night. I was bummed that we had missed out on seeing Olly (just joshing) but looking forward to Neon Indian.
Support from Theme Park was surprisingly good as I hadn't heard of them before and they looked about 15 years old +6. They are definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.
We were upbeat and ready for Neon Indian. I'd listened to Era Extraña a few times and enjoyed it but wasn't confident I'd recognise all of the tracks so was looking forward to a mixture of new and old (Psychic Chasms).
Well, Mr Indian aka Alan Palomo, came on stage and had heaps of energy. Moving around the stage, using various bits of equipment, whilst singing and dancing showed a great deal of musical prowess and was pretty admirable +7. However, as impressive as it was, the atmosphere wasn't totally there and think it would've helped to have a bit more chat and not just rubbish chat about the Texas embassy in London -6.
The bald guy next to me was starting to bug me a bit as he had a big bag bashing me a little and kept taking notes every second like he was really important or something -3. I tried to breathe my garlic beer breath in his direction to repel him like a vampire but it only semi-worked when he went to the bar after 20 minutes +2. Overall though I couldn't complain much about the view of the stage or the crowd +4.
Anyway, I was itching for more Psychic Chasms and Alan finally delivered with a brilliant rendition of Deadbeat Summer - just a shame it wasn't longer +7.
There was a predictable fake stage departure and encore but Neon Indian didn't go off stage with a bang - I was more concerned about dashing for the cloakroom queue and getting home to brush my teeth -3.
Overall it was a good gig, but despite the energy of Alan and his obvious talent, something was missing.
B
It was two nights of gigs in a row with Nate and Brad but luckily I wasn't bored of them yet +2.
To warm up for the gig we went for some yummy pizza at Soho Joe's +3 followed by a perhaps misguided Garlic Beer at Garlic & Shots -4.
We arrived at Heaven and were greeted by a poster of Olly Murs and the promise of every X Factor loser performing there on a Saturday night. I was bummed that we had missed out on seeing Olly (just joshing) but looking forward to Neon Indian.
Support from Theme Park was surprisingly good as I hadn't heard of them before and they looked about 15 years old +6. They are definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.
We were upbeat and ready for Neon Indian. I'd listened to Era Extraña a few times and enjoyed it but wasn't confident I'd recognise all of the tracks so was looking forward to a mixture of new and old (Psychic Chasms).
Well, Mr Indian aka Alan Palomo, came on stage and had heaps of energy. Moving around the stage, using various bits of equipment, whilst singing and dancing showed a great deal of musical prowess and was pretty admirable +7. However, as impressive as it was, the atmosphere wasn't totally there and think it would've helped to have a bit more chat and not just rubbish chat about the Texas embassy in London -6.
The bald guy next to me was starting to bug me a bit as he had a big bag bashing me a little and kept taking notes every second like he was really important or something -3. I tried to breathe my garlic beer breath in his direction to repel him like a vampire but it only semi-worked when he went to the bar after 20 minutes +2. Overall though I couldn't complain much about the view of the stage or the crowd +4.
Anyway, I was itching for more Psychic Chasms and Alan finally delivered with a brilliant rendition of Deadbeat Summer - just a shame it wasn't longer +7.
There was a predictable fake stage departure and encore but Neon Indian didn't go off stage with a bang - I was more concerned about dashing for the cloakroom queue and getting home to brush my teeth -3.
Overall it was a good gig, but despite the energy of Alan and his obvious talent, something was missing.
B
Girl Walk
Girl Talk first crossed my radar when my friend Edd created this brilliantly geeky site to show all of the samples used as you listen to the 'Feed the Animals' album.
When I first heard a video was being made to accompany the 'All Day' album I thought it sounded like a nice idea but was perhaps too long time after the release...
Anyway, the first part of the video has been released and it's pretty good but could get tedious after a while? Surely a regular at hipster parties all over London though?!
For more info about what you can expect from the rest, check out this article from The Creators Project
When I first heard a video was being made to accompany the 'All Day' album I thought it sounded like a nice idea but was perhaps too long time after the release...
Anyway, the first part of the video has been released and it's pretty good but could get tedious after a while? Surely a regular at hipster parties all over London though?!
Girl Walk // All Day: Chapter 1 from Girl Walk // All Day on Vimeo.
For more info about what you can expect from the rest, check out this article from The Creators Project
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