IKRS Zine

IKRS Fanzine, over indie/electro/whatever muziek!

2012-02-16T00:08:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the site of IKRS, a fanzine for people who love music. In this post you can find everything there is on the site, neatly gathered at the top of the blog. For news (wrapped in stories), interviews, live reports, and reviews/first listen/ album features; it's all here honey! Don't forget to check the Clip of the Day, which is refreshed (almost) daily. Read about what we do and what we stand for in our About IKRS section (just Dutch, unfortunately). For more information you can mail ikrszine@gmail.com or you can pm/add me on www.last.fm/user/sa34 .Or follow us on twitter: www.twitter.com/IKRSzine.

(News) Stories:
15 feb:
New Moonface album coming up
Tune-Yards to score Buster Keaton films

10 feb:
Here We Go Magic announce new album
Soul Clap getting ready for debut release
This month's news

Reviews/Reports:
Aabenbaringen Over Aaskammen - Album review (External link)
Azari & III live at Trouw
Owen Pallett and the Noord Nederlands Orkest live at Catharinakerk (External link)
House of Beni - Beni (External link)

Daily/Weekly Columns:
Daily Clip (16 Feb)
Weekly Froth #26 (External link)
Now Playing ... 'Make Up Your Mind' by Here We Go Magic (External link)
Now Playing... 'Love Interruption' by Jack White (External link)
Weekly Froth #25 (External link)

Features:
Best live performances of 2011 (compiled in bad vids that don't do justice to the real thing)
Other fav things of 2011, and things I'm looking forward to in 2012
Favorite Albums of 2011 - 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 - Overview of the lists
Favorite tracks of 2011 - 50-46 / 45-41 / 40 - 36 / 35 - 31 / 30 - 26 / 25 - 21 / 20 - 16 / 15 -11 / 10 - 06 / 05 - 01
Think Different, but please, within what we deem acceptable
Interview archive

The Daily Clip!

2012-02-16T00:03:00.000+01:00

8De clip van de dag heeft elke dag een nieuwe clip, hopelijk zorgend voor een blijvende stroom van nieuwe, leuke, en/of goede muziek. Vandaag is de clip van de dag... *tromgeroffel*

‘Someone Just Like You’ by Beni! One of my favorite albums of last year the Beni one was, so many lovely club songs on there. This is one of them, with Mattie Safer of The Rapture on vocals, so you know its got a slightly raw edge to it. The clip has a sort of Kaleidoscope thing to it along with women dancing. I don’t quite see the connection, but oh well...

New Moonface album coming up

2012-02-15T00:05:00.001+01:00

The band Moonface, one of many projects that involves Spencer Krug, has announced a new album. It will be called With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery, and it will be released on the fabulous date of the 17th of April. The ones doing that will be the Jagjaguwar label. The album will consist of ten songs.

It worked for Hannibal at Cannae, the commander cried, and it worked for Mel Gibson in Braveheart, and it is really quite simple: If you are brave enough, fearless enough, irate enough, then it doesn’t matter if you have a minority or a majority: your bravery will stun them, break their hearts, and you’ll be victorious! All you need is an irate minority to get the job done, are you with me!? the commander cried, to which the hundred soldiers in front of him responded with a lot of hooting and hollering.

And so, when the commander called out CHARGE, the hundreds came out, ran at their opponents, and were screaming and yelling and waving their weapons. The opponent stood there (thousands of them), yawned, raised their guns, shot them, patted each other on the back, and they left and went home. Since then the definition has slightly been altered to, Yes, you only need an irate minority, but thats with a peaceful resolution, not so much if you actually have to fight them.

Tune-Yards to score Buster Keaton films

2012-02-15T00:04:00.001+01:00

Merrill Garbus, she of tUnE-yArDs, will be scoring several Buster Keaton films during the San Francisco International Film Festival. She will do so on the 23rd of April, which is about a month after yours truly will have seen her live at De Melkweg. Buster Keaton is one of the most famous silent comedians, next to Charlie Chaplin of course. Keaton, Chaplin, and the Marx Brothers are generally seen as some of the most influential pre-war comedians, with Keaton probably the least well-known. One of the films that will be scored by Garbus is called The Cook.

In his memoirs, “The life of a bit actor and the man who was the first to be deputy mayor in Clark County”, Joshua Dorutz told the story that the movie The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and her Lover was almost short a cook after the director threw a fit about the person playing the cook actually wasn’t able to cook anything but spaghetti and meatballs. Surely, he cried, we cannot possibly convincingly have someone as a cook who doesn’t even know how to yield a knife in cookery situations!

Maybe, someone suggested, we can change the script to work in that the thief also stole the cook’s talent! Yes, another chimed in, and then we can have the lover fall out of love with the cook and in love with the thief because she only loved the lovely food in the first place! The director nearly quit when someone suggested that perhaps then it shouldn’t be The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, & Her lover, but the soulsnatcher, the talentless, and someone who loves to eat. Luckily a three-day emergency cookery course (No, you can’t quit, you gotta cook. Cook! We’ve only been at it four hours and you’re already giving up! You no good quitter you!) saved the director from having a total mental breakdown and clobbering Michael Gambon with a large polo mallett.

News Archive of February 2012

2012-02-15T00:01:00.000+01:00

15 feb:

New Moonface album coming up

Tune-Yards to score Buster Keaton films

10 feb:

Here We Go Magic announce new album

Soul Clap getting ready for debut release

06 feb:

oOoOO coming up with new EP

Jim Jarmusch and Jozef van Wissem to release album

Weekly Froth #26 (including Joakim, Jacques Renault, and more!)

2012-02-14T00:02:00.003+01:00

The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.

Track of the week: ‘Paradisco’ by Charlotte Gainsbourg (Joakim remix)

I loved (LOVED) that Joakim album last year – a proud addition to my vinyl collection, really like the aesthetic he works with. I seem to remember I actually liked Charlotte Gainsbourg’s ‘Paradisco’, and I know for sure that I, prior to listening, wasn’t at all certain how a Joakim version of this song would sound. But it sounds brilliant, actually, to be fair. Joakim put a needle and just injected this song with atmosphere whilst keeping a beat in there. I get the real urge to disconnectedly vogue on this. Eyes staring blankly into space whilst striking a pose, a pose, a pose, and another one. This is one of those things where I went Huh, really? when I saw it on paper and which just makes sense when listening to it. Awesomeness by Joakim, turning this Gainsbourg song into something completely different, putting it in its own aesthetic, and making it work.

(To listen to this track and to read write-ups and listen to five others, click here)

Now Playing... 'Make Up Your Mind' by Here We go Magic

2012-02-14T00:02:00.000+01:00

Now Playing – twice every week, a roundtable of our writers will give their views on some of the recently-released new tracks. It’s a simple as that! If you want to tell us what you think of the song, feel free to leave a comment below.

Track: ‘Make Up Your Mind’ by Here We Go Magic

(To listen to this track and to see what our contributors had to say on it, click here)

Now Playing... 'Love Interruption' by Jack White

2012-02-11T00:02:00.000+01:00

Track: ‘Love Interruption’ by Jack White

(to listen to this track and to see what our contributors had to say about it, click here)

Here We Go Magic to release new LP

2012-02-10T00:04:00.000+01:00

The Brooklyn band Here We Go Magic will be releasing a new album this year. The album will be called A Different Ship, and it will be on the shelves from the 8th of May on. The album will count ten tracks, and the label releasing it is Secretly Canadian. Some of the tracks on there are ‘Make Up Your Mind’, ‘Made to be Old’, and ‘Miracle of Mary’.

The Miracle of Mary is often cited amongst evangelicals, but Rory DuVoliere in his new study “What miracle, I appear at the grocery shop every day” tries to shed some light on the out of control (his words, not mine, I wouldn’t dare, no sir!) honoring of the phenomena of Mary appearing everywhere. Rory DuVoliere doesn’t see it so much as a miracle, but more of an indication of Christianity’s guilt based rhetoric. DuVoliere points to studies on traumatic experiences, saying that if you feel guilty, or if you feel that someone is watching over you because you are not doing something as perfectly as that person would want, then you are more likely to have specters haunting you. So if you see the Virgin Mary, probably you had sex with someone you shouldn’t have had sex and are knocked up. For example.

Soul Clap comes with debut

2012-02-10T00:03:00.001+01:00

Soul Clap will be releasing EFUNK, their debut album, this April. This will be done by the Wolf +Lamb label, and the exact release date is the 20th of the aforementioned month. The album will consist of thirteen tracks, including one called ‘When the Soul Claps’.

Psychologist and spiritualist Joseph Hammerding, after much training, found a way to train the soul. This, he beamed, will help us, because the soul, being connected to your innerbody, can then give out signals when, for example, one becomes depressed, or sedated, or any emotion or feeling that is inward instead of outward. So Joseph had learnt his soul how to clap, and when the soul clapped it would signal a state of inner turmoil.

Unfortunately, when the soul had found out that the person could hear him clap and then do something, he started misusing it, clapping for example when the soul didn’t want to have sex with old Mrs. Thompkovicz (Come on, it’s been ages, the erect penis pleaded, but the soul thought it was unsavory, unholy, and furthermore, the image of the two having sex would forever be ingrained into the soul’s consciousness, fearing it would take it with him even into the next life and beyond). Also, the soul started clapping when it was thirsty, hungry, and when it wanted that new Wii video game that Hammerding always passed by on his way to work.

Weekly Froth #25 (Tracks by Alaska in Winter, CFCF, JKriv, and more!)

2012-02-07T00:02:00.002+01:00

Track of the week: ‘The Coldest Day in the World’ by Alaska in Winter

I loved the album Holiday by Alaska in Winter, really enjoyed that one. This continues in kind of a similar vein. It’s music heavily based on projecting a certain vibe and feel. It kind of has this alienated feel to it whilst still being able to get across an emotional state, and I always love music that does that. Perhaps it is kind of a city thing, I don’t know, I always associate this kind of stuff with walking around at midnight in a city with all the lights on and the streets slightly more empty. It starts with piano and someone singing “It’s the coldest day in the world” from faaaar faaar away it seems. Slowly it comes a bit more to the fore as some drums kick in as well, and it just builds up and builds up to get across that distanced emotion. I feel that the Holiday album was a bit more electronic, while this song seems to hinge a bit less on beats and more on instruments (which might as well come from a box for all I know, but still). Really good song, and love that he kicks up the pace about halfway through for a moment.

(To listen to this track, and to read and listen to five others, click here)

Now Playing... ‘Heavy Metal’ by White Rabbits

2012-02-07T00:02:00.000+01:00

Continuing this week, and replacing our weekly singles round-up, our contributors will voice their opinion on a song twice every week. It’s a simple as that! If you want to tell us what you think of the song, feel free to leave a comment below.

(to read what our contributors have to say about this track and to listen to it, click here)

oOoOO to release new EP

2012-02-06T00:05:00.002+01:00

The band oOoOO will be releasing a new EP. This will be done on the 10th of April via Tri Angle, and the EP will be called Our Love is Hurting. The release will see five new tracks from the band from San Francisco, including two albums featuring Butterclock.

Our love is hurting us commander, the first lieutenant on duty said, it is gaining ground and has already managed to capture some of our territories and we’re being killed in several areas! No, boomed the commander, it can’t be! Sure, we never really had it under control, and sure, it has wrecked a fair few individual lives, but who would’ve thought it would actually try an organized assault! I don’t understand, we had done such a good job in containing and isolating these kinds of emotions so they wouldn’t run rampant!

The lieutenant replied that It has backfired sir. Because we tried to contain and isolate them, discourage them, put them down whenever it unwantedly did something not on our agenda, it became more resentful to us. To our way of life, so sterile and disconnected. When you put people down, when you isolate them, contain them, put sanctions on them: at one point they just want to live their lives without interference and be able to roam free, feel freedom, touch freedom. Yeah yeah, okay, muttered the commander, in the mean time, be sure to grab that photograph of my former mother in law from the attic, that will quench any love in a hurry.

Jim Jarmuch and Jozef van Wissem to release album

2012-02-06T00:04:00.002+01:00

Renowned filmmaker Jim Jarmush and long time collaborator Jozef van Wissem, who is a Dutch composer, are releasing an album on the 28th of February. The album will be called Concerning the Entrance to Eternity, and it will be released through Important Records. Jarmusch is perhaps best known as a director, being responsible for films like Mystery Train, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai with Forest Whitaker, and Broken Flowers with Bill Murray. All of these films were nominated for the Palme d’Or. One of the tracks will be called ‘The Sun of the Natural World is Pure Fire’.

It has officially been announced that the sun of the natural world indeed is pure fire. It was long thought so, but when early scientists like Galilei got interested in the subject, they pondered, Well, but what evidence do we have? How do we know for sure? Enlightened folk thought that perhaps we have ingrained ourselves so much with the idea that the sun is indeed a ball of fire that we just have convinced ourselves that it is so. Karl Marx said, Probably, the way we’re all being cheated by the rich people, it’s just yellow paint on a canvas as they just want to keep us dumb and keep believing in the magical. Sceptics thought it probably was half fire, and half plastic, though Freud said, Nein, impossible, it would burn! And then the smell would be intolerable, and that alone would downgrade the standard of living everywhere but New York.

Now Playing... 'Open Your Heart' by The Men

2012-02-04T00:04:00.000+01:00

Starting this week, an expansion of the Crazy Zany Radio Day Column. Now every week, two times a week, an armada of contributors will voice their opinion on a song. It’s a simple as that! If you want to tell us what you think of the song, feel free to leave a comment below.

Track: ‘Open Your Heart’ by The Men

(To read the opinion of all the contributors and see the grade we gave it, click here)

The Weekly Froth #24 (Jan Ken Po, Eli Escobar, Islands, and more!)

2012-01-31T00:06:00.002+01:00

‘Colour Wheel’ by Jan Ken Po (Max Essa)

No he didn’t! Max Essa just released an album as Jan Ken Po, putting the bass lines at the center of attention and providing an album that keeps on rolling and rolling on. This is the album closer, and it is simply spectacular. It has a major bass line – like all the other songs on the album – that really keeps the song going, and this is mixed with sounds I connote to genre films. Some clever use of guitar and piano to give it a good vibe and to add some variety to the song (which you also get via that strip away of the bass at around 2:30, after which you get a build-up with the natural conclusion of the return of the bassline at around 3:30). In the mean time, all those extra sounds never conflict with the main sound, and thats ace. Such continuity, such flow: first surprise album of the year in what will hopefully be an ace 2012.

(To listen to this track and to listen and read write-ups of 5 others, click here)

Jack White to come with solo album

2012-01-31T00:05:00.000+01:00

Jack White, who everyone knows from either The White Stripes or The Raconteurs or from one of eighthundred other projects he’s been involved with, will be releasing a solo album. The album will be called Blunderbuss and it will be released on the 24th of April via Third Man/Columbia. The first single off of the album is called ‘Love Interruption’, and that one will see a 7” release on the 7th of February.

There is nothing worse than when love interrupts prior plans. You’ve got your future set, planned out, you know what you’re gonna do, and suddenly you want to adjust and tweak everything just because you’ve got those silly feelings for someone or another. And probably someone you’ve just seen once or twice at that. And why me, you’ll think. Why here, why now? Because honestly it makes no sense, and I would hardly call it convenient. Moreover, it doesn’t fit my plans, so it’s kind of annoying I’ve got that taste in my mouth again. But oh oh, ugh, that feeling called love.

New Album The Time and Space Machine in the works

2012-01-31T00:04:00.001+01:00

Taste the Lazer is the title of The Time and Space Machine’s new album. It will be released on the 26th of March, and this will be done via the Tirk label. The Time and Space Machine is Richard Norris, and under this moniker he released a pretty good album a few years ago. So hopefully this album can continue in that vein. There will be eleven tracks on there, including ones called ‘Black Rainbow’, ‘Pill Party in India’, and ‘Flow River Flow’.

Flow river flow!, Ezekiel Dornutz cried out, for the river outside his house had stopped working altogether. Well, not altogether, it hadn’t really stopped flowing as much as that it was just amazingly still with the water just, well, drifting a bit. But Ezekiel threw a fit. Surely, he said, water must flow and if it doesn’t it must be a bad omen! I think the Greeks said something to that effect, or the Aztecs. And in any case, I just invented my own power reactor based on flowing water, so its kind of a light on/light off thingy for me. Ezekiel at one point tried hitting the water with a stick, but that didn’t really work.

News Archive of January 2012

2012-01-31T00:01:00.000+01:00

31 jan

Jack White to come with solo album

New LP The Time and Space Machine in the works

28 jan

Talk Talk book, tribute album in the works

Perfume Genius ad rejected by Google, not deemed family safe

26 jan

M. Ward to release solo album

FactMag makes link between MegaUpload's shutdown and its founder's new idea

23 jan

Nick Curly to release debut

Pulp to tour in 2012

21 Jan

Chris Clark readies Warp release

Daniel Rossen releases solo EP

19 Jan

Orbital to release new album

Still Going start up new label

17 Jan
Johnny Jewel readying himself for busy 2012
Tanlines to release debut

Talk Talk book, tribute album in the works

2012-01-28T00:05:00.000+01:00

The band Talk Talk will be thirty this year, and to celebrate that a host of tribute stuff will be coming out. One of the things they’ve created is a book called Spirit of Talk Talk. It is limited edition and it will feature, amongs others, all of the art work James Marsh has ever done for the band. It will also contain hand-written lyrics from Talk Talk and contributions from those who’ve been influenced by the band, including Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode, Guy Gurvey of Elbow, and Paul Hartnoll of Orbital. Not only a book, but a tribute album will be coming out as well. This will be released on the 28th of May through Fierce Panda, and it will contain many people covering Talk Talk songs. Amongst those covering are Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond, Joan As Police Woman, and Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry will be covering ‘I Believe in You’.

I believe in you, Lindsay Morner told Peter Brudowski when he stood there ready to attempt his next endeavour. You would think these were exactly the kind of words he would want to hear at the start of something new, but they weren’t. The exact oppossite, frankly. For no one had ever believed in him, and he thought that just fine. Failing should be easy, shouldn’t it?, he once said. Achieving success is hard enough, but failing, that is something everyone should be able to do. People thought it ordinary for him to fail, he did so, he met expectations, that’s safe and solid and routine, and he would go on to his next project, spend his time and energy and having fun developing that, and then the cirlce would renew.

But now, someone believed in him. That was troublesome. He never had anyone believing in him, and suddenly, it made it to fail so much harder. Not to fail per se, I mean, sure, he could still fail, easily. But it wouldn’t be easy anymore to fail. It would be hard to fail. For now, suddenly, someone was expecting him, wanting him, hoping him to do well, and suddenly failing didn’t mean meeting expectations anymore, but suddenly it would be disappointing to PEOPLE. Not only to him (and frankly, he was never that disappointed with it, it was just one of those things, no one got hurt, and he would move on), but to other people, to Lindsay. Oi, he muttered to himself, What becomes of this world if you can’t even be a schmuck anymore.

Google rejects Perfume Genius Promo because it’s not family safe

2012-01-28T00:04:00.000+01:00

Google has rejected an advertisement for Perfume Genius’s upcoming album. The ad, in which the Perfume Genius singer can be seen in the embrace of porn star Arpad Miklos, was deemed “non family safe” and promoting “mature sexual themes”, despite both males not being fully nude. Seeing the video, one must conclude that, yes, it has men in a romantic embrace, and yes, it is shockingly tame.

However, this does not mean that Google is per se wrong in rejecting the ad nor that they might be in their right for all the wrong reasons. Google should have the right to reject whatever they want, however if they reject it merely because it are two males, then one could argue they are being uptight, morally on the wrong side of the fence, etcetera. The thing is, unless Matador (the label of Perfume Genius) actually also posts examples of practically the same thing as the Perfume Genius ad, or even going further, with heterosexual couples (and I’m not saying they cannot, or that Google for sure does not have such ads on their sites), then one can wonder how how justified it is. Simply put, if Matador doesn’t point to examples of Google allowing heterosexual ads going as far or further as the same Perfume Genius ad, basically, one has to wonder whether this is not just a marketing ploy playing up the homosexual theme for free press. It is only unfair if you not only just say it is unfair, but also point it out and provide some arguments for it.

Solo album M. Ward coming up

2012-01-26T00:05:00.001+01:00

M. Ward will be releasing a solo album in April. Via the label Merge the album, called A Wasteland Companion, will be hitting the shelves on the 10th of that month. He asked some of his friends to help, and on the album one will be able to hear, amongst others, Mike Mogis, Steve Shelley, and Zooey Deschanel (New Girl ftw!), the latter with whom Ward forms She & Him.

My mother looked a little bit shocked, a little bit sad. She came home waaaay after I had finished school (I had told my mother off about that before, but she never listens to me). I had already gone to my attic room (I love my attic room, it has these beams that, if you squint with your eyes long enough, they seem to be swaying! I told my father, Look, look dad, if you do this *squint eyes* the beams move! My father did so, saw it, picked up the telephone, called a very professional man with a hammer who came and took a look at it. Then my father got angry and said he had wasted 100 dollars on my stupid ideas. My father didn’t like it much that the beams moved, but for me it was magical! It was also the day I stopped telling things to my dad).

So I told things to my mom. But she got in late. I had gone upstairs, and when she came home all out of breath (if you would leave on time, I once told her, you wouldn’t be so out of breath) she called my name. Noah, Noah who are you talking to?, she asked while walking the stairs. Oh, I said when her head popped into my attic room (with the magic beams!), just me and my shadow. Her eyes widened, her mouth opened, and her body momentarily moved backwards a bit before she realized she was climbing a stairs and quickly grabbed the railing. I don’t know why my mom reacted that way. Sure, I know my shadow is not a real living thing. But for me it is a bit like Santa Claus, and my mother insists he is real and she says she talks to him about my Christmas list. So I don’t see the problem of me talking to my shadow. But of course, my mom had to tell my dad *sigh*. He angrily muttered something about him having to spend 100 dollars because of me and my ideas, this while driving me home from my first psychologist meeting.

FactMag makes link between Megaupload shutdown and its owner’s new idea

2012-01-26T00:04:00.001+01:00

FactMag reports that apparently Kim Dotcom, Megaupload’s founder, was working on a new plan to, via Megabox.com, let artists sell their music whilst giving the artists a 90% cut of what would be earned. Not only that, artists would also earn money on songs they would let people download for free. FactMag notes that with Megaupload at one point having been the 13th most visited website in the world, it might have indeed become “serious competition for Universal and more”. Megaupload was shut down last week, and Kim Dotcom was arrested.

The thing is, even if it all is highly speculative, it does touch upon a problem the Occupy Wall Street movement, however incoherently, also touched upon: the interconnectedness between corporations, politics, and the mainstream media. The SOPA and PIPA legislations were heavily pushed by MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd, former Senator and Presidential candidate, for instance. People and PACs affiliated to the corporation Goldman Sachs were a leading backer to both Democrat Obama and are now leading backer of Republican Romney. The same goes for JP Morgan and Citigroup Inc.. Corporations, Media Moguls, and Politicians all have an agenda, thus when someone comes in who is going to try and upset the status quo, that is going to meet with some resistance. Sometimes justified, sometimes not so much probably. This column on the Huffington Post kind of gives an indication of what I mean.

The Weekly Froth #23 (John Talabot, The Rapture x Cut Copy, and more!)

2012-01-24T00:02:00.001+01:00

Track of the Week: ‘So Will Be Now…’ by John Talabot feat. Pional

Love the start with those vocals, and love how quickly he adds to it with the fingersnapping and a beat. Really gets it all going (and gets me going at that). This track is off of John Talabot’s new album, and he gets a bit of help here from Pional. Really like those echoey sounds that are thrown in there, and the kind of deeper beat that comes in after a minute or so. It all fits so well together, and it just keeps on rolling. After two+ minutes he dials it down for a moment, with the fingersnapping being one of the few sounds audible next to the vocals. That’s ace. After three minutes it delves in a bit deeper, and quickly the beat returns again. Nearing the end it gets some different sounds going eliciting different moods. Seriously, if this wasn’t on my to-watch-list before, it sure is now. Just an amazing track that keeps on giving and giving. All the sounds work really well together, and I love that voice and how it meshes so well with the rest of the song. February 2012, watch out for this album.

(To listen to this track and to listen to and read write-ups on 5 others, click here)

Crazy Zany Radio Sunday - 'Hidden Things Are Asking You To Find Them' by Wymond Miles

2012-01-23T00:06:00.001+01:00

Every week our contributors will voice their opinion concerning one song, it’s a simple as that! The more the merrier, so people are always welcome to join in, just leave a note, eh.

Track: ‘Hidden Things Are Asking You To Find Them’ by Wymond Miles (click here)

Average grade: 5 out of 10 OR 4 out of 10

Craig: I can definitely see how many people will like this song, but I'm afraid it's not quite aligned with my aesthetics. While its production is very high-quality and the instrumentation is interesting in its melodramatic rises and falls, this song is lacking in energy. Specifically during the verses, the singer's melody is so slow and repetitive that it almost rocks me to sleep instead of inviting me to pay attention to the lyrics.

4/10

Anna: I like the music, I do. Eerie and effective, it works quite well for my brand new 2012 ears, although it feels that he makes way too many "pauses" in the song. HOWEVER:

These songs concisely yet esoterically document the existential crisis of our current epoch—moving from the nothingness of modern materialism, fragmented reductionist thought, and drug escapism to a world imbued with subjectivity and meaning through a new relationship with the Earth and cosmos as alive and full of inherent intelligence.

(with apologies to Stef for having to translate this)

If he wrote this, his grade is 1, as this pseudo-philosophical twatery is making want to cry.

If he allowed his label to write this and publish it, his grade is 5. He should have vetoed it.

I know this column is about music, but ears and brain are connected. Sometimes.

Linda: Hmm, I was expecting something completely different after I saw this track was released on Sacred Bones, the record label that is also home to Zola Jesus, and the somewhat ethereal blurb that accompanies the track (it uses the word 'epoch'). Apart from the accompanying text, the track offers little originality, but hey, maybe that's because I can't the decipher the eschatologist lyrics.

5/10

Stef: I kind of like this actually. I think it’s got a certain atmosphere to it. Truth be told though, I liked the instrumental start better than the parts with the vocals, though I did like his delivery of “realize”. At one point, it gets a bit, I don’t know, bit too much, too generic?

6/10

Nick Curly to release debut in March

2012-01-23T00:05:00.002+01:00

On the 19th of March Nick Curly will be releasing his debut album. It is titled Between the Lines, and it will appear on Cecille Records, of which Curly is a co-founder. The album will contain thirteen tracks, including ones called ‘Glass Ceiling’, ‘You Don’t Have to Hopp’ and ‘Piano in the Dark’.

It’s not easy moving a piano in the dark, DeRulo thought, putting his fag to his mouth. It is so oddly shaped, and with these creaky stairs its tough to move anything out of this building silently, let alone a musical instrument. He pulled up the collar of his trench coat to defend himself from the raging wind, and he touched his rugged little beard in contemplation. Still he knew, he knew that if he didn’t do this today, he wouldn’t be doing it anymore for a looong time. Damn, Morello, he thought. Damn him and him scheduling that Doctor’s appointment at 08:30 tomorrow. He could have moved it tomorrow, he was sure of it, if it weren’t for those back spasms for which he really had to see the doctor.

He squinted his eyes, looking left to right to see if anyone was roaming the dark and empty streets. Would it really kill them, he contemplated, to put some street lights up here? He sighed. Sure, the day after tomorrow was theoretically possible as well, but he had already promised his cousin Vinny to lend him his car that afternoon, and to bank on that kid being on time... He put his cig out and walked to the building. Someone has to do it, he thought, putting on his gloves. Lets be a man, he muttered under his breath, and he went in before letting out a hard shriek, falling to the floor, and grabbing his back, his face filled with agony. Oh God, he cried out, if only I had listened to my mother and went to see Docter Liebitzer last week already!

Pulp to play shows in 2012

2012-01-23T00:04:00.002+01:00

Pulp, who made a tremendously successful comeback last year, will be touring in 2012. The band first tweeted the cryptic message “Do you think this is over?”, after which they quickly announced they will be part of the Coachella line-up. They’ll be going US as well, with gigs in San Francisco and New York. IKRS saw them play in Brixton Academy twice last year, and they were absolutely on the ball with beautiful renditions of pretty much everything, so be sure not to miss them this time around if you weren’t able to last year.

You think it’s over?, mamma Desmond cried out while yielding her particularly large wok over her head, Well you ain’t seen nothing yet! She yelled this out to no one in particular, for Jason DeVanna, well aware of his own wrong doing, had left a note in the middle of the night in order to get a head start. It might be easy to rip off older women, he had thought at that moment, but boy, they sure know how to hold a grudge. And, he thought, elephants so rarely forget, which was particularly true for mamma Desmond, who had clobbered a man she saw at the funeral of her aunt for standing her up without notice when she was 17 (and though no one knows exactly how long ago that was, it sure was a looong time). Good thing one so easily can travel these days, DeVanna thought, for he was sure this was one destination he could never return to again.

Chris Clark readies Warp release

2012-01-21T00:05:00.001+01:00

Warp will be releasing a record by Chris Clark in April. The album will be called Iradelphic, and the tracks on it have been recorded at a variety of times since 2009, when his Totems Flare album was released. The album will contain twelve tracks, including upcoming single ‘Com Touch’ and closer ‘Broken Kite Footage’.

It was kind of embarrassing, admittedly. I mean, you assume most people can kite, let alone Dr. Rushfbergen, who is a man of stature, a man of prominence, a man of dignity. So then, when he let up his kite, and the thing instantly collapsed into Mrs. Mugoder’s chimney (giving her three children singing carols at the fireplace the fright of their life), most people didn’t really know what to do.

The young boy Deswitzer, quick of mind as always, immediately took the kite out of Dr. Rushbergen’s hands, pretending he did it. Quickly he was slapped on the back of his head (some would say “clubbed” would be a more appropriate description of what transpired) by Lord Ormanter, a ninety-year-old man who whispered, you are young, if my reputation is shot it doesn’t matter anyway. Besides, you have a concussion.

The cover up became a game of high stakes poker when someone saw someone running away with a video camera. There is footage of the broken kite disaster!, someone yelled, And he immediately said he would run after him if it weren’t for his bum knee. Besides, he didn’t know if he had the authority to go after someone and steal his camera. The camera was soon retrieved though, by some nifty old school detective work and a seat in the city council for Mr. Porter, the proud owner of a camera shop just left of the town square.

Daniel Rossen to release solo EP

2012-01-21T00:04:00.000+01:00

Daniel Rossen, known for his work with Grizzly Bear and Department of Eagles, is prepping a solo EP. He is planning to release it on the 20th of March via the Warp label. The EP will contain five tracks, including ‘Saint Nothing’, which is available for stream on the world wide web.

Sinners and saints are everywhere, the Priest told the young Jason Aldrich. Jason thought that’s all well and good, but I ain’t a sinner, but I’m not much of a saint either. Sure, I help old ladies cross the street and I gently lift and carry the dog into the garden instead of kickin’ it out like me pa, but that’s hardly saintly. And if it is, not much of a title then, is it? Jason felt not registered, not part of any of the two movements. Quite invisible. When he voiced his concern of not being seen, of being an invisible man in the city, to a man on the commute the man said, Don’t worry, come to my place tomorrow at midnight, and we’ll put you firmly on the map.

Orbital to release first album in yonkers

2012-01-19T00:05:00.000+01:00

The duo Orbital, veterans in the music business, will be releasing a new album. This will be done in the month of April. The album will be called Wonky, and it is their first since their Blue Album that was released eight years ago. The new LP will count nine tracks, and one of the tracks features Zola Jesus. This track will be titled ‘New France’.

Some artists, who had escaped other countries to go to the artist’s haven that was Paris, nearing the end of Paris’s tenure as culture capitol, lamented that perhaps, they should start a new France. A France akin to the France of ideas, possibilities, and diversity as it was then, with the greatest thinkers, musicians, etcetera. Two of the main proponents of this movement were Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway. Their first hurdle was what to transfer to the new France. Baguettes was an easy one, and croissants they agreed on as well, though the first disagreements started when the question was Camembert or Roquefort, with Hemingway opting for Camember being just honest to God cow milk whereas Stein wanted the more peculiar Roquefort made from the milk of Ewe’s.

More friction came on the question whether to tout Napoleon or Jeanne d’Arc, with Stein saying one had to love Napoleon’s ambition and Hemingway saying, Yes, but you got to love Jeanne’s tits. Stein almost literally threw Hemingway out of the door when he suggested that to really restore the New France to the old France’s former glory perhaps they should colonize some Northern African countries. You can’t colonize them, Stein cried, They are legit countries with legit borders. Hemingway waved it away, saying they did it once, they can do it again. So what do you want to do, Stein asked, just barge in and claim their land? Yes, Hemingway said, and then just shoot one half and punch the other half in the nose. I’ve shot lions in Africa, they’re more dangerous than people. I even have some mounted.

This almost led to a syntactic discussion, for Stein proposed that, with that grammatical construction, he’d have people mounted, and surely that wasn’t the case. The discussion was luckily quickly thwarted by Hemingway though, as he agreed that Stein was right. Indeed this sentence structure would mean he’s had people mounted, and this is exactly what he wanted to say, so he didn’t quite understand the confusion. This was the point Stein wanted to throw Hemingway out, but failed to do so on the account that Hemingway was too heavy, and that the door would automatically close if no one immediately stepped through it.

Still Going start up new label

2012-01-19T00:04:00.000+01:00

The band Still Going are going to start up their own label. It will be called Still Going Records. One of the first releases on it will be their own new single called ‘D117’. They’ve got another single coming up, called ‘Work That Shit Party’. The duo previously released tracks on the DFA label, including the much touted ‘Still Going Theme’ in 2007.

D117 is a code that has been used since the beginning of man, and because after a certain amount of time people forget it again, someone is always clever enough to reuse it. The code can be turned into the abbreviation D.A.A.G., which means Don’t Allow Any Guests.

One of the earliest uses of the code was by King Martin, who had a daughter who loved to dance and who was pretty good at it. For fear people would come, be seduced by his daughter’s dancing, and would want to date her, he didn’t allow any guests to her recitals. When King Martin died at the age of 83, reportedly a 57-year-old spinster came up to his grave and spit on it.

More contemporary uses of the code are obviously the South during the segregation, but even more recently the US Government has taken to it again. In order to exclude people and thus not allow guests, the US has taken matters into their own hand by bailing-out giant companies so that there is no void for other companies to come in (and so there’s no void in campaign funding for them).

And if people start to protest and try to shake it all up a bit, luckily there is the NDAA now and the SOPA is coming up. For yeah, anyone blowing the whistle like WikiLeaks might allow guests in and force people who are there out! So D117 y’all, no guests allowed, lets keep them out and lets make sure that we keep everything how it is, even if it not working.

Best live performances of 2011 (compiled in bad videos that don’t do justice to the real thing!)

2012-01-18T00:05:00.001+01:00

One more look back at 2011 before we really leave it all behind us. Linda was so kind to put together a list of her five top live performances of 2011, and luckily for everyone she has added the worst YouTube videos that were made during those gigs, you know, to really give you the feeling how those performances were. Don’t forget that both Tune-Yards and 65DaysofStatic have live shows scheduled in The Netherlands at the time I’m writing this.

Pulp (primavera) - A completely unsatisfying video of snippets of perhaps the best gig I’ve ever been too. It’s Pulp, it’s in Spain and they didn’t come on until 2am, what more could one ask for? For the duration of the night there were random outbreaks of Pulp sing-a-longs throughout Barcelona. This might have caused the backpackers in our hostel to come out of Barcelona with some not-so-nice flashbacks as we probably scared them a bit with a spontaneous outbreak of ‘Common People’ coupled with a small mash pit on R’n’B night.

Tune-yards (Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen) – This was recorded the day after she opened for Beirut at Brixton Academy, a giant venue compared to the tiny pub-backroom this is. Highlight of the evening was the revelation that the giant pink suitcase with flower pattern trying to stay out of sight at the back of the podium belonged to the bassist. I’m still amazed at the way she manages to build up the beat to the second track around 4:45.

Sufjan Stevens (Royal Festival Hall) – Proving that all you need to get into the Royal Festival Hall is a monkey hat and lots of giant balloons (and perhaps having the single best album of the noughties under your belt – that’s Illinois in case you’re wondering). Vesuvius was also stunning.

No Age (The Bear - ICA) – LOUD MUSIC and Bambi. That’s basically it.

65daysofstatic (Hammersmith Apollo) – “The best band to come out of Sheffield after Pulp.” That’s all Adam Rutherford, the genius behind this video, had to say to get me on board. Oh, and there were also some pretty amazing bits about this space plane called a “space shuttle” (and just in case you’re wondering why the imagery is a bit shit: NASA – the world’s most famous science organisation – decided it was best to do all its recording on VHS).

Album Review - Aabenbaringen Over Aaskammen by Casiokids

2012-01-18T00:04:00.002+01:00

Album review of Casiokids' Aabenbaringen over Aaskammen (2012)

First of all, go see Casiokids live. They are the epitome of fun. It is a quirky bunch, and they are having fun being that, and they really exhume that feeling of “funness” to the audience. Not to mention that they have already released some catchy, lovely songs like ‘Finn Bikkjen’, ‘En Vill Hest’, and ‘Fot I Hose’ (they are one of those Scandinavian bands, by the way – where tuneful, easy-on-the-ear songs are grown in back gardens or plucked from trees or available from order at an online grocery shop). Plus, live they are always more fun and the songs always have a bit more punch than their recorded output, especially if one consumes it as an album. So you already kind of know where I’m going with my view on Casiokids’ latest release called Aabenbaringen Over Aaskammen.

(To read the full review, click here)

Johnny Jewel readying himself for busy 2012

2012-01-17T00:05:00.001+01:00

Italians Do It Better boss Johnny Jewel is a busy guy. He just recently released a two hour instrumental album called Themes for an Imaginary Film, and he has three albums coming up this year. Two highly anticipated ones at that, with them being the new Chromatics and the new Glass Candy albums, being released on Valentine’s Day and in May respectively. The third album is After Dark 2, and that one will see the, ehrm, light of day in April.

No no no, said Dr. Betkovicz, this is the prime time to voice your ideas. Only people talking, things that are not cinematic, that you can’t get away with: your foremost intellectual forays. Dr. Obitart shook his head, Nah, what you have to do if you are concocting an imaginary film is do things you cannot do, big budget things, loads of special effects, loads of eye-candy, loads of creatures that don’t exist levitating. You know, a gigantic fish fornicating with Mrs. O’Lalley’s daughter in a floating tea cup, that sort of thing.

At this point Dr. Betkovicz stood up, pointed his bony, quivering finger to Obitart, and said that surely in this world sans substance, when you have the chance to make an imaginary film, surely you make that what is not there anymore and something that can fill a void. Otherwise you are merely pandering to those who are doing that what you want your imagination to escape anyway! The discussion got specifically vile when Mrs. O’Lalley got word from the gents talk, swung by, swung hard, and started to out-shout both men who had quickly gone off and crawled to the other side of the bar.

Tanlines to release debut

2012-01-17T00:04:00.000+01:00

The band Tanlines is gearing up to release their first full album. This will be done on the 20th of March by True Panther Sounds, and it will be titled Mixed Emotions. One of the album’s tracks, called ‘Brothers’, is now available for streaming on the net, so preview that if ya wanna.

I must say, there are some mixed emotions here, Lenny Dubosky whimpered. On the one hand, hanging from a ledge several stories high seems like a pretty good way to go. I mean, it will probably get into the newspapers, right, and that’s hard for a city man to achief. You’re a bit invisible ‘round here, ya know, and not much you can do to get some attention without breaking the law. And this will, but I mean, you know, it looks like a pretty steep fall, and it kinda looks like it’ll hurt. And to be honest, I don’t really think it’s my time, ya know? At that point, the soliloquy was abruptly ended by Lenny losing his grip, falling down while loudly screaming, and it only stopped when he was about to hit the ground but just at that moment a truck carrying mattresses drove by and Lenny only broke a few bones and had a bloody nose, whodathoughtthat, huh? Yeah...

Our Top 50 Favorite Tracks Countdown - 05 - 01

2012-01-17T00:02:00.000+01:00

Yessir, it has started, the countdown of the 50 best tracks of 2011! Everyday I’ll post one track in the Daily Clip section, but if you missed one don’t worry, after each batch of five I’ll be sure to post those songs with links on the site (you’ll find it in the main post). So for the next 50 days, nothing but the best, here we go!

Nr. 05 - ‘Don’t Hurt Love’ by Steed Lord

This is awesome. So much raw energy, got to love the strong vocals, but also the frantic pace and all those little things that Steed Lord does to give it just a boost, like three packets of Red Bull. I just want to jump up and down when I hear this one, it’s amazing how much energy it provides. And as said, those vocals, and all the DJ/producing tricks Steed Lord gets out to enhance the experience, it’s awesome. The whole EP is amazing, but this one takes the crown for me.

Nr. 04 - ‘Drop me a Line’ by Midnight Magic

I’m still waiting for them to get touring Europe, and I’m still waiting for them to release their album, but if all the EPs and tracks they released in 2011 are anything to go by it will be worth the wait. This track got remixes by some of the best guys out there, like The Juan MacLean, Mano le Tough, Holy Ghost!, and Steffi, and it is easy to see why this DFA product is being so highly touted. Strong vocals, and they’ve stolen a fair few away from Hercules and Love Affair’s original backing band to get the disco vibe right. It just rolls on so nicely, thanks in part because of that bass of course. It also has this kind of romantic view of being at night going on, the search for love, the amazing opportunities night time brings if one allows a bit of a romantic slant to its views. “I will let you in to my heart”, she confides, if only you “drop me a line”. Yearning for pure love, that must be in the top 3 of disco motifs right there.

Nr. 03 - ‘L.O.V.E.’ by Motor City Drum Ensemble

I live in the city, but I don’t live in the CITY, if you get my drift. Despite that, I’ve seen Motor City Drum Ensemble DJ two times in 2011, and he delivered both times despite widely varying crowds. This is an original release he did for his awesome DJ KICKS entree. “Wherever you go, my heart is there, I’m yours”, and then the music kicks in again. It’s danceable, it’s got atmosphere, and it is smooth. It knows when to turn it down, when to get the pace up, and when to go vocals. I believe Resident Advisor had him in their top 100 DJ list this year, and rightly so. Kid got skills.

Nr. 02 - ‘Hot Stop’ by Marcos Cabral

For all my love for Jacques Renault, I also do love the other half of Runaway, Marcos Cabral. And this track is as good an example of why I love him as any. Gotta love the bass and beat at the start, getting the thing rolling. So if you’re on the floor you won’t get a pause dancing on this one. Slowly the extra sounds come in and the vocals are added. I love how it gives the vocals plenty of room and then pushes the pace when they stop. That’s exactly the right thing to do in my opinion. Let the people focus on the vocals and when the bass and beat come to prominence again let them dance. The music really keeps this one going and strutting along, and the vocals give it some emotional oomph by at one point exclaiming Stop, you’re tearing up my heart. Tremendous song, danceable, got some emotion going on there, and I’ll happily dance to it or drop it in a set.

Nr. 01 - ‘Not in Love Anymore’ by Michael McDonald (Late Nite Tuff Guy Version)

I love what Late Nite Tuff Guy has been doing recently, taking these old classic songs and actually making them better. Or well, putting a different, more dancefloor ready spin to it, but in this case I actually prefer this one to the original simply because it’s not verse-chorus, but it really builds up to that tremendous chorus with those absolutely fabulous vocals by former Doobie Brothers singer Michael McDonald. That build-up really makes those vocals jump out even more, and if you can bring out Michael McDonald’s voice better then you know you’ve got something golden. “I keep forgettin’ we’re not in love anymore”, McDonald sings, to in the chorus add that he keeps forgetting that “every time you smile”. Dang. Also love how, in the verse before the chorus comes in, Late Nite Tuff Guy strips most things away and clears it all out for McDonald to come in with an extra punchy beat. My favorite song of the year, had this on repeat for forever.

IKRS Starts Its 2012 Season!

2012-01-16T00:04:00.001+01:00

So yeah, 2012 is already going for a couple of weeks, so lets give you some quick updates on what we’re expecting to do now that all the favorite-of-2011 lists have all been finished (check those if you haven’t yet, some ace music there that you might like).

First of all, we are all looking forward to covering some ace music in 2012. Last year was amazing, and we hope this year can keep that run going and we will be able to listen and talk about a lot of it.

Second of all, we hope we can continue doing these things:

Our weekly columns: The Weekly Froth and Crazy Zany Radio Sunday (if ya wanna get in on that, give a shout)
Our daily clip with new music (though we might add some SoundCloud next to actual vid clips this year)
Our half-year and end of the year favorite lists
Gig reviews and album reviews
Our news items with, next to the latest music news, our little absurd stories taking titles and song names wildly out of context

Thirdly, we hope to add:

More interviews (We’ve been a bit lackluster there, will try to be a bit more pro-active)
More On First Listen features, where we type our opinion on a new album per track when listening to it for the first time
Some more experimenting: You see, we always look and try to find new stuff to do. Some work, some don’t. Try and have a bit of fun.
More of you! Hope to talk to you readers a bit more, meet some of you at gigs, chat a bit: we’re not that crazy or snooty as we might come across here sometimes. Honest.

So hopefully there will be plenty to enjoy on here in 2012 as well, but especially lets hope there will be plenty of great music to listen to and to revel in this year as well. And ya know, tips are always welcome, even if its your own band.

And with this, we are going to resume our regular broadcast.

My other fav things of 2011, and what I’m looking forward to in 2012

2012-01-15T00:05:00.000+01:00

So, we are almost ready to resume our regular schedule here at IKRS with the winding down of our Top 50 Fav Tracks of 2011 Countdown and with our Top 10 fav Albums of 2011 lists just finished. First up, some other cultural and not so cultural things that stood out to me in 2011, and some things I’m looking forward to in 2012.

2011:

Fav movie - TIE: The Future by Miranda July and Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen

Fav gig: TIE: Pulp at Brixton Academy and Azari & III + Hercules and Love Affair @ de Melkweg

Fav video game - Football Manager 2012

Fav board game - Letters From White Chapel

Fav book read - When Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor (2002)

Fav play read - The Balcony by Jean Genet (1958)

Most eye-opening book - From Reverence to Rape by Molly Haskell (1974)

Saddest Sports moment - Jerry Sloan stepping down as Utah Jazz head coach

Best sports moment - Bauke Mollema showing serious skills in the Vuelta (cycling)

Fav new television series - New Girl (gotta love the quirky humour)

Fav new thing to do - Drink tea not out of tea bags

2012:

First book I’m reading in 2012 - Soft City by Jonathan Raban (1974)

Film I have high expectations for - My Darling Companion by Lawrence Kasdan with K. Kline and D. Keaton

First stupid thing I’ve done in 2012 - Pour boiling water over my arm

Sports thing I hope to happen - PSV to become national champion

Thing I need to buy - New friggin’ coat

Thing I want to buy - Some sort of apparatus to make grilled sandwiches

Thing I want someone to buy me - A train card for free travel all year round. And cookies.

Thing I want to do but I’m too scared to do anyway - Start a detective series with me filming my own actual endeavors as a detective with someone doing that film-noir voice-over of my life 24/7

Thing I still don’t want to do, not even in 2012 - Go on a cruise

Thing I hope to do more - meet and talk to new people

Thing I am looking forward to - de-Affaire Festival 2012 (if I’m still living in Nijmegen then, otherwise not so much)

Thing I am curious to see play out - Ron Paul in the Republican Primary and the revolution of America’s youth

Our 10 Favorite Albums of 2011 - Overview of the Lists

2012-01-15T00:04:00.000+01:00

So we have given our favorite albums of 2011 top 10s, and here is a quick overview of them, naturally without the write-ups and the streams of individual tracks. Also, glad we were able to add Ilse’s list as well. So three top 10s, loads of different albums there, so hopefully you can find some tips in there or something to agree with (or both!). Lets roll:

Stef:

10. Azari & III – Azari & III

09. Beni – House of Beni

08. Reverso 68 – Well Heeled Vol. One

07. Jessica 6 – See the Light

06. Tiger & Woods – Through the Green

05. Little Dragon – Ritual Union

04. Holy Ghost! – Holy Ghost!

03. Hercules and Love Affair – Blue Songs

02. Joakim – Nothing Gold

01. Nicolas Jaar – Space is Only Noise

Linda:

10. iceage - New Brigade

09. EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints

08. YACHT - Shangri-La

07. Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness

06. Wild Flag - Wild Flag

05. CANT - Dreams Come True

04. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

03. My Brightest Diamond - All Things Will Unwind

02. Tune-Yards - w h o k i l l

01. Nicolas Jaar - Space is Only Noise

Ilse:

10.Tom Vek -Leisure Seizure

09. Mi Ami - Dolphins EP

08. The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck

07. Kurt Vile - Smoke Rings for my Halo

06. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

05. Bon Iver - Bon Iver

04. Various Artists - Drive OST

03. J. Mascis - Several Shades of Why

02. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact

01. Tune-Yards - w h o k i l l

Our Top 50 Favorite Tracks Countdown - 10 - 06

2012-01-15T00:02:00.001+01:00

Nr. 10 - ‘Pianopella & Breathless’ by Wolfram

Closer of the very nice Wolfram album, which saw Wolfram team up with guys like Holy Ghost! and Hathaway, this is perhaps the most adventurous song of all (not counting the spoken word film bit he put in there somewhere). A good eleven minutes, and it starts with just a mere piano. At one point it starts doing a little tune, as if we are sitting in at practice and hearing a song get born on the piano. After three minutes slowly the beat is allowed in and the actual song starts, which is this lovely, catchy affair to get on the dancefloor on. Love how it goes a bit deeper, and then basically resets at the eight minute mark. Lovely song.

Nr. 09 - ‘It’s a Bubble’ by Beni feat. Sean Delear and Turbotito

Beni delivered a tremendous album with some very club ready tunes. Perhaps none so much as this one featuring Sean Delear and Turbotito. It’s got this clubby beat going on that makes you want to dance, and the vocals just entice you to get into dancing mode even more. They even literally invite you by saying “Come on in”. There’s something very sexual to the vocals without throwing in innuendo or noises of people grunting and going at it. In the chorus they go one step further, stating that they “can’t flow without you”, in other words, get on the floor and dance with me baby. It’s got a lovely high pace, and it just makes you want to be surrounded by cute, young people that are getting it on. If you want to get into that club vibe, this is the track, I’ll tell ya.

Nr. 08 - ‘Painted Eyes’ by Hercules and Love Affair

Hercules and Love Affair impressed me with their new line-up, and with their live show, and with their album. So yeah. Nothing impressed me more though than those vocals by Aerea Negrot, who is on vocal duty for this song. Such nice vocals, so much control over it; perfect. It’s got this yearning quality to it, this dreamy feel. And then the violins come in, that is great, and after that the beat and drums kick it up slightly (though by all means, this is not the most danceable song on the album, far from it). It is this tune where you look at the floor and dreamily dance away, and I do love songs that evoke that kind of feel. Plus, the strings and the vocals give it all the extras it need to be one of my favorite tunes of the year.

Nr. 07 - ‘Nothing Gold’ by Joakim

Joakim knocked it out of the park with this one. His previous album, I wasn’t too enthusiastic about that, but this one is excellence. With this as its highlight. It’s got this estrangement to it, and I do love that in songs. Kind of like Circlesquare a few years ago, which went on to become my favorite album of that year (and one of my favorites of all time). The first time the vocals come in he immediately cuts to the chase. “My love is gone,” he sings. But if you are afraid it is corny or anything, think again, because the lyrics, the tone of his voice, and the sounds of the music all work together to get across this alienated, this melancholic feel. Some immediate piano sounds are thrown in there at the four minute mark, along with some extra sounds to further convey both the distance and anxiety of the narrator. If you love this kind of vibe, like I do, than go out and get this album on vinyl, like I did. You won’t regret it.

Nr. 06 - ‘Reckless With Your Love’ by Azari & III

I can’t believe this song is not number one. And I made this list, and I can’t believe this song isn’t even in the top 5. This is a downright home run by the boys from Azari & III. I’ve seen them perform this one live a few times and it positively kills. It’s got the attitude, it’s got the sexiness, it’s got it all. Great vocals, easy to dance to, and everything just fits. It’s got spunk, for some reason I find that to be the right word. In one year they’ve gone from Paradiso upstairs to the support act of Hercules and Love Affair to Lowlands, to Trouw, and now they’re scheduled to perform in the Paradiso main room. And if you listen to this, and if you see how they bring it every live show, then surely one understands the ascend. They bring, exhume, dish out energy, and this track is a perfect example of that.

Our 10 Favorite Albums of 2011 - Nr. 01

2012-01-11T00:04:00.003+01:00

And so its the end of the year again (or the start) and we have listened to an awful lot of music, the people here. And two of us managed to churn out some words on what we consider as our favorite albums of 2011. So enjoy, hope it proves to function both as a tip sheet and as a salute to good music.

Stef:

01. Nicolas Jaar – Space is Only Noise (Circus Company)

There’s something about midnight that heightens ones senses, isn’t there? In previous years I often picked for the top spot an album that I deferred to when on the midnight commute to my little ol’ home. This album just has that midnight, distant vibe all over it. Emotion through a sense of disconnect, like you are watching events unfold in life as opposed to being part of it. Or maybe I’m just thinking this for the French cinema bits thrown in there. Jaar has this very rare sense of knowing when to use what kind of sound. And in music, that is a gift, and an important one at that. Find the right sample, find whatever makes that sound you feel you need, and then drop it at exactly the right time. Not to mention that the actual songs that come out of it are tremendous.

Tremendous certainly is that killer combo smack down in the middle of the album. The songs ‘Problems with the Sun’ and ‘Space is Only Noise If You Can See’ are such great examples of not only Jaar’s musical skills, but also how they can be turned into good songs. Sitting in the train, looking out of the window into the night, city lights the only thing you can see, faintly hearing some sort of commotion in the background, in the reflection seeing some girl study, seeing some boy dream about something or another, knowing that so much is going on in the world that I’m crossing per train, so much love, loss, hope, laughter, frustration, dreams: this album any day of the week. And twice on Sundays.

Linda:

01. Nicolas Jaar - Space is Only Noise (Circus Company)

Well, here’s a surprise: two completely different lists, and the only album we agree on is our mutual nr 1 album. That must count for something, even though I haven’t seen it turn up much in other best-of-2011 lists - though that can easily be explained by our superior taste in music here at IKRS (And yes, she's kidding. But not by much. If at all. Wait, I don't think she is. Actually, I agree. Yeah. Right on Linda! - ed).

Things could easily have gone wrong for Nicolas Jaar on this album, minimalism is always a risk as with this type of music, more than any other, you have to get the balance exactly right. Leave one bleep out and you will lose the flow of the record; be a bit overly ambitious and add an instrument too many and you’re stuck with unnecessary fluff forgoing your entire raison d’être (or at the very least the chance of making a good record). But Jaar had no problems with any of those issues: every single sound on this album serves a purpose, and he got those few sounds exactly right. As such, ‘Space is Only Noise’ does require slightly more stringent listening conditions than any other album in order to fully appreciate it: it as an album especially suited for dark, lonely nights, which are pretty rare in London as it’s never fully dark here and there’s always a nutter somewhere shouting abuse. But even under those suboptimal conditions, this album has really gotten under my skin.

Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise by CircusCompany

Our 10 Favorite Albums of 2011 - Nr. 02

2012-01-09T00:04:00.002+01:00

Stef:

02. Joakim – Nothing Gold (Tigersushi)

You used to be young, now where do you belong? That’s the key question on Joakim’s track ‘Forever Young’, the first proper song on this LP. It made a good run for the top spot this one, as I absolutely adore this album. It just oozes with this aimlessness, this distance, yet in terms of the sound and the music it sounds terribly mature and terribly well crafted. Something like ‘Fight Club’, with the delivery and the rhythm of it, that is very well done. It is also just the atmosphere the whole album exhumes, both in terms of sound as well as in lyrics. I think it is such a plus for an album to not just have ten good songs on there, but to have ten good songs on there that are connected, that together create a certain feel. Individual songs are nice and all, but to have a whole album, in its entirety, give out a message, an emotion, that’s what sets the better albums apart for me.

That melancholy in title track ‘Nothing Gold’ is amazing, and even per song all the elements really combine and by doing so they make the sum more than just its parts. It is an album that I think has been overlooked, but especially if you, like me, feel connected to the atmosphere this album evokes, then it is one you definitely shouldn’t miss. And what it evoked for me is this sense of being in a place where you have gone through all the emotions as a younger person, and now you’re not so much there anymore. Either because you’re too old to do the things that provided you with these emotions, or because those emotions have just dulled out and you’re stuck with all things happening around you but not quite feeling any of it. Which sounds more depressing than it really is, honest.

Joakim - Forever Young by Tigersushi Records

Linda:

02. Tune-yards – W H O K I L L (4AD)

And to complete this trio of female singer-songwriters: Merrill Garbus. She’s quickly grown to be one of my all time favourite artists. She is an amazing live performer, full of enthusiasm and energy and even able to get a Jimmy Kimmel audience who quite obviously don’t belong to her target crowd to jump along to her tracks. I’ve seen her three times in a year’s time, and each time she managed to completely blow me away. The ingredients for a great album were there on her debut, but really have clicked into place on this one. ‘Bizzness’ and ‘Gangsta’ are probably two of the best songs to have come out in 2011.

Although amazing on record, her live performance is so much better. Just witnessing how she builds up the rhythms for each song would blow anyone away, let alone her amazingly strong voice and personality that just makes you want to hug her right there (you’ll be pleased to know I managed to control myself though). And there’s even more to get excited about with the saxophones on this album! Amazing how she could think all this up when starting out with just a ukulele a few years ago. The most soulful album I’ve heard this year (and yes, that includes Adele), can’t wait for the next one now.

Tune-Yards - Gangsta by The Recommender

Our Top 50 Favorite Tracks Countdown - 15-11

2012-01-09T00:02:00.000+01:00

Nr. 15 - ‘My Rescue’ by Canyons

Okay, so the album as a whole, for me, didn’t do it. Some of the songs were just a bit too experimental for me personally. Luckily there were some highs on there as well, and when this band hits the mark it really hits it. The vocals on this one are magnificent, love the (steel?)drums and the way this song constantly finds ways to propel itself forward. The vocals have a bit of edge to it, which juxtapose nicely with the beats and drums. I also love it when they put the vocals alone with the beat, that’s really lovely, and the voice somehow gets so powerful, really triggers something which really puts this song over the top for me. That’s excellence right there.

Nr. 14 - ‘All Night Long’ by Nicholas

Oh boy, Nicholas got it on this year and delivered some tunes that would all be worthy of being somewhere, some place on the list. I picked this one perhaps because it was one of the first I heard by him, perhaps because it has this really old school house thing going on which I really like, but certainly because it should get people on the dancefloor. Really old school house with the beat and then the piano coming in, some nice repetition to get into it, and then those strong vocals really complete it all. I would be dropping this on the dancefloor at a house party in a heartbeat, no question. This fits right in. And as said, Nicholas really has had this whole string of stellar releases this year, so definitely one to keep an eye on and to turn to if you want to fill out your set.

Nr. 13 - ‘Ritual Union’ by Little Dragon

You know what, this really is the point where it’s all five star excellence. I would be happy to put this track at the top of any list, and then realize there are still twelve songs to come! Fuck me. This song is the lead off for Little Dragon’s ace album of the same name. They deserve all the plaudits they’ve received for just the first two tracks alone. Love the music, and these melancholic vocals fit in so well. “These ritual unions have got me in trouble again”, she laments. So it packs plenty of emotion, and in the meantime the drums keep it up at a steady pace so to keep the song moving along nicely. Very strong showing from this Danish band.

Nr. 12 - ‘Another Night’ by J Kriv feat. Adeline Michele (Greg Wilson remix)

Oh, I remember this being my soundtrack whilst walking to and from the local (yet awesome) festival here (at which the band responsible for the previous song, Little Dragon, played). Its got this lazy disco beat going to set both the tempo and the mood, and after a while Adeline Michele comes in to sing that it was “Just another night without your love”. Greg Wilson, though, takes his time to get there with all kinds of lovely variations on the initial sounds to really paint the right picture. Just short of three minutes in Michele starts narrating her story of love lost and how she longs for being held in someones arms again and truly feeling a spark. For she knows, When it’s good, it’s so good. So if you’re walking around at night dreaming about someone to look you in the eyes lovingly, this surely is the right song for you.

Nr. 11 - ‘Jam for Jerry’ by Holy Ghost!

So much to love about this song. First of all, the tight drums and how that propels the song forward. Secondly, it is so catchy and dancey. Thirdly, it is so heartfelt. Instead going ballad after friend of the band (and Juan MacLean drummer) Jerry Fuchs died, the lads of Holy Ghost! go into homage mode by recalling the mourning process with this TUNE. In the chorus they sing “I’ve got the feeling I’ve done / something half wrong / it surrounds me / drowns me in it”, just to indicate that you can be emotional, you can say something conveying feeling, whilst you are making people dance. Excellence by the DFA duo, whom I interviewed as far back as 2010 (it’s 2012 now, remember?).

Our 10 Favorite Albums of 2011 - Nr. 03

2012-01-08T00:05:00.005+01:00

Stef:

03. Hercules and Love Affair – Blue Songs (Moshi Moshi)

Out with the old, in with the new. Nomi Ruiz, Antony Hegarty, and the whole band went away, and Mark Pistel, Aerea Negrot, and Shaun Wright came in. And if you thought it couldn’t get better than the first album, here they are with a magnificent comeback. It is geared a bit more towards house than to disco, despite it having this old disco album set up of start up-tempo, drop it down to some ballads, and then have the people dance again. All of this with some amazing, amazing vocals. Negrot is fantastic, what a command she has over her voice. It’s all throwback, it’s all fun, it’s all house in the Eighties. It’s gender bending, it’s sexy, it’s playful, it’s naughty. Where Azari & III are a bit darker, more physical, more about sex, this is more about playfulness, about fun, about flirtation.

I’ve seen the new line-up several times, and they are just fabulous, so fun and queer. I can understand people who say it borders on kitsch, but I like that, because you know what, so was disco the first go around (check some of these vids out y’all). It’s about fun and dancing together, and that vibe does come across on the album as well. Some absolute corkers you just have to dance to, and some ballads as well to inject it with some emotion (though, admittedly, former Hercules singer Nomi Ruiz outdid the band in the ballad department this year). And honestly, with such powerful voices, that is disco and house as well. Those fab vocals over that music that makes your body want to go to work. For me, and I’m probably in the minority on this one, but for my money’s worth I rather listen to this album than their debut, and that is saying something.

Answers Come In Dreams by moshi moshi music

Linda:

03. My Brightest Diamond - All things will unwind (asthmatic kitty)

After just having had Annie Clark, AKA St. Vincent, here’s another former Sufjan Stevens background singer! Her first album, A Thousand Shark’s Teeth, didn’t do much for me. Apart from opening tracks ‘Inside a Boy’, the tracks were quite forgettable. Maybe that’s why she remained to be in Stevens’ backing band until this last album came out. The album features maybe the best yet Occupy-inspired protest tracks in ‘High Low Middle’ and ‘There’s a Rat’, though compared to the rest of the album, they seem a tad bleak and rushed.

Luckily the rest of the album is of a much higher standard. Take ‘Escape Routes’, with its opening sentence “It takes a lifetime to learn how to love”, borrowed from Laurie Anderson. It’s a beautiful pop song with an extravagant chorus backed up by a small chamber music ensemble, yMusic, which she brings along to her live performances. ‘Be Brave’ and ‘We Added it Up’ are a few other musical gems on this album. Bit it’s not all easy pop songs, there’s also a track based on her grandmother: ‘She Does Not Brave the War’, which details how, despite women like her grandma not being allowed to go to war in those days, they did save the day by keeping the country running despite the absence of their ‘all-knowing’ husbands. So feminism, pop and protest songs, what shouts 2011 more than that?

My Brightest Diamond, "We Added It Up" by My Brightest Diamond

Our 10 Favorite Albums of 2011 - Nr. 04

2012-01-05T00:04:00.005+01:00

Stef:

04. Holy Ghost! – Holy Ghost! (DFA)

Every time I put this one on my record player and the vinyl gets a spinning I am reminded of how good these songs are. These are just fabulous disco songs, perhaps with a slight pop edge, and they roll on just so smoothly and they make me so happy. They’re just so darn catchy, and then we are only talking about the stellar songs and not even about the real highs. One of them being ‘Jam for Jerry’, a song in memory of the late Jerry Fuchs, which (as a Jerry Fuchs tribute should) has some amazingly tight percussion thrown in there. I also love the emotion in the chorus though, “I’ve got the feeling I’ve done / Something half wrong / It surrounds me / Drowns me in it”, or something to that effect. The thing is, they got it right when they made this song so catchy, so danceable, and not some half-assed ballad.

Another highlight is that they got Michael friggin’ McDonald on the closer of this album. And perhaps none were pleased more than they themselves, but anytime you get such a powerhouse on vocals, even if it just is for one track, that’s amazing. It also is what McDonald stands for, you know? The album, it may sound strange, but one of its big assets is that it is so darn easy on the ear. The songs are so catchy, so smooth, so easy to listen to; and yes, that’s most definitely a skill. To make songs that you don’t have to work for, but that just ease into your ear. Just a tremendous debut.

Holy Ghost! - Some Children (Free Download) by DFA Records

Linda:

04. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy (4AD)

Annie Clark has returned! Three albums in, St. Vincent really seems to turn out to be the kind of artist who just can’t disappoint. As soon as I heard ‘Surgeon’, the first single of this year’s album, I knew we were going to be in for a threat. And how amazing is this album? It is off to a bit of a false start with ‘Chloe in the afternoon’, based on a 1972 film by the same name by Éric Rohmer. The song comes across unnecessary repetitive and a tad uninspired, but perhaps you actually need to have seen the film to fully appreciate it. However, as soon as the second track ‘Cruel’ begins to play, all is forgotten. Accompanied by a rather nifty video (in which Annie gets abducted by a motherless family and shreds in the trunk of a car - while bound and gagged) she returns to where she left off with her last album Actor: pop songs that could feature in Disney cartoons, but with a dark twist.

Compared to Actor, the melodies have gotten much grander, and perhaps more appealing to a more general audience. Also, the album is more balanced, with tracks flowing into each other almost unnoticeable. And then there are the guitar riffs such as in the chorus of the aforementioned ‘Surgeon’. Wow. And the solos are even more impressive if played live: the whole set tends to turn into a guitar jam session featuring only Annie Clark (and in case you haven’t actually seen her: that is pretty amazing). She really has nailed it on this album.

Our 10 Favorite Albums of 2011 - Nr. 05

2012-01-04T00:04:00.015+01:00

Stef:

05. Little Dragon – Ritual Union (Peacefrog Records)

Those first two tracks, ‘Ritual Union’ and ‘Little Man’, I mean, stop the album, you just can’t beat that. Those two songs have me completely entranced, and honestly I couldn’t tell you how any of the other songs go until I hear them, because my whole mind just gets consumed by the best one-two opening punch since yonkers. Singer Yakumi Nagano, on the title track, heart wrenchingly narrates about “Ritual unions got me in trouble again”, about the contradictory feelings of marriage versus love and lust. I’ve played that song to death , I really have.

And if that isn’t enough, they just about manage to honour the mixtape golden rule (first song must be great, second song must be even better) with ‘Little Man’, of which I love the instrumentation so much. Fast paced, it has got this anxiety to it, this energy, this rawness. And the delivery of Nagano fits in perfectly with that. “Something missing in your smile / something missing in your soul”, and perhaps this should be the Occupy Wall Street anthem, because I feel those two things might have something or another to do with money. The rest of the album is just bonus after that, but what a bonus it still is. It doesn’t beat out the opening tunes of this album, but honestly, nothing this year really does, and that dynamic duo makes you just want to listen to this album over and over again.

Seconds (vocal version) by Little Dragon

Linda:

05. CANT - Dreams come true (Terrible records)

With most side projects, I don’t really get the point. They sound marginally the same as the original band, with a slightly different line-up, and don’t seem to do anything they couldn’t have done using the original line-up. With CANT, it’s surprisingly different. Chris Taylor, the angelic apparition playing bass/clarinet/flute and doing backing vocals in the rather wonderful indie/folk band Grizzly Bear, decided this year it was time for GB side project that trumps Department of Eagles. And whatever you might expect from a multi-instrumentalist like Taylor, it probably wouldn’t be this album. Especially in a live setting, it’s outright danceable, with it’s beat driven songs and admirable guitar riffs played by Taylor-produced Blood Orange.

The only recognizable feature is Taylor’s voice, which fits remarkably well both Grizzly Bear tracks as it does with this mixture of electro and experimental folk. What’s maybe even more surprising is Chris Taylor’s modesty and apparent apprehension on stage. He seems genuinely surprised Grizzly Bear fans like this side of the musical spectrum as well, and seems a bit hesitant to be the centre of attention for once. But with tracks ‘Believe’ and title track ‘Dreams Come True’ there’s no reason to be shy. With a bit of practice this might even outshine Grizzly Bear itself.

02 Believe by Transdreamer Records

Our 10 Favorite Albums of 2011 - Nr. 06

2012-01-03T00:06:00.007+01:00

Stef:

06. Tiger & Woods – Through the Green (Running Back)

It is hard to find an own sound and stay consistent with that, especially if you don’t really work with vocals. Tiger & Woods, somehow, someway, manage it. I can now listen to a remix of theirs and go, Oh yeah, Tiger & Woods, and I can’t do that with everyone. That really means that they’ve carved out their own sound, their own niche within this house/dance spectrum. Well, you might say, if they have such a distinct sound, tell us what that is. But I have to admit, that isn’t quite as easy as recognizing they, in fact, have a fairly distinct sound. So best thing you can do is just to listen to it and find out for yourself.

The tracks on this album, they just move, you know? They just keep on rolling, there’s a good balance between repetition and new elements, and if you think that at one point surely they have exhausted their inspiration think again, because the last two songs on the album are perhaps the most killing of all. ‘Gin Nation’ is a bit slower, the slowest of them all in terms of BPM I reckon, but I don’t know where they get those sounds from, and I don’t know how they can manage to repeat them to brilliance, but they do. ‘Speed of Light’ is a bit more up-tempo, and you hear that core sound coming through slowly and it comes increasingly more to the fore, which is just lovely. It is the art of repetition, and they control that better than anyone I’ve heard this year.

Tiger & Woods - Love In Cambodgia - Out Of Bounds EP by Bryan McQuade

Linda:

06. Wild Flag - Wild Flag (Wichita/Merge Records)

As a conglomerate of musicians from formerly influential bands like Sleater Kinney, Helium and Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, you could ask whether Wild Flag really has anything new to add. Another all-girl punk band, like we haven’t seen enough of those. But put it another way, and Carrie Brownstein, Mary Timony, Rebecca Cole and Janet Weiss might just have the experience and insight to know just what the musical world of 2011 needs. Although the album can hardly be said to push the boundaries of any genre of music, they do manage to create an amazing album. It’s catchy, has some great melodies and riffs and the band members have enough gravitas to get away with borrowing some of Deerhunter’s better guitar lines (the finale of ‘Short Version’ bears a striking resemblance to said band’s ‘Nothing Ever Happened’).

But copyright infringements aside, the band really knows how to carry a tune. The album is filled with pop-punk that might have scared mothers in the ‘70s but can only endear in this day and age. The album shines in consistency: there is not a track that acts solely as filler. However, at the same time no one tracks stands out as an obvious anthem or even small indie crowd pleaser. But hey, that’ll probably mean their London gig next month won’t sell out just on one track that some hipsters heard on the radio, and that can only be good thing.

Wild Flag - Romance by MergeRecords

Our Top 50 Favorite Tracks Countdown - 20 - 16

2012-01-02T00:02:00.000+01:00

Nr. 20 - ‘Pharaohs and Pyramids’ by Cut Copy

And we enter the top 20 with a Cut Copy tune! Shabbier ways to enter a top 20 there certainly are I think. Though the album Zonoscope as a whole didn’t really do it for me, some of the tracks, as well as the lads live, were amazing as usual. This one is my favorite of the album, because it is so terribly dancey and catchy. Love the chorus of please baby, don’t take my heart away, just safe it for another day, when you need my love some more. The rhythm is continuous so you have no excuse to not dance. These guys excel in coming up with these dancey tunes that are easy on the ear and have a slight pop sensibility whilst not overdoing it. And I’m not really sure what’s not to love to be honest.

Nr. 19 - ‘Tripped and Fell in Love’ by YACHT

I had the pleasure of interviewing this DFA duo on the back of their quite excellent album Shangri-La, which is full of just fab songs (not to mention the Jacques Renault remix of ‘I Walked Alone’, which is ace as well). This song I perhaps love most. It’s this seven minute behemoth at the end of the album, when YACHT go dancey and get a moving. It is build on this great rhythm which you can really dance to, and it lovingly plays on that a bit. After a good minute the leading duo get into the fold with their very YACHTsy lyrics, all the while the main sound keeps on going and going. And it won’t let up, let me warn ya. Sometimes something gets added, sometimes something gets held back: but it keeps on coming.

Nr. 18 - ‘Chain Gang’ by The Heels of Love feat. Max Essa

Love the start with the beat, the way it quickly seems to accelerate a bit, and then those deeper synth tones come in. But what I perhaps love most of all are those vocals. It’s got this rhythm to it I really love. It’s not really really singing, but it is not spoken word either, but somewhere in between, and it provides a bit of spunk. It also just fits the music perfectly, which is perhaps the biggest draw of it all. It’s got a slight melancholic feel to it, perhaps because of the words “Oooh living it up like it’s real life” in the chorus. Love the strip back with mostly vocals and light key sounds, and there’s cowbell in it! And it fits the song as well! If that isn’t worth Nr. 18 then I don’t know what is.

Nr. 17 - ‘Nobody’ by Cassian (Mitzi remix)

This is one from early in the year, but it’s still high up on the list. This one starts lovely and fair enough, but it is when it gets that extra kick at 1:40 when it really gets me. That sound is just lovely, and I don’t mind them riding that at all. However, they thought it not enough and put in this lovely break in which they build back up to that sound again, and then get ready for it to get going with some extra gusto once more. Just fabulous to hear, and when those background aah-ha-haaaas come in, that’s what they call icing on the cake right there.

Nr. 16 - ‘Foreign Language’ by Flight Facilities feat. Jess

I remember doing this one for my Weekly Froth column, and at that time I hadn’t heard of Flight Facilities at all. But as you can see they really made a splash with this one for me. It just makes me happy. It has this whole positive vibe going for it, which is sure to get a smile on my face. This track is just so poppy and catchy it is hard not to like it, at least for me it has proven to be impossible not to like it. It is smooth, it keeps on rolling, and the vocals are very nice as well. A catchy, lovable pop song put together expertly.

Our 10 Favorite Albums of 2011 - Nr. 07

2011-12-31T00:04:00.000+01:00

Stef:

07. Jessica 6 – See the Light (Peacefrog Records)

I really, honestly didn’t think I would like this album as much as I do. Nomi Ruiz as a member of Hercules and Love Affair didn’t quite win me over, but as Jessica 6 she is amazing. So old school disco this, with the disco diva singing her tales of woe, of lust, of love. And it is all quite impressive. Some of the tracks are more dancey like opener ‘White Horse’ or ‘Prisoner of Love’, where she gets a bit of help from Antony Hegarty (Yes, he of Antony & the Johnsons fame).

However, she can also dial it down with some of the best ballads I’ve heard all year. Something like ‘Not Anymore’, which basically is just this sad, French jazz piano and her voice, but it packs so much emotion. She does that so well, and it caught me by surprise, and such a pleasant surprise it is. A ballad is so hard to do, but I’ll take some of the ones on this album before any bloke or gal with guitar trying to sing about his or her baby love (or worse). There’s something heartfelt about disco, also the slower ones, that you just cannot beat with a guitar and with subpar vocals. Add to all of this that this album borrows some sounds from different continents to make it all not that straightforward, and you’ve got a very, very good album indeed.

Jessica 6 - Prisoner Of Love feat. Antony Hegarty by Peacefrog Records

Linda:

07. Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness (Wichita)

I can’t believe that it’s already been four years since Los Campesinos! released their first album. Even though ‘Hold on now youngster...’ is still my favourite, with ‘We are beautiful, we are doomed’ a close second, this album really managed to surprise me. There’s no band I’ve seen live more often than this band, and still they manage to amaze me every single time. Be it by being a bit shit (at Shepherd’s Bush earlier this year, though it was a first time for them) or by blowing me away when playing in a student venue where everyone was 14 and I felt ridiculously old right up to the moment they started playing ‘Death to Los Campesinos!’. That was, admittedly, their third song, but it only took a second or so to turn me back into a dancing, shouting and pointing (pointing is essential for LC! gigs) teenager. Well done me for fitting in with a bunch of horny school boys.

Over the years, LC! have evolved, and they have done this very considerately as they seem to have done this synchronous to my personal musical taste. They’re still very much up the pop-ally of alternative music, maybe even more so on this album with Kim Campesinos! getting more vocals – especially on the sublime ‘The black bird, the dark slope’. Single ‘By your hand’ luckily is a horrible indicator for what to expect from the album, but with its sing-along chorus it is an obvious choice. To make up for that initial miss, the second half of the album is filled with little gems like ‘To Tundra’ and ‘Baby I got the death rattle’. I’ll definitely go and see them for a 12th time next year.

Hello Sadness by Los Campesinos!

Our 10 Favorite Albums of 2011 - Nr. 08

2011-12-30T00:04:00.000+01:00

Stef:

08. Reverso 68 – Well Heeled Vol. One (Special Interest)

You know what, I always forget how good of an album this really is. However, I generally need to actively remind myself to put it on once in a while, so where do you put an album like that on the list? But this is just a collection of fabulous tunes. Chances are you are hooked by the time miss Izma herself, Eartha Kitt, gets her vocals in on ‘Earthy Powers’ (and yes, that is a pun I reckon), and otherwise the instrumental tracks will get you into hooked mode soon enough.

Some of those starts are just amazing, like for ‘Sensational Dub’, and especially for ‘All Things in a Dream’, which gets me to physically stand up every time I hear that because it is simply so awesome. I do, however, love my vocals, and maybe there aren’t quite enough of them on here which bumps it down a bit. This album is full of tuneage though, and it just rolls on like a you-know-what. Some awesome vintage sounds in there, and it all runs soooo very smoothly. And that’s a skill, ya know?

Well Heeled Volume One - by Reverso 68

Linda:

08. YACHT – Shangri-La (DFA)

I managed to miss out on this one last time I had a go at cataloguing 2011’s best music. Perhaps it was because I didn’t really expect YACHT to be as amazing on record as they are live, and anyone who has listened to their previous attempts at capturing their live enthusiasm on an album will probably agree with that. Therefore, it wasn’t till I had the actual pleasure of seeing this album being performed live that it really hit me that the tracks themselves were at least as good as the crazy but fantastic live routine (and accompanying powerpoint presentation).

With their former label pals LCD Soundsystem retiring, there is an enormous gap to be filled, but with DFA coming up with bands like this, I don’t think many people will notice that James Murphy and friends have left the stage. The album is off to one of the best openings of the year with the combination of ‘Utopia’ (best bass line of the year!) and ‘Dystopia’, which combined with a nifty video ought to be compulsory viewing/listening for anyone pretending to love music. But however much you might like, or even love the album when listening to it, the live experience is nothing like it and only to be recommended.

Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire) by RADIO YACHT

Our 10 Favorite Albums of 2011 - Nr. 09

2011-12-29T00:05:00.003+01:00

Stef:

09. Beni – House of Beni (Modular)

It’s a buwwwble. When I think of this album, I think of that tune. That tune is just amazing, one of my favorite songs of the year. It just screams dance, dance, dance baby!, and I don’t see any reason why anyone shouldn’t. But this is not a one song wonder, this album. It starts with the vocals of Nomi Ruiz to lure you into the club, and then it just gets down and dirty with Sam Sparro, Turbotito, and you’re even going to rock a bit with The Rapture’s Mattie Safer.

The vocal contributions are fabulous, but the good thing is that it all meshes so well together as it all exhumes the same thing: having a sexy night out at the club. The one flaw of this album comes nearing the end, where some of the instrumental tracks (obviously not O.P.U.L.E.N.C.E. with that vintage house feel) feel like they kind of bog down the album a bit. By that time you’re probably so exhausted from dancing though your mind won’t register it anymore anyway. And honey, don’t forget, it’s a buwwble.

Beni - It's A Bubble by modularpeople

Linda:

9. EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints (Souterrain Transmissions)

With a mere three albums from my half-year list making it into my end of year list, I think that must mean that the second half of the year was the better. For me at least. Judging by the comments on YouTube – which one never should do – you either love or hate this album. Unsurprisingly, I am writing about it after all, I’m in the ‘love it’ group. There is something about the angst and anxiety expressed in the nine tracks that make up this album that just make me fall in love with the thing.

Opener ‘The Grey Ship’ remains my favourite. I can vaguely remember the exact same thing about six months ago, but I’m sticking with it. I love tracks that make it past the five minute mark, seemingly without any effort, and this is one of those. Those tempo changes, the build up, it’s as close to perfection as you can get without decent recording equipment – I’m not a fan of needless lo-fi going on for too long. But it warrants all the more admiration for Erika Anderson, and the BBC/DiS reviewer Andrzej Lukowski for cooking up the term drone-folk to find a way to describe the album.

EMA - The Grey Ship by souterraintransmissions

Our Top 50 Favorite Tracks Countdown - 25 - 21

2011-12-29T00:02:00.000+01:00

Nr. 25 - ‘Flip da Beat’ by Ed Wizard & Disco Double Dee

Awesome tune this. Its unbelievably smooth, especially that chorus, which is nothing short of brilliant. It’s originally from a Shalamar tune, going There it is, there it is what took us so long? And that’s so darn catchy, and it nicely juxtaposes the more hip hop vibe of the verses. And always there is that bass to get grooving too. Just terribly lovely this, something that puts a smile on my face, which is important with Christmas time upon us (at the time of writing)!

Nr. 24 - ‘Night Sky’ by Gavin Russom

This spacey track by Gavin Russom logs in at a whopping thirteen minutes. It reminds me off some of Antoni Maiiovi’s work that I touted a couple of years ago: high on atmosphere. Maiiovi made an album with as concept the soundtrack of a fictional B movie, but this doesn’t quite have that concept, though it wouldn’t be totally out of place. But it is kind of too sophisticated for that to be honest, especially when the vocals come in. That’s where the track really takes off and becomes something else. Love that Western-y guitar thing in there. It forms a lovely juxtaposition with the electronic sounds, but somehow the vocals aren’t that out of line for a Western feel either. The vocals also have a lovely sense of urgency to it, which really brings out the anxiety of this track. So if you happen to have a short fifteen minutes to spare, give it a shot. And I warn ya, sit it out, for its a grower.

Nr. 23 - ‘Still Sound’ by Toro Y Moi

Okay, yeah, so maybe I’m also a bit smitten with that lovely clip they made for this, which is kind of home video style. But I also like that bass, and I also really like those soft touch vocals he’s got going on here. It’s a very lovable track, and a very catchy one as well, with some nice ethereal sounds to it. Very pleasing and very easy on the ear, and just instantly lovable. It’s a lovable little thing, yes it is! Yes it is!

Nr. 22 - ‘Banana Ripple’ by Junior Boys

Ow, Junior Boys, they were fab live at Trouw earlier this year, and surprise surprise, they saved this one for the tail end of the show. His vocals, oh, divine, no? And this one just keeps giving, so darn catchy, so lovely to dance to. And easy on the ears as well, which I put on the vocals for a large part, for who couldn’t listen to those on and on? And then he goes so high on “No you never, no you never” as well at the end of it, which seals the deal if it hadn’t been sealed already. Just a fantastic track by a band that with this album really grew on me this year. Fab fab fab. I don’t see how anyone can not be dancing by the end of the song.

Nr. 21 - ‘Space is Only Noise If You Can See’ by Nicolas Jaar

Oh fuck me, this album is brilliant, isn’t it? Gutted his January show has sold out for I would’ve loved to be there, but luckily the album is there to keep me company in the midnight hours. I love the almost spoken word way this starts out with, which keeps on going throughout the song. The only difference is, at one point Jaar starts accompanying it with exactly the right mood, sounds, and music. And this guy has got the skills to do that. An uncanny sense of which sounds should go where. This is perhaps the best example of that from the album, though I’m not making a vow that never changes. Wizardry, that’s what it is, but mostly, its the ability to have sounds build and aid each other to together produce an end product which just exhumes aesthetic. Listen at midnight, and you’ll be blown away. All magic happens at midnight, you know?

Our 10 Favorite Albums of 2011 - Nr. 10

2011-12-28T00:04:00.000+01:00

Stef:

10. Azari & III - Azari & III (Loose Lips Records)

Best. Live. Act. Of. 2011. Book it! So awesome. Both gigs I went to by these guys the crowd has gone wild, the two singers up front were working it, and the beats were just flying around. There are some amazing songs on this album, with the major flaw being that the singles bookend a deeper middle that doesn’t always captivate. It seems that those songs work a bit better in a live setting than they do forming the middle part of this album. However, to make up for that you’ve got the singles, and it doesn’t matter if you hear them at a gig, in a club, as a remix, or on the album: they are awesome. ‘Into the Night’, ‘Manic’, ‘Reckless With Your Love’, and ‘Hungry for the Power’, they are absolutely wicked.

The sultriness of ‘Into the Night’ is a lovely start, and then you actually go into the night with ‘Reckless With Your Love’, which just embodies clubbing for me. It ends with ‘Manic’ and ‘Hungry for the Power’, which are a bit darker, perhaps there’s even a bit of social commentary there. The whole album though, it is house up and down and twice around. If house is about queerness, about dancing, and about physicality (and I would argue it is), then this album makes a great case for why it never ever should leave the club scene. And be sure to catch them live, they are hawt.

AZARI & III - Reckless (With Your Love) (2011) by cossetgaleria

Linda:

10. iceage - New Brigade (Abeano Music)

Records like this one here are the reason end of year lists are important. If it were not for some music-loving idiots deciding November was the time of year to start compiling ridiculous collections of rather randomly thrown together catalogues of 2011’s best albums, I would never have found out about iceage. Perhaps it would have been better. I certainly wouldn’t have had to go through another bout of realising that I’ve aged yet another year when reading that the lads that make up this band are only 18 and 19 years old. Fun times. But then again, they say bands like this also make it clear you’re only as old as you feel (though I’m pretty sure I’ll feel like I’m entitled to free bus fares after visiting one of their gigs).

Every year at least one genre gets to be ‘reinvented’ and this year this group of Danes has decided it’s punk’s turn. Not that they have done much to give it a make-over, if it would be possible to remake punk in any other way than it was made first way round. All it needs is tracks that seem to be over before they ever started and some controversy which they create by wearing masks that have an eerie familiar ring to them . But no sir, they are not racist, they say, pointing at their Jewish drummer. I’ll take that for them being young, naive and Danish.

New Brigade by Iceage by TAMBOURHINOCEROS

Our Top 50 Favorite Tracks Countdown - 30 - 26

2011-12-23T00:04:00.001+01:00

Nr. 30 - ‘Spaced’ by Pete Herbert

Herbert released a few EPs this year, and this tune with a BPM through the roof (unfortunately, because it makes it harder to get in the mix), is just magical. The piano gets you in the right mood from the get go, and after teasing you a bit he shifts the gear into full throttle mode just before the minute mark to get you happy and excited. or well, me at least. The beat and drums propel the song forward at a steady pace, but the real strength lies in those sounds on top of that canvas, with the keys. Especially the keys. No, strike that, just everything. I listened to this non-stop in the summer, and every time I’ve heard it since has reminded me of why I listened to this non-stop in the summer. So catchy, the elements work together so nicely, and it is just a cracking tune. And at the end even some vocals come in, then you’ve really got me hooked. So be a star chaser baby. No link unfortunately, I’m very sorry, but you’re clever people, right?

Nr. 29 – ‘Who Am I To Feel So Free’ by MEN feat. Antony Hegarty

Certainly, most things get better when they add Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons fame. MEN put out this little punky tune and made an alternate version with Hegarty’s awesome vocals who fit this song very well indeed. That bass is a bit too familiar at times I reckon (An LCD Soundsystem song I’m thining?), but the guitar gives it some edge which is nicely balanced out by the vocals.

Nr. 28. – ‘That’s the Truth’ by Casino Times

This was released on a Friends of the Family EP with a Jacques Renault tune on it, and that’s a telltale sign that it’s something up my alley and something worth listening to. This song just had me by the balls from the very moment those vocals came in with just a “Oh no”. So deep, so filled with melancholy; I was hooked from that point straight up until the finish. The music creates a perfect canvas for it, in itself being deep enough to not let those vocals stick out like a sore thumb. With the beat, the hi-hats, and the keys it creates something for in the wee hours of the night, when the darkness has fully hit and when the crowd is ready to surrender itself to the sounds completely. Those “vocals” only really become vocals at around the four minute mark, where they actually start singing. Just a nice, deep song with an atmosphere that puts it over the top. Ace.

Nr. 27 – ‘Last Night’ by Telonius & Prince Albert (extended club version)

This has is just so cheeky, I love it. So sexy. The groaning woman might be a sign of that, though in old school house songs that have too much of that aren’t exactly my favorites. But it is kept to a minimum here and it soon gets replaced by the bass (bass!). Then male vocals come in that say “If you can’t make it, I’ll have to masturbate” , with female vocals finishing the double entendre of “Baby, there’s some coming (…), in a hurry”. Normally I hate overtly explicit stuff like that, makes me want to slap my head. But the thing is, this is a TUNE! And all is forgiven then. It’s got the build-ups, it has the catchy chorus, it has this sexiness outside of those overtly explicit tales, it has a thumping beat, a nice bass: it’s just got everything for the dancefloor. The change-ups in the song are nuanced but excellent and it really makes sure this track keeps going on and on.

Nr. 26 - ‘Boom’ by Lo-Fi-Fnk

You know, I believe I tweeted once that I liked this one perhaps more than I should. There is just something so catchy to this that just makes me happy when hearing it. It’s got this energy to it, and it has this nice and poppy vibe to it which just wins me over. It is fun, it has got some pace to it, and it is catchy and makes me smile. Just a cracking little tune from the Swedish duo (whom I interviewed years ago, if anyone wants to hit the interview archive for that one).

The Weekly Froth #22 (WhoMadeWho, Matthew Dear, Kris Menace)

2011-12-23T00:02:00.007+01:00

The weekly froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy. After this will be a slight Holiday break, but don’t worry, come January we’ll be back with this one in a hurry. Happy holidays everybody and have a little fun, do a little dance, and get down tonight.

Track of the week: ‘Inside World’ by WhoMadeWho

WhoMadeWho are going to follow up Knee Deep with a new album next year, and if this is any indication it is going to be awesome. First the rougher sounds, the volume up, and then born out of that this great rhythm comes along with those fabulous vocals. I really love their vocals, I’ve always believed that one of the band’s strengths, and they do have an ear for finding that catchy rhythm and going with it. It is a short one at 3:37, and it fluently rolls right on through to the end. I think this is an amazing track by the lads, who are positively genius in a live setting. Recorded, I find them to be hit and miss a bit, but when they hit, they hit it out of the park, and this to me is a good example of that. So can’t wait for that new album, if only because that means they’ll be doing the rounds again and you can’t miss that opportunity.

(If you want to listen to this track, and read about and listen to five others, click here)

Our Top 50 Favorite Tracks Countdown - 35 - 31

2011-12-20T00:04:00.000+01:00

Nr. 35 - ‘Superman’ by Celi Bee and the Buzzy Bunch (Victor Rosado edit)

The clip is the original, so don’t be fooled, but I couldn’t find a stream of this edit anywhere unfortunately. But it keeps that vibe from the original, namely very disco, very over the top, and very happy and merry and gay. And if you aren’t getting that from the song, you might want to watch this original performance that might spell it out for you. But this is on here for a reason, namely because it is just so fun! So much fun, very sexy and over the top, and women speaking out about wanting sex. So hey, it’s not a guy thing after all.

Nr. 34 – ‘Kissmetellme’ by Tiger & Woods

The album is absolutely amazing, and this gives good preview of it. The track is a good example of this distinct sound these lads have crafted for themselves, which is quite remarkable given this is their debut. The art of repetition is on full display here, and these guys know how to keep it rolling, and this track surely does. At the third minute mark you get a brief breather, but soon they are back to their loopy kind of ways, to everyone’s delight (at least, to my delight). And there are even some vocals in here as well, which never try and steal the spotlight but which are perfectly integrated into the song. If you like this, take a chance on the album, that’s my little secret tip for ya right there.

Nr. 33 – ‘It Goes On’ by Storm Queen

Storm Queen positively killed it with ‘Look Right Through’, which is just the most amazing track. This year Morgan Geist, for Storm Queen is an alias, released this little gem. Not quite up there with ‘Look Right Through’ for me personally, but still it delivers the goods. It has got this nice, deep beginning. The vocals are lovely rhythmic. It creates such a nice house vibe this. I mean, try not to dance to this one, you won’t succeed surely. Storm Queen just keeps on hitting these out of the park, and he keeps on giving DJs the tools to get the house a movin’. And those vocals, hotdamn. And it is not too crowded, I love that, it just has the beat, the rhythm, the vocals. And seriously, what more do you need? And then I’m not even talking about the change-up three minutes in.

Nr. 32 - ‘Parfait Tirage’ by Paradis

I love how this one flows. And it has something decidedly French to it in terms of aesthetics for me. Which is quite easy for me to say since they are French and the lyrics are French, but there’s just something about that vibe that strikes me as French for some reason or another. It has a certain delicacy to it. Something midnight-at-the-Seine like or something, it could easily accompany a clip of a Nouvelle Vague outtake as far as I’m concerned. And did I already mention that I really like the flow of it and the overall delicate feel of this?

Nr. 31 - ‘Where is the Love’ by Betty Wright (Danny Krivit re-edit)

Okay, don’t let the start fool you, this is actually a great tune. After that strange thing at the starts with the horns it gets to work and it delivers. Nice bass and guitar work there to get you a dancing, and then Betty Wright comes in with those amazing vocals asking her soupse or boyfriend where that love exactly is that was promised to her. Wright released an album with The Roots this year, but for me I would pick this edit of one of her old tunes any day of the week. It has that old disco vibe, Krivit lets Wright shine quite enough, but it does give the song enough oomph and it has it propelling forward quite nicely. If you like your old school vocal disco, this is an edit you shouldn’t be missing out on. By the way, the horns that appear throughout the song are far more fitting for this song, and they do a great job getting the disco on the dancefloor.

Crazy Zany Radio Sunday - 'Inside World' by WhoMadeWho

2011-12-19T00:04:00.000+01:00

Every week our contributors will voice their opinion concerning one song, it’s a simple as that! The more the merrier, so people are always welcome to join in, just leave a note, eh.

Track: ‘Inside World’ by WhoMadeWho (listen here)

Average grade: 7.6

Ilse: The vocals remind me a bit of Wild Beasts, but other than that: one, two, three, DISCO! Particularly the bit around the 3 minute-mark is excellent.
6.9

Anna: This is exactly how I like my electronic music - with an introspective voice and a splash of melancholia. It sounds quite a bit like Hercules and Love Affair's Blind but as it's almost the holidays, I won't hold it against them.

Now close your eyes and dance, dance, dance.

Grade: 7.mistletoe

Linda: What is it about those Scandinavians? There's just slightly more of them then there are Dutch people (less than 2 times as much, but they are spread out over four, vast countries, so maybe bitter isolation is a contributing factor), but still they manage to produce so much more great music. You could easily mistake this track for something doing the rounds in NY, though I do feel it is a bit shy of being a total dance floor killer.

7/10

Craig: Pretty solid dance jam. The ethereal harmonizing in the background gives the song a smooth, fluid quality. I could dance to this at a holiday party...
8/10

Stef: Noisy start, but soon the rhythm comes in and the thing gets rolling. Good (melancholic) vocals, catchy, dancey, but still with a bit of an edge to it. Excellent tune to end the year with.

9/10

This is the last Crazy Zany for the Holidays. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year y’all, and this column will be back in January. Hope to see you then!

New album Matthew Dear

2011-12-15T00:05:00.001+01:00

Beam will be the title of the next Matthew Dear album that will be in shops next year. Dear released the ace Black City last year, and he will follow it up with an album next year that will feature, amongst others, the singer of The Drums. All of this will be preceded by an EP called Headcage.

Lousiville, 1923. Uneasiness had spread around the country. The government was trying to get its head around it, but wasn’t particularly succeeding. What had come over the birds and the bugs? everyone was wondering. On Tuesday the first reports had come in that poultry was attacking, picking away at people’s faces. The chickens were found to be especially malevolent. Wednesday it had worsened, and come the weekend it had become so widespread that even the Speaker of the House was pictured trying to swat away two bluetits and a maleficent crow.

Until someone found a way to stop them from doing it (many thought that years of only sharing dry bread with the birds caused them to revolt), people were trying to find ways to just get through the day. Someone had thought up a “headcage”, which basically was a cage you would lock your head up in and then the birds were being kept out and at bay. This worked in that regard, but as much as they kept birds out, it also kept you in. Isolation, lack of human contact (both physical as well as just talking), and malnutrition (people who were always rushing and always ate on the go now found this to be increasingly more difficult) suddenly peaked. Not to mention it seemed to kill the birds, figuratively speaking, for they all seemingly were laughing their asses of and pointing at those silly humans trapped in a cage.

WhoMadeWho to release album next year

2011-12-15T00:04:00.000+01:00

WhoMadeWho released Knee Deep this year, but their hungre isn’t stilled yet and they are going to have a new album out this Februari. It will be called Brighter, and it will be released on the 27th of that month. This will be done via Compact. They will release a 7” of their first single next month, and that single will be called ‘Inside World’.

Famed film and television critic L. B. DuTorney once wrote in his essay titled “Why everyone is having fun and we are stuck watching moving pictures on a screen” that the reason we like films so much is that these characters seem to be living inside the world, as opposed to the viewers who are from the outside looking in. People take to this kind of voyeurism because they feel, so DuTorney says, that nothing “real” ever happens to them. They are not only voyeurs whilst watching film, but they feel they are voyeurs in their own lives as well, only in the latter case without the opportunity to spot Clark Gable and Erroll Flynn. In their own lives they seem to have no control, they seem to be always missing out, and they always see other people whom they suspect to be actually “alive”, doing things that constitute living, going through emotion and meeting people they positively adore or despise or endanger (though a survey shows the latter is less important to 67% of those who were asked).

However, whereas in real life we gain nothing from this notion of being a voyeur, in film we actually get to see what being alive consitutes, what living inside the world actually is. For we lack it, however we suspect others do live it, and through film and television we actually get it defined. Which is both positive as well as negative, according to DuTorney. Positive because it gives something to hold on to, and it rubs off on people, having them feel they are experiencing a bit of what they are seeing being experienced. Negative because it varifies that, Indeed, you are not living inside the world, Yes, you are missing out, and Quite so, you are getting nothing out of your life whereas other people aren’t quite on the same loser hemisphere as you.

News Archive of December, 2011

2011-12-15T00:01:00.000+01:00

Yessir, all the new(s) stories written in the month of December are gathered here. So the latest music news with the latest stories are here for you to read. Hope you like it!

15 Dec:
WhoMadeWho to return with album next year
Matthew Dear preps new EP, LP

12 Dec:
New of Montreal album coming
Islands readying Valentine's Day release

07 Dec:
Axel Willner to come with album under new guise
Sophomore album Perfume Genius coming

05 Dec:
New Sleigh Bells album coming
Incubate Festival opens up programming

Our Top 50 Favorite Tracks Countdown - 40 - 36

2011-12-14T00:02:00.000+01:00

Nr. 40 – ‘Channel’ by Nile Delta

How much water can you have in both your name as the title of a track? Nile Delta is from Belgium though, which might explain the Delta, not sure about the Nile. Love the piano you can hear through the clubby beat. Also love that this piano just feels so Jazzy, you almost half expect the horns to come in right on over it. Instead it goes into a more club direction, though it also increasingly seems to get more funky as the track progresses, which is probably why I like it so. The cheering in there, it’s a nice gimmick, to get across the vibe of a party. And ah, there are the horns, just before the three minute mark. That’s nice, it’s nice when you get a certain vibe from a song and then to know it was intentional by putting in some of these characteristics you’d expect to be there. Lovely tune.

Nr. 39 – ‘Kenny’ by Montauk

Oh my, how about the two lads from ‘What a Fool Believes’ lighting it up this year, influencing loads of great tunes. The ‘Kenny’ in this song is Kenny Loggins, and the song itself is based upon the track ‘This Is It’, without actually featuring the chorus (!?). And it features Michael McDonald, the other “lad” I referred to in the opening line. The whole Montauk album are these slower paced edits of these classic songs, and they all run so smoothly, and they are all so kind to the ears. The vocals, naturally, are stellar, but the whole EPs strength is how these classics songs get these slow grooves attached to them and how restraint they are. As I said, no chorus here, which is remarkable. And it’s Kenny Loggins people! Come now.

Nr. 38 – ‘Into the Valley’ by Classixx

Got to love those gospel vocals, and that gospel vibe with the “Into the valley” reference there. It’s a lovely dancey, discoey, track, but the Karl Dixon vocals do really steal the show as far as I’m concerned. Which also is a compliment to the music makers themselves, because they’re giving it the space, they keep up the pace without too many shenanigans, they throw some horns in there to protect that vibe, and then comes Karl Dixon again and they let him. That’s awesome. And you know you’re doing something right if people like Julio Bashmore and YACHT are on remix duties.

Nr. 37 – ‘Double or Nothing’ by The Swiss (Louis la Roche remix)

I really like some of The Swiss’s output, and here they get a little help from Louis La Roche, who makes it a catchy affair with some space sounds thrown in there for good measure. It’s that pace-up after thirty seconds which really gets the ball rolling, and I like that new sound at 45 seconds. Just a nice, catchy affair with a space bend, and surprisingly short for something like this at that.

Nr. 36 – ‘Symptoms’ by Kasper Bjorke (Mano le Tough remix)

When Bjorke gets it on, he gets it on. Some of my fav tracks in the last two years have come from his hand, and here he gets a little bit of help from Mano le Tough. This thing, this one has the flow, no doubt about that. It just flows! I don’t know how to explain, but when something just flows its kind of magical. It just goes on and the sounds just slide on over each other and it just feels right, it just feels as if it belongs together. Not to mention that it is so hypnotic, these sounds, that bass, the beats; drop this on the dancefloor and people will be dancing ‘til sunrise. It just flows man! It does, you’ve got to hear it to believe it. And then this new sound just after four minutes, wow, that’s atmosphere right there.

The Weekly Froth #21 (with We Have Band, Azari & III x Tiga, and more!)

2011-12-13T00:02:00.000+01:00

Track of the week: ‘Where are Your People?’ by We Have Band

We Have Band are really setting up their run for their sophomore album. They already released a track earlier this year, which I was kind of lukewarm about I guess, and this is their second try to wow their fans and to expand their base. Love the vocals by Darren, that’s really cool. It kind of has the same anxiety of their debut, but a bit slower paced I guess in terms of the music itself. I made a point in my review of their debut about using circular imagery quite often (knowingly or not), and it’s back again in this song as well. I like the change-up at 2:20, that’s nice, and the instrumental side that ensues is something I think we haven’t heard yet from the band. I certainly like it more than that other song they released, and it sheds a light in terms of where they are going with the new album. Something a bit more varied in sound, perhaps a bit more mature, slightly slower paced, but with the same feel to it in terms of what it exhumes. And I think the latter is important.

(If you want to listen to this track and five others, and read some write-ups on them, click here)

Crazy Zany Radio Sunday - 'All Waters' by Perfume Genius

2011-12-12T00:04:00.000+01:00

Every week our contributors will voice their opinion concerning one song, it’s a simple as that! The more the merrier, so people are always welcome to join in, just leave a note, eh.

Track: ‘All Waters’ by Perfume Genius (click here to listen)

Average grade: 6.5

Ilse: I completely adored Perfume Genius' debut, it was one of those albums that creates the strange affinity that probably defines aesthetics: his fragile voice and music instantly and inexplicably made me feel emotional, up to the point where you feel it pierces your soul, your stomach is filled with rocks and the lumps in your throat won't go away no matter how much you swallow. In this new song, the dreaminess and fragility that marked his sound on 'Learning' remain, yet it is not as poignant as for example 'Lookout Lookout' or 'Mr. Peterson'. Still: can't bloody wait for this album to come out.
6.8

Anna: This is a beautifully stripped down affair - it may feel subdued but it will envelop you to the point of no return and whisper heartbreak in your ear. Look at me going all soft in the holidays.

Grade: 7.5

Linda: Well, this one's a bit dull. Perfume Genius managed to sweep me off my feet with his last album, but if he's producing this kind of drivel for his next one, I doubt whether I'll hang around long enough to hear the whole thing.

4/10

Craig: The film is over and we've all learned that something terrible lives inside of each of us. There is no hope any longer for the characters, nor for us. We feel the wind that blows dust and ash over the bodies on the unwashed floorboards. They're as still as the droning music; all of them dead. The fire is burning in slow motion, steadily inches toward them with aim to obliterate. After an agonizing slow fade, we are left to ourselves in silence and darkness.
7/10

Stef: I have to admit that it took me a while to warm up to this, perhaps because it is over so darn fast. But typing this way past midnight and suddenly it hits home. There is this sense of yearning and aching in this track that manages to ooze out in it’s oh so short running time. It does find that connection to your emotions, though I think that the album as a whole and the entire running time of it will do it more justice.

7/10

New of Montreal album coming

2011-12-12T00:03:00.000+01:00

This February of Montreal’s newest album will be hitting the shelves. The album will be called Paralytic Stalks, and on the 7th of February it will be released by Polyvinyl. The album will contain eleven tracks, including ‘Wintered Debts’, which has already been made available to stream. Other songs on the album will be ‘Ye, Renew the Plaintiff’, ‘Exorcismic Breeding Knife’, and ‘We Will Commit Wolf Murder’.

The church gathered a little after midnight. In the last week, the head of the church boomed, members of our community have committed adultery, have made inappropriate avances to people way younger than them, and one even has eaten the entire content of Mrs. Petrovski’s cookie jar. Our animilastic urges are getting the better of us, my fellow members of the community. We have to exorcize the wolf from within. We will commit wolf murder! And so they exorcized the wolfs from within, expelled their animalistic urges so they would not give into lusts anymore. And rejoice, it did work, for the community is now known for having the best accountants in the country in what is touted as the place where nothing ever happens.

Islands readying Valentine’s day album

2011-12-12T00:02:00.003+01:00

Nick Thorburn has dusted off his band Islands, and the band is going to be back with a new album. The album will be released on valentine’s Day and it will be called A Sleep & A Forgetting. It is going to come out via Anti-. The album will consist of eleven tracks, including ones titled ‘Don’t I Love You’, ‘Cold Again’, ‘Lonely Love’, and ‘In A Dream It Seemed So Real’. Can you say Valentine’s day hit?

Leopold Schutzenbreier woke up, looked around him, let out a sigh of relief. Wow, he thought, I’m so happy I’m not really in a cage guarded by lions to be eaten by cannibals. Sure, living in Wisconsin and rarely making it out didn’t make it very likely to begin with, but in a dream it seemed so real. Suddenly he shot up. If it seems real in a dream, why can’t I reverse that? Make things seem a dream in reality? That would definitely lessen the anxiety, because it would feel like it never really happened, and it certainly would make that home-baked pear pie of old Mrs. Libtowitz easier to digest.

And lo and behold, he got it to work, and he thought of all the amazing things he could do now since he now is. in essence, numb to negative effects. He could ask that girl out from around the corner, try a contact sport, perhaps do meth. However, when he thought it over while doing his daily flower arranging he soon found out, Hey, it also makes me not feel pleasure anymore, and that while I’m doing my chrysanths! What good is life then? So he threw it away, manned up, and went to Mrs. Libbowitz for some coffee and pear pie with almonds and a slice of lime.

Our Top 50 Favorite Tracks Countdown - 45 -41

2011-12-08T00:02:00.000+01:00

Nr. 45 – ‘Out of My Mind’ by Tyson

This year was the first time I ever heard of Tyson, and he has come out of the gates running with some catchy singles. It has some great vocals, and it simply has energy that I feel is lacking from so much of this kind of stuff. Not with Tyson though, and with 3:35 it almost feels like a hit and run. It is packed with emotion and it is a nice mix which finds itself lending a bit from both pop and disco books. A whole album might be a bit tiring if it would be done this way, but as this is a tracks list I only care about the track baby, and this one has the goods.

Nr. 44- ‘Boobsie Collins’ by Andy de Luxe

Oh man, funk this shit up. The title is, I assume, a reference to Bootsie Collins, but this is not quite as extravagant as that man’s clothing is. The best thing about this is, it just keeps on building, keeps on growing, and it makes you want to dance and when the next instrument comes in it makes you want to dance some more. If you are short on time, just listen to a bit before the three minute mark and see how it gets it going at just over 3:00, and you know what I mean. This is exactly what you want in your set, something as hypnotic as this, and so seemingly effortless at that.

Nr. 43 – ‘Luvvbazaar’ by Ssion

Lets go gay. From the free (!) album Bent he put out this year, Ssion has this seduction gay thingy going on in his voice for this one which makes it even more sexy. Not too mention those typical background vocals which only add to that cultural heritage feeling. Also, it is just a fun, catchy song that makes me smile. And songs that make people smile and that are a bit cheeky, they are a rare breed indeed. “If you know you’ve got something, go give it, give it away at a luvvbazaar”, I mean, especially sung this way, how can you not love that. And it is also a song that is put together pretty well with the music, the vibe, the variety. And its friggin’ free! Mental.

Nr. 42 – ‘Dreams in Light’ by Sare Havlicek (Ray Mang remix)

Ray Mang certainly has a way of doing some awesome things (some of it which I proudly have on vinyl). It takes a few beats and a few tribal drums for the first real sounds to come in. But when they do at about 15 seconds, it just always completely bowls me over. It has yearning written all over it, and then she isn’t even singing yet. That typical disco vibe. And my goodness, such nice vocals as well. That chorus is divine, the way she sings it, and the way Ray Mang don’t make it all-out disco but don’t lose that vibe either, that’s so very good.

Nr. 41 – ‘I Love You Dancer’ by Voyage (Womack rework)

I wish I could post a stream or link to this, but I can’t because there is none, so you’ll have to do with the original. Too bad, because the rework is a good example of contemporary vintage disco up and down and twice around. T.K. Records has been releasing some reworks and edits of songs they released in their (and disco’s) glory days. Another doozy is ‘Don’t Drop My Love’, originally by Anita Ward. This is just old school and it celebrates those who, you guessed it, dance, and that for a whopping ten minutes. Who wants those masculine heteros standing with their arms crossed staring at some guitar band. No man, we want to see the beauties of this world dance. Preferably on this mid-paced (under 120 BPM) tune from the golden years.

Axel Willner to come with album under new guise

2011-12-07T00:05:00.000+01:00

Axel Willner, best known for his work as The Field, is going to release a new album in 2012, but under a new moniker. After this year’s Looping State of Mind as The Field, next year he will release End Never Ending Nights as Loops of Your Heart. The album will be released on the Magazine label and sees Willner move to more “sparse and cosmic sounds”, according to Resident Advisor. The album will be released on the 30th of January and it will contain seven tracks. Among those tracks are ‘Neukolln’, which is up for streaming, and ‘Lost in the Mirror’.

The mirror saw the woman walking up to him again. Oh Christ, it thought, if she is going to ask who is the prettiest one more time I swear I’ll just fall off the wall and right on top of her. Psst, the mirror heard, and at the left side of its screen he saw a mouth appear. What would you give, the mouth asked, for it never to happen again? Why, the mirror said, first do it, then we’ll talk details. For it was an unbelieving mirror, which didn’t believe in miracles. The woman walked up to the mirror, started her sentence of asking the mirror who is the most beautiful of the whole land, and mid-sentence she stopped.

She stared longingly into the mirror, and her gaze got lost in there. My my, she said to herself, you do look divine, don’t you. And so she stood there, for hours, and the mirror hesitantly asked to no one he could see, What did you do?, and a voice replied, Well, I stopped her asking the same ol’ question all of the time. I’ll cash in the favour later, he said, growing fainter by the word. Well this is no good, is it?, the mirror said, Now I have to reflect her for the rest of my life. Look at the stupid cow, in love with herself. It sighed, oh well, women’s vanity I suppose, can’t quite see a man doing such a thing.