December 30, 2009

Best Albums of 2009 Round-Up


Well the year and decade are just about at their end - and both were fantastic for music. I can only hope the coming year and decade continues to bring us exciting, innovative and groundbreaking music from those we are hoping and expecting it from (see my most anticipated albums of 2010 post HERE) and, sometimes even better, from those just getting started (the future xx's). Before the new year, I want to leave you with 3 things: (1) my top 10 albums of the year (below), (2) links to some of the best music blog & magazine end of year lists and (3) the most exciting music news for 2010 already: Radiohead back in the studio THIS January (we can only hope for that In Rainbows follow-up to kick off the decade Kid-A style).

Happy New Year Everyone!

DYB's Top Albums of 2009
10. Passion Pit - Manners
9. Fanfarlo - Reservoir
8. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
7. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
6. Handsome Furs - Face Control
5. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
4. Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue
3. The xx - The xx
2. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
1. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix


Pitchfork's List: HERE
Stereogum's Reader Poll: HERE
Metacritic's Compilation of Year-End Top Ten Lists: HERE


Enjoy,
MD

December 14, 2009

Quickie: Spanish Lost Season 6 Promo featuring Radiohead


This is awesome (and completely hilarious) in all the best ways possible!

In this Spanish language promo for one of TV's best shows, Lost, entering its final season (sad, but exciting), possibly my favorite song of the decade, Radiohead's "Everything in its Right Place" (off Kid A) plays over this hilariously stereotypical and overdramatic ad that would work perfectly for any Telemundo soap opera.

Should help make the Monday work just a little more bearable:




Enjoy,
MD

December 4, 2009

Quickie: More New Vampire Weekend and Introducing Toro Y Moi

(Vampire Weekend)

NOW I am VERY excited about this new Vampire Weekend CD! (There goes the CAPS lock again) First they drop an all-out punk song, "Cousins", as their first single and now they take a page out of Animal Collective's playbook for the b-side to the "Cousins" single on "California English, Pt. 2". Keep in mind, this is just a b-side and more of a musical idea than a fully constructed song - but if this is any hint of the willingness of VW to push the limits of their sound, January 12th can't come fast enough (or at least the next leaked song off Contra). And Pt. 2 does seem to imply a Pt.1 that may be on the album...and just a bit more fully formed perhaps? Let's hope. In the meantime check it out on Youtube:




(Chaz Bundick aka Toro Y Moi)


So here's the second music video shot in Paris posted here for the week - why not? Especially when the song "Talamak" by Toro y Moi is made for driving and the video takes us on a trip at dawn on a nearly traffic-less tour of the French capital. Toro y Moi is one-man show from South Carolina, Chaz Bundick who's lo-fi loop-driven dreamy electronic sounds play like a marriage of Washed Up (also from SC and raved about HERE) and Bibio (who put out one of the absolute best albums of the year and is also the man responsible for DYB's first ever music post HERE). Toro Y Moi is great on its own right - check video out below and get the song HERE:







Enjoy,
MD

December 3, 2009

Phoenix Perform "1901" and "Lisztomania" for The Take Away Shows


For those unfamiliar with the Take Away Shows directed by Vincent Moon, it is time to get acquainted (All the shows are available for viewing HERE). The concept is simple: take a great artist and bring their music outside - to a park, field, square, even an elevator - in an atypical setting and just let it play out. No editing just letting the music and the environment interact and see what happens. The National, Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, you name it have done some fantastic shows in the past. Now it is Phoenix's turn. They play "1901" in front of a couple about to be married and a small crowd in Trocadero square right next to the Eiffel Tower and then take over a double decker tour bus to play "Lisztomania" riding right by that famous Paris landmark. Check out the whole series (including "Long Distance Call" and some detail on the event HERE).

"1901":




"Lisztomania / One Time Too Many":



Enjoy,
MD

December 1, 2009

Ten Most Anticipated Albums of 2010 (and some other rumored hopefuls)


Before we fully wind down 2009 and I discuss my favorite music of the year and the decade (both to come in the next few weeks), I thought I would start with the future. I have already posted singles from some of the most anticipated and exciting albums of 2010 with Yeasayer's "Ambling Arp" and Vampire Weekend's "Cousins" so I thought I would go one step further. These are my top 10 most anticipated albums of the upcoming year in no particular order (other than release date for those with them). I have also include a few albums that have been rumored to drop in the coming year because it is always fun to dream. To prep everyone for these exciting releases, I have put together a lala playlist in the upper right corner with a couple of the best tracks from these bands to keep you occupied until the release dates.


Vampire Weekend - Contra (January 12): Only two weeks into the new year and Vampire Weekend is following up their nearly universally acclaimed self-titled debut with Contra. I have already raved about their first single, "Cousins", below HERE and word from those who have heard it all (unfortunately I am not one of those people) is that it is just the beginning. "Cousins" has me very hopeful that there won't be a sophomore slump from these Columbia alums.


Spoon - Transference (January 26th) - Another band that I won't shut up about HERE. From "Mystery Zone" which leaked a few weeks ago to their single, "Written in Reverse" which came out today on iTunes, their follow-up to Ga Ga Ga Ga looks to be another excellent effort from the band that just can't seem to put anything out that isn't strong to quite strong.


Hot Chip - One Life Stand (February 9) - Hot Chip is one of those bands that is so consistently great you sometimes forget about them. Made in the Dark was one of the most tragically underrated albums of 2008 with excellent singles at nearly every turn from "Ready For The Floor" to "Out At The Pictures". Their blend of R&B with electronica is taken to the next level with lead singer Alexis Taylor's subtle yet intoxicating vocal delivery (It has always struck me as similar to The Notwist's Markus Acher in that way - another favorite band for another posting). The One Life Stand tracks to hit the web so far are no less stunning. "Take It In" starts off like an 80s New Order influenced dance jam and slowly seems to mellow and build at once - loving this HERE. The title track is great too HERE.


Yeasayer - Odd Blood (February 9): I have already raved about single, "Ampling Amp" HERE. They seem even more sonically adventure on the new single than the previous album's best work, including "Sunrise" on the lala player playlist. Look for this one to be heavily blogged about in the new year. Yeasayer is the 2010 MGMT (until MGMT comes out with their own debut follow-up Congratulations in Spring 2010)



LCD Soundsystem - TBD (March): Another band I absolutely LOVE (as evidenced HERE). James Murphy is one of the most talented musicians and producers in the game PERIOD. When I talk about him or LCD Soundsystem I have trouble with my CAPS Lock like Kanye. Pat Mahoney, co-founder with James Murphy of DFA and the drummer in LCD had this to say on the new album: "different than Sound Of Silver and certainly different than the first one ... It still sounds very much like us, like James. It's maybe slower and it has kind of got some more rock stuff back in it. It also has a bunch of disco influences." It could be a country record and I would still give it a whirl.

Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (TBD): Big Boi is one half of the best hip-hop group of my lifetime, Outkast. So anything by these guys (the other half is Andre 3000) is going to be highly anticipated. Many expected this to drop in 2009, but there have been issues with its release. We have seen two excellent tracks already hit the web from it though with "Shine Blockas" HERE (one of the best hip-hop jams of the year) and "Fo Yo Sorrows" (just the type of fun as hell track you would expect off an Outkast record). This record should be sick - more details in this interview with Pitchfork HERE. (In it he gives us hope for a new Outkast record in 2010 too!)

The National - TBD: The National's last two albums Alligator and Boxer are two of my absolute favorites of the past decade. Easily one of the bands I have spun the most in that time period. Listen to the anthemic and totally awesome "All The Wine" off Alligator and "Apartment Story" off Boxer in the lala playist. Lead singer Matt Berninger has a way with phrasing - it is simple, understated at times jarring but always spot on. With instrumentation by the Dessner brothers, two of the most talented musicians in indie rock today, this new album is going to be great.




Interpol - TBD (Early 2010): Interpol's first album, Turn Of The Bright Lights, is perfect or it was when it came out in 2002. In the aftermath of September 11th, these New Yorkers painted the perfect desolate landscape of the city yet there music was still so hopeful and so damn cool. Their second album was strong and the third unfortunately weak, but Interpol has been talking a lot about getting back to where they started. Drummer Sam Fogarino told PASTE, "The new record falls back towards the first ... That big wash of reverb? It's back." Thank God. Check out old favorites "Untitled" and "NYC" in the playlist.



Panda Bear - TBD: Panda Bear aka Noah Lennox is one of the masterminds behind Animal Collective and his solo album Person Pitch will most definitely be on my best of the decade list. He is one of the most innovative and constantly changing forces in music. He talks about it being "darker" and more "raw" than his previous effort and "totally different" than Animal Collective's brilliant Merriweather Post Pavillion. I can't wait - in the meantime I will have to listen to "Comfy in Nautica" and "Bros" on repeat (lala playlist on the upper right - hint hint). They are pure sonic bliss.

Arcade Fire - TBD: When your previous two albums are all over everyone's best of the decade list, Funeral in particular, there is going to be a lot of anticipation around this one. Arcade Fire's "Rebellion (Lies)" is one of my favorite songs of all-time (to hell with just of this decade) and "No Cars Go" off Neon Bible is great too. Usually the third album is where things really start to blossom (a la OK Computer) - no pressure.


Other Potential Releases To Wet Your Appetite:


Radiohead: They have talked about never doing an LP again with Thom Yorke telling The Believer, "None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again." (That day was the saddest of my life). But in a recent interview with NME, Ed O-Brien stated, ""We were misquoted. We will be making an album!" (The best day of my life). Who knows but even a hypothetical Radiohead album is better than most albums.


Justice: The follow-up to t should be dancey electro heaven.


The Shins w/ Danger Mouse: After James Mercer announced he fired his current band, he announced he would be making an album with Danger Mouse. This has my attention.



Enjoy,

MD