2k11

2011 was a fun year for music. Although blogs made it easier to create a lot of unworthy hype for some artists, I managed to come across a few gems. Thought I should round up my favourite albums & tracks of the year.

I rounded the albums to 10 so I could use this pretty little cube I made earlier. In no particular order (because really I think Frank Ocean would be number 1)...

1. JEFF The Brotherhood - Heavy Days

2. I Am The Avalanche - Avalanche United

3. Iceage - New Brigade

4. Drake Take Care

5. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

6. Balkans - Balkans

7. James Blake - James Blake

8. 1995 - La Source

9. Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra

All of these albums had extremely heavy rotation over the past 12 months during different times. 2012, you have a lot to live up to!! I recommend them all for completely different reasons. If you haven't, check them out.

Gotta run to my chess lesson. Trying to develop the perfect soundtrack for chess is proving more difficult than initially presumed. Graham Nash has been the closest thing so far.

Circle Board

Not directly about music, but it does have a great song in the background. This is the only video I've ever favourited on Youtube. Completely forgot about it until now. Nice little Sunday watch. I wish Anthony Pappalardo would quit making furniture & skate more.

Let's get married

After pretty much exclusively listening to Balkans for the past few weeks, I decided to branch out a little bit. Sadly I didn't get that far...I only managed to make it to a side project of the drummer called Wife.

About two days later, it was annouced that the drummer had left Balkans to concentrate on his studies, so I'm not sure where that leaves the status of Wife, but I'll continue regardless.

In Wife, the (ex) Balkans drummer takes the lead guitar and vocals and the results are wicked cool. I could see the Walkmen comparison being made again, but also perhaps a little Joy Division too? Since hearing the song below, I've barely listening to anything else. A few Azealia Banks breaks here and there, but not too often. Got my fingers crossed and they will continue to write. See what all my fuss is about below.

How did they make the Pyramids?

Since first hearing 'The Story Of Marsha Lotus' by Pyramid Vritra earlier this week, I can't listen to anything else. It's a 15 minute stream of consciousness in the form of a rap, over a strange ambient beat. I put it on my Facebook and not one person even liked it. I need new friends. You have to listen to the entire thing or it doesn't work as well. Remember when I saw Prince play for 2 and a half hours but it felt like 10 minutes. Well this is the equivilient. It doesn't feel long.

Pyramid Vritra - The Story Of Marsha Lotus by STROLLONRECORDS

And this is only the intro....the INTRO. Have ordered the EP but if this is anything to go by, I won't be disappointed.

I like your dirty hair

Ahhhhh the new Girls album, what can I say? We can pretty much all agree that it's one of, if not the, album of the year. I haven't seen a bad review yet. I also haven't seen a review that doesn't mention Children Of God so I'm 100% not going to mention them. Fuck, oops.

Oh well, regardless of the whole backstory (cults, escape, millionaire, drugs, whatever) the end result is all I care about. And it's so lovely. My favourite track keeps chopping and changing but I'll go with the official video. Plus my nickname is bunny because I eat so many carrots. Ideal.

I thought I'd directly link you to where you can buy the album, as you don't want to be searching willy nilly for 'Girls San Fransisco' as it brings up a few unsavory results. Enjoy!

Balkans...like the place...I think...

When I was 19 I'm pretty sure I would have wanted to be in a sweet ass band that looks really scruffy but plays really tight, in an original and unpretentious way. Well now I'm too old, and these kids have beaten me to it. I'm 23 soon, so I'm allowed to refer to people as 'kids', especially this band of TEENAGERS.

You wouldn't think they were so young though. The songs are are beautifully and cleverly written and the singers voice is really plesant and morish. I wish I had a morish voice. I've seen a few comparisons to The Stokes and The Walkmen, which I get but they also remind me of Be Your Own PET which is maybe why I am partial to them.

Here are some videos of the guys. If you follow the Vimeo link, you will be able to find another music video they've done involving a gruesome killing spree. It's funny, but the screen shot ruined my pretty blog so you'll have to get there yourselves I'm afraid. This one is pretty PG though...

BALKANS - Troubled and Done from Frank Broyles on Vimeo.

Here be their twitter if you want to tell them you like them too.

Blame Eminem.

My biggest crushes as of late. Do you think I have a type?

Musically they're pretty different. Machine Gun Kelly has a far more agressive style, apparently as a result of a 'hater' telling him he'd never be able to rap fast. To be fair, he sure rose to that challenge and is doing a pretty good job, SCREW YOU HATER. He's not a perfect rapper and his beats could do with some tweaking, but he's pretty young (est. 1991 - FML) so I think he'll just get better.

Then we've got Mac Miller, who is a lot more mellow, but equally fun. I'm not sure why his accent sounds a lot more southern than people I have known from Philly (gosh I'm so international) but it does. I like iiiit. Sadly my cat doesn't so Mac gets saved for my iPod on journeys, but never has the tube been so enjoyable.

Essentially, I'm trying to be diplomatic, so that if either ever read this, they know that I love them both.

The future isn't Odd afterall, it's French!

Did you know that in France 40% (minimum) of what gets played on the radio must be French. That's so badass. I think I want to move there. It's no surprise why the country is producing some of the best music around. One of my favourite of these French groups is a rap collective called 1995. I guess the obvious comparison is to the whole Odd Future thing, as the group is made up of rappers, beat makers, directors etc etc. But the sound is more old school hip-hop, perhaps a little more organic than their American counterparts.

My French is pretty poor so I can't understand most of what they're saying, but their flow and the beats are so good that it doesn't really matter. I can't encourage you enough to listen to their first EP 'La Source'. The sampling is also really clever and a lot more interesting then other stuff around at the moment.

The last solo verse in the video below is insane!! They're totally Euro but in a sexy way, not in an annoying tourist on the underground way. Je t'aime.

Here's their twitter if you like them and/or speak French. They tweeted me the other day. Not sure what it said but fingers crossed it was a marriage proposal.

Me & You

This might be my favourite music video of the year so far, courtesy of Rough Trade. Strange boys & girls will swoon alike. Behold...

Which one is Geronimo and is that his real name?

I've been mega busy the last few weekends, but season festival is nearly over. Bestival still to go, which I'm super excited about...The Cure!! I'm sure that will count for my Sunday Playlist when I'm back, but until then I've been listening to a duo called Fergus & Geronimo lately. They are Texan, lo-fi and sing about girls with English accents. Pretty much a dream combination for me. I'm hoping they come back to London soon, I want to convince them to write part 2 of the song below entitled 'Girls With English Accents pt. 2 (Specifically Essex Ones)'.

The secret's out

Last weekend was my favourite weekend of the year: Secret Garden Party. Once again I was working, but not in the 9-5 sense. Just running a stage, looking after bands and keeping everyone happy. An ideal job really. Over the past few years we've had Florence & The Machine, Noah & The Whale, Ratatat, Darwin Deez, Zero 7, Bombay Bicycle Club to name but a few, play on our stage.

This year I wasn't as familiar with the lineup as in previous years. But as per usual I was blown away by the amazing acts who played for us. It made choosing a track for this weeks Sunday playlist more difficult than usual.

However I've had to go with The Staves, three beautiful sisters, whose harmonies were the perfect cure for the last-day-of-the-festival-hangovers. They also happened to be some of the nicest girls to play our stage since Au Revoir Simone... I find folk acts sometimes don't live up to my expectations live, but as you'll see below these girls can totally pull it off. How can you resist some pretty girls with ukes? Deadly combo.

His Royal Badness

The only musicians that my parents would make me listen to as a child were Bruce Springsteen and Prince. As I started to realise I wanted to work in music, I was always a little embarrassed that I hadn't been brought up on The Beatles and The Beach Boys like everyone else. However, I was always happy two have had Brucey and The Artist as a solid foundation. My first Bruce concert was a good while back, I was very young and remember being stunned by the Boss swinging upside down off the mic stand.

Yet, it took me until last Sunday to finally see the absolute greatest...Prince. There are so many things I could say, and they all sound incredibly cliché but just seeing him play, as a person who plays instruments myself, was mind blowing. Not only does he play everything, he plays it sublimely. And sings about 4 octaves in a song, all while dancing and entertaining. His 2 and a half hour set felt like it went by in 10 minutes. Hands down, it was one of the greatest performances I've ever seen, and I've seen a few.

Thus, this Sunday playlist is dedicated to the man. I'm gonna go watch Purple Rain, again.