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Archive for the 'music' Category

P’s Favorite Albums of 2011

My top 15 records of the year, in an undisclosed order, each with representative video:

Les Blanks – In Country

Baxter Dury – Happy Soup

Panda Bear – Tomboy

tUnEyArDs – whokill

Yuck – Yuck

Thee Oh Sees – Castlemania

Wye Oak – Civilian

Moon Duo – Mazes

The Men – Leave Home

Hella – Tripper

Computer Magic – Electric Fences EP

Belong – Common Era

Black Angels – Phosgene Nightmare EP

Forma – S/T

Wild Flag – Wild Flag

Honorable Mention:
Sons & Daughters – Mirror Mirror
The Ettes – Wicked Will
Widowspeak – S/T
Pure X – Pleasure
Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital
Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo
Black Lips – Arabia Mountain
Com Truise – Galactic Melt
Beach Fossils – What A Pleasure
Ladytron – Gravity the Seducer
Tim Hecker – Ravedeath 1972
Toro Y Moi – Underneath the Pines
Nicole Atkins – Mondo Amore
Ducktails – Arcade Dynamics
Raveonettes – Evil Seeds
Blackout Beach – Fuck Death

Automixes: A Box of P: Volume 1

I just realized that Greg had posted all of our Automixes to Aggregating Music, along with covers, audio, video, and the liner notes (mouse over the speech balloon for comments on each track). Here’s mine:

box of p

& Greg’s, Hannah’s, and Kaleb’s.

Oh, and Kaleb and Hannah were on ReMIX on KOOP to talk about theirs!

Hopefully the next round of mixes will appear soon.

My Favorite Music of 2010

Not feeling all that descriptive. no more than 5 words. Several EPs on this list; I’ve lost my attention span. Few real surprises, I suppose.(Favorite songs way down below)

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti: Before Today
Nothing was better than this.

Wild Nothing: Gemini
Keep reviving what he’s reviving.

Pairs: Pairs EP
This year’s Japandroids, to me.

Arctic Death: S/T EP (& untitled CDR)
Western New York Represent, yo.

Beach House: Teen Dream
Of course this is on th’list.

Jason Forrest: Utopia EP
Much more accessible, also: free!

Stereolab: Not Music
Start, end with side four.

Kurt Vile: Square Shells EP
Was free, for a minute.

Benoit Pioulard: Lasted
Gets me every single time.

Solex vs. Jon Spencer + Christina Martinez: Amsterdam Throwdown King Street Showdown
All of them, back finally.

Sam Prekop: Old Punch Card
Librarians must all love this album.

The Soft Moon: S/T
Buzzing, squealing across the warehouse.

High Places: High Places vs. Mankind
Love where it goes eventually.

Magic Kids: Memphis
Almost painfully perfect, thankfully brief.

Jaill: That’s How We Burn
A nice little rock record.

Honorable mention, no reviews: Charlotte Gainsbourg: IRM; Efterklang: Magic Chairs (Wait, that was 2009?); Tobacco: Maniac Meat, Foals: Total Life Forever, Janelle Monae: The Archandroid, and Oval: O.

Favorite Songs of 2011:
Baptism,” by Crystal Castles
How Does Somebody Say When They Like You?” by A Sunny Day in Glasgow
Round & Round”, by Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
“It’s Kate’s Birthday” by Washed Out
“Weird Machines,” by Small Black
“Silver Soul” by Beach House
Nicole Atkins cover of Can’s “Vitamin C”
“You Wouldn’t Have to Ask” by Bad Books
“Hey Boy” by Magic Kids
“Love Cry” by Fourtet

More gems in my Last.fm account.

What about you?

Have a look at older lists: 2009, 2008.

Macro Reggae 45s – a set on Flickr

Macro Reggae 45s – a set on Flickr.

New Yelle

It’s no Je veux te voir, but the new Yelle sounds pretty good to me.  Give it a sec. Then watch the Je veux te voir again.

YouTube – YELLE – La Musique.

#boxsetofmylife

YouTube – DieHard Battery vs. Gary Numan

YouTube – DieHard Battery vs. Gary Numan.

Can’t wait for this album

Kathryn Calder – “Slip Away”.

Now, watch her run:

Vintage Record Jumbles

I was looking for some files on an older hard drive and I found a few of my Record Jumbles from 2005. Sound quality varies, and there is a charming amount of surface noise on these. Since I’ve been doing so many mixes in the last bunch of years all from within my computer, it’s nice to hear some spontenaety and human error. Also, totally weird record selection on most of these. Enjoy!

April 18, 2005
April 25, 2005
May 2, 2005
May 9, 2005
January 22, 2007 (Drawn completely from records found on the street in Brooklyn)

Former bass destroyed

YouTube – My Generation live in Lyon, Feb 15 2007.

In late 2006, I sold my Mexican Fender Starburst Jazz Bass to an artist in New York. He didn’t care that I didn’t have an amp for him to test it on, and told me he needed it for an art installation in Lyon about the Who. He neglected to mention that the bass would be destroyed– he must not have known that I’d have given him a discount for that.

Incidentally, the artist, Christoph Draeger, created a series of works about disasters like plane crashes. One of his works features a plane crash that happened in the early 60s about a block from my apartment, where he bought the bass from me.

Favorite Albums of 2009

Lots of terrific albums this year– my top three were definitely:
You Will Never Know Why – Sweet Trip
Actor – St. Vincent
Moondagger – Deastro

The rest, in no particular order:
Face Control – Handsome Furs
Two Dancers – Wild Beasts
A Certain Distance – Lusine
Telekinesis – Telekinesis
Eating Us – Black Moth Super Rainbow
Leaves in the Gutter EP – Superchunk
Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
Good Evening – Nite Jewel
Landscapes – Ducktails
In Prism – Polvo
Middle Cyclone – Neko Case
Still Night, Still Light – Au Revoir Simone
My Maudlin Career – Camera Obscura
Ashes Grammar – A Sunny Day in Glasgow
Ohio (OH) – Lambchop & Live at Merge XX (best show I’ve attended in years)
Bitte Orca – Dirty Projectors
Choral – Mountains
Art Brut vs Satan – Art Brut
Further Complications – Jarvis Cocker
Post-Nothing – Japandroids

Honorable mention to Major Lazer, The Field, AC Newman, The Clientele and CFCF.

Stuff released last year that should have made my 2008 list:
Temper – Benoit Pioulard
Magic Monday – Michna
No Way Down EP – Air France
Re-arrange Us – Mates of State

What were your favorites? I may editorialize on these a bit later, but I wanted to get the list posted before new years.

Alasdair MacLean – Live at WFMU on Irwin’s show 10/28/2009

Kelly and I caught Alasdair MacLean, from shared favorite the Clientele,  at Union Hall for a solo show once a couple of years ago. We loved it, but his amazing finger-picking just wasn’t the same on an acoustic guitar and without shimmering reverb and vibrato. Here he plays the title track from the new Clientele album and a few older favorites, solo and electrified.  Not to over-re-live XX Merge, but the Clientele were also among the best acts there. An early highlight for sure.

Free Music Archive: Alasdair MacLean – Live at WFMU on Irwin’s show 10/28/2009.

DREAMS COME TRUE

Lambchop – Give It from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Lambchop’s XXMerge set is getting a proper release and film!

New P mix up at iridebikes.com

Thanks, Libby, for posting it. I made this mix over the weekend with the aim of documenting some of the songs I’ve woken up with in my head recently. A nice mixed-tempo one for running– lasts about 1:10.

Let me know what you think!

New Sally Shapiro album

Is a good way to close out the summer (especially in free stream format). Expect this on my Best of 2009 list.

Wot no Syracuse?

CitySounds.fm – The music of cities.

For now, a single XX Merge highlight


I think he forgot to mention ‘nem hooters. Wiki it.

Guess What?

I love this song for more reasons than just that its title was a part of my wedding vows.

YouTube – MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS | I AM NOT A ROBOT.

[Lindsey in blue, Stevie in red, Together in purple]

via Frozen Love – Buckingham Nicks.

Except that they all in purple. All over.