If you find something you like on this list, download the complimentary MP3 and click the album art, which will take you to the Amazon MP3 page so you can purchase it (some of these albums are $5 or less). 50 // A.A. Bondy – Believers It's about time Bondy takes the full on band direction without tip-toeing around it like the last few albums. Oh wait let me re-word that; his last two where spectacular, but this is a sound that he's been hiding for a while and it's [...]
Just when you thought the best of 2011 lists were over, we went ahead and did it. I now hate lists and hate myself for posting this. But it must be done. This is a starting point, so leave your favorites in the comments and I'll keep adding mine as a run across 'em. Woody and I threw this list together over IM one day, so I"m sure plenty of good tracks are missing, but here were some of our favorite songs last year. Hands down, my favorite track of last year is "Boeing 737." I [...]
And so here we have our top ten albums of the year. To be honest the order is fairly arbitrary - on another day it could be a completely different as really these ten records have so little between them in turns of the pleasure and enjoyment they gave us. If you've not acquainted yourselves with any of these then we're pretty sure you won't be disappointed. 2011 - what a fine year for music. 10 Twilight Hotel - When The Wolves Go Blind Download Twilight [...]
It's that time of year to look back on the past 12 months and say "what the hell happened to the last 12 months?!". It's also that time of year where us music bloggers and self-proclaimed critics take the time to put together some Best Of lists for your reading pleasure. They don't really mean a whole lot and you can love 'em or leave 'em, but it seems like the right thing to do to sum up the year in preparation of the next. This year we're featuring personal lists from all of our fantastic writers. [...]
The biggest struggle when putting together this list is how to rank the albums. What exactly is the difference between a #1 and a #2 album? Without doubt, Viva Brother's "Darling Buds of May" was the song I listened to the most in 2011 and the album it comes from is pretty damn good. But is it my favorite album as a whole? The Damnwells have consistently put out great material and I'm sure I listened to No One Listens to the Band Anymore more, front to back, than any album on the list but did I do that because [...]
![[Best of 2011] Will's List](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3944315_lg.jpg)
Tweet vaso link This has been a fantastic year, not only for music, but also for me personally. I found an outlet for gratuitous and utterly pointless swearing (Fuck yeah!) in the world of indie music blogging. And Andy and Dave were nice enough to deal with these random outbursts and generous enough to give me a creative outlet (outside of my daily world of print journalism). So with that, I present my top 10 albums list of [...]
When 2011 is said and done, there can only be one that surpasses all others. While there were 3 records that were rated perfectly this year and 2 that were as close to perfect as anyone could get, the process involved in picking the best of 2011 was as pleasurable as it was difficult. I want to personally congratulate the artists mentioned here today and thank you for your tremendous talent and dedication to your craft- You guys are the best of the best and it was pleasure talking about all of you. And you, reading at home or where-the-fuck-ever, [...]
There are lots— lots —of end-of-year lists out there right now. I've sifted through so many lists for so many years that the very prospect of ingesting them all has become too tedious to bear. That said, there are a handful that I find to be pretty dependable every year, and that always yield at least a couple of finds for me. I've spent some time cycling through the tens (hundreds) of songs/albums on the lists below and have come away with something worthwhile from all of them. (Related, a couple of weeks [...]
This year's list of favorites is fairly sedate (even for me), with just a little ruckus here and there. Lots of morning-coffee music, which I guess says something about my 2011. But music's strength is its pliability. It can be whatever you need it to be at the moment, especially when we have instant access to virtually any song ever recorded, often for free . Judging by this list, I needed music to be a salve more than a release valve this year. I also never expected my favorite album to come from someone who held the [...]
As with previous years we will be posting over the next few days the Top Ten track selections for 2011 of various MM friends and contributors, as well as our Best Albums of 2011 and own best of the year list. To kick us off we have Polly Pocket. 10. Friends - I'm His Girl A great getting ready to go out kind of a tune. a 9. Ben Howard - Old Pine [...]
You should have seen the deliberation room after we finished the lists. Papers scattered across the floor, blood and coffee stains on the carpet, I think at one point Kenny threw his laptop at Stuart (it just barely missed). But it makes sense, because each one of us are so passionate about the music we loved this year. So, check out what music meant most to each of our wonderful writers- Also, be sure to check out our top songs of the year (100-51 / 50-1 ) and top albums of the year [...]
The NBC Tuesday night drama follows the ups and downs of the Braverman family. It's all-star cast features Peter Krause (Six Feet Under), Monica Potter, Lauren Graham and Craig T. Nelson as the crotchety, vietnam-era, hippie dad. It's a good solid show with some good storylines, but the best part of the hour each week is the music. The show is giving stellar unknown artists like Slaid Cleaves, James Blake ("A Case for You," a Joni Mitchell is one of the most interesting vocals ever), The Lennings (who deliver a slow, folky version of "You're the One That I Want" from Grease), Civil Wars, Fink, and [...]
The best albums are much more than a collection of stand out songs. Like anything successful, a great album finds multiple parts coming together as one; accomplishing moods, textures, and developments not possible by any one singular piece. The best albums force you to take a step back, to not only look at each moment but to examine how that moment fits into a larger picture. Perhaps most important, the best albums are constantly evolving begging for repeated listens to show you all of their ins and out. Check out the 50 albums that kept us coming [...]
2011 started a new decade with a bang. The year saw tragedies strike major populations, dictators overthrown, "occupy" redefined, and the casually pepper spray everything cop . As far as music goes, a lot happened too - pop became even more influenced by electronic, helping Adele sound that much better than her Top 40 contemporaries. Dubstep found itself at a heavy fork in the road, one side running all the obnoxious frat parties and the other (perhaps humorously) aiming straight for your heart. Hip-hop became overrun by Tumblr and Twitter personalities pushing "SWAG" into the vocabulary. Indie rock still [...]
Girls ::: photo by Josh Lovseth End of year lists give me the cold sweats. Much like when I was in college and finals were looming, I suddenly forget about everything that sparked in my mind, and all I'm left with is, "I don't know…when did River Deep, Mountain High come out? THAT COUNTS, RIGHT?" 2011 was [...]
I was introduced to A.A. Bondy by a regular reader of mine, who goes by the name of Campfires and Battlefields, some years ago now when he wrote a guest post and included the awesome Vice Rag to illustrate his point. Since then I have gone on to become a firm A.A. Bondy fan, although never in that outspoken, evangelical way I can be about music. And three gorgeous albums into his career I find myself wondering why. A little like Kurt Vile, perhaps his music just doesn't deliver a slap around the chops [...]
A. A. Bondy (born Auguste Arthur Bondy, also known as Scott Bondy) is an American folk/alternative artist from Birmingham, Alabama, and the former lead singer and guitarist in the rock band Verbena, which he founded in the early 1990s. After the band broke up in 2003, Bondy recorded his debut solo album American Hearts in a barn near his home in the Catskill mountains in Palenville, upstate New York. The album, released in 2007, marked a shift in musical direction towards a more traditional and minimalist folk sound, with Bondy playing mostly acoustic guitar and harmonica. His second album When [...]
AA Bondy has made a new album, and the good news is it's not completely built from old, re-hashed styles. This time round the singer/songwriter digs deeper, letting his soul guide the music rather than his overt influences. His days of emulating Dylan and the great American folk textbook, which were admittedly still pretty good, are left on the roadside. Much here is like a late-night stroll through nostalgia, unwinding with a warm production and wayward delivery that somehow finds its way home. Opening with the almost hypnotic The Heart is Willing is a statement of intent, the [...]
There's something eerily hypnotic about walking through a deserted landscape at night. Crowds have dispersed, traffic has slowed down to an infrequent trickle and fluorescent lights cast a spooky yellow glow that renders familiar surroundings strange and unsettling. It's easy to slip into a sort of a contemplative trance as you battle against the body clock's urgent call to get some shuteye. If the twilit, restless mood of Believers is anything to go by, A. A. Bondy must be intimately familiar with the mind-set of a sleep-deprived late night traveller. Written and recorded [...]
Ah Black Friday... the day when the 1% tells the 99% to go save the economy. But if you're not in the mood to stab a bitch for a flatscreen today, why not browse around ViolentSuccess to see what sort of music is new and awesome lately... A.A. Bondy: Believers - Although I'm not familiar with his earlier work, hearing an album like this certainly warrants a closer examination. After being the frontman for Verbena [...]
kata rokkar...
HearYa: An Indie Music Blog
Mad Mackerel's Blog
Draw Us Lines
donewaiting.com
Tympanogram
Violent Success
Pretty Goes with Pretty
Quit Mumbling
30 Days Out
Sound On The Sound
Song, by Toad
Totally Fuzzy
Bowlegs Music Review
The Line Of Best Fit
![Niki & The Dove - The Fox [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/l2f6UbMnlq4_130.jpg)
Download: The Violet Lights - "Sex and Sound"
Chromatics: “Into The Black”
Sunday Means Eight Of The Best
Whitney Houston uncovered
