3 things from British shores I'm most looking forward to this year: 1. The long-awaited debut album from Django Django , which will include "Default" and "Waveforms" as well as the previously released Storm, WOR & Love's Dart. Django Django - Default by Django Django Django Django - Waveforms by Django Django The album's out 30th January. See them at a [...]
Turns out I was listening to a lot of hip hop this past year. 2011 saw some big name releases as well as many smaller names starting to move into the spotlight. Bon Iver and The Weeknd, I'm looking at you. Artists include Jay-Z and Kanye West, The Weeknd, Bon Iver, Tune-Yards, Destroyer, The Sheepdogs, James Blake, The Rapture, Beirut and more. Check them and others out on 20 songs spanning 90 minutes of musical awesome. Enjoy and have a great 2012! [...]
It's time to break the radio silence on BTA, and bring you my best albums and tracks of the year 2011. A year that belonged to Ms. Harvey. Since Let England Shake was released early in the year no-one else had a chance. Top 10 Albums: 10. Big Deal - Lights Out 9. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues 8. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes 7. Bon Iver - Bon Iver 6. Metronomy - The English Riviera 5. Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde 4. Black [...]
Has anyone else picked up on the impatience of the music press right now? Over the last couple of week's journos have been falling over themselves to proclaim the best albums of the year so far, even though it's only June. Here's a selection that's caught my eye: NPR DrownedinSound NME Spinner If that's not premature enough, we've now started debating who's going to breakthrough next year. One band who's especially prevalent, and deservedly so, [...]
Ah, The Great Escape . Whatever SXSW can do, you can do, only colder and with a pebble beach. Still you do have the slight adventure of being 100s of miles closer and still put on probably the best value music festival in the UK. The boat has long sailed into the distance for a full fest review, but I really must share this band as they provided the most enduring memory of the event. AIAS hail from Barcelona and are signed to Captured Tracks which seems a pretty categorical stamp of approval right now [...]
Summer in London means snacking on bread & hummus on a picnic rug; sipping Pimms and lemonade whilst basking in the sun; watching the deluded hysteria over a Brit winning Wimbledon and Bandstand Busking . For the uninitiated, this is a delightful venture where established and up-and-coming bands come play, mostly acoustically, in some of the capital's disused bandstands. It's totally free, available to the masses and the highlights of the shows are put up on the website so you can re-live the moment. Like the Black Cab Sessions , only without having to cram [...]
Ever since I relented and joined the Apple cult, John Hilcock's weekly New Noise podcast has proved essential listening. The sheer diverse array of sounds on offer in each morsel amaze, challenge and entertain at every turn. Probably the greatest thank you card I owe him is for exposing my ears to the delightful Driver Drive Faster . Their slices of lush, dreamy pop remind me of Mercury Rev and more recent stand-outs Avi Buffalo. "It's All Over, It's Everywhere" is definitely one of my finds of the year. I picked up their self-funded debut [...]
Singer-songwriters rarely successfully walk the tightrope of critical acclaim and commercial success. Having already secured support from Edith Bowman (BBC Radio 1) and Mark Riley (6Music), Benjamin Francis Leftwich may have the potential to achieve this potent mix. Live, the most striking impression is how he stretches and elongates key words to lend them an immense poignancy, regardless of subject matters. The lyrics seem to cling desperately to the sides of his mouth before slipping helplessly into the room. Melancholy is not Mr Leftwich's only setting though; “Pictures” displays a charming wit with it's [...]
The Rural Alberta Advantage notified fans via Twitter yesterday that their new album Departing is available to Canadian iTunes customers ahead of the scheduled March 1st release date. I'm already a huge fan of the band, so had high hopes that the sophomore release could match the intensity and quality of their debut, Hometowns. Fortunately, it doesn't disappoint. Every single track is extremely strong; "The Breakup", "Under the Knife", "Tornado '87" and "North Star" in particular are immediate stand-outs. Long-time live show staple closing track and fan favourite "Good Night" finally makes an [...]
The Official lineup for the 2011 Sasquatch Music Festival was recently announced. And since then, all the web chatter, and conversations overheard throughout town have been about what an amazing four days this years festival will surely turn out to be. Although there has been some shoulder shrugging over the headliners, the rest of the line-up is sure to please any music aficionado. Of course the main buzz has been over the reuniting of DFA-1979 , which was almost expected after their earlier Coachella announcement. Nevertheless, it's exciting! Other notables include RATATAT, Wold Parade, Chromeo, Yeasayer, and so [...]
Who knew that Pink Floyd would make an appearance in the grimy world of Dub step? Check out this take on Comfortably Numb done by Vancouver's Stylust.. Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb (Stylust Beats Dubstep Remix)
Here's my round-up of the year that was 2010. Album of The Year: Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM Runners Up: 2. Everything Everything - Man Alive 3. Yeasayer - ONE 4. Avi Buffalo - Avi Buffalo 5. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast 6. MGMT - Congratulations 7. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs 8. Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me 9. Beach House - Teen Dream 10. Vampire Weekend - Contra Best of 2010 Mix, which [...]
Cloud Nothings are Cleveland lo-fi garage rockers that will appeal greatly to fans of Black Lips, No Age, et al. They're currently supporting Les Savy Fav on their European tour and will be in London next week. Cloud Nothings - Didn't You Cloud Nothings - Understand At All Cloud Nothings - Hey Cool Kid
Here are some playlist boosters from across the board, highlighted by The Radio Dept. 's new song from their "Never Follow Suit" single. Other songs below from accomplished producer Ski Beatz 's 24 Hour Karate School album, as well as lesser known Newcastle trio Polarsets . I threw in The Vaccines ' "Wreckin' Bar" as well, it deserves all the attention it's been getting. Hard to get enough of it clocking in at just 1:25. The Radio Dept. - On Your Side Ski Beatz [...]
Inspired Flight is a San Diego guitarist/dj duo making down tempo pop featuring some very talented rappers including Inspectah Deck and underground/backpacker troupe Living Legends. They have a knack for integrating a range of genres in one song, often switching gears and interrupting a chilled out instrumental with a skilled verse. It's not quite Gorillaz, but they definitely have something. "It's The Chemicals" is a serotonin heavy journey featuring Scarub of Living Legends. Their debut is titled We All Want To Fly , and you can grab it here , or download the title [...]
"If you ever needed evidence of how middle class a festival Latitude is, Marcus Brigstock is your paper boy". A line delivered as he dispensed the Guardian to a member of the crowd asking why the Murdoch-owned Times was the only newspaper available on site. Reading Festival, this is not. To prolong the festival vibe, one of my friends has organised a post Latitude revival party. We're meant to bring something cultural along and share it with the group. A mix-tape of the key moments of the festival was the [...]
As I skimmed the almost 9,000 emails that remained unread in the BTA inbox, one caught my attention, in the subject it had the word "Winnipeg" the city from which Boats hails. I don't know why this appealed to me, but I figured..."What the hell, I'll check it out!" With that said, you can see that our screening criteria for Inbox Wednesday is very stringent. Nevertheless, within the first two bars of "Chrome Eyelids", I was sold. The vocals on "Cannonballs, Cannonballs!" come across with a [...]
Mr. Pepper has been a favourite of this blog since we started, back then with an amazing release fronting The Dymaxions, later on with Gregory Pepper & His Problems. His new project Common Grackle finds Pepper teaming with hip hop producer Factor, and the results are staggeringly good from what I've heard so far. The Great Depression also features hip hop legend and bonafide crazy man Kool Keith on the opening track, which warrants a purchase simply to hear what kind of madness they came up with. This will appeal to fans [...]
In an attempt to get back into the habit of posting I'm looking to Hamilton for inspiration. From what I've heard, there seems to be an ever-growing community of dedicated musicians with a very loyal following. I guess it's all those years of living in the shadows of the Steeltown smoke. With several of the production facilities now closed, Hamilton's art community now appears to be rising from the ashes. One such band is Cowlick who recently celebrated the release of their album Wires . Cowlick's slow growth into the [...]
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Weekly Mix Vol. I
[new]: Kanye West – New Slaves
Ludovico Einaudi | In A Time Lapse (recenze) & 3x koncert v The Royal Albert Hall (live)
