With many head-turners throughout 2009, we found much more strength in our singles list than in albums this past year. However, our top 30 albums are nothing to sneeze at. Several albums this past year ... Related posts: Music Under Fire: Top 30 Albums for 2008 Mix For The Weekend VI Top 20 Artists To Look Forward To In 2009 (Part 1)
Shirley Braha is the producer of NY-TV's reliably stellar local-music-video show New York Noise. But since last fall, she's also been preoccupied with updating her blog Party-A-Day, which you'... Continue reading "New York Noise Producer Shirley "Beans" Braha Is Still Going to Parties, Documenting Them, Joking about How Animal Collective's Manager Is Endowed With a Baby Leg" >
Equally as innocent, but infinitely more technicolor than Chris Bear canoodling with a Koala, Animal Collective's new video for "Brothersport" stages a barnyard rave. The video opens with two fe... Continue reading "New Video: Animal Collective's "Brothersport"" >
N ow that 2010 has arrived, most of the major music publications have finished putting out their picks for the top albums of 2009. Each newspaper, magazine, and blog uses their own criteria to determine their rankings, leading to an infinite amount of subjectivity. In the words of my boy Alex, these lists are more or less "an exercise in futility." 2009 did have its share of great, universally acclaimed albums (you'd be hard-pressed to find an indie outfit that didn't list Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Phoenix, or Dirty Projectors in their top ten), but there were more than a [...]
It's hard to believe the year is already over, where did the time go? It was just yesterday when I was happily kicking off 2009 spinning Merriweather Post Pavilion and eagerly anticipating all of the year's excellent albums. Now a new decade is upon us, another 10 years have passed and I cannot believe what was once the crazed Y2K bug is only a distant memory. As we prepare to watch the giant ball drop in Times Square and make (failed) resolutions, I've compiled another short list of ten tracks to help countdown [...]
The year 2009 marked the final chapter in what had been music's most fascinating decades. But we don't have to tell you that - the examples speak for themselves. A combination of Internet protocol, aka BitTorrents, and a band named Radiohead led to the destruction of the music industry as we knew it. A rapper from Chicago managed to become both the most talented and the most despised individual on Earth, while a Detroit rocker proved this generation could have a sure-fire Rock 'n' Roll Hall-of-Famer. The Grammys became a joke and something called a "blog" became required reading. Oh, [...]
Not too long ago there was an article about the state of music videos in some relevant culture magazine. The alt suits were basically saying at print time (last year) that it was the best time to make music videos because of no budgets. That was the dumbest shit I have ever heard.
Et voila, the top 10 albums that graced these here stereos this year, a mere week behind planned schedule. Happily spanning my preferred genres more widely than last year and with some old favourites rubbing shoulders with some new folks, 2009 was a diverse, healthy year for good music releases. 10 [...]
I'm no expert here. I'm simply and honestly telling you the songs that I loved this past year - polls, charts, blogs, magazines aside. I avoided adding/removing songs just to reach some practical number, so there are only 24. Here we go with the very subjective and biased Top 24 Songs of 2009! 24. 'This God Damn House' - The Low Anthem Ok, so yes this is a 2007 song, but this version is from the August HearYa Live Sessions . I watched Ben Knox Miller [...]
Creating a Top 50 Albums list is never easy. You have to battle with what you think the world believes, and what you truly believe in your heart, to be solid jams. We have even more trouble because we have to three writers, all who have different ideas, and we have to make those ideas fit into a neat box. Well, we got it done, and honestly, our criteria was based on two things: how great we thought the album was, artistically speaking, and how long we listened to it without getting bored. That's it. It's fool proof; you might [...]
The conclusion of Ca Va Cool's countdown of the 20 Best Albums of 2009 featuring Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, Japandroids, and more.
Our finest 20 records of the year are the ones that are closest to our collective hearts from a San Francisco band's debut to a Kosmische pile-up between Tangerine Dream, Sunno))) and proggy ambient techno to the return of some French Anglophiles, to our highest charting Irish albums, a band on their 13th release, an icy Swedish enigma and a slew of Brooklyn based bands. Albums of 2009: 75-51 | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-1 [...]
It seems once again artists have looked past shriveling album sales and pooh poohed format worries while creating a truly outstanding crop of longplayers. Whether exploring the sinews connecting electronic music and jazz, amalgamating traditional African and house sounds, gearing up a set of club bangers or diving into unknown recesses in listeners' heads, the 10 albums LWE's reviewing staff chose represent the best 2009 had to offer. We have only one regret: last year we voted DJ Sprinkles's breathtaking Midtown 120 Blues as 2008's #3 album of the year , which disqualified it from being included [...]
With this weekend's Northeastern winter storm dubbed "fierce" and "blizzard-like" by media all over the country, I figured now would be a good time for a little winter-themed mix. Rather than focusing on the positive side to winter (does. not. compute.) these songs reflect more the barron winter landscape, locked-inside isolation, and "contemplative" side to the season. 'Tis the season to sit around and wax introspectively upon the year and wait for springtime to come? That's fine by me, and if you'll spend any of the remaining minutes of the year listening to music (of course you will), then [...]
by Mike Mineo ------------------------------ ----------------- 10. Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years Try and think of a band that has released 10 albums over the past 13 years, all of them attaining acclaim and stylistic diversity in a uniquely identifiable manner. Maybe if Super Furry Animals existed a few decades ago a few contemporaries could have shared this [...]
A countdown of the best songs from 2009.
Artwork by Brian Kuperman 2009 was an exceptional last year in an exceptional decade for music. In 2009 we were bombarded with solid release after great release after epic release throughout the entire year (upfront: I didn't listen to every album released in 2009), so narrowing my picks for the best albums of the year was not easy. Nonetheless, I have here Pretty Much Amazing's 25 best albums of the 2009. At the end of this list, you will have the chance to enter the [...]
Music Under Fire
The Village Voice: Sound of the City
jetcomx
i guess i'm floating
Consequence Of Sound
L.A. RECORD
Heavier ~ Than ~ Air
Austin Town Hall
Ca Va Cool
State Magazine
Culture Bully
Little White Earbuds
Obscure Sound
Pretty Much Amazing
MP3: Daft Punk – “Horizons” (RAM Japanese Bonus Track)
Akabu feat. Alex Mills – Everybody Wants Something (Joey Negro Strip Mix) [New Release]
Giorgio Moroder's first-ever DJ Set
Seven Lions: Fevers (Feat. Minnesota and Mimi Page)
Listen to producer Jacques Greene’s “On Your Side,” featuring How To Dress Well
