Monday, December 31, 2012

Best of 2012.

Edit 2/10/13: I'm pulling Cat Power's Sun from the top list, and replacing it with Δ (Alt-J)'s An Awesome Wave. Unfortunately I hadn't heard An Awesome Wave until after the new year, and after I had made this list. I've been listening to it so much, I had to go back and put it on the list. The decision on which album to pull was hard, but in the end I chose Cat Power's Sun because compared to the rest of their discography, I feel like it was lacking. Still a great album, I recommend it for people to check out.


As 2012 comes to an end, I've prepared my Best of list. The choices were made mostly by researching my last.fm account and seeing what I listened to most. For the albums released later in the year that wouldn't be represented fairly in this manner, I just went through the list of albums I got this year and kind of picked and chose through them. I've got a couple other little things besides the best of list also, so without further *yadda yadda yadda* here we go!

We'll start with the small things:
Best remix album of the year: Bonobo's Black Sands Remixed
This album featured a number of remixes of the track "Eyesdown" which was my favorite song on the Black Sands album, and there's a great remix by Machinedrum, here is the video for that!

Bonobo - "Eyesdown (Machinedrum Remix)"



And now we have a double whammy. Best recording of the year, and best video of the year! This is Gorillaz, Andre 3000 (of Outkast), and James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem). The actual song is 13 minutes, and can be listened to here. For the video they use a shortened version, kind of a shame if you ask me, would have been cool to have a new epic video, but this one is damn good anyway. Here it is!

Gorillaz ft. Andre 3000 and James Murphy - "Do Ya Thing"



And now I have for you, a track from what I'm calling the best remake album. Inverse Phase remade Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine in an 8-bit format, calling the album Pretty Eight Machine. Here's their version of the track "Head Like a Hole." You can listen to, and purchase the whole album here.

Inverse Phase - "Head Like I/O"




And now for the list! I give you the Best 50 albums of 2012!

*Δ (Alt-J) - An Awesome Wave*
Aesop Rock - Skelethon
Alpha - Eleventh Trip
Animal Collective - Centipede Hz
Avett Brothers, the - The Carpenter
Big Gigantic - Nocturnal
Black Vortex - Self Imposed Isolation
BT - If the Stars Are Eternal So Are You and I
BT - Morceau Subrosa
Calvin Harris - 18 Months
Caravan Palace - Panic
Cat Power - Sun
Cinematic Orchestra, the - The Cinematic Orchestra Presents In Motion 1
Com Truise - In Decay
Communist Daughter - Lions & Lambs
Dan Deacon - America
Deadmau5 - Album Title Goes Here
Die Antwoord - Ten$ion
Dirty Projectors, the - Swing Lo Magellan
Dntel - Aimlessness
Dr. Dog - Be the Void
Efterklang - Piramida
Feed Me - Feed Me's Escape from Electric Mountain
Geographer - Myth
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Ben! Ascend!
Grimes - Visions
Grizzly Bear - Sheilds
High Contrast - The Agony & The Ecstasy
Hot Chip - In Our Heads
Lazer Sword - Memory
Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas
Lorn - Ask the Dust
Machindrum - SLXND
Magnetic Fields, the - Love at the Bottom of the Sea
Metric - Synthetica
Muse - The 2nd Law
Nada Surf - The Stars are Indifferent to Astronomy
of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks
Parov Stelar - The Princess
Ramona Falls - Prophet
Ronald Jenkees - Days Away
Shigeto - Lineage
Shins, the - Port of Morrow
Simian Mobile Disco - Unpatterns
Squarepusher - Ufabulum
Tape Five - Swing Patrol
Vitalic - Rave Age
White Rainbow - ∞∞∞∞INFINITY•BEAT•TAPE∞∞∞∞∞
xx, the - Coexist
Yeasayer - Fragrant World
Zombie Nation - RGB

Sunday, December 30, 2012

You, Forever & Ever.


Just found this song today and fell in love with it. It has this sadness that hits me right in the feels. Sorry for all the sad songs lately, but deal with it. It's just what I need. I just want her back.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Slowly drifting into you...


I really really really really need to see M83. I'm still kind of upset that I had the hard decision of seeing them or seeing Explosions in the Sky since they both played at the same time at Coachella. I'll see them someday, and best case scenario, is I see them with her.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

What might have been lost bothers me.

I hope that by the time you talk to me again, the things I have to say will still mean something to you.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Shift

Please don't let this be real. You just got back and we have so many plans. I have so much to tell you.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

The "Bad Guys" Win?

French dream-pop/post-rockers M83 finish off their epic video trilogy from their 2011 album Hurry Up We're Dreaming (which peaked at #15 on USA's Billboard charts) with the video for 'Wait.' Just released today, the video is quite a bit different from the previous two, which depicted an obvious story of good vs evil. The new video features breathtaking landscapes, beautiful imagery and an homage to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. 'Wait,' though however beautiful, may be a bit too far off the story arc for some people because of added elements completely out of context to the first two videos. I think the varied story line gives room for interpretation for all people to make up their own mind about what is happening in the video, and a chance for the viewers to fill in the blanks. What do you think?
Video 1: 'Midnight City'



Video 2: 'Reunion'



Video 3: 'Wait'


Sunday, January 1, 2012

Top 50 of 2011

My top 50 favorite albums from 2011 are (in alphabetical order:)

††† – †, & †† (These are 2 ep's, I'm counting them as 1 album. Works for me)
65daysofstatic – Silent Running
Above & Beyond – Group Therapy
Amon Tobin – ISAM
Apparat – The Devil's Walk
Battles – Gloss Drop
Beirut – The Rip Tide
Bibio – Mind Bokeh
Beats Antique – Elektrafone
Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Brian Eno – Drums Between the Bells
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Dandelion Gum
Cut Copy – Zonoscope
Chase and Status – No More Idols
DJ Shadow – The Less You Know, The Better
Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi – Rome
Digitalism – I Love You, Dude
Daedelus – Bespoke
Deftones – Covers
The Decemberists – The King is Dead
Emika – Emika
Explosions in the Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
Florence + The Machine – Ceremonials
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Gang Gang Dance – Eye Contact
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie XX – We're New Here
Gotye – Making Mirrors
Gold Panda – Companion
Grouplove – Never Trust a Happy Song
Holy Ghost! - Holy Ghost!
Jesu – Ascension
Justice – Audio, Video, Disco
Kaskade – Fire and Ice
Ladytron – Gravity The Seducer
M83 – Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Modeselektor – Monkeytown
Mount Kimbie – Carbonated
MachineDrum – Room(s)
Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Metronomy – The English Riviera
Nero – Welcome Reality
Neon Indian – Era Extrana
Ott – Mir
Panda Bear – Tomboy
Phantogram – Nightlife
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Radiohead – King of Limbs
Tycho – Dive
Wilco – The Whole Love