Panush's Best 26 of 2011

Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart

I've been seeing lots of Best Of lists lately and of course I don't like them as much as I like my music, so I figured why don't I make one myself. There are 26 for absolutely no good reason. It's my list so I get to do what I want.

In alphabetical order:

Adele - 21 - Unless you've been living under a rock, you're already familiar, but this remix is something you may not have heard.

Ben Ottewell - Shapes & Shadows - Gomez lead singer's solo debut. Solid stuff.

*Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart - Rock like it's the 70s. - Hair Song

Brett Dennen - Loverboy - LA's red-headed wunderkind. Sydney is an absolute sing-a-long, pop hit.

Das Racist - Relax - Too-smart for school post-modern hip-hop. They went to Wesleyan, duh.

David Guetta - Nothing But the Beat - If you must dance, dance to this.

*Earl Greyhound - Suspicious Package - Power trios rule. Shotgun - wait for it to build, then bang your head.

Feist - Metals - Not her best, but solid.

*Fitz and the Tantrums - Pickin' Up the Pieces - You've heard them even if you haven't heard of them.

Friendly Fires - Pala - for those that like Passion Pit or Foster the People,  Live Those Days Tonight

Gomez - Whatever's On Your Mind - My favorite band, so you must have Options.

Holy Ghost! - Various singles and remixes: Some Children, Static on the Wire (RAC Remix), Hold On, Do It Again

Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know - Until Beth Orton returns from maternity leave, I'll listen to Sophia

Nikka Costa - Pro*Whoa! - Chase The Thrill should be in a Bond movie.

Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What - Still great. Faves: The Afterlife and the title track.

*Pendulum - Immersion - My favorite drum and bass band - words I never though I would utter. Try: Witchcraft (Chuckie Remix), Watercolour, The Island, Crush.

*Sleigh Bells - Treats - If White Stripes were into samples. Crown on the Ground, Infinity Guitars, Rill Rill

Stereo MC's - Emperor's Nightingale -  Yes, they are the same band that did Connected. Check out Tales, 2Cando, Waves

Tally Hall - Good & Evil - Geeky melodic, harmonizing from Michigan. You and Me, Out in the Twilight, You

Theophilus London - Timez Are Weird These Days - The future of hip-hop is in good hands. All Around the World, Last Name London, One Last Time.

Tub Ring - Secret Handshakes - If you like Mike Patton (Faith No More), Primus, Mr. Bungle, funk-rock etc., this is it. Optimistic, Stop This (NOW!), Feed the Rapture

Tune-Yards - Whokill - See my older post.

TV On the Radio - Nine Types of Light - Wasn't a big fan when they first broke on the scene, but since I found Dave Sitek's side project, Maximum Balloon, absolutely delightful, I guess I appreciate this album for its similiarities. Love Caffeinated Consciousness, New Cannonball Blues, Repetition, and Second Song.

White Denim - D - Album of the Year and Best New Artist. See my older post.

YACHT - Shangri-La - Nothing measures up to their amazing Psychic City, but title track Shangri-La and Utopia/Dystopia are nice.

Ximena Sariñana - Ximena Sariñana - Mexican pop star. Too damn cute. Different and Lies We Live In (what do you know, also produced and written by none other than TVOTR's Dave Sitek).

* = album technically released in 2010, but since I listened to it in 2011, there ya go

Illinois is a band from Pennsylvania... go figure

I should have posted about Illinois sooner, but I might not have even been blogging when I first started listening to them. Their latest album, Lemonade Stand, is good, but not as good as their earlier albums. This lack of polish might be because it's culled from demos in their catalog rather than brand new material. The tracks I like on Lemonade Stand are: Shoot the Moon, Ecco Bella, Metropolis, Mountain, and Posture.

Illinois is a bit folky, a bit discordant, a bit stompy, a bit country, a bit electronic, but almost always catchy and melodic. They remind me most of Folk Implosion or any other Lou Barlow stuff, but also bring to mind Beck's folkier work.

It's pretty difficult to find their music online, but this is probably one of their best tracks. You can also get a few free tracks from the band's website below.



http://www.illinoistheband.com/

Battles - Ice Cream

This is a great video from the latest Battles record, Gloss Drop. It's weird prog-rock, but it's catchy and the video works incredibly well with the music. The rest of the Battles album is interesting and decent, but not as good as this track, nor as good as their first album, Mirrors. If you really like the video, check out the director's video for the El Guincho track, Bombay (there's an uncensored version out there somewhere). Same same, but different.



I know I'm late on this, but going through some (good) life changes in the last few months has left me with a bit less time to devote to navel-gazing pursuits like this one. I also am getting addled in my advanced years. I think I may have posted this video to Facebook before, but since it's not on the blog, well... it is now.

tUnE-YarDs - w h o k i l l

I think I posted about tUnE-YarDs previously and she (basically it's one woman) released a new album a couple months ago. She is amazing and unique and if you value innovative music that doesn't just sound like everything else out there, you have to check the album out and you HAVE to watch the 2nd video below to see how she does this live. It's unbelievable that she can do so much with so little.

Bizness is primal and pretty at the same time. This is music with soul.




You Yes You is so catchy it's ridiculous. She writes music that dives right in your brain.



Gangsta rocks and rolls with bravado.


You must listen.

White Denim - Fashionable Rock

 Combine amazing dueling guitar licks with psychedelia, a bassist that looks 15, and a prog-rock influenced drummer and you have White Denim. Out of Austin, TX, they've been wowing audiences locally and at South by Southwest for a few years. I like their old stuff, but with the welcome addition of a second guitarist their newest release, D, is one of the best rock albums, song for song, I've heard in some time.

Also, they put on a great live show. Saw them at the Rock and Roll Hotel with a bunch of hipsters who wouldn't move because they were too cool, but I was rocking out because I'm way too old to care about being hip.

Honestly, I can't even pick my favorites b/c they're all filled with great hooks. Though there's some nice variety over the course of the album, their sound is pretty consistent, so if you don't like one song, you probably won't like the rest. I'd recommend listening to the whole album a few times through. It will invade your headspace.

You can see how good they are live in this video for, It's Him. The guitar lick around 1:15 in reminds me of St. Stephen by the Grateful Dead in such a good way.

Enjoy.

Bag Raiders Video Shows Some Hot Monkey Love

I'm rededicating myself to posting more often. I've got three months of stuff to post about, so I'll try to make it short and sweet in the interest of getting more stuff up here more often. I know it will somewhat be ignored, but once in a while someone stumbles on the blog and they like it.

Bag Raiders are fun and have two songs I like a lot. They're Passion Pit-esque. Full of synths and a good dance beat with high pitched man vocals. The video for Sunlight features a chimp gone bad, which is always a bonus.



I also like Not Over. This video features a time traveling caveman.

Rolling in the Deep

Adele's new album, 21, is pretty damn good. Right after it came out, John Legend covered Rolling in the Deep, but then it was quickly remixed, and it's just off the hook. All three versions are great, but the remix version... mwah... perfecto.