Aural Pleasure

Here's what's been titillating my ears recently. Titillate. Some old, some new, all ace. I've put the banging beats to start with because it's FRIDAY and some more mellow tracks are at the bottom. Enjoy! x

Conner Youngblood- Monsters. Whomph whomph whomphawhomph. Nice contrast in subdued vocals and geetar and big old bassline. Taps into the whole James Blake ting going on at the minute.
Monsters by Conner Youngblood

Jai Paul- BTSTU. Sweet vocals, you don't notice the menace of the lyrics 'don't fuck with me, don't fuck with me'. Again with the laidback vocals and dub/electro influence. I like this a lottie because there are some retro videogame noises thrown in as well.
BTSTU by j.wilson

Suuns- Arena. Deliciously dark. I think it sounds like people in grave danger running away from peril but the singer/guitarist said this: "Arena is a romantic song that encourages dancing and love-making."
Suuns - Arena by Lunta_sen

Ladytron- Seventeen. I had forgotten about this pretty little ditty. It sounds like something you would find in a gay club in Germany. Which is great.
Ladytron - Seventeen [2002] by nettwerkmusicgroup



Here are some more laidback choons that I can't stop listening to at the minute.

Diamond messages- Liquid Summer. This is nice. Songs with naive belly/xylophoney noises= good.
Diamond Messages - Liquid Summer by Szabom

The Eastern Sea- The Snow. Stumbled across this as one of the acts at SXSW this year, you can't beat a bit of acoustic guitar with a nice boy singing about sad things.

Book of Right On- Joanna Newsom. Yes Joanna. Harps and guitars and that inimitable voice. I prefer 'The Milk-Eyed Mender' to the 'Have One On Me' album.


Banshee Beat- Animal Collective. My shuffle loves this song, I would be annoyed if it wasn't so awesome. Shimmering guitars and vocals that build and build but never quite break, some songs deserve to be over 8mins. A really long, slow aurgasm of a song.


The Beatles- Got to Get You Into My Life. I'm going through a Beatles phase again, seriously how good were the Beatles? Go and listen back to Please, Please Me, Revolver and Abbey Road. Actually all of the albums, absolute quality.


Taper Jean Girl- Kings of Leon. Really enjoying the vintage KOL at the minute, none of that new bollocks. Pulsing drums and guitars and that unmistakable Kings Of Leon drawl. Aha Sha-ake. He says 'cunts' in it, THATS how badass they used to be.
Kings Of Leon - Taper Jean Girl by djh88

The Cure-Close to Me. Do you love the Cure? I love The Cure. Lets all love the Cure.
The Cure - Close to Me by Martijn Prak

Blue Monday

The most depressing day of the year is upon us and about bloody time too. The one day of the year where it is acceptable, nay encouraged, to whine and moan and cry and complain. Great stuff.
I personally intend to skip dinner (to heightens sadness receptors), turn off all the lights, pull up the duvet and cry for hours. I might even crack out old love letters and diaries.
If you would like to join me,  here's a Spotify playlist to soundtrack our delicious despair, feel free to add your own odes to sadness: Blue

Well this is nice

Man and wife sell up 9 to 5 life to meander around the coast on a sailboat and write songs. That's nice. Other people's lives are nice. Should we just all jack it in? I'm pretty adept with a tambourine and I can stay in tune most of the time, who's with me? But I am quite sleepy and warm. Maybe later.

These guys have been floating around the bloggies/onestowatch columns for a while now but didn't seem to take off in a big way despite their first track 'Marathon' being lauded by everyone from Pitchfork to the Guardian. (It's absolutely ace by the way- listen below). Maybe it's because they are annoyingly hard to google search. But NEVER FEAR. After releasing 'Take Me Somewhere' into the blogosphere a few weeks ago they are currently most blogged on hypem.com and have just announced a European tour in January, hooray!

Listen here: 
Marathon - Tennis by arrhythmiamusic

Tennis - Take Me Somewhere by forcefieldpr

Tennis play:

7 Jan– Lexington, London
8 Jan – Paradiso, Amsterdam
10 Jan– Emporium Galorium, Rouen
11 Jan – Les Bouffles du Nord, Paris
13 Jan– ISC Club, Berne
14 Jan– Ampere, Munich
15 Jan– Bang Bang, Berlin
16 Jan– Beatlemania, Hamburg
19 Jan– Cockpit 3, Leeds
20 Jan– Captain’s Rest, Glasgow
21 Jan– The Deaf Institute, Manchester

Top 10 Albums of 2010 so far

It's that time of year where everyone is thinking ahead to end of year lists, frantically rifling through Spotify playlists and itunes purchases to come up with a list of not-too-obvious-ace-albums-cuz-ya-know-i'm-a-bit-left-of-centre-and-shit. AND HERE'S MINE. I've pretty much raved about all of these at some point on here so they need no introduction. I've stuck a few tracks I can find off soundcloud below for your aural pleasure or here's a spotify playlist. Enjoynowbye x

1. Warpaint- The Fool (obvs). Couldn't find Undertow or Shadows but this is a sweet song.

Warpaint - Baby by quietculturemed

 
2. Surfer Blood- Astro Coast. Take it easssy. Just take it easy.

surfer blood by eldiabloyelritmo

3. The Black Keys- Brothers. Dare I say it their best yet? Perfect bluesy rock'n'roll. An all-weather album.

Black Keys - Brothers by cooperativemusicuk

 
4. LCD Soundsystem- This is Happening. Talking like a jerk, except you are an actual jerk...
Dance Yrself Clean by r0cketman22

 
5. Sleigh Bells- Treats. Loud headfuck of an album, likey like.
Sleigh Bells-Rill Rill by HSUGreen

 
6. Foals- Total Life Forever. Pretty darn decent change of direction for Foals. Spanish Sahara makes it.
Foals - Spanish Sahara by subpop

 
7. Caribou- Swim. Sun, sun, sun, sun, sun, sun, sun.
Caribou - Sun by radúz

 
8. Four Tet- There is Love in You. Good man, excellent cover.
Four Tet - Love Cry by pansen

 
9. Bombay Bicycle Club- Flaws. Yes.

10. Arcade Fire- The Suburbs. Still getting into this more nostalgia-based album from the Fire. I think it's going to be a keeper. We Used to Wait, Rococo, Sprawl II all aces. Nice strings with interesting, more mature lyrics.
Arcade Fire - Rococo by Scenedamage

THE TEMPER TRAP REMIX ALBUM STREAM

Conditions
Remixed by The Temper
Trap

GOLD PANDA ALBUM, LOOKY LOOKY

 

Things of Late

Hey diddle diddle,

Here is some good music make feel nice that's been knocking around my noodle. Enjoysers:Listen here

First Aid Kit 'When I grow up'. This is a really nice cover of the Fever Ray track, check out the video for the original below, also aces. Those crazy Swedes.



Warpaint 'Ashes to Ashes'. I think it's been established Warpaint can do no wrong in my eyes. Maybe they are Veelas. Their cover of Bowie's 'Ashes to Ashes' is as beguiling as to be expected, with delicious bendy bass, good girls.

***SPECIAL TREATZ*** The man himself working the popular 80's 'paedo-in-leather' look, ooooh!



Babeshadow 'Sea Serpents', 'Darling'. I like them because they look like this:

Lefty is an inspiring cross between Art Garfunkel and Michael Hutchence and righty is channeling the perfect amount of old school Kings of Leon (before the unpleasantness...)
I like them #2 because they sound a bit like Larrikin Love and Clap your hands say Yeah (in a good way...

Morning Benders 'Mason Jar', 'Excuses', 'Promises'. Phwoar. Saw them at the Borderline last week and they were incredible. One of those pleasant surprises that are five million times better live than on record (even though the new album is an absolute banger), I nearly died. If you get a chance, go and see them live, you won't be disappointed. Until then, here's their new song


Neon Indian 'Deadbeat Summer'. I like it, I have it. Wasn't blown away by Psychic Chasms but this nostalgia-laden track is bonzer.

I've also thrown on some oldies that have kicked their way back onto my playlist...

The Cribs 'Be Safe'. I can't stop playing this song. 'Lets take life and slow it down incredibly slow, frame by frame with two minutes that take ten years to live out. Yeah, lets do that.'

Arab Strap 'Cherubs'. Some like it scotch...

Foals 'Spanish Sahara'. This is incredible. Check out the video, very Into the Wild...