Posts tagged ‘slow club’
BANDSTAND BUSKING w/ SLOW CLUB
This summer, Slow Club hit up the Bandstand Busking stage at Meltdown Festival and the official videos have finally surfaced! Huzzah! Check out a spectacular clip of Charles and Rebecca performing one of their newer tunes “If We’re Still Alive” below and find more videos after the jump!
New album in 2011. Can’t wait!
Summer Camp! Live! Video!
I don’t know about you, but ever since Summer Camp started playing live shows I’ve been kind of curious as to how the band translated their lo-fi synth pop tunes sprinkled with 80s-film samples to a live setting. Then again, I’m a nerd.
The band have just finished a UK tour with Slow Club and lo and behold some cool peeps captured some videos!
I spy some bitchin’ overalls.
You can’t quite see the band, but it’s the full song and the audio quality is pretty good.
A new song? It’s not on their myspace or “Ghost Train” single. It sounds awesome.
Also, please watch Slow Club tear it upppppppppppppp
Album #2. I need it.
Ten albums I quite liked in 2009
In compiling a list of my so-called favorite albums of the last year, I realized that I wasn’t head-over-heels for too many of them. It seems I had a one-track mind when it came to music, I anticipated and eagerly awaited the release of four or five albums and ended up pretty much exclusively listening to those for most of 2009. Whoops? Then, turns out a bunch of other albums I listened to constantly weren’t even released last year. Doh.
This listmaking proved difficult (probably why it took me so long), but I’ve not only managed to narrow it down to 10 albums I can comfortably call my “favorites of the year” but I’ve also got 10 albums I can say I really quite liked and deserve a listen. 20 albums total, if you’re keeping count.
My 10 Favorite Albums of 2009 soon, but for now here are 10 Albums I Quite Liked in 2009 presented in alphabetical order and featuring a favorite track from each one:
Dan Deacon – Broomst
I have always been able to count on Dan Deacon to provide me with a great soundtrack for nights when I’m up till 4am trying to finish writing 10+ page papers. No one knows how to produce frantic video game-like noises and electronic cat meows from synthesizers quite like Deacon. Broomst is a nifty little package of all these crazy sounds I love so dearly that are catchy enough to enjoy but not distract while I’m typing away.
Filthy Dukes – Nonsense in the Dark
Filthy Dukes have done plenty of remixes for bands I like in the past, but I didn’t know they had morphed into a band. To tell the truth, I’m not sure how long it would have taken me to check out Nonsense in the Dark had the first single from the album not been “This Rhythm,” featuring guest vocals from Late of the Pier’s Sam Eastgate. Would I have even bothered to give it a listen at all? I can’t say, but I’m glad it didn’t pan out that way. This record is a fun listen. The first half is for the hyperactive 5 year-old in all of us who wants nothing more than to jump around and dance like a maniac. It’s good times. But by the time you reach the album’s title track “Nonsense in the Dark”, featuring guest vocals from Orlando Weeks and a bit of “William Powers,” things start to calm down a bit and the 20-something in all of us can take a breather and sway along to, dare I say it, calming synth beats and heavy bass lines. I’m not saying the album is groundbreaking or mindblowing, but it’s a fun listen. There’s a ton of djs-turned-”bands” dance, electro shit out there that I can’t stand (I’m looking at you Justice and Deadmau5), so Filthy Dukes being one of those type of bands and not annoying me is kind of a big deal. For me, at least. I can’t find a video of “Poison the Ivy” featuring frYars, so here’s one for “Nonsense in the Dark”:
Folded Light – Folded Light
A whole album of music that made me happy courtesy of Steve Damstra and Jaffe Zinn. Bonus good news: Their second album Kelly is out now!
Franz Ferdinand – Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
Four years is a really long time to wait between albums, but after the rush to release You Could Have It So Much Better it makes sense that the men of Franz Ferdinand took their time with Tonight. Admittedly, it took a few listens to really appreciate the album (four years had passed, remember?!) but in the end you just realized that Franz Ferdinand will always be Franz Ferdinand and therefore will never truly disappoint. Especially live. Wowza.
Kid Harpoon – Once
It was the long, long, long awaited debut from Kid Harpoon. I wasn’t disappointed in any way, or underwhelmed by any means, but I guess it wasn’t really what I expected. The changes in production took some getting used to, but at the end of the day you can’t deny Tom Hull’s brilliance as a songwriter and musician.
The Lovely Feathers – Fantasy of the Lot
You know how I’m always going on about how much I love happy music? Well, THIS albums is jam packed with happy music. Happy, witty, clever, awesome music. Everything you’ve come to expect from The Lovely Feathers. If you haven’t taken my advice in the past and given them a listen, change that NOW. There need to be more Lovely Feathers videos on Youtube:
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Even if what seems like half the album has been used for 297324794857945 different commercials this year, none of it takes away from the fact that Phoenix have finally caught their stride musically on Wolfgang and have made a great record. Better than It’s Never Been Like That? I don’t know, that’s still up in the air for me.
Slow Club – Yeah, So?
Slow Club’s Charles and Rebecca have squeezed in a little bit of everything into their debut album. From slow acoustic numbers to 50s surf punk influences to sweet piano ballads to, of course, folk bits and bobs. But the best part of the record has to be the rapport between Charles and Rebecca and the beautiful harmonies they create. They are melt-your-heart beautiful.
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
Many bands have tried to be the “new” Sonic Youth but you can’t be the “new” Sonic Youth when SONIC YOUTH are still around and sounding as good as ever. Sorry kids, keep dreaming. (Hey Kim, are you “thurston” for some “moore”? HAR-HAR-HAR. I swear that joke will always be funny to my brother and me. Sad, but true.)
Video Nasties – On All Fours
The album is a bit all over the place and I can see why a song like “Ides Patrol” didn’t make the cut, but when it’s good it’s really good. It’s perfect for waking up, loud and grimey and sweet and catchy. Like I said, all over the place.
Favorite songs of 2009, finally.
Yeah, I pretty much failed at life when it came to keeping up with my favorite-songs-of-the-year-advent-calendar idea. My bad. At first, it was easy to blame exams and schoolwork. But by the end of the month, my laziness was to blame. And life. I actually had what seemed like a life for a couple days there, it was weird.Then the holidays, can’t forget those.
New Year’s Resolution? Finish these posts and try not to neglect this poor blog. So, let’s roll. I will try to keep commentary to a minimum since there’s quite a few songs to go through.
14. Emmy The Great – Two Steps Forward
“Two Steps Forward” is yet another example of Emmy the Great’s songwriting talent. This is one of Emmy’s older songs that didn’t make it onto her debut album First Love, but it was included on the Edward EP released back in August. I highly recommend you watch the Black Cab Sessions performance of this song.
15. No Doubt – Stand and Deliver (Adam Ant cover)
This year, No Doubt returned and my heart could barely handle it. 2010 will (hopefully) see the band release a new album and I will get to experience more of this. YES PLEASE.
16. Jack Peñate – Let’s All Die
Who doesn’t love a good party jam about death? Hm? I wasn’t exactly head-over-heels for Peñate’s Everything Is New, but “Let’s All Die” was one of my favorite tunes from the album. It wasn’t until after seeing Peñate live that it definitely became my favorite from the album. It’s just too much fun.
17. Jamie T – Sticks ‘n Stones
For the longest time, I had this dinky little live recording of “Sticks N Stones” and of course I loved it, but I had no idea the power this song would have over me once my ears experienced a proper quality recording. HOLY SHIT. This song was born to be on repeat. When I feel like life is kicking my ass, “Sticks N Stones” is there to help me kick life right back, square in the balls. It’s like my own personal “Eye of the Tiger” but a million times better. People, there’s a reason Jamie T is KING.
18. Generationals – Nobody Could Change Your Mind
I like happy music. I really really do. And you know who made some damn good happy music this year? Generationals.
19. Slow Club – When I Go
There’s something very beautiful about the way Charles and Rebecca’s voices complement each other as they sing about back-up plans for love and life.
20. The Lullaby Club – Batman and Robin
The Lullaby Club were a 2009 musical discovery who are still quite a mystery to me. They were a random friend request on the ol’ myspace and for some odd reason instead of hitting the usual ‘ignore/delete’ button on band requests (like I did 98% of the time), I decided to click and have a listen. There was close to nothing on their page, just a link that led nowhere and a couple songs. And as luck would have it, the songs were rather good. If you’re a fan of the whole folk/pop/happiness thing, you might really dig them. There’s something quite familiar about the vocals and I’ve tried to find more information on the band, but my google searches have yielded nothing. If you know anything, please fill me in.
21. Noah and the Whale – The First Days of Spring
I think I’ve made my feelings about this song pretty clear on previous posts. Something about it being so good I want to have babies with the song, or whatever. This summer I discovered that one of the greatest ways to listen to this song is while driving through a thunderstorm, darkened clouds and lightning in the distance, with thunder roaring just as the song reaches its climactic ending. Talk about epic. Totally helps you forget about the possibility of hydroplaning, crashing, and dying.
22. Peggy Sue – Lover Gone
Sometimes when people break up, they write bitter, hurtful songs about their ex-lover. Sometimes when people break up, they write nice songs about their ex-lover and how there’s no hard feelings since ultimately it was for the best. This is one of those songs. 2010 will be a good year for Peggy Sue as it will see the release of their first album Fossils and Other Phantoms. Excitement!
23. The Maccabees – No Kind Words
It was the first taste of what was to come from The Maccabees on their second album Wall of Arms and mother-eff if it didn’t leave you wanting more! Recently, the boys reworked the tune with Roots Manuva and the result, “Empty Vessels,” will be featured on a special reissue of the album in early 2010.
24. Johnny Flynn – Lost & Found
This whole year has been a tease of what Johnny Flynn has in store for his second album, set for release sometime in 2010. Sweet jesus, I am excited!
25. Regina Spektor – The Calculation
Alright, I intentionally saved the best for last. OMG REGINA?! WHAT A SHOCKER! Part of the excitement in a new Regina Spektor album is (a) not knowing how she’s changed up some of her “classics” and (b) not knowing how many songs will actually be brand new songs no one has ever heard before in any way, shape, or form. “The Calculation” was one of the latter. In classic Regina fashion, she wrote a whimsical love story jampacked with Spektoresque metaphors that manages to be as catchy as it is beautiful. Since May, I’ve listened to “The Calculation” at least once a day everyday and I’ve been happy for at least three minutes.
BAM! Done. Better late than never, right? For songs 1-13, check out the tags.
