You may recall me mentioning The Honey Pies here before after I caught ear of some of their early tracks. Well, they’re finally ready to share their awesome new album Think Of England and I have a few copies to give away. They’ve cleaned up just enough of the rough edges and left the right bits ragged to maintain “their” sound. It is definitely a progression of the material on last spring’s EP Oh Hi We Didn’t See You There We’re… The Honey Pies. An exciting new act and you can have the full album for your home enjoyment. All you have to do is drop me an email … emma <at> theworldinapapercup <dot> com with “I Want Some Honey Pies” in the subject line.
[MP3] Get It Right
I am still sorting through the inbox- actually almost done and there are some fun bits I’ll be sharing over the next few days- but this one from the Buffetlibre DJs popped out at me. They’re starting off 2011 with a compilation of 13 remixes; a collection of “best of” oldies and soon to be “best of” newbies. Hitting a variety of source material from The Antlers to Dragonette the comp reminds you what really good remixes sound like. It’s a great palate cleanser as we head into a new year. One hopefully filled with awesome new music. For now enjoy The Remixes
[MP3] The Full Thing
I could’ve pulled together a “best of” list to add to the scads of other blogs who contribute to the annual tradition but after spending hours pouring through some really well put together lists and, of course, reading the “best of” guest posts right here on TWIAPC I figured I’d take another approach to bring you back around to some of the high points of 2010. So, I give you the first annual TWIAPC awards.
Dance-Around-Like-A-Crazy-Person Album Of The Year:
Florence & The Machine – Lungs
I cannot tell you how many horrible days or blue moods were chased away by coming home and putting this album on full blast and dancing around my apartment. Like Ida Maria’s fabulous release last year I have no doubt this album will remain in pretty constant rotation for years to come.
Biggest Sound From Tiniest Source:
Zola Jesus
I had the pleasure to see Miss. Jesus open for The XX this fall and wholly cow was I blown away by the vocal power exuded from her wee self. I have a much richer appreciation of her talent having seen and heard what I did that night. I cannot wait to hear what she has coming in 2011.
[MP3]Sea Talk
Album That Really Takes On New Life On Vinyl
Menomena – Mines
Probably my most favorite album of 2010 blossomed into an entirely new experience the day I brought home the vinyl and slipped it on to the turn table. Everything becomes brighter on wax. The percussion and harmonic tones in particular become incredibly full and nuanced. Even if you’re not “big into vinyl”- as I hear so many people say- you should treat yourself to this one. It’s delicious.
Best Concept Album About The Civil War (sort of)
Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
This is one smart and well produced album. Admittedly it took me a few listens to really catch everything but once the pieces came together I found myself coming back to Monitor again and again. New Jersey sure knows how to create some great musicians.
Way Coolest Usage Of Vinyl
Octopus Project – Hexadecagon
This album not only comes with a make your own zoetrope but the D side is ten bonus tracks in interlocking roulette grooves. Meaning, you never know what track you’re going to get when you drop the needle. So effing cool.
Band I Have Major Expectations For in 2011
River City Extension
You know what I said about New Jersey’s ability to incubate fantastic music? These guys are case-and-point. The lyrics and arrangements are well rooted in classic Jersey sound with the personalities and musical talent to bring the sound unique life. They made some rumblings this year but I expect big things from them next year.
Live Set That Made Me Wish I Were More Flexible
Poison Control Center
From the somersaults to the splits -all done while continuing to play- watching PCC live made me feel totally inadequate on the flexibility tip. It was also, I should note, a terribly entertaining show as well.
Album That Is The Sonic Equivalent Of A Comfortable Sweater
Frightened Rabbit – Winter Of Mixed Drinks
Perhaps it is because Scott Hutchison’s voice brings a great deal of comfort to me or because the tone of this album was so relatable -as Frightened rabbit albums tend to be- but I find Winter Of Mixed Drinks very comforting. Tuck into it, if you haven’t already that is.
[MP3] Swim Until You Can’t See Land
Band You Should Really Be Addicted To By Now
Lookbook
Seriously, I don’t know what you’re waiting for. Go. Listen. Love.
[MP3] Yesterday’s Company
Further Proof More Soul Music Is What The World Needs
Aloe Blacc
I’ve been craving a solid return to a pop soul sound for ages and while I’ve savored the likes of Adele, Raphael Saadiq and Chrisette Michelle Blass hits the core of what I’ve been looking for.
Best Video Of The Year
Janelle Monae – Cold War
So simple yet so beautifully emotional. In a year of some awesome videos this one just stuck in my mind.
Series I had The Most Fun Writing
Summer Mix Series
I’ll have some more series coming in 2011 but I really had a lot of fun recalling the music that soundtracked summers past.
Reader Results:
Most Popular Tracks:
Bonfires – Rosie & Me
Under Control – Good Shoes
70 Million – Hold Your Horses
Airplanes – Local Natives
Heart It Races (architecture In Helsinki Cover) – Dr Dog
All Up In The Air – My Gold Mask
Most Popular Remixes:
I Am Not A Robot (Clock Opera Remix) – Marina & The Diamonds
Let’s Go Surfing (Ravonettes Remix) – The Drums
Lovegame (The Insomniacts Remix) – Lady Gaga
Home (Part Supplies Remix) – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
OK folks that’s about all from 2010. Let’s go get 2011 a hopping…
A good live show can lift you out of a funk, make you look around and realize there is no where else on earth you’d rather be, make the hairs on your arms stand on end, remind you that there is still magic in the music being made today. These are the eight shows from 2010 that achieved all the above and then some.
Octopus Project @ SXSW + KFN
[MP3] Wet Gold (Daytrotter Session)
[MP3] Cousins (Vampire Weekend cover) – Mumford & Sons
[MP3] When My Time Comes (Daytrotter)
Beach House @ The Sanctuary of The First Unitarian Church
[MP3] Norway
Menomena & Suckers @ The Sanctuary of The First Unitarian Church
[MP3] It Gets Your Body Movin
[MP3] Wet & Rusting
Futureheads @ The Basement of The First Unitarain Church
[MP3] Struck Dumb
[MP3] Candy Sin (Live SXSW 2010)
Roots & John Legend @ NonComm
Chris is another Philly writer whose listening habits are a total breath of fresh air for me. He points me towards a ton of new music through his twitter feed. I was super anxious to see what his look back would consist of and he’s delivered in ace form; haikus and a playlist to boot!
Heartbreak and hopes. What else is there? My 15 favorite songs of 2010, with haiku descriptions.Top 15 Songs You Might Have Missed in 2010
1. The Radio Dept. – Heaven’s On Fire
Thurston Moore intro
Swedes are always pop masters
Dance in your bedroom
2. Daedelus & Teebs– You’ve Heard
Would Barry White call
This hip-hop disco trip
J Dilla-esque?
3. Crystal Stilts – Shake the Shackles
Romance about gloom
That cylindrical bassline
Gets me all the same
4. Love is All – Bigger Bolder
Scream out your lovin’
Don’t care if it’s out of key
Power to destroy
5. DOM – Burn Bridges
Wallflower writes song
Leaving party with hopes dashed
“Make oneself an isle”
6. John K – These Dreams Are Never Coming True
Bedroom written jam
In the confines of West Phil.
Write more, Mr. K
7. Beach Fossils – Calyer
Double vocals stretch
Bassline pulses at the heart
Guitar noodle bliss
8. Teebs – Anchor Steam
Piano hits deep groove
Heavy in atmosphere
Arrested ears smile
9. Twin Sister – Daniel (Live at WNYU)
So many textures
live on a radio show
Help those hips shimmy
10. Thick Shakes – (Baby) You’re A Starfish
Boston upstarts wax
on Asteroidian crush
East Coast surf pop, brah
11. Reading Rainbow – Underground
Loud, fast, cut the fat
Philly duo own this sound
I learned all the words
12. UV Race – Gore Orphanage
Proof a good accent
All that’s needed for lyrics
Check out those horns too
13. Pangaea – Neurons
Dubstep for headphones
Crisp clacks, sound shoot off distant
London tradition
14. La Sera – Never Come Around
Noise pop does dream pop
Katy’s voice sounds huge, it’s bliss
Viv Girls need not rush
15. Sambassadeur – Sandy Dunes
Twee not shy to sheen
Trying to fight the heartbreak
Adequate beauty
And because he is so awesome Chris put together this mixtape so you can hear all 15 of these tracks.
I can say with 100% confidence that if it weren’t for Guha I wouldn’t have the same appreciation for and curiosity about indie music of all varieties. He was the booker for The Cave, the student run pub on my college campus, and in my four years there was instrumental in bringing some exceptional musicians to my attention. Even though the college years are long gone Guha still sends me new artists he has discovered and carries on the conversation about music past, present and future. If there is anyone I’d love to have as a regular contributor to TWIAPC ia would be this man. Alas, he is off doing super honorable environmental research which makes him a very very busy fella. However, he did take some time to pull together these awesome lists looking back on the music that grabbed his attention in 2010.
21 Worded Songs
Antony and the Johnsons, “Thank You For Your Love“
Arcade Fire, “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”
Black Keys, “Everlasting Light“
Das Racist, “Who’s That? Brooown!“
Roky Erickson with Okkervil River, “Goodbye Sweet Dreams“
Frightened Rabbit, “Living In Colour“
Gorillaz, “On Melancholy Hill“
Grinderman, “Palaces Of Montezuma“
Konono No. 1, “Konono Wa Wa Wa“
LCD Soundsystem, “All I Want” (Live)
Janelle Monae featuring Big Boi, “Tightrope“
The New Pornographers, “Crash Years“
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, “Say No To Love“
Retribution Gospel Choir, “Hide It Away“
Superchunk, “Digging For Something“
11 Wordless Albums
The Bad Plus, Never Stop
Brooklyn Rider, Dominant Curve
The Nels Cline Singers, Initiate
Emerson String Quartet, Old World – New World
Hilary Hahn; Vasily Petrenko Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Higdon/Tchaikovsky: Violin Concertos
Vijay Iyer, Solo
Rudresh Mahanthappa & Steve Lehman, Dual Identity
Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green, Apex
Brad Mehldau, Highway Rider
Jason Moran, Ten
Steve Reich (eighth blackbird/Bang On A Can), Double Sextet/2×5
1 Greatest Musical Moment EVER
No Age/Sonic Youth/Pavement at the Hollywood Bowl
Next up in the Best of 2010 guest posts is Will Hines, one of my favorite people with whom to banter about music. Will lives in London so he has a perspective on the music scene that is very different from my own so I’m always interested to find out what he’s listening to. That is, when he isn’t plotting his next major move. His best of 2010 contribution is a great albums list and awesomely shameless best tracks list. It certainly made me rethink a few of the bands I had breezed over.
Best Albums Of 2010
10. Mount Kimbie – Crooks And Lovers
9. Foals – Total Life Forever
8. Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History
7. Trent Reznor And Atticus Ross – The Social Network OST
6. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
5. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
4. Caribou – Swim
3. These New Puritans – Hidden
2. Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty
1. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid
Best Tracks of 2010
10. Mark Ronson & The Business INTL – Bang Bang Bang
9. Erykah Badu – Window Seat
8. Teeth – See Spaces
7. Gold Panda
6. Willow Smith – Whip My Hair
5. Patrick Wolf – Time Of My Life
4. Duck Sauce – Barbra Streisand
3. Gorillaz – Rhinestone Eyes
2. Cee-Lo Green – Fuck You
1. Kanye West – Runaway
My process for compiling my year end recap is a lengthy one consisting of rereading posts, revisiting albums, looking at my iTunes play count etc. The part I like doing the most though is asking friends, other writers, musicians what the highlights of their years was. So, this year I decided to ask some folks to guest post their “best of.”
The rules were very simple. They could choose theme, length and level of detail. The selection of guest writers is a truly random assortment and I look forward to introducing you to some folks whose opinions I respect and tastes I learn a lot from.
To kick things off I asked Chris, the man at the helm of Battering Room and one of the most fascination minds to pick about music, to share his favs from 2010. The resulting list is pretty sweet- a few I knew would be there and a few bands that are entirely new to me- and I think you’ll find the same.
1 Foals – Total Life Forever
2 Midlake – The Courage of Others
3 Mussels – When We had Nothing
4 Born Ruffians – Say It
5 Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
[MP3] Airplanes (live)
6 Junip – Fields
[MP3] Always (Runroc Remix)
7 Best Coast – Crazy For You
8 Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
[MP3] Vital Signs (Midnight Juggernauts Cover)
9 The Thermals – Personal Life
10 Fang Island – Fang Island
11 Dinosaur Feathers – Fantasy Memorial
[MP3] Fantasy Memorial
12 Crime In Stereo – I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone
13 Matt & Kim – Sidewalks
14 Surfer Blood – Astro Coast
15 Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
16 Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record
17 Working For A Nuclear Free City – Jojo Burger Tempest
18 The Press – INTEOTWIJTEOAE
19 Medications – Completely Removed
20 Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
[MP3] Little Lion Man
21 Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
22 The Mugs – Gracias
23 The Besnard Lakes – Are The Roaring Night
24 The Megaphonic Thrift – Decay Decoy
25 The Black Angels – Phosphene Dream
26 Girl Talk – All Day
27 Male Bonding – Nothing Hurts
28 Menomena – Mines
[MP3] Wet & Rusting
29 Cloud Cult – Light Chasers
30 Black Mountain – Wilderness Heart
If EPs are more your thing Chris was kind enough to toss in his top five of those too. In no particular order…
Highlife – Best Bless
Sufjan – All Delighted People
[MP3] Too Much (Short Version)
Milagres – Tour EP
Magnetic Island – Out At Sea
Keepaway – Baby Style
Marie Stella – Trust
Yawn – Yawn
[MP3] Kind Of Guy
Harlan Pepper are on album number one and Young & Old is a stellar way to come out of the gate, especially for a group that is made up of a recent high school graduates. If ever you need proof that exposing kids to the classics, be it rock, country, rap etc, can make them decidedly more awesome adults than Harlan Pepper is it. Having a sincere love for roots rock, blues and folk has given their music the kind of sonic patina bands usually attempt to create using way too many affects. With this as their starting point I have a feeling Harlan Pepper will be leaving a mark in no time.
[MP3] Great Lakes
Lovelikefire’s new album Dust is most delicious. The San Francisco group is back with an evolved sound – richer harmonies, well thought out lo-fi effects -heard through out this album. Don’t get me wrong, the group has had keen indie rock sensibilities from the start but now its more focused. Whether it is the experience touring their material or simple getting more comfortable with their skills you can hear it through out. The track “Saint Martin” is so clean and beautifully haunting you won’t be able to resist looping is a few times. Get to know Lovelikefire, you won’t regret it.
[MP3] Signs
I love pretty much everything about Adele. From her strong beautiful voice to the striking way she presents herself. This video pretty much sums all of that up fantastically. “Rolling In The Deep” is the first single of her much anticipated album 21, due out February 22nd. If the entirety of the new release is as awesome as this small taste I’m sure it’ll be on incessant reply for most of next year.
[MP3] Hometown Glory (Chewy Chocolate Cookies Remix)
I love the quirk factor in this video. The Singing Adams is the new project from Broken Family Band member Steven Adams and marks a definite departure for the poppier side of music making. Born of some bedroom recording shenanigans he then roped a few friend into the project and now they’re getting ready to release an album, Everybody Friends Now, in 2011.
This video is sort of a vintage treatment of styles previously put forth by Ok Go and the Ting Tings but although it isn’t new it is still very well done. Cordelier Club is the bro sis duo of Richard & Alice Smith who clearly to lengthy dips in the talent end of their gene pool. Their sound is best described as infectious and laden with hooks. The single is out now; hopefully soon to be chased by a full length.
