Meant to post this a while ago but I totally forgot the name of the band after I listened to it. I was googling ‘Youth Magic’, ‘Magic Youth’, I think I even took a punt on ‘Black Magic’. No.
Young Magic are from Australia and making some really great stuff, don’t know much more yet. ‘You With Air’ is one of my favourite new tunes of the year, have a listen below or get it free here. If you’re lucky enough to be going to SXSW, check them out!
Bit of a beauty here from Kuaigora. Listen to ‘Daylight’ below and check some more tracks and videos here. They’re playing in London a lot over the next couple of months so plenty of chances to catch it live.
Currently listening to: Yuck – Yuck. Maybe a bit of thunder stolen by Radiohead this week, but Yuck’s debut album is out tomorrow and it’s great. Amazon. iTunes. Soundcloud.
I posted James Owen Fender’s ace video for his single ‘The Cloud’ back in October, and got a really good reaction to it. He’s now back with a 4-track EP, entitled ‘WooF’. It comes out in March and includes ‘The Cloud’ along with a new single called ‘Everyday’. James also has a new (and possibly unrelated) video, but I’m including it here becuase it’s really lovely. Check it out below.
From where I’m sitting (inside my house) it could plausibly be summer. Ok, there is a tree over there with no leaves on it and it’s a bit nippy but it’s so nice I’m choosing to ignore that. So today was a good day to finally get round to listening to the Ra Cailum EP I downloaded a couple of weeks ago. As far as I can tell Ra Cailum is one dude from Chicago making lots of interesting and lovely sounds. Check out one of the summeriest cuts from his ‘Leaving EP’ below and head to his bandcamp to download the whole EP for free.
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Currently listening to: The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar. One of the longest awaited debut albums in musical history (not true) is, thankfully, bloody good. Amazon. Spotify.
Peers are a Reading band that seem to really love Reading..so much so that they only play in Reading and never come to London. Actually, I’m being a bit harsh here – they have a date booked in Windsor. To be fair I’m sure they’ll probably play in London when they’re ready, and on the strength of the demo of ‘Football’, it will definitely be worth a look. Listen/download for free via soundcloud below.
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Currently listening to: Braids – Native Speaker. The band responsible for one of my favourite tunes of the back-end of 2010, Lemonade, have a debut album! Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
Tribes are a new UK band that are starting to gain a bit of momentum. Check out their track ‘Whenever’ below. It might be a single but I’m not too sure, it should be. They’re playing in London on 27th Jan @ XOYO with the equally promising Wilder. By the way, if you live in London, I ban you from staying in on January 27th. There are so many great gigs going on that you owe it to yourself to be out. Actually it’s slightly annoying, as I’m pretty much guaranteed to miss all but one of them. You can also grab an MP3 of Nightdriving below.
[MP3] Tribes – Nightdriving (demo)
A couple of Australians who formed a band at home and then moved to Europe; one to London and one to Barcelona. How they keep a band running so far apart I’m not sure, but they’re doing it pretty well. Check out ‘Run Overdrive’ below – bit fuzzy, bit post-punk, bit math-rock, very good.
So here’s my top 10 for 2010. Special mentions to Bombay Bicycle Club, No Age, Mystery Jets, Broken Social Scene, Crystal Fighters and everything else I’ve forgotten or not heard yet (currently listening to the Big Boi album for the first time and it’s sounding prettttty good)…
10. Gold Panda – Lucky Shiner
A genius debut album from one of the world’s most interesting new electronic whizzes. Diverse and beautiful album, at times leaning towards the club but really comes into it’s own when soundscapes are layered brilliantly.
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
9. Gil Scott-Heren – I’m New Here
The first album in 16 years from a true legend – entirely spoken word, the man creates some amazing imagery and probably has the coolest voice in music.
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
8. Marnie Stern – Marnie Stern
An album I’ve listened to relentlessly – it’s loud, very ballsy and has loads of technical skill. For people who like guitars.
Amazon.iTunes. Spotify.
7. Janelle Monae – TheArchAndroid
Tightrope is possibly the song of the year, and the whole album is brilliant and just how pop music should sound. Definitely the coolest album of the year. Mission for 2010: see it live.
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
6. Sleigh Bells – Sleigh Bells
I love this album, even though most of it is spent run right into the red with distortion, it’s part of the fun. A combination of styles that hadn’t been put together before, and the result was something genuinely new. And loud.
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
5. Beach House – Teen Dream
An album that I found myself constantly going back to this year. It has a luscious, sun-drenched feel to the production which makes it more suited to summer, I’ll be getting this album back out in the spring for sure. *If you squint you can make out the album cover above.
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
4. Robyn – Body Talk pt.1/Body Talk pt.2/ Body Talk
The only artist on this list to have realised three albums this year, although the third, ‘Body Talk’, featured the best of the first two, give or take. She’s the ultimate popstar in my opinion, amazing songs that don’t rely on repetitive (yet painfully catchy) melodies, an image that is super cool without falling back on lazy sexual cliches (watch her videos). Robyn does sassy, gracious, angry and fun all brilliantly across the course of the album. It’s a bit of a mystery why she isn’t a superstar.
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
3. Tokyo Police Club – Champ
I started listening to this when I was travelling in the summer, and fell in love with it. Full of catchy, invigorating pop songs – perfect for listening in full and dipping in and out.
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
2. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
What can I say? Kanye is a genius after all. From the opening bars of Dark Fantasy, Nicki Minaj on Monster, Kanye doing it by himself on Power, EVERYONE on So Appalled, Gil Scott-Heren sample in ‘Who Will Survive in America?’, the whole thing is amazing from the first note until the last. Kanye’s real genius is that despite the endlessly rotating door of guests, his production skills hold it all together perfectly, and his guests sound better here than on their own material. So nearly number 1…
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
1. The National – High Violet
Not the most original choice, but a band I’ve loved for a long time releasing the album of their lives is a strong combo. This was my number 1 because, unlike Kanye which came out only a month or so ago, I’ve lived with this record since May and have never tired of it. Definitely the album I’ve listened to most the most in 2010 and the one I will always listen to the whole way through. Perfect.
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
Happy new year to everyone who’s read this blog and here’s to lots of exciting music in 2010!
20. Caribou – Swim
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify
19. Baths – Cerulean
Myspace. iTunes. Amazon (Not on Spotify)
18. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Amazon. iTunes.
17. Delorean – Subiza
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
16. Pretty Lights – Spilling Over Every Side
Free download @ Prettylightsmusic.com
15. Mark McGuire – Living With Yourself
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
14. Tallest Man On Earth – The Wild Hunt
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
13. Fang Island – Fang Island
Spotify. iTunes. Amazon.
12. Zola Jesus – Stridulum II
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
So here it is – my top 30 albums of 2010. 30 may seem like an odd number…I didn’t want to do 50 as that always seems like way too many for anyone to get much from. So I went for 20, but then couldn’t fit everything in. 30 it is then.
Few things to note..- Yes, I know top albums list got tedious by about the middle of november and you’ve probably read loads of them already..I’m doing this for ME ok? I’ve only included LPs, so that means some great EPs (Active Child, Tanlines and Evenings to name a few) have fallen by the wayside. Check em out anyway. And remember I haven’t heard everything..you know I haven’t got round to listening to the Glasser album in full yet, nor the new Boyle effort. I’m on it.
And lastly, some of these albums are REALLY cheap. I won’t tell you which ones but there’s links to everything below, I think the lowest was £4.53, for an actual CD! Go and put that cheque from Auntie Doris into good use.
So there you go…20-11 tomorrow and top on NYE. Roll on 2011.
30. Teengirl Fantasy – 7AM
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
29. Yeasayer – Odd Blood
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
28. Holy Fuck – Latin
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
27. Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here?
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify
26. Chief – Modern Rituals
Amazon. iTunes. Myspace
25. Jonsi – Go Do
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
24. Foals – Total Life Forever
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
23. Alcoholic Faith Mission – Let This Be The Last Night We Care
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
22. Four Tet – There Is Love In You.
Amazon. iTunes. Spotify.
GRAMOFOAM 
