LP's of the year/advent

In any old order here are my favourite, full length, LP’s from 2011:

Balam Acab - WANDER/WONDER

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Brontide – Sans Souci

BvDub – One Last Look at the Sea

Explosions in the Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie XX – We’re New Here

Ghostpoet – Peanut Butter and Melancholy Jam

Hurray for the Riff Raff – Hurray for the Riff Raff

Iceage - New Brigade

Jamie Woon  - Mirrorwriting

Jeniferever – Silesia

Kanye West and Jay Z – Watch the Throne

Sun Glitters – Everything Could Be Fine

SBTRKT – SBTRKT

Three Trapped Tigers – Route One or Die

Tubelord – Romance

Wild Beasts – Smother

Forgotten a big one no doubt.

Every day in December I’ll be posting a song from the last year that I have loved and appreciated. Not surprisingly many will derive from this list – but a lot has come from EP’s and what not.

It will be a mish mash of different stuff, much of which has been on the blog before, much of which you may have heard somewhere else.

Hopefully the music and the rationale will resonate.

BUFFALO TIDE

Buffalo Tide (aka Chris Oliver) is a producer and musician who straddles two continents, having a base in North America (Vancouver) and Europe (Brighton).

As well as the Buffalo Tide project Oliver is also the co-founder of the music collective BLBX.

His latest EP, Arabia, is out now. So how to describe the latest work:

'Arabia' was intended as night music, it was written at night, and for the most part, to be listened to at night. On this record I also sampled my voice a lot to add the human element of sleeplessness. I like a lot of space in my music to allow it to breathe better. Not loads of clutter. It's electronic music at the core.

Such a nice, dance and electronic vibe here: the lead track, Divine Tide, for example, starts off with a fairly standard beat before injecting an eccentric 80’s synth style overtone from a minute and a half onwards. Great stuff.

Fans should check out Geneva another of his tracks which is on Soundcloud.

Arabia, Geneva, bit of a geography theme developing here, so Buffalo Tide – man of two worlds – are you city or country?

Hard one, I love the country side at home where I grew up, and I especially love the countryside a lot in Asia where I've spent time travelling, I'm definitely a wildlife man at heart. But, I live in Vancouver, and there's certainly something that's quite evocative and understated about walking through an empty city at night/early morning. The lights here are ridiculously beautiful.

I’ve never been to Vancouver, but it’s on my list, and the chance to walk empty streets like something out of28 Days Later is an added plus.

Here’s more on BLBX. Enjoy.

 Divine Lions by BUFFALO TIDE 

more ARTHUR

Here is the latest track from Arthur, it's called Finally though I don't think the wait has been that long.

The future for this Swedish artist, whose music is wider and more broader than any label is big, so big thanks to him for letting me expose him. 

  Arthur - Finally by Arthurr

ARTHUR

After a brief hiatus this blog is back with a bang.

Arthur (Linus Johnsson) is a Swedish post-dubstep artist, who hates all the post-dubstep labels. Primarily because he doesn't fit in to any of them.

His music is right up this alley though. Danceable, but with an element of stoicism and coolness about it. He might not have a label but does he have a place in the Stockholm scene?

Not sure where I'd fit into the scene here, we have quite a few underground dubstep clubs here that are going more into experimental sounds so I guess there!

Anyone with an ear for this kind of music, after having listened to Arthur, won’t need this question answering. But I asked it anyway. Arthur, who from the UK are big influences on your music?

Burial, obviously. He's been a HUGE inspiration on my music. Jamie XX is also one of the biggest influences.

Good lad. With influences like that it would be hard to go wrong. Wonder if he has other, wider influences and interest. Arthur, what was the last book you read?

That would be The Talisman by Stephen King. 

Arthur has a fair few songs on Soundcloud. I’ve put You on here. It battles with Sea for being my favourite tune. Enjoy.  

 Arthur - You by Arthurr