Advent day 7: Mark McGuire

Brought out a double album and a cracking EP (Get Lost) which featured the awesome lyrics : "It must resolve, we try and evolve."

Wonder what 2012 will bring...

Mark McGuire - Another Dead End
 Mark McGuire - Another Dead End by Chico Dub

Advent Day 6: Phanes

Lucky Woman has proved to be a bit of a hit for Phanes.

A quick listen, followed by a click of the repeat button, tells you why.

A vid that analogue hipsters will love as well.

Phanes - Lucky Woman

Advent day 5: Loscil

Carrying on from the Endless Falls album, Loscil continued to push ambient boundaries this year with the Coast/Range/Arc EP.

it's a sparse and haunting offering. Enjoy.

Loscil - Neve
 Loscil - Névé by MoLLy

Advent day 4: Explosions in the Sky

Highlight of the year = seeing this band live.

Amongst the hour and a half set, which bled from one track to the next, was this song.

For me it's the best one off the album.

Explosions in the Sky - Let Me Back In

Advent day 3: Halls and Sun Glitters

Halls, whose EP's make up some of the best music I have heard this year, and Sun Glitters, whose album Everything Could Be Fine is another classic, released a split EP. Bliss.

Here's a Sun Glitter's Remix of a Halls track.

Halls - Chakra Drums (Sun Glitters Remix)

Advent Day 2: Dakota Suite

This song is proof that you can make great music with very little.

It's the first track from the 2011, jazz infused, Hearts of Empty album.

The song, the whole album, is a treat, enjoy.

Dakota Suite - Easy Steps

 Dakota Suite - Easy Steps by Fluid Radio 

Advent day 1: Codes in the Clouds

To start with then a band who produced a solid album this year (As the Spirit Wanes), which has one exceptional track.

For lovers of surf-rock. Enjoy.

Codes in the Clouds - Look Back, Look Up
 Codes In The Clouds – Look Back, Look Up by erasedtapes

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 

ZAMBRI

Zambri have featured on this blog before. But because their music is worthy enough and Jessica, who makes up one half of the band, lent some meat to the bones this time round it makes sense to give them another shout out.

We lifted sounds from our daily lives/routines, so it makes the music somewhat nostalgic and familiar even though it’s drastically new. 

It certainly has a drastically new feel, like something from the not too distant future.

The heavy distortion adds to that dystopian feel and in general it feels like there is a whole lot of experimentation going on.

So what were the influences?

The music on Glossolalia is wild and maybe even a little animalistic. We stuck close to what we know best musically, and that is our voices, so you'll hear lots of sounds that originated from there and grew to places we never knew it could. 

You can listen to some of their stuff on Facebook. But for now here is one of their tracks, On Call.

Enjoy.

 Zambri OnCall by kaninerecords 

BORDEAUXXX

                                                                                                                     

If you’re ever in need of cheering up, perhaps you’ve got withdrawal symptoms from the baking summer (autumn?) that we had, then throw on a bit of Bordeauxxx. These guys and girl are a exuberant little four – piece from round the way.

You’ll love their fresh indie style, and vocal quirks.

You’ll also love their taste in music. I asked them what the last albums they purchased were:

Nat (guitar): Jonny Kearney &Lucy Farrell after I saw them, and I let them know in no uncertain terms how much I didn't mind spending my £6 on it.


Martin(lead vocals and keyboard): The new Girls record on the day it came out and Stagecoach We Got Tazers. 


Charlie(guitar): Janelle Monae and the new Girls album.


Amy(bass): Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony and Peter and the Wolf.


Jon(drums): Laura Marling's new album, but it was for my dad's birthday ‘cause I'm generous like that. 

No idea why they are called Bordeauxxx, but, thankfully, when asked about their favourite wines they had plenty to say for themselves.

Nat: My favourite wine has the heady aroma of being given to me for free at some public event that underestimates my shamelessness in repeatedly going back for more


Martin: Free event wine is both the best and worst kind of wine. If people are giving out wine it probably means they're more important than you so you should probably show some self control so as not to make a fool of yourself. But, it's free. Catch 22 or what? I like red wine most, then rosé, then white. I'm not particularly fussy as long as it's cheap, though I once had a brilliant rosé. I can't remember what it was so I've never had it again.


Amy: My favourite wine is the “brilliant” rose that Martin mentioned and I was lucky enough to have it on more than on occasion.


Charlie: I'm not really that much of a wine drinker. Rose is the most pussy one right? I think I like that the most.


Brace yourself...


Jon : Given the choice, I'd go for a sharp red with sophisticated berry accents, filtered for 2 weeks through Claudia Schiffer's cleavage into a bottle made of the frozen tears of joy of all of my adoring fans. #rockstardreams

Bordeauxxx are currently touring – If they keep the booze in check they could be ones to watch.

Here are some of their songs. Enjoy.

 Mother's Ruin by bordeauxxx 

BNRY

Bass driven. Slightly melodic. Repeated vocal chops.

This is how BNRY describes his music. Succinct I think you’ll agree. And certainly not something I’d disagree with.

What we have here is some very intelligent dance music, progressive even, but more on that later.

I got to asking what BNRY’s favourite nightclub was and it turns out to be Plastic People, and why?

It’s Dark.

Fair enough, and succinct again. BNRY is playing Binnacle, a festival featuring progressive (that word again) musicians. It starts on 15 October and is at the Old Blue Last, Shoreditch.

Here are a couple of my favourite tracks from BNRY.

 Crayola by BNRY 

 Gold Leaf by BNRY 

zambri

If all this economic doom and gloom is starting to get you down then why not try listening to Zambri. Zambri are a New York based group whose style is similar to contemporaries such as Creep, but perhaps, with a slightly more eccentric nature to keep you guessing.

They’re signed to Kanine Records and should have a quite a healthy output of new material in the near future; so if the your nations growth figures have just been downgraded by the IMF this could be just the tonic you need. 

 Tonight We Fly by Zambri