NUMBER ONE HUNDRED & FIFTY.
December08
So, some pretty exciting news: the kids from Warner Music’s Cool Accidents blog selected my screen print as the winning entry in their recent Inspired competition. Thanks a tonne to those guys!
NUMBER ONE HUNDRED & FORTY.
April05
I’ve had the new LP Helplessness Blues, from Seattle kids Fleet Foxes, for a little under a week, and to be honest have barely listened to anything else in those six days. It’s been nearly three years since their eponymous debut launched them into the hipster consciousness, a pretty long wait on new material, but for me, this sophomore release goes beyond my expectations. The songs are familiar; the layered harmonies and instrumentation, but Pecknold’s prose-like lyrics speak to me with a fresh voice.
The band recorded this footage whilst traveling on tour and recording the new album.
NUMBER ONE HUNDRED & THIRTY SIX.
March14
Ramón Ayala’s film clip for Spanish indie group Bedroom’s recent single Cançó de l’alba is an avant garde, surreal and somewhat erotic descent into a daydream-esque forest.
Boobies alert!
NUMBER ONE HUNDRED & TWENTY SEVEN.
January03
Of course this post could qualify as jumping on board that bandwagon of ‘best of lists’ that occupy blogs the blogosphere over as we ring in the new year, but hey, who ever said I was above bandwagons?
That said, I have to say that there have been a number of amazing albums that dropped this year; from some exceptional debuts to solid sophomore releases (or if you’re Sufjan Stevens, two new releases to count towards a body of work which already rivals that of the prolific Ryan Adams).
So without further ado, here’s my list of the best new albums that have played soundtrack to the year that was twenty ten.
NUMBER ONE HUNDRED & TWENTY SEVEN.
December14
Hey everyone!
Here at the New Exhibition studio we’ve really been getting into the Christmas spirit this week - our tree is up, decorated and lit, and the whole place smells so Christmas-y!
I’ve been on the hunt for some holiday themed tunes today and thought it would be fun to share them - you can download the entire mixtape, Throw Another Log On The Old Yulefire, here.
The track list is as follows:
It’s Christmas - Coconut Records
Noel - sleepyhands
White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes
Deilig Er Jorden - Kings of Convenience
Covered In Snow - William Fitzsimmons
Lo, How a Rose E’re Blooming - Feist
Blue Christmas - First Aid Kit
Christmas In The Room - Sufjan Stevens
It’s Christmas So We’ll Stop - Frightened Rabbit
Winter Winds - Mumford & Sons
Got Something For You - Best Coast & Wavves
Baby Please Come Home - The Raveonettes
Jingle Bell Rock - Arcade Fire
Hope you enjoy, and Merry Christmas!
x
Coachella commissioned Sam O’Hare to shoot this tilt shift time lapse of the 2010 festival, and it’s 225,000 strong crowd. When I came across it today, I immediately wanted to see it paired with the track Brooke Fraser penned at the three day festival, from her newly released album Flags. So here they are together; just so there’s no confusion, I’ve done the mashing, but personally don’t hold the rights to either. Enjoy!
NUMBER ONE HUNDRED & TEN.
September21
On the back of his sophomore album Wide Eyes Blind Love, 26-year-old Brighton born singer/songwriter Mike Rosenberg, or Passenger, spent 2009 touring by setting up on street corners across the UK and Australia. Through this unique ‘busking’ approach to taking his music to the masses, it seems Rosenberg managed to meet and befriend the ‘it’ list of Australian indie…
Thus, Flight Of The Crow, Passenger’s third effort, which releases this Friday, features a series of collaborations with friends met along the way. Lior, Josh Pyke, Katie Noonan, Boy & Bear, Kate Miller Heidke, Matt Corby, as well as Gabrielle Huber and Cameron Potts of Dead Letter Chorus, all feature, lending their voices to this serendipitous creature of an LP.
The initial single Golden Thread features Sydney kid Matty Corby’s vox, in a video paired with lovely animation by Mark Charlton. If this is anything to go by, Flight will be a fine album by which to be introduced to this British troubadour.
NUMBER ONE HUNDRED & SIX.
September16
I have to say that since picking up a pre-release copy of Arcade Fire’s third studio LP The Suburbs, I have been blown away by what is not only an undeniably fantastic album, but also a record created by a band who are whole-heartedly embracing the opportunities our current digital age is affording the music industry.
Arcade officially dropped The Suburbs on August 2/3, depending on where in the world you live, although they led with a soft release of a two-track teaser EP much earlier in the year. The 12-track LP (a much longer album when compared to both their debut and sophomore releases), whilst retaining the band’s signature indie/baroque pop sound, isn’t afraid to tread into new, more complex territories. Individual tracks may work as singles, but there is an over-arcing narrative to this album which makes it all the more compelling. As front-man Win Butler puts it, this is Arcade’s “letter from the suburbs”.
With digital copies of the album downloaded from the band’s official website came a new first; the m4a’s included Synchronized Artwork developed by AATOAA. Win wanted to recreate the feelings we the listeners used to get when we purchased music on CD or cassette; when flipping through the lyrics, looking at a band picture or a cool drawing related to a song while listening to it. The artwork, which automatically opens during various moments in each song, incorporates elements of the physically printed LP’s packaging, along with a number of hyperlinks which enable the band to update and change the artwork from time to time! As a digital creative, I am so excited about this whole new area of music industry design.
On August 5, the band streamed their ‘album release’ on YouTube - a full concert at Madison Square Garden, webcast live to eager fans across the globe. I sat glued to my computer as the new songs filled my studio space with the kind of energy that can only inhabit a live performance. I felt a new sense of connection to this troop of seven strangers based on the other side of the planet.
The latest development of The Suburbs to date is the release of The Wilderness Downtown, an interactive music video set to the album’s thirteenth track We Used to Wait. Directed by Chris Milk, the website allows you to input the address where you grew up and the video then integrates your childhood suburb into it’s story.
For me personally, the album has been in constant rotation on my iPhone and computer for the last seven weeks and with each sonic encounter I feel like I am catching a little more of the rich tapestry this band are weaving. The lines of songs like Rococo, City With No Children or Suburban War wash over me, evoking memories of my own childhood set in a different suburb to Win and William Butler, while at the same time unsettling me with the quiet desperation of the lyrics I find echoing within me. Maybe we’ve never left the suburbs after all.
NUMBER ONE HUNDRED & THREE.
September14
The Visual Mixtape is a series of 22x28” posters by Noa Emberson, commemorating 25 of his favourite albums of recent times. Thoughtful design meets impeccable music taste in this rad personal project.
NUMBER EIGHTY EIGHT.
May21
For your sonic pleasure, I’d like to introduce to you a little (well, that’s an objective term, seeing as there’s seven of them) band from Sydney’s North-West: sleepyhands.
If you’re an FBi listener you’ll have already heard a track or two, them’s the perks of having one of your band members work at the station, however, these kids are my pick as the latest indie darlings to come out of Australia. (I might be slightly biased seeing as how I adore pretty much every member, but I dare you to head to their myspace and not fall in love!)
With an ep freshly pressed (produced with the help of Jonathan Boulet) and a few gigs up their sleeves, I’d say this is the band to follow this year. Watch this space!
