Top Ten Albums of 2011 (and Honourable Mentions)

10. Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation



9. Givers - In Light



8. Metronomy - The English Riviera



7. WU LYF - Go Tell Fire to the Mountain



6. The Horrors - Skying



5. Beirut - The Rip Tide



4. Destroyer - Kaputt



3. Wild Beasts - Smother



2. M83 - Hurry Up We're Dreaming



1. Bon Iver - Bon Iver



Honourable Mentions:

Washed Out - Within and Without



Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues



Toro Y Moi - Underneath the Pine



Junior Boys - It's All True



Beat Connection - Surf Noir



Cut Copy - Zonoscope

Shout out

To the number one maple syrup fan: http://justaddmaplesyrup.com

Read up and get Canadian (or North USA'n) on your kitchen.

Steve

For those about to sway

Here's a new track of dream pop from Beach House. And sway...

Bon Iver - Holocene

Finally, a video for the best single off the best album of the year by miles and miles and miles.

Feist - How Come You Never Go There

The best thing about the new Feist track as presented through her facebook page? It auto-repeats. Like it to listen here.

Here's a teaser of the song and video.

Lana Del Rey - Video Games

In a desperate attempt to keep this blog hip and cool, I'm going to post this video of Lana Del Rey's Video Games. It's actually pretty good.

WU LYF - We Bros

Manchester's WU LYF (World United Lucifer Youth Foundation) caused a hell of a stir last year due to their cryptic blogging and rejection of the mainstream press. Only recently have they begun to allow the press into the world of WU, dispelling the rumours that launched a near mythical existence. As the meta-description on their website, www.wulyf.org, says, 'WU LYF is nothing, four dumb kids calling out heavy longings for a place to call home, two brothers greet two brothers and play heavy pop.'

All this drama was news to me as I only heard about the band and their first album, Go Tell Fire to the Mountain, a few weeks ago. I've got to say, I'm really glad I missed all that hype. It may have turned me off what will surely be hailed as one of the breakthrough rock albums of the year. Here's one of the best songs off the album, We Bros, which is destined to destroy crowds at many a festival over the next year.

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

If you see me on the train to work, looking half-asleep, I'm just listening to the new Bon Iver album. It's dreamy good. Stream it for free, courtesy of Guardian, here.

'Holocene' is a stand-out song on an album of stand-out songs. If only that 'I could see for miles and miles' line could go on and on.

Rather than leave a post without a YouTube video (gasp!), here's the first single off the album, 'Calgary' (my hometown, yay!).

Panda Bear - 'Slow Motion' Video

Video for 'Slow Motion' from Tomboy by Panda Bear aka Noah Lennox of Animal Collective; a 9-minute trip from the streets of New York City to Grosvenors Island starring a real-fake Panda Bear.

Jager Loaf 1, James Blake 0

One of my most memorable highlights of Primavera Sound 2011 was the discovery of the Jager Loaf. As an ingenious way to bring outside alcohol past the security gates, an alcoholic Einstein from Ireland came up with the idea to hide a full bottle of Jagermeister in a round loaf of bread. We spotted this bit of brilliance at the James Blake show. Renowned for his emo-dub-step and immense ego, I can only imagine his inner pain when half the crowd turned away from him to take photos of the Jager Loaf and its esteemed creator. Show some love to the Jager Loaf here.

Primavera Festival, Barcelona, Spain, Another World

Last week, I got back from Barcelona and the Primavera Festival, and pretty much annoyed every friend and colleague for the next four days with my incessant praise of the city and the festival. However, it only took a couple nights out in London this weekend to remind me that I live in an incredible city with lots to offer. Still, it needs to be said that Barcelona has so much to love, and as a first-timer, it was an eye-opening experience discovering one of the most vibrant cities in the world.

The fact that Barcelona is often referred to as the city of Gaudi, a visionary 19th-20th century architect, tells you a lot about it. Walking the streets at any time of the day, you can't help but be awe-struck by the diversity and beauty of the buildings, the thoughtfulness of their design and the many imaginative artistic surprises around each corner. At the same time, the interior design of some of the buildings, especially restaurants, makes you wonder... For example, the bathroom with two switches, the one labeled with a light bulb being the flush for the toilet, obviously. Maybe it was just the euphoria of visiting Barcelona for the first time, but somehow these quirks only added to the sense of fun that pervaded the weekend.

As the festival started each day around 5pm, it turned out we had plenty of time to do some exploring in Barcelona. Getting out the door each 'morning' around noon didn't help much, but we still saw a good portion of the city's highlights, including the Sagrada Familia, which was literally four blocks from my hotel, the very touristy Rambla and the port area, including the Christopher Columbus statue, the monumental buildings at Espanya, and a number of great restaurants, such as Tapasc24 and Lolita/Inopia, the latter which is a must-see mainly for the mini-steak burgers and homemade peach liquor, which should be a class A narcotic as it's nearly as addictive. While we saw a good number of sights, it was still just a taster course, and I'll definitely need to head back to take it all in properly.

Of course, the main reason I was in Barcelona in the first place was for the Primavera Festival. Anyone familiar with this festival knows that it is one of the best, if not the best, music festival in the world. Considering the location in one of the world's most beautiful cities and the outstanding line-up, including Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Twin Shadow, Fleet Foxes, Battles, DJ Shadow, just to name a few, it's not hard to believe that people travel from all over the world to be part of this event. Festival goers I met over the course of the weekend were from America, Germany, Sweden, Latvia, the list goes on. The majority of the people were from Spain, but it was pretty incredible to see how many people made the trek from their little corner of the earth to spend a weekend at Primavera.

Rather than go into detail about all the great performances I saw while at the festival, I'm just going to share some of my favourite performances through the magic of strangers' digital cameras and YouTube. As you'll see, words can't really do these performances justice, anyway. Enjoy!

Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened (Llevant Stage)


Flaming Lips - Opening (San Miguel Stage)


Twin Shadow - When We're Dancing (Pitchfork Stage)


Fleet Foxes - Blue Ridge Mountains (San Miguel Stage)


Animal Collective - Brother Sport (San Miguel Stage)


Animal Collective - Knock You Down (San Miguel Stage)

In My Ears: Toro Y Moi 'Underneath the Pine'

I first got into Toro Y Moi last year through the strangest person I know, not surprisingly. Back then, they were at the vanguard of the so-called 'Chill Wave' scene, with synth-rock albums like 'Causers of This' and tracks like 'Blessa'. The latest album, produced only a little over a year later 'Causers', shows real growth from the group's producer, Chaz Bundick, as an artist capable of more than laptop pop. His latest effort falls more in the Beach House camp than the Neon Indian psychedelic smoke pit. Check out both 'Blessa' from the previous album and 'Good Hold' from the latest to see what a difference an album can make.

Toro Y Moi - Blessa (2009)


Toro Y Moi - Good Hold (2011)

Upgrade: Field Day 20!!

Field Day announced the rest of their line-up a few weeks ago. It's hard to believe, but it's even better than the first half, with new acts including Mount Kimbie, James Blake, Jamie XX, Glasser, Michael Mayer and more. Even newcomers The History of Apple Pie are playing (shout-out to C & L!). Looks like this will be the summer of Field Day. Here are a few choice tracks from the newly announced acts.

Mount Kimbie - Before I Move Off



James Blake - CMYK



Jamie XX - Running



Glasser - Mirrorage



Michael Mayer - Funky Handicap



The History of Apple Pie - Live at New Slang

Field Day 20!!

Festival season is just around the corner. Okay, maybe not, but the thought of them is a welcome distraction from the miserable 'spring' weather we've been experiencing in London. Lovebox looks like a bust so far. Wireless is way too mainstream. SW4 could be interesting on the Sunday. But it looks like Field Day is the only London festival that's raised their game so far (not including the Arcade Fire pre-Canada Day party on June 30!). Here are a few of the acts I'm looking forward to seeing at Field Day on August 6:

Twin Shadow


Matthew Dear


Wild Beasts


John Cale

I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It!

My life finally has a theme song.

Braids - Lemonade

Braids came my way as most of my awesome new music does, from a little birdie with exquisite taste. They've just released their first album, which I think should make waves quickly, but, for now, their single, Lemonade, will have to do. I've included it below for your listening pleasure. The real stand-out track on their album, Native Speaker, is Lammicken. An epic track with a surprisingly funky bass line, it's unavailable via YouTube right now, but is one of many reasons to pick this album up now.

Baths - Maximalist

Baths is not a group. Baths is a guy. And he knows how to make music. Enjoy.

Funny People

As a good friend of mine once said, "Humour is funny." Here are a few of my favourite funny people at the moment.

Zach Galifianakis

This sweaty, bearded fat movie star doesn't just look funny; he tells hilarious one-liners about everything from combining the NAACP and MADD to his obvious Pilates addiction, in between drinking like Bukowski on a binge.




David Cross

Best known for his role as Tobias in Arrested Development and as co-creator of the '90s comedy sketch show, Mr. Show, David Cross does biting social and political humour strictly for the left wing, which is just fine by me.




Aziz Ansari

A MTV favourite, Ansari has been popping up in supporting roles in comedy movies over the past couple of years, including Funny People and Observe and Report. His comedy is mainly observational and just plain funny.