chemi hydro
aka MC Kitchen of the FUTURE aka I'M A MURDERER! is a 33.3 year old boy, has been a member since January 4, 2006, has scored 3,663 submissions, giving an average score of 1.80, helping 51 designs get printed.
I have a little website and a lot of the content is music based. At the end of the year, labels and publicists begin sending a bunch of "For Your Consideration" style emails, asking you to look over certain releases from the year and to consider adding them to your end of the year lists. Personally, I don't really like the lists because they seem to be set up the same way everytime and, since I don't believe that anyone really heard every single album that came out during the year or had time to devote to each of them equally, it always seems like farce to rate them with some sort of number system.
One purpose for them that I do find is that it can introduce people to stuff they may not have heard before. I've basically refused to make one for the site, but I've also noticed that I still like discussing them, because my ideals are a sham.
I'm not gonna number or rate anything, but here are some of the albums that got the most listens from me this year, that were released this year. Along with the album artist/title, I'm gonna try to include a video of a track from the release. I was hoping that some of you might be interested in posting your favorites, as well. Even if they didn't come out this year, but you discovered it this year. Hopefully, there will be some cool stuff to discover.
Angeles by The Strokes [Taken For A Fool]
El Camino by The Black Keys [Lonely Boy]
21 by Adele [Rumor Has It]
Torches by Foster The People [Helena Beat]
W H O K I L L by tUnE-yArDs [My Country]
Blonde by Coeur de Pirate [Adieu]
In Search Of Elusive Little Comets by Little Comets [Tricolour]
Never Trust A Happy Song by Grouplove [Spun]
Portamento by The Drums [Money]
Relax by Das Racist [Celebration]
Angles by The Strokes [Taken For A Fool]
El Camino by The Black Keys [Lonely Boy]
21 by Adele [Rumor Has It]
Torches by Foster The People [Helena Beat]
W H O K I L L by tUnE-yArDs [My Country]
Blonde by Coeur de Pirate [Adieu]
In Search Of Elusive Little Comets by Little Comets [Tricolour]
Never Trust A Happy Song by Grouplove [Spun]
Portamento by The Drums [Money]
Relax by Das Racist [Celebration]
Yeah, that Bill Callahan album is amazing. Try to see him live if you haven't -or even if you have- it was one of the best shows that I've seen this year.
Fleet Foxes are weird to me, because I live in Seattle and I've made coffee for those dudes and seen them so much, it's strange that they got big and matter to people. My girlfriend loves it, so I can still listen to it and enjoy it without taking responsibility for liking it. Admittedly, it is really good though.
As for M83, I haven't gotten a chance to hear much of it, but all that I hear are positive things.
Wow, that's pretty cool about seeing fleet foxes around and stuff. My friends saw Bill Callahan earlier in the year and he said it was one of the best shows he's seen. I'd love to see him. M83 has received a lot more attention because of their single being in a commercial, but I like the album because it actually feels like an album.
Well, I've been seeing Robin around since before those guys blew up. So, sometimes it's hard to tell how big someone has actually gotten outside of the bubble. Seeing him on the cover of every magazine put in in perspective. J Tillman apparently got fired from the last place that I was working a long time ago, but they'd still come in there. I've also done a decent amount of artist interviews (the last one I think was with Brian Degraw of Gang Gang Dance) so I don't really think about that stuff too much. Seattle's weird and small.
I knew that the M83 album was coming out from a friend early on, so I was surprised when I realized that it was actually a huge release this year, but it being in a commercial makes sense. The last M83 show in town was at a decent sized venue (Neumos) and they immediately set up a follow up show later this year at a somewhat comparable, although probably a bit larger, venue in town. Within a week of that first press release announcing the show, I got another stating that it was being moved to another much larger venue to accommodate the audience. It's not even until April
Also, I had to make a birthing playlist this year, for when my son was being born. We were going for soothing sounds and things that my girlfriend would like to hear and not hate (ie. no Venetian Snares).
There was a lot of Bonnie Prince Billy, the Fleet Foxes album, a good selection of Bill Callahan/SMOG tracks, some Antony & The Johnsons, Bon Iver (mostly To Emma, Forever Ago), etc.
When Ronin (my baby) actually came out, "Wilhelm Scream" by James Blake was playing, so I have to like it
I really like the name Ronin. I wish my parents were cool enough to have music playing when I was born....I'd love to be born to James Blake! (that sounded weird...but you know what I mean)
Yeah, that video is worthless. Have you listened to their last album, Apple's Acre? It was sent to me by Dead Oceans and I ignored it, until one day I listened to it and realized how good they were. This new release is fairly different. I'd been hearing some of the tracks, like "So Sweet" a long time ago; they were even playing them live. The arrangements are quite a bit different on Dracula. They're solid live too and they're still playing really small venues for now. I talked to John Bowers at their last Seattle show and he told me that they just never stopped writing material after recording the last release.
We just needed something familiar and calming. I didn't even realize what was playing when he was actually coming out, because too much was happening. Then I suddenly noticed it in the background while they were cleaning him and whatnot. The reason that I thought it was funny is because of what the Wilhelm Scream actually is: an over the top stock sound effect that has been used in endless films over the years. So, I kind of wish that he was actually born to an actual Wilhelm scream in the background
Also, you could have had it really weird and been born to someone like Matthew McConaughey
I have not heard any of their albums, I just stumbled across that single and loved it. I am really bad about buying albums these days. I only bought 3 this year and liked one. I find lots of stuff I like but I am always hesitant to commit to an album. My music habit would be too expensive if I bought an album every time I liked a song I heard.
But on your recommendation, I will check them out. That was a long answer. :)
If I were you, I would just jump around on youtube to check them out and see what I thought. What I grew to appreciate by doing that, is realizing that, some times, they will perform the same songs with completely different instruments, depending on what they have available.
this video features stuff from the last album and it's one of the first things that I saw from them
http://vimeo.com/5222119
and here's the first actual "music video" that I saw
Dec 21 '11 by
spacesick on Dec 21 '11 at 12:53am
