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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

DECADE: How the Music World Has Changed and My Favorites of the Decade

This past decade, the world has changed in more ways than anybody could have imagined.  This is true of any decade of course, but the noughties (00's for the less intelligent of you... the MM's for the more intelligent) have seen music change perhaps more than any decade past; the advent of the internet, the mp3, and the iPod has changed music into a whole new beast.  

    The internet has become the music messenger of the decade; that is to say, it has become bands biggest advertising tool.  It has accelerated the word of mouth process that really is the best form of advertising (think of the last movie you saw, or book you read, or song you listened to - did you see, read or listen to it because the trailer, book jacket, or album cover looked good?  Or because someone you knew or trusted, a friend, a music reviewer, or a wonderful blog... not one in particular..., recommended it to you?) and the form of advertising that music relies on more heavily than any other business.  The internet has opened the doors to the opinions of millions of more people, not just music reviewers, allowing the power of word of mouth to take almost instantaneous effect on an album, whereas previously the word of mouth power through friends might take months.  The internet has opened the gates to bands that 15 years ago would never had made a break through.  It has allowed every band, no matter how big or small, to have a tipping point (thank you Malcolm Gladwell).  The blogworld and the internet has changed how we listen to and find new music.

This is the power of the internet.

    The mp3, or as for the point I will be making now, the mpFree, has also changed how we listen to music.  No matter how great a band you are, your music will be free on the internet; no matter how cool you are (yeah, as much as I love you, it's not just you Radiohead), your music is free on the internet.  Whether it's pirated music in the form of torrents, just one mp3 on a blog, or of course Radiohead giving away their music for the price you name (the tip jar method), YOUR MUSIC IS FREE).  Free music has also changed how we listen to music in that it allows us to listen to multitudes more music and sample more and more bands, allowing people to have more and more access to new music and thus bands more and more access to new listeners, just like how the blogs allowed them to reach new listeners.  
      By being free (whether bands want their music to be free or not), all inhibitions to listening to a new band, album or song have been removed; when a listener finds this new piece of music, they no longer need to worry about whether or not they will like it... they can just download it right away at no cost to them.  In fact if it is free, they will perhaps want to download it even more... it's as if they are gaining something!  The Free Single of the Week on iTunes is a perfect example of this; people, whether they like a song or not see that it is free and download it.  This fad of the 'free-ness' making you want to download a song even more does not apply to the blogworld as much... we have become so accustomed to the blogworld giving away music for free that it has perhaps lost its luster and we expect it now... it still has a huge impact that it's free though, but perhaps no extra motivation though.  If every song that you have downloaded for free, whether it was torrented or downloaded on a blog, had the price of just 1 cent, I am positive that the number of songs that you have would plummet.  If I began offering the music on my blog for just 1 cent, the downloads would plummet because the reader would have to now make a decision on whether to spend money or not.  There is now an apparent cost, although in reality it is nothing (even the cumulative argument, where one would argue that over time it would cost a lot, is not valid because at 1 cent 1 thousand songs would be just $10).  It is simply this mental transaction that leads to the inhibition of the 1 cent but because the music is now free, we download as much as we like and bands get more followers than they could ever have if there was a higher cost on the music (like iTunes).  Blogs and such offering bands music for free increases their popularity and allows them to reach more people.

This is the power of the mpFree.

Quick side note about Radiohead and In Rainbows (perhaps my favorite Radiohead album... seeing it performed in its entirety was one of the greatest experiences of my life)... or perhaps not that quick.

    Everybody in the reporting world (i.e. New York Times, etc.) went crazy when Radiohead did their famous "Tip Jar" experiment with In Rainbows, and they are still going crazy over it.  They raved how it would change the face of the music industry etc, but I believe that there are two things that are false about that statement.  The first is pretty obvious... it did not 'change the face of the music industry'... how many bands do you see doing that now?  My second idea lies in the first one... I believe the face of the music industry was already changed (and boy did it have a facelift... nothing like a cheesy joke), and Radiohead simply took advantage of it.  It's not as if free music was new... what was new was a band giving away their music for free, let alone a whole album.  This is what has stayed with us from the experiment... bands now give away a single for free to wet the listener's appetite and make them want to get the whole album (so perhaps it has changed the music world a bit), but I don't think this is what Radiohead was trying to do (anti-Radiohead people would say they just wanted publicity, but I disagree).  I think what was genius about it was that the concept of the free making people want to get it was used, but then a little reverse-psychology was used.  The reason people gave money was because they felt obliged to.  Because it had been suggested they give money, and because they felt that it was the band giving it to them so they would traditionally give money, they felt they had to give money.  If Radiohead were to have sold the album normally, it would most definitely have ended up as a torrent and people would get it for free, but they almost definitely would not have made donations... it would have been any other torrent.  One final thing is that Radiohead is one of the only bands that could possibly pull something like this off.  They are so popular, and they know it, and they know their fan base would take to it.  Another thing that everybody forgets is that after just a few months, they took the album down and put it out as a regular album!  They knew that their fanbase was large enough and that they have enough 'completists' that the album would still be huge.  So this is were Radiohead was smart; they took advantage of the power of the mpFree

Thank you Chris Anderson for inspiring many ideas for that part.  I will not make any comments on whether torrenting is good or bad for bands... it would take way too long and I am not decided myself (I flip-flop virtually every day).

And now, for the final thing I will rant about: iTunes and the iPod

   This is perhaps the most important change of the decade; it is brief and perhaps not the 'coolest'... (everyone knows cool people like us would never use the iTunes store... we are waaaay too cool... that was all sarcastic by the way... tone of voice just doesn't come through the internet), but I think it is the largest.  With the advent of iTunes and the iPod, music has risen to a level in our lives much higher than it had ever been.  What I mean is that it becomes something you can take anywhere with your iPod and iTunes has given us a way to collect it and keep it in one place.  Where music had been something before only for people who would take the time to really listen to and give a real commitment to music, most people were just casual listeners, now literally anybody could easily have access to the music they wanted.  iTunes elevated music.  There's not much more to say than that.  Even if iTunes has slowly decreased in our interests, the first two things I talked about would not have taken rise if it weren't for iTunes.  It is plain and simple.  iTunes has changed music by making it something that we do everyday without thinking about.  The iPod is one of, if not the, most ubiquitous gadget out there, perhaps second to only the cell phone, and when you think of how many cell phone makers there are, and how there is just Apple for the iPod (c'mon, no other mp3 players really matter... Microsoft's Zune - who cares? etc. etc.), it shows you even more how incredible the product is.  Apple made music more accessible to anybody, and they are perhaps the biggest game-changer for music of the decade, even if we don't realize it.

This is the power of the iPod and iTunes.

This is the power of the Noughties.   (sorry for the dramatics... it's the first decade that I have lived through the entire thing...)

And now, for my favorite music of the decade... and this is just that.  My favorite music, not the best.  Music is so subjective, and I feel it would be silly to make a list of what is the best.  Furthermore, I will not rank the albums, that is too difficult for me... I love all my music!  There are two albums though that I feel special mention and I will call in my opinion the two best albums of the decade.  They are Kid A by Radiohead (if you didn't know that I don't know why you would be on my blog) and Funeral by Arcade Fire.  I will talk about them when I reach them in the list.  There are 30 albums here, and there are certainly other albums that I could very easily put on this list that aren't on it.  It is organized by year.



2000
Figure 8 by Elliott Smith
Kid A by Radiohead

2001
Oh, Inverted World by the Shins

2002
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by the Flaming Lips
The Beginning Stages of... by the Polyphonic Spree

2003
Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? by the Unicorns
Electric Version by the New Pornographers
Give Up by the Postal Service
Dear Catastrophe Waitress by Belle & Sebastian

2004
Funeral by Arcade Fire

2005
LCD Soundsystem by LCD Soundsystem
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens

2006
Return to the Sea by Islands
Everything All the Time by Band Of Horses

2007
Neon Bible by Arcade Fire
In Rainbows by Radiohead
Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem
Writer's Block by Peter Bjorn and John
Wincing the Night Away by the Shins
All Hour Cymbals by Yeasayer
Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? by of Montreal
The Ortolan by the Deadly Syndrome
The Flying Club Cup by Beirut

2008
Dear Science by TV on the Radio
For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver
Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend

2009
Merriweather Post Pavillion by Animal Collective
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix by Phoenix
Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear

If you would like me to write comments about any of the albums, please tell me so, and also I'd like to hear what yours are, etc. so make sure you comment on this... Tell me what you think!!!

Next post up: What I'm looking forward to in 2010!

Monday, December 21, 2009

THE LIST

Around this time of year, it's usually... listomania (ah, a double pun... should I have put the z in?), and so I essentially have to come up with my own list if I want to call myself a music blogger.  Here are my 20 favorite albums of '09!  Don't grumble if you feel my top 10 is a little too... typical of 09; I think it's just because it really was clear which albums were the best this year, whether it's because 09 produced a couple of incredible, stand-out albums, or because a lot of the music in 09 just wasn't the good, via Discovery (although I was looking forward to it), Weezer, Muse, Ratatat, and Owl City (despicable...despicable).  Also here are my best EPs/Singles of the year, or just songs that weren't on an album; in fact, I will put them first so you don't forget about them.  In a year that will be forever tarnished by Pitchfork rating the Beatles (seriously, whose idea was that?), and forever laughed upon for the use of the word 'chillwave,' some damn good music was produced IMHO. 

EPs/Singles/Songs not on albums
5.  Animal Collective :: Fall Be Kind EP
     mp3: What Would I Want? Sky
4.  Bon Iver :: Blood Bank EP
     mp3: Blood Bank
3.  Yeasayer :: Ambling Alp Single (and possibly video of the year)
     mp3: Ambling Alp
2.  Small Black :: Small Black EP
     mp3: Despicable Dogs
1.  Toro y Moi :: Talamak (SONG OF THE YEAR)
     mp3: Talamak

For all these albums, I'm not going to write too much because I really think you should go out and download the whole thing and listen to them because they all are really complete albums that merit a listening session where you listen to the whole thing through.  Anybody have any other ideas?
 Albums
20.  TIE -- Washed Out :: Life of Leisure -- Matt & Kim :: Grand - both of those albums are really great, but both suffer the same trappings... every song on each of the albums sounds like the last one.  This is not necessarily bad though; as you can see I liked them enough to put them in my top 20.  Another thing that they both captured are the two things about independent music that everybody laughs at/love and what indie mocks itself for.  Washed Out is the epitome of chillwave (I mean come on have you listened to it?) and Matt and Kim are the epitomes of indie kids (i.e. the music video for Lessons Learned/absolutely everything about their music), and I think anybody who doesn't want to be an annoying hipster has to realize this and laugh at it while still loving it.

19.  Camera Obscura :: My Maudlin Career - I really feel that even though a lot of people heard the best song from the album, the rest of the album didn't really get any coverage, which is too bad because it really was great.
       mp3: French Navy

18.  Andrew Bird :: Noble Beast - He got absolutely no love on any of the blog lists!  Maybe it's because this album came out right at the start of the January (which isn't necessarily bad... take MPP) leading it to be forgotten in the wash of 2009, but I absolutely loved it; it's got great melodies, great instrumentals, and is really complete.
       mp3: Anonanimal
       mp3: Oh No

17.  Dark Was the Night - A great compilation album for a great cause... there were a couple duds on it but there were also a couple of gems.  The best tracks are probably the Dirty Projectors/David Byrne one, the Sufjan Stevens one, The National's song (they produced the album I believe), and the New Pornographers one.  I would post the links but because it's an album for charity you might as well go buy it, and also, you are all smart and can probably find links anyways if you really want to.

16.  Yacht :: See Mystery Lights - All that needs to be said... "I might be washing out the dishes, and the kitchen would say... hang around baby-baby, we'll be baking a cake for you!"
       mp3: Psychic City

15.  The Smith Westerns :: The Smith Westerns - This is the debut album for a couple teenagers from Chicago, who, if it were not for the blogosphere, might not be anywhere right now (yeah that is bold claim but whatever).  They really made it with  the support of GorillaVsBear, and have since blown up bloggerlandia.  They definitely would fall into the lo-fi category that contains Wavves, et al.  I think they even have a little bit of the Fab Four in them (or at least this song and their lyrics), and they are certainly one of the breakouts of this year.
       mp3: Be My Girl

14.  Islands :: Vapours - I've been an Islands fan for a while, and absolutely love their previous two albums, so I was pretty excited for this album, and still can't decide if I feel let down even though I really like it.  It is certainly a departure from their previous sound (much more electronic, lots of synths, even a song with AutoTune, as opposed to their older stuff which is much more multi-instrumental) and will certainly alienate lots of fans ( I mean even Bob Dylan alienated his fans... don't worry though I'm not comparing Islands to Bob Dylan, they are nowhere even near the same musical plane...), but I like it when a band changes things up so too bad all ye Islands haters!
       mp3: Tender Torture
       mp3: Switched On

13.  A Sunny Day In Glasgow :: Ashes Grammar - very multi-layered, textured album from A Sunny Day in Glasgow, who are in fact from Philadelphia.  Just heard it recently and definitely fell in love with it.  If you are an Animal Collective fan you will love this album.
       mp3: Shy

12.  Atlas Sound :: Logos - This is Deerhunter frontman Bradley Cox's solo album/project, although it's really not that solo in terms of that fact that the album features tons of guests.  This song has got to be the most popular, as well as my favorite (I know, I'm such a mainstreamer right?) and it features Panda Bear.  Bradley Cox + Panda Bear = what could be better?
       mp3: Walkabout


11.  Here We Go Magic :: Here We Go Magic - Brooklyn folk dealers Here We Go Magic certainly made a gem with this one and really created their own sound.  I saw them live opening for GB and even though I already knew them, that's when they really hooked me.
       mp3: Fangela


I was going to write an explanation for the top 10, but by just looking at it, I think it is pretty self-explanatory.  There's not too much to say; we've all listened to them a million times and loved them, and I think everyone is agreed that these are the best (with maybe a few exceptions).  I feel that you could just put those albums in a hat, mix it up, and pick them out and whatever order that they came out would be acceptable for the top 10.  
Top 10

10.  Fleet Foxes :: Fleet Foxes
       mp3: Sun It Rises
 













 9.  Passion Pit :: Manners
       mp3: Sleepyhead
       mp3: Little Secrets












8.  Peter Bjorn and John :: Living Thing
       mp3: Just the Past
       mp3: Stay This Way













7.  Phoenix :: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
       mp3: Lisztomania
       mp3: 1901
       mp3: Girlfriend












6.  Neon Indian :: Psychic Chasms
       mp3: Deadbeat Summer
       mp3: Terminally Chill












5.  Girls :: Album
       mp3: Lust for Life
       mp3: Hellhole Ratrace












4.  Dirty Projectors :: Bitte Orca
       mp3: Cannibal Resource
       mp3: Stillness Is The Move












3.  Animal Collective :: Merriweather Post Pavillion
       mp3: My Girls
       mp3: Daily Routine












2.  The xx :: xx
       mp3: Crystalised
       mp3: Heart Skipped A Beat


 









1.  Grizzly Bear :: Veckatimest
       mp3: Two Weeks
       mp3: Ready, Able












 22 Words to Sum Up 2009: I don't mean to seem like I care about material things, I just want four walls and adobe slags for my girls!

Worst Music Moment of '09 : Pitchfork rating the Beatles... 'nuff said.



Signing off for 2009,
A Teenage Elephant

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Eternal Summers

Here are two new tracks from Eternal Summers, who released their first EP earlier this year and are looking to release a full-length in the next year.  They are pretty simple, lo-fi, relaxed songs; fans of Wavves and Beach House will be pleased.  These were just released for free on Beko-Dsl.com.  Enjoy!

mp3: Safe at Home
mp3: Dye


In other news...
Broken Bells (whom I mentioned in my previous post) seem to have just posted some tunes (what plays changes every time you reload the page) that seems to me like a preview of what is to come.  I'm liking it, and it is reminding me a little of RJD2.  Check it out at kerbsnobell.com (an anagram for Broken Bells).  As always tell me what you think!

Vampire Weekend just put up another song from Contra on their Myspace, and I am liking this one a little more than the previous two new songs; it's called 'White Sky,' and it features a little synth (much better used than on the 'Cousins' b-side 'California English, Pt. 2,' and of course Ezra K. crooning "ooohhaaahhhoooh."  I think that if this is what the rest of the album is like, than it will be good.  Still have no idea if Contra will bomb or be good.

-- A Teenage Elephant

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

James Mercer, Danger Mouse Team Up


There's a new supergroup collaboration!  James Mercer of the Shins and producer/DJ/generally awesome man Danger Mouse (that's pretty super if you ask me) have officially announced that they will be releasing an album in March with Columbia Records after rumors had been circulating the web for a while.  They will be going by the name Broken Bells.  As of right now, their website is just an image of the letters that make up "Broken Bells" being spewed out and spun around and around, but on next Monday they will be posting their first single from the album.

This comes after Danger Mouse's last collaboration, which was ill-fated.  It was half album, half art project, and it was a collaboration between director/artist David Lynch, Sparklehorse, and him, but when the albums finally shipped with the large art-booklet all the cds were blank and had a note "For legal reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will."  The album had many great guest appearances (including James Mercer), and you can listen to all of it here at NPR.com.

Monday, December 14, 2009

New Video + New Album News (And Why This February Will Be a Great Month for Music) (UPDATED)

New video from Washed Out... following up the vacationers from the 'Feel It All Around' video are a bunch of girls in 80's workout gear.  They look like they might have just walked out from a shopping spree and American Apparel... in fact, I think the whole first 2 minutes and 30 seconds may be a commercial for what I will henceforth exclusively refer to as AmAppy (thanks HipsterRunoff).



Washed Out - Belong (Music Video) from Blake Salzman on Vimeo.

 Here's another new video that is pretty fun for the eye... It's for 'One Life Stand,' the newest single off Hot Chip's forthcoming album.


Flight of the Conchords
They won't be returning for a 3rd season!!! What will the world of comedic indie rock do???

Yeasayer
Here is the album art for Yeasayer's Odd Blood, coming out in February; also, here are two more tracks just released from the album (just like the album art, it's pretty much just more psychedelicness from Yeasayer).  The cover is definitely reminiscent of the video for 'Ambling Alp," which has got to be one of, if not my favorite, music video of the year; if you haven't seen it you can check it this earlier post (it was actually the first one with content!).
mp3: ONE
mp3: I'll Remember


Toro y Moi :: Low Shoulders
Here's the album art (it came out awhile ago so I never posted it, but here it is) for Toro y Moi's Causers of This, which will feature Blessa and Talamak, two of my favorite songs of the year (you can get them in this post).  This song isn't quite as good, but still very enjoyable.  He was one of the best live performances of the year for me when I saw him in October, and yet there were only 15 people there when he was on!

mp3: Low Shoulders




Local Natives :: Camera Talk
LA natives (so they really are Local Natives for me....) Local Natives have their album Gorilla Manor coming out in February, and I just came across this song, which is another one that has just been released.  I think they are poised to make a big splash with the album.  Here's the album art, freaky as ever.  You can download two other songs by them in this post.
mp3: Camera Talk




In Conclusion: 
Odd Blood (February) + Causers of This (Febuary) + Gorilla Manor (February) = Awesome February

Friday, December 11, 2009

A Sunny Day in Glasgow

Here are a couple of tracks from A Sunny Day in Glasgow (who are not actually from Glasgow but Philadelphia), a band I have just heard about and am starting to really like.  These are from the band's second album (released a couple of months ago), called Ashes Grammar. 'Shy' is my favorite.  I really love their complex, multilayered sound.  It reminds me a bit of Horn of Plenty.  I get the feeling that seeing them live must be one of the calmest, most relaxed shows out there.
Tell me what you think of these.

-- A Teenage Elephant

mp3: Shy
mp3: Ashes Grammar/Ashes Math
mp3: Shy (Ernest Gonzales Remix)

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Born Ruffians

This band is a Canadian band, but instead of following more in the footsteps of other Canadians, I think they follow more in the New York/LA Indie Band Scene (i.e. Vampire Weekend/Deadly Syndrome).  To me they have an upbeat lively energy that is lacking in the new Vampire Weekend songs.  I feel that they should/will take the void (oh yeah, it's gonna be a big one *sarcastic*) created by a... bad... new Vampire Weekend album.  Even though these songs came out in 2008 (ages ago...), I've just recently come to love it, and will be really looking forward to what they do with their 2010 LP, so here ya go.


mp3: Foxes Mate for Life
mp3: Hummingbird

They also have an ambitious (if you can still be that without being much different from the original) cover of Grizzly Bear's "Knife."  As much as I absolutely love Grizzly Bear and 'Knife' (it completely captures the sound of Yellow House with its ethereal creaking and crooning), I'm undecided on which I like better.  I feel like the cover shows us what Grizzly Bear would sound like if they had followed a more typical indie band sound. Another thing I really like about the song is that it (at least the beginning of it) sounds as if it could be in the soundtrack to a movie about the late 50's early 60's.  Anyone agree?

mp3: Born Ruffians :: Knife (Grizzly Bear Cover)

-- A Teenage Elephant

P.S.  Something that makes me like them even more... They have a song called Kurt Vonnegut.

Monday, December 7, 2009

What's Big in the Blogospherenetworldthing

Right now two tracks are sort of blowing up in the blogosphereworldnetthing (COINED), so I feel it is my duty to my many and far spread (yes I have had views from Estonia...)  loyal readers (I know you guys follow me rabidly...) to provide you some insight into the tracks (I would be failing my duties as blogmaster if I didn't...).  So, the tracks are

Shout Out Louds :: Walls
These guys are from Sweden, where the indie rock scene sort of revolves around Peter Bjorn and John (saw them a couple weeks back at their birthday show... awesome... they are in some way connected to pretty much everybody - Shout Out Louds, Lykke Li, El Perro Del Mar, and more and have got to be my favorite swedes) in my opinion and The Knife.  These guys are pretty sweet, and this song is really good.  At first I didn't really see why it was such a big deal, but it has been really growing on me.  The sound reminds me a little bit of Arcade Fire, which is something I wouldn't expect out of swedes.
mp3: Walls

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (TL/Rx) :: Even Heroes Have to Die
This guy is just an overall sweet punk rock (sort of) guy who's been around for a while.  He is supposed to play an incredible live show.  For fans of the New Pornographers (his new album is being put out by the same label, the classic Matador)...
mp3: Even Heroes Have to Die

-- A Teenage Elephant
[via]

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Morning Benders, Girls at the Troubadour

So last night I went to the Girls concert at the Troubadour...amazing.  The Tamaryns and the Morning Benders opened.  The Tamaryns sounded pretty good but they had no energy and once you heard a couple of songs you kind of felt like you had heard 'em all already, but I still liked them.  The Morning Benders on the other hand were awesome.  They are a couple of guys from Berkeley who have sort of flown under the radar, but still toured/played with awesome bands like Grizzly Bear, Yeasayer and Yo La Tengo.  I really love their sort of simple poppy sound.  They remind me a lot of the Unicorns...  After the show I talked to them and they seemed like pretty cool guys.

Now, Girls...  The moment they came on it seemed like it got way more crowded.  Everybody seemed like they were so excited to be there and see Girls... it was a pretty perfect environment.  During pretty much every song they got everybody singing, and Christopher Owens really had great stage presence/banter.  For me the standouts had to be Laura and Lust for Life (which if you haven't checked out the restricted video of... you should).  It has got to have been one of my favorite concerts of the year.

-- A Teenage Elephant

mp3: Girls :: Lust for Life
mp3: The Morning Benders :: Waiting For a War

Friday, December 4, 2009

New Animal Collective


Merriweather Post Pavillion: Easily the most hyped album of the year.  Did it live up to expectations?  Certainly... You'd have to be crazy not to like it (or you could just not be an Animal Collective fan and then it would just sound like repetitive boring shitty cacophonous nothing...), but I still loved it.  It was right up there with Sung Tongs in my book, and My Girls has got to be considered one of the songs that 2009 will be remembered  for (whether you hate it or love it.... but you better love it).  BUT NO... THERE'S MORE.... 

With not that much pre-warning, a week or two ago AnCo (yes I'm calling them that) released a new EP, Fall Be Kind.  This will be their 10th EP/LP of ALL new material... in 7 YEARS.  That's unbelievable!  In my opinion, that is a slight testament to the reasons why people don't like them... they feel all the songs sound the same.  Their sound is such that because it is so electronic and there is so much white/abstract noise (I hesitate to call it noise...) in the songs a commoner... (non-AnCo fan) might say 'o those songs are so easy to make, there is no musically quality.'  This is something I completely disagree with.  I think that somehow, out of all the... noise... in the songs, they somehow manage to build environments that are really wonderful to listen to.  So yes, maybe there is some truth in that they do put out a TON of material, and that maybe it is just because of the style of their sound, but they still manage to put out consistently great stuff and stuff that can really... captivate you.



So... the new EP.
 It's pretty standard AnCo fare... really layered, complex sounding songs.  Lots of weird noises, vocals that repeat stuff like that.  To me, it's stuff that I can never get tired of.  If you like Animal Collective, you will like this.  For me though, the bigger question is that... will there be an album coming soon?  You know that they will release (at least) one LP in 2010, but with this just out and the new year coming, you gotta wonder if it's coming even before maybe the end of the holiday season.

In other news, Animal Collective will be premiering a film at the Sundance Film Festival.  According to them, it's pretty trippy, not a lot of live action... another words it'll be exactly what you expect out of an Animal Collective movie.  It's called ODDSAC.  I'm sure it won't exactly be Casablanca, but I bet the visuals will be pretty awesome and it will be a fun thing to watch.  I'm betting they will post clips of it, and when they do I will repost 'em.

-- A Teenage Elephant
Graze


What Would I Want? Sky

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

New Videos/New Vampire Weekend Review

I'm going to start a segment that I will try to do weekly/at least I will have a bunch of videos right now because I have just recently started my blog so there is some stuff I need to catch up on but here we go anyways.  The Vampire Weekend review is really late.. but I had to review it anyways.

Small Black :: Despicable Dogs
This is really interesting video by Small Black (who I wrote about in an earlier post).  I don't really know what to say about it/if there is anything to say about it... I think you should just watch it.  It reminds me a little of the Wrestler...  Tell me what you think.  I really love this band and their sound.


Grizzly Bear :: Ready, Able
Veckatimest had to be one of if not my favorite album of 2009.  Everybody about it is awesome, from the album artwork to everything about the songs.  The album flows really well and is truly a full album... both in terms of the sound and the fact that there isn't a single dud on it.  Here is the new video to possible my favorite song on the album, "Ready, Able."  It's a really cool, beautiful, and fun music video to watch.  It must have taken forever with the stop-motion animation, but it looks incredible.

Ready, Able


Vampire Weekend :: Cousins, Horchata
Vampire Weekend is one of my favorite bands - their first album blew my away when I first heard it... I love their multi-instrumental sound and I really feel like all their songs have a lot of emotion/are really fun.  "I Stand Corrected" has got to be my favorite song by them.  They have a second album coming out January 12th on XL Records called Contra.  I've been getting the feeling that it is going to be a sophomore slump... I feel that the first album had a unique sound that duplicating would be pointless and even trying to duplicate wouldn't be very good... It was just a complete album that doesn't need anything else.  They have already released two singles from the new album, the first of which, "Horchata" is pretty stereotypical VW: preppy lyrics (especially the rhyming in the beginning), african sounding drums, preppy sound... but I don't think it's very good.  I don't like the xylophone (is that what it is) in the beginning, the sound of the vocals in the beginning... I feel like they are taking the "We're Preppy, Deal With It" too far, even if they are trying to make a joke out of it.  I do like the part with the violins in the song a bit more, but still as a whole I don't love it.  It has grown on me (it is worth listening to a bunch... I promise your opinions will change) but I don't think it's great.  You can download it for free over at their website.
I like "Cousins" a bit more, but again I feel like it's not as great as the first album, and even if it was...It's been done already!  My theory though is that Vampire Weekend should just not put out any albums.  The first album should be all we have to remember them by...Greatness.  Maybe what I'm saying is crazy and call me an idiot... but that's just what I feel.  If the new album comes out and I love it...I PROMISE I WILL COME BACK AND ISSUE AN APOLOGY.  Plenty of bands have had great first albums and then great second albums, so I understand.  I really love the video for "Cousins" though... It really captures the upbeat-ness and peppy-ness of the song, and is visually awesome.  I'm sure it took loads of time to make, what with the countless arrangements of location, wardrobe etc.

Cousins



mp3: Horchata


Also check out this awesome video for Ambling Alp by Yeasayer in an earlier post.

The Strokes Reunite!


Just in: The Strokes are reuniting! They will be playing their first live show since 2006 at British music festival Isle of Wright soon (they will be headline with Jay-Z........? Sounds good though). They will then follow up with a small tour.  According to lead singer Julian Casablancas they will also be entering the studio to record a fourth album.  Even though they never officially broke up, they hadn't done anything in three years and were supposedly in a band fight... the band vs. Casablancas. I really like their first two albums Is This It and Room on Fire (I mean how can you not), but I didn’t really think that their third album was all that great.  It just didn’t live up to the first two albums.  I always have found their sound to be so distinct and unique… the distortion on the guitar, Julian Casablancas’ voice… that’s what I really like about them.  Besides the third album and (a term I am about to coin…) the ‘rockbandification’ (it’s official…COINED) of the band, which isn’t really anything and doesn’t change the music at all and doesn’t really mater… I really think they are great.

Also worth checking out is Julian Casablancas’ new solo album Phrazes for the Young, released a couple of weeks ago.  I’m not a huge fan, but for big any Strokes fans it’d probably go over well.

Also, Strokes drummer Fabritzi Moretti has a side project called Little Joy with a Brazillian guy from the band Los Hermanos.  It’s mellow, mostly acoustic stuff that is pretty good.  Their one album Little Joy was released in 2007.

-- A Teenage Elephant

P.S. For anybody who knows me/my dad I just found Is This It in my dad's cd collection between Laura Nyro and Bob Dylan... Classic.

 Julian Casablancas :: 11th Dimension
 

Little Joy :: The Next Time Around


Monday, November 30, 2009

The Best of/History of Chillwave/Lo-fi

During 2009, and especially during the summer, there has been a huge explosion of artists who are characterized by lo-fi- buzzed- fuzzy- summery- washed out- synthpop- chilled- beach-y- whatever-you-want-to-call-it sounds.  Pretty much everybody who has any sort of music blog has made some sort of comment about it (a lot of them are pretty stupid), and since I am a big fan of it I got to take my go at it.  This style has come to be known as 'chillwave' (half-jokingly and half-seriously) after being dubbed that at the start of the summer in an epic post on HRO, or lo-fi/glo-fi.  Of course there were plenty of artists who had this sound before the summer and helped inspire the genre (like Memory Tapes/Casettes), but the summer is when it really exploded.  The biggest summer breakouts were Neon Indian (AKA Alan Polomo, also of VEGA) and Washed Out (AKA Ernest Greene).

Chillwave has most of its roots in shoegaze music.  Although it is generally slightly more upbeat, it is still for the most part meant to just sit back and relax to, and if you're going to dance at all you're pretty much just going to sway with your eyes closed...

With names like Washed Out, Beach House, Wavves, Best Coast, Future Islands, Reading Rainbows...etc it really comes through the idea of trying to capture that summer aesthetic and relaxed beach feel.  Another aspect of the music is that almost all of these artists are bedroom artists- they pretty much started out just recording their stuff in a their bedroom with just a laptop (guess...Correct! Macbook! how'd u no?) and sometimes a synthesizer, gaining recognition just by circulated their stuff on the inter-web-net-blog-world (as I like to call it).  So for some of these artists, even though they originally did not create their music to be performed, they have transformed their act for their sudden fame.

This genre, chill though it may seem, has created some angry and heated (although pretty comedic) arguments on blogs all over the web.  Some people (well, a lot) feel that this chillwave music is too 'repetitve' and that nothing happens in it and the music itself is 'shitty' but I feel that that is okay and that is a part of it that you should embrace.  Chillwave isn't trying to be Mozart and it's not trying to be Radiohead and it's not trying to be Arcade Fire (musically perfect artists...IMHO) - it's just trying to be something that you can close your eyes to and drift away.

-- A Teenage Elephant

Here are a few of my favorites

Neon Indian
mp3: Deadbeat Summer [via]
This has got to be the epitome of chillwave.  Even its title is extremely chillwave.  It is also one of the best.  It sounds as if it has been run through a washing machine, but is still upbeat and fun.  I love it.  Neon Indian is the solo project of Alan Palomo, who has multiple solo projects.   This years album Psychic Chasms is out and pretty all around awesome.

Washed Out
mp3: Feel It All Around [via]
mp3: Feel It All Around (Toro y Moi Remix)  [via]
Ernest Greene was a librarian/stay out home guy from South Carolina until his sudden popularity over the summer.  A real bedroom artist, he had never performed anything he had made or been signed to a lable until this summer.  Because his stuff was not made to be performed, at first he said he would not be doing any live shows, but eventually he had his first performance in August in NYC.  The videos are worth checking out.  The new album (just released) is called High Times, and is definitely getting if you like chillwave.  Washed Out is sort of the breakout artist of chillwave, responsible popularizing the genre over summer, and Feel It All Around is his biggest hit.  It's a song that really captures that vacationing, relaxed feel.


Toro y Moi
mp3: Talamak [via]
mp3: Blessa (Extended Version) [via]
Definitely my favorite chillwave artist without a doubt.  I had never heard of him until a concert I went to at the Troubadour, where he was the first opening act of 2.  The Troubadour is a pretty small venue and he went on pretty early.  There were only around 10-15 people there when he went on.  He walked up to the front of the small, cramped stage and set up his laptop and synthesizer.  I thought he was just a techie/roadie or whatever w/ good style at first so I went to get some water, but then I heard the first seconds of his music and was instantly mesmerized.  IMHO he is incredible.  Talamak might be favorite song of 2009.  He is definitely the most musically complex.  He is less fuzzy and faded as more dreamy, dancy and pop-y.  He is set to release two albums on Carpark Records this coming year, the first of which being Causers of This, out at the start of 2010.  You can download a bunch of his stuff over at RCRDLBL, but this is the best stuff.  Also, I forgot to mention, Toro y Moi is the solo project Chaz Bundick (also a South Carolinian who is actually good friends with Ernest Greene), member of other bands from the early 2000's.  I could listen to Talamak a million times.

Small Black
mp3: Despicable Dogs [via]
mp3: Despicable Dogs (Washed Out Remix) [via]
mp3: Pleasant Experience [via]
Small Black is a Long Island Duo, with some really nice electronic songs.  Don't know what else to say about them, but really love these three.


Paralyze Humanity Sequence
Hammock
This is a guy from Chicago I believe.  Don't know much about him just that he has unsigned, pretty much just does parites, and that's about it.  I happened to stumble across his myspace, where you can download his EP, which is actually pretty good aside from the shitty band name.  Pretty typical chillwave stuff, nothing special but I like it.

Atlas Sound ft. Panda Bear (AKA Noah Lennox of AnCo)
mp3: Walkabout [via]
This is a pretty great piece of music off of  Bradley Cox (of Deerhunter)'s solo album (as Atlas Sound) Logos.  It is a really diverse album with lots of guest appearances, this song falling under the chillwave banner in my opinion.  It features Noah Lennox (AKA Panda Bear) of Animal Collective, so you know it has to be good.

Trailer Trash Tracys
mp3: Candy Girl (Demo) [via]
Don't know much about TTT's but this song I think really captures the shoegaze feel of chillwave.  If you like this you should definitely check Beach House, who are more just standard indie/shoegaze.  They just released a new single, and you can download some of their great stuff at RCRDLBL.

-- A Teenage Elephant

P.S.  Something I think is kind of cool that you might not know...We'll call it the fun fact of the day...
The name for the genre shoegaze comes from the idea that at a shoegaze band's concerts when you listen to the music you just sway with your head down and gaze at your shoes.

Local Natives


This is a band from Los Angeles that just signed to a label (Frenchkiss - who are also Passion Pit's label) and are touring now. They'll be putting out an LP soon (titled Gorilla Manor), but in the meantime here is this to tide you over.  With a sound very similar to the Deadly Syndrome, their music has a simple, understandable feel but they still have a lot of drive and manage to work a lot of energy into their songs, especially with their upbeat multi-part drumbeats.

--A Teenage Elephant

mp3: Sun Hands [via]
mp3: Airplanes

Grizzly Bear-Neon Indian


Summer chillwave breakout Neon Indian just put out two warm and fuzzy remixes of Grizzly Bear's 'Cheerleader' off of this year's Veckatimest.  He brings his 80's/synthpop/washed sound to the track really effectively (especially in the first remix).  The two remixes though are really just continuations of each other.  Check out both the remixes at P4k until I can get the other one up.

-- A Teenage Elephant

mp3: Cheerleader   [via]
mp3: Cheerleader (Neon Indian's Sega Genesis P-Orridge RMX)

Sunday, November 29, 2009

The Death of CRLS




Obituary:
Famed Internet Blogger carles has committed internet suicide.  He has shut down his blog hipsterrunoff...  I will try to preserve his memory on this blog...

RIP carles

--A Teenage Elephant

New Yeasayer

Here is the video for the new Yeasayer song Ambling Alp.  It's a pretty crazy trippy video directed by duo Radical Friend.  If you don't know them they are a psychedelic, electronic and overall sweet Brooklyn band.  They have a new album coming Odd Blood.  Out in February on Secretly Canadian it should be a great follow up to All Hour Cymbals if it holds up to the first single.  You can download the new single over at Yeasayer's website for free. There are also a couple of great remixes, the best of which by Memory Tapes.  Check it all out after the jump.

--A Teenage Elephant

"Ambling Alp"
mp3: Ambling Alp


[via]

Memory Tapes Remix
mp3: Ambling Alp (Memory Tapes Remix)


[via]



[via]

A Teenage Elephant is Born



This is my blog.  I'll say pretty much what I want.  I'm still new to this so and i'm trying to figure out how everything works, so bear with me.  We'll see how it goes.  I'll be trying to create a blog that will help keep you up with everything thing that is going on in that crazy blog-o-sphere-scape-net-world (mostly in terms of music, but pretty much whatever interests me).  I guess I'm really just adding to it and nobody will probably read this, BUT DEAL WITH IT

--A Teenage Elephant
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