Albums of 2009: The Rumble Strips- Welcome to the walk alone

The Rumble Strips- Welcome to the walk alone

Track List:
01. Welcome To The Walk Alone 2:44
02. London 3:10
03. Not The Only Person 2:21
04. Daniel 2:58
05. Douglas 2:38
06. Back Bone 3:11
07. Sweet Heart Hooligan 1:53
08. Running On Empty 2:27
09. Dem Girls 2:55
10. Raindrops 3:49
11. Happy Hell 3:23

Essential Downloads- 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10

Everytime I listen to this album I'm struck by two things- how amazing it is and a profound hatred for nme. They gave it something like a 4 when it was released and then like 6 months later said that it would have gotten an 8 or 9 if Mark Ronson hadn't produced it. WHAT. THE. FUCK. That is THE most ignorant thing I have ever heard.

You know the rumble strips, debut album in 2006 had tracks like bicycle, clouds, girls and boys in love. In short it was amazing so yes they did have to make sure that the follow up was special and man is it ever. If you don't know them they're ska influenced brit pop. It's so nice and familiar as well as haunting and profound. Spectacular album.

Freelance Whales- Weathervanes (2009)

Were you on my roof last night stealing my weathervane? This interview is over!

1. Generator ^ First Floor
2. Hannah
3. Locations
4. Channels
5. Starring
6. Kilojoules
7. Broken Horse
8. Danse Flat
8. Ghosting
9. We Could Be Friends
10. Vessels
11. Generator ^ Second Floor
12. The Great Estates

Essential Downloads: 1, 5, 11 and 12

Yeah carrying on my theme of album titles with vague simpsons references...

This album by NY's freelance whales is a late contender for one of the albums of the year. The first track I heard Generator^SecondFloor, instant 4 stars on the ipod. Second track- Generator^FirstFloor same again, HAD to check out the rest of this. I've put a few downloads in the title for you but this album is worth getting the whole thing tbh.

I also didn't know this until today but they're touring america with fanfarlo in december and january! God I hope they come back over here with fanfarlo it'll be the greatest gig of all time. Check them out in your nearest state/province if you're lucky enough to live in canada.

Albums of 2009: Empire of the sun- Walking on a dream

O.K here it comes- my albums of 2009! It's been a great year. Last year spawned great albums from vampire weekend, mgmt, nick cave and the bad seeds and my #1- gaslight anthem. Yeah it was good but this year? Spewing quality out of every orifice. Maybe I should rewrite this intro and not use words like spawn or spew... Either way I should probably just get on with it- these are in no specific order (except for fanfarlo at #1 :p) as you should get them aaaaall.

Empire of the sun- Walking on a dream

Tracklisting-

1. Standing On The Shore
2. Walking On A Dream
3. Half Mast
4. We Are The People
5. Delta Bay
6. Country
7. The World
8. Swordfish Hotkiss Night
9. Tiger By My Side
10. Without You

Essential Downloads: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8

As the year begins you tend to think there's no way this year can be better than the last one and you become a little despondant. The first band I got excited for this year were joy formidable and have seen them live maaaany times since then. The first album on the other hand was this, empire of the sun's walking on a dream. I remember hearing it for the first time lying on the couch and rating the first 6 tracks on my ipod and being like this is brilliant as I was injected once more with faith in new music.

"This was the first album to make an instant impact on me this year, they're dreamy and psychadelic like MGMT, write killer and are Australian. What's not to like?" ~ Outroversion Feb '09

The Watson Twins- Talking to you, talking to me (2009)

THE WATSON TWINS – TALKING TO YOU, TALKING TO ME

I get two weeks holiday a year and you want me to spend them in your lousy...

BEACH HOUSE?!!!

(Milhouse is fidgeting again)

Noel Gallagher- The Dreams We Have As Children (2009)

Noel Gallagher- The Dreams We Have As Children (2009)

1. "(It's Good) To Be Free"
2. "Talk Tonight"
3. "Fade Away"
4. "Cast No Shadow"
5. "Half the World Away"
6. "The Importance of Being Idle"
7. "The Butterfly Collector
8. "All You Need Is Love"
9. "Don't Go Away"
10. "Listen Up"
11. "Sad Song"
12. "Wonderwall"
13. "Slide Away"
14. "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out"
15. "Don't Look Back in Anger"
16. "Married With Children"

The Unicorns- Who will cut our hair when we're gone?

The Unicorns- Who will cut our hair when we're gone?

1. "I Don't Wanna Die" – 2:03
2. "Tuff Ghost" – 2:57
3. "Ghost Mountain" – 3:10
4. "Sea Ghost" – 3:42
5. "Jellybones" – 2:43
6. "The Clap" – 1:26
7. "Child Star" – 5:21
8. "Let's Get Known" – 1:57
9. "I Was Born (A Unicorn)" – 2:45
10. "Tuff Luff" – 4:19
11. "Inoculate the Innocuous" – 5:18
12. "Les Os" – 3:32
13. "Ready to Die" – 1:42

Essential Downloads: 2, 5, 9, 13

I can't believe I haven't posted about the unicorns yet?! I LOVE this album. I fell for it in my first year at university when I had quiiiiite bad insomnia lol the nights I remember lying in bed with the radio on hearing about john prescott in celebrity big brother, doing my ironing at 4am, reading reading and reading everything i could find.

Well all that was until I found this album! I'm not saying it's boring and will make you sleep ha but because the time signatures are so complex, if you're not concentrating while listening to it your brain will become exhausted trying to keep up. Now, if you DO pay attention it's amazing to listen to, experimental, unique and awesome. The lyrics are actually quite brilliant and introspective if you pay attention to them but no matter what your state of conscious is it's a special album.

Vampire Weekend- Cousins (2009)

Cousins

Pains of being pure at heart- Higher than the stars EP (2009)

Pains of being pure at heart- Higher than the stars EP (2009)

1. Higher Than The Stars [mp3]

2. 103

3. Falling Over

4. Twins

Royal bangs- Let it beep (2009)

Royal Bags- Let it beep (2009)

1. War Bells
2. Poison Control
3. My Car Is Haunted
4. Brainbow
5. Conquest II
6. B & E
7. Shit Xmas
8. Tiny Piece of Keytar
9. 1993
10. Gorilla King
11. Waking Up Weird
12. Maniverse

Essential Downloads: 1, 2, 3 and 8

"The Royal Bangs previously captured the ear of Patrick Carney (Black Keys) who reissued their debut We Breed Champions (2006) mid last year on his own Audio Eagle Records. Let It Beep is their Audio Eagle premiere and it is a fully realized slice of indie rock that brings synth pop hooks and angular guitar to the forefront, while letting its background beats glue it all together. The Knoxville band can be as feverish as The Rapture, while as superbly fractured like Pavement. The Royal Bangs are a band to keep an eye on as Let It Beep should soon break them out to more exposure and will provide you hours of listening entertainment!" ~ Fire Drill

Animal collective- Fall be kind (2009)

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE – FALL BE KIND EP

Marina and the diamonds demos and rarities

The page you are looking for is not here. Try:

http://outroversion.wordpress.com

If you are not redirected automatically within a few
seconds then please click on the link above.

I was just in a webchat with marina diamandis and someone posted a link to a treasure trove of rare tracks from her, it's as good as it looks-

*Links taken down at request*

D/L some non-album tracks here

Files are on sendspace, mainly.
Daddy Was A Sailor
Hermit The Frog
Simplify (Old Version)
Bad Kidz
Porn Is Good For The Soul
Starlight/Video 17
Horror Pop
This Is L.A.
Trouble Mind
Blindfold Me
Guilty (Final Version)
Philosopher My Arse
Plastic Rainbow
Guilty
What Are You Waiting For? (Live)
Shampain (The Shampain Sleeper)
Girls
Girls Girls Girls
Jealousy (Demo)
The Outsider (Old Version)
Space And The Woods (Live)
Seventeen (Old Version)
The Outsider (New Version)
The Crown Jewels EP (I Am Not A Robot, Mowgli's Road, Simplify, I Am Not A Robot Official Rremix, Seventeen)
Songs Live (Mowgli's Road Live, I Am Not A Robot, Obsessions Etc.)

Free Energy

Free Energy

I just read about these guys and got excited so felt I really better get on and post about them on here. They're from philli, representing americana and glam-rock, that's right.

Frontman Paul Sprangers describes a typical Free Energy gig as “Hot dancing girls everywhere. Sweat. Pulsing lights. Emotional Rescues. Fist pumps and rainbow disco lights. Eagle soaring solos. And really cute girls. And boys. And high-fives. Someone probably throws a beer at some point. There's definitely some heckling. And then a slew of fine ladies hanging out at the afterparty.”

Dream City and their title track are bound to be anthem's of 2010, check them out while they're cooool!!!

Dream City
Free Energy
Something in common

Fink- Sort of revolution (2009)

Fink- Sort of revolution (2009)

01. Sort Of Revolution
02. Move On Me
03. Six Weeks
04. Nothing Is Ever Finished
05. See It All
06. Q & A
07. If I Had A Million
08. Pigtails
09. Maker
10. Walking In The Sun

Essential Downloads: 1, 2, 3, 5

NME Review: "Like a gap-year student dreamily backpacking his way around Europe with nothing but an acoustic guitar, Fin Greenall aka Fink is so laid-back he’s practically horizontal. The opening title track on his third album seems to be setting the stage for 45 minutes of folktronica, but Fink is capable of delivering much more. Blessed with a rich, buttery voice, he croons hypnotically about the bright lights of New York on ‘See It All’ and is backed by a gospel choir as stress-free as he is on ‘Walking In The Sun’. The stripped-down soul vibe continues on ‘Move On Me’ (with pal John Legend on piano), and with ‘If I Had A Million’ he morphs into a funky John Martyn. Downbeat dinner parties, say hello to your new soundtrack." 7/10

Another way to find music

One way I like to find new music is clicking on people's profiles who seem cool on last.fm or the indie rock playlist forum and checking out bands I don't know. I can see this being a regular feature on here :D

Bluejuice- Broken Leg (download) (last.fm) (Twitter)

I actually checked this band out last of the three and from the description "punk hop disco" I expected them to blowballs. They don't. They're awesome! They're like all the fun parts of Ok Go!, Cat empire and 3oh!3, loads of fun but obviously not to be taken at all seriously, this track and vitriol are great additions to your ipod.

Say anything- Alive with the glory of love (mediafire) (Twitter) (last.fm) wow I can get sexual too, woe

Say anything are from Cali and fit that scene pretty well... yes, they are emo. Keeping with that trend they were originally named "sayanything". The track i've posted here is, funnily enough, about love during the holocaust but if you don't really pay attention to the theme it's like the most fun track musically and vocally. I think i might check out more from these guys but then i am secretly emo i guess lol three tracks up there for you to check out.

Boy and bear- Mexican Mavis (last.fm) (Twitter)

Boy and bear seem a little bit tiny but the person selected this song for our second community playlist so I was a little intrigued about them. They're from australia, quite bluegrass and are like a happy version of mumford and sons. Where M&S were dark and depressing B&B are light and uplifting. At the same time they do manage to dip into the depths of despair, mexican mavis being a great example of this.

When I was 12- Dear Eskimo

When I was 12- Dear Eskimo

"When I Was 12 are Adrianne Gold, Daniel Houwen, Camille Bayas, Will Samtur, and other beautiful revolving members who like to write silly love songs and want to feel alive."

Essential Downloads: 1,2,3,4

This is a really hard to find album, thanks to palleroy for the link, enjoy.

Modest Mouse

Modest Mouse

Ok I lied again about not doing a proper post.

It's a bit weird I haven't posted about these guys. I think if death cab hadn't existed 2002-2005 sort of era they'd have been the band I was telling everyone about and the band I was saying I loved before they got successful ha.

That's the thing though, Modest mouse had billboard #1's with float on and we were dead... and yet they've remained true to everything that made them great. This is pretty much thanks to Isaac Brock as he is what he is and he'd cut anyones face off who tried to make him anything else.

I have most stuff that they've done on cd and it's ALOT of cds. As with bright eyes and death cab there's numerous ep's and early albums, splits and live albums although out of the three MM have the least but it's still the sort of thing where if you had everything they'd released on vinyl you could sell it on ebay and never have to work again.

Sad sappy sucker
Moon and antartica
Building nothing out of something
No one's first and you're next EP
This is a long drive for someone with nothing to think about

I'm sorry about this post, it's a bit lazy but I wanted to write a bit about MM. I've left a lot of stuff out and don't really have the hootspa to do reccomendations but i guess just make sure you get like the top 15 most listened on their last.fm if you don't have them.

Couple of pop albums

Truth is i've felt alright this weekend and unfortunately that tends to mean i'm not as inspired to be creative, go figure. So there you go, sorry for n0t updating yesterday, t'was the first time in a hell of a long time though eh. It's cold, i'm still having to get up early and I have no money so i'm sure I won't stay content for long ha :D

One thing that has frustrated me of late is that all the artists I like are really popular, not cos i'm leet or anything but because their gigs sell out sooooo quickly. Modest mouse, frank turner and well... paul mccartney. I guess the latter one I should have expected. But none the less scarlet mist isn't the tool I thought it once was.

I'm not going to do a proper post i'm just going to post a couple of albums that leaked last night-

Rated R
Fame monster

Paramoaaaar

Paramore

What a journey paramore have had eh. Let me get this straight first of all, I still think hayley williams is super hot and I still enjoy their music buttttttt yeah- they've gotten all humungous with 14 year old fans like death cab (who are also on the twilight soundtrack *forks eyes*) and so yeah the edge has been taken off a little bit.

Thing is, I loved riot. I found out about them when "all we know is falling" was out and i got it at the same time as paul mccartney's (inconsequential piece of information), I dug them and right after that riot came out and I thought it was amazing. Hallelujah, that's what you get, misery business, it was FULL of great songs.

They toured that, playing academys over here and were phenomenal but then twilight happened and now they're playing arena's. I have a ticket for birmingham (if anyone wants to buy it) but am probably not going to go as I can't be bothered with big gigs unless there was never an alternative (foo fighters, chili peppers, paul mccartney).

The new album is ok but they've sold so much on the back of selling their soul to a teen phenomenon but then muse, radiohead, death cab and countless others have also jumped on the bandwagon i mean who could blame them? It's $$$. I like two tracks on it, the single and the closer. The latter which really show cases hayley's voice which isn't particularly utilised on the album and won't have to be live now.

Just get the albums before they become even less cool-

All we know is falling (pressure, emergency)
Riot! (Misery business, that's what you get, hallelujah, born for this, crushcrushcrush)
The final riot (Hallelujah- leonard cohen cover into paramore version)
Brand new eyes (decode, ignorance, all i wanted, brick by boring brick)

Them crooked vultures (2009)

Them crooked vultures (2009)

No One Loves Me & Neither Do I
Mind Eraser, No Chaser
New Fang
Dead End Friends
Elephants
Scumbag Blues
Bandoliers
Reptiles
Interlude With Ludes
Warsaw Or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up
Caligulove
Gunman
Spinning In Daffodils

Yellowcard- Ocean Avenue (2003)

Another installment of the "albums you really should know, I mean- come on, seriously?" series.

Yellowcard- Ocean Avenue (2003)

1. "Way away" – 3:22
2. "Breathing" – 3:38
3. "Ocean Avenue" – 3:18
4. "Empty Apartment" – 3:36
5. "Life of a Salesman" – 3:18
6. "Only One" – 4:17
7. "Miles Apart" – 3:32
8. "Twentythree" – 3:27
9. "View From Heaven" – 3:22
10. "Inside Out" – 3:40
11. "Believe" – 4:31
12. "One Year, Six Months" – 3:28
13. "Back Home" – 3:55

I can't quite recall how I got into yellowcard, all I know is I did and I did hard. It was sort of around my first year at oxford college and I heard about them and tried to download them but only got looped tracks, remember those days?! Well someone said I really should just go out and buy it and I did. Fell in love with it, recorded it onto cassette so I could listen on my walkman. Those really were the days eh.

A relentless power and energy swarm over this album only letting up for some truy poignant masterpieces. It kicks off with "way away", typical of the former. Violins and light metal guitar lines giving you a break during the middle eight of a truly storming track. Live this must be immense but this album captures it perfectly.

"Breathing" creates a claustrophobic atmosphere, the lyrical themes quite brilliant and well delivered but the incessant drumming coupled with the underscoring shrill of the violin are carried through by intermittant guitar, heavy and light in all the right places. The title track is after this, ocean avenue, and it's great. Nostalgia over the intoxication of past summers but almost so much so that it could have underlined any number of angsty scene on the o.c. It's got 4 stars on my i pod cos I just love it!

Life of a salesman is a tricky one. I didn't used to like it so much but then my dad died and it held a little more resonance. It's not a particuly track but if you have a similar point of view to approach this track from it really is quite poignant.

Only one and miles apart are similar tracks to one another thematically but in style intensely different. The latter being a little lighter with more optimistic vocalsrather than the desperate feel of the only one.

Kinda get into the masterpieces now, view from heaven is just beautiful. I think I even loved this before anyone died but now 5 years later with jackey, jo, matt, dad, jeff, grandad and rheal dying prematurely this song has just become so much more than what it was. "Late night drives all alone in my car, I can't help but start singing lines from all our faovurite songs". The song is almost dismissive in a way, giving the feeling that things don't really matter so much down here and you'll all be together again eventually anyway.

Now Believe is pretty much the anthem of yellowcard. The song is about the firefighters who lost their lives saving the lives of people trapped inside the world trade centre during the events of september 11th 2001...

"Again today we take into our hearts and minds those who perished on this site one year ago, and also those who came to toil in the rubble to bring order out of chaos, and help us make sense of our despair." ~ Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of NYC

"The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." ~ The Gettysburg address

Fact of the matter is even if this album was just the tracks that I haven't reccomended here, it would still be a fantastic album. I just wrote this in my lunch hour so a thesis might have been a bit much. Truth is all the albums I post in the "Albums you should own" series are flawless without exception. With only maybe one or two exceptions ;)

Marina and the diamonds

I've written about Marina & the diamonds 3 times on this blog already and she's been featured on here twice as much. I saw her live for the first time just over a month ago, I liked her music before hand but one thing that struck me was how close she was with her audience, she really makes you feel like she's excited to be performing for you and for you to be there. Which is no doubt why she's amassed a great fanbase in a pretty short space of time, this as well as being an electrifying performer.

She's another artist I follow on twitter and through this I know that Perez Hilton and Kanye West are hyping her to the high heavens. This means two things. The first is that she's going to be huge and deservedly so. The second which I pray doesn't happen is that she's going to do electronic music and marketed to the brit awards crowd ala la roux and little boots.

I'm not sure I can say anything that I haven't said in any of my other posts! I must emplore you to make up your own mind before you get told what to think by the press.

I love her delivery so much, I am not a robot, seventeen and Mowgli's road are just brilliant, check them out. Also I had only heard "shampain" live before today and it was quite the fans favourite then, I've included the studio version here.

Fact of the matter even if these are the only good tracks on her album (which they won't be) it'll be massive, 2010 is the year of the diamonds.

I am not a robot
Mowgli's Road
Seventeen
Shampain Sleeper
Obsessions - "This track is laden with secret stars like angst with her synesthesia infused vocals. Maybe the piano is a little simple but the pulsing of the percussion helps it on the journey that she's becoming pretty spectacular at creating." ~ outroversion

New female Artists Second Edition

Like I said during my TWLOHA post I notice the trends on this blog and one that gets repeatedly hit is the "new female artists" page despite it being done around 6 months ago so I figured I'd do one of these every now and then for there are plenty of great ones around.



Ellie Goulding

You've probably heard of Ellie Goulding, I'm not sure how big she's getting maybe i'm just more aware because I follow her on twitter but i'm pretty sure that she's getting known. Her music is made by super producer StarSmith and she's very much in the same vein as little boots but is actually really good and a little more independant. Starry Eyed and Under the sheets have both been featured on BIRP, they're all over nme radio and they're worth the download.

Starry Eyed
Under the sheets
The Wolves Acts 1 & 2 (bon iver cover)

Claire Maguire

Apparently there's a lot of hype around this girl, she's from Birmingham, signed to Polydor and is recording her debut with Mark Ronson. The latter, if you are female is a guaranteed number one where as if you're male you're labelled sell outs, go figure. Alas I'm not a huge fan of this girl but she seems to be on the fasttrack to the big time so check her out before the sun tells everyone she's better than anyone who's ever done anything.

I have some of her tracks on my ipod but i'm pretty sure they'd get taken down if i put them up so i'm just going to tell you to listen to them on her myspace and maybe you'll dig but if you don't don't worry about it she'll in your face as relentlessly as duffy was 6 months ago. Myspace.



Holly Throsby

Man did I love Polly Scattergood's dark and haunting style but that's not the only reason I dig Holly Throsby. You know how Marina & the diamonds music is theatrical and leading, that's the deal here. Holly has a wonderful, smouldering voice at times powerful at times heart renching and fragile. These drapped over jazz styled brass, double bass and all manner of instrumentation displayed in occasionally booming and euphoric thematics but usually trickling across tracks with Holly's fantastic lyrical motifs and scary mansion style vocals draped over them. Heart divided is probably the standout track and most representative of her sound-

Warm Jets
A Heart Divided
Would You (With Bonnie Prince Billie)

mission of burma- sound the speed of light

Sound the speed of light

01. 1, 2, 3, Partyy! ( 2:46)
02. Possession ( 4:27)
03. Blunder ( 3:39)
04. Forget Yourself ( 4:53)
05. After The Rain ( 3:22)
06. SSL 83 ( 2:49)
07. One Day We Will Live There ( 2:43)
08. So fuckmissi It ( 2:46)
09. Feed ( 3:49)
10. Good Cheer ( 2:45)
11. Comes Undone ( 3:08)
12. Slow Faucet ( 4:27).

Essential Downloads- 6, 8, 12

Daniel Johnston.

I don't know much of daniel johnston. The first I heard of him was through conor oberst's cover of devil town. The second was on russell brand's radio show. The third and final time was when someone said my music was clearly influenced by daniel johnston. So a little backwards i'm downloading a whole load of his stuff right now and have bid on the devil and daniel johnston on ebay. In case anyone else also isn't up to speed jump on-

These are just all the albums i could find...

*I don't know wtf is wrong with these links but just delete my address and keep the mediafire address to d/l*

Hi, how are you (essential download)
The what of whom
Yip jump music
Songs of pain
Don't be scared
Welcome to my world
Early recordings Vol. 1
Artistic Vice
1990
It's spooky
Laurie EP
Is and always was
Continued story
Frankenstein Love
Retired Boxer
Fun
Why me?
Feel yourself
Rejected Unknown

By the way i'm aware that I "probably should have heard of" daniel johnston but if you haven't noticed i'm more concerned with the future than past. I like to learn about what music influences the current and i'm not ignorant to it but there's a lot of past and not much I can say that hasn't already been said.

Surfer Blood- Astro Coast [2010]

The page you are looking for is not here. Try:

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If you are not redirected automatically within a few
seconds then please click on the link above.

This album doesn't come out til 2010 but is expected to be one of the big albums of next year, get ahead of the game-

Surfer Blood- Astro Coast [2010]

1. Floating Vibes
2. Swim
3. Take It Easy
4. Harmonix
5. Neighbor Riffs
6. Twin Peaks
7. Fast Jabroni
8. Slow Jabroni
9. Anchorage
10. Catholic Pegasus

Reccomended Downloads- 2, 1, 10, 4 and 6

Thanks to whipple for the link and the heads up

Fun.- aim and ignite (2009)

It's an absolute travesty that fun. haven't been on my blog yet. Most days I think to myself that I should blog about then because they're that awesome but i keep not doing it and haven't since I heard "At least i'm not as sad..." around 6 months ago and instead i've been writing about rihanna... Well this all about to change, you NEED this album I swear i'm not as suicidal (as I used to be)

That was a joke... uh lol :D

Anyway like Hayley Williams said on twitter the other day- "At this point, I really don't understand why fun. aren't the biggest band around."

Fun.- Aim and ignite

1. "Be Calm" - 4:10
2. "Benson Hedges" - 4:00
3. "All the Pretty Girls" - 3:23
4. "I Wanna Be the One" - 3:36
5. "At Least I'm Not as Sad (As I Used to Be)" - 4:07
6. "Light a Roman Candle with Me" - 3:05
7. "Walking the Dog" - 3:40
8. "Barlights" - 4:17
9. "The Gambler" - 4:11
   
10. "Take Your Time (Coming Home)" - 7:51

Essential Downloads- 1, 5, 3 7 and 2

New Pornographers- 4 albums

They came on on shuffle today and I'd forgotten how good they were. I was into them before I was death cab for cutie! WOWZERS!!!

Mass Romantic
Electric Version
Twin Cinema
Challengers

Young Prisms

I read someone describe Young Prism's self-titled debut as sounded like "it had been recorded in the space between the sea and the sky", it describes these san fran psychadelic nu gazers rather aptly. I don't have that album but here's 4 of the best...

Weekends and Treehouses

Feel Fine
Gone to clear lake
Amanda Brown

The Seedy Seeds- Change States/Count the days

The Seedy Seeds
Count the Days

1. Winter 04
2. Dandelion
3. The Push
4. Drive Me To The Center
5. My Roots Go Down
6. The Feeders
7. Oh, Cincinnati
8. August Eyes
9. On The Subject Of Our Past Selves
10. Count The Days
11. Losing Light
12. Asleep In All My Dreams

Download

Essential Downloads: 1,2,3,4 and 6

The Seedy Seeds
Changing States

1.the da-da song
2.Eponym
3.The Little Patton
4.Alberta
5.Rise to Receive
6.Calliope
7.Grace
8.The Weight of So Many Anchors
9.Listen to Changes Less the Moon by
10.Listen to Ides
11.Earned Average Dance America
12.Outro : of the lion

Download

Essential Downloads: 3, 6 and 11

My band of the week without a doubt! As fun as fun., and as meaningful as architecture in helsinki

Atlas Sound (2 albums, 10 E.Ps)

T'was suggested I put up some atlas sound but you know me and i'm no minimalist.

Atlas Sound is the solo project of Bradford Cox of Deerhunter

Logos (2009)

1. "The Light That Failed" – 4:47
2. "An Orchid" – 3:05
3. "Walkabout" (featuring Noah Lennox) – 3:58
4. "Criminals" – 2:55
5. "Attic Lights" – 3:44
6. "Shelia" – 3:32
7. "Quick Canal" (featuring Laetitia Sadier) – 8:38
8. "My Halo" – 3:16
9. "Kid Klimax" – 2:59
10. "Washington School" – 3:25
11. "Logos" – 3:27

Let the blind lead those who cannot feel (2008)

1. "A Ghost Story" – 2:44
2. "Recent Bedroom" – 3:46
3. "River Card" – 3:20
4. "Quarantined" – 4:20
5. "On Guard" – 3:40
6. "Winter Vacation" – 4:00
7. "Cold As Ice" – 3:33
8. "Scraping Past" – 4:30
9. "Small Horror" – 2:54
10. "Ready, Set, Glow" – 2:58
11. "Bite Marks" – 4:18
12. "After Class" – 3:29
13. "Ativan" – 2:51
14. "Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel" – 3:45

Rough trade EP (2009)

1. "Ruben" (Traditional) - 3:23
2. "Criminals" (Electronic) - 3:03
3. "Kid Klimax" (Acoustic) - 4:33
4. "Reminder" - 4:37
5. "I Know I Will Escape" - 4:24
6. "Nightwork" - 4:03

I don't know atlas sound enough to know anything about these but maybe the diehards will be thankful...

Weekend EP
Things i'll miss EP
Orange Ohms Glow Ep
Atlas Shrugged
Broadcast Meet Atlas Sound Split
Atlas Sound present Microvibe mix #1
Logic virtual 7"
Logic virtual 7" 2
Old king cole younger

Letting Up Despite Great Faults - Letting up despite great faults (2009)

Letting Up Despite Great Faults - Letting up despite great faults

1. In Steps
2. Folding Under Stories Told
3. The Colors Aren't You or Me
4. Our Younger Noise
5. Pause
6. So Fast: You
7. Photograph Shakes
8. Sun Drips
9. Release

Thanks to whipple for links

Dashboard Confessional- After the ending

Dashboard Confessional - Alter The Ending

1. Get Me Right
2. Until Morning
3. Everybody Learns From Disaster
4. Belle Of The Boulevard
5. I Know About You
6. Alter The Ending
7. Blame It On The Changes
8. Even Now
9. The Motions
10.No News Is Bad News
11.Water And Bridges
12.Hell On The Throat

Essential Downloads: 1, 4, 6, 8, 12

To write love on her arms

One thing that strikes me when looking through my blog stats like an ego maniac is that my TWLOHA posts are very popular. I think about the organisation every day as well as being affected by the issues surrounding it both in the past and in day to day life. I wanted to do another post but not so much to capatalise on its popularity but to give a few quotes, ideas and a bit of music that I find inspiring and if anyone comes across this page when they're not feeling great then hopefully this will help a bit. These stories are from my memory.

7th July 2007

I was driving through the city and had to stop when I heard this story. It was on the second anniversary of the london bombings and a woman who had lost her daughter had called in to radio 5 to share her experience of the last two years and give hope to those affected. First she told what happened on the day and the emotions and helplessness she felt for the next year. She went to london a year after to join the memorial but there were too many people there and she felt uncomfortable so she sat down on some steps she was standing near and, at 8.50am cried for an hour. Exhausted she got a taxi back to the train station and on the way told the driver why she was there, he asked her where she lived and she told him where, which was around 150 miles away. He told her he would drive her there, she said there was no way she could afford that and he told her to get comfortable and not to worry about paying anything, "I want you to know that there are still good people in the world".

John Denver- Poems, Prayers and Promises

Around about last december I watched the john denver biopic and there's a scene where a girl is talking to her psychiatrist, who is john's ex wife and she recognises her and she reminds her she's there to talk to her about herself, she says she is; because she was going to kill herself but something made her turn on the radio, maybe to drown out the thoughts etc but at the last moment she heard this song and it spoke to her, gave her hope. I feel the same way about this song, when i first heard it i probably listened to it 200 times the next day.

And finally one thing that resounds with me is this,

"I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't take drugs. Not talking to anyone is what will kill me"

Remember-

The vision is the possibility that your best days are ahead.

The vision is the possibility that we're more loved than we'll ever know.

The vision is hope, and hope is real.

You are not alone, and this is not the end of your story.

Pomegranates- Everybody, come outside!

Pomegranates- Everybody, come outside! (2009)

Everbody Come Outside
Beachcomber
This Land Used To Be...
Southern Ocean
Piano
Corriander
384 BC
Svaatzi Uutsi
Jerusalem Had a Bad Day
Tesseract
Acoustic

Essential Downloads: 1, 2, 3, 6

I've started putting "band of the week" in the tags so you can click on it and see the other bands of the week! Now i'm not just randomly mentioning that, i'm saying it for a reason as pomegranates are just that- my band of the week!

I heard about them a long time ago but couldn't find anything on them until sure enough they were so good that their stuff was everywhere within a few months. You know when Isaac Brock or Frank Black are really fucking angry and vitriolic on tracks? That isn't this. This is when the Modest Mouse and Pixies frontmen lend their deathly gravel to more a more tender means.

This is the foursome from cin... cin... at... ti's second album and if you were to use a fruit to descrine them it would probably be their namesake... I think comparisons like that is why I don't get paid for this shit...

The Hidden Cameras - Origin Orphan (2009)

The Hidden Cameras - Origin Orphan (2009)

01 - Ratify The New
02 - In The Na
03 - He Falls To Me
04 - Colour Of A Man
05 - Do I Belong
06 - Walk On
07 - Kingdom Come
08 - Originorphan
09 - Underage
10 - The Little Bit
11 - Silence Can Be A Headline

Essential Downloads: 1, 2, 10

The Da Vincis- See you tonight (2009)

The da vincis- See you tonight (2009)

1) Vermont
2) Friend Request
3) 50's Film
4) Nickles and Dimes
5) Hotel Elysee
6) Oh My Gosh
7) John Wayne
8) Standing In Line

Essential Downloads: 8, 3 and 1

Cold cave- love comes close (2009)

Cold Cave- Love comes close (2009)

1. Cebe and Me
2. Love Comes Close
3. Life Magazine
4. The Laurels of Erotomania
5. Heaven Was Full
6. The Trees Grew Emotions and Died
7. Hello Rats
8. Youth and Lust
9. I.C.D.K.

Essential Downloads: 2, 3 & 8

Weezer- Raditude (2009)

Weezer - Raditude Deluxe Edition (2009)

01 - (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To
02 - I'm Your Daddy
03 - The Girl Got Hot
04 - Can't Stop Partying
05 - Put Me Back Together
06 - Tripping Down The Freeway
07 - Love Is The Answer
08 - Let It All Hang Out
09 - In The Mall
10 - I Don't Want To Let You Go
11 - Turn Me Round
12 - Get Me Some
13 - Run Over By A Truck
14 - The Prettiest Girl In The Whole Wide World
15 - The Underdogs

Essential Downloads: 2,4 and 5

OOIOO- ARMONICO HEWA (2009)

OOIOO (2009) ARMONICO HEWA

1. SOL
2. Uda Hah
3. Irorun
4. Konjo
5. Ulda
6. Polacca
7. Kipepeo
8. O O I A H
9. Nin Na Yama
10. Hewa Hewa
11. Agacim
12. Orokai
13. Honki Ponki

Essential Downloads: 13, 8 and 6

"What if you could open your mouth and instead of words in a sentence all the sounds of modern life would come pouring out in a torrent of brilliant ideas? It would sound like OOIOO. This all female band from Japan has gone about making one astounding record after another for the last decade or so, and Armonico Hewa is no exception. Led by former Boredoms drummer Yoshimi (P-We) it is almost impossible to describe OOIOO’s music. It is largely based on improvisation, but always maintains a consistent groove or feel that gives the songs consistency. It is not chaos, in fact it is often quite beautiful. The only way to describe it is to compare it to other bands. It is equal parts trance drum guitar workouts similar to Can, squealy/skronky sound collages like early Sonic Youth and ultra modern Japano-syntho sheen like Cornelius, with a little of Yoko Ono’s understanding of the Avant Garde thrown in for good measure. Of course it doesn’t really resemble any of these, because it is its own unique flower. If you like modern music that challenges your expectations yet consistently rewards with unforgettably melodic experimentation, you owe yourself a visit to the rare world of OOIOO." - Paul Epstein (http://wearsthetrousers.com)

lil wayne...

has tatoos on his eyelids.

Deltron 3030- 3030

As far as concept albums go i'm up for one that is set 1021 years in the future with lyrical themes to match. Deltron 3030 can either be called a super group of hip hop artists or gorillaz without damon albarn, although he is on a couple of tracks but then so is sean lennon... and sans-cartoon effigies. Whether you want to hear it out of curiosity or are open minded you should check out a few of these tracks..

"The album follows Deltron Zero's fight against an oppressive government and powerful corporations, while also battling to be the Galactic Rhyme Federation Champion."

Deltron 3030- Deltron 3030 (2000)

1. State Of The Nation
2. 3030
3. The Fantabulous Rap Extravaganza
4. Things You Can Do
5. Positive Contact
6. St. Catherine St.
7. Virus
8. Upgrade (A Brymar College Course)
9. New Coke
10. Mastermind
11. National Movie Review
12. Madness
13. Meet Cleofis Randolph The Patriarch
14. Time Keeps On Slipping
15. The News (A Wholly Owned Subsidiary Of Microsoft Inc.)
16. Turbulence (Remix)
17. The Fantabulous Rap Extravaganza Part II
18. Battlesong


Essential Downloads: 14, 2, 4, 5, 12, and 10 ( I know 6 is more than usual but there's 18 tracks and i've actually been kinda stingey! It's a good album)

Frontier Ruckus- The orion songbook [2008]

With the indie rock playlist and my best of wrapped up for octoboer I started on November and this is the first band I got excited about. The track I heard (Rosemont) reminded me so much of Bright Eyes' old soul song and that was one of the tracks that pretty much tipped me over the edge from a casual fan to conorobsessive. You simply gotsta check this one out.

Frontier Ruckus
The orion songbook [2008]

1. Animals Need Animals
2. The Latter Days
3. What You Are
4. Dark Autumn Hour
5. Mount Marcy
6. The Blood
7. Bethlehem
8. Foggy Lilac Windows
9. Orion Town 2
10. The Back-Lot World
11. Rosemont
12. Orion Town 3
13. Adirondack Amish Holler
14. The Deep-Yard Dream

"Matthew Milia, David W. Jones, and crew take the americana, backwoods-homespun-heirloom sounds of a bygone era, and give them a new understanding, with an unobtrusive modern edge. Top it off with the most intelligent lyricism you've heard in years, and you have Frontier Ruckus. It's hard to recall a voice as untreated and honest as Milia's... ever. His is a voice whose timbre carries as much meaning as the words that come through it"

Reccomended Downloads: 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13

So on my album posts now I'm going to put what tracks I reccomend to download as recently i've gone through my itunes and tended to keep sort of 5 or 6 tracks on quite a few albums and my ipod is much more healthier for it and when you put it on shuffle it's pretty much all gold rather than hit and miss.

UUVVWWZ- UUVVWWZ [2009]

A band that probably needs more introduction than i'm giving here. Think of it as a mystery box, a hard to find mystery box that you won't regret downloading... I mean opening... Or whatevs. Anyway wild female vocals, ethereal instrumentation, it's good stuff-

Artist: UUVVWWZ
Album: UUVVWWZ

01. Berry Can ( 5:17)
02. Shark Suit ( 2:58)
03. Jap Dad ( 2:45)
04. Neolano ( 7:53)
05. Castle ( 5:11)
06. Green Starred Sleeve ( 3:19)
07. Trapezeus ( 3:42)
08. The Sun ( 5:00)
09. Hum Jam ( 6:20)

UUVVWWZ (read double U double V double W Z) are Jim Schroeder (guitar), Teal Gardner (voice), Tom Ambroz (drums), and Dustin Wilbourn (bass) from Lincoln, NE.

“UUVVWWZ started as a band in 2007 in Lincoln, Nebraska. When we came up with the name we laughed. I wrote it on a ripped up brown paper bag that we had drawn some of our song structures on and pronounced while pointing, “Double ‘U’ double ‘V’ double ‘W’… ‘Z.’” Then we went back to working on our songs and being creative together with a good chance of pasta and cigarette breaks."

Pomplamoose- 3 albums

Nightmares & Daydreams
Sleep in Color
Videosongs

THE BEST OF: Pomplamoose

Controversial Decision

Recently while writing notes for my blog I mused over doing a post about pop music that's on my ipod because believe it or not, there is some. I dig some pop music but I confess that I can't really tell whether rihanna's music is actually good or whether I just like it because she's mind-blowingly hot.

Fact of the matter is, pre 2003 when I started to listen to good music I listened to alot of mainstream stuff, I was into rap and therefore have N*sync's track they did with nelly on there, I have justin timberlake's justified which I even recorded onto cassette at the time oh god... Yeah time's change but I don't think my radar would be quite so refined if I hadn't gone through that stage.

Bottom line is, I'm syncing my ipod later on and this rihanna track is going on there as well as robbie williams' new album. I haven't heard either but that's why pop music is so successful because you don't have to, you just get told what to think by everyone else.

Download...

Rihanna- Russian Roulette Link 1 Back up link
Rihanna- Wait Your Turn Link 1 Back up link
Rihanna- Bubble Pop Link 1 Back up link

Robbie Williams- Reality killed the video star

1. Morning Sun 4:07
2. Bodies 4:03
3. You Know Me 4:21
4. Blasphemy 4:19
5. Do You Mind? 4:06
6. Last Days Of Disco 4:50
7. Somewhere 1:02
8. Deceptacon 5:01
9. Starstruck 5:21
10.Difficult For Weirdos 4:29
11.Superblind 4:46
12.Won’t Do That 3:38
13.Morning Sun (Reprise) 1:24