Best of January

It's a pretty huge selection this month, 73 tracks in fact. It's been a great month. At the end of December we (the collective music blogging conscience), were worried the start of the year would be a slow burner but with Vampire Weekend taking an early shot for the album of the year, M.I.A, Courteeners and Gorillaz leaking tracks and Stornoway finally deciding to release music outside of Oxfordshire it's turned out to be one of the best in recent memory.

There are a couple of tracks on there that are "old" but this in that there is an acoustic version of Marina and the Diamonds "I am not a robot" and Babyshambles "stone me". The reasons for these are the former is gorgeous, the original only has 3 stars on my ipod but when I heard this reimagining it was an instant 5 stars. Pete's band are on there as this track is supposedly going to be on their next album, it was released as a b-side, it's brilliant but not many will have heard it.

Also I will be doing a retro playlist as well which I think i'm going to start doing each month too, it was what the retrospeed lab was originally and I think it's great that I can pay homage to that as well as doing this blog and working with Blalock on his playlist. Music wise it's great times.

Also this month I can incorporate the number of tracks into the title neat eh? I think there's actually 72 tracks. Ah well still it's something I did, so what.

I'll denote the highlights for people with small diskspace or short on time or patience or whatever with "**"

Ou7rov3rsion February 2010

Vampire Weekend- Dimplomat's son**, Run**, Holiday**
United Nations of Sound- Are you ready?**
M.I.A- There are spaces for all that I see
Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man- The drowned and the saved/Where dead voices gather**
Stornoway- You don't know anything**/The pupil of your eye/Zorbing
The little flames- Isobella
New Young Pony Club- Lost a girl
Pelle Carlberg- Clever girls like clever boys much more than clever boys like clever girls
Birds of Tokyo- White witch
Gorillaz- Stylo
Xiu Xiu- Gray Death**
Jukebox the Ghost- Good Day**
Fionn Regan- Put a penny in the slot
Darwin Deez- Up in the clouds**/Deep sea divers
Wiretree- Across my mind/Satellite song/Constellations**
Backseat Goodbye- Summer Drive Song/Technicolour Eyes**
OK Go- White Knuckles/End Love
Lady of the Sunshine- White rose parade
Yeti Lane- This Day**
Today the moon, Tomorrow the sun- Bones**
Spoon- Don't make me a target/You got that cherry bomb**
Besnark Lakes- Albatross
Low vs. Diamond- Heart Attack**
Hot silk pockets- What's the matter**
Performance- Reptile
New Buffalo- I've got you...
The Courteeners- You overdid it, doll
Marina and the diamonds- I am not a robot (acoustic)**
Babyshambles- Stone Me**
Mr. Gnome- Night of the crickets**
Everything Everything- Photoshop Handsome
Dawes- When my time comes**
Via Audio- Olga
Titles Tracks- Every little bit hurts
Chris Garneau- Fireflies
Nedry- A42
Chapel Club- All the eastern girls
Slideshow Freak- ElectroRock Therapy
Gloriana- How far do you wanna go?
Rocket Uppercut- We'll always love the stars
PocketBooks- Falling Leaves**/Fleeting Moments
Anna Calvi- Blackout**
Summer Camp- Ghost train
White Hinterland- Icarus**
Jemina Pearl- Heartbeats
The avett Brothers- I would be sad/DieDieDie
Shad- I don't like to**/Compromise
Wetdog- Lower Leg
Celestial- Crystal Heights
Acid House Kings- This heart is a stone**
Magnetic Fields- The dolls' tea party
Captain Polaroid- Dust will settle on this lifeless town
The international karate plus- Brides Abroad
Monkey Swallows the universe- Jimmy Down the well**
French Semester- The large Bouquet**
Strawberry Fair- Put yourself in my place
Summer cats- Super

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Ipod Shuffle VI

You know we're back up and running when it's time for another shuffle, I'll make this one epic, 10 tracks that will hopefully blow your mind, my ipod was feeling a bit emo last night with a lot of bright eyes so hopefully won't be throwing too much lily allen or the actual lady gaga track I have on there! I'm serious, I guess it must have been on someone's playlist or something cos I'm walking around knowing it's there but not knowing how it got there, much like any number of examples from last friday night...

Of Montreal- My friend will be me

I mean everyone knows what the deal with of montreal is, weird but irresistable dream pop. Whether whole albums concerning Dustin Hofmann eating a bathtub and hiding it from a suspicious wife while completely avoiding the subject lyrically or making masterpieces such as hissing fauna are you the destroyer? They're great. A band that this generation and probably the next two aren't ready for, sometimes I feel like they're from way in the future. Missed out on seeing them last year but my ticket was sold for megabucks, they've got a killer following

Camera Obscura- Swans

Perfect! I saw Camera Obscura on Friday! I got suuuuuper drunk and did some crazy crazy things inspired by unlimited strongbow and blackcurrants each chased down with aftershock. Oh man! Anyway this track is from their latest and most critically acclaimed album and they're riding this success so well absolutely loving it, they've worked for it and deserve it. This is the most jaunty and twee off the album and is so catchy musically and Traceyann Campell's vocals as compelling as ever.

Smoosh- Take it away

Sometime a couple of years ago I went through a bit of a smoosh phase where for whatever reason I completely dug what these kids were doing! The drums are sparse yet fantastic, having been mentored from Death cab's very own Jason McGerr and the thing about the vocals, the difference between the two albums and hearing her voice mature was fantastic. One problem is the lyrics, really proper bubblegum stuff alot of pop cliches in there which i'm also hoping will mature as they do.

Magnetic fields- Strange eyes

Yet more from the opus of 69 love songs from Magnetic Fields. The music sounds like it's from another planet, the vocals remorseful and seem very deliberate like there's nothing wasted, no filler which is why the tracks so short and i don't have much time to write!

Adam Green- Broadcast Beach

Bit pop. Way too pop for Adam Green. He's at his best when he's writing haunting, mythology referencing creep fests. I rarely delete tracks off my ipod (it's huge) but I deleted another one of his songs called something like "sticky ricky" it was the worst song i'd ever heard. This sways into really pleasant radio listening which isn't always a bad thing, there's strings there's uptempo music, it's good times.

Ben Folds Live- Rockin' the suburb

I just realised that Ben Folds Live sounds like Ben Folds Five, that's quite clever. Aaaanyway this is from their live album songs for goldfish and this track was a mainstay of my road trip in 2005 such a great track for summer it's right up there with sum 41, blink 182 and greenday for their summer songs, it's great stuff, alot of fun, alot of sun and yet also a bit intense! Great stuff. Quite a bit of swearing on this track soooo :p

Frank Sinatra- I get a kick out of you

Ah the master. My first musical idol, I love swing when I was younger and still do, love the ratpack and everything they represented. This song is brilliant for the timing shows how much control he had over his instrument and despite having a huge orchestra like C.B's behind him he still ran the show. Frank Sinatra is probably one of the coolest people to have ever lived.

Lily Allen- Take what you take

Won't you look at that, what are the chances?! Out of around 2000 artists, 20000 tracks, she has about 20 on mine so the odds are like 0.01% right?! At the time I thought Lily Allen's first album was great, but I listened to it again before her new one and was like... I can't remember why I liked this. But you know what? When it's fucking sunny outside this album's even fucking sunnier! So yeah give her stuff a listen in the summer and all is right with the world. This is pretty catchy too.

I was a cub scout- A step too far behind

Sometimes I download bands who just have great names, sometimes they garner attention for their musical ability too. Apparently they've split now but I was a cub scout was a great writer, they split after one album I suppose but their synth infused emotion filled verses with powerful hooks was great so keep a look out for their new bands- Omes and Brontide.

Manic Street Preachers- Why so Sad

I saw Manic Street Preachers, supporting Foo Fighters last summer, they're one of those bands from the 90's that have stuck together and have achieved quite a reverence without actually being spectacular. They write some really catchy things and when you actually see them live you realise how many of their songs are actually lodged in your subconcious without you realising it. This isn't one but I'm sure you know what I mean :)

Yeah I'm pleased with how my ipod represented me today, we'd had a tough weekend, I thought i'd lost it on friday when I woke up all naked and confused and still drunk on saturday. I found it in my bed, I can only imagine what happened...

Shuffle Tuesday V

The Flaming Sideburns- Loose My soul
The magnetic fields- Promises of eternity
Everclear- The New York Times
Dane Cook- BK Lounge
Mates of state- Sound it off
Frog Eyes- The ill Twin of evil energy
The Lemondheads- In Passing
Conor Oberst- College
Babyshambles Live- There she goes

I've never heard of the flaming sideburns, apparentyl they're from sweden, not sure how they got on my ipod! this track starts off with some hispanic announcer before leading into oasis style guitars and then 80s rock stones inspired vocals and underlining guitars. When he sings in English it's actually REALLY cool, the swedish stuff's pretty gay but I like this, uplifting rock at it's goodest.

"I heard he wrote you a love song, well some guy wrote 69" this is that guy, stephen merritt of magnetic fields. This particular ballad has a touch of divine comedy in the delivery with of montreal in the music, probably sums it up quite well, I always thought; man if he'd have made this 3 disk album into one disk and just made it the best songs it would legendary. None the less the compilation is to a lot of people anyway so what do i know. One thing i've never understood is what the hell is a gay piano bar?

This song nearly burst my head open after the previous track, comes in like a face fuck! Which isn't the last thing I'd expect from Everclear but it's definately not why I like them. They're like the ataris for me, in that they've got many good songs but their funny names make you forget which is which and then means you rarely listen to them. The only one I remember is the one where it goes "now do that stupid dance for me" everything to everyone, but then there's songs like volvo driving soccer mom and sex with a movie star. This songs as sunny as everything they've ever done.

Ah man, Dane cook. I first found out about him when people at my uni in canada were quoting things from him stuff like "ah no i kicked them off in a fit of joy" and then one night at a rez party I went to sleep at this girl's place and she had this cd palying and man was it ever hilarious. Now he's like my second favourite comedian (to Russell Brand).

Gotta love the canadians. Mates of state, like they could be the only band in the world and i'd be happy just cos their music's so nice. Maybe that was kinda an overblown compliment, it's not gonna happen so i don't mind making it. I don't know how I found out about them but I really dig MF duo's especially when the girl takes on lead vox. I remember on a road trip in 2005 all in your head was on the tape deck quite a few times, that's right a tape deck- killer road trip down to the minutest detail

I don't know if anyone knows who ox.eagle.lion.man are yet but this band "Frog Eyes", not a great name for a band, remind me of them, quite an apocalyptic lyrical delivery with a twirling backing from a guitar's higher echelons, a keyboard and clinky drums, although it's gotta be said that Frederick Blood Royale's drummer is amazing. Yeah- go check out ox.eagle.lion.man.

Obviously having one huge album is a... I have forgotten how to spell this word... "poisined?" man I can't believe this... Poisened, poisoned? poisoined... poisind... Oh my god I literally have no idea, maybe it's because it's so sunny today, i'll blame that for the lapse- Lemonheads in the sun is perfect but as I was saying, having one highly successful album can make your previous and latter efforts pale in comparison, indeed i didn't even realise they'd released an album this century until last month! Haha. But yeah I love that album, I really want to know the rest of the stuff but I feel like i'm missing out on that album when I hear other stuff!

Ah a pre-pubescent conor oberst singing about college which was a distant half a decade away when he started releasing albums. It's weird because all this stuff solo and with commander venus is good, the pop mastery of you should be in sweden and the prediction of a haunted future. It's tracks like this that make you realise just how talented he was and is, he's been writing constantly since he could and it's all been better than anything anyone else has ever said.

This is from their "Oh! what a lovely tour" DVD and Cd, I've been listening to it loads, I really loved them live, I saw him on and off drugs and prefered him off and this album just shows off how actually quite polished and professional Babyshambles've become while also remaining true to pete's erratic persona. They've released two wonderous albums and if the libertines don't get back together, Pete could be doing worse things than making music with these guys.

Alright, insane compliments out of the way i'm pretty happy with how my taste was portrayed by my ipod today and I'll see you tomorrow. Let me know what you like and don't like by commenting etc!