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

Follow the blog, spread the word, tweet the link etc. Enjoy the music.

And the world has contra

So this morning the impressively well guarded contra by vampire weekend was made available to the online community. Whether it was on their own terms (the first few copies were a webrip from their own myspace) or whether the myspace stream was forced due to to a leak which became more widely available around 6 hours after the rips, this isn't really important but what is the we finally can hear what the indie world has been waiting incredibly patiently for. Listen here. The only questionable track is california english otherwise the album seems like what makes them great.

In other news Sisqo has reentered the public consciousness, read my blog on him from a little while ago here. Apparently Samatha Mumba is actually single though so good times.

Top 20 tracks of 2009 Pt. 1

Pretty self explanatory, these are the best tracks of the past year. This is both in my opinion and as a matter of fact :D This will be in 3 parts, here is part 1-

Part I

Monsters of folk- Baby Boomer
Muse- United states of Eurasia
Arctic Monkeys- Crying Lightning
Sad Day for puppets- Marble gods
Scary Mansion- Scum Inside II
Vampire Weekend- Cousins
Asher Roth- I love College
Editors- Papillion
Joy Formidable- Greyhound in the slips
Gabby Young- We're all in this together
Asteroids Galaxy Tour- Around the bend
Big Pink- Dominos
Green Day- Before the labotomy
Metric- Gimme Sympathy

Princeton- Cocooon of love (2009)

Princeton Cocoon of Love

01. Sadie And Andy (feat. Meredith Metcalf)
02. Show Some Love, When Your Man Gets Home
03. Calypso Gold
04. Korean War Memorial
05. Stunner Shades in Heaven
06. Martina and Clive Krantz
07. Shout It Out
08. Sylvie
09. I Left My Love in Nagasaki
10. Worried Head
11. The Wild

Essential Downloads: 1,2,3,7,8

I love vampire weekend so when I heard about these pretendeers to the throne of ive league pop I thought I better check them out. There's no dissapoint you get what's promised but the deal is sweetened by lush boy girl harmonies on album opener sadie and andy, maybe the one thing missing from VW?! They're worth a check out, they remind me of discovering vampire weekend's album, I guess with obvious reasons but still t'was an exciting time.

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

Vampire Weekend- Cousins (2009)

Cousins

Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist November 2009

1. (00:03:30) the Da Vincis - Paper Planes
2. (00:04:04) The Mantles - Don't Lie
3. (00:03:23) No Age - You're A Target
4. (00:02:58) The Very Best - Julia (Javelin Re-do)
5. (00:03:26) The Silent Years - Taking Drugs At The Amusement Park
6. (00:03:36) Switches - Snakes and Ladders
7. (00:03:52) Dr. Dog - Heart it Races
8. (00:04:00) PacoVolume - Cookiemachine
9. (00:04:03) The Kickdrums - Out To Get Me!
10. (00:03:53) Jon and Roy - Another Noon
11. (00:04:44) Pet Ghost Project - Wires From The Ceiling
12. (00:03:05) Nicole Reynolds - When We Meet Again
13. (00:04:46) Frankie & The Heartstrings - Fragile
14. (00:03:23) Kittens Ablaze - This Machine is Dying
15. (00:03:57) Lixian Hantover - Rachel's New Apartment
16. (00:03:12) The Submarines - You, Me & The Bourgeoisie
17. (00:04:10) Marina & The Diamonds - Mowgli's Road
18. (00:03:05) A Broken Robot - All Here
19. (00:04:36) Parts & Labor - Nowheres Nigh
20. (00:02:45) Ex Lovers - Just A Silhouette
21. (00:03:46) The Lovely Feathers - Lowiza
22. (00:06:44) Warpaint - Billie Holiday
23. (00:02:15) P.S. Eliot - Like How You Are
24. (00:04:01) New Roman Times - Smoke In Your Disguise
25. (00:02:02) Shai Erlichman - Origami! (Ft. Wes + Cas Kaplan)
26. (00:03:05) Evan Voytas - Give It Back
27. (00:02:52) Historics - Skin Orders
28. (00:03:28) Vampire Weekend - Horchata
29. (00:02:52) Washed Out - New Theory
30. (00:03:07) Freelance Whales - Generator ^ First Floor
31. (00:04:29) Their Planes Will Block Out the Sun - Teflon Kids
32. (00:02:44) Looking Glass - Ah La Ha
33. (00:03:13) Taken By Trees - My Boys (Animal Collective Cover)
34. (00:06:57) The Flaming Lips - Powerless
35. (00:03:26) Fol Chen - The Longer U Wait (ft. Simone White)
36. (00:02:26) Saintseneca - God Bones
37. (00:04:13) Candy Claws - Catamaran
38. (00:03:04) The Happy Hollows - Death To Vivek Kemp
39. (00:03:33) Drummer - Feel Good Together
40. (00:03:57) Alec Ounsworth - That is not my Home (after Bruegel)
41. (00:03:32) Hallelujah The Hills - Wave Backwards To Massachusetts
42. (00:02:14) Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk - Train Fuzz
43. (00:04:44) Kordan - Fantasy Nation
44. (00:03:30) The Yes Pleases - 70%
45. (00:03:29) Total Babe - Bearbones
46. (00:02:45) Bluejuice - Head Of The Hawk
47. (00:03:10) Jesus H. Foxx - I'm Half the Man You Were
48. (00:06:39) Serena Ryder & The Beauties - The Funeral (Band Of Horses Cover)
49. (00:02:09) Josh Rouse - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want (The Smiths Cover)
50. (00:02:53) Joshua Radin - Sesame Street (Joe Raposo)
51. (00:03:34) Brandi Carlile - Dreams
52. (00:05:03) The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
53. (00:04:28) Sea Wolf - Wicked Blood
54. (00:04:50) Jamie T - The Man's Machine
55. (00:04:09) Phantogram - When I'm Small
56. (00:04:16) Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard - One Fast Move Or I'm Gone
57. (00:03:18) Built To Spill - Aisle 13
58. (00:03:30) Glass Ghost - Like a Diamond
59. (00:01:49) Karen O and the Kids - Igloo
60. (00:05:10) Levi Fuller - Colossal
61. (00:05:18) Noah And The Whale - Stranger
62. (00:03:10) Orba Squara - The Trouble With Flying
63. (00:03:42) Pugwash - The Season Of Flowers And Leaves
64. (00:03:22) System and Station - Love Etc.
65. (00:03:24) The Whigs - In The Dark
66. (00:04:36) Throw Me The Statue - Waving At The Shore
67. (00:03:50) You & Yourn - Double Knots
68. (00:04:00) dios Malos - I Don't Want To Marry You
69. (00:04:44) Mont Lyons - Love Over Mind
70. (00:03:41) Ape School - Be an Encore
71. (00:02:22) Jay Reatard - It Ain't Gonna Save Me
72. (00:03:20) M. Bison - All Things to All People
73. (00:02:46) Hawnay Troof - And I
74. (00:03:55) Bird Talk - Avenue
75. (00:03:10) Windmill - Big Boom
76. (00:03:15) Women - Black Rice
77. (00:03:17) I Was Totally Destroying It - Come Out, Come Out
78. (00:02:54) Jane Taylor - Cracks
79. (00:03:10) Uninhabitable Mansions - Do You Have a Strategy?
80. (00:02:23) Call The Doctor - For Your Leisure
81. (00:05:46) Teenage Cool Kids - Foreign Lands
82. (00:02:39) Headlights - Get Going
83. (00:02:38) Lou Barlow - Gravitate
84. (00:03:23) The Joy Formidable - Greyhounds in the Slips
85. (00:05:12) Karen O and the Kids - Hidaway
86. (00:03:14) Tim Williams - I Hit Another Wall
87. (00:05:27) Au - Ida Walked Away
88. (00:03:34) The Swell Season - In These Arms
89. (00:04:11) dios Malos - It Will Feel Good...
90. (00:01:34) Sabia Sensive - June Salutes You
91. (00:03:24) Spring Tigers - Just Suggesting
92. (00:03:50) Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - Know Better Learn Faster
93. (00:04:12) Old Canes - Little Bird Courage
94. (00:04:18) Three Mile Pilot - Longest Day
95. (00:03:57) Numbers Game - Love Dreams Love
96. (00:02:41) Amy Millan - Low Sail
97. (00:02:49) When I Was 12 - Make believe hearts
98. (00:04:33) Dead Man's Bones - My Body's A Zombie For You
99. (00:05:27) The Swindlers - November First
100. (00:32:04) Ishi - Pastel Lights
101. (00:03:42) Chris Garneau - Pirates Reprise
102. (00:04:03) Colourmusic - Put In A Little Gas
103. (00:04:50) Bon Iver & St. Vincent - Rosyln
104. (00:06:35) Dan Deacon - Slow with horns / Run for your life
105. (00:03:02) Espionage Of The Loc - Start Again
106. (00:04:22) Frightened Rabbit - Swim Until You Can't See Land
107. (00:02:00) The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - Tear Down The Opera House
108. (00:05:32) Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - The Sound
109. (00:02:55) Los Campesinos! - There Are Listed Buildings
110. (00:03:34) The Library - Tomorrow Is Better
111. (00:03:40) Rubik - Wasteland
112. (00:03:00) Emmy The Great - Where Is My Mind
113. (00:04:02) Sea of Bees - Willis

New vampire weekend and Scarlett Johanssen

Vampire Weekend- Horchata

VW started a countdown at www.ithinkyoureacontra.com on monday which concluded at 7pm BST and resulted in the above track being posted. Ezra has high praise for this track saying it uses groundbreaking techniques and the such, I heard it when I go back from a gig that night and didn't know quite what to think.

Scarlett Johanssen and Pete Yorn- Relator

Some people may be aware Scarlett Johanssen released an album of Tom Wait covers last year, i've listened to it a couple of times and haven't quite gotten what it was getting at. This track however she is phenomenal on, it's beautiful, call it a preview of the november IRP cos this is the best i've found this month.

****** Yeah i've probably spelled her name wrong but how should I know? ********

Vampire Weekend- White Sky

I've been listening to mainly new music of late and from what i've been listening to i've dicovered the genius of jeffrey lewis, appreciated the four artists on the nme radar tour on another level, found simon joyner who writes like no shit- dylan used to, i've really dug jay-z's album, been a bit let down by paramore, liked muse a little bit when i couldn't stand them before and found a whole bunch of bands who are going to be on the blog soon enough.

The new indie rock playlist is now out, go check it out I think it's the best yet. It also features the first release from the new vampire weekend album, white sky, there's been live versions floating around for a while and they sounded fantastic. I am more excited about this album than any in recent memory. Probably right up there with narrow stairs on an anticipation level, I was let down by that but let's not go into that. I literally have no fear about this album because it's the style of vampire weekend that i like so much as well as evra's vocals neither of which are going to change so while the anticipation builds check it out-

Vampire Weekend- White Sky

Also if you could sign up to the indie rock playlist using my referral link that would be awesome and a way of thanking me for all the time I put into everything :D

Twitter

Everyone probably knows what twitter is by now, I'm pretty obsessed with updating everything I do but it also makes me make sure that everything I do is awesome. (This is not always true).

Mine feel free to follow me

The reason for posting this blog is to highlight some of the great musical artists that use the micro-blogging site. A full list is here- http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=phtgMLGe8aahYaH0pRs7VHg

And here are some highlights of people who update regularly

Camera Obscura- http://twitter.com/Camera_Obscura_

Slash- http://twitter.com/slashhudson

Lily Allen- http://twitter.com/lilyroseallen

Ezra Keonig (Vampire Weekend)- http://twitter.com/arzE

Lightspeed Champion- http://twitter.com/addmelolz

John Vanderslice- http://twitter.com/johnvanderslice

Adam Ficek (Babyshambles)- http://twitter.com/AdamFicek

Eminem- http://twitter.com/eminem

Nick Harmer (Death cab for cutie)- http://twitter.com/onewhoharms

let me know of any other great ones you know of...

I went to oxford you know...

I'm just waiting for the new IRP to D/L so i'm gonna do a blog...

Take #2. The original started off like this-

"So Oxford won the boat race again! This town gets rather rambuncious during the oxbridge race weekend, alot of gin and tonic is consumed, maybe with a cheeky piece of cucumber in there ;)"

The oxford scene in itself is great mainly because it attracts artists from elsewhere, therefore unless I just did a post on radiohead and the foals it wasn't going to be that great. Kind of related though-

I love vampire weekend. Here's a few videos of why...

New track- White Sky

Street Performance in France- Kid's don't stand a chance

The line up for reading and leeds is announced tonight, arctic monkeys are headlining but hoping vampire weekend will be down.

Maybe I was a bit harsh on oxford, this band, Fell city girl, are great. They're not together anymore but february snow is a track!

Best of yesteryear

Yesteryear is an anomoly for clearly, it means last year, like yesterday means the day before today and indeed the etymology backs this up but due to it's archaic usage it is linked with the times that it was more likely to be used.

Oh, big shock i'm a nerd about language. So the best albums of last year, in my opinion, yeah i'm about 3 months late with this but whevs I'm a little bit too cool to be on time (These are all torrents in a way i apologise for that but in another way it saved me a buttload of time and is also legal, right pirate bay?! ;))

Vampire Weekend/Vampire Weekend-

This album is great, I've already mentioned them on this blog with the track ottoman which isn't on this album, very preppy, great vocals, original guitar stylings, been listening to it loads recently, someone I don't like once said it was a great album to drive to, I completely agree!

Nick Cave & the bad seeds/Dig lazarus Dig-

When I first heard more news from nowhere I listened to it about 20 times in a row and for a 10 minute song that takes alot of doing! At the time I described it as sounding like "if we got a radio signal from mars and it was playing the red planet's very own rolling stones with the lyrics of the most tripped out lennon/mcartney", I went to see them live based on this and that made me see how fantastic and original the entire album is. Alot of old people at the gig though, i hope i always find that weird.

MGMT/Oracular Spectacular-

O.K So it won NME album of the year and single of the year, at the time it came out I thought nick cave was better, as an entire album I still do. In terms of singles, this wins for sure and well done on them for that because with 4 songs they've made a lot of people forget about the rest of the album and just remember the highlights, I'd feel dirty if I ever made an album like that.

Death cab for cutie/Narrow Stairs-

There are some really flawless tracks on this album, yeah, it's not their best album, yeah it's probably their worst, yeah it has a couple of the worst tracks ben's ever written on it (Twin sized bed, talking bird, pity and fear) but the other half of the album is IMMENSE! Bixby Canyon Bridge which is probably one the most highly anticipated tracks in their history, Cath, You can do better than me, the latter which sounds like the beatles could have done it, the only track off the album not to be played live. look I love death cab, they had to go in here- shoot me.

Lightspeed Champion/Falling of the Lavender Bridge-

He's on conor obert's label, I believe this album incredibly went to #1 in the shitty pop obsessed country of england. He's a great lyricist, thinks about music all day every day, original and a cool guy. Seen him a couple of times live, first time supporting bright eyes second time in leicester. he used to be in test icicles and got to see him play guitar with ox.eagle.lion.man that night and he just watched the gig with everyone else before then.

Last Shadow Puppets/Age of the understatement-

I was in canada while they were doing their thing so I didn't get to see them live, if miles kane was talented they could be the next lennon and mccartney, unfortunately he's not so don't get any big ideas! Fortunately Turner is and he's as forward thinking as lennon, this album shows this, I don't think anyone else coudl have gotten away with this but he did with applomb, that's right applomb...

Courteeners/St Jude-

After leaving their gigs I tend to call them the next libertines, NME don't like Liam Fray and he's not on drugs and can play the guitar (Disclaimer: I loved the libertines and pray for the day they get back together) but none the less this albums brilliant and killer live, check it out.

I'll be back with the best of 09 next week...