Well, folks, here we are at the end of the year and the end of the decade.  I wish I had something clever or poingnant to say, but really I don’t.  I’ve spent a lot of time during December lauding some of my favorite albums from this year and hopefully I’ve either shared something new with you or reinforced your love for a favorite of your own.  I thought it would be appropriate to move slightly away from the album and write some about some of the amazing songs that have come out this year.  I don’t like putting these types of things in order, so don’t read anything into how they’re placed.  These are just the songs that get played most frequently in my Ipod. 

Japandroids, “Young Hearts Spark Fire”  Summer and youth rolled into a tremendous wall of guitars.  It’s hard to think that this amount of noise can come from 3 guys.  Long live Japandroids.  We took a look at Post-Nothing this year, and there are a lot of terrific songs on this album, but “Young Hearts” takes the cake for me.  You can find this track on Japandroids’ Myspace page.

Megafaun, “Guns”  I don’t know exactly how to describe this song.  It’s a seven-minute folk singalong, but there’s more there than you’d think.  This song fits around a campfire on a cool fall night when you’re with good frends.   Head on over to Megafaun’s Myspace page and you can hear it streaming there.

Harlem Shakes, “Strictly Game” Even though the Shakes disbanded this year, Technicolor Health was a fantastic album, and “Game” is certainly the most fun song there.  It has a pretty cool video too.

Regina Spektor, “Eet” I literally never gave a flip about Regina Spektor’s music until I heard Far this year completely by mistake.  This song is almost too precious for me…wait I forgot, I absolutely love precious songs.  If there were more Top 40 music like this, I’d probably listen to more Top 40 radio.  Nah.  Here’s the video if you’re interested.

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, “The Sound”  Better Supertramp licks than Supertramp in my opinion.  Benjamin teamed up with my man-crush Kyp Malone to put together a beautiful mess of a song.  Video courtesy of YouTube.

Blitz the Ambassador, “Remembering the Future” Yeah, we consider Blitz a friend of the site.  Yeah, I interviewed him back in September.  So maybe I’m a little biased, but you give me a better hip-hop album this year than Stereotype.  There may be some as good, but nothing better this year.  In my opinion Blitz should be bigger than he is, he’s more than a MC, he’s a producer, arranger, and stellar musician.  “Remebering the Future” is the best representation of what Blitz’s vision of hip-hop can be.  I hope it gets there.  You can listen to this track on Blitz’s Myspace page.

Strand of Oaks, “End In Flames” Moving back to something more folk-y, this little ditty really does the trick.  I’m not a huge fan of the album Leave Ruin, but this is an amazing song.  Check it out here if you like beautiful, sweet, singer-songwriter, acoustic guitar ballads.

Lee Fields and the Expressions, “Honey Dove” Music for making love.  Enough said.

BLK JKS, “Molalatladi” The new release from South Africa’s BLK JKS, After Robots, got lost in the shuffle in my opinion.  If you need a reason why it shouldn’t have, check this track out. 

Antony and the Johnsons, “Kiss My Name” I know Antony Hegarty’s voice isn’t for everyone, but if you like him, this song’s for you.  The arrangement of this song is spectacular and it’s simply is a joy to hear.  As an aside, check out Antony’s terrific cover of Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love.”

Telekinesis!, “Coast of Carolina” Best pure pop song this year, rivaled only by Girls’ “Lust for Life.”  If you want to listen, Myspace comes to the rescue.

The Very Best, “Warm Heart of Africa” This is in a tie for my absolute favorite song this year.  I could get stranded on a destert island with only this song and be musically satisfied for quite some time.  Once again, YouTube has to pull my arse out of the fire so you can listen for free.

Portugal. The Man, “People Say” Sing along songs are not done enough in my opinion.  Try to listen to this one without singing along to the chorus.  I dare you.

Pink Mountaintops, “Vampire” I don’t like Black Mountain.  They sound too much like droning death metal to me.  But I loooove Pink Mountaintops, and aren’t they basically made up of the same people?  Weird.  This song brings tears to my eyes each time I hear it, it is absolutely stunning.

New Ruins, “Angry Ghost” Sounds something like Pink Mountaintops’ “Vamipre”, is that why I like it?  Don’t know, don’t care.  It’s a heck of a song nonetheless.  Find it on Myspace.

Fool’s Gold, “Surprise Hotel” This song will make you dance, dance, dance the night away.  You won’t be able to sit still while you listen, I promise.

I could go on, but I think the point’s been made.  Enjoy the rest of the year.  Later!

So, here we are. The end of the decade, and what’s been a rather strenuous ride on my part compiling all these lists! However, it’s something I wanted to do, and I’m glad I made it to the end; I hate starting something and not finishing it (see: myself wanting to watch all the AFI Top 100 movies of all time, I got around 25 and just stopped.) With that said, I might leave my top 10 albums of the decade until the new year, the next few days are going to be a little crazy in Iain land – xmas obviously being the main one, along with a gig, and Colette having time off work meaning we’ll no doubt be doing couple-y things. Anywho, back to the list. I found 2009 to be rather underwhelming; this could well be because I wasn’t quite as ‘out there’ exploring music like I did the previous years. Still, I did find some greats that did come out this year. This could well be the shortest list too! Again, all of these albums are in no particular order.

1) Passion Pit – Manners

A perfect summer album if ever I found one. I read a good description of this album recently; saying that a lot of the music brings out the ‘kid’ part of your brain, with melodies and riffs so catchy you just want to gorge out on sugar products and go hyper. I think that’s a rather fitting description of the music. Whether it’s due to the insanely falsetto vocals or the above reasons, this music just makes you feel good. I really enjoyed playing this album in my first experiences of North Carolina summer weather (with temperatures almost every day above 30c/90F), the music suiting the mood at the time. If you don’t ever find yourself humming along to “Little Secrets” or “The Reeling”, I’d question your musical mind. Fact is, this music is SO catchy, yet still the band are very talented and obviously really care about their instrumentation. A must for any MGMT lover.

2) Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Ah yes, the album cover with the classic eye illusion, making you believe it’s moving. If you don’t instantly see this move, just stare at it for a few seconds. And the album cover certainly matches the shoegazing/psychedelic musical quality this album provides. The only criticism I have of this album is that it has a love/hate/love effect on me. When I first got this album, I loved it. Then I overplayed it and hated it for months, and until only recently have I grown to love it again. Again, this album is very catchy, perhaps Animal Collectives most accessible album to date, with hits like “My Girls” likely to be caught in your head for a very long time after hearing it. This album sounds great, with plenty of experimentation and a careful detail on production, without being too compressed, something that Passion Pits album suffers from a little.

3) Thrice – Beggars

I actually have a very detailed review of this album on this blog. To view that review, click here.

4) Regina Spektor – Far

After Regina’s unpredicted success with Begin to Hope came it’s successor. And what a successor it was. Here, she takes her already finely tuned minimalistic piano/bass/drums (with hints of electronic effects and drums coming in now and again) and refines it even further to establish a great sounding band and album. I also feel this is Regina at the top of her game vocally too, listening to any of these songs on this album, I can just tell that her angelic voice is becoming more…well, angelic. Listen to “Eet” as a perfect example, her vocal range used to full effect there, and her already established use of vocal dynamics are improved upon on this album. It’s as if Regina disliked Begin to Hope and wanted to start from scratch; of course, that is never a bad thing. I really enjoy listening to this album, and it’s another great album from a consistently good singer/songwriter.

Very Honorable Mentions

Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
Bon Iver – Blood Bank
The Dead Weather – Horehound
The Dear Hunter – Act III: Life and Death
Florence and the Machine – Lungs
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
The Mars Volta – Octahedron
Muse – The Resistance
Owen – New Leaves
Portugal. The Man – The Satanic Satanist
Russian Circles – Geneva
White Rabbits – It’s Frightening

Honorable Mentions

Akron/Family – Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free
The Appleseed Cast – Sagarmatha
Athlete – Black Swan
Atlas Sound – Logos
Biffy Clyro – Only Revolutions
Brand New – Daisy
The Crystal Method – Divided By Night
The Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Flight of the Conchords – I Told You I Was Freaky
Imogen Heap – Ellipse
Jay Z – The Blueprint III
Jon Hopkins – Insides
Karen O and the Kids – Where the Wild Things Are OST
Lady GaGa – The Fame Monster
Maserati – Passages
Matisyahu – Light
Owl City – Ocean Eyes
St. Vincent – Actor
Sufjan Stevens – The BQE

And there you have it, 2009, and subsequently, the end of the decade, in these musical eyes. It’s certainly not been a disappointing decade for music, of course, it’s impossible to recreate the ‘golden age’ for music, that some argued started in the late 60s, and ended by the late 70s, however that can be very well argued, as everyone has a different opinion on when music was at it’s peak. Me, personally, I sadly feel that music over the next few decades is going to do nothing but decline. Almost everything has been done, so to speak, with bands looking to the past more than ever to write songs, with many ripping off other bands. That isn’t so bad, as it was inevitable it was going to happen, as there is only so many times we’ll hear the same chords and think of another song. However, music must strive to create new boundaries, and then break them to keep the evolution of music going. I’m very excited to see how this next decade will pan out.

stumbled across this gem. recorded back in june on some pretty fuckin’ hi-def recording equipment, however recently liberated. this has, is and will always be my favorite portugal. the man song. here’s an 8-minute live rendition of the waiters joint; tambourines, barnburning stomps, handclaps and chain gang chants abound. to say it’s been beefed up is an understatement. listening to the original seems underwhelming and insignificant now.

“i am but a man. but a proud, proud man…”

download:

portugal. the man – aka m80 the wolf

-grizzly

When I was beginning to shortlist some albums here, I was getting worried that I wouldn’t have enough. By the time I finished, I have possibly more than ever. 2008 was a great year for music it seemed again, but it could also be due to the fact that by 2008 I was officially a complete music-obsessive, determined to hear and appreciate as music as possible – I was sick of listening to the same albums and same kinds of music over and over again, I was ready to just go out there and LISTEN. That’s not to say I didn’t do that beforehand, I just feel I was almost on somewhat of a musical auto-pilot for a few years of Prog, Metal, Alternative and Electronica. I was ready to spread my wings, and give Indie and other genres I thought “low” of another chance. This list is really in no particular order.

1) Coldplay – Viva La Vida (Or Death and All His Friends)

And if you want a good example of my previous statement, here it is. Before this album, I didn’t enjoy Coldplays musical output due to just being prejudiced against the indie-pop genre completely, however I enjoyed a few of their singles a little. This album, however, changed that view completely for me. And it’s probably in no small part due to Brian Eno and Jon Hopkins’ excellent production here. I think they made Coldplay THINK about their music, and pushing their musical talents to the limit a lot more than they were used to. They could have stuck to their arena, “adult contemporary” and radio pleasing sound, but they didn’t, something that I respect them for. Sure, a few songs still have that quality, but to me it sounds a lot better and more mature. It sounds like they’re actually putting in effort! The fact that they incorporated some odd time signatures in songs like “Yes!” and “Lost”, pleased the Prog side of me, plus the great experimental ambience heavily influenced by Eno in many of the songs introductions like in “Violet Hill”, “Strawberry Swing” and the album opener “Life in Technicolor”, while still keeping songs that can get stuck in your head AND having great lyrics too makes this album a winner for me. I think they’re going to have a hard time topping this album, but I really would like to see them try and beat it, rather than just stick to the formula that made this album great.

2) Portugal. The Man – Censored Colors

Portugal. The Man are a band I feel have improved with every album, and this album is definitely no exception. Despite this being the first Portugal. The Man album I heard, it didn’t take me long to listen to their previous albums and see what got them up to this point; and while their predecessors were good, this one topped them all. Filled with great synth work, eerie vocal effects, catchy pop style melodies complemented by John Gourleys excellent sense of lyrical cadences and a great ‘jam’ sense throughout this album with the last few tracks of the album being gapless, proves that this band are willing to push the envelope in musical experimentation, without denying their talent at writing a good song in the process. Their addition of tour keyboardist/backing vocalist Zoe Manville on this album really added another angelic, beautiful lyrical quality to this album, with Gourley and Manville complimenting each others vocal stylings so well. I had the pleasure of meeting this band earlier in the year, and they’re so humble despite writing great music and beginning to build an even bigger fan base. An all round great album from great guys.

3) Kings of Leon -  Only by the Night

Coming off of what I feel was a slightly disappointing but still enjoyable 3rd album came Kings of Leon’s magnum opus. I’ve followed this band throughout their whole musical journey so far, and supported their every move, and I must say that this album is probably one of the top albums of the decade. Their sound is slightly darker, and they’ve almost entirely removed their ‘country’ and Southern Rock influences, but at the same time, they’ve developed a good alternative sound without completely drifting away from the band they used to be. You can tell with Because of the Times that they were starting to get a darker sound, but I feel that they didn’t fully make it come together, whereas here, they perfected it. The album opener “Closer” is a fantastic opener, haunting, great use of delay and equally haunting vocals about vampires really makes you ready for the ride. Of course, they’re best known for their Grammy winning “Sex On Fire” and the ever popular radio hit “Use Somebody”, but I feel that every song on this album is damn good, whereas with their previous albums a few songs on each album were just OK to listen to. I love this album very much, and you should too.

4) Nine Inch Nails – The Slip

Many of NIN’s fans are divided on this one, personally, I love it. Sure, he’s gone for a more ‘mainstream’ sound, but is that always a bad thing? I still consider The Fragile NIN’s best work, but I find this album the most enjoyable to listen to. Reznor released this album as a ‘name your price’ online release at first, again, a bold move, but Reznor is making a good point. He wanted people to listen to this album, because in the end that’s what it’s all about, letting others hear your music. On top of that, he also released it to his online community, separated into individual tracks, allowing unlimited ways of remixing by his very own fanbase. And some of these remixes that I have heard are pretty phenomenal. He’s got some great arena filling songs like “Discipline”, “Echoplex” and “1,000,000″, and some songs that trace back to his roots such as “Corona Radiata”, “Demon Seed” and “Letting You”. It’s hard to deny that Reznor is a hard worker, before this album he also released Ghosts I-IV, a collection of instrumental works all binded together to form a seamless album ingeniously (and is in the Honorable Mentions below.)

Yes, 2008 was a great year for music, and I really had difficulty reviewing just 4 albums. So, as a possible one off, I’m going to have a Very Honorable Mentions, and the usual Honorable Mentions. So here we go…

Very Honorable Mentions

Beck – Modern Guilt
Bon Ivor – For Emma, Forever Ago
Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
Demians – Building an Empire
The Duke Spirit – Neptune
Foxy Shazam – Introducing
Lady GaGa – The Fame
M83 – Saturdays=Youth
The Mars Volta – The Bedlam in Goliath
Minus the Bear – Acoustics
Mogwai – The Hawk is Howling
Russian Circles – Station
Shearwater – Rooks
Thrice – The Alchemy Index Volumes III and IV
TV on the Radio – Dear Science

Honorable Mentions

Amanda Palmer – Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
Apes & Androids – Blood Moon
Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
Ben Folds – Way to Normal
City and Colour – Bring Me Your Love
Deerhunter – Microcastle
Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
The Fall of Troy – Phantom on the Horizon
Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
Flight of the Conchords – Flight of the Conchords
Foals – Antidotes
The Gaslight Anthem – The ‘59 Sound
Girl Talk – Feed the Animals
Hercules and Love Affair – Hercules and Love Affair
Hot Chip – Made in the Dark
Innerpartysystem – Innerpartysystem
Maybeshewill – Not For Want of Trying
Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I – IV
Portishead – Third
School of Seven Bells – Alpinisms
Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

So, there you have it, 2008. We’re almost at the end of the list now, 2009 will be up before Xmas!

Iain

I’m considering taking back what I said about 2005 being my favourite year of music. 2007 might be beating it, if it doesn’t beat it, it’s a close second for sure. I was so surprised with the amount of albums that came out this year that are amazing, considering that the previous year was pretty dire for the most part. You’ll perhaps find more of a diverse list here than in previous years; again, it was all about finding what I liked and exploring similar artists. I’m pretty sure many of these albums will be put in my Top 10 of the decade. These are in no particular order, as always.

1) Minus the Bear – Planet of Ice

This was the first Minus the Bear album that I listened to, and the first thing that struck me was the actual feeling of being on an icy planet, such a cold vibe. Its production, especially in the keyboard samples and patches really matches the album title so well I feel, but songs like “Throwin’ Shapes” are also very fitting for a hot summer day with the car windows down too. It’s a coin toss between this album and Menos el Oso over my favourite MtB album as both are great in their own different ways. This album has been played to death by yours truly, and I spot little new nuances every time I listen to it. Again, getting to hear many of these tracks live made my appreciation of this album and band go way up. A fantastic album that is sure to be an album of the decade.

2) MGMT – Oracular Spectacular

When I was looking through the auto-playlist I made for albums released in 2007 (and it’s how I came up with finding out my other albums of the year) I was really surprised this came out in 2007, as I was almost 100% certain it came out in 2008. However, I was mistaken. Anyway, regardless of what year it was released, this is an instant classic. Thanks to a recommendation from good friend of mine Neil Burns, I was turned on to this album and I immediately “got” it. Within my own music, it was exactly what I was trying to; create psychedelic yet coherent musical background, out there but instantly accessible melodies and lyrics, and all around good time music. Again, almost every song in this album is ready for radio (whether or not MGMT wanted that, I don’t know), and they certainly did see success with “Kids” and “Time to Pretend”. It’s also interesting to hear the progression of the song “Kids” from the way it was released in an EP released a few years before this, to the way it’s represented in this album. Complete change of key, tempo and general production too really gave this song the lift it desperately needed to become a hit. This is something I admire in artists; not always being 100% satisfied that a song sounds its very best, so they go back and rework it, almost from the ground up. Of course, this too can be a double-edged sword, as fans would complain that the artist was just simply recycling old material because they can’t think of new music. But I don’t think that was MGMT’s problem there. Anyway, this is one of the best electronica albums of this decade, and possibly of all time. A perfect little gem from start to finish.

3) Coheed & Cambria – No World For Tomorrow

Ah yes. Many of the Coheed fans also believe that this is a pretty terrible album; I respectfully disagree. It’s certainly not their best work, but I still greatly enjoy listening to this album. “The End Complete” suite is easily some of the best work they have ever produced, and as downright catchy and radio-friendly as “Feathers” and “The Running Free” is, they both can get stuck in your head as easily as a Lady GaGa song (in my humble opinion, of course.) There really isn’t much else to say on this album, Taylor Hawkins does a great job on the drums, inevitably playing what Chris Pennie told him to (I still find it weird, however, that Pennie was unable to play on Coheed’s album due to a contractual stipulation with Dillinger Escape Plan, a band he left months beforehand.)

4) Portugal. The Man – Church Mouth

This album is where I feel Portugal. The Man really started to pick up their game and go for it. I’m also very impressed with the fact that the band leaked the album themselves, and saying on their site that if you enjoy the music to go buy the album and support them. I feel it’s an attitude that almost every band should have. I’m pretty sure their sales went way up (and they did, apparently) from their previous album which wasn’t given that treatment. In this modern age of information being available everywhere 24/7, Portugal made a bold statement. Going to the music however, you can tell they were beginning to find their sound. Groovy rock, at times technical and Progressive, with amazing singing from John Gourley. The production on this album is also rather impressive (listen to “My Mind” as a good example), many steps up from their rather box-like sound in “Waiter: You Vultures!” released just one year beforehand. You also cannot say this band is lazy, they’ve released one album every year since 2006, with another one on the way next year; and with each album, they only get better and better. Seeing this band live was also a great experience too, and meeting them all afterwards made me realise how cool and humble these guys really are. Great album from a great bunch of guys.

5) Thrice – The Alchemy Index Volumes 1 and 2: Fire and Water

In my eyes, this band can do no wrong. Everything since The Artist in the Ambulance has been nothing short of incredible. With the opener “Firebreather”, the tension before the huge and heavy riff is just amazing, leaving you hanging with a rather undesired harmonic interval, obviously done to build the aforementioned tension. While Volume 1 is blatantly heavy, Volume 2 is a huge contrast in sound; ambient, beautiful, melodic and dreamy. The band does a great job in musical word painting, depicting what they feel is fire and water (fire being destructive, so they accompany that with heavy music, water being the essence of life and therefore is the giver of life, so therefore they depict ambience and dreaminess.) Another fantastic album from a fantastic band.

And now, on to the HUGE list of…

Honorable Mentions

Aeon Spoke – Aeon Spoke
Athlete – Beyond the Neighbourhood
Battles – Mirrored
Biffy Clyro – Puzzle
Chris Cornell – Carry On
The Dear Hunter – Act II: The Meaning Of, And All Things Regarding Ms. Leading
Eluvium – Copia
The Dillinger Escape Plan – Ire Works
Explosions in the Sky – All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone
The Fall of Troy – Manipulator
Justice – Cross
Kings of Leon – Because of the Times
The National – Boxer
Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero (and Year Zero Remixed)
Okkervil River – The Stage Names
Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer
Porcupine Tree – Fear of a Blank Planet (and Nil Recurring EP)
Radiohead – In Rainbows
Rush – Snakes and Arrows
Simian Mobile Disco – Attack Decay Sustain Release
Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist
St. Vincent – Marry Me
Stars – In Our Bedroom After the War
Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline
UNKLE – War Stories (and it’s a very honorable mention)
65daysofstatic – The Destruction of Small Ideals

2008 and 2009 coming up next week!

Cool bands (in alphabetical order?) that I discovered for the first time in 2009. Rule: they must not have been formed in 2009/must not have released their first record in 2009. Anything questionable, I didn’t include. And no doubts that I forgot some.

- Atlas Sound
- Black Moth Super Rainbow
- Bloodshot Bill
- Bobby Ubangi
- Box Elders
- Galaxie 500
- Mika Miko
- Portugal. The Man
- Thee Oh Sees

Top 30 Albums of 2009

30. Every Time I Die – New Junk Aesthetic

29. Japandroids – Post-Nothing

28. The Dear Hunter – Act III Life & Death

27. Plushgun – Pins and Panzers

26. Mansions – New Best Friends

25. Portugal. The Man – The Satanic Satanist

24. All Time Low – Nothing Personal

23. This Time Next Year – Road Maps & Heart Attacks

22. Noah and the Whale – The First Day of Spring

21. Paramore – brand new eyes

20. Mastodon – Crack The Skye

19. Polar Bear Club – Chasing Hamburg

18. The Motorcycle Industry – Electric Education

17. O Pioneers – Neon Creeps

16. Fireworks – All I Have Is My Own Confusion

15. Passion Pit – Manners

14. P.O.S. – Never Better

13. Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3

12. WHY? – Eskimo Snow

11. Kevin Devine – Brother’s Blood

10. Set Your Goals – This Will Be the Death of Us

9. Chuck Ragan – Gold Country

8. Fake Problems – It’s Great to Be Alive

7. A Day To Remember – Homesick

6. Brand New – Daisy

5. Say Anything – Say Anything

4. The Dangerous Summer – Reach for The Sun

3. Kiss Kiss – The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left

2. Fun. – Aim and Ignite

1. Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything to Nothing

It was hard for me to pick just 30 but when I went to the top 5, it was even harder to distinguish which one was the best. Mean Everything to Nothing was a flat out great rock album dealing with God and religion with fantastic stand out moments on almost every track. Aim and Ignite was baroque pop at its finest proving that the glory of The Format is far from dead. Reach for the Sun revitalized pop-punk in a scene dominated by catering to teeny boppers with extremely profound, honest and personal lyrics with beautiful echoing guitar lines. Say Anything took the traditional sound we all know and love and meshed it with insight on religion while combining elements of doo-wop, synth-pop and spoken word, all with masterful production. Daisy took the aggression of previous albums and amplified it to the maximum proving that Brand New is not afraid to make the record they want. And The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left was just well absolutely eccentric and musically insane (in a very good way). Ultimately, I gave the honor to Mean Everything to Nothing for it’s initial “wow” factor. However, all of the albums on this list are absolutely fantastic and I suggest you check them out. It was a damn good year for music.

Honorable Mentions

These are the albums that, while not up to snuff with the top 25, are still great records.

Enter Shikari – Common Dreads

Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon

mewithoutyou – it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright

The Audition – Self-Titled Album

Weatherbox – The Cosmic Drama

Dethklok – Dethalbum II

Top EPs of 2009

1. Bon Iver – Blood Bank

2. Straylight Run – About Time

3. VersaEmerge – VersaEmerge

4. Polar Bear Club – The Summer of George

5. MC Chris – Part Six Part One

Most Disappointing Albums

These are the albums that, while I didn’t hate at all, I just expected to be so much better. Whether it be the hype surrounding it, or hearing an amazing song from the album only to discover that the rest of the record isn’t on par. These are the records that turned out, in one way or another, to be a disappointment.

1. Two Tongues – Two Tongues

2. The Swell Season – Strict Joy

3. New Found Glory – Not Without A Fight

4. Dashboard Confessional – Alter the Ending

5. Animal Collective – Merriwether Post Pavillion

Here I will be discussing the emergence of peer 2 peer services, or bit-torrent, as a viable tool for promoting and distributing, focusing mainly on music. Starting from what bit-torrent is, it’s history, it’s uses, to where it stands today, in regards to the future of the consumption and distribution of music. I’ve chosen this topic because it is of great interest to me and it’s something I use in my everyday life. In many ways it has changed my life and how I consume music.and all sorts of media. It is an unstoppable wave of change that is taking us into the future.

Peer 2 peer networks have been around since the mid 1980’s. Napster was the first peer 2 peer program to really catch on, as users realized that it could be used to swap music with other users. By early 2001 Napster had 60 million users swapping music files (B.Leuf). Eventually there became a huge uproar against Napster by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). Napster was sued because these music files were copyrighted and the RIAA wasn’t getting any money off of the downloading of these files. Napster was eventually shut down in it’s free format and brought online as a pay service. Now Napster charges 5 dollars a month for 5 mp3 downloads and all the music you can stream. You can find streaming music thousands of places online for free and 5 mp3’s could have been downloaded in a matter of minutes back in the free Napster days.

The next generation of peer 2 peer is bit-torrent. Bit-torrents work like this, a user seeds a torrent file into the bit-torrent network. A user then uses a bit-torrent client to download the file, by clicking on a web link to the torrent file. Your bit-torrent client is pulling different pieces of information from different computers on the network who are seeding the torrent file. As you are downloading you also begin to upload to other users, creating a continuous exchange throughout the network (S. Gardner & K. Krug).

There has been much controversy surrounding bit-torrents. Different sites like Oink, Mininova, and The Pirate Bay have been sued, shut down or attempted to be shut down by the recording and entertainment industry. It’s much more complicated to shut down these services then it was to shut down Napster. Since these sites just provide a service, a place to find these files, they aren’t technically breaking the law. They claim that it’s not their fault if people use their service for illegal uses. These sites are also hosted in various countries around the world, also making prosecution difficult.

The recording industry’s downward financial spiral has been well documented for years. They have been bleeding money and trying to come up various ways to stop the bleeding. In a Wired article from 2002 the author states that this could be the year that the music business dies, as we know it. In the first six months of 2002 CD sales fell 11 percent, while P2P users tripled in that same year. Record labels blame piracy for the financial decline. The recording industry believes that if it can make file swapping more difficult for users and force P2P services into charging downloaders through lawsuits, that the industry can possibly turn things around (C. Mann). This was in 2002. Things have only gotten worse as the major recording labels have seen a drastic exodus of artists to other smaller labels that give the artist’s more creative freedom. It would appear that the recording industry’s years of extreme greed and focus on one hit wonders and the “next big thing” may have finally caught up with them. Seems like they should have seen this coming. You can only force artists to change their art for the sake of cash so many times before the artist finds a new way to circumvent the system, that has been established, for more creative control. The consumer has circumvented the system as well through these new technologies. When the consumer and artist work with one another in a give and take system, it renders the middle man (recording industry) as virtually obsolete.

Instead of the movie and recording industry fighting these new technologies, which appears to be a loosing battle, it seems like a better strategy would be to adapt to use bit-torrent and other new technologies to use totheiradvantage. Nine Inch Nails is a large American rock group that decided to release their latest musical efforts online, for free or for a minimal fee. Their album Ghosts I – IV was a 36 track instrumental album released by the band on their website. It was offered to listeners in a variety of ways. The options were a free download of the album’s first 9 tracks, a five dollar download of the whole album, a 10 dollar two-CD set, and a 75 dollar deluxe edition, including a hardcover book and a data DVD and a Blu-ray disc with high definition recordings and a slide show. Nine Inch Nails then did the same sort of thing for their follow up album, The Slip. Only this time they didn’t allow anyone to pay for it. In a post on the bands website, the band’s leader Trent Reznor, said, “Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years – this one’s on me.” This was the first time a superstar act had distributed and entire album without any opportunity for people to pay for it. The band then decided to release the physical copy of the album on CD and vinyl a few months later. The band used the free release to stoke interest in the album before they put out the actual physical copies for purchase (J. Leeds). Radiohead is another huge rock group that did just that. They decided to release their newest album online and ask only for a donation in return for the download. Well, the album wound up outselling the previous two Radiohead efforts (S. Michaels).

Music and how we consume it is ever changing, thanks to the internet. So many bands have released free tracks or even whole albums on their own in order to build support for an upcoming album release. These bands include Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Coldplay, Animal Collective, Cloud Cult, Beck, Grizzly Bear, Them Crooked Vultures, and Mos Def, to name just a few. There are tons of sites where you can stream whole albums before you decide to buy them. One such site that has a huge library is Lala.com. At Lala you can listen to over 8 million songs for free. You are allowed to listen to any song or album once for free, and new albums on the day of their release. Lala also reads your music library and makes recommendations to you based on what you listen to the most. You can add friends and see what they’re listening to. You can also buy music directly through the site that is compatible with most mp3 players. Often times the tracks are cheaper than buying them through Itunes.

So, as you can see, there does seem to be a future for this technology without the loss of large sums of money from artists. The larger media conglomerates, and mainly the recording industry, need to adapt much more quickly to these new technologies if they hope to stay financially viable. There isn’t much hope for them, when the artists and consumers have moved on, and have found other ways to distribute and consume music without needing these large companies in order to do so. Seems to me that they’re trying to stop a tidal wave with a surf board instead of just jumping on and riding that wave into the future.

Portugal. The Man on Albums Leaking Online

Leuf, B. (2002) Peer to Peer: Collaboration and Sharing Over the Internet. Boston, MA: Safari

Gardner, S. & Krug, K. (2006) BitTorrent for Dummies. Norwood, Mass. :Books24×7.com

Mann, C. (2002) The Year The Music Dies. Retrieved from the Wired. com website: here

Leeds, J. (2008) Nine Inch Nails Album Is Free Online. Retrieved from The New York Times.com website:here

Michaels, S. (2008) In Rainbows Outsells Last Two Radiohead Albums. Retrieved from The Guardian.co.uk website: here

Hey lads and lasses!

Sorry that it took me a while to make another update, the thing is that I haven’t been home a lot lately, so yeah. Anyways, I went to see Portugal. The man here in Vienna last week and it was great. In case you’re not familiar: Portugal. The man (yes, the man/men. no, not the country) is an experimental indie-rockband formed in Alaska (which is quite random) in 2004. They’ve released 5 albums so far; ‘Waiter: “you vultures!”‘, ‘Church Mouth’, ‘Censored colors’, ‘it’s complicated being a wizard’ and ‘ the satanic satanist’.

Now they’re touring because of the release of their latest album (the satanic satanist). To be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect of the evening: songs that sounded exactly as on the cd with no differences whatsoever, or longstretched solo’s and less vocals – since their new album is quite a bit more melodic then the previous ones in my opinion.  Turned out these guys found a great balance between the two. They started off with a couple of older songs, where the solo’s we’re pretty stretched and after that they’d start playing ‘people say’, the opening track off their new album.  After that they’d keep switching between new songs and older ones. Their earlier work is also a bit more experimental, so that leaves the band more space for improvising cool solo’s I guess. But nevertheless, the songs of their new album didn’t sound exactly the same as on the cd either; some parts sounded slightly different, probably adapted to the fact that they didn’t have all the equipment on stage to create the exact same sound. But this difference in sound is exactly what makes seeing Portugal. The Man live quite a unique experience. I’d recommend everyone who likes indie to go see them if you have the chance, even if you don’t really like their music.

Here’s a small fragment of the concert. Enjoy!

I would call John Gourley a fine young man. Unbeknownst to me before my chat with this fine young man, I had later found out that he had wandered into the homes of drug dealers and grew up like Satan. Without the tail. He also happens to be the singer for Portugal. The Man, who knew?

Nellie: So hi, can you say your name and what you do in the band?
John: Hi, I’m John, and I play guitar and sing.

Nellie: You seem to like our shores, as you were here only in July, is touring one of the most attracting aspects of being in a band?
John: No, not at all actually, not one bit. It’s purely music and purely about playing. Not performing, playing. Cut out performing.

Nellie: Do you favour it, though?
John: You know, to be fair, I know we’re in England right now, but there’s something to love about everywhere. England is amazing to me because that’s where basically our whole civilization is from. It’s strange to be in an English-speaking place that’s so different at the same time. Language-wise, it’s the same, accent – well we’ve all got our accents – we’re the ones with the accent now. London’s an amazing city; it reminds me a lot of New York on a smaller scale. More localized shops, I guess we need more localized shops in New York. The world is so much smaller when you start moving around lots. We were just in New York yesterday, it’s ridiculous.

Nellie: You recently released Satanic Satanist, and I noticed the characters on the artwork have three eyes. What does that symbolise?
John: There are a lot of Alaskan references and Alaska is a pretty strange place. You have to imagine, just thinking about it I like to escape a lot things. There a lot of people that are out for adventure or out for money or whatever is happening up there or just escaping. There’s a lot of the escaping. We grew up in a really small town, so we’d find these people living in these shacks, like serious small shacks.

Nellie: So, basically, you strolled into the woods and found shack habitants?
John: Yeah, we’d get really weird stories like people who live underground…they’re not true stories though who know? It’s possible, I mean it’s Alaska. This is gonna sound awful but it’s like homeless people, they’ll give you stories every now and then if you let ‘em. [laughs] There was a lot of imagination as a kid, there was a lot of thinking beyond the snow, thinking beyond the darkness.

Nellie: What album would you recommend first to listen to from your discography to new fans?
John: You know, I would say Censored Colors, each album had its own thing. The first album was just an explosion of ideas and it was very much excitement and it was me just being overly excited. Every song has 5 or 6 parts and all the verses are different. I just went back to listen to it just to hear where I came, something I feel you need to do from time to time. I didn’t know how to play guitar and I didn’t know how to sing really, I just really wanted to write music and I definitely wanted to play it. I sang all the vocals sitting down on a couch and it was the most fun I have had in the studio purely out of excitement and purely out of Casey Bates as a producer. He and I had the most fun

Nellie: So, it was all spur of the moment?
John: Yeah, it’s always been that way. Censored Colors is the best example of fun instead of being spontaneous and just doing it. It was a serious introduction into song writing. I had been so afraid of major chords, as I should be. You have to be very wary of major chords, the second you play a major, you better have some serious lyrical content coming up. It cannot be fake, you fake shit and people can tell. Melody becomes very obvious when you’re playing a major chord, I don’t know why that is. If lyrics don’t back up the melody, it just doesn’t work. Censored Colors was written in two weeks, literally a song a day. It was one of those really cool moments that you don’t expect to happen because there was no finger picking on the record and that was always the producer’s favourite thing that we’d done, so he was like “Hey man, you need a song with finger picking.” and I don’t know why but I had just played a riff and so I decided I have something right now. The song was created in half an hour, we just walked in and recorded it. There were mistakes in that and they were all edited out afterwards. It was a really great moment for the band because it gave us a better understanding of songwriting, which is something we’d always been about. All the lyrics said something very serious, this is the way I grew up. Period. And with Satanic Satanist, we applied the best example of song writing we had but Censored Colors, I think is probably the best.

Nellie: If you had to pick a song that you relate to most form your childhood, what would it be?
John: Probably Colors, that song for me, it reminds me of telling my dad I was scared of war, holocausts, apocalypses, all of that shit. Every time I saw it on TV, I’d always freak out.
Nellie: Well, they have that new 2012 film coming out…
John: See, that stuff doesn’t scare me any more like whatsoever. I could die today and see another day, it’s not something that really worries now and I just remember telling my dad this everyday and just being like, “What’s the matter, if a bomb goes off, what are you gonna do?” As a kid, I was like, “Dad, can’t we just go to the woods or something?” and in the end, it’s like, “Right, what are you gonna do?” So, yeah, what’s the worst that can happen?

Nellie: So, the recording of American Ghettos is all finished now, which was really quick. When do you plan on releasing it?
John: We’ll see how it comes out and everything, I kinda wanna let it just happen, that’s something I really wanna just let happen. Much the same way It’s Complicated Being A Wizard came around and it was recorded the same way. I went out to Boston by myself and then put it together and we just made the record. That was another two-week album, you can never forget those roots. It came out really great, I’m so excited about it.

Nellie: Is it going to go down the same avenue as Satanic Satanist with a more of a pop sound or will it follow the more experimental sounds with the previous albums?
John: When it comes down to it, it’s so much harder to write a song and it’s not really given the actual credit because of what we were talking about, not having the lyrical content to back up what you’re writing. That’s what made every band what they are, that’s what made so many bands work. American Ghetto is probably the most negative thing I’ve ever written. [laughs] I wrote it and it was supposed to be about my high school years and I was thinking about the state of everything. I kinda went back to the high school years when my friends were all getting into drugs and I don’t know if you know, but the suicide rate in Alaska is crazy so, um, a lot of my friends died killing themselves.

Nellie: So, you’ve dabbled with drugs?
John: I never really got into them, I was never really a crazy addict. I never really had any rough moments, I just liked to hang back. We’d go to drug dealers houses and I always got along well with drug dealers because I don’t think they never really knew what to think of me, because I’d always be cracking jokes and they’d have guns on the table and shit and I’d be like, “That’s a cool gun, man.” [laughs] I’d always talk about the shit that they wouldn’t want to talk about. So, I started writing about that stuff and I got to the end and was like, “Holy shit!” Censored Colors was pretty family-orientated. That record totally ran with American Ghetto, for sure.

Nellie: Will we be feeling sad upon listening to this?
John: You won’t feel sad, I mean, you’ll have to hear it. It’s very tight on a song level, very structured. I’ve gotten so obsessed with that because as scary as it seems, to me it kinda gives you an unfair license to do whatever you want. It wasn’t easy to say but I feel like I’m dragging on.

Nellie: No, no, you’re fine. Anyway, Satanic Satanist generally had quite a mellow, happy sound so if that was the case with a satanic Satanist, what kind of sound would a heavenly heaven person/Christian have?
John: I guess they’d have to be negative, right? I feel like they’d have to cancel each other out. The idea of a Satanic Satanist as a title and a representation of the album was about a stage. The album was about a stage about my family, it was about Alaska, it was about being removed from society and removed from the things we see on TV everyday. The music itself sounds so positive so it almost needed that contrast of, “Yeah, I was an outcast but I also liked being with myself.” You live in your own world, much like Satan. [laughs] So, I grew up a lot like Satan, I guess. Just in my own world, king for a day.
Nellie: Amongst a fiery abyss, pitchfork…
John: Tail. I don’t know, would he have a tail? He wouldn’t have a tail. I don’t know how I feel about that, I don’t know, obviously, I didn’t really give a shit.

Nellie: You being from Alaska, I would like to know if you frequently indulge in Baked Alaska.
John: Baked Alaska? What is that again? Is it like a chocolate cake?
Nellie: It looks like cake but it’s not fully cake.
John: You know what? I’ve had it before.
Nellie: If you didn’t, I’d be kinda shocked, then again, I haven’t to my knowledge eaten London Cheesecake.
John: Growing up in Alaska, you get this sense that there’s just so many tourists up there so you avoid all things that make you feel like a tourist. So the baked Alaska is kind of a touristy thing so it makes you avoid things that you should be for. Alaska’s about community and it’s actually had a hard time because of Sarah Palin. I wrote this blog about Sarah Palin and getting interviews and radio-play is impossible so the interviews that I had gotten, I’d talk to them and they’re like, “Yeah, you wrote that blog, it’s fucked you up a bit.” So I was like, “You know what, fuck everybody in Alaska.” because Alaska is about voicing your opinion, it’s about doing what you fucking want. So you know what? I support my community in Alaska; I just don’t support her ideas.

Nellie: Where about in Alaska are you based now?
John: Well, my family’s in Willow which I’d say I’m in a lot and it’s amazing. It’s pretty much a fire station, a gas station and a bar. There’s a post office out there, I guess, as well. Maybe a coffee shop, but, yeah, it’s a really small place and there’s hardly anyone around.

Nellie: Do you think that if you grew up in a city, it would’ve later in life stifled your musical ability?
John: I don’t know, didn’t Radiohead grow up in a city, like are they from?
Nellie: [shrugs shoulders] I have no idea…
John: Who knows? The reason they sound the way they do is because of where they’re from, the reason we sound the way we do is because of where we’re from. Nickelback is a shitty band, Limp Bizkit, same fucking thing. [laughs] It’s bad music because they grew up around it and they were so close to the industry right away. Definitely shitty bands because they were raised for where they were and lived by what they saw in the media. Which I’m gonna be honest, in Alaska, that’s all we got for a long time. It wasn’t until I saw real club shows, I should be doing what I wanna do. I shouldn’t be writing for someone, I don’t work for people.

Nellie: Is the myth true that it always snows in Alaska?
John: It doesn’t always snow, I mean imagine Alaska in the summer, the sun’s always out. It’s pretty amazing to see, let alone live in. I think I connected with it quite a bit because my friends really didn’t. It wasn’t something they were excited about, trying to sleep through daylight. I always loved it, I’d go to bed at 3 or 4 in the morning then wake up at 6 or 7. That’s just the way I’ve always worked, in the winter I’d always sleep more, there was an obvious difference but not a lot more, I’ve always been an early person with late nights.
Nellie: Early bird catches the worm
John: Yeah, I’m on it, very pro. [laughs]

Nellie: Change the record, who should we be listening to?
John: I’d say Fever Ray, I love Fever Ray, amazing band. I really love the band Drug Rug, we were just on tour with them. I know it’s so unfair to talk about bands you just toured with but, yeah they’re a really good band, really good rock band. Erm, yeah, I think that’s it.

Nellie: So yeah, I should think we’re done now, thanks for doing this and hope everything goes awesome tonight.
John: Thanks, you’re fine.

- Nellie Owusu.

For more information on Portugal. The Man, visit: http://portugaltheman.net/

Portugal. The Man aus Alaska sind nicht nur was Platten angeht irrsinnig aktiv (von 06 bis 09 vier Alben), sie touren auch ständig. Deswegen möchten wir – zugegebenermaßen recht spät – empfehlen, ihr Konzert diesen Donnerstag, dem 19.11., im PPC Graz zu besuchen.
Neben Portugal. The Man wird man da auch in Genuss von “Special Guest” kommen – wer auch immer das sein mag, wir sind gespannt!

Karten gibts auch bei oeticket etc für 16€.

Ah, le infinite vie di internet! I Portugal. The Man hanno appena attivato una pagina web per offrire gratuitamente, a chiunque voglia lasciare la propria e-mail alla band, il download dell’intero live set suonato al Neumos di Seattle. E non è finita qui perché Live at Neumo’s è disponibile in 4 diversi formati: DVD, iPod/iPhone Video, mp3 a 320kb/s separati per tracce o in un unico file.

State ancora leggendo? Volate sul sito dei Portugal. The Man!

Today’s song is one of my favorites, not only because the song itself is beautiful, but this specific video is just awesome. So please, enjoy Portugal. The Man – Created.

And as always if you’d like to know more about a band, i will always link to their homepage. you can find the link when you click the bands name.

Portugal. the Man. Picture courtesy of portugaltheman.net.

In Portugal. the Man’s never ending quest to completely dominate the music world, the band has released a free 40 minute live performance from Neumos in Seattle, Washington in conjunction with CASH Music. You can either download the DVD quality video, an iPod/iPhone video, 7 320kbps mp3s or the entire concert as one 320kbps mp3 for just giving your email address. Be sure to check out cashmusic.org for more concerts and to donate to their cause to work with artists to create original content with open-source technology.