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As with most things this year, this first installment of my favourite albums of 2009 is a few days late. Last year, I posted one of these every Friday until the last week of the year. Of course I was also basically unemployed. I will try my hardest to post the remaining four installments on time. I only recently realized that it was also the end of the decade, and after having a mini panic attack, I’ve decided that I will only do a top albums of the decade list if I feel like it.

If you were with me for this last year, you’ll recall I tried to run down the main album releases throughout the year while writing a blurb on each of eight albums for each post in the countdown. By the time I hit my top eight records, the blurbs are a bit larger and I’m usually kicking myself about missing something out or wanting to change the order slightly. And probably the most difficult installments to create are the first couple – my very favourite albums seldom change, but I tend to shuffle around the lesser ones as my mood shifts its fickle little feet. I also include one runner-up to the list in each installment, so make sure you scroll right to the bottom. Feel free to criticize or let me know what your favourite albums of 2009 are.

The last year of the noughties began with a few notable releases in January, including albums from John Frusciante, Bruce Springsteen, Franz Ferdinand, White Lies, Stuck in the Sound, Andrew Bird, and It Hugs Back along with a slew of ampersand bands like Matt & Kim, Antony & the Johnsons and Ruby Jean & the Thoughtful Bees. Animal Collective’s critically acclaimed Merriweather Post Pavilion also released to the slavering jaws of indie hipsters everywhere. February saw the return of the Mozfather and the less exciting return of Lily Allen. It also featured releases from Jessie Evans, The Joy Formidable, David Shane Smith, Yuksek, Gentleman Reg, and another solo turn by Robyn Hitchcock. The unfortunate dog vomit that is the sophomore record from The Fray was balanced out by the raved-about-C86-throwback The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

And so off we go to the countdown…

40. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix – Phoenix
It’s a tad ambitious inserting your band’s name where Mozart’s should be, but high on their increasing visibility through 2006’s It’s Never Been Like That and its accompanying hit Marie Antoinette-assoicated single Consolation Prizes, Phoenix went right ahead. Judging by the opening two tracks, Lisztomania and 1901, you’d think the French band was going to continue squarely on the path of Consolation Prizes, eschewing the loungier end of their retro pop for frothy powder wigs of song; then something rather more interesting happens by track four, Love Like a Sunset Pt. 1. It is also unfortunately where some critics seemed to fall out of love with the record as the music builds through buzzing and bubbling electronic textures to some vocals by the time you hit the considerably shorter Love Like a Sunset Pt. 2. And perhaps the record seems a bit disjointed in spots because Thomas Mars and Co decided to use Eno’s Oblique Strategies. Even if I don’t love every track on this album, it does prove that Phoenix is at least thinking about different ways of being pop.

1901 – Phoenix

Love Like a Sunset (Pts 1 and 2) – Phoenix

39. Through Fire – Twiggy Frostbite
Last year, I included Swedish band, The Deer Tracks, in my Top 40, and this year, it’s Twiggy Frostbite, which shares both sound and members with The Deer Tracks. That same vocal which defined the whispering tenderness of The Deer Tracks is present here, as ephemeral as a light puff of throat-warmed breath melting frost on the windowpane. The music itself descends like a feathery snowfall, sending droplets of purified sound into your ears; it is both spare and expansive, filling emptiness you never knew was there.

Eye For an Eye – Twiggy Frostbite

Thrown in Two- Twiggy Frostbite

38. The Empyrean – John Frusciante
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have always just been incidental in my life – I’ve heard them on the radio since I was a child and never really gave them much more thought, let alone any solo projects which ensued. I now realize how mistaken I was to dismiss former guitarist/songwriter John Frusciante, especially since I’m only just taking notice at solo album number ten. The album title itself can be defined as “highest heaven” and “the pure element of fire,” and there is something definitely ethereal about the strains of mournful virtuoso guitar, bouncing and wavering like dying stars gasping their last celestial, dusty breath. At the same time, there’s a steady burn of psychedelic jamming, and Frusciante’s vocals hover around the edges of sound like a satellite broadcast or as though sung through a cellophane envelope of ozone. A couple of the tracks on the record even feature Johnny Marr. One of my favourite songs on this record is the opening track, Before the Beginning, which is epic and anthemic just by using electric guitar and slow, minimal drums. His version of Tim Buckley’s Song to the Siren is also androgynously beautiful, strong and fragile. Like the soundtrack to the birth of the cosmos, this album surprised me in wonderful ways.

Before the Beginning – John Frusciante

Central – John Frusciante

37. Travels With Myself and Another – Future of the Left
Rising from the angry ashes of Welsh band Mclusky, Future of the Left has crept in and out of my music playlists for the last couple of years. With the release of this second album, I’ve taken far more notice, and felt comforted after the unfortunate dissipation of Mclusky. This sophomore album is full of snarling, punk jabs and augmented by rather expansive banks of melodic guitar. The relentless melody grinds against the raw vocals and short bursts of Gang of Four-like minimalism, creating a less predictable sort of noise rock. Bloodied screams punch through lyrics about existential angst, religion, economic realities, drunkeness, and the random meaninglessness of events, scattering myths and mores in its wake. This album is like punk music for the dramatic, but with a pitch-perfect sense of satirical humour.

The Hope That House Built – Future of the Left

That Damned Fly – Future of the Left

36. Nonsense in the Dark – The Filthy Dukes
This London-based synthpop band pretty much came out of nowhere for me earlier this year, eventually even going on to mix their own FabricLive record. Nonsense in the Dark then went on to entrap me in some of the sweetest electro melodies and beats that I’ve heard this year. The track This Rhythm is one of my favourite songs of the year, and the rest of the album keeps the momentum going with Tron-like precision. There is definitely a whiff of the 80s about this record in its often New Romantic-like vocals and robot disco sound, but it isn’t forced; these songs were expertly handcrafted for dance. Even the slower numbers like the title track retain a pop sensibility as alluring as a sweep of ultraviolet mascara. And one of my favourite artists, frYars, makes a guest vocal appearance on Poison the Ivy.

Elevator – Filthy Dukes

Messages – Filthy Dukes

35. Yes – Pet Shop Boys
It was a happy technicolour day (with ironic cloud cover) when Tennant and Lowe came back with their tenth studio album after three years (read my review here). While it could be argued that the duo had lost some of their spark over the past few albums, Yes showed that they have kept their ascerbic, urbane commentary as memorable as their music. Whether observing the trainwreck that was Pete Doherty and Kate Moss (Pandemonium) or dissecting fame and wealth more generally (Love Etc., Beautiful People), they proved that they could still create music with icy distance and gloriously brilliant flourishes while questioning how a concept like love fits into our wireless new world. Testing the shiny surfaces of this decade, they hit their targets time after time, their bows as arched as an eyebrow. 

All Over the World – Pet Shop Boys

Did You See Me Coming – Pet Shop Boys

34. xx - The xx
I admittedly came late to the xx party, not bothering with listening to the album until this month. As much as their cryptic name suggests, they lurked about my periphery for several months, topping the Hype Machine for days at a time. I then discovered that this low key, dreamy record was poignant in its chiming guitars, clipped xylophone and prominent kicks of bass. The vocals from Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sims are aloof yet soulful, a duet of hushed pains and pleasures. It’s a subdued record, but all the more powerful in its compressed containment. In Shelter, there’s a heartbreaking simplicity to the lines: “Maybe I had said, something that was wrong/can I make it better with the lights turned on?” xx is an album alive with subtext, begging to be uncovered.

VCR -The xx

Shelter -The xx

33. Temporary Pleasure – Simian Mobile Disco
I’ve been a fan of Simian Mobile Disco for a few years now, and this sophomore album has reinforced my love for them. This time they’ve utilized a plethora of guest vocalists, including Gruff Rhys, Beth Ditto, Jamie Liddell, Alexis Taylor, and Yeasayer’s Chris Keating. All of these singers lend more than just their voices; there is a distinct shift in feel and genre despite the consistency of SMD’s electro backdrop complementing them. For example, Rhys’s song generates a psychedelic sheen, Ditto’s song turns into a soul disco number, Taylor’s track becomes an exotic sort of electro, inheriting some of Hot Chip’s flavour, and Keating’s Audacity of Huge takes a laundry list of materialism to a skittery arcade sound. The possible schizophrenia holds together brilliantly with the glassy beats rolling into one another like a silvery necklace shot through with lasers.

Cream Dream (featuring Gruff Rhys) – Simian Mobile Disco

Cruel Intentions (featuring Beth Ditto) – Simian Mobile Disco

This installment’s honourable mention is God Help the Girl’s self-titled album. It’s an interesting release in that it’s basically an offshoot of Belle & Sebastian and that it’s a soundtrack to a musical film yet to be released. The 1960s French pop sound that Scottish bands like Belle & Sebastian and Camera Obscura have embraced is all over this album like a warm mustard-tinted sweater while focusing on a distinctly feminine set of vocals, including Catherine Ireton, Celia Garcia, Dina Bankole, Brittany Stallings, Asya, and Anna Miles. While Stuart Murdoch makes an appearance himself and also incorporates a guest vocal from Neil Hannon, this is a female-focused narrative as evident from the title itself. Filled with the off-kilter wit and retro tweeness that defines his regular band, Murdoch’s foray into musical films is off to a good start with this soundtrack.

God Help the Girl – God Help the Girl

Stay tuned for the next installment of the countdown this Friday.

Alright, I’ve noticed I haven’t really been posting much this last three months that this blog is running. But I’m trying to do as much as I can to get some good music out there and I think it will be getting better now because towards the end of the year everything is always a bit more about music than before with the whole “best artists and albums and tracks (and so on) of 2009″, especially at the end of decades. So here I am today with three posts for you guys.

Starting of first with something from The Xx. Definitely one of the best bands and album releases this year and I think they will be rather high in the forementioned rankings, so I guess there is not much introduction needed. So without many words: I found these two non-albums tracks and I thought that probably not many of you know them. Since their quality seems not as good as the album’s I’m guessing they’re from before the album. Anyways they’re still worth listening so… enjoy

mp3: The Xx – Do You Mind?
mp3: The Xx – Blood Red Moon
Buy on Amazon.com

With this post I’m starting regular to semi-regular feature that I’m calling  MixTape because I can’t seem to find a better name for entries that involve music, new bands etc.

For my first MixTape I would like to show you this new band from south west London, England THE XX. They’ve released their first album named xx in August 09 with indie label Young Turks. I bought the album in Rough Trade shop in east London about a week ago, but have heard about them and their music before that. I first read about them from Sara’s or Tegan’s (from my ultimate fav band Tegan and Sara)  tweet in August. First off it was my favorite “go to sleep” music but later the more I listened the more I liked it. Here’s photo of the album, nice clean design and you can’t miss it in a music store.

The record sounds very minimalistic, calm and tender, with a great mixture of guitar and keyboards. But the thing that I find the most addictive and amazing is the contrast between girl/boy vocals. Both Romy and Oliver have very tender and soothing voices that works very good in duets as well as in solos. They recorded the album in a small garage that was part of the XL studios, mostly at night, which is probably why the whole thing sounds very gentle. I read somewhere it’s the best make out music,  so try it out and let me know what you think:)

It’s hard to believe that four 20 yrs-olds produced such a well rounded and accomplished album that is also their first. They started out in 05 as four teenagers that meet in school and after they released xx in 09 they become a huge success. Unfortunately one member (keyboardist Baria Qureshi) left them about ten days ago after missing some shows, but the band is said to carry on without her as a trio and not replacing her. Single Crystalised was featured on iTunes (UK) as Single of the Week in August, songs from the album were featured in some TV shows including VCR on last weeks episode of Lie to me. Now they are touring and selling out venues all across UK, Europe and America.

If you like their music, support them and buy the album here or on iTunes.

Comment are more than welcome!

Listen to the newest mix: VIBRANT!

Here you got the TRACKLIST,
and after the jump there’s my explanation:

(01) Bei Bei & Shawn Lee – Make Me Stronger Feat. Georgia Anne Muldrow (Floting Points Remix) [00:00:00]
(02) Dorian Concept – Bipolar Friendship (Mar Variation) [00:04:28]
(03) Gus Gus – Anthem [00:07:19]
(04) Julien Dyne – Behind The Forage [00:10:50]
(05) Burial – Lambeth (Benji B Version) [00:14:55]
(06) Lamb – Trans Fatty Acid (Kruder & Dorfmeister Session Mix) [00:18:38]
(07) Mike Slott – 23 Halfs [00:24:19]
(08) Floating Points – Truly [00:26:37]
(09) Theophilus London – Pull My Heart Away (remix) [00:34:12]
(10) Mike Slott – Amanallah [00:37:33]
(11) Computer Jay – Distance [00:40:00]
(12) Dark Star – Aidy’s Girl Is A Computer [00:43:21]
(13) Florence & The Machine – You’ve Got The Love (The XX Remix) [00:48:07]
(14) Francis And The Lights – A Modern Promis [00:53:46]
(15) Duck Sause – aNYway [00:56:30]
(16) Dean High – Beyond The Stars [ 01:01:04]

You can download this compilation right HERE..
Dont forget to leave me a comment with your thoughts and stay tuned for more musical ejoyment in the future.
Peace J.

Tracklist Explanation:

[track 01] This track is something special! A collaboration between LA based Musician/Composer Bei Bei and UK based Multi-instrumental/Producer Shawn Lee. Vocals by the acclaimed singer Georgia Anne Muldrow. If that’s not enough UK Producer Floating Points did this crazy remix. Enjoy!

[track 02] Another blessing from my man Dorian! But I also gotta give some credits to the talented Amsterdam Based volalist Mar. That man is building a steady reputation these last months(mostly with friend and Producer Full Crate).

[track 03] I got this Gus Gus track from the PI soundtrack after a revisit to the fantastic world of one of my favorite directors; Darren Aronofsky! If your not familiar with PI yet, go and help yourself..

[track 04] Crazy track by multi-talented artist Julien Dyne Producer & Visual Artist. Check out his debut album; Pins & Digits. Good stuff.

[track 05] Great new track based around some haunted bell, with wooden 2step beat from the genius Burial! Benji B dropped this on his 1Xtra show so sorry for voiceover, there isn’t a clean version yet..

[track 06] A nice remix from the Godfathers of Lounge; The Kruder & Dormeister.

[track 07+10] New tracks from the other half of Herald Of Change; Mike Slott A.K.A. Slottkavicsthe. Coming from his long anticipated album LuckyMe. 23 Halfs is a slow-moving number rife with space-noise, warbling bass, and a variety of influences from jazz to R&B. Then Amanallah a Dilla-inspired boom-bap-crunch and ’80s synths track. enjoy!

[track 08] A fantastic track from Floating Points caled Truly of the new Vacuum EP. Truly contrasts with a gradually phasing groove, shifting between electronic minimalism and heavy smudged disco soul like few others out there!

[track 09] Simpely the best Electro/Hiphop crossover of the year!

[track 11] Distance is the immediate dancefloor track, sounding like a face-on collision of Flying Lotus style mid tempo swing beats and the very finest Skwee electronics. It can get a bit overwhelming at times with some high end frequency abuse but in a club situation this will rule.

[track 12] A love song for the mp3 generation, and however indecipherable Aidy’s digitized musings are, a sense of humanity pervades and betrays a very real sense of frustration over having a computer for a surrogate lover.

[track 13] Florence is totally over-the-top orchestral radio pop, so of course, since The XX isn’t over-the-top anything, they strip it all away and rebuild an intensely quiet 2-step/funky anthem with calypso tumbles and trademark whispers.

[track 14] Track from the follow up to the brilliant debut Striking EP which further explores minimalistic funk and passionate soul.

[track 15] The debut track from the collaboration between dance music veteran Armand van Helden and DJ A-Trak. It’s a winner with fresh guitars, synths and drums, effortlessly re-fit for today with some deft control touches by the duo.

[track 16] Closing track by newcomer Dean High.

Vídeo mostra a evolução de quatro impérios europeus durante os séculos XIX e XX.

Unashamedly plagiarising yesterday’s totally novel idea of coming up with a list of the year’s best things weeks before the end of the year that you’re writing a list of things to represent the best things of that year for, Rough Trade just sent me an e-mail entitled ‘Albums of the Year 2009’.

This seems like an unnecessarily passive-aggressive act if you ask me, particularly from a record label that I’ve always had a relationship of, if not mutual respect, then unspoken tolerance. I put up a post yesterday listing what I think are my own favourite albums of 2009. In this post I was at pains to make clear the subjective nature of my list: the title referred to ‘favourite things’, with the ‘favourite things’ being implicitly things that were the ‘favourites’ of the author (i.e. me).

In short, it was clear that this was opinion, in no way based on the objective scientific calculations of intense laboratory experimentation. It was a lazy idea, just a bit of fun to maybe start a conversation, albeit not a very interesting one where your mind quickly flits to thoughts of defenestration or ways to fake a stroke. But Rough Trade responded almost immediately without so much as an acknowledgement of my original post. No, “oh, that’s interesting” or “hmm, yes, but you’ve forgotten to include the Animal Collective album”. No “well, here’s what we think”. Just a long list of “50 Albums of the Year”, arrogantly dismissing my list by refusing to acknowledge its existence, and then having the audacity to present their own list as some kind of divinely selected musical canon (like RT are a kind of indie Moses). It’s like casually mentioning to an acquaintance that you quite like Newsnight, them staring at you with a look of disdain for a few seconds, then turning round and shouting the names of National Television Award winners into your face.

 To add insult to injury, they’ve even included a list of links so I can buy the albums on their list from them. Presumably, they think I could do with a bit of brushing up, like I’m not hip to what’s cool or something. Anyone would think that my inclusion of an album from 1974 and 2 reissues suggested I’d run out of ideas.

 I mean, I haven’t actually listened to a lot of what’s on their list, or even heard of it to be honest. At least now I don’t need to: I can just assume it will all be over-hyped nonsense…

 Rough Trade’s Ten Favourite Albums, 2009:

 The XX – XX

The Low Anthem – Oh My God, Charlie Darwin

The Horrors (yes, the fucking Horrors!) – Primary Colours

Fever Ray – Fever Ray

The Pain of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

The Leisure Society – The Sleeper and the Product of the Ego Drain

Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport

Forest Fire – Survival

The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa

The only overlap between our lists comes at number 21 with Wild Beasts, thus intensifying speculation that they’re set to scoop  this year’s Vampire Weekend Award for Rousing Acceptance Rapidly Followed by Indifference and, Eventually, Hostility

Téléchargez moi [Plantes vertes.Mp3]

1. FletWood Mac / Keep on Going [Cosmo Vitelli Edit] – 1973

Aaaahhh, la grande époque du poil de couille sur les joues, de la chemise tergal ouverte sur un torse pubère, de la sardine blanche, du maquillage a la truelle (ou au pistolet à pression je ne sais pas). Moi non plus je n’avais pas écouté FM jusqu’à ce dépoussiérage.

2. De La Soul / Transmitting Live From Mars – 1989

Bah oui. C’est un morceau sur un disque. C’est pas la pendule de Nova qui t’indique de bouffer ton steak.

3. Jurassic 5 / Quality Control – 2000

Au départ, je me suis dit que j’allais faire un mix de Hip Hop fin 80 puisque je n’y connais rien. C’est un des morceaux qui reste. Certes, il date de 2000 mais ça prouve que j’ai bien travaillé.Bon, Jurassic 5 c’est aussi un groupe où trainait Cut Chemist aux platines (les “scritch”-”scritch” derrière c’est lui). J’ai idolâtré ce mec : on peut faire de la musique sans jouer un “Do” ou un “Si”.

4. “La culture c’est…”

Vas y appuie sur ton buzz et compte les points. Si tu fais au moins 5 points, tu gagnes un Week end à Poitiers (enfin pas loin), chambre avec vue sur Nationale.

5. Visage / Fade to grey – 1980

Oué, parfaitement c’est le groupe du bassiste de Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds… Inventeurs / précurseurs d’un genre (“les nouveaux romantiques”), c’était le moyen pour le chanteur de se faire de la pub, pas de faire de la musique.Avant l’idée du mix Hip Hop, j’avais l’envie de faire les “tubes de la Shame” (ceux qu’on écoute caché…). Bon Bah Visage, ça tue quand même. En l’écoutant dans la rue, j’ai eu peur d’être pris pour un ours : tous les poils que je n’ai pas étaient dressés en l’écoutant.Et en même temps, c’est de la musique de soucoupe volante qui se serait perdue chez Michel Drucker.

6. Film de cow boys

7. The XX / Crystalised – 2009

Le grand retour des accords à la basse, du minimalisme, et des sanglots longs monotone. Ca sent Cure / Pixies / Young Marble Giant. Ce disque présente un immense avantage : vous ne pouvez pas l’écouter en entier d’une seule traite. Pourtant chaque track est un petit bijou.C’est un peu Comme se trouver face à 12 kilos de Valrhona. Enfin… au moins 300 grammes.

8. Cold War Kids / Red Wine, Success ! – 2006

Premièrement “Robbers & Cowards” est un des meilleurs premiers disques Ever. Chaque morceau vous emmène à droite ou en haut, assis ou sous la mer.Par exemple ce petit bijou, bien propre au début finissant en quelque secondes, démembré, désarticulé, faux… comme une bonne biture.

9. Suicide / Dream Baby Dream – 1980

Avec Ludo, j’ai vu Alan Vega en concert, finalement on a discuté avec un type avant de partir 10 minutes après le début.Ce qui est vachement rock & Roll puisque généralement Alan Vega a une overdose durant le premier quart d’heure.

10. Fais ta mélodie avec 2 notes sur ton Bontempi

Vivement l’hiver et ses tartiflettes.

11. Klaxons / Its not over yet (Brodinski edit) – 2009

Klaxons avaient réhabilité le yogging vert qui brille il y a 3 ans. Brodinski, le DJ rémois mondialement over known rend tout ca bien mélancolique et par les temps qui court ca me va bien la mélancolie.

12. Phoenix / Rome – 2009

LE groupe français qui remplit Central Park, So cute – So Hype. Quoi ! Vous connaissez pas ? Pas de monde 2, de supplément Libé du Week end chez vous ? Quoi Vous n’êtes pas fan de Sofia Coppola (tiens mon T9 me propose ‘Chipolata’) ?C’est chanté comme un monologue intérieur. Moi ca me va bien comme truc mélancolique.Tiens, Il a la voix de David Byrne. Donc années 80.

13. Coming Soon / Walking – 2009

Le disque est sorti le 7 septembre, c’est pour vous dire à quel point c’est pointu ici.Voilà un vrai groupe FRANCAIS, produit avec peu de sous (21 titres en 12 jours / 15 sur le disque). Le batteur a 15 ans, le chanteur 26 et porte un chapeau de cow-boy. Je dis ça, si jamais vous les croisiez sur la route. Ca sent le putain de bon groupe qui restera dans l’anonymat. Tiens, il a la voix de Tom Verlaine.

14. Girls in Hawaï / Organeum – 2003

Fume c’est du belge. Je pense que ca pourrait très facilement faire une pub pour un gros pollueur genre TOTAL, Areva ou je ne sais.

It’s always strange the way I feel

When I’m looking back on things

We’ve been lucky maybe who knows

Or have we just made some good choices

I’m not very good at writing about music. I have tried. I don’t usually know how to describe what I’m hearing, I don’t have great recall of musical history (pop or otherwise), and I can barely follow a meter. The thing I DO know is lyrics and stories. Lucky for me, xx are as good at building their music lyrically as they are melodically. This means I can tell you why their new album  (also titled xx) is dismantling my theory that Silversun Pickups’ Swoon is the best thing I heard all 2009.

Swoon is about responsibility and who is to blame for the dissolution of a relationship (“Don’t say I didn’t tell you so/ Maybe I didn’t but you’re taking it”), as much as anyone can be when aging is the real crime, but The xx might find that question asinine: the slow devolve taking place here has no agent. But their debut album is blindingly honest in the same way. In “Shelter,” Romy Croft asks, “Maybe I have said, something that was wrong/ Can I make it better, with the lights turned on?” The answer xx provides is probably not, since lies are not the problem.

“Crystalised,” which I’ve included above, is the album’s anthem of trepidation. This song, with one player as the sun and another as the glacier, reverses roles frequently, as Croft and Sim remind each other to “go slow” and the music oozes down to a finish. Like the rest of the album, these songs are quiet, like a set of conversations we’re overhearing from another room, and any disturbances are spoken as quietly as confessions. But “Fantasy” is the real turning point of the album. It’s the shortest track aside from the intro, and the least coherent, but perhaps the most important in terms of the record’s narrative. Placed right in the middle of the album, it lacks much in the way of melody, the few lyrics reverbing and almost lost, like the rhythm. This is where time has stopped, or perhaps reversed: “I’ll see you August, see you June.” And in this careful dismantling, each chord, each word bears more weight, and the whole thing shuffles, one uneven synth glide at a time, towards a climax: “I’m burning to impress / It’s deep in the middle of me/ I can be fantasy.”

This confusing of time, of the real sequence of events, is one of the recurring themes of the album, and might also be my favorite thing about it. “Stars,” the last track, is really its own beginning, a first date, or maybe a second or a third or fourth first date– it doesn’t really matter. The more time is rearranged, the better: this story doesn’t have to follow a line, as long as it’s played out with the beloved. “But if stars, shouldn’t shine / By the very first time / Then dear it’s fine, so fine by me / ‘Cos we can give it time / So much time / With me.” “Infinity” continues to develop this theme, but after all the dates have failed. It’s endless and slow, with Oliver Sim’s voice more mumbly than we thought possible so far, and a drumbeat that sounds at first like a death march. We’ve reached stasis, and time has stopped for real, in the absence of the ability to move on: “I can’t give it up / To someone else’s touch / Because I care too much.” After the superstar hope of “Vcr”(which sounds a little like something The Cure would have dreamed up) and relief implicit in “Islands,” it’s easy to believe that neither of these singers will be able to move on.

So, it’s not a very optimistic album. The minimalism is taken almost to an extreme in both note and narrative, and the space that it occupies, cycling between dawn and dusk, is in the end negative. Each choice on the part of the to withhold is an act of self-preservation, crystallized like a statue’s hand raised in warning or refusal.

But that’s really the point. Basic Space, one of the jauntier tracks, with the kind of hook that indie popsters dream of, talks about being dipped into wax, stopped in a moment of bliss (“I’m setting us in stone / Piece by piece, before I’m alone / Air tight, before we break / Keep it in, keep us safe”), although the album’s other time-traveling tracks jumps show this to be explicitly impossible, both on the album and in the real world. Even the title may now be suspect: xx was chosen because all the band members would be turning twenty by the time of its release, which of course they all are now, since time won’t stop even for a record this good.

I’m feeling subdued today. Tired of the week. Tired of the needs of others placed upon me. Ready to relax and do as I wish. In need of a mental bath. A cleansing.

My job, it drains me. Too much to do. Too little time. High expectations without reality playing a serious role, or so it would seem. Compensation being reduced. Motivation lacking. It contrasts with me. I am not a slouch. I work hard. I strive for quality. I do not fail. As with all opposing forces something will give. Will I change? Will I be force out? Will I fight until I am crushed like a bug? I do not know.

Do I have to keep up the pace
To keep you satisfied

It is funny the things we put up with. Ultimately I do not need the house I live in, the car, the stuff, etc. etc. I need the food, water, shelter and clothing. The sanitation and healthcare are also a plus. But really G and I could cut so much and live so simply. I guess I’d have to give up the Internet connection, though I am more likely to give up the phone first. I wonder if the happiness of a different work life wouldn’t be worth it. Or perhaps I am just a whiny baby? I have a job after all and I believe most people would say it pays well. The stress is what gets to me though. Being forced to work to a lower level of quality than I can face. *sigh*

This song has the feeling I have right now. The flavor… a pensive beat. A thoughtful moment. A worn feeling, but not without a fight lurking underneath. Do you hear it? Do you feel it? Yes? No? Come back when you’re worn down a bit more and we will see.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Chairlift
• Health
• M83

I also suggest the music genre:

• Dream Pop

Click here for more info on The XX – XX – “Crystalised” (2009).

The MP3 may be purchased here:

The XX - XX

the last two weeks I have been bouncing back and forth between downtown city life and rural footshills life.  one night finds me dodging vehicles, stop lights and late night partyers on my bicycle, the next finds me bombing down lease roads avoiding gravel and oil trucks in the north.  following are a bunch of songs that sound good whether gazing up at tower construction or searching in the dark for power plant signs.  all the following have been on repeat in the truck, hope you find them satisfying! first is one from a guy panda slap introduced me too – faulty dl.  this guy rules! next are a couple of tracks that are all over the blogs that are great listens (joy orbinson and an xx remix of florence and the machine).  lastly is a moderat remix done by untold (basically my favorite guy at the moment!) how can you go wrong – modeselektor with apparat remixed by untold.  wow.

01 Human Meadow

01 Hyph Mngo

YouveGottheLoveThexxRemix

Seamonkey_Untold_Remix

I just recently found this band and already I will never be able to see them live.  Apparently, their keyboardist/guitarist just quit the band after a slew of cancelled tour dates.  Damn.

xx

Dupek.

5 development projects that will take a place in Turkey, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia and Bulgaria,  2-3 months, aimed to exchange teaching methods, enrich cultural experience and communication with people from different culture!

Fue durante el invierno cuando tuve noticia del Proyecto Nocilla de Fernández Mallo, Rápidamente mi mente asoció ideas y todavía sin tener conocimiento de cuál era el tema de la novela y sin saber práticamente nada de su autor asocié el proyecto nocillero con el Proyecto Mahattan. Según profundicé en el autor y lo que pretendía con sus novelas más fuerza tomaba mi primera relación y pensaba desde un primer momento hablar de ello relacionándolo con el proyecto que marcaría la historia del S.XX. Excesivas obligaciones no me han permitido leer la primera novela de la trilogía, Nocilla Dream, hasta este verano y por fin la relación estaba clara. Fernández Mallo es físico, la ciencia le rezuma por los poros y las alusiones constantes a distintos aspectos científicos aparecen constantemente en su obra, Por otra parte alguna persona de mi entorno también es físico y comprendo la atracción que el Proyecto Manhattan ejerce sobre él, Aunque sólo sea por las veces que he hablado sobre el tema con mi partenaire. Comparto con el autor el concepto de “poética ampliada” o ” poética expandida ” como él la denomina, Así como la concepción del reciclado artístico en búsqueda de nuevos significados y asociaciones. Nocilla Dream sorprende no sólo por la nueva concepción narrativa sino también por la relación lúdica que establece con el lector, el autor juega con multitud de guiños referenciales que exigen del lector una participación activa en búsqueda del significado global del texto. Como si de un criptograma se tratara hay que esperar a que el proyecto se complete con Nocilla Experience y Nocilla Lab para comprender el alcance referencial al que nos conduce el autor y que desde luego va mucho más allá de la imagen que parece dar unión argumental al texto del álamo con botas colgadas en sus ramas en mitad del desierto. Por último no puedo dejar de referir la sorpresa que me produjo el que utilizara imágenes y conceptos que yo misma había utilizado en este blog, Así como que partiéramos de un nuevo concepto de la poesía cuando yo no sabía ni de su existencia ni de su particular manera de concebir un poema. “Un rizoma no comienza y no termina, siempre está en el medio, entre las cosas, es un ser- entre, un intermezzo.”

Pepa Roble

how exactly do you pin down what counts as “fresh”? for music, i guess it usually means a new sound that’s original rather than purely derivative, something that basically sounds different, in a good way of course. listening to the xx, “fresh” takes on another shade of meaning. the first track that introduces me to romy madley croft’s voice is “vcr”, which sounds freshly opened, like something hidden from view finally seeing the light of day. i particularly like how the music gives the space for her duet with oliver to breathe, and it’s refreshing how each instrument, from the delicate xylophones to the vocals, makes itself comfortable in its own corner and leaves plenty of room for the others. and it’s fresh for me as a listener as well. whenever the song gets broken down to the simple line: but you, you just know, you just do, every break is punctuated ever so gracefully, like a moment that hangs mid-air in quiet assurance. - dan.

mp3: the xx – vcr

xx is now out on young turks.

[Aparecido hoy, 5/11/09, en www.elpais.com]

Que a Picasso le gustaba el sexo más que la miel al oso es cosa sabida. Toda su obra rezuma erotismo y así ha quedado claro en las diversas exposiciones sobre el tema que se han venido haciendo estos años. Lo que no era tan conocido es que atesoraba una excelente colección de estampas eróticas japonesas y que éstas, además, le influyeron en algunas de sus series de grabados. Pues, aunque no hay una estricta correspondencia formal, sí que pueden apreciarse curiosas coincidencias de composición en la manera de acoplarse de los amantes o en el interés por forzar la postura de manera que se aprecien los órganos genitales con pelos (nunca mejor dicho) y señales. Un poco a la manera de los shunga japoneses, una versión erótica de los ukiyo-e, de utilidad meridiana, en la que la delicadeza del dibujo no impide mostrar los coitos con todo detalle.

En este sentido, puede considerarse todo un acontecimiento la exposición que ayer se inauguró en el Museo Picasso de Barcelona. Por primera vez se exhiben 19 de los 61 grabados japoneses que atesoraba el propio Picasso, y que ahora guardan sus familiares. Además, el montaje aventura esta hipótesis de las coincidencias a partir de una exhaustiva investigación surgida, curiosamente, de una intuición.

Según explicó ayer el director del Museo Picasso, Josep Serra, todo comenzó con una visita a una exposición en el Barbican de Londres sobre arte y erotismo a la que el museo había dejado algunos grabados. “Aunque muy alejados entre sí, había también estampas eróticas japonesas y a la salida pensé que había algo familiar entre ellas y las de Picasso”, comentaba ayer. “A la vuelta a Barcelona comenzamos a buscar y encontramos un pie de página en el catálogo de la exposición que habíamos presentado sobre la colección particular del artista en la que se decía que también había atesorado 61 grabados japoneses, la mayoría eróticos. Hablamos con los herederos, conseguimos que nos dejaran los grabados, que se exponen así por primera vez, y en la investigación que han realizado Malén Gual y Ricard Bru, los comisarios de la exposición, se han encontrando nuevas coincidencias de las que hasta ahora nada sabíamos”.

Fue así como lo que tenía que ser una pequeña exposición de gabinete fue creciendo hasta acabar convirtiéndose en toda una delicatessen para amantes del artista y, también, del erotismo. “Para adelantarme a cualquier comentario pienso que el erotismo de los shunga es una lección de cómo se tiene que entender y vivir la sexualidad de manera sana y divertida”, añadió Serra, que indicó que a la puerta de la muestra sólo habrá un letrero advirtiendo que incluye imágenes con sexo explícito.

Imágenes secretas, que así se titula la exposición, se organiza en dos grandes apartados. El primero se centra en el japonesismo que, un poco ya desfasado, vivió Picasso en su juventud. Había tenido mayor impacto en la generación anterior, pero aún así, aunque fuera indirectamente, no fue ajeno a este gusto por la línea estilizada y los colores planos que tanto fascinaron a los postimpresionistas. Con todo, en este apartado lo más curioso y también más potenciado tiene que ver con la influencia que tuvo entre los artistas europeos un famoso grabado de Katsushika Hokusai en el que una mujer tiene relaciones eróticas con un enorme pulpo. Buceadora y pulpo (1814) tuvo múltiples versiones de la mano de Rodin, Rops, Victor Hugo y, naturalmente, el mismo Picasso, del que se exhibe el dibujo Mujer y pulpo (1903), obra de la que, hasta ahora, sólo se conocía su reproducción en blanco y negro.

El segundo apartado se concentra en la colección de estampas de Picasso, por otra parte de gran calidad, que se contraponen a sus propios grabados, especialmente a la serie Rafael y La Fornarina, de 1968. Aquí es donde las coincidencias compositivas parecen más bien influencia.

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/excitacion/japonesa/Picasso/elpepucul/20091105elpepicul_7/Tes

The xx have perfected a stripped down approach in which the guy/girl tandem vocals (provided almost effortlessly by Romy Madley Croft and bassist Oliver Sim) become a lackadaisical love affair that draws you further into its simple complications with each track. Bass lines and drum machine beats create a steady groove that your vital signs manage to fall in tune with as the album progresses. Reverb-laiden guitaring filters in and out, perfectly filling the epic spaces created by the rest of the instrumentation. The album was self-produced by this band of 20 year-olds and the minimalism shines through while they also draw subtly on soft R&B and even hip-hop as one of the standout tracks, Basic Space, sounds as if it were produced by Timbaland in his off time from making bangers.

Listen to Basic Space.

xx provides so many gems for the immersed listener and this album could potentially be even more delightful when pumped through headphones. There is so much hidden in the negative space of the album, from the lingering warble of bass notes to the minute decay of drum machine beats and the staccatoed, echoing guitar lines. The band manages to infuse enough change from track to track when they switch from a more “pop” song like VCR to the bass driven Islands to the meandering Crystalised. The xx sneak up on you and get under your skin and once you give it a listen, you will have it repeating for weeks.

Good afternoon!

Remember not to be late for
EPs recruitment promotion training!
It will happen on Tuesday at 19 (till 20) in LC office.

Who participates?

Any member of AIESEC. (X team – must to be. Lotus, PR & Charity has to be & Energy should be. Random ppl whom we haven’t seen for some time – welcome to be)

Who delivers session?

Laura with support from EB

What info delivered?

AIESEC way.  Promo ppt of recruitment. X promo. Most probable & popular questions about X & AIESEC to be ready to answer (from EPs, TNs).

Why should I be there?

Because we are “life changing agents”! Why? Come & see! + Link X between any AIESEC project.

Let X rocks the house!

Young Turks
Rating: 9.1

I first heard The xx on Triple J radio when they played “VCR”. For a group of 4 from the south of London, they turned out to be the most hyped artist around. Unsure of whether it’s because of their stripped down tracks that merely consist of bass, and drum machine, two guitars that simultaneously pluck at their strings, and a guy and a girl who sing ever so softly, without the slightest of falsetto or want to burst out into screams. So subtly beautiful.

With 3 of the 4 members of The xx still living at home, the teenage influence in lyrics is heavily pasted throughout the record. “Skins” themed tracks about the real life of teenagers revolving around the idea of heartbreak and sex. Kids, cover your ears before hearing “Maybe I had said, Something that was wrong, Can I make it better, With the lights turned on“, during “Shelter” sung by co-lead singer Romy Madley Croft. These lyrics are often reciprocated from bassist and the other half of lead vocals from Oliver Sim, who is clearly no Idol contender, yet is more mesmerizing and captivating than anyone you’ll listen to around those capitalist realms. The two work well in conjunction on tracks like “Heart Skipped A Beat”, when they’re singing “Sometimes I still need you” and “Heart skipped a beat, when I called you were out of reach“.

My favorite moment in the album comes in “Fantasy”, when The xx produce that extremely reverberated bass, the kind you hear on Phoenix’s “Love Like A Sunset”. Accompanying this short track are Sim’s dark vocals and lyrics with palm-muted, plucked guitar that at no point over-stays its visit. Which in a few words sums up the entire album. No part over-laps, over rings out for too long with one ending always brilliantly continued on with something better. And likewise, one would make a fare assumption that with this records end, The xx should continue to pick up on follow up albums to come, and never over-stay their visit to the world.