Year in Music 2011

[Mik]

Guess we didn't have one of these so far this year... to be honest I've been having a hard time finding stuff.

New Mountain Goats? Czech? I love it. It's more upbeat and that's always a major selling point to me.

Pitchfork turned me on to this album (not off to the best start here, I know)... House of Balloons by The Weeknd. I'm liking that, too.

Anybody got any recommendations from the last 3 months?

 

[Incandenza]

Destroyer's Kaputt is Dan Bejar's best work to date. Those synths, the fretless bass, that New Romantic sound. I love it.

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

I'm all about power metal, so I was quite excited to discover Cain's Offering. It is comprised of several current and former members of Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica. The album is fucking fantastic.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

Destroyer's Kaputt is Dan Bejar's best work to date. Those synths, the fretless bass, that New Romantic sound. I love it.

This is the only Bejar related thing I've heard and it's great. I've also really enjoyed the new albums from British Sea Power and Akron/Family, though I don't know if any other TSMers are interested in those bands.

 

[Smartly Pretty]

Destroyer is really pretty great, you should definitely get your hands on Streethawk: A Seduction. It's my favorite Bejar album for sure, although I like the New Pornographers a whole lot less than other people do.

 

[Mik]

I guess this is relevant to this thread... LCD played their last ever show at MSG last night. All the videos are around on the web somewhere... notable I guess are Arcade Fire doing the screaming on "North American Scum", and the final song being "New York I Love You But You're Dragging Me Down"...complete with balloon drop ending.

I think I would have liked to have been there.

 

[Incandenza]

Re: Destroyer, I'm gonna second getting Streethawk next, though—and the more Destroyer you get you'll realize this—no one Destroyer album sounds like any other Destroyer album!

 

[C Dubya 09]

Destroyer's Kaputt is Dan Bejar's best work to date. Those synths, the fretless bass, that New Romantic sound. I love it.

This is the only Bejar related thing I've heard and it's great. I've also really enjoyed the new albums from British Sea Power and Akron/Family, though I don't know if any other TSMers are interested in those bands.

Definitely a fan of the new Akron/Family. I think that it is my favorite thing they've done to date.

 

[The Coat Is My Father]

Lykke Li - Sadness is a blessing.

The new Lykke Li album is making me feel all swoony. Probably my favorite of the year so far.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

Oh, shit. I loved Youth Novels! Gonna have to search for that one fast.

 

[Czech]

I guess this is relevant to this thread... LCD played their last ever show at MSG last night.

They'll be back.

[quote author=the LCD Soundsystem oeuvre]
I like bands.
Aging is scary.
David Byrne.
*speaks for generation*
[/quote]

And it's not even as if I dislike LCD Soundsystem at all.

 

[Czech]

I mean, "Losing My Edge" is kinda funny, but we're not going to pretend it's any sort of artistic achievement, are we? Because musically, it blows donkeys.

 

[Incandenza]

Really needed the dozen or so hours for the follow-up.

I dunno, it's gotta good rhythm I can twitch to it so respect and all. Not really the song to pick out if you feel like taking Mssr. Murphy down a peg.

 

[The Coat Is My Father]

Frank Ocean - Novacane

 

[The Coat Is My Father]

I hope Czech doesn't have anything ambivalent yet condescending to say about that last song I posted. It'd just crush me.

 

[Incandenza]

The really stinging remark won't come until after 12 hours of no one responding to his initial bit of doesn't-warrant-a-response snark, so you've plenty of time to steel yourself.

 

[The Coat Is My Father]

I did that once when I was arguing with some guy on Last.FM about the band Real Estate. He (rightfully) mocked me for it, and I felt like a real asshole.

Some innocent kid is going to read that exchange and think that because I am a poor internet arguer, it must follow that Real Estate is a good band, and then he'll be bored for the half hour it takes to listen to their album.

 

[Incandenza]

There's a band called Real Estate? I will never listen to a band called Real Estate.

 

[The Coat Is My Father]

"Real Estate[1] is a psychedelic surf pop band hailing from Ridgewood, New Jersey now rooted in Brooklyn, N.Y."

aren't we all

 

[The Coat Is My Father]

I don't know where "psychedelic surf pop" comes from. They sound like a wimpier and less melodic version of Beat Happening circa You Turn Me On.

 

[Smartly Pretty]

Being from Ridgewood, I've hung out with the dudes from Real Estate before. They're cool.

 

[Czech]

Oh dear. Perhaps it is I whose edge is lost.

I guess I was reading about LCD Soundsystem and their last show too much and I just lost my temper.

 

[The Coat Is My Father]

I understand. They are a good band, though.

So, Hunx & His Punx. It's pretty gimmicky and formulaic, but the formula (Ramones + girl groups + lots and lots of gay) is one that works for me. Their new album is one of my most listened to of the last month or two.

Hunx and His Punx - Lovers Lane - not the video

The Curse of Being Young

hunx and his punx - he's coming back

 

[The Coat Is My Father]

Hunx used to be a member of the truely heinous Gravy Train!!!, FWIW. I don't know how many of you have heard of that group, but I'm assuming those who have hate them, because I don't want to contemplate the kind of person that would listen to them and enjoy it.

 

[Edwin]

Real gay-rock enthusiasts listen to Pansy Division.

"Lover's Lane" has been all over the XM indie station, quite frequently when I drive to work in the morning. Cute, but I dunno if I could enjoy it for a whole album.

 

[Smartly Pretty]

I'm so with you on Hunx and his Punx. I've never heard Gravy Train!!! but my friend gave me Too Young to be in Love last week and I really dig it.

 

[The Coat Is My Father]

Real gay-rock enthusiasts listen to Pansy Division.

I drove all the way to Colombia, MO to see Pansy Divison play an acoustic set at a fucking Border's. Don't even think about talking shit on my gayrockin' credibility.

Limp Wrist - I Love Hardcore Boys / I Love Boys Hardcore

 

[Incandenza]

I was content forgetting Gravy Train existed. Terrible.

I used to get bummed whenever I band I like would break up. I much more resigned to it now, and in a way it's a pleasure if I'm able to honestly say—and I can in the case of LCD Soundsystem—"oh well, they had a good run."

Though I see now that this has been happening for awhile, it recently dawned on me that my indifference to new bands is slowly turning into indifference toward all new music, including bands I've been a fan of for years. I only just found out the other day there's a new Low album. I gotta get on that.

As for other new stuff: I've only listened to the new TV on the Radio once so far, but my initial impression is positive. I need to spend more time with it before I feel comfortable ranking it against the rest of their discography.

 

[Czech]

Wow, one of my best friends sent me "I Love Hardcore Boys" when she was explaining what hXc was to me back in autumn 2004. There was also some Charles Bronson in there somewhere. What a flashback!

Sound of Silver is really really good, but the other two albums are just "I like Daft Punk" and sounding like Byrne+Bowie.

Listening to the new Mountain Goats album. "Estate Sale Sign" is the only stinker on here. "High Hawk Season" is incredible.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

Though I see now that this has been happening for awhile, it recently dawned on me that my indifference to new bands is slowly turning into indifference toward all new music, including bands I've been a fan of for years. I only just found out the other day there's a new Low album. I gotta get on that.

As for other new stuff: I've only listened to the new TV on the Radio once so far, but my initial impression is positive. I need to spend more time with it before I feel comfortable ranking it against the rest of their discography.

The last (non-rap) full retail album I listened to all the way through was...that Charlotte Gainsbourg thing, I think? Or no, it was that last Taylor Swift album haha. Personally, I blame a decline in quality for my current total lack of interest in new indie music. I still browse the Forkcast sometimes and that shit is all bland as hell. I mean, this is the sort of thing that's getting the Best New Music tag now

tUnE-yArDs - 'Bizness'

That is fucking garbage!