YOU NEED TO HEAR HUMS



Hear Hums are a lovely little duo from Gainesville, Fl. I recently came across.  Their second album, Psyche Cycles, was just released on Crash Symbols and is a real mind-fuck.  It takes you in every direction, spinning with over-lapping synchronized electronic melodies, keyboard-hammering scale progressions, and beats that seem to open up new areas in the mind.  I really like the final 1-2 punch of the aptly-titled 'Change' followed by 'Awake Away'.  Another immediate favorite is 'Woo', the second song in the music video below, and I have a feeling that this little onion will be working on my brain for quite a while. 

They have a strong following around their home state and plan on a tour up the east coast soon. I really hope they are able to make it westward after that! 

I'm so glad I get to post this the month it was released.  Now I can say I heard them first when they're opening for Memory Tapes or Fuck Buttons a year from now. 

Cerebellum/Woo - Hear Hums from Hear Hums on Vimeo.
Be sure to check out the great live performance that's linked on the vimeo page.


Hear Hums - Psyche Cycles - 2010

easily one of the best album covers of the year



MYELIN SHEATHS

Sorry for the lack of posts but in the little time I have had to troll the net lately, I haven't found too much worth blogginabout... until now.  How can you not appreciate 1) a band named after something that makes you smart 2) a band with a song named after the LHC 3) a band with girls that can rock your fucking face?  Myelin Sheaths evoke the same raw emotion that I get when listening to the Index albums I love so.





Myelin Sheaths - Get On Your Nerves - 2010

GuMMy†Be▲R! / MAGIC MAN

GuMMy†Be▲R! - Spectral Analysis EP - 2010

Magic Man - Real Life Color - 2010

THREE OF MY FAVORITE RAP ALBUMS

I feel somewhat obligated to provide decent rap music, being from the south, and being a fan of the genre.  Hopefully this will be well-received.  I own all of these.

Twista - Adrenaline Rush - 1997















Straight talent.  



Mr. Pookie - Tha Rippla - 1999

Dallas' finest independent rap album. (listen to tracks 13 & 15 first if you have any hesitation)



Busdriver - Fear of a Black Tangent - 2005

True genius.

THE DAY PITCHFORK DIED

This is what the world has come to.  The further I went down the Pitchfork 'Best 50 albums of 2010' without seeing My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, the more I began to fear the worst.  These fears were confirmed when I reached #1.  The site is dead to me now.  Ryan Schreiber and Ryan Domball (a.k.a. Ry-Ry), please go away.

WEED DIAMOND / ALEX BLEEKER singles

Weed Diamond - Chalice (single) - 2010
(plus bonus Northian Appartment single)

Alex Bleeker - These Days 7" - 2010

I had the pleasure of meeting Alex about a year ago, when he played here with Real Estate, and I have to say he's one of the nicest guys around.

best ep's

I don't have to make a 2010 best EP's list because the brothers from SOMATOSE did it for me.

GHOSTS AND GHOSTS AND GHOSTS AND GHOSTS

Here's a double-shot of ghoul-themed jams...

Ghost Animal - Summertime in Heaven - 2010 (from Spacerockmountain)

No Joy - Ghost Blonde - 2010

THE BEES / FRANKIE ROSE AND THE OUTS

There really hasn't been anything worth posting lately.  Here is some hope...


The Bees - Every Step's a Yes - 2010 (link is dead)  I'm done blogging about bands from England.



Frankie Rose and the Outs - S/T - 2010

GLASS VAULTS / BANNED BOOKS

Glass Vaults - Glass EP - 2010 (Thanks to mesineto for the recommendation.)

Banned Books - Man Maker EP - 2010

MERMAIDS / SORE EROS

Mermaids - Tropsicle - 2010

Sore Eros - Know Touching - 2010 (link removed by request)

James Brown Live at the T.A.M.I. Show 1964

Check out what has to be one of the most entertaining and mesmerizing performances of all time from start to finish.  I had to stop and re-evaluate everything I thought I knew.


James Brown - TAMI Show 1964 from Mark Jeffries on Vimeo.

AND NOW FOR THE 50 BEST SONGS...

1. Tame Impala - Alter Ego by defacto

2. Videos powered by ComeWatchMe.com

3. Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) by MCMLXXXVIII

4. 05 Balam Acab- See Birds (sun) by tastemakersdallas
5. 09.The Fatty Acids - Nobody Is Filming by tastemakersdallas
6. Gauntlet Hair - I Was Thinking by matthewflaherty

7. 01 The Whitsundays - There's a Monkey on My Back by tastemakersdallas
8. 02 The Strange Boys - A Walk On The Bleach by tastemakersdallas
9. 08 - Teen Daze - Spin Around, Go Ahead by tastemakersdallas
10. Cults - Go Outside by Hipstersw/kids

11. Carolina by Girls by musicismyhappiness

12. 09 Young Mammals - Mosquitobot by tastemakersdallas
13. Lower Dens - I Get Nervous by ObscureSound

14. ceo - White Magic by tacking

15. Bullfighter Jacket by Miniature Tigers by John Grimley

16. Caesar - Ty Segall by musicismyhappiness

17. Avi Buffalo - Remember Last Time by subpop

18.
Fresh & Onlys - Waterfall from Eighty Four Films on Vimeo.

19. American West by Sun Airway

20. Up Past The Nursery - Suuns by rawmarion

21. Silver Screen by Beat Connection

22. 06 Desire Lines by michel-heberton

23. Here We Go Magic - Collector by createspark

24. 06 The Whitsundays - How Long Will You Go On by tastemakersdallas
25.
Someday Soon by Harlem

26. 08 Sonny and the Sunsets - Chapters by tastemakersdallas
27. Moonhearts - Deathstar Pt. 2 by ashesofcolor

28. Fitz and The Tantrums - Money Grabber by The Clothes Hangar

29. 03 - Matt K. Shrugg - Freakout by tastemakersdallas
30. Real Estate - Out of Tune by futuresoundstemporary

31. B - Lumerians - Chevaux Fous by tastemakersdallas
32.
Tame Impala 'Lucidity' from The Gingerbread Man on Vimeo.

33. Keepaway - Yellow Wings by colorfultadpole

34. 10 - Jukebox the Ghost - The Stars by tastemakersdallas
35. Summer Camp - Round The Moon by The Drift Record Shop

36. Empress by yawn

37. 05. The Fatty Acids - Pissing Into Flames by tastemakersdallas
38. Sufjan Stevens - Vesuvius by Tills

39. 10 Sonny and the Sunsets - Lovin' on an Older Gal by tastemakersdallas
40. 03 - Magic Places - Digital Lightspeed by tastemakersdallas
41.
Those Darlins - Cannonball Blues from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

42. Woozy Viper - "You Cant Find Me" by ElectricComicBook
43. 06 Young Mammals - Analogue by tastemakersdallas
44. Javelin - Intervales Theme by rosssweinstein

45. 07 Forest Magic - WONDER IF by tastemakersdallas
46. 11 - Magic Kids - Cry With Me Baby by tastemakersdallas
47. Tobacco feat Beck – Grape Aerosmith by IR1KI

48. Blackbird Blackbird - Pure by blackbird blackbird

49. 10 - Weed Diamond - All Of Denver Is Wasted by tastemakersdallas
50. 05 Ratatat - Bob Gandhi by tastemakersdallas

20 MORE ALBUMS YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD THIS YEAR

These are in no order...



Tape Deck Mountain - Ghost





Those Darlins - S/T




Prince Rama - Shadow Temple

 














Lower Dens - Twin-Hand Movement











Kasper Bjorke -
Standing on top of Utopia



   

Here We Go Magic - Pigeons

Javelin - No Mas

 
















The Morning Benders - Big Echo



Sun Airway -
Nocturne of Exploded
Crystal Chandelier



Twin Shadow - Forget

Woods - At Echo Lake

Tobacco - Maniac Meat

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma





Moonhearts - S/T








Hugging - S/T






Black Mountain -
Wilderness Heart

 

















The Besnard Lakes -
The Besnard Lakes Are
The Roaring Night



Menomena - Mines



Weed Diamond -
Carry On + Sweater Kids



Active Child - Curtis Lane

ALL THAT GLITTERS WILL MAKE YOUR FRIENDS BITTER



photo source: winghamakoostikfestival.com.au



I've recently started growing an attraction towards all that is Australian; mainly because of 'Summer Heights High', beautiful free-spirited women, and Tame Impala.  Today we can add another name to the list of gems down under... Love Parade.  Their six song EP, 'The Strawberry Situation' runs just under 18 minutes and is a nice blend of psych rock and acoustic surf jams. 

Love Parade - The Strawberry Situation - 2010



I JUST WASTED MY TIME READING THE WORST ALBUM REVIEW EVER ON PITCHFORK

I don't think I will ever read a review by Ryan Dombal on Pitchfork ever again.  I've never known less about an album after reading a 1600 word critique.  Here he attempts to give us a review on Kanye West's new album 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' and ends up shitting out a painfully long account of Kanye's life.  I downloaded the album earlier this week and was very optimistic about its potential.  The last one was terrible IMHO and I know he could do better.  After noticing that Kanye's new album received the coveted....

10.0

I wanted to see what he had done differently to accomplish something that so many brilliant bands/artists don't even come close to.  I decided that even though the review looked a lot longer than most of those on pitchfork, this is 'the new KANYE' and they really want to let us know what's so damn shutter-shade-cool about MBDTF.  NOPE.  Go somewhere else.  This review isn't about the album, it's about the person.  I think he must have copied half of the shit out of Wikipedia, although I'm not going to check.

I'm going to listen to it myself for the first time and give a 1 sentence review that's more insightful than what this individual could do in 5 pages (dbl spaced so the boss thinks it's longer.) 

Stand by...



Kanye West's new album is a step up from previous works, primarily contributed to the fact that he's standing on the shoulders of every talented artist he knows that doesn't hate him,  but still marred by West's own ignorant paradoxes, obvious puns, post-South-Park-angst, and tone-deaf harmonies. 


I really don't think this guy even listened to the album.  A ten out of ten is ridiculous on an album with hits and misses.  Ryan, if for some reason you read this, my advice is to never give an album a 10.0 again because people will read it.

10 BEST NEW ARTISTS OF 2010

These are 10 best bands that were new to me during 2010.  With the possible exception of 1 or 2, none had released any material before this year.




1.  Gauntlet Hair - Only 5 songs are recorded from these guys and their full length is already my most anticipated album of 2011.  Get a head start here...

2.  Tame Impala - This band came out of nowhere with the best release of 2010 and I can't wait to see what they do in the coming year. Download Innerspeaker

3.  CEO - While The Tough Alliance's Eric Berglund is by no means a newcomer to the music scene, his alter-ego 'CEO' made a huge debut this year with one of my favorite EP's 'White Magic' .

4.  Balam Acab - What can I say about 'See Birds' that would do it justice?  This is another EP that was amazing and generally overlooked by most.  A 5 song ride that takes you everywhere you want to go and leaves you wondering if you're really stoned or if music alone can get you high.  Get it here if you haven't already...

5.  Beat Connection - Their Surf Noir EP is brilliantly done and extremely fun to listen to.  The song 'Silver Screen' is one of my favorties from the year and sounds very similar to 'The Police' or the like...

6.  Summer Camp - Very secretive group from London.  All I have heard by them is the Young EP, but it is very promising.  I was lucky to even find this picture.

      

                                 

7. Cults - I had the pleasure of seeing Cults open for Twin Sister and Morning Benders and was completely blown away with the power in Madeline's voice.  I am really looking forward to seeing what they do in 2011.  Download 3 songs now from their bandcamp.

8.  Keepaway -  I nearly forgot about these guys when compiling this list, but I didn't because their EP 'Baby Style' is unforgettable.  The first song Yellow Wings got somewhere around a 9.0 or 9.2 on p4k's BNM.  Now you can even get a second EP, Kompetitor, from their bandcamp page.

9.  Young Mammals - Houston's own released their debut, Carrots, this year and have been stimulating internet buzz all over ever since.  I had the pleasure of seeing them play with Lower Dens a couple months ago and they sound just as amazing live as they do on the album.   

10.  FUR - Bryce Isbell currently resides in Denton and blessed us with his full length album 'Witches' earlier this year.  Isbell is a friend of Alan Palomo (Neon Indian) and I have to say that he seems to be just as talented as his buddy.