GooBERDooDLE

One of the best Michael Jackson remakes I’ve ever heard.

The interview was great, confirmed that they ARE indeed influenced by Tears for Fears, go figure

Interview on NPR

I didn’t do much this year in terms of the blog. I apologize, the fact is I started a software company and sometimes IRL trumps interwebz life. The other sad fact is, I don’t believe 2011 was a strong year in music. It was pretty lackluster in terms of new bands, great albums or even EPs. Don’t get me wrong there’s still good music, and sometimes a new band would emerge and be pretty damn great. But there just wasn’t as much to report on. In 2011 dubstep took the world by the ballz and made everyone shuffle. Even old people were doing it. Dubstep is great, just not 24/7/365. But there WAS good music, and below reflects my list to make up for a year of no communication, so you can get a glimpse into what I listened to throughout the year. I’ll be posting my top 10 album list as well.

Oh yeah, it was going to be my top 20 list, but I couldn’t kick active child off, they’re too amazing… Enjoy.

21.) Active Child – Hanging On
20.) Rihanna – Talk That Talk
19.) Memory Tapes – Today is Our Life
18.) Roksonix – Music In Me
17.) Joker – The Vision
16.) The Joy Formidable – Whirring
15.) Araabmuzik – Streez Tonight
14.) Futurecop! – Starworshipper
13.) Lil Wayne – She Will
12.) White Lies – Holy Ghost
11.) Drake – We’ll Be Fine

Top 10:

Another one of Chicago’s finest hip hop artists. The song is pretty emotional and perhaps that’s why I’m so fond of it. I don’t know if he meant it to be a song looked up like I perceive it but the point is it’s got a great hook, the lyrics are meaningful and it definitely fits into the top 10 list of 2011.
10.) Kid Cudi – What You Remember

I found this dubstep, yeah I know biggest “new” genre of 2011, group towards the end of this year. This happens to be the first track on the album, sets it up pretty well eh? I feel like driving fast or going on a face punching spree whenever I listen to it. Or maybe I could just learn how to shuffle…
9.) Kill The Noise – Kill The Noise (Part 1)

I found this track while watching video’s for the super hyped and self anticipated video game Battlefield 3. From what I can tell the producer only makes songs for youtube, at least at the time I got the songs. He has a few for download, but definitely needs to be signed. This song blew me away.
8.) Blackmill – Evil Beauty

What can I say about this band. Great genre, fucking great album and definitely what was expected from their previous EP. They do however kind of seem full of themselves in concert but hey… they’re from brooklyn, I think that’s just how all those people are.
7.) Holy Ghost! – Do it Again

Phantogram’s new EP came out of nowhere for me. I was blindsided by this track and fell in love with it instantly. I feel like it’s a totally different band now, totally different feel and vibe throughout this track.
6.) Phantogram – Don’t Move

Washed Out, what is there to say about these guys. I haven’t had the opportunity to see them live, but I can say their music is so melodic. I remember how relaxed I was in the shower when one of their songs came on, yeah that’s right I listen to music in the shower. Their “Life of Leisure” EP that came out in 2009 was pretty damn solid, so I went in with high expectations. I wasn’t let down, Within and Without is pretty damn tight. Lots of great tracks, especially if you’re the genre.
5.) Washed Out – Amor Fati

I wasn’t a fan of the last album, I feel like Childish Gambino is trying to find his way in the rap scene, he’s not quite nerdcore and not quite hardcore. Perhaps he’ll fall in the little slot Kanye has made for more artistic rap. This Heartbeat track is absolutely amazing. If this is what he can produce then I welcome more albums and he’ll definitely be as popular as he constantly projects.
4.) Childish Gambino – Heartbeat

This band is special to me in many ways. I found them when they had their White Guts LP out and were still trying to figure everything out. I drove from Minneapolis to Chicago to see them (and the next band) in concert even though they weren’t hyped at all. When they came out with their full length Wayward Fire it was obvious they were going somewhere. I met them and the lead singer is a person you could just sit and talk to for hours, someone who loves his fans and respects them. This genre is coming back strong and they definitely deserve the fame they’ll be getting. This entire album is solid as hell, if you like Teenagers download the album. In fact I don’t usually say this, buy their album, they need it as they’re still finding their way.
3.) The Chain Gang of 1974 – Teenagers

I remember I was in London when I saw the beautiful album art on a poster for the UK group’s new album in some subway station. I had absolutely no idea they had been working on something. I always loved the original and mixes they put out of Paris and figured they had something great in store for their new album. The entire album was phenomenal, insanely better than their last albums. But this song… this song always gets me going and if it weren’t for Midnight City it would by far be #1. But the one thing I can say about Pala is that the album is solid the entire way through and this song is just the tip of the iceberg. Friendly Fires made 2011 a much happier place in the music scene.
2.) Friendly Fires – Blue Cassette

Not only was this my favorite song of the year, and my most highly anticipated album. I can honestly say it was my favorite concert of my entire life and I’ve been to 100’s of concerts. If you ever get a chance to see these guys/girls do not miss the opportunity. The song unfortunately is the best part of the album, it’s not solid at all but does have some great tracks, who knows maybe it’s just hard to put out tunes this great consistently The point is though this song blew me away live in concert, on Jimmy Kimble and the 100’s of times I’ve listened to the track this year. It is by far the winner.
1.) M83 – Midnight City

After listening to this album a few times and also seeing some of these songs performed live I’m pretty confident when I say I’m fully disappointed in Zonoscope. Their first two albums were so solid I was hoping they would keep the trend going. With that said though there’s a few good songs on there and below is one of them.

Cut Copy – Where’ I’m Going

Well the KROQ thing fell through last night, I was listening even and the DJ came on at 4:50PM their time to say he has no idea where the rumors started but that they did not have the lineup. This left me and I’m sure everyone else disappointed and wondering when the lineup WOULD be announced. I checked the googles at about 2AM last night in hopes that for some reason they would have indeed announced it last night elsewhere and to my surprise they did! At first I thought the poster was another hoax because at the time of viewing the poster on a site they had Crystal Castles spelled Crystal Castlet so I took it with a grain of sal, but luckily that was it!

I will be there will you?

When I heard Robert Smith was on a track with Crystal Castles I was in shock, I’ll be honest. But then I thought about it and had to find the track. You be the judge but this seems like a perfect match to me and it’s pretty obvious in the following track.

Crystal Castles/Robert Smith – Not in Love

BUT! There’s light at the end of the tunnel. The past few days they’ve been teasing us with videos, leading us to believe they were going to only announce one artist a day via this scheme, similar to Bonnaroo a few years back. So far they’ve posted videos from Phantogram, Tame Impala and Trentemøller and a few others but so far we haven’t seen a full list.

Well rumor has it KROQ-FM in Los Angeles will be announcing tomorrow (Jan 18th, 2011) the full list which will definitely mean it’ll make it’s way to the internet shortly after and we will be seeing a poster shortly after that. KROQ-FM has announced lineups in the past, so this is pretty plausible, but lets just keep our fingers crossed.

Holy Ghost! is probably tied with GRUM when I think of new great electro groups of 2010. They’re songs are energetic, catchy and hella fun to listen to. There’s no difference with this new track that dropped a few days ago. It’s also the first sneak peak into their album due to release in April.

Holy Ghost! – Do It Again

“Ritual,” being their second album, you can’t really know what to expect. Some artist’s just can’t match their first album, especially when it was as good as “To Lose My Life…” was. But even taking that into consideration I began listening to “Ritual” with high expectations waiting for my heart to be crushed. I’m glad to say this second album seems more polished and gets stronger throughout. Putting it in, you think to yourself, “oh man this is pretty good” and by the end it’s more like “WOW this album is solid.” To me that’s my favorite style of album. You find a lot of artist seem to “blow their load” right at the beginning and then by the end you just want it to end, but not “Ritual”. It just gets more solid as you listen. This may be my favorite album of the year so far

White Lies – Holy Ghost

As a longtime Robert Miles fan, we’re talking 90’s here, when I think of him I think old rave trance music. Remember the song “Fable” and “Children”? Both amazing classics that I still listen to today. Today I saw a new album dropped, the first one since 2003, so long awaited I approached it with high expectations. When I started listening to it, I immediately noticed a major difference in this album, it was Post Rock? I like post rock and I know artists sometimes broaden their horizons with different genres which I support, but I guess this was somewhat of a disappointment to me. For the Post Rock fans out there, I suggest you try it out. For all the old time Robert Miles fans I urge you to approach cautiously, because like me, you’ll probably end up disappointed.