Happy New Year, everyone!! Hopefully you all survived Christmas and the end-of-year celebrations with dignities respectively intact. Fortune doesn’t favour the welchers though, so am back with a new monthly entry series for this year, in an effort to cover all that is good in music in a more sustainable, bite-sized way over the next twelve months. However, there’s quite the veritable lot to cover for this calendar month already, and that’s without mentioning Beyoncé‘s controversial did-she-didn’t-she rendition of The Star Spangled Banner at Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony (the commentary at the end from the ABC newscaster is sort-of priceless); Justin Timberlake returning to the fold with the pleasantly-ebby Suit & Tie, which incidentally wasn’t blast-the-doors-open enough for some (and Jay-Z’s ubiquitousness may have finally undone him now, I’m sorry to say); and The Knife making brilliantly-good on their promise last year with their exciting lead-in single Full Of Fire, complete with a trenchantly-trashy opus of a visual accompaniment (incidentally, anyone with a spare ticket for their London show, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!)
But this entry, suffice to say, isn’t about them… It’s about the music featured below; courtesy of Mixcloud and Spotify, may I present:
01) Say Ooh Damn // Del & Xavier >> Imagine the Scissor Sisters didn’t get a bit shit last year and followed through with the gorgeous New York disco throwback sound on their debut album; taken from band member Del Marquis and singer/songwriter Xavier’s mixtape Tickle, which you can download for free here!
02) In Your Eyes // Dawn Richard >> Singer/songwriter/DIY diva follows through on two of the most gorgeous electronic-R&B EP’s to see release last year with a full-on stream of faith, sex and heartbreak on her debut solo album GoldenHeart; fighting back with love never sounded so good.
03) King Of Hearts // Cassie >> As recommended by my friend Bertie Fox on his excellent end-of-year blog entry last month, I dutifully downloaded the awesome-yet-unofficial mixtapes documenting R&B sweetheart Miss Ventura’s long road to that elusive second album (seven years and counting); club-banger KOH was released as a single last year and should have been massive.
04) Fashion Killa // A$AP Rocky >> The first big-deal album of the year belonged to this young New York upstart, following through on his critically-lauded 2011 mixtape with debut major-label album LONG.LIVE.A$AP; though there’s plenty of fine examples of his grittier persona on there, it’s this sweet radio-friendly slow-jam that should crossover to mainstream success.
05) Fly Ass Pisces // Cocaine 80s >> Taken from fourth EP The Flower Of Life (which you can happen also to download for free here), this hip hop collective headed by established songwriter James Fauntleroy (check his voluminous back catalogue here) continue to headily-swoon with alt-flavoured futuristic R&B.
06) Remains // Young Fathers >> Young hip hop trio from Edinburgh sign up with hip L.A.-based label Anticon and re-release their 2011 mixtape Tape One as their debut album consisting of stirringly conscientious monologues matched to momentous-yet-reflective beats; Tape Two is due out later in the year, and will be one to watch out for.
07) Glue // Nosaj Thing >> Jason Chung is a Los Angelino one-man-production house and Home is the follow-up to his 2010 debut, arriving after cutting wares for the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Kid Cudi; introspective beats and gorgeous synths prevail throughout, marrying hip hop and IDM into moments of wonderful fluorishes.
08) Burnt-Out Car In A Forest // Gold Panda >> Back to the homeland now, courtesy of Essex-born producer Derwin (all he’ll go by to others more informally, as is his want), who’s been keeping a low-but-still-encouragingly-busy profile since his 2010 debut was garlanded with Next Big Thing praise; this sublime piece is taken from his latest EP, Trust.
09) Movement // Holly Herndon >> College graduate from the US busts out into the world and makes an indelible first impression with debut album Movement, after cutting her teeth DJing in underground clubs in Berlin; be warned, as the assault of elastic beats and tortured static can be as mind-bendingly tricky as they can be prodigiously wonderful.
10) Photon // Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory >> German avant-dance producer Hendrik Weber hooks up with Norwegian bell choir to create soundscapes that oscillate tremulously between buzzing techno and ornate acoustic beauty; taken from the album Elements Of Light, a prime contender for Most Pretty Album Of The Year.
11) Tilt // Mountains >> Ambient/experimental rock-instrumental longeurs are the name of the game with this Brooklyn-based musician duo, whose fifth album Centralia is something of a masterpiece of acoustic-driven drone; describing it as such makes it sound like an arduous listen, but trust me when I say it’s the best album of the year so far…
12) Break The Spell // Rachel Zeffira >> The femme half of 2011’s best debut music act Cat’s Eyes steps out into the world all on her own with yet more sumptuous, sad-eyed, orchestral pop; like Holly previously, Zeffira’s album The Deserters got lost in 2012’s end-of-year shuffle, but there’s still time to rediscover its incandescent charms.
13) Better Off // Haim >> The winners of BBC Sound Of 2013 are a troika of Los Angelino siblings who specialize in heart-flutter-inducing indie pop complete with genius hooks, tight harmonies and quite the bit of commercially-edgy vibes; expect most people to hate/forget them by the end of the year, but in the meantime, enjoy their 2012 EP Forever.
14) How Come You Don’t Want Me // Tegan And Sara >> Indie-pop’s favourite identical twin sisters get their synthpop groove on with the help of über-producer Greg Kurstin on their seventh album Heartthrob; it basically sounds like Alisha’s Attic never quit pop music, which is no bad thing…
Before I go though, a few words about some other things you might have missed…
Firstly, Four Tet himself, Kieran Hebden, released a free mix of early b-sides and doodles on his soundcloud called 0181, and it is well worth checking out…
Secondly, two of my friends recently put up their own mixes on Mixcloud for everyone’s delectation and you’d do well to give them both a whirl:
Aria Reza Alagha’s Best Of Asian Network 2012 Mix
And lastly, if you’re not all tuned-out already, give my first non-blog-related-mix of ambient soul, electronica and Lynchian weirdness a whirl; presenting my Long Dark Walk Home Mix!
Until next time, xxxo…
dibdersbooth 