Top Albums of 2010

1. James Blake - CMYK/Klavierwerke

James Blake is the brightest upcoming producer. His music is something completely new. He is also a genius in voice manipulation and creating space in music which is why his two EPs are the greatest thing to happen to modern electronic music since Burial released Untrue.

2. Four Tet - There is Love in You

Words cannot describe how great this album is. Each track is a hypnotic swirl of complex fragil sounds over a 4/4 beat. A perfect album, a work of art.

3. Toro y Moi - Causers of This

Though the genre died out relatively quick, Toro y Moi's music evolves rapidly with each release. Causers of This is a masterpiece of beautiful sample work.

4. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

The Monitor is just one of those big punk records. Some of the best songwriting I've heard in a longtime.

5. Cosmogramma - Flying Lotus

Flylo's epic masterpiece is a lesson in fusion, the best since Miles Davis' Bitches Brew.

6. Mount Kimbie - Crooks and Lovers

Mount Kimbie pushes dubstep into new territories and promises a bright future for the young genre.

7. Tycho - Past is Prologue

Tycho makes impossibly beautiful electronic music, and their newest is just that.

8. Bonobo - Black Sands

Black Sands gave me hope for the future of downtempo. Ninja Tune Records still puts out good stuff.

9. Twin Shadow - Forget

Twin shadow did the impossible in 2010, they brought back new wave without making it clique

10. Scuba - Triangulation

The head of Hotflush Records demonstrates why he is the king of the ever progressing genre.

Notable Mentions:

Harlem - Hippies
Twin Sister - Color Your Life
Onra - Long Distance
Skream - Outside the Box

Ariel Pinks Haunted Graffiti - Before Today

Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo/Shrew EP

Darkstar - North (hyperdub)

After a slew of promising EPs and singles on Hyperdub, Darkstar returns with their debut LP release ‘North’. The duo has ditched the deep bass sound and set to release a synth pop record. For such a fresh act is the post dub-step movement, I expected some sleek hyper complex sounds, but ‘North’ is not what most fans were probably expecting.

They sacrificed the glitchy pinpoint bleeps and bloops and focused in on washing synths and minimalist percussion lines over simple chord progressions. The vocals take center stage this time around. Just about every track features vocals from Neleswa, who has a slow burning soft voice. They keep the idea fresh on each track by using lots of voice modulation to make it a fully electronic experience.

Although the new direction Darkstar is taking makes ‘North’ something that needs to be checked out, there isn’t much replay value with all the simplicity going on, even for a pop record. It sounds like they’re trying to recreate or pay homage to the sounds of yesterday’s electronic producers who started the movement, which of course is understandable. But if you’re looking for a quick easy listen when you’re brain is aching from all the complexity of modern electronic, Darkstar is a worthy listen to ease the mind.

Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub)

The once secretive and unnamed london based producer ’Burial’ follows up his debut self titled release with the best album of 2007, and without a doubt, my favorite electronic album I’ve ever heard.

While listening to this grimy fogged up haze of dark midnight melodies I couldn’t help but realize how inaccessible it is to some people. Not everyone would dig this sound, not everyone would ‘get it’, this truly is underground music. But maybe thats the whole point of the album.

Burial is presenting a dance record. It has everything the UK garage sound needs, the skattering percussion tripping over its self, the deep sub bass that vibrates right through you, warm yet distant soul vocal samples glowing in the darkness of the gloomy sound which is keeping his signature sound from being full blow dance Garage. It comes off more of Burial’s salute to the now dead and gone, but not forgotten, genre that is UK Garage. Each track sounds like he is attempting to recreate one of his favorite 2-Step tunes from a half remembered memory. It’s foggy and hazy, it’s not all there, but it’s glowing with nostalgia.

Mount Kimbie - Sketch On Glass EP (Hot Flush Records)

Evolution is the theme of today’s electronic music. It the artist’s sound isn’t progressing with each new release, then you’re probably listening to Vampire Weekend. Scuba’s ‘Hot flush Records’ is the leading pioneers (along with Kode 9’s prestigious ‘Hyperdub Records’) of the post-dubstep movement, and one the top of their roster, we have the newly emerging duo of producers Mount Kimbie.

The ‘Sketch On Glass EP’ is short at four tracks, but each is a standout. As expected, the sound is comprised once again with skipping 2-step percussion under washing rhythms of synths and deep dubbed bass lines so low the untrained ear will have a difficult time identifying the note they are resinating. ’50 Mile View’ second half features such a bass line over a sleek section of ultra clean mallet hits. Mount Kimbie’s great sense of ambience and empty space in their sound are what makes the duo stand out in the scene. The focus is on the space of the sound to avoid ugly clutter.

‘Serged’ is the standout track of the release. The rhythm of the distorted distent synths and soulful vocal samples over the pounding dub bass line and garage esq skittering percussion make for a unique mix.

The Now of it

It's been about two months now, haven't written anything. I stopped writing reviews for Little Blue Frog because I haven't listened to that sort of music since I wrote the last one.

By now if you haven't picked up on the blogs underling theme then chances are you aren't smart enough. Every album I have reviewed is fusion of some sort. You wont find anything purely one genre in here. I adopted the name "Little Blue Frog" from my favorite track off of Miles Davis's 'Bitches Brew' which is the ultimate fusion album. Although I guess you could say all of today's music is fusion when you look back far enough. And I would say fuck you.

Anyway, within the past two months I have been listening to an abundance of electronic UK based music. There has been a lot of Post-Dubstep, IDM and Future Garage (the new love of my life). I can't even remember the last time I heard a guitar that wasn't so drenched in effects that you could even tell it was a guitar you were hearing.

I want to continue the blog because I have came so far, but my currents musical interests don't fit the theme. There's a possibility in creating a whole new electronic based blog. I'll keep you posted.

Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles

I've been moping around with a hole in me. Something important has been missing for quite a long time. I haven't heard an album so complex, colorful, texturized, deep and unique that I actually enjoyed for months now. Something that I can listen to over and over and get something new out of it every time I experience it. Something that is before it's time. Last masterpiece of an album according to my criteria that I've found was Burial's Untrue, Gang Gang Dance's Saint Dymphna or Flying Lotus' Cosmogramma. It's been at least a year. So I've been looking for something to fill that void for about a month now.

Xiu Xiu's Fabulous Muscles is an old album, 6 years now, and it's better than it should be. Thats the problem with a lot of great albums. They're before their time. Kid A, Bitches Brew, Remain In Light... you know what I'm talking about.

The album is dark to say the least, but it's not depressing. There's so much emotion, and variety in the emotion. It's something I've never heard in music before. It drags you down to a dark places, makes you feel like you're all the way at the bottom, where there's no light. Then it takes you back up in a split second in a gust of alive emotion, only to drop you back on your face again. It's what I'd imagine The Cure's Disintegration to had sounded like by the kids in '89. It's raw, it's noisy and beautiful yet it's exceptionably coherent for such an experimental sound.

Man Man - Six Demon Bag

I’m not much of an Animal Collective fan anymore. There was a phase when I get together with friends and we’d indulge on hallucinogens while listening to Strawberry Jam. It’s a phase long gone now, just like the classic rock phase. It was good at the time, and played a large role in shaping my music tastes.

There’s been a lot of bands basing their sound off of Animal Collective lately. They take that wavy, dream, overly happy highly original sound and rehash it with out adding anything original to it (and if they do it’s no good). Then there is Man Man. Call them Animal Collectives evil brother.

Six Demon Bag is a stomper. It sounds like straight up Viking/Eastern European/Gypsy/Circus music all combined into one violent mess. It’s like a drunken Beirut on a coke binge singing war songs. It’s an album for steampunks. What I really enjoy about the album is how all the instruments that you will rarely ever hear anywhere else play such a huge role in the sound. Hell, I don’t even think there’s any guitar at all on the album. There’s a great sense of variety as well. You’d expect the sound to be gimmicky and get old after a song or two, but it’s not the case at all. You’ll be so intrigued and wanting more, curiously wondering what’s next. Such a fun band.

Pretty Lights - Spilling Over Every Side

This is part 2 of a 3 part series of EPs that Vincent Smith is putting out while on tour this year. The first one was excellent, and it's not like I had any hope for it after the terrible third album. I mean that this was bad. Once the popularity and festival fame hit, it went to his head and his music lost the 'soul' half of the sound, leaving nothing but glitchy electro, even going a little dubstep in some places... Anyone can make that, and it wasn't even good. So he came back strong stuffing the soul back into the sound on these EPs, bringing back that urban rainy night thing.

The six tracks on the EP are pretty long, seven minute average. Usually thats not a problem for a pretty lights song. Hell, Take Away The Sun is a solid ten minutes, and it's a great track. The difference now is that those tracks would travel, the song would progress and go somewhere, the tracks on the new EP are just too tedious. I guess it's just an EP so it's not a huge problem. But my biggest disappointment towards the new EP is that there's nothing that sounds like the unique Understand Me Now from part 1 of the EP series. I almost expected it lack anything like it, because it was just so incredibly good, his most soulful sound, no question.

The Flashbulb - Arboreal

Most great music demands patience. Granted, sitting down a devoting 70 minutes to listening to an album isn't an easy thing to do. But sometimes thats what needs to be done. A great album is a journey somewhere. And this album is a car ride right into an electrical storm. The Flashbulb is a IDM/Breakcore project that combines glitchy electronic percussion over beautiful lush soundscapes of orchestral music. It's like Squarepusher mixed with Thee Silver Mt. Zion.

Each track on the album is a completely separate part, unique from any other. When you listen to just one track, you feel like you were shown a glimpse into a new future world. But when song after song is played, you keep going further and deeper into this unknown future, and all you want to do is see more, and before you know it, seven tracks have pasted by. The sound is so atmospheric in a completely futuristic way that it really provokes your imagination. Once the album concludes, you're left wondering what you just saw. Its like seeing a really complex and intelligent movie, and you sit there trying to put everything together.

Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot

I was shocked the first time I listened through Sir Lucious Left Foot, then a second and third time. I had been hearing good things. The mix tape was great, but I wasn’t prepared for this. This is what Hip-Hop should song like.

It’s been so long since we’ve heard new material by OutKast that I was kinda worried that Big Boi, often seen as the lesser half behind Andre 3000, wouldn’t stack up. But from the opening Daddy Fat Stax, it’s nothing but gold. The production is nothing short of perfect, as to be expected with names like Scott Storch and Organized Noize. There’s a great sense of balance between loud stompers (Shutterbug, Daddy Fat Stax) and softer, more heavily and diversely musical tracks we’re used to from OutKast (Turns Me On, Shine Blockas) Then there’s Big Boi’s amazing flow and lyrics, which will speak for themselves when you hear it.

It’s without a doubt the best release of 2010 and I can’t say enough good things about it.

Slum Village - Fantastic Vol. 2.

In my book, Slum Village is a few steps up from the ultra jazzy Tribe Called Quest and a leap above the master of cool Mos Def and a world above the political angst and fist to your face beats of Public Enemy. They're all masters of the genre, but Slum Village has that vibe, you know what I'm saying? That late night smoothness. And not to mention J Dilla. How can you not love the unique sleek production worlds greatest beatsmith? Fantastic Vol. 2 stacks up right next to Tribes genre bender Low End Theory.

If you're in it for the beats, I would point you towards the timeless Fall In Love. Its a masterpiece.

Eternal Summers - Eternal Summers EP

Just some great minimalist songs. They use punk structures and fill them with very non punk cords. It's almost like a lazy more organic sounding 'Vivian Girls'. It's been heard to find anything decent that's not electronic. Check out Able To and Fall Straight Back for some mindless easy listening tunes.

Clark - Body Riddle

Is Chris Clark the new electronica mastermind of the times?

Like the master of electronic mood Aphex Twin and the Drum & Bass modernizer Squarepusher, (both also on Warp Records) Chris Clark is taking large and hard techno beats and giving them a fast, violent and gritty new edge. Clark's sound is so boisterous and brutal, I might dare call the sound something along the lines of horror electronica, if there even is such a thing. As intense as it may be, it still has an immense amount of underlaying beauty beneath all the noise. Some tracks are so invasive that they almost sound windy (Ted). Like being blown around in some sort of hellish glitch storm.

It doesn't down play the 'intelligent' aspect of IDM in anyway. These songs are insanely complex and the overall flow of Body Riddle is something that haunts you during and far after listens.

DJ Shadow - Endtroducing

A study in unique beats from the 90's

Anyone who is a fan of excellent electronic/hiphop/glitch/breakbeat/triphop/turntablism will tell you that DJ Shadow's first album Endtroducing is arguably the greatest album of all time. Funk and soul has always been incorporated into hip hop since it's creation. What makes this sound stand out is the texture. It's a sort of 'cut and paste' technique but he's not trying to hid it, he wants it to be noticed. The entire record was composed of samples of other records, minus the scratching of course. The layering of sample on sample on sample breathes a new found life and sense of beauty into lost music.

To the ear that has never heard Endtroducing, it may sound strangely warm and familiar. Look at the label and you'll notice with shock that it was released in 1996. Not until the era of "Stones Throw Records" will the world be graced with ghostly, smokey beats with such a broad variety of genres and influences. This album is a masterpiece, like Miles Davis' Bitches Brew before it, of J Dilla's Donuts after it.

Onra - Long Distance

Beat new beats album I've heard this year by far. This French beatsmith is back after his asian themed Chinoiseries and the not so original 1.0.8. This time around, Onra is taking hi sound to a think layered hybrid of neo funk and dilla esq hip hop.

Every track on Long Distance is much more than just a beat. There's lots of depth in the vintage 80's R&B vocal samples and thick in-and-out bass overload from flylo. Even if its easy to spot the influences, for recycled music, this sounds fresh as hell. There's even a few guest spots on vocals (Slum Village, Oliver DaySoul, Reggie B) They really add to the fullness of the album.

The best part of the album is the overall feel of the sound. It's warm, hazy new and old. Definitely ganna want to wait for the vinyl release. Get this album.

Prefuse 73 - Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian

Well before Flying Lotus and the Brainfeeder Records crew, Prefuse 73 was the pioneer and innovator of the glitch hop scene.

Prefuse 73 newest material on the legendary Warp Records is more of a casual LP than some epic masterpiece in a uncharted direction in electronica. To say this is not a bad thing. There's less soul here than say an early LP, One Word Extinguisher. It's more glitchy, beat oriented with less ambience. Great mix of rhythms of synths, tight varied percussion and micro sampled vocals create his brand of digital bliss. Truly unique. But I can't help noticing that it sounds like he's moving in a direction where he's trying to sound like the newer younger producers who are popping up all over the electronic hip hop scene.

Every track on this album is likable, everything flows seamlessly, and it's very well produced. Thats what we expect from the man. It plays like one long mix rather than separate tracks. Thats the key to a good glitch hop album. This is a new must own for electronic fans.

Modest Mouse - Building Nothing Out of Something

What is it about the new Modest Mouse albums that are so lame? There's no flare, there's no soul and emotion. You have Good News that sounds like a Man Man album, and then Dead Before The Ship which is the worst thing they've ever done. The singles on that LP remind me of The Killers tracks.

Building Nothing takes the listener back to the rootsy early years. Back to the twangy country sound, back when you could actually hear Isaac Brock's lisp. Though it's really more of just a collection of old tracks than an LP, these are some great songs, definitely the tightest tracks since Lonesome Crowded West and The Fruit That Ate Itself.

Opener Never Ending Math Equation supports that low wobbly bassline they're know for as well as turn table scratches reminiscent of Heart Cooks Brain. Broke is my favorite. One of their most emotional sounds. There's also a reference to the Lady In The Radiator song from the film Eraser Head in Workin' On Leavin' The Livin'. (Pretty sure the Pixies did it first)

Yppah - You Are Beautiful At All Times

Such a fresh sound from an electronic artist. There are a few keys to creating good electronic music. The first is to keep it fresh, keep it "up to date" so to speak. The second is to never recreate a sound. Give it something extra.

The skilled producer from Texas makes big electronic sounds. The sounds aren't cluttered like Squarepusher. They aren't ultra complex like Aphex Twin. The tracks need not extensive analysis. They do however incorporate live instrumentation against the back beat. They are also huge atmospheric sounds that wash over the listener like a tidal wave. It sounds half organic and half electronic, and the production of that mix is excellent. Yppah uses elements of Shoegaze, jazz, hip-hop and post rock to create a new relevant pot of chunky electronic gumbo.

Each tack on the LP has something new to offer, and they do over stay their welcome. the longest song in here is a little under four minutes. If you enjoy intelligent dance music and need to give your poor little brain a rest from the giants of Aphex Twin and Squarepusher, but you aren't feeling like ambient, then give this a spin.

Hudson Mohawke - Butter

One of my favorite producers hailing from no where other than the birthplace of Wonky, Glasgow Scotland. The 20 something year old HudMo has been getting a lot of attention this year and has recently released a new full LP titled Butter. After hearing his 7x7 Beat Series and then his excellent EP Polyfolk Dance, I was ready for my mind to be shattered with more of the Warp Records newbie's quick sharp brand of micro sampled 80's beats.

If you're unfamiliar with HudMo, you'll hear this and think it's a joke. Do people really listen to this? Yes, yes they do. It's cheesy, goofy, sleek, funky . It's a mindfuck of beats so swift flashing with neon and burning with futuristic, almost flamboyant energy. ultra 'modern' vocalist Oliver Daysoul makes appearances on I Just Decided and Joy Fantastic. It's crazy how well their two sounds go together.

The only problem I have with the album is the fact that its, well... an album. To experience HudMo's sound at its finest, try looking up his mixes. It's the flow and layers of a mix that an LP just can't offer.

Hudson Mohawke is a truly unique beatsmith. There is no one out there who sounds anything like him (with the exception of Mike Slott who collaborated with HudMo for Heralds of Change) He will be big soon. I can see all of the biggest American rappers asking him to produce beats for them once the glitch hop scene takes off. Any day now.

The Band In Heaven - Demos

I received a random message from this band on Last.fm earlier today. They suggested that I check out their new demo, claiming that I would dig the sounds because I listen to a good amount of shoegaze and drone. I was hesitant in checking it out, but I figured it couldn't hurt. It was actually really good. It sounded like a mix of the Velvet Underground, Indian Jewelry and something fuzzy. It's loud, noisy and full of feedback.

Check out High Low, it's like a much more listener friendly Indian Jewelry track

And it's free, so do it.

Download

Omar Rodriguez Lopez Quartet - Sepulcros De Miel

If you are a fan of early Mars Volta, get this album. The album is one long song that sounds just like something off of Scabdates, with an over all Miles Davis fusion feel. The most authentically Volta sounding album since Amputechture. There's no point trying to sum up the sound, if you know who Omar Rodriguez Lopez is then you're going to want this album. I couldn't believe what I had just heard after listening to it.

You'll never know what sort of gold you'll find on one of Omar's solo albums.

Duster - Stratosphere

Duster is strangely enjoyable. It's hard to think of why such simple music as this sounds as good as it does. It's guitar based wall-of-sound with light singing, but I wouldn't call it shoegaze. It's heavy and sludgy and really lazy, like staring at a wall for hours. But I wouldn't call is stoner rock. This fuzzy piece of under the radar music is spaced out, highly atmospheric and floats around aimlessly yet structured as it could be.

Tropical Solution is pretty much the same light riff over and over again for 5 minutes, yet you listen to the whole thing and don't even realize you've spent any time at all listening to it. It's like the successful theory behind Drone music. Except Duster does it even better, and it's not even Drone.

It's loud as hell, but it sounds really quiet

at the same time. Melancholy at its finest.

My favorite find this year.

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra

I had the rare privilege to see Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra last night. They played in front of a sparse crowd of their loyal fans for almost two hours. It's not easy listening to the same song for twenty minutes, especially for a band who focus on a minor sound in pretty much all of their songs. They found a way to keep the sound flowing, changing up tempo, key and time signature just enough to hold your full attention for the entire song. If you know what sounds good, you will appreciate what they do.

It's easy to write a pop song. It's mindless to follow structure. However it is not simple to create beautiful and emotional music that goes where it wants to. Each song is a novel of sound. Silver Mt. Zion is a unique post rock band. You give a lot to the listener that others don't. They don't rely on unbearable amounts of distortion, they don't give you cheesy made up words as their lyrics, there's no sweepingly ultra emotional crescendos, and they're by no means ambient. It's a dark, heavy and extremely organic, earthy sound. The only thing plugged into the wall is the one guitar, everything else is a sting instrument.

It was a dark, yet comforting show.

Live from Lincoln Hall

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92

Richard D. James' first full length as Aphex Twin. Select Ambient Works 85-92 is just what the title suggests. It's laid back, atmospheric and beautiful electronic music. Although I wouldn't be so quick to call it ambient, well, maybe it is to Aphex Twin it is. I mean, there's still a beat on most of the tracks, nothing here is boring, but it still takes you for a visual ride like ambient music should.

The album starts out perfectly with one of my personal AT tracks Xtal, and quickly takes off from there. It covers a lot of ground too. There's the light fluffy pieces which he contrasts with darker ones. There's some heavy and loud borderline big-beat tracks like Green Calx as well. Not every song is amazing, but it's worth the trip.

Toro y Moi - Causers of This

(9)

I would call this the best album of 2010 but I've had a copy of it all winter. So to me, it's one of the best album of 2009, definitely the most played by far. Toro y Moi leads the young chillwave movement. His production focuses on a futuristic wavy R&B sound where Neon Indian focuses more on their instrumentation, especially the guitar and Washed Out focuses on their heavy repeating synths.

What makes the album so intriguing is Chaz' production skills. From the first track "Blessa" and "Fax Shadow" you know he knows what he's doing. They show me that he has potential in electronic music, which is why i'm a little disappointed his new single features live instrumentation. It takes on some influence to glitch hop with the in-and-out bass throbs. "Minors" is my favorite track, it's epic and fills you with a sense of nostalgic familiarity.

Both "Blessa" and "Talamak" have been redone from his demo, I personally like the fuller sound of Blessa but the original Talamak just had more to it. The entire album is a lot cleaner and clearer than a lot of his earlier work.

The over all feel of this album, to me, is this dreamy fog of dense soaring R&B sounds that'll make you feel like you're nodding on opiates. But most importantly it sounds like something completly new yet fimiliar at the same time, as it takes on a lot of influences in 80's electro and R&B, and current blunted hip hip production (think Dilla). Maybe thats why he called it Causers of This.

Youtube - Minors

Sounds Like

Future Electro R&B

Indian Jewelry - Totaled

(7)

Biggest disappointment of the year. It's not that Indian Jewelry makes simple music. It's for sure not like they make music that sounds good. They are the best at making ugly music that sounds offensive. Thats why they are at the top of the drone scene. IJ's cult fallowing will love whatever they put out. "They're artsy, misunderstood" That may be, but their 2010 release does not stand up to any other LP they're ever put out.

It's not easy for me to admit that this album is flat and uninspired and they're one of my favorite bands. But this really isn't good. Compare "Totaled" to their previous albums. "Free Gold!" showed listeners that they can successfully add a number of ethnic influences into their drone drenched ugly sound. "Invasive exotics" was dark, borderline gothic and had a good amount of electronic sound. Their debut "We Are The Wild Beast" was loud as hell, but still perfectly distinguishable. "Totaled" just sounds like a tired mix of everything they've already done, in a more "pop" way. When I say more "pop", I mean they ditched the weirdness. If I had to put on an indian jewelry album with my grandma, it would be totaled.

It's not a terrible album, it just doesn't stack up to the rest.

Sounds Like

darkwave disco indian jewelry

Baths - Baths

(7.5)

Baths is an out-of-the-blue producer who combines the throbbing in-and-out bass and twinkling bleeps of glitch hop and the overall chill vibe of the chillwave/glo-fi scene. Most of the tracks are 'instrumental' but when vocals are added, they're sparse and perfectly placed.

Maximalist is the most uplifting glitch hop beat I think I've ever hear. Just as the name suggests, it got that 'love your life live it to the fullest' sound and includes vocal samples of the same life theory. Lovely Bloodflow is a windy track in a complex time signature that features a vocal sample that flattens it out. And the highly experimental Hall puts use to production techniques I've never even heard before.

Sounds Like

Mix between Clark and Bibio

Teebs - 09

(7.5)

Artist, producer and Brainfeeder Label member Teebs has been very busy this year. He has a new LP out this month called Tropics and he's been touring internationally. Just last year he was virtually unheard of. Teebs' form of glitch hop is different from his fellow Brainfeeder producers, who lean toward big beat buzzing video game-esq hip hop. Teebs is the laid back little brother. His sound is carefree, swirling and beautifully light for a glitch hop producer, it's almost tropical is a way you've never experienced from anything else.

What's so impressive about him is his ability to work a steady and catchy beat into all the sparkling and fluffy ambience. I would;nt have believed it was possible until I heard it for myself. Teebs has the that overpowered blunted bass thing going on (think Toro y Moi) which is what I love about his sound. I can't really talk about specific tracks as their are all untitled, but this album is definitely worth checking out as the sound is so fresh and light.

Woods - At Rear House

(8)

Woods is my favorite of today's folk groups. A good folk group has to keep their distance from too much electronic influence in their sound. Good folk should sound good around a campfire.

We find Woods in their sophomore album going away from the freak folk and more just spright folk with a darker sound. You have more of the electric side on tracks Be Still, which sounds like a Neil Young with Crazy horse track from '75. It's a slow down tone waltz that ends in a rusty guitar solo. Best song on the album by far. Don't Pass On Me foreshadows their sound-to-be. Then there are the acoustic lullabies like Hunover that really picks up at the end, and the quiet Bonetapper. What sets "At Rear House" part from their newer two is the diversity and dynamics.

The over all sound is half dark and fuzzy and half peaceful. It's the most organic output from the band.

Sounds Like

Neil Young and Crazy Horse + freak folk

Suckers - Suckers EP

(8)

Sucker's first EP containing their only 4 officially released songs is now more than a year old and I find my self still constantly playing it. It was the best unheard of release of last spring for sure. It's kind of the guitar pop of Yeasayer mixed with the weirdness of the Talking Heads.

Beach Queen has an echo-y tropical vibe. Afterthoughts & TV is my personal favorite, a drunken sing along. Easy Chairs is just the most care free and innocent song and the closing ballad It Gets Your Body Movin' sounds like it should be the epically epic encore of a really long LP, so it sounds a little out of place. All the tracks are sunny as hell.

Suckers are just another t'ake on today's indie scene except their fresh. I can't really place my finger on what it is exactly that makes the stand out. Of course, the EP is only 4 songs, but four out of four amazing track aint bad. We'll have to see what their upcoming LP sounds like.

Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

(8.5)

I'm going back to New Jersey, I do believe they've had enough of me

I'll be the first to admit that lyrics are not a huge deal with me. Bad or good lyrics, meaningless or meaningful, it doesn't matter at all. I'm usually to into the music of whatever the hell is in the background to even notice what they're singing about. Not Titus Andronicus.

Talk about your drinking album. This is a a tough scruffy country/punk New Jersey concept album that revolves around themes from the American Civil War. Weird, I know, but the album probably wouldn't have been half as good with out it. From the beginning lines of in the album opener A More Perfect Union, you know it's that raw, raging energetic punk sound you haven't heard since the 90's. You even get a few Springsteen homages in there too. The songs areas long and epic as the battle of the Civil War, and the pull the load of one.

Once again its the lyrics and themes that make this album. Theme From "Cheers" is the highlight of the album. Just try and listen to it without wanting, needing a beer. It must be that twangy sound and all the booze references and "fuck it" quotes. It transitions perfectly into the most beautiful piece of the album, To Old Friend And New where the band get help from an unknown female singer (I think she's from Vivian Girls, fuck yea) who lends her emotional vocals for a great change up of sound.

The closer Battle of Hampton Roads is the "final battle scene" with some of the best lines on the album. Is there a girl at this college who hasn't been raped / Is there a boy in this town whose not exploding with hate / Is there a soul on this earth who isn't too frightened to move? It may sound shocking but it'll make the hair on the back of your neck stand up when you hear it. The only down side of the The Monitor is it lacks a tad musically, then again, it's a punk album.

You're going to feel really good listening to this album in that revolting youthful way. It's something you just have to hear to believe. Now when I drink, I will drink to excess.

Sounds Like

Backwoods punk

Little Dragon - Little Dragon

(8.5)

I say screw The Knife and their disturbingly grotesque singing voices. Little Dragons is the best band from Sweden. I'm reviewing their debut album because I personally believe it's the best vocal centered album I have heard in ever. In ever. their new LP Machine Dreams is good, but it's just not as sensuous and more poppy than their original sound.

You'll hear the first song, the quite piano ballad Twice, and literally fall in love with Japanese-Swedish singer Yukimi Nagano. She's like the white Erykah Badu, a great R&B singer with an amazing voice. The music is great too. It's like a weird sleek minimalist electro pop thing (probably from the Japanese half of her) with an urban feel. Constant Surprises is my favorite track on the album. Possibly my all time favorite R&B track as well. It's one of those late night looking-at-the-city-though-the-window-of-an-el-car-song. The closer Wink is a highlight as well, probably the most upbeat and dynamic pieces on the album.

So much soul. Such great production. Too under the radar for it's own good.

Sounds Like

Future R&B

Constant Surprises Video

The Mars Volta - Octahedron

"I'm the Matchstick that you'll never loose"

This is TMV stripped down. The "acoustic" Volta album that they've been threatening fans with for years. Obviously it turned out it wasn't actually acoustic, but it might of well have been. For the Mars Volta, this IS acoustic. Basically all Volta songs are pop songs, structurally speaking. After they have created the basic foundation of the song, they add ass the crazy complex shit to 'disguise' it. this is an insight to the song crafting process of the band as these songs are the songs before the "crazy shit"

You hear it right away on the first track Since We've Been Wrong which is a an epic ballad that compared in sound and epic-ness to Televators from Deloused In The Comatorium. It's soft and beautiful, yet powerfully emotional.

Teflon takes things in the opposite direction. This dark track features a pounding drum groove thats in an exceptionally strange time signature, even for The Mars Volta. Halo Of Nembutals is where things get really enjoyable. It starts off really erie and you wonder where it's going to go, waiting for it to explode with raw energy, and then it does, into one of the best Volta chorus ever. Now that they are making straight up pop tracks, they get to write all the catchy chorus they want. Cotopaxi is simply the new Goliath. Its loud and it throbs with energy.

Desperate Graves has Cedric singing a little weird. It's kind of lame the first time you hear it because he's never sung like that in anything else before. But it fits the track perfectly especially against Omars waving guitar effect. Again, the chorus is perfect.

Within the last two tracks, the band experiments with new sounds and techniques. They have sound electronic drumming with borders IDM and song almost completely structureless songs. You pretty much go through the whole album without hearing one insane guitar solo by Omar but you don't even notice it until you hear the only one on the album at the end of the last track. It's awesome obviously. Your face will melt.

Over all it's the Mars Volta's most pop and 'pretty' sounding album. It's the most easy listen of any of their works and it's a great follow up to Bedlam in Goliath which I hated (If I could hate a Volta album) If you're a fan of the band and can't get into the new direction, give it time, it will grow on you.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today

(10)

By Far the best album I've heard in a long time, and I mean a long time.

Ariel Pink's music has always been really creative and catchy as hell. But the messy lo-fi noise has kept him at cult following status. I actually read in an interview that the sound is a result of lack of funds in production and that he doesn't mean for the sound to be so lo-fi.

Now Ariel Pink is on a new label and all that has changed on "Before Today". The ever so thick cloud of lo-fi that has covered the 70's AM gold (think Bread, Todd Rundgren)of his music is finally lifted. I miss the old sound, but I really like what I hear on this album so it evens out. Now Ariel Pink can focus on making his sound as smooth and wavy as his 70's influences.

There is still a lot of spaced out strange noises, although he's no longer creating the drum sounds with his mouth and the over all sound is cleaner and not as...weird. (It really wouldn't have worked out on this one) The first single Round and Round is the smoothest song i've heard since Rundgrens Hello, It's Me. It the catchiest track of the bunch and you'll find you're self playing it over and over.

You'll play this album for the first time in strange curiosity. For those who are familiar with the earlier The Doldrums and Scared Famous, you'll wonder if it's actually Ariel Pink. Those who have never heard of Pink will be so curiously interest and hooked on the sound that you'll want to play it over again right away.Beverly Kills is a glowing funky track, Can't Hear My Eyes is warm and probably the most AM gold sounding track since authentic AM gold from the 70's. Reminiscence is a tight instrumental with an awesome bass line. And the closer Revolution's A Lie has a hint of Joy Division.

This album is great. It's funky, smooth and weird. I can't help comparing it to MGMT's new album. It's like Ariel Pink succeeded at what MGMT failed miserably to do.

Best album of 2010 so far

Sounds Like

Pure 70's am gold with a new sound

The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme

(9)

I've been waiting for this album since I first heard their first album. When I got the leak I wondered what their new sound (if any) would be like. After listening to it extensively for the past two months I've decided that it sounds a lot like Lesser Matters only a lot more polished and with better ideas overall.

The Radio Dept. are my favorite of the "nu gaze" bands. They have the best sound hands down. They can play their instruments to say he least. And they know how to incorporate the fuzzy loud shoegaze sound while still making each instrument stand out. It really shows on The Video Dept. The sound is real moody like later The Cure work. Its kind of dark but not at the same time.. in a dreamy way? the album is more centered on a pop foundation than the rock foundation of their earlier work. Memory Loss's bassline reminds me of Joy Division but the guitar work is something new. David is something you wouldn't expect to hear from them. It's kind of a synth pop that sounds like a hybrid of new and old, comfortable and uneasy. Its those extreme dynamics thats what The Radio Dept. do best on this album. The over all sound is beautiful and extremely pleasant.

This is the under-the-radar highlight of 2010 so far, check it out.

Sounds Like

Nu gaze fuzz

Upcoming Shows

Toro Y Moi -- 6/5

Indian Jewelry -- 6/16

Tinariwen -- 6/17, 6/18, 6/19

The Books -- 6/21

El Guincho -- 7/12

Cap'n Jazz -- 7/17

Ariel Pink -- 7/20

Know of any other good shows

around the city this summer?

Someone help me with acquiring an ID so

I can get into Indian Jewelry, as it's my

most anticipated show of the summer by far.

Black Lips - Let It Bloom

(9.5)

The Black Lips are my favorite band, putting aside the Volta/Drive-In/DeFacto creations of the great Omar Rodriguez Lopez. It's not just because their garage legends. Not because they have the best and dirtiest live shows EVER. Not because they got kicked out of India. It's because of their energy and their insanely raw sound combined with their ability to make the catchiest dirt punk of all time.

This is my favorite of their albums, and a top 10 favorite album without question. The Black Lips are a legendary garage punk band from Atlanta, the Mecca of the garage punk scene. If you want to narrow down their style, they call their music "flower punk" and I think that term accurately describes their sound. It's like happy punk, but still in a raw hardcore way, filled with catchy singalong lyrics and an overall coolness that no other band has to the extent of the Black Lips.

Let It Bloom is their most accessible and catchy album. Every song is a hit. The album opener Sea Of Blasphemy lets you know right from the start the raw energy and passion you're about it lay witness to. The bass line walks with swagger, it's my favorite Black Lips song. Can't Dance follows, which is just as good as the opener. Still so much energy, except this one is fast, really fast. It shreds. Hippie, Hippie, Hoorah is a cover of an old french song. Its an amazing ghostly sound that no other Black Lips song even comes close to sounding like. Feeling Gay sounds like a drunken haze. Fairy Stories and Dirty Hands are probably the bands happiest, most joyful songs ever, they glow and the lyrics are great. And Punk Slime is an epic western-ish song with a dirty gritty sound.

The over all sound of this album is what makes the Black Lips the most notorious garage punk band since The Sonics. It's dirty and raw. It echos and screams. Most of all, it's energy is without comparison. I saw them live for the first time last month. It was the best show I've ever been to. Crowd surfing. Moshing. Stage diving. Best show Ever because of the energy they put out.

Sounds Like

Sun drenched lo-fi flower punk

Javelin - No Mas

(7.5)

I love this album, it's so much fun. It's like taking a bunch of the most fun upbeat electronic genres and sounds and putting them all together, its like and electronic Ween, full of colorful J Dilla esq beats. The whole album doesn't hold up together as good as I would have hoped, there's not a lot of meaning. But for what is is, a fun beat collection, it serves its purpose well.

Vibrationz is like a funky 80's groove, Oh! Centra sounds like a take on a J-Pop hit, which they rap over with sped up voices, Susie Cues is a glitch hop track, Tell Me, What Will It Be? sounds like a crazy mix of lo-fi surf guitars with a psyche overtone and a tine of asian sound. I see a connection between the music and the retro cut-out artwork of the cover. The tracks sound like a bunch of random music cut out and pasted together with a neat and successful result of a brand new sound.

Probably the most enjoyable colorful album I've heard this year, it's got it all.

Sounds Like

J Dilla beats done by white boys

Omar Rodriguez Lopez & John Frusciante

(7)

The first record that features the duo (Omar from The Mars Volta and John from the Chili Peppers) exclusively. It came out this week as a free download. The album is basically an instrumental that comes off as a study of the guitar.

If you listen closely, and are familiar with each mans previous body of work, you can tell who wrote what part of the song and who's playing what guitar. Both of them put their own style into the songs are are evenly distributed evenly. Effects are used extensively. If you've ever been up close at a Volta show, you've noticed that Omar must have 20 different effects peddles at his feet. A very smooth and thick sound, good both fans of both bands.

Highlights are ZIM and 0

Sounds Like

An even mix of Omar and John and their love of the guitar

Ween - Godweensatan

(8)

An immature college album if there ever was one. Ween are a special duo. Pop geniuses.

Godweensatan was their first release, back when they were just teens, and it shows. If you were going into this album not knowing anything from Ween, and played the first tracks You Fucked Up and Tick, you'd think it was some hardcore band. When you get a little further into the album, things start loosing it's boarders, and things sound looney, almost Primas looney. But Dean and Gene Ween are just the kings at creating thoughtfully vulgar and humorous "pop" tracks.

And best of all they are so talented in music in general that they are able to play any genre of music and create a pretty decent song that does the genre justice. Nicole is a 9 minute stoned reggae dub track, Nan is a psyched out folk track and Birthday Boy is the lo-fi-est sounding treble drenched song you'll ever hear, almost to the point where its annoying, except the song it's self is sooooooo good that you'll literally keep coming back to it.

Forget animal collective, if' you need a new album to trip hard to, this would be it.

((see how many pop music references you can spot, like the single piano key strike at the beginning of Pink Floyd's Echos in Birthday Boy))

Sounds Like

A good multi genre pop mind fuck