paranoia reservoir: 2011

Thursday, December 29, 2011

album stream: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Willoughby's Beach

More reverb'd out garage rock. These guys worship Thee Oh Sees and Jay Reatard, so they're alright by me. They're a little bit more surf rock than those bands. Bonus points for having the best band name I've heard this year. Someone please buy me the LP -- shipping from Australia to the US ain't cheap.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

mixtape: The Weeknd - Echoes of Silence

Download

The Weeknd dropped another free mixtape on his site last night. For those keeping track at home, that's the 3rd album this year. And they've all been really high quality. I can tell because I don't like R&B, but I love this stuff. Echoes of Silence has a Michael Jackson cover ("Dirty Diana") and a track produced by perhaps the most buzz-producing producer of 2011, Clams Casino ("The Fall"). Really though, The Weeknd doesn't need help with production duties. This shit sounds goooood. Download link is above, and download links for his other two albums are after the jump below.

I've been grooving to this album since Record Store Day in April when Javelin's soundtrack was released. Until now, there's been no accompanying film. Now the spaghetti western/glitch/chillwave music gets a neat little spaghetti western short film to go with it. It's only 16 minutes long, and it's worth that for the music alone. Listen to the full album on Spotify.

feature: Top Ten From Oh-Eleven

This is my favorite stuff from 2011. There's even an album from 2010 in here, how many year-end lists can say that?! boosh.

This is my lazy Top Ten From Oh-Eleven. I had a top 50 but decided to whittle it down to 10 albums so the numbering/ordering actually meant something and did not make my brain explode, causing spinal fluid to leak out my ears, rendering music listening impossible, ensuring I never write another music critique again.

If you don't have the means to download or purchase this music, I highly recommend quickly signing up for a free Spotify account to stream these records using the provided links (every hyper-linked album also goes to Spotify). I have provided alternate stream links for albums which are not on Spotify. For those of you who are boycotting Spotify for not adequately compensating artists and/or indie-labels: while I tend to agree with this sentiment, I am still using Spotify links here because they are quick, easy, and free for the moment. And for God's sake, do not just plug these artists into Pandora. Or at least do so after listening to the actual albums first--Pandora, unlike, Spotify, actually does compensate artists and labels fairly.

feature: Favorite Albums of 2011

50. Puro Instinct - Headbangers in Ecstasy
/// Mexican Summer /// dream pop /// Listen /// Purchase ///
49. Colin Stetson - New History Warfare, Vol. 2: Judges
/// Constellation /// avant-garde jazz /// Listen /// Purchase ///
48. Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire - Lost in Translation
/// MishakaNYC /// grimy hip hop /// Listen / Download ///
47. Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers - Teenage and Torture
/// Knitting Factory /// bluesy garage rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///
46. The Strokes - Angles
/// RCA/Sony /// alternative rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///

45. The Weeknd - House of Balloons
/// self-released /// PBR&B /// Listen /// Download ///
44. Natural Child - 1971
/// Infinity Cat /// garage rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///
43. Timber Timbre - Creep On Creepin' On
/// Arts & Crafts /// dark folk /// Listen /// Purchase ///
42. Kreng - Grimoire
/// Miasmah /// evil ambient /// Listen /// Purchase ///
41. Tom Waits - Bad as Me
/// Anti /// experimental blues /// Listen /// Purchase ///

40. Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring for My Halo
/// Matador /// singer-songwriter /// Listen /// Purchase ///
39. John Maus - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
/// Upset the Rhythm /// synth pop /// Listen /// Purchase ///
38. Thundercat - The Golden Age of Apocalypse
/// Brainfeeder /// electronic jazz /// Listen /// Purchase ///
37. My Morning Jacket - Circuital
/// ATO /// southern rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///
36. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
/// 4AD /// psychedelic dance /// Listen /// Purchase ///

35. Night Beats - Night Beats
/// Trouble in Mind /// garage rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///
34. Death Grips - Exmilitary
/// Third Worlds /// hobo rap /// Listen /// Download ///
33. Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
/// Software /// sample-based electronic ambient /// Listen /// Purchase ///
32. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
/// Mute /// synth pop /// Listen /// Purchase ///
31. The Deloreans - American Craze
/// Jangle & Roar /// indie folk rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///

30. Justice - Audio, Video, Disco
/// Ed Banger /// electro /// Listen /// Purchase ///
29. Snowman - Absence
/// Dot Dash /// tribal ambient noise /// Listen /// Purchase ///
28. Cults - Cults
/// Sony /// indie pop /// Listen /// Purchase ///
27. Danny Brown - XXX
/// Fool's Gold /// left-field hip hop /// Listen / Download ///
26. tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
/// 4AD /// freak folk /// Listen /// Purchase ///

25. Toro y Moi - Underneath the Pine
/// Carpark /// indie electronic /// Listen /// Purchase ///
24. Kanye West & Jay-Z - Watch the Throne
/// Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam /// hip hop /// Listen /// Purchase ///
23. Battles - Gloss Drop
/// Warp /// experimental rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///
22. Nerves Junior - As Bright as Your Night Light
/// sonaBLAST! /// indie rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///
21. Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
/// Capitol /// hip hop /// Listen /// Purchase ///

20. Tyler, the Creator - Goblin
/// XL /// horrorcore rap /// Listen /// Purchase ///
19. Radiohead - The King of Limbs
/// Ticker Tape /// electronic alternative rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///
18. Com Truise - Galactic Melt
/// Ghostly International /// electronic /// Listen /// Purchase ///
17. Curren$y - Weekend at Burnie's
/// Warner Bros. /// weed rap /// Listen /// Purchase ///
16. Other Lives - Tamer Animals
/// TBD /// folk rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///

15. Mikal Cronin - Mikal Cronin
/// Trouble in Mind /// garage rock soul /// Listen /// Purchase ///
14. Atlas Sound - Parallax
/// 4AD /// indie rock electronic /// Listen /// Purchase ///
13. Total Control - Henge Beat
/// Iron Lung /// garage rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///
12. Kendrick Lamar - Section.80
/// Top Dawg Entertainment /// hip hop /// Listen /// Purchase ///
11. Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread
/// Drag City /// garage rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///

10. Man Man - Life Fantastic
/// Anti /// indie rock doowop /// Listen /// Purchase ///
09. Panda Bear - Tomboy
/// Paw Tracks /// psychedelic reverb pop /// Listen /// Purchase ///
08. Thee Oh Sees - Castlemania
/// In the Red /// psychedelic garage rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///
07. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
/// Fantasy Trashcan /// indie rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///
06. Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
/// Sub Pop /// experimental hip hop /// Listen /// Purchase ///

05. Cat's Eyes - Cat's Eyes
/// Kooyp /// soul /// Listen /// Purchase ///
04. A$AP Rocky - LiveLoveA$AP
/// self-released /// swag rap /// Listen /// Download ///
03. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
/// True Panther /// lo-fi garage funk /// Listen /// Purchase ///
02. Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream
/// In the Red /// garage rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///
01. Black Lips - Arabia Mountain
/// Vice /// garage rock /// Listen /// Purchase ///

Sunday, December 4, 2011

album stream: Hello Electric - Skychief

Well now! Hello folks. I would like to share some groovy stuff, if I may. KJK more or less has the solid lock-down on latest and greatest, so I think I'd like to add a little spice here by posting some gems, whether new or old, here nor there. In any case, I have until now mostly stuck to playing music and not so much writing about it, so we'll just pretend that I know what I'm doing for the moment.

First up is Hello Electric from Portland, OR. They are a three-piece electronic rock band consisting of Guitar, Bass, Drums, with bassist Henry Gibson doubling on multiple instruments including Synth and Percussion. There latest album is called Skychief, and can be streamed above.

While a rock band at heart, their electronic influence comes in the form of some serious studio business; fuzzed-out bass tones and IDM or even Industrial beats on a few tracks. The synth drone at the intro to Three of Clubs is as filthy as the grimy old revolver in your grandfather's basement. The guitar work makes amazing use of the clean sounds on a hollow-body Gibson as well as some dirtier that reminded me of some choice NIN work. Kirk Ohnstad's vocal dynamics between throaty shout and melodically calm warble fit the dynamic of the instrumentals exquisitely. While I cannot speak to exactly how much involvement producer John Gourley of Portugal. The Man had on the overall sound, I can certainly say he did right by these guys, producing a cerebral yet intensely listenable opus of minor-triad goodness. I recently described this record as an impossible imaginary situation where Trent Reznor decided to produce a Menomena record, only the recording sessions went awry and a brutally dope offspring emerged, autonomous from said artists. This is an awesomely bizarre coalescence of sonic mindfuckery. I'm certainly hooked.

Follow-up post after the show on Wednesday with co-headliners Sons of Huns, another not-so-well hidden secret in the Portland garage rock scene.