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26 Dec 2009 17:02

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Music: Saturday Mixtape: The best singles of 2009, in no particular order

  • Lots of great singles came out this year – pieces of memorable mind candy worthy of (more than) a few minutes of your time. Here are a few of our faves.
  • one Instant euphoria, in just a few words. What else could you want?
  • two Crocodiles hit our Jesus & Mary Chain soft spot; they get in easily.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Dec 2009 17:14

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Music: Near the end: Our Saturday Mixtape decade roundup hits 2008

  • 1. “What’s gonna happen to you?” As we noted in last week’s mixtape, Plants and Animals was going to be a part of our 2008 list, too. And “Bye Bye Bye” may only be the second best song with that title, it’s certainly a  close second.
  • 2. Cut Copy’s attempt to synthesize New Order into something fresh and new worked surprisingly well for 2008. The record, “In Ghost Colours,” got a little beat heavy, but when they mixed the beats with pure pop, like on “Feel The Love,” it worked better than good.
  • 3. It’s funny how different you feel about an album after a year. A year ago, we felt like Titus Andronicus’ “The Airing of Grievances” was a great album, sure, but not one of the best of the year. But we kept finding ourselves coming back to it – repeatedly. Ragged but by no means dull, these Jerseyites bring passion to every chord they touch, especially on “Titus Andronicus” (the song).
  • 4. Fellow Jerseyites The Gaslight Anthem also brought pathos with them on “The 59 Sound,” but they brought it with a little more punk and a lot more Bruce. The Killers’ attempts at Bruceisms were misguided, but they also paved the way for Gaslight’s success, so we’ll give them a break.
  • 5. We were really torn about putting Atlas Sound over Deerhunter in this spot. Ultimately, Deerhunter won. It’s because Bradford Cox’s full band has amazing singles even if their full records don’t hold together as well as his side project. At least that’s our take on the world of Bradford Cox. Anyway, “Nothing Ever Happened” is simply sick.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Oct 2009 12:20

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Music: Our Saturday Mixtape: Atlas Sound and Ben Gibbard cohabitate

  • 1. Bradford Cox is really one of a kind. The Deerhunter lead singer, who moonlights as Atlas Sound, really does a great job synthesizing really interesting ideas into his stew. Especially if, as in the case of “Walkabout,” that idea is Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) of Animal Collective. It’s a very Panda Bearish-sound, but built on of of those simple-but-awesome Deerhunter song structures.
    2. We admit to having an affinity for this broken twee sound, which Pens does a pretty good job of replicating on “I Sing Just For You.” It doesn’t really hold up over a whole album, but it’s nice in single-bite form.
    3. Sufjan Stevens went from recording really awesome albums about states to doing his best impression of the compositions from Final Fantasy VI (or Final Fantasy III if you’re a luddite who doesn’t know the series’ Japanese history). That description doesn’t give “The BQE” much credit – really, it’s great – but we hope he gets back to the 50 States Project soon.
    4. Ben Gibbard doesn’t have to do this. He’s already incredibly famous, and Death Cab For Cutie’s an interesting enough outlet that he doesn’t need another Postal Service-style offshoot to keep busy. But we appreciate his album of Jack Kerouac-inspired songs he did with Jay Farrar – it’s very much in the “Mermaid Avenue” mold. In a good way.
    5. It’s good to see our old friends Kings of Convenience showing up with a new album. We thought they were gone for good. A lot of people argue they need to expand their sound, but we think it’s perfect as-is, especially on “Me in You.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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