Killer Tracks: The Spring 2017 Collection

We're waving goodbye to spring and welcoming the summer period with a selection of some of the finest new tracks we've had the pleasure of listening to in the last few months. As we're reaching the mid-point of 2017, this playlist is also indicative of where we currently stand on the issue of the best releases of the year so far. Let's leave it to the music to do the talking:

Thurston Moore - Aphrodite

Mark Lanegan - Beehive

The Afghan Whigs - Oriole

Boss Hog - Ground Control

The Jesus And Mary Chain - Always Sad

The Black Angels - Currency

The New Pornographers - High Ticket Attractions

Spoon - Can I Sit Next To You

Kendrick Lamar - DNA.

Run The Jewels - Legend Has It

Listening Habits 03-04.2017

As we have already pointed out in previous posts, the list of new releases of the last couple of months included plenty of outstanding albums by several of our favorite artists, both old and new, and here are those that earned the most spins:

The return of The Jesus And Mary Chain with their first album in 19 years was inevitably going to be one of the major events in the music calendar of 2017. As soon as the familiar guitar chords of "Amputation" open their seventh album "Damage And Joy", it is obvious that the Reid brothers are returning exactly where they left off at the end of the '90s and start to retrace their steps back to their origins and the sounds that shaped them. Echoes of almost everything they've done before can be heard in the 14 songs of their comeback (with added female vocals to sweeten the deal) as well as tributes to their heroes and despite the familiarity of the end result, there is no denying that "Damage And Joy" is another essential chapter in the history of one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands of the last 30-something years.

Spoon offer us the other great rock record of the first quarter of the year with their ninth album "Hot Thoughts". The Texan outfit continues its impeccable streak of releases with another collection of richly melodic and dynamic songs, eager to toy with electronic rhythms and even dabble with jazz for a while, without straying from its main mission: to create constantly awesome rock 'n' roll!

Other great comebacks that you will find in our album list include "Hey Mr Ferryman", one of the best solo efforts by Mark Eitzel, the voice of American Music Club, this time in collaboration with Bernard Butler, "In Between", only the sixth full-length in the 40-year history of New Jersey legends The Feelies, "Silver / Lead", the 16th album by the unique rock genius of Wire and Grandaddy's return after an 11-year hiatus with "Last Place", a record not far away from the late '90s sound of the band. Add next to these, the excellent new records by Laura Marling, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, Moon Duo and the rest of the records that make up our latest Top 20 and it's obvious that 2017's discography is really in bloom right now!

Top 20 Albums

1.  Damage And Joy - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
2.  Hot Thoughts - SPOON
3.  Semper Femina - LAURA MARLING
4.  Hey Mr Ferryman - MARK EITZEL
5.  In Between - THE FEELIES
6.  Flying Microtonal Banana - KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD
7.  Last Place - GRANDADDY
8.  Silver / Lead - WIRE
9.  Occult Architecture Vol. 1 - MOON DUO
10. Heartworms - THE SHINS
11. In Mind - REAL ESTATE
12. Volcano - TEMPLES
13. English Tapas - SLEAFORD MODS
14. Love In The 4th Dimension - THE BIG MOON
15. I See You - THE XX
16. Hang - FOXYGEN
17. Heron Oblivion - HERON OBLIVION
18. Damaged Good - BETTIE SERVEERT
19. The French Press EP - ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER
20. 3 O’clock EP - BLONDE REDHEAD

Top 20 Tracks

1.  Hot Thoughts - SPOON
2.  Amputation - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
3.  French Press - ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER
4.  The Last Ten Years - MARK EITZEL
5.  Soothing - LAURA MARLING
6.  Way We Won’t - GRANDADDY
7.  Gone Gone Gone - THE FEELIES
8.  Short Elevated Period - WIRE
9.  Rattlesnake - KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD   
10. Cold Fear - MOON DUO
11. Follow The Leader - FOXYGEN
12. Dead Alive - THE SHINS
13. Darling - REAL ESTATE
14. Strange Or Be Forgotten - TEMPLES
15. Moptop - SLEAFORD MODS
16. Sucker - THE BIG MOON
17. Say Something Loving - THE XX
18. 3 O’clock - BLONDE REDHEAD
19. Faro - HERON OBLIVION
20. B-Cuz - BETTIE SERVEERT

Spoon - Hot Thoughts

The Jesus And Mary Chain - Amputation

Listening Habits 08-09.14

It's certainly no small feat: 8 albums into an 18-year recording career, Spoon remain at the top of their game and deliver once again one of the best rock records of the year.

The ten tracks (9 originals and one cover) on "They Want My Soul" create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, complementing each other and making for a pleasurable listening experience from start to finish that will have you hitting the repeat button again and again.

Our August - September top albums list also includes Interpol's "Elpintor", their first album as a trio, which several reviews have hailed as a return to form. Personally, I don't think they have ever lost it, but if you have a record as awesome as "Turn On The Bright Lights" for your debut, you should prepare for the fact that people's expectations for your band will tend to be rather unrealistic. Thankfully Interpol don't seem to mind and get on with the business of making fine records, with "Elpintor" certainly not far from that early career high mark.

Our Top 5 is rounded up by the melodic California garage-pop of "Worship The Sun", Allah-Lahs' sophomore effort, the grunge-punk aggression of Canada's White Lung who have justly seen their profile rise with the explosive "Deep Fantasy", their third LP, and the experimental, laid-back hip hop sounds of Shabazz Palaces's "Lesse Majesty". 

Here's the complete Top 15 Albums list for August - September 2014:

Top 15 Albums

1.   They Want My Soul - SPOON
2.   Elpintor - INTERPOL
3.   Worship The Sun - ALLAH-LAS
4.   Deep Fantasy - WHITE LUNG
5.   Lese Majesty - SHABAZZ PALACES
6.   Pe'ahi - THE RAVEONETTES
7.   Initiation - HAUNTED HEARTS
8.   Hour Of The Dawn - LA SERA
9.   Beauty & Ruin - BOB MOULD
10. Revelation - THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE
11. Luminous - THE HORRORS
12. World Peace Is None Of Your Business - MORRISSEY
13.  The Voyager - JENNY LEWIS
14. Upside Down Mountain - CONOR OBERST
15. Clear Lake Forest - THE BLACK ANGELS

Top 15 Tracks

1.   Food For Clouds - THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE
2.   Do You - SPOON
3.   All The Rage Back Home - INTERPOL
4.   Drown With The Monster - WHITE LUNG
5.   501-415 - ALLAH-LAS
6.   Killer In The Streets - THE RAVEONETTES
7.   Johnny Jupiter - HAUNTED HEARTS
8.   Losing To The Dark (mp3 via Stereogum) - LA SERA
9.   I Don't Know You Anymore - BOB MOULD
10. Kiss Me A Lot - MORRISSEY
11. Head Underwater - JENNY LEWIS
12. Hundreds Of Ways - CONOR OBERST
13. Hot And Cold - EX HEX
14. I See You - THE HORRORS
15. They Come In Gold - SHABAZZ PALACES

Spoon - Do You

Listen to our latest favorites on Spotify:

Primavera Sound ’10: Day Two Review (May 28, 2010)

The plans to start the second day of the festival with Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions at the Auditorium were scuppered by the delayed start of the performance. After listening to just a couple of tracks, I left the darkness of the indoor venue to return to Barcelona’s sunshine and made my way to the San Miguel Stage where The New Pornographers were just starting their set with just the right track: “Sing Me Spanish Techno”.

The New Pornographers

Although both Neko Case and Dan Bejar didn’t make the trip to Barcelona, Carl Newman and the rest of the Canadian collective did a fine job on the festival’s main stage, presenting us with an hour-long upbeat collection of sunshine pop, that combined brand new tracks (“The Crash Years”, “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk”, “Your Hands (Together)” - the latter dedicated to Dio) with old favorites (“Mass Romantic”, “The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism”, “Use It”, “The Laws Have Changed”, “All The Old Showstoppers”, “Testament To Youth In Verse”) - an ideal soundtrack for a sunny afternoon by the Mediterranean beach.

Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast

More sunny guitar pop with a twist of '60s girl-group sound was on offer at the nearby Pitchfork Stage, where Bethany Cosentino and her group, the hotly tipped Best Coast from California, were presenting their soon to come debut LP “Crazy For You” (out in July). Recent singles “When I'm With You» (see also this) and “Something In The Way” were the tracks that I enjoyed the most, while they cheekily closed their set with a cover of Wavves’ “So Bored”, the band who suffered an infamous meltdown at the same stage a year ago.

Spoon

Back at the main stage, it was time for me to finally see Spoon live, one of my favorite bands of the last decade. Britt Daniel and his band have had considerable success in the States with “Transference” but their profile in Europe remains relatively low. Maybe this is starting to change as Spoon managed to pull quite a crowd at the San Miguel Stage, although not as large as Wilco did a bit later on (one of the performances I missed, as well as that of Japandroids due to the congested schedule of the day). Spoon have built up a remarkable repertoire over the years, so it was certain that for the next hour we were going to get an interesting mix of new (“Nobody Gets Me But You”, “Got Nuffin”, “Trouble Comes Running”, “Written in Reverse”) and older tracks (“Jonathon Fisk”, “Small Stakes”, “The Way We Get By”, “I Turn My Camera On”, “I Summon You”, “Don't Make Me a Target”, “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb”, “Don't You Evah”, “The Underdog”) while, inevitably, some favorites would be left out (“Everything Hits At Once”, “Sister Jack”, “Rhythm & Soul” for example). In any case, this was definitely one of my favorite performances of the festival and the start of a four hour period (from 8 pm till midnight) that had plenty of excitement in store for us.

Beach House

A little after half past 9, and after catching just the first song of CocoRosie’s set, I made my way to the packed ATP Stage where Beach House were about to begin. Climbing on the bleachers and finding a spot to watch the band proved to be a tough challenge, but I was rewarded with an enchanting 40-minute performance, dominated by Victoria Legrand’s imposing voice and brief fits of headbanging over her keyboards. Alex Scally, to her right, was more restrained, concentrating on his guitar and effects pedals, while the drummer had a relatively quiet evening. I usually prefer more tension and volume in live shows but on this occasion I must admit that the ethereal, magical sounds of Beach House won the day, captivating the audience for the duration of their show. Not surprisingly, the highlights of their set came from “Teen Dream”: “Norway”, “Zebra”, “Used To Be” and “10 Mile Stereo”.

Wire

The tension and volume I am usually after were on offer in generous doses at the nearby Vice Stage, my next destination, where I was able to catch the second half of Wire’s electrifying performance. The veteran post-punkers are preparing a new record for January 2011, and I’m guessing that they played some of the new material as I didn’t recognize several tracks of their set, a fact that didn’t lessen in any way my enjoyment of it. In stark contrast to bands like the Pixies, the headliners of the day, who seem to be stuck to their glorious past and, unable to move forward, have become nothing more than a touring nostalgia act, Wire are looking to the future and continue to create vital art.

Les Savy Fav

The absolute highlight of the day (and perhaps of the whole festival) for me, came at around 11 o’clock when Les Savy Fav started their deranged show at the ATP Stage. Tim Harrington made an impressive entrance dressed in a strange animal suit (I’m guessing an oversized wolf in honor of “What Would Wolves Do?”) and seconds later he was diving in the crowd and heading for the bleachers, as the guitars were catching fire. As soon as he was back on stage for the start of their second number (the magnificent “Patty Lee” - check it out here), he began his customary striptease, thankfully keeping his shorts on, and pretty soon he was back in the heaving mosh pit where madness reigned supreme. Impressively, among all this chaos, the band didn’t miss a beat, performing a note perfect set even when the guitarist was riding on the shoulders of some big fellow. For a blissful hour, Les Savy Fav was a well-oiled, firing on all pistons, punk rock machine on its way to music Valhalla!

Cold Cave

For the finale of the festival’s second day I checked out Cold Cave at the Pitchfork Stage, who were playing industrial-sized New Order melodies armed with no less than three synthesizers, and ended up at the Vice Stage for a taste of the mad garage rock of The King Khan & BBQ Show and for the dance party of Yeasayer. They kicked off their set at 2:30 am and somehow managed to keep us on our feet for another hour, until they signed off with the fine “Ampling Alp”, “Odd Blood”’s best track. The highlights of their performance, however, were “2080” and “Sunrise”, the two top tracks from their superior debut effort.

Yeasayer

Live action from Primavera Sound '10 - Day Two (May 28): The New Ponographers ("Your Hands (Together)"), Spoon ("Written In Reverse"), Beach House ("Norway"), Les Savy Fav ("The Sweat Descends"), Yeasayer ("2080") and Best Coast ("So Bored")

The Day One report is here. Our report from the third day of the festival is coming soon..

Postcards from Primavera Sound 10: Day 2 & 3 highlights

Mobile phone-quality photos and videos from some of the best performances of the second and third day of the Primavera Sound 10 festival in Barcelona featuring Les Savy Fav, Spoon, The New Pornographers, Best Coast, Built To Spill, Dum Dum Girls and The Drums. We're keeping the good stuff for the detailed reports that we're going to bring you both here and in mixgrill.gr as soon as we're back home and make a full recovery from this three day music-marathon!

Day 2 - May 28, 2010

Les Savy Fav, live @ Primavera Sound 10

Les Savy Fav - Patty Lee, live @ Primavera Sound 10

Spoon, live @ Primavera Sound 10

Spoon - Trouble Comes Running, live @ Primavera Sound 10

The New Pornographers, live @ Primavera Sound 10

 Best Coast, live @ Primavera Sound 10

Day 3, May 29, 2010

Built To Spill, live @ Primavera Sound 10

 Dum Dum Girls, live @ Primavera Sound 10

The Drums, live @ Primavera Sound 10

Listening Habits 01.2010

The list of our favorite albums for January 2010 includes some brand new releases (Spoon, Vampire Weekend, These New Puritans, Beach House, Midlake) as well as several LPs from last year that we finally got around to listening to.

Two of the January releases have already reached a wide audience, breaking into the top positions of the Billboard albums chart. Vampire Weekend’s debut at number one with "Contra" was followed a week later by the success of Spoon’s "Transference" that reached number four, the highest chart placing ever for both bands. Their commercial success becomes even more significant if we take into consideration that both of them are signed to independent labels (XL and Merge, respectively), while their distinctive sound is far from what is considered commercial these days.

"Transference" builds on the commercial and artistic success of its predecessor, the excellent "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga". Britt Daniel and his band don’t attempt any reinventions or fancy new tricks for their seventh album. They stick to good ol’ fashioned solid songwriting and fervent delivery, keeping it simple and straight to the point. The immediacy and power of tracks like "Written In Reverse", "Got Nuffin'" (the singles) or "The Mystery Zone" and "I Saw The Light" prove that less is more and help Spoon maintain their status as one of America's best indie rock acts. The only thing that I cannot comprehend is why this band has not enjoyed a similar level of success in Europe yet, where they seem to remain a well kept secret. Here you can watch the brand new video for our Track of the Month "Written In Reverse".

"Contra", Vampire Weekend’s "difficult" second album, has retained all the elements that give their sound its unique identity, while adding new elements to their sonic palette. In "Giving Up The Gun", one of the album’s highlights, the power-pop melody is combined with a dance club beat creating a post-modern new wave hit, while in "Diplomat's Son" M.I.A.’s vocal samples and sharp reggae rhythms coexist with sweet orchestral melodies. The breakneck pace of first single "Cousins" proves that the band has studied punk well and knows how to successfully combine it with ska, avoiding the pitfalls of this hybrid. Overall "Contra" proves to be more varied and self-assured than their debut and while afro-pop melodies and punk energy remain the main ingredients of their sound, here they have seamlessly integrated new and so far unexplored influences, keeping their music fresh and winning over once again the critics' and fans' approval.

"Hidden", the sophomore effort by These New Puritans, demonstrates the young band’s towering ambition. Their elaborate art-punk collage this time incorporates a thirteen piece brass ensemble, Japanese Taiko drums and a children’s choir, while the dark and menacing atmosphere of the music is accentuated by the sounds of sharpening knives and rattling chains. Song titles like "We Want War", "Attack Music" or "Fire-Power" bring the "hidden" threat out in the open and reveal the shiny steel of their sonic weapons. "Hidden" has fully justified the expectations created by "Beat Pyramid", These New Puritan’s ace 2008 debut, and justly brings major critical acclaim to the band.

Beach House’s third LP, the slow burning "Teen Dream", has already created a huge buzz in the blogosphere, gathering rave reviews and even suggestions of an Animal Collective-style domination in the "Albums of the Year" lists of 2010. Although all this early hype can certainly become annoying, the album undoubtedly possesses an undisputed charm and demands repeated listening. Fans of Galaxy 500 and Mazzy Star will surely appreciate Beach House’s organ-drenched, make out dream pop and majestic tracks like the recent single "Norway", "Silver Soul", "10 Mile Stereo" or "Take Care" make it easier to overlook the hype and enjoy the record for what it is, a wonderful, nostalgic tribute to young love.

Midlake’s return after four years with "The Courage of Others" is certainly going to be a treat for fans of melodic folk rock. The album is steeped in an early ’70s psych folk atmosphere with acoustic guitars and flutes dominating proceedings. The pace remains slow throughout but thanks to the strong vocal harmonies and the soaring melancholic melodies there’s never a dull moment to be found in its haunting 42 minutes.

The rest of our Top 15 consists of 2009 releases we’ve been listening to lately, with two noise-rock albums, the excellent Japandroid’s debut "Post-Nothing" (which we got to hear just in time to include in our Top 10 debuts of 2009) and Oneida’s epic "Rated O" being the most impressive of the lot. Recent Grammy winners Phoenix are also in here with the infectious pop of "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix", an album that was ubiquitous in the year-end lists. Sometimes buying late can be advantageous as the re-release that I got is coupled with a bonus remix cd and there are instances where the remix is at least as good as the original, as is the case with the Animal Collective remake of "Love Like A Sunset" which is transformed into a track that could well have a place in "Merriweather Post Pavilion" (download the mp3 here).

Top 15 Albums

1. Transference - SPOON
2. Contra - VAMPIRE WEEKEND
3. Hidden - THESE NEW PURITANS
4. Teen Dream - BEACH HOUSE
5. The Courage Of Others - MIDLAKE
6. Post-Nothing - JAPANDROIDS
7. Rated O - ONEIDA
8. Monsters Of Folk - MONSTERS OF FOLK
9. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - PHOENIX
10. Logos - ATLAS SOUND
11. Actor - ST. VINCENT
12. Bird-Brains - TUNE-YARDS
13. Love Comes Close - COLD CAVE
14. Infinite Light - LIGHTNING DUST
15. Baby Darling Doll Face Honey - BAND OF SKULLS

Top 20 Tracks

1. Written in reverse - SPOON
2. Norway - BEACH HOUSE
3. Hide it away - RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR
4. Giving up the gun - VAMPIRE WEEKEND
5. We want war - THESE NEW PURITANS
6. On giving up - HIGH PLACES
7. Wondering what everyone knows - LIGHTNING DUST
8. Children of the grounds - MIDLAKE
9. Ayisha abyss - SERENA-MANEESH
10. Brownout in Lagos - ONEIDA
11. Young hearts spark fire - JAPANDROIDS
12. Jail La La - DUM DUM GIRLS
13. Real live flesh - TUNE-YARDS
14. My Way - JJ
15. Water - PIT ER PAT
16. Odessa - CARIBOU
17. I hear the vibrations (E-Z version) - WOODEN SHJIPS
18. The high road - BROKEN BELLS
19. Love like a sunset (Animal Collective RMX / Deakin’s Jam) - PHOENIX
20. Life magazine - COLD CAVE

New Releases: January 2010

Round up of the most interesting album and single releases of January 2010 plus links to videos and free (and legal) mp3s:

Albums

VAMPIRE WEEKEND - Contra (mp3s)
SPOON - Transference (stream)
THESE NEW PURITANS - Hidden
BEACH HOUSE - Teen Dream
MIDLAKE - The Courage of Others
RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR - 2
FOUR TET - There Is Love In You
LOS CAMPESINOS! - Romance Is Boring (stream)
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG - IRM
OH NO ONO - Eggs
SURFER BLOOD - Astro Coast (video for "Swim")
SCOUT NIBLETT - Calcination of Scout Niblett
GET WELL SOON - Vexations
THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE - Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?
THE MAGNETIC FIELDS - Realism
OWEN PALLETT - Heartland
EELS - End Times
FREE ENERGY - Stuck On Nothing
FOOL'S GOLD - Fool's Gold
OK GO - Of The Blue Color Of The Sky
ADAM GREEN - Minor Love
LAURA VEIRS - July Flame
HT HEARTACHE - Swing Low
RJD2 - The Colossus
DELPHIC - Acolyte
PIT ER PAT - The Flexible Entertainer

Singles

SPOON - Written in Reverse (video)
THESE NEW PURITANS - We Want War (video)
BEACH HOUSE - Norway (mp3)
SERENA MANEESH - Ayisha Abyss (mp3)
BROKEN BELLS - The High Road (video)
GORILLAZ - Stylo (video)
THE XX - VCR (video)
HURTS - Wonderful Life (video)
DELPHIC - Doubt (video)
EDITORS - You Don't Know Love (video)
BIFFY CLYRO - Many Of Horror (When We Collide) (video)
JOHN VANDERSLICE - D.I.A.L.O (stream)
BETTIE SERVEERT - Deny All (video)
AU REVOIR SIMONE - Another Likely Story (video)
ASH - Space Shot (video)
SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO feat. BETH DITTO - Cruel Intentions (video)

Recommended downloads:

HIGH PLACES - On Giving Up (mp3)
RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR - Hide it Away (mp3)
SPOON - Mean Red Spider (mp3)
THESE NEW PURITANS - Orion (mp3)
JJ - My Way (mp3)
CARIBOU - Odessa (mp3)
THE KNIFE - Colouring of Pigeons (mp3)
PIT ER PAT - Water (mp3)

This week "Transference", the seventh LP from Spoon, debuted at number 4 of the Billboard Album chart after shifting 53000 units, giving the band its highest charting album and best sales week. Well-deserved commercial recognition for one of the most consistent and reliable indie-rock bands of the last 15 years. We'll have more about Spoon and their excellent release very soon. In the meantime, here's a live performance of new single "Written in Reverse" on KCRW:

Spoon - Written in Reverse (live on KCRW)