#BestNewMusic 2016: January

The first batch of exciting new music releases for 2016 is already here. Have a listen below to Daughter, Savages, Animal Collective, Mass Gothic, The Manhattan Love Suicides and Eleanor Friedberger who are kicking off 2016 in style with their latest albums and singles:

"Numbers" by Daughter, taken from their excellent second album "Not To Disappear", released on January 15th, 2016.

"Adore" is taken from "Adore Life", the highly anticipated sophomore album by Savages, coming out on January 22nd, 2016.

Impressive video for Animal Collective's latest single "FloriDada", taken from "Painting With", out on February 19th, 2016.

"Every Night You've Got To Save Me" by Mass Gothic whose self-titled debut album will be released on February 5th, 2016.

"Bikini Party / Birthday Kill", the new 7" single by The Manhattan Love Suicides.


"Sweetest Girl" taken from Eleanor Friedberger's third solo album "New View", out on January 22nd, 2016.

The Best Albums Of 2009: Top 30

A Happy New Year to all! We’ll start 2010 in our time-honored tradition of presenting our favorite albums from the year past. During December, with a record-breaking 32 posts in 31 days, we presented our choices for the Best Albums of the Decade and focused on some of the highlights of 2009. We have already presented our Top 50 Tracks of the Year, the 10 Best Debut LPs and yesterday we posted the bottom half of our Top 60 Albums list. Time to finish this marathon by unveiling today, first day of the year and the new decade (!), our 30 favorite albums for 2009.

Our choice for "Album of the Year" is not going to be a surprise for anyone who’s been following this blog. As early as January I’ve been praising Telepathe’s debut "Dance Mother", placing it at the top of our first "Listening Habits" list for the year, ahead of the critic’s darling for 2009, Animal Collective’s "Merriweather Post Pavilion". By July "Dance Mother" was leading our First-half of the Year album selection proving that the spell Telepathe had casted could stand the test of time and by December it was our choice for "Debut of the Year". This is how I tried to explain the unique charms of this extraordinary avant-pop masterpiece in earlier reviews: "The two exceptional singles that Telepathe released in 2008, "Chrome's On It" (their most pop-friendly moment so far, with playfully melodic vocals and unusual, hip-hop influenced beats) and "Devil's Trident" (The Slits meet Kraftwerk in a haunted disco) along with the information that the multi-talented Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio had undertaken production duties for their debut album, made "Dance Mother" one of the most anticipated releases of 2009. Our expectations were completely fulfilled upon listening to the album…Ethereal, dark melodies that draw inspiration from both the trip-hop of Portishead as well as the gothic charm of Cocteau Twins, combine with experimental rhythms, inspired by New York's hip-hop radio stations, and repetitive, trance-inducing, tribal percussion. The electropop sounds of the early '80s intertwine with the feminist DIY punk aesthetics of the late '70s and the result is a unique, truly inventive sound- the sound of 2009!"

The only other album that was able to compete with "Dance Mother" for our "Album of the Year" title was the recently released sophomore effort of A Place To Bury Strangers. The not unreasonably dubbed "loudest band in New York" offered us "Exploding Head", an excellent gift to noise-rock fans everywhere. As I was writing in November "...the band's sound remains rooted in their love for the "Psychocandy" wall-of-noise with its buried pop melodies while paying close attention to Kevin Shields' guitar effects, Sonic Youth's sonic assault, Big Black’s shattering rhythms and the gothic new wave atmospherics of the early '80s… The amazing "To Fix the Gash in Your Head" was the track that showcased what this band was really capable of, and this potential is fully realized this time around resulting in a thrilling noise trip that renews and revitalizes the genre." The mind-blowing live performance that we witnessed here a few weeks later was the confirmation that A Place To Bury Strangers is the most exciting new noise-rock band in existence right now.

Of course, the band that started all this gloriously apocalyptic guitar noise a few decades back could not be absent from our list, especially when it has presented us with its best work for the '00s. Sonic Youth’s "The Eternal" was at the top of our June playlist and the band was also responsible for one of the most thrilling gigs we saw in 2009 with their headlining performance at the Primavera Sound festival in May.

Among the top albums of the year we also have Metric’s self-released fourth LP, the wonderful "Fantasies" (it was our "Album of the Month" in March, while "Help I’m Alive", its first single, topped our Tracks of the Year list), the second Bat For Lashes effort, the pop masterpiece "Two Suns", which was among our favorite releases of April along with Yeah Yeah Yeah's dance-frenzy mayhem of "It’s Blitz!". Animal Collective also gets respect here (although not the Pitchfork-style "We’re not worthy!" acclaim), as does the magnificent, otherworldly Fever Ray debut (read here our initial reaction upon hearing this unique sound for the first time). Our Top 10 is completed with The Dead Weather’s blues-heavy "Horehound", our "Album of the Month" in July, yet another project of the workaholic Jack White (it would be impossible to pair Allison Mosshart’ lung power with White’s mad skills and not have a Top 10 worthy album in my book), and with the euphoric indie-pop of the self-titled debut of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, our second choice in the "Debuts of the Year" list. Here’s the complete Top 30:

Top 30 Albums of 2009

1. Dance mother - TELEPATHE
2. Exploding head - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
3. The eternal - SONIC YOUTH
4. Fantasies - METRIC
5. Two suns - BAT FOR LASHES
6. It's blitz! - YEAH YEAH YEAHS
7. Merriweather Post Pavilion - ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
8. Fever Ray - FEVER RAY
9. Horehound - THE DEAD WEATHER
10. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART
11. A brief history of love - THE BIG PINK
12. Get color - HEALTH
13. Only built 4 Cuban linx… pt. II - RAEKWON
14. Embryonic - THE FLAMING LIPS
15. I'm going away - THE FIERY FURNACES
16. Marry me tonight - HTRK
17. Face control - HANDSOME FURS
18. Post-Nothing - JAPANDROIDS
19. Fits - WHITE DENIM
20. Popular songs - YO LA TENGO
21. Futuro - THE LOW FREQUENCY IN STEREO
22. Dragonslayer - SUNSET RUBDOWN
23. Six - THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION
24. Farm - DINOSAUR JR.
25. Dim light - GUN OUTFIT
26. Everything goes wrong - VIVIAN GIRLS
27. Rose city - VIVA VOCE
28. XX - THE XX
29. Tonight: Franz Ferdinand - FRANZ FERDINAND
30. Humbug - ARCTIC MONKEYS

Our list of the Best Albums of 2009 can also be found here, where it's going to be updated with the albums that I'm sure we are going to discover later on. When it has been finalized, it will also be posted in Cool Music Database, the place for all the lists of our favorite music from the late '70s to the present day (the project is currently at the 1993 list, but I'm going to pick up the pace in 2010 - one of my new year's resolutions).

The Best of 2009 so far (part 1): The Albums

Lists presenting the best albums of the first half of the year have become as inevitable as a heat wave in July. And since this blog is known for never missing an opportunity to create a "Best of" list (as you may have guessed, we’re big fans of "High Fidelity"), this is exactly what you’re going to get.

The music of the first half of 2009 hasn’t exactly been spectacular, but there are at least 15 albums that meet our excellence standards. Dinosaur Jr., Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand and The Decemberists weren’t able to surpass their previous efforts but their latest albums were strong enough to be included in 2009’s elite. Handsome Furs turned to ’80s electropop for inspiration in their sophomore work with impressive results. Norwegian post-rockers The Low Frequency In Stereo offered their best album to date by using krautrock and noise-pop influences to shape their propulsive sound. Career highlights were also achieved this year by Animal Collective, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Metric. Animal Collective’s years of experimentation have crystallized into a futuristic psychedelic gem, while Yeah Yeah Yeahs continued their shape shifting, this time turning into the queen and kings of indie-disco dance. Metric turned their amps all the way up to 11 for their most rocking effort to date, their best work since their awesome "Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?" debut from 2003. And talking about rocking efforts, Sonic Youth delivered the goods once again in their first indie album in twenty years, which happens to be their best work of this decade. Natasha Kahn is slowly but surely turning into the brightest star of alternative pop. Her second album under the Bat For Lashes moniker is simply stunning as was her appearance in the recent Primavera Sound festival.

As always, we reserve a special place in our hearts for newcomers and so far this year we had four debuts that are worth writing home about. The Knife’s Karin Dreijer Andersson launched her solo career as Fever Ray with an exceptional album featuring some of the most haunting, otherworldly and addictive electro sounds you are going to hear this or any other year. A description that is also fitting for Telepathe’s first LP, the David Sitek produced "Dance Mother" where Kraftwerk meet TV On The Radio on the dancefloor of a haunted disco with ESG as the house band. And, finally, if you are looking for some feverish guitar sounds, you should definitely check out fresh-faced indie-pop sensations The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and “just-gimme-indie-rock” noiseniks Gun Outfit. The ’80s indie scene obviously played an important role in the upbringing of these talented youngsters, with the C86 British sound and Sarah Records being at the core of the pure hearts of the former and the U.S. underground guitar noise of bands like Dinosaur Jr. or Meat Puppets dominating the record collection of the latter.

The Top 40 albums of the first half of 2009, based on what we’ve been listening to so far and in a not so random order, are the following:

Top 40 Albums

Dance mother - TELEPATHE
It's blitz! - YEAH YEAH YEAHS
The eternal - SONIC YOUTH
Two suns - BAT FOR LASHES
Fantasies - METRIC
Merriweather post pavilion - ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
Fever Ray - FEVER RAY
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART
Futuro - THE LOW FREQUENCY IN STEREO
Face control - HANDSOME FURS
Dim light - GUN OUTFIT
Farm - DINOSAUR JR.
Tonight: Franz Ferdinand - FRANZ FERDINAND
Years of refusal - MORRISSEY
The hazards of love - THE DECEMBERISTS
Radio wars - HOWLING BELLS
Balf quarry - MAGIK MARKERS
Dos - WOODEN SHJIPS
Outer south - CONOR OBERST AND THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND
Middle cyclone - NEKO CASE
Sometimes I wish we were an eagle - BILL CALLAHAN
Primary colours - THE HORRORS
Now we can see - THE THERMALS
Swoon - SILVERSUN PICKUPS
The spirit of Apollo - N.A.S.A.
I feel cream - PEACHES
Petits fours - GRAND DUCHY
A woman a man walked by - P.J. HARVEY & JOHN PARISH
Kingdom of rust - DOVES
Further complications - JARVIS COCKER
My maudlin career - CAMERA OBSCURA
Beware - BONNIE PRINCE BILLY
200 million thousand - BLACK LIPS
Art Brut vs. Satan - ART BRUT
Love hate and then there's you - THE VON BONDIES
The century of self - …AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
Hush - ASOBI SEKSU
The airing of grievances - TITUS ANDRONICUS
Tentacles - CRYSTAL ANTLERS
Dear John - LONEY DEAR

Our favorite tracks of the past six months will be the subject of our next post. Meanwhile, here's one of the latest additions in our Killer Tracks Hall of Fame, Sonic Youth's "Sacred trickster", the opening track of "The Eternal":

Sonic Youth - Sacred trickster

Albums of the Month: January 2009

The first cool releases of 2009 are finally here! C.M.C.'s top 3 album for January are the following:

1. Telepathe - Dance Mother

Brooklyn based dance-pop experimentalists Telepathe have just released their excellent debut “Dance Mother”, produced by the multi talented David Sitek of TV On The Radio. Last year’s brilliant singles, the playfully trip-hopin’ “Chrome’s on it” and the hauntingly beautiful “Devil’s trident”, showed the band progressing from the drone-pop experimentation of first efforts, 2006's “Farewell Forest” EP and 2007's “Sinister Militia” 12”, towards an elaborately structured, hook-laden, dark pop sound. Leftfield hip-hop beats, trip-hop atmospherics, tribal drumming and late ‘70s feminist punk aesthetics (“The Slits meet trip-hop experimentation” was my first impression of their sound upon my initial introduction to the band, seeing them live in New York last year supporting Foals – review here) are some of the elements that combine to create a truly unique sound and a genuinely inventive avant pop masterpiece that could easily find its way to the top of our “Albums of the Year” list, come the end of 2009.

Telepathe - So Fine

2. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

If you’re in the mood for even more far-out noise pop experimentation, here’s the latest effort from mad sound-scientists Animal Collective. Beach Boys harmonies form the melodic core of their sound sculptures, where electronic noise envelops tribal off-kilter beats. "Merriwether Post Pavilion” is perhaps their most accessible work to date, with well-structured psychedelic pop gems emerging from the hazy post-modern soundscapes. See the sounds and hear their colors for yourself - here’s the video for "My Girls":

Animal Collective - My Girls

3. Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

And if, after all this unconventional sonic experimentations, you have a craving for some good old-fashioned, down and dirty indie pop shenanigans, here’s the much anticipated third effort from Scottish pop sensations Franz Ferdinand. Their ambition this time is to make an album for the dancefloor, the soundtrack to an epic night out, a mission which they accomplish successfully, with seemingly effortless cool. Get ready for the floor with first single “Ulysses”:

Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses

Animal Collective Live @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, October 22, 2008)

Animal Collective is undoubtedly one of the most intriguing and unpredictable bands of this decade, constantly experimenting and mutating their sound, keeping their audience in a constant state of suspense. A year after releasing "Strawberry Jam" and just months before their eagerly anticipated eighth album "Merriweather Post Pavilion" the Collective was in Athens to offer us a taste of their genius/mad musical science. Repetitive, hypnotizing beats, tribal chanting, folk melodies melding with 60's surf sounds and layers of synthesized noise intertwined to create the evening's elaborate soundscape. A treat for the ears of the relatively few adventurous music fans present. Perhaps next time the organizers should avoid scheduling a concert on a Champions League night; who said that alternative music fans are not susceptible to the charms of the round godess (the ball, that is).

Animal Collective Live @ Gagarin 205, Athens (October 22, 2008)