Listening Habits: Summer 2018

We’re closing the summer period with the presentation of the new records and reissues that we’ve been listening to the most during this hot season.

At the two top positions of our album list we have a couple of the best releases of 2018 so far, the seventh Beach House LP simply titled "7" and the debut full-length by Australian indie-rockers Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, the excellent "Hope Downs". 

Rolling Blackouts C. F. had already shown us what they are capable of with their first two EPs and especially last year’s stunning Sub Pop debut "The French Press". On "Hope Downs", their Go-Betweens-style pop craftsmanship, bolstered by jangling, multilayered guitars, continues to shine for the duration of 10 excellent tracks that solidify the band’s position as one of the brightest hopes for guitar-rock in an era that the genre desperately needs it.

Meanwhile, the dream-pop journey of Beach House continues and amazingly they seem to keep getting better, slowly evolving and perfecting their sound. Their seventh album in twelve years is undoubtedly one of the highlights of their career so far, successfully mixing contemporary dance-pop elements to their sweet psychedelic swirling sound, while the collaboration with Sonic Boom who took on production duties, proved to be fruitful, balancing perfectly all elements and influences that make up the sound of "7".

The Sub Pop hat trick at the top of our Top 16 Albums list is concluded with another indie-pop gem by Frankie Cosmos, the excellent "Vessel", a record full of melodic, perfectly-formed pop vignettes that stick to your mind despite of (or maybe because of) their brevity.

Other notable entries in our Summer list include "Lush", the debut Snail Mail album that showcases the songwriting and guitar playing talents of 19-year old Lindsey Jordan (who is certainly making her guitar teacher Mary Timony proud), the manic indie-rock thrills of "Snares Like A Haircut" by No Age, the always fine dance-pop experiments of Gang Gang Dance in "Kazuashita", the return of '90s favorites Belly with "Dove", the first LP in 23 years for Tanya Donelly’s successful project after her tenure in Throwing Muses and The Breeders, and the new records by Speedy Ortiz and Soccer Mommy who follow in the path that Belly and their contemporaries created back in the '90s.

And talking about influential bands, a recent reissue that should not go unnoticed is the box set "Seeing The Unseeable: The Complete Studio Recordings Of The Flaming Lips 1986-1990", including the first four Flaming Lips albums on Restless Records plus two more CDs of B-sides and rarities from the first period of the Oklahoma rock mavericks. Essential listening!

Top 16 Albums

1.   Hope Downs - ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER
2.   7 - BEACH HOUSE
3.   Vessel - FRANKIE COSMOS
4.   Lush - SNAIL MAIL
5.   Snares Like A Haircut - NO AGE
6.   Kazuashita - GANG GANG DANCE
7.   Dove - BELLY
8.   Twerp Verse - SPEEDY ORTIZ
9.   Clean - SOCCER MOMMY
10. Rebound - ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER
11. Joy - TY SEGALL & WHITE FENCE
12. V. - WOODEN SHJIPS
13. Marble Skies - DJANGO DJANGO
14. Consolation E.P. - PROTOMARTYR
15. Seeing The Unseeable: The Complete Studio Recordings Of The Flaming Lips 1986-1990 - THE FLAMING LIPS
16. Made To Be Broken (reissue) - SOUL ASYLUM

Top 15 Tracks

1.   An Air Conditioned Man - ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER
2.   Lemon Glow - BEACH HOUSE
3.   Shiny One - BELLY
4.   Heat Wave - SNAIL MAIL
5.   Your Dog - SOCCER MOMMY
6.   Apathy - FRANKIE COSMOS
7.   Wheel of Fortune (feat. Kelley Deal) - PROTOMARTYR
8.   Popper - NO AGE
9.   Lotus - GANG GANG DANCE
10. Surface to Air (feat. Self Esteem) - DJANGO DJANGO
11. Fast Slow Disco - ST. VINCENT
12. Lucky 88 - SPEEDY ORTIZ
13. In Between Stars - ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER
14. Body Behavior - TY SEGALL & WHITE FENCE
15. Red Line - WOODEN SHJIPS

Top 20 Albums of the first half of 2018

Just after the halfway point of 2018, we are taking a moment to single out the 20 albums we've enjoyed the most among the numerous new releases of the past six months. The order of presentation is not totally random, but we'll avoid numbers in our Top 20 list as rankings change almost daily at this point in time. Let's just say that U.S. Girls, Beach House and Rolling Blackout Coastal Fever have delivered the albums with the best odds for challenging for 2018's Album of the Year title!

In a poem unlimited - U.S. GIRLS 

7 - BEACH HOUSE
  

 Hope downs - ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER
  

Tell me how you really feel - COURTNEY BARNETT
 

Wide awake! - PARQUET COURTS
 Freedom's goblin - TY SEGALL
All nerve - THE BREEDERS
Goat Girl - GOAT GIRL
I can feel you creep into my private life - TUNE-YARDS
Microshift - HOOKWORMS
Lush - SNAIL MAIL
Songs of praise - SHAME
Snares like a haircut - NO AGE
What a time to be alive - SUPERCHUNK
Jericho sirens - HOT SNAKES
Twin fantasy - CAR SEAT HEADREST
Tranquility base hotel + casino - ARCTIC MONKEYS
Dove - BELLY
Twerp verse - SPEEDY ORTIZ
Clean - SOCCER MOMMY

January - February 2018 Playlist

We had several excellent new releases lately and there is a lot more cool new music coming our way in the next few weeks. Check out below 10 of the best new tracks that made their debut in the first couple of months of 2018:

Courtney Barnett - Nameless, Faceless (from the album "Tell Me How You Really Feel", coming in May)

Beach House - Lemon Glow

U.S. Girls - Rosebud (from the album "In A Poem Unlimited", out this week)

Belly - Shiny One (from the upcoming album "DOVE", the band's first in 23 years)

Car Seat Headrest - Nervous Young Inhumans (from the album "Twin Fantasy")

Frankie Cosmos - Being Alive (from the album "Vessel", coming at the end of March)

 Wye Oak - The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs (from the album "The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs", out in April)

 The Decemberists - Severed (from the album "I'll Be Your Girl" out in March)

Dream Wife - Hey Heartbreaker (from their eponymous debut album)

Goat Girl - The Man (from their eponymous debut album, out in April)

2012 Review: Top 60 Albums of the Year (1 to 30)

Happy New Year to everyone! And what better way to start off 2013 than with the presentation of our 30 favorite albums of the year that was.

All the albums that occupy the first five positions of our list equally deserve the honor of being crowned "Album of the Year". In the end, we decided to make 2012 the year of the Cat and give our Number One to "Sun" (Matador), Cat Power’s ninth studio album, which quickly became my personal favorite of her outstanding discography (along with 2003’s "You are free"). Chan Marshal took the risk of trying a new, electronic-based sound for her first album of original material in six years and the end-result is truly refreshing. Despite the various personal troubles that she went through in that time, "Sun" turned out to be her most optimistic sounding record to date, showing us a more mature Chan, ready to deal with the problems of this ruin we’re all living on and to give out some good advice in her most soothing voice.

A good year for a record company is of course defined by its financial results. I have no idea how 4AD is doing in that department, but artistically the historic label has had an outstanding 2012, reflected by the fact that three of its releases are in our Top 5, between the second and fourth place:

"Visions" by Grimes earned much deserved high praise all around and ended up at the top of many year-end lists, while fellow Canadians Purity Ring have also done well with their debut album "Shrines" (our Debut of the Year). If you are looking for a fresh sound that defines 2012, I think the majestic synthpop hybrids concocted by both Grimes and Purity Ring have the answer. The sound of Mark Lanegan and his band, on the other hand, comes from the glorious past of guitar music. It is definitely not new but only a fool would take its classic quality for granted. Best guitar rock record of the year featuring perhaps the greatest singer of the last 25 years in superb form!

As for our fifth "Album of the Year", "Bloom" (Bella Union / Sub Pop) is the record that proves that Beach House are on their way to becoming one of the most important bands of this decade. The continuous evolution of the duo’s sound has driven them to new heights on their fourth and best album so far, a magnificent work that shows it is not impossible to improve on the perfection of "Teen Dream".

Here is the top half of Cool Music Central’s Top 60 Albums of 2012 (for the second half, click here):

Top 30 Albums of 2012

1.   Sun - CAT POWER

2012 was the Year of the Cat: Our Album and Single of the Year belong to Chan Marshal!

2.   Visions - GRIMES

"Grimes' vision for a perfect electropop future takes shape and form in the glorious 13 tracks of Visions" (complete post here)

3.   Shrines - PURITY RING

"Shrines is one of the albums defining the electronic sound of 2012" (more here)

4.   Blues funeral - MARK LANEGAN BAND

"All the different musical elements from Lanegan's many collaborations are weaved together in Blues Funeral, making it one of the most diverse sounding records of his career" (more here)

5.   Bloom - BEACH HOUSE

"A majestic record that may prove to be the duo's finest hour" (more here)

6.   Attack on memory - CLOUD NOTHINGS

"The intense, hard-hitting sound of Attack On Memory is inspired by groups like Wipers or Husker Du and this young band’s true achievement here is that they are able to follow in the footsteps of such legends without missing a beat" (more here)

7.   Silver age - BOB MOULD

"Bob Mould’s Silver Age is a return to the sound of his Sugar years, a record that proves he can still produce the same fire and fury that inspired the early '90s alternative rock explosion" (more here)

8.   Blunderbuss - JACK WHITE

Jack White offers a record that musically may be a little more laid back than his previous work but is no less striking, exhibiting once again his admirable skill of making music firmly rooted in rock tradition that sounds fresh and forward-thinking.

9.   Kill for love - CHROMATICS

The sleeper hit of the year - a cinematic synth pop epic that gets better and better every time you decide to immerse yourself in its  lush sounds.

10. (III) - CRYSTAL CASTLES

Their journey to the heart of darkness continues (more about (III) in our next "Listening Habits" post, coming soon).

11. Give you the ghost - POLIÇA
12. Cancer 4 cure - EL-P
13. WIXIW - LIARS
14. Celebration rock - JAPANDROIDS
15. I bet on sky - DINOSAUR JR.
16. Lost songs - ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
17. Metz - METZ
18. 2:54 - 2:54
19. A thing called Divine Fits - DIVINE FITS
20. The bears for lunch - GUIDED BY VOICES
21. The seer - SWANS
22. Worship - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
23. Reign of terror - SLEIGH BELLS
24. Lonerism - TAME IMPALA
25. Our house on the hill - THE BABIES
26. Twins - TY SEGALL
27. Open your heart - THE MEN
28. Meat and bone - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION
29. Mature themes - ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI
30. Swing lo Magellan - DIRTY PROJECTORS

For our Top 50 Singles of 2012 click here.

Highlights from our Top 20 Albums of the Year:

The Best of 2012 so far

It's that time of the year again: the temperature's rising to dangerous levels (at least here, at Europe's Dirty South) and just before we take a brief summer break during which we'll fly over to Lisbon, Portugal for the Optimus Alive festival (check out the line up here and expect a full report next weekend), we have for you today our traditional mid-year report with our favorite albums and singles of the year so far. For even more recommendations, you can check out here the lists we post every two months in our Listening Habits series.

Keep in mind that the order in which we present these albums and singles is not random at all, but for these lists we prefer to avoid using numbers as the ranking is particularly fluid at this point in time, with new entries changing things around all the time (hello A Place To Bury Strangers and Metric). It's safe to say though that "Visions" by Grimes and "Bloom" by Beach House are clearly leading the album pack at this time and Cloud Nothings along with Mark Lanegan Band are following close behind. Cat Power's brand new song "Ruin" is our current obsession which brings it straight at the top of the singles' pile with a bullet, although there are several other equally worthy entries as you can see below:

Top 30 Albums (January - June 2012)

• Visions - GRIMES
• Bloom - BEACH HOUSE
• Attack On Memory - CLOUD NOTHINGS
• Blues Funeral - MARK LANEGAN BAND
• Blunderbuss - JACK WHITE
• Cancer 4 Cure - EL-P
• Worship - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
• 2:54 - 2:54
• Kill For Love - CHROMATICS
• Reign Of Terror - SLEIGH BELLS
• Give You The Ghost - POLIÇA
• Synthetica - METRIC
• Django Django - DJANGO DJANGO
• Ekstasis - JULIA HOLTER
• Between The Times And The Tides - LEE RANALDO
• Sweet Heart, Sweet Light - SPIRITUALIZED
• Open Your Heart - THE MEN
• Tramp - SHARON VAN ETTEN
• Europe - ALLO DARLIN'
• Ghostory - SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
• Manifest! - FRIENDS
• The Only Place - BEST COAST
• Nootropics - LOWER DENS
• Animal Joy - SHEARWATER
• Interstellar - FRANKIE ROSE
• The Horror - POP. 1280
• Let's Go Eat The Factory - GUIDED BY VOICES
• With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery - MOONFACE
• Port Of Morrow - THE SHINS
• Master Of My Make - Believe - SANTIGOLD

Top 30 Singles (January - June 2012)

• Ruin - CAT POWER
• Genesis - GRIMES
• Fineshrine - PURITY RING
• The Gravedigger’s Song - MARK LANEGAN BAND
• Love Interruption - JACK WHITE
• Lazuli - BEACH HOUSE
• Know Me - FRANKIE ROSE
• Creeping - 2:54
• The Only Place - BEST COAST
• Youth Without Youth - METRIC
• Stay Useless - CLOUD NOTHINGS
• My Heart Beats - VERONICA FALLS
• Capricornia - ALLO DARLIN'
• Lay Your Cards Out - POLIÇA
• Brains - LOWER DENS
• Off The Wall - LEE RANALDO
• The Night - SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
• Mind Control - FRIENDS
• Default - DJANGO DJANGO
• R U Mine? - ARCTIC MONKEYS
• Chocolate Boy - GUIDED BY VOICES
• You Are The One - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
• The House That Heaven Built - JAPANDROIDS
• Krokodil - ST. VINCENT
• Leonard - SHARON VAN ETTEN
• Little Girl - SPIRITUALIZED
• The Rifle's Spiral - THE SHINS
• The Full Retard - EL-P
• Disparate Youth - SANTIGOLD
• I Want You - PRINZHORN DANCE SCHOOL

Grimes - Nightmusic ft. Majical Cloudz 

Beach House - Lazuli

Listening Habits 05-06.12

Half-time for 2012 and just before we make up our mind and add our two cents on the trending subject of the best albums and singles of the year so far, here are the lists with our favorites for May and June 2012:

 

No surprises at the top of our albums list as the top two positions are taken up by perhaps the two most anticipated rock releases of the first half of the year that both manage to live up to the high expectations.

Beach House have admirably taken up the challenge of following up "Teen Dream", one of 2010's highlights, by delivering the glowing "Bloom", a majestic record that may prove to be the duo's finest hour yet.

Jack White finally made the decision to go solo with "Blunderbuss" (perhaps as a way of getting closure from The White Stripes?) and offers a record that musically may be a little more laid back than his previous work but is no less striking, exhibiting once again his admirable skill of making music firmly rooted in rock tradition that sounds fresh and forward-thinking.

El-P once again delivers the goods with "Cancer 4 Cure", one of hip hop's best releases of the year, while Londoners 2:54, one of the names in our shortlist of 2012's most promising new acts, make their spectacular debut with their self-titled album (Friends from the same shortlist also made it in the Top 10 although their "Manifest!" does not offer another track as catchy as "I'm his Girl", one of last year's best singles). The Top 5 is completed with "Kill For Love", Chromatics' cinematic synth pop epic, while we also highly recommend Poliça's debut "Give You The Ghost", a record that masterfully combines R'n'B, dub, electronica and indie rock.

Top 20 Albums

1.   Bloom - BEACH HOUSE
2.   Blunderbuss - JACK WHITE
3.   Cancer 4 Cure - EL-P
4.   2:54 - 2:54
5.   Kill For Love - CHROMATICS
6.   Give You The Ghost - POLIÇA
7.   Between The Times And The Tides - LEE RANALDO
8.   Sweet Heart, Sweet Light - SPIRITUALIZED
9.   Europe - ALLO DARLIN'
10. Manifest! - FRIENDS
11. The Only Place - BEST COAST
12. Nootropics - LOWER DENS
13. Interstellar - FRANKIE ROSE
14. Sees the Light - LA SERA
15. Master Of My Make - Believe - SANTIGOLD
16. Quarantine - LAUREL HALO
17. The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends - THE FLAMING LIPS
18. EP's 1988 - 1991 - MY BLOODY VALENTINE
19. Tally Ho! Flying Nun's Greatest Bits - VARIOUS ARTISTS
20. Experimental Imagination - LAw

Top 20 Tracks

1.   Ruin - CAT POWER
2.   Fineshrine - PURITY RING
3.   Creeping - 2:54
4.   Wild - BEACH HOUSE
5.   Love Interruption - JACK WHITE
6.   Drones Over Bklyn - EL-P
7.   Night Swim - FRANKIE ROSE
8.   Youth Without Youth - METRIC
9.   Mind Control - FRIENDS
10. The Only Place - BEST COAST
11. Capricornia - ALLO DARLIN'
12. I Am What I Am - SPIRITUALIZED
13. Angles - LEE RANALDO
14.  Into The Black - CHROMATICS
15. I See My Mother - POLIÇA
16. Disparate Youth - SANTIGOLD
17. Drive On - LA SERA
18. Groundhog Day - CORIN TUCKER BAND
19. Candy - LOWER DENS
20. Class Clown Spots a UFO - GUIDED BY VOICES

Cat Power, sitting pretty at the top of our Top 20 Tracks list with comeback single "Ruin"

(mp3s via Stereogum and Consequence Of Sound) 

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..

Happy Record Store Day

Long before the outbreak of the global financial crisis, there was the global music crisis, with CD sales falling rapidly and panicking record companies suing their own customers and starting futile witch hunts against the "mp3 pirates".

The fact is that the ease of downloading (both legally and illegally), the inflated CD prices and the economic crunch combined with, perhaps, a decline in the quality of music on offer, drove many, big or small, record shops out of business.

In this climate, in 2007, the idea of Record Store Day was born in the U.S. in an effort to strengthen the small independent record shops - in America and internationally - so as to survive the adverse economic climate of the era.

Record Store Day is now celebrated on the third Saturday of every April (this year it's on April 17th of course), while the first celebration took place on April 19, 2008, with Metallica officially kicking it off at Rasputin Music in San Francisco.

According to the organizers: “This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on.”

Record Store Day got bigger every year, with more and more artists from the alternative and mainstream music scene showing their support with both statements and collectible releases.

Some of the dozens of special releases of this year’s Record Store Day are:

• Sub Pop Records has scheduled several releases such as: Beach House - "Zebra", 12" vinyl with 4 songs, Dum Dum Girls / Male Bonding split 7", Soundgarden’s first single since 1987 "Hunted Down"/"Nothing to Say"

• Wichita Records has a series of reissues on vinyl, including Bright Eyes' "Fevers & Mirrors", the self-titled debut LP from The Cribs, Bloc Party's debut "Silent Alarm" and Yeah Yeah Yeahs' self-titled first EP.

• 4AD is releasing "Fragments From a Work in Progress", a 12" compilation including groups like Blonde Redhead, Gang Gang Dance and The Big Pink.

 • The Fall release "Bury Pts 2+4 /Cowboy Gregori" as a 7" single in just 750 copies.

• Blur release a new song (their first since "Good Song" in 2003) as a 7" single in 1000 copies only.

• From Crystal Castles we have "Doe Deer" on 12", a first taste from their forthcoming second album.

• Modest Mouse reissue the amazing "The Moon and Antarctica" for the album’s 10th anniversary.

• Pavement's new compilation "Quarantine the Past" will be released with a different track list from the original version.

• Bon Iver and Peter Gabriel have a split single where they cover each other’s song as part of Gabriel's "Scratch My Back" project.

• The Thermals and The Cribs have a split single with new songs in 2000 copies only.

• Rough Trade in association with British turntable manufacturer Rega will sell exclusively at the Rough Trade Shops a special edition turntable with the Rough Trade logo, while they will also be releasing a range of special, very limited edition vinyl records including Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' "Mercy Seat" on white vinyl.

The full list of Record Store Day releases is here.

Greek record stores that participate in this effort where you may find some of the above releases are Rock & Roll Circus, Sonic Boom Records & Usedrecords.gr and Vinyl Kiosk in Athens, Mister CD in Chalkis, Play Our Music in Kilkis, High Fideliy in Nafplio and Sticky Fingers in Patras.

For the Record Store Day website click here. Watch Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age below, the official ambassador of Record Store Day 2010, talking about this day and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth telling us all about the first album he ever bought.

"The 'cool' record store. It is where you can talk to people who are like you. They look like you, think like you and, most tellingly like the same music as you - the only comparable experience these days would probably be an art museum - an actual place where you can stand and simply be surrounded by your heroes." Wayne Coyne

"I think it’s high time the mentors, big brothers, big sisters, parents, guardians, and neighborhood ne’er do wells, start taking younger people that look up to them to a real record store and show them what an important part of life music really is. I trust no one who hasn’t time for music. What a shame to leave a child, or worse, a generation orphaned from one of life’s great beauties. And to the record stores, artists, labels, dj’s, and journalists; we’re all in this together. Show respect for the tangible music that you’ve dedicated your careers and lives to, and help It from becoming nothing more than disposable digital data." Jack White

The above quotes are from here. Perhaps today it's a good day for a visit to your local record store. Who knows what goodies await for you there?

Josh Homme - Ambassador of Record Store Day 2010

Thurston Moore Talks First Record, Major labels, and Record Stores

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