Killer Tracks: The 2017 Playlist Vol.3

It's been some time since our previous 2017 Playlist, time to add a few more killer tracks to the mix:

Japanese Breakfast - Road Head

 LCD Soundsystem - Tonite

Fujiya & Miyagi - Impossible Objects of Desire

Liars - Cred Woes

 The National - Day I Die

Grizzly Bear - Mourning Sound

Alvvays - Dreams Tonite

Nadine Shah - Holiday Destination

EMA - Down and Out

Broken Social Scene - Skyline

Top Albums of 2014, part 1: 31 - 60

Only a few hours are left on the clock for 2014 and the party is about to begin here at Cool Music Central HQ! The soundtrack, of course, is the countdown of all our favorite albums of the year, starting with White Lung's mini LP "Deep Fantasy" at number 60 and continuing all the way up to the number 1.

As usual, we are keeping the presentation of our Top 30 Albums of the Year for the special first post of the New Year. For the farewell of 2014 we are unveiling today the second half of our list, up to number 31 where you'll find EMA's "The Future's Void".

Fifty more worthwhile albums we've listened to so far this year are also mentioned at the end of the list, bringing the total number to 110! And I'm sure there's quite a few more to be discovered as we go through all the other end-of-the-year lists out there. Not bad at all for 2014 as far as music is concerned.

Time to get this party started: here are the 30 albums that bring our countdown from number 60 to number 31:

Top Albums of 2014: 31 - 60

31. The future's void - EMA

32. Plowing into the field of love - ICEAGE

33. Grassed inn - BLANK REALM

34. The hum - HOOKWORMS

35. Held in splendor - QUILT

36. Worship the sun - ALLAH-LAS

37. Tomorrow's hits - THE MEN

38. Beauty & ruin - BOB MOULD

39. The physical world - DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979

40. IX - ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD

41. Revelation - THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE

42. Wig out at Jagbags - STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS

43. We come from the same place - ALLO DARLIN'

44. At best cuckold - AVI BUFFALO

45. Lese majesty - SHABAZZ PALACES

46. Pe'ahi - THE RAVEONETTES

47. Wild crush - ARCHIE BRONSON OUTFIT

48. World peace is none of your business - MORRISSEY

49. Days of abandon - THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART

50. Hour of the dawn - LA SERA

51. Initiation - HAUNTED HEARTS

52. Alvvays - ALVVAYS

53. Trouble - HOSPITALITY

54. July - MARISSA NADLER

55. Darlings - KEVIN DREW

56. Indie Cindy - PIXIES

57. Diploid love - BRODY DALLE

58. …And star power - FOXYGEN

59. Motivational jumpsuit - GUIDED BY VOICES

60. Deep fantasy - WHITE LUNG

More good stuff we've listened to this year:

Barragan - BLONDE REDHEAD, Love letters - METRONOMY, Taiga - ZOLA JESUS, After the disco - BROKEN BELLS, Turn blue - THE BLACK KEYS, Teeth dreams - THE HOLD STEADY, The voyager - JENNY LEWIS, Upside down mountain - CONOR OBERST, Psychic 9 - 5 club - HTRK, Luminous - THE HORRORS, Cheatahs - CHEATAHS, Cursing the sea - SEPTEMBER GIRLS, Clear Lake Forest - THE BLACK ANGELS, The Other I - 2:54, Distractions - A VICTIM OF SOCIETY, Marginalia - BABY GURU, Native echoes - BEACH DAY, Morning phase - BECK, Underneath the rainbow - BLACK LIPS, Our love - CARIBOU, A new nature - ESBEN AND THE WITCH, Do what you want to, it's what you should do - FLOWERS, You're dead! - FLYING LOTUS, Brothers and sisters of the eternal son - DAMIEN JURADO, Everyday robots - DAMON ALBARN, Artificial sweeteners - FUJIYA & MIYAGI, Honeyblood - HONEYBLOOD, Heartstrings - HOWLING BELLS, Tyranny - JULIAN CASABLANCAS + THE VOIDZ, I never learn - LYKKE LI, Wooden aquarium - MAZES, Secret science - MECHANIMAL, Rave tapes - MOGWAI, My Drunken Haze - MY DRUNKEN HAZE, Cosmic logic - PEAKING LIGHTS, Carnival of souls - PERE UBU, Bestial burden - PHARMAKON, Royal Blood - ROYAL BLOOD, Words to the blind - SAVAGES AND BO NINGEN, Suck my shirt - THE COATHANGERS, Encyclopedia - THE DRUMS, Feel something - THE HISTORY OF APPLE PIE, Close to the glass - THE NOTWIST, Drop - THEE OH SEES, Ultimate Painting - ULTIMATE PAINTING, Present tense - WILD BEASTS, Refractory obdurate - WOVENHAND, Shriek - WYE OAK, Angel guts red classroom - XIU XIU, March - FÜR IMMER

The future may be void but 2015 is just around the corner: pop the champagne and prepare for our 2014 Top 30 list in the next few days...

EMA - So Blonde

The Best Albums of 2014 so far - Part 1

It ain't over 'till the ref whistles for full time, as you know very well if you're gripped by World Cup fever, but having reached the half-time of 2014, this is a good time to catch our breath and have another listen to these 40 albums that, in our opinion, have stood out in the music game so far.

Who's going to be the most valuable player of the year? Could it be one of our current Top 40 picks, or is it possible that the best is yet to come? We'll find out in December, meanwhile, here are the first ten albums in our 2014 half-time list, presented in alphabetical order:

The A-Z of the first half of 2014:

• ANGEL OLSEN - Burn Your Fire For No Witness

• ARCHIE BRONSON OUTFIT - Wild Crush

• BLANK REALM - Grassed Inn

• BRODY DALLE - Diploid Love

• BROKEN BELLS - After The Disco

• CHEATAHS - Cheatahs

• CLOUD NOTHINGS - Here And Nowhere Else

• DUM DUM GIRLS - Too True

• EMA - The Future's Void

• GUIDED BY VOICES - Motivational Jumpsuit

Listening Habits 03-04.14

Hope you all had a great time during the Easter and Record Store Day weekend. After a brief spring break, we’re back to the business of celebrating our favorite music by bringing you the lists of the albums and songs we’ve enjoyed the most during March and April 2014 in the latest installment of Listening Habits.

The top of our album list belongs to St. Vincent’s excellent self-titled LP, her fourth and best effort so far. Annie Clark continues to evolve and shape her individual sound, inventing a unique voice that transcends her influences. Her economic guitar playing never tries to steal the show, yet never seizes to offer subtle surprises and throw curve balls that catch you off-guard. The melodies are as strong as ever throughout the record while anxious synth-funk lines keep erupting here and there, keeping you on your toes. "St. Vincent" takes Annie Clark’s music to another level, one that very few will reach this year!

Of course Annie Clark was also in the news this month when she performed "Lithium" with the surviving members of Nirvana at the band’s induction ceremony to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was certainly a great idea to pay tribute to Kurt Cobain and what Nirvana stood for by having female singers to perform with them and I’m certainly jealous of the handful of people who got to see the band performing afterwards at a small club with some fine guests. Maybe they should do this again, but next time for more people, perhaps at a festival? Just a thought…

One of the bands that follow in the footsteps of Nirvana and all the other great '80s and '90s indie rockers is Cloud Nothings. Dylan Baldi’s group keeps the guitar rock fires burning with "Here and Nowhere Else", two years on after the amazing "Attack on Memory". Their furious sound doesn’t draw outside the lines of indie-rock’s past, but their passion and conviction is certainly impressive and their songs can hold their own next to those of their heroes.

The same can be said for Protomartyr who with their sophomore album "Under Color Of Official Right" do not reinvent the post-punk genre but offer plenty of evidence that this sound remains just as vital in the second decade of the 21st century as it was about 35 years ago. 

Real Estate also know the value of the underground musical treasures of the '80s but keep digging deeper, going all the way back to the '60s to find melodic inspiration. "Atlas" is another sure-fire hit for those who crave gentle indie-rock with a dreamer’s heart.

The Top 5 of our Spring 2014 album collection is completed with the highly anticipated return of EMA, a.k.a Erika M. Anderson, with her second solo album "The Future's Void". Not as raw sounding as her 2011 astonishing debut "Past Life Martyred Saints", but still an intense listening experience that draws inspiration from cyber-punk. The opening "Satellites" is an overpowering digital assault to the senses, without a doubt one of the finest tracks of the year, a song that opens up intriguing possibilities that EMA needs to explore further in the future.

Here are our 20 favorite albums and tracks for March - April 2014:

Top 20 Albums

1.   St. Vincent - ST. VINCENT
2.   Here And Nowhere Else - CLOUD NOTHINGS
3.   Under Color Of Official Right - PROTOMARTYR
4.   Atlas - REAL ESTATE
5.   The Future's Void - EMA
6.   Burn Your Fire For No Witness - ANGEL OLSEN
7.   Grassed Inn - BLANK REALM
8.   Tomorrow's Hits - THE MEN
9.   Motivational Jumpsuit - GUIDED BY VOICES
10. July - MARISSA NADLER
11. Big Inner: Outer Face Edition - MATTHEW E. WHITE
12. After The Disco - BROKEN BELLS
13. Old - DANNY BROWN
14. Corsicana Lemonade - WHITE DENIM
15. Drenge - DRENGE
16. Marginalia - BABY GURU
17. Once Part Of A Whole Ship - EGG HELL
18. March - FÜR IMMER
19. Zebratronic - POSTCODE
20. Punk 45. Kill The Hippies! Kill Yourself! The American Nation Destroys Its Young. Underground Punk In The United States Of America, Vol.1 1973-1980 - VARIOUS ARTISTS

Top 20 Tracks

1.   Satellites - EMA
2.   Disco//Very - WARPAINT
3.   Digital Witness - ST. VINCENT
4.   Pattern Walks - CLOUD NOTHINGS
5.   Scum, Rise! - PROTOMARTYR
6.   Talking Backwards - REAL ESTATE
7.   Falling Down The Stairs - BLANK REALM
8.   Hi-Five - ANGEL OLSEN
9.   Dead City Emily- MARISSA NADLER
10. The Littlest League Possible - GUIDED BY VOICES
11. Big Love - MATTHEW E. WHITE
12. 25 Bucks feat. PURITY RING - DANNY BROWN
13. After The Disco - BROKEN BELLS
14. At Night In Dreams - WHITE DENIM
15. Pearly Gates - THE MEN
16. Face Like A Skull - DRENGE
17. Especially When - BABY GURU
18. Concrete - WITCHING WAVES
19. Losing The Battle - POSTCODE
20. Wrapped In Plastic - FÜR IMMER

EMA - Satellites

Have a listen to our favorite tracks on Soundcloud:

EMA, Monovine, live @ Bios (Athens, November 19, 2011)

Charmed beyond words but, hell, I’ll give it a try anyway.

Let’s take things from the beginning. I am sure glad that the time machine has not been invented yet. Just imagine how many millions of rock fans would love to take a trip to Seattle circa 1989 - 1990 to be at one of Nirvana’s early gigs. And imagine what that would have done to the brilliant but fragile mind of Kurt Cobain. The guy would have probably thrown it all away before he even got the chance to write “Nevermind”. What a catastrophic disruption to the time - music continuum would that be?

So, I guess, whenever we feel a little bit nostalgic about the grunge years, the only alternative we have nowadays to satisfy our desire to be deafened by the big and loud guitar noise is to catch a show by a band that shares a similar craving. And that band, if you live in Greece right now, is Monovine from Patras, the power trio that had the honor of opening for EMA  in her first ever Athens show, an historic event even if the attendance was not all that great. Yet again, I bet those early Nirvana gigs were not that crowded either.

Monovine, live @ Bios (Nov. 19, 2011)

Monovine, who recently made their debut with the album “Cliché”, are not trying to get any marks for originality (despite doing a quite mean live rendition of Madonna’s “Secret”) but they certainly make a loud noise. The grunge force is strong in them and tracks like “Odd” or “Come Out” are just perfect for anyone who longs for that early '90s Seattle sound but is not able to book that time trip just yet. And did I mention that they also do a fine job with that timeless Wipers’ anthem “Return of the Rat”, too? I think Greg Sage would approve - a fine racket indeed.

EMA, live @ Bios (Nov. 19, 2011)

But if time travel does become a possibility at some point in our lifetime, I do believe that there is going to be a time when many of my fellow Athenians, especially those that chose to spend this particular Saturday night elsewhere, who will be willing to pay dearly for a chance to go back in time and be at Bios for Erika M. Anderson’s first visit to our city.

I agree, it is a bit premature to label a show as historic only hours after it took place, but judging from EMA’s astonishing debut “Past Life Martyred Saints” and the absolutely captivating live performance we witnessed last night, my gut feeling is that Erika has what it takes to become an artist just as important as, say, Polly Jean Harvey. Imagine if Harvey had played Athens just a few months after “Dry”. Wouldn’t that be an unmissable show in our city’s (admittedly not that rich) rock history, worth travelling back in time to witness? This is exactly the kind of show that we had the rare opportunity to experience firsthand last night.

What if there were a few technical glitches that disrupted the flow of the show a couple of times? This wasn’t the Muses attempt to sabotage EMA’s performance, as she jokingly implied; it was just their way of demanding another solo number in her set. A set that started strongly with the brief “Dog” and a storming take of “Milkman”, one of my favorite tracks of the year, and went from strength to strength presenting all the highlights from her stellar debut in amazing renditions that surpassed their recorded versions.

Best among the best? The heartbreakingly beautiful “Anteroom”, “California”, a true tour de force that brought Erika in the audience, getting intimate with her fans, the shockingly raw “Butterfly Knife” and the startling declaration of devotion of “Marked”.  A brand new track (video below) gave us a first glimpse of things to come, while the cover of Violent Femmes’ “Add it Up” was also a welcome addition to the set (this track is an alternative classic for Greek rock fans, still getting airplay in local radio). The only thing that was missing for a perfect ten of an evening was her cover of “Endless Nameless”, but EMA is well on her way of building a set with nothing but her own classics. No covers are really necessary.

EMA’s set list for a night certain to be featured in future time-travel brochures:

Dog

Milkman 

Grey Ship 

Add It Up (Violent Femmes cover)

Butterfly Knife 

Cherylee 

Solo (new track)

Marked 

Anteroom 

California 

Encore: Breakfast, Red Star.

EMA - Anteroom, live @ Bios (Athens, Nov. 19, 2011)

EMA - New song, live @ Bios (Athens, Nov. 19, 2011)

 EMA - Add it Up, live @ Bios (Athens, Nov. 19, 2011)

Listening Habits 06-07.11

Just before we take our brief summer break, we’re making a checklist of our favorite albums and tracks of the last couple of months just to make sure we have everything we need for our trip in the sun.

Arctic Monkeys’ fourth album features some of their most melodic songs to date. The band’s effort to rediscover its sound continues with “Suck It And See” and this time the end result is more satisfying than before as they finally get the balance between their early supercharged, angsty sound and the more melodic, classic rock-leaning influences of “Humbug” just right. With “Suck It And See” Arctic Monkeys enter maturity without becoming boring or losing the freshness of their sound.

tUnE-yArDs first album was as lo-fi and D.I.Y. as you can get, being entirely recorded by its maker, Merrill Garbus, on a handheld voice recorder and mixed with a freeware program. The fidelity of that recording might have been low, but it left no room for doubting the talents of Garbus and her impressive vocal skills. With the help of a professional studio and a band of musicians to back her up and enrich the sound of tUnE-yArDs, Garbus is really shining with “whokill”, one of the most inventive recordings of 2011 so far, where African rhythms collide with hip hop beats, folk melodies work amazingly well with soulful R&B crooning and ukulele jams are boosted by saxophone riffs. You’ve got to hear it to believe it!

At the start of the summer we also got to hear two of the best debuts of the year so far, EMA’s “Past Life Martyred Saints” and Cults’ self-titled effort.

EMA, aka Erika M Anderson of the recently defunct drone-folk act Gowns, is making a remarkable new start with her first solo effort, a passionate, confessional recording that draws inspiration from the lo-fi folk of Cat Power, the guitar noise of '90s riot grrrls and the explicit narrative of “Exile in Guyville”-era Liz Phair. “Milkman”, the album’s pop diamond in the rough, brings to mind Sonic Youth’s experiments with Madonna’s music as Ciccone Youth. A highly addictive record that sounds better and better every time I listen to it - something I’ve been doing a lot lately.

Cults have made the perfect record for the summer. Madeline Follin’s voice is ideal for the sugar sweet, love struck, girl-group sound of the band while Brian Oblivion’s guitar adds just the right amount of distortion to avoid making the recipe too sweet. The brevity of the record and the highly addictive nature of its sunny, steeped in ‘60s pop aesthetic melodies guarantee the repetitive listening of “Cults” all summer long. It remains to be seen if the record will sound just as perfect for the winter days ahead as well.

The Top 5 of June-July ’11 is rounded up with the most surprising and successful comeback of the year. Highly influential '80s indie rockers The Feelies return with their first recording in twenty years, the aptly titled “Here Before”, and pick up exactly where they left off last time they were around. The band’s sound, a unique mix of Velvet Underground, ’60s folk rock και late '70s post-punk, is untouched by the passage of time and remains today as essential and fresh as the first time they made their “crazy rhythms” in the early '80s. A classic sounding guitar-rock album in a year that desperately needs more quality in the guitar-rock department.

Top 16 Albums

1.   Suck It And See - ARCTIC MONKEYS
2.   Whokill - TUNE-YARDS
3.   Past Life Martyred Saints - EMA
4.   Cults - CULTS
5.   Here Before - THE FEELIES
6.   Eye Contact - GANG GANG DANCE
7.   Kaputt - DESTROYER
8.   Hot Sauce Committee Part Two - BEASTIE BOYS
9.   In Love With Oblivion - CRYSTAL STILTS
10. Codes And Keys - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
11. Smoke Ring For My Halo - KURT VILE
12. Apocalypse - BILL CALLAHAN
13. Lollipop - MEAT PUPPETS
14. Demolished Thoughts - THURSTON MOORE
15. C'mon - LOW
16. Passive Me Aggressive You - THE NAKED AND FAMOUS

Top 20 Tracks

1.   Gangsta - TUNE-YARDS
2.   Desire - ‎ ANNA CALVI
3.   Future Starts Slow - THE KILLS
4.   Mindkilla - GANG GANG DANCE
5.   Abducted - CULTS
6.   You Are A Tourist - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
7.   Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair - ARCTIC MONKEYS
8.   Two Against One (feat. Jack White) - DANGER MOUSE & DANIELE LUPPI
9.   Anteroom - EMA
10. Again Today - THE FEELIES
11. Vile - MEAT PUPPETS
12. Shake The Shackles - CRYSTAL STILTS
13. Chinatown - DESTROYER
14. Make Some Noise - BEASTIE BOYS
15. Circulation - THURSTON MOORE
16. Society Is My Friend - KURT VILE
17. America! - BILL CALLAHAN
18. Try To Sleep - LOW
19. Face In The Crowd - CAT'S EYES
20. Frayed - THE NAKED AND FAMOUS

(mp3s via pitchfork, the fader, kexp and matador records)

New Releases: May 2011

Round up of the month's most interesting album and single releases:

Albums

EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
CULTS - Cults
GANG GANG DANCE - Eye Contact
BEASTIE BOYS - Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE - Codes and Keys
OKKERVIL RIVER - I Am Very Far
WHITE DENIM - D
THURSTON MOORE - Demolished Thoughts
DANGER MOUSE & DANIELE LUPPI - Rome
FLEET FOXES - Helplessness Blues
MY MORNING JACKET - Circuital
URGE OVERKILL - Rock & Roll Submarine 
THE ANTLERS - Burst Apart
FRIENDLY FIRES - Pala
TYLER THE CREATOR - Goblin
SHABAZZ PALACES - Black Up
ART BRUT - Brilliant! Tragic!
WILD BEASTS - Smother
AUSTRA - Feel It Break
LOVE INKS - ESP
PLANNINGTOROCK - W
31KNOTS - Trump-Harm
JOAN OF ARC - Life Like
PETE AND THE PIRATES - One Thousand Pictures
THE FELICE BROTHERS - Celebration, Florida
THE SEA AND THE CAKE - The Moonlight Butterfly
FORD & LOPATIN - Channel Pressure
HYETAL - Broadcast
13 & GOD - Own Your Ghost
MILES KANE - The Colour of the Trap
CHAD VANGAALEN - Diaper Island
EDDIE VEDDER - Ukulele Songs
MICK HARVEY - Sketches From the Book of the Dead

Singles & EPs

HUSBAND - Love Song / Slow Motion EP
DANGER MOUSE & DANIELE LUPPI - Two Against One
THE DECEMBERISTS - This Is Why We Fight
R.E.M. - All the Best
SMITH WESTERNS - Weekend
TOM VEK - A Chore
CAT'S EYES - Face In the Crowd
LYKKE LI - Sadness Is a Blessing
EMA - Soul on Fire
WEEKEND - End Times
WHITE DENIM - Bess St.
OKKERVIL RIVER - Rider
MY MORNING JACKET - Holding On To Black Metal
FLEET FOXES - Battery Kinzie
MOGWAI - San Pedro
BLACK LIPS - Family Tree
ART BRUT - Lost Weekend
PETE AND THE PIRATES - United
TY SEGALL - I Can't Feel It
THE NAKED & FAMOUS - Girls Like You
JJ - No One Can Touch Us Tonight
FORD & LOPATIN - Emergency Room
OH LAND - Sun of a Gun
DEERHOOF - Behold A Marvel in the Darkness
FRANKIE & THE HEARTSTRINGS - That Postcard
CHRISTIAN AIDS - Stay Positive
CASHIER NO 9 - Goldstar
GRUFF RHYS - Honey All Over
MILES KANE - Rearrange
JOSH T PEARSON - Woman, When I’ve Raised Hell
EDDIE VEDDER - Longing To Belong
CAGE THE ELEPHANT - Around My Head

One of May's best releases came from ex-Gowns frontwoman Erika M. Anderson, aka EMA. Above you'll find a link to download "Milkman", one of the highlights of her debut "Past Life Martyred Saints", while below you can check out its dizzying video:

EMA - Milkman

(mp3s via Pitchfork, Stereogum, Fader, Sub Pop)