5 years on Blogger!

Exactly five years ago Cool Music Central made its debut on Blogger.com with this post. Although C.M.C.’s online presence in one form or another goes all the way back to 1999 (click here for a glimpse of the past - our February 2003 homepage!), I think a little celebration is in order for the occasion.

And what better way to celebrate our blog’s birthday than with the music of the artists that have been featured the most in the 372 posts that we’ve managed since March 6, 2008. At the bottom of the page you can see a cloud of all the labels we have used for our posts. Based on these indisputable facts that reveal our musical infatuations of the past five years, we present you a special playlist with killer tracks from the 12 most blogged about artists and bands in our five year presence on Blogger:

CMC's Cloud Playlist: The first 5 years

1. The Fall (17 posts)

My all-time favorite band, still going strong after 37 years. Album number 30, titled "Re-Mit", will be out in April - expect the post-count to rise even further. By the way, happy birthday to renegade genius Mark E Smith who turned 56 yesterday. Here's "Bury" (the parts 2+4 version) off "Your Future Our Clutter", our 2010 Album of the Year:

The Fall - Bury pts 2+4

2. Dum Dum Girls (16 posts)

If Dum Dum Girls didn't exist, I'd have to invent them myself! The sound, the style, the melodies, the vocals - all the elements of my ideal noise pop group present and correct. "Jail La La" off their debut album "I Will Be" was our 2010 Single of the Year:

 Dum Dum Girls - Jail La La

3. PJ Harvey (14 posts)

"Let England Shake" was the only PJ Harvey album to be released in the past 5 years (not counting the '09 collaboration with John Parish), but not only did it become our Album of the Year for 2011, it also gave us the top single of that year, "The Words That Maketh Murder". Of course, PJ Harvey was also on the top of several other lists we have published here, including Best Album of the '00s for "Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea". As you can understand, this is not a passing fling, this is love...

PJ Harvey - The Words That Maketh Murder

4. Nick Cave (Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds & Grinderman - 6 & 5 posts)

Another long-term relationship of ours going all the way back to the pre-internet era. In the past 5 years we have covered gigs from both Nick Cave outfits and declared the previous Bad Seeds record "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!" as our 2008 Album of the Year. With the recent release of the fine "Push the Sky Away" LP, the number of Nick Cave-related posts has already started to go up.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

5. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (10 posts)

OK, this is more of a fling than the band that I would take home and introduce to the parents. 2011’s "Belong" was a fine record but the main reason for being included in this esteemed company was our infatuation with their near-perfect self-titled debut album from 2009 that took the C-86 indie pop sound and updated it for a new generation.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Young Adult Friction

6. Sonic Youth (9 posts)

I cannot tell if Sonic Youth’s hiatus is permanent or not, but without a doubt this band’s influence on the guitar rock sound will remain eternal. Here’s "Sacred Trickster" off their last studio album, 2009’s "The Eternal":

Sonic Youth - Sacred Trickster

7. A Place To Bury Strangers (8 posts)

One of Sonic Youth’s most talented disciples, true believers of the "plug in and destroy" noise tactics. "To Fix The Gash in Your Head" off their self-titled debut album was the single with which they made their C.M.C. debut.

A Place To Bury Strangers - To Fix The Gash in Your Head

8. Telepathe (8 posts)

Our favorite new band of 2009 that earned Album of the Year with their excellent (and, may I say, criminally underrated in other esteemed publications) debut "Dance Mother". A new, long overdue album is expected this year.

Telepathe - So Fine

9. Anna Calvi (7 posts)

She is one of the most promising new artists to emerge from the UK in recent years and her eponymous debut album was at the top of our 2011 Best Debuts lists.

Anna Calvi - Blackout

10. Mark Lanegan (7 posts)

The magnificent voice of grunge-days favorites Screaming Trees, has been ever-present in recent years thanks to his numerous collaborations. "The Gravedigger's Song", one of our top-rated singles of 2012, is off "Blues Funeral", the record with which Lanegan made his triumphant solo return.

 Mark Lanegan Band - The Gravedigger's Song

11. Cat Power (7 posts)

2012 was the year of the Cat with both Album and Single of the Year going to Chan Marshall. Here's the latter:

Cat Power - Ruin

12. Metric (7 posts)

And finally, with another seven posts dedicated to them, we have Metric who scored Single of the Year in 2009 with "Help I'm Alive" off their awesome fourth album "Fantasies":

Metric - Help I'm Alive

Here's to the next five!

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).

2009: Top 50 Tracks Of The Year

It doesn't really feel like Christmas without a Festive 50. So, after careful consideration and losing several hours of sleep, I finally managed to narrow down a really long list of favorite tracks to the Top 50 you see below. I'm not saying that these are the absolute best tracks of the year but it's a very good sample of the music I've listened to and enjoyed the most over the last 12 months. As usually, there are some rules that I tried to follow in order to make the final selection. The first one was to include only tracks that were released as singles (in some shape or form) but I have to admit that I broke this rule on a few occasions and I have included a handful of indispensable album tracks that I feel they would have made killer singles (perhaps after reading this post - illusion of grandeur alert! - the relevant artists will realize their mistake and make amends). Anyway, the way things are going it seems likely that in the near future there will be no more albums and all songs will be downloadable digital files for mobile multitasking contraptions, so this singles-only rule starts to feel very 20th century. The second rule (which I did manage to follow) was to include only one track from each artist or band in order to have a wider spectrum of music represented in the Top 50. So, it's safe to assume that several artists in here could have more tracks in this list, but only my favorite from each one made the final cut.

The top spot of our 2009 Top 50 Tracks list goes to "Help I'm Alive", the lead single off Metric's excellent fourth album, the rocking "Fantasies". The song got its first digital release a year ago (on December 23rd, 2008 in Canada and on January 1st, 2009 in the US) and later on it was also released as a good old-fashioned 7" vinyl single. The opening galloping drum beats set the frantic pace of the song as Emily Haines expresses her existential angst in a sweet, desperate voice. As the rhythm shifts gears, the panic builds up and when the Pixies-like guitar kick in you know from the very first listen that you're dealing with a classic song that's going to stay with you for years to come.

Cool Music Central's Top 50 songs of the year are the following:

Top 50 Tracks of 2009

1. Help I’m alive - METRIC
2. So fine - TELEPATHE
3. Daniel - BAT FOR LASHES
4. Zero - YEAH YEAH YEAHS
5. Sacred trickster - SONIC YOUTH
6. Young adult friction - THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART
7. Ambling alp - YEASAYER
8. Seven - FEVER RAY
9. My girls - ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
10. Die slow - HEALTH
11. In your heart - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
12. Dominoes - THE BIG PINK
13. Stillness is the move - DIRTY PROJECTORS
14. I was born - HIGH PLACES
15. Islands - THE XX
16. Disco - HTRK
17. Hang you from the heavens - THE DEAD WEATHER
18. Death bells - SOULSAVERS
19. Black hearted love - P.J. HARVEY & JOHN PARISH
20. Ulysses - FRANZ FERDINAND
21. 1901 - PHOENIX
22. First communion - GANG GANG DANCE
23. I’m confused - HANDSOME FURS
24. Troubles like mine - GUN OUTFIT
25. Over it - DINOSAUR JR.
26. Sea within a sea - THE HORRORS
27. Departure - CRYSTAL STILTS
28. Feel like taking you home - BRENDAN BENSON
29. People got a lotta nerve - NEKO CASE
30. French navy - CAMERA OBSCURA
31. Rabbit heart (raise it up) - FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE
32. Digital hearts - HOWLING BELLS
33. Got nuffin - SPOON
34. The rake's song - THE DECEMBERISTS
35. Something is squeezing my skull - MORRISSEY
36. Angela - JARVIS COCKER
37. Panic switch - SILVERSUN PICKUPS
38. House of flying daggers - RAEKWON (Feat. GHOSTFACE KILLAH, INSPECTAH DECK, METHOD MAN)
39. Life in marvelous times - MOS DEF
40. Ecstasy - JJ
41. Frost - SALEM
42. Wolf cub - BURIAL & FOUR TET
43. These are my twisted words - RADIOHEAD
44. Bye bye bayou - LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
45. Dancing choose - TV ON THE RADIO
46. Walkabout - ATLAS SOUND (Feat. NOAH LENNOX)
47. The end is near - THE FIERY FURNACES
48. Mykonos - FLEET FOXES
49. Cornerstone - ARCTIC MONKEYS
50. 11th dimension - JULIAN CASABLANCAS

Metric - Help I'm Alive

Listen to our top tracks of 2009 at MySpace Music here.

Meanwhile Dandelion Radio, the internet radio station that continues John Peel's tradition of the annual Festive 50, has just started broadcasting on a daily basis the results of this year's poll. Go here to listen to the complete list and check out below the tracks that make up 2009's Top 10:

1. There are listed buildings - Los Campesinos!
2. Young adult friction - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
3. My girls - Animal Collective
4. Surf solar - Fuck Buttons
5. I'm here to see the clouds of blood - The Chasms
6. I am Grimaldi - Nightingales
7. Whirring - The Joy Formidable
8. Cougar - The Brownies
9. The sea is a good place to think of the future - Los Campesinos!
10. Murder music - Ste McCabe

Los Campesinos! - There Are Listed Buildings

The Best of 2009 so far (part 2): The Singles

In the second and final part of our presentation of the best music of 2009 so far, we select our 40 favorite tracks of the last six months. This list is based mostly on single releases but there are also a few outstanding album tracks. And as we usually do when it comes to song lists, only one track is allowed per artist or band in order to maximize variety. So, here's what our 2009 playlist looks like at the moment:

Top 40 Tracks

So fine - TELEPATHE
Help I’m alive - METRIC
Zero - YEAH YEAH YEAHS
Sacred trickster - SONIC YOUTH
Young adult friction - THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART
Daniel - BAT FOR LASHES
Triangle walks - FEVER RAY
My girls - ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
Black hearted love - P.J. HARVEY & JOHN PARISH
Ulysses - FRANZ FERDINAND
Stillness is the move - DIRTY PROJECTORS
I’m confused - HANDSOME FURS
Troubles like mine - GUN OUTFIT
Texas fox - THE LOW FREQUENCY IN STEREO
People got a lotta nerve - NEKO CASE
The rake's song - THE DECEMBERISTS
Something is squeezing my skull - MORRISSEY
French navy - CAMERA OBSCURA
Digital hearts - HOWLING BELLS
Got nuffin - SPOON
Departure - CRYSTAL STILTS
Sea with a sea - THE HORRORS
First communion - GANG GANG DANCE
Dancing choose - TV ON THE RADIO
Panic switch - SILVERSUN PICKUPS
Lovesick - GRAND DUCHY
Over it - DINOSAUR JR.
When I died - THE THERMALS
Pale bride - THE VON BONDIES
Short fuse - BLACK LIPS
Misfits & mistakes - SUPERCHUNK
Devotion - VIVA VOCE
Don't talk in your sleep - MAGIK MARKERS
Me & Mary - ASOBI SEKSU
Mykonos - FLEET FOXES
Roosevelt room - CONOR OBERST AND THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND
Angela - JARVIS COCKER
Kingdom of rust - DOVES
Alcoholics unanimous - ART BRUT
One month off - BLOC PARTY

Three of our Top 10 tracks of the year from Metric, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Fever Ray:

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

Listening Habits 04.2009

After presenting our album of the month last week (Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ blitz declaration), it’s time to unveil all the fine albums and tracks that dominated the playlist of our cd/mp3 player in April.

Metric, who had already claimed the top of the March playlist, remain in the Top 3 as we haven't stopped listening to their superb “Fantasies” - this time around, from the cd that just arrived in the mail.

The third outstanding release of this month comes from Bat For Lashes, a.k.a Natasha Khan, who presents her sophomore effort, "Two Suns". We discovered her two years ago with "Fur and Gold" and the excellent single "What's A Girl To Do" and now it's time for her return with a superior work, where she collaborates, among others, with the legendary Scott Walker (vocals on "The Big Sleep") and members of Yeasayer. "Daniel" is simply one of the singles of the year, but really all 11 tracks on the disc are excellent and work seamlessly as a whole, creating a unique, mystifying atmosphere. Other highlights include "Glass", "Sleep Alone", "Two Planets" and "Pearl's Dream".

The Los Angeles scene is well represented in our Top 10 as we have selected three, quite different albums from bands out of the City of Angels: "A Certain Feeling", the 2008 second LP from Bodies Of Water (which, among other things, reminded me of the big sound of Arcade Fire with its impressive vocal harmonies and all its trumpets and trombones), "Take It Personally", the 2008 fourth LP from The Starlite Desperation (an ace, criminally underrated, garage-punk band that started making fiery rock’n’roll at the end of the '90s with great singles such as "Hot For Preacher"), and the brand new "Swoon", the second album from the up and coming Silversun Pickups, who follow in the footsteps of early Smashing Pumpkins. The band is scheduled to play here in Athens on June 24 and, of course, we plan to be there.

One of the most remarkable debuts of the year so far comes from Gun Outfit, from Olympia, Washington. We first encountered the band in the fine "Rough Trade Shops Counter Culture 08" compilation with the track “Your Will”. Their debut mini-LP is entitled "Dim Light" and is filled to the brim with the buzzing sound of guitars exploding in lo-fi. It brings to mind the heroic days of the '80s underground scene and makes me wanna shout "just gimme indie-rock!", as Sebadoh once did. It's released on PPM, a label connected to No Age. I hope they get bigger than Nirvana, as the good folks at Rough Trade Shops like to say.

The folk albums of the month come from our old pals Bill Callahan (ex-Smog) and Will Oldham, a.k.a. Bonnie Prince Billy, stalwarts of the americana sound for the last couple of decades. With "Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle" and "Beware" respectively, the two singers-songwriters will not disappoint their die-hard fans, but they are not going to earn any new ones either.

And finally, a lesson in music history - the 4-cd collection "Factory Records Communications 1978 - 92" consists of tracks throughout the history of the legendary Manchester label, where next to Joy Division, New Order or Happy Mondays you can find a multitude of lesser-known or plainly forgotten names who, nevertheless, have contributed to the creation of the alternative sound of an era that has not ceased to inspire countless new bands. Never before or after Factory Records has the economic failure of a company generated such a spectacular triumph!

Top 10 Albums

1. It's Blitz! - YEAH YEAH YEAHS
2. Fantasies - METRIC
3. Two Suns - BAT FOR LASHES
4. A Certain Feeling - BODIES OF WATER
5. Dim Light - GUN OUTFIT
6. Swoon - SILVERSUN PICKUPS
7. Take It Personally - THE STARLITE DESPERATION
8. Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle - BILL CALLAHAN
9. Beware - BONNIE PRINCE BILLY
10. Factory Records: Communications 1978 - 92 - VARIOUS ARTISTS

Top 20 Tracks

1. Sacred trixter - SONIC YOUTH
2. Zero - YEAH YEAH YEAHS
3. Daniel - BAT FOR LASHES
4. Gimme sympathy - METRIC
5. Under the pines - BODIES OF WATER
6. I want you to know - DINOSAUR JR.
7. Misfits & mistakes - SUPERCHUNK
8. Panic switch - SILVERSUN PICKUPS
9. Legal tender - HANDSOME FURS
10. Work experience - GUN OUTFIT
11. Spirit army - THE STARLITE DESPERATION
12. Idiot heart - SUNSET RUBDOWN
13. My friend - BILL CALLAHAN
14. I don’t belong to anyone - BONNIE PRINCE BILLY
15. Nikorette - CONOR OBERST AND THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND
16. Pop lie - OKKERVIL RIVER
17. Lisztomania - PHOENIX
18. Stillness is the move - DIRTY PROJECTORS
19 . Dressed in Dresden - THE HUNDRED IN THE HANDS
20. Supply and demand - FISCHERSPOONER

And finally, here's another addition to our Killer Tracks hall of fame: Gun Outfit's "Troubles Like Mine" from "Dim Light". The video comes from a show at this year's SXSW festival.

Gun Outfit - Troubles Like Mine

Listening Habits 03.2009

Spring is here again...and it's off to a good start with a blossoming of fine new music, as you can see in this month's extensive and varied album list. The album of the month, as you may have guessed if you've read our previous post or the feature I wrote for mixgrill, is the recently released "Fantasies", Metric's fourth LP, which is currently dominating my mp3 playlist (the cd is coming soon). The self-released effort comes almost four years after "Live it out" and boasts some of the finest songs of their career so far, with leading track and first single "Help I'm alive" being a fine example of their dynamic sound. It is also very interesting to compare the album version of the track, that rocks like The Pixies on fire, to the hauntingly beautiful acoustic version available as a free mp3 from the band's site - the many faces of Metric's sound revealed to the tune of the same, yet so different, song.

Another release from a Canadian band is the next entry in our album list. It's «Face Control», the second Handsome Furs album on Sub Pop. The group consists of the husband and wife duo of Dan Boeckner (also a member of Wolf Parade) and Alexei Perry. Their idiosyncratic rock sound has become more accessible here thanks to the electropop elements creeping in their music and the influence of New Order (album track «All we want, baby, is everything» is actually based on the Mancunians' classic «Temptation»).

The Top 4 is completed by two Scandinavian entries: «Futuro», the fourth release by Low Frequency In Stereo from Norway, and the self-titled debut of Fever Ray from Sweden, a name behind which hides Karin Dreijer Andersson from The Knife.
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Low Frequency In Stereo started their recording career at the beginning of this decade as a typical post-rock band, but they've gradually shifted their sound by adding some fine vocal harmonies and making their krautrock and dream pop influences more prominent. This year's record is their best and also most accessible work to date. On the other hand, the word «accessible» is certainly not applicable to Fever Ray's work. Only those already familiar to the strange, dreamlike world of The Knife (the group consisting of Karin and her brother Olof) will feel at home to the otherworldly, haunted sounds of Fever Ray. But if this is your first introduction to Karin's music, it will probably take several listens before surrendering to these seductive electronic nightmares. Like the eccentric cinematic world of David Lynch, this record is certainly not for everyone but it is definitely worth a try for an experience unlike any other.

Top 16 Albums

1. Fantasies - METRIC
2. Face Control - HANDSOME FURS
3. Futuro - THE LOW FREQUENCY IN STEREO
4. Fever Ray - FEVER RAY
5. Radio Wars - HOWLING BELLS
6. Alight Of Night - CRYSTAL STILTS
7. High Places - HIGH PLACES
8. Hush - ASOBI SEKSU
9. Middle Cyclone - NEKO CASE
10. Fortress 'Round My Heart - IDA MARIA
11. The Century Of Self - …AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
12. Dark Was The Night - VARIOUS ARTISTS
13. Love Hate And Then There's You - THE VON BONDIES
14. 200 Million Thousand - BLACK LIPS
15. Dear John - LONEY DEAR
16. Grace/Wastelands - PETER DOHERTY

Top 20 Tracks

1. Help I’m alive - METRIC
2. Texas fox - THE LOW FREQUENCY IN STEREO
3. I’m confused - HANDSOME FURS
4. Treasure hunt - HOWLING BELLS
5. Seven - FEVER RAY
6. This tornado loves you - NEKO CASE
7. Young adult friction - THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART
8. Departure - CRYSTAL STILTS
9. Me & Mary - ASOBI SEKSU
10. From stardust to sentience - HIGH PLACES
11. Troubles like mine - GUN OUTFIT
12. Devotion - VIVA VOCE
13. Oh my God - IDA MARIA
14. Pale bride - THE VON BONDIES
15. Short fuse - BLACK LIPS
16. Bells of creation - …AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
17. Well-alright - SPOON
18. Last of the English roses - PETER DOHERTY
19. Walking on a dream - EMPIRE OF THE SUN
20. Everything turns to you - LONEY DEAR



Handsome Furs - I'm confused

Metric - Gimme Sympathy, Gimme Fantasies

Today is the official release date of Metric's fourth album "Fantasies", an excellent work that takes the dynamic rock direction of previous album "Live It Out" to the next level. While the album is not lacking in more mellow ("Twilight Galaxy", "Collect Call") or pure pop ("Gimme Sympathy") moments, for the most part it boasts a big, explosive sound dominated by James Shaw's fierce guitar playing and Joules Scott-Key's and Joshua Winstead's propelling rhythms. But, as usual, the most important ingredient that elevates Metric to a class of its own is the sensual voice and fiery performance of Emily Haines, who returns renewed after a brief stay in Buenos Aires in search of songwriting inspiration. Almost half the tracks on the disc are among the best moments of the band's career: "Help I'm Alive", "Sick Muse", "Front Row" and the epic finale of "Stadium Love". Visit the band's site to preview/purchase the album, take a look at a brief overview of the Metric story here and enjoy the video for second single "Gimme Sympathy" below:

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Metric - Gimme Sympathy