Dope Songs of 2011

I'm not big on mid year ish, but i figured i should prolly collect my thoughts on whats been dope so far this year.

Adele - Rolling in the Deep (Jamie XX Remix)
Huge tune, not much more to say. Funky with the hand claps, soulful on the vocal, heavy on the bass. BIG!

Frank Ocean - Songs for Women
Could have easily picked another Frank Ocean song, but this ones been favorite. R&B with personality.

Tyler, The Creator - Yonkers
Self explanatory really. Regardless of your opinion on Odd Future and Tyler, this song is a serious achievement. Love it.

Cut Copy - Need You Now
Could have easily picked Take Me Over or Pharaohs and Pyramids instead. This is a band that's on top of its game and is probably the best Australian band right now. Too fucking good.

The Weeknd - The Party
Wow Frank Ocean AND the Weeknd. God I'm such a fucking hipster/cultural tourist. But fuck it, its what I've been listening to and geeking out over too. Probably should go back and listen too more Beach House I guess, but its a masterful sample flip. It has me doing my shitty falsetto singing along in the car. Which is horrible. And given how often I was playing it, far too often...

Arctic Monkeys - Suck it and See
I wrote about it the other day, read it again i guess. Alex Turner conjurs up esoteric and wildly clever imagery with the best of them (Matt Berninger and Ghostface Killah)

TV on the Radio - Second Song
This probably should have gone to Killer Crane, but the moment that the guitar and drums come in gives me chills every times. Very few other songs have given me this feeling this year.

Hercules & Love Affair - Painted Eyes (In Flagranti Remix)
Sounds like if The Avalanches made super funky disco. A must have.

Tune-Yards - Gangsta
Sounds like if Dirty Projectors started hanging out with Ratatat. Seriously fun song, seriously cool album. I refuse to the do the capitalization.

Pusha T - Raid
Mixtape is hit and miss. This song is one of the hits.

Cassie - Me & U (Brackles Remix)
This one always gets a spin when I'm DJing. Love it to bits.

Fleetwood Mac - Dreams (Rocco Raimundo Edit)
Yeah this is from last year, but I really only appreciated it this year. 9 minutes of pure bliss. Soundtracked most of my hungover drives home.

Best.Of.2010 # 1,2&3

#1

#2

#3


Yeah, this was just getting out of hand. If I didn't do something quick like this, it was never gonna get finished and this blog prolly would have ground to a halt. Still can't write anything coherent about my favorite album of the year. For those wanting insight into what it is, please read this fantastic series of essays on it. As for why its the best, simply it had more ambition than anything else this year and pulled it off, like an Olympic diver doing something with the highest degree of difficulty and landing it with minimal splash.

The other two albums here are simply awesome. I love them and have given them ample burn in the car, ipod and laptop this year. One is a bands promising debut, the other is a bands apparent farewell. One is the fresh sound of of NY, the other is the local boys making good. Both are examples of awesome songwriting and staggering prodcution. 2010 was a brilliant year for music. Can't wait to see what 2011 has to offer.

Top 10 Moments of Southbound 2011

For the uninitiated and foreign, Southbound is a 3 day camping and music festival about 3 hours south of Perth. Its about a third of the size of a festival like Bonnaroo, but keeps a similar chilled vibe, yet far stricter and has a major population of those under 18. None the less its fun weekend and a great way to start the year. Here are my top ten moments from this years edition.

10. Cloud Controls use of Pepper by Butthole Surfers for ‘Gold Canary’. 90’s gold, pure and simple. Expression of pure joy on my face, confusion for everyone else around me.

9. The Bamboos covering King of the Rodeo by Kings of Leon. God I miss old Kings of Leon. Aha Shake Heartbreak sound tracked the end of high school for me. This was a reminder of better times.


8. The sing-a-long to Morning Benders ‘Excuses’. The friends that I was staying with taught me this song over the weekend. They’re harmony nerds, but even I can appreciate how dope this song is. Even better live too with a virtuosic use of a loop pedal.


7. Interpol actually acknowledging the crowd. OMG THEY SPOKE TO US!!!!!

6. Sampology’s amazing VJ set. Saw the crowd probably quadruple in size over the course of his insane party. Highlight would have to be the Dr. Dre vs Tom Hanks section….


5. Tame Impala's sublime sunset set on the final night. Just too good. Perfect timing. Loved the ten minute jam during Half Full Glass of Wine.


4. The bulk cowbell dance session for The Rapture. We were knackered after 3 days of music. Still managed to find a bit more energy for a dance to the boys from NYC


3. A–Trak's closing set insanity. The final act for the festival saw the tent transformed into an impromptu beach rave with giant beach balls, a large beach umbrella complete with an absolute clinic in DJing from the Fool’s Gold bossman. Set had to be stopped momentarily due to one punter thinking it was a good idea to climb one of the 30m pillars of the tent. Trizzy did an excellent job of talking him down with promises of icecream.


2. Matt Berninger's onstage drunkenness and banter. A National gig is always an excersize in controlled insanity with the lead singer, as my mate put it, being like a Labrador puppy in the care of the two sets of brothers, and often likes to go walkabouts and occasionally misbehave.


1. A strangely clock-less Flava Flav asking the crowd to do his catchphrase before revealing the clock he had hidden under his shirt all along. Crowd proceeded to go ham, myself included.