Bee vs. Moth- Acronyms (2010)

Way back when on my best of 2010 list, I said I planned on posting this album soon. Suffice to say my definition of soon is a bit more loose than most's. I believe I described this album as "a multi-genre escapade based on a foundation of Latin jazz." That's about as well as I can describe it. It's all instrumental, featuring mainly horns of various sorts with a solid rhythm section and sometimes makes room for a guitar to sneak in. You never know quite what to anticipate from this album. A polka-sounding march can give way to an 80s guitar riff, and all the while it makes you want to sing "Babalu."

What not to expect from this album: A multi-genre masterpiece that seamlessly bridges various styles of music into a pleasing, perfect sound.

What to expect from this album: A silly mixture of sounds that will sometimes make you smile and sometimes make you scratch your head. But you'll be glad you listened to it, even if only to have the knowledge that it has, in fact, been listened to.


Buy

Matsuri - Endship (2010)

I've always loved the counteracting extremes withing screamo. When I first heard Kulara a couple years ago, going from the rapid, thrashy-ness of something like Bridge to the soft acoustic beauty of Episodes was incredible. The beauty of each style work with and against each other into and incredible feeling. Matsuri is no different. In fact, it's evident from the first song. The beginning of a four part piece goes in and out of these two styles, beginning with the serene, adding harsh vocals, then clashing everything together and back. Bittersweet melodies flow and ebb in and out of the foreground and the entire sound just seems so jarring on the surface. Everything is so well-done, though, and as this album continues on, you'll notice how incredibly flush everything sounds. All in its right place, for sure.

download
buy

eRikm - Lux Payllettes (2010)

Suck a dick Girl Talk.

Buy
Download

Leonard Dstroy - Higher Vibrations (2010)

If you've been listening to our mixtapes, you may have heard a song by Deep Thinkers, a high-energy, freaked out turntable heavy, instrumental hip-hop piece called The Technicolor B-Boy Slideshow. Now, meet the producer. Kansas City native Kyle Dykes, here under the moniker of Leonard Dstroy, continues his frantic, jumpy, maximalist hip-hop beats to an incredible degree.

And maximalist is certainly a perfect word for what's included here. In Deep Thinkers, he, with the compliment of emcee "Brother of Moses" (Aaron Sutton, who makes a brief appearance on this album), made much more subtle arrangements. Aside from the previously mentioned Technicolor B-Boy... and Kiss The Sky the album consisted of, relatively, standard beats. It had styles of jungle and ambient music mixing it's abundant samples, but they were still categorically "hip-hop" beats. Here, it's a distruction of it. It may start as a hip-hop beat, at the core there may be a standard beat underlying the song, but he jams a myriad of crashes and crunches and rolls and thick buzzing bass to create a glitched out, uninviting beast of what is usually considered a "hip-hop" beat. It's like taking a J Dilla beat, over a Otomo Yoshihide piece, over an Aphex Twin track. It's mystifying.

bandcamp (includes a free download)

Blackbird Blackbird - Summer Heart (2010)

Don't think I've posted this, so I'll roll with it. Wasn't sold on this guy (formerly known as Bye Bye Blackbird up until May 2010 or so) after hearing the Happy High single, but this album made me a fan.

So much to like here, and even though it's probably considered your standard chillwave fare, there's nothing very standard about it. What doesn't sound effective ends up working as songs such as "Hawaii" and "Sunspray" end up sticking around for long periods of time. A strong piece of work by a little-known artist who should be able to get more attention in 2011.

Try it
Buy it
Facebook page

New Politics- New Politics (2010)

New Politics made it big on the radio with their single Yeah Yeah Yeah which you may have heard in EA's Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. I actually got into them after hearing them on the Radio. New Politics are a band from Copenhagen, Denmark consisting of members David Boyd, Soren Hansen and Louis Vecchio. The band's sound is basically alternative rock with blends of pop and punk scattered through the CD. It's nice for a debut album with my tops tracks being Dignity, Yeah Yeah Yeah and Nuclear War. They have a lot of energy and it's shown throughout the album. Watch their music videos for Yeah Yeah Yeah and Dignity on youtube to decide if you want to check this band out. I did and I liked what I heard.

Buy It

Yeah Yeah Yeah (Youtube)

Dignity (Youtube)

Thou - Summit (2010)

Dense, atmospheric, harsh, all words that can describe the 3rd album by New Orleans band Thou. Summit is a departure from the band's norm, bringing tighter, more focused playing to the table, and it really does sound great. The atmosphere is dark & harsh but never does it come close to being stagnant or boring. It's not your average Doom Metal album, it's slow churning and raw. Definitely check it out.

Download

Buy

Last.fm

Merry Christmas from LPC

Because today and tomorrow are collectively titled Link Day, I'll throw some stuff out there for you to listen to in between Christmas dinners. Some of these (coincidentally!) happen to be on the LPC mixtape. Free preview, I guess?

Clive Tanaka y su Qrquesta - All Night, All Right
Vince Guaraldi - Skating
How to Dress Well - Endless Rain
Tennis - South Carolina
Beautiful Swimmers - Big Coast

You can tell what seasons I'm thinking of...

LPC Mixtape Series, Vol. 3, November/December 2010: Christmas Morning

Depending on how old you are as you're reading this, you're probably several years past the unmatchable excitement of waking up on Christmas morning to see what you've received from family, friends, other relatives, and, of course, Santa.

What were some of the best gifts you received during your childhood? There's always that one gift that you'll always remember because it was on a different level compared to the rest. Likewise, you'll also remember the gift you received from a (presumably) distant relative who was either a cheapskate, unintelligent, or thought you were five years old.

While this mixtape isn't strictly Christmas-themed, I'd like to think it is with several Christmas-related tracks (most of those, thanks to T_R_A, being comedic) and a general thought of Christmas morning in mind (except for the Odd Future stuff, of course!).

Because of the lack of a mixtape for the month of November, we decided to combine the two months into one giant mixtape for both November and December; we think you'll like this a lot.

With that, we'll let you enjoy 30 selections from our staff for the months of November and December.

1. Afrirampo - Miracle Lucky Girls
2. Clive Tanaka y su Orquesta - All Night, All Right
3. Tame Impala - It's Not Meant to Be
4. Bad Veins - Gold and Warm
5. Earl Sweatshirt - EARL
6. Dean Martin - Baby, It's Cold Outside
7. Girl Talk - That's Right
8. Max Bemis and the Painful Splits - Do the Dohnk
9. Sun City Girls - Space Prophet Dogon
10. Tyler, the Creator - French! Featuring Hodgy Beats
11. Vince Guaraldi - Linus and Lucy
12. Killer Bong - Are There Any Complaints
13. Half Man Half Biscuit - All I Want For Christmas Is a Dukla Prague Away Kit
14. Girls - Carolina
15. NoMeansNo - Big Dick
16. One Ring Zero - Half and Half
17. Weezer - Trampoline
18. Ducktails - Killin' the Vibe
19. The Residents - Dumbo, the Clown (Who Loved Christmas)
20. Stellar OM Source - Island Best
21. Captain Beefheart - There Ain't No Santa Claus on the Evenin' Stage
22. Electric Six - The Rubberband Man
23. Atlas Sound - This Wheel's on Fire (Dylan)
24. Man or Astro-man? - Mermaid Love
25. Nuclear Rabbit - Santa Claus Is Selling Crack
26. Jad Fair and Naofumi Ishimaru - Santa's Knee
27. Big Troubles - Bite Yr Tongue
28. Das Racist - Who's That? Brooown!
29. Medecine - Christmas Song
30. Vince Guaraldi - Skating

Download (197 MB)

With this post, I would like to thank everyone who has had a helping hand in the foundation or continuation of this blog. Every writer on this staff that contributes does a great job in writing and it's hard for me to not be happy with the writers we have.

Without the visitors and readers of the blog, though, we wouldn't be able to do any of this. Thanks to all of you for making this possible.

Now let's look at 2011 as the year we can make this improve in so many ways. Good night and Merry Christmas.

A short sample of what LPC writers thought were the best tracks of 2010

Because we only got a few submissions for this one, I'll just post what I have. Mixtape coming tomorrow.

tweedsmatic:

10. Belle and Sebastian - I Want the World to Stop
Classic Belle and Sebastian.

9. Beach House - Lover of Mine
Not the most recognized song on Teen Dream, the keyboard riff gets me.

8. The Roots - Now or Never
Really brings out the optimistic side of How I Got Over. Such a powerful chorus.

7. Crystal Castles - Empathy
The highlight of CC's second album. Production doesn't get much tighter than this.

6. Kanye West - Runaway
Of course Yeezy has to make a sincere song with ridiculous lyrics. But it's sincere nonetheless. Pusha T delivers a killer verse, the song has a powerful beat and dat outro.

5. LCD Soundsystem - All I Want
Definitely this album's 'All My Friends' or 'Losing My Edge'. Just gets more powerful with each verse. The guitar goes so well with the backbeat.

4. Big Boi - Shine Blockas
It's just so... smooth. The production is smooth, big boi's flow is smooth, and Gucci Mane's chorus, we're talking baby-bottom smooth here. The exact sort of hip-hop song I expect to hear about once a year.

3. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
The title track really sets the tone of the album in a similar way to how 'Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)' establishes Funeral. In my humble opinion, The Suburbs is the most memorable track on the album. The piano riff at the beginning, the chorus especially, and the guitar in the outro. It my not be the most intense, hard-hitting song on the album, but it sticks.

2. Broken Social Scene - Romance to the Grave
The last song of the 'Strong point' in Forgiveness Rock Record, Romance to the Grave is how a crescendo should be done. It doesn't drag on and it's climax isn't too over the top. It just steadily builds up to a powerful and memorable finish.

1. Girls' Generation - Hoot
Haters gonna hate, simple as that.

CaptainCommonSense:

10. Arcade Fire - The Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
9. Big Boi - Shine Blockas
8. Deerhunter - Helicopter
7. Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People
6. The Black Keys - Tighten Up
5. Electric Wizard - Black Mass
4. World's End Girlfriend - Les Enfants Du Paradis
3. Sleigh Bells - Tell Em
2. Kanye West - Runaway
1. Flying Lotus - Galaxy In Janaki

NomNomNomHayweePierce:

10. Tennis - South Carolina
9. Arcade Fire - Sprawl 2 (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
8. Sleigh Bells - Rill Rill
7. Titus Andronicus - To Old Friends and New
6. Deerhunter - He Would Have Laughed
5. The National - Lemonworld
4. The Books - All You Need Is A Wall
3. Panda Bear - You Can Count On Me
2. James Blake - CMYK
1. How To Dress Well - Decisions (feat. Yuksel Arslan)

JTRobertsNY:

1. "Monster" - Kanye West feat. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver
2. "Impossible Soul" - Sufjan Stevens
3. "Somethin"- Devo
4. "Fuck You" - Cee Lo Green
5. "Dog Days Are Over" - Florence and the Machine
6. "Little Lion Man" - Mumford & Sons
7. "POWER" - Kanye West feat. Dwele
8. "Brave New World" - Weezer
9. "California Gurls" - Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
10. "Un-Break My Heart" - Weezer

moazzam23:

Balkan Beat Box - Dancing With The Moon
Gogol Bordello - Immigraniada
Arcade Fire - Sprawl II
Big Boi - Tangerine
The Roots - Dear God 2.0
Kanye West - All of the Lights
M.I.A. - Born Free
Johnny Cash - Ain't No Grave
Neil Young - Angry World
No Age - Fever Dreaming

Myself/cedarpoint13:

10. Women - Eyesore
9. Big Boi - Shine Blockas
8. Sufjan Stevens - I Walked
7. Big K.R.I.T. - Hometown Hero
6. Panda Bear - Slow Motion
5. Mark McGuire - Brothers (For Matt)
4. Beach Fossils - Vacation
3. Brothertiger - Lovers
2. Flying Lotus - Galaxy in Janaki
1. Arcade Fire - Half Light II (No Celebration)

Sorry for the mediocre post, but it's all I've got this time around. Next year, this should be more well-organized.

Thanks for reading. Mixtape is coming tomorrow and it's looking great. As a side note, this may or may not have a cheesy Christmas title.

The 2010 LPC Readers' Poll

Hello and welcome to the first annual Loving Peter Cetera Readers' Poll. Because readers only had a few days to submit ballots, the final tally may be somewhat small because there were only 48 ballots submitted. However, this is just a start - next year's poll will be bigger and better.

Here was the system used:

• Readers were asked to submit a list of their top five albums for the 2010 calendar year.
• For the top five lists, there were 5 points given for #1, 4 for #2, 3 for #3, and so on.
• After all ballots were submitted, I added up every ballot into the mix and came out with these final numbers.

On to the poll.

9 (tie). Vampire Weekend - Contra and The National - High Violet (13 points)

Due to a coin flip, the album by Big K.R.I.T., K.R.I.T. Wuz Here, was left out due to space issues for the top ten poll.

Not too big of a surprise here as both Contra and High Violet were found on many top ten lists to end the year. High Violet had the higher points per ballot average (was on four), but Contra was on more top five lists.

8. The Roots - How I Got Over (14 points)

This surprised me by coming in at #8 as I didn't think the hip-hop heads could push one album up this much. While I still haven't heard it, I find the Roots listenable so I'll be checking this out if nothing else.

7. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (15 points)

I'd still like a new OutKast album at some point, but I guess this great release can hold me over for some time.

5. (tie) Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest and Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma (18 points each)

No surprise here either - you'll find both of these albums on many of the end-of-year top albums lists, including my own. Both albums are excellently crafted and both are unique (at least to me, anyway).

4. Curren$y - Pilot Talk (19 points)

Never would I have thought at the beginning of 2010 that a line about playing NBA Live and eating chips would become one of my favorites of the year.

3. Beach House - Teen Dream (44 points)

This album showed up on several of the ballots and was one of the clear-cut top albums, having over twice the points of Pilot Talk. A fantastic album and one I would label "can't-miss".

2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (54 points)

Had a lot of points and normally could've contended for #1, but it didn't even come close to the runaway winner, which was...

1. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (122 points)

Yes, 122 points. It was included on nearly 2/3 of the ballots, beat the Suburbs by 68 points (!) and wasn't contested whatsoever.

Thanks to everyone who voted and everyone who helped make this happen. Hopefully, we'll be doing this at the same time next year.

Ghostface Killah - Apollo Kids (2010)

Rounding out 2010 is the latest installment from Wu-Tang superstar Ghostface Killah. Arguably the most consistent rapper in the game, with a total of 9 albums, 7 of them being at least very good and 3 classics of the rap genre. Apollo Kids does not disappoint, as Ghostface proves yet again why he's one of the best MCs around.

Overall, Apollo Kids is a great album, with many high moments and few lows. It may have scraped into my top 10 list, depending on how many times I listened to it beforehand. Assuming no one is expecting another Fishscale, hip-hop fans will be satisfied. The production is solid and Ghostface's flow is as smooth as ever. Opener 'Purified Thoughts' has strong verses from both GZA and Killah Priest, which begins what is a very consistent run for guest rappers on the album. Busta Rhymes, Cappadonna, The Game and Raekwon all have great guest spots. Not to be outdone though, Ghostface just spoils his listeners with witty rhymes. On '2getha baby', Ghostface rhymes "momma" with "Obama" and "no no" with "go" and "Tony Romo". The sampling is top notch as well, with a nice little Tears for Fears sample in 'Starkology'. 'Street Bullies' my personal highlight of the album, has a delightful Spongebob reference from guest rapper Sheek: "I'm infatuated with money like Mr. Krabs."

To put it simply, Ghostface has delivered with style once again. It's a great album to close off what has been a solid year for hip-hop and a tremendous year for music in general.

Buy it

Wiki

Stellar OM Source - Trilogy Select (2010)

Short review since I'm in a hurry, but what you're looking at is more excellent drone/electronic/experimental in the style of Oneohtrix Point Never. Christelle Gualdi makes nice soundscapes under this handle, using four selections each from three albums of hers released in 2009. Very 80s nostalgic-like. "Rites of Fusion" is a collab with Daniel Lopatin/Oneohtrix Point Never. "Island Best" has this really awesome video.

Try it
Buy it (ctrl + F "trilogy select")
MySpace

Circle of Ouroborus - Cast To The Pits (2010)

It's a bit unfortunate to do an end of the year list so early. Not only do we miss out on a month of records, but there are, frequently, records we miss, or don't let settle in by the time we need to write. That's partially the case with one of my favorite bands, the prolific Circle of Ouroborus, with one of their several 2010 outputs.

They've made serious progress throughout the years. Early, they were a rough band, mostly working as a sort of blackpostpunk sound. They spit droning vocals, sprawling bass lines and catchy drum patterns under a thick guitar and tincan production. As they moved on, they began to get more expressive, Antti Klemi became less monotone (though still keeping that distraught tinge in vocals), production cleared a bit (still rough, it couldn't be any other way), and guitar lines shaped a bit to match. 2008's acoustic diversion, Venerations, marked a subtle change in their atmosphere, as well as a hidden bit of range, and 2009's Tree of Knowledge signaled a band in maturation, a full sound that kept the sordid tone of the earlier, with lush composition including very atypical measures, including the use of horns occasionally, as well Antti straightening his growls and groans to heighten his emotional contribution.

And here, with Cast to the Pits, it continues. They're back to their acoustic sound, as with Venerations, creating more of a black-folk sort of sound, with it's tinge of post-punk, mostly casting out those notions of some sort of black metal. Antti has seemingly become even more confident in his ability to project emotions; his trademark groans no longer set in some "Love Will Tear Us Apart"-esque Ian Curtis. He bends and shifts with the music, as well as the occasional growls that join in, and, although it probably won't make many fans that disliked him before, it works to great advantage with the full, folk sound the band is working with here. With bright guitar passages, he has a more contemplative tone, he keeps a hush whisper in the mystic rhythms of "Wind Rhyme", and he throws an near spiteful gasp in the pounding, drum-and-chord heavy "You Are A Sleeping Ghost Like Me". Somewhere in-between a nihilistic blackness and a sanguine meadow rest Circle of Ouroborus with a sort of demonic presence. Equally menacing and inviting, there may be something to gain if you let them in, and as hypnotic they are on Cast in the Pits, it's hard to not be in a trace.

Buy

Download

aronrayzz. - карман для слёз (2010)

Among the lists, we've seem to forgotten to post album reviews, so I'll plan to supplement these lists with some relatively unknown 2010 albums, as well as some general favorites I've been meaning to post. So to start, an obscure trio post-rock band from Mother Russia.

And I can sense the grimaces from the mention of "post-rock", a genre so packed with artists I'm sure most of us prepared to hear nothing but mediocrity and cliches. Perhaps they do fall for some of the traps of the genre. For the 45+ minutes this album lasts, you'll hear plenty of remnants of all the classics that appear in the majority of these bands, but it's not strictly that. They have certain moments of deviation. Like within the fifth track, the guitar compositions become more riff-centric, falling into thick distortion and the drums come from the background to punch in furious blasts with quick snare rolls to break it up, even to the supplement of screams. And it's really in these moments where they gain strength. As strong as their more ambient moments are, it's highlighted from the contrast of intensity. It happens a bit too infrequently for my tastes, especially for a band I've heard described as "screamo", but when it's there, it hits.

buy... idk where.

download or on last.fm

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)

(pictures courtesy of Tweedsmatic)

When I first heard the G.O.O.D. Friday tracks, I thought, huh, this is pretty damn good, I wonder what I'd think if he just released this as the album, yet when I first saw the tracklist and realized that those keeping up, myself included, had already heard five of the eleven full songs on the album through G.O.O.D. Friday and the singles, I smiled to myself; another overhyped disappointing album. Oh well, I wasn't anticipating it too much. When I first saw the Runaway music video, I thought "What's Kanye thinking? This is stupid." I didn't realize at the time that this meant I had already heard all of the songs on the album, and I wouldn't realize this until I had already given it a 5 on here. When I first heard the album in full, though it was the clean version, I didn't feel particularly impressed, but I enjoyed the music, very much so. I thought it would be a top 3 album of the year at the least. I mean, Lost in the World is pretty iffy, and wtf is going on at the end of Runaway? Rick Ross on Devil in a New Dress? That doesn't fit at all! RZA on So Appalled? He ruins the vibe! Hell of a Life? How forgettable! Fergie on All of the Lights? UGH!

Then I kept on listening, and it just became more and more clear how absolutely fantastic this album is. How it blows every album this year out of the water. How it makes all other hip hop albums sound inconsequential in comparison. How some of the above mentioned flaws were revealed to be my own first-listen-shortsightedness (Hell of a Life, Lost in the World, the ending of Runaway), while others are legitimate flaws (Rick Ross, RZA, Fergie) but don't even come close to breaking the overall experience that is My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Normally in album reviews I'll talk about how there's no filler, or how it's all cohesive, or how many highlights there are, but this just feels like it's somehow past such trivial matters. Forget cohesiveness, this is the embodiment of Kanye West in music form! All his little idiosyncrasies, his ego, his douchebagines, his eccentricity, all seem to be living and breathing throughout the album. Filler? Forget filler, there's not a track here that's below great, let alone one that's there just to fill up space. Highlights? Where to start...

It's hard to try to pick highlights because the songs themselves, the songs on the same album, the album that's beyond cohesiveness, are apples and oranges. Sure, you want to say Dark Fantasy because of its infectious beat, funny Kanye lyrics and orchestrated chorus, but then you remember Blame Game's great Aphex Twin sample, John Legend chorus, a moving Kanye performance and a hilarious Chris Rock skit that isn't even out of place... but wait, everyone KILLED it on So Appalled! But wait, it has to be Runaway, with the isolated piano and Kanye surprisingly delivering a great singing performance... but shit, those horns on All of the Lights...

And on and on and on. There's no clear-cut best song; there's no clear-cut worst song. They all represent different themes and moods and complement each other. Since downloading the leak, I haven't even listened to any of these songs outside of the context of the album. Honestly though, I'd have to say the worst song is Gorgeous, because the beat is completely static, but then this isn't a problem at all, because it's still such a great beat, still such a great song. It's just not quite on the next level the rest of the album still seems to be on. Still, do you think you'll ever start up the album, and then hear Gorgeous start up after Dark Fantasy's gone through its last hurrah, and think, "Oh, come on! Not this repetitive shit!" Hell no, it's an extremely enjoyable song, it just falls a little short of the rest; not really on hip hop terms, but on musical terms. On My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy terms.

So, as I said, Gorgeous is the potential worst song because of the beat being static, meaning that the rest of the production is very dynamic. Well, it is a Kanye album, isn't it? Of course the production's the high point. You've never heard Kanye beats quite like this though, and not just because he got some help from names such as No ID and RZA. Hell, you've never heard beats like these, period. Kanye had a $3 million budget, and you can tell. He certainly uses orchestration to its full extent on songs like Dark Fantasy and All of the Lights, but knows when to go back to laid back samples, like he does on Blame Game. Devil in a New Dress starts as another laid back, soulful sample-based beat before launching into a progressive guitar section, then coming back down to earth for the Rick Ross epilogue.

As far as the lyrics go, Kanye certainly has his usual charm about him, and a lot of emotion as well when he wants to use it. Nothing really reaches the conscious highs of his old songs like All Falls Down, but that's more than forgivable. One thing that's noticeable is that he doesn't seem to be completely off the mark with his lyrics sometimes, as he has been in the past. Some people may question a line like "Praises due to the most high, Allah/Praises due to the most fly, Prada/Baby I'm magic, ta-dah!" but in context, and with his delivery, it all works out perfectly and I don't think there's a line out of place. He's in this mode for a lot of the album, but he gets emotional at times, most notably on Blame Game, and to great result.

There's one song on the album where it doesn't seem like anything should work, and it just does. If you haven't heard the album, picture this. If you have heard it, pretend you haven't and you're reading about the next Kanye West single: A sparse piano hits the same note repeatedly, before going into a basic melody. Da, da, da, duh, da, da, da, duh. Drums and a growling bass comes in, while a vocal sample yells "Look at'cha!" repeatedly. Kanye comes in and starts singing about relationship troubles, with the hook "Let's have a toast for the douchebags/let's have a toast for the assholes." Pusha T does a verse, Kanye sings and raps some more, and then the song starts to fizzle before Kanye mumbles into a vocoder for three minutes, producing a large buzzing sound. ...Sounds like Kanye's ego's getting the best of him, right? Wrong. Everything about the song works, whether it should or not.

In summation, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a hip hop album like none before it. Its original approach to production and thematic use of ideas make it one of the most rewarding listens in the entire genre. This album is Kanye. Graduation and 808s & Heartbreaks weren't Kanye. They were just what he was doing at the time. Hell, not even College Dropout and Late Registration were Kanye. This album seems to have his very essence at its center, and that, more so than any guitar lick, orchestrated chorus, clever pun, or deep thought, is what makes My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy a complete and utter success.

Download

Sun City Girls - "Funeral Mariachi" (2010)

The final studio album from Sun City Girls. For those not familiar with the band, the Girls formed by brothers Alan and Richard Bishop in 1979 in Phoenix, Arizona, who formally disbanded in 2007 after the untimely death of drummer Charles Gocher. During their nearly three decades together they released a dizzying array of some of the most unique and challenging experimental music to come out of America. Combining influences ranging from surf rock, punk, movie soundtracks, freejaz, traditional Middle Eastern and African music, spoken word, and free improv (as well as having borderline performance art live shows) the group may seem absolutely impenetrable from the outset, especially if you don't know where to start.

Well, "Funeral Mariachi" is a pretty good place to begin. While most SCG albums are seemingly entirely idiosyncratic and chock-full of unpredictable weirdness, this album has probably the most coherent number of actual "songs" in their catalogue, while still remaining unmistakably Sun City Girls. This is very obvious from the first few moments of the opening track "Ben's Radio" which eventually gives way to a spaghetti western vibe which is densely prominent throughout the majority of the album. There is heavy Ennio Morricone influence here, especially in the second half of the album (including a cover of Morricone's "Come Maddelena"). The standout track for me is "The Imam" combining Middle Eastern instrumentation and chanting with SCG flair (I swear I hear a rubber ducky as part of the percussion). While tracks like "Black Orchid" and "Blue West" are straight out of 60s Italian Westerns.

"Funeral Mariachi" is a wonderful final record to one of the most mysterious, engaging, and challenging bands of the 20th century.

Buy Here (CD)

Download Here

Girl Talk - All Day (2010)

Good luck downloading this from his official site (FOR FREE!). If it wasn't for What.cd I'd be like my friend who's been trying since 1 PM CT.

Official site, for whenever it goes back up

Sailors With Wax Wings - Sailors With Wax Wings (2010)

Sailors With Wax Wings is a newly formed supergroup consisting of:

R. Loren (Pyramids)- vocals / textures
J. Leah - vocals
Ted Parsons (Swans, Jesu, Godflesh) - drums
Simon Scott (Slowdive) - electronics
Aidan Baker (Nadja) - guitar
Colin Marston (Krallice, Behold... the Arctopus) - guitar
Vern Rumsey (Unwound) - bass
Prurient (Dominick Fernow of Hospital Productions, Cold Cave, etc) - noise / electronics
James Blackshaw (Young God Records solo artist, Current 93) - piano
Hildur Gudnadottir (Touch Records) - cello
Aaron Stainthorpe (My Dying Bride) - vocals
Jonas Renkse (Katatonia) - vocals
Marissa Nadler (Kemado Records solo artist, appears on Xasthur's latest record) - vocals
David Tibet (Current 93) - cover art
Faith Coloccia (Mamiffer) - design, layout, painting, collage

Sailors With Wax Wings may appear to be a collection of the talents and ideas of various musicians, but those ideas weren’t just thrown into a blender. R. Loren meticulously crafted the album to ensure that no note was missing and no note was wasted. The album is a complete, cohesive experience, one that envelops the listener and rocks him to sleep with alien lullabies. Sailors With Wax Wings is a prime example of R. Loren doing what he does best: acquiring the means to realize an idea and using them to their full potential.

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Weezer-Death to False Metal (2010)

No, Hurley was not enough for Rivers Cuomo and his band. The later released Death To False Metal is actually a bunch of previously unreleased tracks from all the way back to the Pinkerton era remastered. As for the Album overall, it's a decent effort but it's not a classic like I was hoping. I was hoping for this to be as good as the older days of Weezer but what we get is basically post blue album Weezer. More like Make Believe/ Red Album. Overall, if you're a fan of Rivers and Co. give this album a much needed listen but just be forewarned , this isn't going to be on the same level on the classics but it is still enjoyable overall.