Top 74 of 2012

 2012 - A slow year on SIART as far as posts go... Still, I listened to plenty of music this year, and seeing as how it's been a few years since I've done a best of list I decided to get into the year end spirit and offer up the records that made my year brighter. I haven't ranked them, but the top 5 would probably be my faves of the year. And yeah, it's 74, not 75. That is just the way it worked out. The one record that should be on here but isn't is Unknown Mortal Orchestra's self titled album from 2011. I discovered it the last week of 2011 and played it almost all of 2012. Still listen to it regularly. Can't wait for their new one next month - should make 2013's best of!

    1    Violens - True
    2    Whomadewho - Brighter
    3    Tame Impala - Lonerism
    4    TOY - Toy
    5    Pond - Beards, Wives, Denim
    6    Metric - Synthetica
    7    Bob Hund - Later Som Miljarder
    8    Donald Fagen - Sunken Condos
    9    Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes
    10    Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor II
    11    Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits
    12    Smile - A Flash In The Night
    13    Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Trouble
    14    Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Meat And Bone
    15    Com Truise - In Decay
    16    Menomena - Moms
    17    Sam Sparro - Return To Paradise
    18    Breton - Other People's Problems
    19    Orbital - Wonky
    20    Thee Satisfaction - Awe Naturale
    21    The Time & Space Machine - Taste The Lazer
    22    Plug 1 & Plug 2 present First Serve
    23    Allah-Las - Allah-Las
    24    John Cale - Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood
    25    The 2 Bears - Be Strong
    26    Gotye - Making Mirrors
    27    Lovelock - Burning Feeling
    28    Bobby Womack - The Bravest Man In The Universe
    29    Scissor Sisters - Magic Hour
    30    Santigold - Master of My Make Believe
    31    Kimbra - Vows
    32    Amadou & Mariam - Folila
    33    Barry Adamson - I Will Set You Free
    34    Fac Dance 2 compilation
    35    Chromatics - Kill For Love
    36    Crocodiles - Endless Flowers
    37    Daphni - Jialong
    38    The Darcys - Aja
    39    David Byrne & St. Vincent - Love This Giant
    40    Frankie Rose - Interstellar
    41    Graham Coxon - A+E
    42    The Herbaliser - There Were Seven
    43    Hot Chip - in Our Heads
    44    Jah Wobble & Keith Levene - Yin And Yang
    45    John Talabot - fin
    46    Mark Lanegan Band - Blues Funeral
    47    Miike Snow - Happy To You
    48    Phenomenal Handclap Band - Form & Control
    49    The Raveonettes - Observator
    50    St. Etienne - Words and Music By...
    51    Spoek Mathambo - Father Creeper
    52    Stars - The North
    53    Tanlines - Mixed Emotions
    54    thenewno2 - Thefearofmissingout
    55    Yeasayer - Fragrant World
    56    Frank Ocean - channel ORANGE
    57    DJ Food - The Search Engine
    58    Big Boi - Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors
    59    Bear In Heaven - I Love You, It's Cool
    60    Chrome Canyon - Elemental Themes
    61    Solid Gold - Eat Your Young
    62    Jason Lytle - Dept. of Disappearance
    63    PIL - This Is PIL
    64    Reptar - Body Faucet
    65    Robot Orchestra - Beat The Odds
    66    Shawn Lee - Synthesizers in Space
    67    Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Crown And Treaty
    68    Todd Terje - It's The Arps
    69    Zombie Zombie - Rituels d'un Nouveau Monde
    70    Lindstrøm - Six Cups of Rebel/Smalhans
    71    BNLX - LP
    72    Actress - R.I.P.
    73    Grimes - Visions
    74    Four Tet - Pink

Tis the season...

... for posting my fave little compilation of Christmas music - hope you enjoy it!

Holiday Cheer from siart on 8tracks Radio.

Enjoy this little Xmas mix tape. It has a bunch of fun holiday music, both traditional classics and some leftfield gems too. A great soundtrack for whatever you are doing - decorating, dinner, cocktails. Happy holidays from SIART!

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love
Christmas in Hollis: Run D.M.C. - Very Special Christmas
White Christmas - The Drifters
Happy Christmas - John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir
Merry Christmas Baby - Otis Redding
Wonderful Christmas Time - Paul McCartney
Sleigh Ride - Ella Fitzgerald
Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band Aid
Blue Christmas - The Platters
Christmas Song - The Raveonettes
Happy Christmas - The Maytals
Happy Christmas - Pretenders
The Christmas Song - Marvin Gaye
Last Christmas - George Michael
Christmas Ain't Christmas, New Years Ain't New Years Without The One You Love - The O'Jays
Christmas Time Is Here Again - The Flirtations
It's Christmas Time - Yo La Tengo
All I Want For Christmas - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Christmas Reindeer - The Knife
Soulful Christmas - James Brown
White Christmas - The Flaming Lips
Christmas Rappin' - Kurtis Blow
I Was Born on Christmas Day - Saint Etienne
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Frank Sinatra
Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses

Hush Delirium

 If you are a fan of ambient/drone/instrumental/shoegaze music listen up - this is some very nice stuff!

Hush Delirium is an art / music project created by Mark Gardener (Ride) and artist Simon Welford. The concept is simple - the musicians involved in the project each create a piece of instrumental music that is supplied to Simon Welford. He then uses that piece of music as inspiration to create artwork that he feels is representative of the piece supplied. Once all the art is created it is then exhibited in gallery style exhibitions with the music being played at the same time, giving visitors to the exhibitions the complete ‘Hush Delirium’ concept.

The line up of talent involved at present includes Mark Gardener (Ride), Aziz Ibrahim (Ian Brown, Stone Roses, Paul Weller, Simply Red), Dean Garcia (Curve / SPC ECO), Adam Franklin (Swervedriver), Perry Pelonero (A Star / Bliss City East / SPC ECO/ Project Morpheme), Jaq Gallier, Chatham Rise (Minneapolis hoegaze band), Her Vanished Grace (New York dream pop band) and The Cult of Dom Keller (Nottingham psychedelic rockers).

The project is offering up a 9 track free download at their Bandcamp page and it is well worth checking out! Connect with Hush Delirium on Facebook.

The Stars

Catching Flies is a 21 year old producer from London. He is very fond of vinyl crackle, but doesn’t like pigeons. His tunes are lovely and laid back - kind of puts me in the mind of Onra or Bullion. You can nab this EP for free from his Bandcamp or from Facebook...

!K7 27

Venerable dance label !K7 turns 27 years old this year. As part of the celebration they are giving away a free single every Tuesday for the next month. Two songs from two different bands. First up is When Saints Go Machine b/w Motor City Drum Ensemble - very nice! Stream or down load the tracks below...

Fallout & Fire

R. Ring are The Breeders’ Kelley Deal and Ampline’s Mike Montgomery. Misra Records will release their debut 7” “Fallout & Fire” b/w “See” on October 30, 2012.

Swim & Sleep (Like A Shark)

Unknown Mortal Orchestra are one of SIART's favorite indie rock acts. Their debut album pulled me in with it's sinewy guitars and bumping beats, blending smoky psychedelia and soulful grooves. The band has just signed with Jagjaguwar to release it's new album in 2013. They have just released a teaser called Swim & Sleep (Like A Shark) which picks up where the album left off. Nice beats and a tasty ass guitar riff. Enjoy!

Killer

2:54 are sisters Hannah and Colette Thurlow. They will be opening for The xx on their upcoming US tour. This is their cover of the Seal classic "Killer"...

TOY

25 Years of Delicious Vinyl!

 DJ Pete Rock has taken some of the finest moments from the Delicious Vinyl vaults and mixed them all up to celebrate the label's 25th anniversary. If you're a fan of the label's particular brand of old skool you are in for a treat!

Time To Face The Day

The Time & Space Machine aka Richard Norris is set to put out a second single from his Taste The Lazer album. The album is definitely SIART approved - a delightful blend of psychedelic rock, spacy synths and the summery likes of Good Morning. If you've enjoyed Norris' remix work as half of Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve it is likely that you will enjoy The Time & Space Machine. He takes that remix ethos and applies it to an album full of originals and it is very entertaining. The single is out July 23rd and comes with three lovely remixes by Leftside Wobble, Saint Etienne and Coyote. The track also has a cool Pete Fowler and Oscar Granse animated video worth checking out.

The Time & Space Machine on Facebook

Buy CD: http://bit.ly/HDWkeU
Buy 2 x 12" LP: http://bit.ly/Irxss9

iTunes: http://bit.ly/Pdr9Nh
Beatport: http://s.beatport.com/N9KTxG

Saint Saviour

Saint Saviour is a singer and songwriter from Teeside in the north east of England. She started out in electro band The RGBs before going on to sing with Groove Armada, co-writing on their album Black Light. She is now a solo artist and is about to release her debut album, Union. Her voice will put you in the mind of some of the beloved British singers like Kate Bush and Elizabeth Fraser. The music is veers from gentle electronics to full on indie rock, and her taste in covers is good (Siouxsie! M83!). She is about to perform at Lovebox 2012, where Grace Jones is a featured performer, and she has written a song in her honor. Have a listen to a few things - I think you'll like her...
____________________ Saint Saviour on Facebook

Upcoming Legendary

Dubplate Dionysus was an idea formed in 2012 by friends Fred Royster, a graphic designer by day, remixer/producer by night and Matt Keppel, lyricist/vocalist of electronic pop act Microfilm. They had an idea to celebrate the dancefloor ecstasy of the late ‘80s/early ‘90s era of Chicago House, freestyle, and electrofunk all within the structure of a dancefloor-ready pop act. ‘Upcoming Legendary’ is the first in a series of singles coming out later in 2012 and moving in to 2013. A debut album is also in the writing and planning stages. The track is pretty banging... Dubplate Dionysus on Facebook

Scream Therapy

Therapist is a three piece indie band with members Suz residing in Phoenix, AZ, and Ant and Marco, both residing in California. They are shouty post-punk dance rock practitioners, and I love that shit. Suz sings with the right amount of snark and snarl and the music is tight and angular. Blake Miller from Moving Units delivers a tasty remix of their single I Know What I Want. Download their new Heart Beats EP @ Bandcamp - name your own price!

RIYL: Moving Units, The Rapture, Death From Above 1979, Glass Candy, The Chinese Stars



Bandcamp / Facebook / Soundcloud / Blog

Sunburn

Baio - Tanto feat. Matias Aguayo
Baio is the new solo project from Chris Baio, bass player for Vampire Weekend. His debut SUNBURN EP will be released on May 21st on Greco-Roman. Tanto is a delightfully off kilter electronic disco track with a whiff of summer-y steel drums. Nice.

Greco-Roman / Baio on Facebook / Twitter

Silk Threads...

Sarah Nixey's new EP is called Silk Threads. Her fave remixers , electronic duo Microfilm, have cooked up a couple of different versions, and are offering up the Unraveled Remix as a free download. The EP is out April 23rd.

Lover Motion

Ben Browning - Feels Like Cut Copy bassist Ben Browning on the solo tip. Lover Motion is his new EP. Gus Franklin and Haima Marriott (Architecture in Helsinki) were enlisted to add production and shimmer, Lachlan Dickie provided live-drums to some of the original tracks and Cut Copy's own Dan Whitford and his collection of vintage synths provided keyboard programming, producing some of the classic keyboard tones you hear. The ending result is some tasty electro pop rock that isn't too far removed from his band's musical realm. Feels Like rides a popping bass line to smoothville. Very nice. Click the Soundcloud link to listen to the whole EP. Facebook / Soundcloud / Buy on iTunes

Funky Friday

Plug 1 & Plug 2 from De La Soul are putting out an album next week as First Serve. If you're looking for some old skool Three Feet High & Rising type party jams you've come to the right place!
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One of my current musical obsessions is the Hot Chip side project The 2 Bears. Their album Be Strong is a bumping set of tracks that are funky and humorous - deep house vibes with a big helping of reggae riddims thrown in. Here is a cool remix they did, as well as the stomping Bear Hug.




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Take genre hopper Damon Albarn, mix in Afro drummer extraordinaire Tony Allen and the funky bass of Flea and sprinkle liberally with Erykah Badu. Delicious!
Rocket Juice and the Moon – Hey Shooter (feat. Erykah Badu) by Fuse Group Australia

Sure

May The Funk Be With You...

Headnodic's
Funky Star Wars
A 40 minute mix of the funkiest Star Wars cover tunes of the 70's & 80's.
You know you need it...

Love Forever

The Mary Onettes - Love's Taking Strange WaysSweden's The Mary Onettes have a new EP coming out on February 28th. Called Love Forever, it features production by Dan Lissvik. It will be available as a digital download as well as a limited edition vinyl (1000 copies). Pre-order yours here!

A Few Choice Tracks...

Here are a few new bits of music floating around the interwebs today. Shigeto has a mini LP which is lovely and Huron River Drive should prove it to you. Also enjoy a St. Etienne remix of The 2 Bears, as well as a spaced out Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas remix of Roxy Music's Avalon. Excellent.

Destination

Barry Adamson - Destination (Mush Remix)
From his forthcoming 10th album I Will Set You Free (2/14/12 - Central Control)
Barry Adamson

Brugada

Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Brugada
A new track taken from the forthcoming album Crown and Treaty (out 4/16/12), the follow up to their Mercury Music Prize nominated album (Twice Born Men - 2009).

Sweet Billy Pilgrim / Facebook

Paddling Out

Miike Snow - Paddling Out
Miike Snow are finally putting out their new album Happy to You on March 27th. This is a little taster of what is to come - nice, house-y feel to it.

Big Mouth

The return of Santigold! Here is the video for her new song Big Mouth, produced by Switch & Buraka Sound System. Can't wait to hear more new music...
Santigold - Big Mouth

Casablanca Reworks

Gomma All Stars feat. Peaches present: Casablanca Reworks

4 tracks from the classic '70s label Casablanca Records. The songs were originally performed by Stephanie Mills, Skatt Bros, Donna Summer and Michael Sembello, and are interpreted here by Telonius, Moullinex, Munk and The Phenomenal Handclap Band - with some help from Peaches. Very entertaining!

Blast

The Sevateem - Blast

Blast by The Sevateem
Sevateem are the husband and wife duo of Christian Erickson and Janey Winterbauer. Minneapolis scenesters for some 20 years now, they used to have an electro pop band called Astronaut Wife. This track is their first new venture in a while, and continues their sweet electro pop experimentation.

Friendly Fires' "Pala Remixes"