Albums(!) of the Week: Zongamin and Serene Velocity Sorry for the terrible lateness, I’ve had a bit too much on my hands lately… To make up for that today’s post will be a double one! These two albums are fantastic electronic albums that are great listens while coding. The first album was a brand new discovery for me and it’s a 2003 release from the Japanese band Zongamin. It’s a collection of infectious rhythms and riffs that will addict you to listening to it on repeat endlessly. Highly recommended.

The second album is an anthology (2006) of some of English band Stereolab’s greatest hits while on the label Elektra Records. It’s a chronological collection of some of their best songs and they are all great listens. You do notice the sonic evolution throughout the album and it makes for a very interesting listening experience. Also a great album.

  zongamin        serene-velocity

I hope you enjoy both albums! If you want to preview them I highly recommend Spotify. Thanks João for the recommendation of Spotify :)

]]> (CC!) Album of the Week: Chip Hero I’ve wanted to feature a Creative Commons licensed album for ages, and this week the perfect opportunity appeared as I found this awesome website of a collective of artists, 8bitpeoples, that love the video game music sound and feel (as I very much do as well!). So, this week’s album might feel odd to those of you who don’t find 8-bit sounding electronic music that appealing. I love it though, it really places the focus on the arrangements, melodies and “instruments” that you can pull off with common basic electronic sounds. The release I’m featuring here is from Cornbeast and was one of the ones that grabbed my attention the most. Hope you enjoy listening to it as well.

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All the tracks are free downloads on their website and I do encourage you to check out more of their releases and support them if you really like their music.

]]> Album of the Week: Beast Moans 9652-beast-moans

All fires have to burn alive to live…

(Apologies for the strangeness of the last entries, but I just couldn’t let this gem slide past. Hope you like it! It was definitely a grower for me…)

]]> Album of the Week: Close To Paradise This week, quite a rushed post as I’m in my last week of exams and indeed have an exam in a couple of hours. However, I’d like to feature an amazing album by the Canadian Patrick Watson. Their 2006 album Close to Paradise is to me the soundtrack to an epic boat trip in the rain guided by a very unique voice (yeah, exams do this to me..).

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In their (quite nice!) official website you can download two awesome tracks: Luscious Life and Giver. Hope you like it.

Oh, and I just noticed that the Wordpress update ruined my K2 layout! I’ll try to fix it when I get my free time back after this awful exam period. Sorry about that!

]]> Album of the Week: Apologies to the Queen Mary This week, another album from the same bag of uncontrolled strange vocals that brought you Tears of the Valedictorian :) . I’m featuring the debut album from the Canadian band Wolf Parade, titled Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005). I was addicted to this album a couple of years ago and recently came back to it and got addicted all over again. It’s such a neat and unique album with some interesting lyrics and of course interesting vocals. If weird vocals are not your thing you might want to skip this one, but if you liked Tears of the Valedictorian I think you’ll also love this album!

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These two video clips will give you a sampler of two amazing tracks from the album, and they are pretty cool videoclips themselves. Hope you like it.

]]> Album of the Week: Asleep In The Back Most of you by now have probably heard about the band Elbow, through their critically acclaimed latest album “The Seldom Seen Kid” (especially with Grounds for Divorce being featured on the “Burn After Reading” trailer). So, I’m not here to talk to you about how great it is (it is amazing so if you haven’t heard it whole go check it out right now!). The album I’m featuring this week is their 2001 debut album, Asleep In The Back. It is impressive how they have had a unique and varied sound right from their debut album, with very different kinds of song nicely executed (for instance “Red” and “Bitten by the Tailfly”). It is slightly darker than the aforementioned Seldom Seen Kid and overall it is well worth a listen. I hope you like it as well!

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You can listen to Bitten By The Tailfly on grooveshark lite, which is in a totally different style than their most recent work. Also, if you enjoyed this album you do want to check out the rest of their work, especially Cast of Thousands, which has some really great tracks.

]]> Album of the Week: Myth Takes And it happens again… another album which I had wanted to listen for the longest time but never did makes it to album of the week. This time, I finally gave a listen to critically acclaimed Myth Takes by the awkwardly named band !!! (chk chk chk). This album progresses from over the top party dance songs to some more grounded indie rock ones towards the end. It’s very unique and interesting throughout and a nifty blend of musical styles and instruments. Highly recommended if you’re feeling like something a bit more uptempo!

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You can listen to a neat selection of tracks from it on the band’s official website (I also really highlight Bend Over Beethoven which is not available there).  Hope you like it!

]]> Album of the Week: No Shouts No Calls This album is phenomenal. An all-time favourite from the British band Electrelane, I always come back to it. Their sound is extremely unique and organic, and I think the whole album is worth a listen. Alongside the album, the songs wave in tempo, going from very intense to very calm in a really nice way. I think that most people know this album by their well-known To The East but there is so much more in the album that I think everyone should give it a listen start to finish. I hope you like it as much as I did!

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I really look forward to checking out more of their work and I probably should! You can listen to another amazing track from the album (Saturday), on grooveshark lite.

]]> Album of the Week: Merriweather Post Pavillion This week I finally came around to listen to an album I’ve been wanting to listen to since it was released – the critically acclaimed Merriweather Post Pavillion from the American band (with some Portuguese connections (!)) Animal Collective. Their work is always extremely unique and alternative, with my only criticism being that some of it might be too experimental and uncanny for getting addicted to (for me). This album keeps the uniqueness but appears to have found a balance with a more familiar sound, so if you found their previous albums too weird you will want to give this one a try. It’s a really interesting release indeed. Oh and love the optical illusion on the cover!

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You can listen to My Girls on grooveshark lite, which by the way didn’t stop popping in my head relentlessly during the rest of the day. Have fun kicking it out! :)

]]> Album of the Week: Visiter Apologies for a very rushed album of the week post, but here it is, the sophomoric release from the american band The Dodos. This is a great unique little album, I hope you like it. I would define them as freak folk, and they do really feel like both freak and folk :) . Most of their songs have amazing “stampeding” percussion, but even the calmer ones hold up as very instrumentally unique as well (try listening to “Winter”). They were supporting Okkervil River when I saw them here in London and they were also really good live, their songs get even louder and more powerful.

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You can listen to a great song from it, Fools, from their official website. Enjoy!

]]> Album of the Week: In the Reins This week’s album is not an album, strictly speaking, but an EP. However, it’s such an extraordinary collaboration between two amazing artists, Calexico and Iron and Wine, that it is well worth mentioning. They’re both highly recommended but this colaboration just blew me away. The hushed vocals by the singers merge beautifully with the folksy/mexican sound so typical of Calexico. The combination sounds very grounded, natural and relaxed. Great album to cheer you up on a bad day (worked for me!). Only downside is… it’s over too soon, but it’s well worth it!

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As usual, you can listen to a song from it on grooveshark lite. If you liked this and weren’t familiar with both Calexico and Iron and Wine I recommend checking out their solo work as well!

]]> Album of the Week: Lost Souls Again, revisiting some old albums, this time for another of my all-time favourite bands, the English band Doves. I usually like their very full and atmospheric sound, in their latest albums (e.g. Sky Starts Falling from Some Cities). However, their debut album Lost Souls, is refreshingly different. It’s a lot simpler, more acoustic and quieter. It’s a nice album to relax to, or even to start the day. It works for me as that kind of ethereal nice songs which put you in a good mood, even though they’re not extremely happy. I guess it’s still atmospheric, just not in the full wall of sound way they employ in their latest albums. There are some skippers for me, but overall the album is extremely enjoyable.

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You can listen to The Man Who Told Everything on grooveshark lite. Enjoy! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go to their show as it sold out, but I’d definitely like to go to their concert while here in London.

]]> (Weird) Album of The Week: Tears of the Valedictorian This week I’ve been revisiting an album I had heard in the past but didn’t get my attention too much except for one track (Bushels). I’m talking about the 2007 album from Frog Eyes, Tears of the Valedictorian. Now, this might not be an album for everybody’s taste, Carey’s vocals are quite emotional and uncontrolled (but that’s part of the charm) and it gets downright weird in parts. However I feel like the combination of both his voice and the instrumental track (especially the “hammered” piano) makes up for a very unique combination. You are encouraged to check it out (especially Bushels, as I referred), but don’t say I didn’t warn you! (The people who know my musical taste were probably by now wondering where the hell were the uncontrolled weird vocals, so here you go!). You can get the full Bushels mp3 from Pitchfork.

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Also, feedback is more than welcome, the comment threads have been empty lately, so if you have words of win or fail please leave them in the comments!

]]> Album of the Week: Rook This week’s album is a bit more relaxed. Shearwater was started by members of the previously featured Okkervil River, to house a different style they wanted to work on, which is somewhat more organic and quiet. Their latest album, Rook, came out in 2008, and in my opinion defines their style very well. They evoke very soothing soundscapes through unique sounds that still sound very grounded and “earthy”. Highly recommended!

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You can listen to some amazing tracks from it on their website.

]]> Album of the Week: You In Reverse This week, something slightly more conventional (at times). These guys have been on frequent rotation on my player ever since woxy.com featured them as album of the year (again, nicely done). I’m talking about the 2006 album You In Reverse by the american rock band Built to Spill.

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Instrumentally it is pretty much standard rock but melodically and vocally I find it to be quite unique. Their songs also have an evolving feel to them, and indeed some of them are quite huge in duration. You can listen to some songs from their official website, and last time I tried it kicked right off with the album opener Going Against Your Mind, which at 8:42 duration is a prime example of the evolution that I just mentioned. Enjoy!

]]> Album of the Week: The Rhumb Line This week I’m featuring an amazing new band, from New York,  called Ra Ra Riot. I started listening to them when they had only launched an EP and listened to their lounge acts in the internet radio station WOXY.com (which I highly recommend). They usually use strings (violins, cellos..) as a big component in the songs which gives them a very distinctive sound.

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Their debut album is free to stream from last.fm, so no excuse not to check it out! As usual, if you like it, I’d suggest buying a copy to support this amazing starting band, which is already so promising.

Also, they’re coming to London on the 17th February and I’ve already got my tickets! Can’t wait!

]]> Album of the Week: I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

I’ve been revisiting some music I had in my hard drive and this 2006 album struck me for its diversity and experimentalism throughout. I’m talking about the album (with a huge title) I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, by the American band Yo La Tengo. The two sample tracks below are available on their website and show pretty well the diversity that’s part of the album, from quite noisy and edgy to mellow and playful. Give it a listen!

Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind:
Beanbag Chair:

]]> Album of the Week: Working for a Nuclear Free City For something completely different this week, I’m going for a more electronic album. This is the self-titled debut album from the amazing English band Working for a Nuclear Free City.

Working for a Nuclear Free City

Full streaming tracks from last.fm so no excuse for not checking them out!

This album has an urban quietness to it that I really appreciate, if that makes any sense. It’s an amazing album to daydream to, as I find it very evocative of urban landscapes. I also really like the way that it’s not overmastered which lends to its quietness and dreamy feeling.

Enough of my lousy attempt at trying to describe what you’ll feel, go listen to it and experience for yourself! Highly recommended.

]]> Album of the Week: The Stand Ins

This week I’ll highlight another of my all-time favourite bands. When I went to see them in Shepherd’s Bush Empire (with the Dodos!) I hadn’t yet heard the new album and was blown away by the new songs. It really is an extraordinary album, which was originally devised as the second part of The Stage Names (as the matching artwork shows), another extraordinary album. This one has a surprising farewell song, Lost Coastlines, with Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg doing a smooth vocal along with Will Sheff, which makes this song one of the most memorable songs, comparing their experience as a band to an epic boat journey, and collapsing into an epic chant of “la la la”. Also lyricswise, some very interesting meta criticism of pop singers in Pop Lie, “and you’re lying when you sing along”. Instrumentally diverse and very unique, highly recommended indeed!

Update: I guess I forgot to mention the band I was talking about! It was in the cover art, but for the record I’m talking about the awesome american band Okkervil River.

]]> Album of the Week: Return to the Sea Last week’s album was pretty much a downer (an excellent one though), so I thought this week I’d pick a more uplifting album. This week’s album is a 2006 release that I sadly overlooked and that has become my favourite album of 2008, when I first heard it. I’m talking about the debut album from the Canadian band Islands, called Return to the Sea.

This album captivated my attention from the first listen, and it is totally representative of what I look for in music. It is very unique, in times edgy, in times funny (lovely lyrics), extremely varied and very organic. I genuinely think that there is something in it for everyone. If you hate it, sorry that it’s not for you, but I’m being totally honest in here, I adored this album and listened to it endlessly. I particularly love the instrument variety and the drum work in the album, which makes some drum parts the lead parts for me and makes the drums feel like part of the arrangement and not just filler. I would highlight every track of it (maybe a bit less for Where There’s a Will There’s a Whalebone rap), and here is the amazing and epic album opener Swans (Life After Death):

]]> Album of the Week: The Midnight Organ Fight It’s time to clarify what I meant by “resolutions” and “sneak peek” in the previous entry. Well, I realized how important music is to me, it makes me happier and more motivated when I see such amazing artists pull out original sounds and rhythms. So, I’ve decided that this year, every week, around the weekend, I am going to do a post highlighting the album that I found most interesting in the past week. This will also make me follow the latest releases a lot more closely, which is a good thing for me as well!
This week, the artist I’m going to highlight is Frightened Rabbit with their latest studio album The Midnight Organ Fight. From Wikipedia:

Frightened Rabbit are a Scottish indie rock band from Selkirk, Scotland, consisting of Scott Hutchison (vocals, guitar), Grant Hutchison (drums, vocals), Billy Kennedy (guitar, keyboards, bass) and Andy Monaghan (keyboards, guitar, bass). The band has so far released two studio albums, with their second, The Midnight Organ Fight, receiving widespread critical acclaim.

Indeed it is an amazing album! I love almost the entire album, with particular highlights for The Modern Leper, Good Arms vs Bad Arms, Backwards Walk and Keep Yourself Warm. The lyrics range from very brutal and real to very subjective but clearly personal. I really like the musical arrangements and the overall uniqueness of their sound as well as the emotional vocals. I haven’t yet checked out their early work (except for the christmas albums) but I really look forward to it. Meanwhile, as their awesome label (FatCat) allows you to preview full-length at their website, I highly encourage you to go listen to it and if you like it, buy the album.

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