Music Diary 2012: Day Seven

Time to wrap this up…

Sunday 13 May
Music listened to:	When listened to
Killing Heidi – Reflector	9:00 am
Mostly Autumn – Still Beautiful (Live 2011)	10:00 am
Renaissance – Tales of 1001 Nights Vol. I	4:00 PM

Music Diary 2012: Day Six

Between the Rio Pro Comp,  Delia’s softball game, Yellow Submarine and normal suburban hell…There was not much time for tuneage.

Saturday 12 May
Music listened to:	When listened to
Memoryhouse – The Years EP	10:20 am
Memoryhouse – The Slideshow Effect	1:00 PM
Alcest - Écailles de Lune	6:00 PM
Blood Ceremony – Blood Ceremony	6:30 PM
Stan Getz – Stan Getz in Stockholm	7:00 PM

Music Diary 2012: Day Five

Today, there was some serious heaviness and volume. You’ve been warned…

Friday 11 May
Music listened to:	When listened to
Mazzy Star – Amoug My Swan	7:15 am
The Adult Net – The Honey Tangle	8:25 am
Worm Ouroboros – Worm Ouroboros	10:20 am
Black Mountain – Year Zero: The Original Soundtrack	11:30 am
Ides of Gemini - The Disruption Writ EP	12:30 PM
Jex Thoth – Witness EP	12:50 PM
Armageddon - Armageddon	1:10 PM
Lightfoils - Lightfoils EP	2:00 PM
SPC ECO – Don’t Say EP	2:20 PM
SPC ECO – You Tell Me	3:00 PM
Untouchables- Wild Child	5:30 PM
Marisa Monte – A Great Noise	6:30 PM
Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto – Getz/Gilberto	7:30 PM

Music Diary 2012: Day Four

Truncated RioPro Surf coverage left more time for tuneage.

Thursday 10 May
Music listened to:	When listened to
Rain Parade – Emergency Third Rail Power Trip	7:50 am
Tamaryn – The Waves	12:15 PM
The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds	12:45 PM
Adalita – Adalita	1:30 PM
Adalita – Hot Air EP	2:30 PM
Widowspeak – Widowspeak	3:00 PM
Dum Dum Girls – Only In Dreams	3:40 PM
Mostly Autumn – Pass the Clock (Disc One: Something for the Spirit)	5:10 PM
Memoryhouse – The Slideshow Effect	6:00 PM

Music Diary 2012: Day Three

The Billabong Rio Pro webcast started today, so I thought this list would be quite short. After the comp, the paisley-surfer mellow kicked in with a vengence.

Wednesday 9 May
Music listened to:	When listened to
Marc Ribot  – Plays the Works of Frantz Casseus	7:00 am
Altered Images – Pinky Blue	8:00 am
Aesma Daeva – Dawn of the New Athens	9:30 am
Autour de Lucie - Faux Mouvement	4:00 PM
Mazzy Star – So Tonight That I Might See	6:30 PM
Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions – Through The Devil Softly	7:15 PM
The Three O’Clock – Baroque Hoedown	8:15 PM
Rainy Day – Rainy Day	8:40 PM

Music Diary 2012: Day Two

I oddly seem to have fallen into a two-fer Tuesday thing  this morning, go figure.

Tuesday 8 May
Music listened to:	When listened to
The Raveonettes – Into the Night EP	7:40 am
The Raveonettes - Raven in the Grave	8:00 am
Danielle Dax - Blast the Human Flower	8:40 am
Danielle Dax - Dark Adapted Eye	9:20 am
SummerSurf Tuneage (Playlist)	11:00 am
Salem 66 – Natural Disasters, National Treasures	1:30 PM
Altered Images – Happy Birthday	2:45 PM
Marisa Monte – A Great Noise	5:30 PM

The Music Diary 2012 – Day One

Today, I begin a week-long experiment with a Music Diary, at the suggestion of Lars. Over the next week, I will attempt to log all the music that I listen to for all 7 whole freaking days. Just remember, the observation of an event inevitably alters it.

Monday 7 May
Music listened to:	When listened to
SummerSurf Tuneage (Playlist)	8:20 am
Memoryhouse – The Slideshow Effect	10:15 am
Jex Thoth – Jex Thoth	11:00 am
Jex Thoth – Live at Roadburn 2010	11:45 am
Beach House – Bloom (way too many times)	12:35 PM
SummerSurf Tuneage (Playlist)	5:15 PM
Exitmusic – Passage	6:45 PM
Dexys Midnight Runners – Searching for the Young Soul Rebels	8:15 PM

Darkness and Despair on the Dancefloor: Top 5 Songs of 2011

2011…found me surfing deeper into pop, darkwave and shoegaze… and even venturing back in the world of electronica.  No rules here, just the best 5 of any 2011 released gems I happened upon.

5. Klee – Schmetterlingsflügelschlag
This is a lovely and glorious pop confection from the wonderful German band Klee. Suzie Kerstgens’ voice is soft and melodic as it darts around a lush indie-pop groove, and the song never falls into the trap of being fey or twee. Would someone get them a US distribution deal, for fuck’s sake?!! (yes, I’m a bit miffed at that)

Download it at: http://www.facebook.com/Kleemusik?sk=app_194428367271824

4. Burial Hex – In Psychic Defense
Clay Ruby is apparently ending this Dark/Drone/Ambient project Burial Hex. If this is true, then he is going out with a 20 minute plus bang. The song shifts mood and tone several times, and hearing Ruby stretch out his sound is nothing short of mind-blowing. The darkest and most beautiful thing I heard all year.  Steam it at Cvltnation.


3. Zola Jesus – Vessel
Zola Jesus’  Vessel is one seriously eerie and ambient track,..and it is also catchy-as-hell. The cold bleakness of the electronic soundscape is countered by Nika Danilova’s voice passionately calling down a nihilistic tempest that you cannot escape.  The song echos from the cave walls here. Live,  Zola Jesus was a ritualistic revelation (but that’s for another post).

2. The Grates – Turn Me On
On their new album, ‘Secret Rituals’, Australia’s (and Brooklyn’s) The Grates have turned down the in-your-face, youthful craziness of their earlier releases, and they have moved into darker, subtler and more mature hues. The result is dark, unsettling, aggressive and totally amazing shoegaze-pop. Again, someone distribute this here!!!

1. The Jezabels – Endless Summer
Another edgy and slightly dark pop act from Australia (see also: The Grates, Magic Dirt,  Midnight Oil, Divinyls, Killing Heidi, etc.,). Endless Summer is a classic summer single with a complex, dark narrative that can seem deceptively straightforward. The music mirrors this with lush melodies that can’t help from turning menacing. Darkness and light are held perfectly in balance. Deeply spiritual, dark, pop-bliss. Jackpot.

Top 10 Albums/EPs of 2011

Yes, 2011… my dear compatriot, let’s kick this out!

10. Ex Reverie – Praxis EP
I love the expansive reinterpretation of the 70′s  folk-prog-rock vibe Gillian has conjured.  It’s a gem.

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9. Malicorne -  Concert Exceptionel aux Francofolies de La Rochelle 2010
The 70′s French prog-folk collective quietly (and unquestionably) reasserted their relevance….simply magnificent!

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8. Blood Ceremony – Living with the Ancients
Bring the demonic DARKNESS!!!  Blood Ceremony created a beautiful and complex Rock album that will make fundamentalist Christians run and hide.  Well done!!!

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7. Patricia Petibon / Orquesta Nacional de España – Melancolía
The (fey/crazy/wonderful) french coloratura soprano takes on Spanish arias.  Passionate delivery of  beautiful music ensues.

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6. Elizaveta – EP

Gorgeous, artistic and accessible songs for grown-ups.  I feel like I’ve been waiting for something like this for years.  She was also trained in opera, and it shows. This is what they SHOULD be playing at Starbucks.

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5. Opera Lafayette – Philidor: ‘Sancho Panca dans son Ile’
Yes, they are a local DC ensemble and one of my favorites.  Still, this is delicate, hysterically funny and just wonderful music.

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4. Trembling Bells – The Constant Pageant
TB’s 3rd straight year in my top 10 list! What can I say? They have made ANOTHER masterpiece! Honest, challenging, beautiful and expansive…as always!

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3. Austra – Feel It Break
Pop-electronica with a slightly subversive/intellectual edge (missing since 1984 or so)  and  gorgeous vocals (another opera-trained voice). The NSFW video, linked below, bears witness to the Austra art.

AUSTRA : Beat and the Pulse (NSFW)
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2. Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls
This debut is nothing short of a indie-goth-pop masterpiece! Oddly, the jangley-surf-pop aspects just make it all darker…Brilliant.

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1. Zola Jesus – Conatus
You can cite her opera training/Siouxsie/Dead Can Dance/Kate Bush/Joy Division , but it would be reductive and not quite right. Conatus brings Zola Jesus fully into her own. Nika’s incredible voice wrestles with the existential questions over a primal beat. Think. Dance. Shriek. Transcend.  Best concert of 2011, too.

2012 – Looking Good So Far

2012 is off to a great start! Why is this? Here are a few reasons?

- The Surly Karate Monkey is now disc-brake-only
- The crap year that was 2011 is now gone
- Professional cycling is even less relevant
- Lots of great new music (Boy Friend, SVIIB, Memoryhouse, La Sera…you get the picture)
- Lots of concerts happening
- It’s the year the world ends (again)
- The Republican Primary campaign has been hysterical

Buckle up and stay tuned… it’s going to be fun!