Saturday 18 August 2012

Top 20 Albums 2010-2012, Pt. 2

11) Artist: BADBADNOTGOOD
      Album: BBNG2
      Year: 2012
      From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
      Key Tracks: Earl, Rotten Decay, Flashing Lights
      Current price on Play.com: Unavailable (too cool)



12) Artist: Connan Mockasin
      Album: Forever Dolphin Love
      Year: 2011
      From: Te Awanga, New Zealand
      Key Tracks: Forever Dolphin Love, Megumi The Milkyway Above, It's 
      Choade My Dear
      Current price on Play.com: €11.49
      WARNING: This album is equal parts strange and beautiful, and maybe 
      disturbing all at once.
      Also worth checking out his acoustic version of 'Megumi'  




13) Artist: The Drums
      Album: Portamento
      Year: 2011
      From: Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
      Key Tracks: Book of Revelations, Days, What You Were
      Current price on Play.com: €10.49




14) Artist: Gang Gang Dance
      Album: Eye Contact
      Year: 2011
      From: Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
      Key Tracks: Mindkilla, Glass Jar, Romance Layers
      Current price on Play.com: €10.99




15) Artist: CunninLynguists
      Album: Oneirologoy
      Year: 2011
      From: Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.A.
      Key Tracks: Hard As They Come (Act I), Stars Shine Brightest (In The 
      Night Sky), Looking Back
      Current price on Play.com: Unavailable




16) Artist: The Bambi Molesters
      Album: As The Dark Wave Swells
      Year: 2011
      From: Sisak, Croatia
      Key Tracks: As The Dark Wave Swells, Wrong Turn, Into The Crimson   
      Sunset
      Current price on Play.com: €20.21 (or €9.49 mp3 download)
      Pulp Fiction meets The Good, The Bad and the Fugly



17) Artist: The Dead Weather
      Album: Sea of Cowards
      Year: 2010
      From: Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A.
      Key Tracks: Hussle & Cuss, Blue Blood Blues, I'm Mad, I Can't Hear You
      Current price on Play.com: €13.46
     



18) Artist: Beach House
     Album: Teen Dream
     Year: 2010
     From: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
     Key Tracks: Zebra, Silver Soul, Norway, 10 Mile Stereo, Real Love
     Current price on Play.com: €7.49 (buy it now - possibly my best album of  
     the last 3 years)
     




19) Artist: The Black Keys
      Album: Brothers
      Year: 2010
      From: Akron, Ohio, U.S.A.
      Key Tracks: Too many to select, at the moment Never Gonna Give You Up
      Current price on Play.com: €7.49 - another bargain, highly recommended




20) Artist: M83
      Album: Hurry Up We're Dreaming
      Year: 2011
      From: Antibes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
      Key Tracks: Midnight City, Reunion, Splendor
      Current price on Play.com: €9.96
      As an introduction I would highly recommend the excellent album   
      Saturdays=Youth




Thursday 9 August 2012

Top 20 Albums 2010-2012, Pt. 1

Below, via the medium of Youtube videos, I've set out the first 10 of my Top 20 albums since the beginning of 2010, in no particular order;

1) Artist: Beach House
    Album: Bloom
    Year: 2012
    From: Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Key Tracks: Myth, Wild, Wishes
    Current price on Play.com: €12.98 (or a signed copy for €13.49)



 
2) Artist: Jack White
    Album: Blunderbuss
    Year: 2012
    From: Detroit, Michigan
    Key Tracks: Missing Pieces, Sixteen Saltines, Freedom At 21, I'm Shakin'
    Current price on Play.com: €6.46



3) Artist: SBTRKT
    Album: SBTRKT
    Year: 2011
    From: London, U.K.
    Key Tracks: Hold On, Wildfire, Trials Of The Past, Pharaohs
    Current price on Play.com: €9.48



4) Artist: The Black Keys
    Album: El Camino
    Year: 2011
    From: Akron, Ohio
    Key Tracks: Lonely Boy, Gold On The Ceiling, Dead and Gone, Little Black     
                     Submarines, Money Maker
    Current price on Play.com: €10.49
    Footnote: The below video for Little Black Submarines really kicks off at     
                  2:39



5) Artist: Wolf People
    Album: Steeple
    Year: 2010 
    From: Bedford, North Yorkshire & London, U.K.
    Key Tracks: Silbury Sands, Tiny Circle, Painted Cross, Cromlech
    Current price on Play.com: €9.48



6) Artist: The Radio Dept.
    Album: Clinging To A Scheme
    Year: 2010
    From: Malmo, Sweden
    Key Tracks: Domestic Scene, Heaven's On Fire, This Time Around, Never  
                     Follow Suit
    Current price on Play.com: €11.07



7) Artist: Kanye West
    Album: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
    Year: 2010
    From: Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.
    Key Tracks: Power, Dark Fantasy, All Of The Lights, Runaway
    Current price on Play.com: €6.92
     


8) Artist: King Fantastic
    Album: Finger Snaps And Gun Claps
    Year: 2010
    From: L.A., California, U.S.A.
    Key Tracks: Stop Fucking Playing, All Black Ying Yang (The Party Song),   
    Bonfire Sessions, Hollyrock Jam Session
    Current price on Play.com: €9.49 (download only)



9) Artist: Cliff Martinez (& Various)
    Album: Drive OST
    Year: 2011
    Key Tracks: Nightcall, Under Your Spell, A Real Hero, Tick Of The Clock
    Current price on Play.com: €10.49




10) Artist: Bon Iver
      Album: Bon Iver
      Year: 2011
      From: Eau Claire, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
      Key Tracks: Perth, Calgary, Beth/Rest, Holocene
      Current price on Play.com: €10.49


     

Saturday 4 August 2012

Stevie Wright (Artist Profile)






Artist: Stevie Wright

Bio: Born 20th of December, 1948, Leeds, U.K., Wright went on to be considered Australia's first ever international rock icon. Between 1964-1969 he was the front man for Sydney group, The Easybeats, the most successful Australian export of the 1960's. Their one and only international hit, "Friday On My Mind" went to #1 in the Australian charts and reached #6 in the U.K. in 1966 and hit the Top Ten in France, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany in 1967. Following the break-up of The Easybeats, Stevie Wright embarked on his solo career, beginning with The Stevie Wright Band, before going under his own name. In 1974, his solo effort, Evie Parts 1,2 &  3 (performed live at the Sydney Opera House in the video above) reached #1 in Australia again, a meandering rock and soul opus lasting 12 minutes. The song "Black Eyed Bruiser", also above, featured recently on the soundtrack to Australian film Red Hill (2010), about a young police officer who leaves the city for a small sleepy town with his wife expecting their first child, and finds himself on his first day embroiled in a man's revenge attack on the local police force, worth a watch. 

Recommended Albums: Hard Road (1974) & Black Eyed Bruiser (1975).

Recommended Songs: Undoubtedly the two songs above, but also "My Kinda Music" & "Guitar Band" (tracks 4 & 5, Black Eyed Bruiser) and the title track off Hard Road.