radioSpin

AA.VV.
RS Top50 2011

So here we are: this year is coming to its end and it’s summing-up-time! It has been a really really hard work (but someone’s gotta do it, you know) to select the best albums of 2011. Obviously, no claim to be exahustive round here: it’s a matter of musical taste, and surely we’ve missed some fantastic release (we pre-apologize for that), but we’ve tried, and here are the RS-TOP20 album between the ones featured on radioSpin.
Let us know what you think about it.

01. RADIOHEAD – The King of Limbs
02. THE TWILIGHT SINGERS – Dynamite Steps
03. APPARAT – The Devil’s Walk
04. dEUS – Keep You Close
05. MOGWAI – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
06. MODESELEKTOR – Monkeytown
07. BIG CHARLIE – Too Little Too Late
08. ATARI – Can Eating Hot Stars Make Me Sick?
09. AUSTRA – Feel It Break
10. JUSTICE – Audio, Video, Disco
11. THE WOMBATS – This Modern Glitch
12. THE BLACK KEYS – El Camino
13. ZOLA JESUS – Conatus
14. MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA – Simple Math
15. DIGITALISM – I Love You, Dude
16. THE NEW DIVISION – Shadows
17. TYCHO – Dive
18. JANE’S ADDICTION – The Great Escape Artist
19. KING’S DAUGHTERS & SONS – If Then Not When
20. S.C.U.M. – Again Into Eyes

Here below (and, of course, inside the concerning section) a slighlty mixed exclusive podcast (downloadable at the end of the post) with the previous tracks. But that’s not enough: we’ve realized that there are some albums it wouldn’t be fair not to recall back: so this is why we go on with the rest of the chart to complete the RS-TOP50!

21. PJ HARVEY – Let England Shake
22. WILCO – The Whole Love
23. OKKERVIL RIVER – I Am Very Far
24. GOMEZ – Whatever’s On Your Mind
25. KATE WAX – Dust Collision
26. BVDUB – Resistance Is Beautiful
27. 65DAYSOFSTATIC – Silent Running
28. THE DUKE SPIRIT – Bruiser
29. PAUL KALKBRENNER – Icke Wieder
30. DANGER MOUSE & DANIELE LUPPI – Rome
31. FINK – Perfect Darkness
32. ALVA NOTO & RYUICHI SAKAMOTO – Summvs
33. AUTOKRATZ – Self-Help for Beginners
34. J MASCIS – Several Shades of Why
35. LADYTRON – Gravity the Seducer
36. LOW – C’mon
37. THE KILLS – Blood Pressure
38. JAMES BLAKE – James Blake
39. STATELESS – Matilda
40. ERRORS – Come Down With Me
41. RAFALE – Obsessions
42. BYETONE – Symeta
43. JUNIOR BOYS – It’s All True
44. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
45. SOFT METALS – Soft Metals
46. HANDSOME FURS – Sound Kapital
47. GOOSE – Synrise
48. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE – Codes & Keys
49. ARCTIC MONKEYS – Suck It and See
50. KASABIAN – Velociraptor!

AA.VV. selected by radioSpin – RS TOP20 2011

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MARTIN GORE
CLR Podcast #147

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Martin L. Gore for the first time on the CLR Podcast! Martin is widely known for his songwriting and musicianship in the band Depeche Mode and is also working successfully as a electronic music DJ and producer. Together with Vince Clarke he recorded a techno-inspired album under the project name VCMG, which will be released on Mute in the Spring of 2012. Martin also did a collaboration with the techno pioneers Motor, as vocalist on the first single of their upcoming album Man Made Machine. Martin L. Gore has been a massive inspiration for generations of music lovers, and for this CLR Podcast 147 he has recorded an exclusive studio techno set.

ARTIST: AA.VV. selected & mixed by Martin L. Gore
TITLE: CLR Podcast #147
LABEL: CLR
RELEASE DATE: December 19, 2011
TIME: 63:32 min.
WEB: http://www.clr.net/

01. ROBERT SWART – The Summit Blues [@00:00]
02. BOBBY DOWELL – Shift [@04:44]
03. AKRIS ELWOOD & BRYAN CORR – Blinf Faith [@08:43]
04. OLIVER HUNTEMANN – Delirium [@14:33]
05. JARVIS – Sidewinder [@21:00]
06. KOEN GRŒNVELD & ARTURO SILVESTRE – Dordogne [@26:44]
07. LANGER – Sensitive [@30:06]
08. A. TREBOR – Dark Outside [@35:55]
09. BYETONE – T-E-L-E-G-R-A-M-M [@41:25]
10. DOMINIK EULBERG – Teddy Tausendtod (stephan bodzin mix) [@44:45]
11. MOTOR – Man Made Machine (black asteroid mix) [@49:05]
12. VCMG – Spock [@53:51]
13. PIET BENDER – Liquid Sky [@57:34]
14. UMEK & BELTEK – Out of Play [@59:20]
15. REDSHAPE – Bonus Beatz [@62:10]

Byetone – T-E-L-E-G-R-A-M-M

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ZOMBY
Dedication

Zomby is both a purist and a perfectionist: one of the most talented producers of a generation and someone capable of negotiating skilfully between genres, be it jungle, dubstep, rave, garage or whatever tag you want to put on it. Couple this with the numerous and incredible 12″s, EPs and remixes and it’s clear just why he’s built quite a heady reputation for himself. Dedication continues to put Zomby at a distance from his peers: by the time they’ve caught up, he’ll no doubt be somewhere else entirely.

ARTIST: Zomby
TITLE: Dedication
LABEL: 4AD
RELEASE DATE: July 12, 2011
TIME: 35:41 min.
WEB: http://www.myspace.com/zombyproductions

01. Witch Hunt [01:47]
02. Natalia’s Song [04:04]
03. Alothea [02:49]
04. Black Orchid [01:34]
05. Riding with Death [02:03]
06. Vortex [01:58]
07. Things Fall Apart [02:51]
08. Salamander [00:52]
09. Lucifer [00:57]
10. Digital Rain [03:29]
11. Vanquish [00:59]
12. A Devil Lay Here [02:52]
13. Florence [01:40]
14. Haunted [02:18]
15. Basquiat [02:16]
16. Mozaik [03:12]

Zomby – Basquiat

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SLOW CLUB
Paradise

The first Slow Club record, Yeah So, was a poppy blast: it sounded a bit like the cuter, quieter White Stripes songs run through an amplifier. Just two years later, Paradise finds them expanding and deepening their sound without losing that initial freshness.

ARTIST: Slow Club
TITLE: Paradise
LABEL: Moshi Moshi
RELEASE DATE: September 13, 2011
TIME: 45:03 min.
WEB: http://www.slowclubband.com/

01. Two Cousins [03:50]
02. If We’re Still Alive [03:17]
03. Never Look Back [04:31]
04. Where I’m Waking [03:43]
05. Hackney Marsh [03:52]
06. Beginners [04:16]
07. You, Earth or Ash [04:28]
08. Gold Mountain [03:24]
09. The Dog [02:43]
10. Horse Jumping [10:59]

Slow Club – Two Cousins

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THE DEARS
Degeneration Street

The Canadian indie pop outfit The Dears return with a melodic and mood-driven new album, their fifth release of eclectic, dreamy rock: Degeneration Street. The band, reunited the original lineup that composed Lost in the Plot, delivers the passion and soul that has earned the adoration of fans and critics worldwide.

ARTIST: The Dears
TITLE: Degeneration Street
LABEL: Dangerbird
RELEASE DATE: February 25, 2011
TIME: 59:27 min.
WEB: http://www.thedears.org/

01. Omega Dog [05:01]
02. 5 Chords [03:35]
03. Blood [04:10]
04. Thrones [04:33]
05. Lamentation [04:20]
06. Torches [01:36]
07. Galactic Tides [04:38]
08. Yesteryear [03:51]
09. Stick w/ Me Kid [03:29]
10. Tiny Man [05:04]
11. Easy Suffering [04:33]
12. Unsung [04:15]
13. 1854 [05:24]
14. Degeneration Street [04:58]

The Dears – Omega Dog

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RADIOHEAD
The Daily Mail / Staircase

Much appreciated XMas gift from Radiohead: two more pearls from the TKOL sessions.
The Daily Mail has been doing the rounds for a little while now, resonating in hushed movements through the band’s live show and their From In The Basement live show. Now it finally gets its release moment in the spotlight in all its angst-like glory, along with the beautifully effervescent Staircase, a track of buoyant skittering percussion and gently simmering synth-work.

ARTIST: Radiohead
TITLE: The Daily Mail / Staircase
LABEL: XL
RELEASE DATE: December 19, 2011
TIME: 8:08 min.
WEB: http://www.radiohead.com/

01. The Daily Mail[03:37]
02. Staircase [04:31]

Radiohead – The Daily Mail
Radiohead – Staircase

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VIDEO OF THE WEEK – #87
as seen on radioSpin

ARTIST: Lava Lava Love
TITLE: Your Lite
ALBUM: A Bunch of Love Songs and Zombies
WEB: YouTube

directed by Stefano Piccardo & Marzio Mirabella

SPINELESS LAUGH
eXXence

Hi there! XMas-mix time coming!
Do you remember Essence (vol.1), the compilation selected by Adnan Duric (a.k.a. Filterwolf) for Filigran records? That’s it: here’s ready for you eXXence, the same selection smoothly mixed by Spineless Laugh. Check it out, enjoy and give some feedback.

ARTIST: AA.VV. selected by Adnan Duric & mixed by Spineless Laugh
TITLE: eXXence
LABEL: Spineless Media / Filigran
RELEASE DATE: December 23, 2011
TIME: 78:13 min.
WEB: http://www.mixcloud.com/spineless/

01. SPINELESS LAUGH – Intro (klonvex mix) [@00:00]
02. FILTERWOLF – Burana Channel [@02:41]
03. XTRAMOL – Socks Box [@08:46]
04. PABLO PLACERES – Tasty For You [@15:36]
05. KONVEX & KLUSTER – Something After All [@23:10]
06. GEOFFREY VINCE – Duffy Stuff [@27:20]
07. AVE ASTRA – Do I Hate or Do I Love? [@31:06]
08. HRDVSION – Little Baby [@37:05]
09. FREDRICK HECKER – Jues Harp [@42:55]
10. LEMY LEOPARD – State of the World [@46:45]
11. THORSTEN GRÆBER – Berlin Love [@50:27]
12. EDUARDO D’ALIRIO – Geben & Nehmen [@61:13]
13. ALVIAN – Slave [@68:35]
14. MARCO DE MATA & MATTHEW – So Far [@73:20]

AA.VV. mixed by Spineless Laugh – eXXence (promo mix)

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HANDSOME FURS
Sound Kapital

Sound Kapital is the third full-length from Handsome Furs, the Canadian two-piece of husband and wife Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry. It’s also the first Handsome Furs album written exclusively on keyboards. This was a conscious decision: the suggestion that electronic music is cold, alien or unfeeling, somehow detached from the human experience, is as lingering as it is outdated. Handsome Furs don’t just shrug off this myth on Sound Kapital, they reject it with every fiber of their shared being: on this album they use keyboards and drum machines to forge life-affirming anthems taut with muscle and blood. These nine songs of innocence and experience occasionally look ahead to a better world in the not-so-distant future, but Handsome Furs know what time it is: now. They are fully engaged in the moment and their surroundings, wherever that may be. Sound Kapital was recorded quickly, polished and rehearsed in the Furs’ derelict Montreal studio, then preserved for posterity by longtime producers Howard Bilerman and Arlen Thompson at Hotel2Tango, mixed by Finnish dudes Antti Joas and Jonas Verwijnen at Kaiku Studios in Helsinki and Berlin, and mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering in Montreal.

ARTIST: Handsome Furs
TITLE: Sound Kapital
LABEL: Sub Pop
RELEASE DATE: June 28, 2011
TIME: 40:13 min.
WEB: http://handsomefurs.com/

01. When I Get Back [04:43]
02. Damage [03:19]
03. Bury Me Standing [04:07]
04. Memories of the Future [03:46]
05. Serve the People [04:07]
06. What About Us [05:18]
07. Repatriated [04:48]
08. Cheap Music [03:05]
09. No Feelings [07:00]

Handsome Furs – Repatriated

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ST. VINCENT
Strange Mercy

St. Vincent, the nom-de-stage of playful chanteuse and fearsome shredder Annie Clark, releases her second album for 4AD, Strange Mercy. The record showcases Clark’s gift for fusing the cerebral and the visceral, her melodically elegant arrangements packing hefty emotional punches: she reunited with producer John Congleton and recorded the album in her hometown of Dallas, TX. Strange Mercy finds St. Vincent redefining the idea of the guitar hero, utilizing the instrument as a pointillist artist might wield a brush.

ARTIST: St. Vincent
TITLE: Strange Mercy
LABEL: 4AD
RELEASE DATE: September 13, 2011
TIME: 40:58 min.
WEB: http://www.ilovestvincent.com/

01. Chloe in the Afternoon [02:56]
02. Cruel [03:35]
03. Cheerleader [03:29]
04. Surgeon [04:25]
05. Nothern Lights [03:34]
06. Strange Mercy [04:29]
07. Neutered Fruit [04:13]
08. Champagne Year [03:29]
09. Dilettante [04:04]
10. Hysterical Strength [03:16]
11. Year of the Tiger [03:28]

St. Vincent – Cheerleader

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WASHED OUT
Within & Without

Washed Out is the operational alias for Atlanta, GA’s Ernest Greene, and Sub Pop Records presents his first full-length, Within & Without. Greene recorded the album with Ben Allen, who, among a great many other things, co-produced Animal Collective‘s Merriweather Post Pavillion, Gnarls Barkley‘s St. Elsewhere and Deerhunter‘s Halcyon Digest.

ARTIST: Washed Out
TITLE: Within & Without
LABEL: Sub Pop
RELEASE DATE: July 12, 2011
TIME: 40:28 min.
WEB: http://ernestgreene.blogspot.com/

01. Eyes Be Closed [04:48]
02. Echoes [04:07]
03. Amor Fati [04:25]
04. Soft [05:32]
05. Far Away [04:00]
06. Before [04:45]
07. You and I [05:12]
08. Within and Without [03:22]
09. A Dedication [04:17]

Washed Out – Amor Fati

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SÓLEY
We Sink

Sóley debuts with her first full-length, an album full of rhythmic makeshift creatures, of handclaps hidden in the undergrowth, tempting us to join in. The tracks on We Sink are sometimes incredibly catchy, amazingly quirky at other times: think cardigan-folk from the northern hemisphere, an ocean of stained glasses bopping up and down in the shared apartment’s dishwater, leeward in limbo. Sweetness, in other words.

ARTIST: Sóley
TITLE: We Sink
LABEL: Morr
RELEASE DATE: September 27, 2011
TIME: 46:53 min.
WEB: http://www.myspace.com/ssoolleeyy

01. I’ll Drown [03:35]
02. Smashed Birds [03:45]
03. Pretty Face [04:43]
04. Bad Dream [02:16]
05. Dance [04:05]
06. And Leave [03:33]
07. Blue Leaves [02:52]
08. Kill That Clown [03:45]
09. Fight Them Soft [01:32]
10. About Your Funeral [06:04]
11. The Sun Is Going Down I [01:56]
12. The Sun Is Going Down II [04:52]
13. Theater Island [03:55]

Sóley – I’ll Drown

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VIDEO OF THE WEEK – #86
as seen on radioSpin

ARTIST: Modeselektor (feat. thom yorke)
TITLE: Shipwreck
ALBUM: Monkeytown
WEB: YouTube

directed by Tony “Truand” Datis

AZARI & III
Azari & III

Despite sounding like a Mayan despot and his grandson, Azari & III are actually a Toronto-based house music four-piece: two producers, Christian Farley (a.k.a. Dinamo Azari) and Alphonse Lanza (a.k.a. Alixander III), joined by the demonic-sounding Fritz Helder and thoroughly angelic Cedric Gasiada on vocals. The undeniable success of their debut self-titled album Azari & III stems from a fearless and energising take on the usually unfuckwithable canonical peaks of classic house music.

ARTIST: Azari & III
TITLE: Azari & III
LABEL: PID
RELEASE DATE: August 8, 2011
TIME: 1:02:47 min.
WEB: http://azariandiii.com/

01. Into the Night [05:15]
02. Reckless (with your love) [05:45]
03. Tunnel Vision [04:37]
04. Indigo [06:20]
05. Lost in Time [06:17]
06. Infiniti [06:07]
07. Change of Heart [06:45]
07. Manhooker [04:47]
08. Undecided [06:06]
09. Hungry for the Power [05:05]
10. Manic [05:43]

Azari & III – Indigo

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TOKYO POLICE CLUB
10x10x10

It’s no question that Tokyo Police Club is one of the hardest working bands today. Since the release of their second full-length studio album Champ they’ve been turning it out fast, first with the re-release of Champ which included remixes and new tracks and now with their newest album 10x10x10 (10 Songs | 10 Years | 10 Days): a cover album with which Tokyo Police Club takes the listener back in time through the 2000s, exploring a number of different genres in the process.

ARTIST: Tokyo Police Club
TITLE: 10x10x10 (10 Songs | 10 Years | 10 Days)
LABEL: Mom & Pop
RELEASE DATE: October 10, 2011
TIME: 39:16 min.
WEB: http://tokyopoliceclub.com/

01. South Side [03:24]
02. Sweetness [03:44]
03. Under Control [03:57]
04. Since U Been Gone [03:12]
05. Little Sister [03:05]
06. Long Distance Call [02:52]
07. All My Friends [05:31]
08. Kim & Jessie [04:05]
09. Strictly Game [03:44]
10. Party in the U.S.A. [05:42]

Tokyo Police Club – Long Distance Call

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THE BLACK BELLES
The Black Belles

The Black Belles’ debut is quite comfortable: it feels like an old standby.  You’ll feel it, if you’re a fan of The White Stripes and The Dead Weather, two bands that have Jack White’s weird influence: that’s a fact that after having been signed and produced by White, this band has his presence going for them as well: everything Jack White touches is tinted with his unique style, although I’m definitely not complaining. In addition to influences from White, The Black Belles have a very garage-band feel to their music: their songs are simple but full of energy, and they feel organic, like they were left alone with a few instruments, and this is what came out.

ARTIST: The Black Belles
TITLE: The Black Belles
LABEL: Third Man
RELEASE DATE: November 8, 2011
TIME: 29:12 min.
WEB: http://theblackbelles.com/

01. Leave You with a Letter [02:21]
02. In a Cage [02:14]
03. Wishing Well [02:57]
04. Honky Tonky Horror [03:37]
05. The Wrong Door [02:56]
06. Breathing Down My Neck [02:51]
07. The Tease [02:20]
08. Howl at the Moon [02:11]
09. Pushing Up Daisies [02:44]
10. Not Tonight [02:18]
11. Hey Velda [02:37]

The Black Belles – The Tease

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