5dots (in brief)

    1. Tortoise (12)
    2. worriedaboutsatan (11)
    3. Liechtenstein (9)
    4. Best Coast (7)
    5. The KLF (4)
    6. Velvet Cacoon (2)
    7. ()
    8. ()
    9. ()
    10. ()

    Via Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

    2. comments

  2. [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

    When I found out a few years ago about Six Organs of Admittance, I was initially smitten. Like many of the best musical discoveries, they already had a pretty lengthy catalogue to dive into, and almost all of it was as good as the stuff I’d first heard: slow, raga-esque acoustic guitar. A weirdly minimal kind of psychedelia, with an “eastern” influence unlike others (e.g. sitar on a Beatles song). They’ve kept putting out records, and I’ve kept listening, though they’ve wandered a bit (odd, because the first handful or so of releases are actually kind of samey (I mean that in a totally good way though!)). The last thing I remember listening to from them had a lot of weirdly aggressive distortion, and didn’t quite jive for me.

    But, they’ve put out two records this year, and I’ve enjoyed both quite a bit. I just listened to “Empty the Sun”, and there’s a lot more of what I liked in the first place. There’s a little distortion in places, and some vocals, but the sound works much better here.

    Six Organs of Admittance - Goddamn the Sun

    3. comments

    1. King Midas Sound (13)
    2. High Wolf (13)
    3. Wye Oak (10)
    4. Melt-Banana (10)
    5. Six Organs of Admittance (8)
    6. FaltyDL (8)
    7. Flashy Python (8)
    8. Yim Yames (6)
    9. Eux Autres (4)
    10. Boris (2)

    Via Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

    4. comments

  4. [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

    Just a quick one, as I should be packing my bag to skip town tomorrow.

    Clap Your Hands Say Yeah frontman Alec Ounsworth had two solo projects this year; one under his own name and the other under the name Flashy Python. The former is a solid record, and I think I meant to share something from it, but neglected to. The Flashy Python record rocks more, and has some oddly catchy moments. When I listened to this song, I got that feeling - that I’d need to be coming back to it for more listening.

    Flashy Python - Obscene Queen Bee

    5. comments

    1. Hall & Oates (38)
    2. Xasthur (14)
    3. FaltyDL (13)
    4. Neon Indian (11)
    5. The Mary Onettes (10)
    6. Bergraven (7)
    7. The Tough Alliance (6)
    8. High Wolf (4)
    9. ()
    10. ()

    Via Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

    6. comments

    1. Real Estate (11) 
    2. Surfer blood (10) 
    3. Peverelist (9) 
    4. Velvet Cacoon (8) 
    5. Krallice (7) 
    6. Wrnlrd (7) 
    7. Washed out (6) 
    8. The Lucksmiths (4) 
    9. Memory Cassette (4) 
    10. Nadja (1) 

    Via Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

    7. comments

    1. DJ/Rupture & Matt Shadetek (22) 
    2. Molina & Johnson (14) 
    3. Matt & Kim (7) 
    4. Melt-Banana (3) 
    5. Mates of State (2) 
    6. Greg Davis (2) 
    7. Wale (1) 
    8. () 
    9. () 
    10. () 

    Via Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

    8. comments

  8. [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

    By now many of you have already heard The xx’s album, but for those that haven’t, it’s really fantastic. Low-key, kind of new-wavey, male/female vocals, and so much space. There’s some fantastically natural sounding reverb here, and every track is restrained enough that it has extra room to stretch out and breathe. The drums are sampled (but apparently tapped out in realtime when they play live, which is neat), but that extra room makes them sound much more organic; it’s a really lovely effect.

    The xx - Islands

    The xx - VCR

    The xx - Stars

    9. comments

    1. Wale (13) 
    2. Gold Panda (12) 
    3. Girls (12) 
    4. Squarepusher (12) 
    5. The xx (11) 
    6. Ramona Falls (11) 
    7. Ducktails (10) 
    8. Adore (10) 
    9. HEALTH (9) 
    10. JJ (9) 

    Via Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

    10. comments

  10. [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

    Today I started listening to this record by jj, and it sounded like some pretty typical Swedish balearic pop - really enjoyable, and worth sharing, but not too surprising. But then I got to this track.

    It’s a version of Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop”, recorded in echoey, spacey balearic style, with lyrics changed to be entirely about ecstasy. The beat grabbed me at first, because it’s super weird to hear American rap influence in this kind of music in the first place, but when the lyrics came in and I finally placed where I recognized the song from, I kind of flipped out a little.

    The rest of the record is good, but this is the peak:

    jj - Ecstasy

    For comparison, here’s the first track on the record (which I’d already been planning on putting up here before hearing the rest of the album):

    jj - Things Will Never Be the Same Again

    11. comments

    1. Mad EP (24) 
    2. The Very Best (12) 
    3. Built to Spill (11) 
    4. Broadcast (10) 
    5. Slingshot Dakota (10) 
    6. Murder by Death (7) 
    7. Hauschka (4) 
    8. The Magnetic Fields (2) 
    9. Celer (2) 
    10. () 

    Via Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

    12. comments

    1. The Flaming Lips (18) 
    2. Jahdan Blakkamoore (14) 
    3. Dwayne Sodahberk (14) 
    4. Annie (12) 
    5. Baroness (12) 
    6. Lullabye Arkestra (11) 
    7. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (11) 
    8. The Boats (10) 
    9. Shackleton (9) 
    10. iTAL tEK (5) 

    Via Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

    13. comments

    1. Monsters of Folk (15) 
    2. Universal Studios Florida (13) 
    3. The Mountain Goats (12) 
    4. Lullatone (12) 
    5. Lake Heartbeat (10) 
    6. Music Go Music (9) 
    7. The Drums (6) 
    8. Plaid (4) 
    9. Autechre (4) 
    10. Clark (3) 

    Via Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

    14. comments

  14. [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

    This is a great EP - seriously, I’m really enthused about this. The Drums are doing a breed of that reverby lo-fi that’s big with the kids right now, but with a couple twists. Most notably and awesomely, there’s a clear oldies influence on their sound: at least one of the songs on this EP made me think of Ben E. King. Secondly, there’s a more subtle new wave shimmer in a few places that really makes things click.

    I put “Saddest Summer” as the streaming track, but ”Don’t Be a Jerk, Jonny” might actually be my favorite, so listen to both, eh?

    The Drums - Saddest Summer

    The Drums - Don’t Be a Jerk, Jonny

    15. comments

  15. [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

    Guys, I’m not going to lie: I am a fan of Abba. If you are too (especially the more rockish songs) you will probably like Music Go Music.

    I’ve been hearing a lot of people talk about these guys, and the word “disco” gets used a lot, but I barely hear it. I guess there’s a disco beat in there? Mostly, it’s those melodramatic 70s vocals. And sure, I’m pretty sure Abba never put out a nine minute song, so I guess it’s not exactly the same.

    Music Go Music - Light of Love

    Music Go Music - Just Me

    16. comments
designed by sarah mogin, powered by tumblr