Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Top 20 Songs of 2k12, Pt 1
Once again, here is my unsolicited list of favorite songs from the past 3 months. I had intended to start doing this every other month and then the end of February came and went, so I guess it’ll be quarterly once again. So here are my favorite songs from January - March.
- John Talabot - So Will Be Now… (feat. Pional) I hadn’t heard of John Talbot until this album came out, but OMG, I love him. I’ve since gone and found all of his older stuff and every remix of his that I can find. It’s hands down my favorite album so far this year.
- Grimes - Genesis So everybody likes Grimes, but not everyone was at the Grimes show. Were you? This is my second favorite album this year. I forced myself to a limit of 3 songs each from these two albums.
- Perfume Genius - Hood This song kind of reminds me of Eliot Smith’s - Waltz #2 (XO), even though they aren’t really that similar. I love how the song kicks in at about 1:10. I just wish the whole thing was longer.
- Jai Paul - Jasmine This song just came out last week, but I already love it. Between this and his first single BTSU (Edit), I really hope he puts out an album this year.
- John Talabot - Oro y Sangre At first, I didn’t like the random screams in this song, but now I do. I love how this song builds and changes.
- Persues - Seycheles I like this. I like his EP too, both are free on SoundCloud.
- MNDR - #1 In Heaven This song is about Patty Hearst, a bank robber, so you know, that’s cool.
- Saint Etienne - Tonight I requested this a few weeks ago when out and the DJ specifically announced it before playing it. I felt cool. This doesn’t happen often.
- Grimes - Oblivion Great song, great video.
- Nicolas Jaar - With Just One Glance (or And I Say, depending on which blog wrote about this) So, for featuring the daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, this is surprisingly good.
- John Talabot - Destiny (feat. Pional) More John Talabot.
- Grimes - Skin More Grimes
- Perseus - Cool Runnings This is from the aforementioned EP.
- The 2 Bears - Church Joe Goddard from Hot Chip with some other guy. Kinda cheesy lyrics, but it’s got steel drum, which for some reason I love. I like this song from his solo EP too.
- Rhye - Open This makes me think of some lame song from the 90s, but for some reason, I still like it.
- Horse Feathers - Fit Against the Country This is an indie-folk, or something, band. I saw them a year or so ago and I’m seeing them again in May. I love them.
- Bjork - Crystalline (Current Value Remix) Because Björk just won’t go away. Ever.
- Magnetic Fields - Andrew In Drag After hearing this single, I was excited for the album. After hearing the album, I’m just going to remember how great some of their older stuff is.
- Air Tycoon - Los Angeles This is some kid from Indiana, or something in the midwest, not LA.
- Black Atlass - Castles Everyone wants to be like The Weeknd.
Björk // Crystalline (Current Value Remix)
(Source: valdisbjorg)
This is why the Grammys are irrelevant.
(Source: remembermeright)
I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for? So that it will make us happy, as you write? Good Lord, we would be happy precisely if we had no books, and the kind of books that make us happy are the kind we could write ourselves if we had to. But we need books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is my belief.
Franz Kafka (via troubled)
We wanted to play our music, but we were told that we couldn’t play. We had to do a collaboration with someone else. And we just felt like it was such a large stage. We’re getting nominated for this record that we made… and all of a sudden we were being asked to play music that had nothing to do with that. We kind of said ‘fuck you’ a little bit and they sort of acted like they wanted us to play, but I don’t think they wanted us to play.
Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon on why his band is not performing at the Grammys. (via pitchfork)
(Source: billboard.biz)
video: Perfume Genius - Hood
Gay porn star/NY-based escort Arpad Miklos stars along Perfume Genius in the video for Hood, directed by Winston H. Case. Hood is taken from Perfume Genius’ (absolutely gorgeous, believe me) sophomore effort Put Your Back N 2 It, out on February 21 via Matador/Turnstile. “The song’s about how if someone knew you 100%, they would go away” - read more about the idea behind the video over at Pitchfork.
I can’t get enough of this song. I just wish it was about 2x as long.
