Vivian Hua 華婷婷
Alex Winston – “Velvet Elvis”
Alex Winston is simply charming in this tune about the late rocker. KATIE
And So I Watch You From Afar – “Think:Breathe:Destroy”
Less post more rock in this instrumental band.
PETER
Battles – “Wall Street”
Battles at its finest is a well tuned bizarro machine of made up noise. No band does it quite like them. PETER
ALBUM OF THE YEAR RUNNER-UP
Bombay Bicycle Club – “Shuffle”
A song to start your morning off. KATIE
Bon Iver – “Holocene”
His voice, especially on this song, is just divine. JUDY ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Burial – “Stolen Dog”
B-side from the “Street Halo” single is a little more adventurous than the title track but keeps his toe firmly dipped in his new minimal house. TROY
TRIP REPORT MIXTAPE
Chad VanGaalen – “Sara”
This is fairly arbitrarily chosen from a slew of potentially excellent candidates. You should really just listen to the entirety of Diaper Island. VIVIAN
CHAD VANGAALEN INTERVIEW
Childish Gambino – “Bonfire”
Admit. You thought this was early Kanye as well. #savecommunity PETER
Chris Brown – “Look At Me Now” (w/ Lil Wayne, Busta Rhymes)
Man, Busta’s part alone makes this worthy of listing. The beat is also super ridiculously rad. VIVIAN
The Drums – “Money”
These guys are the MOST fun live, and I saw them preview this song a few months ago at a small show. This is the best from the new album. JUDY
Eleanor Friedberger – “My Mistakes”
This song sets the tone for an album full of great songs. It is quite a self-conscious record, and “My Mistakes” sums that up perfectly. JUDY
Frank Ocean – “Novacane”
“Novacane” sucks you in like an opium den. As does this video. VIVIAN
Fucked Up – “Turn The Season”
This song perfectly sums up the sprawl of Fucked Up’s epic album.
PETER
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Gang Gang Dance – “Chinese High”
This song is a beautiful epic set within an even more epic record. VIVIAN
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Gardens & Villa – “Black Hills”
What an album opener! This got me hooked on the album almost immediately. JUDY
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
GARDENS & VILLA BAND INTERVIEW
Gillian Welch – “The Way It Goes”
I really really hope it doesn’t take Gillian Welch another seven years to pump out her next album. PETER
Goapele – “Play”
The most interesting R&B song I’ve heard in a long while. I can’t wait for more of this new-school revival. VIVIAN
Griever – “The Forgetter”
Featuring ex-members of the wildly destructive Lewd Acts, Griever shows how great a simple sludgy hardcore song can be. PETER
The Head And the Heart – “Lost In My Mind”
A Seattle native’s theme song. KATIE
THE HEAD AND THE HEART – SELF-TITLED ALBUM REVIEW
James Blake – “The Wilhelm Scream”
The way James Blake builds this song out of nothing into a sonic cresecendo of noise and bass is mesmerizing. PETER
ALBUM OF THE YEAR (x2)
JAMES BLAKE – SELF-TITLED ALBUM REVIEW
Hot Water Music – “The Fire, The Steel, The Tread”
Post-hardcore stalwarts doing it better than everyone else even after a long hiatus. PETER
James Blake & Bon Iver – “Fall Creek Boys Choir”
These two dudes live in the same world of the SADS, so a collaboration like this really just makes too much sense. VIVIAN
Junior Boys – “Itchy Fingers”
“You’ll Improve Me” is actually my first choice for tracks from It’s All True — but “Itchy Fingers” comes close. As with all Junior Boys tracks, subsequent listens will reveal the stuff brewing underneath is way weird. VIVIAN
JUNIOR BOYS BAND INTERVIEW
Kassem Mosse – “A1”
“Ensuality” eh? Robot sex drone from of Cronenberg’s 808 dream book. TROY
Alison Smith
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[…] THE EXTRAS “I created a second painting for the inside that was also used as the cover for the single ‘Calgary’.” RELATED ARTICLES: BON IVER ON ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 + “HOLOCENE” ON TOP SONGS FROM 2011 LIST […]