Kendrick have a dreammmmmmmmmmmm!

It seems the top albums of the year for me are all going to be in the 'urban' genre. I hate the word 'genre'. And 'urban'. Anyhow I liked 'Section.80' by Kendrick Lamar but mostly because I heard he recorded it after Tupac visited him in a dream and told him to make the album. I always have dreams where people visit me and tell me things, so I liked him right off the bat.

Since 'Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City' was released it's been in rotation almost constantly. I like it more than the first album. Personal favourite track 'Backseat Freestyle' makes me want to go outside and kick dustbins around. Hitboy can do no wrong at the moment, in my opinion. What an excellent year for him. Does this make anyone else want to go outside and kick dustbins around?

 

Amy, Amy, Amy...

While I was working for EMI MP we published the majority of tracks of her post-posthumous album. I was skeptical of the release at first, still so sad over the loss of such a great. However after a few listens, I realized it would be impossible not to share these songs with the world

'Like Smoke (Feat. Nas)' was one of my favourite tracks on the album. I was excited then, to hear that Nas would be releasing another track that the pair had recorded. The song is called 'Cherry Wine' and it's perfect. Her vocals and the lyrics are quintessential Amy. It's like she's still her and unchanged. The perfect homage to one of the greatest ever.
 

xoxo

I was supposed to go and see XXYYXX last week at Birthdays but I was confined to my bedroom in an ocean of snotty tissues, getting high on Chest-Eze (seriously high). Flu is the worst.

Anyhow, I don't even really know how to pronounce his name so I couldn't even ask people in the queue if they were excited to see 'XXYYXX. At least that's what I'm telling myself as consolation for missing the show. It's some 16 year old kid making sweet tunes, most probably in his bedroom. There's a few Weeknd comparisons to be made, sure. But there's actually something a bit more Euro about it I think. It sounds a little bit French to me. I don't know why. Maybe I'm still high on Chest-Eze (seriously, take a few of those bad boys and you'll be up all night thinking you're dying).

XXYYXX also did an interview for Noisey yesterday which is pretty funny. He's a funny guy. Excellent R.Kelly references and Illuminati things. He seems cool. I wasn't that cool when I was 16. Probably still not now.

Big Mac

Captured Tracks are releasing some cool things. First tipped on to them after they put out some stuff by Beach Fossils. Most recently I came across this guy called Mac DeMarco who has just released the new single below. It's quite dreamy and nice, especially now that autumn (winter) is here.

From what I can tell, he's Canadian. Why is Canada the best at the moment? Must be the water. I went to Vancouver once. I felt quite inspired I guess, it sure is pretty. Maybe that's why. He seems weird and brilliant. Check out 'Freaking Out The Neighbourhood' below.
  http://macdemarco.bandcamp.com/

The Real O.C.(s)

Ugggggh my excitement for the new Thee Oh Sees album cannot be quantified. One of the best bands I think ever. I could listen to them every day. I do listen to them every day. I'm surprised I've never written about them before....there's a video of John Dwyer when he was in his old band when he's high as fuck and he smashes the promoter of the show over the head with this guitar. It's equal parts great and awkward turtle. I feel like I can actually remember writing about it. I guess not.

ANYWAY, so I love Thee Oh Sees. One of my favourite bands this year at SxSW. I'd seen them once before but I got to see them at Red Scoot Inn which was a little further out of 6th Street in Austin and was sponsered by Thrasher Magazine. There was a sexy barman who had rotting teeth and the owner gave me a couple of Malboro Reds and told me he wouldn't hire me. There was a skate ramp out the back where I saw Kenny Anderson, Andrew Allan, Eli Reed and the best ever Ben Raemers all skate. The stage was outdoor and basically a little wooden shack. God just thinking about it reminds me that it exists, Heaven exists. It'll cost you £470 to get there but it's worth it.

I was lucky enough to also see OFF!, Trash Talk and Andrew WK at the same venue, just to give you an idea of how amazing the place was. So when Thee Oh Sees played there someone told me Carson Daley was there. Weird. I saw Chris Owens from Girls jumping around too. The band's set was AMAZING. They played mostly things from 'Carrion Crawler/The Dream' which I enjoyed. Seeing 'The Dream' live was unreal, they are so tight and at the same time completely manic. I wasn't sure the direction that the new album would be. Turns out it just gets better. 'Putrifiers II' opens with a little kooky rift and then Dwyer's token yelp to get the album going. It feels both familiar and fresh. Like I'd heard it before but still wanted to listen to it ten more times. Fave track 'Lupine Dominus' below.
 

Jesus I'm gushing. Too much. Basically I love them, and the new album is really, really great. I don't like the artwork though. How about that? Oh and if you want, try and find the video of Dwyer knocking the promoter out with the guitar. Stressful.

Truly Kind

I forgot to mention Field Day Festival this year. After last year which ended with me wanting to curl up into a ball and cry after accidentally taking acid, this year was a much bigger success. Namely due to the fact that I got to fulfill a life long dream. My best friend didn't have a ticket so we were loitering expecting someone to just hand her one (it does happen, she's very cute). After no offers, and being scouted by Abercrombie and Fitch, I nearly decided to throw the towel in.

However my friend Paulie aka The PSM gave me a shout and said we managed to get my bessie in. Paulie even came to meet us at the gate. However when he arrived I realised that he was supposed to be playing on stage in a matter of minutes. He was reluctant to remember the name of the stage he was playing on. After deciphering his waffle we worked out that his stage was on the other side of the site. In Hollywood meets Glastonbury fashion, I managed to hail down a buggy with an older Scottish female security guard behind the wheel. We explained, 'This man has to be on stage in 3 minutes! Pray help us!'. She paused for a moment, smiled and said 'Get in'. Best friend and I hopped on to the back, where there were no actual seats. Paulie sat in the front, as a talented musician should. Within seconds we were flailing around the back as our savior sped across the site to the stage. At one point where I really nearly fell out she cackled 'I'm not actually meant to do this, ha ha ha!' She was my favourite person ever. We arrived at the stage at the nick of time. It was like something out of an advert. Paulie jumped out of the buggy, grabbed his sticks and ran on stage. 

This is my favourite song by the band. It doesn't feauture Paulie in the video, but after the story above, you'll appreciate him anyway.

Praise the Lord

I go through stages of being utterly bored and then genuinely excited at the creativity coming out of these 'collectives' around at the moment.

For quite a while I believed that Rocky was the only real talent in the A$AP Mob - especially after the crazy shit that went down at SxSW (where my best friend and I ended up with one member in a car who was bleeding after fighting someone in the audience - essentially being accomplices in helping him escape from the crime scene. Not ideal.)

Anyway, seems I was wrong. Sort of. Dominic Lord has just dropped this video for 'Pierce'. From what I can tell, Dominic was at some point part of the A$AP crew but left to pursue solo endeavors. I'm not massively impressed with the video, but the song is amazing. I can't help but notice the tone of his voice being comparable to Tyler The Creator in the gravely somewhat monotone sense(sue me). Check out the song for yourself. I'd actually love to see a A$AP Rocky & Dominic Lord colabo as I think they would go really well. Maybe one exists and my internet skills are slacking.

 http://www.dominiclord.us/

R.I.P. MCA

Too sad to say anything, other than MCA you are already, and will continue to be missed. The greatest.

Yeah Right!

I'm not sure if it's because I'm suddenly excited for 'Pretty Sweet' to come out, but this morning I craved the 'Fully Flared' soundtrack for my Sunday newspapers & tea. It still sounds so good to me. Koston's killing it to Public Enemy, Guy's amazing comeback to Band Of Horses. All incredible. However, in terms of music, Marc Johnson's selection is and always will be my favourite.

Q Lazzarus 'Goodbye Horses' and Fischerspooner 'All We Are'. If you're going to make a one hit wonder, it might as well be something like 'Goodbye Horses' and although I've never got into Fischerspooner in a big way, this track is massive.

The entire soundtrack makes me really nostalgic for my second year of university, living in a shit hole in Stepney Green, blasting it out of my room, chain smoking out the window with my housemates. God I miss it.

See Marc's part below. Both tracks included and sounding perfect today.

Trill Murray

The Growlers are one of the very few bands that I didn't get to see at SxSW despite being on my immaculately planned schedule. (The other being Eminem, and I guess Lil Wayne if you discount hiding in the toilets during soundcheck as actually 'seeing' the show)

I'd mentally blocked this from my mind so that I wouldn't be sad, however I was reminded the other day after Patrick O'Dell posted this photo to his website. It's a picture of their tourbus because apparently they were sick of being pulled over by the feds. Amazing.

They also happen to be an excellent band, who I will eventually see live one day. Until then, I will just watch this on repeat.

Oh and totally sweet bonus....here's a video of them a few years back in Austin with the man, the mystery, the SxSW legend, BILL MURRAY getting down. Amazing.

HYFR HYFR HYFR

I was so exhausted to wake up and this week has been quite sad; leaving my job in order to start something new. I really needed something to cheer me up. Trust Drizzy & Weezy to drop this when I required it the most. Video for Hell Yeah Fucking Right. This is almost as good as when Wayne got release from the pen on my birthday. Sweet. Love baby Drake. Sad that Wayne wasn't at my Holy Communion. I knew I forgot to invite someone!

Rock & Rollercoaster

So during my time at SxSW, my pal and I were meant to do a bunch of interviews and press for the fabulous i-D magazine. Unfortunately no one seemed to really think we were press despite our badges. In fact hardly anyone believed we were actually English. So minus any interviews, we managed to put together a little review, along with some wicked street style photos taken by an i-D photographer.

Have a gander
http://i-donline.com/2012/04/sxsw-rock-and-roller-coaster/

If Jasmine were a DJ

I once did an interview for Chris Off The Cuff and he called the piece 'If Jasmine Were A DJ' which seems relevant today.

Jai Paul has just dropped this track called 'Jasmine' you see. Seemingly out of nowhere, or at least nowhere near my bubble. Woke up to twitter going mad for it, and I'm sure it was even trending? Thought Beyonce's first ever tweet might even mention it. Sadly not the case, but Drake's probably listening right now. Big tune for summer (although we've actually seemed to revert back to winter?)

Check it.

South By South Best

I'm still so jet-lagged/warped from SxSW. It was quite easily one of the best weeks of my life. So much music, so much skating, so much boozing, not to mention amazing weather and the best people. I'm going to book my tickets for next year stat. Obviously as a music freak, I was in my element. Got to see a bunch of bands who I've seen before but who were great, as well as a lot of people I'd never seen before. I'm going to post a few, but today I'll start with Reptar. In true SxSW fashion, we met up with some friends who were heading to see this band named after the dino from Rugrats. I'd never heard anything about them, but we went along to check them out as we had a spare hour. Turned out to be a great choice as they were amazing. So summery and perfect with a beer at 2pm in Austin. I think they kind of sounds like if Wu Lyf covered Fool's Gold....now you definitely want to check them out!

I thought for a second that you, were me

Music this week inspired by: Phoebe English, who absolutely smashed it at London Fashion Week. The colours, the textures, THE SHOES. Blown away & incredibly proud. Go grab a piece at Dover St. Market ASAP!

The music at the show was equally amazing. I think it's so important. Stromae at Elliott J Freize last year was banging, as is Phoebe's choice. Gabriel Bruce's 'Sleep Paralysis'. Such an amazing voice, it's hauntingly beautiful. So big.

Quarters

I nearly had a nervy b when I first saw this video. Dylan. Guitar. CAT. Sorry to sounds like a teenage fan girl but oh my days. I am going to try and sign him. Don't care if he can play or not. With a face like that, he could sell 10 mill. Probably all to me.

Swooooon.

Weed 'n brews

Life for me is just weed 'n brews. Not really. I mostly listen to rap music and I can rap along to most things, but I definitely cannot relate or really understand what they're talking about. I can recite Lil Wayne for days, but ask me to translate and I couldn't even fathom a guess. Whatever though, still doesn't mean I can't luh dat shit.

This is one of those tracks that I feel completely disingenuous rapping along to, but it's so good I just can't help myself. Really feeling A$AP Rocky & Schoolboy Q a lot at the moment, so I'm all over this collabo. I don't know what the sample is but I like it.

If I had a car, or could drive, I think I'd ride around with this pumping. Bigggg.

Shit DJs do

Last night I hesitantly ventured out of London to visit a friend. We went to a club where every other song was Chris Brown or Rihanna. The crowd loved it. I think I'm missing a trick with my own DJ sets. Lesson learned.

One track that my next set will certainly feature is this beauty. I feel like Jamie xx really has the Midas touch at the moment. See below. Not really a Yasmin fan, but this is nice. Little throwback to Rui Da Silva, such a big tune. Will definitely be playing this in between Breezy and Ri-Ri next week.

Offically added to my Sunday playlist.

Wally

I think I'm rather late to board Gotye train. I heard a different track a while back and thought it was ok but not amazing. But like everyone else, the track below made me change my mind. One of those perfect pop songs that comes about every now again. So simple and beautiful. Love the video too. Definitely going to catch KimbRa at SxSW this year!

2k11

2011 was a fun year for music. Although blogs made it easier to create a lot of unworthy hype for some artists, I managed to come across a few gems. Thought I should round up my favourite albums & tracks of the year.

I rounded the albums to 9 so I could use this pretty little cube I made earlier. In no particular order (because really I think Frank Ocean would be number 1)...

1. JEFF The Brotherhood - Heavy Days

2. I Am The Avalanche - Avalanche United

3. Iceage - New Brigade

4. Drake Take Care

5. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

6. Balkans - Balkans

7. James Blake - James Blake

8. 1995 - La Source

9. Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra

All of these albums had extremely heavy rotation over the past 12 months during different times. 2012, you have a lot to live up to!! I recommend them all for completely different reasons. If you haven't, check them out.

Gotta run to my chess lesson. Trying to develop the perfect soundtrack for chess is proving more difficult than initially presumed. Graham Nash has been the closest thing so far.