&nna’s (part-middle-school-throwback) January Mix
1. Forgot About Dre … Dr. Dre
2. Cover Me … Bruce Springsteen
3. Brother Sport … Animal Collective
4. Allure … Jay-Z
5. Never Let You Go … Third Eye Blind
6. Lonely Boy … The Black Keys
7. Ready to Start … Arcade Fire
8. You Make It Easy … Air
9. Lotus Flower … Radiohead
10. A Candle’s Fire … Beirut
11. The Wizard … Black Sabbath
12. Basic Hypnosis … The Notorious XX (mashup)
13. New Terrain … Mew
14. Little Oliver … The Electric Prunes
15. The Vowels, Pt. 2 … Why?
16. Across the Universe … Fiona Apple
17. Don’t Look Back in Anger … Oasis
&nna’s December Mix
2. Tamacun … Rodrigo y Gabriela
3. All My Stars Aligned … St. Vincent
4. Rave On … Buddy Holly
5. Saxophone Quartet Concerto - Mvt. IV … Rascher Sax. Quartet (Composed by Philip Glass)
6. The Rip Tide … Beirut
7. Summersong … The Decembrists
8. The Cascades … Fleet Foxes
9. Run Right Back … The Black Keys
10. Telephone Line … Electric Light Orchestra
11. Sugar On My Tongue … Talking Heads
12. Etude in A … Andrés Segovia
13. Sprawl III (Mountains Beyond Mountains) … Arcade Fire
14. Sloop John B … The Beach Boys
15. Minnesota, WI … Bon Iver
16. All I Want … LCD Soundsystem
This video is basically a piece of shit. Big fan of Tyler T. Williams’ music video work. His last video for Youth Lagoon was a triumph, but this one is a failed experiment with some Another Earth/Melancholia sci-fi bullshit tacked on at the end. I liked a couple of the city shots and the fireworks, but this is Tyler T.’s weakest effort that I have seen. Nice try, though.
I nominate Swimming by the French Kicks for best album for the end times. And of the decade too.
9 best albums of 2011
Elvis Depressedly - Save The Planet Kill Yourself/Goner/Graceland
Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring for My Halo
Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestial Lineage
Nicolas Jaar - Space is Only Noise
Destroyer - Kaputt
Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
The Weeknd - House of Balloons
Panda Bear - Tomboy
James Blake - James Blake
Listening Party at 5:30. Vinyl. Any takers? Just kidding. Private party: me and Hank Jackson.
Annotated Tracklist by &nna Mae
(CLICK ABOVE TO DL MUSIC)
1. dee … Javelin
Instrumental song to set the tone: positive, energetic, a little bit anxious. My housemate of last year introduced me to this band and now they’re among my favorite electronic bands.
2. Santa Fe … Beirut
Bouncy track from Beirut’s new album. Makes me want to dance, but in a wearing-thick-socks-and-sliding-on-kitchen-floor-holding-a-spatula kind of way.
3. A Sister’s Social Agony … Camera Obscura
I’m a sucker for songs like this (that sound a little bit like “Blue Moon”).
4. Blinking Pigs … Little Dragon
Little Dragon’s Machine Dreams is a recent favorite album. Their new one, Ritual Union, is also awesome, but I love the danceable yet complex sounds on Machine Dreams.
5. Be Human … Coma Cinema
I really enjoy Coma Cinema’s articulate and complex-but-followable lyrics. Also this song is such a satisfying length: a minute and a half.
6. Grown Ocean … Fleet Foxes
Another beautiful song from the newest Fleet Foxes album. So many bands are named after animals.
7. Lovelier Girl … Beach House
Beach House is a standby favorite. I went to a friend’s house for dinner who had a record player and Beach House albums on vinyl.
8. Outta My Head … M. Ward
He can be slow and whispery, but he can also be awesome.
9. Drive My Car … The Beatles
I recently became a car-having person. So this.
10. Tongue Tied … Grouplove
The album is titled “Never Trust A Happy Song.” This song is ecstatic. Maybe it’s best in small doses; it’s almost overwhelming.
11. Alsatian Darn … Panda Bear
I was so obsessed with “Slow Motion” all summer that it took me a long time to get into the rest of Tomboy. This song is totally satisfying: tracelike but upbeat.
12. Today … Dr. Dog
Lyrics include “me and you having a barbecue,” “sitting in the sun with some chocolate,” and “today is the only day.” October’s been good to me so this song is on.
13. Rolling in the Deep … ADELE
It always takes me several months to embrace really big pop songs. I didn’t decide I liked “Single Ladies” by Beyonce until THIS MAY. Similarly, I just discovered how fucking good this song is.
14. Old Man … Neil Young
I heard a radio interview with Yukimi from Little Dragon where she listed songs she’d play at a dinner party. This was her first pick: a nostalgic and catchy Neil Young track.
15. About Face … Grizzly Bear
I had a face-related bike accident this summer, so I’ve been thinking about faces. This song has an interesting feeling of building tension.
16. Airbag … Radiohead
This song played during my yoga class last week! The warrior flow to classic Radiohead is surprisingly perfect.
If music were a big hunk of marble, Tom Waits would undoubtedly be its Michelangelo. This album, his latest, called “Bad As Me”, came out on Oct. 21st, 2011, and it is explosive as all hell. It is beautiful, scary, and all together undefinable. This is the opening track, entitled “Chicago”. Thank you Mr. Waits. Thank you. (Don’t be afraid of some volume, please.)
