Best Alternative Songs of 2012

This is my humble playlist for the year 2012, it includes few older songs from some reissue albums. It's usually difficult to make the best of list, but it's also fun.

20- Beautiful Son - Peaking Lights

(Lucifer)

19-Call To Be - Dana Buoy

(Summer Bodies)

18- Turn It Around - The Men

(Open Your Heart)

17- Sunshine - Cooly G

(Playin’ Me)

16- Thaw - Laurel Halo

(Quarantine)

There are many nice album covers this year but this one is one of my favorite art work of the year.

15- Addis - OM

(Advatic Songs)

14- I Believe - My Bloody Valentine

(EP’s 1988-1991)

13- Oblivion - Grimes

(Visions)

12- Sleepless - Andy Stott

(Luxury Problems)

11- Schnitzel Boogie - Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti

(Mature Themes)

10- Seer- Swans

(Seer)

9-  Be Above It- Tame Impala

 (Lonerism)

8- I Can See- Moon Duo

7- Passed Over Trail - Raime

(Quarter Turns Over A Living Line)

6-Wide Eyed- Animal Collective

(Centipede Hz)

5- Myth- Beach House

(Bloom)

4- Origins - Tennis

(Young and Old)

3- Barnhause Effect - Sensations’ Fix

(Music is Painting In The Air)

Unfortunately, this is what I could find on youtube,it's a different version of this song. But you must own this anthology of this very fine Italian Prog-Rocker...

2- Happy Song - Sun Araw&M. Geddes Meet The Congos

(FRKWYS Vol. 9: Icon Give Thank)

1- Lunacy - Swans

(The Seer)

“Your childhood is over(is over)” says Mister Gira. It's over once you listen this song...

Best Alternative Songs For Good Workout and Exercise

Groovy songs are not just good for dancing but also good when you’re doing exercise,driving your car or drinking fast. The regular magazines choose usually very lame songs when they make a list like this, so I decided to create my own list with my very own taste. 

PS : In my experience I also find these songs very helpful when I work in the kitchen, all you have to do is turning the volume really really up, so you don’t hear your co-workers/partner/friends/kids/pest/pets/neighbours while cooking!

Hope you enjoy it (In an alphabetical order)

1- A Certain Ratio - Do the Du

2- A Tribe Called Quest - Check the Rhime

3- Animal Collective - Chores

4-  Beck - Mixed Bizness (Actually the whole Midnite Vultures album is excellent for lifting up the mood)

5- Black Flag - Rise Above

6- Black Sabbath - Paranoid

7- Blur - Parklife

8- Buzzcocks - What Do I Get?

9- Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up

10- David Bowie - Star / Golden Years/ Young Americans

11- De La Soul - Jenifa Taught Me(Derwin’s Revenge)

12- Defunkt - Defunkt

13- Erkin Koray - Hadi Hadi Oradan

14- ESG - You Make No Sense

15- Fela Kuti - Buy Africa

16- Fugazi - Waiting Room

17- Gang of FOur - Natural’s not in it

18- Groundhogs- Cherry Red

19- Happy Mondays - Kinky Afro/God’s Cop/Loose Fit/Step On/24 Hour Party People

20- Herbie Hancock- Hang Up Your Hang Ups

21- Jackie Mittoo - Get Up and Get It

22- James Brown - The Boss/Payback/It’s a New Day

23- LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls/I Can Change

24- MC5 - Teenage Lust

25-  NWA - Straight Outta Compton

26- Pixies - Debaser/Tame/ Broken Face

27- Public Enemy - Don’t Believe the Hype/Bring the Noise/Fight the Power

28- Ramones - Ramones/ Rocket To Russia (Two albums)

29- Rolling Stones

30- Sly & Family Stone

31- Talking Heads

32- The Brother Johnson - Get The Funk Out Ma Face

33- The Clean - Thumbs Off / Anything Could Happen/Big Soft Punch

34- The Cramps - Goo Goo Muck

35-  The Fall - The Classical/ Totally Wired/New Face In Hell

36- The Monochrome Set- He’s Frank/Avanti/Fat Fun

37- The Notorious B.I.G. - Things Done Changed/Gimme The Loot

38- The Slits - Cut

39- The Stooges

40- The Vaselines- Oliver Twisted / Dying For It/ The Day I Was a Horse

FAUST 2012

   


    There is so many nice things about being a rock star. I always dreamed about it(well,not anymore!). But it’s always nice to see that they are like us,normal and ordinary people(most of the time). It can give you the motivation to try to achieve your dream,although it’s very very difficult to be a “fake” rock star like Bono,Axl Rose or Coldplay.

    The other night, I saw  Krautrock pioneers Faust live for the first time in my life. Faust is probably one of most influential rock band in the music history, they started in 1971, made at least three very important album(Faust,So Far and Faust IV) that mixed minimalism,electronic,dub( please listen Jennifer again if you don’t know what I mean) with kind of untraditional rock music.  Minimalism was on their lyrics too,saying a lot with very few words(for example, the song “It’s a bit of pain” goes like this ,it’s a bit of pain,to be where I am. But it’s all right now.)

    I had a little chance to chat with “art-errorist” Jean-Herve Peron. Faust had a humorous side, I believe which came form Jean Peron. He is the leader of one the coolest band in the rock music history, and you see him joking with the audience at the merch table,making jokes,sipping wine. Real modest,down to earth personality exactly proves why I love rock music, because it’s natural, it’s real and it is not FAKE.

     Midday Veil singer made an interesting comment during their show. She said that Faust members  were sharing their banana split. It’s weird and upsetting to see really untalented people are making millions and musicians like Faust are playing in a small venue and they’re obviously on a budget!

    Anyways, the show was good, Jean and Zappi also proved their handy man skills while using a cement machine and a chain saw. It added some excitement to the show. My favorite part was that they went to the back stage after finishing their famous song “It’s A Rainy Day Sunshine Girl” and actually they never finished playing the song,only much quieter and they continued to play at the back. And then they came back and continued to play the song.

    The important thing is Faust is still rocking after 41 years!

THE MEN OPEN YOUR HEART (2012)

Since I was a teenager(and that was a while ago!), I often read or hear the argument if rock music is dead. I remember watching Johnny Lydon’s interview and he stated that “Rock music died,since they start to play at the airports.” , I agree to some certain point, some Mega Bands filled the stadiums and stabbed the heart of the Rock music with their carefully polished productions and greasy&greedy marketing strategies.

A live performance from The Men

But , I knew that Rock Music is not dead and it won’t die. Every two three years, a few new artists/bands support my opinion. Last year, I heard The Men’s 2011 album Leave Home and I was so happy to hear what I hear.

Leave Home was a real bomb, it destroys the room that you play  the album in with basic guitar,bass and drums . Leave Home sounded like Yellow Swans and Lightning Bolt guys get drunk in a studio and try to play like Ramones.

If Leave Home was Raw Power of the Stooges, the 2012 release Open Your Heart is "the Funhouse". There was a pure riot in Leave Home, on the other hand Open Your Heart is more  like a high school party where party people ended up going to jail. The energy is beautiful, the lyrics are more understandable. Maybe fans of the previous album might be disappointed , because Open Your Heart is more rock&roll than Leave Home. Some songs reminded me Buzzcocks and also Husker Du.

There is an even acoustic song called Candy, but the lyrics tell you a nice story of this Brooklyn band..."Remember the days I'd shout anything for you to see me/ I could never sing now my voice it rings.../ I just quit my job/ now I can stay out all night long.”

But they also added that they don't care to hear his songs at the radio(and probably at the airports)...

This one is from last year

A picture from The Men show...

Solid Rock music is still there, if you look around. Go buy The Men’s two albums from one of my new favorite Label http://sacredbonesrecords.com/...

BEST ALBUMS OF 2011 ( Top Ten)

10 - The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

There were several albums who pleased the guitar lovers, and this is  one of them. Adam Granduciel started the band with Kurt Vile  in 2003 , around 2008 Kurt Vile left. This is the second LP by War on Drugs, it is beautiful psychedelic indie rock . It's surprising how much it reminds me Kurt Vile's last album but Slave Ambient is less folky. Highly recommended.


9 - Tennis -  Cape  Dory

Perfect smart pop by husband&wife duo... Saw them live couple months ago , very impressed by their performance even though at her interviews she mentioned that she is very nervous about playing live. They played some new songs and they all sounded very good. Hopefully second album will prove that they are not one hit wonder. One of the best debut in the last few years.

8- Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx - We’re New Here

7- Panda Bear - Tomboy


Noah Lennox(a.k.a Panda Bear) is a solo artist and also founder of experimental pop band Animal Collective. While his second solo album Person Pitch become a cult album , I liked this album much better . Tomboy is a dreamy dub-pop album, the white sound (like the perfect album cover) makes you wanna listen this again and again...

6- Destroyer - Kaputt

 The 2011 Champion of Vancouver music scene. Beautiful lyrics, with chamber pop music. It does not get any better. Watch the cool video!

5- Atlas Sound - Parallax

Bradford Cox is one of the most talented musician especially in the last two years, first he did an amazing album with his band in 2010 and then in 2011 he released his third solo album under the name Atlas Sound. Not only his music but his  poem-like lyrics makes him the most interesting persona of the indie rock scene. Like he said "And we will go to sleep /And we'll have the same dream" ...

4 - tUnE-yArDs - WHOKILL

Modern music starts here , post-punk , afro-beat,funk and soul-jazz !

3 - Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring for my Halo

I dont wanna change but i dont wanna stay the same/i dont wanna go but im runnin
i dont wanna work but i dont wanna sit around . (Peeping Tom, eight track from the album)...

2 - Radiohead - King of the Limbs

Music critics are funny people, as well as music fans. I can't understand why the King of Limbs is so underrated. I believe it is Radiohead's best album, the reason for that is very simple because Radiohead is a super band with top-notch musicians. They are  restless souls who has to change with every album. King of Limbs is a musical journey and it is actually their journey, all  you have to do listen it.Just listen.

1 - PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (tie)

     WU LYF -  Go Tell Fire To  the Mountain(tie)

I wrote several months ago about PJ Harvey's album and I knew it would be in this list in top 5. I couldn't decide which album is better , so I decided to put WU LYF ( World Unite Lucifer Youth Foundation) and PJ Harvey to the first position. The funny thing about this two album, they both recorded in church.  WU LYF is a total surprise, they are the best new band that I have heard for long time. They are young guys who made this really original album with perfect  art concept . The lyrics are total poetry, remind me a little bit the French God Rimbaud. This is anarchy in the music, nobody can understand their lyrics, once you can hear it , that's the magic part. "Fire starts, can you hear it? "

BEST ALBUMS OF 2011( 20-11)

20-Woods - Sun & Shade

Woods are from Brooklyn, on their sixth album Sun&Shade they are playing  an excellent lo-fi,psychedelic music with big and nice krautrock influence. Just listen Out of the Eye to hear Neu!'s classic Hallogallo.

19-Summer Camp - Welcome to Condale

Impressive debut, cheesy rock&roll...

18-Akron/Family- S/t II : The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT

17-Prince Rama - Trust Now

Powerfull music from Brooklyn's female duo , it is somewhere between Dead Can Dance&Animal Collective. Their music is not the only connection with Animal Collective, the record comes also from Paw Tracks label(originally founded by Animal Collective members).

16-Deerhunter - Rhapsody Originals(Live)

15-Boris - Attention Please

There are many kinds of Boris, noise Boris,grunge Boris,doom Boris and this is the pop Boris. Their most accessable album in their career. I just love it.

14-Dengue Fever - Cannibal Courtship

13-Sonic Youth - SYR 9: Simon Werner a Disparu (OST)

Things are changing on Sonic Youth's site with the divorce of Kim&Thurston, but this is probably their best in their SYR series.

12-Zola Jesus - Conatus

She is one of the most original female singer of the year. Highly recommended... "Lick the Palm of the Burning Handshake" is one of the best song of the year, the whole album feels like a cold breeze. This is experimental pop music , or I would call it modern pop.

11-Peaking Lights- 936

Not Not Fun records is one of my favorite label, every year they release very interesting albums. Peaking Lights is one of the best surprise of 2011. A hypnothic dub music, a music created by a duo who knows what they are doing.  It is the sound that they created makes this album so unique. King Tubby's soul was there , right in the studio...