LCD Soundsystem - “Home”
Remember how James Murphy used to excoriate hipsters and other artists? Yeah, now he’s turned his sights on us. It’s not pretty, but it’s tough love as Matthew says. I suggest we be thankful: Sound of Silver also ended with a sigh of a song about a home (“New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down”), but here he removes the location and speaks to all of us. You’re afraid of what you need. A million music-critic-types are blurbing about how This Is Happening is an album about aging or whatever, but they are missing the big picture. Murphy’s our collective Cool Big Brother now and he’s got lessons to teach us. Pay attention.
Tristan’s Favorites of 2010
- LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening / London Sessions
- Matthew Dear - Black City
- Vampire Weekend - Contra
- Janelle Monáe - The Archandroid
- HEALTH - ::DISCO2
Alela Diane - “White as Diamonds”
It’s been a rough year for many, and I’ve found myself genuinely wondering how everyone else was getting by. With settling after an unwanted move from the East to the Midwest to start off my 2009, the following five albums from this year were those that I formed the most intimate relationships with in their entirety.
Heather’s favorites of 2009:
- Alela Diane - To Be Still
- Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
- HEALTH - Get Color
- Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns
- Jon Hopkins - Insides
Alela Diane’s To Be Still was a timely release last winter and terribly underhyped. It slowed me down, as snow tends to do; a perfect way to bury some of the past year cold, and get on with the next.
In a daily 4-mile walk to work, Bat for Lashes got me there in the rain, while HEALTH got me there in the heat. I didn’t even like Bat for Lashes until this year when she sounded more like the struggling woman I felt like at the time, and HEALTH has always been my go-to for speed and noise.
I loved Rural Alberta Advantage live with some old friends I hadn’t seen in years, so I saw we really hadn’t grown apart too much.
Jon Hopkins’ new album was like nothing I’d ever heard; haunting and hopeful, all strung together with a piano. Jon Hopkins even remixed a Headless Heroes song featuring my favorite voice of the year: Alela Diane. And I loved his album with another Tuneage contributor who I married in 2009.
WWTB?
Thankfully, after the relatively dismal July and August, the September release calendar is chock full of goodies. Here’s the stuff we’re buying this week:
- HEALTH - Get Color (buy the CD/buy the MP3s)
- Sondre Lerche - Heartbeat Radio (buy the CD/buy the MP3s)
- Vivian Girls - Everything Goes Wrong (buy the CD/buy the MP3s)
- Wild Beasts - Two Dancers (buy the CD/buy the MP3s)
- Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs (buy the CD/buy the MP3s)
- Mayer Hawthorne - A Strange Arrangement (buy the CD/buy the MP3s)
Also keep an eye out for yet another reissue (remastered again) of the entire Beatles catalogue, it’s being released on Wednesday.
HEALTH - “Triceratops (Acid Girls Rmx A)”
Richard’s Top 5 Albums of 2008
Time for my best of 2008 list. This year saw me getting back into drum and bass, which made High Contrast’s fantastic Watch The Ride mix an easy number one choice. My other four choices, ranked in no particular order, are perhaps more expected and familiar to regular Tuneage readers. Here’s the full list.
- High Contrast - Watch the Ride
- Air France - No Way Down (previously on Tuneage)
- Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight (previously on Tuneage)
- HEALTH - HEALTH/DISCO
- Johnny Flynn - A Larum (previously on Tuneage)
