bn... favourites of 2009

With attention to flow rather than order of preference, my absolute favourite songs of 2009.

1. Happy Up Here - Röyksopp
2. 1901 - Phoenix
3. Osaka Loop Line - Discovery
4. Lovesick Teenagers - Bear in Heaven
5. Blood Pt 2 - Buck 65 Remix ft Sufjan Stevens & Serengeti
6. Die Slow - Health
7. Shining - Islands
8. Only If You Run - Julian Plenty
9. Slow Life - Grizzly Bear ft Victoria Legrand
10. Winter Water - Harlem Shakes
11. Shelter - The xx
12. Revenge - Sparklehorse & Danger Mouse ft Wayne Coyne
13. Repeater Beater - Mew
14. Now We Can See - The Thermals
15. Come Saturday - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
16. Longform - The Dodos
17. 333 - Malajube
18. Feel.Love.Thinking.Of. - Faunts
19. Kettering - The Antlers
20. Sleep Alone - Bat For Lashes

Special mention to Fuck Button's album Tarot Sport, which would be represented on here had most of its best songs not been over 9 minutes long...

Download here!

Hip-Hop Hipsters and their mixtapes

The best hip-hop right now is coming from the unsigned and underground. No question. That's right 50 cent, your album sucks. Upon my return from some epic surfing in Tofino I came across these tracks to add to my November playlist. Chiddy Bang, who have been mentioned before on BTA, have recently released their mixtape The Swelly Express. Available in it's entirety on their myspace. I think one of the guys left the group...I'm not really sure. Let's just say he did and you can correct me. Xaphoon Jones kills it with the beats he forms from the likes of MGMT, Passion Pit, and now this one from Sufjan Stevens. These are not mash-ups for the most part. Xaphoon really takes the song and makes it his own.

Next is Wiz Khalifa, a new name for myself at least, only hearing about him recently. His mixtape, Burn After Rolling has a pretty good track with him rhyming over Empire of the Sun. The rest of it is.. so-so. I mean what's with the DJ drops man? You know I hate those. And probably could have done without the shout outs to your twitter followers. I think I am just really liking how the new face of hip-hop is showing that they are definatley aware of what's going on in the other realms of music and harnessing it.

Chiddy Bang - All things go (w/Sufjan Stevens)

Wiz Khalifa - The Thrill

Spiral Spinning Round

Considering Dan Snaith's previous work as Manitoba and under current moniker Caribou, his new album Andorra feels logical in terms of musical progression, albeit while sounding more free-spirited than ever before. I thought The Milk of Human Kindness was a great album because Snaith balanced hip hop influenced rhythms ("Lord Leopard") and progressive Beck-like sounds ("Yeti"), while constantly reverting to psych-tinged 60's production and guitar ("Bees"). The percussive elements would shuffle, but the mood created on "Bees" was the constant that felt like a spine great ideas would stem from and branch out. The variety is less apparent on Andorra, but it seems as though he used that song as a jumping off point for this new effort.

The instrumentation on Andorra shifts pretty effortlessly between classic sounding string parts and digital melodies provided by keys and synths. The product could be placed somewhere between Sufjan Stevens and Miracle Fortress in terms of style, meaning that layers are at the forefront though the songs themselves are earnest and straightforward. There are a few electronic departures, the most obvious being the last two songs "Irene" and "Niobe". However, the prevalent sound is brightly coloured pop relying on flutes, bells, chimes, and various vocal effects. That sensibility is the selling point, from opener and single "Melody Day" to the fluttering "Eli". There comes a point in the latter when a strong saxophone part creeps into the wall of sound, making the song burst at its seams. Where Milk might have suddenly changed direction on a song like this, Andorra pursues its target, building steadily to a peak never before reached on a Caribou record.

Andorra's one of the stronger Canadian releases of '07, pick it up if you get a chance.

Caribou - Melody Day
Caribou - Eli

- brad