Daniel's Top Albums of 2012

Some years it’s really easy to pick my ten favorite albums. 2012 was not one of those years. One decision that was easy for me: Beach House’s Bloom was my favorite album of the year, no contest. Beach House is one of those rare bands that have gotten better with each successive release. Their fourth album is a masterpiece. The sound is fuller and richer, but it is distinctly them.
Standout track: Wild
[Ed. Note: all standout tracks link to youtube videos of the track]

The rest of the list, in no particular order:

Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
Standout track: Pyramids

Twin Shadow – Confess 
Standout track: Run My Heart

Lord Huron – Lonesome Dreams
Standout track: She Lit a Fire

Amanda Palmer – Theatre is Evil
Standout track: Smile (Pictures or It Didn’t Happen)   

Trust – TRST 
Standout track: Sulk 

Metric – Synthetica
Standout track: Speed the Collapse

Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city
Standout track: Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst

Flying Lotus – Until the Quiet Comes
Standout track: See Thru to U

Passion Pit – Gossamer*
Standout track: Carried Away

We've Got That Covered

Cover songs? Love them! Here are a few I've come across lately that I just love and their original counterparts.

You're The One That I Want
Angus & Julia Stone (cover) . Grease Cast (original)

Wicked Game
James Vincent McMorrow (cover) . Chris Isaak (original)

I'm On Fire
Bat For Lashes (cover) . Bruce Springsteen (original)

Coconut
Kermit the Frog (cover) . Harry Nilsson (original)

Crazy in Love
The Magic Numbers (cover) . Beyonce (original)

Heavy Rotation . September 2012

Music we have on heavy rotation right now:

Daniel's List: (no list for him...booo!)

Anica's List Metric - Synthetica Frank Ocean - channel ORANGE

Indio's List: Lion King Soundtrack

Heavy Rotation . June 2012

Music we have on heavy rotation right now:

Daniel's List: Metric - Synthetica The Hundred in the Hands - Red Night Hot Chip - In Our Heads

Anica's List: Hot Chip - In Our Heads Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...

Indio's List: They Might Be Giants - Here Come the 1, 2, 3s

Radio Love ♥

I am a freak. I sometimes miss the daily commute to and from work that I traveled each day in Los Angeles. Running up and down the 210 freeway from Eagle Rock to Sylmar and back gave me time to bliss out with my thoughts and catch up on some quality radio time. I'm back in Los Angeles this week and I get to purge out all my fond memories of traffic and driving and replace it with a strong dose of reality -- the traffic does suck and my thoughts weren't all that amazing -- but the radio is still good. KCRW never lets me down. Many times I discovered new musical artists during those daily commutes that I have followed ever since:

• Feist
• Neko Case
• Chapin Sisters (particularly the cover song I linked to)
• Si Sé (my newest discovery as of last night)

Heavy Rotation . May 2012

Music we have on heavy rotation right now:

Daniel's List:* Tanlines - Mixed Emotions The Men - Open Your Heart Trust - TRST Beach House - Bloom Father John Misty - Fear Fun

Anica's List: Crystal Fighters - Star of Love Rumer - Seasons Of My Soul

Indio's List: Hot Dog Song

*This includes 3 selections (the top three) he sent to me in March and I am just now posting in May. Le oops.

Daniel's Top 10 Albums of 2011

I put this list together several months ago, but I got hit with a bout of writer’s block and never finished it. Instead of waiting for the inspiration I needed to finish it, I decided to take the opposite approach. I trashed everything that I had written, leaving only the list.

These are my favorite albums of 2011.

The Antlers – Burst Apart

Highlights: No Widows , Every Night My Teeth are Falling Out, Putting the Dog to Sleep

TV on the Radio – Nine Type of Light

Highlights: Killer Crane

Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi – Rome

Highlights: The interludes

Radiohead – The King of Limbs

Highlights: Lotus Flower, Separator

Wild Beasts – Smother

Highlights: Loop the Loop, End Come Too Soon

Wye Oak – Civilian

Highlights: Plains

Subtrkt – S/T

Highlights: Trials of the Past

Future Islands – On the Water

Highlights: Before the Bridge, The Great Fire, Give us the Wind

Gang Gang Dance – Eye Contact

Highlights: Glass Jar

Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow

Highlights: Wild Man, Snowed in at Wheeler Street

Photojourna.list: Goings On

This last week has gone by in a blur. Last Friday night Daniel and I went to the Radiohead concert at ScottTrade Center in downtown STL. The stage was amazing, the music was good, the people watching was fantastic...so fantastic. I swear, I need a spy camera sometimes. Or I need to not totally dork out when I am trying to be sneaky. Ahem, anyway, prior to the show, we ate dinner at the breakfast-cum-Mexican restaurant Medianoche (Half & Half by day, Medianoche by night). It was delicious, I will give all the details in another post. (pinky swear on my underwear)

We woke up Saturday morning to our normal Saturday morning ritual of class at the YMCA and St. Louis Bread Company and then we went to Ruby's first birthday party. It was a technicolor dream...Alyse outdid herself (and me) with the decorations and planning for this party. Try to imagine if Pinterest and Martha Stewart had a love child and they threw her a rainbow-themed first birthday party. Completely awesome.

During the middle of the week Daniel popped over to Los Angeles for a 36 hour whirlwind and while the cat's away, the mice will...organize! Indio's room is now a vision of organization. The most impressive part is his closet can actually be opened without stuff tumbling out like a bad sitcom stunt.



I would be totally remiss if I didn't put in a word or two of last week's highlight of going to see our brother-in-law coach his alma mater high school team in hockey. The game was played at ScottTrade Center, where the Blues play, and it was an exciting game. Indio got into cheering on the team by following the students' lead. Although they lost, they did it in grand fashion and Indio now pumps his arm if you chant, 'Let's Go South!'

Heavy Rotation . February 2012

Music we have on heavy rotation right now:

Daniel's List: Frankie Rose - Interstellar Large Prime Numbers -  ZiGGURAT Sharon Van Etten - Tramp

Anica's List: Future Islands - On the Water First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar Duck Sauce - song: Barbara Streisand, remixed from here, but originally here and danced to by Glee.

Indio's List: Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (specifically Money)

Is it a boy or a girl?

At this very moment we are playing a fun (albeit weird) game of 'Is it a boy or girl', a game we just made up. The point of the game is you play songs that have borderline gender vocals and another person has to guess if it is a boy or girl - a classic example would be Tracy Chapman. During dinner our soon-to-be brother-in-law declared that given 10 songs of questionable gender he would get all 10 right. He might as well had slapped us in the face with a leather glove - issue challenged...and accepted. [Links go to youtube or Amazon. I will post the answers in the comments.]

1) Air . Cherry Blossom Girl
2) Antony & the Johnsons . My Lady Story
3) Jeff Buckley . Corpus Christi Carol
4) Beach House . Gila
5) Celebration . War
6) Dirty Projectors . Rise Above
7) Erasure . I Love You
8) Fever Ray . If I Had A Heart
9) Joanna Newsom . Sawdust & Diamonds
10) Jonsi . Go Do

Results: Our game players scored 60% tops. Turns out sometimes it is a lot harder to guess the gender.

Odd Tribute to Michael McDonald

For some reason I had Michael McDonald on my mind today. Actually, I know the reason. But it was a convoluted first thought that reminded me of the Doobie Brothers, which lead me to Michael McDonald. Next thing I know I have a little list of Michael McDonald minutia rolling around in my head. Here are a few facts about Michael McDonald and random personal anecdotes relating to Mr. McDonald:

Though I think Mr. McDonald needs no introduction, I fully realize that not everyone was raised on a healthy diet of classic rock. He did some work with Steely Dan and has a a successful solo career, but his work with the Doobie Brothers is the real deal. At age 4, the Doobie Brothers were my sister's favorite band. In 1995 the Doobie Brothers toured with the Steve Miller Band, which my parents took the whole family to (good times). In 2009, Michael McDonald teamed up with indie band Grizzly Bear to do back-up vocals for the song While You Wait for the Others. The song was also recorded with McDonald singing lead and released as a B-side.		Owns an independent record label with actor Jeff Bridges. Michael McDonald is from St. Louis and has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame in the Delmar Loop. We are fiercely proud of successful native St. Louisians. My main man, Daniel, does a mean Michael McDonald on karaoke (song of choice: What a Fool Believes), which is no small feat. Though proof of this exists, it is blurry and of poor quality - which probably is very good representation of the evenings spent at karaoke night in the All Star Lanes Bowling Alley bar (poor quality being us, not the bar).

Heavy Rotation . March 2011

Music we have on heavy rotation right now:

Daniel's List: Cut Copy - Zonoscope Braids - Native Speaker Toro y Moi - Underneath the Pine

Anica's List: Bonobo - Black Sands James Blake - James Blake Adele - 21

Indio's List: Enya - Shepherd Moons Cee-Lo Green - Forget You (Album: The Lady Killer)

Daniel's Top 10 Albums of 2010 (in haiku)

Album of the year
Teen Dream by Beach House
Restrained dream pop
Baltimore duo’s finest
Indy’s lullaby
You might also like: Volume Two by She & Him

The rest
The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
Sprawl One and Sprawl Two
Arcade Fire at their best
Baroque meets Springsteen
You might also like: Future Weather by The War on Drugs

Crazy for You by Best Coast
I’ve got a fever
The only cure: more reverb!
Modern day surf rock
You might also like: Before Today by Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti

Forgiveness Rock Record by Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene:
Eighty people (give or take)
Rocking out at once
You might also like: Cloak and Cipher by Land of Talk

Pop Negro by El Guincho
Is Spain always warm?
This album leads me to think
That this is the case
You might also like: White Magic by ceo

In Evening Air by Future Islands
Mix ingredients:
Billy Idol and Lou Reed
Pinch of New Order
You might also like: Wild Smile by Suckers

Broken Dreams Club by Girls
The Corgan Playbook
Carolina’s opening
See: Mellon Collie
You might also like: Big Echo by The Morning Benders

Black City by Matthew Dear
Matthew Dear presents
Blade Runner: The Musical
Gloomy android songs
You might also like: Forget by Twin Shadow

Contra by Vampire Weekend
Bouncy hipster tunes
It makes me feel so care-free
Like thirty lives worth
You might also like: This is Happening by LCD Soundsystem

Odd Blood by Yeasayer
All you need to know:
Odd Blood on repeat for months
And still made my list
You might also like: Treats by Sleigh Bells

Heavy Rotation . October 2010

Music we have on heavy rotation right now:

Daniel's List: Daniel failed to get his list in for this month. Sorry, kids. Be sure to check out the non-slackers' lists for this month (below).

Anica's List: Feeling kinda funky and decided to do individual tracks this time.

Future Islands - Long Flight (Album: In Evening Air) . For some reason I think it sounds like the updated love child of Rod Stewart and Billy Idol vocally. Am I right or am I right? The Morning Benders - Excuses (Album: Big Echo) Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Fright Night (Nevermore) (Album: Before Today) Of Montreal - Enemy Gene (Album: False Priest)

Indio's List: These are albums he really seems to enjoy, not just us pushing it on him. Beach House - Teen Dream Linda Danly, Maria Danly - Lullaby River Paul Simon - Graceland

Heavy Rotation . August 2010

Music we have on heavy rotation right now:

Daniel's List:

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul Gonja Sufi - A Sufi And A Killer Menomena - Mines

Anica's List:

Yeasayer - ODD BLOOD Beirut (any and all of it right now, which makes me late to the party once again)

Linked list: Grammys

Ahhh, award season is upon us and I don't really care. I did read a headline this week about Beyonce and Taylor Swift doing pretty well for themselves at the Grammys and everyone swooning over crazy little miss Lady Gaga. So I guess I am all caught up on what happened. The most attention our household gave the Grammys this year is Daniel's brief lecture on what a joke the Grammys are - it was amusing and informative. He followed it up by sending me a link to this blog post that I just needed to pass along: The Grammy's Greatest Misses. Check it out and be outraged.

P.S. Oh, and if you think we are all sour grapes because we listen to music like this and not the aforementioned artists, then perhaps you are on to something.

Best Albums of 2009

My favorite albums of 2009, in alphabetical order:

Album - Girls
Embryonic - The Flaming Lips
It's Blitz! - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Love 2 - Air
Merriweather Post Pavilion - Animal Collective
Noble Beast - Andrew Bird
Two Dancers - Wild Beasts
Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear
Wooden Arms - Patrick Watson
xx - The xx

Short list: Music by Numbers

One . U2
Love 2 . Air
Dirty Three
Four Tet
Jurassic 5
Six Days . DJ Shadow
Seven Nation Army . The White Stripes
Eight Days a Week . The Beatles
Nine Inch Nails
Ten . Pearl Jam

Point/Counterpoint

Daniel played the song Happy House by Siouxsie and The Banshees for me and the song Leaf House by Animal Collective immediately popped into my head as the the lyrical counterpoint (main refrain being "This house is saaaaaaad"). And a list was born...Anyway, here are my thoughts on point/counterpoint songs - some are lyrically based, others I just got cheeky with the song titles. Happy listening.

[Note: All links go to YouTube videos that were working at the time of blog writing.]

Point: Happy House . Siouxsie and The Banshees
Counterpoint: Leaf House . Animal Collective

Point: Stairway to Heaven. Led Zeppelin
Counterpoint: Elevators . Outkast

Point: Everybody Hurts . REM
Counterpoint: I Am a Rock . Simon and Garfunkel

Point: November Rain . Guns 'n' Roses
Counterpoint: I Can See Clearly Now . Johnny Nash

Point: Crying . Roy Orbison
Counterpoint: Smiley Faces . Gnarles Barkley

Heavy Rotation . October 2009

Music we have on heavy rotation right now:

Daniel's List:

Flaming Lips - Embryonic Air - Love 2

Anica's List:

The xx - XX Res - How I Do Not necessarily heavy rotation, but the other week I woke up each day with a new song in my head that became my morning soundtrack. My lineup: Mon: Must of had a case of the Mondays (no song) Tues: So Watcha Want . Beastie Boys Wed: Been Caught Stealing . Jane's Addiction Thurs: Sledgehammer . Peter Gabriel Fri: Hold the Line . Toto