Premiere: Keep Shelly In Athens x Brothertiger.

20 Dec 2010 — Henning Lahmann

My dance track of the year, Keep Shelly In Athens' brilliant Running Out of You, already received some very nice re-interpretations (head over to GvB for Memory Tapes' take and to NMB for DannielRadall's sweet version), and today it's about time for Athens (sic), Ohio's most laid-back synth pop artist John Jagos aka Brothertiger to add his very distinctive flavors. And indeed, the two-part mystery anthem gets mingled with Brothertiger's thick ambient patterns, vocal manipulation and a heavily jamming drum machine beat until nothing of the original remains the same except for the wonderful vocals. A re-imagination indeed, and an excellent one as well. Keep Shelly In Athens - Running Out of You (Brothertiger Remix) Read more → My dance track of the year, Keep Shelly In Athens' brilliant Running Out of You, already received some very nice re-interpretations (head over to GvB for Memory Tapes' take and to NMB for DannielRadall's sweet version), and today it's about time for Athens (sic), Ohio's most laid-back synth pop artist John Jagos aka Brothertiger to add his very distinctive flavors. And indeed, the two-part mystery anthem gets mingled with Brothertiger's thick ambient patterns, vocal manipulation and a heavily jamming drum machine beat until nothing of the original remains the same except for the wonderful vocals. A re-imagination indeed, and an excellent one as well. Keep Shelly In Athens - Running Out of You (Brothertiger Remix)

2010 Best Albums (10-1) - Henning.

19 Dec 2010 — Henning Lahmann

Photography: Tonje Thilesen So, we're done then. This has been a very intense week, hanging out in Berlin cafés and discussing lists and design stuff and future plans, deciding that it might be best to have separate lists for everything. However, I really believe that stylistic variety is at once inevitable if you try to run a blog from two different cities, never having met before, and above all also very exciting, something that seriously makes me happy. That being said, the four albums both of us apparently could agree on are Stoned Alone, Love Remains, Teen Dream, and Autre Ne Veut, so you may consider these NFOP's official albums of the year. To second Tonje once again, it indeed has been a very good year for music. I'd like to add that it's been a good year for No Fear Of Pop as well, yes I'm even inclined to state that it's been the blog's best so far. Which leaves me excited for 2011. #10. Roy Montgomery / Grouper - Split 12" The way too short 17 minutes of Portland's Liz Harris aka Grouper's side of her split 12 inch with New Zealand experimental guitarist Roy Montgomery have come into my life almost a whole year ago, but they still make me silent and shivering each single time I get back to them. This is musical grandeur with the fewest means possible: Harris' stripped down and sparse instrumentation with only a warm and slightly distorted vintage e-piano, clouds of almost harsh noise and few field recordings are just enough to give Harris' disarming voice the space to make this suite the saddest, most beautiful and most haunting piece of music in 2010. There is actually no way of tearing the four tracks apart, and Vessel is nothing but a brief and insufficient idea of what the complete work is like. So seriously, if you can get your hands or ears on this (the physical copy has long been sold out), please do not wait - when you hear the lonesome dog barking timidly towards the end, you will know why. The rest is awe. Grouper - Vessel #9. Games - That We Can Play This thing first exploded in our heads sometime in summer, I can't exactly recall when I first came across Daniel Lopatin (of Oneohtrix Point Never) and Joel Ford's (of Tigercity) joint venture of retro-futuristic synth madness, but I do remember that this reached me completely unprepared. Of course, too many musical trends in the last two years - the resurrection of Italo Disco, the celebration of obscure Benelux synth pop of the late 80s - all pointed in the same direction: Europop ain't dead. Still, That We Can Play and the earlier Everything Is Working 7 inch overran me unarmed and unsuspecting like a freight train in an open field with no rails anywhere near. And this is what the short EP is essentially all about: to blow you away before you can even start considering if you ever even liked straight synth pop in the first place. But all bombastic gear excess aside, this is also an amazingly melodic piece of music, something that will stick on your eardrums all day simply because above everything else, Lopatin and Ford know damn well how to write the perfect pop song. Games - Strawberry Skies (feat. Laurel Halo) #8. Sun Araw - On Patrol On Patrol is this year's lonesome monolith, the mystical giant of psychedelic music. Over a course of no less than one hour and twenty minutes, this album is nothing but a trip in the strict sense of the term. A trip with an old, run down police Chevy through retro-futuristic landscapes of wasted cities bereft of any hope. Cameron Stallones aka Sun Araw's tropical drone, heavily drawing on topoi of 80s noise music, is the one album that does express that kind of mind-altering experience which informed David Keenan's invention of "hypnagogic pop" back in August 2009 with really unique, distinctive means. This is also the reason why On Patrol could turn out to serve as some kind of watershed for latter day drone experimentalism: Every subsequent album in this genre, I believe, will have to overcome comparisons with Stallones' true masterpiece. Sun Araw - Deep Cover #7. Beach House - Teen Dream From the first guitar picks of Zebra, Teen Dream has cast a spell over me, and there seems essentially no way of ever getting rid of it again. Of course, "dream pop" is a lame and threadbare attribution, used way too often and way too easily especially in the last two years, but if ever, the term finds its justification in the music of Beach House. Their third album is not about variety, as their songs generally never were. But it doesn't need to be: its sheer perfection lies for a good part in its coherence, each new song evoking maelstroms of thoughts and feelings of regret and despair that will not let loose until the album's last note has faded. Beach House - Zebra #6. Jeans Wilder - Nice Trash After a couple of warmly-received EP's, mostly on cassette, and after two years in the making, Andrew Caddick finally dropped his proper full-length debut in early December via the stellar French imprints Atelier Ciseaux and La Station Radar. Nice trash clearly builds on Caddick's interpretation of hazy, sundrenched yet melancholic bedroom pop that he had exhibited on his earlier efforts, but it takes only a casual listen to notice why this album has taken so long to get finished. Caddick's voice might be as blurry, underwater-like as ever, and we're still confronted with (and delighted by) a good deal of tape hiss and other noise, but this is far from cliché "lo-fi". Every song is cautiously crafted, and masterfully arranged and produced to a degree that only true songwriters could come up with. Jeans Wilder - Blanket Mountain #5. Herzog - Search Somehow, and I seriously don't know why, this release went by more or less completely overlooked, despite the fact that more than one thing about Search is truly remarkable. First, this album marks the debut full length not only of the artist himself but also of London's Transparent, one of the most exciting and adorable little vinyl labels of recent years. But above all, this one is remarkable because it is a damn fine, 90s-infused piece of garage rock for which someone had invented the term "alternative" back in the days. Almost every critic deemed Herzog's music "slacker rock", and though I'm not even sure what this actually is supposed to mean in the first place, the four-piece gathered around Cleveland, Ohio native Nick Tolar clearly is anything but lazy when it comes to their music. Search is not only a delightful afternoon listen but also an overall amazing effort in terms of stylistic variety and guitar pop songwriting. Moreover, with Abandon Love, the album includes this year's finest Dylan cover, and as you already know, I could not help selecting the heartbreaking Cautiously Optimistic as my personal song of the year. Herzog - West Blvd #4. Hype Williams - Untitled 12" I've written a lot about this notorious London/Berlin duo as of late, so I will try to keep this short. Considering their untitled 12 inch that they've released on Carnivals this year, serving as their first full length, I guess that they could do better, and I also think they'll do so pretty soon with their forthcoming releases. But it is their terrific and original take on pop-cultural references of the last two decades, their surprisingly listenable messing around with sound bits of the past and their mind-melting compostions and sound-collages that easily justify their position at #4. Blunt and Copeland are, despite all their quite annoying habits, honestly forward-thinking musicians, and Hype Williams is maybe the most thrilling new act of 2010. One last remark: pop-cultural references to the 90s are also the only way to legitimate album covers with hemp leaves. Seriously. Hype Williams - A2 Untitled #3. Autre Ne Veut - Autre Ne Veut After a year as ridiculously prolific as this one, there was no way to escape the fact that The Olde English Spelling Bee has been 2010's best record label, as Fact Magazine pointed out in late November. But it is not one of the more predictable and relatively obvious releases of the Brooklyn imprint - say James Ferraro, Julian Lynch, or also, Big Troubles - that impressed me most enduringly, but the album of nameless Brooklyn synth enigma Autre Ne Veut. His self-titled debut is an awesome mélange of slow-burning and cheesy, 80s informed synthesizer ballads and outright anthems of almost dancepop quality, held together by the artist's amazingly skilled voice. This is a pop record in its purest form, unashamedly borrowing images and textures from the past without ever sounding merely repetitive for even a single second. I'd like to call this perfection. Autre Ne Veut - Demoneyez #2. Coma Cinema - Stoned Alone Coma Cinema's one-man army Mat Cothran is a young man on a quest, searching for something through the means of musical expression. In search for some meaning, probably in search for love and friendship, probably for something entirely different - whatever it might be that Cothran is looking for restlessly, it seems pretty clear that he hasn't found it with Stoned Alone, or Baby Prayers, its predecessor. That's why he will keep on dropping finest little pop songs like it's no one's business, giving them away for free to all of his friends and blogs and generally everyone who will ask for them. Music is not something you will get rich with these days, at least not if it is good music, but luckily it may still serve as a personal way to deal with your sorrows and fears. As for Stoned Alone, especially shown by songs like Only or Blissed, in Mat Cothran's case this means frighteningly fragile and intimate excursions into the soul of an almost ominously talented young artist. To second my co-editor Tonje: Stoned Alone is a masterpiece: a rare gem worth to be cherished if you love music itself. Coma Cinema - Only #1. How To Dress Well - Love Remains "Basically, there is nothing to really worry about aside from being a little run-down." Love Remains is the result of a very personal and truly unique artistic vision - more than any other record of 2010. Of course, Tom Krell's work is not to be consumed detached from its context, meaning this year's return of the synthesizer as the predominant instrument of backward-leaning, forward-thinking music, the resurrection of R'n'B with the means of lo-fi, and in a broader sociological context, the throwback to topoi of romanticism, meaning the return of the focus on one's private realm and the inner self in the face of the tragic collapse of personal liberty and autonomy as a philosophical idea, with the eventual failure of capitalism as its clearest socio-political phenomenon. In fact, there is quite a lot to worry about in 2010. How To Dress Well's music is not going to help us on this, but after all, Krell has never promised to do so. He has simply delivered an otherworldly beautiful record made up of his amazing voice and ethereal layers of synth patterns that reflects more than anything the contemporary state of the individual, one decade into the 21st century. Or, as Tonje has put it, he has made music so beautiful that it almost hurts. Just like the world itself. How To Dress Well - You Hold The Water Read more →

Photography: Tonje Thilesen So, we're done then. This has been a very intense week, hanging out in Berlin cafés and discussing lists and design stuff and future plans, deciding that it might be best to have separate lists for everything. However, I really believe that stylistic variety is at once inevitable if you try to run a blog from two different cities, never having met before, and above all also very exciting, something that seriously makes me happy. That being said, the four albums both of us apparently could agree on are Stoned Alone, Love Remains, Teen Dream, and Autre Ne Veut, so you may consider these NFOP's official albums of the year. To second Tonje once again, it indeed has been a very good year for music. I'd like to add that it's been a good year for No Fear Of Pop as well, yes I'm even inclined to state that it's been the blog's best so far. Which leaves me excited for 2011. #10. Roy Montgomery / Grouper - Split 12" The way too short 17 minutes of Portland's Liz Harris aka Grouper's side of her split 12 inch with New Zealand experimental guitarist Roy Montgomery have come into my life almost a whole year ago, but they still make me silent and shivering each single time I get back to them. This is musical grandeur with the fewest means possible: Harris' stripped down and sparse instrumentation with only a warm and slightly distorted vintage e-piano, clouds of almost harsh noise and few field recordings are just enough to give Harris' disarming voice the space to make this suite the saddest, most beautiful and most haunting piece of music in 2010. There is actually no way of tearing the four tracks apart, and Vessel is nothing but a brief and insufficient idea of what the complete work is like. So seriously, if you can get your hands or ears on this (the physical copy has long been sold out), please do not wait - when you hear the lonesome dog barking timidly towards the end, you will know why. The rest is awe. Grouper - Vessel #9. Games - That We Can Play This thing first exploded in our heads sometime in summer, I can't exactly recall when I first came across Daniel Lopatin (of Oneohtrix Point Never) and Joel Ford's (of Tigercity) joint venture of retro-futuristic synth madness, but I do remember that this reached me completely unprepared. Of course, too many musical trends in the last two years - the resurrection of Italo Disco, the celebration of obscure Benelux synth pop of the late 80s - all pointed in the same direction: Europop ain't dead. Still, That We Can Play and the earlier Everything Is Working 7 inch overran me unarmed and unsuspecting like a freight train in an open field with no rails anywhere near. And this is what the short EP is essentially all about: to blow you away before you can even start considering if you ever even liked straight synth pop in the first place. But all bombastic gear excess aside, this is also an amazingly melodic piece of music, something that will stick on your eardrums all day simply because above everything else, Lopatin and Ford know damn well how to write the perfect pop song. Games - Strawberry Skies (feat. Laurel Halo) #8. Sun Araw - On Patrol On Patrol is this year's lonesome monolith, the mystical giant of psychedelic music. Over a course of no less than one hour and twenty minutes, this album is nothing but a trip in the strict sense of the term. A trip with an old, run down police Chevy through retro-futuristic landscapes of wasted cities bereft of any hope. Cameron Stallones aka Sun Araw's tropical drone, heavily drawing on topoi of 80s noise music, is the one album that does express that kind of mind-altering experience which informed David Keenan's invention of "hypnagogic pop" back in August 2009 with really unique, distinctive means. This is also the reason why On Patrol could turn out to serve as some kind of watershed for latter day drone experimentalism: Every subsequent album in this genre, I believe, will have to overcome comparisons with Stallones' true masterpiece. Sun Araw - Deep Cover #7. Beach House - Teen Dream From the first guitar picks of Zebra, Teen Dream has cast a spell over me, and there seems essentially no way of ever getting rid of it again. Of course, "dream pop" is a lame and threadbare attribution, used way too often and way too easily especially in the last two years, but if ever, the term finds its justification in the music of Beach House. Their third album is not about variety, as their songs generally never were. But it doesn't need to be: its sheer perfection lies for a good part in its coherence, each new song evoking maelstroms of thoughts and feelings of regret and despair that will not let loose until the album's last note has faded. Beach House - Zebra #6. Jeans Wilder - Nice Trash After a couple of warmly-received EP's, mostly on cassette, and after two years in the making, Andrew Caddick finally dropped his proper full-length debut in early December via the stellar French imprints Atelier Ciseaux and La Station Radar. Nice trash clearly builds on Caddick's interpretation of hazy, sundrenched yet melancholic bedroom pop that he had exhibited on his earlier efforts, but it takes only a casual listen to notice why this album has taken so long to get finished. Caddick's voice might be as blurry, underwater-like as ever, and we're still confronted with (and delighted by) a good deal of tape hiss and other noise, but this is far from cliché "lo-fi". Every song is cautiously crafted, and masterfully arranged and produced to a degree that only true songwriters could come up with. Jeans Wilder - Blanket Mountain #5. Herzog - Search Somehow, and I seriously don't know why, this release went by more or less completely overlooked, despite the fact that more than one thing about Search is truly remarkable. First, this album marks the debut full length not only of the artist himself but also of London's Transparent, one of the most exciting and adorable little vinyl labels of recent years. But above all, this one is remarkable because it is a damn fine, 90s-infused piece of garage rock for which someone had invented the term "alternative" back in the days. Almost every critic deemed Herzog's music "slacker rock", and though I'm not even sure what this actually is supposed to mean in the first place, the four-piece gathered around Cleveland, Ohio native Nick Tolar clearly is anything but lazy when it comes to their music. Search is not only a delightful afternoon listen but also an overall amazing effort in terms of stylistic variety and guitar pop songwriting. Moreover, with Abandon Love, the album includes this year's finest Dylan cover, and as you already know, I could not help selecting the heartbreaking Cautiously Optimistic as my personal song of the year. Herzog - West Blvd #4. Hype Williams - Untitled 12" I've written a lot about this notorious London/Berlin duo as of late, so I will try to keep this short. Considering their untitled 12 inch that they've released on Carnivals this year, serving as their first full length, I guess that they could do better, and I also think they'll do so pretty soon with their forthcoming releases. But it is their terrific and original take on pop-cultural references of the last two decades, their surprisingly listenable messing around with sound bits of the past and their mind-melting compostions and sound-collages that easily justify their position at #4. Blunt and Copeland are, despite all their quite annoying habits, honestly forward-thinking musicians, and Hype Williams is maybe the most thrilling new act of 2010. One last remark: pop-cultural references to the 90s are also the only way to legitimate album covers with hemp leaves. Seriously. Hype Williams - A2 Untitled #3. Autre Ne Veut - Autre Ne Veut After a year as ridiculously prolific as this one, there was no way to escape the fact that The Olde English Spelling Bee has been 2010's best record label, as Fact Magazine pointed out in late November. But it is not one of the more predictable and relatively obvious releases of the Brooklyn imprint - say James Ferraro, Julian Lynch, or also, Big Troubles - that impressed me most enduringly, but the album of nameless Brooklyn synth enigma Autre Ne Veut. His self-titled debut is an awesome mélange of slow-burning and cheesy, 80s informed synthesizer ballads and outright anthems of almost dancepop quality, held together by the artist's amazingly skilled voice. This is a pop record in its purest form, unashamedly borrowing images and textures from the past without ever sounding merely repetitive for even a single second. I'd like to call this perfection. Autre Ne Veut - Demoneyez #2. Coma Cinema - Stoned Alone Coma Cinema's one-man army Mat Cothran is a young man on a quest, searching for something through the means of musical expression. In search for some meaning, probably in search for love and friendship, probably for something entirely different - whatever it might be that Cothran is looking for restlessly, it seems pretty clear that he hasn't found it with Stoned Alone, or Baby Prayers, its predecessor. That's why he will keep on dropping finest little pop songs like it's no one's business, giving them away for free to all of his friends and blogs and generally everyone who will ask for them. Music is not something you will get rich with these days, at least not if it is good music, but luckily it may still serve as a personal way to deal with your sorrows and fears. As for Stoned Alone, especially shown by songs like Only or Blissed, in Mat Cothran's case this means frighteningly fragile and intimate excursions into the soul of an almost ominously talented young artist. To second my co-editor Tonje: Stoned Alone is a masterpiece: a rare gem worth to be cherished if you love music itself. Coma Cinema - Only #1. How To Dress Well - Love Remains "Basically, there is nothing to really worry about aside from being a little run-down." Love Remains is the result of a very personal and truly unique artistic vision - more than any other record of 2010. Of course, Tom Krell's work is not to be consumed detached from its context, meaning this year's return of the synthesizer as the predominant instrument of backward-leaning, forward-thinking music, the resurrection of R'n'B with the means of lo-fi, and in a broader sociological context, the throwback to topoi of romanticism, meaning the return of the focus on one's private realm and the inner self in the face of the tragic collapse of personal liberty and autonomy as a philosophical idea, with the eventual failure of capitalism as its clearest socio-political phenomenon. In fact, there is quite a lot to worry about in 2010. How To Dress Well's music is not going to help us on this, but after all, Krell has never promised to do so. He has simply delivered an otherworldly beautiful record made up of his amazing voice and ethereal layers of synth patterns that reflects more than anything the contemporary state of the individual, one decade into the 21st century. Or, as Tonje has put it, he has made music so beautiful that it almost hurts. Just like the world itself. How To Dress Well - You Hold The Water

2010 Best Albums (10-1) - Tonje.

18 Dec 2010 — Tonje Thilesen

Photography: Tonje Thilesen

2010 has been a good year for us music lovers, and 2011 already looks very bright with upcoming records from both unknown and known names such as M83, Neon Indian, Cut Copy, Panda Bear, Einar Stray and Pandit; which means I am officially 'forced' to make a pick of my top 30 favorite albums of 2010, continued from the 30-11 list. It's a task of which I find nearly impossible to complete, and as I told Henning at least ten times when I went to visit him in Berlin last week: I hate lists, and I hate ranking the albums even more. Oh well, here goes.

#10. Four Tet - There Is Love In You I can't help comparing the newest Four Tet record to Caribou's Swim. Not only are the covers very much a like, but also could Sing on Four Tet's 7th album There Is Love In You, basically have been a work of Caribou. That said, the rest of the tracks on the album are as little 'Caribou' as they can get. As you might know already, the album is far more focused and tailored than the earlier works of Kieran Hebden, which is for me probably also why I like it so much. If you still haven't found the path leading to the dreamy, electronic world of There Is Love In You, it's about time you do. In here, everything can happen. #9. Memoryhouse - The Years EP I spent most of my summer listening to this little four-track EP by the Ontario-based dream pop duo Memoryhouse, which means I often get waves of lovely memory flashbacks from the summer holidays rolling underneath my eyelids when I put it on. Memoryhouse's music does that to you in a way, I guess, all though they weren't the only dream pop or "chillwave" duo that has been on repeat on my iPod this summer, but without doubt one of the best ones best around. #8. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II I'd (almost) never been looking so much forward to an album as I was when Crystal Castles' second release was announced, and it did indeed live up to its expectations — or to be honest: beyond. As we all know, the sound on Crystal Castles II has quite less of that Nintendo punk and riot girl feel as on their 2008 debut, but there is no doubt that they have grown a lot since the last time Alice Glass was screaming into our speakers — still without losing the 'core' of Crystal Castles' unique sound. To be honest, there isn’t a single track on the album that I don't like, and I sure hope they will continue evolving in music on future releases. #7. The Morning Benders - Big Echo All though Big Echo received mixed criticism when it was released last spring, I do, for once, agree with mr. Fitzmaurice in the Pitchfork panel for giving it the Best New Music award (I guess you could basically call it an award, huh). It's a splendid piece of an album, but compared to other releases this year, their sound isn't exactly the most surprising or groundbreaking one. On another note, does it really have to be? The Morning Benders make poppy indie rock of which I personally loved more than the newest Arcade Fire release, filled to the brim with catchy, Grizzly Bear-influences and an general longing for 60's, 90's, and everything in between. Let's just put it simple: Big Echo is one hell of a catchy record. Period. #6. How To Dress Well - Love Remains I guess How To Dress Well has to be on everyone's list this year, but to be honest, how can it not be? Love Remains is so beautiful that it almost hurts, featuring Tom Krell's distorted, layered-up vocals and ghostly music, slowly forming dark landscapes of soundwaves varying from the at times doom-like harmonies to the more mysterious,blown-out tunes. Love Remains rises up from the earth below and hits you in the heart, unexpected and almost painful in a way, but one cannot argue that this record is one of the greatest pieces of art this year. #5. Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson - Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson Out of my 30 picks from the best albums of 2010, this is the only post-rock record that I truly think deserves its praise. Hailing from Trondheim and my own hometown Oslo, Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson (YPOFH for short) not only has one of the tightest live performances around, but they've also found the perfect recipe of making extraordinary, melancholic post-rock, at times almost crossing the border to the post-indie. It's hard to find the right words for my feelings towards this atmospheric record. I also know that I'm not the first one to mention that their nostalgic sound somehow reminds me of my own youth; of rainy summer days we spent looking out the window at our cabin, of exploring the forests and lakes and my never-ending fascination of insects and animals (of which still exist by this day), last year's stupid crushes and late-night conversations about the earth and everything in between. It's by all means a soulful and perfectly balanced record by one of the most talented bands Norway has to offer. Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson - I Think E.T Is Involved In My Family #4. Coma Cinema - Stoned Alone I've said it before and I gladly say it again: Mat Cothran hailing from Greenville in South Carolina is nothing but a bedroom pop genius. Indeed, Stoned Alone is a bedroom-recorded record of top-notch, composed by a musician who deserves a lot more attention than he already has. The sound is rather simple, in a way, with his vocals only accompanied by an acoustic/electric guitar, a drum kit and sometimes strings or backing vocals. You can clearly hear the waves of sound bounce around in his bedroom too, creating what you might call pretty 'harsh' acoustics — but what I would say is what gives this album that particular honest charm that couldn't have been done in the studio. With a tracklist of 14 songs varying from a mere 1.5 minutes to 3 minutes at most, Stoned Alone spins for only half an hour on my iTunes, and is therefore the shortest lasting album on this list. However, this is also what I like so much about Cothran's music. All though I could listen to Coma Cinema non-stop for hours, there is also something clever about his 2 minute-long atmospheric pop songs, as if they were tiny soundtracks describing different feelings or moving pictures — visualized several times already by the videographer and director genius Tyler T Williams. Stoned Alone is a masterpiece of a record; rough-sounding but still tailored with such eternal love for music it's no wonder it's a favourite by many music bloggers this year. Coma Cinema - Black Birthday Cake #3. Caribou - Swim I once went to see Caribou playing at a tiny venue in Oslo only in company with a sober self and an empty wallet, but after looking back at the over a hundred gigs I've attended so far, this was probably one of the best ones I'd ever been to. Caribou's cold, psychedelic electronic music is just as clever and perfectly constructed as an equation, and every tiny sound or beat (like the Cabasa detail in the pacy Leave House) is just as important as anything else. The genres are melting into one another; long lasting jazz-like compositions melted together with the catchy, danceable electronic beats strongly influenced by 90-s psychedelia or 70-s funk. This is however needless to say as I assume most of you have already listened to this IDM masterpiece, which is basically a psychedelia trip in itself — and I see myself walking around in the city at night while every dim or flash of lights moves three times as fast as me. Swim is an overwhelming piece of artwork, and neither does it surprise me that Dan Snaith (hiding behind his high-pitched vocals and distorted tunes), has a doctor grade in mathematics. #2. Moddi - Floriography There is something about Moddi's particular sound that draws me back to memories of my childhood. No wonder, considering the fact that I've also spent many summers as a child in the northern Norwegian landscape as well, where this sweet, curly-haired boy also is hailing from. There is no doubt that his music can be classified as melancholic, and at times almost on the border to the more depressive kind — but at the same time the beauty of his Björk-like vocals and carefully picked lyrics  shines through the surface, and grows to become something so beautiful it's hard to find the right words for it. As I've already mentioned in the past; Moddi is not easy to fall in love with at first listen. Just as the rivers dug through the mountains of this rocky landscape thousands of years ago, so does the music of Moddi; with songs that often spins for over 8 minutes. It was indeed an individual choice from Pål Moddi's point of view, and to be honest, it couldn't have been done in any different way. This is my music and this is exactly how I want it to sound, may sound a bit naive at first, but after listening through the album in it's whole, I've grown to understand that this is probably why I respect Moddi (and his notably talented band) so much. Moddi - Magpie Eggs #1. Beach House - Teen Dream Teen Dream is a difficult album to write about. Throughout its 49.1 minutes,  you could say that it's an album speaking for itself; containing so many different feelings of both beauty and sadness that I honestly think everyone can relate to it somehow. Beach House has indeed the ability to create flawless magic, and if you have ever been so lucky to see them live, you will definitely know what I'm saying. It does indeed provoke those eternal memories of youth to be forgotten, while Victoria’s hazy vocals accompanied with slow-motion beats and nostalgic synths also somehow reminds me of the beauty of travelling, both in the company of others and by yourself — which may make you feel how important it is to know yourself and what goals to set in life rather than anything else. Read more →

Photography: Tonje Thilesen

2010 has been a good year for us music lovers, and 2011 already looks very bright with upcoming records from both unknown and known names such as M83, Neon Indian, Cut Copy, Panda Bear, Einar Stray and Pandit; which means I am officially 'forced' to make a pick of my top 30 favorite albums of 2010, continued from the 30-11 list. It's a task of which I find nearly impossible to complete, and as I told Henning at least ten times when I went to visit him in Berlin last week: I hate lists, and I hate ranking the albums even more. Oh well, here goes.

#10. Four Tet - There Is Love In You I can't help comparing the newest Four Tet record to Caribou's Swim. Not only are the covers very much a like, but also could Sing on Four Tet's 7th album There Is Love In You, basically have been a work of Caribou. That said, the rest of the tracks on the album are as little 'Caribou' as they can get. As you might know already, the album is far more focused and tailored than the earlier works of Kieran Hebden, which is for me probably also why I like it so much. If you still haven't found the path leading to the dreamy, electronic world of There Is Love In You, it's about time you do. In here, everything can happen. #9. Memoryhouse - The Years EP I spent most of my summer listening to this little four-track EP by the Ontario-based dream pop duo Memoryhouse, which means I often get waves of lovely memory flashbacks from the summer holidays rolling underneath my eyelids when I put it on. Memoryhouse's music does that to you in a way, I guess, all though they weren't the only dream pop or "chillwave" duo that has been on repeat on my iPod this summer, but without doubt one of the best ones best around. #8. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II I'd (almost) never been looking so much forward to an album as I was when Crystal Castles' second release was announced, and it did indeed live up to its expectations — or to be honest: beyond. As we all know, the sound on Crystal Castles II has quite less of that Nintendo punk and riot girl feel as on their 2008 debut, but there is no doubt that they have grown a lot since the last time Alice Glass was screaming into our speakers — still without losing the 'core' of Crystal Castles' unique sound. To be honest, there isn’t a single track on the album that I don't like, and I sure hope they will continue evolving in music on future releases. #7. The Morning Benders - Big Echo All though Big Echo received mixed criticism when it was released last spring, I do, for once, agree with mr. Fitzmaurice in the Pitchfork panel for giving it the Best New Music award (I guess you could basically call it an award, huh). It's a splendid piece of an album, but compared to other releases this year, their sound isn't exactly the most surprising or groundbreaking one. On another note, does it really have to be? The Morning Benders make poppy indie rock of which I personally loved more than the newest Arcade Fire release, filled to the brim with catchy, Grizzly Bear-influences and an general longing for 60's, 90's, and everything in between. Let's just put it simple: Big Echo is one hell of a catchy record. Period. #6. How To Dress Well - Love Remains I guess How To Dress Well has to be on everyone's list this year, but to be honest, how can it not be? Love Remains is so beautiful that it almost hurts, featuring Tom Krell's distorted, layered-up vocals and ghostly music, slowly forming dark landscapes of soundwaves varying from the at times doom-like harmonies to the more mysterious,blown-out tunes. Love Remains rises up from the earth below and hits you in the heart, unexpected and almost painful in a way, but one cannot argue that this record is one of the greatest pieces of art this year. #5. Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson - Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson Out of my 30 picks from the best albums of 2010, this is the only post-rock record that I truly think deserves its praise. Hailing from Trondheim and my own hometown Oslo, Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson (YPOFH for short) not only has one of the tightest live performances around, but they've also found the perfect recipe of making extraordinary, melancholic post-rock, at times almost crossing the border to the post-indie. It's hard to find the right words for my feelings towards this atmospheric record. I also know that I'm not the first one to mention that their nostalgic sound somehow reminds me of my own youth; of rainy summer days we spent looking out the window at our cabin, of exploring the forests and lakes and my never-ending fascination of insects and animals (of which still exist by this day), last year's stupid crushes and late-night conversations about the earth and everything in between. It's by all means a soulful and perfectly balanced record by one of the most talented bands Norway has to offer. Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson - I Think E.T Is Involved In My Family #4. Coma Cinema - Stoned Alone I've said it before and I gladly say it again: Mat Cothran hailing from Greenville in South Carolina is nothing but a bedroom pop genius. Indeed, Stoned Alone is a bedroom-recorded record of top-notch, composed by a musician who deserves a lot more attention than he already has. The sound is rather simple, in a way, with his vocals only accompanied by an acoustic/electric guitar, a drum kit and sometimes strings or backing vocals. You can clearly hear the waves of sound bounce around in his bedroom too, creating what you might call pretty 'harsh' acoustics — but what I would say is what gives this album that particular honest charm that couldn't have been done in the studio. With a tracklist of 14 songs varying from a mere 1.5 minutes to 3 minutes at most, Stoned Alone spins for only half an hour on my iTunes, and is therefore the shortest lasting album on this list. However, this is also what I like so much about Cothran's music. All though I could listen to Coma Cinema non-stop for hours, there is also something clever about his 2 minute-long atmospheric pop songs, as if they were tiny soundtracks describing different feelings or moving pictures — visualized several times already by the videographer and director genius Tyler T Williams. Stoned Alone is a masterpiece of a record; rough-sounding but still tailored with such eternal love for music it's no wonder it's a favourite by many music bloggers this year. Coma Cinema - Black Birthday Cake #3. Caribou - Swim I once went to see Caribou playing at a tiny venue in Oslo only in company with a sober self and an empty wallet, but after looking back at the over a hundred gigs I've attended so far, this was probably one of the best ones I'd ever been to. Caribou's cold, psychedelic electronic music is just as clever and perfectly constructed as an equation, and every tiny sound or beat (like the Cabasa detail in the pacy Leave House) is just as important as anything else. The genres are melting into one another; long lasting jazz-like compositions melted together with the catchy, danceable electronic beats strongly influenced by 90-s psychedelia or 70-s funk. This is however needless to say as I assume most of you have already listened to this IDM masterpiece, which is basically a psychedelia trip in itself — and I see myself walking around in the city at night while every dim or flash of lights moves three times as fast as me. Swim is an overwhelming piece of artwork, and neither does it surprise me that Dan Snaith (hiding behind his high-pitched vocals and distorted tunes), has a doctor grade in mathematics. #2. Moddi - Floriography There is something about Moddi's particular sound that draws me back to memories of my childhood. No wonder, considering the fact that I've also spent many summers as a child in the northern Norwegian landscape as well, where this sweet, curly-haired boy also is hailing from. There is no doubt that his music can be classified as melancholic, and at times almost on the border to the more depressive kind — but at the same time the beauty of his Björk-like vocals and carefully picked lyrics  shines through the surface, and grows to become something so beautiful it's hard to find the right words for it. As I've already mentioned in the past; Moddi is not easy to fall in love with at first listen. Just as the rivers dug through the mountains of this rocky landscape thousands of years ago, so does the music of Moddi; with songs that often spins for over 8 minutes. It was indeed an individual choice from Pål Moddi's point of view, and to be honest, it couldn't have been done in any different way. This is my music and this is exactly how I want it to sound, may sound a bit naive at first, but after listening through the album in it's whole, I've grown to understand that this is probably why I respect Moddi (and his notably talented band) so much. Moddi - Magpie Eggs #1. Beach House - Teen Dream Teen Dream is a difficult album to write about. Throughout its 49.1 minutes,  you could say that it's an album speaking for itself; containing so many different feelings of both beauty and sadness that I honestly think everyone can relate to it somehow. Beach House has indeed the ability to create flawless magic, and if you have ever been so lucky to see them live, you will definitely know what I'm saying. It does indeed provoke those eternal memories of youth to be forgotten, while Victoria’s hazy vocals accompanied with slow-motion beats and nostalgic synths also somehow reminds me of the beauty of travelling, both in the company of others and by yourself — which may make you feel how important it is to know yourself and what goals to set in life rather than anything else.

Shakedown / So Post.

18 Dec 2010 — Henning Lahmann

Brooklyn's creative über-talent Zak Mering, who blessed us with this summer's sickest 80s to 90s throwback party tunes as Greatest Hits and later was part of that crazily awesome alliance with Outer Limits Recordings'/Matrix Metals' Sam Meringue that dropped one of this year's best songs as The Sweethearts, is finally about to put out another collection of blissed-out jams under his main (?) recording moniker Raw Thrills. Shakedown is a jaw-dropping LP of slightly deranged and off-kilter tunes, finest pop music made up of soft-toned guitars, spaced-out synth patterns and simply addictive drum machine loops, all gently drowned in a sea of foggy noise. This is seriously amazing stuff and I'm kinda relieved that our most adored Japanese friends at Sixteen Tambourines are not gonna release the 12 inch before mid February cause otherwise I would have been forced to throw my already finished best albums of 2010 list out of the window to include Shakedown somewhere prominently. Anyway, you can already pre-order the glory here. Be quick, as the first 50 will receive the bonus cassette So Post, a 13 songs tape that exposes a softer, even further sweet melody-dripping side of Raw Thrills collecting some fine covers and a very nice collaboration with Weyes Blood. Oh and as I've just read on Rose Quartz, Mering is also about to drop "some other exciting/top secret stuff" very soon, so I'd suggest you just keep checking their site regularly (which you seriously should anyway). Raw Thrills - Do You Got That Soul (Shakedown) Raw Thrills - It Doesn't Have Anything To Do With Me (Shakedown) Raw Thrills - Where (feat. Weyes Blood) (So Post) Read more → Brooklyn's creative über-talent Zak Mering, who blessed us with this summer's sickest 80s to 90s throwback party tunes as Greatest Hits and later was part of that crazily awesome alliance with Outer Limits Recordings'/Matrix Metals' Sam Meringue that dropped one of this year's best songs as The Sweethearts, is finally about to put out another collection of blissed-out jams under his main (?) recording moniker Raw Thrills. Shakedown is a jaw-dropping LP of slightly deranged and off-kilter tunes, finest pop music made up of soft-toned guitars, spaced-out synth patterns and simply addictive drum machine loops, all gently drowned in a sea of foggy noise. This is seriously amazing stuff and I'm kinda relieved that our most adored Japanese friends at Sixteen Tambourines are not gonna release the 12 inch before mid February cause otherwise I would have been forced to throw my already finished best albums of 2010 list out of the window to include Shakedown somewhere prominently. Anyway, you can already pre-order the glory here. Be quick, as the first 50 will receive the bonus cassette So Post, a 13 songs tape that exposes a softer, even further sweet melody-dripping side of Raw Thrills collecting some fine covers and a very nice collaboration with Weyes Blood. Oh and as I've just read on Rose Quartz, Mering is also about to drop "some other exciting/top secret stuff" very soon, so I'd suggest you just keep checking their site regularly (which you seriously should anyway). Raw Thrills - Do You Got That Soul (Shakedown) Raw Thrills - It Doesn't Have Anything To Do With Me (Shakedown) Raw Thrills - Where (feat. Weyes Blood) (So Post)

Act So Big Forest Christmas Compilation.

18 Dec 2010 — Henning Lahmann

The stellar folks over at Fort Collins, Colorado's adorable Act So Big Forest arts and music collective have put out a fabulous little compilation today celebrating holiday season. So go cherish the snow at last with two winter weather embracing songs by the wonderful Aloeswood and the collective's figureheads Candy Claws, and after you've finished doing so cop the rest of the gems over here. Aloeswood - Snow Song Candy Claws - Snow Bridge Read more → The stellar folks over at Fort Collins, Colorado's adorable Act So Big Forest arts and music collective have put out a fabulous little compilation today celebrating holiday season. So go cherish the snow at last with two winter weather embracing songs by the wonderful Aloeswood and the collective's figureheads Candy Claws, and after you've finished doing so cop the rest of the gems over here. Aloeswood - Snow Song Candy Claws - Snow Bridge

2010 Best Albums (30-11) - Henning.

16 Dec 2010 — Henning Lahmann

#30. Hear Hums - Psyche Cycles Sunsoaked #29. Ghost Animal - Summertime in Heaven In Your Room #28. Velvet Davenport - Warmy Girls Warmy Personal Routine #27. Holy Strays - Hyperion Faint Beams Ceremony #26. Big Troubles - Worry Bite Yr Tongue #25. Ensemble Economique - Psychical Forever Eyes #24. Philip Seymour Hoffman - Happiness Only Real When Shared Requiem for the Ghostbuster #23. Girls - Broken Dreams Club #22. d'Eon - Palinopsia Almost Out Of Time #21. Perfume Genius - Learning Look Out, Look Out #20. Wild Nothing - Gemini #19. Rangers - Suburban Tours Deerfield Village #18. Speculator - Lifestyle Afraid of the Future # 17. Tamaryn - The Waves Love Fade #16. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today #15. Pigeons - Si Faustine Fade Away #14. Julian Lynch - Mare Mare #13. Demdike Stare - Liberation Through Hearing Caged In Stammheim #12. LA Vampires & Zola Jesus - LA Vampires Meets Zola Jesus Bone Is Bloodstone #11. Woods - At Echo Lake Blood Dries Darker

Photograph by Florian Reischauer. Pieces Of Berlin buy this print! 15x15cm | 30x30cm

Read more → #30. Hear Hums - Psyche Cycles Sunsoaked #29. Ghost Animal - Summertime in Heaven In Your Room #28. Velvet Davenport - Warmy Girls Warmy Personal Routine #27. Holy Strays - Hyperion Faint Beams Ceremony #26. Big Troubles - Worry Bite Yr Tongue #25. Ensemble Economique - Psychical Forever Eyes #24. Philip Seymour Hoffman - Happiness Only Real When Shared Requiem for the Ghostbuster #23. Girls - Broken Dreams Club #22. d'Eon - Palinopsia Almost Out Of Time #21. Perfume Genius - Learning Look Out, Look Out #20. Wild Nothing - Gemini #19. Rangers - Suburban Tours Deerfield Village #18. Speculator - Lifestyle Afraid of the Future # 17. Tamaryn - The Waves Love Fade #16. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today #15. Pigeons - Si Faustine Fade Away #14. Julian Lynch - Mare Mare #13. Demdike Stare - Liberation Through Hearing Caged In Stammheim #12. LA Vampires & Zola Jesus - LA Vampires Meets Zola Jesus Bone Is Bloodstone #11. Woods - At Echo Lake Blood Dries Darker

Photograph by Florian Reischauer. Pieces Of Berlin buy this print! 15x15cm | 30x30cm

2010 Best Albums (30-11) - Tonje.

16 Dec 2010 — Tonje Thilesen

#30. Two Bicycles - The Holy Forest The Holy Forest/Forever #29. Salem - King Night #28. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast #27. WALSH - Smoke Weed About It Westworld #26. Future Islands - In Evening Air #25. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt #24. Susanne Sundfør - The Brothel It's All Gone Tomorrow #23. Gem Club - Acid And Everything Sevens #22. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker #21. Fang Island - Fang Island #20. Uno Møller - Songs From My Beautiful Colourball For All That Dawns #19. Ghost Society - The Back Of His Hands, Then The Palms Under The Sun #18. Delorean - Subiza #17. Wild Nothing - Gemini #16. Blue Hawaii - Blooming Summer Lilac #15. Solar Bears - She Was Coloured In Children Of The Times #14. Autre Ne Veut - Autre Ne Veut New Depth #13. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today #12. The Radio Dept. - Clinging To A Scheme #11. Matthew Dear - Black City Photograph by Florian Reischauer. Pieces Of Berlin buy this print! 15x15cm | 30x30cm Read more → #30. Two Bicycles - The Holy Forest The Holy Forest/Forever #29. Salem - King Night #28. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast #27. WALSH - Smoke Weed About It Westworld #26. Future Islands - In Evening Air #25. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt #24. Susanne Sundfør - The Brothel It's All Gone Tomorrow #23. Gem Club - Acid And Everything Sevens #22. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker #21. Fang Island - Fang Island #20. Uno Møller - Songs From My Beautiful Colourball For All That Dawns #19. Ghost Society - The Back Of His Hands, Then The Palms Under The Sun #18. Delorean - Subiza #17. Wild Nothing - Gemini #16. Blue Hawaii - Blooming Summer Lilac #15. Solar Bears - She Was Coloured In Children Of The Times #14. Autre Ne Veut - Autre Ne Veut New Depth #13. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today #12. The Radio Dept. - Clinging To A Scheme #11. Matthew Dear - Black City Photograph by Florian Reischauer. Pieces Of Berlin buy this print! 15x15cm | 30x30cm