Common - “The Dreamer (feat. Maya Angelou)”
This and this are why you shouldn’t make Best Of lists until the year is actually close to being over. In a year where everyone was talking about the new kids of hip hop like The Weeknd and Drake, the older generation answers back with Maya fucking Angelou. Sure, it’s less buzzy than Jamie xx, but my god. Amazing.
Of Monsters and Men - Dirty Paws
Iceland! Iceland! What do you put in your water? You give me Björk, Sigur Rós, Emilíana Torrini and now Of Monsters and Men?
This sextet’s first album is like this perfect smorgasbord of indie music. Little bit of Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons, sprinkle of Florence & the Machine and a touch of the xx. Admittedly, Dirty Paws is not their catchiest song (that award goes to Little Talks) but I think it best represents the album as a whole. I also love how evocative the lyrics are.
Their new album, My Head is an Animal, is only available in Iceland but it’s slated for an early 2012 US release. To tide you over, you should check out their EP Into The Woods.
p.s. Oh and did I forget to mention that their song, “Little Talks” is the free single of the week on iTunes?
Soft Pipes is the work of Anthony Polcino who sounds a lot like Julian Casablancas. The progression of “Stay Pretty” is nice, starting with the sound of a fuzzy guitar and turning into something a lot dreamier than anything The Strokes would ever do.
Da Bang is from Beijing, but you probably wouldn’t have figured that out on your own because their album 少年邪 (aka Bone Hug) developed along the current trajectory of alternative music. Drawing influence from simply the best of the early 2000s, Bone Hug is a record that feels remarkably fresh. Lead singer Pupi is amazing, resembling a Fever to Tell-era Karen O on “Down Down Down” and doing her best Sue Tompkins talk-singing on “Danger”. The synths on “冰心” (the album’s only track sung in Chinese) are bizarre in a manner that The Knife might be proud to call their own.
While Western observers like to focus on the parts of East Asian culture that are over the top, there are genuine attempts by artists to do something in a different vein. By simplifying the Asian cultural experience, the West has fetishized by omission, unfair to the Chinese youth that face a certain societal restlessness with very real problems. “Cut Cut Cut” tackles one such problem, describing a terrible, twisted, sick co-dependent relationship, mirrored by the song’s frenetic buildups and dizzying comedowns.
And hey, if you’re not willing to make this political, just listen to the tunes because they’re bomb as hell.
One thing that I really love about the age that we live in is the willingness to share and the ease at which the internet makes that possible. Kip of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart tweeted about the debut of Austin’s Literature about a week and a half ago, and I was able to easily download it because the band is offering it up on Bandcamp for free. It’s been on repeat since, something that I never would have found if it weren’t for the big ups from a bigger band or the band’s willingness to share their tracks for free. Arab Spring sounds a lot like something that Kip would like, a nice little cross between The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and hometown band (the sadly defunct) Voxtrot.
The first new song from The Shins since 2007 plays like something off of Wincing the Night Away, with an upbeat rhythm and bright guitar that provides the perfect soundtrack for this 50 degree January day in Chicago. And even though the only remaining member from the original Shins line-up is James Mercer, the melodic guitar-pop remains as catchy as ever.
The Shins are also part of a recently-released, stacked Coachella 2012 bill.
Everyday people love, inspire, and achieve great things….this is the art of beautifulness working inside out
It is not who they used to be, but who they have become in which inspires us :)
