My big hope for 2013, aside from peace for all mankind and a standardised spelling of the
word ‘hummus’, is to get to a few more gigs. The best ones this year – Hot Chip and Beach House – made me think that,
night bus anguish aside, I should definitely get out more. Now my old mucker Eve Barlow has gone on to NME greatness (come back, Eve!) and isn’t around to
spoonfeed me hot new music (seriously, please come back), I’m going to have to
venture out of my cave and hunt it down myself. Like early man with an iPod.
Get Free, Major Lazer
Get Free, Major Lazer
This was 7% better than anything else in 2012. Yes, including Sir Wiggo, mighty Mo, Gareth Bale’s left foot, Tony Stark’s tower, Top Shop's pick ’n’ mix, Boris Johnson on a zipline, and Sebastian the hedgehog. They should promote him to Colonel Lazer immediately.
Dark Star, Poliça
Give You The Ghost, officially the spookiest thing on my iPod, is a little like releasing a clutch of Edgar Allan Poe’s ravens into your headspace. It’s spacy and gothic and kinda brilliant. They even pronounce it “Poe-Lisa”.
[Video]
[Video]
Tessellate, alt-J
The very talented alt-J - you call them ‘∆’ to their faces - won the Mercury Prize, but on the other hand, so did M People and The Klaxons. But on the other other hand so did Portishead, PJ Harvey and The xx. Is it a curse or a blessing? Or a curlessing? Who knows.
110%, Jessie Ware
Sexier than a billion swimsuit issues and more soulful than a Starsky & Hutch cast reunion, this is only let down by a title that’s clearly pinched from a football manager’s team talk. Look out for album tracks ‘A Game Of Two Halves’ and ‘In The Onion Bag, Son!’.
What Was That, Majical Cloudz
Sexier than a billion swimsuit issues and more soulful than a Starsky & Hutch cast reunion, this is only let down by a title that’s clearly pinched from a football manager’s team talk. Look out for album tracks ‘A Game Of Two Halves’ and ‘In The Onion Bag, Son!’.
What Was That, Majical Cloudz
A discovery from Pitchfork. I don’t know much about Majical Cloudz except that
they’re from Montreal, they’ve worked with Grimes, they’ve got a friend called
Neil and they can’t spell.
Call Me Maybe, Carly Rae Jepsen
The closest humanity has come to creating a hybrid of popping candy and crack cocaine. This wasn’t a download, it was a re-up.
[Video]
Yet Again, Grizzly Bear
While there wasn’t anything on Shields I loved quite as much as Veckatimest’s ‘Southern Point’, I can at least pronounce the Grizzlers new album. Sometimes I miss the more jagged, baroque folk of Yellow House, but then there’s always Bon Iver for that.
While there wasn’t anything on Shields I loved quite as much as Veckatimest’s ‘Southern Point’, I can at least pronounce the Grizzlers new album. Sometimes I miss the more jagged, baroque folk of Yellow House, but then there’s always Bon Iver for that.
Heartbreaker, The Walkmen
The
Walkmen are EXCELLENT.
Tapes & Money, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
Tapes & Money, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
I once
came across a Lemmy interview in which the Motörheader told Q magazine that if he ever
saw a jogger smiling, he’d go for a run. Since then I’ve always gone running
with a big grin on my face - this tune has been helping a lot with that – on the
off-chance I bump into him and he becomes the first man to
complete a 10k in leathers and Luftwaffe hat.
Time On
The Fucking Moon, James Holdsworth
You could actually get to the moon in the time it takes to play out this lunar masterpiece. Takes me back to a progressive house phase when I used to worship Schiller (sadly, not that Schiller) like a god, despite never getting to the end of any of his tracks.
You could actually get to the moon in the time it takes to play out this lunar masterpiece. Takes me back to a progressive house phase when I used to worship Schiller (sadly, not that Schiller) like a god, despite never getting to the end of any of his tracks.
Kill For Love, Chromatics
The band that shoulda-coulda scored Drive might be burying the hatchet on Nicolas Winding Refn's Logan's Run - if he ever makes it - and that sounds like a pretty good fit too. Sci-fi synths a-go-go.
[Video]
Let Me Be Him, Hot Chip
A classic singalong closer live, this is Hot Chip's Building A Bridge To Your Heart. The CD seemed like a good Christmas present for my godson. I don't think he'd seen one before.
ALL OF The Art Of Rap
One of my highlights of 2012 was hosting Ice-T on the Empire podcast. His documentary, The Art Of Rap, was one of the nicest surprises of the movie year – I think I even saw Philip French’s head nodding during the preview screening – he's been a bit of a hero since New Jack City, and he was funny and charming as you could hope from an original gangster.
[Trailer]
One of my highlights of 2012 was hosting Ice-T on the Empire podcast. His documentary, The Art Of Rap, was one of the nicest surprises of the movie year – I think I even saw Philip French’s head nodding during the preview screening – he's been a bit of a hero since New Jack City, and he was funny and charming as you could hope from an original gangster.
[Trailer]
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