Um. New Nickel Creek, new Nickel Creek! Dudes, it’s been 6 years apart, and that’s far too long for my liking. Glad we got to our destination though.
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KONGOS – Come With Me Now
You know, one of these days I’m really going to have to update my “South African bands you NEED to hear!” post. After all, it’s nearly 7 years old now, and it’s been 9 or so since I left South Africa, so there’s a lot that’s happened in between, and a lot of new bands I need to hear.
Like KONGOS. This tune, Come With Me Now, actually was released in SA back in 2011, but it took a re-release for the US late last year to bring this to my attention. So, better late then never – add this to your “kick-ass SA tunes” list.
Still one of the top tunes of 2013, Daughter’s “Youth” is playing round these parts over and over right now. The middle is the best part.
Dudes, I have a new hero of cool, and it is the dude from St. Paul and the Broken Bones. Effortless.
More here, courtesy of Ourvinyl.tv.
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Burgo’s Top Songs of 2013
So, unlike my top albums post, I’ll be posting this without commentary. Below, in no particular order, are my favourite tunes of 2013:
CHVRCHES – We Sink
Atlas Genius – Trojans
Bastille – Flaws
Daft Punk – Get Lucky
Cloud Control – Scar
Peace – Lovesick
Noah And The Whale – There Will Come A Time
Lorde – Tennis Court
Art of Sleeping – Above The Water
Frank Turner – Recovery
Griffin House – Go Through It
Haim – Honey & I
Mr Little Jeans – Oh Sailor – feat. the Silverlake Conservatory of Music Youth Chorale
The National – Fireproof
Jason Isbell – Live Oak
Dustin Tebbutt – The Breach
London Grammar – Strong
Small Sur – Labor
Blue and Bordeaux – Know Me Well
Daughter – Human
James Vincent McMorrow – Cavalier
Kodaline – High Hopes
Phosphorescent – The Quotidian Beasts
Vance Joy – From Afar
Josh Ritter – Joy To You Baby
James Blake – Retrograde
Sticky Fingers – Australia Street
These songs can be found on my Spotify playlist here. Happy listening!
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Burgo’s Top Albums of 2013
2014 was probably the “smoothest” year I can remember in music for quite some time. By that, I mean it was the year where polished pop music finally became cool again, and was totally embraced by the indie kids. That’s definitely reflected in my choices below; it’s by far the most “pop-driven” list of any of my end of year recaps, in all the years I’ve been blogging. And I think that’s actually a really, really cool thing.
Below are in no particular order, because I’m a rebel like that.
Bastille – Bad Blood
Just a great, great album. There’s something here for everyone, and – although that sometimes can water down an album in other cases – in this case, Bad Blood is only stronger for it. From start to finish, Dan Smith speaks both for and to you, in completely predictable ways – but damned if that doesn’t just make me enjoy this more. Sometimes predictability isn’t a bad thing… it’s predictable because it feels right, natural. As a result, there’s a comfort and familiarity listening to these tunes, like it’s your favourite band from years ago; all this despite the fact that it’s Bastille’s debut album (EPs and previous singles aside).
Synth-laden and electronic pop that will appeal to fans of Mumford and the likes. Give it a spin.
Standout track: In an album of stand-out singles? Tough, but I’d have to go with album opener, “Pompeii”.
Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City
So, I’ve had a thing about VW in the past. I caught myself humming along to their tunes, but in a lot of ways, I just couldn’t get into them as much as others did. Don’t get me wrong, I knew they were great at crafting catchy hooks, but whenever I tried to listen to a full album of theirs, something just seemed… off. There was a lot of hype and glossy style there, but they just couldn’t sustain me all the way through.
With “Modern Vampires of the City”, however, that all changed. In an interview with the New York Times, Ezra Koenig said, “In the past, I think a lot of our songs have had detours… I feel like every song on this album has a purpose”, and when I read that, I finally knew what was different. Ezra was spot on in his own awareness of their music; it’s the most complete album of theirs yet, and one that I can totally get in to. I don’t think it’s their most mature album – people have been using that label like they’ve been immature before – but I do think it’s their most focussed album.
Standout track: Unbelievers
Chvrches – The Bones of What You Believe
Wow. Wow wow wow. Ok, seriously, find me a stronger album opening in 2013 than the trio of tunes that open, “The Bones of What You Believe”. Honestly, I’m hard pressed to think of a stronger opening act at all, come to think about it. “The Mother We Share”, already hyped in my own mind as one of the year’s best songs prior to the album’s release, was then followed by the even catchier “We Sink”, with “Gun” rounding out the hat-trick.
Overall, just a super-strong album, with only “You Caught the Light” seeming the odd tune out in terms of enjoyment. But, that aside, probably my favourite album of the year – and, again, it’s synth-driven electro-pop. I’m a singer-songwriter/folk/americana stalwart… what the heck happened in 2013??!
Standout track: We Sink
The National – Trouble Will Find Me
So, we should probably get this out of the way: if you weren’t a The National fan before this album, I’m not sure this will be the one to turn you around. Like most albums from the band, it’s not an immediate winner. At first listen, you’ll probably be hard pressed to remember a “single”. But after multiple spins, you’ll find you just keep coming back to it, again and again… likely with a wistful sense of nostalgic desperation. Let’s be clear, it’s no Alligator, nor Boxer — but if you’ve grown with these guys from the beginning, it’s exactly where the album needed to be.
Self-aware to the extreme, it’s a slow burner that will bury itself deep inside your mind. The frantic sounds of Alligator aren’t here, and if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll be disappointed. But there’s something a whole lot more menacing, if weary, here.
Standout track: Graceless
Haim – Days Are Gone
You know, it was kind of inevitable that there would be the backlash against Haim. Danielle and Este Haim were a tween-pop outfit. “Valli Girls”, put together by Richard Marx (yes, that Richard Marx), prior to striking out on their own with younger sister, Alana. So, already, they’re tarnished with the “manufactured” label. And the production values on “Days Are Gone” don’t help their case; it’s so slick, so damn polished, that you’d immediately think that means it eliminates any personality, any soul from the release.
But somehow, Haim pull it off. Perhaps it’s because they’re just so insanely, insanely talented. “Days Are Gone” is an amazing debut for the sisters, and one that really isn’t worthy of the current hipster backlash on the LA trio. Because when you get down to it and throw all those preconceptions away, this is just a band making ridiculously tight music. So do your part and enjoy it.
Standout track: The Wire
Vance Joy – God Loves You When You’re Dancing
Vance Joy, aka James Keogh, put out one of the Australian releases of the year, with his “God Loves You When You’re Dancing” EP. At 5 songs and around 24 minutes long, it all-too-fleeting, but for that short period of time you absolutely lose yourself in blissful, layered texturing, and heartbreaking tunes.
You would have been hard-pressed to get away from lead single, “Riptide” this year, but trust me – Vance Joy is no one-hit-wonder. All 5 songs on this EP are captivating, particularly album closer, “From Afar”
Standout track: From Afar
Phosphorescent – Muchacho
Matthew Houck’s latest is one of my favourites from him – as always, the voice is faltering, and seemingly fragile; but Houck just lays it all out there with such raw honesty, those cracks and breaks make it seem all the more real.
There are some serious echoes of “Cold Roses”-era Cardinals in some of the tunes here, which is probably why I like it so much.
Standout track: The Quotidian Beasts
Griffin House – Balls
Griffin House had an incredible 2007, when the popular “Flying Upside Down” came out. Critics raved about his warm, comfortable tunes, and great things were expected. Then “Learner” followed that in 2010, and reviews were… disappointing, to say the least. So I was absolutely stoked to hear Griffin House’s return with the simply-titled “Balls” this year.
Balls sounds like House at his most comfortable in years. And I love having him back.
Standout track: Go Through It
Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
Maybe not the album that EDM were hoping would come from Daft Punk, but definitely the album that EDM needed. It’s no surprise that DP went so purposefully away from the EDM riffs that they so strongly influenced on this record, and leaned heavily into the disco and funk from the 70s and 80s. You can’t help but think Daft Punk look at what has been wrought over the last few years with a bit of sadness. Which is why they came out with something so much damn fun.
Like their album opener says, “Give Life Back to Music”. Random Access Memories certainly does.
Standout track: Lose Yourself to Dance
Josh Ritter – The Beast in its Tracks
Ok, so I’m going to be brutally honest here – this is no “The Animal Years”. It’s possible that this won’t make many people’s “Best of 2013” lists, unless they’re massive fans of Josh Ritter and have this weird music-crush on the dude.
I’m one of those people.
This album, his “breakup album”, following his divorce in 2011, is at times wistful, sometimes spiteful, and fleetingly hopeful. I still believe that Ritter is one of the best lyricists of our time, and that’s on painful display in this album. His confronting honesty, combined with his masterful turn of phrase, turns some of these songs into cutting rapiers.
Standout track: A Certain Light
Volcano Choir – Repave
Unexpectedly great release from Justin Vernon’s “second-tier” project. I say unexpected, not because I doubt Justin Vernon, nor Collection of Colony of Bees chops; just because 2009’s Unmap was, well… underwhelming. But with this follow up album, Volcano Choir looks set to become the Tier 1 piece in Justin Vernon’s quill. In fact, there’s a joy here that seems to have been lost in the confines of Bon Iver’s mythical status.
Freedom and lack of expectations sounds good on Volcano Choir.
Standout track: Byegone
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Note - Part of this post was contributed to the always awesome "Masey's Top Albums of the Year" roundup - I'd encourage you to head on over there to check out some picks from other contributors!
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Small Sur – Labor
Tune of June so far. Easy.
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Blue and Bordeaux – Know Me Well
Hi. It’s been a while, I know. But I have some important stuff to tell you. Namely: you need to listen to this tune.
So, here’s the thing… it’s a strange thing, listening to songs by friends. If you haven’t caught up on my past with Dave, you can check out my past posts here (Dave was #5 in my list of 30 South African Bands you need to hear), and here (I said some things about Dave’s debut album that came back to me when listening to this track, but more about that below…)
Anyway, back to what I was saying: it’s a strange thing. In a nutshell, Dave and I go back a few years. And as the guy who first inspired me to pick up a guitar, I have a lot to thank the guy for. So even though it’s coming up on a decade since I last saw the guy, I’m of course going to feel this completely unwarranted, unnecessary sense of parental connection with his stuff.
And that totally unwarranted, unearned feeling I have right now? Pride.
Back when I last wrote about Dave, I said that his debut solo album was good, but that I felt brilliance was still around the corner for Dave.
With this release, I think Dave has finally reached that level that I always knew he would. That level where he floored me. And I feel like he’s inspiring me all over again, like he did when I first saw him sitting on floor at camp, playing guitar.
In the end, like so many of us, it looks like all Dave was waiting for was the other piece of the puzzle. Which brings us, after a major meander, to the topic of this blog post – Blue and Bordeaux. Blue and Bordeaux are Dave McMillan, and his wife, Candice. Now, as I say, I haven’t seen Dave in a good few years, so I’ve never met Candice; but I can tell you that I bet her and Dave together are an unstoppable team. There’s a quality to this girl’s voice that you simply can’t describe in words — but that’s what music is for, really. And Dave’s voice is the best I’ve ever heard it. Together, the two seem the perfect foil for each other.
And, I kid you not, this song has me excited again. I’m blogging about once every four months right now, so you know I only pop my head up when I have something worth posting about.
Know Me Well, a tune off their forthcoming album, “Wanderlings”, is just amazing. It’s everything I always was waiting for from Dave. But, as it turns out, it looks like it was actually what I was waiting for from Blue and Bordeax.
Wanderlings is out, April 2013.