en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/The--Kid/journal The Last.fm journal for The--Kid. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/The--Kid/journal/2011/12/17/58xnt5_my_top_15_albums_of_2011_(w_key_tracks) Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:14:51 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/The--Kid/journal/2011/12/17/58xnt5_my_top_15_albums_of_2011_(w_key_tracks) 1. tune-yards - w h o k i l l
- bizness
- powa
2. kurt vile - Smoke Ring for My Halo
- ghost town
- society is my friend
3. destroyer - Kaputt
- suicide demo for kara walker
- bay of pigs
4. braids - Native Speaker
- plath heart
- native speaker
5. fleet foxes - Helplessness Blues
- helplessness blues
- grown ocean
- battery kinzie
6. okkervil river - I Am Very Far
- the valley
- mermaid
7. bon iver - Bon Iver
- holocene
- perth
8. ema - ema - past life martyed saints
- california
- the grey ship
9. moonface - Organ Music, Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped
- whale song (song instead of a kiss)
- fast peter
10. the war on drugs - Slave Ambient
- come to the city
- brothers
11. tv on the radio - Nine Types of Light
- will do
- you
12. bill callahan - Apocalypse
- baby's breath
- riding the feeling
13. st. vincent - album artist=st. vincent]strange mercy[/album]
- cruel
- champagne year
14. the antlers - Burst Apart
- putting the dog to sleep
- every night my teeth are falling out
15. m83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
- wait
- raconte-moi une histoire
16. panda bear - Tomboy
- last night at the jetty
- slow motion

other key tracks from the year include...

gillian wlech - scarlet town
iron and wine - walking far from home, big burned hand
the rural alberta advantage - stamp, two lovers
the decemberists - june hymn, we carried it all
radiohead - lotus flower, morning mr. magpie, little by little
wye oak - civilian, holy holy
robin pecknhold - i'm losing myself (ft. ed droste)
neutral milk hotel - engine
beirut - east harlem]]> http://www.last.fm/user/The--Kid/journal/2009/12/23/39rvru_my_top_25_of_2009 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:49:30 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/The--Kid/journal/2009/12/23/39rvru_my_top_25_of_2009 First, this was a very strong year for music in my opinion. Led by indie mainstays, along with some quality debut releases, and one experimentally excellent return to form.

1. Merriweather Post Pavillion - Animal Collective
2. Bitte Orca - The Dirty Projectors
3. Dragonslayer - Sunset Rubdown
4. Embryonic - The Flaming Lips
5. Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear
6. Hometowns - The Rural Alberta Advantage
7. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix
8. Dark Was The Night - Various Artists
9. The Mountain - Heartless Bastards
10. Hospice - The Antlers
11. Sometimes I Wish I Were An Eagle - Bill Callahan
12. Face Control - Handsome Furs
13. Enemy Mine - Swan Lake
14. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
15. Skin Of Evil - Blackout Beach
16. Humbug - Arctic Monkeys
17. Young Fridays - The Ghost
18. The Hazards of Love - The Decemberists
19. Set em' wild, Set em' free - Akron/Family
20. Keep It Hid - Dan Auerbach
21. Jewellery - Micachu and the Shapes
22. Actor -St. Vincent
23. Gather, Form and Fly - Megafaun
24. Popular Songs - Yo La Tengo
25. Eskimo Snow - Why?


Albums that just missed the cut (no order): The Very Best -Warm Heart Of Africa/ Wild Beasts - Two Dancers / Volcano Choir - Unmap/ Ramona Falls - Intuit / Destroyer - Bay of Pigs EP / Nurses - Apple's Acre / Fiery Furnaces - I'm Going Away / Girls - Album / Pale Air Singers- Pale Air Singers / Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms /Clues - Clues / Eels - Hombre Lobo / Harlem Shakes - Technicolor Health / The xx - xx]]> http://www.last.fm/user/The--Kid/journal/2008/12/31/2d7w5a_my_top_25_albums_of_2008 Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:42:08 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/The--Kid/journal/2008/12/31/2d7w5a_my_top_25_albums_of_2008 1. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
2. TV On The Radio - Dear Science,
3. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever
4. Why? - Alopecia
5. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
6. Deerhunter - Microcastles
7. Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea Party Through Tornadoes)
8. Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
9. Erykah Badu - New Amerikhan Promise Pt. 1
10. Black Mountain - In the Future
11. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
12. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
13. Gnag Gang Dance - Saint Dymphia
14. The Walkman - You & Me
15. Man Man - Rabbit Habits
16. Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow, Blue
17. High Places - 03/07-04/07 & High Places
18. The Dodos - Visitor
19. Plants and Animals - Parc Avenue
20. Shearwater - Rook
21. Blitzen Trapper - Furr
22. Portishead - Third
23. Ironweed Project - Dust Bowl
24. The Raconteurs - Consolers Of Lonely
25 Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

The Best Of The Rest! (No Order)

Crystal Antlers - Ep / Mount Eerie w/ Julia Dioron - Lost Wisdom / Bound Stems - A Family Afloat / Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Lie Down In the Light / Ruby Suns - Sea Lion / Conor Oberst - Conor Oberts / No Age - Nouns / Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line / French Quarter - French Quarter / Destroyer - Trouble In Dreams / Cat Empire - So Many Nights / Dr. Dog - Fate / Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane / Women - Women / Deerhoof - Friend Oppurtunity / Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight / Lil' Wayne - Da Carter III / Music Tapes - Music Tapes For Clouds / School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms / French Kicks - Swimming]]> http://www.last.fm/user/The--Kid/journal/2008/11/17/2a6rao_tv_on_the_radio_-_dear_science,_review Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:11:56 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/The--Kid/journal/2008/11/17/2a6rao_tv_on_the_radio_-_dear_science,_review TV on the Radio’s masterpiece Dear Science,

This is an album, where the music could stand-alone by itself and work on all cylinders, but the vocals are it’s strongest asset, lead by the power of Tunde Adepimbe and the soul of Kyp Malone. While topping their 2006 effort Return to Cookie Mountain would be a mountain to climb for anyone, Dear Science, (yes, the comma really does exist) finds a way to polish their dense sound and as a result they have churned out a more focused yet equally sprawling effort. Sprawling can’t even do justice to the amount of variety in tracks here, from the immediately catchy almost hip-hop “Dancing Choose” to “Crying,” where they get their Prince on while pointing fingers at all evil, but still finding a way to end beautifully optimistic. Their first single, drenched with funk is song of the year contender “Golden Age” where Adepimpe belts, “there’s a golden age coming ‘round.” The album also bookends with two of its strongest tracks, from the handclaps and sprinting feel of opener “Halfway Home.” To the absolutely beautiful duet with Celebration’s Katrina Ford, “Lover’s Day,” which states, “yes here of course there are miracles, a lover that loves that’s one.” This is the highest point of the album, with an outro bathed in horns and soul it’s impossible not to feel like you have just experienced a miracle. This is true art-rock, an intelligent album that demands repeat listens as it unfolds its deep dark secrets. An album that fits its generation not by pointing us towards a revolution, or giving us a glimmer of hope, but it’s honest and confused, unknowing of the future and scared to death of what comes next.

Key Tracks: Halfway Home, Golden Age, Dancing Choose, DLZ, Lover’s Day]]> http://www.last.fm/user/The--Kid/journal/2008/11/17/2a6r9g_chad_vangaalen_-_soft_airplane_review Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:11:07 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/The--Kid/journal/2008/11/17/2a6r9g_chad_vangaalen_-_soft_airplane_review Chad VanGaalen: Soft Airplane

Chad VanGaalen is Canada’s multi-talented musician who already produced a great album this year with Women’s self-titled Jagjaguwar release. Now he follows up his excellent 2006 release, Skelliconnection, with another bedroom-recorded album, sporting a far more honed in sound called Soft Airplane. Whereas he had over a hundred songs to choose from for his albums prior, Soft Airplane is a more focused collection of songs primarily dealing with death. Chad VanGaalen has single-handedly created a lo-fi record, lush with textures and electronics, over shining harmonious indie pop. Comparisons for this album come from an eclectic group of artists such as Sonic Youth on “Poisonous Heads,” which is drowned in bass as well as Thurston Moore similarities in “Bare Feet on Wet Griptape.” Songs like “City of Electric Light” bring to mind similar hollow harmonies as those of Sub-Pop label mate, The Shins. Neil Young can be felt in the dark murder balled, “Molten Light.” While the albums early tracks feature delicate pop pieces accompanied with a smooth flowing banjo next to his emotive vocals, the second half of the album highlights with electronic bleeps and blips with heavy synthesizers resulting in album highlight “Phantom Anthills.” A song which warns us of looking to the future, as he sings, “Ohh/But no one knows” as if to hint at the magic and importance of the present. As VanGaalen maneuvers his way through the tracks with death at his side we see an album that is so personal and often times brilliant in the form of other bedroom lo-fi mastermind, Phil Elvrum of The Microphones and Mount Eerie. This is not the album that he will be remembered for, but it certainly has mister VanGaalen heading in an exciting direction as he continues to find himself through his songs and recordings, which shine with moments of extraordinary human charm.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/The--Kid/journal/2008/11/17/2a6qtb_deerhunter_-_microcastle_review Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:59:31 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/The--Kid/journal/2008/11/17/2a6qtb_deerhunter_-_microcastle_review Bradford Cox, one of indie rock’s busiest artists, follows up Deerhunter’s love-it-or-hate-it 2007 critical darling Cryptograms with a far more polished collection of songs on Microcastle from the Kranky label. This experimental/post-rock outfit kept the listener at a distance with their wall-of-sound guitars and ambient instrumental pieces on Cryptograms. Whereas, on Microcastle, Deerhunter find their sound closer to ‘60s psych-pop with a gently strange innocence flowing through the tracks. The album kicks off with a quick intro, which leads into the immediately catchy and equally dark, “Agoraphobia,” and we already see that the band as brushed aside a lot of the distortion and that the album is much more richly produced. The next two tracks prove that Deerhunter’s new found pop sensibility is no joke. They still have the Pixies-like ability to explode and change gears, as shown on the title track when it reaches its full head of steam about halfway through, after you have been gently lulled into a slow-motion trance. The middle-half of the album finds comfort in remaining quiet and beautifully melodic before, album highlight and fist-pumping anthem, “Nothing Ever Happened.” “Saved By Old Times” is a personal favorite, and unlike anything Deerhunter has ever experimented with. Hugely felt is the influence of Donovan on this track, through its jangly acid-pop feel, before it breaks into a muffled voice-over with an inspired message to spread and drifting into a repeat of the lines, “I was saved by old times.” This album covers a lot of ground with moments of My Bloody Valentine’s shoegaze to Animal Collective’s experimentalism and tackles heavy subjects with beautiful lyrics throughout. On “Agoraphobia,” Cox sings, “I had a dream/No longer to be free,” and the album carries this sort of paranoid uncertainty and fantastical feel for the duration. This can also be seen on “ Little Kids,” as he unsettlingly chants, “to get older still,” as if to fear aging and hopelessly attempt to hold on to the moment for dear-life. Microcastle is an album that cements Deerhunter as well as Bradford Cox’s importance to the music scene; an album that demands repeat listens and shyly rewards the listener, as we take Cox’s advice on “Nothing Ever Happened,” and “focus on the depth that was never there.”]]>