Fok julle naaiers, fok julle naaiers, fok julle, fok julle, fok julle naaiers~

☆ Same situation as November, except even more. Not even kidding. I recommended Knife Party to my friends and they're all addicted now. And I'm not really listening them that much. How odd is that? Their latest live set off of BBC Radio1 is pretty amazing, so I'm probably going to listen that more than the EP. Which is weird, but whatever.

Also I finished finalizing my Best of 2011 list, so check that shit out.

But anyways, let me give you my highlights of the month.

★ Nicki Minaj | Why? "Stupid Hoe" is not her best song, by all means. But it is EXTREMELY catchy, the beat is very danceable, and it's the motherfucking Barbie. Surprisingly I've listened to it more than "Roman In Moscow. Needless to say, I can't wait for Roman Reloaded. Hit me hard with hip hop, Nicki! I'll love you either way though!

★ Modern | Why? I discovered him through a 2011 sharethread archived from /mu/ and someone posted one of his EPs. If you want to listen to some nice instrumental hip hop + ambient stuff that would make you feel really blue, go listen to him and do yourself a favor. One of the songs samples Requiem of a Dream, which made me cry myself to sleep. So automatically that song touched those emotions again. I can't wait for this guy to release more stuff.

★ Oneohtrix Point Never | Why? Replica is pretty awesome. I need to listen to this guy more. But the ambience and other properties of their music is expertly handled and very interesting to listen to.

★ Amon Tobin | Why? I finally listened to Isam and it's brilliant. And it persuaded me actually listen to the rest of his discography other than Supermodifed, haha. He's a brilliant brilliant producer, definitely. And Isam is no exception.

★ Vince Staples | Why? That Shyne Goldchain Vol. 1 is extremely good. I haven't paid him much attention for a while, until I saw this mixtape on my Tumblr dashboard and went "WHY NOT". I really want more stuff from him, Kilo Kish, and SK Laflare now. Pretty much everyone involved in this mixtape did very well and should be proud of this end product.

★ Machinedrum | Why? That SKLND EP. And I keep bouncing back between Room(s) and Sepalcure as well. I really should get the rest of his stuff. He's just amazing.

★ Floating Points | Why? He is a really cool mix of house, dubstep, and techno. Expertly handled, definitely. I need to listen to the Shadows EP more, because it was a good first listen, definitely. And I like how most of his songs are pretty long, allowing for letting every element involved shine. That's a major reason why I like songs longer than 5-6 minutes by electronic musicians. And Floating Points is a great example of that.

★ Oscar + Martin | Why? "Oysters" is definitely addicting and too short, haha. I wonder if they have more stuff I can find. They're quite charming in terms of sound.

★ Fleet Foxes | Why? Finally I got around to listening to them and I am quite pleased with what I'm hearing. I liked "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" for a long while now and I heard "Quiet Houses" on Soma.fm and I was like "I should really get to listening to their albums" and I'm glad I did. Sorry for that run-on sentence there. But seriously, quality folk music is quality.

★ SBTRKT | Why? "Atomic Peace". I completely forgot this song until he posted the studio version on Soundcloud and my feelings went from 10% to 110% upon recognizing it. It's one of my favorite SBTRKT songs, definitely. I can't wait for him to make more music. Ahh!

★ Kendrick Lamar | Why? He is a great lyricist and has a good ear for production/beats. And that combination is hard to ignore. I need to listen to more mixtapes and such but I am liking what I'm hearing. He needs to blow up more. He's well-deserving of the attention he's gotten so far. He sounds genuine.

★ Die Antwoord | Why? Surprising early release of Ten$ion on iTunes. And it didn't disappoint. "Fok Yulle Naaiers" grew on me significantly and "So What?" is quite nice, really nice. Ninja really shines on that song, definitely. And Yo-Landi is always shining no matter what song she's on, haha.

★ Lana Del Rey | Why? I guess she's a love it or hate it type of vocalist, judging from the very mixed reviews of everything she's produced. Very evident upon her release of her debut album. By the way, I am enjoying that very much. Too bad "Without You" and "Lolita" are bonus tracks, because they are both VERY good. And I still like "Video Games" and "Blue Jeans" (though that Internet remix is probably what I prefer, haha).

★ M.I.A. | Why? As if I didn't love this song enough, "BAD GIRLS" became a million times better in the form of her latest single for her upcoming summer album. A new verse and polished production: could I ask for MORE? She is just amazing and badass and awesome. She can't do any wrong in my eyes. Nope.

☆ So yeah. I am glad today is the last day of the month. I want to start anew with February. This playlist is way too long. I've been ignoring quite a few albums because of the sheer volume of stuff I got. That's what happens when I browse /mu/ sharethreads. /sigh.

Accelerating fast, I can do this in a second~

Gun cock, gun shot, gonna make a boy—*BAM*

☆ I got into a SHIT TON of music this month. So I figured I should keep track of it. Plus I gotta make up 8 weeks of papers based on new songs I listened to within the course of the semester. This should be pretty exciting. Apparently I did the 2 I did wrong. I'm supposed to write my opinion...so I've been overestimating it. Oh goodness gracious...

So here is the last 7 days...

★ 117 PLAYS | Onra | Why? Realized that Chinoiseries Volume 2 released, freaked out, downloaded it, and listened to it a few times. I think I remember more favorites from the first volume than this one. Still pretty awesome. I should marathon the first together with this volume to have a huge mega-Chinoiseries listenthrough.

★ 82 PLAYS | Metro Zu | Why? Discovered this collective looking up this rap artist someone linked to onto Spaceghostpurrp's last.fm page. It's a treasure trove of goodness. Listen to them and you won't be sorry. I edited the last.fm wiki with the info from their Facebook page. YOU'RE WELCOME.

★ 55 PLAYS | Lofty | Why? He's a part of Metro Zu and released two solo mixtapes, Basehead Cap and Shroomtard. Check them outttttt.

★ 50 PLAYS | Drake | Why? It will take a while to like Take Care as a whole like I did with Thank Me Later. I always get stuck on "Over My Head" because it's such a good song. Of course, it's the first song. So I automatically NOT listen to other tracks. It's pretty bad when this happens...

★ 49 PLAYS | Spaceghostpurrp | Why? Because of ASAP Rocky, I looked this guy up on YouTube, found "Been Fweago", and fell in love. But nothing really compares with that song, truthfully. The production of that song is so thick and spacey and otherworldy and I guess...purple? (I've never smoked anything, so I don't know what I'm talking about there.) REGARDLESS, HE IS VERY CHILL.

★ 32 PLAYS | Speak! | Why? Because of that Inside Out Boy mixtape. And I got stuck on "Framboise Menage a Trois" because it's so damn good.

★ 31 PLAYS | Knxwledge | Why? "OvrMyne" is a dream come true. I literally went on Soundcloud (this is after I listened to the original song a shit-ton of times) and listened to this song and FREAKED THE HELL OUT.

★ 19 PLAYS | Lil B | Why? "King Cotton" is an amazing song, "Cold Nights In Boston" is fantastic to drive to at night, and "What You Think About It" is pretty awesome. Despite the ridiculous title, BasedGodVelli is fucking fantastic. Definitely worth the listen more than Black Flame, which I only listened to once because I THANK THE BASEDGOD FOR EVERY RELEASE HE BLESSES US WITH.

★ 15 PLAYS | ASAP Rocky | Why? That LiveLoveA$AP mixtape. I discovered him via P4K's 8+ rating of the mixtape and checked him out on YouTube. "Peso" and "Purple Swag" definitely sucked me right in (mad props for choosing those songs for music videos).

☆ Special Mentions: I haven't listened to Mac Miller's Blue Slide Park that much, which is shocking considering how many plays I have of his. Some songs on it are good, but some are...not that memorable. Meanwhile I am still addicted to Von D's EP songs. I am just waiting (impatiently) for proper releases for the newly revealed "Sunflower Refix" and "Deeper". Thankfully that new mix he posted doesn't have an MC that wasn't really MCing and more like being incredibly annoying. BUT I DIGRESS.

☆ Tonight I downloaded a lot more stuff because I browsed through iTunes' electronic music section. This includes:
Sepalcure's debut (WHICH IS EXTREMELY GOOD UPON MY FIRST IMPRESSION RIGHT NOW)
Dimlite's Grimm Reality
Kingdom's Dreama EP
Mr. Oizo's Stade 2
That DRC Music album
Death Cab For Cutie's Codes and Keys (yes. I haven't gotten to this yet)

After this week it's 3 more weeks of school. So I probably won't get to writing this type of stuff for a while. Boooooooo.

Please help me out, I'm getting deeper...and deeper...and deeper...

Are you only being nice because you want something?

☆ It's been a while since I did this, forgive me. School is even more busy than last year. Oh man...

★ 37 PLAYS | Björk | Why? Biophilia is pretty awesome. That's all.

★ 37 PLAYS | Breakbot | Why? For some strange reason, my iPod scrobbled a single song this many times. I don't understand why...LOL.

★ 31 PLAYS | Lone | Why? The Echolations EP = brilliant all the way though. It's fantastic to dance, drive, and listen to.

★ 28 PLAYS | S.maharba | Why? I saw them on one of the last.fm top artist listings of the week and had to try him out. I really like their beats, especially "Organs", "When I Go To Sleep", and "Tell A Lie".

★ 20 PLAYS | Margot & The Nuclear So And So's | Why? One of my friends (jukebox-zero) recommended this band to me 2 years ago and I haven't gotten around to them until now. They are pretty amazing, I have to say. "Mariel's Brazen Overture" is definitely their best song, imho.

☆ I'll try to update this more often in conjunction with my weekly "Song I Haven't Listened To" paper for one of my classes, History of Rock and Roll.

☆ I downloaded a shit-ton of other stuff, including the entire discography of Portugal. The Man and Venetian Snares' other project, Last Step. So yeah - I am going to be busy for a while.

Mariel, would you love me if I was a liar?

Girls girls girls, girls I do adore~

☆ Sorry I haven't done this in like, 7 months. Combination of busy, lazy, and sick. Hahaha. Now I have gained the motivation to do this again.
For this entry, I'll be covering the rolling chart from the past 6 months. Woohoo~

★ 895 PLAYS | Tyler, the Creator | Why? Because he is fantastic in every way. That is all I can say. And I have a huge crush on him. Goblin is awesome. I actually got the deluxe edition of it (when I had spare money). Definitely one of the most anticipated album releases this year for me.

★ 550 PLAYS | Lil B | Why? Not sure how this many plays happened. He's the BasedGod. Uh. Im Gay was better than I expected. And. He's the BasedGod. That's my only explanation really.

★ 433 PLAYS | Flying Lotus | Why? Uhm, because he's Flying Lotus. And he continues to be one of my favorites of all time. Duh.

★ 368 PLAYS | JonWayne | Why? My sister recommended him to me a while ago. Finally got to him in like June/July and fell hard for his stuff. I admit it, Bowser wasn't immediately amazing to me. It was one of those growers and yep, I like it a lot now. He had a few songs that was played by other artists like Flying Lotus and such on 420 and I didn't know it was by him. So yeah. He is pretty amazing and I look forward to more from him.

★ 293 PLAYS | MellowHype | Why? I am fan of anything Odd Future - that is the most obvious thing. The combination of Left Brain's winning production and Hodgy Beats' flow + lyrics is pretty undeniable. I liked the songs that got cut off from the re-release of BlackenedWhite - repeated those a lot. But I am fond of "64".

★ 283 PLAYS | Toro Y Moi | Why? Fell instantly in love with Underneath The Pine. He's someone who will impress me with anything. So uh. Yeah. He's pretty flawless to me.

★ 283 PLAYS | Hudson Mohawke | Why? Satin Panthers and his mix on Benji B. Safe to say his next album will be the most anticipated for me in 2012. HudMo can do no wrong.

★ 264 PLAYS | Samiyam | Why? Sam Baker's Album finally released and it's probably one of the best of 2011 for me. Those few tracks that finally have a proper release pretty much blew me away like a high-powered cannon. I'll leave you guys with: I headbanged so hard the night I first listened to it that my neck hurted so hard for the next 2-3 days. So fucking good. So Samiyam.

★ 263 PLAYS | Underworld | Why? ...uhm, duh?

★ 262 PLAYS | Broadcast | Why? After I learned about Trish's death (REST IN PEACE, ONCE AGAIN <3), I realized I only listened to one album by them and absolutely HAD to listen to their other albums. And they hit me hard. Especially Trish's voice. It made her death that much more of a loss. But yeah, they are fucking amazing. I'll be listened to their albums more, definitely.

☆ Haha yeah. That's the end of the top 10 of the past 6 months. Also in-between May and August, I listened to 10 GB worth of music that one of my friends shared with me. Needless to say in between all the albums I anticipated other than that collection, it took way longer than I expected to get through it all. I'd say 70% I didn't really like and 30% I kept. Some of it was electro I didn't think was memorable and for some odd reason I can't get into psychedelic trance. This has been a problem for YEARS. Kind of depresses me.

☆ So yeah. At the moment I just downloaded stuff from Jhene Aiko and she is just AMAZING. Expect a lot of repeats of her stuff this week and more. Also Rustie's b-sides > his EPs. I am heavily anticipating his debut album in October. I feel like it'll be better than his EPs, definitely.

That's why I line 'em up, shoot 'em down.

There's a limit, to your love.

☆ Started the spring semester. Hilariously I have 12 free hours in school total every week, so essentially I could work on homework AT school and watch Skins AT school and work on comics AT school. Or take a nap on my 10 AM to 10 PM class to live through Intro to Web Design without getting irrationally and rationally pissed off.
That's right - I got a 1.5 TB external harddrive for Christmas, so I've been trying to store everything I have on CDs. And I have A LOT of stuff, lol. I've also been trying to get what I have but in higher quality. That's been an uphill struggle, lol. And I found a forum with all sorts of music I can possibly download. It is getting hard to keep up with my downloads, hahahaha.

★ 88 PLAYS | The Tallest Man on Earth | Why? Found him on The Hype Machine's top album list of 2010 and was like, "Hey, I actually like this" and downloaded both of his albums and fell hard for him. He kinda sounds like Bob Dylan, but isn't and his music is so so so so lovely.

★ 77 PLAYS | Telefon Tel Aviv | Why? This is one of the groups I re-downloaded in higher quality. And I fell in love with them — even more so the 2nd time around. I still can't get through Immolate Yourself which - it's so funny, a lot of people think it's their best album, yet I just don't like it as much as the other ones! Listening to their first two albums with these Grado headphones really really changed my perspective on them. They're just brilliant. And once again, R.I.P. Charlie Cooper.

★ 54 PLAYS | Gorillaz | Why? I realized upon listening to samples of The Fall on YouTube that I had a different version of it. So I redownloaded it and got the actual version, hahaha. In a way, I like the other one better. Yet in a way I like actual version better. IDK. It's all good.

★ 37 PLAYS | M.I.A. | Why? Uh... "BAD GIRLS" and "Shells"? I don't know.

☆ I haven't finished Missy Elliott's discography, but I just got to The Cookbook, so I'm close to finishing! As for Nas...I am still very slow. I don't know, I am just not motivated. His first two albums are pretty much his peak - lyrically and production-wise. After that, I lost interest in the beats, so like - I don't pay attention to the lyrics as easily. Whereas Missy has like a wide range of beats and I'm actually interested to listen to more songs. And I need to listen to The Suburbs by Arcade FIre again because I think it is overrated at the moment. Oh dear.

You're like a riddle in the sky / oh where do my bluebird fly?

Cuz everything's fine and dandy, go against me now~ I dare you, BAMBI!

☆ Busy with life - this time, I quit my job because school is proving to be more of a formidable force than anything else. But good news: I got myself a pair of i80s Grado headphones and they are marvelous. Also I've been buying physical CDs - including Die Antwoord's $O$ and Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday (Best Buy Deluxe Edition). I will be buying Kanyesus' new album as well. LET'S GO ON TO THIS ENTRY. Next week (aka this week) should be a more interesting read - but for now...last week. ;D

★ 108 PLAYS | Nicki Minaj | Why? Totally copped the leak of Pink Friday and I was relieved to find her rapping more than I thought. Even though she doesn't go as hard as her mixtapes (Beam Me Up Scotty and Playtime Is Over), it is still a very good listen. "Blazin" is definitely my favorite song off of it and "Save Me" is surprisingly really interestingly good. Overall, my love of Nicki just keeps on growing.

★ 49 PLAYS | Kanye West | Why? I gave in and listened to the non-explicit version of his newest album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and loved it. I'll talk about this more next week since I got an explicit leak and loved it even more.

★ 43 PLAYS | Flying Lotus | Why? I don't remember. Probably because I was recommending him to my college friends and playing a lot of his music.

★ 37 PLAYS | Girl Talk | Why? Finally went for listening to All Day and fell in love with it. There'll be a more indepth review next week. ;3

★ 33 PLAYS | Capsule | Why? "The Music". Flawlessly epic song.

★ 15 PLAYS | Lazer Sword | Why? My sister recommended them to me - and so I've been trying, at random times, to listen to their debut album. A few songs I find myself head-bobbling and most of the time, it's nothing too special. Again I'm going to try more times. I feel like an obligation to like this album a lot and be impressed. A break might be needed.

★ 15 PLAYS | Lupe Fiasco | Why? Super Lupe Rap is a badass song. Lupe is back!

☆ A preview of next week: horribly addicted to Kanye's and Nicki's new albums as well as Girl Talk, the leaked Tron Legacy soundtrack/OST, and finally starting on Missy Elliott's discography and discovering more female rappers that I don't see being promoted so much in similar artists and etc here on last.fm.

Before the storm comes to calm, hope you can take the heat like Lebron, HAH!

Put those fucking heels on and work it girl.

☆ Man. It feels AMAZING to have 500 GB at my own disposal. Like. Wow. It feels AMAZING. I haven't transferred all of my necessities music-wise (OMG - NO BASEMENT JAXX! /dies) Anyways - still busy with life, but listening to a lot of music too.

★ 74 PLAYS | Drake | Why? Wham bam, finally listened to Thank Me Later and fell HARD for it. I didn't expect the lethal combination of 1) AWESOME PRODUCTION + BEATS and 2) lyricism, which Wheelchair Jimmy does possess. "Shut It Down" makes me wish I had a man like The-Dream to serenade me, and "Unforgettable" has me singing along to the "I REALLY HOPE THAT YOU~ THINK~ OF ME~~~~" + "CUZ I WANNA BE~ UNFORGETTABLE~~". And "Fancy" makes me feel badass going to school, all dolled up and etc.

★ 34 PLAYS | LFO | Why? Listened to their 3 albums and - nothing was really memorable to me. Except for a few songs. Or 2. I forget. Argh - I feel so bad! Definitely going to try again!

★ 20 PLAYS | Lorn | Why? Tried listening to Nothing Else and Grief Machine again. Actually had two earbuds in this time around - which made for a better experience. I like a lot of songs now. ;3

☆ I downloaded some more albums + mixtapes. So lol - I must get around to listening to these...while doing schoolwork. Also I'm planning to invest money in a pair of Grado closed headphones. Because...these earbuds don't really...give me good bass like I so very desire.

All I see is fireworks.

Evil boy for lifeeeeeeeeeee.

☆ Forgive me for not doing this for the longest time - busy with school and stuff. And also too busy to get into more music. At least until now - hahaha. Now I have my own computer (15" Macbook Pro!!) and ready to listen to a shit-ton of music. Eventually an external harddrive would be a huge necessity - but for now, I'm good.

★ 34 PLAYS | Die Antwoord | Why? I totally bought a physical copy of $O$ including an extra booklet that Ninja and Yo-Landi signed with silver gel pen! :> That made me really happy. I also discovered like 2 more mixes of their's. Magical amount of kickass zef freshness, yes.

★ 27 PLAYS | JTeebs | Why? Ardour is pretty awesome. I just need to listen to it more. And Why Like This? is amazing, of course.

★ 23 PLAYS + 14 PLAYS | Shape of Broad Minds + Jneiro Jarel | Why? Getting into Jneiro's discography. He's pretty chill. ;D

☆ I'll stop here, because ahahaha - I ran out of stuff to say about this week. But next week will be better - I promise!!

Concrete scattered with dry leaves, you're naked lying the pavement

Then I felt a...lot better.

☆ So I totally got the special edition boxset of Underworld's Barking in the mail last week (finally!!!!!) and this is basically a review of the 2nd disc of early versions of the final tracks.

✱ First of all, the packaging is fucking beautiful. No questions asked.

✱ The booklet was amazing to read - I love how Brian Eno just smiled and said "Louisiana" was great the way it was. I'm glad we have the same opinion, hahaha. That, and Karl shares my favorite track by High Contrast ("Racing Green"). Yeah baby.

✱ Anyways let's begin. Other reviews probably won't know as much about these tracks as I do, since I watch most of their radio broadcasts and download past live sets and etc etc. (I am proud to say I downloaded the past UWLive archived mp3s myself when they were on there.) So this is going to get super personal. And somewhat nonsensical and poetic with my description of song elements. Hahaha.

★ Strumpet Groove {Bird 1} | 9/10 {9/10} | This version was an interesting listen - the first half, yeah - basically a rough outline of the beginning of Bird 1. Then the second half goes into this awesome improv-ish jam session that sounds really intriguing. I kind of wish the final version incorporated that somehow. But I love both versions, so it doesn't really matter. I can see the logic of going into a different direction for the album.

★ Always Loved a Film (Lemonworld mix) {Always Loved a Film} | 6/10 {8/10} | Kind of disappointed that there was NEVER a studio version of the Silver Boots version of this song. And this version...is okay. It pales pales PALESSSSSSSS in comparison to the final version. I was incredibly bored by the this version, to be honest. It just goes on and on and on and on and on. It had some of the original sounds, yeah, but fuck - that is not enough to save it.

★ You Do Scribble (Studio Version) {Scribble{ | 7/10 {9/10} | Okay. So in comparison to the live version and the final version, the studio version is my least favorite. It just doesn't have that raw POWER and PRESENCE that the two aforementioned versions have. It's awesome and fuck yes it's a studio version without like - the crowd in the background or something, but really - if were to play You Do Scribble, it's going to be a live version or just Scribble itself.

★Hamburg Hotel Essex {Hamburg Hotel} | 8/10 {7/10} | In my opinion, this version is way more interesting to listen to than the final version. Like - I was not bored. The voice sampling is kind of creepy, yeah, but still - it was cool to hear what it was before the album, because I never heard another version.

★ Grace (Telematic Peal mix) {Grace} | 7/10 {8/10} | Er. Once again, I was never impressed by this song. Ever. So this version sounds incredibly similar to that one radio broadcast version that's before this alternative version. Therefore...yeah, still bored with it.

★ Between Stars (Lemonworld mix) {Between Stars} | 9/10 {10/10} | This is a logic step before the final version. That's all I can say.

★ Diamond Jigsaw (demo mix) {Diamond Jigsaw} | 5/10 {8/10} | Demo mix says it all. Hahaha. I skip over this a lot. It's...yeah. The rating should say it all.

★ Moon in Water (Lemonworld mix) {Moon in Water} | 7/10 {7/10} | I'll edit this later. I don't remember what this version sounds like at the moment.

★ Louisiana (Jumping the Cran) {Louisiana} | 10/10 {11/10} | This is essentially the studio version of what played on that radio broadcast. Short, but beautiful. /proceeds to hypothetically cry


☆ So yeah. These alternative versions were interesting to listen to, after listening to the album A LOT of times. It gave me a little bit more understanding of how the tracks came to be, which I think it one reason why I love everything from Underworld. Especially from Oblivion With Bells and this album - because I follow live versions and radio broadcast versions and etc etc and just following the formation of a song is absolutely more fulfilling than like - straight out listening to a new song.

Sure on one hand, it's great to listen to something for the first time, not knowing its rough drafts.

But with Underworld, I -want- to hear those rough drafts and see how the final sounds come together. Because they're geniuses - why wouldn't you want to hear their process?

The darkness breaks, whenever you walk in / when you touch me, planets in sweet collision / when you touch me, bullets in conversation / quietly violent