Mr. Seven Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 "No time" Â #14: 'Wait' - M83 Â Â Sounds like: Release. Â Few in music use emotion as effectively, as honestly, as Anthony Gonzalez. He understands that patience and restraint are instruments in their own right and that timing really is everything. These are the differences between good songs and great ones. While 'Wait' is indeed all about building up to something, what hits you after four minutes is still surprising even after you've heard it a dozen times. Rather than shock the system, Gonzalez seizes the moment and makes each and every second count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 "There I go"  #13: 'Coming Down' - Dum Dum Girls   Sounds like: Pain.  Probably the song that most surprised me this year. For the uninitiated, Californian outfit Dum Dum Girls specialise in the kind of pop/punk stomps that would pepper a Tarantino soundtrack. Latest album Only In Dreams is fairly repetitive stuff with many of the songs kicking off in the exact same way and amounting to little more than generic but fun romps. The runt of the litter is 'Coming Down', a six-and-a-half minute mini-epic that sits rather unassumingly in the middle of proceedings.  Rather than represent a tacked-on 'outside the box' forced effort, it's an incredibly powerful piece, dealing with singer Dee Dee's heartbreak following the loss of her mother. An infectious hybrid of Karen O, Chrissie Hynde and Deborah Harry, she's got quite the presence. Her big moment midway through the song might be the most cathartic thing in music all year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 "The city is my church" Â #12: 'Midnight City' - M83 Â Â Sounds like: Transcendence. Â WARNING: MOST PRETENTIOUS THING I'VE EVER WRITTEN BELOW I love to read reviews. As you can tell, I love to write them too. I've often rolled my eyes at many of the things I have written and I'm sure many others have done the same. And that's great, because it's all about provoking some sort of reaction. No point in being vanilla and all that. The most annoying review I've ever read (Apart from Pitchfork's review of The Fragile) was by a guy named Devin Faraci while he was then the chief film reviewer of CHUD (pretty good site). He wrote a review of Kick-Ass, one of the worst films in recent memory, praising it to high heaven. His love for this film was so great that he would go back and review it a second time, and it was this review that just made the eyes pop out of my head, Ric Flair style. Â In the middle of his disgustingly ostentatious praise came a huge parable about the jet-pack sequence in the movie and how it elevated the film to even greater heights, how allegorical and symbolic the whole thing was. Short of another reviewer comparing Spiderman 3 to Schindler's List, I'm not sure you can be so widely off the mark. The reason for this overlong digression? Simple. I completely understand what Faraci was going for. He was making the point that it took the introduction of something truly magical to put an already fantastic thing fully over the top and make it a uniquely wonderful thing. Your favourite film or song doesn't have to have that moment, but when they do, and when it works, it's genuinely amazing. Â Case in point? The presence of the saxophone in the final minute of 'Midnight City'. It's a move so bold and ridiculous that you're almost moved to applaud. And it sounds like the ghost of Clarence Clemons is the one operating it. C'est magnifique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 "Put away your guns man" Â #11: 'We Bros' - WU LYF Â Â Sounds like: Hype. Â WU LYF ask a lot of the listener. First off, the gimmick is pretty irritating. Read up on this band and you'll find out that they came to some kind of notorious prominence by not giving interviews to newspapers or music magazines, a tactic that works so well for unsigned bands the world over. Once the beautifully produced Go Tell Fire To The Mountain and a series of arty publicity shots and viral marketing surfaced, WU LYF started talking. It's clear that there is money behind this unit, even if their collective persona still begs questions. Â Then you have Ellery Roberts' near-indicpherable vocals to contend with. I have deep admiration for songs that move me where I have no idea what the singer is saying. It's a tremendous skill and those who wield it have exceptional power. For the record, my #1 favourite song of all time remains 'Jane Doe' by Converge, a violently beautiful song that features some of the most painful and feral vocals you will ever hear. And yet it reaches into your chest and grabs your heart. WU LYF and Roberts aren't quite there yet, but their music is primal and tranquil all at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 "All safe and all rescued"  #10: 'A Real Hero' (ft. Electric Youth) - College   Sounds like: An anthem. Nicholas Winding Refn's Drive is arguably the most interesting film of 2011, though one not without its flaws. I find the reaction of women to the movie to be quite curious. Don't get me wrong, I'm a heterosexual male and I'm sure I'd enjoy fucking Ryan Gosling but his character in Drive appears to be autistic if not completely sociopathic and kind of unstable. Sure he's a white knight but he appears to enjoy stamping a man's head in more than the possibility of settling down with Carey Mulligan. Each to his own and it certainly makes for a more interesting character but are women now turned on by massive head trauma?  Anyways, Drive has been rightly praised for its excellent day-glo soundtrack. Were Gosling's unnamed driver a UFC fighter, 'A Real Hero' would undoubtedly serve as his walk-out music. It's anthemic, pounding, pulsating, pretty. Its lyrics come dangerously close to being on the money and its double usage in the film threatens to unravel things a little, especially the first time it shows up amid imagery so idyllic you know trouble isn't far behind. Still, it draws the curtain perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 "When you wake up, you will find me"  #9: 'Still Life' - The Horrors   Sounds like: Ascension. That synth. Fucking hell. When it hits, it hits you. It's beautiful. It makes you think of Simple Minds, The Human League and their new romantic brethren. It's huge. It's fucking gigantic. And yet it's just an undercurrent. A sweet luxury. 2011 was the year when The Horrors became the best band in Britain. The Stone Roses may have reformed and grabbed all the headlines but there are traces of what Ian Brown and friends were doing way back when dotted all over Skying, an album that marks The Horrors as true masters of their craft. Quite the difference between now and when they first arrived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 "And I will leave my gun at home"  #8: 'I Don't Want Love' - The Antlers   Sounds like: Bliss.  Brookyn trio The Antlers put the hip in hipster and excel at making breathy pop connections. This is like that moment where your head hits the pillow, you fall asleep immediately and wake up hours later feeling that only seconds have passed. I guess if you've got to go to work that's not a good thing, but it's a curious little thing, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 "Be careful of what you dream about"  #7: 'Bones' - Male Bonding   Sounds like: The aural equivalent of 'blink and you'll miss it'.  My iTunes says I've played this song over 200 times. My iPod has played it a lot more. And it's six-and-a-half bloody minutes long! Frankly I think that's trickery of some sort because this song simply cannot last that long. It's crazy repetitive but never gets boring. It sounds washed out but entirely focused. As for making you want to nod your head and tap your foot? Fuck man, this should be required listening for coma patients. Pity the album sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 "And at once I knew I was not magnificent"  #6: 'Holocene' - Bon Iver   Sounds like: A triumph.  Difficult second album? Nobody told Justin Vernon. Bon Iver's self-titled release is everything critics and fans wanted, and more. A sound enhanced by additional instruments and musicians to play them. Sometimes things really are so simple. If Bon Iver is the kind of album you could cling to during a particularly violent storm, 'Holocene' is its heart, beating furiously and freely. Its refrain tells us a lie that nobody ought believe. He really is magnificent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 1, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted January 1, 2012 Good job there were two M83 tracks and a Dum Dum Girls track in that last batch after the Wu Lyf bombshell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted January 1, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted January 1, 2012 Sadly, the folk that listen to Wu Lyf and Horrors have ruined both bands for me. They're forever tainted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 We Bros by Wu Lyf is great, Gladstone doesn't know what he's talking about I'm interested in how you seem to like Wu Lyf, Mr. Seven, despite a similar scenario to Lana Del Rey. Don't get all the fuss about Horrors or Bon Iver, the best thing he's done is his cameo in Watch The Throne's "That's My Bitch" song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 1, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted January 1, 2012 I hate Wu Lyf and everything they stand for. Which is nothing. They are awful in every single way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 It's case of hate the gimmick, love the music for me. Some of their songs tick all the right boxes for me. They're touring in March so I look forward to seeing if it holds up live. Â Will try and get the top five up tonight. Any predictions? I'm still struggling with the order of the top three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 1, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted January 1, 2012 Steve McQueen by M83 is a given, I reckon. I'm still hoping for an Orbital / Death In Vegas appearance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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