Paid Members FLips Posted January 1, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted January 1, 2012 REM should be in it, but they won't be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightningxlock Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 WU LYF seem like a bunch of cunts to me, but I really do like that album and wouldn't mind catching them live. Sometimes you just gotta' seperate the people from the music, I guess. Â Im liking the love for the M83 album, it is indeed one of the best of the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 REM shouldn't be and thus won't be. 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 WU LYF seem like a bunch of cunts to me, but I really do like that album and wouldn't mind catching them live. Sometimes you just gotta' seperate the people from the music, I guess. Â Oh, agreed. I like Morrissey, after all. But they are cunts and shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 "We'll get older"  #5: 'Last Minute' - Hooray For Earth   Sounds like: A crescendo.  The attention span of an audience is generally quite small and oftentimes an average or poor film can be saved by a strong ending. If it's the last thing you experience, it's the first thing you discuss. It applies to songs too. That's not to do 'Last Minute' a disservice, because what comes before its conclusion is very good. Saying that, it's nothing extraordinary. The closing of the song doesn't drastically alter what came before, nor does it tack on some kind of strange twist. Instead it uses what led up to it to make the most impact. The result is pretty damn beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 "I want to feel at home" Â #4: 'Heavy Pop' - WU LYF Â Â Sounds like: A plea. Â This song does things to me. There's something instinctual about it. I want to scream it from the top of my lungs until I can barely breathe. I kind of love that I find WU LYF's persona to be such an eye-rolling conceit. They really don't need it. Not when they can create music like this. Again the production is just beautiful. As the drums crash in and Ellerey Roberts begins his gutteral cries, it's all I can do not to shed a tear. You want a band like WU LYF to not be about bullshit, to be, well, real. They might not be. They are most likely a shrewd construct. But frankly, who cares? Manufactured music is fine, and every musician plays a role no matter who they are or what they choose to look like. The one thing you can't fake is emotion. 'Heavy Pop' is devastating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 Just want to preface the top three by saying that I found it almost impossible to pick the order. In any other year that these songs were released seperately they would each most likely top my list. In the end I think I got it right, but all three are absolutely incredible. "It would be great, right?" Â #3: 'Raconte-Moi Une Historie' - M83 Â Â Sounds like: Everything that is beautiful about the world. Â I'm not sure any other artist could make this work. The weird almost jester-like guitar, the shameless showing of emotion and crucially, the use of a five-year-old girl as the primary vocal. M83's music has always been about the importance of emotion and the dream of the extraordinary. In many ways, Anthony Gonzalez's entire career has been a celebration of life itself, although thankfully not in any kind of overtly saccharine or didactic way. This song, more than any other, sums up M83 for me. Ambitious, charming, bittersweet, huge, breathtaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 "It's not goodbye, my only friend" Â #2: 'Splendor' - M83 Â Â Sounds like: Magic. Everything I said about 'Raconte-Moi Une Historie' applies here. Everything I've said earlier about pace, patience and timing applies here too. Perhaps Gonzalez's greatest strength is that he can make something so small sound absolutely gigantic by doing very little. There are plenty of M83 songs that thrive off their bombastic nature, but it's when he's at his most subtle that Gonzalez really impresses. Listen to how this swells towards the end. The introduction of light handclaps, the choral refrain and most of all, the solitary introspective humming that closes it. The man is a genius and for my money, the most exciting musical visionary since Trent Reznor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 "Let's be together. Let's fall in love."  #1: 'Queen Of Hearts' - Fucked Up   Sounds like: A love story. Surprisingly, M83's double album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming wasn't 2011's most outlandish concept record. That honour goes to Canadian punks Fucked Up, whose 18 track, 80 minute long 'rock opera' David Comes To Life managed to be every bit as ambitious and emotional as the aforementioned ...Dreaming. A love story between two characters set against the backdrop of 1970's England, it's a stunning piece of work.  'Queen Of Hearts' serves as the introduction to the protagonists as they meet on opposite sides of ideals and come together in one perfect moment. As already mentioned, I'm a sucker for beauty through aggression, and the mixture of pained screaming and soothing melody here just floors me every single time I hear it. From the opening guitar line you know you're in for something special. And you are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator Frankie Crisp Posted January 2, 2012 Awards Moderator Share Posted January 2, 2012 Brilliant stuff. I've been following this thread and after a listen of each of the songs, I've got hold of about a third for future listening. I've admittedly not heard of lots of the songs/artists featured but that's one of the joys of this thread, as it opens the door to new music. I've fallen in love with Splendor after listening to it a few times since you posted. It's beautiful. Â Always a yearly internet highlight so thanks for putting this together, Sev. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEWM Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Brilliant stuff. I've been following this thread and after a listen of each of the songs, I've got hold of about a third for future listening. I've admittedly not heard of lots of the songs/artists featured but that's one of the joys of this thread, as it opens the door to new music. I've fallen in love with Splendor after listening to it a few times since you posted. It's beautiful. Â Always a yearly internet highlight so thanks for putting this together, Sev. Â Agreed, thanks a lot. I completely fell off the face of the earth musically speaking this year, hence only more popular stuff like PJ Harvey, Blink and Nicola Roberts making a dent with me. Well, those and the Drive soundtrack. But I never followed up on that either, and I should have. I'd not heard much of the new M83 stuff through my own laziness, but I have now and my iPod is better for it. Â Cheers Sev. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 Cheers guys. Its pretty laborious at times but I enjoy going over the top on the blurbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 2, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted January 2, 2012 YOU AND ME ARE GOING TO HAVE WORDS OVER WU LYF. Â That said, Hooray For Earth are ace. Great list, still catching up, might post my own although it will probably be a 20 and I won't know what I'm talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-d-d-dAz Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Think it's your best year this year Chuck's. Incredible thread. Â I'll go back through this thread and find the particular highlights, and attack itunes with a new found vigour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted January 2, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted January 2, 2012 Bravo on Fucked Up making no. 1. I watched them live in Edinburgh and they were incredible. Â Horrors and WU LYF need to fuck off though. Again nothing rational (as I think WU LYF are actually alright), but both bands and their fans annoy me far more than they should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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