December 27, 201311 yr I want to see all the films in your list now, and indeed I'm sure I'll refer to it if I'm ever bored in the next few weeks - you write so well!
December 27, 201311 yr Only see The Orange Is The New Black, American Horror Story and Girls from TV but adore all three of them so much :wub: Cannot WAIT for new OITNB! Hardly watched any movies in general this year but I hated Springbreakers! :o It was all too much style over substance for me. Really want to see The Bling Ring though. Good to see Little Mix fairly high up on your albums, it really turned me around into a huge fan.
December 27, 201311 yr Author http://imageshack.com/a/img560/3600/coyb.png That it's taken so long for St. Lucia's debut album to arrive is one thing; that it contains several tracks from their various EPs released over the past few years is another. It means that When the Night could easily sound out of sync with music culture, which often moves all too quickly, but it's a testament to the unity of the group's sound that it sounds nothing of the sort. Old and new sit snugly together within the euphoric synths, which fly on a level higher than most music, and they take the listener with them, emotions at a constant fever pitch, as it they're flowing through you, energising and empowering you. It verges on exhausting, but few acts have ever perfected the pure joy of electronica like St. Lucia, and such consistent highs are to be applauded, if you can get your hands out of the air.
December 27, 201311 yr Author Hello lovely :heart: (*films also added to watchlist) Was supposed to listen to 'Interiors' but kept forgetting. Liking 'The Electric Lady', 'If You Wait', 'Pure Heroine' and 'The 20/20' - definitely expected that a bit higher as you said! Having listened to the Burials EP i see the hype kinda, not "#1 for all the LDN crew charts except mine" hype but definitely feeling it. Will give it more of my time. Glad you like Burial! You'll soon be overcome :wub: I want to see all the films in your list now, and indeed I'm sure I'll refer to it if I'm ever bored in the next few weeks - you write so well! Aww thank you! ^_^ I hope you find some that you enjoy. Only see The Orange Is The New Black, American Horror Story and Girls from TV but adore all three of them so much :wub: Cannot WAIT for new OITNB! Hardly watched any movies in general this year but I hated Springbreakers! :o It was all too much style over substance for me. Really want to see The Bling Ring though. Good to see Little Mix fairly high up on your albums, it really turned me around into a huge fan. Bling Ring is quite similar to Spring Breakers thematically, but there is perhaps more of a story to dig into. I love style :heart:
December 29, 201311 yr Not seen ANY of those films, really need to get watching/hope they soon appear on Netflix. Some great albums so far, Salute is very solid second album showing a lot of growth.
December 30, 201311 yr Author http://imageshack.com/a/img89/2223/16ag.png Vampire Weekend's third album Modern Vampires of the City begins in such gentle, lackadaisical fashion that its ultimate robust character comes as somewhat of a surprise. It feels considerably less flighty that its predecessors, but rarely in a way that it feels more serious; rather, the production is more grounded, with less chirrupping whistles and fanciful strings stretching out across its expansive reach. It feels, somewhat, as though the group have found their feet, and those first two albums, engaging as they were, were merely feelers, preparations for the deeper emotions and ideas confronted on their latest effort.
December 30, 201311 yr I haven't even got the St. Lucia album (was it released in the UK?) - in either case I am a flop Jean-Philip Grobler fan. :( Great to see Vampire Weekend in your Top 10 albums; probably one of the few albums released in 2013 that I play all the way through without skipping. "Unbelievers", "Step", "Diane Young", "Don't Lie" and "Hannah Hunt" must be one of the most brilliant consecutive runs on any disc for quite some time!
December 30, 201311 yr Author http://imageshack.com/a/img36/4774/3us9.png This was unexpected in terms of the suddenness of its release, but more so in the unprecedented quality. Queen B had never before brought an album I'd regard as even "pretty good", but expectations are always there to be subverted, and BEYONCE really does sound like an album so well planned and conceived that it's entire apparition earlier this month made perfect sense as soon as you'd listened through. Following the vibe of guests Drake and Frank Ocean and other acts like The Weeknd, Beyonce dives into smooth vibes that perfectly suit her rising, harmonic tones, into rhythmic grooves that give the lyrical content an extra spice that folds right back into the image she's long cultivated. This is a Beyonce more confident, open and fully realised than ever before.
December 30, 201311 yr Author http://imageshack.com/a/img707/3000/e207.png As this year's Eurovision Song Contest approached, I counted Denmark's entry 'Only Teardrops' among my favourites, but it still seemed like a merely passable pop song alongside the booming majesty of Norway's 'I Feed You My Love'. But I was interested enough to listen to Emmelie de Forest's accompanying album, titled after her ultimately victorious song and pushed out just a week or so before her inevitable march to victory. And so the surprising consistency of the album was with me as I traveled to Denmark itself, staying in Copenhagen to be just over the Øresund Bridge from the contest, and both song and album bloomed into one of the most personal cultural packages of my year. Even without that, the enchanting mix of Celtic sounds and simple, robust melodies, all delivered in de Forest's warm, effusive vocals, make Only Teardrops the finest pop album of the year - an unexpectedly bright flourish from an artist who could have just let those cascading golden sparks do the work for her.
December 30, 201311 yr Author http://imageshack.com/a/img21/6871/jugj.png Notes drop like chimes as Goldenheart begins, already the deft orchestral sound of Dawn Richard's lush album in strong evidence; when her soft, delicate vocals join them, the album had me, hook, line and sinker. Both vocals and melodies frequently swirl inexorably upward, tugging on something just above my stomach, and I'm lost, enchanted by and part of the album and its indelible movements. When she boldly samples Debussy on the closing track, it's a move that seems inevitable in the wake of the echo of its purity of feeling witnessed throughout the album, but it's nonetheless a moment that resonates on a level deeper and above, as if Richard's spirit is releasing all the emotions imbued in the album. I'm tearing up right now as I listen to it, and what more can you ask of great music?
December 30, 201311 yr Author I haven't even got the St. Lucia album (was it released in the UK?) - in either case I am a flop Jean-Philip Grobler fan. :( Great to see Vampire Weekend in your Top 10 albums; probably one of the few albums released in 2013 that I play all the way through without skipping. "Unbelievers", "Step", "Diane Young", "Don't Lie" and "Hannah Hunt" must be one of the most brilliant consecutive runs on any disc for quite some time! It was on 7digital for a while, but doesn't seem to be working now. :( As I said though, you'll have heard half of it already! And yes! It took me a while to dig into, but I find the whole thing so strong and that run really is superb. Especially 'Hannah Hunt'! BEYOYO! http://img.pandawhale.com/post-33528-beyonce-pizza-waitress-gif-tum-FWK4.gif
December 30, 201311 yr I think i saw you loving that album on Twitter maybe? May have to check it out going on your description. Beyoncé you know i love like liquor anyway <3
December 30, 201311 yr Author http://imageshack.com/a/img594/888/9qwa.png Nothing this year will get my body moving as immediately as pretty much any track from Disclosure's debut album Settle. This is 2013 - a fiery, infectious blend of dance, garage and r'n'b that never wastes any time on getting into the beats - instead, it piles them together, jamming extraordinary choruses into already superior songs, assembling an astonishing roster of guest vocallists who bring individuality while sliding into the distinctive Disclosure style. As an album, it perhaps doesn't need to be ordered in any particular way, because these are all songs conceived as singular entities, and are all strong enough to stand alone. But they stand here as brothers, sisters, secret lovers, as part of a debut that made my feet's year what it was. My toes salute you, boys.
December 30, 201311 yr Author I think i saw you loving that album on Twitter maybe? May have to check it out going on your description. Beyoncé you know i love like liquor anyway <3 You did indeed! Definitely seems like something you'd love. ^_^ http://cdn01.cdnwp.celebuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/11/beyonce-grammys.gif
December 30, 201311 yr Author http://imageshack.com/a/img802/1391/dgm3.png Music can be many things, and Jhené Aiko's EP was, for me, a kind of solace. Solace from nothing in particular; nothing particularly dramatic happened to me this year, but I'm as prone to mood swings as anyone, and often they tended towards the darker shades of human feeling. Sail Out provides both reflection and alleviation; it's a collection of songs that are all distinctly chilled out, with 'Bed Peace' the brightest spot, and, perhaps for that reason, the song I find least enticing. Instead, Aiko's more morbid, melancholy mode is the rich theme of Sail Out, and the combination of her silky vocal style and the eerie, midnight production made for an EP that slowly intoxicated me, the gentle swirl of the dark rhythms seeping under my skin, accompanying and understanding my sadness. Moreover, Sail Out has dug deeper, finding that spot I value perhaps more than any other - the peculiar joy in melancholy, the richness of experiencing those darker moments that inform the lighter ones. There are many other things to hear in this music (not least how sexy it is), but it burrowed into my soul, and Sail Out will forever be a huge part of this year of my life.
December 30, 201311 yr Author http://imageshack.com/a/img12/8920/u3f5.png What Aims brought is a realisation. It's not as if all music is about love and sex, but most of it is, and when Vienna Teng boldly announced that her new album was informed by her recent degree in Global Sustainable Enterprise, it certainly seemed like an intriguingly original idea, albeit one at risk of being overconceptualised if done wrong. But Teng approached the idea more than just lyrically - building on her touring collaborations with Alex Wong, Teng diversified her musical invention exponentially on her fifth studio album, in the process encompassing more of the world on several different forms. And beyond the technical formation of the music, Aims is a truly glorious album, an inspirational piece from the very beginning, as the melodies of 'Level Up' fly into the musical air, piano notes and synths gloriously reaching to a euphoric level. Aims retains her offbeat, rhythmic sense of fun (the earthy beats and claps of 'In the 99' and 'Copenhagen (Let Me Go)', the latter performed on tour with plastic cups), her sensitive, lyrical wit, and her graceful warmth, while taking her to a level of invention and intricacy beyond her previous work.
December 30, 201311 yr Author The albums list in full: 025 Washed Out - Paracosm 024 Glasser - Interiors 023 The Naked & Famous - In Rolling Waves 022 Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady 021 Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob 020 Small Black - Limits of Desire 019 London Grammar - If You Wait 018 Jagwar Ma - Howlin 017 Arcade Fire - Reflektor 016 HAIM - Days Are Gone 015 Cut Copy - Free Your Mind 014 Selena Gomez - Stars Dance 013 Lorde - Pure Heroine 012 Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience Part 1 011 Burial - Rival Dealer EP 010 Little Mix - Salute 009 Kanye West - Yeezus 008 St. Lucia - When the Night 007 Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City 006 Beyonce - BEYONCE 005 Emmelie de Forest - Only Teardrops 004 Dawn Richard - Goldenheart 003 Disclosure - Settle 002 Jhene Aiko - Sail Out EP 001 Vienna Teng - Aims Back with the singles tomorrow!
December 30, 201311 yr heard a few good things about the Vienna Teng, should probably give it a listen at some point ('Never Look Away' certainly took its time growing for me!)
Create an account or sign in to comment