Blog

It is exam season again, so that means it's time to procrastinate again!

Open iTunes/iPod (or whatever) to answer the following.

Total number of tracks: 13, 386
How many hours or days of music: 35 days, 15 hours, 54 minutes, 6 seconds
Most recently played: Jaymay - You Are The Only One I Love
Most recently added: Voxtrot - Trepanation Party

Sort by song title:
First Song
Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
Last Song
Regina Spektor - ***
(I'm surprised that both these stayed the same ... Huh)

Sort by length:
Shortest Song
My Morning Jacket - good intentions (0:04)
Longest Song
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother (23:44)
(Well these changed!)

Sort by album:
First Album
The Beatles - Abbey Road
Last Album
Sigur Rós - ( )

Top 10 Most Played Songs:
(These are probably a bit skewed on my part because I have a tendency to delete all the songs in my library and then reload them .... don't ask me why)
1-10. They're all by Noah and the Whale cause I'm totally in love with them right now so I don't think there's any point in writing them all out.

First five songs that come up on shuffle:
1. Beirut - The Akara
2. Simon & Garfunkel - Homeward Bound
3. Nicole Kidman, John Leguizamo, Alka Yagnik - Hindi Sad Diamonds
4. Devo - Gut Feeling
5. DeVotchKa - No One Is Watching

Search for ... how many songs come up:
sex - 48
love - 806
you - 1581
death - 154
hate - 33
wish - 19

aporia's top albums (12 months)

1. Maxïmo Park - Quicken the Heart (376)

2. The Whitest Boy Alive - Rules (253)

3. Kings of Convenience - Declaration Of Dependence (174)

4. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love (126)

5. Noah and the Whale - The First Days Of Spring (120)

6. La Roux - La Roux (104)

7. The xx - xx (99)

8. Jochen Distelmeyer - Heavy (90)

9. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More (89)

10. Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers (70)

11. The Gossip - Music For Men (65)

12. Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (59)

13. Morrissey - Years of Refusal (58)

14. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (55)

15. Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light (52)

Izolator - Czwartek, 10.12.09 - 20:00, www.bezkitu.com
Tag - izolator


The Beatles - Love - All You Need Is Love
Radiohead - In Rainbows - House of Cards
Noah and the Whale - First Days Of Spring - first days of spring
The Maccabees - Wall Of Arms - Love You Better
Handsome Furs - Face Control - Evangeline
Crystal Stilts - Love Is a Wave - Love Is A Wave
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead - Panic
The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of Understatement - The Chamber
The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of Understatement - My Mistakes Where Made For You
Wild Beasts - Two Dancers - Hooting And Howling
The Maccabees - Colour It In - About Your Dress
The Maccabees - Colour It In - First Love
Florence + The Machine - Lungs - Dog Days Are Over
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson - Break Up - Relator
Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer - Idiot Heart
Dirty Projectors + David Byrne - Dark Was The Night - Knotty Pine
My Brightest Diamond - Dark Was The Night - Feeling good
Antony + Bryce Dessner - Dark Was The Night - I Was Young When I Left Home
Alisson Krauss - Oh Brother, Where Art Thou - Down To The River To Pray
Cat Power + Dirty Delta Blues - Dark Was The Night - Amazing Grace
Noah and the Whale - First Days Of Spring - Blue Skies
Noah and the Whale - First Days Of Spring - Slow Glass
Atlas Sound - Logos - An Orchid
Macha - Forget Tomorrow - Believe
Marianne Faithfull - Sister Morphine - Sister Morphine

This year has had some pretty good music. Here's my top albums. I probably forgot a few.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk

Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

Arctic Monkeys - Humbug

The Dead Weather - Horehound

Atlas Sound - Logos

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Florence + The Machine- Lungs

Tegan and Sara - Sainthood

Band Of Skulls - Baby Darling Doll Face Honey

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

Bat for Lashes - Two Suns

Sonic Youth - The Eternal

Pearl Jam - Backspacer

The Big Pink- A Brief History of Love

The xx- xx

Kid Cudi- Man On The Moon: The End Of Day

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

White Lies - To Lose My Life...

Ida Maria - Fortress 'Round My Heart

Noah and the Whale- The First Days Of Spring

An Horse - Rearrange Beds

M. Ward- Hold Time

Silversun Pickups - Swoon

The Cribs - Ignore The Ignorant

Girls - Album

EPs:

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Higher Than the Stars

The Drums - Summertime!

The first band to become Band of the Month twice also happens to be the very first band to receive the honors, back in March 2009. Noah and the Whale are back, and so soon, too! Charlie Fink's soul-bearing lyrics have also returned with his solid musicianship on guitar, Tom Hobden on fiddle (this guy plays the most rocking fiddle I have ever heard), Doug Fink on the drumset, and "Urby Whale" (what?) Matt Owens on bass. After hearing this fantastic album I had to witness their well-oiled live machine in action again this year, and they did not disappoint.

The first spin of the album I noticed someone was missing from the personnel, however. Unfortunately, Laura Marling's angelic voice does not make an appearance anywhere on this record, but somehow, without her, these guys still managed to make songs that top many off their debut album. The tracks sound more well-thought out and painstakingly composed and edited until they reached perfection. Throughout the entire album, start to finish, are examples of folk-rock masterpieces. The breakdown toward the end of the title track is phenomenal. Love of an Orchestra is the closest they come to matching the upbeat appeal of the most popular songs off Peaceful the World Lays Me Down, and the overall mood of this album just floors the listener. It kinda hurts your heart a little. But I absolutely love it because I can identify with that indescribable feeling of true heartbreak. Noah and the Whale have created the greatest heartbreak album ever... this is it.

The icing on the cake for this album: the optimism and hope that is attached to it. You didn't hear much of that on their previous record, but it's good to hear that as impossible as it may seem to let go of someone you loved, you can move on and be happy once again in the future, carrying with you fond memories instead of any bad blood. As Fink sings; "blue skies are coming, but I know that it's hard".

Simply put, The First Days of Spring is the top album of 2009. I encourage you to devote your ears to it, especially if you've been recently heartbroken. You'll feel excruciatingly sad, but as time passes, you will feel alive again, stronger, and better than ever. Time heals all wounds, and so does music.
Gimme the love of an orchestra.

RATING:


Top Tracks:
The First Days of Spring
I Have Nothing
My Broken Heart
Love of an Orchestra
Blue Skies
Slow Glass

Izolator - Czwartek, 3.12.09 - 20:00, www.bezkitu.com
Tag - izolator

Handsome Furs - Face Control - Radio Kaliningrad
Editors - In This Light And On This Evening - Papillon
Peaches - I Feel Cream - Lose You
Music Go Music - Expressions - warm in the shadows
Simian Mobile Disco - Temporary Pleasure - Bad Blood
Handsome Furs - Face Control - Legal Tender
La Roux - La Roux - Tigerlilly
Peaches - I Feel Cream - Talk To Me
Simian Mobile Disco - Temporary Pleasure - Cruel Intentions
The Knife - Deep Cuts - Heartbeats
Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM - IRM
Dead Man's Bones - Dead Man's Bones - Pa Pa Power
Röyksopp - Junior - This Must Be It
Simian Mobile Disco - Temporary Pleasure - Pinball
Peaches - I Feel Cream - Take you On
Handsome Furs - Face Control - All we Want, Baby, is Everything
Noah and the Whale - First Days Of Spring - first days of spring

1) Grizzly Bear-Veckatimest

2) Akron/Family-Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free

3) Fever Ray-Fever Ray

4) Vetiver-Tight Knit

5) Andrew Jackson Jihad-Can't Maintain

6) Kurt Vile-God is Saying This to You

7) Mount Eerie-Wind's Poem

8) The xx-xx

9) Noah and the Whale-The First Days Of Spring

10) Devendra Banhart-What Will We Be

honorable mentions:
11) Deer Tick- Born on Flag Day
12) Atlas Sound- Logos
13) The Avett Brothers- I And Love And You
14) Andrew Bird- Noble Beast
15) Port O'Brien- Threadbare
16) Megafaun- Gather, Form and Fly
17) Heartless Bastards- The Mountain
18) Circulatory System- Signal Morning
19) Cymbals Eat Guitars- Why There are Mountains
20) Bon Iver- Blood Bank (EP)
21) Woods- Songs of Shame
22) Ducktails- Ducktails
23) Japandroids- Post-Nothing
24) Fruit Bats- Ruminant Band
25) brazos- Phosphorescent Blues
26) M. Ward- Hold Time
27) Dan Deacon- Bromst


also, since it's basically a new year, i reset my plays: http://i47.tinypic.com/11lopjl.jpg

It's been quite a year and how else to finish a year but to make a list of stuff you like? Here goes

The Rural Alberta Advantage - deadroads
Patrick Wolf - Damaris
Bat for Lashes - Daniel
The Sounds - Crossing The Rubicon
Tegan and Sara - Hell & On Direction
Florence + The Machine - Blinding
Noah and the Whale - The First Days Of Spring
Wild Beasts - Hooting & Howling
The Middle East - The Darkest Side
Metric - Gimme Sympathy

Bonus stuff, catchiest freaking songs of the year without being in the favourite list but heck they're just so catchy

Mika - Rain
Lady GaGa - Poker Face, Paparazzi, Bad Romance
Sexy Sushi - Bling Bling Bling