Off the top of my head (and according to the charts from my several last.fm accounts), here are 25 songs I’ve had on repeat sometime in 2011. Also, judging from our previous experience, having a post with a bunch of mp3s is good for driving traffic!
New Laurel Halo EP, Hour Logic, available for streaming here.
Those High5Collective videos for The Weeknd‘s ‘The Morning‘ and Frank Ocean‘s ‘We All Try‘. New Mellowhype video for ‘64‘. And some stuff that isn’t exactly new but didn’t get much attention so why not post it:
In no particular order. Well, somewhat particular at least. Fever Ray made things easy in 2009, this year was more of a struggle. There was a lot of good records, but none that I really felt were leaps and bounds ahead of the others. Still, there were some that stood out. Joanna Newsom, for one, with her triple (!) LP (and without a track to spare) or Caribou’s Arthur Russell influenced LP. Two excellent minimal synth compilations were also on heavy rotation this year… And the list goes on. Here are some records we listened to the most this year.
Joanna Newsom: Have One on Me Darkstar: North Caribou: Swim Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma Four Tet: There Is Love in You Pantha du Prince: Black Noise Future Islands: In Evening Air Broken Water: Whet Robyn: Body Talk High Places: High Places vs. Mankind Emeralds: Does it Look Like I’m Here? Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles II Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy V/A: The Minimal Wave Tapes Vol.1/Cold Waves & Minimal Electronics Vol.1 SALEM: King Night Tamaryn: The Waves Teengirl Fantasy: 7 AM These New Puritans: Hidden Toro y Moi: Causers of This Wild Nothing: Gemini Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest How to Dress Well: Love Remains Mount Kimbie: Crooks and Lovers Matthew Dear: Black City Frank (just Frank): The Brutal Wave Gonjasufi: A Sufi and a Killer Grass Widow: Past Time Roll the Dice: Roll the Dice Autre Ne Veut: Autre Ne Veut No Age: Everything in Between Warpaint: The Fool Geneva Jacuzzi: Lamaze Oneohtrix Point Never: Returnal School of Seven Bells: Disconnect from Desire Big Boi: Sir Luscious Left Foot the Son of Chico Dusty Beach House: Teen Dream Baths: Cerulean John Roberts: Glass Eights Loscil: Endless Falls Actress: Splazsh
New video for Future Islands‘ ‘The Ink Well’, a track off their new split 7″ with Lonnie Walker. The single is out now on Baltimore’s Friends Records. Video directed by Theo Anthony. The city featured in the video is Prague, in case you’re wondering.
Nice people from Thrill Jockey posted two new Future Islands remixes, both by Jason Urick. Stream/download the remixes of ‘Tin Man’ and ‘In Evening Air’ below.
In other news, the band has recently released an EP with acoustic versions of four songs, get it here.
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2010, Thrill Jockey
01. Tin Man (Extended version); 02. Virgo Distracts; 03. In the Fall (Featuring Katrina Ford); 04. Awake & Dreaming
Except for the new album, Future Islands also have a new EP coming out this spring, called In the Fall. The title track features Katrina Ford of Celebration, you can download it below. Get In the Fall EP here.
Their excellent new album In Evening Air is out May 4 on Thrill Jockey.
This is a feature where, instead of just the regular monthly NC mixtapes, you can hear mixes that some of our favorite artists put together for us. In its sixth installment we bring you Future Islands.
The guys put together an eclectic mix of 22 songs: “…all of us made [it] together, it’s sorta all over the place.” It spans diverging genres from soul to post-punk, covering performers from Elvis to Parenthetical Girls…
01. Dile Gallop – Johnny O’Lou 02. Cocteau Twins – Love’s Easy Tears 03. Robert Fripp & Brian Eno – Evensong 04. Hands on Heads – Down Time 05. Screaming Females – Sour Grapes 06. Blue Rondos – Little Baby 07. Soft-Boiled Eggies – Can You Send Blame (33rpm version) 08. The Emperors – I’d Like to Have Her 09. El Polen – Valicha 10. Shuggie Otis – Aht Uh Mi Hed 11. Throwing Muses – White Bikini Sand 12. Parenthetical Girls – Handsome Devil 13. Chameleons UK – Up the Down Escalator 14. The Tornados – Robot 15. Orange Juice – Rip It Up 16. Kraftwerk – Heimatklänge 17. Legendary Pink Dots – Oceans of Emotion 18. James Carr – A Man Needs A Women 19. Otis Redding – For Your Precious Love 20. Dick Tillett – Seventy-Two 21. Elvis Presley – Blue Moon 22. The Honey Sisters – Cry Baby
The band’s been keeping themselves busy: their debut Wave Like Home is coming out on LP next month via 307 Knox Records and Altin Village & Mine. They also have a remix EP Post Office Wave Chapel coming out next month via Free Danger. Both releases are limited to 500.
They just finished their new album, In Evening Air, which will be out in the spring on Thrill Jockey.
A fine day for Thrill Jockey. New releases by Mi Ami and Trans Am are now available for pre-order and they’ve announced signing Future Islands – their new full-length, In Evening Air, will be released in spring.
San Francisco trio Mi Ami recorded the new 12″ with Trans Am’s Phil Manley. It’s also their Thrill Jockey debut. Pre-order the Cut Men 12″ and stream both tracks here. The A-side is a live recording, the B-side is a dub that runs over ten minutes. Highly recommended.
Trans Am‘s What Day Is It Tonight?: Trans Am Live 1993-2008 is, you’ve guessed it, a collection of live songs, recorded between 1993 and 2008. It will be released as a double LP and a DVD featuring two complete live shows (Heidelberg, Germany 2004 and Chapel Hill, North Carolina 1993). It hits stores December 8 but you can pre-order it now from Thrill Jockey.
2009, Future Islands/Free Danger Side A – 01. Old Dreamer (Pictureplane remix); 02. Flicker & Flutter (Javelin remix) Side B – 01. Little Dreamer (Jones remix, featuring Victoria Legrand); 02. Beach Foam (Moss of Aura remix, featuring No Age)
Future Islands are releasing a remix EP on 12″ vinyl in collaboration with NYC Art Collective Free Danger. It’s limited to 500 copies. No info on where to buy it yet. However! It will feature remixes from the likes of Pictureplane and Javelin, and remixes of tracks featuring No Age and Victoria Legrand of Beach House. Sounds pretty cool. You can listen to the Javelin and Pictureplane remixes on their myspaces. Can’t wait to hear side B though. Future Islands on Myspace.
New video from Future Islands, forThe Happiness of Being Twice, featured on the Feathers & Hallways 7″ single out now on Upset the Rhythm. Get the 7″ here. The video is directed by Joel Fernando, who had this to say about it: “The video is a psychedelic hodgepodge of fantasy and color, featuring 65 + people from the Baltimore, New York City, Chicago and North Carolina areas, filmed one by one on green screen and combined together to appear as a group in this video.”
2009, Upset the Rhythm 01. Pinocchio; 02. Happiness of Being Twice
Future Islands haven’t released anything new in like forever so this is a real treat. A double A-side out on Upset the Rhythm. They’re also working on a new LP hopefully packed with those “ecstatic electronic rhythms” and “euphoric fun trips” we’ve grown accustomed to. It should be out sometimes this year on the same label.
Stream Pinocchio and other tracks on MySpace. You can download the live versions of the tracks over at WFMU. Buy.
Gang Gang Dance – Glass Jar
Prurient – A Meal Can Be Made
Maria Minerva – Ruff Trade
Dylan Ettinger – Lion of Judah
UNISON – Brothers and Sisters
