Brian Pyle a.k.a. Ensemble Economique sure likes to keep himself busy. In the past twelve months, he released the sublime Motion Forever split album with Lee Noble, and another interesting split release with Dubai, a record with his other project Starving Weirdos, a couple of CD-Rs… And, of course, a number of tracks posted to his regularly updated Soundcloud page – the last one, “Hey Baby”, turned up just the other day. Check out Pyle’s top 8 list of favorite things in music in 2012:
1. The Tashaki Miyaki Soundcloud page. I LOVE this band so much, some sorta timeless, wild magic in their sound, classic, rad, heart-melting. Especially their covers, man, so cool. I’m really in love with their renditions of the INXS track, “Never Tear Us Apart” and the Father John Misty track, “Hollywood Forever Sings”, “Jeeeeeesus Chriiiiiist girl”.
2. Boy Friend: ”Egyptian Wrinkle”. This duo is breathtaking, all of their songs I think are great, but “Egyptian Wrinkle” is something very special. “The Space Between You And I”, I try to envision what’s happening in this song and I can almost see it, but it’s blurry and confused and intense, like the best of POP, this is the best of POP music. Everything is there and it rips your heart out. And then you press play again.
3. King Dude live. I had the profound pleasure of playing a couple shows with the King this year and each show was pure fucking magic. His records are great and live he is fucking next-level. He’s combining elements in such a cool, completely singular way, a true visionary, one of the great artists in music today, no doubt. Mesmerizing performer, in-complete-control yet with this wild sorta feeling, very cool, the coolest.
4. Keel Her Soundcloud page. Maybe the most prolific of them all. Rose has the enigmatic sorta ‘fuck you, fuck everything’ kinda radness that is undeniable, unbridled, uncompromising. More punk than anything punk, fucking RAD. She’s full-on and I’m fully with it.
5. Barn Owl, Date Palms and yours truly at the Liminal Space in Oakland back in March with live visuals from the absolute ruler, the king of super-8 film, the finest experimental filmmaker operating Paul Clipson. Just one of those nights when everything is just perfect, the air was thick with magic, the vibes so fucking cool, a perfect concert, as good as it gets. A highlight of the year for me, no doubt, for music, for art, for friendship, for everything, for LIFE, burning BRIGHT!!!
6. The insane church organ the day after easter at the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris. More psych, more dark, more REAL than anything I’ve heard this year.
7. Opale, formerly known as Playground, the track “Spleen”. This piece of music is so pure, so beautiful, it gives me such wild emotions, like I’m floating and I’m floating and I’m floating. It feels like love, like I’m in love.
8. Kult Country: Slowburn. It’s the time of day when the light disappears and the night wraps around you like a blanket and she whispers in your ear and you whisper yes. It’s making out for the first time, it’s walking with your eyes closed, it’s stars shooting across the sky, a million miles an hour.
Ensemble Economique on FB.
The final guest list in our 2012 year-end coverage comes from the Portland-based act Litanic Mask. Their eponymous debut album was released barely two months ago but it has been on heavy rotation here at No Conclusion ever since, expectedly landing high on our albums of the year list. The duo of Kenna Jean and Mark Evan Burden were kind enough to share their separate lists of some artists, tracks, albums, and mixes that marked the past year for them. Here we go, ladies first:
