Journal

Here is a little top ten of records that came out in 2009 and hit the fan with an attitude.
The items aren't sorted from the good to the best because they're all cool and deserve full attention. I write them as they come to my mind.



- Jazz Liberatorz - Fruit of the Past



Those guys just rock at doing some of the finest jazzy hip-hop beats. Great productions. Great featurings. Great Hip-hop.

www.myspace.com/jazzlib


- Harmonic 313 - WHEN MACHINES EXCEED HUMAN INTELLIGENCE



The cool as hell electronica dubstep 8-bit tainted glitch-hop from Mark Pritchard who already rocked *a lot* with Harmonic 33. This must be one of the heaviest release of this year.
All the tracks are pure dope in a very nice 8-bit sci-fi universe. That's it. Futuristic AND vintage. How cool.

www.myspace.com/officialmarkpritchard



- Zenzile - Pawn Shop



Now this is a very cool release from the french band Zenzile. Their last release was venturing deep into pop rock sounds but stayed definitely high quality from the beginning to the end. This one is a little bit softer but we can say the same about the quality : the blends of rock and dub music with the voices of Jamika and David K. Alderman are just awesome.

www.zenzile.com



- Bassnectar - Cozza Frenzy



Wow. I can feel my wall moving. This one is really serious. From the deepest glitch-hop to the heaviest dubstep, everything here blows the shit out of the hell.
Lorin Ashton, the guy behind this project just knows how to rock the place and I can't wait to see this live some day.

www.myspace.com/bassnectar



- Gui Boratto - Take My Breath Away



Mr. Boratto doesn't seem to know how to make bad music. His sounds are just perfect and this release doesn't say anything else. Everything is produced with a great talent and the tracks are totally epic with a special mention for No Turning Back who could almost bring me a tear or two.
I saw him this summer in Astropolis Festival and this was fucking HUGE. The set was so deep it was almost sexual. Truly awesome.

www.myspace.com/guiboratto



- Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion



That cover is a little bit mind-fucking but the album is really cool. Those guys have a really special and weird sound but managed to collect a really large audience of listeners since the tracks are very attractive.
They are ranked #7 in Last.fm 2009 top charts between Green Day and Beyoncé ! wow !

www.myspace.com/animalcollective



- Moderat - Moderat



Modeselektor + Apparat = Moderat. What a nice equation.
The producers already worked together on some tracks and remix but for the first time they released a full album followed by a full scale tour.
I really dig what they do on both sides and really digged what they do together. The heavy basses from Modeselektor and the fine rhythms from Apparat gave birth to a very new and special sound who needs to be listened with attention.

www.myspace.com/moderat



- Two Fingers - Two Fingers



This project is the collaboration of Amon Tobin and Joe Chapman. This is dark, this is loud, this is dope and this is what you would except from a project featuring Amon Tobin. There are a lot of featuring with MCs like Sway, Ms. Jade or Ce'Cile whose voices flow perfectly over the instrumentals and the whole album is astonishingly effective.
Oh and by the way, listen to the remix of That Girl by Spor, it's just devastating.

www.myspace.com/2wofingers



- Kanka - Sub.mersion



Dub ! Loud bass ! flying skanks ! delay lay lay lay lay \o/
We frenchies can only be proud of Kanka, our national Massive-tunes Maker. That album is the continuity of the two precedent releases : Four-to-the-floor bass drums, precise skanks, reverbish snares and very nice featuring with the voices of Ranking Joe, Biga or MC Oliva.
A must-have for all dub / stepper lovers.

www.kankadub.com



- Squarepusher - Solo Electric Bass 1



As a bassist and a big fan of Squarepusher, I had to listen to this.
And I wasn't disappointed. Tom Jenkinson is one hell of a bassist. He can get some flummoxing riffs out of his instruments as well as he can produce crazy tracks from his machines.
The real cool thing with this one is that it's *only* bass. 40 minutes of riffs, slaps and solos in a very special Jenkinson way : frenetic & jazzy. Yeah that owns.

www.squarepusher.net



That's it. I know I'm forgetting a lot of cool music but you've got the idea. This was a very good musical year and I think we will have at least the same in 2010.

Keep listening !

It would be playful sometimes that I realized I couldnt be live without song, lyrics, strings sound, piano, techno, jazz anything else. So I wanna appreciate them. Lists which are almost listened . This is it..

Monday :

1.Pony Pony Run Run
2.Mika
3.Cash Cash
4.Owl City
5.Yeah Yeah Yeahs
6.Jamiroquai
7.Ra Ra Riot

Tuesday

1.Agnes Monica
2.The Killers
3.Apparat
4.Crystal Castles
5.Paloma Faith
6.C.U.T.S
7.Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Wednesday

1.Camera Obscura
2.The Bravery
3.Peter Bjorn and John
4.Metronomy
5.Taken By Trees
6.The Horrors
7.The Strokes

Thursday

1.Bjork
2.Katy Perry
3.The Kills
4.Ne-Yo
5.Tegan and Sara
6.The Corrs
7.The Octopus Project

Friday

1.Jason Mraz
2.James Blunt
3.James Morrison
4.John Mayer
5.Jamie Cullum
6.Nat King Cole
7.Gang Gang Dance

Saturday

1.The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
2.The Verve
3.ABBA
4.The Trees and The Wild
5.Maliq & d' essentials
6.Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson
7.Passion Pit

Sunday

1.Vincent Vega
2.The Gossip
3.MGMT
4.Mystery Jets
5.13th Floor Elevators
6.John Legend
7.The Bird and the Bee


alternative
jazz
pop
indie
indie rock
singer-song writer
female vocal
electronic
antifolk
folk
70's
dance
noise

rock-o-mania's top albums (12 months) 1. Ellen Allien & Apparat - Orchestra of Bubbles (885) 2. Moderat - Moderat (Deluxe Edition) (875) 3. Ellen Allien - Berlinette (774) 4. Modeselektor - Hello Mom! (503) 5. Paul Kalkbrenner - Berlin Calling (501) 6. Sascha Funke - Mango (490) 7. Telefon Tel Aviv - Immolate Yourself (436) 8. Paul Kalkbrenner - Berlin Calling: The Soundtrack (409) 9. The Fray - The Fray (373) 10. Sascha Funke - Bravo (291) 11. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown (255) 12. Various Artists - Lost in Translation (250) 13. Peter Fox - Stadtaffe (180) 14. Ellen Allien - Thrills (177) 15. The Fray - How To Save A Life (171) 16. Paul Kalkbrenner - Zeit (162) 17. The Ramones - Hey! Ho! Let's Go: The Anthology [Disc 1] (160) 18. R.E.M. - In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 (159) 19. Green Day - Nimrod (128) 20. Ellen Allien - Stadtkind (108) 21. Kiki - Kaiku (108) 22. Paul Kalkbrenner - ReWorks (93) 23. The Beatles - Love (90) 24. R.E.M. - Accelerate (88) 25. Elvis Costello - The Very Best Of Elvis Costello [Disc 1] (88) 26. The Beatles - 1 (81) 27. Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop and Roll!!! (77) 28. Paul Kalkbrenner - Self (77) 29. R.E.M. - Live [Disc 1] (77) 30. Green Day - American Idiot (77) 31. R.E.M. - And I Feel Fine: The Best Of The I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 [Disc 1] (75) 32. Apparat - Things to be frickled (73) 33. Sascha Funke - Forms & Shapes Remixe (69) 34. Modeselektor - Happy Birthday! (67) 35. Ellen Allien - Sool (64) 36. Green Day - Know Your Enemy (Single) (64) 37. Green Day - Dookie (61) 38. Bruce Springsteen - The Essential Bruce Springsteen (disc 2) (59) 39. Green Day - Warning (53) 40. Apparat - Walls (50) 41. Green Day - Insomniac (50) 42. Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads (48) 43. R.E.M. - Automatic for the People (46) 44. Bruce Springsteen - Greatest Hits (44) 45. Green Day - International Superhits (41) 46. Green Day - 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hour (38) 47. Kaiser Chiefs - Employment (38) 48. The Beatles - With the Beatles (37) 49. The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night (37) 50. Green Day - Kerplunk! (35)

Recommended Songs (sorted by most recommended songs)

Moving to New York : The Wombats (Score = 445.88)
First Love : The Maccabees (Score = 401.15)
Hurricane Jane : Black Kids (Score = 385.51)
Say Aha : Santogold (Score = 384.58)
Can You Tell : Ra Ra Riot (Score = 368.69)
The Age of the Understatement : The Last Shadow Puppets (Score = 356.12)
After Hours : We Are Scientists (Score = 355.64)
Empire : Kasabian (Score = 350.38)
Can't Stand Me Now : The Libertines (Score = 341.97)
New In Town : Little Boots (Score = 332.12)
Kill the Director : The Wombats (Score = 330.2)
Shadows : Midnight Juggernauts (Score = 328.02)
Over And Over : Hot Chip (Score = 325.24)
Here It Goes Again : OK Go (Score = 313.14)
An Honest Mistake : The Bravery (Score = 312.79)
Standing On The Shore : Empire of the Sun (Score = 310.62)
The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth : Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (Score = 303.57)
Is There a Ghost : Band of Horses (Score = 297.84)
Drugs In My Body : Thieves Like Us (Score = 293.06)
Shine a Light : Wolf Parade (Score = 291.09)
Dying Is Fine : Ra Ra Riot (Score = 289.43)
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb : Spoon (Score = 283.16)
Someone Great : LCD Soundsystem (Score = 280.78)
Such Great Heights : The Postal Service (Score = 279.23)
Bang Bang You're Dead : Dirty Pretty Things (Score = 279.14)
Deadwood : Dirty Pretty Things (Score = 278.1)
Lazy Eye : Silversun Pickups (Score = 275.58)
Homecoming : The Teenagers (Score = 271.75)
Pogo : Digitalism (Score = 270.67)
Flathead : The Fratellis (Score = 269.8)
The Race : Cajun Dance Party (Score = 261.8)
Fa-Fa-Fa : Datarock (Score = 261.18)
The Girls : Calvin Harris (Score = 256.4)
Over and Over Again (Lost and Found) : Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (Score = 254.95)
I BELIEVE : Simian Mobile Disco (Score = 252.75)
An End Has A Start : Editors (Score = 250.82)
In The Morning : Razorlight (Score = 249.7)
Middle of Nowhere : Hot Hot Heat (Score = 247.12)
Get Myself Into It : The Rapture (Score = 237.52)
Ooh La La : Goldfrapp (Score = 233.81)
Let's Dance To Joy Division : The Wombats (Score = 233.74)
Emily Kane : Art Brut (Score = 231.2)
O Valencia! : The Decemberists (Score = 230.23)
Limelight : Apparat (Score = 229.52)
Shoot The Runner : Kasabian (Score = 228.1)
It's Not Over Yet : Klaxons (Score = 225.74)
E.S.T. : White Lies (Score = 224.95)
Phantom Limb : The Shins (Score = 224.15)
I Predict A Riot : Kaiser Chiefs (Score = 222)
Meddle : Little Boots (Score = 215.65)
Away From Here : The Enemy (Score = 214.14)
Silver Lining : Rilo Kiley (Score = 209.35)
21st Century Life : Sam Sparro (Score = 207.37)
You Know Me Better : Róisín Murphy (Score = 203.86)
Girls in the Back : White Rose Movement (Score = 203.62)
In The Hospital : Friendly Fires (Score = 201.03)
Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors : Editors (Score = 200.6)
My Heart Rate Rapid : Metronomy (Score = 197.03)
Birds : Apparat (Score = 196.57)
Oh Mandy : The Spinto Band (Score = 193.8)
Same Jeans : The View (Score = 193.06)
Always Like This : Bombay Bicycle Club (Score = 191.29)
The Bucket : Kings of Leon (Score = 190.07)
Satellites : September (Score = 188.95)
Golden Skans : Klaxons (Score = 185.78)
Hang You From the Heavens : The Dead Weather (Score = 184.88)
Calm Like You : The Last Shadow Puppets (Score = 184.78)
Monster : The Automatic (Score = 184.42)
I Found Out : The Pigeon Detectives (Score = 183.47)
Anyway You Choose To Give It : The Black Ghosts (Score = 177.19)
Books From Boxes : Maxïmo Park (Score = 177.14)
I Want Nothing : The Black Ghosts (Score = 176.16)
Take Me To The Riot : Stars (Score = 175.69)
Automatic : Dead Disco (Score = 175.22)
Sofa Song : The Kooks (Score = 175.01)
Satellite Mind : Metric (Score = 174.44)
Fluorescent Adolescent : Arctic Monkeys (Score = 173.49)
Morden : Good Shoes (Score = 171.98)
Athene : Hercules and Love Affair (Score = 171.81)
Nothing Better : The Postal Service (Score = 171.61)
Kelly : Van She (Score = 171.16)
Decent Days And Nights : The Futureheads (Score = 168.51)
Bohemian Like You : The Dandy Warhols (Score = 168.11)
Release Me : Agnes (Score = 167.64)
Shooting Star : Air Traffic (Score = 166.82)
Pass It On : The Coral (Score = 166.16)
Private Affair : The Virgins (Score = 163.93)
Hook Me Up : The Veronicas (Score = 163.81)
She's Got You High : Mumm-Ra (Score = 160.16)
Your Ex-Lover Is Dead : Stars (Score = 158.88)
Break : The Cinematics (Score = 158.71)
Standing Next to Me : The Last Shadow Puppets (Score = 158.53)
Generator : The Holloways (Score = 158.18)
Vanished : Crystal Castles (Score = 156.34)
When I Grow Up : The Pussycat Dolls (Score = 156.02)
Ain't No Rest For The Wicked : Cage the Elephant (Score = 155.71)
Speakerphone : Kylie Minogue (Score = 155.4)
Atlantis To Interzone : Klaxons (Score = 155.22)
About Your Dress : The Maccabees (Score = 154.41)
Teen Lovers : The Virgins (Score = 154.19)

Moderat is the two gents behind Modeselektor (Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary) plus the guy behind Apparat (Sascha Ring). These three fellows all produce electronic music in Berlin, so either collaborations or dis tracks are pretty much mandatory.

The first four tracks lull you into a false security that the whole album will feature glitchy Burial-like beats, but this is not so.

The first track, A New Error, starts off with a simple loop of a broken major chord that reminds me of Aphex Twin then the dub kicks in and gives this track a unique kick. It's a rather bold blending of different styles, that somehow works very well and sets the bar pretty high for the rest of the album.

The next track, Rusty Nails, sounds very typical of a Modeselektor track (or Burial, practically the same sound nowadays). This track features the Thom Yorke/Chris Martin-esk vocal stylings of Mr. Apparat himself. This track typifies everything I love in a Modeselektor remix, that delicate blend of upbeat and melancholy. It's like a rainy Saturday morning, there's some sort of comfort in the dreariness.

Seamonkey reminds me of Amon Tobin.

Slow Match features lightening fast vocals of Caribbean rapper Paul St. Hilaire, which works surprisingly well with the glibeant (ambitch?) beat.

The next two tracks, 3 Minutes Of and Nasty Silence, slow things down with low-key ambiance that reminds me of Tim Hecker with a bit of techno thrown in.

I love Sick With It for some inexplicable reason, but it does not sound like it belongs on this album at all. Being placed in the middle of the album makes it stand out even more. I don't know why I like this song so much. I usually detest Reggae-rap style of singing, and the beat is rather clunky, like an old car sputtering along. I'll be damned if I don't nod my head to it though.

The next two tracks, Porc#1 and Porc#2, are bouncy post-rock mixes that blend nicely into each other, except for the tail-end of Porc#2 which turns into some dub-like creature.

Les Grandes Marches is probably the weakest track on the album. It sounds like the instrumental version of a T.A.T.U song. It could be worse, of course. The freshness of the other tracks make this song seem worse than it actually is. Maybe it will grow on me with time.

Berlin is a nice little palate cleanser.

Nr. 22 is another song that uses a simple beat, I believe it's a remix of Days Go By. Yet, I'd say it's the second weakest track. Again, it just seems lackluster compared to some of the other tracks on the album.

Out Of Sight is very similar to Rusty Nails. It features the familiar skipping/glitch beat and vocals by Apparat. Between the two, I can't decide which track I like more.

The album comes to a close with BeatsWaySick. The beat really makes this track, and it's a good thing because I find the rapping to be pretty awful here. It's similar to sick with it, but less clunky and more duby. I do love the Boards of Canada-esk sample in the chorus.

I love this album so very much, but the tracks do not flow very well. Half the tracks are smooth ambient with a glitch chaser. The other half are either dub or ambient with light techno.
Delicate ambient tracks are sandwiched between remixes that probably should have been b-sides. I suppose that this might have been the sound that the artists were going for. Yet, it seems as though this album is a collection of singles instead of parts of whole. However, I suppose that the crime of having a boring, cohesive album is a greater offense than having a dynamic, disjointed album.

Here's a Pitchfork review of Moderat.

rock-o-mania's top albums (overall)
1. Paul Kalkbrenner - Berlin Calling: The Soundtrack (971) 2. Ellen Allien & Apparat - Orchestra of Bubbles (869) 3. Moderat - Moderat (Deluxe Edition) (831) 4. Ellen Allien - Berlinette (772) 5. Paul Kalkbrenner - Berlin Calling (532) 6. Modeselektor - Hello Mom! (496) 7. Sascha Funke - Mango (486) 8. Telefon Tel Aviv - Immolate Yourself (427) 9. The Fray - The Fray (326) 10. The Fray - How To Save A Life (300) 11. Sascha Funke - Bravo (284) 12. Paul Kalkbrenner - Zeit (280) 13. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown (243) 14. Various Artists - Lost in Translation (240) 15. R.E.M. - In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 (229) 16. Green Day - Nimrod (179) 17. Peter Fox - Stadtaffe (170) 18. Ellen Allien - Thrills (170) 19. The Beatles - 1 (169) 20. Green Day - American Idiot (161) 21. Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, Angry Mob (160) 22. Paul Kalkbrenner - Self (149) 23. Paul Kalkbrenner - ReWorks (139) 24. The Ramones - Hey! Ho! Let's Go: The Anthology [Disc 1] (133) 25. Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop and Roll!!! (124) 26. Elvis Costello - The Very Best Of Elvis Costello [Disc 1] (117) 27. Green Day - Insomniac (112) 28. The Beatles - Love (112) 29. Green Day - Dookie (109) 30. Ellen Allien - Stadtkind (101) 31. Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads (98) 32. R.E.M. - Accelerate (94) 33. Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop and Roll (92) 34. Kiki - Kaiku (92) 35. Kaiser Chiefs - Employment (91) 36. Green Day - Warning (88) 37. R.E.M. - Live [Disc 1] (69) 38. Mumm-Ra - These Things Move in Threes (67) 39. Apparat - Things to be frickled (65) 40. Sascha Funke - Forms & Shapes Remixe (65) 41. R.E.M. - And I Feel Fine: The Best Of The I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 [Disc 1] (65) 42. Green Day - Know Your Enemy (Single) (64) 43. The Enemy - We'll Live and Die in These Towns (63) 44. Bruce Springsteen - The Essential Bruce Springsteen (disc 2) (59) 45. Modeselektor - Happy Birthday! (58) 46. Ellen Allien - Sool (56) 47. Green Day - International Superhits (54) 48. Green Day - Kerplunk! (45) 49. Apparat - Walls (38) 50. The Beatles - With the Beatles (37)

Just another nice metrics on my music taste (*nerdy*):

Das vollständige Interview findest zu hier

Modeselektor + Apparat = Moderat. Die Rechnung würde aufgehen, wäre nicht noch einer der Pfadfinderi mit dabei. BLN.FM trafen die Berliner Elektronika-Supergroup diesen Sommer auf dem Berlin-Festival und fragten sie aus! Wie wird man Support für Radiohead? Nach Gigs in Prag, Tokyo, Mailand, Glasgow wird Moderat am 25.11.2009 wieder im Astra Kulturhaus Berlin spielen. Da wird der Auftritt garantiert nicht ins Wasser fallen, wie der Gig auf dem melt!-Festival.