Album: Nicolas Jaar – Space Is Only Noise

Nicolas Jaar depresses me. Not only because his music can sometimes be a bit depressive, also because this guy’s only 21 and manages to make this amazing music that also seems pretty mature (while I’m an epic failure as a musician).

I first heard this album about a month ago, and at first it was just a “cool” album for me; but it has grown on me so much since then. Space Is Only Noise has become one of the albums that I  definitely should have included in my top albums of 2011. Nicolas Jaar really hit the spot with his one, I love how the album is so well balanced between weird (and awesome) eeriness and minimal “chill-ness”.

If you like this, check out Jaar’s collab with Dave Harrington, Darkside. Also check the Don’t Break My Love EP, free to download.

Top 30 songs of 2011

I struggled a lot trying to put this list together. I felt like a kid doing last minute homework, listening to all the stuff I should have heard throughout the year… so if I missed any good music, that’s why (if you’d add something to this list, comment below). Also, don’t take the order too seriously, it was really hard to determine which song was better than the other. Enjoy.

30. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Ffunny Ffrends (Unknown Mortal Orchestra)

29. Ducktails – Killin The Vibe (Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics)

28. Girls – Honey Bunny (Father, Son, Holy Ghost)

27. Youth Lagoon – Seventeen (The Year of Hibernation)

26. We Are Trees – You (Girlfriend EP)

25. tUnE-yArDs – Doorstep (w h o k i l l)

24. Feist – Bittersweet Melodies (Metals)

23. Atlas Sound – Te Amo (Parallax)

22. Real Estate – It’s Real (Days)

21. Little Scream – The Heron and the Fox (The Golden Record)

20. Smith Westerns – Weekend (Dye It Blonde)

19. St. Vincent – Cruel (Strange Mercy)

18. Youth Lagoon – July (The Year of Hibernation)

17. James Blake – We Might Feel Unsound (Enough Thunder)

16. Ducktails – Little Window (Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics)

15. Panda Bear – Alsatian Darn (Tomboy)

14. James Blake – Unluck (James Blake)

13. Kurt Vile – Baby’s Arms (Smoke Ring For My Halo)

12. Fleet Foxes – The Plains / Bitter Dancer (Helplessness Blues)

11. Chad VanGaalen – Burning Photographs (Diaper Island)

10. Fleet Foxes – Battery Kinzie (Helplessness Blues)

9. Bon Iver – Holocene (Bon Iver)

8. James Blake – Lindesfarne I & II (James Blake)

7. We Are Trees – Colorado (Girlfriend EP)

6. High Highs – Flowers Bloom (High Highs)

5. Caveman – My Room (Coco Beware)

4. Chad VanGaalen – Peace On The Rise (Diaper Island)

3. Fleet Foxes – Blue Spotted Tail (Helplessness Blues)

2. Bon Iver – Wash. (Bon Iver)

1. Robin Pecknold – I’m Losing Myself (Feat. Ed Droste) (Three Songs)

Best albums of 2011 coming soon.

Album: Other Lives – Tamer Animals

Released May 2011, TBD Records.

I had never heard of Other Lives until I randomly stumbled upon this video; when I saw it, I didn’t automatically love them, but I thought the band had good potential. Unfortunately, Tamer Animals didn’t really capture me as I had thought, although it was not a total disappointment either.

As I began listening to it for the first time I enjoyed it a lot, especially when I heard the opening track “Dark Horse”. They are clearly influenced by Fleet Foxes but manage to maintain an original sound. But there was something that kept me from loving this thing, and it took me a while to determine what that was. As the album progressed, my initial joy started going downhill. The tracks became less and less exciting, as if they had chosen the best three or four tracks and put them at the beginning of the album. I also had a strong feeling that they were trying way to hard, trying to be the next big thing, the production feels slightly forced and unnatural. When I finished listening to the whole thing I was pretty disappointed. But still, I’m sure some of it’s tracks will remain in my playlists for a long while. The songs themselves are not too bad, but I think that if Other Lives had recorded in a more modest way, this would have been way better.

Listen: Other Lives – Dark Horse