For those of you that have been fans of the band Islands since they were called Unicorns, good for you you silly music snob you (but seriously Jellybones might be one of the coolest songs ever made).

As Islands, the guys, fronted by Nicholas Thorburn, are currently on their fourth album. My personal opinion is that their debut, Return to the Sea, was stunning, but slowly each subsequent album lost my interest.

But quick aside, if you haven’t listened to Return to the Sea, that might be pre-requisite listening to understand 2012′s A Sleep and A Forgetting. The album takes you on a journey to an island threatened by end-world situations and man, it is just so weird and quirky. It is hard to tell exactly what is going on in the story-heavy songs, but you just know it is exciting/frightening.

But I digress. A Sleep and A Forgetting is their best album. It isn’t really that weird (both in terms of instrumentation and lyrics). But it is just good.

Most of the songs come off sort of loungey, and all songs are lead with a strong acoustic piano. Many of the songs are slow as well, which makes you realize just how sweet Nicholas’ voice is. But I can’t really sell this one beyond having you listen to a couple tracks below. I just feel a lot of people probably skipped over this one, but Islands are back baby, they are back!

I’ve been a huge fan of Clock Opera since the first time I heard one of their songs (was it Belongings or Once and For All, I don’t remember). Slowly over the last two years they’ve been releasing single songs off what was to become their debut record, Ways to Forget. If I had to say something bad about the record, this is the only thing worth complaining about – if you’ve been following the band, you’ve heard quite a few of the best songs.

However, there isn’t a bad song on the album and there are a ton of new jams that will make you have to grab your friends for mutual appreciation (the ending for Fail Better is amazzzzing). And if you have never heard of Clock Opera before, godmanit, go buy this album right now, you won’t regret it.

In fact, I have been assuming for quite some time that when these guys finally released an album it would be making a big pull for the #1 spot on the end of the year list, and this album was exactly the album I was hoping for.

I do have to rant a bit about International music distribution though. Ya see, the guys in Clock Opera are from London and I’m stuck here in beautiful Los Angeles. Clock Opera gives you a ton of ways to buy the new album, except of course if you are American.

I’m a savvy Internet guy and we get a lot of freebies here at Audio Muffin, so I’m not often one to buy music unless it truly moves me. And I was fully prepared to pay top dollar for this album, but after trying every option on their website, I was continually told “No Yanks Allowed”. Even on iTunes I could browse the UK store, see the album, try to buy, and be swept away to the US store where the album wasn’t available. What is the difference iTunes? You are a multi-national company, why can’t I be multi-national too? I think the execs need to take a quick trip to Disneyland to re-learn the lessons of It’s a Small World.

So for us in the States, find the album however you can (the deluxe version is available very easily if you know what I mean). I’ll buy it when they release it here, but I can’t wait. And once you have fully digested the album, don’t forget Clock Opera makes remixes on the same caliber as RAC or any other top remixer these days. You can find their remixes along with remixes of their own songs on their Soundcloud page.

They are currently only touring in Europe (big surprise). But you bet your sweet ass I’ll be buying up a block of tickets once they come stateside.

If you didn’t see it I listed Yellow Ostrich’s The Mistress as my favorite album of 2011. We have barely had time to auto transport their tracks from our iPods to backups on our computers, and we’ve now learned that on March 3rd they will release their second album.

This first album from Yellow Ostrich was basically a solo album from the band’s lead singer Alex Schaaf. After a huge response from this album, Alex enlisted the help of a full band, including the drummer from We Are Scientists, Michael Tapper and Jon Natchez from Beirut.

We only have a taste of what the new sound will be with a full band with the inbetween albums song ‘Til I Disappear (it does not appear on the track listing for Strange Land). But if this is the new direction of the band I think we are in for some really promising stuff.

But even with the new backing band, Yellow Ostrich is still very much the heart and soul of Alex. And you can’t help but love this Eric Foreman-esque crooner who seems to spill his heart out in every song in an often silly, yet heartwarming way. Try not to coo over the following video.

Yellow Ostrich is very much a band with simplified orchestration led by the self-harmonizing vocal effects from Schaaf. I, for one, can’t wait for March.

P.S. Alex, if you’re reading this, Barbara is still looking to remix a song, shoot us an email!

Yellow Ostrich - ’Til I Disappear

Also, here is a little bonus from when Alex decided to cover an entire Radiohead album.

I wasn’t expecting my first favorite album of 2012 to be anything like Gotye’s Making Mirrors. I’ve been so enamored with synthesizers and people making music like nothing I’d ever heard before. And Gotye is none of those things.

Gotye doesn’t fall victim to the latest trendy trappings of what is “hot” in music these days. Instead, he relies on a wide range of musical styles that will remind you of Peter Gabriel at times (In Your Light) and Yeasayer (State of the Art) in others. But above all Gotye does what every important album does – he makes incredibly catchy and well crafted songs. Gotye has definitely captured that indescribable feeling of listening to an album that leaves you with the feeling that this is going to be one of the best albums of 2012.

And of course it doesn’t hurt that Gotye successfully crafted one of the best songs anyone has heard in the last few months (Somebody That I Used to Know). Making Mirrors comes out on January 31st.

Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know

Gotye – State of the Art

Summer Camp – All I Wonderful Christmas Is You

This is the best take I have ever heard on this song. I just love it. The “aahhhhss” are just fantastic. You could play this one for your grandparents and they would just think it was swell. This is also Summer Camp’s second year on the list. Those two must really like Christmas.

Beach House – I Do Not Care for the Winter Sun

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Here is a new one from Beach House. Good to hear some new music from one of my favorite bands from 2010. Thanks for adding jingle bells to this song or we might have mis-labeled it as the new single.

Passion Pit – All These Trees

This is a fun little ditty that Passion Pit put out last year. Man, can we get a new album already?

Los Campesinos! – Kindle A Flame In Her Heart

Here is one from last year. Nice tune definitely in the style you’ve come to expect from this band. The lead singers voice really gives you mixed signals when he wishes you were here.

Class Actress – Silent Night

Class Actress does a nice striped down rendition of this holiday classic. Toro Y Moi has a song called Promise Brings on this same compilation as well but like many of the songs on this compilation, it isn’t worth listening to. There is literally a cover song on this compilation of the barking dog songs from the 90s.

Winston Jazz Routine – Through the Snow

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The Winston Jazz Routine seem to have dropped off my radar lately, but I did find this nice Christmas song from a couple years ago. Great song and I wish these guys would put out some new stuff.

The Knife – Christmas Reindeer

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This has all the elements of a classic Knife tune. You might be thinking to yourself that you’ve heard this somewhere, but I assure you this is strictly a Christmas release (from last year I believe, but we had yet to include it, so here it is).

The Barr Brothers – Dear Mrs. Claus

The Barr Brothers are on tour with Muffin favorites Blind Pilot right now so they are okay in my book. This is a great song, very reminiscent of old 50s style Christmas songs. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone told me this was a Sam Cooke cover.

Chris Bathgate – Auld Lang Syne

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I don’t know if I have ever written about Chris Bathgate on the Muffin, I think I discovered his music on Pandora years after it had been released. Well, he is great, and his voice can’t be touched on this rendition of Auld Lang Syne.

Damien Jurado – Christmas Time Is Here

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Damien Jurado is probably in my top 5 of artists I have listened to the most in my life. It is not a hobby I share with others as much of his music is incredibly depressing. I mean, if you try playing your favorite Jurado tunes to your friends they are going to have an intervention. This Christmas tune somehow manages to be uplifting while maintaining his unique voice. His voice almost sounds unrecognizable in this style of singing. Here is a Dawes cover of the same song if you just can’t get enough.

Half-Handed Cloud – A Favorite Christmas Gag Gift

Half-handed Cloud is labelmate to Sufjan Stevens and the king of one minute songs. His Christmas song from a few years back is appropriatly titled to add a little humor to your Christmas listening.

LCD Soundsystem – Christmas Blues

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This one came out last year but too late for the list. Had to put this on the list. It isn’t very Christmas-y to tell you the truth, but it sure makes up for that in that it is LCD Soundsystem.

Lightspeed Champion – Christmas in Prison

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Okay, this one is from like four years ago, but did you know Lightspeed Champion put together a Christmas EP? It is called the XMas EP and you can find it at the Pirate Bay if you’re into that kind of thing.

Apollo Ghosts – Honky Tonk’s Blue Christmas

Once upon a time Train brought this amazing lo-fi group to our ears. They put out a weird little Christmas cover this year to remind you they still celebrate the Holidays in Brooklyn under trees made of PBR.

Fitz and the Tantrums – Santa Stole My Lady

Fitz and the Tantrums arrived in 2011 a little late to the party Mark Ronson started, but not without some fan fare. As far as original Christmas tunes go this is one of the better ones. The old school soul feel of the band fit perfectly for crafting a timeless-sounding song. This might be the best Fitz song I’ve ever heard.

My Morning Jacket – I’ll Be Home for Christmas

This one features The Head and the Heart and is part of a full EP of Christmas songs. I’m not a huge fan of this band, but if you are their straight-forward takes on the classics will surely be your cup of tea.

And to finish off the list here is a pretty dance-tastic Jingle Bells remix James Yuill did for Guiness.

October 18th on Mute, selected by Train

Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is hands down my favorite album of 2011. From the minute it was announced I was playing a game of Hurry Up And Release This Album, We’re Waiting (see what I did there?), and once I got it in my hands and on the hard drive I was not disappointed. Majestic in scope and ambitious in sound, Hurry Up is an album not simply to be listened to, but rather experienced. And while I like this album because it is full of sonic delights, I love it because of how I listen to it. Yes, I realize that all of this makes me sound a little bat-shiza.

The M83 experience – what is it? Well, grab the nearest pair of headphones, turn the volume to one shade below ‘deafening’ and hit the streets. There is something about this album that complements the chilly NYC air, the passing by of strangers, the steam rising from the sidewalks, the rush of the traffic and, random sketchy people asking you for money. Okay, the last part not so much, but this happened to me a few days ago while I was in the throes of- chalk it up to city life I suppose. Still don’t believe me? Close your eyes and put on ‘Midnight City’. Now, picture your city waking up at dawn, office buildings crackling to life, rat-racers shuffling in sequence to the subway, the sun slowly readying itself for its closeup – there’s just so much potential for the day and hope packed into the opening 30 seconds of the song.

Wait, this is the worst review ever, I didn’t really talk about any of the songs. But you like good music (which is why you read The Muffin) and you’ve surely read about the soaring synths of ‘This Bright Flash’, the ghostly aura of ‘Another Wave Like You’ and the I-feel-like-I’m-in-an-Eighties-movie-and-I-kinda-like-it-ness of ‘Claudia Lewis’ – you don’t need me to tell you about it again. Instead let the album dance around in your surroundings, and in the words of Anthony Gonzalez himself, ‘Carry on, carry on’.

M83 – Midnight City

Train’s complete top 10 for 2011:

Yellow Ostrich – The Mistress

February 15th on Afternoon Records, selected by Frank

I was smart this year. I set up a Last.fm profile at the beginning of the year and attached it to all my listening devices.  So at years end I simply had to check my stats to see what I listened to the most, but I didn’t really need to look, it was going to be Yellow Ostrich.

Have you ever seen that image floating around the internet with the future-man exploring the cosmos and the caption says something like, “Sorry, you were born too soon”? I could care less about space travel, but I often sulk at the thought of missing out on what new sounds future bands will bring to the world. And every time I hear a band like Yellow Ostrich I mark a notch on the wall, I got to hear one new innovation before my time comes.

Yellow Ostrich uses acapella harmonies as their primary instrument. Yet, the instrumentation that is included is careful, perfectly selected, and you can’t imagine the songs any other way (even when multiple versions of a song appear on this debut album).

The kicker for me is the vocals and lyrical content of Alex Schaaf. He has one of those sweet voices that can best be described as ‘earnest’. Paired with songs about empathy for whales, a girl named Mary with a secret drug problem, and a positive outlook after a break-up I can simply listen to this album over and over again all day long.

Yellow Ostrich – Hold On

Frank’s complete top 10 for 2011:

James Blake – James Blake

March 22nd on Universal Republic, selected by Bootsy

It is pretty easy for me to declare my love for James Blake. This album – THIS ARTIST – is a standout for me in 2011.

I got to see him in a church in Austin Texas at SXSW, and it was a religious experience. I also stood in the back of a super packed Troubador, among rumors that Joni Mitchell stood somewhere in that same crowd, and I pressed my whole body up against the rattle of the wall so that I could literally vibrate with the warbling pan of The Wilhelm Scream. He passed through the KCRW studios and happily stepped away from the trenches of his dubby effects, and tickled out the most beautiful sounds on the same grand piano that has rung with the tunes of piano greats the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis.

In addition to these multiple magical experiences with James Blake in the flesh, believe me – there were soo many other moments with James Blake in my headphones that were equally phenomenonal. This collection of songs first landed in my eardrums in late December last year… and after 12 months of listening and allowing it shape and inspire my own musical explorations – it sounds just as fresh and beautiful as it did on day one.

The voice is clear and beautiful. The dubstep influence is modern and intelligent. The nostalgic nod to Jazz and to RnB are hefty, soulful and reverent. The auspicious use of vocal and synth effects, paired with a composition style that evokes the classical part of this classically trained pianist – all make up what is undoubtedly my favorite artist of 2011.

James Blake – Lindesfarne I & II

Bootsy’s complete top 10 for 2011:

Brown Bird – Salt For Salt

October 18th on Supply and Demand, selected by Baker

If you’re doing a music festival right, you’re probably leaving a few gaps in your schedule to hear some sounds you might not have heard before. Maybe it happens on a whim. Some guy is talking your ear off while waiting in line for the port-a-potty about an up and comer and you decide to check them out. Maybe you’re just walking past a stage something catches your ear, so you hang back for a second and check out this band you’ve heard of but aren’t really familiar with. Maybe you like them, maybe you keep walking.

That’s not what happened to me. I just didn’t know everything was going to align like it did. On the second day of the 2011 Newport Folk Festival, damn near every band we wanted to see that day was playing at the same stage. Cave Singers, Mountain Man, The Head and the Heart, Chris Thile & Michael Daves, Civil Wars… This was not the day I was expecting to become infatuated by new sounds because I already knew my picks were solid. It was the smallest stage at Newport, but I still got there an hour before the gates opened and that put me in the third row an hour before this band called Brown Bird was supposed to start start.

I hadn’t even noticed the crowd that had gathered in the rows behind me, but when Dave Lamb and MorganEven Swain took the stage, that crowd’s warm welcoming cheer told me I was in the right spot at just the right time. From that point forward I was completely amazed at what I was hearing.

Brown Bird’s music instantly feels familiar, but always unique and their own. For the most part, it’s just him on guitar (or banjo) and a kick drum, her on a double bass, cello, or violin. Their 2011 release titled Salt for Salt, my favorite album of this year, is a studio reflection of their live set. No overdubs. Just a pair of skilled musicians with bare bone instruments making real music.

Lamb worked in a shipyard right up until their fall/winter tour this year. A lot of his lyrics tell stories of life at sea, the daily grind of working a manual labor job, and the desire to live a simple but productive life with someone you love. The lyrics aren’t always happy, but the music that weaves in and out of the story line always sounds hopeful His voice is honest and sounds as if he’s lived every single word he sings twice over. When Swain’s voice meshes with Lamb’s, I can’t help but envision a ray of sunlight shining a light on whatever situation their lyrical subject is laboring through at that moment.

Brown Bird just completed their nationwide tour with The Devil Makes Three, so you probably missed them already. To hold you over until you get to see them in 2012, treat your self and pick up Salt for Salt.

Baker’s complete top 10 for 2011:

Portugal. The Man – In The Mountain In The Cloud

July 19th on Atlantic, selected by Kareem

These guys truly are the best thing to come out of Wasilla, AK since Sarah Palin. Actually they are way better and they got the hell out of there way before, so that was a stupid cliché. Beginning to end this album is refreshing. I has licks that remind you of the Beatles and the Pixies. It has a very retro feel to it mixed with modern style to build this psychedelic sound which is really quite beautiful even to average ears. My personal favorite song (which was damn hard to narrow down) on this seventh full length release is probably “You Carried Us” which is a nice display of the bands triumphant sound and singer John Gourley’s impressive range. This fine piece of work brings back memories of Weezer’s Blue album because I can listen from beginning to end and each song brings in something new. It all just works so well together. Thank you Portugal. The Man.

Portugal. The Man – You Carried Us (Share With Me The Sun)

Kareem’s complete top 10 for 2011:

Yacht – Shangri-La

August 30th on DFA, selected by Biddy Bopp

Yacht’s album, Shangri-La really gets your head bobbing to those funky electric beats. I really love driving around LA listening to this album, especially the title track Shangri-La. Though my favorite fun dancing song goes to Dystopia. I just think its a great song with badass quirkiness. I’ve been a Yacht fan for a long time, and this album doesn’t disappoint. Claire L. Evans’ voice really compliments founding member Jona Bechtolt. A beautiful harmony surrounded by synchronized computer melodies. All around its a really fun album to listen to and I think it’s a great follow up to their last album See Mystery Lights (2009).

Yacht - Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire)

Biddy Bopp’s complete top 10 for 2011:

Metronomy – The English Rivera

July 26th on Big Beat, selected by Dream

Close your eyes. Fill your mind with the imagery of the sun shining above crystal clear blue waters and the sound of waves crashing ever so gently with seagulls wafting above. Metronomy’s 3rd studio album, “The English Riviera”, simply put, will lead you down a yellow brick road with your booty shaking the entire time. As soon as I set foot in this adventure, I found myself captivated by the electro-synth-pop driven sounds. Kinda like that shade-wearing bunny that’s powered by energizer batteries, the pulse of this album is powered by its funky bass lines. The album has a very playful and innocent vibe to it with songs like “Corrine” and “Some Written”. Metronomy also has the capability of producing Santa Monica club bangers like “The Bay” and “The Look”. Metronomy has come a long way from their commodore computer synthetic sounding days. As much as I adore those “Archaic” sounds from the previous albums, the facelift and new additions Joe Mount (lead singer) has given the band, has paid off in huge dividends. Metronomy’s sound has evolved immensely since their last album. Fortunately for us, someone hit the warp speed button in the band’s evolution process. As a result, Metronomy produced the lushest musical creation of 2011. Enjoy.

Metronomy – Corinne

Dream’s complete top 10 for 2011:

St. Vincent – Strange Mercy

September 13th on 4ad, selected by Brian

When Strange Mercy was finally released, it didn’t grab me the way that Actor first did, and even Marry Me before that. The critics loved it, but at first I wasn’t on the same page. I wanted the energy of Actor, the quirky arrangements of Marry Me, the vicious shredding on the “Kerosene” cover that made the youtube rounds that melted my face, and the screeching guitar from the live performance of “Marrow” on Austin City Limits. Yet, there was something about Strange Mercy that kept me listening. I listened more and more, and slowly the songs seeped into my daily life. The next thing I knew it was my autumn soundtrack. For an album that I initially didn’t think would listen to for more than a week, it really made a dent.

The album is a slow burner, and its beauty lies in its restraint. Yet the deliberate restraint is a key ingredient to the complexity of these tracks. It’s definitely not as showy as her last two albums, but it’s so achingly personal. She’s never quite set a mood like this, a sensual atmosphere that only comes with artistic maturity. There’s really something to be said about an album that seems almost too simple on the surface but still reveals something new on repeat listens. This album is a bold move, and a masterful one. I also believe great albums can start a dialogue with the ones that came before it, only adding to the worth of the whole oeuvre. And Strange Mercy does just that. In the end, it works as the logical successor of the previous two albums, and it displays Annie Clark’s progress and maturity as an artist. I’m eagerly looking forward to what’s to come.

St. Vincent – Strange Mercy

Brian’s complete top 10 for 2011:

Has-Lo – In Case I Don’t Make It

May 3rd on Mellow Music, selected by Ben Waters

“It’s unavoidable. It just happens… When you grow up, your heart dies.”
–Allison Reynolds, The Breakfast Club (as sampled in “Limit”)

I think it’s fair to say that Has-Lo is having a rough time of it.

In what may be one of the most vulnerable and bleak hip-hop records I’ve ever heard, this 32-year-old rookie rapper from Philly shows a style that lays somewhere between east-coast rap and a slam poet. With a dramatic flair, his production of the album suggests that, if he were to ever look into another line of work, he might try putting together a really edgy NPR program that you’d only hear after 2 AM. He lays out almost his entire catalog of hip-hop heroes in “Untitled #2 (Conception to Procession)”, but that leaves out a wide array of his other influences, including the inspiration for that track’s semi-untitledness, Eliot Smith.

At one point he’s talking religion, the next he is Apollo raining down destruction. The end of the album sneaks up on you, bringing the pieces together with a cinematic chill. This track, “Untitled #1 (Hold On)”, actually almost had me misting up when I watched the video. These are not the typical feelings I get when listening to a hip-hop album. This is not your typical hip-hop album.

Ben Water’s complete top 10 for 2011:

Jan Driver – Amatilda

September 27th on Boysnoize, selected by Alex

While listening to “Amatilda”, the debut album from long time electro producer Jan Driver, it’s hard to imagine where he came up with the concept for the album’s theme. It’s as if he took whatever sound he thought was “cool” since the days of reading old sci-fi comics as a kid, set them up in an abandoned warehouse in outer space along with 10,000 drum kits and threw a party. Lasers. Satellites. The Mother Ship. All invited. And bring your chainsaws, cowbells and fishing poles, too.

When the five track preview – “AMT”- came out in August, I could barely wait to hear what else Driver had in store for the full length release. The clear standout track for me was “Raveyard”, which Boys Noize dropped a few days later during his set at HARD Summer, bringing fields of head bopping, teeny-something raver kids covered in dirt to their climax. I was all of a sudden obsessed with an artist I’d never heard of before last year, but who’s been producing music since 1993. I wanted more Jan Driver.

The day I finally got my hands on “Amatilda” (courtesy of my friends at Nodata.tv), I wanted to save the first listen for my drive home on the 134/101/405 freeways. I knew I’d have a good hour to get through most if not all of it from start to finish. After kicking off my journey with the heavy, grimy bass intro in “Blow”, to the drum solo on Red Bull in “Dozer”, I was completely hooked when “Roundabout” came on as I was circling on to the 405 S. It was how I’d imagine it’d sound inside my head, if I were forced to sit inside a playground tunnel after being tied to a merry-go-round for the last 15 minutes. Then “Tin Tin” got me shaking and twisting my shoulders like an epileptic fit. Before I knew it, I was singing along to the wah-wah-wah wah-wah wah-wah-wah in “Intruder” and realized I was going 65mph down Pico Blvd., bursting with excitement. I thought it was the coolest fucking track I’d heard in a long time, and to this day it still is.

Listen to Jan Driver.

Jan Driver – Raveyard

Alex’s complete top 10 for 2011:

Foster the People – Torches

May 23rd on Columbia, selected by Hot Dog

I’ll admit that I didn’t understand the craze with this album when Spotify launched. But after seeing all of my friends and their mothers listening to it, I slipped away from the Audiomuffin offices to give it a spin…and I loved it. Like Contra last year and Miike Snow the year prior, this has been my go-to album for months.

FRANK had a rule that no one could choose the same “top album” for the list, and I was the last one to the party so essentially, there were already like 10 albums chosen. I figured that’d leave me picking some kinda-shitty album like Watch the Throne, and then drinking too much wine and writing something unintelligible about it. But when I realized that no one else had chosen this album, I was just like “what the fuck, people?” If I’d had my drothers, I may have gone with Mistress or Hurry Up We’re Dreaming, but are either of those really as good as Torches? Not for me to decide, but I think they’re all worthy.

Plus, what band has a back-up vocalist with a name as cool as Cubbie Fink?

Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks

Hot Dog’s complete top 10 for 2011:

Usually when you think of steel drums you think of feet in the sand, heart in the islands, a cold sugary pink drink or some old rasta man trying to sell you some local ganja….

Let’s swap all that out for some neon wayfarers, dirty kicks and cigarette stained hands. Yep – I just want to point out the awesomeness of Steel Drums in some hipster indie tracks that I’ve serendipitously stumbled upon lately!

Jamie XX – Far Nearer
This hippy-hoppy beat makin bunny is still one of my top favs for audiophilic inspiration – I just love what he does with time signatures, and I love the other worldly style that he brings to everything he touches. The use of steel drums of this track complement the boingy

Jamie xx – Far Nearer (limited vinyl & download out now – http://farnearer.com) by Numbers

Hot Chip – I Feel Better (Live on KCRW)

The Knife – Pass This On
And then there is the Swedish duo brother/sister combo group….  The Knife.
The Knife – Pass this on by LaGorilla

Things seem to be happening all of a sudden for White Arrows, the up and coming Los Angeles band. Yup!

Why are you gonna love it? It’s infectious, try not to. Hand claps are and will always&forever be fun and if you know much about the authors of the muffin, you know we are likely to happily lose our minds in the swirly and synthy bounce of modern music. The sound that White Arrows has comfortably nailed with this latest release serves to further justify my love affair with a drum machine and the layery build of a good electronic pop. It moves between its driving beat variations with fun fills and is embellished with sounds that only the technology of today might allow for. Meanwhile, its reigned in – and just as you think it might begin to get indulgent the soft falsetto cooing of lead singer Mickey Schiff weaves its way into your ears and then pops you right back into the energetic chorus.

I won’t be able to catch White Arrows in the desert this weekend as they open up for Weezer, but I am very excited to know that they will be there. Also, they are soon to embark on tour with another Muffin fav, The Naked and Famous. But – if you are real trigger happy and in the LA area, you can catch them tomorrow night at one of LA’s coolest little venues, The Bootleg. As a result of all this great news – the folks over at Ink Tank sent us a stream of the latest release, Get Gone, and they let us know that the RAC produced 7inch will be released Sept 6, and it includes a dreamy cover of a Fleetwood Mac song. Check it out!

Stream White Arrows – Get Gone
White Arrows – Get Gone by WHITEARROWS

Here is another treat…. Mostly because I’m recently obsessed with this song – and that is due to the Avett Brothers cover that I saw out in the desert at the Pechanga Casino recently! It’s such an awesome song. Hear White Arrows take on the Boss’ I’m On Fire.

I’m On Fire (Bruce Springsteen Cover) by WHITEARROWS

One of the most interesting and powerful albums to come out in 2011 is the UK band Everything Everything‘s Man Alive.  The instrumentation mixes rock with electronic and catchy guitar riffs with Broadway musical song structures.  The singer sounds like he is constantly passing between different dimensions, trying to get the words out before the world collapses around him, with backing harmonies that would make Queen jealous.

The lyrics are mysterious and follow a strange, yet alluring dystopia.  The album begins with a song described by the band as their take on a 90s R&B song set in the middle of an apocalypse.  The album ends with the powerful repetition of “I know how it all ends.” The word “epic” tends to get overused a lot lately. And usually it conjures images from those dragon games online that people play when I hear it.  But to be honest, these tracks are truly epic. And I mean that in the least nerdiest way possible.

But let’s take a look at that first track, arguably also the best track on the album, MY KZ, UR BF (which stands for My Keys, Your Boyfriend).

Below is three versions of the song.  The first version is a demo version that I found in my inbox this morning.  Their Soundcloud page describes the reason this version was abandoned, and granted, the album version is better, but this loungy, drum-programmed track sounds awesome.  The third version is how I first was introduced to the band, Clock Opera takes the song for a vocal-sample whirlwind.

Everything Everything – Airstrike On Your Forehead

Everything Everything – MY KZ, UR BF

Everything Everything – MY KZ UR BF (Clock Opera Remix)

You can check out the full album on Spotify.

Edit: The tickets have been given away to Kate. I totally used a random number generator and everything!

The wonderful folks over at Filter Magazine have given us a pair of tickets to the Hollywood Bowl this Sunday!

Before I tell you any more I must say that I’ll be picking a random entrant tomorrow morning and you have to pick up the hard tickets around Santa Monica Blvd. and Gower here in Los Angeles either Thursday or Friday from the Filter offices.

To enter simply comment to this article and say that you want the tickets and are willing to pick them up.  Make sure you leave a valid email address because that is how I will be contacting you (your email doesn’t show on the site).

If you live in LA you are probably aware that the summer months are filled with wonderful and unique concert events, especially at the Hollywood Bowl.  This summer is no different and Big in Japan kicks things off with Yellow Magic Orchestra.  I’m not too familiar with the band but that is probably my own fault.  The press release of the event describes it as such:

The biggest names in Japanese pop music have come together for a once-in-a-lifetime concert spanning genres and generations. As part of KCRW’s World Festival, the Hollywood Bowl will set the stage for electro-pop pioneers, Yellow Magic Orchestra (with original members Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi). Their performance at the Hollywood Bowl on June 26th will be their first Los Angeles performance since 1979! Furthermore, Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori reunite Cibo Matto for this special night, which will also feature rare U.S. appearances by Buffalo Daughter and DJ Towa Tei, plus traditional Kabuki-style dance, Taiko drumming and experimental contemporary visuals for an unforgettable evening celebrating Japan.

Basically if you want to see a crazy stage show accompanied by a ton of aging Japanese men who were the first people to incorporate 808s and synths into pop music you should check this out.

You can also buy tickets if you don’t win the giveaway.

Still not on-board?  Check out this video…