Vehement Flame

My 2012 Album Favorites

2012-12-31T19:08:00.002-05:00

So here is my baker's dozen of my favorite albums of 2012, in no particular order. There are lots of other great albums from this year, but these ones set themselves apart in that I love pretty much every tune on them. Here's the MOG playlist for the albums:

2012 Album Favorites playlist on MOG

Area 52 - Rodrigo y Gabriela and C.U.B.A.

Politico - Mexican Institue Of Sound

Major - Fang Island

An Awesome Wave - alt-J

Blunderbuss - Jack White

A Flash In The Night - Smile

Clay Class - Prinzhorn Dance School

Between The Ditches - The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band

The Lion The Beast The Beat - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals

Feel The Sound - Imperial Teen

Anxiety - Ladyhawke

A Thing Called Divine Fits - Divine Fits

Django Django - Django Django

Streaming Radio

2012-10-30T16:30:00.001-04:00

I'm playing with the idea of hosting an Internet streaming radio station and hope you will give it a listen while I figure it out:

Vehement Flame on Loudcity

Jets Overhead

2012-10-02T17:00:00.000-04:00

My favorite band from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Jets Overhead, has a new album out called Boredom and Joy and it is, as usual, a tasty blend of soft yet powerful indie rock. You can listen to it all on Bandcamp, or here even.

They also have a place where you can submit your own photos for their upcoming video for the song What You Really Want. Check out TellMeWhatYouReallyWant.com and submit your own photo.

Boredom and Joy by Jets Overhead

Ladyhawke - Blue Eyes (Jacques Renault Remix)

2012-09-04T12:29:00.001-04:00

Great remix of a top song from one of my favorite 2012 releases, Ladyhawke's Anxiety:

Tears - Kitsuné Parisien ii ( Compilation )

2012-05-07T14:53:00.001-04:00

Tears - Kitsuné Parisien ii ( Compilation )

Top 5 Songs of Last 15 Years

2011-10-19T08:17:00.000-04:00

I created a short Storify with the top 5 songs of the last 15 years according to NME.com. The actually list the top 150, to celebrate their 15th anniversary. Here's my story:

Kasabian

2011-10-07T15:21:00.001-04:00

The album currently on heavy playing here at Vehement Flame is Kasabian's Velociraptor. A group that's been around a long time that I've never heard of before! I listened to some of their earlier work and while their debut album is pretty good, Velociraptor is a rock 'n' roll treasure from first to last. I put together a Storify post on the album and here it is below:

A Promise of Snow | Animat

2011-09-29T10:16:00.000-04:00

Enjoyed this little tune via Groove Salad, by a group called Animat:

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://animat.bandcamp.com/track/a-promise-of-snow"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;A Promise of Snow by Animat&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

A Promise of Snow | Animat

Family Of The Year

2011-09-26T10:58:00.000-04:00

I've been hearing Family Of The Year's song 6am on Alexandra's 'ZBC morning show Melody du Jour for a couple weeks and just loving it. Finally I have found a streaming version of the EP, which comes out tomorrow. Check it out! I guess they are actually a local group, having been formed here in the Boston area, although they are currently playing out of LA.

Free Friday: Underwater Peoples Records Amazon MP3 Sampler

2011-09-09T12:04:00.001-04:00

Enjoyed this free sampler from Amazon MP3. Here's a couple of my favorite cuts from it:

La Big Vic - Mr. Broken Bird
Julian Lynch - Back

FC Kahuna

2011-08-31T11:02:00.000-04:00

Here's some nice electronica by a long missing early member of the DJ musik club. FC Kahuna released a couple of popular CDs and then apparently partied themselves right out of the scene. But Hayling is a great song. And this is pretty solid too:

FC Kahuna - Glitterball

Jed And Lucia

2011-08-30T11:02:00.001-04:00

I heard a Jed And Lucia tune on the Ubiquity Free Sampler and thought it was easily my favorite cut. So naturally I jumped on over to Napster and took a listen to the entire Superhuman Heart album and also loved that. Its synchopated guitars and sweet low key vocals hit a soft spot and I think you'll enjoy it too.

Jed And Lucia - You Were Made of Stone

Grab a listen to more tunes on their web page. In the meantime, here's a video for their tune Apostrophe, which is a more folk/rock kind of song.

Little Dragon

2011-08-29T11:22:00.000-04:00

I've posted about Little Dragon before and they now have a new album out called Ritual Union, which I really like. This electro-pop group (from Sweden, it figures!) features some great vocals by Yukimi Nagano and a some nice pop beats. Here's my favorite cut from the album:

Little Dragon - Nightlight

And here's a live studio version of another great song, Little Man:

.
Yourstru.ly Presents: Little Dragon "Little Man" from Yours Truly on Vimeo

EMix! Radio

2011-07-21T10:23:00.006-04:00

I'm a big fan of EMix! Radio on Live365.com. They play some solid adult alternative music, much like you listen to here on Vehement Flame. I even paid for premium membership so I could listen on my Android phone and sans commercials. Here's a widget to hear the great stuff they play:

Wendy James

2011-07-16T11:46:00.001-04:00

Wendy James, the front woman for the Transvision Vamps, a popular pop/punk group from the early 90s(!), recently came out with a new album, I Came Here To Blow Minds. And it's a great one! Here is the cut that first came to my attention:

Wendy James - You Tell Me

And here's the title cut from the album:

I Came Here To Blow Minds

Free Friday : Amazon Avalanche

2011-07-16T09:55:00.002-04:00

A whole bunch of samplers came available on Amazon MP3. Haven't really had a chance to listen to many of them, but here's of what I found.

PS: Music storage is now completely free on the Amazon Cloud storage. So go for it!

The Wooden Birds

2011-07-14T10:43:00.007-04:00

The Wooden Birds make my kind of music - funky lyrics with some spunky guitar work. You can get a free sampler by spending your email address for three songs, which includes a couple of really great covers and this original tune:

The Wooden Birds - Two Matchsticks

I originally heard them on the 2010 Barsuk sampler. This is a great tune too:

The Wooden Birds - False Alarm

The Album Leaf

2011-07-13T10:35:00.010-04:00

Someone pointed out this lovely song by The Album Leaf, Thule, saying it sounded like the Childs song I posted earlier. I agree, it is very nice! And, as is often the way, I have a song by them from the 2010 Amazon sampler Digital Bang : The 2010 Sub Pop Sampler (which is unfortunately no longer available).

The Album Leaf - Falling From The Sun

Thule

Dash Berlin

2011-07-12T13:10:00.002-04:00

Never Cry Again

First Aid Kit

2011-07-07T23:11:00.000-04:00

It's been too long since I've posted here - time to get back into the swing of things! Lots of great music. Might as well start back in with Yet Another Swedish Band, this time First Aid Kit. The sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg put together a very nice folk/pop sound.

Hard Believer

You're Not Coming Home Tonight

Computer Magic

2011-06-10T16:31:00.000-04:00

Good to see Computer Magic (aka Danz) getting some publicity finally. She has her first release coming up and here is her first video. Isn't she just the cutest? And please go to her home page and contribute to a new computer too!

The End Of Time

Computer Magic - "The End Of Time" from stereogum on Vimeo.

Rodrigo y Gabriela soundtrack

2011-05-26T08:05:00.000-04:00

One of my all time favorite artists is Rodrigo y Gabriela. They have one of the best backstories and fought hard for their unique artistic vision. And they make great music. They worked on the soundtrack for the latest Pirates Of The Caribbean and it is some great stuff. Pirates and RyG - how can you go wrong?

Buster Voodoo (11:11)

You’re watching The Pirate That Should Not Be Feat. Rodrigo y Gabriela. See the Web's top videos on AOL Video

Best of 2010

2011-05-10T10:00:00.004-04:00

Yeah, I know, it's a little ridiculous, posting my Best of 2010 in mid-May, but hey, it's been a busy time, ya know? And instead of a podcast, I've just created an 8tracks.com mix. My favorite "albums" (isn't that a quaint word these days?) from 2010 were:

lowercase noises "Marshall"
School of Seven Bells "Disconnect From Desire"*
Alejandro Escovedo "Street Songs of Love"
Broken Bells "Broken Bells"*
Charlotte Gainsbourg "IRM"*
Citay "Dream Get Together"
Holy Fuck "Latin"
Jakob Dylan "Women + Country"*
loscil "Endless Falls"
The National "High Violet"*
The New Pornographers "Together"*
Steve Mason "Boys Outside"*
Vampire Weekend "Contra"*
Robert Plant "Band Of Joy""

* means that I bought it on a honest-to-goodness CD even!

Les Rita Mitsouko

2011-05-09T11:20:00.001-04:00

Go ahead, try and keep your feet still for this great song from the French duo, Les Rita Mitsouko:

Le Butcherettes

2011-04-29T10:00:00.001-04:00

Le Butcherettes are a heavy rockin' trio from Mexico City, led by the wild'n'crazy Teri Gender Bender (a.k.a. Teresa Suaréz). Man, they do some serious rockin' and here's their upcoming release, Sin Sin Sin:

<a href="http://lebutcherettes.bandcamp.com/album/sin-sin-sin">Sin Sin Sin by Le Butcherettes</a>

And here's a cut from the debut album, Kiss & Kill, back when they were a duo:

I'm Queen