ROSE QUARTZ

FAV 10 TAPES OF 2009

2009-12-16T06:21:00.001+11:00

Really quite glad my iPod is really old w/ shit battery power cos I was getting soooo sick of my short attention span and never being able to settle on a song to listen to, wheeling through that thing for many a bus/train trip to find the "right song". No fun at all! My walkman is good like that; choose one tape, get lost in it. EASY. Naturally there were plenty of amazing cassettes to get lost in. Also I am really glad that Alt-Vinyl exists in Newcastle. SEE BELOW:

1. Matrix Metals - Flamingo Breeze

sample track: Tanning Salon

"It's just so weird, the neo-primitive retro futuristic FUN that oozes out of these claps and plastic beats. Taps into the 80s technology commercial feel and past ideas of the future that we're in right now with ridiculous glee and my absolute favourite sort of aesthetics. Just sounds real good."

[Last.FM / buy]

2. Monopoly Child Star Searchers - Presents: "The Aqueducts Of Channel Island"

sample track: Untitled A

Way denser than some of the other Spencer Clark releases or at least chops and changes more so it all comes off as some super labyrinthian world that feels crossed between the old (ie. Roman) and super new/scungy KFC bright lights city. A real sour Hawaii; palm trees on VHS etc., grainy as.

[Last.FM / buy]

3. Parasails - Parasailing

sample track: Skylife 3

The hand drum driven jams are best on here and clunk along with the most hazy major chord feelings. Can't work out if I like it better than the other Ducktails stuff but this more primitive/"hypnogogic" stuff is very, well, sort of have written a lot about these various projects this year but the crux of it is it "just makes you feel real nice eh".

[Last.FM / buy (sold out :()]

4. Dolphins Into The Future - On Seafaring Isolation

sample track: Lapse - Dream

Taking that New Age trip so ridiculously far but somehow still making a rad and irony-free ambient tape. It actually has literal "soothing ocean noises" but I'm not sure if anything else has changed the room/made me feel so as weird/good this year.

[Last.FM / buy]

5. Taterbug - The Savage Young Taterbug

sample track: Side A

"Tucked in the greasy folds of these super weird and trebely textures are some of the strongest feelings I can remember from this year and it's great how they're only half disguised under DIY gunk, "boys can be sirens too" for sure, and the hypnotic love on the scrawny wrists is creepy and sincere."

[Myspace / buy]

6. Sean McCann - Phylum Sigh

sample track: Spring Spill

Absolutely masterful ambient and bright noise with Solarisy contrasts between organic and space age. Real unique textures. Particularly liked listening to this on train rides with sun blurred on scratched windows.

[Myspace / buy]

7. Dunebuggy - Dunebuggy

sample track: W Thing

"Trust Ryan Garbes and Charles "Taterbug" Free to blow their mutant pop/punk in chunks like these. Can't stop obsessing over the defunct Americana and genius John Candy/family film/summer camp feelings. Somehow it drips w/ "free highs" rather than unease, interesting amongst all the wide-eyed fuzz." Also, just watched Meatballs 2 and realized that it is EXACTLY what I mean and feel like this stuff sounds like.

[Myspace / buy]

8. Sun Araw - In Orbit

sample track: Luther

Love Sun Araw's stoner haze in pop(er) form but I think it actually works better in 15 minute tape jams, real sun scorched.

[Myspace / buy]

9. Ryan Garbes - Born Under The Sun

sample track: Side A

The warm tenseness of the vibrato organs and the weird DIY/ultra off-the-cuff keyboard stammers get trapped in some prism of light with a laxed reverse prog mood running all the way through.

[Myspace / buy]

10. High Wolf - Animal Totem

sample track: Un Abrazo

Gently percussive with tonnes of creeping rhythms coming out w/ New Age harsh ambient stylistics. SOUNDS LIKE WAVES/THE BREEZE/CRYSTAL BALLS and meets some happy medium between zoned outness and head nods, way way lush and smooth psychedelia.

[Myspace / buy]

ALSO REALLY LIKED THESE:

Dirty Beaches - Dirty Beaches

Rangers - Low Cut Fades

Tonstartssbandht - Maihama

Blue Sabbath Black Fiji - Night Hawk

Heavy Winged - The Thinner Air

Yves/Son/Ace - Yves/Son/Ace

Mark McGuire - Guitar Meditiations

Peaking Lights - Imaginary Falcons

Best Coast - Where The Boys Are

FAVE HIP HOP RELEASES '09*

2009-12-15T13:20:00.023+11:00

*And an R&B record which slayed the competition.

What a year. Keeping up with the never ending influx of hip hop albums is one thing but factor into that every second person with a mic putting out mixtapes and singles and "deluge" is the first word that really comes into mind. However, when something did emerge every so often to give me a reason to bop my head or dance or feel or smile or roll my windows way down and do ungodly damage to my stock car speakers, it was THRILLING. So here are now are the records that for one reason or another, had me indulging in the aforementioned activities:

1. Drake - So Far Gone
sample track: Bria's Interlude (feat. Omarion)

Ladies and gentlemen, the Valedictorian of the Class of '09.

I've gushed about Drake incessantly on previous posts so I'll keep it to a minimum this time. So Far Gone is an ingenious blend of swagger and emotion. To put it simply, it hits me in a completely different way to all the other music in this post and that's why I love it.

[MySpace / get]

2. The-Dream - Love Vs. Money
sample track: Fancy

An epic, genre-defining, future-soul symphony of synths and shimmer. Songs crafted from layers of lush sounds, drenched in sex and vibes of velvet and platinum. Absolutely sublime.

[MySpace / buy]

3. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...Pt. 2
sample track: About Me (Feat. Busta Rhymes)

This is epic hip hop. More lyrically on point than ever, Raekwon approaches his rhymes with an uncanny cinematic scope. Lyrics play out like scenes from a classic gangster movie - framed in noir-ish black and white with an ominous atmosphere permeating every frame all while shady characters lurk and crooked dealings take place in every dark alley you pass.

[MySpace / buy]

4. TiRon - Ketchup
sample tracks: Throwing My Money / Quitter (feat. Tunji & Ayomari)

A collection of superbly crafted songs in which the LA representative waxes poetic on life, girls and being broke. The everyman of hip hop, TiRon is honest to a fault and relatable to on just about every level. He spits with a hushed confidence with witty and clever rhymes, laced with humour, self-deprecation and genuine poignancy.

[MySpace]

5. Clipse - Til The Casket Drops
sample track: Popular Demand (Popeye's) (Feat. Cam'ron)

Next-gen crack-rap. If Lord Willin' and Hell Hath No Fury were the soundtracks to the grind, this is Clipse reveling in their success via glorious excess. Bolder, brasher and shining brighter than a freshly waxed Murcielago. The LP 670-4 too.

[MySpace / buy]

6. Jay-Z - The Blueprint III
sample track: Venus Vs. Mars

I honestly did not understand why there was so much negativity being hurled towards album. This is Hov, older, wiser but nevertheless still unfuckwithable and having conquered all, Blueprint III sees him progressing, messing with new sounds and textures to create some rather exceptional results. BP3 is remarkable in it's way of laying down a foundation of what's to come from Hov while at the same time incorporating elements from his past such as the experimentation of Vol 3: The Life & Times of S. Carter and collaborative star power of The Black Album. So don't get it twisted - NY is still on his shoulders and that crown is firmly affixed. (Just be sure to delete "Young Forever" from your playlists.)

[MySpace / buy]

7. Pac Div - Church League Champions
sample track: We The Champs (Duke Vs. Carolina)

"Pac Div rep LA with a bravado and hunger comparable to the Lakers in the 99-00 season". Modern beats which hark back to hip hop's glory days, West Coast swagger and a group dynamic, so fleeting in today's rap climate, all seeped with an insatiable desire to win make for an exhilarating listen.

[MySpace / get]

8. Method Man & Redman - Blackout! 2
sample track: Errbody Scream (Feat. Keith Murray)

A hip hop-stoner-party record? Best believe it. Meth and Red go line for line and trade verse for verse with reckless abandon and with an energy from what seems to be a never ending sugar high. Infectious, raucous and best of all, fun as hell.

[MySpace / MySpace / buy]

9. Wale - Attention Deficit
sample track: Chillin' (Feat. Lady GaGa)

An absolutely stellar contribution by a card-carrying member of the class of '09. "...With production varied as much as the themes explored throughout the record, it's a glimpse into the head of someone who could just as easily be a pal. Chix and life, hopes and dreams, drugs and anxiety and oh so much more tackled with aplomb..."

[MySpace / buy]

10. 50 Cent - Before I Self-Destruct
sample track: Psycho (Feat. Eminem)

Curtis is at his best when he's pissed. Even with all that Vitamin Water money, dude is unrepentant in is desire to shoot and rob you. I kinda like that sorta dedication. This is without a doubt his best since Get Rich Or Die Tryin'.

[MySpace / buy]

and five more for cuz I just can't help myself...

11. UGK - UGK 4 Life
sample track: Everybody Wanna Ball

The last chapter of the UGK legacy. A blunted haze of Texas life, rims and excess, sex and style - the soundtrack of the south. RIP Pimp C.

[MySpace / buy]

12. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
sample track: History (feat. Talib Kweli)

A revitalised Mos Def re-stakes his claim as one of the premier emcees in the game. Stellar production and an ever-so-hungry vibe lurking just below the surface means the mood is ecstatic.

[MySpace / buy]

13. The Cool Kids - Gone Fishing
sample track: Summer Vacations

"It's all in the name. These dudes are cool as shit. Beats and rhymes that recall summer, ice cream, pretty girls with scrunchies and some of the best moments of my 90s upbringing - think the NBA and crushing on Alex Mack. Okay, technically they're about bringing back that 80s gold chain and Cazal shades vibe but it makes me feel good all the same." SYRUPY FLOWS.

[MySpace / get]

14. Add-2 - Tale Of Two's City Volume 3: The Rise & Fall
sample track: Let You Go

"Immaculate Chi-town flavours...Tracks brimming with honesty and soul, it's as if he's concocted a style by observing some of Chicago's luminaries and channeling them - Kanye's braggadocio, Lupe's youthful outlook, Common's emotional maturity seem to be at play as he relates to us his own personal trials and tribulations."

[MySpace / get]

15. Antipop Consortium - Fluorescent Black
sample track: Timpani

"Antipop Consortium have always pushed the boundaries of what I believed or expected hip hop could sound like. Incorporating abstract, stream-of-consciousness and sometimes nonsensical lyrics over beats which can vary from dense, multi-layered electronic compositions through to kraut-influenced minimalism, they've concocted the soundtrack to the future."

[MySpace / buy]

note: Hi folks, it seems I may have "infringed on a few copyrights"...oops. Anyhow, shit should be resolved and y'all can get to readin' and downloadin' once again. Soz for any inconvenience.

TOP 10 AUSTRALIAN ALBUMS '09

2009-12-14T17:05:00.006+11:00

A little while back, our pal Georgia at Microphone Memory Emotion asked me how we find the "crazy stuff" we post about on Rose Quartz. I guess it'd be tough blogging from Brooklyn, where everyone's no more than 30 seconds away from tweeting about the next massive thing, but here in Sydney it's a lot easier to find and post about a heap of cool shit that isn't already saturating the Hype Machine (totally selfish, I know!). Anyway, here are my top ten albums by Australian bands this year. Shout outs go to Love of Diagrams, Brain Children, Curse ov Dialect and Pimmon. Here are the ones that edged them out:

1. Mum Smokes - Easy/House Music
sample track: Left For Dead

Two true things about bands: 1. No matter how good the band is, double albums usually suck. 2. Tense band dynamics often make for great music. In the case of Easy & House Music, the latter fact clearly won out (and not just because this release's double album status is arguable): having thrashed it out privately for nearly four years, Mum Smokes put out the record, played a half dozen shows and disappeared again. There are supergroups that sound like (and usually are) a bunch of famous bros riffing around and selling the results for squillions of dollars, but Mum Smokes' immensely talented members have instead painstakingly hammered out a record that won't make them wealthy but is actually really fucking excellent. This shit sounds like golden afternoons in suburban backyards, '90s pool parties, the best bits of growing up. Genius.

[MySpace / buy]

2. Crayon Fields - All The Pleasures of The World
sample track: Mirror Ball

We've had a crush on Crayon Fields for aaaaaages, but this album is their best yet. The songcraft and superior turn of phrase displayed on 2006's Animal Bells is maintained but with added - I don't know? Groove? Swagger? Maybe, if it's possible to swagger humbly. Mirror Ball perfectly captures the vintage R&B vibe that permeates this record, warm and compelling, enigmatic but inviting.

[MySpace / buy]

3. Grand Salvo - Soil Creatures
sample track: Needles

There's probably a lot of singer-songwriters who like to think of themselves as poets, but Grand Salvo's Paddy Mann could actually lay claim to the title, if he was pretentious enough to go around laying claims to titles. Which he's not. This exceptionally beautiful album is rich with melody, flawlessly produced and packaged, but it's Paddy Mann's lyrics that stand out the most. They're tender and heartbreaking, enigmatic but still comforting.

[MySpace / buy]

4. Leader Cheetah - The Sunspot Letters
sample track: The Explorer

Pretty much an instant classic, this. It's amazing to think it's a debut record: critics often use the word 'assured' as a substitute for 'slick production' but Leader Cheetah really sound like they know exactly what they're fucking doing. The Sunspot Letters is an amazingly consistent, classy blend of some seriously enjoyable influences, and the distinguishing feature is that it's a blend rather than a genre-hopping mishmash. There's surf guitars and stadium-sized drums and they're hammering out early Neil Young-style ballads that are driving and kind of intoxicating and always a little tragic, and that's the vibe: it's an album, y'all. The Explorer was apparently inspired by Sultans Of Swing; choice, no?

[MySpace / buy]

5. St Helens - Heavy Profession
sample track: Get Up

Total heroin chic romantic junkie fuck-ups, but not in a disgusting vomitacious '90s Seattle way, more '70s New York with its careening new wave soundtrack and poetry that's actually kinda great. I used to be lukewarm on this but now I think it's rad.

[MySpace / buy]

6. Kid Sam - Kid Sam
sample track: We're Mostly Made Of Water

At the start of 2009 no one had heard of Kid Sam or their label, Two Bright Lakes, but their self-titled album turned out to be a complete left-field gem. Swinging from epicly heartbreaking ditties like We're Mostly Made Of Water to strutting, lo-fi, Chad VanGaalen-esque indie rock jams elsewhere on the record, it's sort of amazing how right two cousins from rural Victoria could get it in just one album.

[MySpace / buy]

7. The Twerps - The Twerps
sample track: Dance Alone

They've been calling it an EP, but it's nine tracks long, and in the grey zone that is record categorisation I call that an album. The way this record sounds is amazing: it's total bubblegum pop but filtered through the garage and sung with a sneer. Better yet, though, the songs are great too - like a 1950s dancehall band playing punk rock, and with some pretty hilarious lyrics.

[MySpace / buy]

8. Decoder Ring - They Blind The Stars, And The Wild Team
sample track: Beat The Twilight

I used to think Decoder Ring were boring, but this album's amazing, spaced out-yet-muscular kraut-rock vibes and lush production made me realise I was heaps wrong.

[MySpace / buy]

9. No Through Road - Winner.
sample track: Berlin Wall

Earlier this year, I wrote about Winner.'s lead single, Party To Survive, that it's what you'd play if you wanted a party to be ridiculously memorable. That vibe is spread liberally throughout the record: it's anthemic, but in a fun kinda way; euphoric, with moments of pathos; and all of it - whether the subject matter is girls or partying - totally heartfelt.

[MySpace / buy]

10. HTRK - Marry Me Tonight
sample track: Ha

It was made in the same year and Marry Me Tonight is how I'd hoped The Devastations' Yes U would turn out. That record, like this, was dark, sleazy & hypnotic, but inconsistent and poorly written. Marry Me Tonight doesn't have such problems. It's thrillingly paced and perfectly produced, both of which factors are essential for a band who are as much about delivery as content. It's lucky HTRK have both.

[MySpace / buy]

LIFE LESSON TIME.

2009-12-14T10:21:00.002+11:00

Haha, this is hilarious. Seems my use of the word "ingeniously" (IN CAPITALS!) in my post about the bitchin' new Eddy Current Suppression Ring track last week has convinced some over-enthusiastic Wikipedia editor that the third ECSR album will, in fact, be titled Ingeniously.

While we support and encourage ECSR's use of that title (Mikey - hit us with an email and we'll cut a deal, k?), on this occasion we don't have the scoop for you. We have NFI what the new Eddy Current album will be called. Don't believe everything you read on Wikipedia.

RICHARD'S TOP 20 SONGS OF 2009

2009-12-11T11:52:00.003+11:00

Gotta say I've found it kind of hard to remember/figure out which "songs" are my absolute favs this year because a) THERE HAVE BEEN SO MANY GOOD BANDS COMING OUT WITH ONLY JUST A HANDFUL OF EUPHORIC AND INVENTIVE SOUNDS and b) most of them are submerged inside 15 minute long tapes or LPs and thus harder to post on a blog. But whatever, I've had to go with those anyway to "stay true to myself". I think I've lost track of heaps of stuff this year from working craploads and putting on shows in a small English city; I either couldn't remember if these ones were from this year or couldn't fit them on to the list:

Miami Horror - Don't Be With Her
Smith Westerns - Tonight
Black Joker - Watch Out! Part One
Dum Dum Girls - Catholicked
Toro Y Moi - Blessa
Truman Peyote - Sara Delta
Cow's Lips - A Complete Diagram

BUT YEAH, totally loved these next twenty in particular:

1. James Ferraro - Chrome Wave Arena
from Edward Flex Presents: Do You Believe In Hawaii?

I was enjoying all this Skatersy stuff earlier in the year but it wasn't until seeing James Ferraro and Spencer Clark each play solo in Newcastle's ridiculously mystical Mordern Tower that it really clicked. California Games dreams and VHS transcendence glow out of the Zangiefy roars and carbon gnarls, peyote grandeur and a vision that for me is more coherent and instantly relatable to both my own childhood (brings back 6am Saturday morning cartoon sessions, joystick obsessions, KFC towering over teen streets like a "dark tower" indeed) and current aesthetic interests.

[Last.FM / buy]

2. Najavo Bixby - Moonlighting
unreleased

Kind of impossibly ecstatic and I'm not sure how Judd Hower has put this one together, alls I know is every time me and my pals have had two to three beverages and are about to "head out" I'm always reaching for this one. And the second half party drop; sheesh.

[MySpace]

3. Taterbug - Chemical Vacation
from The Savage Young Taterbug CS

Tucked in the greasy folds of these super weird and trebely textures are some of the strongest feelings I can remember from this year and it's great how they're only half disguised under DIY gunk, "boys can be sirens too" for sure, and the hypnotic love on the scrawny wrists is creepy and sincere.

[MySpace / Buy]

4. Real Estate - Atlantic City
from Real Estate / Atlantic City Expressway

There are a handful of versions of it and I'm almost tempted to post the Parasails version (the first version?) but this lush indie pop jam is so homely and warm and at once pastoral and beachy. Totally addictive and subtly inventive in an enormous canon of pop greatness.

[MySpace / buy]

5. Matrix Metals - Flamingo Breeze
from Flamingo Breeze

It's just so weird, the neo-primitive retro futuristic FUN that oozes out of these claps and plastic beats. Taps into the 80s technology commercial feel and past ideas of the future that we're in right now with ridiculous glee and my absolute favourite sort of aesthetics. Just sounds real good.

[Last.FM / buy]

6. Speculator - We Don't Give A Shit
unreleased

THOSE BLOWN OUT DRUMS! And Jesus & Mary chain rips all converted into Hal Hartley-style emotion real sweet and broken.

[MySpace]

7. Ducktails - Landrunner
from Landscapes

It doesn't get any more 90s than this; those drums are pretty daggy (SO GOOD) and the somewhat uncharacteristic washy fuzz on this one makes it stand out from the other tropical greatness. Bodacious linear repetitions.

[MySpace / buy]

8. Dunebuggy - French Playground
from Dunebuggy CS

Trust Ryan Garbes and Charles "Taterbug" Free to blow their mutant pop/punk in chunks like these. Can't stop obsessing over the defunct Americana and genius John Candy/family film/summer camp feelings. Somehow it drips w/ "free highs" rather than unease, interesting amongst all the wide-eyed fuzz.

[MySpace / buy]

9. Eat Skull - Heaven's Stranger
from Wild & Inside

Way different from anything on the ultra wasted, scuzzy and wild eyed masterpiece Sick To Death but I guess this is what happens in winter when guys like these sit down for a bit and get a bit escapist. Just real beautiful and moving ending-y/driving into the sunset-y but still gritty as.

[MySpace / buy]

10. Fluffy Lumbers - Harry Dolland's
unreleased

Perfect bittersweet teen fuzz pop w/ excitingly familar chord progressions and melody fueled distortion.

[MySpace]

11. Weed Diamond - Walk Away
from Demo

Pretty straight forward lo-fi jam but somehow amazingly catchy too me; it's got those upbeat tropical guitars at a pretty chill level with something mega apt about the name Weed Diamond and the prismic colours and light that comes out of this.

[MySpace

12. Black Dice - Bob
from Chocolate Cherry

In some ways a minor blip on their larger radar but it's just total chillage running down in their typical sludge, stretched out melodies, palm tree imagery all melted and stuff, just really into that feeling eh.

[MySpace / buy]

13. Peaking Lights - Silver Tongues, Soft Whispers
from Imaginary Falcons CS

So circular and peaced out, helped by the mythos of where these guys live (in some Jodorowsky-style valley/forest) somewhere but still straight up analog beauty.

[MySpace / buy]

14. Holy Shit - Rough & Tumble
unreleased

Is this from this year? A total banger either way; schhomp! Drugged out and happy go lucky, tapping into some mean Weekend At Bernies feelings.

[MySpace

15. Times New Viking - No Time, No Hope
from Born Again Revisited

We all know these guys but they're seriously getting better and better and way more New Zealandy as well; dig on their cover of "Anything Could Happen" and the way the bung organs chime on this one in that summer winds refrain at the very start, pulling off relevant "world views" in a shitstorm of irony that is semi-eschewed by amazing song ability.

[MySpace / buy]

16. Wet Hair - Cult Electric Annihilation
from Psychic Chasms

There's been a few classics from these guys this year especially Ryan Garbe's solo Born Under The Sun tape but this gem is super positive and apocalyptic at once, death party styles, super jammy and loose but somehow pushed forward in that way they do, neo-prog or something right? Totally boss.

[MySpace / buy]

17. Kurt Vile - Freeway
from Constant Hitmaker

I wouldn't hesitate in saying that Kurt Vile is the best "songwriter" to come to the foreground of 2009 and it's amazing to know he's getting better at putting lyrics/chords/feelin's together increasingly cohesively. Nice and conventional folk/pop/indie rock but drenched in spring air and reverb with long hair flailin'.

[MySpace / buy]

18. The Mantles - Don't Lie
from The Mantles

Crazily intricate jangles that grow and grow but burgeon nonstop and look back at our New Zealand favourites. Crazy good pop song, just enough fuzz, slightly obvious chord progression which is EXACTLY what you wanna hear and they just roll with it.

[MySpace / buy]

19. Lotus Plaza - Red Oak Way
from The Floodlight Collective

This real lucid and delay-heavy style is a favourite of mine and I think this is partially because of how amazingly synesthestetic the cover art goes with the general sound is (love the light leakage in a big way cf. my Flickr). So dreamy and with massive colour blur all over.

[Last FM / buy]

20. Blues Control - On Through The Night
from Local Flavor

People say they're somewhat sporadic in their recorded output but these krauted out rhythms matched with both New Agey/Equinochial textures are just totally delicious, submerge more than ever until ten minutes in where the liquid drums come out. Such a beguiling mix of "things" in this one, like their wider oeuvre.

[MySpace / buy]

SHEA'S TOP 20 SONGS OF 2009

2009-12-10T08:08:00.010+11:00

Doing these kind of ranked lists really stresses me out and makes me think that maybe I listen to too much music, especially when I have to spend hours trawling through iTunes libraries, external hard drives, radio show playlists, Last.fm charts etc. to make sure there's not a forgotten gem in the digital ether. That said, I do like doing song lists, not just because they're easier compile, but because it's a chance for newer and smaller artists who might've only released a couple of tracks to get some serious recognition. Anyway, listened to so many amazing alien/garage chillin/gutter-dwelling/beach-bum/pizza party/cyborg/memory-scaping/weirdo/new age jams this year and these are my faves, enjoy!

1. Animal Collective - My Girls
from Merriweather Post Pavilion

I had a feeling this would be top even after hearing it for the first time a year ago when it totally hit on some base level and I was basically unable to stop smiling. I'm not sure what gives this song that kind of instinctual appeal, but when I saw it live the other night all manner of social stereotypes (hippies, hipsters, teen stoners, fashion chix, bros bro-ing out, older critic chin-strokers) were unified against all odds by these simple positive mantras and WOOOO!s and it was a pretty weird and amazing thing.

[Myspace / buy]

2. Tonstartssbandht - Black Country
from An When

Continually floors me; beautiful junkyard, sibling savants.

[Myspace / buy]

3. Best Coast - Sun Was High (So Was I)
from California Girls

Lo-fi aches, perfect chord changes, classic pop. Your dream girl group where the leader channels Courtney Love c. "Malibu".

[Myspace / buy]

4. Ducktails - Wishes
from Landscapes

As alluring as the city might be, this just makes me want to hang in the backyard or somewhere in the countryside or play basketball at my old primary school. I think they must sell golden syrup guitars in New Jersey.

[Myspace / buy]

5. Smith Westerns - Tonight
from Smith Westerns

Wish I could be nineteen again and release an album that's really lo-fi with this song on it cos it totally swaggers and aches with coolness. I love that slight pause just before it builds up to the hook where the singer goes "UHh".

[Myspace / buy]

6. Speculator - We Don't Give a Shit
from Friendship Bracelet Vol. 2

More new age more Peter Gabriel more warbly guitar sheen and freeway hits, more from this band plleasszzzzze.

[Myspace / buy]

7. Teengirl Fantasy - Floor to Floor
from TGIF EP

Dudes keep killing it - so many club spirits and parallel dimension glimpses lurking in the dankness between these beats and tweaks.

[Myspace / get]

8. Girls - Lust for Life
from Album

So much romance and sloppy charm squashed in here despite its fleeting duration. Best bits: when the bassline drops in second verse, and "I wish I had a pizza and a bottle of wine", always.

[Myspace / buy]

9. Luke Perry - Avon Lust
from Terminator Ecstasy

Really obsessed with all this retro-futurist weirdness that's around right now, and Luke Perry's Ryan Howe welds it hapzardly into this wonky cyborg pop hit that has been the #1 most played song in Planet Hollywoods across the world for six weeks straight.

[Myspace / buy]

10. Kurt Vile - Beach on the Moon
from God is Saying This To You

Kurt Vile is totally at his best solo, especially when he plays these super evocative desert/lost highway sketches complete with cryptic lyrics and a hook so good he uses it in three songs.

[Myspace / buy]

11. The Parasails - Skylife #2
from Skylife

Also appearing on the Ducktails album Landscapes (as "Seagull's Flight") this track fits perfectly into the pastel-hued heavens of Skylife, perhaps Matt Mondanile's most cohesive effort - totally visual and hypnotic, sounds that look like gentle gusts of wind 100 metres above the ocean.

[Myspace / buy]

12. Dirty Beaches - Low Rider
from Dirty Beaches

That bassline! Fucking so cool and oozing nonchalance. Soundtrack to driving topdown wearing wayfarers and a leather jacket with a cigarette in the corner of yr mouth. Hey Jim Jarmusch, this song is for yr next movie.

[Myspace / buy]

13. Night Control - Good Looks
from Death Control

Intercepted from yr favourite oldies AM station in 2050 in a perfect world.

[Myspace / buy]

14. Oneohtrix Point Never - Hyperdawn
from Zones Without People

There's some super interesting ideas behind OPN's arpeggiated future-memory-utopias but you don't necessarily have to understand them to feel yr chrome heart beating as rays of the three rising suns reflect off the sharp planes of yr face and form a perfect opaque triangle in the sky.

[Myspace / buy]

15. Jeans Wilder - Tough Guys
From Tough Guys/Up All Night split 7"

This might be pretty unrepresentative of Jeans Wilder's oeuvre (super downer sparse guitar songs, which are excellent too), but when he takes that ethos and adds a bouncy reggaeton preset it becomes a loner, downer, weirdo, undeniable pop hit.

[Myspace / buy]

16. Lotus Plaza - Sunday Night
from The Floodlight Collective

Once I went on a night bike ride listening to this and it sounded exactly like my sleepy suburbia, moths fluttering around yellow street lights and dreams rising through humming powerlines.

[Myspace / buy]

17. Blondes - Spanish Fly
Unreleased

"Effortlessly cool, this anti-club track from Brooklyn duo Blondes whisks you away from crowds and strobes to a dark V.I.P. corner where the distant beats actually sound better and the tempo is slower -- there's space to think here, to gaze at the club dust hanging mid-air through yr private disco ball lights, sweat condensing on concrete ceilings above."

[Myspace / buy]

18. Neon Indian - Should've Taken Acid With You
from Psychic Chasms

Pretty sure that twinkling loop and those shooting star synths are what it actually sounds like in the Milky Way. I'm too much of a wuss/nerd to take acid but this song makes me wish I wasn't.

[Myspace / buy]

19. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Can't Hear My Eyes
from Can't Hear My Eyes 7"

As much as I love the blurred soupiness of the 'hypnagogic pop sound', it's nice that Ariel Pink renders his 80s cultural totems and aesthetics with a greater degree of clarity. The cock-rock riffage on "Flashback" could equally take this spot, but I'm a sucker for late night lovesick love songs.

[Myspace / buy]

20. Fluffy Lumbers - Harry Dolland's
from Harry Dolland's 7"

"... these hazy guitar lines echo like half-remembered punk pop hitz heard while cruising yr suburban neighourhood, sadder on reflection with all their lost and mixed associations."

[Myspace / buy]

GERVIN'S TOP 20 SONGS OF 2009

2009-12-08T12:58:00.030+11:00

I remember being all psyched and what not when Max told me that RQ Listravaganza '09 was just around the corner. Picking my fave twenty songs didn't actually seem too daunting at first but when I started narrowing down my choices, it was all headaches, man. Though in a way, it turned out for the best as it helped me get re-acquainted with so many gems from the past year and re-affirmed my love for the following:

1. Drake (feat. Bun B & Lil' Wayne) - Uptown
from So Far Gone

Organ drenched, purple-hazed, slo-mo, midnight riding music blazing a trail from T.O. to TX to N.O. and back again. Bun may have just stolen the show from Drizzy and Weezy but that doesn't matter when the synergy on this record is bananas. And when the chorus hits, it's with the full force of melancholy, vulnerability, swagger and ecstasy.

[MySpace / get]

2. Beach House - Norway
from Teen Dream

This song sparkles in a way only a Beach House song can. Immediate in it's charm of hushed, breathy backing vocals and shimmering guitars, there's also the allure of Victoria Legrand at her absolute dreamiest. Teen Dream is going to rule my '10.

[MySpace / get]

3. Drake - Best I Ever Had
from So Far Gone

LL Cool J pretty much the kybosh on "the hip hop love song" when he released "I Need Love" back in the day. Since then we've had many try their hand at it and while some have shown results, a lot of the time it's a mix of extreme misogyny on top of a slice of R&B-hook cheesiness. A lot of rappers just can't shake that "thugness" so inherent to their image long enough to be sincere when they say to their girl that "you the fuckin' best - the best I ever had". Drake can, and he fuckin' did.

[MySpace / get]

4. The-Dream - Love Vs. Money
from Love Vs. Money

The Radio Killa (The R&B Guerrila) goes in hard with machine gun rhythms and a symphony of pulsating synths set to a tale of love, loss and jealousy - it's almost as if he came up with a soundtrack to a melodramatic sci fi love story. In all, it's a lesson in how glorious R&B can be when done right.

[MySpace / buy]

5. The XX - Shelter
from The XX

Let's just lie here together, naked and cocooned, and float in infinite black. Every now and again, flecks of light will hit our skin and it'll feel like a drop of water causing a still pool to ripple.

[MySpace / buy]

6. The Cool Kids (Feat. Tennille) - Jump Rope
from Gone Fishing

Never has the Cool Kids slow-mo delivery been more at home than this beat right here. SLOW and HEAVY on the bass, it's deceiving in the way it draws you in but when most hypnotic chorus of '09 sinks in, shit's just magnetic.

[MySpace / get]

7. Clipse (feat. Cam'ron) - Popular Demand (Popeye's)
From Til The Casket Drops

What we have here is on the grind, hanging at midday in front of the corner store-swagger. The Neptunes deliver a MONSTER of a beat in which we bear witness to the next chapter of Clipse cementing their place in hip hop and the resurrection of Cam'ron.

[MySpace / buy]

8. HEALTH - In Violet
from Get Color

Sublime and tense, this builds and pulsates into a cathartic release of every emotion you are currently experiencing in your life.

[MySpace / buy]

9. Jay-Z - D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)
from The Blueprint III

Jigga's disdain for this particular software and No ID's nut stomping drums had the industry shook and lead me down a path to where I now block T-Pain updates from my Facebook newsfeed.

[MySpace / buy]

10. Desire - Don't Call
from II

Teaming up with Montreal vocalist Megan Louise for his "Desire" project, Johnny Jewel takes his production chops to new levels. While known for italo-disco jams, he's expanded his pallette and created something more along the lines of a 50s futuristic French noir romance.

[MySpace / buy]

11. Washed Out - Belong
from High Times

I've been describing Washed Out to the people I know as "kinda like an indie-Dilla" since whoever created the term "Chill Wave" needs to be shot. However when it comes to describing this slice of perfect lo-fi summertime pop, you really can't get past just how "chill" it really all is.

[MySpace / buy]

12. Wale (feat. Lady GaGa) - Chillin'
from Attention Deficit

The best kinda party jams are the ones where bravado, ego and the right amount of tongue-in-cheek wittiness meet with brash beats and hooks a 4 year old can hum. Also, it's about time Lady GaGa made an appearance on The Quartz, no?

[MySpace / buy]

13. Lights - Can You Hear Me?
from Rites

I love this song. It's like every band in my parents' cassette collection from the 70s morphed into something so fucking now with the aid of some hallucinogens. There's by-gone era soulfulness, girl band harmonies and even a goddamn saxophone solo.

[MySpace / buy]

14. Cocosuma - Miracle Man
from Miracle Man EP

"Bopping along all "French-like" in its ways, the vibe is all smiles and scarves and nice perfume. Toe-tapping, casio-type rhythms accompany the quirky guitars and keyboards. So to do well placed handclaps and a voice so playful and sweet I can't help grinning like an idiot when the vocals kick in. It's also prone to giving me nerd-shivers which is another plus in case you were wondering. In short, I wanna make out with this music."

[MySpace / buy]

15. Kid Cudi (Feat. Kanye West & Common) - Make Her Say
from Man On The Moon: The End Of Day

Head bopping goodness but with a restrained, minimalist-cool. It's super playful and the kinda jam yr girl will want to dance to at parties. (Also, that's Lady GaGa appearance #2 in my Top 20).

[MySpace / buy]

16. Metric - Satellite Mind
from Fantasies

Emily Haines basically channeled her soul into this song. It's all nonchalant sexiness and dark vibes with the right amount of restrained "might flip out at any second" moodiness.

[MySpace / buy]

17. Colin Munroe (Feat. Young Buck) - I'm Fine
from I'm Fine (Single)

This Canadian multi-instrumentalist and all-round studio whiz-kid with a penchant for all things hip hop and pop put out some of the most enjoyable music this year. The bar has been set for next year's radio summer jams.

[MySpace]

18. Playboy Tre - Liquor Store Mascot
from Liquor Store Mascot

"There's a realness to Playboy Tre's style that I find so appealing...his words and his hopeful demeanor are enough to make me wanna have a drink with the guy and I'm content knowing rappers like him exist, bringing us another side of the coin."

[MySpace]

19. Xplo-Sean - Believe Me
from Outbreak/Believe Me EP

The Mad For It crew in Stockholm is a little known collective putting out some of the finest pop gems out there. Whereas most of their releases are heavy on the jangle, Xplo-Sean eschews that in favour of dreamy, multi-layered soundscapes with touches of glitch. Sounding at home on sunny days as much as rainy weekends, it's meditative and fun all at the same time.

[MySpace / get]

20. Lissy Trullie - Boy Boy
from Self-Taught Learner

Infectious, cool as shit model-rock from NY. It's like Television crossed with The Pretenders crossed with the Hervé Léger Spring/Summer '10 Collection.

[MySpace / buy]

NEW FOOT VILLAGE VIDEO

2009-12-08T08:02:00.002+11:00

New video from our bros Foot Village! I've been looking forward to this one since seeing the rough draft a few months back. Lots of kids made it.

[Foot Village MySpace]

[Buy stuff from Upset The Rhythm]

MAX'S TOP 20 SONGS OF 2009

2009-12-07T09:00:00.005+11:00

Hey bros! Thanks for checking out my list of 20 songs I liked this year. I hope you like them too. This week, you can check out similar lists from all us Rose Quartzers; next week, we give you our top albums of 2209 - WITH A TWIST. We'll tell you about it next week. Anyway, here are the songs:

1. Bachelorette - Dream Sequence
from My Electric Family

I'd use the word magical to describe the way this masterpiece balloons and unfolds as you listen: tinny beats become drums, synthesiser brass becomes a technicolour Sgt. Peppers horn section. It's fitting that this lush pop imaginarium is called 'Dream Sequence': it treads (actually, waltzes) the line between reality and artifice, incredible flights of fantasy mingling with vivid & eclectic flashes of memory.

[MySpace / buy]

2. Monsters of Folk - Say Please
from Monsters of Folk

So much to love in this song - the swaggering 3/4 time signature, Conor/Jim/Matt trading vocals - but best of all is the motherfucking guitar solo which is both melodic and face-melting in a way I thought only J. Mascis remembered how to do.

[MySpace / buy]

3. Royal Headache - Girls
from Demo cassette

“This absurdly FUCKING good garage pop gem is full of lovestruck madness, but in a way that you can, y’know, respect, because it’s all loose and raw and kinda manly. Girls... is all joyful, lust-fuelled abandon... with its transcendental Guided By Voices supermelody.”

[MySpace]

4. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday
from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

In about 10 years when everyone who's cool right now is making overly-sentimental films about their life circa 2009 they're gonna use this song because it's such a golden indie rock gem it's making me nostalgic for this year now.

[MySpace / buy]

5. Washed Out - Feel It All Around
from Life Of Leisure

"...rather than producing big, shiny, plastic beats that sound custom-made to blare out of lousy car speakers, tracks like Feel It All Around have the noise and the dust and the charm turned way up, like Ariel Pink for the dancefloor... all heavenly and shit with twinkly synths and spacewalk harmonies."

[MySpace / buy]

6. No Through Road - Party To Survive
from Winner.

"This is a ridiculously classy jam, like Guided By Voices fucking around with Pavement, and it’s the kind of thang you’d play at a party if you wanted to make sure that it turned out to be UNBELIEVABLY memorable."

[MySpace / buy]

7. Lightning Dust - Antonia Jane
from Infinite Light

The bar's always high for Black Mountain side projects, but this record was even more terrific than I was expecting: narcotic, noir-ish alt.country with a melancholy vibe.

[MySpace / buy]

8. Grizzly Bear - While You Wait for the Others
from Veckatimest

I thought that Veckatimest deserved the hype, but I love While You Wait For The Others because it reminds me the most of Yellow House, which deserved it more but didn't get it.

[MySpace / buy]

9. Yo La Tengo - Periodically Double Or Triple
from Popular Songs

I interviewed Ira Kaplan earlier this year and I was like, "lulz, how did you think of such an amazingly dorky and neurotic and cerebral character for this song?!" and he was like "...". White boy funk is the best and so is the weird Casio breakdown in this song.

[MySpace / buy]

10. Street Chant - Scream Walk
from Scream Walk 7"

Maybe one day New Zealand will teach everyone else how to make three-minute pop songs sound like the freshest, most incredible things ever invented, even better than the chewing gum with the liquid centers.

[MySpace]

11. Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes
from Merriweather Post Pavilion

Man, how about that Animal Collective?

[MySpace / buy]

12. The Daredevil Christopher Wright - Clouds
from In Deference to a Broken Back

"There’s highs and crashing lows, falsetto and handclaps, fucking polyrhythms. Constant surprises: references to the pastoral pop that’s going crazy right now as well as vintage pop and 70s guitar heroism. And really, really good songwriting."

[MySpace / buy]

13. Here We Go Magic - Fangela
from Here We Go Magic

Feels like Here We Go Magic got kinda lost in the hypnagogic pop avalanche despite a) being one of the best things about it and b) touring with Grizzly Bear, which at this stage is pretty much the best thing that could happen to any band. The album's solid but this is an amazing song with basically the best use of that kind of production I've ever heard.

[MySpace / buy]

14. Faux Pas - Silver Line
from Noiseworks

"...rich, lush melodies are kind of a Faux Pas hallmark but Silver Line mirrors the Flaming Lips' recent transition to a more muscular kind of pop glory. It floats and shimmers and throbs, surging forward and dissolving and surging again, all wondrous and cosmic but with a vibe that's ever so slightly unnerving."

[MySpace / buy]

15. Saudade - Hidden Talented
from Lookouts' Journal

"This is some hazed out space-age shit, like getting high through a motherboard in 2200. Pretty fucking creepy, too: the white noise builds and builds and the whole time there’s this melody way up high that’s all noble and righteous yet out of reach, like the human spirit facing the apocalypse or a lone astronaut adrift in a galaxy of evil."

[MySpace / buy]

16. Neon Indian - Terminally Chill
from Psychic Chasms

It's sweet that a Brooklyn band made the perfect record for us here in the Southern hemisphere to have the best summer ever to.

[MySpace / buy]

17. Telekinesis - Coast Of Carolina
from Telekinesis!

At first, Coast Of Carolina sounds like a perfect power-pop anthem but behind the percussive riffs and crunched-out guitars lies a gentle 60s pop gem.

[MySpace / buy]

18. Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard - Slogans
from Em Are I

This is like the ultimate combination of exuberant 90s indie rock and Jeffrey Lewis reining in his tendency to be totally verbose.

[MySpace / buy]

19. Ganache - In Pidgin
from A Halter Pardon Him and Hell Gnaw His Bones!

This song is so hilariously wordy and boppy I pretty much listened to nothing else for about a fortnight after I heard it the first time. Feels good to know if anything should ever happen to Stephin Merritt we've got another hilarious dude with a badass baritone to turn to.

[MySpace / buy]

20. Weezer - Can't Stop Partying
from Raditude

I only like this song ironically, but it's such an intense blast of irony it makes my knees weak and I refuse to belive this isn't the way Rivers intended.

[MySpace / buy]

SENTIMENTAL GOO

2009-12-06T08:21:00.002+11:00

Lashes - Here Comes the Rain

Dive into this crystalline sleeper from Houston, Texas' Lashes and notice how yr eyelids suddenly feel a warm, happy weight; that tired drum stagger and the speckled mist glowing through bedroom whispers is bound to induce fantasy-dreaming. Big thanks to the incredibly eloquent messrs at Transparent blog for turning us onto this; head over and grab the elated "Sunny Skies", taken from Lashes debut cassette release through Clan-Destine and FLA Tapes early next year. This track will be on a forthcoming cassette split with Bad Life.

[Lashes Myspace]

SHORE FLING

2009-12-03T16:26:00.005+11:00

Emma Russack – By The Shore

There’s a weird kind of b-movie intrigue to this track from former Lola Flash singer Emma Russack. Lyrically, it’s all oblique and shit, hinting at some kind of larger narrative that might be something to do with love or danger or something while musically the song “cruises” along (I can think of no more suitable word) before gently fucking your shit up: it’s Lynchian in the way it interrupts warm, nostalgic vibes with moments of weirdness, like the sci-fi keyboard solo halfway through and the massively OTT stadium rock drum frenzy at the end. It’s showy, but for what it is, oddly spartan – one link to Emma Russack’s previous, Cat Power-inclined work. She’ll be on tour with the soon-to-be world famous The Middle East in support of her debut EP soon; check out the amazing cover shot below:

[Emma Russack MySpace]

[Debut EP out soon through Spunk]

GEIGER MOSS

2009-12-03T00:43:00.002+11:00

Islaja (featuring Samara Lubelski and Blevin Blectum) - Junipero Mash
Last year at the Approximately Infinite Universe collab tour I heard Islaja let loose into this glitzed out dance jam halfway through a set of certainly foresty organics. You know those woods, maybe talked of too much but super imagistic and lucid in their ambience and atmospherics. She had mentioned this in a Drowned in Sound interview a few weeks earlier but GEE WHIZ this new colour and rhythmic turn was totally electric, helped by this amazing sequin top that she was wearing as she danced along, only half hiding some massive excitement. Samara Lubelski and Blevin Blecum were also behind this and I guess this new disco-length track is part of the results; three super expressive boundary pushers going off in even more vibrant directions. Nice skewed and distinctly moody jam. NEW NEWNESS. Lifted from a new NNF comp called Estrogeneration which also has new tracks from RQ favs like Valet (real nice lo-fi bass rumbles on this one), Inca Ore and U.S. Girls.

[Islaja Website]

[Samara Lubelski MySpace]

[Blevin Blectum Website]

[Buy Estrogeneration from Not Not Fun]

PATCHWORKFACE

2009-12-02T22:13:00.000+11:00

Quilt - Thee Elephants Tusk
Quilt - Three II
Rackety and group-oriented realism that is funnelled through semi-grunge chords (it's just they're twanged out on acoustic guitar or banjo or whatevies), comes out nice and wry with an interest in lending a certain grittiness to their pop, throwing twigs etc onto fairly straightforward chord proggressions, kind of Woodsy but more colourful and tripped out on the neo-mystical vibbraaationssss. It's nice how this links up vaguely with some other contemporaries ie New Yoga or even Speculator (euphorically navigating weird referencs) white staying true to nice and traditional structures and references.

[Quilt MySpace (tape available here too)]

GRINDIN' TEETH

2009-12-02T15:57:00.002+11:00

Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Anxiety

This new track from Melbourne’s finest gang of misfits is as ADD and infectious as you’d hope from the band who brought unpretentious punk rock back (why the fuck did it ever go away?). ECSR always seem to be careening along on the edges of control, and Anxiety, from (I think?) their forthcoming third album INGENIOUSLY edges up the production values while still sounding like a bunch of bros fucking around in the shed. The slightly more polished sound suits them real nice, too: this is an instantly likeable track, but it points to a sound that could push Eddy Current Suppression Ring from a very, very good band to a great one. Will this album be their Marquee Moon? Will a squillion people buy it and make them ultra-famous and a bit jaded? Will they? Will their stadium extravaganza show feature carnies like Britney did? Rhetorical question? Boy, I can’t wait to see!

[Eddy Current Suppression Ring MySpace]

2009-12-02T14:33:00.001+11:00

NEW ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER VIDEO

2009-12-02T08:36:00.004+11:00

New vid from farmer of the lostest 80s/90s TV/computer game/lyff memories. Loving his blog too; real reflective of the imagery in those alien synths (well, some of it; enjoying the hip-hop love too).

[Oneohtrix Point Never MySpace]

[Buy Russian Mind from No Fun]

ATLAS SOUNDS

2009-12-01T08:29:00.003+11:00

The Lifted Brow is only five (soon to be six) issues old, but already it’s clear that mastermind Ronnie Scott has the kind of organisational acumen necessary to rule the world combined with a pretty incredible ability to source talent. TLB’s fourth issue was mind-boggling when it dropped with stories from Daniel Handler and Jeffrey Brown and accompanying CD featuring tracks from the Wrens, Dan Deacon and more, but that form’s continued, and the forthcoming sixth issue – which will be Atlas themed – could be the best yet.

BigStrongBrute – Sophia (Bulgaria)

Subtract the traditional flourishes from A Hawk and a Hacksaw and this is what you might get. You can imagine this being played in a cavernous & poorly lit beer hall in some downtrodden Sophia backstreet. Drunks and miners swarm around steel tables eating dark bread and drinking dark beer from giant steel mugs while BigStrongBrute hug the wall. Usually the old men playing pool stop to clap at the end of the songs but tonight their trumpet player is at home in bed so they’re not cutting through like usual, but that’s OK – they’re playing as much for themselves as anyone else here.

[MySpace]

Clue To Kalo – To Guyana/Greenest Grass

Like the South American nation that’s nearly a quarter national park, this song is warm and lush and wild. Pleasingly, it steps away (although not entirely) from the polished twee pop Clue To Kalo are best known for – this is gently distorted, earthy, tropical but, y’know, civilised – more high-class safari than heart of the jungle, perhaps because of the intense orchestration here, which floats from riffery to stomping chamber pop to airy ambience and back, a balloon tour of the musical rainforest.

[MySpace]

You can pre-order The Lifted Brow 6 now - the book features writing from Darren Hanlon, Alasdair Maclean from The Clientele, Christos Tsiolkas, David Foster Wallace, Justin Rice from Bishop Allen, Josh Jones from Evangelicals and heaps more, while the CDs feature the likes of Ganache, tUnE-YaRdS, Bodies of Water, Eddy Current Suppression Ring and The Cannanes. Amazing.

GLOWING SEARCHING

2009-11-27T08:00:00.000+11:00

The Muddy Flowers - Shining Violet Hearts

It’s like this amazing mixture of ‘90s guitar balladeering (i.e. spangly guitars and strident vocals) mixed up with ruff shitgaze production. 10 Things I Hate About You remade on digital video or maybe Reality Bites as directed by a bunch of 2009 post-everything overthinkers (in a good way!). I guess the best thing about the ‘90s was the weird naivety that was just about everywhere: like no rock stars had ever killed themselves before and politicians had only just figured out how to cheat on their wives. People even thought that MTV wouldn’t fuck everything up. It’s kinda cute when you compare it to the meta-universe we live in now and the never-ending ‘80s revival. Anyway, that’s the vibe that’s going on here: total earnestness in the delivery of lines like “shining violet hearts are singing”, like ‘rock poetry’ ain’t no thang. I’ve got no idea what Muddy Flowers chief Amir Razmjou looks like but I bet he’s a leading man-type heartbreaker, like the guy from 3rd Eye Blind but with a better record collection.

[The Muddy Flowers MySpace]

HIGH VIBES

2009-11-26T09:06:00.002+11:00

Faux Pas - Silver Line

Possible genius Melbourne producer (and raconteur, blogger extraordinaire & total dreamboat) Tim Shiel has decided to GRACE US with the first single from his ridiculously anticipated PANT PANT new album Noiseworks. About fucking time, Shiel! It's fairly common knowledge that we've got a major chub for Faux Pas here at Rose Quartz so every new track that leaks out is an event for us, not just because we get to see what our talented bro has (over)achieved this time but we get to try out a bunch of new superlatives as well. Here we go: rich, lush melodies are kind of a Faux Pas hallmark but Silver Line mirrors the Flaming Lips' recent transition to a more muscular kind of pop glory. It floats and shimmers and throbs, surging forward and dissolving and surging again, all wondrous and cosmic but with a vibe that's ever so slightly unnerving. It's like some space-the-final-frontier shit, the knowledge of what lies beyond the airlock door because it's twinkly and beautiful but inhospitable, y'know? Anyway, you can download this song for free but you should really buy the the single: it's cheap as chips (AU$5!) and it goes to an excellent cause, i.e. keeping Tim Shiel in synthesisers.

[Faux Pas blog]

[Buy Silver Line single]

SNUGGLER'S BLUES

2009-11-25T14:19:00.000+11:00

Bobb Bruno - Dreamt On
Bobb Bruno - Fairy Tale Ending
Revisiting some favs this week (what with Metal Rouge and all; will put up a post of their new mammoth NNF release ASAP) and I can't believe it as LA's Bobb Bruno follows up his melted plastic spires from that Clown's Castle tape with this thoroughly peaced out keyboard ruminations, ephemeral as. Total glass pyramids, full of light, and if that last release was totally subterranean this is shot way up into the skyscrapers. "Fairy Tale Ending" is perhaps uncharacterisically twangy but slips way back down half way into co-codomol drippage cf. "Snail's Pace", stretched out textures wavering along. Nice solo refracted angle to his work with Best Coast, with something simplistic and linear amidst the cosmic fog.

[Bobb Bruno MySpace]

GODLESS AMERICANS

2009-11-25T11:46:00.005+11:00

Ming Ming Dance Company - Crookline

Serious ssloowwww roller here from Cambridge, Massachusetts' Ming Ming Dance Company - gliding by on a sun-baked smoke trip with its fried reggae swagger and spaced out organ wandering. "Crookline" slowly unfolds over its nine-minute voyage encountering all sorts of weird UFO visions and ignored distress calls, instead opting to open a bag of corn chips, peace out and take it (the universe) all in. If you dug the smoked funk and dub vibage on Sun Araw's excellent Heavy Deeds from this year, definitely check this out.

[Ming Ming Dance Company Myspace]

[Paws cassette available in December]

BREAD OF THE DEAD

2009-11-25T00:00:00.004+11:00

Dylan Ettinger - Bringing The Heat
Haven't posted any Not Not Fun choiceness in ages, mostly because I haven't posted anything in ages but I've got my reasons ie hurling myself off a bicycle and taking a pyramid-style chunk out of my knee (waaah); being laid up in bed on painkillers isn't as conducive to blogging prolificness as I thought but it is good for zoning out to Skaters-style music or even just generally strange new tape fuzz. Perhaps Dylan Ettinger doesn't tap into that mesmeric thing so much but these odd pop components are characteristic of those mining the weird corners of 90s VHS player; real low lit and with that murky sc-fi sheen.

[Dylan Ettinger MySpace]

[Buy Bringing The Heat from Not Not Fun]

RITALIN SOUNDZ

2009-11-24T20:08:00.005+11:00

Wale - Beast

Wale - Be Right

Wale did it. Dude first caught my attention quiet awhile ago after he went in hard on "The Kramer" from "The Mixtape About Nothing". A poignant and personal tale on the use of the "N word", it was lauded by hip hop heads and critics alike and made my "Fave songs of '08" (my debut post FYI) on this here blog. Midyear saw another mixtape peppered with more fun pop culture references and was a further taster of what was to come on his debut. Anyway, back to the first sentence and after bumping "Attention Deficit" solidly for the past 2 weeks or so - dude delivered. With production varied as much as the themes explored throughout the record, it's glimpse into the head of someone who could just as easily be a pal. Chix and life, hopes and dreams, drugs and anxiety and oh so much more tackled with aplomb. So much so that the tracks that didn't even make the final cut still have that instant classic feel the rest of the songs possess. A 9th Wonder outtake, "Beast" is multi-layered in it's bounce and shuffle as Wale waxes bout those uncool, golddiggin' types and "Be Right" with it's synths, live percussion and chipmunk soul sample would sound at home on any early 90s New Jack Swing meets hip hop soundtrack.

[Beast via 2dopeboyz]

[Wale MySpace]

[But Attention Deficit from Wale's official site.]

TAKE REVENGE

2009-11-24T07:56:00.003+11:00

Dick Diver – Walk For Room

OMG, listening the shit out of this debut EP from Dick Diver which has FINALLY FUCKING DROPPED (they’ve been together less than a year but evs, it’s the internet and I don’t have to be patient) and it’s a total six song classic. It’s wry and leisurely and masterfully atmospheric; as their promo material likes to point out, it feels “widescreen” (which is more a “vibe thing” than a comparison because it’s an arthouse gem, not a cinematic blockbuster). A few months ago we blogged about Tender Years which is also off this EP and that was all ambling and luxuriant but Walk For Room is the anthem here, a magical concoction of nonchalant NY post-punk & ‘90s indie & a real charmingly naive Australian delivery. There’s a kind of earthiness to the duelling guitars on this track – I’m not sure of the proper guitar terminology but I’m crazy about that subdued, semi-distorted sound Dick Diver have. These bros got called up by Stephen Malkmus to support at his recent Melbourne show, and that’s kind of a perfect reference for their sophisticated down-home vibe.

[Dick Diver MySpace]

[Buy Arks Up from Chapter Music]

WALKING GHOSTS

2009-11-19T16:55:00.004+11:00

Joe Goddard – Half Time Oranges
mp3 removed at label request

Half Time Oranges is a great evocative name for a song, just not necessarily this one. It feels like the piece of music it’s attached to oughtta be some warm & bouncy folktronica blob, heavy on the found sounds and children laughing and neat acoustic guitar fingerpickin’, but instead founding Hot Chip member Joe Goddard has dropped some all-synthetic and fairly menacing sounds on this track from his solo debut, Harvest Festival. Actually, the whole album’s pretty detached and mechanical which feels weird when bro tries to work in that smooth Hot Chip pop vibe, but when he goes all arcane and fragmented as he does here (and elsewhere on Harvest Festival, such as the excellent Tinned Apricot) it’s thrilling, heavy and ominous and schizophrenic.

[Buy Harvest Festival from Greco Roman]