The Very Berry Best 0f 2012 part 1

HEEERRREEE WEEE GOOO!

Duck. Little Brother, Duck! - Don't Take Our Filth Away (2012)

I picked up Duck. Little Brother, Duck!'s 2012 release, 'Don't Take Our Filth Away' this summer when they returned to "the other" Portland after tearing the roof down (almost literally - mind you) a year before. And while their set was cut short by a police scare in the basement of Poland Street, these guys still got a chance to play some of their new (to us at least) numbers and return to one of the places DLBD! actually  wrote about and featured in one of their tracks from this release. I wish I could tell you which song that was that references Poland Street and the incident with the shit pipes breaking and leaking dirty punk water everywhere, but I can not.

I know it's in there though.

Highlights: "Everybody Loves Screamo", "OMGMT", "I'm Just happy To Be Around So Many Docks", and "Calvin Young"

Topshelf records put out so many good records by so many good bands this year. So much good.

Topshelf Records

Bandcamp

Last.fm

The Tallest Man On Earth - There's No Leaving Now (2012)

The Tallest Meng On Earth is no stranger to this blog, neither is what he's playing here on his release from last year, 'There's No Leaving Now'. What I mean by that is this is just classic TTMOE doing what he does and has been doing for some time now. But is it? Is this just another generic Swedish Bob Dylan release about running away?

To me, following Kristian Matsson's work for a few years now, this is just the next chapter for him in the Tallest Man On Earth storybook. It started off just him and his guitar basically and now he's off using moving-drums with brushes and piano. Matsson is exploring the possibilities best he can without losing that signature sound of his and without that natural/organic feel. Is it a slow progression? Very much so, but I can't complain really - It's another TTMOE album and another one I can listen to beginning to end over and over again.

Is it for everyone? Nah. Is it a good TTMOE to start with? Nah. Is it his best? Nah. Am I asking to many questions like this? I think you get the picture.

Highlights: "Revelation Blues", "1904", "Wind and Walls", and "On Every Page"

Dead Ocean

Official site

Last.fm

Aesop Rock - Skelethon (2012)

"Here is how a great escape goes when you can't take your dead friends names out your phone"

Need I say more?

Highlights: "ZZZ Top", "Cycles To Gehenna", "Zero Dark Thirty", "Gopher Guts", and the bonus track, "Dokken Rules feat. Rob Sonic"


Rhymesayers

Official site

Last.fm

Spook Houses - Trying (2012)

Spook Houses' debut LP, 'Trying' really impressed me right from the start. I mean immediately after posting this release on MONDAY XXXXXI I felt I should have given these guys their own post and more of an actual review. I'm not too good at doing either I suppose so I kept listening to Spook Houses and their powerful debut album more and more until it really clicked and I knew this was a top contender for AOTY. So yeah, that's why this album is back.

Plus singing saws still rule!

Highlights: "Bad Sound", "Old Folks", "Family Plan", and "Search For"

Eevil Weevil Records

Bandcamp

Last.fm

Serengeti - C.A.R. (2012)

Serengeti is the first member of this list to be a new find for me in 2012. While a member of one of my favorite collectives, Anticon, I think I just found this Chicago alt-rap native by accident one day. Long story short, I was spinning his Shaq inspired track, "Shazam" from his Kenny Dennis alter ego EP also from last year on a mixtape I made for my c.a.r., and I had to hear more of this guys stuff. Luckily for me he had plenty of solo and collab material in his catalog  Three of which from 2012: 'Kenny Dennis EP', 'C.A.R.', and his collaboration with Sufjan Stevens and Son Lux as s / s / s who also released their album 'Beak & Claw'.

Clearly Serengeti was on top of his game this year, something that really deserves some kind of recognition.

C.A.R. was his last release of the year and produced by Jel & Odd Nosdam as I've mentioned before. It also features Yoni Wolf of another one of my favorite acts, Why? on Geti's track, "Geti Life". Yoni also co-produced Geti's solo album in 2011 with Casiotone for the Painfully Alone's Owen Ashworth (who is also from Advance Base who have collaborated with Serengeti on a single called, 'Be A Man').

Highlights: "Greyhound", "Amnesia", "Geti Life (with Yoni Wolf)", "Peekaboo", and "Go Dancin"



P.S. That movie that Shaq was in where he as a genie was called "Kazaam". I think Serengeti is aware of this though since he has the superhero "Shazam" on the cover of the Keny Dennis EP, and is probably just a reference to the fact that people forget what that Shaq movie was called and commonly refer to it as "Shazam" because it really doesn't matter what it was called anyway. I could be totally wrong though...

P.P.S. Geti  is the namedropping master!

Anticon.com

Last.fm

Monday XXXXVI

Ayeyeye!

Wheelchair Sports Camp - Where We Live EP (2012)

Wheelchair Sports Camp is a disabled, but held down by no one, female rapper from Denver. I had a chance to see her perform the other night at a hip-hop show (+ drag show but that's a story for another time) that truly blew me away! Accompanied by live sax and drum work from the "renegade marching band", What Cheer? Brigade, Wheelchair Sports Camp relentlessly spit deep rhymes, only coming for air to thank everyone for showing up on time and that she was from Denver. I was really impressed by her rapping ability and how her flow with the electronic beats and live instruments blended together.

Despite being confined to a wheelchair, she seems very free with the music she is making! I hope to see her and 'Wheelchair Sports Camp' get the recognition they deserve. Listen up!

Last.fm


3nd - World Tour (2009)

 Really superb math rock from Japan. Like a lot of other Japanese math groups but a little more energetic sounding at times like Pneu or early Tera Melos but also have a very sharp post rock side to them as well. The speed is what I enjoy most, hands down.

Last.fm

Rob Sonic - Sabotage Gigante (2007)

Saw this at a local record store the other day for 2 bucks and remembered how much I liked it after hearing some of Sonic's stuff on the Tony Hawk games (where I got most of my hip-hop taste from truthfully. Looking back on the games though, the hip-hop featured in the series was actually pretty high class stuff!). My rediscovery of this album only strengthens my current hip-hop mood I'm in and is hopefully appropriate for you guys too!

Stand out tracks include, "Smoke If You Got 'um" featuring Aesop Rock, "Spy Hunter" featuring Busdriver, and "Mother Of All Bombs" which can be heard in Tony Hawk's American Wasteland!

Last.fm

Sorry for the links. Things got worse this week as my keyboard tricked me into letting me use all caps but signed me out of my Google accounts. I can't seem to get back in even though I have copy pasta'd my password into the password box multiple times... My keyboard is now back to symbols only and I'm doing this on my smart phone of choice that kind of rhymes with fuckyouimnotgoingtoworkPhone.

MONDAY XII

You now the drill, Wayne. It's Monday.

Aesop Rock - Bazooka Tooth (Headphone Science Version) (2005)

The sick rhymes of complicated rap/hip-hop artist, Aesop Rock (not be confused with A$AP Rocky, obviously) mixed with some really the pounding IDM and electronic beats of Headphone Science (Dustin Craig).

Bazooka Tooth itself features some pretty swell tracks including: No Jumper Cables, Babies with Guns, Freeze, as well as tracks featuring El-P (We're Famous) , Mr. Lif (11:35) and more.

I would still recommend the originals if the remixes are too much. I think they give new life to the original tracks, though. They're what the kids call dank, I guess.

Aesop's Last.fm
Headphone Science's Last.fm


Mr Tumnus - Mr Tumnus (2011)

That is not the real artwork. I just prefer this rather than the artwork on the bandcamp but then again, I'm not one to judge a band by its cover...

I am however, one to judge on a band's name. And my judgement is this: I'm going to listen to a band named Mr Tumnus.  Come on!

For sound, Mr Tumnus A.K.A. Alex Thomas, plays a very sparse and soundscape-y type of ambient meets psychedelic music with a lot of samples and drawn out phrasing. Blah Blah Blah. In other words, it doesn't really ever go bang bang bang or faster than a fast crawl. You can put it on right before you go to bed or while you are trying to do work son.

It's definitely interesting if you want to listen to a band named after a creepy faun from Narnia.

last.fm

Conifer - Crown Fire (2008)

Conifer was a Portland, maine band that I never got to become fully aquatinted with during their existence. Yes, unfortunately I missed the boat on this band even after they got their name around all the world with the power of the internet. But luckily for me, these guys have not completely given up on music altogether. No. Two members of Conifer (vox and axe) are now in a new band going by Awaas (or AWAAS) which features some of the same directions and sounds that their previous band has infused, including psych, krautrock, and hard to pin down post-rock. On top all this news, I was actually lucky enough to check these guys out last weekend! It was totally rad considering just getting together resonantly with another legendary Maine band, Ocean's Drummer and putting on a very solid performance, despite the lead singer being sicker than a dog and that most of the other bands there that night were playing completely different music than each other.

AWAAS have yet to put out anything official other than a nice little music video for their song "Burial Ground". An EP is rumored to be recorded and released sometime in the year 2012. So, until they do and I get a hold of it, I have Conifer's Crown Fire to help me catch up on all the racket these guys can produce.

Last.fm
AWAAS's Facebook page