1. EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints (Souterrain Transmissions)
Listen: Anteroom

Martyrs are not victims. There is no self-pity or cool detachment to their pain. This is the mantra by which Erika M. Anderson lives in her songs. Past Life Martyred Saints is an intimate but uncomfortable album, it will make you feel guilty for the hearts you’ve torn apart and it will make you feel weak for all the times you’ve been hurt and felt victimized for it.

2. Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges (Constellation)
Listen: Fear of the Unknown and the Blazing Sun

The first time I heard Colin Stetson he was the opening act for Godspeed You! Black Emperor and it was absolutely mind-blowing. Some of us mistook him as a sound engineer and were caught completely by surprise when he started playing. One by one we fell into a silent trance as he created out of thin air the most magnificent, heartbroken beasts I’ve ever heard from a one man band. Recorded in one take with no overdubs, Judges captures the thrill of hearing him live with precision. Not only is the record technically impressive and conceptually novel but also highly compelling at a musical level. Inspired by post-rock and electronic pioneers, Stetson favors sonic aesthetics over experimentation, every deviation sounding calculated enough as to not scare the feeble away but smart enough to hook the most demanding listeners.

3. Shabazz Palaces – Black Up (Sub Pop)
Listen: Swerve… The reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)

Experimental hip-hop that finds its roots on avant-garde jazz acts such as Sun Ra instead of disco and funk. I’ll be completely honest, english being my second language I have a hard time trying to understand hip hop lyrics, so I suck at appreciating the genre for one of its defining features and yet the multiple twists and turns in Black Up give it a replay value like few other albums I heard this year. Breezy, psychedelic and extremely unpredictable.

4. Braids – Native Speaker (Flemish Eye)
Listen: Lemonade

Native Speaker feels to me like an erotic reinterpretation of Animal Collective’s ‘Feels’; on one hand it has the same approach in creating pop music: Loops of haze, rock instruments stretched to odd realms and cryptic lyrics; on the other one, we’ve never heard Animal Collective create songs as deeply personal and carefully constructed as the ones in Native Speaker. There’s a definite streak of innate sensuality and maturity which gives the music a whole new level of influence and meaning.

5. Robag Wruhme – Thora Bukk (Pampa)
Listen: Wupp Dek

It’s always a treat to hear a producer who is proficient and well known around the techno community turning away from the dancefloor to release music that borders outside of their usual field of expertise. Thora Vukk is Wruhme’s exploration of his music’s more melancholic, contemplative side, while keeping the sense of tension and attention to detail that he has perfected as a techno producer. The result is warm, gorgeous album that is fascinating, at least on an aesthetic level. Chillroom microhouse.

6. Thee Oh Sees – Castlemania (In the Red)
Listen: I Need Seed

Of all the indie bands that have adopted the garage rock influence, Thee Oh Sees are, in my humble opinion, one of the most fun around. At 16 tracks, Castlemania is their longest album to date yet there isn’t a single song in here that outwears its welcome. Every track keeps things fresh by throwing a wild, eccentric touch into the mix which makes them sound like a forward thinking, modern band that isn’t particularly concerned with revisionism.

7. Vinicius Cantuária & Bill Frisell – Lágrimas Mexicanas (E1)
Listen: Aquela Mulher

One of my favorite discoveries this year was Vinicius Cantuárias’ music; an elegant sort of Brazilian jazz that seems to fit all my moods and seasons. On ‘Lágrimas Mexicanas’ he is joined by guitar-virtuoso Bill Frisell and the result is a very colorful sound that switches between Frisell’s heavily geared, atmospheric stylings and Cantuaria’s Brazilian sensibilities. Although it doesn’t quite bring anything new to the table this album is an absolute pleasure to listen to.

8. Chain & the Gang – Music’s not for Everyone (K)
Listen: Why Not?

Chain and the Gang frontman, Ian Svenoniu comes up with an upfront, snobby attitude and the unruly approach of a punk star, rocking out unironically while critiquing the very own genre’s conventions. Mordant and unusually funny, the enjoyment of this album depends on how much you appreciate tongue in cheek sloganeering and cynicism.

9. Crystal Stilts – In Love with Oblivion (Slumberland)
Listen: Through the Floor

While Thee Oh Sees sound like they are pretending they’re a 60′s garage band that travelled in time to use today’s technology, Crystal Stilts behave like gravekeepers. They think of their dead idols as purveyors of a sound now rotten and decomposed, creators of long forgotten anthems that are now bathed in a ghoulish atmosphere. Do not, under any circumstance, attempt to undig them. The dead should remain buried deep underground. Leave them be. Hear what their spirits are whispering and reinterpret it for any of us living that might still be listening.

10. The Go! Team – Rolling Blackouts (Memphis Industries)
Listen: Ready To Go Steady

I remember being annoyed by the songs in ‘Thunder, Lightning, Strike‘ when I first heard them back in 2004. It took me 4 years to finally understand, digest and admire the band, nowadays it has become one of the most treasured pieces of my music collection. When ‘Rolling Blackouts’ came out earlier this year I already knew what to expect, the energy of a horny, raging bull charging into a room filled with cheerleaders, brass-blasting walls of sound and a complete lack of subtleness. If this sounds like your thing, then it is as amazing as it sounds.

Note: I’ve had this post ready for months now, almost thought of killing it and storing it in the fridge… I mean it’s probably a bit late for best-of lists but maybe it will help you discover something you missed out. Hope you enjoy.
Also: Schils Favourite Albums 2011 & his Top Mixes and Compilations.

Photo: Lars Tunbjörk

• Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - No One Is (As I Are Be)
  Mirror Traffic (Matador, 2011)
• Deerhunter – Desire Lines
  Halcyon Digest (4ad, 2010)
• Dj Shadow - Scale It Back
  The Less You Know, The Better (Roc-A-Fella, 2011)
• Julianna Barwick - Vow (Diplo & Lunice Remix)
  The Matrimony Remixes (Asthmatic Kitty, 2011)
• Steve Mason - Lost and Found
  Boys Outside (Double Six, 2010)
• James Figurine - Apologies (John Tejada Remix)
  Forgive Your Friends (Monika Enterprise, 2006)

The winter is just around the corner, and the last entry which I had around here, was totally dedicated to summer.
Never too late for a welcome to an omnipresent autumn.
Regarding the playlist … I wasn’t very sure about including that Deerhunter song, although it is one of my favorites  from the group. I got stuck in the idea that it disrupts the overall mood of the other songs … in the end, though, I wanted it to reach out and I dared to include it. Hope it doesn’t affect your enjoyment and you enjoy the rest of the selections.

Photo: Charles Bergquist

In summer we go to lie together beside the wather all of the things of the city mean half as much when we finally take them inside
ourseleves.
The slow water lapping the sun on our skin and the shadows we cast echo fr ages dogs also happy lying like this huddled together
on the beach in and out of sleep with ancientness hovering over like a protecting hand. [1]

• Daniel Melero – Descansa en mis brazos
  Rocio (1996)
• Star You Star Me – A Place In My Heart
  Simple Things (Force Tracks, 2006)
• Benjamin Diamond -The Rain
  Strange Attitude (Diamond Traxx, 2000)
• Everything But The Girl -Five Fathoms
  Temperamental (1999)
• Husky Rescue -Sweet Little Kitten
  Country Falls (Castkills Records, 2004)

When we are sleeping, aeroplanes carry memories of the horrors we have given
our silent consent to into the night sky of our cities and leave them there to gather
like clouds and condense into our dreams before morning. [2]

There is no changing of the seasons, in the electric city and no real darkness.
The street is iluminated all night with orange light and the concrete is like a carpet.
We have dreamed the street as a room and it has become true
There is no indoors or outdoors anymore. [3]

Let’s get drop out the funky beats of the last playlist.  Keep on the way to bed time, without losing pace.
Enjoy!

Photo: Richard Misrach

“When I think that I’m over you,  I’m overpowered”

• Tracey Thorn – It’s All True
  It’s All True (2007)
• Lacquer – Behind
  Behind (2003)
• Robyn – With Every Heartbeat (Feat. Kleerup)
  With Everyheartbeat (Konichiwa, 2007)
• Róisín Murphy- Overpowered
  Overpowered (2007)
• Bot’Ox – Blue Steel
  Babylon By Car (I’m A Cliché, 2009)

Behind this playlist isn’t there a mood, an “idea”, a moment, etc…Just the intention to share to you, what sounds on my ipod this summer.
Enjoy it.

She had liked the young man’s looks, and his short-sighted eyes, and his odd way of speaking, that was abrupt yet soft, just as his hands were sun-burnt and sinewy, yet with smooth nails like a woman’s. His hair was sunburnt-looking too, or rather the colour of bracken after frost; his eyes grey, with the appealing look of the shortsighted, his smile shy yet confident, as if he knew lots of things she had never dreamed of, and yet wouldn’t for the world have had her feel his superiority. But she did feel it, and liked the feeling; for it was new to her. Poor and ignorant as she was, and knew herself to be—humblest of the humble even in North Dormer, where to come from the Mountain was the worst disgrace—yet in her narrow world she had always ruled. It was partly, of course, owing to the fact that lawyer Royall was “the biggest man in North Dormer”; so much too big for it, in fact, that outsiders, who didn’t know, always wondered how it held him. In spite of everything—and in spite even of Miss Hatchard—lawyer Royall ruled in North Dormer; and Charity ruled in lawyer Royall’s house. She had never put it to herself in those terms; but she knew her power, knew what it was made of, and hated it. Confusedly, the young man in the library had made her feel for the first time what might be the sweetness of dependence. – Summer by Edith Wharton

.

” 2011 Summer List No.1 ”

01. Caetano Veloso – Um Canto de Afoxé Para O Cloco de Ilę (Ilę Ayę)
Brazil Classics, Vol. 1: Beleza Tropical (Luaka Bop, 1989)
02. Kasai Allstars – Tshita Fula Mbuloba
In the 7th Moon, The Chief Turned Into a Swimming Fish and Ate the Head of His Enemy By Magic (Crammed Disc Us, 2008)
03. Baden Powell – The Shadow Of Your Smile
Solitude On Guitar (1973)
04. Pizzicato Five – This Year’s Girl #2
Made in USA (1994)
05. Sun Ra – Love in Outer Space
The Night of the Purple Moon (atavistic, 1970)
06. Mouse On Mars – Catching Butterflies With Hands
Idiology (Thrill Jockey, 2001)
07. Dubmatix – Hashashin Dub
Dubmatix (self release. 2004)
08. Mouse On Mars – Schnick-schnack
Cache Coeur Naif (Thrill Jockey, 1997)
09. Gotan Project – La Gloria
Tango 3.0 (not released yet)

note: I am still alive, sort of. About this list. Well, since my brain is so detached from anything music right now, this is the most basic, as straight forward downtempo list as it can be. Standard MdM fare. Strictly swaying tempo and controlled phrasing. Completely imaginary, bordering synthetic atmosphere. You’ll miss the total impossibility of it all when you blink. Well, maybe in summer evening flavor. It is a list for humid evening, natural opening and crisp voice. Something about love, useale for dating probably, and partly an exploration for my next idea about pop music. (Which I assure you is so big, I will never actually post anything.) Btw, there is a big volume jump in Sun Ra’s track, but the list won’t fly without it, and I am too lazy to find another transition track. … if you are that annoyed, fill your own track or post something the comment about what track you imagine it should be.

image: toel-uru