End of the year best, round two: Songs

Well, here they are – a list of my favorite songs of the year.
(The order is based more on mood, not necessarily on preference.)

“Wavlngth” – Headless Horseman, “HDLSS” compilation
Wild, exuberant, and infectious, this song jumped out at me as I was researching the hundreds of unknown bands descending on the city for CMJ in October.

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“Whale” – Yellow Ostrich, The Mistress
Listen to the slowly unfolding beat as layers upon layers are piled on top of each other to create an earnest, upbeat diddy that is far more complex than it appears.

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“Let England Shake” – PJ Harvey, Let England Shake
A strong intro to a strong album. Harvey proves she’s still got it.

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“Lose It” – Austra, Feel It Break
Operatic, buoyant, and so much better than Zola Jesus, this is the song that sold me at SXSW. The bit at the end by the Lightman twins (of Tasseomancy) seals the deal.

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“Cheerleader” – St. Vincent, Strange Mercy
I know, I know. “Cruel” was the song with the awesome music video. But can I help it? I love the slowly mounting tension this song holds before it erupts into a pounding, staccato chorus.

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Det haster! – Casiokids, Aabenbaringen over aaskammen
This song is just a blast. Easy as that. (Now if I could just understand the Norwegian…)

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“Heart in Your Heartache” – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Belong
The album was a disappointment, but this song’s got everything that first made me fall in love with the band in 2009. A peppy, poppy masterpiece.

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“I’ll Drown” – Sóley, We Sink
A veteran of fellow Icelandic artists Seabear, Múm, and Sin Fang, Sóley steps into the spotlight, herself, and the result is charming and magical, even though the lyrics depict heartache.

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“Carve a Peach” – His Clancyness
Despite the artist’s cringe-worth name, I can’t get enough of this song – shimmering, laid back, and lovely.

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“Bunhill Fields” – Amor de Días, Street of the Love of Days
Short and sweet, I could listen to this song on repeat for hours.

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“Mona Lisa” – Atlas Sound, Parallax
Bradford Cox at his poppy, pitch-perfect best.

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“Harsh Realm” – Widowspeak, s/t
Hazy, mesmerizing, and simple.

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“Night After Night” – Laura Marling, A Creature I Don’t Know
This song consistently makes me cry. Beautiful, tragic, and haunting.

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“Holocene” – Bon Iver, Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Another one for weeping – honest and breathtaking, a downer that somehow manages to simultaneously exude strength.

No B sides here

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been listening to albums front to back in an attempt to figure out what will make my end-of-the-year list, but if I’m being honest here, one of the things I’ve spent the most time with is actually a 7″ that features two Canadian artists: (the unfortunately named) His Clancyness and Shimmering Stars.

What a match! No B sides here. One of my favorite things about the 7″ is we get a side A and a side AA. Looking for a small dose of hazy, beach (Shimmering Stars)/bedroom (His Clancyness) dream pop?

Here you go.

A video from His Clancyness:

And here’s “Not Growing Up” by Shimmering Stars:

SXSW, day four

When I woke up and realized it was Saturday, my last full day in Austin, I couldn’t believe time had passed by so quickly. Though I had managed to assemble rough plans for the previous days, I had run out of time to make an itinerary for Saturday, so I hastily jotted down some addresses and set times and set out. (Man this would all be so much easier with a smart phone.)

After ducking into the BV day party for a little while, I decided to leave for a while to check out the band Mutual Affection, but when I arrived at the park where they were scheduled to play, I quickly realized that it probably wouldn’t be happening. The scene resembled a photo shoot more than anything else. The band members were climbing an old, knobby tree and hoisting up their guitars/bass. Though it looked pretty awesome to see a group of guys playing from a tree, back on the ground, the music back barely even audible, so I left somewhat disappointed.

But on the way back to the Swan Dive, something odd happened. I spotted a band unpacking gear from their van. A small piece of paper in the window notified me that it was the group Typhoon, a group that Bob Boilen at NPR Music had just recommended to me the day before. Convinced that it was meant to be, I followed the large group into a venue and caught their lively 12-person set.

Typhoon - RIYL Lost in the Trees (photo courtesy of artist)

Typhoon clip:

Following this pleasant happenstance, I headed back over to Swan Dive and caught Austra for a second time (yes, totally worth it), Malajube, and Little Scream before darting out once again to see the High Highs. It was a fast-paced 90 minutes, running back and forth between venues, but I’m glad I had the chance to see the High Highs, one of the few bands that I had awarded the highly selective 5-star rating in iTunes. Though their music wasn’t terribly memorable in the grand scheme of the week, I remember being fairly impressed by what I heard – especially for a band that hasn’t even released an EP yet.

High Highs RIYL Smith Westerns, Surfer Blood (photo courtesy of artist)

High Highs clip:

Though I would have liked to stick around Fado’s to see ARMS play, the timing wasn’t right, so I headed back to Swan Dive to see two more acts: Mount Kimbie (how much of that was live and how much, samples?) and the consistently impressive Owen Pallett. After stumbling into Bob Boilen again at Owen Pallett, I decided to pall around with him for a while and saw Fang Island, The Felice Brothers, and Bright Eyes (in addition to briefly meeting Wild Flag’s Carrie Brownstein, which was pretty sweet.)

Though I was tempted to go see the captivating Norwegian singer-songwriter Silje Nes, I decided I should close out the week with a handful of new artists, which led me to The Parish Underground for a pleasant, low-key line-up with The Deer Tracks, Indigo Tree, Foxes in Fiction and His Clancyness. More on the Swedish group Deer Tracks soon. (I actually got to hang out with them for a while after their set, which was pretty fun.)

The Deer Tracks RIYL Cold Cave (photo Petra Salmi)

The Deer Tracks clip:

Though I was intrigued by the rumors circulating about a late-late night show with Bon Iver and Jay-Z, I decided to call it a night.

Daily band count: 14

Austin playlist, pt. 2

Here’s the next installment. Bands to watch – and to watch out for - at SXSW.

L’Altra, a Chicago duo that has been “quietly making music for [over] a decade,” but has managed to hold onto an organic and natural sound over the years.

L'Altra (photo Andreas Larsson)

“Nothing Can Tear It Apart” by L’Altra:

Lanterns on the Lake, a British group that combines stark cinematic soundscapes with heart.

Lanterns on the Lake (photo courtesy of artist)

“Lungs Quicken” by Lanterns on the Lake:

Iroquois Falls, a mysterious artist who is flying so far under-the-radar that I can’t even locate any information about her – the town in Canada keeps coming up instead. (Last.fm play count: 48.)

Iroquois Falls (photo courtesy of artist)

“Gaspe” by Iroquois Falls:

Love Inks. By all counts, the song below should be totally annoying… and yet I couldn’t stop playing it.

Love Inks (photo Jackie Young)

“Blackeye” by Love Inks:

A Lull, a fun and intriguing experimental group from Chicago.

A Lull (photo courtesy of artist)

“Weapons For War” by A Lull:

Grass Widow, an upbeat San-Francisco all-girl garage band with carefully arranged group vox.

Grass Widow (photo courtesy of artist)

“Shadow” by Grass Widow:

His Clancyness, a sonically pleasant but horribly named one-man outfit.

His Clancyness (photo Giulia Mazza)

“Ottawa Backfired Soon” by His Clancyness: