Top 10 Albums of 2009

1. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
2. Passion Pit - Manners
3. Dan Deacon - Bromst
4. Do Make Say Think - Other Truths
5. Lusine - A Certain distance
6. Owl City - Ocean Eyes
7. Worriedaboutsatan - Arrivals
8. Port Royal - Dying in time
9. Ulrich Schnauss - Cardboard Rocketships
10. The Temper Trap - Conditions

1. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Best record of the year. Electronic/Indie Pop-rock gem
2. Passion Pit - Manners - Amazing Electronic/Indie album. Perfectly sampled goodness. Each song on this album is a classic.
3. Dan Deacon - Bromst - Dan's an electro-acoustic genius who cannot be topped in his genre.
4. Do Make Say Think - Other Truths - Fantastic post-rock. 4 Songs that never stop. Great for travelling.
5. Lusine - A Certain distance - Brilliant electro / beats album.
6. Owl City - Ocean Eyes - Indietronica Pop gem of the year. Jimmy Tamborello (Postal Service) would be proud.
7. Worriedaboutsatan - Arrivals - Dark flowing beats. I use this to fall asleep on my commute home. Highly effective.
8. Port Royal - Dying in time - Beautifully crafted lush textures. Mesmerizing album.
9. Ulrich Schnauss - Cardboard Rocketships - Dream pop created by one of the genre's best composers. Amazing flow to this album.
10. The Temper Trap - Conditions - Fantastic indie rock, very addictive.

Top 10 Albums of 2008

1. M83 - Saturdays = Youth
2. The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
3. D_rradio - D_rradio
4. Dosh - Wolves and Wishes
5. Port Royal - Flared Up Remixes
6. Bloc Party - Intimacy
7. Lars Bartkuhn - The New Continent
8. Ferry Corsten - Twice In A Blue Moon
9. Windy & Carl - Songs For The Broken Hearted
10. Manual - Confluence

3 completely (subjective) descriptions for each:

1. M83-Saturdays = Youth -> Brilliant, gaze, pop gem
2. The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me -> Indietronica, sing-a-long, rainy day
3. D_rradio - D_rradio -> Clever, genre bending, glitchy
4. Dosh - Wolves and Wishes -> Flowing, bends time, jazzified
5. Port Royal - Flared Up Remixes -> Colorful, lush, beautiful
6. Bloc Party - Intimacy -> Rock out, dance, energetic
7. Lars Bartkuhn - The New Continent -> Jazzy, electronic, journey
8. Ferry Corsten - Twice In A Blue Moon -> Oontz Oontz (4 to the floor), fun, synthy
9. Windy & Carl - Songs For The Broken Hearted -> Beautiful, gaze, lush
10. Manual - Confluence -> Wakeup music, lush, gaze

Portal Royal - Flared Up Remixes

I became a fan of Port Royal sometime last summer when they released their album "Afraid to Dance." At the time I was going through a lot of electronic gazey music (ulrich schnauss / m83) and it really hit a chord (ha).

This new album Flared Up (Remixes) is a remix album of their LP Flares, and it's awesome. There are about 4 or 5 songs in the middle that completely flow and feel lush and full.

I swore off remixes after a 4 year stint as a bedroom trance dj, subscribing to the idea that "original ideas are just better." After hearing this album, and its reinterpretations I was forced to reconsider the idea of originality as something completely different.

The relevant songs on here are Karola Bloch (manuel), a guitar chopper by D_Raddio (who also just released a new album, which I need to post about on here... soon) and another Karola Bloch (as dialect this time) that is more ulrich schnauss then the man himself could ever be.

This is really great album, and if you can spare the $ to purchase it you will experience some of the best sounds this year

Swod - Sekunden

I promise not to write about music less than a month old
I promise not to write about music less than a month old
I promise not to write about music less than a month old
I promise not to ... who am I kidding?

Ok so the album came out in October of 07. Totally awesome ambient, piano, samplism, sounds totally lo-fi at times and at others completely overproduced, another awesome time buster. This baby just flows.

Like... these guys are hard to find... Check out their last.fm I guess

Album here

Dosh - Wolves and Wishes

First off, is that not the coolest album cover? With that crazy tree and those houses and that whole "Where is gravity?" thing going on.

Ok. Dosh. This guy blew my mind back in 06. I remember laying out on the grass in college, staring at the sky and just listening to this guy's music.

Think ... jazz. Now think, awesome. Add a bit of gaze, some glitch, and a whole lot of "Maaaaaan is that the last track?" and you have Dosh - Wolves and Wishes.

The best thing about the album is its flow from one song to the next. It has this charming ability to make the listener forget the idea of time. Giving the album a feeling as if it is one large song.

Totally. Worth. 20. listens.

Oh, and he's an awesome drummer. Peep the youtube

M83 - Saturdays=Youth

Amazing album.
M83's older stuff was more electronic, more video-gamish, but this album is flowing, lush and beautiful. This is the kind of stuff that puts you to sleep and wakes you up in the morning. The kid of album you travel with.

This is shoegaze and electronic at its best.



youtube.com/m83 for videos.

Aleph-1 - Aleph-1

This record has some of the best ambient, blips, beeps I have ever heard. Tons of motion, completely out there.
This is great for background noise, reading, or sleeping. I listen to this during my commute and time feels completely different during the listen.

If anything, listen to the samples.

Check out this phone

Completely amazing looking phone. Coolest I've ever seen. Perhaps we'll see it on store shelves ... in the year 2000!

[Via Newslaunches.com]

Dive Index - Mid/Air

This album is completely awesome. It has a very glitchy / electronic theme to it similar to DNtel (of The Postal Service), Bjork, Alias, Efterklang, Ratatat, & Regina Spektor. Vocals sound like Sarah McLachlan, & Broken Social Scene.

Completely well rounded and sonically tantalizing. Be sure to give it a listen, and even a buy. The myspace songs don't do it justice.

Recovering your aim buddy list

Deleted aim buddy list?

** The one requirement for this process is that you must have logged your aim conversations **

Step 1. Search your computer for files containing your screen name. Eventually you'll come across the log files. Most logging programs use folders to organize the logs. These folders contain each of your buddy's names. This is the content for the recovery process.
Step 2. Navigate to the base directory of all these folders using the command prompt (start - run - cmd) then type dir/s > backup.txt. That will dump the content of the entire directory into a text file.
Step 3. Open the text file in Microsoft Excel, make sure to chose "fixed width" when importing.
Step 4. Copy the columns of all the screen names, and paste them into a new text file.
-- Here is where you can organize your buddy list using excel. I alphabetized.--

You should at this point have all your buddies in a text file.

Now all you have to do is save an old aim buddy list and edit it with a text editor, pasting the new list of buddies in the appropriate area.

Massive Link Dump

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Danny Rosen Presents - A Light White Winter Mix

This mix is was focused on a selection of tracks with lush melodies, abstract beats and complex rhythms.

The core idea of the mix is to portray winter through a specific selection and order of tracks.

The mix is blended, and beat matched to the best of my ability.

Enjoy.

Right click - save target as (or save link as) to download the mix


Track list:
1 Uberzone - Germs
2 Loden - Sugar Tea
3 Saltillo - Backyard Pond
4 Port-Royal - Internet Love
5 Nitrada - Fading Away (Telefon Tel Aviv Remix)
6 Pulseprogramming - Blooms Eventually
7 Springintgut - Whistleblow Biker
8 The Marcia Blaine School For Girls - Barbelith
9 Apparat - Limelight

The Kaossilator!

Awesome.

Great Free Mp3 Tagger

Awesome Mp3 Tagging program called The Godfather. Does renaming and auto tagging really well. Check it out

Whoa

Thanks to Dan for this.

Awesome Little App

I often make playlists for music. I really wanted to bring this music on the road with me using my mp3 Player. My problem was I never wanted to go to every folder and move those files manually.
This app, "Techno PlayList Copier 2.2" allows you to copy all your files to one place by using a standard playlist (.m3u or .pls)
Check it out

Acid Set

That x0xb0x is hot

M.I.A - Kala

Damn. This is a good album.
I'm not a big fan of hip-hop, but the rhythms, samples, and hooks on this album will get stuck in your head after the 3rd or 4th listen.
A couple of gems: Hussel (Feat. Afrikan boy), Mango Pickle Down the River (feat rapping African children).

This album totally redefines how hip-hop can exist. Think Electro-Hop.

Get it.

Daft Punk Pyramid Setup

Lots of samplers! Mmmm...

Paul van Dyk - In Between

I was really excited to hear this album when I first got it. PVD is one of the top DJs in the trance / techno / dance / whatever music scene and an excellent producer as well. He was one of the first guys that went away from turntables and started using a laptop and systems like final scratch. I've seen him a few times live and the guy really knows how to work a crowd. One of the finer moments I have experienced in a NYC club was flashing a paper to Paul with a song name on it, moments later he played it. The guy is a great performer hands down.

The album is wild. It starts out with a euro-trash sort of feel. You can tell right off that these tunes are singles. Then Paul does what he does best. Kicks it with beats.

The trance songs on the album are well laid out, the album's flow is fantastic and Paul's signature bouncy beats force one to bob along with each song. His use of the stereo field shows his expertise as a producer as you can hear tons of nuances in the mix. One song in particular "New York City" has a New York City police department siren in the background. It was so well laid into the mix that while walking in the city I looked around for the police car.

The album is coming out in a month or two, when it does finally hit stores make sure to pick it up.

Check out his ask.com interview
EDIT: The album is not fully finished yet.

New Prefuse 73 Album

Taken from Pitchfork Media

"Guillermo Scott Herren will revive his Prefuse 73 alias this fall for the new album Preparations, out via Warp on October 23. As Herren mentioned when we chatted with him in March, it's a double album... but only if you buy a physical copy. That's right: as an added incentive to support your local record shop, the digital version of Preparations will not come with the second disc. And you'll be missing out, because that second disc is called Ensembles and is, as promised, a collection of modern classical compositions composed and played by Herren using mostly cello, flute, piano, bass, and clarinet. "

Sweet!

Pheonix - It's Never Been Like That

This was one of my favorite albums of 2006, and I'm still in love with it. These guys sound like Oasis, Travis, Bloc Party, and Maritime.
The rhythms, melodies, hooks, and choruses these guys throw together make every song sound like it belongs on the radio. This is one of those albums you won't be able to get out of your head for days.
Amazing. Get.

Rebirth Live Set

Pretty cool stuff. Download Rebirth for free @ http://www.propellerheads.se

WUSB August 4th 2007 - Playlist

Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew - Lucky Ones
White Stripes - Icky Thump
Matthew Good - Born Losers
Boards Of Canada - Trans Canada Highway
JUSTICE - D.A.N.C.E

Digitalism - Magnets
Ferry Corsten - Beautiful
Thomas Bronzwaer- Constellation
The Alien - Rox
Modeselektor - 2,000,000>-

Phoenix - Second to None
The Go Find - New Year
Stars Of Track And Field - Lullaby for a G.I.
Valgeir Sigurdsson - A Symmetry
Vector Lovers - Last Day of Winter

Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew - Safety Bricks
Spoon - Don't Make Me A Target
Chuck - Never Forget (With Fourtet)
Chemical Brothers - We are the night
Matthew Dear - Fleece on Brain

Idlewild - In Competition for the worst time
Interpol - No I in Threesome
June - Finally
The Used - Pretty Handsome and Awkward
NYE - Under My Skin
Fuel - Gone

Piracy will kill your puppy.

Every time you download that episode of "The Daily Show" the terrorists win.

The New York Times Covers The FM3 Buddha Machine

Yes, hell has frozen over

"A few years ago, an experimental music duo called FM3 toured Europe, playing a 40-minute set that the duo’s founder Christiaan Virant describes as “very reductionist, very minimalist, very sparse.” He and Zhang Jian, who are based in Beijing, performed on laptops. Some of these compositions were later released on a CD by Staalplaat, a specialty label based in Amsterdam; it sold about a thousand copies. In the context of avant-garde music, that’s not bad: “If someone can sell 2,000 CDs,” Virant says with a laugh, “they’re like a superstar.” So it’s hard to find the right superlative to describe what happened when some of that same sparse music was released again — not on CD but in a little plastic box called the Buddha Machine. Two years later, sales are approaching 50,000 units and still going strong."


I keep telling myself this is good. Maybe more businesses will pick up on the trend and this will spur a new movement for weird ambient sample boxes.

Vector Lovers - Afterglow

I really didn't expect this album to kick it so much. Found it on boomkat. This is a great electronic album full of sound and motion. Fills up the spectrum really well with great production. It's got a great glitch, idm, indie, house, techno feel to it and really stands out as one of the more innovative records I've heard in a while. Sprinkled around the album are some tracks with vocals, and even a downtempo track or two.
Absolutely worth the buy. Check it out.

New M83 Album / Digital Shades

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/44482


"Anthony Gonzalez of French shoelookers M83, with the help of Before the Dawn Heals Us co-producer Antoine Gallet, has gathered a number of home recordings and Eno-inspired ambience for a collection he's calling Digital Shades vol. 1. The accumulation of hazy sounds might not seem far off from your average M83 record, but Gonzalez' insistence on making measured moves in the studio and working at his own pace lend Digital Shades its gauzy, experimental vibe."


Finally!

iPhone & Max/MSP

So cool.

...Yeap.

...yeap.

Hip Hop Pup

MC 303 Set

I love watching these.

Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War

So I fell in love with Stars' second album "Set Yourself on Fire." It became one of those albums I would listen to when I just wanted to hear something familiar. When I heard the Stars' album had leaked on Pitchforkmedia.com I grabbed myself a legit copy to check out.

First off let me just say this is not "Set Yourself on Fire." It does, unfortunately lack that sort of glimmer (to this music snob) that SYOF did have. However, it does have a certain sense of intimacy that one can get used to.

Most of this album is rainy day music. Cold damp atmosphere type stuff that you would normally find in train car on your way home from the city (Take a guess where I was when I first heard the album).

Songs like "Personal" express the idea that we are in a different time of relationships. The second song "The Night Starts Here" displays the groups mature look on production, crafting a consistent control of melody and rhythm.

The album as a whole is great and worth the money. Buy it online or wait until September when it drops in stores.

Swod - Sekunden

Some albums just put you to sleep, but wow were my dreams cool. I guess I could call this low-fi, but it's just straight ambient electronica. Really cool album full of blips, bleeps, synths, and good flow. Makes you nap and keeps you there bringing your subconcious along for the ride (...heh)
Cool album worth a check out

Lights Out Asia - Tanks and Recognizers

Think shoegazer with electronica behind it. Sounds a lot like Explosions in the sky, The album leaf, Dextro, Ulrich Schnauss, Mogwai, and Port Royal.

Lush. Loved this on my train commute. Very well done album full of color and expression. The sort of thing you turn on when you just want something in the background but quickly takes over. It's got a great vibe, and fills a room.
Check it.

Valgeir Sigurdsson - Ekvilibrium

I have been waiting for this album to show up for some time. Ever since I found it on Boomkat a few months ago.
The album is textured and an excellent portrayal of glitch at its finest. Crazy electronic album, if you can find it (it's on sale @ boomkat) grab it. damn good stuff.

Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew - Spirit If

Dear Pitchforkmedia.com -- Thanks for the mp3.

Really great album through and through. Lasted most of the hour commute and had a great flow to it. Electronic, indie, rock, punk, experimental tunes just flow.

The song linked - Too beautiful to f*ck is absolutely beautiful. It's layered with lush sounds and feels thick in your ear. Something to really listen to over and over.

The first track - Farewell To The Pressure Kids starts out chaotic and teeters on hardcore but turns into a melodic chant that reminded me of the older Broken Social Scene albums.

Awesome album.

Intro,

Hi, my name is Danny. I am a student @ Stony Brook University majoring in Business Management and minoring in media arts. I Occasionally capitalize the First letter of words incorrectly.
I'm the program director at 90.1 fm wusb, stony brook's radio station. I like music a lot. I look forward to sharing some with you.
Woot.