New video from Fanfalro!

These Brits were one of my favorite break out groups from 2009 and I've been waiting with bated breath for them to come out with new stuff. They finally have! Here is a new video for their single "Deconstruction." It's a little bit different of a sound from their last album, but the poppy goodness is still there in spades. Their new album will be coming out in early 2012.

Mothers' Day Mixtape

My mother is a punk rocker. She went to concerts a lot when I was growing up. She was even in the "Somebody to Shove" music video by Soul Asylum when I was a kid (just an extra, but I still thought it was pretty cool). Instead of listening to children's music in the car, we listened to great late-80's / early-'90s music like EMF, Nirvana, Midnight Oil and Erasure to name a few of the ones I remember liking the most as a child. And so it is fitting that the mothers' day present she requested of me was a playlist / mixtape. Sorry it's a little late, mom. Here were her requirements:
~Ramones-fast
~No ballads, only exception one or two hooky high drama numbers
~No sensitive singer/songwriters; they've got to rock like they mean it
~No Britney - no exceptions (I like to annoy her by putting Britney Spears on the mix CDs I make for her)
~Released in the last year, unless it is absolutely the perfect choice between two songs
~Must make me want to get out of the car and dance

Here is what I came up with. They don't follow all the criteria perfectly, but I think I did pretty well. Feel free to post your suggestions in the comments:

Dance Floor [mp3] - Apples in Stereo (iTunes / Amazon)

Drumming Song [mp3] - Florence & the Machine (iTunes / Amazon)

Kick Drum Heart [mp3] - The Avett Brothers (iTunes / Amazon)

Mountain Man [mp3] - Crash Kings (iTunes / Amazon)

TV [mp3] - Headlights (iTunes / Amazon)

Western Hospitality [mp3] - Club 8 (iTunes / Amazon)

Luna [mp3] - Fanfarlo (iTunes / Amazon)

The Reeling [mp3] - Passion Pit (iTunes / Amazon)

Strictly Game [mp3] - Harlem Shakes (iTunes / Amazon)

And I offer this last song separately because I feel like I've already put it on one of her mix CDs even though it's not on my list. But I'll throw it on just in case, because if it's not on there, that's a travesty. 

12345678 [mp3] - The Hard Lessons (iTunes / Amazon)

Best Albums of 2009

As you might be able to tell by our lack of posting, we were hard at work over the holidays putting together our end of the year lists. Today is the first of three lists - our Best Albums of 2009 list. So in no particular order, we present them to you:
 

The Antlers - Hospice
This intensely beautiful, heart-wrenching album is full of more tragedy than we would hope any one person would experience in a lifetime, much less a person of front man and writer Pete Silberman's young age. Hospice launched The Antlers to indie fame this year, and deservedly so. The haunting melodies strike us deeply in our cores and stay with us long after we've listened to them. Not that it's ever that long between listens, since the album has pretty much been on repeat on our playlists since it first came out in March.
Sylvia [mp3] - (iTunes)

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

This anticipated album encompassed ingenious songcraft, never-ending unwinding textural and melodic flourishes, languid beatuy and sweeping rhythmic cavorts that cut to the center of any listener's ear. With painstaking attention to detail, Veckatimest soared above any fears of overproduction and swooped right into the land of absolute prowess.

Passion Pit - Manners
In a year stockpiled with celebrity deaths, who anticipated that Stanley Kubrick would be resurrected to orchestrate the best indie-pop album of 2009? Every moment of Manners contains a purposely placed hook - Kids singing! Catchy synth lines! A horn section! - but the album would amount to nothing more than a dizzying Go Team! disciple if not for the pitch-perfect layering of Michael Angelakos' heartfelt falsetto. Without it, Manners - and Passion Pit by proxy - would be an indistinguishable novelty act instead of a polished pop catharsis.
The Reeling [mp3] - (iTunes)

Matt Jones - The Black Path

We wrote about this album back in 2008, but it didn't technically come out until 2009, so we're going to write about it again because it's that good. Simply put, Matt Jones is a one-of-a-kind genius and this orchestral folk album is full of gorgeous, rich instrumentation and complex, deeply expressive lyrics. Matt Jones' music and unique voice are truly mesmerizing.

Waltzing With Lady Dawn [mp3] - (iTunes)

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
While they've been on the music scene for a while, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was the album that really put French band Phoenix on the map. With catchy hits like "Lisztomania" and "1901," they rocketed through the indie masses alongside the album's vivid revivalist melodies and danceable indie-pop beats. A small smear of brit-pop shoegaze added for fun and the love for the film Breakfast Club that was reignited made this album a clear standout in 2009.

Metric - Fantasies

Emily Haines always manages to create songs that are simultaneously melancholy or nostalgic and yet are awesome dance songs. You can rock out, yet feel an incredible emotional pull, and the songs are so catchy that they'll stay in your head for hours. Fantasies is no exception to this rule, and "Help I'm Alive" has not-so-slowly risen to be one of our most-played songs this year.

St. Vincent - Actor
St. Vincent's sophomore album, inspired, she says, by Prince, can take a little warming up to at first. Her songs are complex and many of them can't truly be appreciated on the first listen. But the more you listen to it, the more masterful layers you discover and the more you appreciate this virtuoso. Rocking guitar harmonics burst forth from fluttering wind instruments and St. Vincent integrates these two contrasting sounds flawlessly, even within the same song.

White Rabbits - It's Frightening

This percussion-driven band became a sensation this year with their aptly named, explosive "Percussion Gun." But these are no one hit wonders - their album was full of other good, very catchy, rumbling, crashing, banging, tapping songs. And while it might be easy for a band with such a focus on percussion to get in a rut where all their music sounds the same, they've managed to utilize a nice variety of sounds and genres, while still maintaining a cohesiveness over the entire album.

Florence and the Machine - Lungs
Florence's powerful, rich voice and epically dramatic music make her debut album Lungs a force to reckon with, alternating between dark and stormy, with drums booming and her imposing vocals, and then flowery and romantic with plucky harps. But no matter what the style, the album never loses the dramatic flare that hooks you within the first few bars.

Discovery - LP

The brainchild of Vampire Weekend keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles, this debut album, which was recorded over the course of three and a half years, makes for an unique and pleasantly intriguing experience. Inventive beats, playful rhythms and slick rushes of harmonious vocals dapple throughout this album, producing indie electro-pop at its finest.

Fanfarlo - Reservoir
Reservoir is a package full of odds and ends that takes a while to unpack. The British sextet has created a well-crafted propulsive album that will make you laugh, cry, dance, sway or stand still in total revelry all within the same album. Their music has a warmth to it that is downright lovely. The exquisite instrumentation and lead singer Simon's distinct, cozy voice is enough to warrant more than a couple rounds of continuous listens.

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

It's perplexing that an album translating to "Please Killer Whale" would lead Brooklyn's experimental class into the pop realm this year (along with Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear). Differentiating this effort from its Yale-crested musical-composition predecessors are the hooks. That's right: hooks. "Stillness is the Move" is an outright jam - not just by Dirty Projectors' standards, but by Left Eye Lopez (R.I.P.) standards. It might have been the track of 2009 that best defined the shift (for those aforementioned bands) from strictly creating songs principled in deconstructionist methodology towards a welcomed practice of lavishing in mind-bending indie hymnals, i.e., running the musical gamut - in styles, genres, tempos, key/time signatures - during every featured track on the album.

The XX - XX
This debut album blew everyone away, with many describing it as downright perfect or fantastically innovative. Pitchfork called it "so fully formed and thoughtful that it feels like three or four lesser, noisier records should have preceded it." Indeed, it was a perfectly executed product from the London band of 20-somethings, with quiet instrumentation full of purpose and lyrics riddled with poignancy.

Elizabeth and the Catapult - Taller Children

Elizabeth & the Catapult's sassy debut album that juxtaposes the freedoms of youth and the responsibilities of growing up is a delightful listen from beginning to end - with bubbly, bouncy child-like songs such as "Race You" to the serious Leonard Cohen cover of "Everybody Knows," it's a well-rounded album and a very solid debut indeed.

Momma's Boy [mp3] - (iTunes)

Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
Comprised of star players like M. Ward (She & Him), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes), Monsters of Folk ventures into lands of varied and weathered styles, delivering quality and seamless song-work amongst the loose sea of rock-folk acoustic guitars and lush harmonies. Conor Oberst pens GFP writer Diana's favorite lyric of the year in "Temazcal," summing up a relationship that was never meant to be in less than 10 words: "love we made at gunpoint wasn't love at all."

Fanfarlo @ Triple Rock Social Club

Last night Fanfarlo played at the Minneapolis Triple Rock Social Club. Up first was their opener, Freelance Whales, a group I knew nothing about except for that I had downloaded one of their songs previously simply because I liked the album art so much. The first thing I noticed about Freelance Whales was that they played a large array of instruments, including a harmonium, a waterphone, even turning the gardening cans that they had around the set to store the mallets for the glockenspiels into a kind of drum to bang on. As for their songs, they have an undeniable folkrock-anthem sing-along Arcade Fire vibe to them, many times incorporating merry vocal chants on simple sounds like "nah" or "ah" that are so energetic and possessing of child-like carefree fun that one can't help but think that they belong on the Where The Wild Things Are soundtrack. While I'm no filmmaker like Em, check out my video below of their performance of "Generator^2nd Floor."


Generator^2nd Floor [mp3] (iTunes)

Fanfarlo came on stage in awesome animal-print sweatshirts during sound set up. A man behind me commented, "they always have the best sweatshirts" so I hope that this is a common occurance. I wish I had taken photos of them now, but I was too enraptured at the time by the neon cat head sweatshirt worn by Cathy Lucas.

At any rate, once a brief sound check was finished, Simon Balthazar and Cathy took the stage sans sweatshirts and started things with a nice quiet acoustic version of "Drowning Men" with guitar and mandolin. The rest of the band piled on for the kick-it-into-gear number of "I'm A Pilot," and right away I was enraptured by the cohesive blend of this well crafted group. All six members are constantly doing something of their own on stage - whether it be fiddling with knobs on the synth, working a musical saw or in the midst of a subtle guitar-off in the corner. Being able to see the band live really opens your ear and allows you to pick up on just how masterful these songs are.

Simon's vocals have always reminded me of Beirut lead singer Zach Condon, and I live for the day when they might duet. Simon had spurts of energy, doing little jigs during the rocking interludes and making few jokes here and there, but it was clear that he was focused on the music, closing his eyes and keeping an extremely calm demeanor about him for most of the show. The set was rather short, with 10 songs in all, and like many others, I was surprised that some songs such as "Fire Escape" or "Sand and Ice" were not played, but perhaps the band wanted to keep it mostly based from their excellent debut Reservoir.

The concert was quite lovely with a fantastic and high quality set, but things were greatly boosted with a charming end to the evening. After the euphoric and propulsive performance of Luna (video below), the band handed out neon-colored tubes to random members in the audience and asked them to twirl them above their heads during the encore number "Ghosts." The tubes created an empyreal noise which seemed to unite everyone in that room together and made people leave smiling. All in all, like Em said when she saw them at CMJ, it was great show. Seeing Fanfarlo live is a must for any person who enjoys quality music played by talented musicians and likes to leave a show feeling full of satisfaction and warm fuzzies. I highly recommend you check out their myspace to see if they're coming to a town near you.

(note: songs starts :44 in, and sorry about the sound quality, I was standing quite close and my camera nearly peed on itself from so much awesomeness)


Luna [mp3] (iTunes)

More Photos:

Fanfarlo

Set List:
Drowning Men
I'm A Pilot
Finish Line
Harold T. Wilkins
Atlas (new song)
The Walls Are Coming Down
Waiting In The Winds (new song)
Comets
Luna
Encore: Ghosts

Minneapolis Ticket Giveaway: Fanfarlo 11/11!

Not to be outdone by Em, we've got a pair of tickets for a lucky reader who wants to attend the 18+ Fanfarlo concert next week 11/11 at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis, sponsored by my favorite radio station in town, The Current. Em had a fantastic time when she got to see Fanfarlo live during CMJ this year, so I know I'm certainly looking forward to it. If you're not already familiar, take a listen to the track below and see if it strikes your fancy.

How to enter? Just send us an email with the subject line "Fan of Fanfarlo!" and your full name so we can get it to the guest list people asap. We will choose one entry at random by early Tuesday and email you back if you're a winner, so good luck!

Luna [mp3] (iTunes)

700th post! (and CMJ - Fanfarlo at the Syndicate Party)

Wow! 700 posts... My baby is all grown up! It feels like just yesterday we hit a meager 100 posts... Ok, I'll stop that now. Anyway, on to some long overdue CMJ coverage!

I kicked off CMJ at The Syndicate Conflict of Interest party on Monday night at Rebel. All three floors were pretty packed by about 9pm, and I would like to give Syndicate major props for throwing a great event. The first band up was The Union Line. Despite their uber-hip(ster) facial hair, I really liked them a lot. Their music is supremely catchy while still maintaining their rough edges - two parts rambling/rumbling Americana and one part peppy Pop. And this is a tad bit of a tangent, the whole show I was wondering if the lead singer and the keyboard player were related and it turns out they are, so go me! Now here's the bigger question: twins? or just brothers? One of them having long hair makes it quite hard to tell...

Headlining the event was Fanfarlo, who I've recently become obsessed with and their show did not disappoint. They were very down-to-earth and chill but had this amazingly contagious positive energy. Their music is so lovely, but still catchy as hell. Lead singer Simon Balthazar has one of the most unique vocal timbres I think I've ever heard, I absolutely adore his voice. The whole place, audience included, was just vibing quite well and it was really a great concert experience. I left the show grinning, feeling like I was a part of something really special and wanting to listen to nothing but Fanfarlo.

Or maybe it was just the free tequila drinks... No, no, no. Fanfarlo definitely rocked my world and I wished I could've seen more of them. In fact, that was my one problem with the show. Fanfarlo's set was so short! And the other two bands (who I'm not going to say much about because I didn't really like either of them) before them played what felt like endless sets. I don't know if it was just the show running late or if they had planned to play such a sort set, but that was my one disappointment of the night. A few more pictures (special thanks to Laura for lending me her camera for the night):

 

 

Mama Don't Care [mp3] - The Union Line (iTunes)

Luna [mp3] - Fanfarlo (iTunes)

Fanfarlo - Resevoir

UK band Fanfarlo is set to physically release Resevoir, their debut album, in the US on October 13th (it's available on iTunes now). The first word that comes to mind when I listen to this album is "pleasant." That may not seem like a big compliment, but it is. The whole album is just incredibly pleasant and familiar (not in the "I've heard this before" way but in the way that provides comfort and strikes a chord deep within). They remind me of a cross between Beirut and The National (which makes sense since their album was produced by Peter Katis - who has produced for The National and Interpol - at his home studio in Bridgeport, CT). Here's a video for one of my favorite songs from the album, "The Walls Are Coming Down":


For those of you New York readers, they're in town tonight and tomorrow night, so go check them out:
September 21 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
September 22 - The Bell House - Brooklyn, NY

Luna [mp3] - (iTunes)

Fanfarlo

Fanfarlo's biggest news as of yet may be just the fact that they have returned to the UK after spending some time in Connecticut recording their first album, but trust me, when their album is finally released in 2009, these guys are going to be big. This young 6-piece pop rock British group sounds as if someone took Radiohead, cranked up the tempo by 10-20 bpm and put it through a Fleet Foxes filter. Their music features arpeggios, horns, strings and acoustic guitar galore alongside lead singer Simon's crooning vocals, the songs themselves sounding absolutely complete, contained and perfect. The more I listen to them, the more I can't wait for this upcoming album. Here's two previously released singles/demos for your enjoyment:

Fire Escape [mp3]

Sand And Ice [mp3]

purchase Fanfarlo's other singles on iTunes

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