The Album Reviewer

Pitchfork's Top 100 Tracks for 2011

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:14:50 -0500

Not too impressed with their list this year. M83 - Midnight City as number 1 isn’t a bad choice at all though. Check out the whole list below.

Some of my favorites form the list are:

14. Girls - Vomit

19. Lana Del Rey - Video Games

32. Cold Cave - The Great Pan is Dead

34. Cut Copy - Need You Now

69. Neon Indian - Polish Girl

70. Holy Ghost! - Jam for Jerry

Entire List from Pitchfork

100. Thundercat – “For Love (I Come Your Friend)
99. Ill Blu – “Meltdown”
98. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – “Ffunny Ffrends”
97. Fever Ray – “The Wolf”
96. Peaking Lights – “All The Sun That Shines”
95. Kendrick Lamar – “A.D.H.D.
94. Sepalcure – “Pencil Pimp”
93. Wild Flag – “Romance”
92. Jacques Greene – “Another Girl”
91. The Oh Sees – “The Dream”
90. Grimes – “Vanessa”
89. SBTRKT – “Wildfire” (Feat . Little Dragon)
88. Cities Aviv – “Coastin’”
87. Zoo Kid – “Out Getting Ribs”
86. Blawan – “Getting Me Down”
85. Junior Boys – “Banana Ripple”
84. Iceage – “You’re Blessed”
83. Tiger & Woods – “Gin Nation”
82. John Maus – “Believer”
81. Yuck – “Get Away”
80. Fucked Up – “Queen Of Hearts”
79. Kelly Rowland – “Motivation” (Feat. Lil Wayne)
78. Sandro Perri – “Changes”
77. Cults – “Abducted”
76. Julianna Barwick – “Prizewinning”
75. Washed Out – “Amor Fati”
74. Dum Dum Girls – “Wrong Feels Right”
73. tUnE-yArDs – “Powa”
72. Britney Spears – “Till The World Ends (The Femme Fatale Remix)” (Feat. Nicki Minaj and Ke$ha)
71. The Men – “Bataille”
70. Holy Ghost! – “Jam For Jerry”
69. Neon Indian – “Polish Girl”
68. The Joy Formidable – “Whirring”
67. Rihanna – “We Found Love” (Feat. Calvin Harris)
66. DJ Quik – “Killer Dope”
65. Fleet Foxes – “Grown Ocean”
64. Toro Y Moi – “New Beat”
63. Bon Iver – “Perth”
62. Liturgy – “Generation”
61. Eleanor Friedberger – “My Mistakes”
60. Adele – “Someone Like You”
59. Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire – “The Last Huzzah! (Remix)” (Feat. Despot, Das Racist, Danny Brown & El-P)
58. PJ Harvey – “The Words That Maketh Murder”
57. The Weeknd – “House Of Balloons”
56. M83 – “Intro” (Feat. Zola Jesus)
55. Destroyer – “Chinatown”
54. Jamie xx/Gil Scott-Heron – “I’ll Take Care Of U”
53. Real Estate – “Green Aisles”
52. Action Bronson – “Larry Csonka”
51. Todd Terje – “Snooze 4 Love”
50. Atlas Sound – “Mona Lisa”
49. Katy B – “Broken Record”
48. Kreayshawn – “Gucci Gucci”
47. Battles – “Ice Cream” (Feat. Matias Aguayo)
46. Ty Segall – “Goodbye Bread”
45. Drake – “Headlines”
44. Nicolas Jaar – “Space Is Only Noise If You Can See”
43. Panda Bear – “Last Night At The Jetty”
42. Jay-Z & Kanye West – “Otis”
41. Frank Ocean – “Novacane”
40. Burial – “Street Halo”
39. Shabazz Palaces – “Swerve… the reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)”
38. Purity Ring – “Ungirthed”
37. ASAP Rocky – “Peso”
36. Jamie xx – “Far Nearer”
35. Charli XCX – “Stay Away”
34. Cut Copy – “Need You Now”
33. AraabMuzik – “Streetz Tonight”
32. Cold Cave – “The Great Pan Is Dead”
31. The Field – “Then It’s White”
30. Clams Casino – “Motivation”
29. Jai Paul – “BTSTU”
28. Danny Brown – “Monopoly”
27. The Rapture – “How Deep Is Your Love?”
26. Beyoncé – “1+1”
25. Soulja Boy – “Zan With That Lean”
24. Kurt Vile – “Jesus Fever”
23. Adele – “Rolling In The Deep”
22. Bill Callahan – “Riding For The Feeling”
21. Drake – “Marvins Room”
20. Gang Gang Dance – “Glass Jar”
19. Lana Del Rey – “Video Games”
18. St. Vincent – “Cruel”
17. Oneohtrix Point Never – “Replica”
16. Tyler, The Creator – “Yonkers”
15. The Weeknd – “The Morning”
14. Girls – “Vomit”
13. tUnE-yArDs – “Bizness”
12. Jay-Z & Kanye West – “Niggas In Paris”
11. James Blake – “The Wilhelm Scream”
10. DJ Khaled – “I’m On One” (Feat. Drake, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne)
09. Azealia Banks – “212”
08. Cass McCombs – “County Line”
07. Beyoncé – “Countdown”
06. Destroyer – “Kaputt”
05. Real Estate – “It’s Real”
04. Nicki Minaj – “Super Bass”
03. EMA – “California”
02. Bon Iver – “Holocene”
01. M83 – “Midnight City”

blogilates: Arthlete!!! You are amazing. Let’s collab on...

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:47:22 -0500

blogilates:

Arthlete!!! You are amazing. Let’s collab on something!!! I am making this my profile pic on facebook!!!! THANK YOU!!! You’re so talented. <3 Cassey

arthlete:

I do her workouts like it’s my job. :P

(Last post for now; I have commissions to finish and a painting to do for my neglected art blog. Will be back on Saturday. Stay healthy, you!)

rockstareddie: R.E.M announced yesterday that their 31 year run...

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:40:00 -0400

rockstareddie:

R.E.M announced yesterday that their 31 year run has come to an end. I’ve been on this earth almost as long as they’ve been a band. I grew up listening to them a lot. So many songs come to mind that shadow different periods of my life. Green was the first record I bought by them because I loved the song Stand. There’s a great Chicago Hotdog stand down the street from where I grew up and they had a jukebox with mostly shitty pop music, R.E.M. was one of the few select bands the box had and it had Stand and It’s the End of the World as We Know It, on it. Automatic for the People is probably my favorite album with songs like Drive, Everybody Hurts, and Man on the Moon. I used to have to beg DJ’s at middle school dances to play any of the songs off that album, and if they did the embarrassment and rejection when trying to dance with a girl I had a crush on wouldn’t matter, because I had my air guitar ready and tuned up for that Drive solo. The next album I loved was Monster. I started fiddling around with my friend’s and cousin’s guitars about this time before I got my own. I just really loved how “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth” sounded and wanted to make some noise like that. Since then the band has always stuck with me. Listening to them brings back memories of good times, like the girl who put At My Most Beautiful on a mix cd for me because we made each other smile so much our cheeks would hurt the next day, or impressing a crowd of strangers when I sang It’s the End of The World as We Know It for karaoke. My only regret is never going to see them live. Tours never seemed to happen when I was free or had money to spend. Ah well, at least it ended on good terms and there’s always great songs to listen to.

The following is from the band’s website

“To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.” R.E.M.

How good does Arcade Fire sound live? They have to be the best...

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:28:18 -0400

How good does Arcade Fire sound live? They have to be the best band going right now. Austin City Limits looks like it was a great time. First four songs here, 1:29 Ready to Start, 6:35 Keep the Car Running, 10:56 No Cars Go, 16:38 Haiti

Watched Cut Copy earlier today live from Austin City Limits....

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 03:30:32 -0400

Watched Cut Copy earlier today live from Austin City Limits. Wish I was there. Stream the entire festival here on youtube.

This is still considered indie in my mind, don’t feel bad...

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:18:12 -0400

This is still considered indie in my mind, don’t feel bad classifying it that way!

soundboard:

Arcade Fire - Wake Up

By now, you’ve likely heard of Arcade Fire. They’ve gained wonderful recognition in the past seven or so years through three critically acclaimed albums. As I slowly recover from losing all of my music due to technical problems with my computer and the device I had it backed up on, I find myself listening to music that I had been neglecting because of so many new releases that had caught my attention. While Arcade Fire’s latest musical endeavor, The Suburbs, won a Juno Award and more notably a Grammy for Album of the Year, their older music is still quite rich and well worth a listen. Wake Up is off of their 2004 LP debut, Funeral, which I hadn’t listened to as of late late until I put it back in my music library. It’s the song that made me fall in love with the band years ago.

Enjoy!

-Andrew

P.S.
I’m sure I’ll catch some flak for tagging this as indie, as some make a convincing argument that the genre doesn’t quite fit now that they’ve won a Grammy. I don’t quite care. Cheers!

Spotify is here! in the US!

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:21:39 -0400

I have been waiting for spotify to be available here for years after hearing about how awesome it was. Excited to give it a try.

New song from the Drums!

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:07:43 -0400

First album was amazing. New single sounds amazing too. Sounds like they have been listening to alot of the Smiths. Check out the song “Money” here:

http://www.pitchfork.com/news/43166-the-drums-announce-new-album/

anthrofreshtodeath: This is Halo Heaven. I live for those...

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:52:29 -0400

anthrofreshtodeath:

This is Halo Heaven. I live for those jerseys and the changing of the guard.

soundboard: On my list of top 5 favorite artists, next to M....

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:51:33 -0400

soundboard:

On my list of top 5 favorite artists, next to M. Ward, is Andrew Bird. He’s well known for his intelligent lyrics, layering technique, unbelievable violin skills, and he is the tops at whistling. If you’ve seen him do anything live you know how fascinating it is to watch, and if you haven’t, watch this TED talk from last year. Two things I love the most about Andrew Bird:

1. He loves to improvise and feel his music. Take a look at any of the Fingerlings EPs, they’re a great example of Bird’s ability to create and just go with the music.

2. He takes simple loops and puts them on top of one another to create complex tracks. All by himself. And he improvises on the fly. This blows my mind.

Enjoy!

- KK

Seeing them tomorrow: citiesandcolours: Houdini//Foster The...

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:47:37 -0400

Seeing them tomorrow:

citiesandcolours:

Houdini//Foster The People

wisdomanddelusion: tune-yards - Powa This is one of my favorite...

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:39:28 -0400

wisdomanddelusion:

tune-yards - Powa

This is one of my favorite new bands…

blogilates: Slim ‘n Sexy Summer Arms (Printable Workout) 1....

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:38:45 -0400

blogilates:

Slim ‘n Sexy Summer Arms (Printable Workout)

1. Tricep Dip in Reverse Plank x20

Get up onto your palms and heels and lift your butt off the mat, hips in line, pelvis up. Bend your elbows back as you touch your booty to the floor. Then straighten out again. MODIFICATION: Bring your heels closer to the body and bend your knees like you’re a coffee table.

2. Chest Press Pulses x30

Keeping your elbows together, simply pulse up! You will soooooooo feel this one in your chest without even try! One of my favorite moves in the world.

3. Pushup x10

You can do this on your knees or toes. Make sure you keep your eyes forward. DO NOT look underneath you!

4. Cobra Pushup x10

Begin in plank. Pretend there is a limbo pole right in front of you head. Slither your head underneath it…followed by your back, your butt, and your legs before you gull push up. MODIFICATION: Make the limbo stick higher :) If you’re having trouble, see my video on Advanced Pushup Variations.

5. Inverse Shoulder Press (Pushup) x10

Get into downward dog. Then scoot your hands closer to your legs. Look back at the toes. Now do a pushup and touch the top of your head to the mat. See demonstration video here. MODIFICATION: Don’t bring your hands so close to your feet.

6. One-Legged Cobra Pushup x10

Same as cobra pushup but one leg up! Do 10 on each side.

If you have any questions about the different types of pushups and how they look, please see my video on Advanced Pushup Variations.

Print, share, and sweat!

<3 Cassey

PS…Oops, Did I say “pushup” too many times in this workout :P