And I Turned Round And There You Go

Coolness is a fickle thing: in less then twelve months Fleet Foxes seem to have gone from hot ticket to snoozecore in the collective consciousness. So, by the time I saw them last night at the Roundhouse, expectations had slightly wilted and there was a touch of cycnicism in the air. If the band didn’t seem to be on quite the same psychic wavelength as the very mixed crowd then it didn’t effect their performance or reception though. Live they are surprisingly forceful, the music rolling and insistent, the many rough edges adding to the organic charm. It is all powered by Robin Pecknold’s extraordinary voice, good on record but quite amazing in the flesh.

They were supported by Vetiver who it has been my misfortune to see several times and who remain snoozecore to the max.

Greatest Palace Music

Thanks to Matt Cheney for pointing out the Bonnie “Prince” Billy Daytrotter Session, four free session tracks from Will Oldham. In particular the version of ‘The Seedling’ is much better than the original album version on The Letting Go (although this version of ‘New Partner’ isn’t anything special.)

27 Of The 100 Best Tracks Of The Year

Pitchfork have published their 100 tracks of the year. They are all available for streaming but 27 of them can be downloaded. Here are my three favourites:

75: Little Boots – “Stuck on Repeat”

This is a Hot Chip-produced slice of build-and-drop electro that sounds not unlike an extended, sexier version of “Over And Over”.

74: Wale – “The Kramer

Wale uses Michael Richards’s infamous tirade as a jump off to dissect the words “nigger” and “nigga”:

And niggas say nigga to a nigga,
A nigga write nigga in a lyric, expect the white boy to omit it,
The white boy spit it like he spit it,
Recite it to his friends who, by the way, ain’t niggas,
And say nigga, nigga, nigga, my favorite rapper did it,
And non-nigga friends got it with him,
Incorporate this lyric to their everyday living,
Until a black friend kinda hear it, just a tidbit,
He thinks Aw, forget it, its so insignificant and little,
The white boy sees this as a clearance, now its
Nigga, nigga, nigga, every single day,
And that little nigga nigga, thinks its okay,
And he’s the only nigga in this particular grade,
And it begins to phase him more each day,
The things they say went a little too far,
He couldn’t tell the difference between an “a” or “er”

02: Fleet Foxes – “White Winter Hymnal”

You know this already.

Number one is “Blind” by Hercules and Love Affair, if you are interested.

Watch My Feet

Okay, I know it isn’t even December yet but I thought I’d present my album of the year:

Feed The Animals by Girl Talk

Feed The Animals is a gorgeous mosaic of over a hundred songs spanning a vast range of music from Sinead O’Connor to Lil’ Mama. Mash ups are often seen as a bit gimmicky and they can be but here Gregg Gillis forms a beautiful collage out of hard hip hop vocals, electronic classics like Girl/Boy Song and shit Europop like Ace Of Bass. It is seamlessly done and is more than the sum of its parts. It is also available as a “pay what you want” download so what is keeping you?

Hauschka

I lack the critical vocabulary to properly describe it but I saw Volker Bertelmann tonight and he was made of win.