DANK WATCH is an [EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE] weekly feature that catches up with Best Coast and Wavves, seeing if they are still danking out and tweeting abt it.
Photo: Olly Hearsey
So we’ve published our own ‘best of 2009’ list. Now it’s the turn of some of those bands we featured to let us know theirs.
First up is The Vivian Girls, who pick out a fine top 10 of garage pop and lo fi fuzz. Nodzzz, Mika Miko and The Beets are particularly fine selections I think.
Grammatics
Choosing a top 100 records of 2009 may seem a little excessive but it has been a fucking awesome year for music. No question. We’ve mixed together albums, singles and individual tracks in our list, because we can.
The first batch is our top 100-81 and even though they’re at the lower reaches of our countdown, they’re all still amazing. We stand by every single record in the whole 100 and encourage you to check out, purchase and enjoy our recommended releases of this year.
As yall know from the popular website calendar.blogspot.com, the year 2k9 only has 2 months left. The annual music cycle is ‘officially over’ and will be dormant until the first major indie album release in 2k10. This means ‘we’ as an altosphere need 2 do our best to reflect on the year that we just lived, and try 2 analyze which album/artist/mp3 we want to be the embodiment of 2k9. Each alt website has a responsibility to select a ‘best’ artist, which may not actually ‘be the best’, but instead will represent ‘how they think 2k9 should be remembered’, and convince u 2 ’stay on board with us, cuz our perception of the indiesphere is really genuine and down2earth in a hi-level kinda way.’
When you characterize your music as "no-fi", as Washed Out does on his MySpace page, there should come with that an inherent "I don’t give fuck" attitude that should at some point dampen the tunes you’re coming out with. The music should be carefree and if there’s some outside noises that get tossed in there or mistakes made along the way, well then they tried to warn you didn’t they. Listening to the music of Washed Out there really is no sense of this devil may care attitude, instead what you get are tropical vibe songs that are meticulously put together. Everything is coordinated right down to the simplest of beats, and instead of being "who gives a fuck" it’s "who doesn’t give a fuck". Now I know you’re probably sick and tired of hearing all this crap, no matter how happy the music is you don’t care because you already bought the WAVVES record and that’s enough crappy lo-fi for you. Fine, I understand that completely you can now leave the room. For the rest of you, take a listen to this.
WAVVES played at least ten different times down in Austin during SXSW, and Spike.com is already dubbing him an "indie superstar." These are from the Rhapsody Rocks party at The Mohawk, which once again proved to be our favorite bar in Tejas. Pamplemoose provided video from the performance as well.
WAVVES is in the midst of his (their) first ever European tour, and our good friend Pete Ohs is along for the ride, shooting for some secret upcoming film project he’s working on. Pete is also documenting Nathan Williams’ trip for us via Polaroid machine; here are some of his shots from the first leg of the month-long tour
Who: Vivian Girls
When: January 11th, 14th, + 20th, February 19th
Where: Living Room (kids show), Maxwell’s (w/Titus Andronicus), Market Hotel (w/Fucked Up & Pissed Jeans), Apollo Theater (w/M. Ward)
More Dates
Thoughts: Vivian Girls aren’t really touring until they head for Europe in mid-February but since they have a shit ton of shows coming up in the New York area I thought I’d throw them here so you knew about all of these shows. I am most intrigued by Sunday’s Living Room performance for kids and the one with Fucked Up and Pissed Jeans at Market Hotel (which was moved from its original location!). The trio of hip Brooklyn ladies also has a new 7" out with three new songs, one of which is below.
WAVVES has posted up a new, as-yet-untitled track that’s slated to appear on an upcoming release in the Fader 7" series. As is the case with most of Nathan Williams’ tunes, the simple but undeniable melody firmly implanted itself in my brain after one listen. Check it out at his myspace. In other news, stay tuned for a WAVVES-related SXSW announcement from us in the relatively near future.
Photos from a recent FOE gig - a friend of our friends Hold Your Horse Is - she’s gonna be big!!! Read the gig review after the jump.
Shots of North Carolina’s folk-rocking Avett Brothers’ stop in Glasgow - 22.08.11
Read the review of the gig here.
Take a look at the acts and art on offer at this year’s Latitude Festival in Suffolk. Included are the likes of Fight Like Apes, Lykke Li, Sea of Bees and Seasick Steve. Photos from our own...
Good time with Bad Guys. Photos from the May 29th gig at the Old Blue Last. Read the review by the Bad Guy himself, Stuart London after the jump.
Artrocker.com exclusive: for fans of White Lies and Crocodiles we’ve got some fresh pictures from their UK show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire earlier this month, courtesy of Alessandro...
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