[Best of 2011] Eli’s List

Tag Archive: White Denim

[Best of 2011] Eli’s List

Written on December 19, 2011 by Eli in Music

Editor’s Note: This morning starts our rundown of our writers’ favorites of 2011. We didn’t give them any real guidelines – just that each one would get a post with which to talk about what they liked over the previous 12 months. A couple of writers are voting “present,” but between Dave and I and the rest of the guys, there will be a bunch of different takes on what was the best of the preceding year. We think it presents a good picture of how diverse our assembled group is in taste.

We’ll be interspersing normal posts as well throughout the week, with the results of our Reader Poll coming at some point as well, but this week might be a bit lighter as we wind down the year and enjoy the holidays. Please feel very free to leave comments, criticisms, etc. as you see fit, and we hope you all enjoy the lists and your holidays as well.

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What follows are currently my favorite 10 albums of 2011, presented alphanumerically by band name with unhelpful and yet totally tweetable explanations. If your favorites didn’t make the cut it is likely because I haven’t heard them yet. If I had, I think they’d probably be listed here, don’t you?

Akron/Family // S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT
A slash, a colon and a Roman numeral, and that’s just in the first six characters of the album title!

Akron/Family // So It Goes [mp3] from S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT

Ben Sollee // Inclusions
Cello? You’ll have to speak up, I’m wearing a towel.

Brett Dennen // Loverboy
A tall glass of pure joy with splashes of Paul Simon, Van Morrison and Stevie Wonder.

Cass McCombs // Wit’s End
Ditto the previous comment, except the opposite.

Cass McCombs // County Line [mp3] from Wit’s End

Eleanor Friedberger // Last Summer
The Fiery Furnaces by any other name still sounds just as ~~weird~~ sweet.

Eleanor Friedberger // My Mistakes [mp3] from Last Summer

In the Country // Sounds and Sights
This spot, reserved for the yearly release by the Bad Plus is occupied in their absence by another incredible genre-busting piano trio.

Iron and Wine // Kiss Each Other Clean
Sam Beam’s farts smell like roses.

Roadside Graves // We Can Take Care of Ourselves
An album based on the novel The Outsiders; its inclusion here is based on its novel excellence.

Roadside Graves // Love Me More [mp3] from We Can Take Care of Ourselves

White Denim // D
If an album was judged solely by the volume at which it was listened, this one would probably be tops.

Zun Zun Egui // Katang
If only it were possible to listen to this music with more than two ears at a time.

Zun Zun Egui // Fandango Fresh [mp3] from Katang

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[video] White Denim // Street Joy

Written on November 9, 2011 by Andy in Music, Video

The video for this song has been out for a few months now, but I’m on a White Denim kick (again) after their most recent EP was released a couple of weeks ago. This song, however, is from their album D that was released back in May. A person can’t really go wrong with White Denim, unless they are, in fact, wearing it.

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[mp3] New from White Denim // Hot Thought

Written on September 20, 2011 by Andy in Music

While it might not have been as good as their previous effort, Fits, White Denim’s May album D was certainly a solid effort. And if a new album wasn’t enough in 2011 from them, they’re gearing up to release a new EP via Downtown Records on October 25th, this one entitled Your Work Space. The Austin, TX foursome are masters at progressive, noisy jams, and they have never been afraid to put out a lot of music, trying out different textures and styles with each different release. Not everything works, and sometimes it comes out as uneven or unfocused, but more often than not it does work. And when it works, it’s fantastic.

Along with the announcement of the EP comes a slew of tour dates through the end of November, none of which has the band hitting Rochester, or Buffalo, or Syracuse. The closest they’re coming is Pittsburgh, on a Friday, so that might be do-able. We’ll have to see. In the meantime, to tide you and I over until the EP’s release, the band is giving away a track from it. It’s called “Hot Thought” and it’s an tune T-Pain would be proud of, once again proving that White Denim does whatever the hell they want. You can grab it below.

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White Denim // Hot Thought [mp3] from the forthcoming Your Work Space

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[mp3] New Releases // May 24

Written on May 24, 2011 by Dave in Music, New Releases

the record store [mp3] New Releases // May 24

This week marks a very solid slate of releases for what should continue to be an excellent few months of new music this summer. Released a day earlier than everyone else for who knows what reason, Lady GaGa has another effort for you to (possibly) waste your money on. Then there is a new record from She Wants Revenge. In response to this news I ask: what is all of our revenge for this being perpetrated upon the world?

In slightly less terrible news there is a new David Bazan release, the greatly (by some) anticipated Foster The People debut, and what promises to be an enjoyable summer jam in the new Friendly Fires record. There’s also new White Denim this week along with that Darwin Deez record from a few years back that is only just now getting wide release. If we’ve left anything out or you want to take me to task for my highly opinionated ramblings, take to the comments. I must away!

David Bazan // Strange Negotiations
Art Brut // Brilliant! Tragic!
Darwin Deez // Darwin Deez
Foster the People // Torches
Friendly Fires // Pala
Lady Gaga // Born This Way
Thurston Moore // Demolished Thoughts
She Wants Revenge // Valleyheart
White Denim // D

[mp3] Friendly Fires // Blue Cassette

[mp3] Foster The People // Pumped Up Kicks

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[mp3] White Denim // Jay Time (Hard Stuff Cover)

Written on May 18, 2011 by Andy in Cover, Music

This cover is about ten days old at this point, so you may have already seen it kicking around at other blogs. I must admit that I saw it elsewhere, thought to grab it, but then forgot, so it languished in the recesses of my brain for a bit before I remembered to download it.

White Denim’s new album D will be released next week, and it’s easily my second most anticipated of 2011 to this point (Fleet Foxes taking the first spot). The band has released a couple of tracks from it already, and then they put out this cover of a 1972 funk-jam from British rockers Hard Stuff after recording it at their friend’s studio in Austin. Here’s the band’s description why they chose this track:

When deciding what we should record, we collectively turned toward things that we have recently noticed. Recently we have noticed that many of the behind the scenes type folks that handle the genrefication of musics before they are consumed by consumers, have added the descriptor “jamband” next to other terms that have been applied to our work in the past. A few examples of past descriptors employed by entertainment industry flavormakers when describing our group include: spazz, jazz, alternative, country, psychedelic, bluesjazz, pop, garage, exercise, post rock, and party. In order to fully integrate this new externally applied genre with the existing White Denim aesthetic, we thought it necessary to record not only a cover, but a cover that doubles as a vaguely funky vamp. With this recording we hope to accomplish three things.

We hope that you will
1. listen to the record titled ‘Bulletproof’ by the 1970’s English band Hard Stuff.
2. listen to this podcast. http://sonicdaydream.blogspot.com/2008/04/hard-stuff-1.html
3. have kind of a slightly minorly but mostly harshed buzz from listening to this jam.

I’ll leave it at that.

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White Denim // Jay Time (Hard Stuff Cover) [mp3]

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