Panic in Babylon - BJM

BEST of 2011

The Best Records of 2011 / The Portable Infinite

by Alexander Laurence

1. Tom Waits "Bad As Me"

2. M83 "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming"

3. Washed Out "Within & Without"

4. Tune-Yards "Who Kill"

5. Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues"

6. Wire "Red Barked Tree" > INTERVIEW

7. Laura Marling "A Creature I Don't Know"

8. Cut Copy "Zonoscope"

9. Zola Jesus "Conatus"

10. The Stepkids "The Stepkids"

WIRE

ZOLA JESUS

11. Summer Camp "Welcome to Condale"

12. Smith Westerns "Dye It Blonde"

13. Lykke Li "Wounded Rhymes"

14. Toro Y Moi "Underneath The Pine"

15. Austra "Feel It Break"

16. HTRK "Work"

17. Kate Bush "50 Words for Snow"

18. Tinariwen "Tassili"

19. Prefuse 73 "The Only She Chapters"

20. TV on the Radio "Nine Types of Light"

SMITH WESTERNS

PREFUSE 73

21. James Blake "James Blake"

22. Alessi's Ark "Time Travel" > INTERVIEW

23. Yuck "Yuck"

24. Girls "Father, Son, Holy Ghost"

25. Keren Ann "101" > INTERVIEW

26. Cold Cave "Cherish the Light Years"

27. Wu Lyf "Go Tell Fire To The Mountain"

28. The Kills "Blood Pressures" > INTERVIEW

29. SCUM "Again into Eyes"

30. Caveman "Coco Beware"

JAMES BLAKE

YUCK

31. Spectrals "Bad Penny"

32. Class Actress "Rapprocher"

33. The Vaccines "What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

34. Prince Rama "Trust Now"

35. Unknown Mortal Orchestra "Unknown Mortal Orchestra"

36. Mastodon "The Hunter"

37. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart "Belong"

38. Jah Wobble & Julie Campbell "Psychic Life" > INTERVIEW

39. Still Corners "Creatures of an Hour"

40. Real Estate "Days"

PRINCE RAMA

UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA

41. The Black Keys "El Camino"

42. Booker T Jones "The Road From Memphis"

43. Dark Dark Dark "Wild Go"

44. Jessica Lea Mayfield "Tell Me"

45. The Horrors "Skying"

46. The Duke Spirit "Bruiser" > INTERVIEW

47. Noah and The Whale "Last Night on Earth"

48. EMA "Past Life Martyred Saints"

49. Josh T. Pearson "Last of the Country Gentlemen"

50. Ringo Deathstarr "Colour Trip" > INTERVIEW

JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD

THE HORRORS

ALL PHOTOS by Angel Ceballos

Godard's "Weekend" @ Cinefamily

Godard's "WEEKEND" (brand new 35mm print!) Thursday, January 5th - Wednesday, January 11th! SCREENING SCHEDULE: Thursday, January 5th: 5:15pm, 7:45pm, 10:15pm Friday, January 6th: 4:30pm, 7:00pm, 9:30pm Saturday, January 7th: 7:45pm, 10:15pm Sunday, January 8th: 2:45pm, 5:15pm, 7:45pm, 10:15pm Monday, January 9th: 5:15pm, 7:45pm, 10:15pm Tuesday, January 10th: 5:15pm, 7:45pm, 10:15pm Wednesday, January 11th: 5:15pm, 7:45pm, 10:15pm All Tickets - $10 / free for Cinefamily members “A great, original work…Weekend is Godard’s vision of Hell, and it ranks with the greatest.” —Pauline Kael, The New Yorker Jean-Luc Godard’s scathing late-’60s satire is one of cinema’s great anarchic works, and is a flawless document capturing the revolutionary resolve of the era. Determined to collect an inheritance from a dying relative, a petit-bourgeois couple travel across the French countryside on “a weekend road trip that becomes a plunge into the last throes of consumerist society as it destroys itself in auto wrecks and disappears into the stewpots of cannibalistic revolutionaries.” (Gene Siskel Film Center) Featuring a justly famous centerpiece single-take sequence of an endless traffic jam, Weekend is a surreally funny, beautifully shot and deeply disturbing expression of social oblivion that ended the first phase of Godard’s long and storied career — and, according to the credits, cinema itself. Presented in a brand-new 35mm print! Watch the trailer for "Weekend"!

Gavin Friday "Catholic"

GAVIN FRIDAY

“One of the most gorgeously dark song cycles in years.” — Oology “Friday himself remains as fearless and engaging a performer as ever.” — The Irish Examiner Gavin Friday Demonstrates Universal Appeal with the Release of catholic ✝ Inspired Performances with Sinead O’Connor ✝ U2 Cover Glory ✝ “Lord I’m Coming” Featured on the Soundtrack for the New Sean Penn Flick When whispers began to circulate that legendary Irish troubadour Gavin Friday would be releasing a new album entitled catholic during the summer of 2011, it came as no surprise that critics and loyal fans alike perked up their ears in anticipation of what was sure to be a momentous occasion. Not surprisingly, Friday’s first album in 16 years did not disappoint. Interestingly, rather than slowing down, catholic seems to be building up a brand new head of steam (and buzz) as Friday finds himself chugging into the cooler months of a winter tour in support of what Oology is calling “one of the most gorgeously dark song cycles…in years,” and ranking the album #12 on their Top Indie/Alternative Albums of 2011. It doesn’t hurt that he’s recently contributed a glorious reimagining of “The Fly” to Q Magazine’s Ahk-toong-Bay-bi Covered, which features icons like Friday alongside Patti Smith, Jack White, and Depeche Mode—all celebrating Bono’s 20th anniversary re-release of the pivotal Achtung Baby. In addition, Friday’s recent jaw-dropping live performances with special guest Sinead O’Connor have prompted a bevy of high praise, inciting The Irish Examiner to say “[Friday and O’Connor are] two fierce spirits…their performance is mesmerizing…Friday himself remains as fearless and engaging a performer as ever.” Finally, given the ex-Virgin Prunes leader’s rich history composing for major motion pictures (previously scoring soundtracks for films like The Boxer and Get Rich or Die Tryin’) it seems apt that the hit single “Lord I’m Coming” is being featured in the opening and closing credits of a new Paulo Sorrentino film, This Must Be The Place, which stars Sean Penn and boasts a soundtrack including songs from Friday, the indisputable genius David Byrne, and punk’s own godfather Iggy Pop, among others. GAVIN FRIDAY - catholic - on iTunes GAVIN FRIDAY - catholic - on Amazon VISIT GAVIN FRIDAY AT:OFFICIAL WEBSITE FACEBOOK TWITTER YOU TUBE VIMEO

Marissa Nadler "In Your Lair, Bear"

Marissa Nadler Premieres Self-Produced Video for
"In Your Lair, Bear" with SPIN

"dreamy, melancholy and utterly captivating" - NPR World Cafe

"[Marissa Nadler] isn't the work of an artist who discovered what she wants to sound like;

it's the work of an artist who's just discovering what she's capable of. "

- Pitchfork's Albums of the Year: Honorable Mention

Watch "In Your Lair, Bear" at the SPIN premiere or at YouTube

Download her covers of "Learning to Fly" & "Motel Blues" feat. Carter Tanton

Boston-based dream-folk artist Marissa Nadler has debuted a brand new video for "In Your Lair, Bear," the first track off her critically acclaimed self-titled full-length, that Pitchfork awarded with an "Albums of the Year: Honorable Mention" and was featured in American Songwriter, WXPN, and Drowned In Sound 's favorite albums of the year lists. Marissa produced the video alongside Alec K. Refearn, who also directed it. Shot in her Massachusetts home, Nadler said "This is a video to encapsulate the themes that are lyrically portrayed in the song." Nadler is now putting the finishing touches on a followup EP to her s/t release due out in 2012, and will perform a one-off show in San Francisco and a NYE show at the Boston Public Library with Cass McCombs, Ida and Drew O'Doherty. More details about the forthcoming release to follow.

Nadler recently gave away two covers of Loudon Wainwright III's "Motel Blues" and Tom Petty's "Learning to Fly" from her Covers Volume II album available now at her Etsy shop. Covers Volume II follows her s/t album released earlier this year with her own Box of Cedar Records. After releasing several albums with Kemado (and having one of her songs inspire the name for vinyl start-up Mexican Summer), Nadler ventured out independently for this s/t album, which has been featured on NPR "World Cafe: Next," NPR First Listen, Vogue, KEXP, Pitchfork 'Overlooked Records of 2011' with an 8.1 album review, one of SPIN's "5 Best New Artists for June."

Marissa Nadler Live

12/8 - San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord w/ Emily Jane White
12/31 - Boston, MA - Boston Public Library-Rabb Hall
w/ Cass McCombs, Ida and Drew O'Doherty

Cate Le Bon: US Tour

Cate Le Bon announces 2012 headlining tour, premieres new video - "Fold The Cloth" with Paste Magazine, to live stream Daytrotter session today

VIDEO: "Fold The Cloth" -

http://vimeo.com/31334188

DAYTROTTER:

http://www.daytrotter.com/#!/concert/cate-le-bon/20055214-37382618

Cate Le Bon photographed by Piper Ferguson

A new force in song craft, Cate Le Bon currently resides in Cardiff's infamous French quarter and befitting a songwriter who only writes in the dark, her music is a heady and highly personal Gallic stew of equal parts Nico, Malkmus and the chronicler's own emotional observations on the impossibility of existence.

Disheartened by the constant stream of dead animals she found herself burying in her parents farm in Penboyr, West Wales, and inspired by her fathers impeccable record collection (The Velvets, Neil Young, Pavement et. al) Cate packed her things and begrudgingly set sail for the neon lights and ample rehearsal space available in her country's capital.

Following a string of club night shows in the city, Cate caught the attention of Super Furry Animals front man Gruff Rhys who over a cigar and a glass of brandy offered her some support slots with his band. Cate continued to gig extensively in the UK releasing singles and a Welsh language EP (Edrych Yn Llygaid Ceffyl Benthyg) on the Indie Record label Peski.

Knowing that there's never too much of a good thing, Rhys roped Cate into his hip hop exchange program Neon Neon. What began as a guest vocal appearance on their debut single, "I Lust You," resulted in a year of touring the world as part of their band.

During a month's break from the road, with her confidence and enthusiasm doubled, Cate retired to Y Gerlan in the mountains of North Wales for a prophetic 10 day recording session which resulted in the release of her debut full length album Me Oh My to rapturous critical acclaim. On the back of the album's US release in April 2010, Cate completed a two month tour stretching from SXSW in Texas to Café Hotel in Los Angeles, sending postcards from Boston, Buffalo, San Francisco and New York along the way.

Like a dutiful daughter Cate returned for the British festival season, seeing out the summer at Glastonbury, The Great Escape and Field Day to name a few, and snatching free time between performances to write new material in her North Walian bolthole.

At the dawn of 2011, Cate re-entered the studio to start work on a new record of her own. Drawing on her experiences of the last year, Cate has created collection of pop nuggets that sound like they've fallen off the back of a broken carousel, imbued with the playfulness of Faust and Syd Barrett and the tropical melodies of Os Mutantes. Existential word play abounds and fuzz fused guitar lines tear through like an angry bee in a CAN on CYRK, which is due in the US via The Control Group label in early 2012. "Puts Me To Work" is the first single from that record.

CATE LE BON

02/08 - Cambridge, MA @ TT The Bear's

02/09 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge

02/10 - Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's

02/11 - Philadelphia, PA @ Kungfu Necktie

02/12 - Washington, DC @ DC9

02/14 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas

02/16 - Madison, WI @ The Frequency

02/22 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile

02/23 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios

02/26 - Santa Monica, CA @ McCabe's Guitar Shop

02/27 - Los Angeles, CA @ Bardot Hollywood (School Night)

Mark Stewart + The Pop Group

MARK STEWART ‘Nothing is Sacred’

Free Download on December 2nd, 2011

Check out the Video Here!

“Mark Stewart has led the attack on conformist reality. Mark is a constant inspiration and a true Thief of Fire.”
- Primal Scream

“Its so cool that he did that, I loved it. I could not believe that he was singing, when I heard him open up at the start I thought that its the best thing ever. Its crazy to get to play with one of my heroes, I kinda can’t believe it”.
- St. Vincent

“The paradox of choice
Priceless Souls
In a neon wasteland...

Bankrupt ideologies
Litter the dealing rooms floors” – Mark Stewart

Mark Stewart (The Pop Group) makes an apocalyptic return amidst an increasingly agitated atmosphere. On December 2^nd, Mark will release “Nothing Is Sacred” as a free download. The track is a damning indictment of greed in a year riddled by riots, revolutions, occupations and increasing collapse of the global financial system. A collaboration with Crass vocalist Eve Libertine, German electro monsters Slope and Dan Catsis from the Pop Group on bass “Nothing Is Sacred”’s howling funk-rock and unyielding political attack evolved from the sessions for Mark’s forthcoming album, and is the now-deleted AA of his limited 7” cover of the T.Rex classic “Children of the Revolution”.

“Nothing Is Sacred” is available as a free download from www.markstewartmusic.com
on 2^nd December 2011.
www.facebook.com/markstewartmusic
www.twitter.com/_markstewart
www.livestream.com/globalrevolution

Mark Stewart full-length out SPRING 2012

Best Records of 2011

The Best Records of 2011 / The Portable Infinite

by Alexander Laurence

1. Tom Waits "Bad As Me"

2. M83 "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming"

3. Washed Out "Within & Without"

4. Tune-Yards "Who Kill"

5. Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues"

6. Wire "Red Barked Tree" > INTERVIEW

7. Laura Marling "A Creature I Don't Know"

8. Cut Copy "Zonoscope"

9. Zola Jesus "Conatus"

10. The Stepkids "The Stepkids"

WIRE

ZOLA JESUS

11. Summer Camp "Welcome to Condale"

12. Smith Westerns "Dye It Blonde"

13. Lykke Li "Wounded Rhymes"

14. Toro Y Moi "Underneath The Pine"

15. Austra "Feel It Break"

16. HTRK "Work"

17. Kate Bush "50 Words for Snow"

18. Tinariwen "Tassili"

19. Prefuse 73 "The Only She Chapters"

20. TV on the Radio "Nine Types of Light"

SMITH WESTERNS

PREFUSE 73

21. James Blake "James Blake"

22. Alessi's Ark "Time Travel" > INTERVIEW

23. Yuck "Yuck"

24. Girls "Father, Son, Holy Ghost"

25. Keren Ann "101" > INTERVIEW

26. Cold Cave "Cherish the Light Years"

27. Wu Lyf "Go Tell Fire To The Mountain"

28. The Kills "Blood Pressures" > INTERVIEW

29. SCUM "Again into Eyes"

30. Caveman "Coco Beware"

JAMES BLAKE

YUCK

31. Spectrals "Bad Penny"

32. Class Actress "Rapprocher"

33. The Vaccines "What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

34. Prince Rama "Trust Now"

35. Unknown Mortal Orchestra "Unknown Mortal Orchestra"

36. Mastodon "The Hunter"

37. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart "Belong"

38. Jah Wobble & Julie Campbell "Psychic Life" > INTERVIEW

39. Still Corners "Creatures of an Hour"

40. Real Estate "Days"

PRINCE RAMA

UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA

41. The Black Keys "El Camino"

42. Booker T Jones "The Road From Memphis"

43. Dark Dark Dark "Wild Go"

44. Jessica Lea Mayfield "Tell Me"

45. The Horrors "Skying"

46. The Duke Spirit "Bruiser" > INTERVIEW

47. Noah and The Whale "Last Night on Earth"

48. EMA "Past Life Martyred Saints"

49. Josh T. Pearson "Last of the Country Gentlemen"

50. Ringo Deathstarr "Colour Trip" > INTERVIEW

JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD

THE HORRORS

ALL PHOTOS by Angel Ceballos

Little Dragon "Cocaine"

FACT MAG DROPS LITTLE DRAGON REMIX OF "COCAINE" BY THE INTERNET

(SYD THE KYD & MATT MARTIANS)

PURPLE NAKED LADIES DUE DEC 20 DIGITALLY, JAN 31 PHYSICALLY

PURCHASE THE COCAINE EP FEAT. "THEY SAY", "LOVE SONG -1" AND "COCAINE" NOW

After the recent release of the Cocaine EP featuring their track of the same name, The Internet is ready to share Swedish pop titans Little Dragon's remix of "Cocaine". Grab the track below from Fact Magazine or download via Soundcloud:

http://www.factmag.com/2011/11/30/the-internet-cocaine-little-dragon-remix/

http://soundcloud.com/wegetpress/cocaine-little-dragon-k-kejn

Odd Future's The Internet (Syd The Kyd & Matt Martians) will release their debut album Purple Naked Ladies featuring "Love Song -1", "They Say" and "Cocaine" on Odd Future Records digitally on December 20th. The physical version featuring 3 bonus tracks and exclusive art and packaging will be in stores Jan 17th. Digital release tracklisting below.

THE INTERNET

PURPLE NAKED LADIES

(ODD FUTURE RECORDS)

DEC. 20, 2011 (Digital)

1. Violet Nude Women

2. They Say/Shangrila (ft. Tay Walker)

3. She Dgaf

4. C*nt

5. Cocaine/Tevie (ft. Left Brain)

6. Ode to a Dream (ft Kilo Kish & Coco O.)

7. Gurl (ft. Pyramid Vritra).

8. Love Song -1

9. Lincoln (ft. Mike G & Left Brain)

10. Web of Me

11. She Knows

12. Fastlane

13. Visions (ft. Coco O.)

14. The Garden

VIDEO: "Cocaine" - http://oddfuture.tumblr.com/day/2011/10/31

MP3: "Love Song -1" - http://soundcloud.com/wegetpress/the-internet-love-song-1

MP3: "They Say" - http://soundcloud.com/wegetpress/the-internet-they-say

Black Bananas "Rad Times"

Hear the first single from Black Bananas debut LP

MP3: "Rad Times" -
http://www.dragcity.com/system/tracks/downloads/5180/original/1-07_Rad_Times.mp3

STREAM: Black Bananas & Kurt Vile - "Before They Make Me Run" -

http://bit.ly/tyurAS

Black Bananas

RTX are splitting into Black Bananas!!! The fruit is ripe and the bread will be FRESH.

After three albums under the name RTX, Jennifer Herrema and her bunch decided to flip the script, to kick open the doors of perception a little bit . See, RTX was not Royal Trux, not a metal band, not a 70's bar band and not a toxic substance; RTX was something, all of those things and none of them and way more, including Black Bananas bubbling in a witchy cauldron of their own herbaceousbrew. The title of a song on their RaTX album detailed a bit of the recipe, taking elements often tossed aside or thrown all the way out and combining them into something new and worthwhile...a new strain of the almighty green - to feed and elevate the hungry ones.

"I'm your garbage collector

I'll turn your trash to gold

What you cast off is what I hold,

End loafs of bread, black bananas and broken crackers

Scratched records, too dark pictures and torn jeans

All the shit that rips at the seams"

Josh T. Pearson "O Holy Night"

JOSH T. PEARSON RECORDS “O HOLY NIGHT”

FREE DOWNLOAD

Josh T. Pearson concludes an incredible year by receiving “Album of the Year” by the famous UK record store, Rough Trade, for the deeply affecting Last Of The Country Gentlemen. As a thank you, Pearson has recorded a special version of “O Holy Night”, it was recorded live to tape by Grammy winning Liam Watson at the legendary ToeRag Studios in Hackney, East London one dark October afternoon. Listen and download the track HERE.

Pearson also recorded a new Mute Studio Session, playing “Drive Her Out”, just one of the songs from Last Of The Country Gentlemen he’s recorded on camera and live at the Mute studio. You can listen to that along with studio versions of “Woman When I’ve Raised Hell” and “Sorry With A Song” by visiting Josh T. Pearson’s official YouTube page – www.youtube.com/user/joshtpearson

UK Praise for Last Of The Country Gentlemen

“A stone cold masterpiece…” - 5/5 ‘Album of the Month’ Uncut

“Last of the country gentlemen explores the death of love and chases elusive ghosts

across sadness-slaked country laments. Intimate, beautiful starkly candid. It’s an exceptional, powerful record.” 4/5 – Mojo

"Not since Leonard Cohen has an artist emerged who can evoke such profound extremes of human emotion through the device of a simple musical performance." 5/5 The Times

“Pearson is a one of a kind artist and words can't describe how f**king good Last Of The Country Gentlemen is - heavy, beautiful and brilliant.” Mark Lanegan

“Josh T. Pearson is a rare talent. One of a kind. I've been a great admirer of his sublime work for almost ten years now. When Josh comes on the stereo, we all stop in our tracks and listen.” Daniel Kessler (Interpol)

joshtpearson.co.uk/

facebook.com/joshtpearson

twitter.com/joshtpearson