VIDEO: Animal Collective - Brothersport

Easily one of my favorite tracks off of MPPnnnkjnsfvkjnalrgjnsjc ajksngrngkjsz g - exactly.

DIGI DREAMS' BEST ALBUMS OF 2009: PART TWO

Our list for the top 10 albums of 2009 was carefully constructed and negotiated by myself and Tony. We were blown away by the incredible work of these albums from the first track to the last - not one note lazy or misused. It was incredibly difficult to decide a good working order. And this time we'll give you some reasons as to WHY we chose what we chose. Be sure to check out our own personal lists in the comments section after this post and feel free to give us your own opinions on what you thought was your fave album of 09.

TOP 20-11

Honorable Mentions:
Here We Go Magic - S/T
Cage - Depart From Me
Florence + The Machine - Lungs
Coalesce - OX
Rain Machine - S/T
Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
Mos Def - The Ecstatic

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10. jj - jj n° 2 [7/1 - Sincerely Yours]

jj captured my interest earlier this summer while the pavement was just starting to build up some steam. Their debut lp was like a Supersoaker 50 for the ears. - Evan

fave track :: from africa to málaga

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9. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - S/T [2/3 - Slumberland]

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart own a small piece of my soul, and this record is exactly why. -Tony

fave track :: Young Adult Friction

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8. The Love Language - S/T [2/10 - Bladen County]

I found The Love Language while spending a cold night in November of 2008 searching for new music to feed on. Their music carried this fresh and vibrant aura of not-so-lo-fi love. - Evan

fave track :: Sparxxx

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7. Do Make Say Think - Other Truths [10/21 - Constellation Records]

Four songs. Forty minutes. Each song feels like a new season and without any singer or lyrics, this record made me feel something new as each song built and progressed into their beautiful endings. -Tony

fave track :: Do

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6. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns [6/4 - Astralwerks]

Natasha Khan's sophmore effort opens with her soft voice caressing the morning dew of a subway until you're taken away from the busy bustle by tribal drums from a far away land. A gorgeous album overall. - Evan

fave track :: Glass

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5. Beirut/Realpeople - March Of The Zapotec/Holland EP [2/17 - Ba Da Bing Records]

Two EPs with two completely different feels. Zach Condon topped himself with this collection of songs. He has a 19 piece band (The Jiminez Band) backing him throughout March Of The Zapotec, and Holland is credited to Realpeople, his early musical moniker. Such a diverse and carefully crafted sound...it's amazing that he is only 23 years old. -Tony

fave track :: Beirut - The Shrew
fave track :: Real People - My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille

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4. Why? - Eskimo Snow [9/22 - Anticon]

Always very lyrically entertaining, Why? really went out on a limb with Eskimo Snow, as it is his least hip-hop oriented work to date...and he somehow perfectly brought it all together and still maintained his personality throughout the record. -Tony

fave track :: Berkeley By Hearseback

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3. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest [5/26 - Warp]

Easily one of the most anticipated albums of 2009, Veckatimest stands out with it's flawless tracklist and it's impeccable knack for capturing every mood. - Evan

fave track :: Ready, Able

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2. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix [5/26 - V2/Loyauté]
When they wrote this record, do you think they knew that they annihilated (almost) everything else that would be released in 2009? Such a pristine collection of songs. If you don't own this record, you need to buy it. Now. -Tony

fave track :: Lisztomania

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1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion [1/20 - Domino]

I totally called it. 2009 would be Animal Collective's year with the anticipated and loved Merriweather Post Pavilion. The first time I listened to this album, my heart was pounding with excitement while the first track ["In The Flowers"] made MPP bloom into a colorful and perfect welcome to this year. -Evan

fave tracks :: My Girls , Brothersport

SATURDAY IN VIDS: Ani Co // Monsters Of Folk // Rain Machine // Real Estate

Ani Co really "gets" their audience. Does the audience get them? I'm not really sure. Check out their new video for MWPP's opening track "In Flowers" directed by Avey Tare's sister.



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Check out Monsters Of Folk's dusty western video for "Say Please"



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"Give Blood" introduced us to Kyp Malone's Rain Machine a few months ago and opened his debut LP with a groove that pulled us right in. Check out the beard video below which feature's some people he found under the bed, paper mache elephants and dancing colorful things...

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Real Estate performed live and the dudes from Chocolate Bobka captured it all for P4K's Tunnelvision series.

MP3: Phoenix - Love Like A Sunset [Animal Collective Remix!]

So what do you get when a group that probably released this years best album remix another group that probably released this years best album? An explosion? Total blog implosion? Probably yes. And yes.

MP3 :: Phoenix - Love Like A Sunset [Animal Collective Remix]

[MP3 via Stereogum]

LOLLA RECAP: Day 2

Day 2 of Lollapalooza started a little bit earlier for us than it did the day before. Luckily, the sun was on our side and it dried up all the rain. We kicked the day off with Miike Snow @ the vitamin water stage @ 1:30 pm. I've been a fan of Miike Snow for quite some time with the release of their self titled debut LP. They started the set wearing all black - pants, long sleeve shirts and probably shoes as well. They also sported white masks until the start of the second song. All in all it was a solid set along with the lead singers solid beard. I have some competition when the winter rolls around [I go beardless in the summer.]

[view from my camera phone]

After Miike Snow I headed over to catch some of Ida Maria's set. I'll have to admit, I've never listened to her stuff before this show, but I've heard a good amount of hype and there was no one else I had planned to see in that time slot. She definitely impressed with her energy, her open shirt and her Joplin-esque snarls and growls.

Next up on my own personal schedule was Chairlift. Honestly, I like them better on record than live. Or maybe Lolla just wasn't the right venue for their slow, shoe-gazing and dreamy indie rock. My question still remains though, were her "tattoos" real of just drawn on?


I stuck around the Vitamin Water stage and hung out to watch No Age which didn't really do much for me until I decided it was time to venture over to Santigold. I sooner found out that waiting until she went on was a mistake because the crowd going to see her created a bottleneck of epic proportions and I ended up calling it quits and got food instead. Missing out on Santigold gave me a really good spot for Lykke Li though. She jammed out all the favorites and was later joined by the Miike Snow frontman for a cover of Kings Of Leon's "Knocked Up."

I left Lykke Li a little early to get situated for Animal Collective. I generally like most of they do on record and anticipated a whirly, fun and energetic live set but was soon left yawning and bored out of my mind. Basically, they played 4 songs - amazing songs on album - but those 4 songs took up their hour long set because they apparently love to do long jam sessions. "Brother Sport" did make me join the sing along though. So they weren't a complete fail.

After Ani Co, we were exhausted. I had no real intention or interest in seeing either of that days headliners so we decided to take a seat near the famous Buckingham Fountain. Sunday will soon prove to be a banger.

[Saturday In Videos - 4th Of July Edition!]

As you read this I'm probably lounging in Long Beach, NY with my BFF's. Got the fireworks, tambourines and drinks ready to go for when the night falls. Here are some vids from the past week + plus an oldide but a goodie. Enjoy! Have a wonderful 4th!!



MP3 :: Dirty Projectors - Stillness Is The Move

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MP3 :: Wavves - No Hope Kids

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MP3 :: Harlem Shakes - Strictly Game

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MP3 :: Animal Collective - Fireworks

[Saturday In Videos] Chairlift//Neko Case//Animal Collective//tosh.0

Chairlift gets hot and sweaty near the end. Let me in on that



MP3: Chairlift - Bruises

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Neko Case last night @ Conan



MP3: Neko Case - This Tornado Loves You

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New official video for AC's Summertime Clothes - looks like those weird sheet dancers are back at it again



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I've been watching tosh.0 lately. If you're not familiar with Daniel Tosh, just google some of his stand up comedy. It kills. His new show tosh.0 is actually really funny. Kind of like the TalkSoup of ridiculous viral internet videos. At the end of his tv show debut, he did an extreme internet challege. Watch it, laugh it, love it. tosh.0 is on Comedy Central every Thursday @ 10PM EST



Nek

[video] Animal Collective on The Late Show

If you read any of my tweets or saw my stat on Fbook last night, you know that I was watching The Late Show w/ David Letterman and patiently waiting for Animal Collective to come on and perform. I should have just waited for it to be on youtube because honestly, I thought it was sub par [for AC standards anyway]. What was with the dancers? No drums for Avey Tare? mreh.

Be sure to tune into Letterman on May 20th when his musical guest will be Grizzly Bear. Maybe they can top last years performance of "Two Weeks." It'll be tough. Stephen Colbert will also be showing up which I think is pretty fantastic. Colbert has a long history of hating bears [aka "godless killing machines."] Shred down? Threat down? We will see...

The Weekend Fundown [fun edition]

The [good] show sched this weekend is pretty scarce. But anyway...

Need something to do this weekend? Philly bound? Homeward bound? Get into it.

FRIDAY:
Papercuts w/ Jana Hunter @ Kungfu Necktie - 7:30 PM [get tix]
Mastodon @ The TLA - 8 PM
Phillies VS Braves @ 7:05 PM

SATURDAY:
Broadzilla @ Kungfu Necktie [linkage]
Phillies VS Braves @ 3:40 PM

SUNDAY:
The Crystal Method @ The TLA
Phillies VS Braves @ 12:35 PM

TUESDAY:
The Pomegranates @ Kungfu Necktie [get tix]
The Thermals [SOLD OUT]
Animal Collective [SOLD OUT]
Animal Collective After Party @ Kungfu Necktie [linkage]

Papercuts - Future Primative
The Pomegranates - Everybody, Come Outside

Heavy Rotations

So, I wanted to start this last month but by the time I thought of it, it was too late. 

Every month [starting with January] I will post a new installment of a thing called "Heavy Rotation." What is this Heavy Rotation junk? Well...we all have a select few albums that we are currently spinning on our record players or cd players or iPods. Every month myself and the rest of the crew will pick our 6 fave records for the past month and post them here and keep them on the side bar under "Heavy Rotation." 

So keep checking back on the first of every month to see what's been spinning the previous month.

Here's what I've been listening to:

Why? and Animal Collective have been in the Heavy Rotation for a while. I still cannot stop listening to either of them. Perfect for the mood and atmosphere of which I am in. 

The Appleseed Cast are old school emo fave who will be releasing a NEW album on February 17th entitled Sagamartha. If you want to hear a few streaming songs from the upcoming album, check out their Myspace page. If you have never heard of The Appleseed cast, I highly recommend Two Conversations [pictured above]

I know you're all looking at the Beirut CD thinking, how the fuck can you be listening to that when it doesn't come out for a few weeks? Answer: I got my sources. The new double EP from Zach Condon's Beirut and his former moniker RealPeople are fantastic. March Of The Zapotec [under his Beirut name] is full of droney horns, pounding drums and swooning vocals that convey a depressing mexican funeral but at the same time can trigger you to dance a waltz. His RealPeople EP, Holland, is a continuation of his former music taste which is more electronic than Beirut has been. Image Zach writing songs like Scenic World [from Gulag Orkestar] and making them about 3 minutes longer. Here they are. And they're beautiful. 

I just started listening to Vampire Weekend again since the summer. So I've been Vampire Weekend-less for a while now. I'm kind of glad I did that, too. Because now it reminds me of summer and how I can not wait for it. If you need to get out of these winter blues clues...Spin this album.

I posted about The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart not too long ago. I really like them.

Ok. Gotta do some homework now

AC shows + other

I promise this is the last time I post about Animal Collective. I know it's getting a little tired on the music blog scene.

AC have released a schedule of 24 show dates for this year.

Check em out here courtesy of SPIN Mag:
Animal Collective tour dates:
1/20, New York, NY (Grand Ballroom)
1/21, New York, NY (Bowery Ballroom)
1/22, Chicago, IL (Metro)
1/23, Los Angeles, CA (Henry Fonda Theatre)
1/24, Los Angeles, CA (Troubadour)
5/11, Washington, DC (9:30 Club)
5/12, Philadelphia, PA (Electric Factory)
5/13, New York, NY (Terminal 5)
5/14, Boston, MA (House of Blues)
5/15, Montreal, Quebec (Metropolis)
5/16, Toronto, Ontario (Sound Academy)
5/18, Royal Oak, MI (Royal Oak Music Hall)
5/19, Milwaukee, WI (Turner Hall Ballroom)
5/20, Minneapolis, MN (First Avenue)
5/24, Vancouver, British Columbia (Commodore Ballroom)
5/25, Portland, OR (Roseland Theater)
5/26, Oakland, CA (Fox Theatre)
5/27, Big Sur, CA (Henry Miller Memorial Library)
5/29, Los Angeles, CA (Wiltern)
5/30, Las Vegas, NV (House of Blues)
5/31, Tucson, AZ (Rialto Theater)
6/1, Albuquerque, MN (Sunshine Theater)
6/2, Boulder, CO (Boulder Theatre)
6/4, Dallas, TX (House of Blues)
6/5, Austin, TX (Stubbs)
6/6, Oxford, MS (The Library)
6/8, St. Petersburg, FL (State Theatre)
6/9, Fort Lauderdale, FL (Culture Room)
6/10, Orlando, FL (Club Firestone)
9/12, Monticello, NY (All Tomorrow's Parties)

As you may have noticed, I high-lighted the one I want to see. It's $20. Hopefully it doesn't sell out. HAHA fat chance.

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In other news: No Doubt are back on tour? New album in the works?

"No Doubt recently announced that they'd be playing live shows soon, including an appearance at the Bamboozle Festival. Today they confirmed that their tour, the band's first in five years, would begin in May and would hit outdoor amphitheaters and arenas nationwide. What's more, pop-punk heroes Paramore will open all dates."

"After a lengthy hiatus -- and, you know, a few solo albums and a new baby from frontwoman Gwen Stefani -- Anaheim, CA, rock and ska quartet No Doubt will return in 2009 with a new album and supporting tour, beginning with a just-announced headlining performance at East Rutherford, NJ's Bamboozle Festival May 2-3. "It's time for some rock'n'roll," bassist Tony Kanal wrote to the band's official website. [Via MTV.com]

As for the new album: "If we go on tour, it will inspire us to write," Stefani wrote. "I need to see the fans out there." Guitarist Tom Dumont agrees and thinks the band could write the follow-up to 2001's Rock Steady while on the road. And Kanal is certainly on board as well. "I think playing some shows will make the studio time even better," the bassist wrote. "Playing shows, writing songs, kicking ass, ND 2009."" 

--read full article @ SPIN.com

Merriweather Post Pavilion review

Merriweather Post Pavilion was released today as a vinyl.

Animal Collective's 9th studio album entitled "Merriweather Post Pavilion" [the name of a venue in Maryland built by Frank Gehry] is introduced to us with the familiar sounds of avant-garde digital noise that we're used to when we listen to them. It brings this tension with it which fits the mood perfectly since we've all been waiting to listen to it for a while. It's tedious and quiet and pokes at our patience. Just as we're about to lose it, it's as if they read our minds. At the 2:30 mark, they release. Release isn't the right word. Neither is explode. Maybe nuclear destroy? We are raised up high and we are dancing. At the end of 'In The Flowers', we are ready for the rest of the adventure.

The album continues on a high point for a few songs. One of my favorites 'My Girls' is sure to be a 2009 blog favorite with the proud husband's admittance that all he wants is for his girls to have a proper house. Avey Tare (David Portner) and Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) harmonize with each other beautifully. "I don't mean to seem like I care about material things like a social status/I just want four walls and adobe slabs/for my girls."

Other stand out tracks like 'Summertime Clothes', 'Guys Eyes', 'Lion In A Coma' and 'Brothersport' are full of body-throbbing beats covered with ambient Beatles-esque vocals courtesy of Noah Lennox [aka Panda Bear.] I'd say the latter would be more reminiscent of Rhythm Of The Saints era Paul Simon, but not in a Vampire Weekend kind of way. However, comparing them to anyone else other than themselves is kind of silly.

A lot of the album is very toned down as compared to their earlier 2007 effort "Strawberry Jam" and they have certainly matured since "Feels." With this release, Animal Collective have shown us that they can make an incredible, boundary-pushing album while still being [more or less] accessible.

Overall, there is really not one song on 'Merriweather Post Pavilion' that I do not enjoy and it will be on heavy rotation over the year. Well done.

[for the record - I'm calling that this album will be at the top of many lists towards the end of the year]

Stand out tracks:
MP3: Animal Collective - In The Flowers
MP3: Animal Collective - My Girls
MP3: Animal Collective - Guys Eyes
MP3: Animal Collective - Brothersport

[buy @ Insound]

Spin Mag AC review + Matt & Kim Hype

Spin Magazine gave 4/5 stars to Animal Collective's newest effort "Merriweather Post Pavilion." The review is pretty dead on I'd say. And I'm not really a big fan of Spin. Look for my own review of this album to come soon. It's been on repeat ever since I received it and I'm just making sure I got it down pat. If you have already heard it I'm sure you can see where I'm coming from. All I'm saying is... top 10 of 2009. Booyah. [read Spin's review: here]

In other news:
















Matt & Kim [of Brooklyn dance-punk fame] will be releasing a sophomore album entitled The Grand the same day that AC's MPP comes out. I'm psyched for this. The first time I heard their self-titled album all I wanted to do was get wild. No album I heard from 2008 really let me do that.

Never heard of Matt & Kim?
MP3: Matt & Kim - No More Long Years
MP3: Matt & Kim - Yea Yeah

[2009 tour dates via: Brooklyn Vegan]