well your dreams will become part of the future

Justin Vernon - Hazelton
For those who don't know, Justin Vernon is also known as Bon Iver. Yet another beautiful song from this wonderfully talented man. The Antlers should do a collaboration with him, i think it would turn out just sweet. Is this song about killing someone and regretting?

Shearwater - Castaways
Pretty impressive song, but I find the previous stuff better, as the orchestration kinda drowns out Meiburg's vocals, but good nonetheless. However, it remains to be seen what would the new album "The Golden Archipelago" would be like.

This was said of the album "'The Golden Archipelago' is the third album in a triptych of mindblowingly beautiful, dense and ambitious excursions about man’s impact on the natural world from Austin’s SHEARWATER.

This time singer-songwriter Jonathan Meiburg turns his attention to life on islands – a world of lushness and austerity, silence and sudden cataclysms. From rising sea levels to displaced populations, Meiburg travels from the Falklands to Madgascar, from the Bikini Atoll to the Tierra Del Fuego."

Check out the free download of this song here.

Fanfarlo - Harold T. Wilkins
An absolute joy to listen to.

THIS MONTH: Music of 2010

It's been a long road, 2009 was a bumper year for music, with so many fantastic albums being churned out by bands, but I won't be going into that. There will be more of that in the month to come, as I might be reviewing albums and songs of this year. That said, I'll be discussing releases for next year, whether some bands are going to live up to their billing, what we could be looking forward to etc.

Here's a couple I'm looking forward to.



Vampire Weekend - Contra (12 Jan)

First up, there's New York indie rockers Vampire Weekend with sophomore effort "Contra". Their much fancied self-titled debut album received rave reviews, and stand out tracks included Oxford Comma and A-Punk. This is what some people said,

Rolling Stone: On their debut, Vampire Weekend mostly earn points the old-fashioned way: by writing likable songs you'll be glad to revisit next month.

The Guardian: Behind the penny loafers and songs about commas, there's a bold band that can balance dextrous originality with an innate pop sensibility.

Boston Globe: At its best, Vampire Weekend takes the exceedingly familiar template of indie rock and invigorates it with a chiming guitar sound that suggests the band has been spending its downtime browsing afropop.org.

Personally, I quite liked the fresh and preppy feel, and it was injected with so much fun. And with Horchata, also available as a free download at their official site, their sophomore effort is really one to look out for.




Beach House - Teen Dream (25 Jan)

Victoria Legrand (fresh off her collaboration with Grizzly Bear on Slow Life, off the soundtrack of Twilight: New Moon) and Alex Scally present to us "Teen Dream". Also included is the single Used To Be released in Oct 2008 and the leaked track Norway that has gotten many raving about their third outing. And I take back what I said previously "I don't actually always pick out their songs to particularly listen to". They're nearly on constant rotation right now. Peachy!

Beach House Norway



OK go - Of the Blue Colour of the Sky (12 Jan)
OK go of Here It Goes Again fame (remember the treadmill video?), is back with a new album titled "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky", taken from the book The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and of the Blue Color of the Sky, about how illness can be cured by blue light.

OK go - Skyscrapers


Spoon - Transference (19 Jan)
How exciting is this, Spoon's new album after their 2007 awesome release "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga". I'm pretty ooshed just thinking about their new album.

Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring (26 Jan)
Los Campesinos! - There Are Listed Buildings

Lifehouse - Smoke and Mirrors (2 Feb)
Lifehouse - Halfway Gone

Hot Chip - One Life Stand (8 Feb)
With dancefloor hits Ready For The Floor and One Pure Thought, the slow groove Over and Over, I'm all set for "One Life Stand".
Hot Chip - Alley Cats (Live)

Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago (End Feb)

Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks (Early Mar)

A few others, such as "Congratulations" by MGMT, un-named albums by Secondhand Serenade, Panic! At The Disco and a couple more, are to be released in first quarter of 2010.


Note: I apologise for the sloppy post, been a bit busy with stuff.

Shearwater - The Snow Leopard
hauntingly beautiful introduction to the song, credits to Jonathan Meiburg who provides the vocals. it makes you feel empty yet full? i could just lie back and let this song wash over me, like the incoming tide rushing upon the beach and receding gently.

the way is to climb
the way is to lie still
and let the moon do its work on your body

Shearwater - Leviathan, Bound
yet another emotive song, it seems as if the melodies are reaching into the crevices of your body, resonating very gently through you.

it's really hard to describe their kind of sound (once you listen you'll find that it is pretty much different) and my words may not do justice to their songs. so it's best if you listen to the songs for yourself. an awesome band with a good outing at experimenting with a unique but wonderful sound that grows on you the more you listen to them.