Best of 2009

2010 is just around the corner and I'm already getting excited about the music that's to come in the new year. As for music this year, I feel like there were a lot of great albums but not many that really grasped my attention for very long. My first choice was really easy but the other four were hard to rank. But I've re-listened to the ones I remember the most and the five that are posted are the ones that my ears seemed to like the most this year.

Number 1

Röyksopp - Junior, March 2009

Hands down, this was the best album of the year in my opinion. It was almost like a Scandinavian celebration album. With Lykke Li, Robyn, and Karin Dreijer Andersson (The Knife and Fever Ray) as vocalists for more than half of the songs on the album; I was very pleased and impressed. Even the songs without the vocals are amazing. "Röyksopp Forever" is an instrumental that is some kind of emotional and passionate electrorchestra. I'm not going to lie, I probably listened to "The Girl and The Robot" over 100 times this year. The bass is so intense, I imagine the whole world shaking every time I play it. This album makes love to my ears every single listen.

Röyksopp - The Girl and The Robot


Number 2

Vitalic - Flashmob, September 2009

Vitalic is classified as techno/trance but I would say Vitalic is just completely electronic. I feel like Vitalic put a lot of thought into the songs on Flashmob. Don't be discouraged by the description, the album isn't a complete dance fest. There are slow songs as well. This French artist has done a remarkable job of producing and creating his own music. Flashmob is an explosion of noise, i.e. beautiful noise.

Vitalic - Poison Lips


Number 3

La Roux - La Roux, June 2009

La Roux came out of England with some great 80s-inspired dance songs. I heard her first single, "In for the Kill", on Hype Machine. This song was followed up with "Bulletproof" and the album had a hold on me. "Colourless Colour" and "Tigerlily" are definitely my faves. One thing that really stands out on this album is the amazing lyrics. All the lyrics on this album are powerful, coherent and clear; an album well done.

La Roux - In For The Kill


Number 4

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, May 2009

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was a great, upbeat summer album. I remember taking a ridiculously intense summer course and listening to this entire album while studying in the library; it kept me from going completely insane. It was also a great road trip album. It had two major hits: "Lisztomania" and "1901." These were great but my favourites were "Rome" and "Love Like A Sunset Part I & II." It will always remind me of the summer of 2009.

Phoenix - Lisztomania


Number 5

Muse - The Resistance, September 2009

Even though The Resistance wasn't completely what I would have liked, it was still an album that was produced and thought-out well. This may sound strange but Muse has some kind of extra-terrestrial side to them that I've always liked. This album really exudes their out-of-this-world feature. The last three parts of "Exogenesis: Symphony" are amazing and finish up the album very well.

Muse - Undisclosed Desires



Best remixes/mash-ups of 2009:

1. Bag Raiders vs. Chromeo - Shooting Stars/Call Me Up
To be honest, any version of Bag Raiders' "Shooting Stars" is unbelievably elating.

2. N.A.S.A. feat. Kanye West, Lykke Li and Santigold - Gifted (Steve Aoki Remix)
Aoki remix of an already amazing song, enough said.

3. Fever Ray - If I Had a Heart (Fuck Buttons)
This remix has followed me throughout Vancouver for the entire year.

4. Lykke Li - Little Bit LIVE (Death to the Throne remix)
The amazing live version of "Little Bit" remixed into an 8-bit masterpiece with a heavy bass.

5. GRUM - Runaway (SymbolOne Remix)
Image: dancing in circles with confetti falling all around and pink lights flashing.

2010, here we come!

Blackout

A good majority of the time I spent in the States this week was consumed by Muse. I'm sure everyone has heard this but I'm gonna write it anyways: Muse is coming to the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver on April 1st. The presales for the concert were a little fishy but whatever, I'm over it. My seats are decent, though I would've loved floor seats (obviously).

So putting my stress over Muse tickets aside, my favourite part of this trip was probably the train ride I took from Seattle to Vancouver. After that, I never want to take an Amtrak bus again. I loved the train. It was very dark out and it took a long time but it was so relaxing, going by lit up houses, freeways and water while listening to Muse's "Blackout" at one point. I can't wait to take this train again.

Muse - Blackout

Busking For Change Concert in Vancouver

The Vancouver band Elias is putting on a daylong concert tomorrow (Friday, Dec 18th). The concert will run from 10am - 6pm outside of Library Square, in three set-up stages. Elias will be playing with other local Vancouver bands, Said the Whale, Adaline and We Are The City.

Elias has been running the "Give me truth" campaign, which is dedicated to helping War Child. War Child is a charity that helps war-affected children. Elias has a "Give me truth" petition online and if you sign it, you will receive a free download package that contains two songs and a video.

The main purpose of the Busking For Change concert is to raise money for the War Child charity. It's a great purpose and it's a cool location. I really wish I could attend but I'm away in Seattle right now. Hopefully the weather holds up for the concert.

If you're interested in going, there is the full schedule of who's playing at what time on Facebook.

Elias - All We Want

Remixing

I'm in the midst of remixing my blog's look. I was getting sick of the old photo I had had for over a year now (it is above). I still really like this photo, maybe just because of the history that's behind it. I took it in a club in Vancouver called the Modern. At the time, they used to have this really good electro event called OMG WTF. It was cancelled, and my friend and I were devastated. We found other events, but they were cancelled as well. We're OK though. Don't worry.

So I've settled on a banner at the moment but I'm thinking about doing something else. I'm still not really loving this one. Feel free to give input.

To go along with my new blog look, here is a remix of Friendly Fires' "On Board" by Joakim. This DJ can do some amazing remixes. But I don't think my remixing of my blog is as good as Joakim's remix. One day...

Friendly Fires - On Board (Joakim remix)

This is Your Disco Song

Ever since I discovered Vitalic's Flashmob the other day, I've been non-stop listening to anything created by this French electro artist. I had only listened to one of his songs previously called "The Past." It's a slower one but it's still good. Then, "Poison Lips" fell into my lap along with the rest of Flashmob and I'm so hooked.

I'm especially hooked to "Your Disco Song" but I'm still trying to figure out if Vitalic is making fun of his fans or not. The voice in the beginning almost reminds of a voice that would be used to brainwash someone so it makes me a little skeptical but I'm still in love with the song and the video.

The video seems to also be a critique of society; we get so obsessed with certain things that we want to become them. In this girl's case, a disco ball! In my case, a computer! Maybe I'm just joking about that last one...or am I?

Anyways, I'm really entranced by this video. I haven't been this into a video since Ratatat's "Shempi."

Vitalic - Your Disco Song

VITALIC

This is way too good.
Vitalic - Poison Lips

The Notwist

This is a band that has been around for a while but are very new to me. I just heard their music today, and from what I've heard so far, it's pretty yummy.

The Notwist is from Germany. The band was formed in a town close to Munich called Weilheim in Oberbayern. Apparently, their first album was grunge/metal-like. After 1992, they started moving towards an indie-electronic sound.

So far, my mind has floated away with their song, "Consequence", which is from their sixth album, Neon Golden (2002).

Needless to say, I'm going to spend the rest of the night getting to know this band's music from 1990-2009.

The Notwist - Consequence