Best of 2012 by Jirihttp://www.mediafire.com/?yvawr8w23lwlmcv
1. "Be Above It" Tame Impala
A speaker with Lennon-esque pop, rolling down a hill. Beautifully building momentum. This union of psychedelia with samples works so well.
2. "Your Daddy Loves You" Gil Scott-Heron
I dedicated a week of listening to everything Gil ever recorded. What an amazing journey! "Winter in America" was my favorite.
3. "Shut the World Out" Lo-Fi-Fnk
I've been waiting for the follow-up to "Boylife" for about 8 years now – "The Last Summer" was so worth the wait. These fellas are still so young, but their euro-pop craftsmanship is about as refined as it gets.
4. "Heading" Young Man
This year John McEntire led me to Colin Caulfield. If the album title, "Vol. 1", hints at a series of records like this, I'm anxiously waiting for the next one! A precious reverie of an album with plenty of shiny, swelling flourishes.
5. "Harvest Moon" Poolside
Now that I'm all melancholy over being back from a tropical vacation, this track brings me right back in the sun. Daytime disco version of the Neil Young staple.
6. "Witchita Lineman" Glen Campbell
So lonely, so good.
7. "Polka Face" Weird Al Yankovic
A novelty cover masterpiece.
8. "Feelin' Single" R. Kelly
"If she wanna fool around, well two can play that game." Revenge-cheating anthem so artfully sleazy. "Write Me Back" is brilliant at times, but inconsistent. It has some major missteps (like his painfully white, over synthesized sock-hop called "Party Jumpin'"), but a few of the tracks could be R's best ever.
9. "Forget It" Blood Orange
Sounds like if Ennio Morricone and David Sylvian backed up Prince. Beautiful marriage of Western movie themes washing lover ice cold Japanese chops.
10. "The World Has Come to an End"
My apocalyptic mix for 2012. I started it last January and forced myself to stop working and finish this before the new year.
Tame Impala - takes a while to truly become something, but very cool
ReplyDeletewe've talked about Gil Scott Heron. He's amazing and this is amazing. I tend to go more towards "Home is where the Hatred Is", but it's always nice to hear this kind of smoothness, even when he borders on the "a bit much"
Lo Fi Fink is not for me, and I know that. It's funny to hear an opening line like "everything looks the same from a distance" because it's how I feel about all of this music: homogenous vapid lack of exploration and baffling selection of synthesized sounds to create such uninteresting music that had reached it's limits 20 years ago. But I know this is not for me.
On our discussion, I did NOT hastily delete Young Man, as anything McEntire related and Jiri recommended holds great weight, and often takes time. My favorite part was the last 30 seconds. I think I'd love this a million times more without vocals
Thank you for Poolside, first heard at Vinny's wedding! I already loved Harvest Moon a great deal but I could never have believed I'd love a re-imagining as much as I do
That Glen Campbell is just so so sweet. Man I could listen to those strings anytime. It IS lonely isn't it? How is he (and Fred Neil) so comforting then?
Polka Face - so unbelievably great
I've had a LOT of conversations about R Kelly with a lot of my favorite people, including Jstin and Dan, but I will forever be grateful to your masterful dissection of this entire album as we listened to it dropping the rent a car off. Thank you always.
I tried, I tried so f'ng hard with this because you and Brian raved about it at the bar. I just wish I heard a song that vaguely sounded like the things you described then. I hear the Prince, I even hear the Japanese chops, but I'd love to hear ANY Morricone and a beat that didn't come with the casio.
We have been waiting for your world's end mix all year Jiri. It never disappoints, and we need your commentary sometime. It's a complete film.
awesome mix as always