It's been four years since Duck Sauce dropped their first EP as well as their still best known single "Barbara Streisand" in 2010, and we still don't have an album... but the DJ/Production duo of A-Track and Armand Van Helden continue to release killer one-off singles and E.P. so it's gotta happen at some point.
The latest disco-meets-house EP Duck Droppings is a four-track romp of infectious, upbeat tunes that are bound to put a smile on your face and a spring in your step. I'm loving the Hot Chocolate "Brother Louie" (theme from "Louie") sampling "Louie the First," despite being a little repetitive... as well as first track "Party in Me" and the totally nuts "Calamari (Put the Sauce on It.)"
Broken Bells (Producer/Musician Danger Mouse and The Shins leader James Mercer) return with their second set After the Disco, following the duo's self-titled debut from 2010.
As the title hints, After the Disco incorporates a bit more electronic elements to the band's hippy-dipped indie-rock psychedelia. The results are rather subtle, I've been listening to it for about a week and it's melodies and charms are just unfolding for me. It's a beautiful record that like their debut, has a country-tinge to it... but the influences and sounds are wide ranged, yet result in a lush, confident work that on paper sounds a bit messy, but in practice is ultimately sublime.
First single "Holding on for Life" is an immediate standout, as is the throbbing title-track which sounds a bit 80s to me. The album is really starting to gel with me and could be an early 2014 standout.
It's been six years since Beck's last studio album, 08's Modern Guilt, and while the man has continued recording and most recently released some one-off singles here and there, as well as some side projects, we haven't had a new album since Guilt which was the last entry in his contract with Interscope records. Until now.
Morning Phase, to be released at the end of February, will be Beck's twelfth album and a supposed "companion piece" to 2002's melancholy break-up album Sea Change. From the start you'll hear the absence of hip-hop beats and electronic elements, even the garage rock bop of Modern Guilt. The folky-acoustic sound, mixed with a warm touch of psychedelia, is once again present on Morning Phase as on Change, one of his most acclaimed albums. The one pointed difference is the sad heartache of Sea Change has been replaced with what Morning Phase's press release describes as "infectious optimism." Regardless, it's pretty beautiful sounding.
"Blue Moon," the first single, with obtuse lyrics about being "cut down to size" and being left alone sure don't sound infectiously optimistic... but the music has a quiet uplift to it... I've been quite enjoying it over the last couple weeks. I've only just recently gotten to hear the album and like Sea Change does have a consistent tone throughout and does sound, as the title suggest, great in the early morning. It's a new dawn record, and the perfect re-inroduction to the once very prolific 90s artist.
Morning Phase is the first of two albums promised for this year from Beck whom bassist and frequent collaborator Justin-Meldal-Johnsen has commented has "three-to-four albums worth" of new material he's recorded since Modern Guilt.
While I've been going crazy for the latest Kylie single, I've been listening to this new, very Kylie-esque track in conjunction, making quite the killer one-two punch in any playlist.
Salt Ashes (Veiga Sanches) is a 22 year-old synth pop artist apparently inspired by Madonna, Kate Bush, Daft Punk, and MIA. She's had a couple tracks on the internet since 2011 which have since been taken down, most likely to gear up for her proper debut. "Somebody" is her first official single... it's rather amazing.
After a solid year of her fanbase not knowing what was happening with new Beyoncé music, "Queen B" dropped a "secret" album on iTunes at Midnight on December 13th complete with videos for every track on the album (as well as a video for the leaked "Grown Woman" which ultimately didn't make the record.) It was an interesting way to get around the expectations that come with a new Beyoncé album (especially after the relative disappointment 4) which gave her the freedom to be a bit different. Turn down the perfect, turn up the sexy, and to hell with the bobblehead music... Beyoncé has grown up. And Beyoncé is the best thing she's ever done.
Beyoncé is Beyoncé's sexual awakening record, and it's secret weapon is unknown producer Boots whom co-wrote and shapes the sound of almost 80% of the album with his production talents. It continues the Adult Contemporary sound started with 4 and mixes it with the urban-hip of Weeknd/Frank Ocean sheen. Things take a dip for the boring in the middle of the album, but it starts and ends with her strongest material (by some margin) to date.
She does a bit of Madonna sexy-electronica on "Haunted" and urban slow-grind with her husband assisted "Drunk in Love." The filth gets turned up with the album's most "fun" moment "Blow," and with "XO" Beyoncé gives us her best song ever, a positively euphoric ode to love that truly sores in a way a track like the ultimately false "Halo" could only dream of. Dang girl... literally had no idea you had this in you.
Blur frontman and head Gorillaz Damon Albarn is set to release his first solo album Everyday Robots this coming April. The record has been produced by Richard Russell of XL recordings and has been described as a mix of folk, soul, and trip-hop, with Albarn stating the concept centered around "empty club music." The album is preceded by the title and first track as initial single.
"Everyday Robots" is a sparse, odd little track with off-key percussion and a vibe that's equally calming as it is a bit eerie. It's a bit of an odd choice for first single, especially when the teaser (see below) for the album capitalized on Albarn's entire successful pop career, making this first solo album a thing.
One of the more gifted and interesting singer-songwriters of our time, I look forward to what he cooks up.
Friend and reader Luis introduces us to Swedish (of course!) producer Linus Eklow, now known as Style of Eye, whom got his start in the late 90s but has been releasing singles and EPs since 2004. 2013 saw the release of this track, "Kids" which is getting him some new attention prior to the release of his as-yet entitled debut album set for release sometime this year. Thus far, Style of Eye is most notable for his co-production of the Icona Pop smash hit "I Love It," which you may know.
"Kids" is a genre-splicing energetic dance track that's "quite a bop" as they say. Been loving this one and look forward to hearing more from this promising producer.
The return of 2011's breakout stars Foster the People and their sophomore album Supermodel, set for release this coming March. "Coming of Age" is the first, upbeat single from the new album. It finds the band in similar territory to their debut Torches.
The below video of the song shows a time lapse view of the Young & Sick-designed cover for the album being put as a mural on a wall in Los Angeles which took twelve consecutive sixteen-hour days to complete.
Artist: Kylie Minogue
Album: Into the Blue (single)
First single off the Australian pop star's upcoming twelfth studio album, her first big release of original music since 2010's Aphrodite.
The track was written by Kelly Sheehan (Mary J. Blige, Beyonce) though the producer is as yet unknown. Confirmed collaborators on the as-yet untitled album include Pharrell, Sia, Darkchild, Fernando Garibay, Nervo, and Jay-Z, whose Roc Nation Kylie just signed to for a management deal.
Disliked by much of their fanbase, handicapped from exaggerated expectation, but ultimately wildly critically and commercially successful, Daft Punk's fourth album Random Access Memories was a big moment in music in 2013, and my favorite of the year.
Surprising everyone with a throwback album of 70s and early 80s disco/electronica and strictly using equipment of the time, Random Access Memories was met with a lot of 'WTF?' from music fans and people that loved their earlier work, and the breakout, runaway, chart-busting success of first single "Get Lucky" seemed to double-down with the mind-blown hipster contingent who just wanted Discovery 2. But Random Access Memories is less about the future and more about the importance of the past and how it created the future. Genre arguments aside, the wild trip that is Random Access Memories is miles above other albums this year, and despite being an anomaly in their discography... it's also Daft Punk's best record start to finish. (Escándelo!)
There's a lot going on in Random Access Memories, and Daft Punk have expertly balanced the album with pastiche and pop, utilizing a strong set of collaborators both legendary (Nile Rodgers, Giorgio Moroder, Paul Williams) and only recently established (Pharrell Williams, DJ Falcon, Julian Casablancas, Todd Edwards, Chilly Gonzalez) it's a pro album made by pros. It could be argued that it's too perfect. I guess.
In the digital age of playlists and single tracks this album brought back the start-to-finish album listening experience (yes debatably) and I for one still feel a heady rush when the first moments of opening track "Give Life Back to Music" explodes as a call to arms and start of a knowly brazen almost eighty minute-long experience. Beyond everything though, there is serious heart in these songs from robots... and that's what makes it as good as it is.
Both "Giorgio by Moroder" and "Touch" are key to the epicness of the album, both eight-plus minute nostalgia freak-outs that epitomise what the record is about. But right up front they lay down the manifesto... music about music from machines that ultimately about the human heart. Truly truly amazing. (And Nile Rodgers bass lines on some of these tracks are seriously life-giving. Amen!)
Another off-the-wall, high-octane, genre-jumping collection of tracks from Lady Gaga, ARTPOP is tour-de-force of pop music, mythology, and classic art visuals. Still the Queen of the impossibly catchy chorus, ARTPOP initially was a bit disappointing following the incredible Born This Way, but over time I've realized it's insane brilliance and like it for what it is, not what it isn't. It's my most played record of the year for sure, and it just came out in November.
Whether it's the koo-koo Frankenstein & kitch of "Venus," the slick gender-fuck of "G.U.Y.," the R&B future grind of "Do What U Want," the silly high-camp of "Donatella," the gravely comedown of the introspective "Dope," or the Springsteen/Killers-esque travelogue first-pump of "Gypsy," ARTPOP's got something for everyone.
Just ten months after releasing their eleventh studio album Elysium, the Pet Shop Boys returned with their twelfth, Electric produced solely by Stuart Price. Elysium did get a year-end mention from WeCast but the album didn't make the final list, but Electric does with it's tight nine-track length, forward-thinking production, and no out-and-out stinkers.
Doing a bit better than their last, Electric hit the top 10 in several countries, including top three on the Danish, Norwegian, German, UK, and US Dance Charts. But it's all about the music, and Electric doesn't disappoint, featuring what I now consider two hands-down Pet Shop classics; album closer "Vocal" and third single "Love is a Bourgeois Construct" which gets huge points on title alone. It's one of my favorite tracks of the year. But look no further to the dark and sexy "Florescent," the catchy pop of "Thursday" or the WTF Springsteen cover "Last to Die" to see why this is one of the best of the year.
I'm happy that PSB are having a late-career surge of creativity. Truly amazing.
Little Boots returns with the difficult sophomore set, and creates a killer album. Oddly released in the Summer, it's got such a Winter vibe that if you let it pass you by in 2013, I'd give it another try now.
In a way the female flip of Cut Copy's Free Your Mind, Nocturnes also dives deep into a 90s House feel, also going for atmospheric meets hooky bliss. Lyrically and emotionally I give the advantage to Little Boots as Nocturnes delivers some of her best songwriting to date. There may not be something here quite as infectious as "New in Town," yet the record is filled with tracks that sound classic.
It was way back in late in 2011 that we first heard new material, and then some one-off tracks that didn't end up making the album... it was unclear when this thing was coming out. She had some label issues and when the album was finally released it was sort of met with a shrug, which is unfortunate. I really loved it straight away, though again other more summery music took precedence. I revisited the album towards the end of October and rediscovered it's lush, subtle brilliance. Give it a shot, it's amazing.
Up for a Best Dance Album Grammy, the winning sibling duo from the U.K. known as Disclosure took the dance world by storm with their House manifesto Settle. With no less than six singles, Settle took the UK by storm and the guys became the hottest production team this side of Daft Punk this year.
When I highlighted the band early last year I called them "one to watch in 2013." See!
Settle is a collaboration-heavy work that never-the-less sounds completely cohesive and an album that's easy to stick with from start to finish. And what a start... after a killer intro the album launches with the scorching "When a Fire Starts to Burn," which oddly never became a single. Been one of my favorite jams for the last half of the year.
This album has made it onto just about every year-end best-of list I've seen, and deservedly so. If you like dance music, this was essential listening this past year. And if you don't like dance music... what are you on this blog for? (wink-wink)
My favorite pop album of the year that didn't contain an actual pop hit, young English singer-songwriter Charli XCX delivered her debut album True Romance this year after a slew of singles dating back to 2011. An infectious mix of dark 80s New Wave synth-pop, modern production, killer hooks, and Charli's undeniable personality, True Romance bubbles with left-of-center dancepop that did all the major pop acts one-better by delivering something as emotionally true as it is catchy. But where are her hits?
Of course it needs to be mentioned that Charli co-wrote Icona Pop's HUGE 2013 single "I Love It," smartly getting a "featuring" credit as it blew up. While True Romance is brilliant, Charli isn't sitting still... after the album was released in April she put out one last single and then moved on late in the year with a new one, the insanely catchy "Super Love" which is reported to be featured on her sophomore album, already slated for release sometime later this year.
There's a chance she could blow up this year with the right material. So you might as well grab the hipster card now and be in the know. She's great.
Sophomore follow up for Australian duo Empire of the Sun, coming five years after their 2008 debut Walking on a Dream. Ice on the Dune covers familiar territory, but is ultimately more enjoyable than their debut due simply to consistency. Initial single "Alive" felt a little limp in comparison to "Walking on a Dream" and "We Are the People," but time and spins have really endeared me to it, as well as the full record. This is solid electropop.
The album has both a Summer and Winter feel. It's lush regardless of season. Favorites include the title track, "Alive," "DNA," and "Concert Pitch."
I saw a British-based music blog call it "three times better than the Daft Punk record." You decide.
Days Are Gone, the debut album by the California-raised, Los Angeles-based sister trio HAIM can be found on many year-end best of lists, deservedly so. On one hand, it's a left-of-center mix of folky Fleetwood Mac-isms and 90s-era RnB, and on the other... it's just a killer collection of songs. You should hear this.
I initially fell for a killer remix of "Falling," but Days Are Gone the album is a warm, kicky joy. An easy pick for one of the best of the year.
2013 finally saw the release of Sky Ferreira's debut album, one which changed names several times, release dates, and entire direction. It was destined to be a mess, so when Night Time, My Time was finally released this October... it was a bit of a surprise how good it was.
WeCast has been following Sky for quite some time, from her early electro-pop singles from early 2011, to the introduction of more rock elements on her EP from 2012. But it was when Sky hooked up with Producer Ariel Rechtshaid that things began to gel and the album took shape.
Night Time, My Time is an electric mix of Blondie-esque new wave rock with kicky beats, buzzy extortion, and above all Sky's half-pissed-off, half confessional lyrics and raw delivery. It really packs a punch, and grows over repeated listens. Song like "Nobody Asked Me (If I Was Okay)" and "I Blame Myself" show true songwriting skill, while punchy tracks "24 Hours" and the amazing "You're Not the One" show she still knows her way around a hook.
It's unclear if Sky will have a record label after this, though it seems like something indie would suit her better anyhow. Regardless if we never hear another thing from her, we'll have Night Time, My Time.
Zonoscope was okay, but it certainly made you feel like we wouldn't see something as magical as Cut Copy's amazing In Ghost Colors from 2008 again. Not true. The Aussie group took inspiration from 90s House and created a cohesive, groovy, & psychedelic soundscape that's just as good. After the intro, the record opens with three hands-down Cut Copy future classics, the title track, "We Are Explorers" and "Let Me Show You Love." Perfection. It gets a bit trippier from theret.. this album is probably very good on illegal substances.
Man, is there anything better than 90s House piano? Dang.
It's that time of year again where I take a look back at my favorite tracks and albums of the past year...
In a year filled with louder, more in-your-face music than ever before, it was nice to discover a subtle, throwback rock record in a sea of... well wrecking balls. New York City-based band The Virgins took five years to follow up their self-titled 2008 debut, and Strike Gently was worth it, a Tom Petty-meets-Dire Straits moody record that really grabbed me, despite how un-attention-grabbing it was.
Many would write the band off as a Strokes look-and-sound-alike but I hear more "classic" rock influences from The Virgins, and when compared to the Strokes album from this year, The Virgins come out on top. "Impressions of You" is still my favorite song here, but this is a great album, starting with the great one-two punch of "Prima Materia" and the lost-classic sounding "Wheel of Fortune," which seems built for meditative, soul-contemplating drives through the desert. Actually, it's a classic driving record through and through and a different sort of 80s-leaning record than we've heard lately, less focused on birth-of-electronic New Wave and more toward Talking Heads/Elvis Costello art rock. I really love it.
I got to see The Virgins open for The Killers this past May and they were great, despite playing for a fifth of a half-paying attention crowd. I'm a little crushed this AM as I discovered that the band has in fact split up, just this past November. Founder and lead singer-guitarist Donald Cumming is apparently starting a solo career, so if he was the main creative force behind this record, we possibly have more to look forward to. As it stands, "Strike Gently" could be looked back as a forgotten classic. Yet I haven't seen it mentioned in any year-end lists... making it important to highlight here!
If you know about Wendy Ho you should know what you're getting into here. Ho for the Holidays is a Christmas Mixtape that you'll be able to play in very few places. Lewd, disgusting, and yet pretty fucking funny in moments. Wendy Ho subverts a handful of holiday classics with her brand of "ghetto fabulousness." Buckle up.
Epic track titles "Proud Virgin Mary," "Whose Child is Dis?," and "O Come on My Face, Y'all," are well... yeah.
My favorite is the Erykah Badu"Tyrone"-biting "F*ck Santa Claus," which turns a kiss-off slow-jam into a seduction/kiss-off of the annual chimney-sliding Saint. Bonkers.
The album is being offered as pay-what-you-like download on her site. You can get it here.
Melancholy holiday single from The Killers, who have turned it into an annual tradition. (This is their eighth in row.)
"Christmas in L.A." comes after the release of their first greatest hits album this year Direct Hits which feature single "Shot at the Night," which was a bit of a slow-burn track for me, much like the Killers recent material.
"Christmas in L.A." like the other Killers holiday singles, has it's proceeds going to AIDS charities as part of the Project Red campaign. The video features actors Owen Wilson and Harry Dean Stanton. (see below)
Above-average Christmas album from pop vocalist Kelly Clarkson, Wrapped in Red is the singer-songwriter's first holiday collection containing a little over half traditional tracks as well as a handful of originals, mostly co-written by Clarkson. The album is solely produced by Greg Kurstin, whom had worked on Kelly's recent Greatest Hits as well as previous album Stronger. It's the second time she's worked with a sole Producer since '07s My December (w/David Kahne) and the third time Kurtin has produced a full album for an artist after Lily Allen's It's Not Me, It's You (2009) and Sia's We Are Born (2010.)
Clarkson used Bing Crosby & Rosemary Clooney's soundtracks to the 1954 film White Christmas as inspiration, while Kurstin cited Vince Guaraldi Trio's A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Christmas Gift from Phil Spector and his famous "wall-of-sound" technique as touchstones. The album is a mix of jazz, country, pop, and soul and does a pretty remarkable job of keeping things fresh over it's just-under-an-hour running time.
First single "Underneath the Tree" as well as opening, title track "Wrapped in Red" have a classic, yet modern feel that recalls Mariah's "All I Want for Christmas," no-doubt another inspiration as I'm sure they'd love a hit that size. Both sound very 60s girl-group inspired, I'm also digging "Winter Dream (Brandon's Song)" and "4 Carats," which sounds exactly as you'd expect a Clarkson Christmas song would. ("4 Carats" is co-written by Cathy Dennis & Livvi Franc.)
Enjoyed this and got me into the spirit a bit early this year.
One-off Christmas limited edition single (just 100 7's" pressed) from !!!. Released as "an addendum" to this years' fifth and pretty excellent album Th!!!er.
Th!!!er was in contention for one of the years best here at WeCastMusic, and while it didn't make the top 10, here's a nice way to remind you of their pretty excellent record and have another groovy track for your upcoming holiday party.
Great bootleg remix of the Mike Shapiro & Harry Middlebrooks, Jr./Classics IV ummm... classic "Spooky" from new Danish duo Bak & Lindemann.
Dusty's version is well known and probably best known from its inclusion in the '98 film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Bak & Lindemann turn up the throb and sexy and works as some serious swingin' cocktail-time music. Immediately infectious.
Bak & Lindemann are about to release a free compilation of their remixes, which includes "Spooky." More info can be found at their Facebook page.
Booka Shade are a German house duo comprised of Walter Merzinger & Arno Kammermeier. They are set to release their 5th studio album Eve on November 1st.
Eve is a pretty sublime, moody house record, it can be dark at times, and yet I've enjoyed it in the early AM just as much as late late at night. It straddles a couple different moods over it's just-under-an-hour length, which gives the listener the feeling they're on a journey.
Single "Love Inc." is a good starting point but I'm also loving the sexy, propulsive "Perfect Time" as well as album opener "Many Rivers."
I'm only familiar with the band's previous offering, 2010's More! which I remember not really connecting with at the time... though I took another listen yesterday since I enjoyed this so much and appreciated it much more. I suppose I just wasn't ready for it.
Not too long after his latest pop album, Robbie Williams returns with his tenth studio album and his second of swing music. Following the success of 2001's Swing When You're Winning, Williams has returned to a genre that really suits him, pairing it with a cheeky title and returning to the studio with his most successful producing writing partner Guy Chambers, the duo re-team for the first time since 2002's Escapology for Swings Both Ways.
Where Swing When You're Winning was strictly covers, Swings Both Ways contains more than half originals in the swing style. It really suits Williams, who duets with the likes of Olly Murs, Lily Allen, Michael Buble, Rufus Wainwright, and Kelly Clarkson. Very fun.
I was a pretty big Le Tigre fan and really liked their pop-minded last album The Island. (Like Luscious Jackson, seemingly ending on a real high note.) So with that band defunct it was nice to hear that two members, JD Samson & Johanna Fateman had formed a new band, and even better when I flipped for their debut song "Off Our Backs." I wore that one out, and was a little disappointed with the resulting debut album Talk About Body which came out two years later. It was solid enough, but "Off Our Backs" was a clear highlight.
I'm happy to report though their sophomore follow-up Labor, released last month is GREAT. It keeps up with the debut's social causes, gender politics, and human commentary, yet does so with more subtlety. The themes are less in-you-face and only come through with repeated listens. What is in your face this time around though is the music. Labor is way more beat-driven and clubby than the debut, yet very diverse and not one-note.
The album starts very strong with the throbbing "Power Strobe" and the killer Yuksek-assisted "All the Way Through," a building, impossibly cool love track. I love it. Also digging "Making Art," "Semenya," and towards the end of the album the bitter and pounding "Fucked Up" which is a gilted ANTHEM. Before it the album sags ever so slightly, but may improve with more listens. But "Fucked Up" really rockets things back to life.
This is a really great follow-up and definitely worth your time. JD Samson's crowning achievement for sure.
