Hercules & Love Affair ft ANOHNI - "One"

If the singles released from Hercules & Love Affair's upcoming record In Amber are any indication of the record as a whole, we are expecting something quite tremendous. "One" is another collaboration with ANOHNI who lends her commanding voice to pounding drums and bass and an almost baroque synth melody. 

Hercules & Love Affair ft. ANOHNI & Budgie - "Poisonous Storytelling"

Hercules & Love Affair (aka producer Andy Butler) teams up again with ANOHNI for the intense and dramatic track "Poisonous Storytelling" off the upcoming record In Amber. The track features the cavernous drumming of Siouxsie and the Banshees' drummer Budgie.

2017 Favorite Albums (Numbers 40-31)

Continuing my countdown of my 2017 Favorite Albums:

40.  Little Cub - Still Life

Meticulously produced, erudite art-pop in the vein of bands like Wild Beasts and Metronomy, with their own indelible stamp. Few albums sounded this good, and this intelligent.







39.  Zara Larssen - So Good

Zara Larssen can be added to the lengthy roster of phenomenal Swedish pop stars. Her album So Good blurs the lines between pop, R&B, and EDM, and she fits comfortably in all of them. And those pipes! An amazing voice that I look forward to hearing more from.







38.  Charli XCX - Number 1 Angel

On her mixtape Number 1 Angel, Charli XCX once again turns all the pop conventions on their heads and blazes forth on her own personal path of world domination.







37.  Baths - Romaplasm

Baths album Romaplasm was a year end treasure. Losing the bleak, dark textures of Obsidian, Will Wiesenfeld took a turn towards the light. There is joy in these whimsical synthpop creations, that are truly infectious.






36.  Hercules and Love Affair - Omnion

On this sparkling set of dance tracks, Andy Butler stops trying to be the great savior of house music and just has fun. He and his cohorts haven't been this relaxed in ages.







35.  Protomartyr - Relatives in Descent

Dense, complicated, intelligent, and most tellingly, compellingly listenable, Relatives in Descent is the post-punk epic that is needed in these dark times.







34.  The Drums - "Abysmal Thoughts"

Now solely the project of frontman and songwriter Jonny Pierce, The Drums keep plugging away with their take on 80s alternative rock. Unlike a lot of bands, The Drums avoid merely aping their influences and transcend them. "Abysmal Thoughts" is packed full of delicious hooks, and is so catchy you need a flu shot to listen to it.





33.  Mount Kimbie - Love What Survives

On their latest record Love What Survives, Mount Kimbie toss their post-dubstep past out the window, hit the pedal to the floor and never look back. A reinvention and rejuvenation, this record is a post-punk masterpiece of haunted soundscapes filled with angular guitars, ominous keyboards, and locomotive drums.






32.  Blue Hawaii - Tenderness

Less obtuse and experimental than their last record Untogether, Tenderness shows the brighter side Blue Hawaii's work. They gravitate more towards deep house, Balearic, and even disco on these tracks, and this more playful side suits them.







31.  Charlotte Gainsbourg - Rest

Beautifully melancholic, and decided French, Rest is a quirky set of electronic pop that gets inside your head and lingers long in the afterglow.

Jam of the Day: Sharon Van Etten - "Not Myself (Hercules and Love Affair Remix)"

Wonderful club-leaning remix of this beautiful song, done In Memory of the Victims of Orlando and in support of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund.

Jam of the Day: Hercules and Love Affair ft. Faris Badwan - "Controller"

Slamming electro track from the upcoming Hercules and Love Affair record featuring vocals from Faris Badwan of The Horrors. You can hear it here.

My Favorite 25 Albums of 2014: 10-6

And we've reached my top ten records of the year. Here's 10-6, with my top 5 records coming up tomorrow:

10.

Hercules and Love Affair - The Feast of the Broken Heart

What do you do when you release a near-perfect debut album? With Hercules and Love Affair you release Blue Songs and attempt to marry your House music explorations with arty flights of fancy that tend to sink the ship rather than propel it forward. After this slight misstep, Andy Butler and company almost go back to square one, stripping things back to their essence, and joining these tracks with vocalists who neither overshadow the songs or get crushed under their waves. The Feast of the Broken Heart is a massive return to form, and with deep-voiced singer John Grant, they have almost found someone to transcend their work with Antony Hegarty, which is no mean feat in and of itself.

9.

Arca - Xen

Venezuelan producer Arca, born Alejandro Ghersi, has made a name for himself doing high profile work with artists like Kanye West, FKA twigs, and soon to be Bjork. After a couple of shape-shifting, genre bending EPs, Ghersi finally releases his debut, the quite frankly jaw-dropping stunner Xen. While it is not an easy listen, Ghersi is never more than fully in control of the fractured beats, pitch shifted samples, and go-for-broke synthetic overload. There are times when the proceedings feel like they are pushing back at you, demanding that you succumb to their tyranny, however, these tactics merely serve to bring you closer in to their avant-garde womb. Throughout the blazing display of technical virtuosity, there are always touchstones to bring you back to earth, as on the liquid bath of "Thievery," the staccato mind fuck of the title track, or the haunting strings of "Wound." And like a ray of light sneaking its way through the depths of dark waters, a track as simple and devastating as "Held Apart," reminds you that there is always a soul and heart behind the machines.

8.

FKA twigs - LP1

FKA twigs teased her otherworldly sound in a series of EPs, coming across as the love-child of Aaliyah and Bjork. Her voice, dance moves, and image all fall distinctly into R&B, however, it is all enveloped in music that is forward thinking, sometimes aggressively obtuse, but always the perfect vessel for her breathless cries. Whether it is the harder edged dissection of image in "Video Girl," or the dizzying skycraping on "Two Weeks," twigs is always in command of her voice, not letting it get lost in the almost tsunami like crash of instrumentation. And when the music is but a whisper, she truly shines, as on the standout track "Pendulum," where her fragility is open, raw, and heartfelt.

7.

Wild Beasts - Present Tense

Wild Beasts have made the decision to follow bands like Talk Talk and Slowdive down their own rabbit hole, staking their claim on their own musical territory, without fear or regret. The songs on Present Tense float in and out of each other, anchored by the phalanx of synthesizers and the dual vocals of Hayden Thorpe's malleable falsetto and Tom Fleming's evocative baritone. Where in the past, the band chose to highlight one or the other on tracks, here, the band wisely chooses to incorporate the yin and yang of their complementary approaches to great effect on most tracks. Present Tense finds Wild Beasts at the height of their game, with the songs all working beautifully as individual gems, but working together to form a gorgeous piece of interconnected art. Staking their own claim on their sound and moving it in directions once thought impossible, Wild Beasts further move into their own territory, almost peerless.

6.

Warpaint - Warpaint

Warpaint's debut record The Fool was on many best of lists for 2010, and rightfully so, it's driving combination of icy, post-guitars, languid vocals, and the propulsion of a secret weapon, its formidable rhythm section, made for an intoxicating listen. It's been almost 4 years since that release, and after a lengthy tour schedule along with working on these tracks during sound checks, Warpaint have returned with their sophomore record. There is no seismic shift in sound on this record, the rhythm section is still potent and the driving force behind the tracks, vocals are hazy and dream like, and the guitars still drip like icicles, however, this go-around there is far more atmosphere present, lots of foreboding electronics and hints of drum programming. Produced by Flood (Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins) and mixed by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead), Warpaint is more polished and slick, but the better production helps define their sound better rather than overcompensating. They leave the rhythm section front and center, while the dual guitars flicker in and out of the mix as punctuation. It's funny that a band with two guitarists puts out music with seemingly so little guitar. Warpaint is a record that takes time to insinuate itself in your head. I will admit that on first listens I was underwhelmed, as the record doesn't have the same intense energy as its predecessor. While The Fool was an African rhino charging its way through the brush, Warpaint is the coiled snake in the grass, full of menace, ready to snap at any moment and strike.

Videos of the Week

Here are some of the best videos of the week:



Sensual black and white clip from Hercules and Love Affair.



Slightly bizarre clip from Wye Oak.



A lonely laundromat is the focus of this clip from atmospheric production duo Cloud Boat.



A children's dance class highlights this clip from Elbow.



Riveting clip from Neneh Cherry, which finds her working again with famed fashion photographer/video director Jean-Baptiste Mondino

Non-Sequiturs

That is one hot man.

Daddy in the bath.

UNF.

Big beefy daddy.

Amazing body.

Art and fur.

Perfect beefy bear belly.

Lose the hat and chain, then we are talking.

Drool.

More drool.

Nice belly.

Grrrrr.

Yes, please.

Mean looking, but hot.

Daddy bull.

I love this man's look.

A little further down.

Adorable.

Damn, that's a bigun.

Vision in white.

Wow.

Again, I must look into this football thing.

Furry belly.

Amazing body.

Ditto.

Love the salt and pepper beard.

He has an all-access pass.

I would love to be this beefy.

Love the hint of belly.

Grrrr.

Sexy.

Beautiful build.

Nice belly.

Yum.

Perfection.

Drop the towel please.

Damn handsome.

Nice everything.

Handsome man.

Lovely.

You can tell a lot about someone's personality by how they enter/exit an elevator.

All the grey hair in my beard was fire engine red at one point.

Gummi candies give me the willies.

We had our first big event for Ready For Hope, the charity organization I am involved with. We hosted a Bear B-Q at the Heretic. It was a beautiful day, with lots of people in attendance. We ultimately made well over $8,000 for the event. It was a nice way to start things off.

Front 242 is coming to the States for three dates. New York, Chicago, and Tampa. Tampa? Wtf?

Mashups need to go away.

Damon Albarn is coming to Atlanta. I about fainted.

Poor Sean Bean.

Even though things are relatively ok between me and my office nemesis; he's still a jerk.

It is obvious I am allergic to something in my office.

When I get hot, my skin turns bright red. Most people think I am getting sunburned.

Pretty much.

This week was one of those weeks where it took all my energy just to talk to people.

Big pet peeve with me: people who are late.

I love all the people who get supreme butt hurt on Scruff when you don't immediately respond to a message.

RIP Bob Hoskins.

I know this will be gay blasphemy, but I really don't see what the big deal with Mean Girls is all about.

I love how my partner Andrew has no clue what a hot daddy he is.

Not sure why, but with some people, if they disappoint me in a particular way, I just really can't be friends with them anymore. The light switch is forever turned off.

Truth in advertising.

I love that Sigur Ros appeared on Game of Thrones.

Sometimes I am truly powerless to do anything; and that is ok.

I have no idea where Mad Men is going in this, its final season, but damn they just keep writing some amazing episodes.

Sometimes, you just need a Pizza Hut pizza.

Your cute for the day.

Lyrics Rattling Through My Brain

"When the photographs you're taking now are taken down again
When the heavy clouds that hide the sun are gone
The millions of us on the hill from the star to lands end
When photographs you're taking now are taken now press send

This is a precious opportunity beware of the photographs you are taking now

We are flying over black sands
In a glass aeroplane
Crashing in slow motion in another cityscape game
Where the feeling is supernatural
Like passing into other worlds
We're ending this dissolution when the mother-ship it explodes

We were walking as zombies on over
To the church of John Coltrane
Eight hours on the bus from sunset with freedom taking cocaine
In the pagan courts of nature
All is but a vanity
And the metronome knows that defeats you is the monochrome that you seek

Photographs you are taking now
Photographs you are taking now."

Damon Albarn
"Photographs (You Are Taking Now)"

"We could've skipped this part,
I could've taught you how to love yourself
I waited patiently,
I hoped that you will be the one to come to me
I try to talk to you,
I thought that you would recognize the need
That you had deep inside
But you have to get there by yourself!

I don't understand how help me please
Tell me everything you make me see
Know that I won't give you anything
I take away the pain, take away the sting
I don't understand how help me please
Tell me everything you make me see
Know that I won't give you anything
I take away you pain, take away the sting."

Hercules and Love Affair
"I Try To Talk To You"

Appealing Things

Game of Thrones finally picking the pace up
Damon Albarn's Everyday Robots
Finding new music
Getting excited about Purple Party
Clothes fitting well
The new track "Unicorn" from Basement Jaxx

Annoying Things

Pizza specials not meeting the minimum delivery order
Matching wedding outfits
Work
My iPhone battery life slipping away
Family not acting like family, and Christians not acting like Christians