Happy New Years!

Ian

"These sensations barely interest me for another day,

I've got the spirit, lose the feeling, take the shock away."

Merry Christmas!!!

Happy holidays! Hope everyone is as happy as that dude in the back.

The Kills - Silent Night

Spend this Christmas Eve with The Kills.

Recorded last year during a special session at BBC 6, Jamie and Alison capture the melancholy undertones of the holiday season in their heartbreakingly beautiful rendition of this classic. As joyous as this holiday is supposed to be, it wouldn't truly be a Christmas if there weren't a sense of lugubrious wistfulness -- something Vince Guaraldi, Charlie Brown, and The Kills understand eerily well.

Grab a glass of whiskey, and take a moment to get gutted by The Kills.

Twincest - Saint

By sending an email with the opening lines of “thought you might have a thing for bad bitches,” Twincest pretty much had me at “bad bitches.”

With their grimy bass lines, gyrating rhythms, and vocal acrobatics, Twincest sounds like the collision of MIA’s funk and Alison Mosshart’s scorching hell fire on the dark and twisted playground chants of Midnight Boom. Dripping with sexual malice, sneering vocals, and fuck off attitude these two Aussies are indeed two very bad bitches.

Shhhwiing!

Nirvana

Alison

The Fearless Vampire Killers – Mexico

I’m a bit late to the party on The Fearless Vampire Killers’ latest track, but it was just too good not to post.

With their brand of 60’s pyschadelic rock meets twisted horror rock, “Mexico” would have been perfect for Tarantino’s From Dusk Til Dawn. Bottom line, it’s a bloody good riot.

Stream “Mexico”, the first single from their second album, which is due out sometime next year, as well as the B-Side “Yer Blues.”

Top 10 Albums of 2012

Let’s get right down to it, AA’s favorite albums of the year.

#10 Zulu Winter - Language

Zulu Winter may have been pre-emptively panned by other reviewers for their prognosticated eventual turn towards more radio-friendly mainstream waters, but I don’t have a crystal ball and I don’t see anything wrong with their brand of gloomy New Wave.

Cold, distant, and minimal with its maudlin vocals, driving beats, and catchy hooks, Language unassumingly wiggles its way into your ear balls and stubbornly refuses to leave.

Perhaps NME’s Noel Gardner snarkily put it best: “You can imagine a future where debut album ‘Language’, with its nods to Echo And The Bunnymen gloom, gauzy electro-indie keyboard swirls and booming ’80s drums, went down as Zulu Winter’s mildly quirky preamble before they pulled out their Coldplay-ish big guns. And where defensive fans quacked on about “preferring the earlier stuff.”

That said, soak up their first album now and enjoy it in all its greatness before they join the ever growing ranks of the Merchants of Swill (of course, keep your fingers crossed that they don’t stoop to such depths).

#9 San Cisco – San Cisco

Adorably sunny Indie pop brought to you by the equally adorable and sunny quartet of Australians that make up San Cisco. Don’t expect to explore anything earth-shatteringly deep here, instead just let the good times roll. Like a rollicking day spent at the beach with your friends or the soundtrack to that quirky indie movie about the eccentric misadventures of a whimsical and social awkward teenager, San Cisco is the feel-good band of the year. 

#8 Frankie Rose - Interstellar

After bouncing around Brooklyn’s Indie pop scene as a member of the Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, and Crystal Stilts, Frankie Rose has finally emerged as her own sonic entity on her second album.

Less jangle and more sparkly 80s inspired New Wave bangers a la The Cure, Rose opts for a pallet that combines the cold distance of space and the murky depths and freakish calm of the deep sea.  Immerse yourself in the dreamy soundscapes of Rose’s lush world filled with haunting echoes, catchy double claps, and 20-somethings wanderlust.

#7 Exitmusic – Passage

Following the heels of their insanely good EP From Silence comes Exitmusic’s highly anticipated debut album Passage.

Not so much dream pop as nightmare pop, Passage is filled with haunting melodies, icy soundscapes, and a lingering melancholy that will stalk your dreams. Masterfully juxtaposing the minimalism of solitary pianos or guitars and Aleksa Palladino’s quivering contralto with an all-out Specter-like wall of sound that blitzes your ears, Exitmusic sucks you into the whirlpool of their roiling emotional forays.

#6 Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw…

It’s good to see that time hasn’t tempered Fiona Apple’s raw nerve-riddled sound. On her fourth studio album, she is every bit as emotional, beautiful, thoughtful, and poetic as she ever was. Always fiercely personal, The Idler Wheel plays like the volatile ups and downs of a tumultuous relationship. From the hopeful and determined courtship on the Peggy Lee “Fever”-esque “Hot Knife” to the adorably enamored “Anything We Want,” and ultimately the painful disintegration of “Regret.”

Underlying it all is a restless anxiety, in which you feel like every note is being wrenched from her body, taking with it chunks of flesh. It’s almost as if there are so many emotions, thoughts, dreams, and sentiments that she wishes to express all at once, but there’s a bottleneck and she can’t get it out fast enough.

Musically, you can hear her wriggling and writhing through theatrical soundscapes which incorporate a Broadway musical’s rhythmic gyrations to underscore gestures, words, and ideas as she paints her story with hypnotic melodies and vocal acrobatics. Bottom line, Fiona Apple is that rare musician who can make music bend around her life in a hyper-personalized manner and we’re just lucky she shares it with us.

#5 Wild Nothing - Nocturne

Moving beyond his bedroom, Jack Tatum aka Wild Nothing, has continued to refine and polish his sound, taking his brand of dreamy indie pop to the next level. Peacefully ebbing and flowing, Nocturne gorgeously captures the sepia-tinted dreamy nostalgia of youth, juvenile love, and reckless impetuosity in all its dizzying hopefulness.

In total, every track is carefully cut from the same shimmering fabric and the album plays like a tight cohesive whole with each song gently folding into the next, making it rather difficult to identify any particular standouts. That said, the addition of strings and hypnotically minimal guitar melodies on “Shadow,” “Nocturne,” and “Midnight Song,” add a bit of extra kick to the album’s introspectiveness.

#4 Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan 

While Swing Lo Magellan is far more accessible than their previous work, the album is still proof that David Longstreth and the trio of ghostly harmonizing beauties of Dirty Projectors are still some of the funkiest and most creative musicians around.

Bending and curving around asymmetrical beats and rhythms, Dirty Projectors continue to stretch the boundaries of our aural pursuits in novel directions, but this time around they've infused the album with more straight forward tracks like “Gun Has No Trigger” and “Swing Lo Magellan.” Pulsating with life and a previously unfound immediacy, owing largely to the fact that much of Longstreth’s vocals were actually the first time he ever sang the song.

Bottom line: The band’s seventh studio album is a real gem.

#3 Drunk Mums – Drunk Mums

Artistically masterful albums are great and all, but when you’re in the mood to crank up the speakers, throw on your leather jacket, and hit the streets in search a knock down humdinger of a drunken night, there’s nothing better than Drunk Mums.

Australia’s finest rapscallions bring you unabashed lo-fi garage punk in all its reckless abandon.

#2 Delta Riggs – Talupo Mountain Music Vol. II

I know it’s an EP, but you know what, it’s my list and my blog, so I make the rules. Anyhow, in this case, I have to make an exception for The Delta Riggs seeing as they know how to get you properly riled up for a night of pure anarchy – the bottle throwing, glass smashing, riot inciting kind.

Loud, brash, and insane, Delta Riggs are rock and roll at its best. Bluesy as all hell with scorching vocals, punishing guitar lines, and a jackhammer for a drummer, Talupo Mountain Music Vol. II is doctor recommended and physician approved to put some hair on your chest. Now get out there and light some shit on fire.

#1 Devin – Romancing

With a brylcreamed coif that matches his 50s sound, Brooklyn’s own Devin doesn’t just look the part, he’s the genuine article. Drawing on a bevy of influences Devin combines the sugary sweet rock of the 50s (think Frankie Valli’s “Beggin”) with the raw diesel of the Ramones and the glam guitars of The Strokes.

His debut album, Romancing, is a gleeful romp through a rapid fire succession of flamboyant barn burners. Like a real-life Johnny Suede, Devin’s got the loverboy blues not to mention a serious sneer and the frantic energy of a man on fire. With his aching heart and gritty guitar fuzz, Devin hits on all the classic themes of rock – girls, heartbreak, girls, longing, girls, and girls. Did I mention girls?

While some might say his sound is derivative, blatantly calling back on the gods of rock pre-Bowie and pre-Velvet Underground, he is entirely unpretentious in that he’s just a dude out to have a good time, thrash around on his guitar, sing about girls, and get you on the dance floor -- ain’t no harm in that.

Honorable Mentions

Chromatics - Kill For love

Raveonettes - Observator

Tame Impala – Lonerism

Inspiral Carpets - She Comes In The Fall

Oh Madchester, you get me every time.

Money For Rope – Disable Ksana

I just stumbled upon the wild sounds of Australia’s Money for Rope and I don’t even know how to begin.

If a dash of 60s psychadelics by way of Tame Impala by way of Jefferson Airplane along with a hit of 90s alt-rock riffs, Fred Smith of MC5, and plenty of surf rock were thrown into a roiling vat of molten plastic, you’d get the worst Tupperware ever as well as the mind-bending sounds of Money For Rope.

Stream “Disable Ksana” below and head over to bandcamp for more.

Best EPs of 2012

It wasn’t easy, but here they are, Aesthetes Anonymous’ five favorite EPs of 2012.

#5 The Griswolds – Heart Of A Lion

Because sometimes you just need some good indie dance floor bangers. I mean who doesn’t like a spontaneous dance party erupting from their speakers at 10:30 on a Wednesday morning with the full force of an all-night rager fueled by booze, coke, and ecstasy.  

Manically upbeat with its infusion of calypso beats and African stylings, but unlike Vampire Weekend, The Griswolds are just out to have a good time and tear up the floor. Think Cut Copy/Empire of the Sun meets Vampire Weekend.

#4 Cruiser – Cruiser

Summer never sounded so good, thanks to Cruiser and the good folks that produced Youth Lagoon’s debut album. Fuzzy vocals, 50s surf pop, and sugary sweet lyrics will have you rushing to the beach to lounge about in a hazy cloud of smoky relaxation.   

#3 NO – Don’t Worry You’ll Be Here Forever

New Wave meets surf rock? Hash tag. Mind. Frickin. Blown.

With booming floor toms, a deep baritone reminiscent of The National’s Matt Berninger, brain-searingly catchy hooks, twinges of the California sun, and lyrics filled with the hopeful yearning for a distant dream, NO shows you a side of the West Coast you never knew existed.

#2 The Preatures – Shaking Hands

I don’t know what it is about Australia, but lately they’ve produced a crop of killer southern blues inspired bands lately. It wasn’t easy deciding which one would make it to the top 5, but ultimately, it had to be The Preatures.

Rather than charging through everything with rollicking foot stomping barn burners (which is always a good thing), The Preatures saunter and leer their way through a kaleidoscopic swirl of influences. Swinging from dark psychedelic Doors-esque rock on “Pale Rider” to the bluesy Motown of “Take A Card” and “Young Brave Me” to the steamy “Threat,” the Shaking Hands EP is undeniably magnetic with its unique blend of styles. 

#1 Savages – I Am Here

Hell hath no fury like Joy Division incarnate. 

It’s not complete hyperbole to say that Savages is the second coming of Ian Curtis and his merry band. Nasty, short, and brutish, Savages exist in a state of nature with their punishing rhythms, Spartan minimalism, and violent energy that is seething with raw malice and wicked deliciousness. 

I haven’t seen a band with this much hype surrounding it that not only lives up to every expectation but exceeds it. Keep an eye out for big big things from this quartet in 2013. 

The King

The British Blues – Slow Your Mind

Something dark and twisted has The British Blues riled up. There’s an underlying sense of manic restlessness fueling the sound of this Aussie five piece that adds an amazing urgency to their southern blues tinted indie folk.

Have a listen to “Slow Your Mind,” a frenetic guitar-driven tune that speaks to a man on the edge of sanity.

Lee Fields & The Expressions – You’re The Kind of Girl

There are few things better than classic Motown soul, so what better than the instant vintage of Lee Fields, a long-time veteran of R&B whose played with Kool and the Gang, O.V. Wright, and Sammy Gordon and the Hip-Huggers.

“You’re The Kind of Girl,” taken from the recently released Faithful Man, is a proper cut of smoky soul that will have you double checking the release date just to make sure this isn’t a classic soul 45 from the 60’s.

While it may seem like hubris that inspired Fields to declare that he was probably one of the few “true soul singers” that’s left, one listen will confirm that fact and have you spreading the gospel of Lee Fields and the Expressions.

Have a listen below and be sure to snag a copy of Faithful Man out now on Truth & Soul Records.

Brothers Grim & The Blue Murders – Drunken Moon

With the tilted slant of a drunken leer, Brothers Grim & The Blue Murders have the fascinating charm of a hard drinking, staggering, bar brawling bruiser. Their brand of filthy slide guitars, sneering vocals, and rockabilly tinted blues rock reeks of psychedelic drugs, stale beer, and bourbon – in other words, just another rollicking night out.

Stream and download it below or watch the live performance, either way it’ll kick you in the crotch and leave you wanting more.

  Brothers Grim and the Blue Murders - Drunken Moon by Aesthetes Anonymous

Miles and Alison

OXBLVD – Got My Pipe (Oh! Oh!)

Twangy as all hell, it’s hard to believe that the four rapscallions of OXBLVD are from Australia and weren’t raised in the sweltering heat of the American south with bourbon in their blood and smoke in their lungs.

Have a listen to the steadily driving “Got My Pipe (Oh! Oh!)” that chugs along like a freight train plowing through the heart of America.

The Griswolds – The Courtship of Summer Presley

Forget that it’s two-pants weather outside with the deliciously breezy sounds of Australia’s latest indie darlings, The Griswolds.

In a span of only a few months, The Griswolds have taken the world by storm with a string of hits off their Heart of a Lion EP, and their latest single “The Courtship of Summer Presley” is no different. The airy guitars, light Vampire Weekend-esque beats, hilarious lyrics, and cozy vocals make for an instant beach party no matter how cold it is.

Get your beach on below and head to bandcamp to snag your copy.