Rachel's Highlights of 2010

I am suffering end of year blues. No, I think I am suffering severe post-holiday blues. Going back to work this week after three weeks in Thailand has not helped this. Making a list of my favourite songs of the year has helped this marginally - trawling my ipod and listening to so much amazing music - but somehow made it worse too. How the fuck am I supposed to narrow this year down to ten songs, so overwhelming, what happened to the year, who am i, where am i, why am i sitting at a desk at work, what day is it, what am i supposed to do when a new year starts, oh god.


1. It seems that Steve and I concur that Twin Shadow was one of the best artists to come out of 2010. Have you googled a picture of him? He is also the best things to come out of 2010 aesthetically.

Twin Shadow - At My Heels


2. Kisses were also another 2010 love affair for me. I thought the dreampop shoegazey year of 2009 would blissfully float away to another glo-fi time and space continuum in 2010 but I was wrong and it was very much here to stay. The Hot Chip remix of this track is amazeballs as well.

Kisses - Kisses

Kisses - Kisses (Hot Chip Remix)


3. I do not care for indie street cred and love this next song to bits. The number of strange corners of the world in which I heard this song this year only made me love it more. The fact that Dcup is a blouse man only makes it better even though it needed no extra levels of betterness. This song is going to do down in dance music history like Drop the Pressure.

DCup and Yolanda Be Cool - We No Speak Americano


4. Tame Impala's album Innerspeaker was Australia's 2010 obsession apparently. There is something annoyingly good about their music. It's like, I don't like the fact that I like it. Is that weird? I think it's because every time I've seen them live they've been poo. And they're young and blaze and seem to not give a shit. But then their music is the shit. So confused. Lucidity was a fave but I am a sucker for a sick instrumental and this is the instrumental of the year.

Tame Impala - Jeremy's Storm


5. Delorean was my live music experience of the year and therefore deserves a spot. I saw them play at a club in Shibuya in Tokyo which was surreal in itself but complete with dancing Japanese hipsters and that guy who goes nuts on the keyboard and Ibiza-stylez electronic music in the middle of downtown Nippon, it was too good. This is the standout from their 2010 album Subiza I think.

Delorean - Stay Close


6. 7. 8. and 9. Sydney pumped out so much good music this year! Not that it ever doesn't but Jinja Safari, Bag Raiders, Flight Facilities and Boy and Bear stole my attention this year. These four tracks were on high rotation on the local dial. Have you heard tropical house done as good as Snake Chalmers? Or carefree summertime disco-pop as good as Crave You? And Jinja Safari even had their own genre made up for them - "forest rock" or some shit like that. As for Boy and Bear, you make my heart melt.

Bag Raiders - Snake Chalmers

Jinja Safari - Peter Pan

Boy and Bear - Mexican Mavis

Flight Facilities - Crave You

Flight Facilities - Crave You (C90 Remix)


10. And if you want to know who will be at the top of the Australian music scene in a couple of years time it is this dude. This is the first taste we have had of Joyride & The Accidents and it made my year. Feeling a little excitable for what is to come.

Joyride & The Accidents - This Is It


11. Kanye (another one you hate to love) really sucked me in this year and it seems the rest of the world too. This song is bananas. So beautiful, so effortlessly cool and something that just makes you shake your head and think how does he keep on doing it?

Kanye West - Lost in the World


12. I know I'm now up to number 12 in my top 10 and being self indulgent with what the above average music lover will deem a below average list of favourites but whatevs. Yeasayer are my all timers. It'd be easy to choose One as the standout from Odd Blood but Madder Red is so sick, it gives me chills down my spine. My sister has declared that she wants this song played at her funeral procession as her body is slowly paraded through the crowds on the shoulders of red indians.

Yeasayer - Madder Red

And here are all the tracks in a zip file via mediafire


Love you 2010 and love you blouse readers. Sending much love over the seas and cities and the radio waves xxxxxx

steve's highlights of 2010

i usually hate looking back on years of things. the illusion of how fast a year went is shattered when you realise how much happened.
2010 is slightly different though.. when i look back on its music, i actually feel really happy. so, so many outrageously good albums and singles have kicked in the door this year. i cant remember what it was like in previous years, but this year seemed to have one highly anticipated release after another.
these next seven tracks are, to me, the songs that most defined 2010. and what a year it was:

i think a lot of people have lcd soundsystem's 'this is happening' as the crowning album of the year in their books. its easy to see why with so many genius dance-punk jams (and a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek spunk) squeezed in there. 'home' was my favourite on the album, and seeing it live really made me smile.

LCD Soundsystem - Home (alt)

i feel like hot chip's "one life stand" is sometimes forgotten when people put together their top lists for 2010. solid without being incredible, it was an album that got a lot of airplay from me throughout the year. "take it in" is a far cry from what many people love hot chip for, but the wholesome, happy vibe of the song really stood out for me.. one of my faves:

Hot Chip - Take It In (alt)

i seriously went off kanye after all of his antics. however, after reluctantly watching his mini movie promo for "my beautiful dark twisted fantasy" i had to get back in the action. and im glad i did. i dont think that ive heard a hip hop album that captured my imagination quite as much for a long time. the guy is a perfectionist, and it shows.
its hard to pick a favourite, but one of them would have to be 'so appalled'. epic strings, solemn vibe and a list rappers longer than your arm:

Kanye West - So Appalled (alt)

twin shadow's 80s inspired pop came too late for some, but right on time for me. i think this album was on repeat for longer than any other for me this year. addictive hooks, pleading vocals and reminiscent charm had me sold. my only criticism was that it wasnt long enough. 'tether beat' was my pick of the bunch.. a closet stormer with a dark, brooding feel.

Twin Shadow - Tether Beat (alt)

caribou and four tet really owned s*&t this year. thanks to 'swim' and 'there is love in you', i believe they finally got the attention they deserved. although both of these albums got significant plays, it was 'odessa' that really got flogged. the muttered vocals and off-kilter melody really won me over - and when i started to get sick of it, i watched the video and fell in love all over again.

Caribou - Odessa (alt)

the sweaty fun of el guincho's "pop negro" was a highlight for me this year as well. i might have enjoyed it a little more than i should have cos i was learning spanish, but probably not. his brand of latin pop was a fresh sound for me this year, and i look forward to listening to plenty over the summer break as well.

El Guincho - Ghetto Facil (alt)

disco/house had a solid year as well, but the clear stand out in my book was tensnake's coma cat. the first time i heard it, i couldnt quite believe that something that sounded this good existed. steel drums, a driving 90's warehouse bassline and pianos. i couldnt imagine that combination sounding any better than this. a stone cold classic.

Tensnake - Coma Cat (alt)

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on a personal level, i feel that the amazing quality of diverse music released this year forced me to broaden my horizons and enjoy music ive never listened to before - or have not listened to for a long time. in recent years, my obsession with electronica, chillwave, disco and house has meant i havent had the opportunity to listen to as much "real" music (with guitars and drums according to some haha) as i should. with psychedelic rock having such a fine resurgence in '10 it was hard to continue this trend.

these are few of my psychedelia based picks of the year:

tame impala kicked off my interest in this whole psychedelia shebang. 'innerspeaker' was easily one of my favourite albums of the year.

Tame Impala - Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind? (alt)

women have been on my radar for quite a while, but 2010's 'public strain' was an absolute winner. and when i first heard 'eyesore' and its staggering final couple of minutes, i instantly thought this would be a song id want to show my future children.

Women - Eyesore (alt)

no joy's "ghost blonde" was one of those albums that crept into my itunes without me realising. as a whole, it was one of the stand-out psychedelic releases of the year for me. but because the songs work so well together, it is tricky to pick a favourite. but one of the highlights was definitely "pacific pride". its breezy, drive time fun stuck its hand up for me.

No Joy - Pacific Pride (alt)

the ruby suns are an nz band that i cant believe i only just heard about. with three excellent albums under their belt, i hope they get plenty more exposure. 2010's "fight softly" got a little more electronic-y than the others and channelled the best of animal collective and yeasayer. if you havent yet, check this band out.

The Ruby Suns - Mingus and Pike (alt)

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after skirting it for several years, 2010 was the year that i finally got really into minimal techno and idm. the craft that goes into this music and the passion of the fans really got me excited.
i also feel like it was a good year of crossover, with several tech-based artists releasing tracks that really gained some widespread attention.

i think matthew dear might have been the most notable of these, with his album and single 'black city' popping up all over the place.
the song that stayed with me the most wasn't the lead single (even though i loved that as well), but this song, "slowdance". the "bum-bum-bumpadumm's" and bouncy, yet serious beat were true winners for me and got a serious workout throughout the year.

Matthew Dear - Slowdance (alt)

scuba also made waves this year with 'triangulation'. his brand of minimal dubstep saw him feature on numerous high profile dj mixes including ones by surgeon and modeselektor. i really loved the industrial, and sometimes creepy vibe of the album. his fine, subtle touch really exemplified what i dug about minimal tech. "glance" is just one of a host of highlights from the album.

Scuba - Glance (alt)

the name "nicolas jaar" seemed to be on everybody's lips in 2010. every release and mix was eagerly awaited.. this kid seems to destined for great things. "a time for us" was the first cut i heard from him, and the chunky-yet-understated tone of the track really caught my ear. can't wait to see how he goes in '11.

Nicolas Jaar - A Time For Us (alt)

2010 was the year of massive attack's "heliogland". im really amused by the hysteria that is caused when seminal artists like these guys decide to release an album. the "closet fans" that come out of the woodwork are the best.
i really enjoyed the album, but also gui boratto's take on "paradise circus". remixes that remain faithful to the original, whilst also extending it into new and interesting areas, seem to come along rarely. im glad that one came around for this song.

Massive Attack - Paradise Circus (Gui Boratto Remix) (alt)

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so thats it! what do you think of my 2010 highlights? were there any big things i missed? any inclusions that you think are a bit questionable? what were your highlights?
hope to hear from you guys! and sorry about the ridiculous length.

if you are into it, you can grab up my 'best of 2010' tracklist in a zip file (176mb) here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

look forward to speaking to you next year!

hot chips and friday

i dont know how im going to survive work in melbourne. it is actually like a mad house down here. ah well.. it is friday and ive got 4 days in sydney to look forward to.

one of the things im looking forward to the most is of course the hot chip and lcd soundsystem gig on monday night. im sure you dont need me to say how good it will be, so ill just say that it is going to be awesome.
if you need any further encouragement, look no further than hot chip's remix of tracey thorn's cover of pet shop boys from a few years ago.. adding bounce and whilst retaining the depth: true genius.

Tracey Thorn - Kings Cross (Hot Chip Remix)

and if you havent already, you should check out the pet shop boy's original from '87.. really amazing stuff

Pet Shop Boys - Kings Cross

one of my all time favourite lcd tracks is 'all my friends'.. i came across this remix by dj harvey quite recently, and it takes the ship in a bit of a new (and interesting) direction, with some wailing, psychedelic guitar licks and slow burning bassline.

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends (DJ Harvey Remix)

the rest of the weekend will of course be great, with james holden playing chinese laundry on saturday night, followed by blouse friends diatribe rocking spice in the wee hours of sunday morning. hope to see you there!

worst review ever

so hot chip are basically the most approachable super-mega rockstars ever.
feel like at some point in the past i have played them on some game on the internet and won. actually i probably flogged them. thats how nice they most likely are.

The Go! Team - Ladyflash (Hot Chip Remix)

the 'bass synthesiser' player aka joe goddard was as adorable as a snuffleupagus

Diefenbach - Do As You Please (Hot Chip Remix)

i felt a bit sorry for holy ghost though, cos for a lot of the time that they were playing, the crowd were sitting on the floor.. they played a really nice set though- very enjoyable.
they played a version of blind that sounded very much like it had been remixed by themselves but i can't seem to find any evidence of that. very good song though.

Hercules and Love Affair - Blind (Hotline Remix)

such a good night and such a good birthday present.. i dont think i need to say that hot chip blew me away

Hot Chips

Yay for Hot Chip tonight.. Fuck yeah.

Hot Chip - Hold On (Mock N'Toof Remix)

Hot Chip - Touch Too Much (Kollektiv Turmstrasse Remix)


And Holy Ghost too! Money sure feels nice..

Michael Jackson - Get On The Floor (Holy Ghost! Edit)

Curses - The Deep End (Holy Ghost! Day School Dub)

The world is looking bright (even if i did just become redundant - or perhaps because I just became redundant).

The Videodrome mk XIV

you may have heard of a london based club called 'durr'.. ive never been there, but it does seem like an excellent club, and uber-star erol alkan is involved with it somehow and obviously named his remix of waters of nazareth after it..

durr recently sent through this clip of Free Blood which is awesome. a fair bit goes into these videos- the audio is recorded seperately and tweaked by ez alks himself so we can all feel pretty safe that the audio is really good quality..


Free Blood - Quick and Painful

good non?
here also are a couple of free blood remixes that are pretty cool in a free blood kinda way

Free Blood - Quick and Painful (Hot Chip Remix)

Free Blood - Grumpy (Greg Wilson Remix)

Spend! Spend! Spend!

I somehow missed Hot Chip at whatever Big Day Out it was they played at, and I'm still pretty bitter about it.
So this is how I nurse myself back to partial happiness:

Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor (Live at Crystal Ballroom, Portland 23/04/08)

Hot Chip - Crap Kraft Dinner (Live at Crystal Ballroom, Portland 23/04/08)

Hot Chip - Out at the Pictures (Live at Crystal Ballroom, Portland 23/04/08)


A bootleg of the full set is here, recorded by sometimesitapestuff. Cheers!

ok.........

Photo by Patrick Fraser

now its a lot later on friday and i want my bangers..

here are two WICKED remixes off the 'one pure thought' single by the effervescent hot chip.. truly banging.

Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor (Hot Chip VIP Remix)

Hot Chip - Wrestlers (Sticky Dirty Pop Remix)

the ready for the floor remix is exactly my kind of fidgety banger- not too stupid or wobbly, has wicked b'more-ish drums and is intense as hell. epicly awesome.
the wrestlers remix is fucking rad as well but is a more by the numbers fidget jam.. perfect for fri night!!

to last to you out the weekend, here are two DJ mixes done by two awesome sydney DJs/producers.
sorry for the zshare guys but dj mixes take up toooo much room on our lovely new server..

The Gameboys 60.30 Mix

the gameboys have become local fixtures in recent times, playing heaps at places like candys and qbar.. they have built up quite the fanbase with their sweeeet skills and sweeet tracks.. haha but seriously we love the gameboys up in here- make sure you catch them soon (sosueme tonight or sounds on sunday).
The title of their mix '60.30' is actually very smart because on it they mash sixty songs (yes 6-0) into 30 mins. thats like 2 songs every minute.
AMAZING- make sure you check this out (tracklisting in comments.) very clever mixing of indie/electro.. kind of makes you listen in the same way as girl talks new mix.

Jeepers (aka John Paul from the Heat) has also recently thrown around a mix to get us all excited for summer and the excellent rooftop parties @ the eastern..

Jeepers Rooftop Mix

have a good weekend everyone!

ps for anyone going/wants to go, the Van She show at the Spanish Club has had to be pushed back to next week and will now be at the Cross (above the Bourbon).. buy tickets here

out power

photo: Jack Walsh

yeesss.... out power is such a relevant couple of words at the moment.. me, rach and the blouse and rubicon krews had A LOT of out power on sat night.. and ended up with bruises on our knees as a result. (actually i cant claim any bruises- they all ended up on rach's knees hahahaha).. awesome night though- the rubicon boys put a madd show on son.

im also stoked to say that the power to my computer is temporarily out power cos some brothers taking out some cupboards near our sparkling new area happened to take the power out as well.. ddaammnnn

joining us with plenty of out power last thursday was brenton- a creative director from my work.
we went out in an attempt to see uk proggy house stalwart dave seaman and protege nic fanciulli but were somewhat put off by the 100m line out the front.
so, we caught the bus over to our hood and into fringe bar...
what a mad night- hearing brentons stories of growin up back in pop n' lock'n adelaide with a ghetto blaster on his shoulder was awesome.. and weirdly coincidental with me getting a whole heap of old skool rock, dance and hip hop sent to me.. (actually.. not so weird cos brenton sent a fair bit of it to me..)
so, thought id do the right thing and share some of this old skool brilliance with y'all.. i cant put everything up but will chuck a couple up. This first track is a reallllly early house track- one of brentons faves. very awesome track- but certainly makes me realise how much house music has changed

Follow Me - Aly-Us

also... you might remember this track from one of the first buttfu*k mixes that gus da hoodrat did for the awesome bang gang podcast series

Do Ya Like Scratchin' - World's Famous Supreme Team

how much more genuine did music seem back in the day? i love it

you might also remember a band called Flock of Seagulls from their song 'I Ran'.. awesome iconic 80's track.. they sort of remind me of the cure a bit- but in a more electro-y/80's synth-y pop way.. awesome combo.
props to austin for introducing me to the magic of Flock of Seagulls.

Flock of Seagulls - I Ran

Flock of Seagulls - Lost Control (Totally)

ps go to fluokids and check out the mad cover that hot chip did of 'sensual seduction' by snoooo--oop!.. not everyone was digging it but i thought it was fun.

gonna post up a MASSIVE* vfest post soon- hold your breaths..
no guarantee on the actual size of the blog entry, now the number of tracks shared.. might actually be small