HAPPY HOLIDAYS Y'ALL

10 ALBUMS FOR 2011

Well after rereading our songs post we’re already feeling that we missed some big hitters from this years ‘tracks’ list (Unicorn Kid’s ‘Chrome Lion’ and Azealia Banks ‘212’ to name but two) but nevertheless we’re still gonna go and throw our 10 favourite albums (including mixtapes/longplayers etc) in the pot... 

Apols if its a bit like ALL THE OTHER top 10 albums lists that are all over the internet. Not much choice this year we thought.

(In fact we had to scour the wiki for albums released 2011 for inspiration. And why did no one tell us Vanilla Ice had an album out this year? WTF? No, that was the name of his album, WTF. Trill.) 

Neways...for right here, right now only purposes, in no particular order:

EYE CONTACT – Gang Gang Dance

INSTRUMENTALS – Clams Casino

LIVELOVEA$AP – A$AP ROCKY

THEE PHYSICAL - Pictureplane

HOUSE OF BALLOONS – The Weeknd

NOSTALGIA, ULTRA – Frank Ocean

DR LECTOR – Action Bronson

ELECTRONIC DREAM – Araabmuzik

DRIVE OST – Various artists

I’M GAY (I’M HAPPY) – Lil B

TORMENTED

We came across this the other day. We have no idea who it is or where he/she/they are from but we liked it... def worth checking out

Ubiquitous Top Tens of 2011 Time....

10 Tracks, in no particular order

MIDNIGHT CITY – M83

Shh, don’t let the indie blogosphere hear; but we thought the rest of this album was just OK at best. Shame cos from what we’ve read you’re all hearing something much better than us. Still, this is an absolute don of a song and rightly deserves its inclusion here.

FAR NEARER – Jamie XX

When we heard that the guy who plays finger pads from the XX was doing some kind of post dubstep electro and it had Caribbean drums on it we thought it sounded too good to be true. Thankfully everything about this song lives up to the hype.

CHEATED MYSELF – Delzz

Don’t let the fact that Wiley has been giving her shout-outs put you off, there is a lot to like about this young newcomer from the Bow E3 scene. Her first single proper, Secrets and Lies is out soon but we haven’t been able to stop listening to this diamond in the rough cut since we first heard it earlier this year. http://www.facebook.com/DelzzArtist

ORDINARY THINGS - XXXY

Surprising that this wasn’t bigger when it was released, its an absolute killer and another definite reason why in XXXY we’ve got one of the best producers in the UK right now. Guy can spin some records too.

YONKERS – Tyler the creator

You’ve all heard this tune by now, you’ve all read the hype and made your minds up one way or the other. Gotta say we are a bit bored by OFWGKTA over at BV these days but never the less no one can deny 2011 was Tyler & the gang's year so feel this standout track needed a showing at the very least.

VIDEO GAMES – Lana Del Rey

*See above

FEVER – Stay+

Ghostly wails over a pulsing beginning slowly build to one of the best, hands in the air pay offs ever at about 1.30m, proving that these guys aren’t just about clever internet games but can really write some tuuuuuune.

BEST THING I NEVER HAD – Beyonce

Maybe a curve ball but we dont care. We never said this was an indie blog or a cutting edge blog. Its a blog about good music and other stuff we like. And who here doesnt get their swag on when they hear a bit of Bey? Really? We loved this when we caught it at Glastonbury this year and it seems to get better with every listen.

AS YOUNG AS YESTERDAY – Korallreven

An amazing song sadly let down by the rest of the recent album. Nevertheless this track alone secures a little place in our hearts for Koralleven with hope of them matching the blissed out grooviness of this again sometime soon.

BETTER OFF ALONE – Salem

What can you say when you first hear Salem are covering Alice Deejay? Well, that it will no doubt be really pony or pretty damn amazing. Thankfully we think the witch house (now 4 piece?) have pulled it off. This skewed and distorted twist on the trance classic sits very well with us and gets us more than a little excited about the band’s follow up to last year’s King Night.

STAY+ ANOTHER DAY...

What a year its been for Manchester's (Really? We still going with that?) STAY+. They've dropped two of our favourite tracks this year in FEVER and STAY POSTIVE not to mention finding themselves hot-news-item-of-the-day on most blogs after nearly getting sued by a major UK charity (not gonna bore you with the deets, if ya dont know the whole CHRISTIAN AIDS story then look it up). Now a much more streamlined 2 piece after parting company with their live vocalists, they seem set to leave 2011 on as much a high as they entered it. This week they dropped their final release of the year Dandelion, a total grooved out, blissed up, banger of a tune featuring the vocal talents of Psychologist. Nice. And if that wasn't rad enough you can also catch them at one of the last ever shows at Manchester's Warehouse Project at the end of the month which will no doubt be a killer... (fraid it sold out doe, don't even think about it right)

Stay+ featuring Psychologist - Dandelion by RAMP / PTN

KULT CØUNTRY & LASER DREAM EYES – Big Hands, Manchester

So you know how it is, you head on out to your favourite bar for a few quiet drinks, somewhere you know will be chill, where you can enjoy some relative calm before stumbling into town for some proper messiness. So it goes then that we were a bit pissed off on stumbling into Big Hands last Saturday to find it well busier than normal. New plans being quickly formed as to where to go next we're told the reason for the crowds is that two new bands are doing a show, bands who are worth sticking about for.  Decision made we decide to sack off any chance of downtime and see what the fuss is about.

First up is KULT CØUNTRY. A London based band but apparently with members who used to live in Manchester. Members who clearly used to be faces on the scene we imagine judging by the strong presence of local bands and hipsters crammed down the front. We’re told this is their first gig which isn’t instantly apparent from the swagger onstage as the loud shoegaze guitars fill the room. Gotta admit, we were initially wondering what all the fuss was about; the first few songs offering nothing more than the same old MBV guitars and Ian McCulloch vocals that we’ve heard far, far too much recently. But then as the set gets going and the music gets more powerful we can’t help but fall in love with it a little. Sure there’s no doubt KULT CØUNTRY have heard the latest Horrors album on at least one occasion but it doesn’t matter when the songs sound so big, so accomplished. We’ve been scouring the internet for some tracks to show you but all we can find presently is their bandcamp, of which the downbeat instrumentals don’t really do the band justice. Still, check it anyway and we suggest you catch them live sometime soon.

http://kultcountry.bandcamp.com

When a band walk on a fogged up stage dressed in black to a wail of noise and feedback you can kinda predict that you ain’t going to be bigging up the harmonies in post-show analyses. As LASER DREAM EYES start up their abrasive set its clear we aren’t going to be disappointed. Using just basic synth-bass, drums and effected vocals they give us a short (10 minutes!), sharp set of dirty, street-punk energy. Once again we’re told its early days for the band and their clear love of Suicide is maybe a little too rife tonight in the throbbing synths and yelped vocals. But then fuck it, its Suicide turned all the way up to 11, it’s Suicide if they had beefier machines and more swagger. And who doesn’t love a bit of Suicide on a Saturday night? The last song too is a little bit of a departure from the rest of the art-noise, with even a little melody coming through in the distorted vocals, making us think perhaps there’s much more to come from LDE if they put their minds to it and manage to transcend their influences a little more. 

You can see them out this Friday at Gullivers, Manchester as part of the Trash O Rama night and check out this video now...

GIRLsChOOL

...that awkward moment when you start to really get into Azealia Banks and begin chatting to peeps how rad her flow is when 'fucking NME' make her number 1 in their annual 'cool' list...

Sucks huh?

Now we aint saying this means ya girl aint worth checking but it still smarts a bit that ever skinny jeaned Top Shop protege is gonna be rockin her wares...and makes us think maybe best to look elsewhere for a bit, especially still when we know there's bare new female UK grime and hip hop stars out there that need to be listened to...

So here's a few of our faves for starters:

LIONESS

Strong, bullshit free vibes and attitude has meant Lioness has been queen of the pack for some time. She's done some amazing drops over the last few years (All Black Winterness) as well some white hot guest verses. This new track, where Lioness shares blows with one of our fave MCs ever; Ghetts, proves she's not interested in slowing down none.

Baby Blue

Piano playing female MC? Really? Well thats what we getting with Baby Blue. Fallling onto the scene as Estelles protege on the now classic UK Rap track '1980' Baby Blue is still hitting stuff out of the park. Check out the future classic Paper Haters sharpish if you haven't already but for now we also liking the freshness of this newest cut from the all singing/MCing UK star

Mz Bratts

One of the newest girls on the UK scene but already showing massive crossover potential. Selecta is a ridiculously good tune, but here Get Dark is the one. A sick as fuck slice of everything thats good about the contempory UK scene. Check it...

And while we're here you best check out everyones favourite new, foul-mouthed, 'this years Nicki Minaj': Azealia, despite the fact it'll soon be throbbing out the earphones of every swag-ged up indie kid in town we cant help but admit its still a proper tooooon! (especially 2.22m on!)

Words: R.P. Stereos

ALT-J (OR SoOoOOMETHING)

Well gotta say we've been waiting for this for quite some time, ever since we first heard NOSUMMR4U back in the closing bars of 2010....we waited with baited breath for oOoOO's first UK dates only to be dismayed to hear that he'd parted company with his singer and was now doing just DJ sets for the foreseeable future....and then to top that, he had to cancel his Mcr date due to travel issues..

Well forget all that, its in the past yo, cos 2011 finally sees the arrival of oOoOO on these shores - complete with live show (he’ll be joined by Berlin based vocalist Butterclock for these dates) and some of his bros from Tri-Angle - namely the epic Balam Arcab and the quite excellent, Manchester ex-pat Holy Other.

We're gonna have to trek to London to catch him we think. But its on a Saturday so whas the issue....

Catch the tour yourself somewhere here:

02/02/12 – Berghain / Berlin
03/02/12 – Trouw / Amsterdam
04/02/12 – Secret Warehouse TBA / London
08/02/12 – AB Box / Brussels
09/02/12 – Point FMR / Paris

And if anyones not yet checked out the awesomeness: a) where've ya been fam? and b) see below

LEOPARD OF HONOUR

Apologies to all that we've been a little off-radar recently. Had a few ting to sort out in the old HQ but we back now and gonna be on it from now on at Bare Vibes promises....

So as way of apology get on this rad little mixtape dropped on Planet Notion this week by Leopard of Honour. Props good yes...

Full tracklisting below:

1.  James Ferraro – Heaven’s Bathroom
2  Main Attrakionz – Church
3. Lil B – Silent President
4.  A$AP Rocky – Demons
5.  Blood Diamonds – Grins (Leopard Of Honour Remix)
6.  Silky Johnson – Answer Your Call
7.  Elite Gymnastics – Little Things
8.  Sleep ∞ Over – Romantic Streams
9.  Ford & Lopatin – New Planet
10.  M83 – Midnight City