by John Seroff

editor's note: :If you're just joining us, check out the first installment of The Tofu Hut on BV for a better explanation of what this is. And if you're wondering what took so long for this second post to appear, well, that's my fault. Now I hand the post over to John...

Download: Kutiman - 'I'm New' (MP3)
Download: Kutiman - 'Just A Lady' (MP3)

Kutiman

Ah, the unchanging rituals of the New Year: unrealistic resolutions, unachievable gym plans, buying too many calendars, attending to many parties, genuflecting in preparation for income taxes and lists, lists, lists.

If you're anything like me, you've been looking to the predictable flood of year-end hoopla as a tool to discover new music that's escaped prior notice. It's also a nice opportunity for heavy listeners to scrub off and enumerate old calcified barnacles before applying a fine glossy sheen of THE NEW.

One particularly dreary Sunday in December, I narrowed my best of '09 to 275 singles and thirty or so albums, then ran that healthy bolus through a weekend's crucible of heavy listening until I narrowed the field to Pazz and Jop's arbitrarily less crowded decimal requirements. Four of my final ten albums were reasonably well-known LPs: The-Dream's 'Love vs. Money', Taylor Swift's 'Fearless' (I know this was released in late 2008, but it had the majority of its sales and pop impact in '09), DJ Quik and Kurupt's 'Blaqkout' and UGK's 'UGK 4 Life'. To be sure, not all of these would fit into everyone's "best of", but they have all received plenty of ink and acclaim from fans and critics of their respective genre. The other six albums in my ten were an odder lot: a collection of online mashups, foot-stompin' country pop, a casual video-game soundtrack, prodigal and savant-like YouTube oeuvres and a mostly under-the-radar horrorcore hip-hop reunion. As part of my inaugural month on BV, I'd like to share a few selections from these six dark horses. Here's hoping you'll find this music as exciting and laudable as I do!

Kutiman's Thru-You
(2009, no commercial release, thru-you.com)

Kutiman is the nom du net of Ophir Kutiel,the Israeli musician who peeled hundreds of little-known performance clips from YouTube (riffs, recitals, freestyles, synth demos, girls in bedrooms singing into cameras), then beat-matched and arranged these snippets into an album of rejiggered found sound.

tl; dr info after the jump

Continue reading "The Tofu Hut: Kutiman"

Hot Chip's new album, One Night Stand, is out officially on February 9th. The band will play a free MySpace record release show in NYC at Highline Ballroom on Friday, February 5th which is one night before their sold out show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Stay tuned for more details.

That makes four upcoming Hot Chip shows total in NYC right now. The other two are in April at the larger Terminal 5. Tickets for the final one are still on sale. Hot Chip last played Highline Ballroom almost exactly two years earlier when their last album came out.

The photo above is from a limited edition vinyl gatefold edition of the new album.

Limited to just 1,000 hand-numbered copies worldwide, the edition includes two super-heavyweight vinyl records containing the 10 tracks comprising 'One Life Stand', crafted on The Vinyl Factory-owned, legendary EMI 1400 vinyl press located in Hayes, Middlesex. Also featuring an exclusive Hot Chip art print of the 'One Life Stand' cover artwork, it is presented in a heavyweight gatefold sleeve with bespoke artwork printed on both sides, and also houses a very special and exclusive surprise!

Continue reading "Hot Chip playing MySpace show at Highline Ballroom, record out soon, limited vinyl edition, new video & more "

by BBG

Laura of Kylesa (more by Paul Birman)

Earlier I discussed my favorite LPs of the year, but why leave the fun to just one? I asked some of my favorite artists and promoters for their 2009 highlights. The responses were great. You already saw some of them. Justina listed some quotes, Liam Wilson talked about Philly, and Josh Graham listed good things about 2009. They continue below. You'll find lists of favorite songs and albums of the year, not to mention answers to crucial questions like:

• What are Coalesce's favorite pizza toppings?
• Which one of my top 20 artists of the year tried to get in a cab with Kirsten Dunst?
• What is the #1 sauce/condiment of 2009?

Continue reading "The Year in Metal continued (BBG asked countless others to make lists... and here they all are)"

In this late submission to our End of 2009 Interview series with NYC bands, Here We Go Magic band members Michael Bloch and Jennifer Turner answer some questions about their year. Catch them live at Music Hall of Williamsburg on January 29th (with Glass Ghost & Midnight Masses). Check out their interview below...

Continue reading "end of 2009 interview w/ Here We Go Magic "

Dinosaur Jr. @ Summerstage in August (more by Chris La Putt)

J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr's Best of 2009 (via)
Carlton Melton, Pass It On
Bill Callahan, Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
Wooden Shjips, Dos
Kurt Vile, Childish Prodigy
The Duchess and the Duke, Sunset/Sunrise
Sonic Youth, The Eternal
MV/EE, Barn Nova
Hush Arbors, Yankee Reality
Pink Mountaintops, Outside Love
Built to Spill, There is No Enemy

In February and March, the band will play shows in Spain and Australia. Those dates and recent interview clips (including more of J's record picks) are below...

Continue reading "Dinosaur Jr add a 3rd NYC show ++ J Mascis's Best of 2009"

by BBG

Dave Verellen of Narrows (more by Samantha Marble)

Another year gone, but not without lasting memories! Eyehategod (x2). Akitsa. Rorschach (x2). BV-BBG @ CMJ. Ludicra. BV @ Northside. Keelhaul... Not to mention the tons of memories jogged by my turntable and iPod. Estimates place the number of albums released in 2008 at 115,000, and while similar data for 2009 is scarce, I think that number seems on the low side. With so many to choose from, you can imagine that it was tough to sift through 20 (22 actually) that represented my year...

Continue reading "The Year in Metal (BBG's best of 2009)"

Greg Dulli's Top Ten of 2009: (via)
1. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
2. Little Dragon - Machine Dreams
3. Tinariwen - Imidiwan: Companions
4. Wussy - Wussy
5. Various Artists - Gilles Peterson Presents Havana Cultura
6. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
7. Handsome Furs - Face Control
8. The Aliens - Luna
9. Dam-Funk - Toeachizown
10. Kid Cudi - Man On the Moon: The End of Day

Dan Deacon's Top 10 albums of 2009 (via)
1. Double Dagger - More
2. Lightning Bolt - Earthy Delights
3. Health - Get Color
4. Ducktails - Landscapes
5. Pictureplane - Dark Rift
6. Javelin - Jamz N Jemz
7. DD/MM/YYYY - Black Square
8. Black Dice - Repo
9. Lucky Dragons - Dream Island Laughing Language
10. Ed Schrader - The Choir Inside

Aziz Ansari's listed the following stuff on his 2009 Gummy Award Ballot....

BEST ALBUM
4. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
2. Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

BEST MUSIC VIDEO
G-Baby - "Welcome To Heartbreak" and Kanye West - "We Were Once A Fairytale" and Major Lazer - "Pon De Floor" (3 way tie)

INDIE ROCK CRUSH
This really hot girl I saw buying a hot dog at a Phoenix show

BEST NEW ACT
Drake

BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
In alphabetical order...
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
Kanye West - Graduation
LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
Radiohead - In Rainbows
The Rapture - Echoes

BEST TV SHOW
Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Summer Heights High, Mad Men, Delocated, Eastbound And Down (7 way tie)

BEST MOVIE
Inglourious Basterds

BEST WEB VIDEO
David After Dentist

Continue reading "Aziz Ansari releasing a CD & DVD, schedules 'big' NYC shows (and other dates), lists his favorite stuff from 2009"

by Justina Villanueva

Eyehategod on a Rocks Off Boat (more by Chloe Rice)

Before I dive into quotes and explanations, I would like to thank twitter and my cellphone for allowing me to take notes at the most inconvenient of times -- like being smushed in between a bunch of big and way-too-stoked hardcore dudes at the Burnt By the Sun show. Because I was a stupid stoner as a teenager, its pretty hard to remember all the stuff I see at shows...

Continue reading "Justina lists the Top 10 greatest things she's heard metal bands (and 1 non-metal band) say on stage in 2009"

Liam Wilson playing w/ Frodus @ DBA (more by Ryan Muir)


we asked lots of people to make lists. this is what Liam sent in...

Liam Wilson's Favorite Things About Philly
1. All things Macabre at the Mutter Museum
2. The Mint and Cucumber soup at Horizons
3. Weekend Brunch at Mi Lah
4. Fairmount Park
5. The Smoked Coconut at Memphis Tap Room
6. Yoga at the Bikram College Of India
7. Jazz at Ortleibs
8. Iced Coffee from Ray's in China Town
9. Hot Pretzels from the Pretzel Factory at Midnight
10. The Wannamaker Organ at Macy's Department Store

---

Dillinger Escape Plan open for Gogol Bordello at Webster Hall tonight (12/29), and then play with Glassjaw & Thursday at Starland Ballroom on Wednesday (12/30).

They debuted a new song on Sirius-XM on Christmas Eve. Listen below...

Continue reading "new Dillinger Escape Plan song streaming, Liam Wilson lists his favorite things about Philadelphia"

A Storm of Light

Josh Graham is multitasking, and not in a chew gum and walk kind of way either. Graham first burst on the scene as the newest member of Bay Area titans Neurosis, handling the visual element which included live pieces and graphic design, eventually leading into the legendary "A Sun That Never Sets" companion DVD. On the heels of that well received DVD, Josh went on to direct music videos and design artwork for Dillinger Escape Plan, Enon, Jesu, Khann, Underoath, Saves The Day, and many others.

Meanwhile, Josh wielded a heavy (like the music) axe (like the guitar) in Red Sparowes featuring members of the like-minded Isis, Battle Of Mice [RIP] with members of local metallers Made Out Of Babies, and Tribes of Neurot (a Neurosis related experimental project). His tenure with Red Sparowes has recently come to an end, but that hasn't stopped Mr. No-Sleep from starting another band... A Storm Of Light." [Black Bubblegum, March 2008]

Continue reading "Josh Graham lists 10 Great Things About 2009 (A Storm of Light plays w/ Coliseum & Coalesce @ Europa Wednesday)"

I already used the above picture on the top of Dave Hill's Best of 2007 post, but thought it deserved an encore performance in light of the recent bad news. Get well soon Dio!

Dave Hill. A man of many talents. Huge in more than just Japan (if you know what I mean). Check out what he had to say about 2009, 2010, 1989, naked dudes, murderers, rapists, Janeane Garofalo, and more. below:

Continue reading "an end of 2009 interview with Dave Hill"

by Bill Pearis

More than a few bands changed their names in 2009: The Muslims (now The Soft Pack), Starfucker (now Pyramid Pyramiddd) and Brooklyn's Muggabears who are now known as Grooms. The new moniker definitely fits their loud, droney sound better -- which you can hear on Grooms terrific debut album, Rejoicer.

Singer and guitarist Travis Johnson filled out our year-end questionnaire...

Continue reading "an end of 2009 interview w/ Travis Johnson of Grooms"

by Bill Pearis

Chairlift @ All Points West 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)


Synthy trio Chairlift spent most of 2008 on tour, following the release of their debut album from 2008, Does You Inspire You?, which got picked up/rereleased by Columbia Records in 2009. They hit the road with Phoenix, TV on the Radio, Peter Bjorn and John, the Killers, and played this year's muddy All Points West Festival. Gearing up for another tour -- this one to Australia (dates below) -- singer Caroline Polachek answered our year-end survey. Her answers are below...

Continue reading "an end of 2009 interview w/ Caroline Polachek of Chairlift"

photos by Paul Birman

DOWNLOAD: The xx - Space Bass (Jamie xx's Remix of the xx) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The xx - Do You Mind (Kyla cover) (MP3)

"In a recent interview, the xx talked about expanding their sound. So much has happened to them in the short space of time since they recorded this debut that their next record can't fail to be infused with this experience. All the more reason to cherish this album, then. For this was more than just the sound of 2009, it was a distinctive musical statement of the like we may never get to hear again." [The Guardian]

Five days after the NYC show, The xx made their network television debut on the Carson Daly show. Video from appearance is below.

And I'm not sure what brings them back, but The xx must be hanging around a bit because they have another NYC appearance scheduled for January 2nd.. It's not a live show though, they are just DJing at Le Poisson Rouge at a late night party with VHS or Beta Dee Jays and Finger On The Pulse. Tickets are $5+fee if you buy them in advance or slightly more if you wait for the door.

Tickets are also still on sale for the show that The xx is playing with Hot Chip at Terminal 5 on April 22nd.

All dates with the rest of those pictures and the video below...

Continue reading "The xx Carson Daly video, (another set of) Webster Hall pics & an upcoming DJ gig in NYC "

After a decade in which private lives basically became public domain-- think confessional emo, YouTube, reality TV, and social networking updates-- you would think that we'd have become inured to the private pain of semi-autobiographical songwriting. But as the debut album by Peter Silberman's former solo project (it's now a trio) proves, with the right blend of earnest, whispery vocals, delicate, gauzy melodies, and strangely smothering scratchy effects, a desperately delivered concept album about personal loss still has the power to emotionally destroy listeners. Hospice, as its name implies, is not an easy album to take-- the haunting songs' plainspoken prose tells of mental illness, abortion, cancer, and death-- but couched in soaring anthems and swathed in layers of ambient noise, its heartbreaking stories are easy to love. --Rebecca Raber, Pitchfork.com

Continue reading "an end of 2009 interview w/ Peter Silberman of The Antlers "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Young Adult Friction (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Everything with You (MP3)

It's not entirely uncommon, especially these days, for a band to go from playing Cake Shop to headlining Webster Hall in little over a year, but one of the amazing surprises of 2009 is that it happened to The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Made entirely of genuine indie obsessives who, when not on tour are at other people's shows, the Pains moved beyond the cardigan crowd to what you could almost call... mainstream success? It doesn't hurt that their self-titled debut was chock-full of irresistible pop songs, three of which were actual singles (all downloadable at the top of this post), and the rest could've been. The band rest up until February when they tour Japan, Australia and New Zealand -- tour dates are at the bottom of this post. Singer Kip Berman answered our year-end in questionnaire...

Continue reading "an end of 2009 interview w/ The Pains of Being Pure at Heart"

Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers @ SXSW 2009 (more by Bryan Bruchman)

It was approximately a year ago that Shilpa Ray left her band Beat The Devil to focus on her own project with her own band that she calls Shipa Ray and The Happy Hookers. That would make 2009 not only their year, but their first year.

My own excitement for the band came right around January/February when I first heard their 8-song unreleased CD-R. Soon after that they accepted my invitation to play the official BrooklynVegan SXSW showcase, and they've managed to keep busy all year. Shilpa ended up self-releasing their album, and she and her hookers have played numerous shows in NYC - too many to count, but they've included a Woodstock tribute at Castle Clinton, a residency at Pianos, and this year's CitySol festival. And they're ending the year strong. They just opened two NYC gigs for the Fiery Furnaces, are opening for Grant Hart of Husker Du this Saturday at 92YTribeca (12/19), and now have a glowing recommendation from Nick Cave.

Shilpa answered some questions about her year. Read them below...

Continue reading "an end of 2009 interview w/ Shilpa Ray "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Savoir Adore - three tracks from In the Wooded Forrest (link takes you to download page)

One of the nicest bands and most underrated bands in Brooklyn, Savoir Adore have been going for almost two years but just their debut album, In the Wooded Forrest, on Cantora Records. It's loaded with big pop hooks, clever productions and positive vibes. They are also a lot of fun live, which you can find out for yourself tonight (12/18) -- they play The Cantora Holiday party with French Horn Rebellion. It's $5 with RSVP, doors are at 11PM. You can also catch them at Mercury Lounge on January 14th. Tickets are on sale at noon.

Core members Paul Hammer and Deidre Munro answered our year-end questionnaire...

Continue reading "an end of 2009 interview w/ Savoir Adore "

What makes an album great? And perhaps even more critical for this list, what makes a great album gay? To create our list of the 100 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time, we polled more than 100 actors, comedians, musicians, writers, critics, performance artists, label reps, and DJs, asking each to list the 10 most important albums of their lives. After receiving responses from Boy George, Rufus Wainwright, Cyndi Lauper, the Indigo Girls' Amy Ray, Perez Hilton, Nate Berkus, Jake Shears, Ed Droste, Nico Muhly, John Cameron Mitchell, Wilson Cruz, Junior Vasquez, Janis Ian, Lady Bunny and a slew of others, we tallied the results to determine our top-100 list. [Out]

Pitchfork also just released their list of the Best Albums of 2009.

Animal Collective @ ATP NY (more by Ryan Muir)

So how the hell did Merriweather Post Pavilion-- an album closer in spirit to the sub-aquatic psychedelia of 2005's Feels and Panda Bear's 2007 solo Person Pitch than its predecessor-- wind up in the Billboard Top 20 and outsell both the Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand's most recent albums in North America? That mystery is ultimately the most wonderful thing about the album. Unlike so many indie-rock crossover artists before them, Animal Collective did not breach the mainstream by cleaning up their act, or adopting classic-rock conventions, or scoring a strategic soundtrack or iPod-commercial placement. And, above all, they did little to formalize their defining mercurial quality. [Pitchfork]

Pitchfork also listed their Top 100 Tracks of 2009, and the Top Albums of the Decade.

Animal Collective is DJing the Museum of Natural History in January.

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Acrylics - Molly's Vertigo (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Acrylics - All of the Fire (MP3)

Acrylics

Where a lot of current Brooklyn bands are getting noticed for innovation, Acrylics' Molly Shea and Jason Klauber focus on classic pop songwriting. They're quite good at it too, as you can hear on their debut EP, All of the Fire, which came out on Terrible Records, a new label co-founded by Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor. He also produced the record. You can download the title track above, along with "Molly's Vertigo" which isn't on the EP but is also pretty damn catchy. Molly Shea looks back on 2009 via our year-end questionnaire...

Continue reading "an end of 2009 interview w/ Molly Shea of Acrylics (and all woman supergroup Girl Crisis!)"

intro by BBG

Justin Smith of Graf Orlock (left) @ the Charleston (more by Lori Baily)

In addition to my upcoming list of favorite records of 2009, I asked some of my favorite bands/musicians the same question and received a wide array of answers.

The first 2009 list comes from Justin Smith of Graf Orlock, Ghostlimb, Dangers, and Vitriol Records fame. If you haven't already, you can download both Graf Orlock's Destination Time Today and Ghostlimb's split with Fischer for FREE.

Justin has long been a fan of bad film as evidenced by the amazing subject matter and samples on the Graf Orlock records and his film reviews on Decibel.com, and in keeping with that awesome (terrible?) tradition, Justin has offered his Worst 10 Films of 2009...

Continue reading "Graf Orlock's Justin Smith lists the Worst 10 Films of 2009"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Real Estate - Beach Comber (MP3)

Real Estate @ Market Hotel (more by Leia Jospe)

So we asked a load of NYC-area bands to tell us how their 2009 went, via a handy questionnaire...

New Jersey's Real Estate were one of the breakout bands of the year, putting out a slew of records on influential labels (Woodsist, Underwater Peoples, Mexican Summer). They also typified the dreamy "Beach Sound" that was definitely one of this year's more prominent trends. And if you haven't heard their debut album, you definitely should. You can download "Beach Comber" at the top of this post. Real Estate don't have any NYC dates scheduled, but they will be heading off on an extensive European tour in early 2010 -- so look out, Prague! Real Estate frontman Martin Courtney answered the questions below...

Continue reading "an end of 2009 interview w/ Martin Courtney of Real Estate"