Toro y Moi - Causers of This (2010, Carpark)

Toro y Moi - Causers of This
(2010, Carpark)

January isn’t even over yet and already can I present to you the sound of 2010. Chillwave will turn the tables this year. This up and coming genre making smart use of nostalgia and hipster imagery combined with influences like Animal Collective and 80s synth music is sure to grow a lot bigger in the following months. Every aspect fits perfectly with communities like Pitchfork who seem to be making out what’s popular these days. Well we can’t blame Toro y Moi for this cause this dude is only interested in making some very chill and catchy music. In this project we hear Chaz Bundick fusing everything ranging from lo-fi to synth pop. The created sound is something totally new but at the same time sounding very familiar. Nostalgia is kicking in when the 80s synthesizers are combined with the hazy echoed vocals and ambient textures. I can already imagine the sun setting while I’m cruising the Miami beach on a skateboard. This highly associative feeling in chillwave seems to be one of it’s strengths. There are no defined time measures, rhythms or a rule-book for making this music but all of the records seem to tap into the same vibe of nostalgia. Where Causers of This shines among the others is it’s vocal strength. Reminding a lot of other big shots in the echoed vocal-style like Panda Bear and any other Animal Collective related project Bundick manages to hypnotize and make the sun shine with his soothing voice. While every track presents new elements and other feelings this is one of the most cohesive albums I’ve heard in ages. Total highlights of the album are Minors & Thanks Vision but every track is a gem. Already a compete for the 2010 yearlist. If you can enjoy any of the following things you should go check out this album and chillwave in general: dream pop, lo-fi, Miami, walks on the beach, lollipops, shoegaze, hazy Sunday afternoons, sunglasses and icecreams.

2009 Yearlist

This is a repost, the previous one caused alot of problems with formatting.
Artists, albums and tags aren't marked in this post due to the insane amount.

What a crazy year indeed. Lots of great music, a few big dissapointments but when you do the math it all adds up to a great year for alternative music. While popular music was dominated by such freaks like Lady Gaga the alternative scene took a turn even further away from commercial. Keywords of 2009 in my opinion are noise-pop, lo-fi, psych-drone and folk. Same keywords could have been applied to the last few years but I feel like this is the first year that actually takes these genres a step further. As usual every genre still save got a post- version so people can now also enjoy post-black metal. Due to the diverse output and my even more so listening habbits every piece of music released this year will compete for spots in just one list. Seperate lists for 7"s or anything like that just take away from the good releases. If you manage to release a good piece of music it doesn't matter if it lasted six or forty minutes. Feast your eyes on the few selected records that really hit me this year:






01. Neon Indian - Psychic Chams









02. Washed Out - High Times









03. Bibio - The Apple and The Tooth




04. Sleigh Bells - Sleigh Bells
05. Vomir - Proanomie
06. Punch - Punch
07. Shogun Kunitoki - Vinonaamakasio
08. Ducktails - Ducktails
09. Best Coast - Make You Mine
10. Ilyas Ahmed - Goner
11. Peter Broderick & Machinefabriek - BlankGrey CanvasSky
12. Big Spider's Back - Warped
13. Tiny Vipers - Life on Earth
14. Peaking Lights - Imaginary Falcon
15. Ganglians - Monster Head Room
16. Black Dice - Repo
17. The Drums - The Drums
18. Millionyoung - Sunndreamm
19. Orphan Fairytale - Ladybird Labyrinth
20. Borgore - Goresteps Most Hated
21. Topaz Rags - Tarot Harem
22. Bygones - by-
23. Sun Araw - Heavy Deeds
24. Endless Endless Endless - Black Talisman
25. John Wiese - Circle Snare
26. Memory Tapes - Seek Magic
27. Small Black - Small Black
28. Real Estate - Real Estate
29. Psychedelic Horseshit - Shitgaze Anthems
30. Converge - Axe to Fall

Conclusions:
Looking a bit closer at the list a few interesting things can be seen. The relatively new genre chillwave is well represented as well as debut albums or fairly new bands. That can only mean that most of the longer lasting bands dissapointed this year and I'm sorry to say that is indeed the case. Ofcourse there are always exceptions and Axe to Fall it the prime example. Bieng a big fan of Converge for years that one gave me some mixed feelings on a first listen but after multiple spins it shows it's real face, a face melting slab of technical hardcore. Converge never let down.

Most of the hipsters are probably missing out two names(or many more) which would be Animal Collective and The XX, while both albums are really good they just didn't deserve to be on my personal list. The XX never got many repeated plays and I still go back to Strawberry Jam more than I do with MPP. Gotta give some love to My Girls though.

Also a bit left out in this list are heavy genres like hardcore and grindcore. I'm totally into that scene and everything about it but this year was a bit of a let down. Punch delivered a furious record and Magrudergrind presented us thier weakest record so far which means it was still pretty good. Other bands worth mentioning are Trash Talk, Spoonful of Vicodin and Wormrot. Yes I did indeed leave out Extreme Noise Terror, Insect Warfare and Napalm Death out on purpose. ENT still haven't found thier roots, Insect Warfare discovered money and bad noisecore and Napalm Death still try ever so hard to get rid of thier past. If you like these bands don't bother with the new stuff, just go spin some Holocaust in your Head, Scum and World Extermination.

As always, this year it was really cool to show an eclectic music taste in your list. This means lots bad records get listed from genres people don't know much about. Absolute winner in that spot this year is the new Raekwon, that was actually pretty generic and boring. Another regular in the eclecticness olympics is (MF) DOOM who bored us with his worst songs to date. By this time you already heard atleast three Extreme Noise Terror songs so go on, switch it with something good like A Tribe Called Quest 7" , just do it!

As always, Sunburned Hand of the Man released a lot of albums this year. And most of the time those are really good, so good I would put it in the list if it wasn't for a lack of identity between the albums. Just go pick some random ones and start listening, can't really go wrong with that.

In the end, heavy music lost and hipsters won this year. Chillwave bieng thier main defense, fresh combined with retro through a blender of good marketing and polaroids, let's hope they don't ruin this like noise-pop. I'm very curious to see how the sound will develop cause it's character is pretty limited. Sure can't wait for the crossovers to pop up and the tag turning into something even weirder. 2010 post-chillcore here we come!

PS: These would have made the list if it was a top 74:
A Broken Consort, AIDS Wolf, Amenra, Animal Collective, Atlas Sound, BATS, more Best Coast releases, Black Pus, Coming Up for Air, Cameron Wisch, Dreams of the Drowned, Emeralds, Girls, Grass Widow, Gucci Mane, Halflings, Hey! Tonal, High Wolf, Katadreuffe, Krallice, Kurt Vile, M.Pyres, Magik Markers, Midlake, Narrows, Planning for Burial, Pocahaunted, Purity Control, Scott Tuma & Mike Weis, Second Family Band, Silver Bullets, Smelly Magic, Sunn O))), Surfer Blood, Sylvester Anfang II, Thee Oh Sees, Toe, Vivian Girls, Wet Hair, Woburn House, Wooden Shjips, Woods, xBrainiax, xbxrx, Yakuza Heart Attack

Westerlingen revival-core

Yeah that's right, this is the hippest thing around right now "westerlingen revival-core" is the sound of 2010, everything you should listen to in the upcoming year. To be totally hip and in about what fits in the wr-core tag you should bookmark this and remind yourself to check it everyday. First of I have three announcements:

1. Happy New Year in a fashionable late but still kind way. Yes I know it's already half way into the first month, but better late then never is the motto that keeps this blog go round.

2. I'm posting again, proven by this (badly written) article. This means new reviews of mostly 2010-albums and some goodies from last year.

3. We are now running in English (no shit sherlock). I couldn't resist the fame and wide audience, I apologize for all the bad grammar and stupid mistakes just deal with it.

Get your scopes on chillwave, up and coming genre supported by all the hip blogs and pitchfork so you know it's good or atleast a trend. I hate the term but love the music, takes you back to the 80's in a nice laid back miami way. More on this and my yearlist(I love lists) of 2009, soon!

PS: Go listen Toro y Moi.