01 DENT MAY / Oh Paris!
02 HOT CHIP / One Pure Thought (Geese Remix)
03 THE BIRD AND THE BEE / Love Letter To Japan
04 DÄLEK / 2012 (The Pillage)
05 A.C. NEWMAN / Submarines Of Stockholm
06 BLACK LIPS / Veni Vidi Vici (Diplo Remix)
07 THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART / A Teenager In Love
08 IRAN / Buddy
09 BLACKOUT BEACH / The Whistle
10 BUILT BY SNOW / Something In 3D
11 OTIS GIBBS / Honey Please
12 STEPHEN STEINBRINK / Overpassing

[Download it HERE]

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Currently Listening To:
Robert Pollard / The Crawling Distance

I didn’t immediately click with Frog Eyes the first few times I heard them. In fact, there were times I could easily go on for several minutes about my distaste for their music to anyone willing to listen and a few innocents that were subjected to my diatribes. At some point around the release of 2004’s The Folded Palm, the band and my tastes reconciled and since then, I’ve enjoyed more than a quiet respect for their music.

Suffice it to say, my revamped feelings never inspired me to dive into much of their backstory or side project ramblings outside of Swan Lake, the Canadian “supergroup” formed by Frog Eyes’ frontman Carey Mercer, Wolf Parade songwriter (and former Frog Eyes member) Spencer Krug, and Dan Bejar (who really needs no formal introduction). My appetite was whet this evening when I stumbled across a copy of Skin Of Evil, the upcoming release by Carey Mercer’s solo project, Blackout Beach.

Which brings us to two reasons that I am wide awake attempting to write in the early morning hours of the first Saturday of the new year.

The first reason being the music of Blackout Beach. Writing and recording the record by himself, Mercer’s lyrics revolve around a fictional character by the name of Donna. While it’s never entirely clear whether or not Donna is based on any truth or reality in his own life or someone else’s, it becomes apparent that the emotion behind his words are harsh and burned deep into the heart. In reaction to the early press for the record and to a summary of the album written by his sometime bandmate, Dan Bejar, Mercer wrote: “I think my albums always get mis-represented. Skin Of Evil is not so much about ‘Donna’, as it is about my own attempt to just stick to something, and not veer off into the nebulous domains of ‘fractured social commentary.’ I think that in this sense Skin Of Evil is a moderate success.”

Just as intriguing as the record itself is the blog (Cloud Of Evil) that Carey Mercer began a short time ago to document…something. In it’s beginnings, the writings Mercer has provided range from short bursts of kinetic energy about specific songs, a long-winded musing about nights touring Europe and finally to a short, possibly true, story about his father, their neighbor and a rather unfortunate horse. It’s too early to tell what it’s intentions are and where it plans to travel, but the initial words provide an interesting and slightly intimate look into the mind of one of music’s most gifted lyricists.

In the end, one of Mercer’s own postings seems to sum up his very own insecurity about writing, recording and performing the music he obviously puts so much of his mind into. In the very first entry into his online diary, he writes: “What is so holy and pure about music? Stupid sputters and rattles. The sound of a dirty laundry cart with a whobbly wheel squeaking on a waxed hospital floor. Pissy cocks. Soft minds. Forks in cellos, shiny scarfs, hockey card-collectors, and boredom. So pathetic: so far from serious and so begging to be taken serious! Begging! And so in love with money!”

It would be easy to write off the music after reading those words, but there’s something in Mercer’s writing that feels far from phony, something nowhere close to the posturing that some artists lower themselves to in order to seem closer to some set of independent “roots”. Almost as if the man pushes record, captures whatever his mind allows to spill out and then plans to spend the rest of his life apologizing for something that no one is seeking an apology for.

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Currently Listening To:
Blackout Beach / Skin of Evil

There was never a doubt in my mind that whatever Antony Hegarty chose to do with his next record, it would be overflowing with ornate arrangements and his usual brand of haunting vocals. However, I was not prepared for the stunning quality of The Crying Light. One only needs to hear “Kiss My Name” to understand what I mean:

Antony & The Johnsons: “Kiss My Name”

Kitsune Noir is the personal blog of Los Angeles-based web designer Bobby Solomon. In addition to alerting readers to new designers, photographers and musicians, he recently arranged a gallery of some of his favorite designers by convincing them to contribute pieces to his Desktop Wallpaper Project. The wallpaper project features a new design each week and showcases work from established, as well as up and coming artists. The above image comes courtesy of the mind of the brilliant Dan Funderburgh.

As a few of you might remember from one of my first entires onto this…whatever this is…that I am a great admirer of anything that Garrison Keillor is involved with. From his wealth of novels and short stories to A Prairie Home Companion to his articles for Salon.com, the man has always provided a consistently entertaining and endearing volume of work. One of his lesser commended bodies of work, in my opinion, is his daily five minute segment for American Public Media entitled simply The Writer’s Almanac. While this is in no way a new program (the first broadcast dates back to 1993), I’ve only recently realized how important that brief five minutes of writing history and poetry mean to me each and every day. The sound of Mr. Keillor’s voice as he reads through his pronunciations of “almanac” and “premier” never fail to make me smile.

The minds of Eric Barone and Jared Behrend, together known as 17 Colourful Feathers, have once again created a masterpiece and are providing it to the internet world for free. You would be doing a great disservice to them and to yourself if you didn’t immediately download Big Secret.

17 Colourful Feathers: “Narwhal”

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Currently Listening To:
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart / The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

01 ESQUIVEL! / Jingle Bells (Greetings From Esquivel!)
02 PORTER WAGONER / Frosty The Snowman
03 EARTHA KITT / Santa Baby
04 THE WALKMEN / Christmas Party
05 THE BEATLES / Good King Wenceslas
06 BING CROSBY / Mele Kalikimaka
07 LEADBELLY / Christmas Is-A Comin’ (Chicken Crows At Midnight)
08 GAYLA PEEVEY / I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas
09 DAVID BAZAN / Away In A Manger
10 BOB DYLAN / The Night Before Christmas
11 VINCE GUARALDI TRIO / Christmas Time Is Here
12 SUFJAN STEVENS / O Holy Night
13 THE BEACH BOYS / Santa’s Beard
14 JOHNNY CASH / Blue Christmas
15 BOB & DOUG MCKENZIE / Twelve Days Of Christmas
16 DEAN MARTIN / Baby, It’s Cold Outside
17 THE THREE STOOGES / Wreck The Halls With Boughs Of Holly
18 DARLENE LOVE / Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
19 LOW / Silent Night
20 EL PERRO DEL MAR / Auld Lang Syne

[Download it HERE]

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Currently Listening To:
The Beach Boys / The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album

While compiling this list, it dawned on me that the number of records that really hit me in that hard, emotional “if I don’t hear this record every day I might die” kind of way seemed to be much fewer this year than in previous years. After flipping through all of the vinyl and scanning the hard drives, I was only able to find about 50 records that as a whole album gave me some sort of deep jolt or chill. To the casual music listener, 50 probably seems like a lifetime’s worth of music, but to obsessives like myself, it feels more like a Tuesday.

Back in the 60’s, artists would record 45’s to promote their upcoming tours. It wasn’t until the late 60’s and the dawn of the Beatles reign over popular music that bands took advantage of the full twelve inches of vinyl available to them. The 70’s saw far too many overblown three record concept albums for their own good, but also just the right amount of truly brilliant albums from top to bottom. The 80’s and 90’s saw the same kind of flip-flop from the previous two decades back to a singles-driven music world and then on to an album-based industry once again.

Which brings us to the present day and age…

It is entirely possible for anyone on the planet with even the slightest amount of musical comprehension to purchase a computer and one microphone, record a series of songs, create artwork, design a website and/or MySpace and start selling those songs on iTunes all within a few days and for a perfectly reasonable amount of money. The rules have changed entirely. While having the backing of a record label helps in most situations, it’s also not entirely necessary. This isn’t to say that music has become watered down, you just have to dig a little deeper for the records that will stand out as a whole.

The number of individual songs released this year that I claimed would be my song of the year would make your head spin. The single song is alive and doing more than just well, it’s thriving. Most artists realize this and are cramming more and more songs down our throat each and every day in an attempt to stay at the top of the heap and at the forefront of your memory. Yesterday’s most played song on your Last.fm account is just that, it’s yesterday’s song and most likely it’s already long forgotten. We’ve all given into our impatience and we want more and we want it now.

With all of this in mind, here are twenty records that I am certain I will still want to listen to not just tomorrow, but for years and years to come.

Chad VanGaalen: Soft Airplane
(Sub Pop)

Woods Family Creeps: Woods Family Creeps
(Time-Lag)

Gablé: Seven Guitars With A Cloud Of Milk
(LOAF)

Vetiver: Thing Of The Past
(Gnomonsong)

Why?: Alopecia
(Anticon)

The Rosebuds: Life Like
(Merge)

Alaska In Winter: Holiday
(Regular Beat)

The Dutchess & The Duke: She’s The Dutchess, He’s The Duke
(Hardly Art)

Justin Townes Earle: The Good Life
(Bloodshot)

Land Of Talk: Some Are Lakes
(Secret City)

The Felice Brothers: The Felice Brothers
(Team Love)

Kanye West: 808’s & Heartbreak
(Roc-A-Fella)

Horse Feathers: House With No Home
(Kill Rock Stars)

Rae Spoon: Superioryouareinferior
(Washboard)

Sébastien Tellier: Sexuality
(Record Makers)

Lackthereof: Your Anchor
(Barsuk)

Atlas Sound: Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
(Kranky)

Micah Blue Smaldone: The Red River
(Immune)

Ladyhawk: Shots
(Jagjaguwar)

Department Of Eagles: In Ear Park
(4AD)

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Currently Listening To:
The Accident That Led Me To The End Of The World / The Island Gospel

And we’ve reached the final portion of The Top 50 Songs of 2008 according to yours truly. In my head, I had planned out these immensely long and detailed write-ups about the brilliance of each song, what they all meant to me and how they’ve each impacted my life on a day to day basis, but I realized how boring that kind of shit is to most people, so I opted out. No one actually cares how your day went, so why bother telling?

Instead, we have the final ten and top songs of 2008 and a short, undeniably witty blurb for each.

Enjoy:

MGMT: “Electric Feel (Justice Remix)”
Electric Feel EP (Sony/BMG)

Justice: Not only exclusive to the Eurotrash dance scene anymore! Now available at your local Target!

The Felice Brothers: “Frankie’s Gun!”
The Felice Brothers (Team Love)

The greatest song ever recorded inside of a chicken coop.

Kanye West: “Heartless”
808’s & Heartbreak (Roc-A-Fella)

Auto-tune is the new flannel shirt.

Department Of Eagles: “Around The Bay”
In Ear Park (4AD)

If you’re looking to impress someone on a first date, try recreating the mouth percussion in this song during dinner.

The High Wire: “Saint Bees”
Ahead Of The Rain (Grandpa Stan)

By far the best use of melodica since the days of Some By Sea. Oh shit!

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson: “Buriedfed”
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson (Say Hey)

Guaranteed Recipe For Success: Step One) Compose introspective, emotional folk songs. Step Two) Add members of Grizzly Bear and TV On The Radio for seasoning. Step Three) Ask Chris Taylor to stir the pot.

Passion Pit: “Sleepyhead”
Chunk of Change EP (Frenchkiss)

Michael Angelakos recorded this song (and the rest of the Chunk Of Change EP) as a Valentine’s Day gift for his girlfriend which makes your diamond ring look pretty shitty.

Land Of Talk: “Some Are Lakes”
Some Are Lakes (Secret City)

Contrary to the popular belief in my own personal fantasy world, the chorus to this song does not ever say, “I’ve got the bull by the nuts”.

Breathe Owl Breathe: “Playing Dead”
Ghost Glacier EP (Fox On A Hill)

In the midst of a crumbling auto industry, Michigan can still lay claim to this gorgeous trio and be proud.

The Walkmen: “In The New Year”
You & Me (Gigantic)

Give an infinite number of monkeys an infinite number of guitars, the ability to sing and an infinite amount of time and none of them will ever be as fucking convincing as Hamilton Leithauser.

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Currently Listening To:
Lost In The Trees / All Alone In An Empty House

Not much to say right now, so let’s just get on with Part Four of this here countdown…

Happy days:

David Karsten Daniels: “Martha Ann”
Fear Of Flying (Fat Cat)

Lil’ Wayne: “Mr. Carter” (featuring Jay-Z)
Tha Carter III (Cash Money)

Okkervil River: “Lost Coastlines”
The Stand-Ins (Jagjaguwar)

Wolf Parade: “Soldier’s Grin”
At Mount Zoomer (Sub Pop)

Rae Spoon: “My Heart Is A Piece Of Garbage. Fight Seagulls. Fight!”
Superioryouareinferior (Washboard)

Vampire Hands: “No Fun”
Me And You Cherry Red (Peppermint Coffin)

Dr. Dog: “Army Of Ancients”
Fate (Park The Van)

Adele: “Chasing Pavements”
19 (XL)

Justin Townes Earle: “Ain’t Glad I’m Leaving”
The Good Life (Bloodshot)

Ladyhawk: “(I’ll Be Your) Ashtray”
Shots (Jagjaguwar)

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Currently Listening To:
Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit / The Very Best

Day three. And welcome to day three.

It’s unfortunate that some of you that view this blog will not be privy to some of the discussions about year-end lists that have been hatched on certain social networking sites over the last couple of days as they’ve been quite entertaining and inflammatory at times. But, that’s life and this will have to do, I guess.

Snarky? Fuck yes.

And away we go:

HEALTH vs. Crystal Castles: “Crimewave (Remix)”
DISCO (Lovepump United) & Crystal Castles (Last Gang)

RZA as Bobby Digital: “You Can’t Stop Me Now”
Digi Snacks (Wu Music Group)

Little Joy: “Brand New Start”
Little Joy (Rough Trade)

Raphael Saadiq: “Sure Hope You Mean It”
The Way I See It (Columbia)

Thao Nguyen & The Get Down Stay Down: “Swimming Pools”
We Brave Bee Stings And All (Kill Rock Stars)

Wild Beasts: “The Devil’s Crayon”
Limbo, Panto (Domino)

The War On Drugs: “Taking The Farm”
Wagonwheel Blues (Domino)

Deerhunter: “Microcastle”
Microcastle (Kranky)

Why?: “The Hollows”
Alopecia (Anticon)

Johnny Flynn: “Brown Trout Blues”
A Larum (Lost Highway)

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Currently Listening To:
Fire On Fire / The Orchard

We’ve arrived safely at Part Two of The Top 50 Songs Of 2008. Hopefully you enjoyed yesterday’s introduction to the long and twisted pathway of the year in music according to GRANDKIDS.

(Some advanced warning: there will be no Bon Iver on any of these lists. Justin Vernon’s remarkable record, For Emma, Forever Ago was self-released in 2007 and then re-released by Jagjaguwar earlier this year, thus making it ineligible (thanks to a series of intensely thought-out, vastly important, self-established guidelines) for this year’s lists. To make up for what feels like an obvious omission from 2008, go watch this clip from the television show that inspired the name Bon Iver. It comes complete with a soundtrack by Enya!)

Moving on:

Surrounded: “Bolder Acrobat”
The Nautilus Years (One Little Indian)

The Avett Brothers: “Murder In The City”
The Second Gleam EP (Ramseur)

Plants And Animals: “Bye Bye Bye”
Parc Avenue (Secret City)

Sigur Rós: “Gobbledigook”
Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust (XL)

Beyoncé: “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”
I Am…Sasha Fierce (Columbia)

The Dodos: “Fools”
Visiter (French Kiss)

Man Man: “Doo Right”
Rabbit Habits (Anti-)

Tobacco: “Hairy Candy”
Fucked Up Friends (Anticon)

The Rosebuds: “Life Like”
Life Like (Merge)

Greenfield: “Kill This Ghost”
Absence EP (Dear)

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Currently Listening To:
Bon Iver / Blood Bank EP

After a bit of a break, GRANDKIDS is back to present the 2008 Year-End Lists. The lists have been split into six parts and will be introduced over the next six days along with a special holiday mixtape on the seventh day. Monday through Friday will consist of a countdown of the top fifty songs of 2008, followed by the top twenty albums of 2008 on Saturday. Overkill? Completely. But this is GRANDKIDS‘ corner of the internet and he can do whatever he wants with it. Once the week is over, hibernation will most likely begin yet again for the remainder of the year, but not without the promise of a rebirth in the coming new year.

As mentioned, we begin today with the Part One of The Top 50 Songs Of 2008. Here we go:

Berry: “Le Bonheur”
Mademoiselle (Mercury)

My Morning Jacket: “Librarian”
Evil Urges (ATO)

American Princes: “Real Love”
Other People (Yep Roc)

Misophone: “The Motherless Moth-Headed Bread Boy”
Be Glad You Are Only Human (Kning Disk)

El Perro Del Mar: “Glory To The World”
From The Valley To The Stars (Licking Fingers)

Glorytellers: “Exclusive Hurricanes”
Glorytellers (Southern)

No Age: “Brain Burner”
Nouns (Sub Pop)

Alaska In Winter: “Berlin”
Holiday (Regular Beat)

Blitzen Trapper: “Black River Killer”
Furr (Sub Pop)

Ane Brun: “The Treehouse Song”
Changing Of The Seasons (Balloon Ranger)

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Currently Listening To:
Working For A Nuclear Free City / Businessmen & Ghosts