We Are Water

Having made what was ostensibly last years best video in Die Slow, HEALTH have followed up with We Are Water. A video full of blood and gore, yet stunningly beautiful in the way it is shot and edited. Definitely not for the faint of heart, but definitely worth watching.

HEALTH - We Are Water


The contrast of soft-spoken vocals on top of brutal noise is so effective. Add in their knack for having actual tunes underneath all the noise, and you have the reason for why HEALTH is one of the most interesting yet oddly approachable noise bands.

And in case you have missed it (boo!)...

HEALTH - Die Slow


Are they good live?, you ask. Definitely looks like it, I say.

My Basketball Team's Name Is Gay Human Bones

There is something strangely addictive about the loose almost sloppy guitarplay in Harlem's songs. It has a really happy feel to it and is perfectly suited to the nonchalant delivery of the lyrics. It sounds like they were having a lot of fun doing the song and that feeling really transcends the music. The shout-along chorus and loose-yet-tight drumming makes for great songs.  Case in point; Gay Human Bones (below) and personal favorite Someday Soon.

Sidebar: Look out for a cameo from Hunx from Hunx and his Punx in the video.

Harlem - Gay Human Bones


Golden Triangle is an all- girl group, and, much in the same vein as the excellent Vivian Girls and Dum Dum Girls, they play garage rock with a punk and surf twist. The off- key harmonies and the apathy with which the lyrics are sung (lyrics about "hanging heads" no less) makes this an unlikely call to arms, but at the same time gives off a vibe of effortless cool.

Golden Triangle - Neon Noose

Best Albums of 2009

2009 was a great year in music. There was new music from great new bands (The xx, Japandroids, etc.), bands we already knew and loved (Grizzly Bear, YYY's, etc.) and surprisingly great music from bands that some of us had almost written off (The Horrors, The Maccabees, etc.). People keep saying that the album format is dying or, more drastically, that the whole music business is dying, but from the evidence of the past few years it is only getting better.

1. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
In a year of many great albums, Two Dancers was the one that really stood out. Wild Beasts caught my attention with their debut album, but it was with this, their sophomore, that I became a fan. Admittedly, the band is very much an acquired taste with the extensive – but never excessive – use of Hayden Thorpe’s falsetto. However, I personally find that it adds both quirkiness and a lot expression to the music. Over the ten songs on the album you get the finest indie rock of 2009, with one of the best rhythm sections I have heard in a while. The bass is always sharp and bubbly, while the drumming is simply fantastic (case in point; This Is Our Lot). Wild Beasts may be an acquired taste, but what fantastic taste it is. 

Wild Beasts - This Is Our Lot


2. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Grizzly Bear was all over the place this year and was – along with Phoenix – the indie break-out of the year. When you have got Jay-Z and Beyoncé singing your praises, then you know you have made it (yes, you have). This acclaim could come to no more deserving band, as the music really is fantastic. Veckatimest has no weak points and to top it off contains three of the best songs released in 2009 with While You Wait For The Others, Two Weeks and Ready, Able.

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks


3 The Horrors - Primary Colours
When Sea Within A Sea was released as the first single off The Horrors' second album, Primary Colours, it was a very pleasant surprise. Gone was the horror-punk schtick of their first album and instead they treated us with some of the finest krautrock heard in years. Even better, the rest of Primary Colours did not disappoint either. The album mixes psych-rock with post-punk with brilliant results and shows a band that has matured immensely since their debut. Musically, without a doubt the best surprise of 2009.
  
The Horrors - Who Can Say

4 Au Revoir Simone - Still Night Still Light
Personally, I have a bit of a soft spot for Au Revoir Simone (I am smitten). There is just something so great about seeing and hearing three girls, each with their own keyboard, sing about love and love lost. But it is not just that, they also write brilliant songs with great melodies and beautiful harmonies (smitten, I tell ya). Every single song on the Still Night Still Light is a great pop song from the lush synths on opener Another Likely Story to the very organic and sparse Take Me As I Am to album closer Tell Me. From beginning to end a great album (so very smitten).

Au Revoir Simone - Shadows


5 The xx – xx
The xx draw on a lot of contemporary genres in their music, but somehow manage to sound like nothing else. The music is minimalistic indie rock with a definite R’n’B influence carrying through (underlined by their cover of Aaliyah’s Hot Like Fire). What makes the music so interesting, though, is the band's use of space in their songs. The songs are sparse and very restrained in their instrumentation, which allows for the music to sink in. It is this, which makes xx such a great and personal listening experience. In 2009 there were a lot of great debuts – several on this list even – but one was just a cut above the rest.

The xx - Basic Space


6. Micachu and the Shapes - Jewellery
7. Japandroids - Post- Nothing
8. Lushlife - Cassette City
9. Washed Out - Life of Leisure
10. Girls - Album
11. Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
12. Antlers - Hospice
13. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
14. The Thermals - Now We Can See
15. Snake and Jet’s Amazing Bullit Band – Peace Boat
16. Harlem Shakes – Technicolor Health
17. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
18. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
19. Taken By Trees - East of Eden
20. tUnE-yArDs - BiRd-BrAiNs

Honourable Mentions:
Bear In Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth, Staff Benda Bilili - Très Très Fort, Jim Callahan - Sometimes I wish I were an Eagle, Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeues Phoenix, Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms, YACHT - See Mystery Lights, Fever Ray - Fever Ray, Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Part II, Oh No Ono – Eggs, Crystal Antlers – Tentacles, HEALTH – Get Color, Doom - Born Like This, Cass McCombs - Catacombs