My top albums of 2009 and more

Hello everyone,
Steve from YG here - currently holed up at my parent's house for the holidays, clutching my single malt like a wizard's staff from the highest peak of Mt. Rockingwhore, while my thousand yard gaze looks beyond the two suns descending on the airbrushed horizon. Yes I am feeling suitably reflective (drunk) and thinking of the past year, the year in music, specifically. Personally, this has meant that 2009 saw YG finally release it's second album 'Invisible Republic' and begin touring again, thus setting us up for a busy 2010. In fact, we have begun tracking our 3rd album and should have it finished by March. Without giving away many details, it marks a massive shift in the creative approach for the band and sounds unlike anything we have done before. We hope it surprises, or at the very least, defies any expectations people might have about us. We are hungry to find our place in the pantheon of great modern bands, especially since we believe so much of what is championed as important and groundbreaking music currently is decidedly OVERRATED. In addition, I believe too many bands are conservative and insecure about creative risk-taking. Sadly, indie rock has fallen victim to careerism as much as mainstream music has. Fair enough, I say, given that the industry has turned it's back altogether on the idea of developing acts. As a result, bands pander to the latest trends, or release much ballyhooed but half-baked albums only to never be heard from again 6 months later. And though taste is subjective and the most championed bands are often intriguing and clever, they are not as life changing or life affirming as the blogisphere would have you believe in my opinion.. It is bewildering to a person like me, who for the better part of 30 years has spent the majority of my time listening to and reading about and absorbing all things music, to see the same bands showing up on the year end lists over and over again when they just aren't that good. I realized in making my top list of 2009, I don't believe there have been 10 great records made this year, but despite this, some great and diverse records have been made. So without further adieu, here is my list!

1. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
Fey-yet-cheeky English pop from northern upstarts. Display a wicked sense of humour in a subtle way, which is very hard to do in music, in my opinion. Reminiscent of The Sm**hs, but remarkably are not a pastiche like so many Sm**hs influenced bands. Notable for their distinct lyrical technique, tasteful use of two lead vocalists, and above all else, they have the choons. A surprising delight this year..
2. The Horrors - Primary Colours
It was a pretty good year for the English all told, who struggled in the wake of brit-pop's late 90's domination with some horrendous music in the 00's. The Horrors were another great surprise of 2009 - previously I had thought of them as a 10 in look and a 1 in music, as so many stereotypically think of English bands. But Primary Colours is a visceral album which is at once reverential towards many great bands that came before (Joy Division, MBV, etc.) but always inspired enough to overcome it's influences. 'Sea Within A Sea' may be my most satisfying track of the year. And they still look great..
3. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Sweden's Karin Dreijer Andersson accomplished the difficult task of making a distinct sounding record that didn't compromise tunes either. At once aloof and intimate, soothing and disturbing - Fever Ray is not an easy listen, but totally compelling none-the-less..
4. Bear In Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth
Despite being another Brooklyn band, Bear In Heaven actually lived up to the hype. Psychedelic and hummable, the songs spiral colourfully in a style reminiscent of an early Beta Band, which is no bad thing..
5. El Perro Del Mar - Love Is Not Pop E.P.
Mopey Swedish singer-songwriter intriguingly re-invents herself on this groovy concept E.P. about breaking up. Sounds a bit like Avalon-era Roxy Music - no small feat in my opinion! Intimate and deceptively psychedelic, so naturally it must have been produced by Rasmus Hagg, one half of my current musical heroes, Studio. Great Lou Reed cover, 'Heavenly Arms', too!

Honourable Mentions:

Taken By Trees - East Of Eden (Swede goes to Pakistan, makes recordings, has them elaborated upon by the the other member of Studio, Dan Lissvik, groovily so. Can those guys do no wrong??)
The Joy Formidable - A Balloon Called Moaning (Welsh female fronted power pop. I never thought I would write this phrase in a best of list! Sounds like Pixies a bit? Right on!)
The Flaming Lips - Embryonic (A difficult, long listen, but as usual, rewarding and beautiful. Still at the forefront of modern music and unafraid to take risks.)
The Clientele - Bonfires On The Heath (Not taking risks, but reliably so. As long as they write great songs, they will be the musical equivalent of lighting a fire in the fireplace in the dead of winter.)
Broadcast And The Focus Group - Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Hunts In The Radio Age (Not much of an album per se, but a gloriously stitched together, trippy sound collage that has whet my appetite for a new Broadcast record in 2010!)

There you have it. Here's to you all, have a safe and great holiday season and see you in 2010! Bring on the new decade!
Steve

Peripheral Visionaries Mix 4 and the start of the Summer

Hi
Steve here - just languishing in the heat of the second day of the summer here in Montreal, fan blasting in my face, marveling at the sudden onset of the season.. In light of this, I have compiled another mix for you - my version of a summer mix that starts in a cut-off jean shorts, beer swilling kind of way with songs by Australia's embarrassingly monikered Daddy Cool (clearly an influence on AC/DC as they predated them by 3-4 years), April Wine (Canada's answer to Aerosmith), and current motorik rockers Wodden Shijps, segues into a psychedelic blissed-out afternoon lying on a wharf starting at the clouds with songs by bands like The Aliens (former Beta Band members reunite with original Beta Band member (who left before the became the Beta Band if that wasn't confusing enough already), a bootleg song off John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas ill-fated solo record 'Pussycat' (made with Keith and Mick as a way of getting Phillips OFF heroin if you can believe it - bad idea anyone?), the underrated Cortney Tidwell's duet with Jim James of My Morning Jacket (a song which I hope is an ode to David Crosby), and finishes with the abandon of a pool party at your parent's house when you were 17 and they were away on holiday with songs like Wham's 'Everything She Wants' (one of my DJing secret weapons, truth be told), The Magnetic Fields 'Strange Powers' (genius summertime love song lyrics), and Sweden's Studio's banging 'Self Service' (a band I can't get enough of - check their album Yearbook 1).. Hope you like it!
Steve

Peripheral Visionaries Mix 4

1. Dazed Joint
2. Daddy Cool - Eagle Rock
3. April Wine - Say Hello
4. Wooden Shijps - Motorbike
5. The Aliens - Boats
6. J.K. & Co - Fly
7. Iron and Wine - Southern Anthem
8. John Phillips - Oh Virginia
9. Cortney Tidwell - Being Crosby
10. Boards Of Canada - Telephasic Workshop
11. Teddy Pendergrass - Love TKO
12. Wham - Everything She Wants
13. Zoot Woman - It's Automatic
14. The Magnetic Fields - Strange Powers
15. Colder - Tonight
16. Studio - Self Service
17. Working For A Nuclear Free City - Fallout
18. Noel Ellis - Memories

http://rapidshare.com/files/248365988/Peripheral_Visionaries_4.zip

Fuck the (majority of the) online music press..

http://www.drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4137035


Good for DIS for calling out Pitchfork - what a bullshit excuse for a story, at a time when indie music is over saturated and in desperate need of something interesting to happen. Further proof of the industry's sad state of affairs...

Peripheral Visionaries Mix 3 and THE SPRING

Hello People
Steve R. here - well, I think it's safe to finally say it.. winter's over!! So in honour of the spring's emergence I have created the Peripheral Visionaries Mix 3 Springtime Edition, which was made in the spirit for when one is lying outside on the grass, in a field, or by a lake, under the trees, head tilted back, eyes closed, feeling the SUN for the first time on your face that year... like in the above pic. Think of that when you hear this mix. Don't ask me why the mix starts with a quote from Blade Runner. Haha. Rutger Hauer as winter in its death throes? Hmmm.. Anyhow, the mix itself is mellow and best served intoxicated. It includes such unearthly delights as 'Orleans' by David Crosby, from his sublime 'If I Could Only Remember My Name' (greatest album name ever?) album, Dion's 'Only You Know' from his Phil Spector produced 'Born To Be With You' album, the David Axelrod lead Electric Prunes with the deep down 'Holy Are You', 'The Cedar Room' by Doves - a (rarely seen) modern day psyche classic, This Mortal Coil's majestic take on 'Song To The Siren' by Tim Buckley, featuring Liz Frazer of The Cocteau Twins on vocals (youtube this song and feel all the hair on your body stand on end as she sings it live!), Michael Head of Shack's 'Something Like You' from his hard to find 'Introducing The Strands' album, and one of my favourite, current obscure bands, Orange Can, with their sweet digi 8 track bedroom recording styles on 'We Love You', among many others... hope you enjoy it. Try not to nod off. Oh, and because I missed last month's installment, I will do two mixes this month. Word.
S xo

http://rapidshare.com/files/225059325/Peripheral_Visionaries_3.zip

1. Time2die
2. David Crosby - Orleans
3. Chris Bell - I Am The Cosmos
4. Spacemen 3 - So Hot (Wash Away All Of My Tears)
5. Andy Roberts - Queen Of The Moonlight World
6. Arab Strap - Cherubs
7. Yo La Tengo - Little Eyes
8. Pink Floyd - Fearless
9. Dion - Only You Know
10. Electric Prunes - Holy Are You
11. Fridge - Cut Up Piano And Xylophone
12. Doves - The Cedar Room
13. Engineers - Let's Just See
14. Adorable - Sunshine Smile
15. This Mortal Coil - Song To The Siren
16. Michael Head - Something Like You
17. Hunters & Collectors - Throw Your Arms Around Me
18. Saint Etienne - Spring
19. Orange Can - We Love You

Jess Rotter and Friends...

Hi All
So we just got back from a weekend in NYC, where YG played a show at Piano's in Manhattan and at the Music Hall of Williamburg in Brooklyn. We had a great visit - besides playing shows we hung out with our manager Brandon as a group for the first time, had meetings in mid-town high rises, saw lots of music, etc. We also had the great fortune to meet with Jess Rotter, a very lovely and talented woman who we befriended when we first saw her work as Rotter & Friends, a t-shirt design company, in Nylon magazine a couple of years ago. We went by to see her office in Green Point in Brooklyn where she churns out incredible, inspired rock n' roll designs that capture the rock n' roll myth perfectly. Little did we know she also works with Kemado records, Kanine Records, and Mexican Summer records, while also designing for a number of big-ass labels and generally running things in NYC! Check out last season's Rotter & Friends designs at her website, www.rotterandfriends.com, which feature Graham Nash from the 'Songs For Beginners' phase, Link Wray, Karen Dalton, and Bob Dylan, among others.. and peep the Spring collection here: http://www.rotterandfriends.com/lookbook/R&F_Spring09.pdf
...And here's a pic of Catherine and I in our Rotter and Friends shirts, she got 'Seger' and I got 'Ram on'!
She's got the vision, people. Very heavy!
Steve

Death Of The Album Artist

Hello All,

Catherine and I are in Vancouver enjoying a visit with our family before we embark with Young Galaxy on the first of many shows this year. As I was languishing with a mouthful of smoked salmon, I read this article from Drowned In Sound (an English music page in the style of Pitchfork) which I enjoyed very much and tend to agree with wholeheartedly.

http://www.drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4136269

See you soon!
Steve