Here’s something exciting. Bubbling newcomer duo Jockstrap just got picked up by Warp and put out this bomb new single “Acid”. My roommate (shout out to Dylan if you’re reading) has been telling me about this band for ages, so I’m glad they found a spot at a legendary label. According to Dylan, they’ve earned it. Shout out to Jockstrap!
Onto the music – it’s some dark, alternate universe pop music with chintzy sound effects but masterfully executed. I can potentially see them opening for a band like Guerilla Toss right now, but potentially overtaking them down the line if they put out a bomb single or two. Otherwise, get to know this band before the rest of the world does!
It’s here. The new Destroyer album Have We Met is OUT NOW via Merge and it’s splendid. I’ve been lucky enough to sit with the album for a while and early single “It Just Doesn’t Happen” has been my favorite song on the project since I heard it. What a brilliant melody and hook, plus the delivery of “you throw yourself down on the playground / skid to a halt on the runway / you cast a poisonous look to the sun / you know it doesn’t just happen to anyone” is a great chorus.
Oops! This is very late. I still wanted to continue my streak and wouldn’t you know it, there were some pretty hot albums that came out in the cold of December. While most of the output seemed like it was major labels shuttling out pop star records to make it in time for the next GRAMMY cycle, others felt like they were sneakily squeaking out as the year ended. I wish I could find more to feature here, but even my usual wellsprings of discovery seemed to be dried up when it came to December. Either way, I’m happy with the selection I have here. Some relatively well-known (indie) artists, plus a newcomer to the blog Pedro Kastelijns. Radical stuff. No Warm Visions descriptions, just a quick blurb about the sound. As one does with December!
Burial – Tunes 2011-2019 [Hyperdub]
A collection of every Hyperdub-released Burial project from the 10s. Absolutely essential electronic music that every fan should have in their collection. Already featured in my favorite albums of the 10s.
Daniel Lopatin – Uncut Gems Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [Warp]
Oneohtrix Point Never-led journey through a glittering, shiny, anxious climb through altered states of reality. A vision that’s entranced by jewels and nothing more.
Duster – Duster [Muddguts]
Slowcore legends return for an unexpected new album and it’s great. Brutal distortion, hissing effects, disaffected vocal deliveries. Like they never even left.
Free Nationals – Free Nationals [OBE/Empire]
Criminally overlooked record tacked on at the end of last year. Total retro late 70s fonk throwback with a good selection of guest vocalists & emcees.
Julianna Barwick – Circumstance Synthesis [RVNG Intl.]
More delicate synthesis of new age keys + electronics with Barwick’s amazing, weightless vocals on top. What else could you need?
Kaytranada – BUBBA [RCA]
Another clinic in how to produce a record and mold songs around your guest stars. Not as summery as 99.9%, sounds a bit more club-focused. Lots of ultra-jams I can’t wait to bump this summer.
Pedro Kastelijns – Som das Luzis [Overseas Artists Recordings]
Warped, fisheye-lens Brazilian bedroom folk + rock tunes. Songs seem to degrade and reform as they progress. Packed with experimental gusto and bold psychedelic production.
To celebrate 10 years of Warm Visions / Combo Breaker Kid, I’ve compiled my 200 favorite albums of the 2010s. Not only that, but I’ve concocted “Warm Visions” descriptions and wrote blurbs about each record. I’m sure you can infer from that that this is a long post, so get your popcorn, get your cookie dough bites, get a cuppa tea in a nice insulated mug – you’re gonna be scrolling quite a bit.
This is a ranked list of 200 albums that’s chock full of personal gems, obvious premium indie biggos, landmark generational achievements and dark horses that most have forgotten about. I initially had a list of 100, but thought why not expand to 200? It’s my own damn blog and I have a lot of records I want to write about. Collectively all the preparation and execution adds up to nearly a year’s worth of work. Yes, that’s far too much time to be working on a Best Albums of the Decade post. I know this. But I had a lot of fun doing it, so that’s what matters.
The ranking is pretty fluid and shouldn’t mean much to you until you get to the Top 20 or so. Those are the true lifetime favorites. I was moving records around position-wise the day before this was released, so clearly the numbers don’t mean a whole lot. It’s just a snapshot of where I’m at right now. Who knows what my AOTD will be in five years. You should just listen everything I’ve listed here, regardless of ranking. I tried including streaming links for each record, but it turns out having 200 embedded YouTube videos in one post slows it down a bit. Instead, you can sample most of these in my massive Best Songs of 2010-2019 Spotify playlist! Sorry to those who don’t have Spotify, I’ll try and branch out this decade!
Thanks for reading and following along with this goofy blog for 10 years. Hope you enjoy.
Baby’s first 2020 post! We’ve been teased with singles from the upcoming Georgia full-length Seeking Thrills for what seems like the longest, and now on Jan 10th we’re finally getting our release. Every song out from it so far has been a HIT, including this most recent one, “24 Hours”. After seeing Georgia’s electric performance in NYC a few months ago, all I can think of is the jubilant, dancing crowd I was a part of and Georgia’s astonishment that it was all happening while listening to this new song. The song makes me feel good apart from those memories, but the combination really warms my heart and pumps me up to attack the rest of the day.
Since 2014, I’ve tried to keep track of songs that have impacted or defined my year. See 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Songs that will make me think back to that time when I listened to it a lot and think “huh, that’s what my life was like back then, huh?” Maybe that’s a good or a bad thing. Maybe it’s neither, because more than likely it’s just a song that came out that year. Or maybe it’s a song that reflects a phase I went through at the time (early 2019 was dominated by Prefab Sprout – check their three songs in the first 10). I spend nearly my entire day listening to music. Mostly in headphones, soundtracking my time on the computer, cooking, walking around the city or in basic leisure time.
These are the songs that soundtracked my ups, downs and turn-arounds in 2019 in chronological order along with listening stats, other media consumption and a list of every album from 2019 I listened to this year ::
I saw a lot of shows this year. The most out of any year period. There were multiple weeks where I went to a concert every night. Was it healthy? Maybe. I probably didn’t eat very well those weeks. I definitely stopped going to the gym once my schedule got loaded up with shows every night. That’s my fault. But was it fun? Oh hell yeah. I had a ton of fun this year going to shows. SO many artists seen for the first time (128 in fact) thanks to the advent of SXSW and Merge 30. NYC is a beautiful place and allows me to see this many shows. I should really start doing show coverage, but I’m lazy it turns out. Check out what my top 10 favorite shows I saw this year were below, along with seeing all the artists I saw throughout 2019 + stats.
Gonna keep it quick since I’m publishing this so late in the year and I have a good amount of words below. Once again, I’ve picked my 100 favorite songs of the year and ranked my top 10. It’s a pretty fluid ranking with a definite #1 and #2. Like I mentioned in my albums post, I felt like music this year was swallowed whole by my decade list prep, which is a darn shame. Looking back at a lot of these songs from throughout the year, it turns out I actually did have a good time listening to things. Either way, I hope you do as well.
Here it is, my recap of 50 of my favorite records from 2019. This was a strange year for me music-wise. It seemed like a ton of people were calling this the best year for music this decade, or close to that, but I didn’t feel that way at all. Maybe I’ve just been burnt out from constantly listening to new music on my own, or perhaps from working on my decade list for nearly the entire year. I felt like I was just drifting between release days, always being pulled away from an album I like to listen to something new. Obviously that’s my fault – I think I listened to nearly 600 different albums this year.
Did I have fun listening to music in 2019? Sure, but maybe not as much fun as other years. I’m so happy to hear that plenty of records deeply connected with people this year though. For me, it just felt like going through the motions. Oh well. Don’t want to get too down in the dumps here. Below are 50 of my favorite records of 2019. I ranked it, but it doesn’t really mean anything in the end. Just a handy categorization. You should listen to and buy every record on this list without bias. AND the honorable mentions. I’ve included (mostly) Bandcamp links next to each list item and linked each album artwork below as well. You have no excuse, you rat bastard!
The final list extravaganza of the decade has begun! As usual, here’s a little appetizer of EPs from the year to get your appetite for listening to records + reading my silly descriptions revved up.
Every year I’m split between publishing a Favorite EPs list and not. On one hand, I love talking about music that I’ve enjoyed. On the other hand, have enough EPs really spoken to me that I feel compelled to write about them? In the case of this year, I only had a few and it was looking bleak. Pottery was a deep fav for most of the year and half of this list arrived in November. With all the decade prep I was doing, I was not paying attention to EPs. Nevertheless, I resolved to go through with it – YOLO, right? I’m glad I did. In the last few days I’ve listened to great records from KOKOROKO, Dry Cleaning, Christelle Bofale and NOIA, among others. If anything this list just as, if not more important than the albums and songs list because it seems like so many of the artists on here are hopefully poised for huge 2020s. My eyes and ears are on them now, and I hope yours are too.
Each image below links to a Bandcamp / purchase page – support the artists!
Honorable Mentions: – Kate Bollinger – I Don’t Wanna Lose EP [Self-Released] – BANDCAMP
– Pearla – Quilting & Other Activities EP [Egghunt Records] – BANDCAMP
– Spike Fuck – The Smackwave EP (Reissue) [Partisan Records] – BANDCAMP
A stream of consciousness music blog, active since 2010. Established in Ann Arbor, MI, currently in NYC.
Send me music: warmsubmissions @ gmail
I hope you enjoy your time here.
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September 11: Bonobo - Distance in Static Colin Stetson & Brìghde Chaimbeul - All the light in the world FKJ - Tyber Haruomi Hosono - Yours Sincerely Ibibio Sound Machine - Chopping Mountain Sylvan Esso - Ow ∞ This Is Lorelei - The Singer in My Band The Tubs - Hard Life
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A stream of consciousness music blog, active since 2010. Established in Ann Arbor, MI, currently in NYC.
Send me music: warmsubmissions @ gmail
I hope you enjoy your time here.