New Lana Del Rey – “Off to the Races”

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Very Warm

New Lana Del Rey song has just surfaced, “Off to the Races” has a few videos of it being performed live but now there’s an official studio version. This definitely reminds me of a 1920’s woman in the Great Gatsby set in the 21st century, what with the advanced beats and instrumentation within. It definitely has the “Del Rey” signature sound on it, something I like to call “beautiful but tragic.” The sound is definitely working for her and it’s working for me too, making Born to Die one of my most anticipated records of 2012.

Check it out at BlahBlahBlahScience HERE

Hope you have a great day!

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Albums I Really Should Have Included in my Top 50 of 2011

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Very Warm

Everyone makes mistakes, right? I too make mistakes. After publishing my “Best Albums of 2011” list a few weeks ago, I realized that I had made a few mistakes in not including some of the albums I’m about to feature here. These albums could have been on one of my many honorable mentions posts or I could have found them after I published the list. These albums should not be considered “Honorable Mentions,” more like SUPER honorable mentions that REALLY should have been on my list. There are probably dozens of other albums that I had missed or purely overlooked out there, but these five were the ones that I felt were the most appropriate to be featured once more on this blog.

 

The Men – Leave Home

This was one of the albums that I found out about after I published my list and it definitely would have been on there if I had paid more attention to the music of the moment. This full-length is packed full of rambunctious energy that is displayed with heavily distorted guitars, whirlwinds of hard-hitting chords, whiny feedback and of course the topper of the crown, the vocals. These vocals weave from non-screaming and screaming at points, but this kind of screaming isn’t the kind you’d find in those emo-hardcore bands that have very refined screaming within. Nah, this is brutal, throat-punishing shouting that rips the paint off of walls. I bet you can picture the band recording this album in a basement of a house and by the end of the album the house has been torn to shreds just because of the sheer power and ferociousness of the music.

 

Danny Brown – XXX

The emergence of underground hip-hop this year has sure been a great revolution so far, making rather unknown acts like Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, Cities Aviv and G-Side come to the front of the pack of hyped blog groups and magazine interviewees. This new to the spotlight rapper comes from my town of birth, Detroit, Michigan and he reps the crumbling city quite well. His voice is highly recognizable and whip-like, delivering verses like it ain’t no thing. The beats that he uses are split between radio-ready mainstream beats and sinister, industrial beats that fit with his dark rhymes. Some of the songs really reflect the atmosphere he grew up in, dark and scarred, as though the song has seen things that changed it for good. A city that was once a great dynasty is now a cold and unforgiving shell of scrap metal: this album perfectly recreates that chilling feeling with disturbing accuracy.

 

Clams Casino – Instrumental Mixtape

One of two hip-hop instrumentalists on this list, Clams Casino is known for making hugely expansive beats with tons of ambient textures and a strong bass beat making for the spine. He’s primarily made beats for underground hip hop stars like A$AP Rocky, Lil B and Main Attrakionz but I’m pretty sure he should be recruited to be making some beats for some more higher-profile stars soon because of this mixtape. It’s some seriously epic music, putting rap verses in front of it would only give the song some garnish for what is already there.

 

AraabMuzik – Electronic Dream

MIDI pad destroyer AraabMuzik wowed not only myself but the music world by creating hip hop instrumentals that didn’t sound like instrumentals. This is the second hip-hop instrumentalist on this list, which is strange, eh? Unlike Clams Casino, whose beats are more laid back and drugged out, these tracks are more energetic and danceable. These easily stand out on their own and it almost seems inappropriate to put verses over these tracks. He made perfectly accessible club music that gets the body moving, while also doubling as a hip-hop instrumentalist. I better see more of Araab in the future, making some sick beats for both up and coming rap stars but some well known ones.

 

The Caretaker – An Empty Bliss Beyond This World

This album reminds me of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The original creator meant for it to sound like The Shining and both movies star Jack Nicholson so I’m not too far off. It feels as if you’re actually living inside of the movie when listening. Either that or it’s haunting you. Seriously. Ghosts everywhere. Chilled out ghosts, but there are some freaking ghosts up in here.
This is what it really sounds like: old films, vinyl crackle, pianos, phonograph, old uncomfortable couch, dust, mildew, moldy curtains, The Great Gatsby, abandoned hotels, retirement homes, your brain working against you and with you at the same time but on different tasks, family photos from the 30’s, looking at a fancy restaurant while underwater as if you’re a lobster in a fishtank, the Titanic (not the movie, actually being on the Titanic) only it’s sunken underwater and all the ghostly passengers are having a merry time while you’re sitting there scared out of your diving suit.
It’s a fantastic project and I just now realize the error of my ways of immediately labeling it an “honorable mention.” There wasn’t anything else like it this year. The way it just soothes you but keeps you on edge at the same time is wondrous.

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Warm Visions’ 100 Favorite Songs of 2011

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Very Warm

I’m gonna take the approach that Pretty Much Amazing took when they were crafting their “Best Songs of 2011” list by taking the first 80 and alphabetizing them, then putting the TOP 20 in another post. Since there are SO many good songs, there really isn’t really any good way to rank them in a good way.

Here they are, 80 of my favorite songs of the year!

  1. A.D.H.D. – Kendrick Lamar
  2. Africastle – Battles
  3. All Alone – Toro Y Moi
  4. Amor Fati – Washed Out
  5. An Argument with Myself – Jens Lekman
  6. Another Girl – Jacques Greene
  7. As Bright As Your Night Light – Nerves Junior
  8. As Young As Yesterday – Korallreven
  9. Baby’s Arms – Kurt Vile
  10. Balance – Future Islands
    ~~
  11. Bataille – The Men
  12. Black Night – The Dodos
  13. Bobby in Phoenix – Gorillaz
  14. Body Work/Fuck My Brains Out – The-Dream
  15. Bronx Sniper – Mister Heavenly
  16. Burned Out – The Field
  17. Coming Down – Dum Dum Girls
  18. Common Burn – Mazzy Star
  19. Contraption/Soul Desert – Thee Oh Sees
  20. Countdown – Beyoncé
    ~~
  21. County Line – Cass McCombs
  22. Crystalline – Bjork
  23. Damage – Handsome Furs
  24. Decimate Everything – Born Gold
  25. Die – Girls
  26. Einmal in der Woche Schreien – Siriusmo
  27. End of Days – Light Asylum
  28. Especially Me – Low
  29. Far Nearer – Jamie XX
  30. For Love I Come – Thundercat
    ~~
  31. Free Press and Curl – Shabazz Palaces
  32. Hanging On – Active Child
  33. Hits Me Like A Rock – CSS
  34. Hours – Tycho
  35. How Deep Is Your Love? – The Rapture
  36. I Don’t Want Love – The Antlers
  37. I Follow Rivers – Lykke Li
  38. I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl – Wavves
  39. I Wanted to Tell Her (ft. Nancy Whang and the Juan Maclean) – Holy Ghost!
  40. Invisible – Wild Beasts
    ~~
  41. Kaputt – Destroyer
  42. Kelly – When Saints Go Machine
  43. Lonely Boy – The Black Keys
  44. Michael Jackson – Das Racist
  45. Money on the Floor (Ft. 2 Chainz, 8Ball & MJG) – Big K.R.I.T.
  46. Montana – Youth Lagoon
  47. Montezuma – Fleet Foxes
  48. New Brigade – Iceage
  49. New Work – jj
  50. No Future/No Past – Cloud Nothings
    ~~
  51. No Real Reason – White Denim
  52. Novacane – Frank Ocean
  53. Oblivion – Grimes
  54. Origins – Tennis
  55. The Other Shoe – Fucked Up
  56. Out Getting Ribs – Zoo Kid/King Krule
  57. Pencil Pimp – Sepalcure
  58. Perth – Bon Iver
  59. Pinky’s Dream (ft. Karen O) – David Lynch
  60. Pretty Poly – Teebs
    ~~
  61. Psychic Driving – Soft Metals
  62. Replica – Oneohtrix Point Never
  63. Ritual Union – Little Dragon
  64. Santa Fe – Beirut
  65. Shit-Hawk in the Snow – Moonface
  66. Silky Eyes – Puro Instinct
  67. Sons of Stone – The People’s Temple
  68. Take Care (ft. Rihanna & Gil-Scott Heron) – Drake
  69. Te Amo – Atlas Sound
  70. Top Bunk – Gauntlet Hair
    ~~
  71. True Loves – Hooray for Earth
  72. Two-Way Mirror – Crystal Antlers
  73. We Have Everything – Young Galaxy
  74. Wildfire – SBTRKT
  75. The Wilhelm Scream – James Blake
  76. The Words That Maketh Murder – PJ Harvey
  77. Yonkers – Tyler the Creator
  78. You Carried Us (Share With Me the Sun) – Portugal. the Man
  79. You Make the Sun Fry – Ty Segall
  80. YR LOVE – Holy Other

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Warm Visions’ Favorite 50 Albums of 2011

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Very Warm

It’s that time of the year again!

BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR TIME!!!

This year, there’s an influx of hip-hop and other things that weren’t typically on my list last year. There’s a bunch of underground hip-hop albums backing up the rear of the list (Kendrick Lamar, A$AP ROCKY, Cities Aviv), along with some jangly lo-fi pop (Ty Segall, Dum Dum Girls, Yuck) and then some albums that came out of my left-field taste peppered throughout the list (Lady Gaga, Oneohtrix Point Never, Fucked Up). The #1 will REALLY surprise most of the readers that visit the site and it won’t really align with any other “Top 2011” list that has come out thus far, or ones that I have seen. But hey, it’s my favorite.

Let’s get started, shall we?

~

50. Florence + the Machine – Ceremonials
49. Kendrick Lamar – Section .80
48. Cities Aviv – Digital Lows
47. Destroyer – Kaputt
46. A$AP Rocky – LIVELOVEA$AP
45. Born Gold – Bodysongs
44. Thundercat – The Golden Age of Apocalypse
43. Yuck – Yuck
42. Ty Segall – Goodbye Bread
41. Fucked Up – David Comes to Life
40. Dum Dum Girls – Only in Dreams
39. Iceage – New Brigade
38. The Field – Looping State of Mind
37. Washed Out – Within and Without
36. Wild Beasts – Smother
35. Bjork – Biophilia
34. Korallreven – An Album by Korallreven
33. The Black Keys – El Camino
32. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
31. Portugal the Man – In the Mountain, In the Cloud
30. Cults – Cults
29. Toro Y Moi – Underneath the Pine
28. Lady Gaga – Born this Way
27. Active Child – You Are All I See
26. Real Estate – Days
25. Youth Lagoon – Year of Hibernation
24. Tune-Yards – WHOKILL
23. SBTRKT – SBTRKT
22. James Blake – James Blake
21. Young Galaxy – Shapeshifting

20. Oneohtrix Point Never – Replica

19. Nerves Junior – As Bright As Your Night Light

18. Neon Indian – Era Extraña

17. Cut Copy – Zonoscope

16. Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital

15. Battles – Gloss Drop

14. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

13. Ford and Lopatin – Channel Pressure

12. Smith Westerns – Dye it Blonde
The-Smith-Westerns-Dye-it-Blonde

I feel like if I were older, this album would be further back on my list or maybe even not on my list at all. But I am a teenager at the moment and this album came out while I was in my senior year of high school. I had already been accepted into college, my grades were great, my friends were great and life was going okay. Just floating along in a building waiting to get out of it. Considering that the members of Smith Westerns were just teenagers, this music they created really spoke to me.
That teen angst energy woven into it makes me want to go back to my hometown, gather up my friends, hop in a car and drive somewhere to have the best of times before we all grow up to be boring adults.

11. Atlas Sound – Parallax
1320233810_atlas-sound-parallax-2011

10. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Bon Iver Cover

It’s Bon Iver. He got Grammy nominations! You have to like him, right? Best New Artist! Oh yeah all day! He never had a release previous to this one, let alone one that “established his public image!” Nah man. Yeah his music is great. He’s truly a wizard. Him and his band. Justin Vernon. Cmon.

9. The Weeknd – House of Balloons
TheWeeknd_HouseOfBalloons

My friends were really surprised when they heard the “newest, hottest group of the year” I had told them about previous to putting on earphones and pressing play on my iPod while I stared intently at them, waiting for their facial expressions. “Trevor…” they’d usually start with, “is this really what you’re talking about? This R&B kind of sex jam? This is so unlike you! I thought you only liked indie rock/folk stuff!” Well my dear friend that I am forcing to listen to this great album, yes. I do really like this. Abel Tesfaye’s  vocals are one in a million fantastic and the dark, haunting beats are the perfect story tellers for this tale of drugs, women and self-deprecation. Fokken fantastic.

8. Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
girls-father-son-holy-ghost

This list is full of artists who have not impressed me in the past and then BLOW ME AWAY with the next album they release. This is exactly the case with this album. The perfect combination of heartfelt melodies, surfy-guitars, gospel singers… This album has it all, basically.

7. Gang Gang Dance – Eye Contact
gang-gang-dance-eye-contact-cover

6. Shabazz Palaces – Black Up
black-up-shabazz-palaces-592

Shabazz Palaces, the oddest yet best hip-hop I’ve heard in a very very long time has been chilling in my Top 10 of the Year since it came out in June. The beats are… so good. Like nothing that has ever happened. Ever. The lyrics are fantastic. Gah. Everything is just so well put together on this album it’s mind blowing. How songs can turn into a demented rap song that you would find on an Odd Future mixtape or something of that nature, then it turns into a super jazzy breakdown that melts my brain.

5. White Denim – D
white-denim-d-2011

This album is what finally put White Denim on my “To Watch for” list for all time. White Denim crafted an album that combined psychedelic rock, classic Zeppelin hooks, Black Keys soul and groove, plus their own signature sound that is not to be reckoned with. This album, along with their other EP they released this year “Takes Place in Your Work Space” is something that both me and my dad could get into this year.

4. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
M83-Hurry-Up-Were-Dreaming

One of the most anticipated albums of the year lived up to the hype and then some with it’s sweeping epic synth melts going across an electronic plain of the brain. Is that too much? Nah. It’s M83, the most epic of all. The funny thing about this record is that it really reminded me of my childhood with it’s melodies and sound effects put into it. Like the song “Midnight City”, when I first heard it I instantly thought of my early childhood playing video games like “Donkey Kong Country 1-3”, sitting in my family room with a juice box while my parents shuffled around me trying to get work done. Gah. It’s just too good. It turns everything you see into something magical. Send this to Africa! It will help them!

3. Panda Bear – Tomboy
PANDA-BEAR-TOMBOY

Panda Bear, no matter what he does will always rank high in my books. Well, almost everything. This definitely. 

2. Stuart Duncan, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer & Yo-Yo Ma – The Goat Rodeo Sessions
tumblr_lttbiulW3P1qktx9ao1_cover

1. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
1316276211_st.-vincent-strange-mercy-2011

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Warm Visions’ Favorite Remixes of 2011!

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Very Warm

This year I decided to do a feature on remixes, since there were some fantastic remixes put out and it didn’t seem right to exclude them from the list and place them with the “Best Songs of 2011” because it just doesn’t seem right. Same sort of thing went on with EP’s; things need to get posted on here! Definitely!

So I collected some of my favorite remixes that came out this year and made a list out of them! What else am I gonna do with them? NOTHING.

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Warm Visions’ Favorite 10 EP’s of 2011

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Very Warm

This is the first time that I made a separate feature for EP’s that came out in a year, but A TON of really good ones came out that it would be unfair of me to leave them out on the blog and I didn’t want to put them in the same category as albums/mixtapes since it would seems odd that such a small amount of songs could pass a full-length (even though many on here could).

So here they are, my favorite EP’s of 2011!

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Best Of 2011 :: Honorable Mentions

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Very Warm

Tyler the Creator – Goblin

Grouper – A|A

Beirut – The Rip Tide

Hooray for Earth – True Loves

Justice – Audio, Video, Disco

Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972

Korallreven – An Album by Korallreven

Mastodon – The Hunter

The Strokes – Angles

Drake – Take Care

Moonface – Organ Music not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped

Beyonce – 4

Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo

Peaking Lights – 936

Araabmuzik – Electronic Dream

The Antlers – Burst Apart

COOLRUNNINGS – Dracula is Only the Beginning

CANT – Dreams Come True

Das Racist – Relax

Little Dragon – Ritual Union

The Horrors – Skying

Clams Casino – Instrumental Mixtape

Holy Ghost! – Holy Ghost!

1. Puro Instinct – Headbangers in Ecstasy

Awesome blog Gorilla vs. Bear turned me onto this new-ish group with their “Best of 2011… So Far” list they published in June. I didn’t recognize this group and the album cover piqued my curiosity, so I decided to check it out. I was very pleased with what I heard, especially the song “Silky Eyes” which featured sweet guitar lines and a feeling of being in, for lack of a better word, ecstasy. Headbangers in Ecstasy. Fitting.

2. When Saints Go Machine – Konkylie

I found out about When Saints Go Machine through Under the Radar magazine’s free mp3 giveaway they give subscribers. They gave away the song “Kelly” by them and I instantly fell in love with it. I then listened to the album and also REALLY liked it. But alas, it was kicked out due to surplus of amazing music from this year. Definitely check out this album though, especially the song “Kelly” which I featured on the blog HERE. Or you could watch it below.

3. CSS – La Liberacion

CSS is a crazy group. They’re a crazy awesome group with a bunch of radical dames who like to play games. Plus one dude. But whatever. They make jammin’, party-ready electro pop songs that really feel like they could put girls into power. Well, what I mean by that is they could energize girls to FIGHT THE POWER!!! GRRRL POWER! WOO! AWW YEAH!
Uhhh… yeah. So if you like partying, electro and girl power. This is for you.

4. The Dodos – No Color

DODOS! Awesome! These dudes rock, no lie. Some awesome indie folk rock jams on this here record, which I think the majority of the population would enjoy. Not much to say about this one. You’ll enjoy it though, I know it.

5. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Another band introduced to me through GvB, particularly through the song “How Can U Love Me” which is a lo-fi pop masterwork, I think. The whole thing is extremely original with the right amount of vintage influence. DO IT, SUCKAS!

Now I know it’s not the end of the year yet, but I just wanted to share some of the albums that once were on my TOP 50 list of 2011.

Just because I am posting them here doesn’t mean I don’t like them. I still really do like them a lot. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t post them anywhere on the blog. These are albums that eventually got pushed out by new releases but I still want to feature them in some way on this here blog. Sound groovy? Awesome.

1. The Decemberists – The King is Dead

Everyone loves The Decemberists! I know I do, a lot! This album was chilling in my Top list for a long while because whenever I listened to the album to see if I should boot it, Colin Meloy’s voice would win me over again. I wish I could include this in my list but an insanely large amount of good music came out this year and The King is Dead was edged out. I still recommend listening to this album, though.

2. Friendly Fires – Pala

If you want to talk about a party in a record, try talking about Pala by Friendly Fires. This record just feels like a totally insane, tropical, radical party with tinges of retro influences along with modern electronic influences. Crazy insanity, put this in your backyard and you’ll grow a party there. The novelty just wore off a bit. Still a rockin’ jam though. Also the cover rocks. Seriously.

3. The Caretaker – An Empty Bliss Beyond This World

I didn’t really know what to expect going into this album. First thing you see are the album name and name of the artist that made this: “The Caretaker” and “An Empty Bliss Beyond This World”. You can never really assume band names these days, so again I had no idea what to expect from the band name or album. What I got was a strange fusion of old jazz and new minimalistic electronic things. Apparently The Caretaker took influence from the ballroom scene of the classic film The Shining and it shows. This whole album sounds like a cold, rainy day that’s spent inside a creepy mansion. The sound is very echoing and ambient; I think a better word to describe it is ghost-like. So if you want to chill out and relax, listen to this album and be whisked away to some abandoned mansion to be accompanied by the spirits of the past. Creepy right?

4. TV on the Radio – Nine Types of Light

This is an album that I’m sure I’ll get a lot of flak for for not having it. TV on the Radio is one of the most beloved bands of the 21st century and in many people’s eyes they can do no wrong. But unfortunately for me, I just don’t agree on the “no wrongs” thing. Hey don’t get me wrong, this is a really good album, but I’m just not feeling it as much as some of the other albums that came out this year. Some of the songs are sweet like “Caffeinated Consciousness” and “Will Do” but the whole album didn’t really strike it all for me.

5. Tennis – Cape Dory

This is an album that got snubbed due to a massive influx of albums of the same genre. Also it came out in January, which doesn’t help it. Anyways, this album is really good. I really like the sound and how they put their own spin on the “retro” method. It really makes me think I’m on the Northeast Coast on the beach, chilling with a bunch of friends. It’s like Best Coast without the weed, cats or teenage feelings (even though Best Coast isn’t a teenage band). It’s just good, alright?

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New Video: Born Gold – “Lawn Knives”

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Very Warm

One of my favorites from this year and last year, Born Gold (formerly known as Gobble Gobble) released a music video for their glitchy single “Lawn Knives”, one of my favorite tracks of last year.

They just released a very fitting music video for the track that features kids, bibles, waterboarding, hay and lawn trimmers. The video skips along with the glitched out parts that make Born Gold’s sound standout from the others.

CHECK IT OUT!

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!

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MP3: A$AP Rocky – “Bass” Prod. by Clams Casino

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Very Warm

I couldn’t resist posting this one after I heard it. A$AP Rocky is a rap artist that has been hitting the blogs by storm. Last weekend he visited CMJ and now he got offered a $3 million record deal with Sony/RCA, while still going to release a new mixtape on Monday. It’s a busy group. The newest song, “Bass” has an insane beat made by the amazing Clams Casino, one of the best beat crafters I’ve ever heard. The song itself is alright, but the beat is the reason I like it so much.

CHECK IT OUT HERE FOR THE MP3

CHECK OUT CLAMS CASINO’s “I’M GOD” HERE

 

Have an AWESOME DAY!

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MP3: New Korallreven – “Sa Sa Samoa” ft. Julianna Barwick

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Very Warm

Last time we heard from Korallreven, we got the amazing single with Victora Bergsman “As Young As Yesterday”, one of my favorite tracks of the year. This time, we get a very chill, buildup track featuring Julianna Barwick, one of the blogs’ favorites of this year. It features Barwick’s very high, almost angelic vocals adding a layer of unearthly-ness to it. Gradually some driving percussion is added to the mix and also what sounds like some non-western choruses as well. Overall a very strong track and I am excited for their album coming out soon entitled “An Album by Korallreven.”

CHECK IT OUT!

GET THE “SA SA SAMOA” HERE (File+Save Page As)

GET THE PREVIOUS TRACK, “AS YOUNG AS YESTERDAY” HERE (File+Save Page As)

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