Top Favorite Albums of 2K13 (Thus Far).

Here we are. Six months into probably one of the biggest years in music ever. We've seen huge, surprising returns (My Bloody Valentine), terrific comebacks (Daft Punk, Justin Timberlake, The Knife), and new artists truly emerge and make a name for themselves (The Haxan Cloak, Savages). I can't remember a year in music being quite as monumental as this one, and the fact that we're only six months into this already great year says it all. So much has already been released and there's still so much more we have yet to hear, and I am on the edge of my seat for what's yet to come (Zomby, Kanye West, Boards of Canada). That's why I wanted to just make a list of just my top favorites that I've listened to so far this year. I see no reason in making a numerical list until the end of the year when this monster of a year finally comes to a close and I can actually wrap my head around all of these huge albums and try to pick a favorite. I hope these albums have made your list as well. Enjoy!

A$AP Rocky - LongLiveA$AP

Atoms For Peace - Amok

Autechre - Exai

Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety

Chance The Rapper - Acid Rap

Colin Stetson - New History Warfare, Vol. 3: To See More Light

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

Darkstar - News From Nowhere

Dean Blunt - The Redeemer

Deerhunter - Monomania

Dirty Beaches - Drifters / Love Is The Devil

Ducktails - The Flower Lane

Foals - Holy Fire

Grouper - The Man Who Died In His Boat

The Haxan Cloak - Excavation

How to destroy angels_ - Welcome oblivion

Iceage - You're Nothing

Inc. - No World 

Jai Paul - S/T (Unofficial)

James Blake - Overgrown 

Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience

The Knife - Shaking The Habitual 

Local Natives - Hummingbird 

Mister Lies - Mowgli  

Mount Kimbie - Cold Spring Fault Less Youth 

My Bloody Valentine - M B V

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away 

Nosaj Thing - Home 

Pharmakon - Abandon

Phoenix - Bankrupt!

Prurient & JK Flesh - Worship is The Cleansing of The Imagination

Rhye - Woman

Savages - Silence Yourself

Tyler, The Creator - Wolf

Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of The City

Var - No One Dances Quite Like My Brothers

Various Artists - After Dark 2

Wolf Eyes - No Answer : Lower Floors

Youth Lagoon - Wondrous Bughouse

Song of The Day: YACHT - The Afterlife

One of my favorite things to do is to rediscover a band I once had an obsession with a few years back and get obsessed with them all over again in the present. YACHT is definitely one of those bands I have rediscovered and their sound still sounds as fresh and relevant as it did when their breakthrough album, See Mystery  Lights, came out back in 2009. Every song on this album is a weird, pop hit, one after the other. All almost entirely dealing with either death, the afterlife (like this song), and just figuring out life's questions through day-to-day life. Music has always been something I have always relied on or looked to when dealing with the hardships of life or something to help me get by. Something I have always found interesting is the beliefs of those in the bands I love and hearing what their own personal "heaven" is or what they think what life will be like after death, just because that is something I think about almost on a daily basis (like, on a Woody Allen level of sorts). "The Afterlife" is just one of the many songs on See Mystery Lights that YACHT delve into what the afterlife will be like and I find their words they use to describe death and all that goes with it so very enlightening. Take this: "It's not a place to go. It's a place that comes to you. And it's not about who you know or who is in your heart. It may come as a surprise that you are not alone. All that you have is not what you own." When I first heard that at the age of 18, that just hit me in hard way that no other band has ever really done, and hearing it now almost 4 years later, I now realize how much stronger my beliefs have become and a lot of started with this band and this song. I already have my beliefs and know what I believe for certain (which I won't discuss here unless you want to ask me directly in person), but going through high school and those early years of life of puberty where everything is confusing, you just always need a band like YACHT to question what you believe or give you an insight into the unknown like they did with this album. But while giving us a daunting idea of what their afterlife may consist of, they definitely make it sound like fun on this song. You can catch me having an intense dance party in my car while listening to this. Probably too intense and it may be the last song I hear before I get into a fatal car accident. How ironic would that be? Enjoy. 

Heart Skipped A Beat: The time I saw The xx

(All photos via my Instagram)

While in the midst of attending this concert, I was thinking of all the things I wanted to say about how great this concert was. But now that I'm sitting here at my computer wanting to actually write about it, I literally can come up with no words to describe how magnificent this night was. I'm speechless. But that means it was a great concert and that's what the artists intend for their audience to experience, right? To me, that's what it should all be about. From the the light show and how it intertwines with the music, to even the music transferring from an album version to a live feel. Giving your fans an everlasting memory of your show so that they will never forget and have this deep connection with your music that will continue to bring up those feelings every time they listen to your music and to continue having them see you perform live throughout their career. Which, I would totally do because The xx were that good live. Literally from the moment the lights went black, signifying the show is ready to start, and Romy's watery guitar lines from "Angels" began to fill the air, I had chills from that point on until the show ended. I've been to a lot of concerts and that has never happened. So, that should tell you how special of a night that was. And I think I'm not the only one who can vouch for that. I went with my good friends Zach, Brad, Coop, Snyde, J-None and his girlfriend Molly. When The xx finished their set, we all just looked each other and knew we had witnessed something truly special and I couldn't have asked for better people to experience this with (besides my fiancee, I wish she would've came) because I know this will be a big highlight of the year for all of us. If I had the chance (and money) I would bring all of you so you can understand what I'm talking about and you, too, would have these same feelings as me. 

Some of the highlights from the show for me was how The xx transfered some of their slowest jams from their albums like, "Shelter", "Reunion", "Night Time", and gave them a pulse that really connected well for a live show. It made it to where the crowd wouldn't get bored (which would be hard in my eyes), and could really find a way to let go and lose yourself in the music even more. I found this to be really gratifying because I praise songs like "Shelter" for how slow they are because it works like that on so many levels, but giving it a more dance 4-on-the-floor feel almost made it sound and feel like a completely different song. I also loved getting to hear a snippet of Jamie xx's brilliant single "Far Nearer" blended with "Reunion", acting like a bridge that connected it with a few of the other songs live. The light show was another highlight and it was breathtaking. You could tell the band had spent a lot of time thinking about how they wanted their show to go and how to connect their audience without losing their attention, and they did just that. From all the colors of the lights, to the blasting, blinding strobes, to an even nature-y star gazing look. Everything about this show was executed with the utmost precision and it was perfect. And I meant that in every sense of the word. It was perfect. But my favorite moment of the entire show was the bands performance of "Infinity." The build-up at the end of the song (you know?), they completely blew it out of the water. Extending it by probably 3 or 4 minutes, making the song last nearly ten minutes was completely gratifying. The intensity of it all is what really made it for me. Oliver and Romy's exchanging lines "Give it up/I can't give it up" worked so well with Jamie's amplifying drums and the blinding lights. It just kept building, and building, and building. And getting louder, and louder, and louder. And Romy's and Oliver's voices sounded so intense to a point to where I had to think: "I think Romy does want to give it up." But that's exactly the kind of thing I mean to how their lights/sounds worked on all the right levels.  Just thinking about it now I'm getting chills. Just look it up on YouTube to get an idea of what I mean. 

And the connection between Romy and Oliver. I almost forgot. But where to even start with that. I really don't even know what to because I was just stunned. Watching them, you could tell these two have spent a lot of time together and their relationship is something between only the two of them. It was so special to see it in person and I loved to see them interact between playing because throughout the show they would chase each other, almost attacking/overpowering the other with each other's guitar lines, depending on who was singing/what the lyrics were. It's something I had never witnessed before. It was the best chemistry between two people I had ever witnessed. It was like they had been married for many, many years. The last thing I want to discuss because this has gone on for way too long and I have probably lost most of you by now, so if you're still reading this, you rule. BUT ANYWAY. The crowd. The crowd was awesome and probably the best audience I had ever been apart of. It was like everyone there was just so excited to see The xx because they really let it be known with all the shouting and cheering. It was almost too much at times and the band didn't even know how to react to it because if you know anything about The xx then you know how shy they all are, so they were so very humble to all of us being very loud and excited for them to play. But when they took time to speak to us, you could literally hear a pin drop, it was that quiet. But as soon as the music would start back up, everyone woud go back to screaming, dancing, and just enjoying the night. It really made for an incredible evening and definitely the best concert I have ever been to (Sorry, Haley). Go see them in June when they come to Kansas City. You will not regret it. But I expect a thank you. 

February Mix: Untrue

February Mix: Untrue from GHOSTGOTH on 8tracks Radio.

For this mix, I got the idea from my buddy Zach over at Independent Gentleman when he did his winter mix not too long ago. For his mix, he took words that he used to describe winter and put those keywords into his iTunes library and that brought up a range of songs. I thought this was a very cool concept and I wanted to try it out. So, for this mix, I went into my iTunes library and used "love" as my keyword search and it brought up an interesting mix of songs on their different takes of love, not the actual meaning. Listen and tell me what you think! Enjoy! 

1. She Wants Revenge - "First, Love"
2. Death Grips - "No Love"
3. Crystal Castles - "Love and Caring"
4. Azari & III - "Reckless (With Your Love)"
5. The Field - "Arpeggiated Love"
6. Cold Cave - "Love Comes Close"
7. Drake - "Crew Love (Feat. The Weeknd)"
8. HOLY OTHER - "Love Some1"
9. Blondes - "Lover"
10. Foals - "Big, Big Love (Fig. 2)"
11. The Big Pink - "A Brief History of Love"
12. I Break Horses - "I Kill Your Love, Baby!"
13. James Blake - "Limit To Your Love"
14. Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
15. IO Echo - "Ministry of Love"
16. The Chromatics - "Kill For Love"
17. Colin Stetson - "In Love and Justice"
18. Ready For The World - "Love You Down"
19. How to destroy angels_ - "Is Your Love Strong Enough?"
20. Tim Hecker - "Sammy Loves Eddie Hates David"  
21. Ital - "Doesn't Matter (If You Love Him)"
22. R. Kelly - "Homie Lover Friend"
23. Fuck Buttons - "Sweet Love For Planet Earth"
24. Smith Westerns - "Girl in Love"
25. Bloc Party - "This Modern Love"
26. Bear in Heaven - "Deafening Love"
27. The-Dream - "February Love"
28. Four Tet - "Love Cry"
29. M83 - "Dark Moves of Love"
30. Kanye West & Jay-Z - "Why I Love You (Feat. Mr. Hudson)"

Song of The Day: How to destroy angels_ - How Long?

"How long?" is the first taste we get from what's yet to come from Trent Reznor's mysterious side project, How to destroy angels_. And it proposes a good question, How long? Not really though, they also announced along with the video that their album will be coming out in March. But had this come out a few weeks/months ago, this would be our swan song as we waited for news of the album to come. And lead singer Mariqueen Maandig does it right by asking, "How long can we keep holding on?" For me, personally, it's not long because this is an album I have been waiting to happen for some time, so I'm psyched to see it's already in the midst of coming out. And for being the first thing we hear from the album, I feel this is a strong start and it's leaving me itching for more. The song starts off like a siren, grabbing your attention with the ultimate question of wondering how long for what? What I like about this song most is how it doesn't even really sound like past How to destroy angels_ tracks. It's almost like an ascension of what was to what will be, but it's still distant and cold, leaving us still with that burning question in mind: how long? They've gone from a mysterious, morose band that didn't like revealing too much, but this track really puts it all out there for us to hear. Like, we are How to destroy angels_ and we are here to take your soul with our powerful sound and dark sound matter. That's the side of Trent Reznor's music I think we have all been waiting to hear form this project and it's great to finally hear it come out because I love every bit of it. It even has it's own poppy sound infused in it that is easy to get stuck in your head. Then the instrumental break down of it all has to be my favorite part of it all because this dark feeling starts to set in, almost like a black cloud of sound that's beginning to take over and there's nothing we can do to stop it. Then that question comes back to mind: How long? This is a questions we will be searching to answer and I feel their debut album will do just that.

Album of The Week: Prurient & JK Flesh - Worship is the Cleansing of the Imagination

Out of all the albums Prurient, a.k.a. Dominic Fernow, has released, this split with JK Flesh has to be his most "normal" sounding of them all. But I mean that in the least sense of the word because anything Prurient makes it's anything but normal. With every album he puts out, you never truly know what it's going to sound like because it can go from complete blistering noise that'll make your ears bleed to his new found love for electronic industrial beats that he has started focusing on for his side moniker, Vatican Shadow (definitely check that out as well). But if you're not familiar with Fernow's work as Prurient, I would say this would be a good starting point for you because this gives you a little taste of everything he works in. 

JK Flesh's side of the split is more focused on trip beats, almost that of Phantogram and sometimes even 2 step beats like that of which Burial has made famous for. However, he blends this heavy percussive trip rhythm with heavy low-to-high end bass that is sure to rattle your cars speakers with hardly having it turned up at all. I haven't had a chance to listen to JK Flesh's previous work, but I was far impressed with his side of this intense and ferocious split. Prurient's side is just as good, if not better. Here, Fernow focuses on long drones that are like waves of noises coming in and out, almost making you feel dizzy or lightheaded after a while if you truly focus on it all for a period of time. What I love about his side of his split is how he has blended his style most known for with that of his Vatican Shadow side project. It's two different sides coming together to make a glorious noise (to those that appreciate it) and a sense that Fernow is really beginning to grow as an artist who can go beyond just making a wall of noise. You hear that he can actually make sounds that are quite beautiful. Now, I don't expect most of you to think noise can sound "beautiful," but if you're like me and after you've been listening to noise music for a couple of years, you really start to pick up on the art of it all and something truly amazing can come out of these blistering hisses of noise and drones. And that's what Prurient has accomplished on this amazing split for Hydra Head as their last release before going out of business. This is truly one final hurrah moment, and dammit, Hydra Head is going to get it with this.