Posts in Music

TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2009

City Center

#10 City Center – “City Center” (Type)

City Center ISO50 posts: 1 / 2 / 3

Neon Indian

#9 Neon Indian – “Psychic Chasms” (Lefse)

Neon Indian ISO50 posts: 1 / 2 / 3

Various Artists - Pop Ambient 2009

#8 Various Artists – “Pop Ambient 2009” (Kompakt)

Pop Ambient 2009 ISO50 posts: 1

Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care

#7 Junior Boys – “Begone Dull Care” (Domino)

Junior Boys ISO50 posts: 1 / 2

Atlas Sounds - Logo

#6 Atlas Sounds – “Logo” (Kranky)

Atlas Sound ISO50 posts: 1 / 2

Kings Of Convenience - Declaration of Dependance

#5 Kings Of Convenience – “Declaration of Dependance” (Mawlaw 388 Ltd)

Kings Of Convenience ISO50 posts: 1 / 2 / 3

Fever Ray - Fever Ray

#4 Fever Ray – “Fever Ray” (Rabid)

Fever Ray ISO50 posts: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

The Horrors - Primary Colours

#3 The Horrors – “Primary Colours” (XL)

The Horrors ISO50 posts: 1 / 2 / 3

Washed Out - Life Of Leisure

#2 Washed Out – “Life Of Leisure” (Mexican Summer)

Washed Out ISO50 Posts: 1 / 2 / 3

The Drums - "Summertime!"

#1 The Drums – “Summertime!” (The Drums)

The Drums ISO50 posts: 1 / 2

2009 was a creative year for musicians like City Center who has the perfect voice and a natural sense for lo-fi singer songwriter material, if you’ve worn the groove out of your Panda Bear record then look no further and pick up his self titled LP. We saw Dubstep take over in the US and UK clubs with unique takes on albums from Martyn, 2562, and many others. Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear showed the top 40 charts that indie rock has a big say in what people want to own and even Jay-Z thought so. Lo-fi is back on all different levels like surf, folk, and a fusion of a ton of different genres which really had a big impact on my daily listening.
I’m not going to ignore that some people didn’t like my #1 song and #1 album of the year and I kind of want to share why I liked it so much. At first they were a band that i wanted to sign but after seeing a few shows of them playing live I was hooked, soo much energy, passion and catchy parts plus the band is just fun to watch, the tambourine player even was more hyper than any musician I saw all year. The songs all have this mash of a lot of music that I grew up on and still to this day listen to frequently. I see them as a band that can jump into the top 40 and get a budget to be a great band to see live and I guess the live show did it for me this year and I loved sharing the bands songs with friends, so I guess those are some of the reasons why I loved The Drums release.

HONORABLE MENTION:
Telefon Tel Aviv – Immolate Yourself

*Please note I did not include any releases by Ghostly International, Moodgadget, remixes, Tycho songs and ISO50 exclusives just to make this a fair collection. If you like this list then take a second and check out ISO50’s 2008 list.

Casino Versus Japan Reissue

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Casino Versus Japan - Artwork by S.Hansen


If you asked me years ago what would be my dream release to coordinate it would of been this one. Casino Versus Japan’s first album from 1998 reissued with ISO50 artwork?! I can’t think of anything better. Casino Versus Japan hasn’t released anything in nearly 6 years and having the honor last weekend to have him play a show with Tycho and now them working together on this release creatively, plus ISO50 merchandise on the way I think we will have ourselves something special that will be loved for many more years. The album consists of 23 songs split up in 4 parts full of some of the best drone and echoed guitar while the artwork by Scott has a gorgeous color palette with beautifully textured moons colliding and our friend faintly catching a wave in one of them. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on both the art and music on this one.

This release will be out on January 5th, 2010 on Moodgadget.

Top 50 Songs of 2009: 10-1

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Here it is for those of you that have been following all week, the top 10 songs of 2009, Monday I will be releasing the Top 10 albums of 2009. Give your thoughts in the comment section on what you thought of these songs and what maybe its laking so 2010 can be all that you want it to be.

10 – Toro Y Moi – Blessa
09 – Rustie – Bad Science
08 – Atlas Sound – Walkabout
07 – Junior Boys – Work
06 – Kings of Convenience – Mrs. Cold
05 – The Horrors – Whole New Way
04 – Bullion – Time For Us All To Love
03 – Fever Ray – Triangle Walks
02 – Washed Out – Feel It All Around
01 – The Drums – I Felt Stupid

This is part of a series of posts on the top 50 songs from 2009. Click here to view all posts in the series

Top 50 Songs of 2009: 20–11

Top 50 songs of 2009 : 20 - 11
We’re getting down to the select few, some serious time listening to these tracks, the play counts in my iTunes for all these songs are in the double digits and have had the loop function on my iPod used heavily on them, enjoy.

20 – Burger/Voigt – Frieden
19 – Burial – Fostercare
18 – Fuck Buttons – Surf Solar
17 – The Radio Dept. – David
16 – Neon Indian – 6669
15 – City Center – Bleed Blood
14 – Animal Collective – What Would I Want Sky
13 – Hudson Mohawke – Overnight
12 – Grizzly Bear – Ready, Able
11 – Ducktails – Landrunner

This is part of a series of posts on the top 50 songs from 2009. Click here to view all posts in the series

Top 50 Songs of 2009: 30–21

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We’re getting closer to the Top 10 and with the playlists now that Scott integrated this is way more exciting even for me.

30 Lone – Karen Loves Kate
29 Beach Fossils – Daydream
28 Memory Tapes – Swimming Field
27 Mayer Hawthorne – Maybe So, Maybe No
26 Bear In Heaven – You Do You
25 High Wolf – Don’t Fuck With The Tropics
24 DJ Koze – 40 Love
23 Actress – Crushed
22 Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue
21 Neon Indian – Should Have Taken Acid With You (Daytrotter Version)

This is part of a series of posts on the top 50 songs from 2009. Click here to view all posts in the series

New Audio Player

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For those of you who listen to a lot of the songs here on the blog this should make your lives a lot easier. We’ve added a new audio player to the site for individual music posts which supports playlists. This means that you can just hit play and let them go without having to click each song individually. The new system is based off the same JWPlayer framework as the normal ISO50 Playlist player (top of the center column) but it will now be for individual posts as well. We will continue to update the main Playlist each month or so, but you can think of this as a new mini playlist each day. The skin is just temporary as I refine it, but all the core functionality should be there.

So far it’s only been implemented on Jakub’s recent “Top 50 Songs of 2009” series but it will be used for all music posts moving forward. So give it a try and let us know how it’s working. If you find any bugs or issues please let us know in the comments.

Enjoy!

Top 50 Songs of 2009: 40–31

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…and the list gets longer, after listening to few of these songs in the 30’s I feel like some of them should be in the Top 10 but then I look the Top 10 and understand why its like this. Hopefully some of you are clicking the links and checking a few older posts out, we posted a ton of music this year, its blowing my mind.

40 – Juana Molina – Un Dia
39 – Kurt Vile – My Best Friends (Don’t Even Pass This)
38 – Tim Hecker – Sea Of Pulses
37 – Paul White – Highlife
36 – The Mercury Program – Arrived/Departed
35 – The Horrors – Sea Within A Sea
34 – Washed Out – Phone Call
33 – Piano Magic – The Faint Horizon
32 – Holiday Shores – Edge Of Our Lives
31 – White Rainbow – Tuesday Rollers and Stroller

This is part of a series of posts on the top 50 songs from 2009. Click here to view all posts in the series

Top 50 Songs of 2009: 50-41

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This week we’ll unveil the Top 50 songs of 2009, a new playlist at the end and then the Top 10 albums of the year. Hope you enjoy the list, some memorable tracks from the year and some of the linked previous posts.

50 – Nite Jewel – Artificial Intelligence
49 – Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream
48 – Real Estate – Suburban Beverage
47 – High Places – From Stardust to Sentience
46 – STL – Silent State
45 – Legowelt – Day Sailor
44 – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Can’t Hear My Eyes
43 – Volcano Choir – Island, IS
42 – The Field – The More That I Do
41 – 2562 – Lost – Unbalance

This is part of a series of posts on the top 50 songs from 2009. Click here to view all posts in the series

Mark E + Dabrye + Emperor X + J-Wow

Fever Ray
If you follow the blog you’ll noticed a repeat talented culprit always bringing me to a daze, Mark E is the king of dizzying slow repetition, I can have his songs on repeat for hours maybe even days.

The NEW Adult Swim Compilation is now available for FREE to download, It includes remixes of ATL rap artists by Dabrye, Flying Lotus, Prefuse 73, Michna, Mad Decent, Starkey, Memory Tapes, Salem, etc. If you need to get rowdy in an Escalade this weekend then here’s your soundtrack.

And now for something completely different, keeping the folk pop ball in the air while the end of the year draws closer is Emperor X, I like this song but I wouldn’t at all if it wasn’t lo-fi, definitely a nice wake up song if you get a chance to make it to a cabin this winter in the woods.

I feel like I shouldn’t post this song because overall I don’t really like it, its wanting to be clubby puts a bad taste in my mouth but the downtime with Fever Ray’s voice made it bearable, I hope you can wade thru the garbage and find the beautiful glimpses.

Good Guy Mikesh & Filburt – Cleaning Up (Mark E Remix)

[audio:cleane.mp3]

Goodie Mob – Is That You God? (Dabrye remix)

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Emperor X – A Violent Translation of the Concordia Headscarp

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Fever Ray – Now’s The Only Time I Know (J-Wow Mix)

[audio:feverjay.mp3]

Tycho – Coastal Brake Out Now

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The new Tycho 12″ EP, “Coastal Brake” is officially out in physical (12″ Vinyl+Digital) and Digital (MP3+WAV) formats. You can get it directly from The ISO50 Shop, iTunes, or your favorite online retailer. There are very few copies of the limited edition 12″ vinyl (which includes the digital edition MP3+WAV) left, those can be had here.

On a related note, after their Forkcast post last week, Pitckfork did a full review of the track this week. Check it out here.

For those of you who already ordered the vinyl, those began shipping yesterday (some orders going out from Merchline). You should have received a download code with instructions for getting the digital files as well. If you bought the vinyl at a show prior to the official release, email talk (AT) ISO50 with the UPC code from the back of the cover and we’ll send you a download coupon.