Chris Breuer - Haunted By Day (2010)

A fresh mix from Chris Breuer, described by the big man himself as "a little mix for the christmas season - slightly more downbeat and reflective than usual." Stellar stuff.

SoundCloud

Captain Beefheart - Safe As Milk (1967)

RIP Don Van Vliet AKA Captain Beefheart, who died today at the age of 69. Hugely talented artist, fantastic record - if you've never heard any Beefheart before expect surreal blues. This is a great place to start, as it's his debut album, and my personal favourite.

Captain Beefheart - Safe As Milk (1967)

Hype Williams - Untitled (2010)

Amazing hypnogogic pop on Carnival. Like James Ferraro, possibly less accomplished, but reaches higher highs when they nail it. The super limited vinyl sold out in some amount of time so small that only the large hadron collider could measure or whatever, so get your fill here.

Hype Williams - Untitled (2010)

The Neat - In Youth Is Pleasure

Woah, a new guitar band that I'm actually excited about...

YouTube

NME's Top Ten of 2010

So out of touch with modern British music it's not even funny. It's almost as if the dubstep/electronic music explosion over the past few years never even happened, and we're stuck back in 2007.

Read it and weep. Literally.

End of year extravaganza

It's just over a month away, and so I'm starting to get into gear for our infamous 'Best Of Year' lists. I'm a democratic kinda chap so if anyone wants to comment/e-mail me (theclickofalight@gmail.com) a list of your 10 favourite albums and/or 5 favourite EPS then please feel free to. Two rules that my friends who have been doing this for me seem to ignore - it has to be from 2010 (obviously) and NO REISSUES. Anything else goes though - live, demo, compilations, whatever.

Pip x

Indiana Jones Theme Song

Don't ask.

Also, I genuinely think Short Round is an amazing character:

"Hey, lady! You call him Dr. Jones!"
"Hang on lady, we going for a ride!"
"He no nuts, he's crazy!"
"I keep telling you, you listen to me more, you live longer!"

See, he's such a bad-ass!

Cobson - Cobson (2010)

French band Cobson may only use two guitars and a drum kit (with a piano sometimes used in place of a bass guitar) but their music is anything but simplistic. True, it's certainly not innovative or groundbreaking, but it's very enjoyable - absorbing influence from a number of post-punk bands from the past 20 years, they almost sound like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; having a female singer who oozes sex, talent and passion will certainly not help with the comparisons.

MySpace

American Football - American Football (1999)

The only album from this Chicago trio, who counted Cap'n Jazz, Joan of Arc and The One Up Downstairs among their former bands. Lead singer Mike Kinsella, now of Owen, would later form Owls, whose album I posted a few weeks ago; if you liked that you'll love this - just really nice chilled-out perfect math-rock pop songs.

American Football - American Football (1999)

William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops (2002-2003)

During the summer of 2001, prolific ambient composer Basinski attempted to transfer recordings he had made in the 1980s from magnetic tape to digital; as they slowly crumbled in the machine, he recorded what came out, and it's bloody (albeit accidental) brilliance. Basinski claims to have finished the project on the morning of 9/11, and he sat listening to the material on the roof of his NY apartment building with friends as the Towers collapsed around him. Whether you believe this story or not is a moot point; just listen to four albums worth of absolute pleasure.


The Disintegration Loops I
The Disintegration Loops II
The Disintegration Loops III
The Disintegration Loops IV

Masta Ace - Disposable Arts (2001)

Masta Ace's second solo album, his first in six years, which managed to cement his place as one of hip shop's greatest ever MCs. Disposable Arts is a concept album about a man being released from prison. The production is tight, the rhymes are sick, and the abum is just an absolute treat from start to end.

Masta Ace - Disposable Arts (2001)

Beirut - The Joys Of Losing Weight (2001)

An early demo album, self-produced by the then fifteen-year-old Zach Condon. Fans of his earlier folky work will be surprised - hopefully pleasantly, as I was - by the electronic elements of this album.

Beirut - The Joys Of Losing Weight (2001)

The Final Solution - Brotherman OST (1974)

Despite their name, The Final Solution were't a white power band - they were a Chicago-based fivesome who recorded a soul & funk infused soundtrack for a Blaxpoitation film that was never released. Consequently, the band and the album faded into obscurity before being resurrected in 2008 by the impeccable Soul Jazz Records.

The Final Solution - Brotherman OST (1974)

The Slits - Cut (1979)

The Slits were an all-female punk group based in London. Lead singer Ari Up, who tragically died last week at the age of just 48, was the step-daughter of Johnny Rotten, and was only 17 when this album was recorded. It has reggae/dub influences as well as the obvious punk we all know and love, and is highly recommended.

The Slits - Cut (1979)

Kyle Bobby Dunn - Rural Routes No. 2 (2010)

Combining elements of drone with neo-classical, New York-based Canadian composer Kyle Bobby Dunn manages to craft an extremely interesting little album. Clocking in at just over 20 minutes long, it always leaves you wanting more. Oh, and he's only two years older than me - fuck my life!

Kyle Bobby Dunn - Rural Routes No. 2 (2010)

Teebs - Ardour

This happy chappy is Teebs. Teebs made me a happy chappy in turn last night, when I caught him supporting Daedelus and The Gaslamp Killer. Really chilled out beats, L.A. producer so he's basically like Flying Lotus or whatever bla bla bla, but he had a nice sound, and his CD, which he gave me for free cus I guessed his age correctly (23 by the way), is real swell too. If you were North American, you'd say that this was excellent music to 'kick it and blaze it' to. You'd never catch me saying that though.

I would encourage everyone to check out his myspace and if you're feeling naughty, you could pinch his music from here, just to give the whole album a listen, before definitely going out and buying a copy. Or you could bump into him, say 'hey you're 23', and, because he seemed like a fucking nice bloke, he'd probably whip one of his CDs out from somewhere and say 'Good job, have my CD'.

Wighead

Hailing from Tulsa, Oklahoma, this band describe their music as "heavily influenced by bands like The Barbara's, Beach Boys, Magic Kids, Phil Spector, Box Elder's and The Flaming Lips." They're not far wrong, and you can download their stuff for free from Bandcamp.

Discography - FabricLive

Some hero has put each and every FabricLive compilation online for your listening pleasure.

Clicky click

Discography - Pocahaunted

Pocahaunted were boss. Unfortunately they're probably most famous because the lead singer from Best Coast formed this band. Don't let that fact make you expect summery indie pop - Pocahaunted played psychedelic dubby goodness. Highly reccomended.

Get it while it's hot!

Owls - Owls (2001)

A one-off supergroup from the Chicago indie/math-rock scene, consisting of brothers Tim "Cap'n Jazz" Kinsella and Mike "Owen" Kinsella, as well as the guitarists from Ghosts & Vodka. If any of those bands tickle your fancy, then this is for you. If not, then try it anyway - this album is truly spectacular.

Owls - Owls (2001)

Chris Breuer - Outcomes Mix (2010)

Everyone has a German house DJ mate living in Edinburgh, right? You don't?! For shame.

Clocking in at 68 minutes long, I can confirm I've not heard of any of the artists featured, so you know that this latest mix is going to be sick.

Soundcloud