Confesión (the ultimate Constanza)

The highest number of plays on my iTunes goes to: "Asthmatic" in Jungle Habits by Young Circles, an album that I've already recommended here.

So let's move on to the second place. Close second. This one is the definition of a guilty pleasure, the ultimate Constanza, a hard confession to make. It's a Top40 radio single in Spain (and probably other hispanic countries). It makes me happy and I sing it like a 12yo girl. This song should've been released in the 80's, so that now I could shamelessly yell it out at karaoke or drunken house parties. I don't know if non-spanish-speakers will find this catchy at all.

"Todas tus amigas" by La Casa Azul, was released as a single a year ago, and in the 2011 full-length, La Polinesia Meridional. LCA has been famous (in Spain) since 2007 or so, when he released "La Revolución Sexual" -- a gigantic hit.



I must say, he's done better videos.

Last Choice - No Lists

While Safety Rat is a big fan of end of the year lists, I'm not. I do like, however, his idea of most listened song of the year. I've sort of put my iTunes aside for Spotify, so it's really not reliable to take a look at its most played list (but just for grins, my iTunes tells me that the song I've listened to the most is "Stormy Weather" by Etta James... I can live with that).

I'm not sure which album I have listened to the most this year, but it has to be between Caitlin Rose's Own Side Now and Jessica Lea Mayfield's Tell Me. And my favorite song of those two albums has to be "I'll be the one you want, someday." Yeah, wonder what that's all about...

Here's the lovely Jessica and her piercing green eyes giving it to us straight, courtesy of Crackerfarm:



For more Crackerfarm goodness go to their YouTube channel here.

You can also download "Our hearts are wrong" for free through her website.

RAmix

Andrew Weatherall's new remix of Cut Copy's Sun God. I guess maybe Cut Copy isn't really LC material given their grammy nomination, but I've been pretty stuck on this remix.

Cut Copy - Sun God (Andrew Weatherall Remix) by modularpeople

To continue the listing theme. Here's my most played 2011 song in my itunes library. What was yours?



In case you missed them when they came through, here's the video from Movits' Austin visit. Can you spot the LC DJ?

My little rag and bone shop of the heart

Beni is an eccentric producer from down under. He recently released his debut album: House of Beni and Zig Zags is the lead single. The track features beautiful vocals from Via Tania, sounds a bit like Made in Heights I think. Listen below and check Beni out here.



Beni ft. Via Tania - 'Zig Zags' by modularpeople

I don't think the rest of LC is much for lists, but I am...call me a sentimentalist. I'll try to post something from a list of mine until the new year. Here's my love song of 2011. If you haven't listened to the rest of Fucked Up's David Comes Alive it's well worth the spin. Here's the video:



Also, George Whitman of Paris' Shakespeare and Company died yesterday. I think the world was made a more magical and literary place because of post-war renegades like him. So it goes

Tom the Lion

Just pretty music for a rainy Wednesday.

Tom the Lion released his first album in Britain in November called The Adventures of Tom the Lion. You can stream it in its entirety on his website.

I particularly like the opening song "Assurance," it gives me a Postal Service vibe that I didn't realized I missed. This song, "Ragdoll," is not Postal Servicy at all but still very, very pretty. Enjoy:

he thinks he's people

Wolf here once again.

I know I've been a bit heavy on the San Diego bands, but I've been up since 5am, it's rainy and gray, and I'm feeling worn out. In other words, today was a Pinback day. For those of you that don't know Pinback or any of Rob Crow's bands (there are many), listen to "Penelope" (it's very old news but such a lovely song).

I first saw them in a tiny venue on the UC San Diego campus. I was 17.

Anyway, after a day of reliving my teenage angst, I came upon this. Rob Crow never stops and he's astonishing unpretentious. I met him in Boston about 5 years ago. (Also he has a cult-worthy twitter feed). Despite the semi-depressing song, the totally silly randomness of the video brightened my otherwise gloomy day.

Rob Crow - Sophistructure from Temporary Residence Ltd. on Vimeo.

Winter warmer

By this point the first single from the Islands' newest effort is probably old news to you. I'm going to post it anyway. Something about heartbreak tends to bring out the best in artists. Thorburn, the Islands frontman, is no exception. The basic algorithm for A Sleep & A Forgetting (this would be the album) proceeds as follows:

1. End your relationship in a heart-wrenching manner
2. Move to Los Angeles
3. Write a heart-wrenching album
4. Release this album on Valentine's day

I dare you to make it through this non-song without experiencing that special kind of longing... you know, that prolonged and filled with unfulfilled desires kind of longing. Actually, I'd rather assume that Penny (0:0:17) is just an analogy for how our heartbreaks never amount to as much as they seemed to at the time. Last Choice Self Help.

Islands - "This Is Not a Song" by Some Kind of Awesome

More stay in bed and cry it out music from Laws of Motion. Just promise you'll wait out the Cranberries-Oasis style entrance and listen to the whole song. Alright, maybe the song never gets much past that AND certainly falls far short of their self-described Radiohead desire. I'll direct you to the Onion here. I think it may be exactly their survey of 90s pop-rock stylings that I found so appealing. My jury is still out on this one, but there might just be something there when the forthcoming EP drops.

Winter by Laws of Motion

I could really go for an Upland Winter Warmer about now....

Beat Beat crash crash slap

Beat Beat crash crash slap 

swelling to precise fullness 

pooling on the floor 

(From "EULA in haiku", by Esyla Bmai)

EULA are a band. They live in Brooklyn. I've been listening to their not-so-recent full-length Maurice Narcisse lately. I listen to it when I need an effective cleanse from sappy music, or when I want to listen to powerful, tight DIY awesomeness. Something in there reminds me of Deerhoof's Offend Maggie (2008).

BUY IT!