“Sleep Paralysist” is the latest free single to sprout up out of the Green Label Sound vaults. In the passed, they’ve released new, free tracks from Matt & Kim, The Cool Kids, Chromeo and Theophilus London. Today, Neon Indian graces the front page of the label’s website. “Sleep Paralysist” was co-produced by Neon Indian’s Alan Palomo and Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor. I can already hear the distorted chillgaze/glo-fi synths on Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest follow-up, can you?
The Morning Benders are giving away “Excuses,” the first track off their new album, Big Echo (which was co-produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear), for free on their website. Before you download this wonderful mp3-freebie, I suggest you watch The Morning Benders’ exquisite live rendition of “Excuses”, featuring what they call the “Big Echo Orchestra”, which includes other SF bigwigs like Christopher Owens of Girls, among others. This clip was gorgeously shot by the folks at Yours Truly.
Big Echo is out on March 9th on Rough Trade Records.
Sigur Rós frontman, Jónsi, will be releasing his solo album, Go later this spring. If you recall, back in December, Jónsi gave away the gorgeous first single from Go, “Boy Lilikoi“, which you can still download if you follow that link.
The sunny and lively musical arrangements on Go are credited to Nico Muhly, who worked with Grizzly Bear on the gorgeous arrangements on Veckatimest; he is also responsible for the arrangements on Antony & The Johnsons’ The Crying Light. Jónsi and Nico’s brainchildren are a dream to listen to. “Go Do”, the latest one to sprout out, is cacophony of banging drums and other rattling percussion that is being lifted by the light and subtle beauty of a flute; it epitomizes the coming of Spring. So then it makes perfect sense that Jónsi will be releasing a Go Do EP on March 15th, a month prior to Go’s release. I really can’t think of a better way to usher in spring.
Stream: Jónsi “Go Do”
UPDATE: There is now a (super fantastic) music video!
No pretense here. I know how you guys feel about covers, and you know how we feel about covers.
Our most listened to band of 2009 (we did the math, thanks iTunes + Last.fm), Grizzly Bear stopped by Australia’s Triple J Radio and performed a cover of one of Hot Chip’s most beloved tracks. Needless to say, Grizzly Bear dressed “Boy From School” in its Sunday best, fit for Veckatamist inclusion. Listen to and download the wonderful cover below: Continue reading →
Artwork by Adam Sarpalius
Here are Pretty Much Amazing’s Top 75 Songs of the Decade. Below you will find the entire list with three accompanying podcasts. For our reviews of the Top 25 songs, please follow this link.
Artwork by the talented and generous Adam Sarpalius.
The final list is here. We have been working on this Absolute (sarcasm) Best Songs of 2009 list all year, updating it at the end of every quarter. I was only going to have PMA’s Top 50 of the year listen, but I couldn’t narrow it down beyond the top 75. This list will represent and acknowledge some of the artists I felt had to be left out of our Best Albums of 2009 list.
As always, I upheld only one rule while making this list: a song cannot be on this list, unless it was released as a single. As a reminder, here is my definition of the word “single” — 1) A song that has been given away for free to promote an upcoming album (known as a promotional single). 2) A song that has been played on TV or the radio (two of the largest mediums of discovering new music). 3) A song with its own music video and/or EP. 4) Loophole: an album-track that has attracted enormous amounts of attention that it’s become that artist’s “calling card” of sorts.
I want to thank everyone who takes the time to leave a comment, even if its obvious that you came here through Google (PMA pops up when you google “Best Songs of 2009″). As always, don’t be shy to share your personal favorites of the year. Trust me when I tell you I didn’t go out of my way to list all of your favorite songs of the year, so if you want those songs represented, list them yourselves in the comments. I also want to thank the wonderful contributors this site has for helping me with this list. And finally, Adam Sarpalius, whose work as graced this list since July.
Now, onto the Top 75: Continue reading →
Artwork by Brian Kuperman
2009 was an exceptional last year in an exceptional decade for music. In 2009 we were bombarded with solid release after great release after epic release throughout the entire year (upfront: I didn’t listen to every album released in 2009), so narrowing my picks for the best albums of the year was not easy. Nonetheless, I have here Pretty Much Amazing’s 25 best albums of the 2009.
At the end of this list, you will have the chance to enter the last PMA contest of 2009. I will be giving away — courtesy of my wallet, unless someone wants to sponsor 
— a copy of every album on this list on vinyl (or CD, at winner’s request) in a Vinyl is Forever Tote Bag, along with a poster featuring one of the listed artists of their choice, and a custom one year subscription to Paste Magazine. More details on that at the end of the list. Continue reading →
We are finally here. The decade’s closing year. Over these 11 months we’ve heard some groundbreaking music from old and new favorites. As always, the shortlist for 2009 won’t please all of you, but we are trying our best to capture the zeitgeist in music in 2009. Please vote for your favorite of the bunch:
A. The Antlers – Hospice
B. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
C. The Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
D. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
E. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
F. The xx – xx
G. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
H. Japandroids – Post-Nothing
I. Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
J. Passion Pit – Manners
A quick note on my apparent memory loss: a top ten list is just that — ten albums. For this specific one, like the other polls, I turned to prominent music critics to select albums that really captured music fans in 2009. But in a year where dozens of great albums were released, a majority of them are bound to get snubbed.
The Notwist somehow commissioned this rare Grizzly Bear remix for their upcoming single “Come In”. Grizzly Bear bring something new to the table, something they didn’t quite touch base on with their latest release, Veckatimest. It’s curious though, I mean, can you imagine a Grizzly Bear song sounding like this? Fuzzy, fireworks drumming and blips abound?
Here’s the mp3, courtesy of Chris Taylor’s Terrible Records blog (via GvsB): Continue reading →
Photo Courtesy of Force Field PR
Neon Indian, whose album perplexed us, has remixed Grizzly Bear’s “Cheerleader” — off the PMA-adored Veckatimest — not once, but twice. As expected, the remixes sound like Grizzly Bear through a psychedelic lo-fi filter. What wasn’t expected was how well Grizzly Bear wears this filter.
The first remix is called “Neon Indian ‘Sega Genesis P-Orridge’ Remix” and is a bit more up-beat than its sister-remix; the closest thing to a club banger you’ll ever hear from Neon Indian or Grizzly Bear. But things don’t kick into gear until the second remix starts playing, the “Neon Indian ‘Studio 6669′ Remix)”. It’s smoother and feels stronger than most of Neon Indian’s Psychic Chasms LP. Listen to the remixes below: Continue reading →
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The Strangers // Creamteam / The Culture of Me / Disco Demons / Discopunk / First Up / Forward Music / Hard Candy Music / The Music.FM / The Music Ninja / Muumuse / Ohh! Crapp / Pigeons and Planes / Sheena Beaston / Stoney Roads / Tastes Like Caramel / Too Many Sebastians / Typanogram / Vinyl & Vodka / Yours Truly
Adam Sarpalius / Brian Kuperman / Adam Offitzer / Chris Barth / Katharina Schäbel / The Music Ninja
