New: Father John Misty

Father John Misty, formally the drummer from The Fleet Foxes a.k.a J. Tillman, has recently broken away from the mellow stylings of his former band and discovered some sort of pent-up musical energy that he now releases willingly under the alias of FJM. I managed to catch the group opening for Youth Lagoon in Vancouver last weekend and they almost stole the show completely as Tillman gyrated and pranced around stage, clearly enjoying being out from behind the drum kit and being able to connect with the audience. To back up the solid live performance FJM has released a very nice debut album with a completely drug-affected front cover (above). Please see below for the two stand-out tracks... Enjoy

Father John Misty - This Is Sally Hatchet

 Father John Misty - Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings

 R. Hunter

New: Kendrick Lamar

Very excited to hear a brand new Kendrick Lamar track from his new album due out in October this year. Swimming Pools does not disappoint, make sure Kendrick stays on your radar and check out the song below via Soundcloud... Enjoy




R. Hunter

New: Chase Moore

Another member of my musically talented family, my cousin Chase Moore is a rapper/producer living in California who was born and raised back home in Melbourne, Australia. Chase has steadily been building a name for himself battling on West Coast Grind Time, selling beats to fellow rappers, and producing tracks. His latest beat made me want to share with everyone, it features a brilliant sample from Florence & The Machine... Enjoy

R. Hunter

New: Joey Bada$$

The new mixtape from this young NYC rapper is definitely worth checking out. Great production and some very talented verses almost makes you forget that you're listening to an 18 year old. The album name may be an homage to the time in hip-hop that Joey is trying to emulate, and he's doing a pretty good job of it too... Enjoy


Joey Bada$$ - Survival Tactics
 

 R. Hunter

New: Danny Brown

The new single from Danny Brown comes just in time for summer. Safe to say this will be on heavy rotation during BBQs, poker nights and other such activities... Enjoy

Danny Brown - Grown Up

 R. Hunter

New: alt-J (∆)

Really enjoying this album from UK indie group alt-J. Apparently the triangle is part of their band name, which is about as indie as you can get. Check out a couple of choice notes from the new album 'Awesome Wave', released on May 28... Enjoy 


Breezeblocks
 
Fitzpleasure
 

Playlist - June 2012

It's been a while... here's some stuff going through the earphones right now:

Tracks:

 When Saints Go Machine - Hos Mig Igen 

El-P - The Full Retard 

Azealia Banks - Jumaji 

Clams Casino - I'm God 

Japandroids - Continuous Thunder 

Yeasayer - Henrietta 

Tune Yards - My Country 

Marina & The Diamonds - Lies 

Panama - Blossom 

The Tallest Man On Earth - There's No Leaving Now

R. Hunter

Aim... fire

Having one of those lazy days following links blindly, searching around for some new music, and ended up hooked on something that was released 10 years ago (almost to the day). I've been a big fan of Aim for years now, just haven't heard one of his tracks for ages. This one definitely fits the mood for today, and if you like this then please grab his first album 'Cold Water Music' from 1999, one of my all-time favourites... Enjoy



R. Hunter

New: Andrew Bird

I got this album about a week ago on recommendation from my cousins, who are rarely wrong about music, but for some reason I didn't listen to it until today... and now I can't stop. To be honest I have never been a big Andrew Bird 'fan', he's kind of always been around with a few nice songs but I never really dove right in to his catalogue. This new album seems a little meatier, more instrumental layers, and it's just a really solid album all the way through. Check out my favourite track below, and check how it cuts seemlessly from calypso-soaked guitar to rich irish strings. A great example of Bird's multi-instrumental talent... Enjoy

Andrew Bird - Danse Carribe


"here we go mistaking clouds for mountains"

R. Hunter

Purity Ring

Not really sure where these guys are from or how long they've been around for (according to tumblr perhaps January 2011) but I'm liking the stuff they're putting out. Grimey electric beats and a angelic female vocalist usually makes for a good combination. As far as I know they only have a 7" LP out somewhere with 3 tracks. You can check out my favourite below, and the other two here... Enjoy

Purity Ring - Belispeak


R. Hunter

New: Schoolboy Q

Late last year I became acquainted with Kendrick Lamar and his Section.80 album that rapidly entered my top 10 of 2011 list. Earlier this year I met his friend Schoolboy Q, and I like him already. Schoolboy is part of the Section 80 gang and sounds a lot like if Kid Cudi and A$AP Rocky had a baby boy. This is a good thing... Enjoy

Schoolboy Q - Sacrilegious


Schoolboy Q - Blessed feat. Kendrick Lamar


R. Hunter

Lessons from back home

Australia day 2012 was a great learning experience. Living away from home has many advantages and also some disadvantages, one being that I have lost track somewhat of what's happening with Australian music. And now that the other half of this blog has moved to London it appears we are almost completely out of the loop on this subject. So thanks to Triple J's annual music democracy I have been updated on the current state of Australian music, and it looks like there is a lot to like. Please check out some of my favourites below... Enjoy

360 - Killer


Boy & Bear - Feeding Line


Seeker, Lover, Keeper - Light All My Lights


Matt Corby - Brother (live on Triple J)


The Rubens - Lay It Down


Snakadaktal - Air


R. Hunter

My top 10 albums of 2011

It's a little overdue but here are my personal favourites from 2011... I'm still not sure about the ranking order, but these are definitely the CDs that made last year a memorable one:

1. Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
2. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
3. Black Keys - El Camino
4. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
5. Clams Casino - Instrumentals
6. The Weeknd - House of Balloons
7. The Antlers - Burst Apart
8. Kendrick Lamar - Section.80
9. Gotye -  Making Mirrors
10. The Roots - Undun

Special mention to: The Decemberists, Toro Y Moi, Drake, Fleet Foxes, Wilco, and I'm sure many more that will come to me after I finish typing this.

New: Daughter

I like when you get rewarded for checking out a band that you've never heard of. Whether it's through boredom or an adventurous nature I love when it pays off. I regularly visit a website called Daytrotter, and I recommend you do the same. They basically get a whole lot of bands to play live sets for them and then allow you to download them for free. And this is how I found out about this group 'Daughter', think Florence and the Machine meets Feist, and then take the tempo down... it's nice... Enjoy

Daughter - Candles


R. Hunter

New: Cliff Dweller

Honestly don't remember gettin this guy's album... but happy that I finally stumbled across it. Cliff Dweller is a beatmaker out of LA that dabbles in a few different genres on his 'Hallucinations' album, but generally keeps it ambient and pretty chill. A very nice collection of tracks to recline to, and you can check out one of my favourites below... Enjoy

Cliff Dweller - Pho


R. Hunter

November Playlist

Little bit of everything in here:

1. M83 with my 2nd favourite song with the title 'Intro' (1st belongs to The xx)

2. Funky stuff from Bonobo, thanks to Chiara

3. Class Actress with a feel-good track for a weekend

4. Kavinsky gettin grimey with the lead track off of the 'Drive' soundtrack

5. Drake - Underground Kings

6. A$AP Rocky - Peso

7. Florence & The Machine covering Drake (who was sampling Jamie xx)

8. Manchester Orchestra slowing it down with 'Deer'

9. James Blake rounding it out with a great Joni Mitchell cover off his latest LP

... Enjoy

R. Hunter

Azealia Banks: The coolest person of the year??

According to NME magazine she is. They recently released their "Cool List" for 2011 and this 20 year old lady from Harlem, NYC topped them all. To be honest I always read these lists with a fair amount of scepticism. I have found that magazines like NME and websites like Pitchfork sometimes try too hard to go against the grain and include some controversial selections in these lists (see Pitchfork's choice of Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti - Round & Round as song of the year in 2010). Up until today I had never heard of Azealia Banks, so the jury is still out for me. She does seem to represent most things that hipsters love these days, she's attractive, alternative, niche, foul-mouthed and she's making genre spanning music that can be classed as 'electro-rap'. I'll be interested to see how successful she becomes, for now you can check out her song "212" below and make up your own mind... you might want to put the earmuffs on if you're offended by coarse language, she says the C word a lot... Enjoy



R. Hunter

New: Drake & The Weeknd

It feels like I've been posting too much stuff from these two lately, but you can hardly blame me, they are everywhere at the moment. Drake's just released his 'Take Care' album, and it's very good, and this is a very good song from that album. I can't get enough of the glitchy hi-hat beats... Enjoy

Drake - Crew Love feat. The Weeknd


R. Hunter

New: Kendrick Lamar

This guy's album, 'Section 80' - released back in July this year, has taken up a lot of my listening time recently. There's something about his flow that works for me. He's got that laid back style that changes pace and intencity when necessary. Paired with the on-point beats and production it's a winning combination. Word is that Kendrick will also be featuring on a track for Drake's new album 'Take Care', keep your ears out for that one. For now here are two of my favourite tracks off 'Section 80'... Enjoy

Kendrick Lamar - Fuck Your Ethnicity


Kendrick Lamar - Rigamortis


R. Hunter