_ Arboreal __

My Fav in 2010

2010-12-22T22:39:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
It has been a long 6 months since I have posted anything on this blog; mostly because my friends and I have been sharing a lot of music via facebook and so posting stuff here has felt redundant. However, this being December 25th, and me sitting in front of my laptop with some time to kill, the occasion seemed ripe for a recap of my favorite music from 2010.

I have posted links to my favorite 10 albums but may be forced to bring them down soon. Let me know if any of them are not working.

Top 10 Fav Albums

10. Toro Y Moi - Causers Of This

link

9. How To Dress Well - Love Remains

link

8. Caribou - Swim

link

7. Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?

link

6. The Radio Dept. - Clinging To A Scheme

link

5. Gonjasufi - A Sufi And A Killer

link

4. Mount Kimbie - Crook & Lovers

link

3. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

link

2. Actress - Splazsh

link

1. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

link

Top 10 Fav EPs

10. oOoOO - oOoOO

9. Ducktails - Hamilton Road

8. Panda Bear - You Can Count On Me/Alsatian Darn

7. Washed Out - Life Of Leisure

6. Mosca - Square One

5. Balam Acab - See Birds

4. Joy Orbison - The Shrew Would Have Cushioned The Blow

3. Space Dimension Controller - Temporary Thrillz

2. Ramadanman - Ramadanman

1. James Blake - Klavierwerke / CMYK

Top 5 Fav Mixes

5. Four Tet - BBC Essential Mix

4. Kassem Mosse - Fact Mix 190

3. Shackleton - Fact 55

2. Space Dimension Controller - Resident Advisor Podcast 231

1. Deadboy - Fact Mix 112

Mount Kimbie

2010-05-06T00:54:00.000-07:00

Mount Kimbie talk about their debut album - out in July.

Rob Booth (the scottish Mary Anne Hobbs)

2010-05-02T09:21:00.000-07:00

The above mentioned dude, Rob Booth, runs a show called "Electronic Explorations" that kicks some serious ass with regards to keeping up with the up and coming. You can download his shows on his myspace page - I've listened to maybe 20 and most of them have been exceptional. Here is the link to his page http://www.myspace.com/robbooth and here are some recommendations for shows to check out:

093 -- Kontext - [ Immerse ]
092 -- Untold - [ Hemlock / Hessle / Hotflush ]
090 -- Loops Haunt -- [ Black Acre / Fortified Audio ]
083 -- Fantastic Mr Fox - [ Black Acre / Hemlock ]
078 -- Planet Mu - [Worlds Greatest Label]
072 -- James Blake - [Hemlock Recordings]
055 -- Rewind 50 -- 03 - Pangaea, T.V.O, Ebola, Boxcutter
054 -- Rewind 50 -- 02 - Ramadanman, Vex'd, Scuba, 2562
052 -- Mount Kimbie // Phaeleh - Cue Sheet
029 -- Scuba - [Hotflush] - Cue Sheet
021 -- 2562 - [Tectonic] // Bitesize Beats - Cue Sheet
018 -- FaltyDL & Friends - [Planet Mu / Ramp] - Cue Sheet
016 -- Ramadanman - [Hessle / Applepips] - Cue Sheet

Scuba - Sub:stance Mix

2010-04-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

This mix is from Scuba, real name Paul Rose, dude behind the Hotflush label who also releases for Mount Kimbie and Joy Orbison. This mix was apparently the set he played during the first Sub:stance night at Berlin's Berghain. With any luck I'll be able to see the dude live at this venue before the year is out! Great mix as an introduction to some of the stuff being made at the crossroads of dub-step and techno. And Scuba's full length, Triangulation, is definitely worth picking up if you are into this.

the mix: http://www.mediafire.com/?nwwmm0w00yl
write up on Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/Various-Substance/master/242378

Some Favourite Mixes

2010-04-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

For the past year or so I've been getting into a lot of different types of electronic music. The only thing that keeps me from digging around even more is the dizzying proliferation of genres and sub-genres, and sub-genres within sub-genres, etc. It always makes me feel like there is so much I'm missing. Lots of people feel that way, I think, that they'll be judged if they don't know who Neon Indian is, or whatever. So I'm treating music more like a good beer, just sort of browse the stuff every so often (sherbrooke liqour store, in the case of beer), then sit down with it and put time aside to enjoy it (in moderation of course). Of what little I do know this stuff, I've been checking on the "scenes" in Bristol, Berlin, Detroit and even parts of Scotland, of all places (where big influences seem to be hip-hop, rap, aphex twin, and video games). These alone are hard enough to keep up with. And thus, as a response to this, I've been listening to mostly mixes that draw from a wide variety of these scenes. I'll post some that i've been listening too, but I'll spread them out to encourage, yup, moderation.

The first one is by Flotilla, two dudes from South London. Some nice ambient electro that would be good for studying if you have tests left, and a walk through the legislature grounds, sometime around 8pm on a nice evening, if you don't.

http://soundcloud.com/alphaville/alpha-podcast-presents-flotilla

for a write up by Fact mag:
http://www.factmag.com/2010/04/26/flotilla-plain-sailing/

Late Summer Mix for Late in the Day

2009-08-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

It seems we're scraping at the bottom of Summer's barrel lately but we can't let that spoil what remains. The evenings are still warm and long. Certainly you will need a soundtrack for whatever activities you have planned for the late afternoon and into the evening, so why not this mix?

It is made up of some rather new songs, a few fairly old ones, and some that just felt right. Again, please let me know if you have any problems downloading this; life is much better once you get the hang of file-sharing.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VEY86OXS

Late Summer Mix
1. This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) (Live)- Talking Heads
2. Lasso - Phoenix
3. Polkadat Blues - Hudson Mohawke
4. Walkabout (w/ Noah Lennox) - Atlas Sound
5. No Excuses - Air France
6. No Intention - Dirty Projectors
7. Chtima Ndiakure - Green Arrows
8. I Know I'm Not Wrong - Fleetwood Mac
9. Leave It - The Field
10. Maybes - Mount Kimbie
11. Ball'r (Madonna-Free Zone) - Terre Thaemlitz
12. Tightrope - Yeasayer
13. Sunday Night - Lotus Plaza
14. Have You Forgotten - Red House Painters
15. Cheerleader - Grizzly Bear
16. In My Life - The Beatles
17. Paper Crane Gang - Flying Lotus
18. Daily Routine - Animal Collective
19. Millions of Time - Mountains

New Albums from Dirty Projectors and Phoenix

2009-05-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

This new Dirty Projectors album is bad-ass. Do yourself a favor and check it out. They are in town on May 27th opening for TV on the Radio, a day before The Different Strokes benefit show for The Distress Line that my friends and I are playing, so...do yourself another two favors and check out both of those shows.

xxxx://www.megaupload.com/?d=RVZG80CM

And here's a high-quality version of the new Phoenix album:

xxxx://www.mediafire.com/download.php?2jyyzzddjvw

New Album from The Field: Yesterday and Today

2009-05-06T02:11:00.000-07:00

Their first album still hasn't got old for me, so what a treat it is to have both in rotation. I threw a link down for the first album in case you haven't had the chance to blast that. Also, please note that the one link has four x's where http usually is. The reasoning for this is that I had a few links taken down off of here because some labels check around and remove links of leaked albums, which included a few of mine. Apparently the four x's guard against that.

The Field - Yesterday & Today
xxxx://www.megaupload.com/?d=8SY55FWP

The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9ZIP0FN2

New Grizzly Bear and hard to find Eluvium

2009-03-09T02:58:00.000-07:00

For those who didn't notice the comment on my last post, my friend Jordan has very kindly posted a link to a leaked version of the upcoming Grizzly Bear album. There are a few standouts, namely the songs that the band have played in months past on late-night tv (Two Weeks, While You Wait for the Others and Fine For Now):

http://www.zshare.net/download/5650271878b6a3e4/

I recently bought an Eluvium box-set containing all of the LP's and EP's that Matthew Cooper has released under that moniker. On one side of one of the records were four songs I had not heard. Three of these were bonus tracks on the album "Indecipherable Text", which was a two-disc compilation put out by an Australian label combining the albums "Lambent Material" and "Talk Amongst Trees". The fourth track, I have no idea where it came from. All four are great tracks, among the best of his work, and I've grouped them into an album for your listening pleasure:

http://www.mediafire.com/?mhy2oqyzkcg

Phoenix and Tim Hecker

2009-02-27T13:32:00.001-08:00

Phoenix's new album will not be released until May 25, but it is definitely not too early to be excited. If you go to their website you can download one of the tracks off of it, and it's rad:
http://www.wearephoenix.com/

And if you are not aware of Phoenix, you must download their most recent album, "It's Never Been Like That", which is linked below:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OCLT7B0F
I suppose it is a summer album of sorts, but maybe it will help you battle this extremely uncool winter weather we've been experiencing.

Also, here is a new album I've been jamming lots lately, Tim Hecker's "An Imaginary Country":
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0IU8SRYY
I'm not sure how many of you are into ambient music; for me it's the perfect background music for when I'm reading at Starbucks. If you're like me, lyrics just won't do when reading so ambient is perfect, plus it helps drown out the singer-songwriter crap that Starbucks usually has on.

12 Albums From the Last 12 Months

2009-02-20T16:27:00.000-08:00

To follow up the last entry, which featured my favorite songs from the last year, I decided to place links for (most of) the albums the songs were drawn from. Dig in if you haven't yet checked out these albums, they are all worth a few listens.

Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=43J33FQ1

Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
http://www.mediafire.com/?xt2z1op0y1z

The Walkmen - You & Me
http://www.mediafire.com/?uh1j16wywfa

Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JJ4QPZDR

Hercules & Love Affair - S/T
http://www.mediafire.com/?mzktlewnyzn

Arthur Russel - Love Is Overtaking Me
www.sendspace.com/file/cz0vp2

The French Kicks - Swimming
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WW55V7DX

Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JTLT7Z71

Air France - No Way Down
http://www.mediafire.com/?qnkqzrmfbrp

Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
http://www.mediafire.com/?t2im3ujngn2

Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
http://www.mediafire.com/?bpy032mpidu

Fabio Orsi - Audio For Lovers
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QFHR0ODK

Year End Review/Blog Preview

2009-02-18T22:37:00.000-08:00

I've created a blog to aid me in sharing music with people. Now, whenever I'm telling someone about an album I'm really into, I can direct them here for a quick download. Simple as that. I don't anticipate I'll be writing all that much. Were writing about music my occupation, perhaps then I would have lots of interesting things to say about particular albums, but as it stands, there will only be short blurbs followed by a link. Lastly, I must mention that I've been extremely fortunate to have good friends who hook me up with many good albums, and without them I would not have much worth sharing.

This first album I'm putting up is one I've put together myself. I know it is almost 2 months late, but I've compiled some of my favorite songs from 2008 to give you a taste of what I've been into lately, and it also serves as a preview of the type of albums that will follow. To download, go here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5XC4W2BA

Track list

1. David Byrne and Brian Eno - Strange Overtones
2. Cut Copy - Out There On the Ice
3. Flying Lotus - Camel
4. The Walkmen - In the New Year
5. Of Montreal - An Eluardian Instance
6. Hercules & Love Affair - Blind
7. Arthur Russell - Love Is Overtaking Me
8. The French Kicks - The Way You Arrive
9. Animal Collective - My Girls
10. Fuck Buttons - Sweet Love For Planet Earth
11. Air France - Collapsing At Your Doorstep
12. Chad VanGaalen - Rabid Bits of Time
13. Grouper - Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping
14. Fabio Orsi - Last Love

I'm sure most of you will be able to figure out how to get this album onto your computer, but if you have problems, send me a message.

Pass this blog along to anyone you think may be interested - share the love.

-Mike

_____________ Arboreal ______________