I didn’t begin this show well. Stuarto had a pre-recorded spot and, given it was only my fourth show, I didn’t realize the little button up top where it said “iPod” needed to be on. This led to a little stumbling in the beginning on my part; I mumbled a few words then played several promos. After I realized the error of my ways (kudos to Stuarto), the show went off without a hitch. And it was a good one.

Lots of great tunes, many from Sweden, most with an electronic vibe. I launched into everything with a few songs that I dubbed as “haunting.” Here we go.

“Silent Shout” by The Knife off Silent Shout
“Concrete Walls” by Fever Ray off Fever Ray

“The Dwarf and the Horse” by Sleep Party People off Regnsky
“Fail Forever (Nicolas Jaar Remix)” by When Saints Go Machine of Fail Forever
“Running Out Of You” by Keep Shelly in Athens off In Love With Dusk EP

“Cannons” by Youth Lagoon off The Year of Hibernation
“Black Hills” by Gardens & Villa off Gardens & Villa
“Arena” by Suuns off Zeroes QC
“Moon Child” by M83 off Before The Dawn Heals Us

“Unessa” by Regina off Soita Mulle
“Bad Street” by Twin Sister off In Heaven
“You And I” by Washed Out off Within And Without

“Round The Moon” by Summer Camp off Young
“Show Me Your Plans (Le Sport Remix)” by Unarmed Enemies off Show Me Your Plans
“Forget Me Not” by Thieves Like Us off Immersed In Waves

“Castles In The Snow” by Twin Shadows off Forget
“It’s Not The End Of The World” by Le Sport off It’s Not The End Of The World
“Come Rain, Come Sunshine” by Pallers off Come Rain, Come Sunshine

“Give You Everything” by Blackbird Blackbird off Give You Everything (7-inch)
“Mouth Cancer” by Daycare
“Heart” by The Legends off Facts And Figures
“In The Water” by Beat Connection off Surf Noir

Of late, I’ve been listening to a lot of pseudo-electronic music. Stuff that borders on chillwave, throwbacks to new wave but with an electronic twist, a lot of it European-influenced, most of it with a nerdy edge to it that’s walks the threshold between awkwardness and the invariably cool. Stuff that can, in a way, be adequately described as psychedelic ambiance. This is the first of a few podcasts to fit this mold so you can think of it as part one, as that’s precisely what it is — the playlist grew and grew until I simply had to divide it in two for my own sanity’s sake. (more…)

The problem with so-called best-of lists, is that they are really just a collection of items organized based on experience and time, in that there will be plenty of albums heard the following year and beyond that will hold just as much weight as these we dub as “Best.” So, as of right now, at this particular time in the tail end of 2010 and the first moments of 2011, these albums are the best. There’s no question about it; it will change. My next list (which I’ve started, but may take a while to publish) is dubbed, paraphrase: the best albums I didn’t check out in 2011 for some reason or another. (more…)

So I’m really digging this band Suuns. Somewhere between shoegaze and electronica to noise and dub, their music is subtle and dreamy, but filled with an abundance of great hooks and hip beats. Zeroes hits all the right notes for a band that meshes very distinct, separate genres that occasionally overlap. Zeroes begins with a dub-influenced drone and the lyrics I killed a man when I was 11 years old, but I’m innocent. It begins a whirlwind of an EP that jumps between genres with frequency and fluency.

Opening with “The Disappearance of the Skyscraper”, Zeroes quickly enters “PVC (EP Version)”, a song that meshes that same dub-drone of the opener with bouts of shoegaze and epic post-rock drone. “Arena (EP Version)” starts with electronic synth-like beats and eventually enters into wispy, dreamy lyrics and enormous guitar noise both alarming and brilliant. Suuns, like I noted before, hits all the right notes. Zeroes is the perfect portrayal taking that which has been done before and making it fresh and exciting.

This is borderline obsession, people. Seriously.

Secretly Canadian is currently offering Zeroes as a free download.

Download: “Disappearance Of The Skyscraper” by Suuns

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Download: “Optimist” by Suuns

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Secretly Canadian [Digital EP, 2010]

1. Disappearance of the Skyscraper
2. PVC (EP Version)
3. Mudslinger
4. Arena (EP Version)
5. Nnnnnnn
6. Optimist