The Slow Readers Club

I have taken this from their website. *We are a Manchester based Indie / Electro band who's output ranges from insanely catchy upbeat indie to angry, introspective downbeat ballads. Our music has drawn comparisons with Interpol, The Killers and Arcade Fire. Our critically acclaimed Debut album relased in May 2012 has had airplay on BBC 6 Music, BBC Introducing, NME, Q Radio and NME TV, Sky Sports and ITV. Our youtube channel has seen 155,707 views to date helped in no small part by the video for 'Block out the Sun' featuring on Coldplay's website.

The Slow Readers Club - Block out the Sun

For some bizarre reason, these guys started following me on twitter and I haven't had chance to listen to them since now. Í tweeted back and told them Í would introduce them, to some other *Indie fans* from around the world. I asked for their favourite song, and they said *Try them with this* I hope you guys like it on their recommendation. I will post one I really like after this one. (although it does sound like something else, but I can't quite put my finger on it) Enjoy xxx

A little bit more up tempo this, a real grower. (ahhhooooooooooooooo)
Leo xxx

The Slow Readers Club - Sirens

PJ Thornton

Metric - Youth Without Youth

One of the songs that did stand out for me in 2012 was Metric's Youth Without Youth. I've always liked Metric so it was a no brainer and it's one of the few new songs I bought in 2012.

Metric - Youth Without Youth from Metric on Vimeo.

The Sheepdogs - The Way It Is

To come up with something else took a little bit more thinking, but I think I can safely pick The Way It Is by The Sheepdogs. It's not ground breaking, just some solid old timey rock and roll. Also, they managed to get through an entire baseball themed video with no one wearing an ironic Expos hat.

Iain Lordhunter

Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans

I was late to the Lana Del Rey party, having initially liked Video Games, but not really understood the fuss. By the time I heard the 'Paradise edition' of her album Born To Die, the backlash had already been and gone. It's a great album, and that is definitely the version to buy. I've gone for 'Blue Jeans' as my favourite track but the epic 'Ride' ran it very close.

Grimes - Genesis

My second choice is from another female artiste who divides opinion. Grimes' music is quirky, ethereal and sounds like nothing else out there ( although I expect 2013 will throw up a horde of imitation mini-Grimes ). Again it was tough to choose between two tracks: 'Genesis' pipped it, but I love 'Oblivion' too.

Cherryblonde Scribe

The Rubens - Don't Ever Wanna Be Found

After a GREAT deal of deliberation, my favourite track for 2012 goes to Australian band The Rubens for "Don't Ever Wanna Be Found". This polished outfit have released an album that respectfully nods to alternative rock's past, without ever downplaying the validity of their own life experience. They're young, but they know their stuff.
"Don't Ever Wanna Be Found" puts the taste of dust in my mouth and makes me yearn for a muscle car and a dodgy road trip.

Tame Impala - Apocalypse Dreams

Coming in second is another Aussie band, and I am not ashamed to have chosen both Australian tracks, there is some astonishingly good music being made across the world and we make it here too. Tame Impala's second album, Lonerism, is gaining international recognition, and Apocalypse Dreams was the first release from it. A lush journey from punchy pop to psychadelic sensuality, Apocalypse Dreams makes me want to go lay in the daisies and watch the clouds roll by, and that's as good a use of my time as any.

Becka Blackrain

Ok...if I HAVE to pick my top 2 songs for 2012, then so be it! My #1 song from last year is Best Coast - 'The Only Place'. It not only embodies how I feel about music, but how I feel about life in general!!...It's happy, upbeat, fun, care-free, and makes me wanna jump up and dance! How could you NOT like this track?!!

Best Coast - The Only Place

Coming in 2nd place is Passion Pit with a great track called 'Take A Walk'. They are a fantastic indie band from Cambridge, Massachusetts. All but one in the band attended The Berklee College of Music in Boston They have it all... great beats, unforgettable melodies, catchy...but edgy lyrics, and a stage show to die for!!

Enjoy :) xx

Passion Pit - Take a Walk

Paradox Messmer

Django Django - "Wor"

This is the first song of 2012 that totally made me go OMFG and lose my shit! Because it brought back the primal spirit of rock n' roll in full furious force with its rollicking build up of a guitar assault that is a throwback to the golden age of underground rock while still managing to sound new and fresh. That aptly describes the rest of this debut album, which is destined to be a classic for years to come.

Islands - In a Dream it Seemed Real

These Canadian indie greats came out with an album in 2012 that was highly personal for the frontman, dealing with his divorce from someone he calls in one song his best friend. It's an emotionally soaring album full of ups and downs, mostly downs, but there is still a breath of hope in there like with any great album about a turning point in a man's life. This song is gorgeous, haunting and poetic. Go get this album.

Bailey Acanthus

The xx – Chained – Coexist

It was actually a tie between this song, Angels, and Fiction from the Coexist album. I chose this one because it soothes my rough edges and takes me into a beautiful limbo. It's no secret I have have trumpeted about the virtues of this whole album since it dropped, and it is often on repeat. Somehow, I have not tired of it.

Alt-J Breezeblocks - An Awesome Wave

This would have to be one of the other most played songs/videos I consumed in 2012. The video is just brilliant, though a dark and unpleasant theme. What I get out of it is that love has it's dark sisters; jealousy, revenge, rage, and perhaps madness. (the other message is don't cheat, it may backfire like you would not believe) ;-)

Tia Violet

2012 was such a good year for music so its been really difficult to narrow it down to just two songs but these stick out for me at the moment, mainly due to RL gig memories :)

The Courteeners - Lose Control

Its no secret how much of a fan I am of The Courteeners. "Lose Control" was available as a pre-release in December 2012 and is just a taster of whats to come from their long awaited third album which should be released Feb/March 2013.

The Vaccines - No Hope

From their second album "Come of Age" released September 2012, this was the first single. Amazing live band, great song and great album. 'Nuff said!

Shine Sideshow

In 2012 I've been very unfaithful, music-wise. I'm made for long, intense relationships with an album: I used to listen to the same one over and over, until I could sing every song without missing any word. But in 2012 I've been jumping from song to song and record to record, mostly aimlessly, but let's say I was experimenting. So, leaving a mark in my 2012 aren't the artists I've been eagerly awaiting new releases from, like Rufus Wainwright or Alanis Morrissette (yes, I adore her), but the ones that actually survived in a sea of songs I've listened to only once or twice, before hitting that particular folder in my head called "oblivion".

From Finner by Of Monsters and Men
"My head is an animal" was a surprise for me and probably the album I've listened to the most in the first part of 2012 (before my Smiths phase, but that's quite a different story: just be glad it's inappropriate for me to rant about it here). If a song is about the sea (or seagulls, salt and sushi - but this last one is pretty rare), chances are that I probably like it: and this happens to be my favourite track off the album, indeed.

The Enemy by The Raveonettes
A more personal choice: my memory will always link this song to a beautiful concert I attended last December in Paris. I like how even the Raveonettes' songs that sound lighthearted and bright, always come with a slightly dark accent, a hopeless sort of reminder that, well, we're doomed anyway.

2012 "best of"

Best of? I can't really say a best of for 2012. It was a great year for music. Especially as it wound down. That being said this Frank Turner tune I caught from another DJ (Props to Windsor here) is one I haven't been able to top listening to.

It has awesome energy, music, and lyrics. The lyrics I think are brilliant because while they have a defined meaning so to speak they have several spots that are ambiguous enough to have RL meaning / application at least to me. Thus I would have to say this tune touched on me the most out of anything from 2012 I listened to.

twenty l one l pilots - Ode To Sleep

Welcome to what this Ohio duo call "Schizoid Pop!" This song slides between electronic, rap, and indie pop using transitions that sound right out a score from Phantom of the Opera.

Wonky Doll and the Echo - The Cut

I have to admit, with a name like Wonky, I suspected this would be love at first listen.  This indie rock foursome comes from Athens, Greece and describes their sound as "post-punk revival." My favorite single from their 2012 LP, Pleasant Thoughts, is The Cut. To me, this sounds like The Cure, Depeche Mode, and The Chain Gang of 1974 molded into one audibly delicious piece of ear candy...enjoy :)

Kindness Gee up

and speaking of short...this was my fav 2012 song of inexplicable shortness..."less jacking of the bass..."
Cheers
K Walpole

I would say this is a tune i have enjoyed more than most in 2012

Kind of orgasmic ending to this tune....
Villagers new album out shortly (the singer is very short)

Mallory Cerise

Swans - The Seer Returns

The darkest and weightiest of them all, as powerful as dark earth, Swans destructure and restructure your soul. Yet the flipside of this darkness is catharsis. This is sheer slow-burning force cleverly disguised as music.

In Death It Ends - Forgotten Knowledge

Eminently bewitching and tension-fueled, this music sends the listener on an incessant, futility-stained chase after ghosts, as these ghosts happen to come from one’s subconscious.

(Ed: love Porl King's bass :) )

Space Grelling

I stopped by Space's recent Best of 2012 sets (Part 1 and Part 2, last & the previous Wednesday), so there were about 60 songs to choose from. As we went along, Space pointed out songs that might fit into the top 2.

Grizzly Bear - Yet Again

"Shield from Grizzly Bear was one of my favourite albums... it completely took me by surprise," says Space

Palma Violets - Best of Friends

Palma Violets won the top spot on the NME best of 2012 list. (If you'd like to see the NME list, you can click here)

The Joy Formidable - Cholla

Thirdly, a song from an album that is due to be released on 21 January 2013:

Finally, listed below is Sirius XM Alt Nation's Best Alt-18 of 2012
1. Passion Pit - Take A Walk
2. Grouplove - Tongue Tied
3. The Black Keys - Gold On The Ceiling
Walk The Moon - Anna Sun
Silversun Pickups - Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)
Of Monsters & Men - Little Talks
Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know
Muse - Madness
Mumford & Sons - I Will Wait
The Wombats - Jump Into The Fog
fun. - We Are Young
Atlas Genius - Symptoms
AWOLNATION - Kill Your Heroes
Imagine Dragons - It's Time
Blondfire - Where The Kids Are
A Silent Film - Danny, Dakota & The Wishing Well
Metric - Breathing Underwater
Jack White - Sixteen Saltines

Moby Tenenbaum

The two songs I selected mid-summer for Indie Cantina as best so far may still be my favorite songs of the year - 'You As You Were', by Shearwater and 'Marigold', by Alberta Cross, but it’s really impossible for me to identify a definite best two or even best 10. It’s much easier for me to pick my favorite two albums, although even that is difficult. So how about if I pick two of my favorite albums with representative songs from each?

My favorite album of the year is probably Fanfarlo’s 'Rooms Filled With Light', the sophomore album of a British quintet. What I love about Fanfarlo is that they set the bar really high and throw everything they’ve got at you - guitars, horns, reeds, electronic effects, glockenspiel (yes, glockenspiel) and they make it work. I also love their attention to songcraft, particularly in terms of building tunes level upon level. This song, 'Deconstruction', is a good example of that.

Another great album, which might rank number two (at least right now) on my Best of 2012 list, is 'Poles', by the Belgian/Austrian/Spanish/Italian four-piece Lonely Drifter Karen. They remind me of Fanfarlo in their commitment to highly intelligent songcraft and also feature a frequent affinity for quasi-worldbeat rhythms and sounds that I really like. This track, 'Brand New World', is representative.

Violet Ninetails

Electric Youth - Right Back to You (track)

This song makes me feel like I've been living in a postapocalyptic wasteland and I just found a time machine and instead of going back and changing the past I just go back to the 80s and drive around and have fun. I can't really ask for more from dance music.

Hammock - Departure Songs (album)

Track pick: Tonight We Burn Like Stars That Never Die

What a lovely album. It sounds like what the inside of a star's heart must look like. I love all of it. It's the perfect soundtrack for driving through barren landscapes at night - eerie, ethereal, celestial and sidereal.

<3

Kennef Riggles

I was just thinking about all the folks who spent the last week spinning the "Best of 2012" sets at various venues and when this came in I wondered if I could narrow down my favorite tracks to just 2, as well as make sure that the tunes were actually released in 2012 . :P Here's what i came up with...

Of Monsters and Men - 'Little Talks'

Sounding something like the epic love child of Florence & the Machine and Mumford & Sons; this track just gives one a specific sort of energy that I love. I like my Indie with a quick tempo and lush lyrics... its quite excellent and definately a new favorite.

The Coup - 'Magic Clap'

A terribly infectious indie dance/hip hop tune, yeah it sounds a bit like Outkast in the delivery... but more musically compatible with 'Timebomb' by Beck... try the 2 back to back and see if you like it like that.

You don't love me anymore

The Pistol & The Queen

You dont love me anymore. (click the link to hear the song)

A fantastically simple break up song. The more I play it the more I wanna keep playing it. recorded it says Recorded at The Shack-Up Inn, Clarksdale Mississippi & a couple of hotel rooms in New Orleans Louisiana & Tupelo Mississippi, it has a raw feel about it.



 

You use to love me but that was before, now you don't love me anymore.

Chris (Schott Tophat)

Mother Mother - Love it Dissipates

Mother Mother is known very well for their punchy harmonies and amazing hooks. However, this track, appearing toward the end of their 2012 release, The Sticks, shows a side of the band that is surely darker, but without sacrificing any of the clever lyrics or catchy goodness.

Earl Sweatshirt - Chum

Not enough people are noticing that hip hop is changing. Narratives are being composed by lyricists who are appropriating an entire history of hip hop while being lyrically cutting-edge and progressive to the genre. Earl Sweatshirt, despite his age (he's only 18), is one of the best writers working today. His ability to deliver his words with such ease is just the icing on the cake.

Elbe Lisle

Mueran humanos - Monstruo

Ok this is 2011. But it's so now. Light and superficial, deep and dark. A cold hypnotic playful Berlin breath with gothic Argentine roots.

Arlt - Le pistolet

I never knew blues could be blended with the French language and a medieval flavour. 2012 showed me that.

Sea Wolf - Miracle Cure

LA-based Sea Wolf have been producing albums for five years now, and their recent album 'Old World Romance' was one of the better albums of last year.

Sea Wolf - Miracle Cure

Junip - In Every Direction

Junip are a Swedish band, who have announced that their upcoming album will be released in April, 2013.

Flowers In Your Hair and The Lumineers

The Lumineers are a band to be watching, I think. The have the thoughtfulness of bands like The Head & The Heart and the catchiness of bands like Of Men and Monsters or Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes. Look past the song "Hey Ho" and dig a little bit deeper into their self-titled 2012 CD. There are some nice songs that will bring a smile and maybe even get you to tap your toe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6e5wxzPsQM

I wish that I was in a part of the country where access to live music was better, so until then I live vicariously through the internet: YouTube and Second Life help me to hear the new sounds that I would miss out otherwise.

Mumford and Sons - Ghosts that we Knew

Mumford & Sons are so amazing live.

Below is a cover of a Bruce Springsteen song recorded during the Gentlemen of the Road tour on the Mumford & Sons tour bus with guests including Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes.

Mumford & Sons and Friends - Atlantic City

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/62659577" params="" width=" 100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

About Soundproof, seeking DJs

At Soundproof we endeavor to keep it eclectic, weird, wild, and mix lots of old school, classic alternative along with current, contemporary bands. The focus at Soundproof isn't on the indie hits, the popular bands and songs topping Pitchfork lists and charts or other popular blogs and publications. There's a shift here away from dancey indiepop.

Our motto is dare to be different and make it truly alternative or indie in the sense of indie label bands going back as far as indie started, right up to current day. A history of indie and alternative (including punk, postpunk, new wave, garage rock, alt-folk, goth, psychedelic and much more) of all kinds is what I hope people can find in the sets here. Creativity with sets is strongly encouraged. The only real requirement for playing at Soundproof though is having a real passion and love for alternative music. It's about DJing for the music, not the crowds and tips.

No cliques, no elitism. Uniting the freaks, the outsiders, the music nerds under one roof, to be silly as shit and party on. Wanna DJ here? Contact Paradox Messmer.  All friendly people are welcome. As of now, there are DJs on Tuesdays and Fridays. We are also featured in the Destination Guide! SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bloom%20County/100/140/23

Happy New Year!!

Folks, we have a fresh new year ahead of us, and I've added a new wordpress theme to the Indie Cantina to commemorate the occasion. I loved this video of the London New Years fireworks:

Below is the most recent Alt-18 Countdown (for the week of December 17):

18. Django Django – "Default"
17. Matt & Kim – "Let’s Go"
16. Tegan & Sara – "Closer"
15. Passion Pit – "Carried Away"
14. Dan Croll – "From Nowhere"
13. Royal Teeth – "Wild"
12. Silversun Pickups – "The Pit"
11. Smoke & Jackal – "No Tell"
10. A Silent Film – "Harbour Lights"
9. The Neighbourhood – "Female Robbery"
8. Crystal Fighters – "At Home"
7. Youngblood Hawke – "We Come Running"
6. Atlas Genius – "Symptoms"
5. Metric – "Breathing Underwater"
4. Bad Books – "Forest Whitaker"
3. Blondfire – "Where The Kids Are"
2. Capital Cities – "Safe & Sound"
1. Imagine Dragons – "Radioactive"

http://www.siriusxm.com/altnation