best music of the year so far, pt. 2

The rest of the top ten.

06 Strategy, Future Rock

There’s a place in Fort Green, Brooklyn, called the Café Habana Outpost. It’s an outdoor eatery open only during the summer — they serve tacos and burritos, and every Saturday afternoon they have dub DJs, live performances by Cuban jazz bands and the like and generally just a very welcoming, open atmosphere. Future Rock sounds like one of those blissed-out summer days: slow-moving, celebratory, taking life as it comes to you. (I actually used a photo I took at Café Habana for the image when I initially wrote about this record.) On a day like that, this is my favorite record of the year, a beautiful combo of introspection and joy, the songs developing at their own pace, finding their own groove. The opening two tracks are my favorites, but the whole thing comes highly recommended.

07 Killed by 9V Batteries, Killed By 9V Batteries

Joe gets all of the credit for unearthing this gem. Sounds like Bakesale Sebadoh, roughshod and boisterous, a real indie-rock mess. They’re from Austria even though they sound like they’re from the Northwest. I love this record, and still listen to it all of the time. Some YouTubeness for ya’ll:

Killed by 9V Batteries Rehearsing:

Here’s a music video:

And another music video, for my fave song, “Imitations Told Us So:”

HEY KILLED BY 9V BATTERIES COME TOUR THE US PLS THX!

08 Apparat, Walls
Matthew Dear, “Deserter”

Quoting myself again:

Wow this record is incredible. This is the electronic-pop record I have been looking for for ages now: what I hoped the Robyn, Junior Boys and recent Basement Jaxx records would be. “Hailin from the Edge” is a radio-ready single (more Radio 1 than ClearChannel), and “Useless Information” is beautifully substantive ambient, melodramatic and cinematic. But I’d rather not talk about specific songs, as this is a “download all” record if I have ever heard one. Anyone with the slightest interest in electronic music, synth-pop or the quirkier, more electro sides of indie rock needs to snag this. So good.

In terms of Matthew Dear, I love “Deserter” and “Midnight Lovers” most of all, and it’s “Deserter” that I still return to. Has the same just-off double-tracked vocals that TV on the Radio use, and otherwise sounds a bit like Joy Division. Smooth.

09 Two Bands and a Legend, Two Bands and a Legend

If I had been listening to this for longer than a week, this would certainly place higher (though I’m not sure what I would knock down for it). This record is fierce, so loud, so vital. Lots more about it here.

10 Stuff not on eMusic

a) Blonde Redhead, “(We Are a Real Team) Harry and I” — About a year ago I saw Blonde Redhead play a free gig at Barney’s Co-Op here in NYC, and this song more than any other stood out. It sounded like Blonde Redhead’s swing at a James Bond theme. When 23 came out, not only was I bummed by the record in general (my least favorite since the debut), I couldn’t believe that this tune didn’t make the cut. The Silently single fixes that.

b) Prinzhorn Dance School, “You Are the Space Invader” — Out later this year on DFA, this has made it onto a couple of DJ mixes, most notably a killer DFA/Optimo set. Classic post-punk, so perfectly of the time that I was wondering how this song hadn’t been written before.

c) LCD Soundsystem, “All My Friends” — Not nuts about the whole record, but this song is really great. I dig how Reich-y it is.

d) Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse, “Valerie” — I like this more than any single song on Back to Black, a record I like quite a bit.

e) Battles, “Atlas” — God-like.

f) Beach House, Any New Song — I think I’ve heard about four or five of them by now. We need a new record, ASAP.

g) Jamie T, “Salvador” — Heard on an Entourage episode (I can claim no credit here), this is really, really great post-punk, menacing-like, reminding me slightly of Pere Ubu. Too bad every other song I have heard by him is awful.

h) Sea Wolf, “You’re a Wolf” — Same label as Silversun Pickups, and a similar Pumpkins-kinda vibe.

i) Soft Tigers, “Mr. Ice Cream Introduces” — A song about ice cream. And about flavors of ice cream. And about how much we all love it.

j) Robin Thicke, “Lost Without You” — Such a sucker for subtle R&B.

Please post your favorites in the comments!