Songs of the year pt.4

The final installment of my songs of the year. I've probably missed some great songs off here but I didn't actually write a list down as such, just picked the songs that came into my head as I was writing this.

The Black Keys - Tighten Up
These guys have been around for a while but somehow I only decided to give them a chance this year. Their album 'Brothers' is a great psychedelic rock record and 'Tighten up' shows just how good they can be. They sort of remind be a bit of a more radio friendly Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in places, and that can't be a bad thing can it?

Villagers - Becoming a Jackal
British folk has been making a great resurgence this year and this Mercury Prize nominated band deserve more recognition than they've so far had. This song sounds a bit like a modern take on Simon and Garfunkle and showcases just how great Villagers are. I saw them live a month or so ago and was blown away by how good they were and how well they managed to captivate the audience.

Laura Marling - Alpha Shallows
My other favourite nu-folk record of the year has to be Laura Marling. I can never fully grasp how young and talented she is, with a style of songwriting and a voice that are years ahead of her time. I think it's something about the opening guitar part of this song that really grabs me, combined with the delicateness, beauty and power of her voice. I went and saw her play on my birthday in Bristol this year, she was incredible.

The Naked and Famous - Young Blood
It's not often I hear a song through the poor speakers of a laptop on its death bed that grabs me as much as this did. When I first heard this I couldn't wait to hear that crushing dirty bass sound through my hi-fi and disappointed I was not. To me this sounds like a cross between Passion Pit, M83 and MGMT and if you haven't checked out this New Zealand band yet, please do.

Jonsi - Go Do
Right my final entry for my songs of the year is from the captivating voice of Sigur Ros' frontman Jonsi. His solo album this year, sung in English, is upbeat, quirky and stunning. Go Do is uplifting and Jonsi's grasp of melody is just incredible, using his voice more like an instrument in a way that nobody else can.

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Well there you have it, my songs of the year. Ok this may not be a comprehensive or perfectly thought out list but I think I've got most of the main ones down. If 2011 is anything like this year in terms of depth and quality of albums released we're in for a good one.

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto with Thyme and Pine Nuts

Basically my blog is not only going to be about music, I couldn't have a blog that doesn't mention how much I love food. For those of you who don't know, I'm a vegetarian, say what you will but there is no way I'm ever going back to the dark side.

Yesterday my friend Lauren asked me what I was up to tonight, sans plans I said why don't you come around for some food, she accepted and this is what I cooked. I made this up so don't expect it to be precise.

Ingredients (serves 2 with enough left for me to take some for lunch tomorrow (so that's 3))

1 small/medium butternut squash
1 pint of vegetable stock (I use veg boullion)
1 medium onion
225 grams of arborio rice
Olive oil
2 garlic cloves
Thyme
Knob of butter
Vermouth
Parmesan
Handful of pine nuts

Ok first off dice the butternut squash into 1cm squares, place in a baking tray and throw over some olive oil, thyme and black pepper. Shove it in the oven around 200 degrees for 20mins or until lightly browning and cooked through.

Meanwhile thinly chop up an onion, and fry it in butter for 8 minutes in a medium saucepan, add a couple of cloves of garlic and fry for another couple of minutes. Make sure it's on a medium heat as you don't want it to burn.

Add the rice and stir it into the butter/onion/garlic combo for a minute or two. Then throw in a generous few shots of Vermouth. Loads of people use white wine for risotto, but I'm all about the Vermouth, I feel it gives a much better flavour at the end.

After you notice the Vermouth starting to dry out, use the Boullion to make a genorous pint of veg stock, and keep adding 100ml at a time, stirring continuously and making sure the risotto never dries out. Grate in a generous handful of parmesan to make it nice and creamy.

After about 18-20minutes, add the cooked squash to the risotto and keep stirring for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile dry fry up some pine nuts in a frying pan until lightly brown. Add the pine nuts to the risotto, throw in some fresh thyme, grate some parmesan and serve it up.

It was real tasty, you should try it sometime.

Afterwards we watched Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, I saw it at the cinema and I think it was even better second time around.

Songs of the year pt.3

I'm trying to make sure I can get this out of the way before NYE, so here is my next installment of my songs of the year. Please take all of these songs in as I think your life will be better for it, or don't...it's your choice, however you may just discover your new favourite band.

LCD Soundsystem - Dance Yrself Clean

A band that has always set a high standard in opening tracks to albums. 'This is Happening' is perhaps not as good as their last offering 'Sound of Silver' however this 8 minute 54 second opener is amongst the best things James Murphy has ever created. Stick with the nearly 3 minute long intro and you will be rewarded by some of the best synth sounds to ever grace your ears. I fear it may be LCD Soundsystem's last record but better to go out on a high. 

Local Natives - Wide Eyes

This band really took me surprise, I can't even remember how I stumbled across them but I'm so glad I did. Rythmically this track is great, I mean like really great, add on top of that fantastic harmonies and cracking guitar parts this was always going to be in my top songs of the year. I can't recommend their album 'Gorilla Manor' enough. 

Yeasayer - O.N.E.

This is such a departure from the first album but what a departure! Where the first album was critically acclaimed as being some sort of world music-indie hybrid, this sounds like a bunch of people dropping acid in South America and writing a bunch of great songs at the same time. Funnily enough I've heard that's not far from the truth. O.N.E. was the first song I heard off 'Odd Blood', and it's definitely my favourite. 

Foals - Spanish Sahara

I actually found the first Foals album a little bit boring in places, well maybe boring is the wrong word, shall we say not as good as I had hoped. With 'Total Life Forever', I felt they finally created something truly specatular as a whole entity with 'Spanish Sahara' as the masterpiece in the middle of it all. It builds like the best post rock tracks with Yannis learning to delicately sing over it before crashing into something of equal beauty and greatness; the track Bloc Party never wrote? 

'I'm the fury in your head

I'm the fury in your bed

I'm the ghost in the back of your head'

Enough said. 

Broken Bells - The Ghost Inside

To say I was let down by the newest Gorillaz album would be an understatement, and then I heard Broken Bells. Dangermouse and James Mercer off of The Shins produce and album that was the album the last Gorrilaz album should have been. It's got great production, great melodies and this is my favourite track off it. Big fan of the hip-hop/indie crossover going on. This is a live version of the track with Dangermouse on drums, I recommend listening to the studio version if you like it. 

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So there you have part 3; I still have two more installments of this I want to share with you before NYE. Again, it would be great to know what you think of these songs or any of the others I have put up. 

I also promise some non music related posts will be on the way. 

Check me out on twitter as well, I'm at twitter.com/jacobdunkley

Ta

Songs of the year pt.2

OK so here is the next batch of my songs of the year. I'd like to point out there is no order here, that's too hard for me to get my head around. I really think 2010 has been one of the best years for new music I can remember, there have been so many great albums and songs that fill them.  Except for the one person who I continue to share every song I like with, you may find something new here to listen to.

Fool's Gold - Surprise Hotel

If anything this reminds me of dancing round Josh, Tom (now Rob) and Will's flat in North London on the weekend of the Camden Crawl (I think we may also have been drunk and playing table tennis but that's an aside). They sing in Hebrew and so I couldn't tell you what it's about, maybe the video can explain that for you....I think this has to be the happiest song of the year for me, well this or the next song in the list.

Casiokids - Finn Bikkjen
Well another song I have no real idea what the lyrics mean, something about a dog? This was the song of my Roskilde 2010. We played this all the time in our camp, probably too much. This Norwegian band I tried and failed to see at the Camden Crawl due to eating at Wagamamas and then the queue for the venue being too big, I finally got my chance at Roskilde and I was far from disappointed.

The Drums - Forever and Ever Amen

A band I actually managed to see at the Camden Crawl, squashed into the downstairs of the Camden Barfly. The Drums sort of took a lot of people by surprise a bit this year, with Let's Go Surfing taking quite a while to become the dance floor filler it has become. I find it hard to pick a favourite track of this album but this I think song just pips it over the others. The chorus, although repetitive, is just great.

Hurts - Wonderful Life
A surprise inclusion you may think in my top songs of the year (it originally came out at the end of last year but nobody 'got' Hurts until this year when it was re-released). This is a great 80's style pop song, with ridiculously over the top production. It's all about the electronic drum beat in the chorus and the ticking clock that follows it. I don't even care if it sounds like a boy band, boy bands don't write songs this good.

Everything Everything - MY KZ UR BF
This also was originally released last year but again re-released this year. I think you either think this band or amazing, or the singers continually shifting vocals will drive you crazy, I fall into the former category. The album is definitely a grower, it's far more varied than most debuts, and it was hard to choose between this and the more riff based 'Suffragette Suffragette', a song with its immortal line "who is going to sit on your face when I'm gone", at least I'm pretty sure that's what he sings.

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I think that's it for this batch. I hope you discover something new you like here; I'm going to do the next lot later today.

Songs of the year pt.1

Ok I've decided to break my songs of the year down into several parts, perhaps because I'm too lazy to put 20 videos into one blog or perhaps it is because I want to anyone that reads this to have the chance to not be overwhelmed with music in one go. These are not in any particular order and I'm not going to say much about the songs, the songs themselves can do that better than I can.

Crystal Castles feat. Robert Smith - Not in Love
I say these are not in any particular order but this is probably my song of the year. The best song of the year it is not however I think it fitted a time and a place when I first listened to it. It is beautiful and chilling but above all, you can dance to it.

The National - Conversation 16
Without a doubt High Violet was one of the albums of the year for a large number of people. Maybe it wasn't as good as Boxer but it's propelled the National into being much more of a household name. This may not be a single but I will always think of someone when I hear the line, "I was afraid I'd eat your brains, because I am evil", and I mean that in a good way. It was between this and 'Sorrow'.

Arcade Fire - Ready to Start
Ok Arcade Fire, hands down album of the year? Maybe. 'The Suberbs' has taken the band to a whole new level. I've been shot down for describing them as THE MOST IMPORTANT BAND IN THE WORLD, watch this live version of 'Ready to Start' and make your own mind up.

Caribou - Odessa
My favourite dance album of the year was definitely Caribou 'Swim'. 'Odessa' is the opening track, I remember the first time I heard it, I was blown away by how great the production was, the Erland Oye-esque vocals, the sound, the percussion and above all how great the song was.

Warpaint - Undertow
Lyrically this is incredible, alongside that the melodies and harmonies that underpin this wonderfully crafted song are quite simply beautiful. So what if it slightly pays homage to Susanne Vega and Nirvana, I can forgive them for that. I've listened to this far too much recently.

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Well that's this five over, I'll do the next five tomorrow. Please let me know what you think.