FREE SAMPLERS!

HANK ALTOGETHER:

Over at Largehearted Boy, the boy has given us a healthy New Years assortment of free, legal samplers. So, be sure and get your New Years resolution of not pirating music off to a healthy start.

Philip Glass: free and legal The Orange Mountain Music Philip Glass Sampler Vol.I album [mp3]
other Philip Glass posts at Largehearted Boy

Various Artists: free and legal Be on the Lookout Lookout Records sampler album [mp3]

Various Artists: free and legal CMJ 2009: The Bands, The Music, The City, Vol. 3compilation album [mp3]

Various Artists: free and legal Far Out Recordings - Brazilian Music Sampler album [mp3]

Various Artists: free and legal Hardly Art Label Sampler 2009 album [mp3]

Various Artists: free and legal Nacional Records Sampler 2009: The New Sounds Of Latin Music album [mp3]

Various Artists: free and legal Saddle Creek Sampler 2008-2009 album [mp3]

Various Artists: free and legal Strut World Music Sampler album [mp3]

Various Artists: free and legal Tuff Gong Worldwide World Music Sampler album [mp3]

Various Artists: free and legal Vanguard Visionaries Series Sampler album [mp3]

"Patti Smith: Dream of Life" Premieres Tonight on PBS

HANK ALTOGETHER:

Seminal punk, poetess, painter, and just about anything else that you can think of that starts with the letter "p," Patti Smith is unveiling a documentary to the rest of us in the US tonight on PBS. Shot over 11 years, Patti Smith: Dream of Life spans Smith's strong cultural influence. In addition to being one kick-ass rocker, Smith collaborated with some of the most stunning visual artists of the past 20 years like Robert Mapplethorpe. Previously only seen at 2008 Sundance, PBS is showing the whole thing tonight. Click here for the schedule.

Here's how PBS describes it:

Patti Smith: Dream of Life, winner of a 2008 Sundance Film Festival Award for Excellence in Cinematography, is a riveting, intimate telling of Smith's long, strange trip. She may not be the only middle-class Jersey girl to have made the leap to New York City in pursuit of artistic dreams, but she may be the only one to have emerged — and survived — as a multifaceted poet, artist and rock star. Through performance footage, interviews, poems, paintings, photographs and Smith's voice-over reminiscences, Dream of Life reveals a complicated, charismatic personality wrestling with the paradoxes of being an artist in America and of being a woman in a male-dominated music scene.

Smith also wrestles with the tragedies — the deaths of her husband and brother — that brought her back to New York and to performing. Layering Smith's words over innovative camera techniques, the film explores how one woman discovered herself through music, how she survived tragedy, how she raised two children and how she endeavors in a quest for peace, for herself and for the world.

Clues Write Their Own Pitchfork Review

ZACH THAT:

I was checking out the website Villa Villa Nola (spend some time checking out their artists) when I found a very humorous post from Clues. They decided to write their own Pitchfork review of their own album. I guess they agree with me and feel that the real Pitchfork review is a surface level write up and really doesn't say anything. Here is Clues...writing their own Pitchfork review:

69 Pits!!!!! A first. Thank You!!!
“In many ways the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But, the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things… the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something… and that is in the discovery and defense of the new.

The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends.
Last night I experienced something new, an extraordinary record from an singularly unexpected source. To say that both the record and its makers have challenged my preconceptions about music, is a gross understatement– they have rocked me to my core.

In the past I have made no secret of my disdain for Clues Collective’s famous motto: “Anyone Can Play Guitar”. But I realize only now do I truly understand what they meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.

It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now recording at Constellation, who are, in this critic’s opinion, nothing less than the finest Clues in North America.” -Pitchfork Media"

R.I.P. Vic Chesnutt

HANK ALTOGETHER:

After rumors and comas, the NY Times confirms that a few hours ago Vic Chesnutt has died. Growing out of the Athens, GA music scene, Chesnutt was a widely regarded musician of the early 90s. At 18, Chesnutt was severely injured in a car accident and lived the rest of his life as a paraplegic. Undaunted, Chesnutt's music became more focused and raw. Listening to him is like hitting a frightened raw nerve inside yourself over and over. He released two albums this year At the Cut and Skitter on Take-Off. The prior held the song "Flirted with You all My Life," where Chesnutt frankly and almost apologetically broke up with Death. In a career where Chesnutt never shied away from the negative, "Flirted with You all My Life" was a playful, heartfelt ode, which seemed to push the singer away from of his own destructive impulses. On the occasion of his death, today, I'll reprint the lyrics for you and post the song.

"Flirted with You all My Life"

I am a man

I am self-aware

And everywhere I go

You're always right there with me

I've flirted with you all my life

Even kissed you once or twice

And to this day I swear it was nice

But clearly I was not ready

When you touched a friend of mine

I thought I would lose my mind

But I found out with time that

really I was was not ready, no no

Oh, Death

Oh, Death

Oh, Death

Really, I'm not ready

Oh, Death you hector me

Decimate those dear to me

Tease me with your sweet release

You are cruel and you are constant

When my mom was cancer sick

She fought but then succumb to it

But you made her beg for it

Lord Jesus, please I'm ready.

Oh, Death

Oh, Death

Oh, Death

Really, I'm not ready (repeat)

Vic Chesnutt - "Flirted with You All My Life"

RIP Vic. All you others, we hope you have a great Christmas.

MERRY X-MAS from WLFY!

With all the Vic Chestnutt news swirling, how about something that doesn't suck? A little Christmas greeting from We Listen for You to...you.

Tom Waits puts everything in perspective.

WLFY's Top 10 Albums of 2009

10.) Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms











09.) The Flaming Lips - Embryonic










08.) Atlas Sound - Logos












07.) Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest











06.) Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer











05.) Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart











04.) Clues - Clues











03.) Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion











02.) Neko Case – Middle Cyclone











01.) Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

Chris' Top Ten Albums Of 2009

10.) Bon Iver – Blood Bank EP
09.) The Atlas Sound - Logos
08.) The xx – The xx
07.) Sufjan Stevens – BQE
06.) Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

05.) Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms

04.) The Low Anthem – Oh My God, Charlie Darwin

03.) Clues – Clues


02.) Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

01.) Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

Lyndsay's Top Ten Albums Of 2009

10) Dance Mother – Telepathe
9) Merriweather Post Pavilion – Animal Collective
8) Until The Earth Begins To Part – Broken Records
7) Bitte Orca – Dirty Projectors
6) The Resistance - Muse

5) It's Blitz – Yeah Yeah Yeahs

When I heard Nick Zinner, guitarist for YYYs, was putting his trademark buzz saw guitar on the backburner for keyboards, it was frightening. Along with Karen O's impish vocals, that guitar makes their sound. You know the old saying. If something’s not broke, why fix it? For this album, the keyboards work. It's a dance album with that old YYYs edge.

4) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Phoenix

I'm a sucker for synthesizer, and needless to say, I've always been a sucker for Phoenix. I, for one, have been sitting around waiting for Phoenix to explode into the stratosphere. It took a while, but it finally happened. It's dreamy. It's glossy. It's fun. Those adjectives are what acclaimed albums are made of.

3) Two Dancers – Wild Beasts

There isn't a single album released in '09 that could even compare to the sound of Two Dancers. It's a record defined by idiosyncrasies, sounding much like a male Kate Bush jamming with Django Django and Yo Yo Ma. It's refined enough to not weird you out completely. Music like this shouldn't make sense or be so soothing.

2) Tonight: Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

I could tell you why this album is so great, but the lead singer said it best; it's all about dance floors, hedonism, flirtation, and heartbreak. That's what Franz does best, and Tonight reaffirmed that music of the night is their niche. The four-year wait for this one was completely worth it.

1) Phrazes For The Young – Julian Casablancas

I wondered if I could rightfully put Julian at the top of this list without looking like a crazy fan that will fall for absolutely anything relating to the Strokes. I might be crazy, sure. The thing is, solo albums are not supposed to be this good. The complex layers, that synth, those beats, that voice! I take it back – this album is stunning, not just good. The fact that Phrazes For The Young is so remarkable is an interesting thing. It's enough to promise a beautiful future for Julian's career as a solo artist, granted that he wants one. Prepare for a heretical statement, because honestly, it's also good enough to give that little band Julian fronts a run for their money.

Best Song of '09: Home – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes

Worst Album of '09: Raditude – Weezer

Ben's Top 10 Albums Of 2009

10.The xx-xx
9. Camera Obscura--My Maudlin Career
8. Passion Pit--Manners
7. Lily Allen--It's Not Me, It's You
6. St. Vincent--Actor

5. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

TPOBPAH turned into one of this year's best new acts which, when considering their sound, is quite surprising. Over the year I have listened to this album fully convinced that someone cryogenically froze a shoegaze, dream pop band right before their prime and thawed them in 2009. Every song in this album contains that guitar fuzz and dreamy, washed out vocals that one might expect from the likes of My Bloody Valentine. The album has its fair share of romanticized guitar-led anthems that will make anyone feel good. Though I am extremely partial towards this sound it does not take away from the fact that TPOBPAH made one of the most uniquely nostalgic albums in quite some time.

4. Phoenix--Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Throughout their career Phoenix has made a point of making incredible pop albums. 2009 has proved, if anything, that Phoenix is one of the most single-worthy bands on the "indie" scene. From their stellar performances on several late night talk shows to "1901" being used in Cadillac commercials, the French band has had what is undeniably a good year. They deserve it because "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" is their best work to date (which is saying something considering the increasing quality with each new album). The album kicks off with one of the year's best songs in "Lisztomania" and does not let up. Because even when Phoenix goes the distance with their pop styling the latter half of the album goes into a more atmosphere mode where even though tracks slow more deliberately they do not lose their ability to prick up your ears.

3. Animal Collective--Merriweather Post Pavilion

Released the first week of 2009 Animal Collective's newest album has more or less carried the year in music. Even when all the reviews were pouring in people were claiming that it would end up being "album of the year". That year has almost come to pass and most albums have had to prove their merit against "Merriweather Post Pavilion". Over the years Animal Collective has carved itself a nice little niche in the music industry. Through their highly experimental nature the band has been fine-tuning their sound and gathering fans and admirers. This album represents everything the band has worked at over the years and brought it to what more or less could be considered perfection. Every piece comes together here to make amazing works of music such as "My Girls" and "Summertime Clothes". Even through these "songs" Animal Collective maintains their heavily experimental roots and have made a work they will be hard to best.

2. Fuck Buttons--Tarot Sport

When first read about Fuck Buttons and their debut "Street Horrrsing" I was a bit turned off by the label of noise band. In the past I have shied away from noise bands just because I find them too unapproachable. The noise ended up sounding like a bunch of static or mindless beeping. With Fuck Buttons it was different because sound was being turned into beautiful pieces of music. Soon enough, their first album became one of my favorites of 2008. When "Tarot Sport" came out I was more than excited, obviously. The first day I got the album I listened to it three times. Amazing; that was all I could think. When listening to "Tarot Sport" you will find a few recognizable bits of noise from "Street Horrrsing" but this album is an improvement in every way. The seven tracks are all seamless with each one being another gorgeous set piece of sounds. There are times when I listen to "Olympians" or "Flight of the Feathered Serpent" and feel my pulse quicken. Fuck Buttons has created something incredible here and can prove that even with the negative connotations I have for it, noise can still do something wonderful.

1. Handsome Furs--Face Control

I'm not really sure why but I feel that "Face Control" and Handsome Furs in general have been generally ignored. This is a shame because, as you can tell, this was my favorite album of the year. I'm sure that many of you will feel that there are "better" albums that have come out in the past twelve months and maybe you are right. "Face Control" didn't have any impossible standards or insane hype to live up to. However the album came out very early into the year with some quite good reviews but soon after not much else was said about it. Throughout all this time I have consistently listened to the songs that Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry have made. When I saw them in concert it kind of solidified the greatness of this album for me. The concert was so loud that I was physically moved by the sound and not once did I cover my ears. I was entranced by the chemistry between the duo (they are married for a reason) and the "togetherness" of "Face Control's" songs and lyrics were even more clear. Handsome Furs is a project brought out by the passion of two people and by myself I found myself in love with this album. The standout track (and my favorite song of the year) is "All We Want, Baby, Is Everything" but the album is full of incredible work and ending on the painfully wonderful "Radio Kaliningrad". I know that this album was not nearly as high profile on many "Best Of" lists this year but hopefully by it being at the top of mine it might spark your interest to finally check out this gem of album.

WORST ALBUM: I don't really have a "Worst Album of the Year" because I didn't listen to anything like a miley cyrus or jonas brothers album but I will say that I have a "Biggest Disappointment of the Year" which was Volcano Choir's "Unmap". It wasn't that it was terrible but I just could not bring myself around to liking it all that much.

Pierce's Top 25 Albums of 2009

25.) Japandroids
24.) Baroness
23.) Mountain Goats
22.) Uninhabitable Mansions
21.) Dark was the Night
20.) Bill Calahan
19.) Neko Case
18.) Dan Deacon
17.) Royal Bangs
16.) Animal Collective
15.) Neon Indian
14.) Dent May
13.) Kurt Vile
12.) Sufjan Stevens
11.) Tap Tap
10.) Bear in Heaven
09.) Phoenix
08.) Sunset Rubdown
07.) YACHT
06.) Dirty Projectors

05.) Mayyors

04.) Clues

03.) Atlas Sound


02.) Flaming Lips

01.) Grizzly Bear

Worst Album of 2009: Vampire Weekend- Horchata (thats the album name right?)

(ZACH NOTE: This is the second WLFY person to not only put Horchata as the worst album of 2009...but to also refer to it as an album...we need therapy here. But I like it.)

Phil's Top 25 Albums of 2009

PHIL THIS:

25.) Madlib: Beat Konducta Vol 5 & 6
24.) Nosaj Thing – Drift
23.) Kutmah – Sacred Geometry & Force Funk Sound
22.) Tortoise: Beacons of Ancestorship
21.) Mastodon: Crack the Skye (Instrumentals)
20.) Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms
19.) Circulatory System – Signal Morning
18.) Exile – LA Radio
17.) Fever Ray: Fever Ray
16.) Javelin: Jamz n Jemz
15.) Dan Deacon: Bromst
14.) Bill Callahan: Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
13.) Various: Five Years of Hyperdub
12.) Ducktails: ST & Landscapes
11.) Bullion – Young Heartache EP
10.) Paul White – The Punch Drummer EP
09.) Edan – Echo Party
08.) Prefuse 73: Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian
07.) Clark – Totems Flare
06.) Circulatory System – Signal Morning

05.) Gary War - Horribles Parade

04.) Hudson Mohawke – Butter

03.) The Flaming Lips: Embryonic

02.) The Clientele: Bonfires on the Heath

01.) James Blackshaw: The Glass Bead Game

Best Song - 200F & J Kamata: "You Don't Know What Love Is"
Worst Album - H8U Vampire Weekend

Hank's Top 25 Albums of 2009

25.) Uninhabitable Mansions - Uninhabitable Mansions



24.) Brian Harnetty & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Silent City

23.) John Vanderslice - Romanian Names



22.) Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine



21.) The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You



20.) Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion



19.) Rodrigo y Gabriela - 11:11



18.) Mono - Hymn to the Immortal Wind



17.) Kurt Vile - Childish Prodigy



16.) Bad Veins - Bad Veins



15.) Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle



14.) Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele - The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukuele



13.) Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix



12.) Clues - Clues

11.) Andrew Bird - Noble Beast



10.) Thao with the Get Down Stay Down - Know Better Learn Faster



9.) Royal Bangs - Let it Beep


8.) Vic Chestnutt - At the Cut



7.) Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest



6.) Various Artists - Dark Was the Night



5.) The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come

Sometimes you forget how great something is until your friends call you to tell you that you have to list your favorite albums of the year. John Darnielle, of The Mountain Goats, this one's for you. The band's taken a distinctly religious turn, this time titling every song of Life of the World to Come from a Bible verse. There's always been something biblical in Darnielle's writing. It comes from a time when the stakes are high, when brother vs. brother has an epic dimension (as well as a physical one), when we all have a chance to change. In what is, undoubtedly, the most philosophical album of the year Darnielle manages to turn religion back to its roots to expound on grace and transformation in a world that wants proselytizing and conversion (I'm looking at you Kirk Cameron), The Mountain Goats use music to move back to religion as myth and in so doing make it able to wipe us clean.

4.) Alela Diane - To Be Still

Nevada City, CA's own Alela Diane totally snuck in to my top 5. But, to be honest, she was the first one I turned to when about to embark on my day. Within the effortless tangle of plucked strings and a rustic stream of consciousness that would make 2004 Joanna Newsom (also from Nevada City) blush, Alela Diane carves out a record that is at once old-timey and relentlessly contemporary. Her lyrical stroke is only matched by the dense brambles of natural imagery that profligate these songs. It's just the kind of thing that you'd expect from the Sierras -- beautiful, a little tragic, original, and impossible to tear your attention from.

3.) Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer

How about some love for Spencer Krug? I mean, have you HEARD a bad Sunset Rubdown album? I must confess I haven't. And though I thought Random Spirit Lover wasn't quite up to par with Shut Up I am Dreaming..., Dragonslayershows up and seamlessly marries both. Just when you thought the metaphysical jeremiad record was laying low sinceYoshimi, Sunset Rubdown take the breakup record and imbue it with a little tongue in cheek, a little post-relationship pain, and more head-splitting riffs than should be humanly possible. Despite all this, Krug & co. seem to be continually underrated. Maybe this'll change that.

2.) Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

Somehow, for this blog, I've become the Dirty Projectors guy. It's not that I mind. But, well, I feel that -- like your cousin who shows up to the X-mas party with the same tie -- I'm trotting out the same thing that you've already seen before. So, I'll just lay it out plain for ya this time. This is by far the most intriguing listen of the year. By the end of one spin, you'll have completely changed what you thought of music before you heard it.

1.) Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

Neko Case's music is instinctual, animalistic, and downright gorgeous. Middle Cyclone is the sort of thing that you would expect to hear in a tornado. But, what brought this album to the #1 spot on my list this year is the impecable lyrical content. From the sly wink of "the next time you say forever...I'll punch you in your face" to the pale desperation of "The Pharoahs" where Case declares "I want the pharoahs, but there's only men," Neko seems to be able to weave everything together in one intoxicating melody after another. Earlier, when I reviewed this album, I said that it was Case was accepting her animal side. I was wrong. If anything, Case reminds us with this album that being human is about obeying instinct, perhaps that's why everything in Middle Cyclone feels authentic, right-in-place, and can shake you to your bones.

Best Song of 2009: Vic Chestnutt - "Flirted with you All My Life"
Worst Song of 2009: Vampire Weekend - "Horchata"