All words: Robert Winship, Farrah Skeiky, Travis Andrews, Philip Runco
Robert’s picks:
- Father John Misty – “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings”
- JJ – “Times”
- Spacemen 3 – “I Want You Right Now”
Travis’s picks:
- The Men – “Turn it Around”
- RUN-DMC – “Christmas in Hollis”
- Big Boi w/ Andrew 3000 and Raekwon – “Royal Flush”
Farrah’s picks:
- Icky Blossoms – “I Am”
I am in love with this band. They opened for the Faint on wednesday and thoroughly impressed the entire room. They’ve brought life back to dark-wave through the bouncing, almost youthful energy that appears on even their most maudlin songs. They’re my ones to watch in 2013.
- Still Corners – “Fireflies”
One of my favorite singles of the year. A lot of people say that this doesn’t sound like Still Corners, or that it at least lacks the basic personality that graces their music, but I completely disagree. It’s a magnificent experiment and I hope it continues throughout material released in the new year.
- Ceremony – “Everything Burns”
This is a track off Ceremony’s split with Titus Andronicus, and I’m hoping it means that there will be more new music from the LA band in the new year. After seeing them multiple times this year, I can confirm that they put on the best live show of any punk band I’ve seen in 2012.
Phil’s picks:
- FIDLAR ft. Kate Na$h – “AWWWKWAARRRDDD”
Most of FIDLAR’s forthcoming debut finds the band operating in scuzzy Nuggets territory. It’s a good look for them. In fact, they may do it better than anyone has since the Black Lips’ Good Bad Not Evil. But album castoff “AWWWKWAARRRDD” knocks it out of the park in a way that none of the LP’s songs do. It’s sweet and creepy and the mantra of “I’ll probably end up fucking up and make it super awkward” worms its way into your head. It also reminds me a little of Wheatus. I love it.
- Saturday Looks Good to Me – “Sunglasses”
I sat down with Saturday Looks Good to Me mastermind Fred Thomas a few years ago for BYT and asked about people’s reactions to his more experimental project, City Center. He said, “[I]t’s mostly people who are like, ‘You know, I was in college in 2005. I liked your band, but I’m kind of over it and this is different. ’” The dude could not have sounded less interested in reviving SLGTM. He seemed to write off that band as underdeveloped, maybe a bit naive. But, here we are in 2012, with a SLGTM full-length coming in the next few months. Listening to advance single “Sunglasses”, you can hear how he’s managed to reconcile that opinion with the continuation of SLGTM. The song is just as melodic and sweeping as you would hope, steeped in the Phil Spectar-isms and watery guitar lines that SLGTM made it’s name on, but there are subtle things that pop up and tarnish the perfection: smudges of synth and a stuttering drum machine, for starters. It’s an intriguing peak into where the LP may go.
- Surahn – “Watching the World”
After a fall of mostly lukewarm offerings - Sinkane and Crystal Ark, how you broke my heart! – DFA Records gets it right with this luxurious slab of sunset disco.
