525,575 Minues Didn't Matter

We compiled the whole year of 4 second clips and put them all together. Takes about 25 minutes to get thru the whole thing. But I also did a triple time version that ges by in only 12, so pick your poison or move along.

hehe

2013 Musical Superlatives

In a seemingly never-ending attempt to put off a best of the year list (as if it mattered in any way) I've assembled a little list of superlatives for you to enjoy or ignore or discuss or burn in effigy. I kind of just threw it together :)...

Favorite New Band 

(and by "New" I mean as in not there before)

Cayucas

Aloa Input

Few Bits

Favorite New Artist

(see above for "New" requirements)

Laura Mvula

Lady Lamb The Beekeeper

Andrew Wyatt

Best Album Opener

John Grant - Pale Green Ghost

Lee Ranaldo - Lecce, Leaving

Laura Mvula - Like The Morning Dew

Best Album Closer

Dr. Dog - Humble Passenger

Futurebirds - St. Summercamp

The Strokes - Call It Fate Call It Karma

Best Two-Sided Single

Absolutely Free - UFO / Glass Tassle

Best Compilation

Adult Swim Singles: 2013

Most Likely To Find Me Cuddled In Bed With

Denison Witmer - s/t

Dan Micahelson - Blindspot

Grouper - The Man Who Died In His Boat

Favorite Classical Album

Ludovido Einaudi - In A Time Lapse

Bryce Dessner & The Kronos Quartet - Aheym

John Zorn - The Mysteries

Best (Worst) Guilty Pleasure

Empire Of The Sun - Ice On The Dune

Mayer Hawthorne - Where Does This Door Go?

Most Likely To Make Me Dance While Doing The Dishes

Foals - My Number

Javelins - Airfield

Too Cool To Be Good Because Good Is Not Cool

Local Natives - Hummingbird

Best Song About Cross-Breeding

Best Intentionally Mispelled Bandname

Most Successful Random Collaboration

Best Abu Ghraib-Themed Instrumental Album

Best Song Hook

Major Lazer - Get Free

King Krule - Boarder Line

Julia Holter - Into The Green Wild  

Favorite Jazz Record

Dawn Of Midi - Dysnomia
Moon Hooch - s/t

Jonathan Finlayson - Moment & The Message

Mark De Clive-Lowe & The Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra - Take The Space Trane

Worst Band Name/Best Music

Jamaican Queens

Hungry Kids Of Hungary

Joanna Gruesome

Best B-Side

Unexpected Addiction Of The Year

Best Song About A Particular City

Hardest Album To Find In A Google Search

Peace - In Love

Best It-Doesn't-Matter-If-I-Can't-Understand-Them Album

(usually, in a year where Sigur Ros releases an album they win this category hands down, but this year the honor goes to a girl band from Kyoto) 

Most Likely To, Despite Many Valid Attempts, Never Learn All The Lyrics To

Lauryn Hill - Consumerism

Best "These Guys Are Still Around?" Album

Favorite Hip-Hop Record

Hawk House - A Little More Elbow Room

Danny Brown - Old

Milo - Things That Happen At Night

Best Use Of An Orchestra

Genre Of The Year

Gloam

Gloom 

Chanson

Best Record By The Mother Of A Legend

Best Artist Thought To Be Dead For The Past 30 Years

Favorite Album That It's Very Possible That I Was The Only Person To Listen To It

Sweet Baboo - Ships

The Everywheres - Slow Friends

Mao Tzu -  Smörgåsbord

Most Likely To Find Me In The Fetal Position With

Deafheaven - Sunbather

Grave Babies - Crusher

Miley Cyrus - Bangerz

Best Sorta Comeback/Amazing Promotion Gimmick

Boards Of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Song Most Likely To Make Me Sing Falsetto

Best EPs

Courtney Barnett - How To Carve A Carrot Into A Rose

Cairo Gang - Tiny Rebels

Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory - Elements Of Light

Best Use Of A Plus Sign Instead Of An Ampersand

Chris Garneau - Switzerland + Out

Cover Songs Of The Year

Scott Matthew - I Wanna Dance With Somebody {Whitney Houston Cover}

El Noordzo! - Where Is My Mind {Pixies Cover}

Lotte Kestner - Halo {Beyoncé Cover}

Colin Stetson -What Are They Doing in Heaven Today? {Washington Phillips cover}

DJ Koze - Homesick {Kings of Convenience Cover}

Best Album That I Didn't Even Listen To

Mount Eerie - Pre-Human Ideas

Hookworms - Pearl Mystic

Best Video

Thee Oh Sees - Toe Cutter - Thumb Buster

33 Of My Favorite Album Covers Of 2013

To be more precise, these are 33 of my favorite album covers of this year that did not contain music that I would also consider to be in my 33 favorite albums of previously mentioned year. To be clear, I would sooner hang these on my wall than play them in my ears. Not that they are bad albums.... on with it...

Akron/Family - Subverses

off to a good start

Big Scary - Not Art

I think they got the words mixed up, it should read, Big Art Not Scary

Analog Rebellion - Full Frontal

First off, any album cover that depicts a stormtrooper automatically starts off with a perfect score, but a stormtrooper who is obviously having such a battle of inner turmoil and showing such emotional strife, this is art people

Arca - &&&&&

artists have been trying to create new species to represent their musical endeavors for decades, but none so effectively as this stork meets tic meets wad of chewing gum 

Connan Mockasin - Caramel

oh Connan, don't look at me like that, I'll listen to your new album already

Me Like Bees - The Ides

me like homemade Halloween costumes

bEEdEEgEE - Sum/One

he thinks we can't see him, but we all see him

Ducktails - The Flower Lane

once I was on a train at rush hour and could not find a seat, but I had this album, and I could sit on it

Jonwayne - Rap Album One

Google this guy, and you'll have a little better idea why I love this cover, PLUS, why has no one done this before 2013?

Papaerhaus - Lo Hi Lo

makes me think that even I can be good at album art

Brazos - Saltwater

makes me think that even my kid can be good at album art

Young Knives - Sick Octave

this is exactly what comes to my mind when you want me to take studio photos of my family, and actually very cool music too

Julia Brown - To Be Close To You

the most famous 1st grade art project in Williamsburg

Teams - Oneworldé

do I really need to explain to you why this is amazing?

Campfire OK - When You Have Arrived

is like an aerial view of a really awesome tetherball tournament court on Easter in the middle of the woods

Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety

the story behind this one is why I love it so much. I was actually curious about the meaning behind this so when I Googled it I found out that the original intention was to have the famous Edvard Munch painting The Scream in there, but last minute copyright laws stepped in and they said "Fuck it, leave it blank!"

Charms - Hilary

my kind of Disney movie

Lee Noble - Ruiner

Lee Noble always makes his cover art just a little bit more enjoyable than his music, but I'm rooting for him

Criminal Hygiene - s/t

pep rallies evaded me in my youth, so all I have to go off of is the renderings of film makers and artists, and this is by far my favorite one yet

Jacuzzi Boys - s/t

the cut and paste era of album coverage is so rampant these days that when you find one that speaks to you, you grab onto it and squeeze tight

Daniel Romano - Come Cry With Me

don't laugh, this guy is completely serious here, and I am serious too

Ty Segall - Sleeper

with so many quilts to choose from I don't know how I'll ever be cold again

Evenings - Yore

I feel his pain, sometimes I can't decide between purple clouds and red mumus

Grouper - The Man Who Died In His Boat

and I have a feeling she knows who did it

Stuart Warwick - The Butcher's Voice

I was and still am speechless

Braids - Flourish//Perish

this hovering black ball is the most mesmerizing aspect of this album, unfortunately

Los Campesinos - No Blues

I am a sucker for this color pallette, and smoke, and bushes, and blues

Carmen Villain - Sleeper

Probably the best use of hair on an album cover since Black Crowes Amorica

Naked Lunch - All Is Fever

"we need an album cover"

"go take a photo of my candy wrapper"

"done"

On And On - Give In

some of my favorite album covers are ones where you initially say, that can't be the cover can it? And in the time it takes you to flip the album over 3 times, you realize that it is in fact the cover, and you love it

Iasos - Celestial Soul Portrait

something about the relationship between the album title and actual image they chose to portray such a lofty concept as the portrait of one's celestial soul..... well, I'm flabbergasted

No Joy - Wait To Pleasure

as did the great M.C. Escher confound us with his impossible staircases, that one who attempted to climb them would be forced to defy gravity and laws of physics themselves, the dripping paint on this album cover confirm to us that, no, you ain't climbing these stairs

Benoît Pioulard - Hymnal

I just wanna touch it

4 Seconds A Day: December 2013

I may have cheated a little bit at the end there...

-

going out with some style...

New For Tree 2013

I had to have it

4 Seconds A Day: August 2013

This Will Be A Year For Wild Dinner Parties

We need to start a new activity in the new year so why not wildly themed dinner parties?



Would anyone care to join us?

So There's Some Wellness

I know, 6 days into the new year and all that's leaked from here is some meandering whine about "woe-is-me" and typical pains of parenthood and home ownership. No fond rememberings of the year 2012 was. No grand countdowns, best-of's or highlights. I'm disappointed in myself. Truth is I will probably get around to all that stuff, maybe later on today, we'll see how it goes, but the last four full sun up to sun downs my head has been swimming a sea of snot and sludge and I honestly can't believe that it's been this long. I don't get sick. Like ever. But when I do get a bug, I guess they make sure it's one of those big ass bugs, ya know.

No need to relive all the gory details of the past week. I can show you a few highlights tho, because there were only a few, so it won 't take too long...

Yuula tried to learn guitar by osmosis one day, by refusing to take her houndoguitar off for about 6 hours. She's definitely going to start a band.

At one point on Friday I think we both became one with the couch. There's going to be need for a major cleansing of this house next week.

She actually took a nap on me, which is one of my all-time favorite things, to the point that I let play the inanity of the sprout channel the whole time due to an just-out-of-reach and not wanting to disturb her, fought off a swelling bladder and ignored two phone calls. Luckily Laura got home shortly after and was able to capture the moment, for maybe the final time. 

And we finally watched the Dark Knight Rises... it was awesome.

Yesterday it all seemed to turn around. No more hacking coughs, swimming sinuses or piles of used tissue. Laura took Yuula in for a checkup just to ease our minds. Doc said she looked good but gave us medicine for her lingering cough, which today has all but disappeared. 

So we move onward. Back to work, back to play. Still dirty and waterless but that will hopefully come to and end soon as well. Like I said, 2013 can only get better from here. Right?