Tagged: how to dress well & it was u
Top 55 Songs of 2012
There have been endless “best song” lists that’ve already purged themselves (well before the year has actually ended) into the blogosphere – Some have been predictable, some ridiculous. It’s easy to criticize, scoff, laugh and/or roll your eyes at some choices made on “best of” lists. To be honest, it’s kind of fun to size up each list, that is until you attempt to compile one yourself. It’s really fucking hard y’all (!), not to mention ridiculously time-consuming.
I remember ridiculing NPR for releasing their ‘best songs’ list in alphabetical order, thinking “Come on, that’s the easy way out!” and here I am, releasing my top 55 tracks in alphabetical order via Spotify (which has its pros/cons). I totally get it now. Not everyone is going to be 100% happy with your choices, and people love to point out “obvious” exclusions, but in the end, it’s amazing knowing that 2012 produced so much incredible music that it is really difficult to pack just 25, 50, or even 100 songs into a list, to the point that you piss people off.
The way in which you present your list is also a dilemma. I finally chose to use Spotify so that I wouldn’t crash everyone’s computers with an endless list of SoundCloud players, however, there were some tracks or bands (Kate Boy, HAERTS) I had to eliminate from the list, simply because they weren’t on Spotfiy. Is that shitty? But for almost a month, I brood over my best tracks list and created, dissected, reconstructed, added, edited, and said ‘ah fuck it’ more times than I’d probably like to admit. At some point, you have to say “just publish it!” and that’s what I’m doing… at the actual end of the year. So finally, I present to you three hours of listening pleasure via coco stereo’s top 55 songs of 2012 (psst…the http link for Spotify by default only shows 30 tracks at a time, so see full music player below). Enjoy:
Frank Ocean
Mac DeMarco
Death Grips
alt-J – Breezeblocks
AlunaGeorge – Just A Touch
Animal Collective – Applesauce
Azealia Banks – 212
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Windshield Smasher
Blood Diamonds – Phone Sex (feat. Grimes)
Chet Faker – I’m Into You
CHVRCHES – The Mother We Share
Death Grips – I’ve Seen Footage
Diplo feat. Lazerdisk Party Sex – Set It Off (feat. Lazerdisk Party Sex)
Dirty Projectors – Gun Has No Trigger
Disclosure – Latch
Django Django – Default
Doldrums – She Is The Wave (Ft. Guy Dallas)
Dum Dum Girls – Lord Knows
Ellie Goulding – Anything Could Happen
Empress Of – Champagne
Flume – Sleepless (feat. Jezzabell Doran)
Frank Ocean – Lost
Graphics – There’s a Way Back
Grimes – Genesis
Haim – Send Me Down
Here We Go Magic – How Do I Know
Holobody – Prelude
How To Dress Well – & It Was U
Hundred Waters – Sonnet
Iamamiwhoami – Sever
The Irrepressibles – Arrow
Kendrick Lamar – The Recipe
Kindness – Cyan
Liars – Brats
Light Asylum – IPC
Lord Huron – Time To Run
Lower Dens – Brains
Mac Demarco – Rock and Roll Night Club
Major Lazer – Get Free
Miguel – Do You…
Mikky Ekko – Pull Me Down
Mykki Blanco – Wavvy
On An On – Ghosts
Perfume Genius – Hood
Phèdre – IN DECAY
Porcelain Raft – Unless You Speak From Your Heart
Pure Bathing Culture – Ivory Coast
Purity Ring – Obedear
Sam Flax – Fire Doesn’t Burn Itself
Sharon Van Etten – Give Out
Solange – Losing You
Tame Impala – Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
Tennis – My Better Self
Tomas Barfod – November Skies
Trust – Sulk
Wild Nothing – Nocturne
Yuna – Live Your Life
Zambri – You’ll Never Beat Dogs
NEW Video: How to Dress Well – & it was u + Elite Gymnastics Cover – Here in Heaven pt. 3
The philosophical falsetto God and dreamboat, Tom Krell, aka How to Dress Well, just released a new video for his amazing track “& it was u” off this year’s beloved and emotionally charged LP, Total Loss. The video was written and directed by Luke Gilford, and produced by Urban Outfitters (Okay?) as part of their UO Music Video Series.
Tom Krell was also warmly welcomed back to San Francisco this past week with another stunning performance at the Rickshaw Stop. The venue was packed three-fold in comparison to Krell’s last visit in June, and his performance was even more powerful, emotionally charged, and profound. Krell didn’t cover Janet Jackson’s “Again,” a track that several people were surprisingly eager to hear, but I did catch snippets of Ghost Town DJ’s “My Boo”/ INOJ’s “I Want to Be Your Lady Baby” tucked into his Total Loss gems. Krell also belt out some of his coveted R.Kelly jams, a new and intimate track written for his brother (sang A cappella), and interestingly, a falsetto-ed version of Elite Gymnastics‘ “Here in Heaven pt. 3.” Tom Krell/How to Dress Well‘s performances are always a breath of fresh air ironically accompanied by a heavy heart – a necessary experience, enough to give you chills.
Watch How to Dress Well‘s new video for “& it was u” and enjoy his cover of “Here in Heaven pt. 3”
How to Dress Well – & it was u
How to Dress Well – Here in Heaven pt. 3 (Elite Gymnastics Cover)
Crushin’ on You! New Luv Jams: HTDW + Poolside + Slam Donahue + Felix Green
Slam Donahue – luv u
So there’s been a lot of okcupid talk/mishaps amongst friends lately, and don’t deny being on the online human catalog, ‘cus everyone is – or in the very least, someone you know is. What I find interesting though, is the alarming number of people who flock to okcupid immediately following a bad break up. Instead of oh, you know, dealing with the break up by focusing on and being content with yourself for a while until you can fully grasp and appreciate i.e. loathe dating again, people pounce onto the dating site to reel in yet another significant other replacement. I find this “coping mechanism” beyond annoying, (maybe ‘cus everyone I seem to date has ‘ex-girlfriend-issues’) but to others, it’s a passage of throwing themselves ‘back out there,’ as if this is some sort of vicious Hunger Games of love and if you’re single, you might just die.
So whether you’re ‘fighting’ singledom, or are eye rollingingly happy, here are four luv jams that’ll make you swoon:
Tom Krell aka How to Dress Well makes an appearance on Coco Stereo often because 1) He’s like, ridiculously dreamy and 2) He’s REALLY good at what he does, and that’s creating fragile, beautiful, impactful R&B jams that make you wanna get doooown… and/or mostly cry. Here’s another gem (my favorite thus far!) from his soon-to-be-released album Total Loss:
How to Dress Well – & it was u
I saw Poolside open for Twin Shadow a couple of weeks ago, and dare I say, I actually enjoyed their set more – gasp! They’re full of indie pop, a hint of electro, and sweet beats. Also, the lead singer looks like Erlend Øye from Whitest Boy Alive which is simply adorable. This bouncy jam is from their recently released album, Pacific Standard Time.
Poolside – Kiss You Forever
Slam Donahue are a couple a’ bros from Brooklyn – suuuurprise! And their sound is a little more indie-popaliscious than what I typically listen to, but the lead singer’s voice is addicting and this jam, off their new EP Hemlock Tea, is catchy as hell.
Slam Donahue – C’mon C’mon
So “Felix Green” was just on this blog (Holobody), but anyone who does a Mariah Carey cover will undoubtedly make it back to the top of the blog in no time.
Felix Green – Fantasy (Mariah Carey cover)
coco stereo 