Salad Fork

Washed Out: High Times

Runner Ups:

Best Coast: Where The Boys Are
Yarn Owl: Tiny Dots
Pure Ecstasy: Future Nostalgia

Washed Outs’ Ernest Greene managed to put out a pretty flawless tape. The music is described of as being a reminder “of a vaguely retro sound makes a pretty hip appeal to nostalgia”. This tape, for me, was the most ‘complete’ physical form of the genre dubbed ‘chillwave’ via the hipster runoff. The track ‘Belong’ then followed by ‘Clap intro’ leads into a great introduction to the tape. Side B of the tape is reminiscent of perhaps some RJD2 influence. What is even better is that you can buy the second run of the tapes on white from Ernest Greene himself. I feel bad for those poor suckers on ebay paying 40 dollars for this tape.

Pure Ecstasy Easy b/w Baby

Runner ups:

1.)Washed Out Feel It All Around 7”
2.)Girls’ Laura b/w Oh Boy 7”
3.)Toro Y Mois’ Blessa b/w 109 7”

I was happy that this came in a few days ago so it would be eligible for my 7” of the year. I would say that the ‘surf rock’ genre came back this year, with bands like Girls, Best Coast, and Real Estate all emulating this sound using different sub-genres to separate them from the rest.

Pure Ecstasys’ lo-fi surf-pop sound is most closely related to that of Best Coasts. What separates Pure Ecstasy from the lovely Bethany Cosantino is how the vocals and instruments ‘seam’ together to form an overall natural lo-fi sound. Don’t get me wrong, I love Best Coast, but for different reasons.

Evidently, the plant that printed this 7” made a mistake on the label, and Easy was Baby and Baby was Easy, so they refunded me eight dollars and are sending me another copy with the mistake fixed. So I guess this means I got my hands on a super rare 7”, too.

Chocolate Bobka posts two Marissa Nadler downloads

Watch these videos, and you’ll see why. They needed some extra publicity, the list below does not do them a fair enough share. Everything about this band is ‘epic’. Confused as to why they are so ‘unblogged’. The videos below were shot prior to their 09’ release, hence why they are untitled. You can also follow them on tumblr.

Balmorhea “Untitled 2” from Retread Sessions on Vimeo.

Balmorhea “Untitled 1” from Retread Sessions on Vimeo.

Free Kurt Vile download (granted, this is kind of old, but I don’t have it):

Kurt Vile Live at DNA Fest 4/28/09 Velvet Lounge, Washington DC

Posted by the ‘fucking awesome blog’ Chocolate Bob.

1. Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion 131k
2. Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca 48k
3. the xx xx 35k
4. The Flaming Lips Embryonic 75k (estimate)
5. Raekwon Only Built For Cuban Linx Part II 141k
6. Grizzly Bear Veckatimest 132k
7. Bat For Lashes Two Suns 36k
8. Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix 205k
9. Fever Ray Fever Ray 23k
10. Girls Album 19k

Sales figures are from Soundscan through December 6th, 2009. I was hoping to get data for the entire Pitchfork top 50 and reshuffle the list to reflect sales, but that’s looking to be a tall order. Here are sales numbers for other albums on the list:

12. Yeah Yeah Yeahs It’s Blitz 184k
20. Real Estate Real Estate 3,400
21. Neko Case Middle Cyclone 169k
26. Bon Iver Blood Bank EP 89k
34. Passion Pit Manners 82k (best seller on top 50)
37. Antlers Hospice 13k
41. Baroness Blue Record 12k
45. Mountain Goats The Life of the World to Come 14k
48. Doom Born Like This 4,300

To get an idea of context, here are some sales figures of some other artists who did not make the Pitchfork list.

Wilco Wilco (The Album) 243k
Lily Allen It’s Not Me, It’s You 250k
Metric Fantasies 76k
Andrew Bird Noble Beast 126k
The Gossip Music For Men 19k
Silversun Pickups Swoon 193k
Muse The Resistance 292k
Lonely Island Incredibad 266k
Owl City Ocean Eyes 384k
Pearl Jam Backspacer 394k
Arctic Monkeys Humbug 72k
Matt & Kim Grand 64k
U2 No Line On The Horizon 1m
Paramore Brand New Eyes 327k

To all Washed Out fans: Ernest Greene has very recently set up a store through his blog, selling his previously sold out High Times cassette, spring tour t-shirt, 7” single, and the first 50 of his Life of Leisure LP with a limited edition booklet.

I just ordered his cassette, good timing-right before the holiday season.

New material from The Stooges

“Just as it’s been announced that proto-punks the Stooges are to be finally inducted in the Rock’ ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame, frontman Iggy Pop has confirmed that the legendary band are in the process of writing new material.”

Chocolate Bobka posts Alex Bleeker (Real Estate) + Molly (Mountain Man) covering Girls’ “Oh, Boy”