Best of 2012 Part 4

Part 4 of my 2012 round up – Dancefloor/Garage Pop/House is what you may or may not find below.

The Underground of Happiness Best of 2012 Part 4 by Theundergroundofhappiness on Mixcloud



September Girls – Green eyed
The best Irish single in a long while, taking a Wall of Sound/Girl Group aesthetic and bringing it to a new level with swirling organ. If they can write ten choruses as good as this one, get ready now for next year’s best album. The fact that they’re called after a Big Star song is obviously a bonus.

I interviewed Jessie from the band a couple of months back, here’s that link.

http://wearenoise.com/index.php/2012/11/september-girls-qa/



Wussy – Maglite
Another band I got to know for the first time and fell in love with last year, but they’ve already achieved some level of cult status in the US over several albums. What do they sound like? I keep coming back to something like this – a dirtier, fuzzier, mostly faster, more blue collar version of Luna (they’ve got, you know, tattoos…). That’s obviously a disservice to both bands but then again it’s also a compliment to both. There’s something brilliantly gritty and earthy and urgent about them, and a superbly dramatic male-female dual vocal out front. It was tough to pick just one song for this mix, there are so many treasures, so make sure to check all their albums on bandcamp.



Daphni – Yes I know
Caribou/Dan Snaith by another name, producing wonderfully wobbly house music, with ingenious use of samples, adding suitably to the portfolio of Berlin dance music, the hometown of his label City Slang.



Laetitia Sadier – Fragment pour le future de l’homme
One of the more Lab-like cuts from the ex-Stereolab woman’s outstanding second solo album. This one takes a Brazilian-style rhythm section and pits it against very European synths, vibes and vocals. Protest music you can dance to.



Goat – Disco fever
Compelling psych rock with convincing African funk roots, from the enigmatic Swedes.



Milk Maid – Your neck around mine
A rousing combination of Big Star and shoegaze (if you thought that was a contradiction in terms, it turns out you were wrong), from the Mancunian ex-Nine Black Alps man Martin Cohen.



Jagwar Ma – Come save me
This Australian enigma came out of nowhere and sort of disappeared back into nowhere in 2012, as far as I could make out. If he (I’m thinking it must be a he) does nothing else other than this eminently danceable garage pop-turns-house classic, his legacy is assured.



David Byrne & St Vincent – Who
Triumphant collaboration between two of the most fascinating artists operating in the wider pop sphere. The album winningly eschewed guitars in favour of the gamut of horn arrangements – referencing everything from brass bands to neo classical, and funk rock in this case.



Grimes – Oblivion
The very definition of ubiquitous, by the end of 2012, but a listen back reminds how pleasingly dirty and menacing these synths are. Clare Boucher is clearly on another planet, one where bubblegum pop exists to corrupt and contort the youth of today.



Melt Yourself Down – We are enough
More tremendous dance music courtesy of Leaf. I can’t do better than this line from the press release:

Melt Yourself Down is the sound of Cairo '57, Cologne '72, New York '78, London 2013. A riot of colour and noise, they rip the still beating heart from the remains of Acoustic Ladyland…reanimated with intense, sweaty funk, uplifting horns and blistering Nubian drums…



windings – This is a conversation
Fantastic slice of antsy, progressive rock n roll from the Limerick band’s memorable third album.

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