Filed under: Editor Picks | Tags: Animal Collective, Atlas Sound, Editor's Picks, Panda Bear, Pantha du Prince
Pantha du Prince's latest is pure, electronic art
PREVIEW: STREAM “Stick to My Sides (Walls Remix)” (Feat. Panda Bear)
Amidst all of 2010’s experimental electronic noise, and other harsh and different sounds, stands Pantha du Prince. The German DJ/producer (aka Hendrick Weber) recently released his third studio album Black Noise via Rough Trade, and it already stands as one of the year’s most diverse and intricate recordings. Of course, getting some help from Animal Collective‘s Panda Bear is always helpful.
Arguably, Black Noise‘s most notable selection is “Stick to My Side,” which features Panda Bear, aka Noah Lennox. Using his well-recognized voice to cut through the wall of house-influenced electronica, Lennox gives the scattered beats and bells something to stand on, and a semblance of order. His talent for creating more in-depth meaning precedes him after works like Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavillion, his own Person Pitch and other cameos on tracks like Atlas Sound‘s “Walkabout.” But it’s Pantha du Prince we’re focusing on here, and Lennox’s vocals draw plenty of attention to his superior range of ethereal sounds– which also appear throughout the remainder of the record, sans Lennox.
-John Cassillo, Reviews Editor
Filed under: Best of 2009 Albums | Tags: Actor, Album, Animal Collective, Atlas Sound, best of 2009, Bitte Orca, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Dinosaur Jr., Dirty Projectors, Embryonic, Farm, Girls, Grizzly Bear, hometowns, it's blitz!, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Lady GaGa, Logos, Manners, merriweather post pavilion, muse, Passion Pit, Phoenix, Port O'Brien, self-titled, St. Vincent, The Blueprint 3, The Decemberists, The Fame Monster, The Flaming Lips, the hazards of love, the man on the moon: the end of day, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Resistance, The Rural Alberta Advantage, threadbare, veckatimest, Why There Are Mountains, Wolfgang Amandeus Phoenix, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
20 Watts brings you the Best Albums of 2009!
So, the champagne’s out, the fireworks have stopped, the ball has dropped. The year 2009 may be long gone … But the music is still here — vibrant and waitng for masses who have yet to consume it! Naturally we want to help y’all out. Here’s 20 Watts’ list of the 20 best albums of 2009, from us to you! Enjoy!
- 20:: The Flaming Lips — Embryonic
- 19:: Atlas Sound — Logos
- 18:: Port O’Brien — Threadbare
- 17:: Girls — Album
- 16:: Muse — The Resistance
- 15:: The Decemberists — The Hazards of Love
- 14:: Cymbals Eat Guitars — Why There Are Mountains
- 13:: St. Vincent — Actor
- 12:: Lady Gaga — The Fame Monster
- 11:: The Rural Alberta Advantage — Hometowns
- 10:: Yeah Yeah Yeahs — It’s Blitz!
- 09:: Dinosaur Jr. — Farm
- 08:: Kid Cudi — The Man on the Moon: The End of Day
- 07:: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart — Self-Titled
- 06:: Passion Pit — Manners
- 05:: Dirty Projectors — Bitte Orca
- 04:: Phoenix — Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
- 03:: Jay-Z — The Blueprint 3
- 02:: Grizzly Bear — Veckatimest
- 01:: Animal Collective — Merriweather Post Pavilion
Love and stereo,
20 Watts
Filed under: Best of 2009 Albums | Tags: Animal Collective, Atlas Sound, best of 2009, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel, Logos, Panda Bear, Releases of the Week
Atlas Sound's Logos is No. 19 on 20 Watts' Best of 2009 list
PREVIEW: VISIT Atlas Sound’s MySpace
TOP TRACK: “Walkabout”
Atlas Sound’s Logos is a brilliant album, made even more satisfying by the fact that we almost didn’t get to hear it upon completion.
After the unfinished album was unintentionally leaked onto the Internet last August, Bradford Cox threatened to throw out the whole thing. Thank the music gods he didn’t. Logos was released in October of this year.
Logos truly has something for everyone. With cheerful 60s tune “Walkabout” featuring Noah Lennox, a.k.a Panda Bear from Animal Collective, the romantically upbeat yet almost depressing “Shelia” and the serene, doo-wop sounding “My Halo” the album provides for a variety in a musically cohesive way.
The album starts slow with the soothing “The Light That Failed” filled with calming guitar and bells. The intensity slowly builds until “Walkabout” then falls again until “Shelia,” ending on a high note with “Logos.” The title track is a celebratory and percussion-heavy ending to a magnificent album.
With a more confident, yet less experimental sound than Cox’s previous album Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel, it is clear that Cox’s songwriting talents continue to change and progress as Cox perfects his art.
–Kelsey Bennett
Filed under: 20 Watts Radio | Tags: 20 Watts Radio, a sunny day in glasgow, ambling alp, Arcade Fire, Asobi Seksu, Atlas Sound, attention deficit, Audiocandy, Bibio, Blue Lines, Dark Was the Night, DJ Shadow, Dummy, Echo and the Bunnymen, future islands, Grizzly Bear, Massive Attack, Maxinquaye, memory tapes, new moon, omar rodriguez lopez, Portishead, post office chapel, rewolf, seek magic, the apple and the tooth, The Fountain, Tricky, Wale, xenophanes, Yeasayer
20 Watts played Asobi Seksu, DJ Shadow and more on WERW
Eric, Chris and Caitlin are in the studio this evening spinning an hour of new music, an hour of trip-hop and an hour of local songs! Tune in by opening iTunes and selecting radio > college radio > WERW or by clicking this link. We’ll be in the studio until 1 a.m.!
Want to talk to us or request a song? IM werw1570, tweet @20_watts or call (315) 443-1278. The third caller gets Chris Parker’s voice on their voicemail… it doesn’t get much better than that.
New tracks are in bold, local artists are italicized.
And don’t forget to tune in to 20 Watts’ Audiocandy+ shows on Wednesday and Thursday from 9-11 p.m.!
artist: Asobi Seksu [read our review of Transparence]
title: New Year
album: Rewolf
artist: Echo and the Bunnymen [13/20 watts — read the review]
title: Life of a Thousand Crimes
album: The Fountain
artist: Omar Rodriguez Lopez
title: Azoemia
album: Xenophanes
Filed under: Issue 19, Issue 19 Reviews | Tags: Animal Collective, Atlas Sound, Bradford Cox, Deerhunter, Laetitia Sadiera, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel, Logos, Mediafire, Microcastle, Noah Lennox, Panda Bear, Stereolab, The Dovers, Weird Era Cont.
Atlas Sound's Logos
WE GIVE IT: 15/20 Watts
MEDIA: Check out our Atlas Sound PODCAST
Last August, Bradford Cox (Atlas Sound, Deerhunter) accidentally released an unfinished version of Logos on his Mediafire account. He debated scrapping the project altogether after the unintentional leak, cursing the interwebs with “fuck this shit. I can just make another album. It’s not finished and now it never will be.”
It’s safe to assume that Cox has since forgiven us — he did, after all, complete this album. Now the question becomes whether diehard fans will forgive him for the major style changes on this LP. Continue reading
Filed under: Issue 19, Issue 19 Reviews | Tags: Atlas Sound, Bradford Cox, Deerhunter, Logos
WE GIVE IT: 17/20
REVIEW: Read our full review HERE
Atlas Sound’s Bradford Cox (Deerhunter) decided to release Logos a year after its premature, accidental leak. In this podcast, 20 Watts’ Ryan McManus discusses the album and how it diverges from Cox’s previous work. Read Ryan’s full review here.
— Ryan McManus and Irina Dvalidze
Filed under: Interviews, Issue 19, Issue 19 Q&A | Tags: Atlas Sound, Bears in America, Caution Children, central new york, Dandy Little Lions, Devon Stewart, Erica Scarano, indie music, ithaca, Jenny Lewis, Keys N Krates, lo-fi, Minus the Bear, Modest Mouse, Mouth's Cradle, Neko Case, Neon Indian, Royal Bangs, Syracuse, Syracuse University, Taylor Swift, Thao Nguyen, The Avett Brothers, The BQE, The Flaming Lips, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Temper Trap, The xx, Tundra Toes, White Picket Fence, Xylos
