Friday 30 November 2012

Velvet Owl Single of the Week



'The Baddest Man Alive' - The Black Keys/RZA

This track features The Black Keys and Mr Bobby Digital himself, RZA. I don't think you need any more information than this to play the video.


Monday 26 November 2012

Best Albums of 2012




Having myself, cocked a snook at Uncut Magazine's best albums of 2012 list, I should not be surprised if readers of this blog raise an eyebrow at some of our choices for records of the year. While Tame Impala, Sharon Van Etten and Richard Hawley are probably going to appear in a large number of best of 2012 lists, I wonder how many will feature The Pre-New, Karriem Riggins or ZZ Top? Not many, I guess. But quite frankly, who cares? These were the Velvet Owl Gig Collective's favourite records of 2012. We played them, sang along to them, danced to them, heard some of them performed live, but most importantly, they reminded us why we love this crazy mixed up kid that we call pop music. 

Have a great Christmas everyone. We'll see you on the other side. 
  1. One Day I'm Going to Soar - Dexys 
  2. Tramp - Sharon Van Etten 
  3. Standing at the Sky's Edge - Richard Hawley 
  4. The Lion's Roar - First Aid Kit 
  5. Give You The Ghost - Policia 
  6. Lonerism - Tame Impala 
  7. Django Django - Django Django
  8. Put Yr Back Into It - Perfume Genius 
  9. Kill for Love - Chromatics 
  10. The Echo Show - Yeti Lane 
  11. Given To The Wild - The Maccabees 
  12. Coexist - The XX 
  13. Boys and Girls - Alabama Shakes 
  14. Heaven - The Walkmen 
  15. World Music - Goat
  16. Lido - Darren Hayman
  17. A & E - Graham Coxon
  18. Blunderbuss - Jack White
  19. Cyrk - Cate Le Bon
  20. Bloom - Beach House
  21. Music for People Who Hate Themselves - The Pre-New
  22. Visions - Grimes 
  23. WIXIW - Liars
  24. My Head is an Animal - Of Monsters and Men
  25. Circles - Moon Duo
  26. Persistnet Malaise - Cold Pumas
  27. Manifest - Friends
  28. Both Lights - AU
  29. Words and Music - Saint Etienne
  30. Shields - Grizzly Bear
  31. Nootropics - Lower Dens
  32. Piramida - Efterklang
  33. Sorry to Bother You - The Coup
  34. Port of Morrow - The Shins
  35. Alone Together - Karriem Riggins
  36. Tosta Mista - Hooded Fang
  37. Sweet Heart, Sweet Light - Spiritualized
  38. Young & Old - Tennis
  39. Wild Peace - Echo Lakes
  40. >> - Beak
  41. Allah-Las - Allah-Las
  42. Calendar - Motorama
  43. Furniture - Race Horses
  44. Sweet Sour - Band of Skulls
  45. Algiers - Calexico
  46. Blues Funeral - Mark Lanegan
  47. King Animal - Sound Garden
  48. La Futura - ZZ Top
  49. The Haunted Man - Bat for Lashes
  50. Choice of Weapon - The Cult





Friday 23 November 2012

Velvet Owl Single of the Week





Local Natives - Breakers

On the strength of their criminally overlooked debut album Gorilla Manor and this blast of sun-blissed pop, we have already reserved a place on our best albums of 2013 list for the new long player Hummingbird. 

Friday 9 November 2012

Velvet Owl Single of the Week


Foals - Inhaler

This makes me want to ram my head into the speakers. Forget single of the week, this is the single of the fucking year!!!!!

Thursday 1 November 2012

Something for the Weekend #9 Cold Pumas

Cold Pumas. Sounds a lot slicker than an Arctic Monkey and their debut album does a lovely take on Sonic-Pavement-Youth. You can stream the whole album HERE but you really should pre-order the lovely looking vinyl over at FAUX DISCX. Mostly because it looks like a Hockney painting but also the fact that as I type this there are only 68 of the 500 left.
BUZZ.