Nu Rave Brain Wave

December has been a crazy little month. I spent half of it in freezing Brighton then came back to LA for it to rain like it was the apocalypse for a week straight. Now its like 75 on Christmas Eve. Craziness. Regardless, here’s some of the best tracks I acquired this month:

01 Ghost Outfit – I Was Good When I Was Young
02 Friends – Make It Better
03 The Meanest Boys – The Strangest Things
04 School Knights – Cliques
05 Childish Gambino – The Real (Infinity Guitars)
06 Brown Brogues – Shergar
07 The Migs – Beverly Beach
08 The Beets – Time Brought Age
09 Pipsqueak – Paradise
10 Unouomedude – Kiss Me (Six Pence None The Richer Cover)
11 Taxrat – Brick Wall
12 Jerry Tropicano (feat. Luke Lust) – Christmas Line

mp3 | Nu Rave Brain Wave December 2010 Mixtape

I love doing year end roundup coverage and I’m still waiting to put up the bands to watch list, so I thought we’d highlight some of the great bands we discovered over the past year. Some of them made our 2011 bands to watch list, some of them didn’t, some of them aren’t even NEW but rest assured they all rule. As per the usual, you can download a great mp3 from each of the bands at the links.

The Strangers Family Band
Les Rallizes Denudes
Best Coast
Happy Birthday
Neverever
Caitlin Rose
Eternal Summers
Wild Palms
Harlem
Exlovers
White Fence
Spectrals
Cloud Nothings
Hey Sholay
The Invisible Hand
Fair Ohs
Monster Rally
Family Trees
Silver Machine
Tennis
Hot Spa
Fergus & Geronimo
The Jim Jones Revue
Superhumanoids
Jeffertitti’s Nile
Mind Spiders
Shimmering Stars
Young Sinclairs
Son of Rams
Guards
The N.E.C
Balkans
Velvet Davenport
Dominant Legs
The Splinters
Unouomedude
The Vaccines
The Babies
Ducktails
Las Robertas
Heavy Hawaii
Francois & The Atlas Mountains
Myelin Sheaths
Pete Drake
Mess Folk
Black Mekon
Man The Hunter
Navajo Bixby
Wetdog
Demon’s Claws
Cheveu
French Kissing
Whatever Brains
The Castillians
Bass Drum of Death
Dead Ghosts
Swampmeat
Sonny & The Sandwitches
Fanzine
Crusaders of Love
Wombs
Moonhearts
Bleeding Knees Club
Straight Arrows
Hello My Name Is Red
Sauna Youth
School Knights
Tree Hopping
The Meanest Boys
Friends
Ghost Outfit

And due to high demand you can download a track from each artist put into a zip folder right here.

2010 has been a pretty fun year for music. Every year, I discover more music, better music, and sometimes it cracks me up to see how my music taste grows and differs as the years go by, but I think 2010 has been a great year for new bands and kickass albums. I’ve compiled my list of 10 albums that I really loved, 5 EPs that just got to me, and then 30 songs that I’ve called Top Songs, but they’re just 30 songs that I liked a hell of a lot and came to me as I thought about it and scanned carelessly through iTunes. It’s interesting to note that half of my favorite albums are from California bands.

Top 10 Albums of 2010

10 Ty Segall | Melted | Goner

mp3 :: Ty Segall - Melted

09 Woven Bones | In & Out & Back Again | Hozac

mp3 :: Woven Bones - I\'ve Gotta Get

08 Dead Ghosts | S/T | Florida’s Dying

mp3 :: Dead Ghosts - When It Comes To You

07 Heavy Hawaii | HH | Artfag Records

mp3 :: Heavy Hawaii - Teen Angel

06 The Strange Boys | Be Brave | In The Red

mp3 :: The Strange Boys - Be Brave

05 Fool’s Gold | Fool’s Gold | IAMSOUND Records

mp3 :: Fool\'s Gold - Surprise Hotel

04 Avi Buffalo | Avi Buffalo | Subpop

mp3 :: Avi Buffalo - What\'s In It For?

03 The Soft Pack | The Soft Pack | Mexican Summer

mp3 :: The Soft Pack - C\'Mon

02 Harlem | Hippies | Matador

mp3 :: Harlem - Friendly Ghost

01 Happy Birthday | Happy Birthday | Subpop

mp3 :: Happy Birthday - Girls FM

________________________________________________________________

Top 5 EPs of 2010

05 Monster Rally | Monster Rally EP | Self Released

mp3 :: Monster Rally - Maori Mai

04 Unouomedude | Marsh EP | Self Released

mp3 :: Unouomedude - Buildings

03 Caitlin Rose | Dead Flowers EP | Names Records

mp3 :: Caitlin Rose - Docket

02 Sex Beet | EP | TBA

mp3 :: Sex Beet - Sugar Water

(note: this is totally not the artwork, as this isn’t released yet, but the EP is too good to not be included on this list.)

01 The Growlers | Hot Tropics EP | Everloving

mp3 :: The Growlers - Graveyard\'s Full

________________________________________________________________

Top 30 Songs of 2010:

01 The Babies | Meet Me In The City | Listen

02 Happy Birthday | Perverted Girl | Listen

03 Sex Beet | Stay

04 Friends | Make It Better

05 The Meanest Boys | Strangest Things

06 Tennis | South Carolina | Listen

07 Spectrals | Leave Me Be | Listen

08 Family Trees | Dream Talkin’ | Listen

09 Cee Lo Green | Fuck You | Listen

10 Sonny & The Sunsets | Too Young To Burn | Listen

11 Beach Fossils| Sometimes | Listen

12 Woven Bones | Wanna Tell Ya | Listen

13 Ty Segall | Bullet Proof Nothing

14 Surfer Blood | Take It Easy | Listen

15 School Knights | Lunch Money

16 Happy Birthday | Subliminal Message | Listen

17 The Growlers | Sea Lion Goth Blues | Listen

18 Unouomedude | Buildings | Listen

19 The Strange Boys | Laugh At Sex (Not At Her) | Listen

20 Mind Spiders | World’s Destroyed

21 Fair Ohs | Hey Lizzy | Listen

22 Fergus & Geronimo | Girls With English Accents

23 French Kissing | You Just Don’t Know What Love Is For

24 Sweaters | Fruit On The Vine

25 Demon’s Claws | Fucked on K | Listen

26 Swampmeat | Brand New Cadillac

27 Gaoler’s Daughter | Meet You On The Other Side of the World

28 Shimmering Stars | I’m Gonna Try | Listen

29 My Pet Saddle | Il Fait Beau | Listen

30 Cults | Go Outside | Listen

Our new favorite bedroom pop superstar, Unouomedude, sent over this collaboration with Police Academy 6. ‘Icarus’, which you can do some sort of weird-arty-space-jam-dance-moves to below, will feature on Police Academy 6′s new LP which should see the light of day sometime in the fall.

mp3 | Unouomedude w/ Police Academy 6 - Icarus

August has been a very strange month, but very good. I’ve been driving so much recently, 1300 miles in the span of about 10 days. Holy shit. These songs have been soundtracking my insane driving and the crazy move that I just made back to the UK and what not… You’ll never know the kind of satisfaction that lugging your own weight in clothing 5,000 miles gives you. However, you can listen to what got me through it below….

01 Kanye West – See Me Now
02 Velvet Davenport – When You Are Out
03 Eternal Summers – Pogo
04 Balkans – Bill Spills
05 Caitlin Rose – Shanghai Cigarettes
06 Magic Kids – Superball
07 Happy Birthday – Perverted Girl
08 Sweaters – Sky Mall
09 Chuck Berry – La Juanda (Espanol)
10 Wanda Jackson – Making Believe
11 Cee Lo Green – Fuck You
12 Unouomedude – Buildings

mp3 | Nu Rave Brain Wave – August 2010 Mix

Woah, let’s just start off with this name. Unouomedude. Woah. Weird. But it’s kind of cracking me up, unlike some band names that are really annoyingly serious/weird and have no sense of humor, I feel this name is AWESOME and HILARIOUS. Band member name: Uno. Okay, let’s move onto what is important. This jam that was just posted over at WTD, who is providing us with 90% of our content today, but I just cannot help myself. This song is so good. He kind of reminds me if Marques Toliver played with a loop machine instead of with a violin. It’s bright and ridiculously catchy and perfectly nostalgic, and way too short for it’s own good. What I love most is the loops that work in conjunction with the repetition of certain lines… It just works, really freaking well. If it means anything to you, I’ve been listening to it on repeat at the office — it’s rejuvenated my sad, tired brain and allowed me to be productive, all whilst hitting play again and again and again. It’s off his free-download EP, Marsh, which you can get at his bandcamp!

01 Dream Home
02 Island Summer
03 Buildings
04 Teens
05 Birthday Party

mp3 | Unouomedude - Buildings