As Filmmaker’s contributors offer up summations of the year’s greatest achievements in film, I wanted to share some of the best new music I discovered in 2011. I tried to make picks that highlight musicians still flying under the radar (even by independent standards), or, in certain cases, artists tracking huge success through a unique, idiosyncratic, and independent mindset. Here are my picks in alpha order, along with Soundcloud streams and (where available) music videos: Air France – “It Feels Good to Be Around You” Following in the tradition of The Avalanches, Sweden’s Air France have made a name for […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Dec 21, 2011On my list of top ten culture for 2011 would be the woozy morning-after soul of the mysterious Canadian vocalist/producer team, The Weeknd. For a song from an album, House of Balloons, in which every other track sounds like the music from the final five minutes of a Miami Vice episode, this science-fiction opus, directed by Mikael Colombu and originally posted by Drake on his site, is not what I would have expected. Dim the lights, go full screen and check it out. (Hat tip: Pitchfork.)
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 26, 2011