Music For Your Tape Recorder

How fitting that in a year when everything I think about seems to be from a decade ago the average year of release for the below is (rounded up) 2002. Once again, though, the tracks are skewed toward the first half of the year as one album has truly dominated since then, thus I've stuck with 2011's format.

A couple of years back I said there was always a drive toward finding new material and never giving something a second chance and an opportunity to grow on me. Three years ago I bought Be Your Own Pet's two albums, but they never really meshed, though Bicycle survived on my iPod all that time until I decided to offer them a make or break chance to sit alongside the other compact discs. Well now they do. Coincidentally the other album I gave a second chance was Wire's 154 which I obtained that same summer three years ago. Perhaps I hadn't been in the right mood at the time.

Now to the awards. First the Obscure Alternatives Award for the annoyingly out-of-print which goes to Incognito's Second Chance. I just happened to be looking through the favourites playlist of Music From Ceefax when I came across this amazing bass line. Without checking I ordered their début album only to find said track was a Japanese exclusive. I considered buying the album again just for that, but almost £30 for one song is pretty steep. I remember when CD singles cost a fortune, but at nearly a tenth of that price you got two B-Sides.

Now to the big one - the Roygbiv Eargasm Award. Last year Lone's entire back catalogue was the runner up, so I was very excited to hear a new album (Galaxy Garden) was imminent. When the audio samples became available on Amazon around three months before release I latched right onto Dream Girl/Sky Surfer. I hadn't even heard more than thirty seconds before I became convinced it was going to be a contender for this award. I actually couldn't wait and saw on WATMM.com that the album had been leaked. Having pre-ordered it the minute it was possible I figured I'd already paid and so downloaded three tracks a month before release. When I first listened to DG/SS I was a bit disappointed because I'd only heard the intro and the song couldn't sustain that climb into ecstasy for the whole duration - and then I heard the last ninety seconds. That's when it blew Strawberry Skies into second place. The rest of Galaxy Garden would easily win this entire award, but Lone already has two other spots in the mix - the Japanese take their revenge again with Wildfire Propeller being an exclusive. That said, Daniel Lopatin also grabs three places under the guises of Games, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Ford & Lopatin. Last year's winner, Sunset Everett, went on to overtake Roygbiv as my most played song after eighteen months which was an impressive feat considering the BoC track had sat atop my Top 100 for four and a half years. Dream Girl/Sky Surfer, which I seemingly listen to twice a day if not more, is approaching in excess of twice that speed.

1. My Ami - Lone ; Ecstacy & Friends [bonus track] (2009)
2. Early AM Attitude - Dave Grusin & Lee Ritenour ; Harlequin (1985)
3. You Make Loving Fun - Fleetwood Mac ; Rumours (1977)
4. Two Hearts in 3/4 Time - The Avalanches ; Since I Left You (2000)
5. Des Etoiles Electroniques - Stereolab ; Mars Audiac Quintet (1994)
6. Deny - The Clash ; The Clash (1977)
7. Bog - Be Your Own Pet ; Be Your Own Pet (2006)
8. Ghost Tonight - Chairlift ; Something (2012)
9. Drive Forever - Robin Jap ; Sunbright (2005)
10. Strawberry Skies - Games ; That We Play (2010)
11. Dream Girl/Sky Surfer - Lone ; Galaxy Garden (2012)
12. Sweet Freedom - Michael McDonald ; Running Scared [soundtrack] (1986)
13. The Capri Spinoff - Justin Faust ; ??? (2008)
14. Wildfire Propeller - Lone ; Galaxy Garden [bonus track] (2012)
15. The Power of GT - Yudai Satoh ; Gran Turismo 5 [soundtrack] (2010)
16. Sleep Dealer - Oneohtrix Point Never ; Replica (2011)
17. I Should Have Known Better - Wire ; 154 (1979)
18. Work, Live & Sleep In Collapsing Space - Kuedo ; EP (2012)
19. La Liberación - CSS ; La Liberación (2011)
20. Circle - Siouxsie & The Banshees ; A Kiss in the Dreamhouse (1982)
21. Dreambender - Com Truise ; In Decay (2012)
22. Fireman Sam Theme - Maldwyn Pope (1987) {Just listen to that guitar solo}
23. Tarifa - Torn Hawk ; EP (2012)
24. Beats - Babes ; Two Beats (2012)
25. Second Chance - Incognito ; Jazz Funk [bonus track] (1981)
26. The Best Thing - Hook N Sling ; The Best Thing [single] (2009)
27. Freaking Out - Toro Y Moi ; Freaking Out (2011)
28. Shower Melody - Hudson Mohawke ; Butter (2009)
29. Beach - Tim Follin ; Plok soundtrack (1993)
30. Channel Pressure - Ford & Lopatin ; Channel Pressure (2011)
31. Gbye - Machinedrum ; Rooms (2011)

Prij will return with another chapter of the NationStates memoirs. Unlike the last time I wrote something down here, I won't be wrong as I already wrote it before Christmas...

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