FA Cup Vinyl's Winter Playlist

Remember Summer? With all the nice sunny weather and... Perhaps not. One good thing about Summer (we'd like to think) was our Summer playlist. But there's one thing that is for certain, is that it's winter now. It's freezing, probably going to snow, and it'll be Christmas. Keeping with that slightly positive theme, because you deserve it FA Cup Vinyl is going to give you an early christmas present, our Winter playlist. Thank us later, but it's mainly an excuse for us and you to play this during the festive season and most importantly it means you don't have to hear such Christmas 'gems' as East 17's 'Stay Another Day'. Like we said, thank us later. Here's the twenty five tracks you need for the holiday season.

In no particular order:

1. Michael Kiwanuka - Ode To You
2. Richard Hawley - As The Dawn Breaks
3. The Velvet Underground - Femme Fatale
4. Lou Reed - Satellite Of Love
5. Mount Kimbie - Carbonated
6. King Krule - The Noose Of Jah City
7.  Moby - In My Heart
8.  Gorillaz - Every Planet We Reach Is Dead
9.  The XX - Chained
10. The Streets - Empty Cans
11. Foals - Spanish Sahara
12. Alt-J - Matilda
13. J Dilla - Last Donut Of The Night
14. SBTRKT - Never Never
15. Grizzly Bear - A Simple Answer
16. Alex Turner - It's Hard To Get Around The Wind
17. Frank Ocean - White (OF Tape Volume 2)
18. R.E.M - The Great Beyond
19. BADBADNOTGOOD - Limit To Your Love
20. Jamie T - Alicia Quays
21. Disclosure - Carnival
22. King Krule - Out Getting Ribs
23. Arctic Monkeys - Dance Little Liar
24. Radiohead - No Surprises
25.  Paul Weller - One Way Road

Track Of The Week: Alt-J - Tessellate

Hello and welcome to another edition of track of the week.

As it's the return of this feature, we thought bring it back with a bang, or in this case an award winning bang. Yes this track of the week comes from the 2012 winners of the Mercury prize, Alt-J.

They may be slightly hipster with the name 'Alt-J' as it is the command used on a Mac keyboard to achieve the Greek letter "Delta" (indie triangle you see on 14-year old girls twitter bio's.) But don't let that take anything away from them, these lot have talent, great potential and overall a great album that deserved the mercury prize.

This track of the week is a version of Interlude 1 and Tessellate that was recorded when they performed at the African Centre in London and it's exceptional with an African choir, re-instating that they're one of the hottest bands in British music at the moment.

A great track of the week to bring us back, enjoy.
 
Alt J - Tessellate ( Live at the Africa Centre)

A Quick Update

You may have noticed that we haven't posted in a while, but we're up back and running for now. Just to let everyone know, we're currently working with another website that is similar to us called 'Lemonzine' and we've linked the website below. It's a work in progress, but hopefully they'll be a bit more regular than us. Expect exciting things from them soon.



http://www.lemonzine.co.uk/

Grizzly Bear – Shields

Not exactly ferocious and definitely not timid.

Grizzly Bear are unusual.

They may be from New York where most American musicians seem to hail from, they may be classed as indie rock which categorises half the new music that comes out at the moment. But there's something about them, something that separates them from the crowd, and that is, that they've been around for a while. Yes, not exactly the shocking twist you wanted but it separates them from all the other 'new' bands at the moment, they've got experience.

This is their fourth album, Shields. They formed in 2004, in the music industry that's a long time. So how come you've only heard of them now? Well this is the first album that's received any proper attention from us Brits. So what do we think? Well it's interesting.

Grizzly Bear first received attention after touring with Radiohead following the release of their second album in 2006, 'Yellow House', in which Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood stated they were his favourite band. A lot of pressure then, if a member of one of the biggest bands of the last twenty years gives the seal of approval.

So how does the album fare?

'Sleeping Ute' the opening track is a proper rock song, lulling you into a sense that you've been here before and is very reminiscent of The Black Keys in places, it's a great track there's no denying it, but then all of a sudden it changes, at about three minutes in, it quietens down and ends in a almost therapeutic way, with string instruments and soothing vocals by lead singer Daniel Rossen.

This is how the album transcends, into a less rock heavy and a more ambient vibe, with more musical instruments displayed throughout the album such as in track 'A Simple Answer'  where we hear the use of piano and synthesisers among others , helping create more depth in the sound. This is where that experience I mentioned comes in they've been playing together so they've worked out the kinks of what's gone wrong before and boy, has it worked.

This is one of the best albums I've heard this year, carefully constructed and thought through, its only after the third or fourth listen that you appreciate how good the album is. To sum up this album, it's a grower, not something you can just listen to and like straight away, it takes perseverance, but if you're willing to persevere, you'll be in for a treat.

Album Rating 7/10

Favourite Tracks : Sleeping Ute, Speak In Rounds, A Simple Answer