I was pleased to see on Facebook that M83 released a new song on Monday from a hitherto unknown upcoming project due digitally next week and physically next year. Apparently, Anthony Gonzalez has been using his downtime after the mega success of Hurry Up, We're Dreaming with yet another film soundtrack, following his work on the Tom Cruise/Morgan Freeman sci-fi epic Oblivion, with a soundtrack for the French art film You And The Night featuring Manchester United legend/god and French international Eric Cantona. 

Described as a "tribute to 70's French soundtracks" for "lovers and ghosts," the first release "Ali & Matthias" is a welcome curveball after that overcooked Killers/M83 collaboration, a gentle instrumental that calls to mind Danny Elfman while building to a pleasing crescendo in classic M83 fashion. The entire soundtrack will be available for download November 19th, while the film You And The Night will be released this month in France with international release to follow.




Also, check out the trailer for the film You And The Night, featuring more M83, Cantona and some serious French cinema. I hope it finds it's way to WNY. It looks like fun.

I've been trying to get into the new Killers single produced by M83 but it's just not taking. It's not that it's totally over the top or because it's a big song with a big sound and a big heart on it's sleeve, or my general aversion to The Killers. No, my ambivalence is the result of an unexpected time travel experience gone horribly wrong.


A few months back, John Hugar wrote a fine piece about how the process of aging affects how we interact with music, and I thought it was great for a number of reasons, among them the fact that John was looking back on his life and music from his early 20's. As somebody... uh.... older, I got a big kick out that because I too have certainly been pondering similar subject matter, with the added flavor of nostalgia that is inevitable whenever one starts to feel their age. Nostalgia gets out of hand though and easily turns into sentimentality, and it's sentimentality that turns us soft and mushy, which is why I'm wary of nostalgia even though I've lately been awash in it.


Like when I heard that Paul Williams was guesting on Daft Punk's Random Access Memories. I found myself very excited by that announcement, because it seemed like a cosmic convergence, a forgotten figure from my childhood returning out of nowhere on the most anticipated album of the year, the year of a big birthday. Like disco, Paul Williams was ubiquitous in the 70's, and it seemed like he was on The Muppet Show every other week before seemingly disappearing off of the face of the planet once the clock struck 1980, so a collaboration with Daft Punk was preposterous and perfectly reasonable simultaneously.

But then I heard "Touch" and I plotzed. Streaming it off of iTunes, my brain went bonkers with memories and sensations I hadn't felt since the late 70's. It wasn't just the Paul Williams... it was... the 70's. Cuz I'm not THAT old believe it or not, and I only caught the tail end of the 70's, and frankly my memories of the 70's are... fuzzy. I remember specific stuff, but the feeling of that time, not really. "Touch," however, unexpectedly overcame me with long forgotten data: the utter ubiquity of disco in the 70's, shiny and fuzzy variety shows with their lite disco song and dance numbers, the disco trumpet of Chuck Mangione, and the sense that everybody danced in the 70's (even though I admittedly never saw my dad dance)... stuff that I hadn't thought about in ages came rushing back, and that first time I heard "Touch," I felt it. It was almost like time travel. Not Back To The Future or Doctor Who time travel, but it was time travel of the mind, through fragments and memories and sensations back into the forgotten past.


It was more than nostalgia and a memory remembered. For an unspecified period of time (lost time?), I mentally and emotionally went back to the late 70's. It only happened once, that first time I heard "Touch," but it happened, and I'll always be kind of grateful to Daft Punk and Paul Williams for pulling that off. Which brings me back to The Killers, M83, and "Shot At The Night," which triggered a similar mental time travel experience... back... back... to the 80's! But those memories are a bit clearer, and the straight up Kasey Kasem 80's pop music of "Shot At The Night" isn't doing it for me. The 80's New Wave Revival I am down with. The 80's dance funk pop of Neon Indian I am down with. I was even down with the wry 80's hair metal revival that was The Darkness. But that sort of hardcore Top 40 POP, I have to draw the line at. I lived and forgot that stuff already, time travel be damned.

So The Killers are releasing a greatest hits album, Direct Hits, next month. I remember when I worked for my college radio station (WSUC or W-Suck as some cleverly referred it) at SUNY Cortland and had to review the single, "Somebody Told Me," for our rotation deck. I enjoyed the track well enough I guess, but never thought at the time that the band would go on to become one of the biggest acts in the world. Yet, here we are today, and while it seems a bit early in their career to be releasing a best-of (I mean I wasn't in college THAT long ago) the band does have a long list of hits (check out the track listing here). I can't stay I blame them.

The best-of features a brand new single. After all, why else would you buy an album full of songs you already have. The song, titled "Shot At The Night," has something pretty interesting going for it, and that would be that it was produced by none other than M83. In what is perhaps the least surprising move in music released this year, the song is HUGE soundwise, shooting for the stars huge. Never being much of a fan I am thankful that the massive power ballad sounds more like Brandon Flowers fronting M83 than a straight up Killers song. Even the title sounds like something M83 thought of. It's so over the top, but I love it. I think.

Direct Hits will be released on November 12th.

M83's Anthony Gonzalez is totally living the dream at this point, after ten years of building steam. 2011's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming was a breakout album for the French shoegazer, and last year M83 was playing to it's biggest crowds in North America, and Gonzalez and crew toured hard behind it. After a wave like this, it's customary for bands to bang out another album, and sometimes that works (U2, Zooropa) and other times it doesn't (U2, Rattle and Hum), M83 however got to hit an easy home run by doing the score for the new Tom Cruise sci-fi movie Oblivion.

In addition to enjoying a different set of expectations due to the fact that it's not a proper M83 album, Gonzalez has been building up to this his whole career, inserting distinctly cinematic interstitial bursts of emotionally resonant electronica in between the proper songs on every M83 album since 2003's Dead Cities. Working with score composer Joseph Trapanese (Tron: Legacy, The Bourne Legacy), Anthony Gonzalez collaborates on a score that cleanly meshes M83's emotion drenched electronica with the bombast and tension building that are part and parcel of a big digital futuristic sci-fi movie. Fans of Dead Cities and Before The Dawn Heals Us in particular will enjoy "Starwaves" and the evocative instrumental electronic soundscapes throughout Oblivion and for the film's climax, which is recognizably classic M83.

Where Gonzalez really succeeds is in his deeply resonant theme for the film, a distinctly M83-esque theme that he reprises for the film's denoement, and elevates to proper M83 grandeur for "Oblivion," the album closer and music for the end credits. Featuring Iceland's Susanne Sundfor, it's a vintage M83 epic that's simultaneously dreamy and yearning thanks to her potent and sweetly otherworldly vocals. After a year without new M83 music, "Oblivion" alone will easily hold me over until their next album.

Is the Oblivion soundtrack a must get for the casual listener as well as the M83 fan? Not at all, because a casual listener needs to get down with M83 first because M83's modest discography is an true embarrassment of riches to be enjoyed. Then Oblivion is a must get, because it's the widescreen culmination of ten years of work and a decent treat to hold us over until M83 comes back with the proper follow up to Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. Or you can download "Oblivion" so at the very least you'll have one of the songs of the year.

Grade: B

You know how it goes. Somebody (probably Mike Moretti) says "Hooray For Earth sounds like M83 but weird" and I had no choice but to check them out after going hog wild on M83 in 2012, and instantly I liked them. Then Mike Moretti says something about them playing a show at the Ninth Ward, I listen to their 2011 album True Loves and go nuts for Hooray For Earth and get on the list for the show... before the show gets cancelled due to perfectly understandable travel issues, resulting in a pretty big bummer that lingers every time I listen to True Loves. The problem of course is that over the last month I can't stop listening to it. The album, the brainchild of HFE mastermind Noel Heroux, has taken over. The "like M83 but weird" tag is pretty accurate, but really, True Loves transcends it brilliantly. 


What struck me most about True Loves was the way Heroux took 60's pop and seamlessly updated it for the modern EDM and ambient fan. There's a strong classic structure to the hazy electro psychedelics of the album that provides a solid anchor the ambitious and grand flourishes throughout, whether it's the harpsichord on the pleasing 60's pastiche of "Last Minute," the sonic whimsy of "True Loves" the joyful r&b rave up "Bring Us Closer Together," or the Radiohead vibes of "Black Trees." Like a master, Heroux does a lot within the classic 4 minute single format, effectively stretching it to suit his creative efforts and making his modest 40 minute masterpiece a satisfying journey very much in the mold of the classics of the mid to late 60's... without advertising it at you, thanks to Noel Heroux's excellent sense of taste and restraint.





It's that taste, restraint, intercalation of classic song principles, coupled with Heroux's idiosyncratic and impressionistic approach to his lyrics and electronics that in many respects give him a leg up on his French counterparts. I'm not even going to try to pretend that I don't dig that glacial and detached perfectionist sheen of M83 or the hazily nostalgic and cinematic bent of their music and lyrics, but there is something to be said for NOT sanding the edges and angles off of one's art while eschewing the anthemic in favor of the equally perfect Brian Wilsonesque miniature masterpiece. This is not to say that True Loves is akin to Pet Sounds; while I strongly suspect that Heroux's Pet Sounds song cycle is yet to come, rather it's within the songs themselves that he channels the Brian, and the results are wonderfully listenable and oh so pleasantly intoxicating.

This is why I'm having a hard time getting away from True Loves even though there's the lingering sting of the show cancellation. Noel Heroux and Hooray For Earth succeeded spectacularly, organically merging classic with the moment to create an instantly timeless (and addictive) album that got them well over the sophomore slump, earned them unexpected yet entirely deserved success in the UK, and set the table for their future, including a new album expected later this year, and the band's promised Buffalo show. Noel Heroux is definitely an artist to watch, and Hooray For Earth's True Loves is a must listen (especially for M83 fans), it's as simple as that.

Grade: A 

So, it was a  slow week for the Listener and I did not find anything that grabbed my attention. However, for some unknown fortuitous reason, several music videos, all coming from some of my favorite albums this year and last were released . Readers of this blog, and our ongoing column "Picking Up the Slack for MTV," should already be well aware that the music video did not die with MTV switching to an all "original programming" format, but that there are still quite a few enjoyable videos being released. So, in the spirit of mixing things up, here is a special music video edition of "Listener's Digest."

The Sea and Cake - "Harps:" Off this year's excellent Runner, the Sea and Cake's "Harp" is a great distillation of the veteran band's overall style. The video captures the song's twinge of nostalgia by going with a 70's motif as two girls wander a seemingly abandoned and idyllic town collecting field recordings.


Wild Nothing - "Paradise:" There is a surprising local connection for this video, which at one point features Michelle Williams wandering Niagara Falls and going on the Maid of the Mist. Another video that visually captures the tone of Wild Nothing's music and which also suggests a slight retro dimension with the brief appearance of a walkmen, "Paradise" follows a lone Michelle Williams around from airport to airport. Midway through, Williams reads a brief passage from Iris Murdoch's novel, A Word Child.


LA Vampires and Maria Minerva - "Seasons Change:" Off the forthcoming collaboration LP between the two artists, "Seasons Change"  is an airy and haunting track that suddenly crystallizes into a dance song half way in with the introduction of a tinny synth driven groove. I am kind of cheating here since I really wanted to put this song in the column a last week but failed to see it in time. It is really an intriguing song and the video - which looks to have been shot on a $10 budget, follows the two electronic artists around a sun drenched Los Angeles.


M83 - "Steve McQueen:" Apparently, M83 is really into psychic children  as the two videos before this ( "Reunion" and "Midnight City") all featured psychic children. In this video, a yellow suited kid creates a large scale lawn display using his wits and apparent ability to bring electronic circuitry along with all sorts of inanimate objects to life. You have to wonder where the neighbors are, or the parents, or anyone really. Pretty much all of today's videos feature, in some way, solitary individual(s) wandering empty landscapes. Where did everyone go?


No really, where is everyone? Guys? Guys?

Oh I absolutely hold with Yeasayer on that. This is the month for sticking it to those mother____ers, and we were definitely doing that Thursday night at the FNC as Roger Waters and his magical band mounted The Wall for the sensory overloaded enjoyment of an insanely appreciative Buffalo audience. Indeed, we got our minds blown for a wonderful cause, and for that, and for coming to Buffalo again, I profoundly thank Roger Waters. Thanks, man.

Whoa nellie. There's a whole bunch of videos on YouTube of Monday night's soon to be legendary M83 show at the Town Ballroom (yes, I am going to mythologize this show- sit on it haters), and because buffaBLOG loves you, here they are in order:

Buffalo's killer year of concerts continued last night with the long awaited Buffalo debut of French electronic giants M83, who played to a sold out crowd the Town Ballroom with breaking Swedish indie darlings I Break Horses. The buzz in the Town Ballroom was not only intense, it was practically reverent.


Lately, I've noticed that opening bands have been getting a lot of attention from Buffalo concert goers, and last night once again the majority of the flock assembled early, this time for I Break Horses, who justified the hype thoroughly with their epic yet dreamy set consisting of songs off of their 2011 debut Hearts. From start to finish, this band from Stockholm mesmerized the crowd with a gorgeously layered sound that folded synths, spacey guitar, a driving heartbeat back-beat, and the ethereal vocals of Maria Linden together into a warm cascade of sound. Some could quibble that I Break Horses plays in the same sandbox as M83's 2003 second album Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, but I won't, because that album is staggering in it's use of familiar old synths to create heavenly, ecstatic music, and for my part it's not a bad starting point at all, especially considering I Break Horses definitely has their own thing going. In any case I Break Horses set dazzled the packed house, and the stage perfectly for M83.


A funny thing happened at the show last night... there was no exodus up and out in between acts. In fact, when the house lights came up after I Break Horses there was a noticeable movement closer to the stage. There's always an exodus, but last night people people held on their real estate... or tried to get closer. In all my shows at the Town Ballroom, I don't think I've ever seen that. Even at that Black Keys show a few years back, there was an exodus and subsequent reassembly for the headliner. People in Buffalo do enjoy their drinking after all, and while there was drinking happening last night, clearly last night the emphasis was on other things. Like I said, the crowd seemed almost reverent, and very intense with anticipation. They wouldn't be disappointed.
After an short break the lights dimmed, M83 assembled onstage, and soon all hell broke loose. Starting appropriately with "Intro," the first cut off of their breakthrough 2011 album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, M83 laid down the template for the evening, which if I had to sum it up in two words, they'd  have to be "crazy epic." Anthony Gonzalez has perfected and in some regards built M83's sound around the "build... hold... and release" school of musical thought, and throughout their set they delivered on this magnificently, awing the crowd while whipping them into a rapturous frenzy, a frenzy that continued through "Teen Angst" and "Sitting." Even the chilled out jams expertly deployed to give the crowd a breather like "Graveyard Girl" and "Wait"  maintained an epic grandeur enhanced by the passionate and remarkably energetic performance of the band. That ecstatic frenzy was never far away as M83 powered through their set.




Other serious highlights included a gorgeous "We Own The Sky" followed by a delirious "Steve McQueen" that had the crowd going bonkers before getting chilled out by the smoldering and properly epic "Wait." After a Daft Punk cover ("Fall" I think, that's what the Interwebs say at least), the show built to a proper, thunderous climax with "This Bright Flash;" the hit for which none of this would've been possible "Midnight City;" and a retooled "Outro" that (appropriately) closed out the main set. Predictably, the crowd went bat___ for "Midnight City," but interestingly enough, so did Anthony Gonzalez because I think it was at this point that he howled "Buffalo!" and whipped his bottle into the crowd nailing an unaware concertgoer in the face. My sense of time got a little fuzzy last night so my timeline could be off, but I distinctly remember that poor woman catching that water bottle cap first in the kisser (a reminder that like at hockey and baseball games, you've got to keep your eyes open at these things). She'll be OK though, and in any case it was all for the art (at least I think she will; they didn't carry her out or anything clutching her eyeball, and I think she finished the show no worse for wear). After a brief intermission the exhausted crowd was sent home with "Skin Of The Night" and "Couleurs" to keep them buzzing and warm, wonderful parting gifts from M83.


Indeed, time did get a little fuzzy last night. Even Tweeting the setlist in real time and forcefully breaking my M83 experience into individual increments, I had no problem at all losing myself again in the music before coming up for air and then doing it all over again. It was a potent and powerful experience intentionally stepping back out only to submerge effortlessly once again in the music and the whole M83 experience, and it's a show and experience that I will never forget. I can't say that everybody won't forget that show, because there's always got to be haters- that's just the way it is, you can't do anything about them anyways, and I can only speak for myself. That was my first time seeing M83, and I hope it won't be the last.




PS- Big ups to everybody who made last night's show happen. Not for nothing, but last night's M83 show was something that doesn't happen in Buffalo all that frequently. Hell, those shows pretty much never happen in Buffalo- a band very much on it's way up, on the cusp of mainstream success, a band at their current apex... those bands generally skip our city. Take Phoenix for example. In about a year and half, they went from indie to Madison Square Garden, and not once did they play Buffalo. They passed by here on their way hither and yond, but play here? No. Last night however a band following a similar (if not identical) trajectory  played our fair city, and it was ____ing excellent. And let's also take stock of the last 2 weeks in Buffalo: Cults, Death Cab For Cutie, Portugal. The Man, St Vincent, and M83. That's an incredible 2 weeks of shows, with more on the way (Santigold, Talib Kweli, tUne yArds, Childish Gambino, Sleigh Bells, Youth Lagoon, plus, based on murmurings in the Force, others). Is there something significant going on in Buffalo with it's music scene? I think there is.

I'm a little embarrassed that I went so long without knowing what shoegaze meant.  I understood the general qualities of bands that were described with this word, but I never actually got to the bottom of the term's humorous origins.  Like most genre descriptions, "shoegaze" is condescending, pseudo journalistic nonsense (kind of like linking to Wikipedia, deal with it).  Identifying the broad spectrum of introspective, atmospheric music with a reference to a visual cliché is a bit reductive.  Also, you can't see your shoes when you're playing keyboards, dummy.

Maria Lindén and Fredrik Balck, a.k.a. I Break Horses, have been accused of making shoegaze music, which I feel undersells the Swedish duo.  Their debut album Hearts opens with a triumphantly non-timid arpeggiator line, with Maria's ethereal vocals cascading through the center as the song's layered synths and distorted drums explode toward the heavens.  If the heavens existed, I'd imagine this would be the perfect soundtrack to take you there, with just enough roughness around the edges to remind you that fluffy white clouds are fucking boring.  The album is remarkably well produced, with little touches, like the chaotic dissonance towards the end of "Wired", to keep things fresh and unpredictable.  This isn't the first synth drenched album with dreamy female vocals and they know it, which make unexpected moments like the organ stabs at the beginning of "Cancer" all the more delightful. 

Tonight, M83 rolls into town, which is an exciting prospect for the Buffalo music scene.  The show has been sold out for a while, so if you're looking for a ticket, tough shit.  However, if you're one of those jerks that likes to throw away money by showing up 5 minutes before the headliner goes on, I'd like you to consider finishing those pre-game bong loads a bit earlier this time.  I Break Horses is a cherry on top of an already terrific bill, and who doesn't like a little dessert before dinner?

Doors at 7.

Deep in space, fifteen million light years away, sits a Spiral Galaxy.  A flat, rotating disk containing stars, gas and, dust called Messier 83.  Tonight, that Spiral Galaxy comes to Buffalo.  M83 is the brainchild of Spanish-French musician, Anthony Gonzalez.  Your teenage years are full of fun, heartbreak and embarrassment.  M83 makes music that takes your child hood and your teen years and lets you know everything is going to be alright.  Often classified as shoegaze music, or maybe it should be called stargaze, Gonzalez has found a way to make inspirational music that makes even the minimal of tasks feel epic.  On the heels of Gonazalez's latest release, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, a sold out Town Ballroom will be the venue for what is expected to be one incredible evening.  Tickets have been sold out for quite sometime now so hopefully you picked up a ticket when they were available.  Make sure to get their early tonight for warmup act, I Break Horses.  Doors are at 7pm with the show starting probably around 8ish.  Can't wait to see all your beautiful smiling faces tonight!

I've been thinking about France a lot lately, thanks to the French elections and their impact on the Eurozone crisis and next week's M83 show. Yeah, as partial as I am to the current First Lady of France, that Sarkozy has to go.  Anyway, it wasn't that long ago that it was downright fashionable in some quarters to beat up on the French (for being right it turns out, but who's keeping score?), but I was defiant in my vocal respect for France during that stretch of wackiness. The whole thing wasn't right, it wasn't cool at all, and let's be honest: sure we bailed them out in WW2, but they pitched in and helped us out with  a little something called OUR WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE, so in some regards we sort of owed them one. And it's in that spirit of true American - French bonhomie that I offer this list of 5 Things From France That I Am Thankful For Right Now. 

I've got a lot on my chest today, a lot of stuff not big enough to justify individual posts, so it's Odds and Sods time:

• Happy Dyngus Day. I almost wish I wasn't going to Rochester to see Of Monsters And Men tonight because this year's Dyngus Day celebration looks to be the best yet as Buffalo complete's it's annual Mardis Gras/St Patrick's Day/Dyngus Day hat trick of ethnic/Catholic celebrations in grand fashion. Only in Buffalo folks, do you really get all three. Kudos to us.

• The eagle has landed, the bird is in the hand, and congratulations are in order as it was announced last week that the NFTA will indeed be going into the summer concert business with Funtime Productions on the outer harbor. No acts or dates have been announced but tentative ticket prices have been reported to be between $30 and $100 for VIP tickets, and with some names already being thrown around (Gov't Mule, The Black Keys), buffaBLOG will definitely be all over this.

• Alas, another Sabres season has ended in shame, anger, and recrimination, and I'd be remiss if I didn't single out #Sabretunes for more scorn because really, I absolutely feel like they let us down too. Sabres games should be fun and cool, and John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band and Foreigner are not cool in the least, and neither is pandering to squares. Do they pander to squares in Austin Texas or Portland Oregon? As reported in last week's Artvoice- hells no. Just like the Sabres on ice performance this year, what came over the PA at their games (with the exception of Arcade Fire before games and Black Keys after Sabres goals) should not and cannot be repeated next season. 

• We're less than a month out from the sold out M83 show at the Town Ballroom. Just wanted to say that again. The wait is almost over.

I feel like I am forever posting about M83 or "Midnight City", and that is probably because I am. I could have gone with any other cover out there right now, but I am just absolutely in love with this one. Taking two of my favorite songs spanning over 25 years to make a mash up that actually sounds amazing is worth talking about. Mr. and Mrs. Fox, are Rayanne Lepieszo and Ryan Isojima, ex members of Canadian band The Framework. These two have taken "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds, made extremely popular in John Hughes teen angst flick The Breakfast Club and M83's "Midnight City", made popular by well...everyone. The two tracks combine in to a very beautiful but simple melodic harmony and intertwine perfectly back and forth through both songs. This is a great track for sitting on the porch enjoying a cold one in this 80 degree March weather.

It has been a while since the giant influx of "Midnight City" remixes began gushing on to the scene after M83 released the single back in the summer of 2011.   I enjoyed most of the remixes and even posted some of them here, but the one thing that was missing in my opinion was a really great cover of the track. I believe I have finally found one.  This New York City based electronic duo, The Knocks, have taken on this track and have given it new life.  The duo is joined by Mandy Lee for some very extremely captivating vocals.  Crank it up and enjoy your Wednesday.

Honestly, did you ever think you might hear a Pink Floyd cover featuring a cameo from long since deceased (or maybe he's chillin' with Elvis) Tupac Shakur?  What's that you say? No? Yeah, me neither, but here it is.  LA Indie rockers, Capital Cities, have transformed Pink Floyds masterpiece "Breathe" in to something that would fit beautifully here in 2012 and threw in some early 90's flavor of the one and only Tupac.  Capital Cities, sound like the child of a possible love triangle between M83, Passion Pit, and Zoot Woman.  Regardless, wherever they came from,  their take on this great track really makes me happy that these different genres could actually cohabitate with one another in this crazy world.

Capital Cities ft. Tupac Shakur - Breathe (Pink Floyd cover) by Capital Cities

Midnight City by M83

Favorite Album of 2011


M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming: If you have ready anything I have written in the past year, it should come as no surprise of what my album of the year selection was going to be.  I don't think I have been as excited as I was with the anticipation of a new M83 release.  Hurry Up, We're Dreaming came at a very pivotal time for me.  I was in need of a new album to listen to on repeat one hundred times.  This beautiful album(a two discer by the way), could not have been more complete. Each song is as amazing as the one that proceeds it.  Anthony Gonzalez, while holding to his roots, went a different route this time around.  Gonzalez's vocals only got better and he ventured in to eighties style shouting that really gives this album that little bit extra to make it great.

M83 - Wait by Reike

Honorable Mention


Cut Copy - Zonoscope: My second favorite album of the year and possibly my favorite Cut Copy album to date.  Fans were hoping for another In Ghost Colours but were treated to something completely different.  I know some fans were disappointed but they obviously were missing how great this piece of art really is.  As buffaBLOGGER Brian mentioned in his best of, Zonoscope really gave Cut Copy a more full band sound and hopefully means great things to continue to come.

Cut Copy - Blink And You'll Miss A Revolution by modular people

Favorite Song of 2011


"Cinema" by Benny Benassi(Skrillex remix): This gem came out at the turn of the year and began the year of Skrillex.  This screamo front man turned DJ/Producer has climbed the EDM ladder with the greatest of ease.  Unfortunately, this popularity also comes with hate and he is despised by many.  Personally, I stay away from listening to the hate and will continue to rock this remix as long as I continue to love it.

Benny Bennassi - Cinema (Skrillex Remix) by Skrillex

Honorable Mentions


"Midnight City" by M83 (Hurry Up, We're Dreaming): "Cinema" may not be a song per say but rather a remix it was still my favorite.  On the full band song front, "Midnight City," was just a breath of fresh air and still gives me chills when I hear the beginning notes.  The track has such a life defining undertone and really tugs at the heart strings for the entire 4:03.

Midnight City by M83

"You are a Tourist" by Death Cab For Cutie (Codes and Keys): Another lovely single from Ben Gibbard and the boys in Death Cab.  The rest of the album has some other good tracks, but this one really hit home for me.  The line "If you feel just like a tourist in the city you were born, then it's time to go," I feel really speaks to Buffalo and some of the people who don't appreciate living here as others do.

You Are A Tourist [Album Version] by ATL REC

Favorite Show of 2011


Cut Copy at The Sound Academy (04/07/2011):  Now I know this show wasn't in Buffalo and they did play here a couple months later, but just two short hours up the QEW, magic was made.  Some buffaBLOGGERS and I went up to Toronto to see Cut Copy for our first time and boy did they deliver.  Everything was perfect, awesome venue, incredible lights, great people and the giant lit up door that the band entered the stage from.  The boys rolled through both In Ghost Colours and Zonoscope almost effortlessly.  The moment that stands out the most for me though was the very first note of "Lights and Music" and I spiraled in to a moment of pure bliss followed immediately by pure energy and intense jumping.



Honorable Mention


Skrillex and 12th Planet at The Town Ballroom (10/11/2011):  There is no question that when the Skrillex mothership tour was coming to Buffalo, I'd be lying if said I didn't scream like a little child and run around my apartment.  As I said before I do not care who likes or dislikes Sonny Moore, I do and his music makes me happy.  12th Planet started things and had people losing their minds.  He even had to play a bit longer than he expected and did so in a wonderful fashion.  The giant curtain opened and there was the spectacle that is Skrillex's stage.  Skrillex did what he does so very well and took us long in to the morning at the Pure after party with both gentlemen spinning together at the same time.