Not too much is known about Finnish-born Albert Swarm, aside from that the man is probably named after Albert’s Swarm - ”an immense concentration of the Rocky Mountain locust that in 1875 swarmed the Western United States” (cheers Wiki). Which is odd as his music conjures up imagery that is the antithesis of this shuddering scene.

Another Swarm fact, and how I first noticed his electronic glowing embers, was that he served-up a marvellous Sun Glitters remix that went up on The 405 in the run-up to Christmas. The favour is returned here with his debut EP Held, that has been out on Brooklyn’s Ceremony since last year and is now available to stream/download below, and evokes The Field at their most downbeat and introspective – think ‘Then It’s White’ – though with more of a chillwave core at times. Actually it’s all more elective than that really. Anyway, Scandinavians and their beautiful ambient electronic soundscapes ay?

Swarm fact three; I am the only person (at the time of going to publish) to have liked him on Facebook.

I’ve written words of the gushing variety in regards to the young duo of Bondax before, so when news of the future-garage merchants reached my senses, it got them all a-heightened.

It’s classy, smooth and an interesting insight to see their influences; beat-scenesters Flying Lotus pop-up, alongside hip-hop and sumptuous ambient electronica leanings as you’d expect.

Tracklist
Untitled – Bondax
You Know You Like It (Lapalux’s Bass Ballad Remix) – AlunaGeorge
Dime Piece (Remix) Feat Dwele – J Dilla
Secret Door – Professor Ojo
Fall In Love – Flying Lotus
Jodie (feat. Michael MacWoonald) – Royce Wood Jr
Asthma – Deft
Mathmatics (Bondax Blend) – Mos Def & Mario
Mbira Spirit – Juj
Let It (feat. Melo X) – MachineDrum
Too Early – Slamagotchi
Recurring – Bonobo

Download (via Officialfm)

Whenever news what stems from Pictures Music is received in the frontal lobes of ones brain, you know the outcome of this chemical reaction will result in a glow of positivity. Endorphins, do your thing.

Already home to talented electronic eclectics My Panda Shall Fly, Chairman Kato, Lapalux, Dauwd (featured in our Ones To Watch) etc, the label have announced their newest addition – in a name that evokes something of a colourful 70′s tv host – Bobby Champs.

You can stream ‘All Night’ from Champs below, choosing the correct spelling as opposed to the ‘All Nite’ from Rustie, although also the pair are not a million miles away in musical ethos. It’s straight-up dancefloor techno-spliced stuff in many ways – via the repetition of bounded words and pumping style reminiscent of acid house, though thankfully without the endless nature as the peaks and troughs arrive at satisfying intervals. The man from Brighton sums it up best himself:

When I make tunes I imagine myself dancing to them at Fabric, if I can’t imagine people going nuts, it gets scrapped

Perhaps created in a bedroom, but created to be enjoyed outside of a bedroom. A release is due for March.

You wanted a hit

But maybe we don’t do hits

You remember that massive spark of excitement tinged with a heavy burden of misty-eyed nostalgia when LCD Soundsystem announced their final shows in New York? And how you probably couldn’t go? And James Murphy’s heroic tirade against touts? And how you may have stayed up until 4am streaming it online, for a four marathon?

Well whatever. A documentary was filmed on the night of the final farewell show at Madison Square Gardens on 2nd April 2011, directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, and the film, titled ‘Shut Up and Play the Hits’, is to be shown at the cultural film hub that is Sundance Film Festival, on Sunday 22nd January.

The documentary intercuts concert footage from the night with interviews and personal moments from James Murphy, and the band have released a short statement on Facebook as follows:

ok. we made a movie. we met these very nice english director guys will and dylan and they were going to make a thing about the band, and blah blah we filmed the MSG concert etc., but in the process they made a real-bonafide movie with a story and everything. it’s called Shut Up And Play The Hits.

There’s a Hackney-based photographer by the name of Stephen Gill whose photographic practice bridges the gap cannily between conceptual and documentary leanings.

One series in particular, Outside In, demonstrates this splendidly; a series in which the process is crucial to the final images, as Gill goes around Hackney and further afield gathering physical materials to actually put inside the camera on the film. Dirt from the streets, silica gel form the gutter, insects – if it can fit in the camera it goes in. Hopefully with ‘Apologies to Insect Life’ as British Sea Power would say. It’s a game of intention versus chance, Gill allowing control be passed on to arbitrary schemes.

Our disposable features in the past have all been about the concept of chance – leaving cameras at gigs with instructions for you to use, with the knowledge that we possibly may never see them again. Well, the latest in the series has been taken a small, accidental further akin to Gill’s work – as the camera got soaked in a bag of beer thus screwing with the results. Sure, it’s not exactly the same process as this was not a deliberate act (blame the London Overground for this delightful misadventure) but shares parallels without the class of course. A happy accident. Gill quote:

As much as I love photography, part of me is rebelling against it.

The results as you can see below created some wild, yet vague effects, that succeed in summing up New Years Eve at XOYO (The 2 Bears headlining) better than any intentional photographic acts could have achieved.

The final end of year list, I promise. It’s a good ‘un though, as no reading is required this time – just open the Spotify playlist for some of my favourite tracks of 2011 (not all of them, not all were on Spotify). The top 20 are embedded below…

Listen to the Spotify Playlist here.

Other Hello Empty Room 2011 lists

Film Photography of 2011

Live Music Photography of 2011

Albums of 2011

Jaime XX/Gil Scott-Heron – My Cloud

TEEDS – Trouble (Chad Valley remix)

Perc – London, We Have You Surrounded

The Weeknd – House Of Balloons – Glass Table Girls 2

+ The Morning

Azarii & III – Tunnel Vision

Zomby – Natalie’s Song

Fair Ohs – Almost Island

Psychologist – Propellor

Factory Floor – Two Different Ways

Peaking Lights – All The Sun That Shines

Vondelpark – California Analog Dream

The Horrors – Moving Further Away

Male Bonding – Bones

//TENSE// – Disconnect Myself

Metronomy – We Broke Free

Cut Copy – Blink And You’ll Miss A Revolution

British Sea Power – Who’s In Control

Joe Goddard – Gabriel

The Field – Then It’s White

Girls – Vomit

Nicolas Jaar – Space Is Only Noise (Dave Aju remix)

Airdrops – Jejune

Gui Boratto – Striker

Air France – It Feels Good To Be Around You

Bos Angeles – Beach Slalom

Dauwd – Ikopol

Alt J – Breezeblocks

Gross Magic – Sweetest Touch

Fatima ft. Floating Points – Innversions

Jaime XX – Far Nearer

Bloom (Jamie xx Rework Part 3) – Radiohead

Washed Out – Eyes Be Closed

Chairman Kato – All Trickles Down

Friendly Fires – Hawiian Air

tune yards – Gangsta

Gang Colours – Fireworks in Pocket

Hip Love (Jamie xx Remix)

Radiohead – Feral

Holy Ghost!  - Do It Again

Azelia Banks – 212

James Blake – Wilhelms Scream

Purity Ring – Lofticries

ASAP Rocky – Peso

Real Estate – It’s Real

M83 – Midnight City

Young Galaxy – Peripheral Visionaries

SBTRKT – WildFire

Starfucker – Bury Us Alive

Bon Iver – Holocene

Mosca – Bax

Rustie – All Nite

Burial – Street Halo

Pangaea – Won’t Hurt

Tom Vek – A Chore

Regal Safari – Light

Mazes – Go Betweens

Four Tet – Locked

AUTRE NE VEUT – Sweetheart

Dam Mantle – We

Bon Iver – Babys (Moths remix)

I Break Horses – Herts

Patten – Fire Dream

Koreless – MTI

Crushed Beaks – Sun Gods

Young Magic – You With Air

PAWS – Jellyfish

Lets Wrestle – In The Suburbs

Ryan York – If I Am This Forest

New Look – So Real

TEETH – Flowers

Pacific Blue – Industry Prt.1

Listen to the Spotify Playlist here.

It had to be done. Sure, there are a plethora of outlets whose lists we all venerate highly but it’s always a self-indulgent pleasure crafting ones own right? One of those such sites, The 405, I played a small part in the creation of their Album of the Year shortlist (I won’t go into the full detail of tedium of our quasi-democracy choosings), and of course got to vote in the Staff Poll along with the vast coterie of writers.

In truth, I’m not entirely sure who I voted for in the end – in that the final two picks were pretty arbitrary form my point of view, and would have been perfectly happy to put my silly name to any of the top 10 albums that I have chosen below. It’s once again been a blinding year for music; the healthy shattering of genres – and culture in general – has continued to accelerate dramatically, and this is reflected in my own disparate list. A bit like Borges’ short story ‘The Library of Babel’, where a whole universe is contained in the form of a vast library, with literally unlimited possibilities for every text ever written. Right. And there’s so many I’ve still yet to listen to properly, or ‘get’. Maybe one day I’ll get to grips with the jerk circle surrounding PJ Harvey. Perhaps.

Stick around for my tracks of the year tomorrow ya’ hear?

Spotify Playlist here.

Metronomy – The English Riviera
An exert from my review
There’s a consistency and maturity across the album in terms of texture and atmosphere, it effectively acts as a love-letter to his native South West, of an imagined summer in Torbay; hence, The English Riviera. In ‘The Bay’, a synth-driven dance floor gem of a track, Mount declares: “Cos this isn’t Paris/And this isn’t London/And it’s not Berlin and it’s not Hong Kong/Not Tokyo!, but never explicitly declaring where we are; but Mount doesn’t need to, the strength of the astutely crafted inventive pop songs doing this on thier own.

Peaking Lights – 936
Post-fucking-beautiful-coruscating-kaleidoscopic-trip is not a genre term as far as I know, but should be just for Peaking Lights as there’s no point in attempting to place 936 into a genre, there really isn’t. The Wisconsin duo of Aaron Coyes and Indra Dunis have their hands in dub, flirting at ethereal folk with winks towards warm psychedelia but whatever, it’s gorgeous; from the first beat of ‘All The Sun That Shines’ it drags you into it’s sun-blissed post-salvia world.

Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
There’s something remarkable in the simplicity of Girls – it’s all so familiar, tried and tested which makes it’s success all the more impressive. It’s largely due to the input and lyrical/vocal style of Christopher Owens despite his oft-nasal tones – and every track on the guitar-pop album is expertly crafted. All killer, no filler.

Azari & III - Azari & III
DISCO isn’t dead it’s just gone home.

Nicolas Jarr – Space Is Only Noise
I was fortunate to catch the prodigal talent of Nicolas Jarr at Melt! Festival in Germany, in a setting so perfect, so unheimliche, that I questioned the fabric of existence and cried reverbed tears that transcended time. I of course didn’t as I was drunk and with mates. ‘Twas on a beach just post-sunset, with 50 foot cranes looming over as the sparse, eerie yet warm sound undulated across the human entities.
The full-length debut is astonishing for someone so young, that has a loose base in house/techno but in execution is no-where near that. Downtempo, broody and dripping with… space, it’s the kind of masterpiece that needs to be played at 2am in the morning in headphones in a darkened room made out of a hollowed future substance. It may as well have fallen from the sky.

Grab a calculator and fix yourself

Jaime XX / Gil Scott Heron – We’re New Here
This got a bit of a kicking in certain sections of the music press (though a lot of praise too) – the argument often being that the original I’m New Here 2010 album by Gil Scott-Heron was a remix album in itself; the production was handled by XL Recordings-owner Richard Russell using a lot of pre-existing vocals. A bit like saying the Scary Movie franchise doesn’t work as it’s parodying a parody, in Scream. Which is actually true in that case.
Anyway. It incorporates the usual Jaime XX minimal garage stylings – and does a fine job with moments of genuine beauty, taking GSH to a bassy place never heard before. Aside from lead-single and wonky banger ‘NY Is Killing Me’, the beautiful ‘My Cloud’ is stunning and one of the tracks of the year.

James Blake – James Blake
There’s not a lot more to say about the James Blake album, so in an act of lackadaisical nonsense I won’t add to this. I toyed with putting Bon Iver’s album in instead, but a lot has been written about that too. Writing is way over-rated.

Perc – Wicker and Steel
Wicker & Steel has bulldozed it’s way like an unstoppable cloud of social despair to this list late-on in the day (thank you The Quietus for recommending). It’s often slightly awkward to articulate an album in the context of society especially when it’s relatively indirect like here in W&S; but it’s hard to deny that it plays very astutely to the backdrop of these unnerving social times. Post-riots, how can a track with the title of ‘London, We Have You Surrounded’, created by a London-raised urban dweller not be significant? Abrasive, dark and techno-inspired, as the album title suggests it plays between the organic and man-crafted and conjures quite the rhythmic nihilistic atmosphere in the process. Moreish, disquieting and loud. See also; The Haxan Cloak.

The Weeknd – House of Balloons
A fucking sensation; who knew R’n B could sound so sophisticated, yet so dirty at the same time? The whole album reeks of drugs from the one-man Toronto chap Abel Tesfaye, and has released a series of free mixtapes – House of Balloons undoubtedly being the strongest. ‘House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls’ from the very first listen was mind-blowing, the kind of track I played repeatedly for months on end; that and the seedy come-down of ‘The Morning’ immediately after, oh wow.

Fair Ohs – Everything is Dancing
SOUNDS LIKE SUMMER

The rest

Cut Copy – Zonoscope
Great follow-up to a nigh-on perfect album (In Ghost Colours). My review here.

Real Estate – Days

Balam Acab – Wander / Wonder

I Break Horses – Hearts

Andy Stott – Passed By Me

Holy Ghost! – Holy Ghost!
Fun. My review.

SBTRKT – SBTRKT

Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972

The Field – Looping State of Mind

Clams Casino – Mixtape

tune-yards – W H O K I L L

TEETH – Whatever

M83 – Before The Dawn Heals Us

Destroyer – Kaputt

The Horrors – Skying

Rustie – Glass Swords

The Haxan Cloak - The Haxan Cloak

Patten - GLAQJO XAACSSO

A$ap Rocky – Deep Purple

British Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall

Missed out on many End of Year lists. JANUARY 2011 IS IN 2011 PEOPLE

Starfucker - Reptilians

Radiohead – The King of the Limbs

FabricLive.59 – Four Tet

Lets’s Wrestle – Nursing Home

Bon Iver – Bon Iver

2011 has indubitably been a vintage year to be involved with The 405 where I reside as Photo Editor, a year which has seen a myriad of milestones-reached and trenchant events gone by for the site. A marvelously designed new website launched, national radio appearances, key interviews – I could go on but the list is as long as one my my clumsy and pretentious reviews.

From a photographic perspective it’s been a pleasure, the standard of imagery from the hugely talented gaggle of togs (what is the plural for a group of photographers? Disparaging answers welcomed) who are associated with The 405 has increased exponentially, as has the coverage of gigs and festivals; Iceland, Austria, Sweden, Germany, France. British Festivals. Key gigs throughout the UK. etc. Check out the In Photos Special of 2011 that I edited, it’s helluva something and was a total nightmare to curate given the aforementioned quality.

It’s to the point now where I feel I never need pick up a camera again at a gig (which would make it much easier to dance and drink – my original past-time). These are the gigs/festivals however that I did photograph in 2011, and again, was fortunate enough to cover acts I’ve an enormous amount of respect for and go to places I had never been to before. Click on the titles to read the respective reviews.

To see my 2011 highlights of my film photography work head here YO’

Sleigh Bells

TEETH (@ Sleigh Bells)

Magnetic Man (NME Awards Tour)

Crystal Castles (NME Awards Tour)

Mount Kimbie

Twin Shadow

Fleet Foxes

James Blake

Tom Vek

Digitalism

Apparat

Ducktails

Washed Out

The Whip

Death From Above 1979

Iceland Airwaves

Cut Copy

Trans Musicales, Rennes

Head here for some more.

A collection of purely live music shots will be posted very soon

Melt! Festival 2011: From Hamburg to Ferropolis

My Panda Shall Fly

Iceland

The Whip

Non-League Day

Electrowerkz

Rennes

Every time I go venture out into the baddest of badlands where I live in my SE London quadrant, I’m constantly harassed by members of this fair urban land in relation to this blogs moniker; “Why Hello Empty Room huh?” they say, normally followed by “You got any Rizla?”

Well, fans of WhoMadeWho will already be aware of the correct answer to the former etymological question – in that ‘Hello Empty Room‘ is a track by the genre-pissing Danish outfit found on their eponymous album. The band hold a special place in certain electro-impulses of my brain following a significant night in 2008 at Fabric (aren’t they all?) in which they played; totally unaware of them previously, they played a stonking, overtly fun set that has stayed with me to this date. ‘Hello Empty Room’ in particular caught my imagination – coming to the fore with the release of Cut Copy’s Fabriclive 29 mix, in which they did a superlative job of remixing the funk-tastic bassy track full of angular, yelping jazz-fusion guitars.

Anyway, WhoMadeWho have announced details of a new album next year, titled Brighter, out on February 27th on the always shit-hot Kompakt. It’s more the same in many respects; over the top and hilariously fun electro-pop, but with enough ingenuity and leftfield spikes to advance it to new plains above terribly aged-electroclash competitors.

Listen to the single below, which will be available from 23rd of January, and will include a B-side with an acoustic version featuring John Grant.