Soaring above the rest of its indie brethren, the bold, majestic eagle doesn’t have time to think about such trivial things as itself or the complexities of being alone.  It must fly to stay alive and it must kill to stay strong.  And that is why, the eagle is the not-so-indie-animal.

Click here: Not-so-indie Animal: The Eagle

  

When you have such a classic, long-awaited album such as Smile released why would you even need any more music that month?  Well, despite trying otherwise, a few more notable releases went up on HotSpotMusic including the bewitching debut effort from Still Corners, Atlas Sound’s Parallax and the sunniest record ever to be released in November, Summer Camp’s Welcome To Condale.

Click here: HotSpotMusic. - November 2011

Roaring into this week’s edition of the Indie Animals Collection are the large, prowling beasts we pretend to call cats.  Only they’re far more dangerous.  Just look at those teeth.

And that’s why all indie music names after such feral beasts is bold, fearless and toothy of course.  Watch out for the delicious red herring in this one.

Click here: Indie Animals: The Big Cats

The idea of a lone beast, howling into the midnight sky with only the extraterrestrial objects for company is something of a fitting metaphor for most indie-based warblers.  Although I’ve never seen a wolf playing electric guitar that doesn’t mean they can’t.

And yet there are no actual wolves on this playlist… simply your run of the mill Wolfmother, Wolf People, Peter and his two wolfy friends and the crowning event of the indie calendar… the annual Wolf Parade. 

Click here: Indie Animals: The Wolf

Welcome returns from Ryan Adams, Jens Lekman and the absolutely stellar Wilco album lit up October.  And the super effort from super-group Wild Flag wasn’t bad too even if Radiohead’s remix album didn’t quite match up to expectations.

Click here: HotSpotMusic. - October 2011

Stay very, very still.  If you don’t move, he can’t see us.  The only real question is whether he can hear us.  

Of course he can hear us, he’s an Indie Bear!  This furry beast has one of the finest tastes in music history, be it a grizzly, a panda or a teddy.  Here’s a playlist featuring all of the best Ursidae there is.

If you can bear it: Indie Animals: The Bear

HotSpotMusic went on holiday in September so updates were few and far between.  But that doesn’t mean that there was nothing to listen to.  Indeed, if you can’t focus on quantity, hit the quality marker - that’s what September managed to do.  

Two of the year’s best albums came in the guise of Girls’ Father, Son, Holy Ghost and Strange Mercy, the beguiling masterpiece by St Vincent.  The War On Drugs and Veronica Falls records weren’t far behind either.  And, oh yes, plenty of catching up to do from September too….

Click here: HotSpotMusic. - September 2011

The Bluegrass Tribute To The Shins

I just hit the motherload.  Whilst searching for news on the new Shins album (which according to reports looks like it’s due early next year) I stumbled upon The Bluegrass Tribute To The Shins.  With a penchant for feudin’ banjos, my weakness had been exploited and I’ve found a treasure trove of not just takes on Shins songs, but a whole series dedicated to popular classics, reinvented in the bluegrass style.  The Shins ones work particularly well (see So Says I and Saint Simon) but here’s a nice little playlist of the best of the rest too.

Click here for the best of the best of the rest: Best of Pickin’ On (Bluegrass tributes)

Time for the second installment in the Indie Animals series.  Inspired by a certain equine band whose presence will be reignited tonight, this week we’re focusing on the fine-hoofed animal species of the Ungulate family.  The melting pot of the animal kingdom, the ungulate takes in all manner of creatures from the humble pony to the mighty steed.  And as such is fertile breeding ground for some star-studded indie-based musical acts.  

So without further horsing around, here’s the Indie Animals: Ungulates!

Click here for the Spotify playlist: Indie Animals: Ungulates

It’s a jungle out there.  Yes, record store buyers beware: the reason CD sales have been gradually decreasing for the last decade has nothing to do with the advent of the internet and piracy (oh no) but with the marauding creatures lurking in every aisle.  Just take a closer look next time and you’ll see animals prowling the racks.

Well it’s time to stop the bloodshed and uncover that mystery and HotSpotMusic has dutifully taken on that burden.  

Introducing: The Indie Animals - a weekly (or so) playlist featuring the fabled, finest fauna freed from the fanatical and faceless facades of pop obscurity.

First up, the venerable Deer.  A friend of any aspiring songwriter, the deer spreads its antlers into almost any musical genre - as flexible as the snake and as deadly as the shark.  Deer me:

Click here for the Spotify playlist: Indie Animals: The Deer.  

Keep checking back - there are quite the unparalleled treats in store.  And write in the comments if there are any classic deers missing.

Something of a renaissance for HotSpotMusic in June - the most posts in the month for a long while (and yet not nearly enough to keep up).  Maybe that has something to do with the peer pressure induced by all you lovely new followers.  With great power etc…

So, last week Spotify and HotSpotMusic both mined the recent archives with the eventual addition of Smith Westerns’ great sophomore album and one of 2010’s more intriguing slow burners in Oryx + Crake (respectively).  The divisive Cults made a crash onto the scene whilst Thurston Moore’s delicate effort slowly warmed it’s way into this writer’s attention.  And of course English week: celebrating some of the finest voices from the Isles this year in Tom Vek, Art Brut, Kitty Daisy & Lewis and Gomez with plenty more to come.

Click here: HotSpotMusic. - June 2011

Not content to let list making wait until its traditional annual festive occasion, most blogs and magazines appear to be doing half year roundups.  Well, we’re no different.  In fact, we started it (if one year ago counts, which it doesn’t).  I refuse to rank just yet because albums need a little time on the hob until they come to the boil but there’s certainly a few there simmering right now.  

So here, in no particular order, is 11 from ‘11:

And a sneaky two others that haven’t yet made it onto Spotify would be Tamer Animals by Other Lives and Radiohead’s The King of Limbs.

And here’s a playlist with all of the records featured on HotSpotMusic in 2011 so far:

No sooner has April ‘finished’ than May is also out the door.  Phew.  This is getting hectic.  But at least it’s getting more prompt.

Less to show this month but plenty of goodness on the horizon.  We started with the stellar-ly consistent return from those folkmeisters Fleet Foxes and their English competitors The Leisure Society and ended with a serious rock effort from Ontario’s newest romantics: PS I Love You via Thao & Mirah’s fun combination.

Click here: HotSpotMusic. - May 2011

As the end of May rolls around, it’s a nice reminder that the playlist from April was never posted. Shock! Horror! Awe! Anger! Fireworks!

Partially also reminded by a killer tUnE-yArDs show at Primavera Sound last weekend, her album, WHO KILL, was a highlight of April which also saw some great folk records by James Vincent McMorrow and Four Quartets.  Not forgetting the eventual appearance of several albums to Spotify including Dan Bejar’s continuing Destroyer odyssey and the creepy sophomore album by Timber Timbre.

Click here: hotspotmusic - April 2011

Close