Congratulations to us – Poule d’Or is turning three years old today!! The past year was the most exciting one yet for a number of reasons:
2012 was the year, Poule d’Or relaunched on a wordpress.org platform. Look around, good looking Poule hey?
2012 was the year, you guys downloaded the 9.000th compilation! Thanks so much for still being interested, for downloading, for sharing. It’s so much fun!! Two new compilations last year, 9 and 10. Still up for grabs, find all of them nice and clean here.
2012 was the year, we added a writer: my friend Chin is running our New Frontier segment – really proud of the nuggets she’s is digging up there, check it out. Make sure you follow her on twitter too!
2012 was the year, we covered three major festivals as members of the press – SXSW in March, Flow in August and Reeperbahn in September. Fantastic festivals, all of them. It’s so much fun taking this offline and outside the bandcamp, Soundcloud universe.
2012 was the year, I had a conversation with Feist – and didn’t realize until months later. Not sure what that says about the degree of professionalism here at Poule d’Or – or about Feist’s chatty skills to be honest..
So, 2012 was the best year yet really. Can’t wait to get this fourth year started, really excited! Cheers to four more years! Wink. Let’s get it started with the amazing Duck House, who I’m really excited to hear more from this year. Here is Run – free for download too!
Ouff. So 2012 went by in a heartbeat. There were a great number of albums I really liked, and only few who didn’t live up to the expectations I had. Like Egyptian Hip Hop’s debut was a bit of a let down (maybe it’s a grower?) for me after the great EPs they had released. On the other hand, we saw many great debut albums and many great sophomore albums as well which is maybe even harder to deliver after a good debut LP.
So anyway, here we go, a highly subjective list of the 15 albums released in the past 12 months that Team Poule enjoyed most. Not a single doubt in my mind about who finishes first. [continue reading…]
Apparently Petite Noir has been around the greater blogosphere for almost half the year. Somehow this little great EP only now made onto the Poule’s radar. Disappear is this chap’s second single. A great blend of indie-sound and soul elements, definitely reminds me of something else. Can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe Kindness? Twin Shadow? Certainly one to keep an eye on, a debut album will be out next year.
So this is actually quite exciting – Alexis Taylor, head of Hot Chip obviously, dropped some new solo recordings last week. An EP titled Nayim from the Halfway Line – which is a bit of a peculiar title. Surely, you will recall 1995’s UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup Final between Arsenal London and spanish side Real Zaragoza. With the match tied after 90 minutes it went into overtime and Nayim scored the winning goal for Zaragoza in the final minute of the game: beating Arsenal’s David Seaman from the halfway line (btw, HOW good is David Seaman’s pose after the fact?! Casual.). Ever since, ‘Nayim from the halfway line’ is a popular taunt among Tottenham Hotspur supporters directed at their North London rivals. So if Alexis Taylor isn’t a closet Spurs fan, this might just be the most randomly-named release.
However, this EP is more than just a slap in the Gunners’ faces. Four great tracks, all single-handedly produced by Mr Taylor himself. There is this special groove to it that certainly marks a lot of Hot Chip’s productions too, which I guess is little surprising. So overall, it feels a bit like an experimental Hot Chip EP. Which is great. I really enjoy Alexis Taylor’s solo efforts. He released a full album in 2008 – which I’m not sure created that much attention. This song Baby from it is pure bliss, check it out.
Back to this new football-influenced EP though. Four great songs that’ll be stuck in your head. Nayim from the Halfway Line is out now on Domino as a 12 inch, stream in full below.
Music from Beyond. Musings by Sameblod‘s Frederick – au delà de Stockholm.
Sunday bliss by Philadelphia’s Work Drugs. Celebrating their second anniversary as a band, they released Young Lungs. Bit more upbeat than their last songs. Super good. If the Mayans messed up their calculations, the duo will play Glasslands in Brooklyn on December 22nd. Look out.
