Bella Union Staff Best of 2013

Simon

Some of The Best Things of 2013 -
By:larm 2013
Getting married to the wonderful Ms Abbey Braden.
Big Sur.
2 weeks at Xfm standing in for John Kennedy
Moving out of Hackney.
Finding a café/salvage place. Two great things in one room!?
Taz the moustachioed Hove-based barista at said place.
Tad the Turkish restaurant in Mare St
John Grant at #1 in RT Albums of The Year
Seeing Stan Raymonde in Australia.
All visits to NYC 2013.
Opening up the label offices in NYC.
Discovering The Americans tv series.
Iceland Airwaves 2013.
The generosity of Marc Geiger, old friend.
Seeing Kraftwerk at Harpa Konzerthall, Reykjavik
Seeing Money, Midlake, John Grant and Sumie at Harpa, Reykjavik
Anika doing artwork for Van Dyke Parks
Releasing Roy Harper’s first album in 13 years.
Watching how PINS have developed so fast, hearing new songs.
Independent Label Market.
Dj-ing for the JAJAJA Festival at Roundhouse

Some of the Best gigs & live performances of 2013 -
Mammut (Iceland Airwaves)
I BREAK HORSES (Brighton Centre)
Summer Camp (The Haunt)
Vök (Iceland Airwaves)
Kraftwerk (Iceland Airwaves)
Jonathan Wilson (Islington Town Hall)
Laura Veirs (Islington Town Hall)
Roy Harper (RFH)
Samuel Jon Samuelsson Big Band (Iceland Airwaves)
MONEY (The Waiting Room, London)
Landshapes (Basement, W1)
Ballet School (Shacklewell Arms)
PINS (The Castle, Manchester)
The Trouble With Templeton (The Haunt, Brighton)
John Grant (Iceland Airwaves)
Midlake (Iceland Airwaves)
Ryan Francesconi and Mirabai Peart (Jazz Quarters)
Thundercat (XOYO)
Lapalux (XOYO)
Orchestra of Spheres (Wellington, NZ)
Sumie (Iceland Airwaves)
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (Coachella)
Kurt Vile (Coachella)
Lanterns On The Lake X2 (Oxford and Bowlegs session)
Beach House (Coachella)
Zen Mantra (Christchurch, NZ)
Tiny Ruins x 2 (Brisbane / CMJ)
Little Green Cars (Coachella)
Robert Forster (Iceland Airwaves)
Flaming Lips x 3 (SXSW, Roundhouse x2)
New Order(Coachella)
Major Lazer(Coachella)
Wild Nothing (Coachella)
Spiritualized (Coachella)
Youth Lagoon (Coachella)
Father John Misty (Town Hall NYC)
Veronica Falls (shoreditch Church)
Jah Wobble and Keith Levene (Village Underground)
The Invisible (Live from Village Underground TV)
Golden Fable (Live from Village Underground TV)
Metz (Live from Village Underground TV)

Best non-Bella Union track:
Penetrate by Stubborn Heart

Best LPs:
All of the Bella Union ones and a few others.

Mark

Records:
Kanye West – Yeezus
Kelela – Cut 4 Me
Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus
Oneohtrix Point Never – R Plus Seven
R Kelly – Black Panties
Blood Orange – Cupid Deluxe
Chance The Rapper – Acid Rap
Darkside – Psychic
Arca – &&&&&
Action Bronson & Party Supplies – Blue Chips 2
Kingdom – Vertical XL
Daniel Avery – Drone Logic
Haxan Cloak – Excavation
Forest Swords – Engravings
Autre Ne Veut – Anxiety
Earl sweatshirt – Doris

Memes:
San Francisco to Austin road trip
Professor Blastoff
259 Hackney Road
Glasserie
Yeezus @ Barclays
Fleetwood Mac @ O2
Showing of Opening Night @ BAM
DJ Harvey @ various places
Ghe20 Goth1k + Fade to Mind party
Patrick Melrose series
Enlightened / The Bridge / Eastbound & Down / Burning Love / Arrested Development / The Returned / It’s always sunny / workaholics / Bobs Burgers / The League / Nathan For You / Breaking Bad / Real Husbands of Hollywood / NTSF SD SUV / Children’s Hospital / South Park
Tim Heidecker + Neil Hamburger @ Bowery
On Cinema & any and all of Tim Heidecker’s output this year.
Kyle Dunnigan
Alameda
River Styx
Ruby’s
NYC
Brilliant Corners
Low and Clear / 12 O’Clock Boys / Undefeated / Jiro Dreams of Sushi / Brooklyn Castle / Call Me Kuchu / The Crash Reel / The Silent War / The Tillman Story
All the Bella related live shows + releases this year. It’s been another great year.

HUGE Disappointments:
The Dream – IV Play

Anika

Records I liked:
Austra – Olympia
Bill Callahan – Dream River
Caitlin Rose – The Stand In
Devendra Banhart – Mala
Julianna Barwick – Nepenthe
Kanye West – Yeezus
Various – Kenya Special
Waxahatchee – Cerulean Salt
+ more I have forgotten

Things I liked:
ATP : TVOTR
Amsterdam/Coventry/London with Celebration
Getting a cat even though (or especially ‘cos?) he might be Satan
Waxahatchee / Badlands on the roof
Landshapes’ Green Man and Totnes trip / visiting Rupes
Princess Century / Manchester
Staying with Jess and Andy in Brooklyn
Baltimore
Celebration at ScapeScape /Mt. Royal at ScapeScape
Friends Records
Going to see One Direction in 3D with John Waters and Ed in Baltimore
Riding the merry go round with Luisa and Heloise at the Leeds Christmas Market aka The Happiest Place On Earth
Tasseotime / Forest picnic & the Primordial Sludge Crawl
Tasseomancy, Slings & Arrows and DEEP THROAT at The Waiting Room
Karaoke 2013. Highlights include Sari and I winning at Trannyoke and having petals rained upon us.
Egg lady on Ridley Road Market

Luke

Connan Mockasin – Caramel
Chance The Rapper – Acid Rap
Kanye West – Yeezus
Dean Blunt – The Redeemer
Cass McCombs – Big Wheel…
Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus

One other thing I enjoyed this year…
Learning to Surf

Check it out!

Oh to be a fly, that I might land ‘pon fields green in Suffolk this weekend and hark the sweet sounds of…..

BEACH HOUSE, JOHN GRANT, VERONICA FALLS, MONEY & MARQUES TOLIVER!

Yes, you can win a pair of guest tickets to Latitude Festival in Suffolk now, and hear those sweet melodies as a human, with no need to be a fly.

Please note: there is a £30 compulsory charity donation with each guest pass.

In order to win, like us on Facebook and retweet us on Twitter and we’ll choose a winner at random at 2.30pm. Please make sure you can attend the festival before entering; tickets will be sent to you by special delivery today.

A winner will be chosen at 2.30pm.

All at Bella Union are very sorry to learn of the passing of Bob Thompson.

You can read an obituary on the LA Times.

Listen to some of his wonderful orchestration work below on Van Dyke Parks’ Canon in D.

Ch-ch-check it here!

In celebration of Swans’ 30th Anniversary, Michael Gira curates Mouth To Mouth Festival at London’s Koko on Thursday 4th of April. Performances by Grouper, Xiu Xiu, Ben Frost and Mercury Rev’s Cinematic Silent Sound Tettix Wave Experiment, will take place over the evening. With a closing slot by the mighty Swans themselves.

Says Gira, “This is the first installment in what we hope to be a yearly festival, focused on disparate music and genres. Artists are chosen based on their ability to resuscitate, set fire to the air, or to mesmerize. All of the performers chosen for this year’s festival I find personally to be compelling in this regard. The goal: joy!”

For tickets and further info visit the Koko website.

Have a listen below -

Pale Green Ghosts is out now.

Please vote for our friends End of the Road in the Best Small Festival category for the NME awards -

http://www.nme.com/awards/vote

Deadline is Feb 20th! Go forth!

EDIT: APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED, THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME

Hello!

Happy, snowy January to you!

A young, female singer-songwriter is on the lookout for a London based drummer / percussionist, guitarist, bassist and keyboard/synth player and/or multi-instrumentalists.

It would be great if they were happy to sing harmonies and backing vocals although it isn’t vital.

Do let us know if you’d be interested in hearing the music and meeting up to play.

She is looking to tour from the Spring onwards.