Sorry, rippin another from P4k, but this one really impressed me – minimal, whispery dream-pop(?) and their early Beach House makes sense. Lovelier Other. When you see this dude, send me the secret EP you’ve got in the works.

And here are the final 5.

5. Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Amazing that after all this time and so many album J. Spaceman can still make as excellent and touching an album as this one. The guy doesn’t even really do much different, he just does it really, really well.

4. Julia Holter – Ekstasis

I’ve been a fan of Holter since Live Tapes, but on Ekstasis she finally pulls all her shit together to make an artful masterpiece full of hooks. If only it didn’t have that annoying “Goddess’ Eyes”…twice…

3. Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan

Though not as focused and incontestable as Bitte Orca, Swing Lo Magellan continued the Dirty Projectors‘ winning streak with a collection of songs that were consistently innovative and auditorally delightful.

2. Grimes – Visions

Perhaps the single biggest breakout of the year – though Grimes‘ previous releases displayed her unique sound and vision and were recognized as such, Visions saw her leaping far ahead to create a fully cohesive and original work of art-pop that exceeded expectatiions across the board. For most artists as young as the 24-year-old Grimes, one would say they would forward to hearing what’s next – with Grimes of course we all do, but to in any way suggest that this album is less than the work of an already great, matured artist would be unjust.

1. Beach House – Bloom

The little guitar and organ duo that could do it again, following up the hugely lauded Teen Dream with an LP perhaps just as good, if not in some ways better. The minimalist rock duo approach has been a no-biggie since The White Stripes broke shit down in the early aughts, but Beach House show again how incredible a band can sound by making the most of a few tools in their pocket to maximum effect. And the melodies! The vocals! The guitar sounds! The lyrics! Overall, just another really, really great album from the Baltimore duo.

So March was cool. I did a lot of school work, turned 22, and heard a lot of cool music. Here’s some cool tunes.

1. Speedy Ortiz – Taylor Swift

2. Stagnant Pools – Consistency

3. Chevalier Avant Garde – Axion

4. Roman Ruins – Wildflower

5. Beach House – Myth

6. Wtchs – YNG ADLTS

7. Holograms – ABC City

8. Gliss – Morning Light

9. John Maus – No Title (Molly)

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So, this Oakland dude Graham Hill who makes music under the pseudonym Roman Ruins also gigs as the drummer of this band called Beach House. And he’s an architect. Busy guy it seems. He made this like whole album that’s pretty cool but nobody knows about it. But they should, especially cuz it’s available digitally PWYC. (via PRTLS)

Looks like those rumours about a new Beach House album being on the horizon might have some substance to them after all. Not sure when this happened, but some time in the last couple hours, the Baltimore duo tossed this new song, “Myth”, up on their website.

How does it sound? Pretty awesome. Despite the dollop of attention heaped upon them after their last album Teen Dream topped like a bunch of Best Of 2010 lists, the production is still as minimal and charming as ever. Maybe it’s slightly busier sounding than they usually sound, but only like barely. This is still the sound of a heartbreak in slow motion. We can only hope the album – which may or may not be called Bloom – is as good all the way through. Could it be better than Teen Dream? Unlikely. Most band’s never hit peaks like that in their career, and when they do they seldom do again. But it’ll probably still be really, really great.

I’m totally late on these guys but whatever. Boy Friend is an Austin-based dream-pop duo. Definitely mining the same gorgeous territory as Beach House. New album Egyptian Wrinkle is out now on Hell Yes! And it is prettyyyy solid.

Photo: Katherine Squier

I stopped writing show reviews a while ago to focus on other things, but yesterday’s show on Toronto’s gorgeous Olympic Island was an incredible experience that I felt I simply had to write about. I had to put it out there. I swear there was magic in the air, and there were moments when even though I was (nearly) completely sober and not on any hallucinogenics, it felt almost as if my life were flashing before my eyes.

I left early, around 12:30, heading down to Queen’s Quay to catch the ferry and get to the show as quick as possible. I wanted to see Zeus (who I’d never seen before) at 1:15 and knew there were going to be lineups and shit to get through. And I was right, of course. Though I could hear them playing from outside the festival fence, by the time I got in, they were already on the last song of the Toronto Revue’s set.Timber Timbre came up next and I kind of just sat on the grass and read through his set, not paying too much attention. I have some friends who are crazy about his stuff and obviously A&C; are big believers in him, but me and the friends who were with me yesterday all kind of thought he was a bit boring.

We were, however, big fans of Beach House, so we made sure to get up close to the stage for their set. It was a big stage and there were only three of them but they sounded phenomenal, particularly their drummer, who gave the songs’ simple beats a nice understated power that you don’t hear on their albums, on which they often (appear to) use drum machines. Victoria Legrand’s vocals are incredible (of course), and Alex Scally’s hypnotizing guitar work sounded great in the open space.

I spent most of Band Of Horses’ set waiting in line for a Big Fat Burrito ($7 for one about half the size of a normal $8 one). I would have been upset about that but Band Of Horses’ last album, Infinite Arms, was so uneven that my love of the band has kind of gone down a bit. Most of their set though was made up of songs off their incredible second album, Cease To Begin, so that was good. But no “Dilly”? Seriously? They did close with “The Funeral” though, so no complaints there.

Broken Social Scene came on at 6:40ish and for the next hour-and-a-half played possibly the greatest set I’ve ever seen by any band ever, top contenders being The White Stripes, Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, My Morning Jacket, Monotonix and themselves. It was just beyond; a transcendent experience.

I’ve been listening to BSS since I was like 13 and that band’s provided the soundtrack for some of the major experiences of my life. To see them in top shape on a day that could not have been more perfect (sun in the sky, a nice breeze in the air) with Feist, Emily Haines, Sebastien Granger and John McEntire in tow was just the greatest. Oh, Feist – Kevin Drew brought her on with, “I’d like to introduce a dear friend of mine…Leslie Feist!” and she just came up behind him, dancing playfully, her arms jutting forward around KD. Ahhhhh, she’s soooo cute And then grand orchestrater KD introduced Emily Haines by saying something like, “I’ve known this person for 20 years! Emily Haines!” and she just trots up onstage.

They played mainly from their latest album, Forgiveness Rock Record, on which there’s no shortage of incredible songs. I went nuts for “Forced To Love” and “Sweetest Kill”. “Sentimental X’s” found Feist and Emily Haines belting it out face to face, which was mindblowingly awesome. “Almost Crimes” definitely got people noticeably excited and didn’t dissapoint. Only kind of stutter was when KD introduced “All To All” with, “We got a lot of shit for taking this girl into the band but we love her to death and she’s stuck with us now, Lisa Lobsinger everybody!” and then Lobsinger kind of didn’t quite manage to project enough.

Unsurprisingly they closed the set in epic fashion with a huge, crushing rendition of “Meet Me In The Basement” and then finally a longtime favourite, “Ibi Dreams of Pavement”, for which, apparently, the person referred in the title, author Ibi Kaslik, was in fact in the audience. As the sun slowly came down behind us through the clouds, the band departed the stage, leaving an audience of thousands physically and emotionally spent.

Despite my love for Pavement, I was dead for their set. Sure, I sang and danced for “Cut My Hair”, “Silence Kit”, “Rattled By The Rush” and “Summer Babe”, but yeah, after BSS I just was done. However, sitting down on the grass, now far from the stage and the sun long departed, “Here” sounded particularly poignant. The band looked older and didn’t have anything to prove, but they still played a perfectly solid set to an audience made up of fans new and old.

It was nice to be able to catch the ferry back to the city fairly quickly. I went drinking with some friends and then we went back to my apartment to chill, but by 2:00 am I was ready to pass out. My friends headed out soon enough and I made it to my bed just in time to finish my collapse.

This week’s band of the week is a popular indie band with a haunting, minimalist sound. They came seemingly out of nowhere with no hype or anything in 2006 and subtly overnight became a major name in indie rock. A healthy dosage of Pitchfork and blog-love didn’t hurt either, and now, according to Wikipedia, this band is cited by MGMT and Grizzly Bear’s Ed Drost as their favorite band. This week’s band of the week is…