Bears And Bullets Albums Of The Year (Missed The Cut)

Continuing with list week, we honor the best of 2013's albums with a few honorable mentions. Check it out after the bump.

Julianna Barwick video - The Harbinger

Light-as-air singer-songwriter Julianna Barwick teamed up with frequent collaborator Derrick Belcham for another video from her impossibly ethereal LP Nepenthe, this time for "The Harbinger."

For those who caught Barwick on her recent tour dates, possibly alongside Sigur Ros (wink), the video would perform in the backdrop during the song. For those who haven't seen it, it's as ambiguously emotional, and unquestionably beautiful as you might suspect.

Stream it below and order Nepenthe today courtesy of Dead Oceans.

Julianna Barwick - Ash Day (Live on Take Away Show)

For the second portion of Julianna Barwick's La Blogotheque venture, the Missouri-via-Louisiana ambient singer-songwriter performed a special performance of "Ash Day" during the actual holiday.

Watch the video below, which mostly features children dressed in for the almost Halloween-like event, directed by Derrick Belcham. He explains, "It is the end of February. The extended darkness is beginning to wear us down, and the weather is a schizophrenic outpatient. On a tip from a local, we take to the streets to watch the children of Reykjavik sing for candy and desserts in full, mystical regalia. It is Ash Day, and Julianna is ready to make the kids work for their treats."

Barwick's awesome Nepenthe is out now on Dead Oceans.

Julianna Barwick - Crystal Lake (Live - ft. Sharon Van Etten, Taraka, and Nimai Larson)

Performing at New York's intimate Judson Church, Julianna Barwick scored a supreme rendition of "Crystal Church," with some vocal contributions from friends Sharon Van Etten, and Taraka and Nimai Larson of Prince Rama.

The unnerving atmospherics gracefully sweep through, as they do throughout Barwick's recent LP Nepenthe, out now Dead Oceans. Watch the performance below.

Julianna Barwick - The Harbinger (Live on Take Away Show)

Director Derrick Belchman penned this wonderfully shot footage of atmosphere music extraordinaire Julianna Barwick for the most recent Take Away Show performance. Fans of La Blogotheque will be familiar with the beautiful take, but in case you're new here, get up on all of it now.

The footage was taken in the consistent majesty of Iceland, which seems astoundingly fitting for Barwick's style with "The Harbinger." It comes from her wonderful new LP Nepenthe, which is available now on Dead Oceans.

Helada Negro - Detroit/Stop Living Dead

Brooklyn producer Roberto Lange, more commonly known as Helada Negro, has been jumping around from various projects in the past few years. From former partnerships alongside Julianna Barwick and Prefuse 73, Lange has come back into his own as Helada Negro for the second in his EP series Island Universe Story.

With Island Universe Story Two, Lange debuted the 80s synth-laden "Detroit," as well as the curiously dissonant and atmospheric "Stop Living Dead." The latter comes from the Helada Negro Bandcamp, which is offering pre-orders of the EP now for $5. The EP is set for release August 27.

New Julianna Barwick video - One Half

Highlighting what's sure to be another gorgeous record from Julianna Barwick, directer Zia Anger utilized the defying atmospheric nature of Barwick's "One Half" with breathless forest imagery and a wave of naturalistic color contrasts. For as beautiful as Barwick's dream-like vocals tend to be, Anger does her best to almost outdo the track itself.

Watch the video below. Barwick's new album Nepenthe is due out August 20 on Dead Oceans. Until then, stream the release over at NPR.

Bears and Bullets Albums of the Year: Pt. I

With only two weeks remaining in 2011, it's that time of the year where all the music sites and publications dole out their annual 'Best Of' lists. Likewise, Bears and Bullets has stuck with that tradition as well, with an annual 'Top 25 Songs of the Year' list. But with the addition of the Albums of the Month feature on the site this year, I thought it wouldn't be fair to just stick with songs from here on out.

So, I present to you Bears and Bullets first ever Albums of the Year edition.

#25: The Horrors - Skying
Most people were somewhat uncomfortably introduced to The Horrors four years ago with their "Sheena is a Parasite" video; a minute and a half jumpy, barely in English audible that grew their reputation fairly well in England. And while the band's name grew within the NME crowd, fanfare was mull in the states. Skying, however, was the unsuspected breakthrough that pushed them over, full of inspiring and mature crafted songs that, Hell, most of us never saw coming. 

#24: Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
At some point in the past few years, Julianna Barwick has come to own the genre of atmospheric music. The majority of The Magic Place, a largely wordless drift of beautiful, if not cavernous sprawls, that would do well in most movie trailers, makes the serenity of distant sounds all the more important. Aptly titled, The Magic Place seems to present itself in a world that would only disappoint the real one

#23: Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread

Ty Segall, up until Goobye Bread, has been slightly controlled noise, full of static and fuzzy bumps in the road, rarely concerned with feel or pace. But with his major label debut, the moves are tighter, and the songs don't just stream through a similar jumble. Take "The Floor," a song that wouldn't be confused with The Violent Femmes at certain points, as the clearest most of us have heard Segall. Juxtaposed against quick-minute stomps like "California Commercial," and the San Francisco-native has learned where his pace fits best - everywhere.

#22: Mastodon - The Hunter
Maybe I'm too big of a Mastodon fan. After all, The Hunter, next to the band's previous work like Crack The Skye and Blood Mountain, is regarded as one of their weaker efforts. That isn't to say that it's a poor outing or anything, just falling short of the aforementioned achievements. Fan response aside, The Hunter still provides some of the year's stand-out efforts, like "Spectrelight," a track that would fit anywhere in the Mastodon catalog. Maybe I'm just still in awe how these guys don't put anything bad out.

#21: I Break Horses - Hearts
Breaking through like M83 did in the early 2000s, I Break Hoses' Hearts is an incredibly lush, broad, and detailed album, covered in dense layers of drippy and heroic synths charging through the backdrop. It's not hard to gets a sense of unreal beauty in Hearts, only seconds into the opening track "Winter Beats," in what feels like plunging into one of those metaphorical lakes that everything seems to come together in. It's hard to describe.



We'll continue the countdown tomorrow with albums #20-#16 ...