Best Albums of the Year - 2010

I've decided to compile a year end best albums list like all of the cool kids. The posts will have a link to a torrent as well, for all of you PIRATES!

1) The National - High Violet

The National - "Bloodbuzz Ohio" (official video) from The National on Vimeo.

The most emotionally resonant album of the year, seeing them live sealed the deal for me http://bit.ly/fF2OUZ

2) Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye west Runaway from True romance on Vimeo.

He was firing on all four cylinders, showing the world he's the best http://bit.ly/ethuqG

3) Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (Official Video) from City Slang on Vimeo.

Maybe their most cohesive effort yet. I also loved their interactive music video.

4) Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II

CRYSTAL CASTLES - "CELESTICA" from Ro'Shine on Vimeo.

This album greatly influenced me, building & expanding upon their last album. http://bit.ly/fawhzE

5) Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

Sufjan Stevens, "Too Much" from Deborah Johnson, CandyStations on Vimeo.

I missed out on seeing him live. A proper follow-up to Illinois, & felt very fluid and experimantel. http://bit.ly/eLeSwx

6) Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid

This album felt very vibrant and creative to me. The best female artist of the year http://bit.ly/guGFlz

7) Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

I think that the band came into their own with this album. I'm constantly impressed http://bit.ly/eAk1pi

8) Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Gorillaz - Some Kind of Nature from rebl0g.ability on Vimeo.

Damon Albarn's production techniques on this album really evolved from his previous albums http://bit.ly/gYXmSZ

9) Vampire Weekend - Contra

Vampire Weekend - "Giving Up The Gun" (Official Music Video) from Alexander Kulikov on Vimeo.

They made an eccentric album for sure, and the weirdness made this one punchy album to hear http://bit.ly/81DGQp

10) Twin Shadow - Forget

Twin Shadow - Castles In The Snow Directed by Jamie Harley from Twin Shadow on Vimeo.

I discovered this album a couple weeks ago, and it sounds unlike anything else released this year.

That's all! Have a Happy New Year!

_Emmanuel Calvin Luna

Fish-Tailing

(Instrumental)

I recorded the demo of this song in October 2007, when I was working as a Scare Actor. I had been experimenting with synthesized Guitar sounds coming out of a PA speaker, and recorded this one-take song into a four track tape machine using just a Radioshack microphone. The distortion is natural tape bleed. In October 2009, I decided to finalize and mix this into a more coherent piece by adding some reverse reverb and some additional ambient sounds. The possessed woman screaming is a combination of sounds found on freesound.org, so proper attribution must be given to the users Dobroide & Fourbissime for the excellent field recordings. This is probably the closest I've come to writing a song in the Doom genre of music.

Image courtesy of Josie Rodriguez

Fish-Tailing by Cerealman

Free Download: 320 kbps MP3

Sex With Aliens

(Instrumental)

I 'romped' with 6 ft alien
By LOUISE COMPTON
Sun Online

Published: 20 Jan 2006

FEW people can claim to have experienced ?out of this world’ sex - but Pamela Stonebrooke is a woman who can.

The 52-year-old jazz singer says she enjoyed mind-blowing alien romps with a six-foot reptilian for three years.
Her story is among a number featured in World's Strangest UFO Stories which premieres this Sunday on the Discovery Channel.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun Online, Pamela revealed: “My first sexual encounter with an alien was unlike any love-making I’ve experienced before.

“It was so intense and enjoyable and, without wanting to get too graphic, he was so much larger than most men.

“I remember exactly how I felt when I saw him for the first time. I awoke from my sleep to find myself making love to what appeared to be a Greek god.

“At first I assumed it was an exceptionally lucid dream. But the sex was very intense and as I closed my eyes I was overwhelmed by how comfortable I felt with this unknown being.

“The next time I opened my eyes he had transformed into a reptilian entity with scaley, snake-like skin. It was then I realised I was making love to a shape-shifting alien.

“Sensing I was scared, the reptile whispered, ?We’ve always been together, we love each other.’

“The orgasms were intense. When I tell men about my reptilian experience, they find it difficult.”

Pamela said her first alien bonk took place in 1998, more than a year after her first extra-terrestrial encounter.

At the time, she was working as a high-powered celebrity agent in Houston, USA, and says she had no interest in the mysterious world of little green men.

She told us: “My first conscious contact was in 1994. At the time I was working long hours so it was just a normal, busy day at the office.

“That night I went to sleep early and instead of waking up at the normal time and heading off to work, I awoke aboard what seemed to be a space craft.

“I found myself huddled in the foetal position in a very dimly lit, metallic room, shaped like a truncated pyramid.

“I looked around nervously and a line of small, grey beings walked into the room looking at me.

“One of them, I think she was female, approached me and said: ?Don’t be afraid, just come with me.’

“I followed her into another room and she shut the door behind us. As soon as it shut, it disappeared and there were three smaller female aliens looking at me and calling me ?Mummy’.

“All my fears hit me at once. I was absolutely terrified.

“Then the next thing I knew I was back in my bed again. It left me feeling incredibly frightened because the experience was so real.

“I got up to splash my face with water and as I did so, I rolled up the sleeves of my kimono and noticed a number of little bruise marks on my arms.

“When I saw them it brought everything back. And I remembered them grabbing my arms which must have left the marks.

“I didn’t sleep well that night. In fact I didn’t sleep well for nearly a year.”

Fascinated by her experience, Pamela arranged to be regressed via hypnosis to see if she could find out more about what happened to her.

She told us: “It was fascinating and it brought back lots of memories which led me to believe I’d had more than one alien encounter.

“It was amazing because I had always found the extra-terrestrial world pretty ludicrous. But I began to see things differently.

“I even asked an artist to draw my impressions of the reptilian visitor and started a support group for people who have experienced similar things.
“It was initially difficult to tell family and friends about, but I overcame the embarrassment factor pretty quickly.
“I honestly don’t care if people laugh at my story because I would have been the same prior to my mind-expanding encounters.”

Article courtesy of The Sun

Free Download: 320 kbps MP3

Astral Lights

In the night when we disembody,
We'll sink into that same strange feeling,
My molecules dissolve into an empty space,
My subconscious mind will focus on an endless light.

Your starry eyes carry visions that blind,
They cleanse my impure thoughts,
They disassemble my unclean soul,
They memorize my worthless actions,
Implant a feeling that is left untarnished,
I am born again in the bathing white light.

The Astral Lights they burn so bright,
We could see everything we were meant to be
The Astral Lights illuminate the night,
And disperse into the atmosphere

I am converted into a million pieces,
A liquid energy is pulsating in the ether.
Communicating with the spirit beings,
We envelop love and awareness with our inner light.

The Astral Lights they burn so bright,
We could see everything we were meant to be
The Astral Lights illuminate the night,
And disperse into the atmosphere

All of our thoughts are catalogued and stored,
In the body of the Astral Lights,
My soul is weak and perishable,
And when I'm gone I will live on in the Astral Light.

Free Download: 320 kbps MP3

Hemi-Sync

(Instrumental)

"Hemi-Sync® is a patented audio guidance technology that works quite simply by sending different sounds (tones) to each ear through stereo headphones. The two hemispheres of the brain then act in unison to “hear” a third signal – the difference between the two tones. This is not an actual sound, but an electrical signal that can only be perceived within the brain by both brain hemispheres working together...

The audio-guidance process works through the generation of complex, multilayered audio signals, which act together to create a resonance that is reflected in unique brain wave forms characteristic of specific states of consciousness. The result is a focused, whole-brain state known as hemispheric synchronization, or Hemi-Sync®, where the left and right hemispheres are working together in a state of coherence. Different Hemi-Sync® signals are used to facilitate deep relaxation, focused attention or other desired states. As an analogy, lasers produce focused, coherent light. Hemi-Sync® produces a focused, coherent mind, which is an optimal condition for improving human performance."

I was greatly influenced by this concept while making this song. I hope it alters your brainwaves subconsciously into an expanded state of awareness. I've downloaded the Gateway Experience Series, and strongly considered sampling Robert Monroe's vocal instructions coming out of the right earphone. I decided against it because I felt it actually detracted away from the other instrumentation (and I don't know if his foundation would ultimately approve of the unauthorized use).

http://www.monroeinstitute.org/hemi-sync/about/
http://www.monroeinstitute.org/store/hemi-sync-cds/gateway-experience-series

Image courtesy of Christopher Bucklow

Hemi-Sync by Cerealman

Free Download: 320 kbps MP3

Spirits

There was once a dream,
Where I couldn't distinguish,
My nocturnal mind from reality
I visualized a light,
And walked through a door,
From my physical plane
To the other side

I felt the psychic vibrations...

I want to be more transparent,
Said the old lady spirit,
Newly born into an abyss of love,
Freely traveling on an astral plane

"You're just energy blindfolded,
Traipsing with an enigmatic joy,
Constantly longing for affection above,
An explanation of where you came from"

We started pulsating in meditation,
I felt the presence of another mind,
She led me into a chamber,
Where formless figures sat drenched in colours

Anxieties I face in the fleshly realm erase,
I cannot displace,
The sensation of my consciousness rising

"Is the body a condensation of energy,
Or is energy an emanation of the body?"

I contemplated what my Spirit Guide had sent.
I absorbed the knowledge that was never spent.

My limbs disappeared,
My psychic form diminished,
I felt my soul disperse,
My generational curse was finished.

Image courtesy of Scott Clark

Spirits by Cerealman

Free Download: 320 kbps MP3

Valentine

I can still see the tears in your eyes,
I can still feel the fear in your heart,
I can taste the bitterness in your kiss,
I can drink of your hopes and your dreams,
But when you come around,
I'll always think of you.

I've loved you from the start,
On Valentine's Day,
Whenever we're apart,
My mind can't think straight,
My heart is made of glue,
This Valentine's Day,
I'll never not love you,
On Valentine's Day

Heaven is the one I love...

I never found love,
I never tried hard,
I never gave up,
Until I found you,
I never found peace,
Or felt such soft skin,
My heart grows fonder,
Each day with you...

I've loved you from the start,
On Valentine's Day,
Whenever we're apart,
My mind can't think straight,
My heart belongs to you,
This Valentine's Day,
I'll mend your broken heart,
On Valentine's Day...

My one soul split,
And became two,
Now it's one part me,
And one part you...

Image courtesy of iuneWind

Valentine by Cerealman

Free Download: 320 kbps MP3