andrew tholl

violin // composition // drums // improvisation

[andrewtholl]

Best Music of 2017

Here’s my list of my favorite music from the past year. I’m breaking it down by my top ten favorite albums and songs of the year, as well as listing other notable albums and songs in no particular order. Plus, there’s an embedded Spotify playlist with all of the songs. Enjoy!

Top 10 Albums of the Year

1. Jens Lekman - Life Will See You Now

2. Cornelius - Mellow Waves

3. Charly Bliss - Guppy

4. Julien Baker - Turn Out the Lights

5. Bibio - Phantom Brickworks

6. Big Thief - Capacity

7. Brian Eno - Reflection

8. Hiroshi Yoshimura - Music for Nine Postcards

9. LCD Soundsystem - American Dream

10. Bjork - Utopia

Other Notable Albums of the Year

New Pornographers - Whiteout Conditions

Destroyer - Ken

Moses Sumney - Aromanticism 

Metz - Strange Peace

Father John Misty - Pure Comedy

Mac DeMarco - This Old Dog

Ariel Pink - Dedicated to Bobby Jameson

The Mountain Goats - Goths

Alvvays - Antisocialities

Ryuichi Sakamoto - async

​Four Tet - New Energy​

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma​ - ​On the Echoing Green

Top 10 Songs of the Year

1. Big Theif - Mythological Beauty

2. Jens Lekman - To Know Your Mission

3. Cornelius - If You're Here

4. Deerhoof - I Will Spite Survive

5. Chain and The Gang - Experimental Music

6. Jens Lekman - Weding in Finistere

7. Nadia Reid - Preservation

8. Nilüfer Yanya - Baby Luv

9. Charly Bliss - Glitter

10. Kesha - Praying

Other Notable Songs of the Year​

Priests - Nothing Feels Natural

Julien Baker - Appointments

Ariel Pink - Dedicated To Bobby Jameson

Bjork - Arisen My Senses

HAIM - Want You Back

Amber Coffman - No Coffee

Waxahatchee - Never Been Wrong

Taylor Swift - Look What You Made Me Do

Dirty Projectors - Little Bubble

Charlie XCX - Out Of My Head

Destroyer - A Light Travels Down the Catwalk

Metz - Mess of Wires

Alvvays - Dreams Tonight

Mac DeMarco - Still Beating

Four Tet - Two Thousand and Seventeen

Moses Sumney - Quarrel

Bibio - 09:13

Best Songs Spotify Playlist

[andrewtholl]

Best Music of 2016

So it’s been about 2 years since I’ve posted anything on here. Sorry, I was busy. But this year I’m going to try and be better about it, and maybe post more stuff. I hope...

To get things started in the right direction, I thought I’d try and post my personal “best of” list from 2016. So here’s my favorite albums that came out this year (in no particular order). 

I’m also including a Spotify playlist of my favorite songs from the year, most of which are included on the albums below. I’ve tried to limit it to one song per artist, but that was pretty hard for a lot of these because so many of these albums were amazing from beginning to end. 

Top Albums

1. Mitski - Puberty 2

2. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree

3. David Bowie - Blackstar

4. Porches - Pool

5. Weezer - White Album

6. Anna Meredith - Varmints

7. Chairlift - Moth

8. Frankie Cosmos - Next Thing

9. Daniel Lanois - Goodbye to Language

10. AJJ - The Bible 2

11. Parquet Courts - Human Performance

12. Oren Ambarchi - Hubris

13. Nicolas Jaar - Sirens

14. Jenny Hval - Blood Bitch

15. Case/Lang/Veirs - case/lang/veirs

16. Rihanna - anti

17. Battle Trance - Blade of Love

18. Various Artists - Bobo Yeye: Belle Epoque in Upper Volta

19. Andy Shauf - The Party

20. Flock of Dimes - If You See Me, Say Yes

[andrewtholl]

December Playlist

Here's my mix for the month of December

1. Generationals - When They Fight, They Fight

2. 3rd Bass - Derelicts Of Dialect

3. Fela Kuti - Who're You?

4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - Dark Water

5. DOTT - Leave Tonight

6. Dr. Dog - The Truth

7. Haim - Honey & I

8. Elvis Costello - The Imposter

9. DOTT - Love You Too

10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - Gloria

11. Peach Kelli Pop - Panchito Blues II

12. Honeychain - The All-About-Me Girl

13. Laura Stevenson - Bells & Whistles

[andrewtholl]

October and November Playlists

I'm back from tour, and I listened to a lot of music while I was away. Here's my playlists for the month of Oct. and Nov.

October

1. David Bowie - Sunday

2. Nirvana - Scentless Apprentice (2013 Mix)

3. Katy Perry - International Smile

4. Juana Molina - Eras

5. Cults - Always Forever

6. Lykke Li - Hanging High

7. Elvis Costello - Sneaky Feelings

8. Porno For Pyros - Tahitian Moon

9. Surfer Blood - Demon Dance

10. Big Star - Thirteen

11. Katy Perry - Ghost

12. Flat Earth Society - Snaggletooth

13. Bishop Allen - Click, Click, Click, Click

14. Baths - Miasma Sky

15. September Girls - Wanting More

16. The 6ths - You You You You You

November

1. Oneohtrix Point Never - Zebra

2. Generationals - Spinoza

3. Wild Cub - Thunder Clatter

4. San Fermin - Sonsick

5. A.C. Newman - Hostages

6. Oneohtrix Point Never - Boring Angel

7. Anna Calvi - Love Of My Life

8. Ke$ha - Backstabber

9. Lee Ranaldo and the Dust - Key/Hole

10. Throwing Muses - Morning Birds 1

11. They Might Be Giants - Careful What You Pack

12. Teenage Fanclub - Save

13. Generationals - Say When

14. Oneohtrix Point Never - Cryo

[andrewtholl]

August and September Playlists

Here's mixes for both the month of August and September

August

1. The Walkmen - In The New Year

2. Jens Lekman - The Opposite of Hallelujah

3. Death Grips - Guillotine

4. Solange - Some Things Never Seem to Fucking Work

5. Nicki Minaj - Beez In The Trap

6. Nedelle - Good Grief

7. Grimes - Oblivion

8. Kim Deal - Are You Mine?

9. The Smiths - This Charming Man

10. Soundgarden - Jesus Christ Pose

11. Liz Phair - 6'1"

12. Sebadoh - The Freed Pig

13. Goldspot - Rewind

  September

1. Pity Sex - Wind-Up

2. Nedelle Torrisi - I Love Thousands Every Summer

3. Megafaun - Guns

4. Paul McCartney - New

5. Discovery - Can You Discover?

6. Kishi Bashi - I Am the Antichrist to You

7. No Age - C'mon, Stimmung

8. Chelsea Wolfe - Destruction Makes the World Burn Brighter

9. Spoon - The Minor Tough

10. Cryptacize - Water Witching Wishes

11. Ke$ha - Wherever You Are

12. Nedelle Torrisi - Psychic Returns

13. Motion City Soundtrack - The Future Freaks Me Out

14. Spoon - Me And The Bean

15. Neko Case - Ragtime

[theechola]

Church Sessions with Julia Holter 9.11

$18.00 - $21.00

First Unitarian Church - Los Angeles

All Ages

[andrewtholl]

Tomorrow night!

[theechola]

If you’ve been checking out the music blogosphere the last few days, the name Julia Holter is everywhere. The singer released her latest studio album Loud City Song on August 19, 2013 to the acclaim of blogs like NPR and Pitchfork. Pitchfork went so far as to deem Holter’s released...

[pitchfork]

Read Lindsay Zoladz's review of experimental pop artist Julia Holter's Loud City Song, our latest Best New Music pick.

[andrewtholl]

So happy to have been able to play on this album with Julia and all the other awesome musicians (Chris Votek, Corey Fogel, Devin Hoff, Matt Barbier, Cole Greif-Neill)

[andrewtholl]

July 2013 Playlist

Here's my (very late) mix for the month of July.

1. Stereolab - "Plastic Mile"

2. Washed Out - "It All Feels Right"

3. Built to Spill - "In The Morning"

4. Tom Waits - "I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You"

5. Hüsker Dü - "Makes No Sense At All"

6. The Twilight Singers - "Hyperballad"

7. Women - "Eyesore"

8. The Velvet Underground - "Sweet Jane"

9. Superchunk - "Does Your Hometown Care?"

10. Foster The People - "I Would Do Anything For You"

11. Sibylle Baier - "Tonight"

12. Bjork - "Hyperballad"

13. Women - "Venice Lockjaw"

14. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - "We No Who U R"

15. Solange - "Losing You"

[emmeroids]

Stayed up way way past my bedtime to catch this Julia Holter show last night. Way way worth it.

[andrewtholl]

Look! It’s me and Julia Holter

[treasuremammalphoenix]

Here is a little preview of what Treasure MammaL has been up to in the studio!  This shit will wake you up like a fresh cup of some strong morning coffee! Our tour starts onThursday July 11th at Lot 1 in Los Angeles. GET READY!

[andrewtholl]

Treasure Mammal is coming to CA on tour. I can't go see them because I'll be on tour as well, but you should totally go.

[andrewtholl]

June 2013 Playlist

Here's my playlist for the month of June. This month, with short brief commentary.

1. Oblivians - "I'll Be Gone"

2. David Lynch and Lykke Li - "I'm Waiting Here"

3. Alpine - "Villages"

4. Pavement - "Summer Babe (Winter Version)"

5. Julia Holter - "Marienbad"

6. Jon Hopkins - "Abandon Window"

7. Majical Cloudz - "I Don't Believe In Anybody"

8. The Cleaners From Venus - "Helpless"

9. Stars - "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead"

10. Ke$ha - "Blind"

11. Neko Case - "Man"

12. NEXT Collective - "Refractions In the Plastic Pulse"

13. Miles Davis/Charlie Parker - "Boplicity"

14. Beck - "Defriended"

15. Barbara Lewis - "Hello Stranger"

Spotify Playlist:

[andrewtholl]

Julia Holter Tour

I'm happy to announce that I'll be joining Julia Holter on her tour this summer in anticipation of her new album, Loud City Song (which I also played on). The album comes out Aug. 20th in the U.S. on Domino. Tour dates (as well a few of my other upcoming performances) can be found on my events page.

Here's the video for the first track off the album:

[devin-hoff-deactivated20170426]

“FORK” Nels Cline, Tim Berne, Ches Smith, Jim Black, DH (live @ Shapeshifter, Brooklyn, NY)

[andrewtholl]

Some of my favorite musicians playing together.

[andrewtholl]

May 2013 Playlist

Here's my mix for the month of May.

1. Pretty & Nice - Stallion & Mare

2. She & Him - Hold Me. Thrill Me, Kiss Me

3. Deerhunter - Sleepwalking

4. Bjork - Virus

5. Majical Cloudz - Turns Turns Turns

6. Colin Stetson - Among the Sef

7. Laura Mvula - Make me Lovely

8. Lesley Gore - You Don't Own Me

9. Pretty & Nice - Critters

10. Daft Punk - Doin' it Right

11. Sam Amidon - He's Taken My Feet

12. The National - I Should Live in Salt

13. Vampire Weekend - Don't Lie

[andrewtholl]

Apr. 2013 Playlist

    Rather than write a song by song commentary this month, I thought I’d try talking about the songs as a collection.     In the first part of the month, all I wanted to listen to was a bunch of songs soaked in reverb...both Panda Bear and Atlas Sound use reverb more or less as a constant aesthetic choice, and, despite its title, the Magnet Fields Distortion album seems to be as much an exploration of reverb as anything else.     The Wavves track which opens the mix is a carryover from last month. The whole album is excellent, but this seems to be one of the standout tracks. The chorus oddly reminds me of Nevermind era Nirvana. The songs introduction seemed like a great way to start this mix...a prelude if you will.     I’m still making up my mind about the new James Blake album. I had very high expectations, and I’m not sure if they have been met. But Blake’s first album also took a lot of time to grow on me (for months I hated him) so we’ll see. However, “To The Last” seemed pretty brilliant from from the start.     Paws entire Cokefloat! album is amazing. I don’t really know anything about this band, but I discovered them when Greg Katz (of LA Font) put out a mix last month and I’ve been listening to the whole thing non-stop since then.     At night I’ve been listening to my ipod on shuffle. I’m about 1500 songs into the 5000 or so that are on there. Both the Wilco and PJ Harvey tracks came up during the course of this month and stood out to me. The Wilco is one I’m very familiar with...I was just reminded that it’s a really good early Wilco track. But PJ Harvey’s “The Piano” is a song I never really paid much attention to until now. I guess I’m still considering it.     Everyone has been talking about the new, highly anticipated, Daft Punk album. I got in a big Twitter argument with my friend Casey about this new first single. He thinks it’s a less interesting rehash of things Daft Punk did on their Discovery album. I think he’s just plain wrong. It’s a little hard to judge how the whole album is going to be based on this first single, but I have high hopes. While Daft Punk has put out a lot of great songs over the years, I’ve yet to find an album of theirs that I could listen to contently from beginning to end. I hope that this new album will do it. Also, just like I predicted last month that Rhye’s Woman was going to be a huge summer hit, I think the new Daft Punk will be the other thing everyone is listening to...by the pool (everyone will save the Rhye album for later at night after the sun sets).     The Monks are still good. That is all.     La Femme’s “It’s Time To Wake Up” and letherette’s “Hard Martha” are both tracks that I discovered through KCRW. The La Femme track pretty much sounds just like Stereolab, although somehow more French. I don’t know anything about letherette but I’m pretty into the sound world they’re creating here. It’s not really anything new and groundbreaking, but it’s really good.     I discovered Extra Life this month thanks to Caleb Burhans (who was recently out in LA from NY to play Ty Braxton’s Central Market with the LA Phil as well as joining me on the Bach Double Concerto with Wild Up). Extra Life is the perfect combination of metal and medieval music. “Black Hoodie” is a pretty good example of this (although other tracks of theirs are way heavier). Lyrically it’s full of goth imagery (like black hoodies and dying), musically it’s full of a pretty “pop” chord progression, melismas, and instrumental interludes alternating between violin and sax. This is probably the thing I’ve listened to the most this month.     The last track on this months mix is an epic 20 minute instrumental from Thurston Moore’s Psychic Hearts album. This is probably a carry over from having seen Chelsea Light Moving last month. Just listen to it while you fall asleep. 1. Wavves - “Sail To The Sun” 2. The Magnetic Fields - “I’ll Dream Alone” 3. James Blake - “To The Last” 4. Paws - “Catherine 1956” 5. Panda Bear - “Ponytail” 6. Wilco - “ELT” 7. Daft Punk - “Get Lucky” 8. The Monks - “I Can’t Get Over You” 9. Atlas Sound - “Kid Klimax” 10. letherette - “Hard Martha” 11. La Femme - “It’s Time To Wake Up - 2023” 12. PJ Harvey - “The Piano” 13. Extra Life - “Black Hoodie” 14. Thurson Moore - “Elegy For All The Dead Rock Stars”

[andrewtholl]

Here's The Muffs Playing a Pixies song live at the Satellite.