The Fashionably Late Top 60 of 2013: #32 – Dame Blanche

When it comes to year-end lists, y'all know I don't mess around. I don't post my picks from the previous year for weeks after the next year has started. In 2013 there was a bounty of music that entered the world that made me deliriously happy to be blessed with the sense of sound. So I have pondered, marinated, and contemplated for weeks. Music from 2013 has been digested for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and yes, even dessert). And now, friends, it's time. Time to share with you what I consider the cream of one heck of a crop indeed. You might see things omitted here that you think should be on a Best Of list. This list isn't what I think you want to read. This list is what I feel about last year. These are records and songs that really mattered to me for one reason or another. If it's not here, I either didn't spend enough time with it or just didn't love it quite enough. A big, big thank you to all of the artists who created the music on this list, the music that I fell in love with last year.

WHO: Dame Blanche

WHAT: Taking Happiness

WHEN: January 2013

WHERE: Self-released

WHY: There’s a little swagger to the sound of Dame Blanche, a little extra swing in their collective step, and I’d have to say it’s warranted. After all, it’s a collection of wonderful kooky spookiness they’ve put forth. Each song on Taking Happiness is noisy, languidly lo-fi and fuzzed out to the max, and emits a most satisfying, somewhat shambolic scuzzy racket. At times a bit of mad, funhouse organ cuts through, adding a certain wacky quality to the music of these mysterious French folks that I find totally irresistible. 

MY JAMS: All seven of them.







[posted 3.8.14]