The FAT Website est. 1999
i knew this would fucking happen. not a week after i posted my “BESTEST MOST DEFINITIVE NEVER EVER CHANGING LIST OF AWESOME 2010 MUSIC” then i go and find something completely off my radar that has become hands down my favourite record of the year.
The Heligoats are the on-again, off-again musical output of Chris Otepka – lead singer/guitarist of the now defunct (and criminally underrated) Troubled Hubble. Troubled Hubble were a band that i fell in love with whilst i was living in Adelaide, they combined a pop-tinged indie sound with a fantastic lyrical quirkiness (see I Love My Canoe & I’m Pretty Sure I Can See Molecules) and i was pretty bummed out when i heard they broke up.
after this, Chris fell completely off my radar until last week when i stumbled across The Heligoats’ Goodness Gracious, a more mature, folk-centric extension of what he had previously been doing. I never expected that anything could top the awesomeness of Troubled Hubble but i have to say this record totally blew me away and i haven’t been able to stop listening to it since. The songs are intricate and charming and just fucking stellar. if you’re at all into thoughtful, acoustic folk indie whatever you want to call it (ie. The Mountain Goats, Tallest Man on Earth, Death Cab for Cutie) i cannot urge you enough to give this record a try, you’ll truly be glad you did. and i’m just glad that there was still excellent music to be found out before the year’s end.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f1AkDCqrd4[/youtube]
i totally wanted to post Chris’ NPR Tiny Desk session but it appears wordpress wont let me post videos that aren’t youtube or vimeo. lame.
it’s really super good – just him and a small guitar and some songs and some stories.
That song you posted was really good. Bonus points for Fat Sonic the Hedgehog at the end.
Also, one of my favourite performances this year is Kanye West’s ‘live music video’ he did on his SNL performance.