The Ether Space

Lost Albums

2011-01-02T23:02:00.003Z

Having a quick wander through town today, I spotted and flicked through the latest NME which claimed to list the top 100 albums 'You've Never Heard'. I decided to have a gander and sure enough, I hadn't heard of 90% of the bands/albums. I got me thinking about albums I own/have heard that probably haven't been heard by that many people and could qualify as 'lost'. So, lets have a quick list, going alphabetically:

Aereogramme- My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go (2007)

After 3 albums that veered between heavy distorted rock and calm piano led moments, Aereogramme made an album that was mostly on the calm side. Strings played a larger role than ever in setting the largely optimistic and happy mood and the album produced gems such as 'Concious Life For Coma Boy', 'A Life Worth Living', 'Finding A Light' and the genius album sequencing of 'Nightmares' followed by 'The Running Man'. It's very accessible but it didn't prove a turning point for the band they eventually split up amicably.

Cardiacs- Sing To God (1996)

One of the most criminally overlooked bands of all time, this double album is 2 hours of near perfection. It's filled with freak outs ('Eat It Up Worms Hero'), hugs rock songs ('Firey Gun Hand'), strange instrumentation ('Wireless'), songs where everything seems to be pushed together ('No Gold') and epic songs that leave you speechless ('Dirty Boy'). It's brimming with ideas and a relentless listen. Sadly, leader Tim Smith suffered a heart attack in 2008 and all band activity has ground to a halt whilst he has been recouperating. Let's hope he does recover as it would be a huge lost to the world of music if he had to call it quits.

Chokebore- Black Black (1999)

An album filled with darkness and despair, and less rocking than their previous albums. Nevertheless, it's an album tinged with absolute beauty at times with Troy Von Balthazar's stunning lyrics at the fore of the album. Highlights are the heartbreaking 'Speed of Sound', the desperate 'Sunshine of my Life', the bar room crawl of 'Where is the Assasin?' and the rockers 'The Perfect Date' and 'Alaska'. Chokebore split in 2003, but have recently reformed to tour and are back making music again.

Easyworld- This Is Where I Stand (2002)

3 piece power indie that at times is sheer fun in 3 minutes ('Try Not To Think', 'You & Me'), has moments of sadness ('This Is Where I Stand', 'You Were Right') but also features one of the best indie rock songs of the last decade ('Bleach'). It's brilliant and should've made them huge, but it came a little too late, as there was already a lot of bands making similar music (example being the equally excellent JJ72). Easyworld made one more excellent album with Kill The Last Romantic, but it was a large left turn from this album being very dark and piano led. The band split up and lead singer David Ford has recently released his 3rd solo album.

Failure- Fantastic Planet (1996)

Coming at a time where grunge and US alternative rock in general wasn't the huge mainstream draw it had been a few years before, Failures final album was a progression from the typical sound of the time. It's expertly produced and features some amazing rock songs which move away from the dirty distortion of grunge and something more spacier. The final 5 songs of 'The Nurse Who Loved Me', 'Another Space Song', 'Stuck On You', 'Heliotropic' and 'Daylight', might just be the finest run of songs on any albums I've heard. The band called it a day after touring the album. Ken Andrews does occasional solo work and is a much sought after producer, whilst Greg Andrews can be found in Autolux making lots of fuzzy noise.

Fortune Drive- A Modern Question (2007)

5-piece Fortune Drive had a distinctive brand of indie featuring sharp guitars, jangly pianos and soulful vocals. The album is filled to the brim of some of the most fun music you'll ever hear, with the propulsive 'My Grilfriends An Arsonist', the rocking 'Sparkle', the joyous 'Recent Advances, Vol.2' and the epic noise filled 'To The Rye'. They never quite got noticed even after a series of blistering live shows. Eventually members were lost by various ways and means and the band rejigged itself under the name Yes Rebels instead. They can still be found gigging around the Bristol area.

Levi Weaver- You Are Never Far From Home, You Are Never Close To Home (2007)

Recorded, produced and released entirely on his own and performed with the help of friends and session players, Levi Weavers debut is a marvelously mature mix of folk, country and indie rock. Its introverted lyrics can relate to anyones heartbreak or loss with particular highlights being the epic 'Dear Friend', rocker 'Family Fued', the hearbreaking 'You Are Home', the angry 'Which Drink?' and the gentle 'Epistle for Sal'. It also features a brilliant cover of Radioheads 'Idioteque'. Much touring followed and whilst he's not a household name, Levi is still working hard on his music and is on the verge of releasing his second album.

Matthew Jay- Draw (2001)

Draw is one of the most wonderful and beautiful albums ever. At the height of the NMe invented scene 'New Acoustic Movement', Matthew Jay's music, whilst it fell in the category, was more progressive, mixing his acoustics with light electronic touches ('Molasses', 'Remember This Feeling'), whilst also allowing himself to get louder on some songs ('I Only Meant To Say', 'Call My Name Out'). It features song absolutely gorgeous moments too with 'Meteorology', 'Four Minute Rebellion' and 'World Away'. Tragically, Matthew Jay passed away in 2003 when he fell out of the window of his apartment. His second album was completed by his friends and family after his passing.

Seafood- Surviving The Quiet (2000)

At a time when most UK indie was made up of quiet, introverted acoustic led bands, Seafood should have been a breath of fresh air. Having listened to too much US alternative rock they came out with their own take on the sound and produced an excellent debut album of noisy rock. 'Guntrip', 'Easypath' and 'This Is Not An Exit' are fast paced rockers that you have to jump around to, whilst 'Dear Leap The Ride' and 'Led By Bison' are quieter moments of calm before storms. 'Folksong Crisis' is one of the most epic and noisy songs you'll ever hear close an album too. They went unnoticed sadly and after their second album 'When Do We Start Fighting?', lead singer David Line suffered a collapsed lung forcing the band to have a break. When they returned they'd shifted their sound to a darker more experimental path which equally should've made them more popular, but eventually it was announced in 2009 that the band had gone their separate ways.

You Slut!- Critical Meat (2007)

The shortest album on this list at 24 minutes, but the most exilerating. Nottingham/Derby four piece You Slut! make a distinctive brand of instrumental rock that is loud, fast and constantly shifting direction. It's nothing less than fun and you can't help but jump and rock out to it. The momentum they built up with this album stalled slightly when their drummers health took a dip and they became busy with side projects. However, a new album is apparently in the works.

That's all I've got now. Feel free to share what you think are lost albums.

James Ether's Album of the Year 2010

2010-12-31T11:21:00.002Z

Well I'm finally there. I've left it til the last minute, but whats the fun in doing everything at once and on time? Let's have a brief recap of my top 20:

20. Mountain Man- Made The Habor
19. Caribou- Swim
18. For A Minor Reflection- Höldum í átt að óreiðu
17. LCD Soundsystem- This Is Happening
16. Broken Social Scene- Forgiveness Rock Record
15. Interpol- Interpol
14. Jonsi- Go
13. Beach House- Teen Dream
12. Warpaint- The Fool
11. Titus Andronicus- The Monitor
10. Los Campesinos!- Romance Is Boring
9. Wolf Parade- Expo 86
8. Laura Marling- I Speak Because I Can
7. Sky Larkin- Kaleide
6. 65daysofstatic- We Were Exploding Anyway
5. Blood Red Shoes- Fire Like This
4. Oceansize- Self Preserved While The Bodies Float Up
3. The National- High Violet
2. Arcade Fire- The Suburbs

It's been an excellent year for follow up albums this year. Not many debuts made it into my list this year, but then I didn't find many new bands that did it for me. But each album on this list has soundtracked my year somewhat and put a grin on my face for a long period of time. But none of them could quite reach the heights of the album that absolutely floored me when I first heard it, and continues to floor me everytime I've listened to it since.

But what is that album I hear no-one cry? Well, drum roll please...

1. Amusement Parks On Fire- Road Eyes

I didn't expect this album to top my end of year list when I heard of its existance, I really didn't. But the instant I finished listening to it I knew there was no other position in this list it could take. Due to the lack opf a UK release (confusing when they're a UK band) I had to import the album from the USA to get my hands on it. It was worth the effort and waiting though. Road Eyes outclasses every other album this year and might well be Amusement Parks On Fire's best album yet in a nearly perfect back catalogue.

It kicks off with the title track, and if you claim you've heard a more epic opener this year you are simply lying. Its wall of sound and huge shoegaze guitars float in somewhere existential, whilst the chorus features the most anthemic and most settling lyric ever 'Anything could happen in your life'. It's a simple way to alternatively say 'Everything will be alright' but it just lifts your spirits and makes you feel like a happier person. you barely get a chance to take in the song though a 'Flashlight Planetarium' erupts and rocks harder than any other song I've heard this year. Fast, noisy and addictive fun, it's the sort of song thats so simply writtern yet perfectly layered and fleshed out, that it makes other songwriters jealous. So jealous in fact I can imagine them quitting their careers, discarding everything they've written to that point, go back to the drawing board to write better music, only to give up again because they know they can't.

'Inside out' calms the album down briefly and lets an acoustic ballad take the lead for a while. But APOF can stay quiet, so the song soon starts to build up and is eventually covered in layers of guitars and strings. It's absolutely beautiful. 'Raphael' follows it up loudly, with crunchy, ringing guitars reminiscent of The Smashing Pumpkins. Another epic track that features strings layered over the top it's just as stunning as 'Inside Out' in the beautiful stakes.

The beuty doesn't last long though. 'Echo Park // Infinite Delay' rocks the fuck out of the entire album. It's fast and furious, and indeed features some impressive use of delay. It's impossible not to jump about to it and be taken in by its world. 'Wave Of The Future' is another dark rocker but it grooves slower, letting out its fury in short bursts in the chrous whilst its verses aresynth led (well, guitars that sound like synths) and quiet with a somewhat menacing side.

'So Naturally' then takes epic and pushes it to a new level. Starting with just guitar and vocals you can feel the emotionally wrought tension build as more guitars, bass and drums enter the fold and push the song stratospheric. It's absolutely stunning again. It's followed by the noisy optimistic rock of 'Water From The Sun' which is short and sweet and essentially makes you smile more than you've ever smiled before. It's closed with a long outro of noise and fuzz swirlign round which you just get lost in. But it's just setting you up for the big finish.

'Inspects The Evil Side' starts quietly. Michael Feericks quite vocals and guitars get slowly louder though, with some quiet drums entering the mix adding to the build. More guitars then enter and the song gets louder and more aggressive. Things grow more tense and the song threatens to erupt into a huge climax. And it nearly does as it starts to get away from itself. But Amusmement Parks On Fire just rein it in with a rush of feedback and let it fade out quickly. It's reduced back to vocals and guitars. The tease's. The calm is the quickly built up again though as more guitars enter and set the song running again with another build. But this time the band let it hit its peak. It erupts to an epic cacophony of noise, layered guitars and strings are swirling around each other in one beautiful stunning whole. It finally lets go and finished admist a wall of guitars that fade to leave strings sigh sadly as the album closes. It's utterly amazing.

Thus end the album. It's a big acheivement for the band. It's bigger and bolder than before and is full of genius songwriting that's paced and excuted perfectly throughout. It's addictive and fun and can't be put down. It wins my album of the year very easily.

Well that's it. I hope you've enjoyed this trek through my self indulgence. Until next year, have a mix of choice tracks from the albums: http://www.mixcloud.com/jamesether/the-halfway-home-best-of-2010/

Thanks for reading!

Albums of the Year 2010 #2

2010-12-30T00:18:00.003Z

We've nearly finished this longwinding self indulgent exercise. Number 1 is just around the corner. But before that let's have:

2. Arcade Fire- The Suburbs

The Suburbs came so close to being my album of the year. So, so close. I proclaimed in august that I doubted I'd find a better album this year. I was suprised I didn't put this at number 1 in the end to be honest. But let's not dwell on that, lets talk about how The Suburbs is absolutely fucking brilliant.

I won't bother comparing their albums, as it's pointless and unconsturctive when a band has changed their sound around like Arcade Fire have. The Suburbs see's the band take their cathartic sound and instead of looking inwards or at the world, they move closer to home and make a loose concept album about growing up, leaving home and returning. As with everything they do, they do it well.

It opens with the title track's jaunty piano and confusion. It's a calm way to start and album, but it's followed by 'Ready To Start', a far more tnese and rocking sond filled with chiming guitars a deep bass. It features more of Arcade Fire's trade mark cathartic lyrics and is a bit awesome. 'Modern Man' is a calm repreve following such tension and bobs along quite nicely and quietly. 'Roccoco' then rears its ugly head however. Initially led by acoustics the song builds up and is covered in layers until an electric guitar slices through the lot. All the while Win Butler is chanting Roccoco like a man pocessed. It sounds like a swim through a swamp and is amazing.

But not as amazing as 'Empty Room'. My jaw dropped and stayed open the first time I heard this song. It opens with strings played quick and violently until feedback starts up and the song explodes into a fast rocker with Regine singing some of the most desperate and heartbreaking lyrics ever. It near verges on shoegaze and is so awesome it will push you to the floor, let you get back up only to push you off a cliff instead. One of my songs of the year easily.

'Half Light' parts 1 and 2 lead into each other perfectly. Part 1 is a soft and sad track that can wrench your heart out, whilst ending on a beat that leads into the synth led farmyard stomp of part 2, a song that's difficult to sit still during. It's pure fun in song form. Another quiet respite of 'Suburban War' only sets you up for the mayhem of 'Month of May'. Essetinally a punk song and possibly the most aggressive song the band have ever done, it's 3 minutes of rock and noise thats like a puinch to the face. But one you like. It's somewhat breathtaking.

Two more lovely acoustic based tracks follow from this, the gorgeous 'Wasted Hours', which is alomst a folk song, and the amazing 'Deep Blue' which sounds almost country. But they only distract from the finale of Sprawl. 'Sprawl I' is a sad ode to urbanisation, but 'Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)' is another synth driven disco room dance. It's twists and turns whilst never letting you stop dancing for a moment. It might well be the best song released all year it's so amazing.

After a brief orchestral reprise of 'The Suburbs (continued)' the album comes to a close. It's a different album from what Arcade Fire have done in the past, and moves their sound on a bit. It's still utterly brilliant and is an album they can definitely be proud of, full of more amazing songs than any other album this year.

Well, apart from number 1...

Albums of the Year 2010 #3

2010-12-29T17:02:00.003Z

On the home straight I think:

3. The National- High Violet

I saw The National in 2008 at Rock Werchter festival. At the time I knew 2 songs, Secret Meeting and Lit Up. They played those songs that day as well as a selection from their two excellent albums Alligator and Boxer. It would take me until the end of 2009 to actually get either of these albums but they’re two of the most wonderful and heart wrenching albums I’ve ever heard and could quite easily end up in my top albums ever. Or they would, if it wasn’t for the fact that on album number 5, High Violet, The National have outdone themselves to make the best album of their career to date.

In part it’s due to Matt Beringhers superb lyrics. He’s been through it all with a broken heart and he understands how to relate those feelings to others. ‘Terrible Love’ opens the album with steady build up of layers to a cacophony of noise, as Matt croons ‘it takes an ocean not to break’; recognising the difficulty in overcoming lost love. It’s anthemic, but yet deeply personal at the same time, a feeling that runs throughout the album. ‘Sorrow’ is a quiet track that conveys the loneliness after a break up, ‘I don’t want to get over you’ being the lyric that gets you in the stomach here.

‘Anyone’s Ghost’ is more typical National affair with driving drums and guitars interweaving each other over Matt’s baritone. It’s overshadowed by the stunning ‘Little Faith’, a dark pit of a song which almost gives into the darkness in the world, sound-tracked by violins and drums from hell. ‘Afraid of Everyone’ features more propulsive drums beneath desperate sounding guitars and piano’s whilst Matt seems to give up on life itself, ‘You voice is swallowing my soul’ he recounts to the girl driving him insane. But then the darkness thrust away by a medley of brilliant tracks. ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’ is one of The National’s most optimistic songs, a quiet rocker that instils happiness in the hearts of those who hear it. ‘Lemonworld’ is another wall of noise that features more layered guitars and pianos, the band finally content with their lives.

‘’Runaway; is a brief return to darkness and loneliness, a simple acoustic driven number backed by violins as Matt tries to confront that former lover again, ‘what makes you think I enjoy being led to the flood?’ he asks. It’s another gut wrenching moment and simply beautiful. ‘Conversation 16’ is a final kiss off as it makes combines more swirling guitars and rustic drumming before the album reaches its grand finale.

‘England’ opens with pianos and trumpets before it builds up to another peak of drums and guitars spiralling out of control over Matt’s desperate pleas to the world. It’s stunning and a truly magical moment in the album. The album itself ends on another acoustic led optimistic note, this time ‘Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks’. A quiet ode to getting past your troubles and moving on with your life, it’s weirdly anthemic and lovely.

The National already have a reputation of being a brilliant band thanks to their 4 previous albums, in particular, Alligator and Boxer. High Violet simply betters all expectations however and places The National on a level above their peers. It’s a mature, heartbreaking album that cannot be ignored.

Albums of the Year 2010 #4

2010-12-29T16:51:00.003Z

Getting closer:

4. Oceansize- Self Preserved While The Bodies Float Up

I often state to friends, family and acquaintances that Oceansize are one of my all time favourite bands. 12 years into their career and I can scarcely think of a song by them I don’t like. Self Preserved.... continues their streak of releasing stunning album after stunning album. Like I would think anything less of it?

The album opens on a false note with a trio of ridiculously heavy songs, even by Oceansize standards. ‘Part Cardiac’ is distorted, twisted and filled with so much menace that it sounds like a pissed off titan finally released from its prison after millennia of waiting. It's a tortured crawl through Oceansize's darker side and pretty much brilliant. It finishes with a swell of feedback, through which ‘Superimposer’ erupts triumphantly. A bright and more optimistic track that ‘Part Cardiac’, it races through its epic verses and chorus before a grin inducing Cardiacs style bridge. It ends on an almost anthemic note as Mike and Steve sing ‘This is how the wars get started’. Following track ‘Build Us a Rocket Then...’ sounds like that war. Again another sudden start with blistering drum rolls from Mark Heron (who is almost certainly the best drummer in the UK today) along with wild guitar pyrotechnics make the 3 minute burst one of the most complicated, but most thrilling and accessible songs they’ve ever committed to tape. All in all, it’s 3 tracks of sheer genius.

But then the album takes a markedly different direction. ‘Oscar Acceptance Speech’ is an 8 minute epic that starts minimally with drums and piano before guitars enter the fray. It never erupts into the cacophony of noise it threatens to be throughout the tension it builds up; instead it gives way to three minutes of strings that are backed by Gambler’s lonely piano. It’s utterly beautiful. ‘Ransoms’ follows and is again, very minimal and slow, with each instrument placed exactly in the mix. At times it’s layered together giving a mild shoegaze feel. This shoegaze feel is more explicit on ‘A Penny’s Weight’. Again another slow and quiet song, but this time the almost keyboard like guitars are layered over each other to create a gentle wall of sound. It could soundtrack lying in a field during the summer quite easily.

Album highlight ‘Silent/Transparent’ rears its head next, and immediately distinguishes itself as one of the finest tracks Oceansize have ever recorded. It starts with Mark’s lonely drums, before quiet interweaving guitars take the song on a steady flow with Mike’s cryptic lyrics. After several minutes it stops however, and suddenly it starts to build up quietly. The guitars start to interweave further and the bass and drums start to set a rhythm. Without warning the guitars burst into riffs that interweave and build around the rhythm set by Mark and Steven. It gets louder and more distorted, reaching an ear piercing peak until it stops dead. It’s 8 minutes of brilliance again.

‘It’s My Tail and I’ll Chase it if I want to’ follows and barely lasts 3 minutes. It’s loud distorted and played at breakneck speed with Mark virtually battering his drums to pieces and Mike spewing out his lyrics venomously (joined by guest Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro fame). It’s followed by the gorgeous ‘Pine’ that again starts with quiet guitar riffs that are joined by strings in another gentle wall of noise. It’s so moving it could make grown men cry. ‘Superimposter’ then closes the album on a dark and devilish tone, growing in menace before slipping away disconcertingly. After a mostly optimistic album is a disjointed, yet ace way to finish the album.

On their 4th album Oceansize yet again prove themselves as masters of their art. Self Preserved... is brilliantly written and performed and makes you change your perceptions of how music can be made. If there was any justice in the world, they’d be the best known and most loved rock band in Britain.

Albums of the Year 2010 #5

2010-12-27T15:26:00.007Z

Things get personal now:

5. Blood Red Shoes- Fire Like This

Blood Red Shoes have meant a lot to me this year. A LOT. The album was released on Monday 1st March in the UK and I'd spent the 2 months prior to that getting patiently excited over the album as the songs were slowly released on a stream on their site. the Fire Like This put those songs in order and everything made sense. I've been listening to this album for nearly 10 months now and I still haven't had enough.

To focus on the album for a bit, it's a progression from Box Of Secrets. Lyrically the band have improved drastically, the riffs are biggers and crunchier, and the production is both stripped down and streamlined to give the album and awesome sound. 'Don't Ask' tears through the speakers with a fierce energy so infectious it can't be ignored. 'Light It Up' then turns up the volumne to take BRS to a huge, nearly anthemic level. Indeed the chanting of 'Light It Up' was a favourite of various festival crowds this year. 'Light It Up' does the quiet/loud thing so well it hurts to think of how simple yet brilliantly written it is. It makes songwriters jealous.

'It Is Happening Again' follows from this and has been one of my favourite songs of the entire year. Starting suddenly without remorse the drums dip in and out before Laura-Mary Carter starts to sing of regrets of actions she wishes she'd never taken. The song then build up to it's chorus and erupts; 'Oh No! Oh No! Everybody out! Everybody out of here! I can't stand it! Everybody out! Everybody out of here!' It's so utterly amazing and strikes so many different chords in your heart it can't be ignored.

'When We Wake' is a complete opposite in comparison. It starts off quietly and lonely with Laura-Mary's vocals creeping through the emptiness. Steven Ansell's drums then slowly join the song and it builds up, slowly but surely, until Laura-Mary presses a distortion pedal and lets rip on her guitar. But then it stops and Laura-Mary croons away some final lines. The only word for this song is beautiful.

'Keeping It Close' and 'Count Me Out' are bigger and more confident songs than in the past. They feature more streamlined riffs and are bigger in scope. But then there's Heartsink which slides into view of Laura-Mary's tremolo guitar as Steven starts up a slow beat. It's replaced by something far more danceable however, as guitar riffs slide in and out against steven's heavy drumming. It then pauses for the verse and builds up to the epic chorus. In the middle things get distinctly wild and guitars and drums head in multiple directions before stopping and rawing back together for the final chorus. It's brilliant, simple as.

'Follow The Lines' is a distinct development for BRS in its use of strings. It doesn't follow a typical song pattern and has a long mid section where the strings lead the song. It's a change that's so fleeting you want to hear more (and hopefully it'll be more investigated for future albums). 'One More Empty Chair' is a darker song with distinct Sonic Youth feel about it. Slow verses that build up to something bigger and darker in the chorus, a desperate plea in a sea of dark. It takes the album to a darker place than BRS have been before and everything seems a little creepy.

The album culminates with 'Colours Fade' though. It cuts through the darkness of before with something mean and heavy. It builds from a distorted guitar and Steven's singular drum into a maelstrom. Laura-Mary's guitars circle around Steven's drums until it starts to build to an even bigger peak, where the wall of sound get excrutiating. It then relents and they back down until the song finishes in the midst of feedback which slowly dies down.

The album is a step forward for BRS. They've bettered their debut and made something deeper and more mature. The simple answer for this is that, quite frankly, the songs are just better. As much as I love Box Of Secrets, Laura-Mary's and Steven's songwriting skills have developed beyond that album and the songs on Fire Like This are quite simply, better written and more thoughtfully executed. It's an amazing album.

Why do this band mean a lot to me? Well, BRS have toured more than any other band i like this year. Their album is one of a few albums released at the start of the year that I'm still listening to now (there are albums from september I've already given up on). Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell are two of the nicest people you'll ever meet and have soundtracked my 2010 for me. I've fallen in love to their music, I've had my heart broken to it. I've lost friends and made new ones whilst listening to it. I've been depressed and found happiness and they've always been there.

This band have meant so much that I saw them twice on the album release tour. I nearly got crushed to death in Leeds and met a group of wonderful new friends in Manchester. I then decided to follow them to Live at Leeds in May with more friends, then took a risk seeing them at Dot To Dot the day before my last exam at uni (when I needed to revise desperately). I sprinted across a field in Glastonbury to catch their set, missing the end of The National to do so. I then attended their two UK dates in October in Manchester and London, at the latter of which I got staggeringly drunk with the band whilst Laura-Mary dj-ed. I again met loads of new and wonderful friends on an epic night in London. It was enough to convince me to make an ill-informed trip to Prague with no money to see them one final time, and I've never travelled so far to see just 1 band before. I ended up doing the conga with them. It was weird.

If it wasn't for Blood Red Shoes I wouldn't have had as many weird, wonderful and exciting experiences as I've had this year, and I doubt I'd have met so many amazing people through it either. I had a shit few months from March to May but BRS were there to see me through, as were the friends I'd already made via this band when they'd released Box Of Secrets.

If I were to give a band of the year award it would be for Blood Red Shoes. I can think of very few bands who've changed my life as much as they have.

Blood Red Shoes mean a lot to me.

Albums of the Year 2010 #6

2010-12-27T14:59:00.002Z

The truth will out:

6. 65daysofstatic- We Were Exploding Anyway

I'm going to be honest here. I'm going to say something people may not like. I don't really think much of One Time For All Time or The Destruction Of Small Ideas. Yes, I don't really like 65's 2nd or 3rd albums. I just don't find the 2nd that interesting apart from Radio Protector, whilst I can't stand the production on the 3rd album which ruins what would be a good bunch of songs. Before this year I always held their debut The Fall Of Math as 65's best album. As this year finishes though I'm not entirely so sure of that. We Were Exploding Anyway is just utterly awesome and easily my favourite album of 65's since their debut.

It's a bit of a drastic change from their previous sound. Whilst the music can still be called math-rock (whatever the fuck that is) due to the general sound compared to their previous albums, WWEA has a distinctly more electronic and even drum and bass sound to it. The album is insanely danceable and it's an intense listen. 'Mountainhead' seems to start things off with it's pauses and glitches conveniently enough, but things change with 'Crash Tactics' and 'Dance Dance Dance'. These two songs race at an impecable speed and are full of an electronic sound blended in with their usual guitars bass and drums. The two tracks are tense and just have to be danced to. It's a huge change but it works well. Very well.

'Piano Fights' and 'Weak4' follow similar patterns but then 65 make another drastic change. 'Come To Me' is a very rare use of vocals in a 65 track. Not only that, the vocals are that of Robert Smith of The Cure fame. This long build up of swells and dips around Robert Smiths high pitched squeals is amazing, it build and builds until it lets go and runs off whilst uncle Rob sings the refrain. It's a magical moment and not something you can imagine in a 65 track before now.

'Go Complex' is a clear album highlight. Opening with deep bass throbs and glitches, the song is the most intense on the album and can barely contain itself. A near wall of noise whilst emphasised by the electronic drones at its core, it's impossible to stay still whilst listening and its sudden end only leaves you wanting more. The closing track 'Tiger Girl' is a clear career highlight of 65's too. It uncharacteristic of them, it's slow and never gets intense or goes utterly wild. But it builds around various layers of keyboards for 10 minutes whilst a beat propels it further and further, until final live drumming joins the fray and the song reaches a climax so epic it collapses under its own weight. It never gets too intense or carried away though and it's all the better for it.

We Were Exploding Anyway is certainly my favourite 65 album since The Fall Of Math. It moves the band into new areas and gives their sound a breath of fresh air to reimagine it. It's so utterly compelling it just has to be heard.

Albums of the Year 2010 #7

2010-12-27T14:00:00.003Z

We're getting to the really good stuff now:

7. Sky Larkin- Kaleide

'I know there's potential' sings Katie Harkin on Kaleide's opening track 'Still Windmills'. That first track alone shows off Sky Larkin's potential and the fact that they may have already suppassed whatever potential they showed in the first place. Kaleide is a brilliant second album and lives up to the expectations set by 2009's 'The Goldern Spike'.

Yet it's a different album. The Golden Spike was filled to the brim of a youthful optimistic energy that made the album addictive fun. But things are different here. Kaleide is an energetic album but it's a different kind of energy. It's confidence. And confidence goes further than youth. it makes Kaleide a much more compelling album. 'Still Windmills' erupts from your speakers and sets you on an unforgettable journey. The title track is slowly grooving song that never seems to erupt in anyway, but it displays the confidence that Sky Larkin know that every song does have to be loud and fast. 'Tiny Heist' also displays this slow groovy confidence that Sky Larkin have, with guitars dropping in an out willy nilly. It's awesome.

'Landlocked' is more typical, as it rocks out fast and loud but stops and starts to take breath occasionally. 'Anjelica Husten' is a huge wall of sound with layers of guitars and keyboards that is quite unlike anything Sky Larkin have produced before. It's slow and grooves (this is a very groovy album) and is quite wonderful. 'Spooktacular' is easily the most manic song on the album. It starts with a band and then just speeds up and gets faster and more tense as the song races to its finish with about 212374 layers of vocals over each other. It's amazing and has been a favourite since I first heard the album.

However, 'Spooktacular' is eclipsed by what I think is Sky Larkin's finest ever song. After the keyboard led fun of 'Year Dot' and the lost sounding 'Coffee Drinker', comes 'ATM'. And what a song 'ATM' is. It starts with a lonely lost guitar, which speeds up but isn't joined by anything other than the occasional percussion as Katie Harkin sings about loss and confusion, culminating in the chorus of 'there are things we will always wonder like whether a selfish heart is a truthful muscle or not?' It's an image thats striking and the song starts to grow around it, with bass and drums joining the fray before dropping out again. The song slowly builds up until it final releases the tension it's building in its finish as the songs finally reaches its peak and Katie plays a short but sweet guitar line to close the song. It's 4 minutes or sheer genius.

'Shade By Shade' rocks a little again and 'Guitars and Antarctica' slows things down more than Sky Larkin usually would but is filled of joy and optimism. The album finally closes with a new version of 'Smarts' that features purely guitar and a drum machine. It's a weird way to close the album but again, its full of confidence. Sky Larkin don't need to make a usual epic closer or a slow number or one final rock out. They're more than confident enough to break from the norm once in a while. Kaelide is quite simply brilliant and a perfect follow up to their debut. In fact it betters it by a light year. You need this album.

Albums of the Year 2010 #8

2010-12-27T13:14:00.004Z

It's like Jeremy Clarkson on special K:

8. Laura Marling- I Speak Because I Can

Oh Laura why do you keep doing this to me? Why do you have to make music that makes me fall in love with you more and more? More annoyingly, why did I have to miss 2 of your tours this year due to money issues or the fact you weren't playing anywhere near me?
I'm being picky now but Laura Marling has followed up her superb debut with another album of superb folk brilliance.

I Speak Because I Can is more mature that 'Alas I Cannot Swim' by a long way. Which is saying somethign cos the debut was already quite a mature album. Laura's lyrics hacve got stronger, and the range of instrumentation has expanded to give the album an even more rustic sound.

Opener 'Devil's Spoke' is a dirty and bluesy knees up with almost tribal drumming surrounding Laura's guitar and vocals. Laura's voice has transformed in the space of this one song. No longer does she sound like a teenager singing beyond her years, she now sounds like the grown up she is singing about love, loss and other dark and deep emotions. 'Made by Maid' is a lonely acoustic strum contemplating lonliness (suprisingly enough) but this is followed by 'Rambling Man' which build up layers of instruments from from banjo's, strings and drums to an awesome peak.

A reworking of b-side 'Blackberry Stone' turns it into a simmering beauty of a song before the dark and pessimistic 'Alpha Shallows' threatens to upturn the calm mood of the album with it's dark void, Laura's vocals getting more strained and panicky as the song progresses. It's breath taking and a clear album highlight. 'Goodbye England' fixes this with a wonderful optimistic ode to the english countryside. The pacing and arrangement of the songs is absolutely stunning and amazingly effective. It draws you in and keeps you hooked.

The darkness remains on 'Hope In The Air' but it's balanced by the calmer 'What He Wrote' and the jaunty 'Darkness Descends'. The album closes with the stunning title track, a track that seems to be a culmination of the album. A wide range of instruments and a mature feel that is absolutely stunning. It builds and builds until it releases its noise in a dramatic finale.

With album number 2 out of the way and done with perfect ease, it's interesting to see where Laura Marling will go next. But for now, 'I Speak Because I Can' is a stunning follow up and places her in the top league of the finiest UK acts around at the moment.

Albums of the Year 2010 #9

2010-12-27T12:26:00.002Z

Yes I'm late but I don't care:

9. Wolf Parade- Expo 86

I think I have to blame Petra for me liking this band. I distinctly remember in abuot March/April she went to see Wolf Parade and returned proclaiming how amazing the new material was. As usual for me it took me about 4 months to actually listen to someones recommendation but I purchased Expo 86 and wasn't disappointed in the slightest. Having returned to their earlier material too, I have to say I think it's Wolf Parade's best album.

It start's manically with 'Cloud Shadow On The Mountain's' propulsive drum beats before guitars and keyboards slither in and the song sets off on twisted road on tension and fun. don't ask me how but it just seems like that to me. Those two words define the album really. There's an underlying sense of tension, in that, everything could fall apart at any second, but the band keep it together all the time to stop it collapsing. At the same time, the album is just a huge amount of fun. It's impossible to not smile whilst listening, or to occasionally want to jump around uncontrollably.

'Palm Road' is a weird synth and guitars combo again propelled by propulsive drums. 'What Did My Lover Say?' stops and starts mechanically whilst 'Little Golden Age' creats a wonderous wall of sound over some soulful lyrics. The songs all have a similar guitar and keyboard driven sound, but the band have figured out how to pace the album perfectly, so the songs don't seem to run into each other and blend into one monotonus whole like a lot of albums can do. It's very well thought out.

'Ghost Pressure' and 'Oh You, Old Thing' are other highlights before a double of superb songs to close the album. 'Yulia' balances that tension and fun perfectly and is so giddily happy it makes me smile just thinking about the song. 'Cave-0-Sapian' then finishes the album on an epic note, guitars wildly swirling around each other as the band run through the 6 minutes at a fair pace before it fades away. It's a thrilling end to an album which can definitely be described as one of the most fun of the year.

Albums of the Year 2010 #10

2010-12-20T21:36:00.006Z

We might as well kick it off:

10. Los Campesinos!- Romance Is Boring

In 2008, Los Campesinos' debut Hold On Now Youngster came at #20 in my albums of the year. 2 years later, they've made drastic improvements in their sound and songwriting skills and created an album that builds on the strengths of that debut (and it's follow up We Are Beautiful We Are Doomed) and moves the band into new places. It's quite probably their best album yet.

Romance Is Boring is more inventive and progressive than their previous work and as a result has a more mature sound. Opener 'In Media Res' sets the tone of the album. It's slow and melodic, covered with multiple layers and could even be described as 'expansive'. It's actually stunning and it's hard to imagine that this is the same band as 2 years previously. 'There Are Listed Buildings' and the title track are more typical LC! songs, but they feature a wider range of instruments and more complex structures than before, whilst still being as undeniably fun as ever.

The album is perfectly balanced between their fun brand of indie pop and their gentler side. 'We've Got Your Back' and 'Who Fell Asleep In' showing that the band can do emotional slow songs without being smaltzy like many can be. Between these tracks though are the distorted fuzz of 'Plan A' and the lyrically genius 'Straight In At 101' which is a strong contender for their best song ever. Quiet loud dynamics and some of Gareths best word play and imagery make the song insanely addictive. This is just the first half of the album by the way. The second half follows a similar path but includes at least 3 more songs that could be classed as amongst the best the band have ever written.

Those songs: 'I Just sighed, I Just Sighed, Just So You Know' explodes in a wall of noise before hitting a breath taking stride that almost demands you jump up and down to it. Then there's the beautiful 'The Sea Is A Good place To Think Of The Future' which features some heart wrenching lyrics and builds up and ebbs away so perfectly it could actually make you cry. Finally, the closing number of 'Coda: A Burn Scar in the Shape of the Sooner State' which ends on another beautiful note and includes a the lyric of the album, "I can't believe I chose the mountains everytime you chose the sea'. A simple line that seems to perfectly describe the end of a relationship.

Bigger, stronger and simply better, Romance Is Boring should be the album that makes Los Campesinos! huge. Improvements in just about every area make it a winner.

Albums of the Year 2010 #11

2010-12-20T20:22:00.002Z

Straight outta'... Telford?

11. Titus Andronicus- The Monitor

This album was a case of hearing about an album in about march, hearing how acclaimed it was, but not actually deciding to give it the time of day for about 4 months. Such was the case for me and Titus Andronicus' second album. Lots of people seemed to give it a lot of praise but it took me a while to check it out. It certainly was worth it though.

10 tracks, clocking in at over an hour and barely a gap to pause for breath. Titus Andronicus make the sort of deeply personal and honest no thrills indie that you can't help but admire. Following a rousing introductory speech (which I believe is an Abraham Lincoln speech, the album is aparently loosely about the American civil war), fuzzy bass and drums kick in a propel 'A More Perfect Union' into its stride. Patrick Stickles begins his deranged rant on life in New Jersey before wirey and anthemic guitars cut threw the song and it explodes, taking many weird and wonderful paths throughout its 7 minutes. It's a thrilling way to open an album.

The album doesn't let up either. 'Titus Andronicus Forever' is a vicious assault on the senses before 'No Future Part 3...' calms things down slightly (but only slightly) before bursting into more cathartic anthems (you just have to sing along with the cry of "You will always be a loser"). The first 3 songs just drag you in and hook you and you demand for more which the album delivers, barely pausing for breath through 'Richard II' and the near 9 minute epics 'A Pot In Which To Piss' and 'Four Score and Seven'. But then Titus Andronicus just go and crank it up again.

'Theme From Cheers' is a stunning song that sounds deceptively simple compared to the rest of the album. Then then treat you to a bar room gathering of 'To Old Friends And New' which is beautiful and the honesty in the group sing along genuinely sounds heartwarming. The song easily conjurs up a group of friends who've been through tough times, having a drink and gathering around an old broken piano. You think it can't get any better but just when you think it, Titus Andronicus just add one more little flourish.

'The Battle Of Hampton Roads' is the 14 minute album closer that is utterly stunning. It builds and builds whilst rocking out and sounding like a rally cry against the woes of the world and deciding to give it the two fingers. The song is pretty difficult to describe, you've just got to hear it yourself.

'The Monitor' is a stunning album and an instant classic which will be remembered for years. Titus Andronicus can be proud of what they've achieved here. It's definitely one of my favourite albums of the year, only narrowly missing the top 10 due to the albums that do occupy the first 10 spots.

Albums of the Year 2010 #12

2010-12-19T19:42:00.002Z

Dark music for dark times I feel:

12. Warpaint- The Fool

Every so often, I buy an album without knowing anything about the band or their music beforehand. The only thing I knew about Warpaint was that a few of my friends, whose music taste I value quite highly, had said some positive things about them. So one day in Fopp I spotted The Fool and purchased it there and then on a whim. Yup, definitely the best impulsive buy I've had this year.

4 girls making dark, hypnotic and somewhat psychedelic music. 'Set Down Your Arms' sets the tone of the album. Slow, minimal, with a distinct baritone sound. Yet the interwining vocals are starkly contrasting to the music, their higher tone and bright optimistic voices lightening what would otherwise be a dark and personal album. Well, more so.

Lyrically, the album deals with, loss, confusion and the darker side of love. 'Undertow' seems to be about a girl stalking a boy, with the guitars building up to a swirling maelstrom of noise. 'Baby' is a more acoustic track which has a somewhat murderous tone about it. The rest of the album follows similiar lines, a dark and simmering journey through a twisted mindset.

The album has a very distinctive sound to it that seems very unique compared to most other bands at the moment. In all honesty I can really think of anyone else who sounds like this. It's quite simply wonderful and has soundtracked my winter quite perfectly.

Albums of the Year 2010 #13

2010-12-18T20:17:00.005Z

Because I'll go to Vermont with you:

13. Beach House- Teen Dream

I've begun to think the word 'dreamy' was invented purely to describe this album. Because this album is basically a dream. It's wonderful chilled out bliss that can soundtrack long summer days.

'Zebra' kicks off the album and sets the tone really. Slow and minimal with Victoria Legrands unsually breezey vocals clearing away all the doom and gloom in the world. There's slow guitars and hazy keyboards that make up the typical sound of the album. In all honesty, there's nothing else to describe it over than lovely.

It's not entitrely breezey. Album highlight 'Norway' seems to have something a bit more tense about it, whilst '10 Mile Stereo' gets to something approximating epic throughout its course. 'Used to Be' also has something quite sad and lonely to it. The general relaxed mood holds all these differences together in a whole though, really making it into a true album, rather than a collection of songs.

It's an ace little gem of an album this. You can relax to it all day and never get bored. Dreamy and lovely just don't cover enough ground even though they're the two words that describe the album best.

Albums of the Year 2010 #14

2010-12-16T20:10:00.004Z

Wild fire time:

14. Jónsi- Go

Jón Þór Birgisson throws a massive curveball to all Sigur Ros fan with this album. Bow-ed guitars and slow moving sundscapes are little to be seen on this album. Jonsi instead has created a fun and at times stunningly beautiful album that shows off his brilliant songwriting skills.

One of the most striking things is the happier mood of this album compared to Jonsi's other work. Tracks like 'Go Do' and 'Boy Lilikoi' are full of such energetic happiness its impossible not to be taken up with theit gleeful swing. They're also incredibly poppy and just downright fun. You could easily dance to them as they've got very strong beats and rhythms must like opener 'Go Do' that nearly verge on tribal.

There are moments more representative of Jonsi's other work too. 'Kolnidur' is an epic, sweeping, gorgeous soundscape of a song that sounds like it was recorded in the middle of the Icelandic wilderness. Then there's 'Grow Til Tall' which builds and builds to an epic peak that takes the breath away. Strings (both real and synthesised) swirl around Jonsi's fragile vocals until they fall apard and fade. Just stunning.

Jonsi's voice is still as strong as its ever been and the music surrounding it back it up as perfectly as Sigur Ros' does. This is a stunning solo debut from a very talented man who deserves your attention.

Albums of the Year 2010 #15

2010-12-15T23:34:00.002Z

I think I've caught up now:

15. Interpol- Interpol

I don't think many people agree with me about this album. Most people seem to think it's a bit crap. I never said I'd make popular choices for my lists though, cos I think Interpol's self titled fouth album is superb.

It's still a dark, bass driven album, but there have been changes. The songs and band sound more relaxed with themselves. The boredom that seemed to overwhelm Our Love To Admire seems to have vanished and the band sound more confident in their abilities and more sure of what they want to create. From the build up of opener 'Success' from from ringing guitars to a wall of noise as bass, drums, keyboards and vocals fall into the mix, or the ringing guitars of the lonely closer 'The Undoing', the album is slower yet somehow more otimistic than before. 'Barricades' even goes as far as to sounding somewhat happy. It's actually rather perplexing.

It's probably due to keyboards being utilized more on the album. There's piano or synth parts on all of the tracks to an extent and it adds another dimension to the album that hasn't been seen with Interpol before. Their addition makes 'Summer Well' sound more tense and nervous whilst 'All Of The Ways' sounds like the desperate pleas of a dying man. Elsewhere 'Lights' is an atmospheric epic that builds to a huge chorus before disipating and 'Try It On' has an odd structure of quick keys and stop start drums that give way to to soaring guitars. It seems to add a bit more to the usual indie formula that Interpol have adhered in the past.

Interpol doesn't make too many changes to Interpol's sound, but it's clear that this is a different band to the one who released Turn On The Bright Lights in 2002. They've expanded their souind whilst keeping its unique hook and crafted some fine gems here which should fit in well amongst their other classics.

Albums of the Year 2010 #16

2010-12-15T22:50:00.002Z

I'm trying to catch up in 1 night yes:

16. Broken Social Scene- Forgiveness Rock Record

It's been 5 years since the last full BSS album and the wait is definitely worth it. Core members Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning have gathered their Toronto dwelling pals together again for another spawling indie pop album that touches ever recess of the human condition.

It's a less hazy album than previous efforts. Whilst other albums had a rough wall of sound effect and fuzzy production, this album is more cleanly produced and makes the focus of the songs more clearer. It's an interesting change in tactics that could have backfired but the songs on Forgiveness Rock Record are more than strong enough. The album features usual BSS style songs, slow atmospheric numbers, loud rockers, epic chorus'. It's a formula they've learnt to refine more and more and seed to add their own unique sound every time across a wide range of sounds. So whilst 'Water in Hell' is an anthemic rocker to get the crowd singing, 'Sweetest Kill' is a dark, claustrophobic sprawl through Kevin Drews subconcious. Both hugely different songs yet both unmistakeably BSS.

'World Sick' is a low key start to the album and builds and shimmers in equal measures in glorious fashion. 'Chase Scene' follows but is a dark, synth led panic through fear covered streets. Kevin Drews unique vocals shift with ease between both songs. Drew occasionally lets others step in his place, with Brendan Canning, Andrew Whiteman, Lisa lobsinger and Emily Haines sharing the singing duties. Emily Haines appearance on 'Sentimental X's' is, again, contender for best song on the album just like her other contributions. It's a gorgeous build up from quiet keyboards to a quiet crescendo with muliple layers of vocals from Emily as well as other regular guests Fiest and Amy Milan. Lisa Lobsinger also gets her first full solo song with 'All To All', a quite frankly stunning love song which was my highlight of seeing them live this year.

'Art House Director' and 'Meet Me In The Basement' add more gusto to proceedings with their rocking ways and 'Texaco Bitches' and 'Forced To Love' add more pop to the album. It's a sprawling, emotionally complex album that can soundtrack most moods. And at that, BSS have become more mature with their sound and perfected their style. Basically, it's awesome.

Albums of the Year 2010 #17

2010-12-15T22:17:00.002Z

Floating on like a kitten.

17. LCD Soundsystem- This Is Happening

Seeing as their last album Sound of Silver made it into my top 20 albums of the decade at the end of last year, I had very high expectations of this album. Admittedly, it's not quite the perfect gem of Sound Of Silver, but This Is Happening is another album of brilliance from the mind of James Murphy and is quite a fitting swansong if it does turn out to be their final album.

It starts of inconspicuously enough. 'Dance Yourself Clean' starts quite minimally and quietly and sounds like it's coming from the back room of nowhere. After about 3 minutes though a huge beat and bass come into play and the song lifts off into such a groove that its title becomes highly appropriate. You just have to dance to it. Murphy has created another dance classic. It's immediately followed by the 3 minute dance fury of 'Drunk Girls', a song seemingly designed to party yourself out. By far the shortest and most intense song on the album it's every bit of the word ace.

From here the album seems to take a more streamlined, smoother direction. Yes there is indeed something somewhat 80's, Eno and Berlin-era Bowie about the album, but LCD's strength is their ability to take their influences and make music that sounds like no-one else. So whilst album highlight 'All I Want' could have featured on Heroes, it still sounds like nothing else released today, with Murphy's desperate vocals cracking as it reaches its peak. It's also here that LCD's other weapon shows its face. You can dance to the album very easily, but it's also an album that can be listened to whilst sat in a comfy chair. 'I Can Change' certainly falls into this category, it's slow fun groove being perfect chilled out listening.

This Is Happening doesn't quite reach the heights of Sound Of Silver but it didn't need to. It's a brilliant album that will captivate you and make you boogie like no other.

Albums of the Year 2010 #18

2010-12-15T10:04:00.008Z

Sorry for the delay, I've been busy/ill.

18. For A Minor Reflection- Höldum í átt að óreiðu

Oh Icelandic post rock how I love ye. I first saw For A Minor Reflection in 2008 supporting Sigur Ros and they were stunning. Their intense and personal performance blew me (and most of the crowd) away. Two years and one EP (questionable as it has 5 tracks, of which 4 are over 10 minutes) their debut album proper arrives. And oh boy.

It's a huge sprawling and optimistic take on post-rock which is obviously inspired by living in Iceland. Most people would probably start comparing their sound to lots of other similar bands but I can't be bothere making the comparisons/differences. What matters most is that For A Minor Reflection's take on instrumental rock is beuatiful. It has build up's to huge crescendo's, flat out rock at times, and gentle quite tender moments. Their skill is that they have figured out just exactly how long a track needs to be.

The songs are relatively short compared to most other bands of the same ilk, but it suits the band well. The songs don't outstay their welcome and their idea's stay fresh throughout the album. Only the epic 14minutes of 'Sjaumst I Virginiu' that extends for a long period of time and it's an absolute cracker too, building higher and higher until it's soaring through the stratosphere with glee.

All In all, For A Minor Reflection really out do themselves here. Whilst comparisons can be made to other bands, their optimistic sound is refreshing in a world where most post rock is more apocolyptic/murky. It'll be interesting to see where they go from here.

Albums of the Year 2010 #19

2010-12-11T10:00:00.002Z

Faster than a fish in tarmac:

19: Caribou- Swim

I'm not usually a massive fan of electronica. There are bits I like but overall it doesn't grab me the same way as more guitar-based music does. But when I find something I like I tend to like it a lot. Caribou's third album is one of those examples. I was at a party where I was unbelieveably knackered (Been up all night, only 2 hours sleep, then spent the day moving) and was on the verge of falling asleep but my hosts decided to stick Swim on and it managed to keep me awake that little bit longer.

Not that it's a loud album, it's just son intriguing. Odessa opens the album with a beat so funky it's impossible not to feel moved by the track. Yet it's also chilled and somewhat relaxing, so you can easily lie on your back and forget your worries just as much as you can dance. It's a formula that weaves throughout the album, sometimes leaning towards one side than the other. 'Sun' is easily one of the most blissful chilled out tracks I've ever hear whilst the epic 'Bowls' initial wall of sounds gives way to a groove that would possibly get the worlds most undanceable man to at least nod his head.

Most of the album is instrumental but the ocassional track throws up vocals and interesting lyrics. 'Odessa' seems to be about the break up of an abusive marriage whilst 'Leave House'is more optuse but seems to be about loneliness. Not necessarily the happiest subjects but the music bhind the lyrics, whilst it it chilled and relaxing, seems to add a power to the vocals and make tackling the issue somewhat easier. It's pretty cool indeed.

Swim is a pretty ace album overall. If it can interest someone who doesn't usually have a lot of interest in the electronic genre then it must have a special something about it. It's groovey, chilled and blissful and perfect for just about anytime of day or mood.

Albums of the Year 2010 #20

2010-12-10T12:42:00.005Z

Good lord its been a while since I updated this place. Since Glastonbury many things have happened. Lots of gigs, lots of music (I finally got out of my rut of not listening to anything) and actually working and earning money for once. All in all, second half of 2010 was about 1095843908times better than the first half.

But right enough about me, it's time to get down to the annual top 20 list from me. I was going to wait until January to do this but I got impatient. I haven't listened to as much from this year as I'd like but what I have heard has been mostly excellent. I actually spent a fair bit of time this year wondering what I'd choose cos I've heard so many excellent releases. Then it changed near the end of the year with an album that blew me away. And that album.... will be revealed after I go through the rest of the top 20. So let's begin:

20. Mountain Man- Made The Harbor

Mountain Man are a 3 piece female folk group with very minimal sound (usually just 1 guitar) and often veering into a capella. It may not be the most original album ever, but Made The Harbor is quite excellent.

The 3 way vocal harmonies of Amelia Meath, Molly Sarle, and Alex Sauser-Monnig are quite frankly gorgeous and their intwining vocals is what gives the album its strength seeing as they're voices alone dictate the mood of their songs. There's the quietly optimistic feeling from a cappela closer 'River Song' for instance, whilst 'Soft Skin' recalls those sad romantic feelings that never got to bloom. When guitars are used they're kept to a minimum to keep the focus on the voices. It's a clever tactic and quite effective at that.

The album is mostly quite gentle and calm and quite enjoyable. The 13 tracks can sound a little too similar at times, but seeing as they barely break the two minute mark the songs rarely outstage their welcome. In actual fact they mostly leave you wanting more. Made The Harbor is a good little debut album and is hopefully an indication that Mountain Man will go from strength to strength in the future.

Still unhappy at the lack of a U in harbour though. :p

Stay tuned for more entries into this least as the year coems to a close.

Glastonbury 2010 Round Up part 2

2010-06-29T09:43:00.000+01:00

Saturday started very slowly as it was unbelievably hot. It was the hottest day of the festival and I’m pretty sure most people passed out or got heat stroke. Thus I missed a few bands but finally dragged my way to John Peel to see Cymbals Eat Guitars. They weren’t bad, and the songs were great, but it wasn’t a great performance really. I may have just built it up in my head too much after listening to the album on the train down. As I was too hot to move I stayed at John Peel and caught Field Music who were dull as fuck. I didn’t enjoy them at all and they just didn’t seem to do anything to make me interested. Wild Beasts were next though and I enjoyed them immensely. They had a great groovy atmosphere to the gig and kept everyone entertained. Then my horrific clash of The National and Blood Red Shoes came up. In the end, I caught about 40 minutes of The National who were brilliant (though again, I don’t think their music works well in daylight) before going to the Queens Head to see BRS who were also fantastic. The crowd seemed to love them and Laura-Mary and Steven certainly looked like they were having fun. We stuck around for Holy Fuck afterwards who were immense. Another brilliant atmosphere and they played their hearts out. I was dancing like a fool by the end. Me and Alex then returned to the other stage (missing the Cribs thankfully) and got into position to watch Editors (we forgot Pulled Apart By Horses were on in the meantime, whoops). Editors were utterly brilliant though. I love watching them at festivals and they proved why again. They barely played an hour (I’m sure they didn’t play their full allotted time) but they didn’t piss about at all, it was just hit after hit after hit. Maybe they were giving everyone a chance to get to Muse early. I then made my final trip to the park to watch Laura Marling do an absolutely gorgeous set. There was an even mix from both her albums and even a new song (which was brilliant). She made me very happy. I then had to decide if I could be bothered watching Muse or not and in the end I decided I would. A sprint followed and I arrived during Guiding Light, which led me to think I was just going to get the typical muse set. The following Citizen Erased temporarily dispelled those thoughts (it was awesome) but then they did seem to play nearly the exact same set I saw them do last November. They were far more entertaining to watch this time though as they didn’t have a massive spectacle to distract everyone so had to focus more on their performance. The Edge arriving for the encore to do Where The Streets Have No Name was a massive highlight of my festival though. I went a bit wild during it. Overall, they were better than the last time I saw them, but their current setlist choices don’t really interest me that much. Back at the tents we stayed up for several hours aimlessly talking about life the universe and how Ash are bigger than Stevie Wonder. Yeah, that confused me too.

Sunday was a better day weather wise as it was cooler and there was more cloud cover. This made watching The Joy Formidable much easier. They were fun as usual and seemed to relish the chance to play on such a big stage. They went mental during Whirring too which was fun. Frightened Rabbit followed and they were ace too. Their rousing indie easily won the crowd over and they were fun to watch. A bit of a highlight for me, even though I’m still not that familiar with their albums. The Hold Steady followed on immediately and were as superb as I’ve come to expect them to be now. Their new material was weaker than older stuff but they were still fun and a few of my mates who were unfamiliar with them were won over. Music had to take a break next as we headed off to a specially cornered off field to watch the football. Germany- England promised to be an amazing game. I assume it was for the Germans seeing as England were an absolute embarrassment to watch bar about 5 minutes after they scored. It should’ve been a great atmosphere but everyone became a bit dejected and many left early. It was annoying, but it’s only a game. Me and Alex cheered ourselves up by watching We Are Scientists, a band I’ve been meaning to see live for about 5 years but have never gotten around to it. It was worth the wait as they were hilarious and great fun, although I still slightly disturbed by Chris’ comments on toilet paper stuck between his butt cheeks. A final trip to John Peel followed where I caught the end of Gang Of Four throwing their guitars between each other. But my true purpose was to finally watch Broken Social Scene after many years waiting, and they were incredibly good. They played just about all the songs I’d have wanted them to play except Lover’s Spit. There was much instrument swapping and about 10 people onstage at times. It was utterly breathtaking watching them. LCD Soundsystem were next on my hit list and I wasn’t let down. Another band I’ve been meaning to see for years, they were fun and got me jumping up and down throughout their set. Finally, to see the festival out, I was convinced to watch Stevie Wonder and it was a good decision. He was extremely entertaining to watch, even though I knew virtually nothing by him. He was slightly hilarious with his between song skits too and had me laughing loads.

When the music was over I pulled an ill advised jagermeister fuelled all nighter. We wandered around the late night areas and the green fields whilst playing Fives. Back at the tents we stayed up drinking strongbow and I eventually packed up at 5.30am and set off about 7-ish. Staying up late and srinking was not good for me though. I was horrifically ill on the bus to Castle Cary and had to be taken to the red cross tent to sober up and given some rest. My memory is a bit hazy here but the next think I remember is waking up in Bristol, sober and with all my stuff thanks to my friends Alex and Jane looking after me. I was pretty much fine from there and got home at about 2 where I tried to stay up so as not to fuck my sleeping patterns but eventually fell into a coma til 11.30.

So that was my Glastonbury. It was brilliant fun again, and I managed to see loads of bands I’ve not had the chance to see before, as well as old favourites. I will almost certainly return next year again.

Glastonbury 2010 Round Up part 1

2010-06-29T09:41:00.001+01:00

So Glastonbury was a bit ace. I'll do this in 2 parts again like last year so the post isn't overwhelmingly big. It all began on Wednesday when I set off about 7am and got to Castle Cary about 11-ish and saw my first band. The Cash Cows were keeping the waiting punters entertained with covers of the likes of The Beatles and Oasis performed in a rockabilly style. It was quite cool it has to be said. Got onsite by 12 and set up camp near the park stage. Thus me and my mates went to the pyramid stage to watch the Slovenia-England match. It was well fun being in a crowd of about 50,000+ watching the footie (even if the game was dull). Afterwards there was a nice long trip to the stone circle and lounging hill with some cider until the early hours.

Thursday kicked off lazily and not that much really happened for a while. We wandered around the green fields and watched an act called Harp for Hangover who were lovely and did a great cover of The Stranglers’ Golden Brown. Then I watched my mate Dan play in the efestivals world cup (essentially, the forum members having a game of football, England Vs the rest of the world) and picked up my mate Alex who was arriving late. In the evening I went to The Queen’s Head stage to catch Chapel Club do a mighty fine set. We failed miserably to try and watch Four Lions at the cinema (the entire field was packed and we couldn’t get in the tent) so we wandered into a bar playing soul and motown before seeing 70’s prog band Curved Air do an hour of pure prog goodness. Collapsing in my tent swiftly followed. It’s at this point I should point out there was no rain at all and Thursday was a lovely day. The weather was only going to get better and hotter from here.

Friday was of course the first day of music and we wasted no time running to the Pyramid stage to watch Rolf Harris! He was superb fun playing all the hits and being general good fun. There was a quick wander to the other stage to watch some of Joshua Radin perform some lovely acoustic pop. Enjoyable, although he wasn’t interesting to watch really. What was interesting to watch was my traditional visit to Croissant Neuf to catch Biggles Wartime Band. They were brilliant and hilarious and even managed to fit in some new jokes this year (“Lots of things have happened since last year, there was that oil spill for one. We tried to think of some jokes about it, but we didn’t want to be too crude”). I then wandered to the John Peel tent for Tegan & Sara, which was a very good decision as they were brilliant. Great songs and great banter throughout made them my first highlight. I need to check out more of their stuff. A trip to the park was next to catch Steve Mason groove away with his psychedelic folk rock... stuff. Then we found out something awesome. There was a special guest slot on the park that night and the rumour mill was going crazy over who it was. Then someone nearby asked a steward who confirmed it’s be Thom Yorke. This excited us a lot and I texted everyone I could physically remember was at glasto at the time. In the meantime I went to the acoustic stage (finally, I’d been meaning to go there for ages) and saw personal favourites Turin Brakes who were brilliant. They did a greatest hits set and played nearly all of my favourites. I admit I may have shed a tear during Feeling Oblivion. I then started my trek back to the park to watch The Big Pink and arrived about halfway through. They were great, though I don’t think they really work as a daylight band. Then the crowds gathered to see if Thom Yorke would be the guest. Eventually Michael Eavis appeared and introduced Thom to everyone. Highlight of the entire weekend. Firstly he did 3 songs completely solo, The Eraser, Harrowdown Hill and Black Swan. Then Johnny Greenwood ambled onstage to help out with Cymbal Rush before they set about playing Radiohead songs. Arpeggi/Weird Fishes, Pyramid Song, Idioteque, Karma Police and Street Spirit (Fade Out) provided the best set I’ve ever seen at Glastonbury and the loudest sing-along I’ve experienced since Blur. Superb stuffs. Speaking of Damon Albarn’s first band, I then returned to the Pyramid stage to watch Gorillaz who were interesting. I enjoyed them, and they had lots of good songs and great guests (Shaun Ryder, Lou Reed, De La Soul and more) but I don’t think they went down well. The atmosphere for the gig wasn’t that great. Most people near me didn’t seem to get it or just plain didn’t enjoy it. Alright, but it didn’t blow me away. I collapsed almost immediately after returning to my tent.

Part 2 coming.

Glastonbury 2010

2010-04-17T16:37:00.002+01:00

Christ its been a while since I made a post here. I justh aven't been arsed to make any blogs lately nor have I had much need to. I've bought very few cd's, been to fewer gigs and I've not really gone out of my way for new music of late. Though there's been some good stuff I have come across occasionally.

Anyways enough of that, let's get down to business! I'm off to Glastonbury again this year and a fair proportion of the line up has been announced. So here's my preliminary 'Who I may consider seeing' list, whether I'm a fan of the band or have just vaguely heard they're supposedly good.

Thursday:
Queens Head- Chapel Club, Two Door Cinema Club

Friday:
Pyramid Stage- U2!!!
Other Stage- THE FLAMING LIPS!!!, Hot Chip, Florence And The Machine, Phoenix
John Peel Stage- Groove Amarda, Mumford & Sons, Ellie Goulding, Kele, Tegan And Sara, De Staat, Detroit Social Club,
West Holts- Mos Def, Nouvelle Vague
Acoustic Stage- TURIN BRAKES!!!!!
The Park- The xx, Broken Bells, The Big Pink, Steve Mason, Beth Jeans Houghton,
Dance Village- Fatboy Slim, Fake Blood,
Avalon- Lou Rhodes
Croissant Neuf- Seth Lakeman, Biggles Wartime Band
Queen's Head- Mystery Jets, Detroit Social Club, Frank Turner

Saturday:
Pyramid Stage- Muse, Seasick Steve, The Lightning Seeds
Other Stage- EDITORS!, THE NATIONAL!, Imogen Heap, Coheed And Cambria, Two Door Cinema Club,
John Peel Stage- The xx, Marina & The Diamonds, Wild Beasts, Cymbals Eat Guitars,
West Holts- George Clinton with Parliament/Funkadelic, Os Mutantes, Devendra Banhart
Acoustic Stage- The Leisure Society
The Park- Midlake, LAURA MARLING!, Stornoway, Beach House,
Avalon- The Lightning Seeds, Alabama 3, The Unthanks,
Queen's Head- Holy Fuck, BLOOD RED SHOES!!!!

Sunday:
Pyramid Stage- Stevie Wonder, Faithless, Ray Davies, Slash,
Other Stage- Orbital, LCD SOUNDSYSTEM!!!, MGMT, We Are Scientists, Grizzly Bear, Temper Trap, THE HOLD STEADY!, Frightened Rabbit,
John Peel Stage- ASH!, Julien Casablancas, BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE!!, Gang Of Four, Holy Fuck, Everything Everything,
West Holts- Rodrigo Y Gabriella, Toots And The Maytals, The Bees,
Acoustic Stage- Loudon Wainwright III,
The Park- Dirty Projectors, Archie Bronson Outfit, Portico Quartet, Fionn Regan, The Travelling Band,
Avalon- Gomez,
Queen's Head- Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, I AM KLOOT!!!,

If I were comparing this to last years line up (and I am), I'd say this is even better than last years brilliant line up. I'm finally going to see U2 (Something I've waited to do since I was about 12) and there's loads of bands I love or wanty to check out playing. Again, I'd love to see Idlewild on the line up again (they're even touring this year) and I was hoping Pavement could be squeezed in somewhere (probably the sunday looking at their other dates) but overall:

James = Happy Ether

(Bear in mind there's still lots of small stages to announce and official times too. I think Laura Marling and Editors are going to partiall clash sadly).

Albums of the 90's: 10-1

2010-02-23T19:57:00.004Z

And we finally come to the end of my albums of the 90's list. It's taken me far too long cos I was distracted by stuff. Anyways, here's my top 10. Normal service may resume at some point.

10. Weezer- Pinkerton (1996)

Angst has never sounded more powerful. Weezer made a far more abbrasive and distorted album than their radio friendly debut and even though it was a commercial failure, it was an artistic triumph. River's Cuomo's lyrics are acidic and biting whilst at other times are downright disturbing. Something to get very angry to.
Pick Track: Getchoo

9. U2- Achtung Baby (1991)

This must have sounded like a mindfuck back in 1991 for any U2 fan. Gone were the political rally calls and huge earnest chorus'. Instead, U2 gave the world something far more personal and experimental. Taking influence from alternative rock, hip-hop and electronica, they created a marvellous album that rocks in a weird way and has a dirty fetish side to it as well, whilst Bono produced his finest ever lyrics. They went a bit more weird after this, but this will stand as their finest moment.
Pick Track: Ultraviolet (Light My Way)

8. Manic Street Preachers- The Holy Bible (1994)

This album is absolutely terrifying. It's a dischordant, violent and uncompromising rock album recorded in a run down studio whilst lyricist Richey James Edwards was suffering from a bout of depression. The topics covered include prostitution, racism, the death penalty, anorexia, suicide, the holocaust and self abuse. The lyrics are perfect with the music complementing them every single second. A truely stunning album.
Pick Track: Archives Of Pain

7. R.E.M.- New Adventures In Hi-Fi (1996)

Recorded mostly during soundchecks on their 'Monster' tour, R.E.M. unexpected wrote an absolute masterpiece of an album. Using some unconventional instrumentation and production at times, it rocks harder than anything on Monster (which was suppose to be their hard rock album) and is at times more pensive and reflective than Automatic For The People. Its epic yet intimate throughout and you will either rock out or cry during it depending on the song. An absolutely sublime piece of work.
Pick Track: Leave

6. Pavement- Slanted & Enchanted (1992)

Pavement's debut will hopefully go down as one of the finest debuts ever. 14 catchy indie rock songs with stream of conscious lyrics that are at times truely inspired. The intrumentation is sensational (particularlly Gary Young's drumming) and the album is overall a unique, noisy pop album that never fails to raise a smile.
Pick Track: In The Mouth Of The Desert

5. Sonic Youth- Goo (1990)

When Sonic Youth signed to major label Geffen, the alternative scene must've thought they were about to lose one of the finest american rock acts of their time. Thankfully, Sonic Youth chose a deal that allowed them the most artistic control, and they set about making an album that kept all their hallmarks (bizarre lyrics, noisy jams, experimental structures) and channelled them into a cohesive and somewhat commercially friendly album. It includes amazing songs throughout and was an artistic triumph.
Pick Track: Tunic (Song For Karen)

4. The Flaming Lips- The Soft Bulletin (1999)

The Flaming Lips were on the verge of discovering a new side to themselves with the experimental Zaireeka album, but they finally fulfilled the potential on The Soft Bulletin. A dark and deeply personal album (All the band members went through traumatic experiences through its conception) it contains some beautiful lush orchestration and a huge range of sounds. It's an odd pop/rock album but a completely enchanting one at that.
Pick Track: The Spark That Bled

3. Spiritualized- Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (1997)

The most heartbreaking album ever recorded. It deals with love lost and the implications of such, all whilst finding a perfect balance between their early droning rock and their latter symphonic inspired sound. The songs are at times disorientating walls of feedback, whilst other times sorrowing orchestral laments. It's absolutely beautiful whichever style it chooses, Jason Pierce completely outdoing himself.
Pick Track: Broken Heart

2. Radiohead- OK Computer (1997)

There's a reason why this consistantly appears high on all time greatest albums lists. Having already evolved and matured on The Bends, Radiohead went one step further completely throwing out conventional songwriting. Verses and chorus' are often inseparable, whilst they created some astonishing new sounds through their experimentation and added a more electronic and jazzy side to their songs. It completely reinvented the rock album, and Thom Yorkes lyrics detailing the pre-millenium tesion and paranoia only add the cherry on top of a virtually perfect album.
Pick Track: Let Down

1. My Bloody Valentine- Loveless (1991)

My Bloody Valentine had already invented shoegaze and inspired every band that appeared after the release of their debut 'Isn't Anything'. But as amazing as the shoegazing scene was, they weren't pushing things as far as they could and some thought they were becoming complacent. My Bloody Valentine thought this and decided to push themselves further than before. They made their sound more distorted, more compressed and more droning than previously imagined. And it was all done mostly via Kevin Shileds innovative and inventive guitar playing. The album is a huge wall of sound and displays a disorientating yet sensual overall sound. It sounds like it should be unlistenable, but it's immensely tuneful as the songs haven't been forgotten. The vocals are often obscured but will draw you in and the songs feature immense riffs at times. The album is difficult to describe and I've struggled here but I've heard absolutely nothing like before or since I discovered it. An unprecedented and unbeatable album of pure genius in flow.
Pick Track: Soon

Albums of the 90's: 20-11

2010-02-20T15:02:00.005Z

Nearing the end in style:

20. The Smashing Pumpkins- Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (1995)

A spawling double album with a huge range of styles, featuring ball to the wall rock, metal, electronica, shoegaze and gentle acoustic tracks. The band were truely in their element here and created an absolute masterpiece of an album.
Pick Track: Bodies

19. Blur- Blur (1997)

Turning their backs on Britpop, Blur made a lo-fi and raw album with dark and introspective elements. They experimented with drum machines and new sounds and created a superb album that showed they weren't a flash in the pan pop group.
Pick Track: Beetlebum

18. Suede- Dog Man Star (1994)

Born from drug abuse, hatred and turmoil, Bernard Butlers final album with the group turned out to be their best. Dark and reflective on mistakes of the pass and love lost, Brett Anderson's lyrics are at their finest, whilst the group expanded their sound to new levels. Simply breathtaking.
Pick Track: New Generation

17. Radiohead- The Bends (1995)

Radiohead lived up to their potential on this album. Far more mature and more sophisticated then their debut, The Bends was the first to show signs of the experimental innovators that would follow. It rocks and it soothes, it's angry and sorrowful. It's quite simply brilliant.
Pick Track: My Iron Lung

16. Portishead- Dummy (1994)

Nothing like it had been heard before. Dark, bass heavy songs with samples of old films and minimal sounds, all whilst Beth Gibbons crooned with her haunting voice and bleak lyrics. The album helped to define the mid 90's sense of paranoia in a beautiful and isolated album.
Pick Track: Strangers

15. Sigur Rós - Ágætis byrjun (1999)

A staggering achievement of post rock. Ethereal vocals, wall of sound guitars and immaculate arrangements contributed to a truely unique album that is utterly mindblowing to listen to.
Pick Track: Svefn-G-Englar

14. R.E.M.- Automatic For The People (1992)

Mournful and reflective, R.E.M. took time out from their usual indie rock to make a stunning album based around memories and loss. Michael Stipes lyrics are superb and the band excel themselves with an extremely mature sound. Classic for a reason.
Pick Track: Sweetness Follows

13. Nirvana- In Utero (1993)

Fame was taking its toll on Nirvana, so the band (and Kurt in particular) unleashed their vitriol and frustrations out in an abrasive, loud and angry album. It has heavy rock, walls of white noise and touching tender moments, all while Kurt bares hies tortured soul for all to see. A fitting swansong for a brilliant band.
Pick Track: Scentless Apprentice

12. Sonic Youth- Washing Machine (1995)

Having ended their brieft flirtation with the mainstream, Sonic Youth walked in a different direction on this album. It's quieter than usual and has a slightly psychedelic side to it, with long meandering songs and less focus of cacophonies of noise. Yet when it rocks it does so in style. It's loose yet tense at the same time and is a wonder to listen to.
Pick Track: Saucer-Like

11. The Verve- A Northern Soul (1995)

They should've been huge with this album. Recorded whilst high on drugs, A Northern Soul is an shockingly complete album. The instruments are balanced throughout and the album ranges from noisy rockers to heartfelt acoustic numbers. And every so often the band just jams and improvises like no other could. Quite frankly brilliant and far and away their best album.
Pick Track: Life's An Ocean

Albums of the 90's: 30-21

2010-02-19T16:17:00.007Z

Striking from a distance:

30. Massive Attack- Mezzanine (1998)

A disturbing trip through Massive Attack's view of the world with sublime production and enticing vocal performances all round. An absolute triumph.
Pick Track: Risingson

29. Pavement- Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)

Indie pop has never sounded so fun as here. From introspective tracks to laid back rockers, Pavement created a chilled and refreshing album of quiet brilliance, with SM writing some of his best songs.
Pick Track: Elevate Me Later

28. Slowdive- Souvlaki (1993)

A gorgeous soundscape of shoegazing with moving sounds and fragile vocals layered together to make a beautiful album that's at times gentle and other times distorted and jarring.
Pick Track: When The Sun Hits

27. Mansun- Attack Of The Grey Lantern (1997)

Essentially one long piece split into individual songs, this is an album that's epic, moving, inventive and also rocks when it wants to. An indie rock masterpiece.
Pick Track: Stripper Vicar

26. Blur- 13 (1999)

With their britpop sound long dismissed, Blur moved further into experimental territory. Mixing with electronica, dance, distortion and lo-fi, they created a mindblowing album full of idea's and often incredibly moving.
Pick Track: Bugman

25. Godspeed You! Black Emperor- F♯A♯∞ (1997)

A harrowing and sparse album that reinvented post rock by incorporating minimalism and orchestral elements into its sound. A completely captivating listen.
Pick Track: East Hastings

24. Mogwai- Come On Die Young (1999)

An album which can only be described as a journey. It starts off warm and ambient, before gradually becoming darker, more intimate and more jarring until it's final cacophony of noise. Mogwai's masterpiece is complete breath taking.
Pick Track: Christmas Steps

23. dEUS- In A Bar, Under The Sea (1996)

A schizophrenic album mixing indie, jazz, folk, punk, ambience and crooning to make a unique album. Tom Barman has never bettered his vocals and lyrics on this album, which never gets boring.
Pick Track: For The Roses

22. Sonic Youth- Dirty (1992)

Sonic Youth made possibly their most mainstream album here, and it rocks harder than anything they ever done before or since. Influenced heavily by grunge that streamlined their sound and unleashed an art rock album of genius.
Pick Track: Sugar Kane

21. Neutral Milk Hotel- In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (1998)

A concept album about falling in love with Anne Frank via her diary, this is an incredibly deep and personal album. It's at times tender and sad and other times noisy and confused, but it is always magnificient whatever its forms.
Pick Track: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

Albums of the 90's: 40-31

2010-02-18T16:49:00.004Z

Sorry for the delay. Things get on top of you sometimes.

40. PJ Harvey- To Bring You My Love (1995)

A dark and theatrical album fused together with a fuzzy lo-fi production and cryptic lyrics. Polly Jean Harvey's finest album of the 90's by far.
Pick Track: Down By The Water

39. Mogwai- Young Team (1997)

Bringing together influences from the likes of shoegazing, ambience and influential bands like Slint, Mogwai's debut album is a masterclass of Post Rock, ranging from crushing tracks to soft lullabies.
Pick Track: Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home

38. Pearl Jam- Ten (1991)

Essential a classic rock album, with superb bluesy guitars and deep introspective from Ed Vedder, Pearl Jam temporarily took over the world with this album. It still packs a punch today.
Pick Track: Deep

37. Manic Street Preachers- Everything Must Go (1996)

They may have lost a member before this album but the Manic's powered on with an anthemic and soulful album that purged their demons and made the world track notice of them. Some of Richey Edwards final lyrics are included here and they're superb.
Pick Track: Enola/Alone

36. Cardiacs- Sing To God (1995)

A completely bonkers double album filled with energy and mindboggling shifts in the middle of songs. A completely unique and tragically underlooked album that deserves more recognition.
Pick Track: Firey Gun Hand

35. The Smashing Pumpkins- Siamese Dream (1993)

How The Smashing Pumpkins managed to finish this album is beyond me. They fought through writers block, break up's, drug addiction and hating each other to create a heavy, inventive and simply breathtaking album.
Pick Track: Mayonaise

34. Mercury Rev- Deserter's Song's (1998)

Quite simply beautiful. The band fell apart only to return in a new guise of orchestral indie pop wonders. A moving and quite often loving album that never strays too far from the light.
Pick Track: Holes

33. Nirvana- Nevermind (1991)

Ok it had to be included. Ok? Good, cos Nirvana created a lo-fi pop masterpiece here. It's as fun and catchy as it is vitriollic and cathartic. Quite simply, it's awesome.
Pick Track: Territorial Pissings

32. Modest Mouse- The Lonesome Crowded West (1997)

Their first truely brilliant album, Modest Mouse made a 15 track opus that never gets boring. It deals with being angry and frustrated but also with confusion and loss as well. Not a moment is wasted here.
Pick Track: Trailer Trash

31. Placebo- Without You I'm Nothing (1998)

More mature and more experienced, Placebo got even more darker than they already were with this haunting album. Lyrically chronically angst perfectly and musically expanding their sound to more epic area's, they would never make an album as good as this ever again.
Pick Track: Brick Shithouse

Albums of the 90's: 50-41

2010-02-02T00:47:00.004Z

Firing like dog's on acid:

50. dEUS- The Ideal Crash (1998)

A cohesive selection of dark rock songs with an experimental slant. dEUS found a definitive groove on this album and wrote some pretty fine songs to go with it.
Pick Track: Instant Street

49. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds- Murder Ballads (1996)

A scarily violent album, ranging from feedback fueled songs of vitriol on pathos ridden ballads. A difficult, but often moving piece of work.
Pick Track: Stagger Lee

48. Blur- Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993)

The album that inspired a lot of the britpop that followed. It mixes modern indie with 60's pop melodies, along with shoegaze thrown in every so often. It's a glorious pop album and definitely the strongest of their britpop albums.
Pick Track: Advert

47. Talk Talk- Laughing Stock (1991)

A minimal yet gorgeous trip through Mark Hollis' soundscapes, this legendary album deserves the acclaim its recieved. It's slow and sprawling, whilst endlessly inventive with it's melodies. Completely influential on post rock and better than a lot of it.
Pick Track: Myrrhman

46. Ride- Nowhere (1990)

One of the finest shoegaze albums there was. It had a harsher and more rock quality to it than other releases of the time, but was entirely enthralling. Mark Gardener and Andy Bells intertwining guitar parts make a stunning wall of noise that sucks you in.
Pick Track: Dreams Burn Down

45. Nine Inch Nails- The Fragile (1999)

Written in a druggy haze, this double album covered an ambient yet quietly violent area of NIN's sound. It's full of Trent Reznors vitriollic lyrics and stunning instrumental sections creating an extremely complxe rock album which Reznor has never truely been able to match since.
Pick Track: We're In This Together

44. R.E.M.- Out Of Time (1991)

Taking a break from touring and writing an album of quiet folk influenced indie rock suprisingly turned R.E.M. from a very popular alternative band into megastars. It's reflective and optimistic in equal measures and features beautifully written songs throughout.
Pick Track: Country Feedback

43. The Verve- Urban Hymns (1997)

Quieter and more gentle than their previous album, Urban Hymns has a quiet sense of grandure about it. All the songs are perfectly written and whilst mostly filled with their more laid back side, whilst being album to rock out when they feel like it. A catchy and epic album.
Pick Track: The Rolling People

42. Mansun- Six (1998)

Utterly bonkers yet utterly brilliant. Designed to be a vinyl experience on cd, the songs change direction multiple times throughout their course and Mansun create some unique sounds and song structures. It rocks hard and breaks hearts at the same time. A completely unique experience.
Pick Track: Legacy

41. Beck- Odelay (1996)

A truely genre bending masterpiece. Beck mixed rap, rock, soul, hip hop, folk, blues and more into a party album like no other. All the songs feature brilliant hooks and are irresistably dancey. Absolutely magnificent.
Pick Track: New Pollution

Albums of the 90's: 60-51

2010-01-30T17:43:00.007Z

Getting back on track after being distracted by exams:

60. Air- Moon Safari (1998)

An gorgeous collection of chilled out electronica with cathcy tunes and wonderful performances. A fine balance between pop songs and experimenting is reached and works amazingly well.
Pick Track- Sexy Boy

59. Pulp- His N Hers (1994)

Finally edging their way into the mainstream with their 4th album, Pulp's arty style was refined and improved immersurably. Jarvis' lyrics were as biting as they were observational and the music was intertwining genius.
Pick Track- Lipgloss

58. Sonic Youth- SYR4: Goodbye 20th Century (1998)

A bizarre but brillaint idea for an album. Release a double album of your own take on influential avant-garde music and release it on your own independant label. Sonic Youth did just that and did it well. It's difficult but inspiring and completely enthralling.
Pick Track- Six [3rd Take]

57. Supergrass- We're In It For The Money (1997)

A darker album than their debut but still showing off their ridiculous talent for crafting indie pop songs. It gets heavy at times and features a broadening of their sound but is just bloody awesome.
Pick Track- Late In The Day

56. Weezer- Weezer (1994)

Surf inspired power pop that gets stuck in your head for days. It's as catchy as it is rocking and melded the worlds of pop and rock together like few can do so effortlessly.
Pick Track- The World Has Turned And Left Me Here

55. Faith No More- Angel Dust (1992)

A bewildering album where FNM took rock and remade it in their own twisted way. Avant-garde influences seep in turn the songs into masterpieces of experimenting with styles and sounds.
Pick Track- Land Of Sunshine

54. Mercury Rev- Yerself Is Steam (1991)

Psychedlic rock that has to be played loud. It sounds like a recorded jam session that ranges from deafing noise to soft moments of beauty and sadness along with David Bakers stream of thought lyrics making a stunning piece of work.
Pick Track- Chasing A Bee

53. Placebo- Placebo (1995)

Angsty, dirty rock at its best. It's heavy and frantically paced, with Brain Molko spewing out vitriol at rapid speed. It keeps you intrigued throughout the entire listen and is frankly amazing.
Pick Track- Come Home

52. Tom Waits- Mule Variations (1999)

As dark and experimental as he's ever been, Tom Waits sounds like he's relaxing slightly on this album. It's still dark and cinematic though and contains a wide range of styles and sounds that make him such a maverick.
Pick Track- Come On Up To The House

51. The Smashing Pumpkins- Adore (1998)

A weird mix of acoutic songs and electronically driven rock and orchestral sounding soundscapes. The Smashing Pumpkins made a very unexpected album of sheer beauty and Billy Corgan has never bettered his lyrics here.
Pick Track- Shame

Albums of the 90's: 70-61

2010-01-22T00:16:00.003Z

Running like in a Doctor Who episode:

70. Pearl Jam- Yield (1998)

On their 5th album, Pearl Jam created a lo-fi beast of garage rock. Songs range from sad lullabies to angry anthems. All of them are ace.
Pick Track: Do The Evolution

69. Squarepusher- Hard Normal Daddy (1997)

An uncompromising album of complete genius. Never has Tom Jenkinson managed to create an album combining Drum N Bass and jazz so effectively and so intriguingly. Completely compelling.
Pick Track: Coopers World

68. Feeder- Polythene (1997)

When they were young and still fresh with ideas for their own take on alternative rock of the time. Polythene is a fantastic pure fun rock album, combining catchy chorus' and brilliant production work.
Pick Track: My Perfect Day

67. Beck- Mutations (1998)

More somber and reflective than his breakthrough Odelay, Mutations showed off how innovative Beck was, managing to blend blues, tropicallia, country, bossa nova, psychedelia and folk effortlessly. A beautiful album and touching from start to finish.
Pick Track: Nobody's Fault But My Own

66. Cat Power- Moon Pix (1998)

A raw and lo-fi effort that showcases Chan Marshalls beautiful voice. Captivating alternative music at its best.

65. Manic Street Preachers- This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (1998)

Extremely under-rated, this album showed the manic's musical maturity featuring a wide range of instrumentation and more varied songs on a slow and sad album that's reflective as much as it is political.
Pick Track: My Little Empire

64. Failure- Magnified (1994)

An epic set of droning rock. Failure made an album that took the ground work of grunge and tore it up into something darker and far more intriguing.
Pick Track: Frogs

63. Metallica- Metallica (1991)

A defining moment in metal, Metallica made a comparitively simple album to their previous work and created anthems for generations to come. The guitar work is sublime whilst James Hetfields lyrics reach an all time peak.
Pick Track: Sad But True

62. Slint- Spiderland (1991)

Probably the most influential Post Rock album. It's reptitive lines and slow style with quiet-loud dynamics became the blue print for a vast number of bands from then on. Utterly breathtakign stuff.
Pick Track: Breadcrumb Trail

61. PJ Harvey- Is This Desire? (1998)

A hypnotic and strangely desolate sounding album from PJ Harvey. It has more electronic and experimental tendencies than before but is not less beautiful or cutting for it.
Pick Track: A Perfect Day Elise

Albums of the 90's: 80-71

2010-01-16T00:07:00.005Z

And now for something... exactly the same:

80. Rage Against The Machine- Evil Empire (1996)

Still as intense as their debut, RATM's second album is slgihtly more influenced by hip hop, but still contains some great heavy songs with fantastic political lyrics.
Pick Track: Bulls On Parade

79. Chapterhouse- Whirlpool (1991)

A gorgeous take on shoegaze, Chapterhouse produced a beautifully crafty album with some songs that are even slightly danceable.
Pick Track: Pearl

78. Neil Young And Crazy Horse- Ragged Glory (1990)

Still on a creative high after 1989's brilliant, Freedom, Neil got back with Crazy Horse to create a hard rocking album of epic and emotional proportions.
Pick Track: Fuckin' Up

77. Supergrass- I Should Coco (1995)

13 amazing indie pop songs that all catch your attention and are endlessly addictive. The oxford lads started their carrear well.
Pick Track: Caught By The Fuzz

76. Pavement- Brighten The Corners (1997)

A lighter and more accesible album of theirs, BTC contains some of Pavements most poppy songs and songs from Spiral Stairs that are actually on a par with SM's brilliant talents.
Pick Track: Date With Ikea

75. Portishead- Portishead (1997)

Perhaps even darker and more desolate than their classic debut, Portisheads second album saw the band getting harsher and moving away from their intial trip hop sound, but still maintaining their brilliance.
Pick Track: Over

74. Tom Waits- Bone Machine (1992)

A weird and minimal album even by Tom Wait's standards. It's dark and personal and always enthralling to listen to.
Pick Track: Earth Died Screaming

73. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds- The Good Son (1990)

A quiet and reflective album that seemed to reflect on the pains of Nick Cave's previous decade as well as the happiness in his current relationship. Quite simply, gorgeous.
Pick Track: The Weeping Song

72. Spiritualized- Lazer Guided Melodies (1992)

Droning and blissed out rock at its best. Jason Pierce premiered Spiritualized with a hypnotic album that soothes and chills as much as it rocks.
Pick Track: Shine A Light

71. Rage Against The Machine- Rage Against The Machine (1992)

One of the angriest albums ever and raging at the injustice in the world. Musically innovative and lyrics mindblowing as well as heavy and catchy as fuck. An absolutely essential classic.
Pick Track: Bullet In The Head

Albums of the 90's: 90-81

2010-01-14T01:05:00.005Z

Let us venture forth into the past:

90. Moby Play (1999)

The best seeling electronica album ever, and for a reason. It's long and winding but features a ranges of styles from full on house music to amibient tracks. Completely sublime from start to fnish.
Pick Track: Natural Blues

89. Suede- Suede (1992)

Possibly the first 'Britpop' album but certainly one of the best. Dark but catchy indie rock centred around the songwriting of Bret Anderson and Bernard Butler that sound tracked a generation. Well deserving of a Mercury Prize.
Pick Track: Animal Nitrate

88. Sonic Youth- A Thousand Leaves (1998)

One of the youth's more difficult albums over the years (and that's saying something) this album finds the band using slightly more psychedelic sounds and improvisation in their sound, making a complicated but fascinating album by all means. (Random fact- first of 5 appearances on this list from the best band ever.)
Pick Track: Wild Flower Soul

87. Primal Scream- Screamadelica (1991)

A fusion of rock and acid house dance, this superb album was completely revolutionary. It contains some amazing innovation and cracking songs at the same time. It received the first ever Mercury Music Prize for a reason.
Pick Track: Higher Than The Sun

86. Björk- Homogenic (1997)

An unprecedented blend of modern electronica with classical string arrangement created a unigue album. Quite often moving and always beautiful and intriquing.
Pick Track: Jóga

85. Pulp- Different Class (1995)

A party album with a dark side, Jarvis Cocker's lyrics seemed to incapsulate mid-90's Britain perfectly whilst the music was catchy as fuck and constantly brilliant.
Pick Track: I Spy

84. Massive Attack- Blue Lines (1991)

Nothing of it's ilk had been heard before in Britain. An electronica album which combined elements of hip hop, soul and reggae into it's dark slow groove. It invented Trip-hop and remains one of the most influential albums ever.
Pick Track: Safe From Harm

83. The Jesus And Mary Chain- Honey's Dead (1992)

Coming as close to a pop album as they ever did, JAMC created a droning shoegaze album that hynotises all that hear it.
Pick Track: Reverance

82. Dream Theater- Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes From A Memory (1999)

Progressive metal has rarely sounded better than this. It softens up whilst maintaining its heavy edge and covers a whole palette of sounds in a concept album of immense depth.
Pick Track: Strange Deja Vu

81. Oasis- (What's The Story) Morning Glory? (1995)

The best selling 'Britpop' album did so for a reason. Virtually all the best songs Oasis ever wrote are on this album. It rocks hard as much as it rocks softly, it struck a chord with the nation and provided them with a soundtrack for the decade.
Pick Track: Champagne Supernova

Albums of the 90's: 100-91

2010-01-13T02:04:00.007Z

Ok, I'm bored. I'm suppose to be revising, but I'm finding stuff to waste my time with instead. I did another top 100 albums, this time for the 90's. Because I could. Same goes as last time, this list could very very easily be switched around and is not definitive. Again, I may look back in a few weeks and decide that some albums shouldn't be in the list or some should be much higher.

So without further ado:

100. Travis- The Man Who (1999)

It may be unpopular nowadays, but this album is actually filled with 10 gorgeous soft songs that either soothe the heart or fill you with optimism. It's quite lovely stuff indeed.
Pick Track: As You Are

99. Garbage- Garbage (1995)

A brilliant rock album with innovative production and some absolutely killer songs. Shirley Manson sings like a minx throughout and gives the album an angsty edge.
Pick Track: Vow

98. Björk- Post (1995)

A complete leap in songwriting from her Debut album, there's a whole range of styles covered in a completely unique way. At times harsh and abbrasive, but at other quite simply touching.
Pick Track: Hyper-Ballad

97. U.N.K.L.E.- Pysence Fiction (1998)

A revolutionary dance album, mixing hip hop, rock and electronic in a way no-one else had done before. Guest performances from Richard Ashcroft, The Beasties Boys, Thom Yorke and even the reclusive Mark Hollis contribute to a truely classic album.
Pick Track: Guns Blazing (Drums Of Death, Pt.1)

96. Pulp- This Is Hardcore (1998)

The come down from their more pop albums of the 90's, this album is a dark crawl through a murky night life of celebrity, drugs, mortality and prostituion. A complete artistic about turn, but an absolutely brilliant one, with Jarvis Cocker as sharp as ever.
Pick Track: This Is Hardcore

95. Jeff Buckley- Grace (1994)

A gorgeously crafted album. It either rocks out or grooves away in a blusey fashion. Tragically his only album, it showcases Buckley's stunning voice to great effect.
Pick Track: Last Goodbye

94. Nine Inch Nails- The Downward Spiral (1994)

A dark and innovative concept album that mixed metal, rock and electronica under a superb layered production. Every song is merticulously crafted to perfection and cuts deep to the bone.
Pick Track: Eraser

93. The Flaming Lips- Hit To Death In The Future Head (1992)

Noisy indie rock with a psychedelic pop edge. It experiments with some weird sounds and features some brilliantly catchy songs.
Pick Track: Talkin' Bout The Smiling Deathporn Imortality Blues (Everybody Wants To Live Forever)

92. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds- The Boatman's Call (1997)

A complete shift in style and tone from his previous work, this album is led by Nick Cave sat at his piano singing very reflective songs on his previous relationships. Heartbreaking and stunning.
Pick Track: Into My Arms

91. Slowdive- Pygmalion (1995)

Complete derided by the press at the time, this album is an ambient masterpiece which creates some unique sounds and is a completely chilled out experience. It deserves far much more recognition.
Pick Track: Blue Skied An' Clear

Looking back at my expected albums of 2009 and at the starting line of 2010

2010-01-06T17:44:00.005Z

So, about a year ago, I made a list of albums I thoguht may get released this year according to various websites (mostly Metacritic). Let's take a look at that list:

Franz Ferdinand- Tonight: Franz Fedinand (not really very good)
The Appleseed Cast- Sargarmatha (never listened)
U2- No Line On The Horizon (good but average)
The Rakes- Klang (ace, sadden they split)
Starsailor- All The Plans (shit)
Patrick Wolf- Battle/? (became The Bachelor and was pretty good)
Sonic Youth- The Eternal (brilliant)
Amplifier- The Octopus and Mystodia (as yet to appear, they need to mix it apparently)
65daysofstatic (hasn't appeared)
Blood Red Shoes (more on this)
Blur (nowhere in sight)
Dananananaykroyd (never listened)
Doves (amazingly good album)
Florence and the Machine (pretty good album)
Garbage (Never appeared, I owe Jamesthegill £10 and a blue smartie)
The Like (hasn't appeared)
Massive Attack (more on this)
Mastodon (never listened)
Metric (brilliant album)
Mew (One of the best albums ever)
Muse (very good album)
Nine Black Alps (ace album)
Pearl Jam (meh album)
Placebo (never listened)
The Postal Service (Never appeared)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs (over rated)

So, most of the releases were released and I was mostly satisfied. Even if I do owe James £10 and a blue smartie. Some albums obviously didn't appear but that is partly because they are now slated to be released this year. Which is pretty cool. So what 2010 albums am I looking forward to in general?

Absolutely definitely will be released as they have release dates:

Eels- End times
Los Campesinos- Romance is Boring
Massive Attack- Heligoland
Lightspeed Cahmpion- Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You
Alberta Crozz- Broken Side Of Time
BRMC- Beat The Devils Tattoo
Frightened Rabbit- The Winter Of Mixed Drinks
Jonsi Birgisson- Go
Goldfrapp- Head First
Angus & Julia Stone- Down The Way
The Kissaway Trail- Sleep Mountain

Very likely to be released but unsure about release dates:

Blood Red Shoes- Fire Like This
Patrick Wolf- The Conquerer
MGMT- Congratulations
Band Of Horses- Night Rainbows
Shearwater- The Golden Archipelago
Gorillaz- Plastic Beach
Amplifier- The Octopus and Mystodia
U2- Songs Of Ascent

And now the regular mix of rumours and possibilities that could occur:

Ambulance LTD
Arcade Fire
Blur (as always)
Elbow
Noel Gallagher (at least he was the talented one who wrote all the good songs)
Garbage (shall we have another bet this year?)
Kraftwerk
The Like
Shirley Manson
The National
LCD Soundsystem
Interpol
The Hold Steady
The Strokes
Cat Power
No Age
Serena-Maneesh
School Of Seven Bells
R.E.M.

If there's an R.E.M. album this year, I may just die of happiness. I look forward to hearing developments on that one.

Oh and most importantly OCEANSIZE! They've got fuckloads of material written and ready and could easily get a new album out this year. They better do too.

Albums of the Decade: 10-1

2009-12-26T23:11:00.005Z

Here it is. The final stretch. I hope you've enjoyed these blogs, there won't be another series like this for a while. So without further ado:

10. Editors- The Back Room (2005)

Fast, tense, passionate, atmospheric, despairing, optimistic. The dark sound of Editors was completely perfect from the outset, the soundtrack to a death indie disco. It's sounded absolutely vital.
Pick Track: Camera

9. Coldplay- A Rush Of Blood To The Head (2002)

The growth of Coldplay on this album is stunning. They developed a huge sound but still sounded completely intimate. Chris Martin's lyric's were brilliant in their simplicity, the music got tighter and more involving. It's virtually flawless.
Pick Track: A Rush Of Blood To The Head

8. Oceansize- Frames (2007)

Oceansize got very prog on this release but made perfect use of dynamics. The songs are long and go through pahses of heavy rock to soft lullabies, before descending into a 3 track pit of darkness that's intense as fuck. The best balance possibly hoped for.
Pick Track: Trail Of Fire

7. Turin Brakes- Ether Song (2003)

A gorgeous album where nearly every song could've been a single. It's acoustic based sound had slightly more electric input and a darker sound, yet became more focused and essential at the same time. An oft-forgotten gem.
Pick Track: Ether Song (hidden track)

6. Bloc Party- Silent Alarm (2005)

Bloc Party have never bettered this perfect album. Minimal, yet layered, the tense collection of songs perfectly detailed the mindset of britain this decade from the fear to the hope and the romance. Absolutely brilliant.
Pick Track: Like Eating Glass

5. Modest Mouse- The Moon And Antarctica (2000)

A masterpiece of atmosphere and pacing, it jumps from slow and gentle to manic and stressed, with phenomenal lyrics and superb atmospheres to the songs. Every song sounds like it was painstakingly put together to fit the whole puzzle, and the result was one of the first essential albums of the decade.
Pick Track: The Stars Are Projectors

4. Mew- Frengers (2003)

Indie/rock/pop/prog and more besides, the epic sound of this album is unmistakeable. It's tender and warm whilst also showing of a creepier darker side. You can sing along to it at the top of your voice and it will wow you with it's huge songs that sound so intimate, even the epic closing of 'Comforting Sounds'.
Pick Track: Snow Brigade

3. Hope Of The States- The Lost Riots (2004)

An album based on simple yet complex thoughts and emotions. Love, fear, pain, loss, hope, anger and more were utilized on this post-rock/indie hybrid album that features intricate guitar lines and huge classical influenced styles to big indie pop songs. It sounds like it should fal apart at any second yet stays together defiantly. Absolutely rivetting and gorgeous.
Pick Track: Black Dollar Bills

2. Oceansize- Effloresce (2003)

Probably the best debut album ever. A heavy mix of rock, metal, prog, indie, ambience, acoustics and classical, it's a shining becon of channelling your influences into something new and unique. The songs are stunning and the music enthralling and intriguing. It's virtually unkown when it really should've taken over the world.
Pick Track: Women Who Love Me Who Love Drugs

1. Radiohead- Kid A (2000)

An absolute triumph of an album. It mixes everything under the sun to create the most innovative album of their career. Jazz, krautrock, classical, electronica and the more experimental side of rock were all combined to create a dark album, at times desolate, at others overwhelming. Convential song structures are ignored, the lyrics being delivered mostly as a stream of thought, and Thom Yorkes vocals sounding the most impressive they've ever been. Nothing has sounded like it since. It's completely unique in its sound and has influence a wide range of acts. It was released quite quickly into the decade but it set a benchmark no one else could reach.
Pick track: ALL OF THEM! ok, I'll go with How To Disappear Completely

Albums of the Decade: 20-11

2009-12-26T21:43:00.006Z

And now we break into the top 20 with a bang:

20. Radiohead- In Rainbows (2007)

Radiohead finally relaxed with this album, that's less paranoid and tense than previous work, but sitll as evocative and innovative as they've always been. It's download release was one of the most groundbreaking feats in the music industry of the 00's.
Pick Track: Weird Fishes/Arpeggi

19. TV On The Radio- Return To Cookie Mountain (2006)

A liberal mix of jazz, rock and post rock in a sensual collection. Atmospheric and ambient whilst intense and angry, TVOTR created an album that perfectly captured the mid decade tension whilst remaining hopelessly romantic and optimistic.
Pick Track: Province

18. Godspeed You! Black Emperor- Lift Yer Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven! (2000)

80-odd minutes, 4 tracks and 2 discs. Whilst entirely instrumental it's politically charged and is extremely tense. It's classical music made with rock instrumentation. It's post-rock that's entirely unique and impossible to replicate.
Pick Track: Sleep

17. LCD Soundsystem- Sound Of Silver (2007)

Dance music with a brain. It mixes virtually every genre imaginable together to create an album that can not only just dance to, but also sit down and think about it as well. Absolutely genius.
Pick Track: Someone Great

16. The Cooper Temple Clause- Kick Up The Fire And Let The Flames Break Loose (2003)

Their unique experimental rock sound got darker, heavier and more personal. It's difficult and abbrasive album but contains some incredibly stunning pieces.
Pick Tack: BLind Pilots

15. Sigur Ros- ( ) (2002)

My definitive post rock album. It's two halves contrast each other with a light optimistic half, and a dark and disturbing second half. The vocals are sung in a made up language but still pack a huge emotional punch. A genuinely beautiful album.
Pick Track: Untitled #8

14. Idlewild- 100 Broken Windows (2000)

The leap in quality from their debut to this second album from Idlewild was astonishing. Roddy Woomble stopped singing in an american accent, learnt to write poetic lyric's and the band learnt how to play more than 4 chords and create melodic and fun heavy rock songs. Breathtaking stuff.
Pick Track: These Wooden Ideas

13. Arcade Fire- Funeral (2004)

The most cathartic album of the decade, Arcade Fire's debut is an album of hope and defiance against unbearable cirumstances. They ended up with something that at times heartbreaking, romantic, epic and wonderous in equal measures. Indie rock at its finest.
Pick Track: Wake Up

12. Blur- Think Tank (2003)

Blur's sole album of the decade, and only album without Graham Coxon, continued their experiments and they made a melancholic album mixing indie, electronica and world music into a glorious pot. It's a dark trip but one worth taking.
Pick Track: On The Way To The Club

11. Modest Mouse- Good News For People Who Love Bad News (2004)

Following up The Moon And Antarctica was going to be hard but Modest Mouse managed it. Abbrasive indie rock with a soft side and some of the best lyrics I've ever heard. It's an under rated gem.
Pick Track: The View

Albums of the Decade: 30-21

2009-12-25T11:41:00.005Z

Slowly up the mountain we crawl:

30. Oceansize- Everyone Into Position (2005)

Thier most accessible collection, but no less compromising. Oceansize make brutal and beautiful music like no one else could. Epic and brilliant.
Pick Track: You Can't Keep A Bad Man Down

29. Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)

Absolutely heartbreaking music stripped down to its rawest components. This acoustic collection contains more emotion impact than most bands do in entire careers.
Pick Track: The Wolves (Act I and II)

28. Mew- And The Glass Handed Kites (2005)

14 tracks that make up one big long song. It's a dark and at times twisted journey, but it's enthralling and epic from start to finish.
Pick: Apocalypso

27. Turin Brakes- The Optimist LP (2001)

Acoustic anthems for those who are lost, confused and alone. A hazy and warm collection thats often quite amusing and always absolutely beautiful throughout.
Pick Track: Future Boy

26. Mogwai- Happy Songs For Happy People (2003)

Mogwai's stongest album of the decade is a post-apocalyptic monolith of an album. It features Their quiet loud dynamics, and their electronically altered soundscapes, and it a wonder to liste to.
Pick Track: Ratts Of The Capital

25. Elbow- Asleep In The Back (2001)

A dark and murky album that's bass and percussion heavy. Elbow arrived with a virtually perfect album, thats sensual, epic, abbrasive and touching all in one.
Pick Track: Newborn

24. The Electric Soft Parade- Holes In The Wall (2002)

Indie rock that should've taken over the world rather than Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes. Brutally honest lyrics and a huge array of sounds and influences creat an amazingly dverse album.
Pick Track: Biting The Soles Of My Feet.

23. Amplifier- Amplifier (2004)

Heavy as fuck, but always melodic. Amplifier's debut abum found the right balance between sheer volume and melodic power and created a brilliant piece of heavy progressive rock music.
Pick: Airborne

22. Interpol- Turn On The Bright Lights (2002)

Chiming guitars, using the bass as the lead, dark and hypnotic vocals of violence and tenderness. Interpol's minimal debut was fully formed and perfect on arrival. It thrives on the darker side of life, and makes the darkest moments seem the most romantic.
Pick Track: Say Hello To The Angels

21. Hope Of The States- Left (2006)

Even without Jimmi's guitar powering their songs, HOTS made an intense second album of their indie/post rock hybrid that was rawer and more abbrasive than their first, but just as beautiful.
Pick Track: Forwardirektion

Albums of the Decade: 40-31

2009-12-24T23:44:00.006Z

Getting steeper and closer:

40. Arcade Fire- Neon Bible (2007)

Still epic, still emtional, and still the musical cure to mend a broken heart/mind/soul. The sound is bigger and more optimistic, but it's still a dark piece of majestic work.
Pick Track: No Cars Go

39. Björk- Vespertine (2001)

As innovative as she's ever been, Björk contiuned to blend electronica and classic music together, but in a more intimate and claustrophobic environment. It's gorgeous and beautiful throughout, it's cold but warm and almost certainly a moving listen.
Pick Track: Cocoon

38. Coldplay- Parachutes (2000)

Before they became megastars, Coldplay started out with this unassuming and quiet album. It's packed full of soft indie gems and has a dark side to it. Even if they weren't megastars, this album would be regarded as a fine piece of work.
Pick Track: Spies

37. Radiohead- Amensiac (2001)

Ever so slightly more straight forward than Kid A, Amnesiac saw Radiohead continue to eperiment with styles, with guitars a bit more to the fore this time. Dark and extremely difficult, but it holds some brilliant tracks within.
Pick Track: Pyramid Song

36. Bloc Party- Intimacy (2008)

The most polarising album ever, it nevertheless showed Bloc Party were willing to push themselves. A weird mix of indie and electronics, the tracks are harsh and brutal or loving and tender. It's perfectly balanced and a thrill or a listen.
Pick Track: Better Than Heaven

35. Explosions In The Sky- Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever (2001)

It spawned a legion of copycats but Explosions In The Sky's style on their debut album wil never be bettered. 6 epic slices of ost rock that sounds like it should al drfit apart, but clings together regardless.
Pick Track: Greet Death

34. The Cooper Temple Clause- See This Through And Leave (2002)

Whilst the mainstream was dominated by nu-metal and garage rock, TCTC gave the people and alternative with their virtualy undefinable sound. Rock, indie, electronica, jazz, ambience, folk, and more are mixed on this dark and claustrophobic album that'll make you sweat.
Pick Track: The Lake

33. Idlewild- The Remote Part (2002)

The scottish rockers expand their repertoire to be mature and grow more epic, whilst still maintaining the energy and rawness of their early material. Catchy as fuck and it rocks hard.
Pick Track: Stay The Same

32. TV On The Radio- Dear Science (2008)

TV On The Radio's third album was their most accessible to date, with soulful numbers and superb production making their experimental rock sound even more ambitious than before. Lovely.
Pick Track: Halfway Home

31. Sigur Rós- Takk... (2005)

It soundtracked every nature documentary for the following two years, but Takk... shows a band fully comfortable with themselves, making beautiful ambient post rock that's accessible and warming in equal measures.
Pick Track: Glósóli

Albums of the Decade: 50-41

2009-12-24T20:59:00.008Z

Lets start the trek to the summit:

50. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead- Source Tags And Codes (2002)

Progressive indie done in style. It flows perfectly, never letting up and sounds like a band playing for their lives. It'll blow you away.
Pick Track: How Near How Far

49. Mew- No More Stories/ Are Told Today/ I'm Sorry/ They Washed Away// No More Stories/ The World Is Grey/ I'm Tired/ Let's Wash Away (2009)

Beautifully inventive, very chilled back and at times just plain fun. The lads from Denmark continue to make innovetive music like no one else.
Pick Track: Sometimes Life Isn't Easy

48. Thom Yorke- The Eraser (2006)

Thom Yorkes second appearance in this list, his suprise solo album is his own take on electronica. It's paranoid and claustrophobic, and Yorke's vocals stun throughout the album.
Pick Track: Cymbal Rush

47. Muse- Absolution (2003)

Their masterpiece by far. 14 tracks detailing conspiracies, paranoia, fear, anger, lust, romance and more. It's heavy and soft in equal measures, and Matt Bellamy has never bettered the lyrics on show here.
Pick Track: The Smal Print

46. Elbow- The Seldom Seen Kid (2008)

This album saw Elbow go orchestral and ambitious and quite rightly broke them in the UK. IT's gorgeous and sleazy, as the band shows how talented they really are.
Pick Track: The Loneliness Of A Tower Crane Driver

45. Isis- Oceanic (2002)

Isis invented an entirely new style of music on this album: Post Metal. Drawing from their hardcore routes as well as metal and post rock, they produced an album that's heavy and melodic and absolutely gripping at all times.
Pick Track: Weight

44. The Duke Spirit- Cuts Across The Land (2005)

Lo-fi garage rock at its best. It's raw and bluesy, whilst frontwoman Leila Moss provides stunning vocal performances and opens her heart emotionally with her lyrics brilliant.
Pick Track: Stubborn Stitches

43. The Flaming Lips- Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (2002)

It wasn't easy following up The Soft Bulletin, but The Flaming Lips did so, with an album that's just as inventive and possibly even more heartbreaking and emotion than its predecessor. It's grand and symphonic, and just plain beautiful.
Pick Track: Do You Realize??

42. Easyworld- This Is Where I Stand (2002)

Indie pop at its best. Dav Ford and co lead you through 11 gems that are inventive and fun in equal measure whilst at times being completely breathtaking.
Pick Track: This Is Where I Stand

41. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds- No More Shall We Part (2001)

Nick Cave had finaly overcome his heroin addiction for this album, and the band produced a very mature and refective record, that include some of the saddest music ever recorded. A beauty from start to finish.
Pick Track: God Is In The House

Albums of the Decade: 60-51

2009-12-24T19:32:00.006Z

Reaching the halfway point in style:

60. Beck- Sea Change (2002)

Beck has 2 modes: his out there colletions infusing every genre under the sun, or his acoustic heartbreaking albums. This is one of the latter, and it's a gorgeous recollection of breaking up.
Pick Track: Sunday Sun

59. Doves- Kingdom Of Rust (2009)

A brilliantly inventive collection of dark and melancholic songs that weave through your mind and create their own strange little world.
Pick Track: 10.03

58. Easyworld- Kill The Last Romantic (2004)

They went all dark and melancholic and did it better than anyone else for a brief period. Awesome indie pop songs that pack a punch. Sadly it was their last album.
Pick: Celebritykiller

57. Bloc Party- A Weekend In The City (2007)

An amazing 2nd album, that's politicaly charged, angry and frustrated. It had roaring moments, experimental moments, as well as moments of sheer beauty. Far and away their darkest album and a fine album it is.
Pick Track: SRXT

56. Queens Of The Stone Age- Songs For The Deaf (2002)

Possibly the heaviest album on this list. It's inventive, QOTSA throwing away the old rule book for rock and making up new rules as they go. It's fast paced and breathtaking brilliance.
Pick Track: First It Giveth

55. Sonic Youth- Murray Street (2002)

The boys and girls of the youth welcome new member Jim O'Rourke and create an album that comes pretty damn close to their creative peak of the 80's/90's. Simple songs with unconventional songwriting, it's sounds like the band are having fun, and you wil too if you listen.
Pick Track: The Empty Page

54. The Flaming Lips- Embryonic (2009)

18 tracks and 70 odd minutes of sheer madness. Their angriest and heaiviest album to date, it's psychedelic, melodic, beautiful and everything in between. A bit of a rollercoaster.
Pick Track: Silver Trembling Hands

53. Manic Street Preachers- Journal For Plague Lovers (2009)

Using Richey Edwards lyric's and creating soem of the rawest music they've made in years meant the Manic Street Preachers made a dark, difficult but more often than not, moving album. A fitting farewell for their lost friend.
Pick Track: All Is Vanity

52. Editors- An End Has A Start (2007)

An unbelieveably brilliant follow up to their brilliant debut, Editors continue to refine their dark sound and create some amazingly emotional music that's more ambitious, epic and hazy than they'd done before.
Pick Track: Push Your Head Towards The Air

51. Doves- Lost Souls (2000)

One of the first truely brilliant albums of the decade, Lost Souls was a dark introduction to Doves' sound. Long epic songs, bounced off more intimate ones and was a riveting listen throughout.
Pick Track: The Cedar Room

Albums of the Decade: 70-61

2009-12-24T16:55:00.005Z

Flying like a led zeppelin:

70. Amplifier- Insider (2006)

Simpler than their debut but no less brutal. Heavy prog rock with awesome riffs and amazing songs, that also have a gentler side to them.
Pick Track: O Fortuna

69. The Stills- Logic Will Break Your Heart (2003)

Predating the post punk revival of the mid 00's, The Stills, made an infectiously catchy pop album with superb basslines and noisy guitar lines.
Pick Track: Of Montreal

68. TV On The Radio- Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (2004)

A dark bass heavy world with droning guitars and synthetic rhythms combing to make something very intriguing and melancholic.
Pick Track: Staring At The Sun

67. Levi Weaver- You Are Never Close To Home, You Are Never Far From Home (2007)

Released completely independantly this album is a triumph of one mans vision. 12 folk/rock that take in heartbreak and loss, and includes and amazing one man cover of Radiohead's 'Idioteque'.
Pick Track: Family Fued

66. Nine Inch Nails- Ghosts I-IV (2008)

2 hours and 36 tracks of instrumental electronica from Trent Reznor and friends. It's difficult and ranges from beautiful to abbrasive. Trent made more song based albums this decade but this stands out purely for it's uniqueness in the NIN catalogue.
Pick Track: can't really pick an individual track for this, but part II is probably the best section

65. Patrick Wolf- Lycanthropy (2004)

A completely unque artist, this album is a gem with folk and electronica perfectly merging together along with indie, classical and jazz. Patrick plays so many instruments its scary and this naive but dark album is still his best.
Pick Track: Paris

64. Sigur Rós- Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust (2008)

A complete departure from their ambient post rock past, it's an album in two halves. One half optimistic pop, the other sad and melancholic. Absolutely wonderful and unexpected.
Pick Track: Gobbledigook

63. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds- Abattoir Blues/ The Lyre Of Orpheus (2005)

A stunning double album, one half raw rock the other quiet and beautiful piano led numbers. And to think Nick Cave had writers block during it's creation.
Pick Track: There She Goes, My Beautiful World

62. Amusement Parks On Fire- Amusement Parks On Fire (2004)

Recorded solely by frontman Michael Feerick, this is one man's vision of shoegaze. It's gentle and abbrasive in equal measure, epic and noisy but always brilliant.
Pick Track: Venosa

61. Aereogramme- A Story In White (2001)

A schizophrenic album veering from heavy post rock to quite acoustic tracks. At times intimate and desolate, at others arena sized and euphoric, it's weird but brilliant.
Pick Track: Post-Tour, Pre-Judgement

Albums of the Decade: 80-71

2009-12-24T15:27:00.005Z

Let's have some more:

80. School Of Seven Bells- Alpinisms (2008)

Electronic shoegaze at its finest. A truely inventive and original album that's absolutely stunning throughout.
Pick Track: Half Asleep

79. PJ Harvey- Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (2001)

Raw and energetic, whilst emotional and heartbreaking, Pj Harvey created possibly her best album with this release. Fact- This is the first of about 5 albums on this list to feature Thom Yorke.
Pick Track: This Mess We're In

78. Björk- Medúlla (2004)

Made purely with voices with a little bit of electronic production this album is absolutely stunning. Completely innovative, you'd never had thought there's only about 2 instruments used on this album.
Pick Track: Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right)

77. My Vitriol- Finelines (2001)

One of the most influencial albums on the list, this album was the natural sucessort to The Smashing Pumpkins, infusing heavy rock with beautiful shoegaze. They still haven't made a bloody follow up though.
Pick Track: Losing Touch

76. Johnny Foreigner- Waited Up 'til It Was Light (2008)

A jewel in the crown of indie pop, this is an absolute gem of an album. + I love the fact that every song is about Birmingham in some form or other.
Pick Track: Sometimes In The Bullring

75. Grinderman- Grinderman (2007)

The first of 3 appearances for Nick Cave and some of his Bad Seeds, this album is a stripped down filthy beast of bluesy garage rock. Nick Cave at his most sexually frustrated best.
Pick Track: No Pussy Blues

74. The Cure- Bloodflowers (2000)

Robert Smith nearly ended the Cure after this album. If he had, it would've been a fitting epitaph, being a melodic and beautiful album shrouded in sadness.
Pick Track: Maybe Someday

73. Bright Eyes- Digital Ash In A Digital Urn (2005)

Conor Oberst makes an electronic rock album that sounds like nothing ever before. Dark and emotional it's abslutely gripping. Sadly, he never returned to investigate the sound more.
Pick Track: Easy/Lucky/Free

72. 65daysofstatic- The Fall Of Math (2004)

Math rock masters unveiled this debut album in 2004. Fast, furious, and at times downright bonkers, the've never bettered it in my eyes.
Pick Track: Retreat! Retreat!

71. Laura Marling- Alas I Cannot Swim (2008)

A folk album of immense maturity, it's a heartbreaking album and is able to make grown men cry with its sincerity.
Pick Track: Shine

Albums of the Decade: 90-81

2009-12-24T14:39:00.004Z

Ok I'm bored so I'm carrying on quite quickly:

90. Zwan- Mary, Star Of The Sea (2003)

Billy Corgan makes one of the happiest rock albums ever. Brilliant guitar lines and amazing songs throughout.
Pick: Settle Down

89. Doves- The Last Broadcast (2002)

Doves break into the mainstream with a epic album that is so happy, optimistic and defiant of the troubles ofthe world it makes for an amazing listen.
Pick Track: N.Y.

88. Biffy Clyro- The Vertigo Of Bliss (2003)

Having made a pretty good rock album in Blackened Sky, the Biff' go a bit mental and create an innovative and weird masterpiece. Guarenteed to rock your socks off.
Pick Track: When The Faction's Fractioned

87. Matthew Jay- Draw (2001)

Tragically his only album before he died, Draw is a work of beauty. 12 acoustic tracks with gentle flickers of electronic's and pure emotion. Amazing.
Pick Track: You're Always Going Too Soon

86. Cat Power- You Are Free (2003)

Cat Power create a raw and emotionally charged album based around her sensual voice. Much better than her soul inspired work.
Pick Track: I Don't Blame You

85. Sonic Youth- NYC Ghosts And Flowers (2000)

The most unfairly maligned SY track in their history, its 8 tracks are a massive change for them, being very based on the beat and featuring spoken word lyrics/poems. It's odd and difficult but enthralling.
Pick Track: NYC Ghosts And Flowers

84. Airiel- The Battle Of Sealand (2007)

Extremely fuzzy and noisey shoegaze from a bunch of lads from Chicago. At times abraisive, at other times touching. Always phenomenal.
Pick Track: Thinktank

83. The Duke Spirit- Neptune (2008)

An album of polished garage rock that still sounds lo fi and noisy. Leila Moss has to be one of the best singers of the decade.
Pick Track: Into The Fold

82. Broken Social Scene- Broken Social Scene (2005)

By far my favourite album from the canadian collective, it's dreamy, hazy and melodic at all times. It's also far more epic, ambitious and poppy than their other albums and is essentially a work of art.
Pick Track: Ibi Dreams Of Pavement (A Better Day)

81. Metric- Live It Out (2005)

Part timers in BSS, Metric created their own masterpiece in 2005 themselves with 10 synth indie tracks that also rock and move you fully. I bet you all will dance throughout this album.
Pick Track: Monster Hospital

Albums of the Decade: 100-91

2009-12-24T13:26:00.004Z

I'm going to start this now because I can. I'm going to try to keep things brief with a sort paragraph on each album. And do it in 10's because doing 100 individual posts is just too excessive.

Just bear in mind, this list could very very easily be switched around and is not definitive. I may look back in a few weeks and decide that some albums shouldn't be in the list or some should be much higher. Except for the top 10 though, that's pretty much set in stone:

100. I Am Kloot- I Am Kloot (2003)

John Bramwell and co create 11 stunningly beautiful tracks ranging from the optimistic to to pessimistic. Fascinating with amazing lyrics.
Pick Track: Proof

99. Bruce Springsteen- The Rising (2002)

The Boss gets his groove back by writing an album in response to the 9/11 that perfectly reflected the mindset of the American public. Angry, passionate, heartbreak, he has it all here. Pick Track: Lonesome Day

98. Sky Larkin- The Golden Spike (2009)

12 slices of lo-fi indie pop brilliance which are impossible to sit still to listen to. Addictive and fun to the extreme.
Pick track: Matador

97. Guillemots- Through The Windowpane (2006)

A huge ambitious abum, throwing lots of styles together to create some epic pop gems. It's enthralling and never lets up.
Pick track: Sao Paulo

96. The Cure- The Cure (2004)

The Cure add a heavy rock sound over their already dark and heavy music. Result- Some of the most straight forward and inventive music the band had made in years.
Pick Track: Alt.End

95. Troubles- Wolf (2008)

Pushing the boundaries of postrock by creating a minimal sound with little to no percussion and lots of folk instruments.
Pick Track: My Yeshiva

94. The Rakes- Capture/Release (2005)

The actual sound track to my life. It's scary how these songs essentially described my entire life at uni a full year before I even got to uni. spikey, observational indie at its best.
Pick Track: Binary Love

93. Amusement Parks On Fire- Out Of The Angeles (2006)

Modern shoegaze with twists and turns like no other. Retains all the hallmarks of their influences whilst creating their own unique and focused take on the genre.
Pick Track: Cut To Future Shock

92. Muse- Origin Of Symmetry (2001)

The Devonshire trio shake off the Radiohead comparisons to create a blazing rock album, mixing elements of classical music and jazz into their rock sound to stunning effect.
Pick Track: Microcuts

91. We Were Promised Jetpacks- These Four Walls (2009)

Solid Scottish indie rock with heartfelt vocals and catchy tunes. This sort of stuff should be taking the world by storm.
Pick Track: Quiet Little Voices

James Ether's Release of 2009

2009-12-22T22:19:00.003Z

Ok, Manic Street Preachers might be my album of 2009, but in all seriousness, only 1 release this year left me absolutely speachless. It was the only release that made me press play again immediately after it initialy finished. That release:

OCEANSIZE- HOME & MINOR EP

Oceansize do it once again and create a release that majestic and emotional. The idea was to release an ep of their more sedate side, and thats what the public got. Six tracks of experimental ambient rock from one of the finest bands ever.

'Legal Teens' is a weird mass-up of keyboards and high pitched guitars swiring around Mike Vennarts unusually high vocals. Glockenspiels and slow key changes create a swirling love feast.

'Getting Where Water Cannot' is possibly the simplest song Oceansize have ever written. It's very simple, and features little to no guitar effects, just gentle strumming and little guitar lines, all accentuated by horns coming in at the end.

Then 'Monodrones' is a stunning short piece that reminds me of Brian Eno. Except I damn as hell bet that it's done entirely on guitar. Bastards.

The tite track 'Home And Minor' is 8 minutes of chilled bliss and listening to it can only make me think of a loving parent putting their child to bed. It's just so warm.

'Didnealand' is not warm in the slightest though. A shoert experiment mixing drums and piano around each other, it's somewhat cold and jarring.

It sets the final track 'The Strand' up perfectly. It's an uneasy piece with tense restrained drums and vocals that sond like someones standing behind you whispering in your ear. It's gorgeous.

Basically, it's gorgeous and brimming with ideas. The production is absolutely sublime and the lyrics are poetic in their simplicity. It's easily the best thing I've heard all year. I just couldn't include it in the albums list.

Coming soon though: my albums of the decade.

James Ether's Album Of 2009

2009-12-22T19:16:00.005Z

Wellerty, Wellerty , Wellerty. It's been somewhat of a journey as always doing an albums of the year list. Listening back to albums and remembering everything they remind you of from throughout the year. And then you think, 'bugger, it's in the wrong order'! (like, I'm now thinking Japandroids should be much higher on my list).

The one that is different about this years list and last years list is that I liked very few of the albums immediately. The vast majority of the albums had to grow on me a lot. Of course I'm happy that they have grown on me, I just find it strange that I didn't like them immediately. Anyways, here's a recap of the rest of the top 20:

20. Muse- The Resistance
19. And So I Watch You From Afar- And So I Watch You From Afar
18. Japandroids- Post-Nothing
17. The Rakes- Klang
16. Patrick Wolf- The Bachelor
15. The Horrors- Primary Colours
14. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead- The Century Of Self
13. Sonic Youth- The Eternal
12. Metric- Fantasies
11. The Joy Formidable- A Baloon Called Moaning
10. My Latest Novel- Deaths & Entrances
9. Super Furry Animals- Dark Days/ Light Years
8. Nine Black Alps- Locked Out From The Inside
7. British Sea Power- Man Of Aran
6. Sky Larkin- The Golden Spike
5. We Were Promised Jetpacks- These Four Walls
4. Mew- No More Stories/ Are Told Today/ I'm Sorry/ They Washed Away// No More Stories The World Is Grey/ I'm Tired/ Let's Was Away
3. Doves- Kingdom Of Rust
2. The Flaming Lips- Embryonic

There we go. All pretty good albums, all worthy of being mentioned. This years choice for my album of the year was far trickier than last year as I had it down to about 3 choices. 2 of those choices now take the 2nd and 3rd positions in my list. My ultimate choice is revealed just below after the drum roll:

1. Manic Street Preachers- Journal For Plague Lovers

I admit it, back in May when I first got this album, I really did not expect myself to be calling it my album of the year. In fact, I wasn't even sure I liked it. I listened to it and seemed unsure about it. Yet it maneuved into my mind and has been stucked there for a vast majority of the year. I'm happy it did to, cos it's just fucking brilliant.

The story: Richey James Edwards was one of the lyricists for the Manics at the start of their career (he also tried to play guitar but he really wasn't very good at that). In 1995, he handed a copy of his journal full of lyrics to his bandmates to look after. On the 1st of February that year, Richey left his hotel in london and was never seen again. No one knows what happened to him, if he's still alive or dead etc. The band carried on and their next album Everything Must Go featured some of Richey lyrics, but these were only included because the demo's already existed of the songs in question (the song 'No Surface All Feeling' is actually one of two featuring Richey actually playing guitar on a Manics album).

Anyways, after that Nicky Wire became the sole lyricist for the band, and did a mostly good job. But now, 14 years since being handed the journal, the band revisited what remains of Richey's work and decided to sieve through to find the most usable lyrics for an album. All the lyrics were written by Richey before his disappearance. And the band have backed them up with music similar to that of their masterpiece The Holy Bible. It's striped down, raw and addictive.

It's not quite The Holy Bible 2. It's not quite a pessimistic or as roughly mixed as that album. However, in regard to the lyrics, they do offer an insight into a complex mind f a many who was tearing himself apart. 'Peeled Apples' appropriately kicks off proceedings with a ominous sample giving way to a disturbing rock song, with James Dean Bradfield giving a passionate performance. It's raw it's dirty and the lyrics are super. They're less cohesive and more impenetrable than Richey's old lyrics (which is saying something) but the lyrics shouldn't have had to have waited so long to see the light of day, particular genius lines like:

'If a married man fucks a Catholic
And his wife dies without knowing
Does that make him unfaithful?'

Simultaneously, you think it sounds amateurist, but also hilarious. But the it asks questions about faith in marriage. Ok I'm not very good at analysing lyrics so I'll leave it there, but trust me, they're great. That couplet comes from 'Jackie Collins Existential Question Time', a 2 minute blast of rock ad confusion. It's followed by 'Me And Stephen Hawking' which has some amazing riffage and guitar phasing. But the the temp is changed by the stunning 'This Joke Sport Severed' which begins as a simple acoustic ode before strings crash into the lift the song into a place of beauty.

The raw rock sound returns on the title track though, a sneering and distorted song that drags you by the throat through it's word. 'She Bathed Herself In A Bath Of Bleach' is the slightly calmer sound of passive-agressiveness and has a simple but ace bassline. 'Facing Page: Top Left' is a gorgeous acousitc number embued with sadness and seems like James Dead Bradfield reflecting on all that could've been for the band.

The album then runs through its strongest tracks, the angry and snarling punkish 'Marlon J.D.' the gentle but epic 'Doors Closing Slowly' and the amazing 'All Is Vanity' which has one of the best riffs of the enitre album and easily the best chorus:

'It's not "What's wrong?"
It's "What's right?"
Makes you feel like I'm talking a foreign language sometimes
It's not "What's wrong?"
It's "What's right?"
It's the facts of life sunshine'

And I'm still convinced that last line is actually 'It's a fucked up life sunshine'. It's an enthralling song and one of the highlights of the album. 'Pretension/Repulsion' follows on with a lazy sounding guitar riff before bursting forth into more rock and epicness. 'Virginia State Epileptic Colony' is one of the calmer, less angry songs on the album with a slightly less distorted guitar and some atmospheric sounds in the bridge. The album then closes on a sad and resigned note 'William's Last Words'. It's sung my Nicky Wire which gives the song a more emotional tone to it, as Nicky isn't a great singer, yet sounds very emotional throughout the song. It's quiet and melancholic, and the lyrics seem like Richey was saying goodbye to everyone.

There's a hidden track which is very distorted and angry and seems dissatisfied with everything. It's an unusual way to close the album over but it sort of works. Focusing on the main album though it's unbelievably good. The lyrics are resoundingly brilliant, and whilst a younger Manics would've bought a punk speed to the songs, the use of heavier riffs and melodic rhythms gives them a whole new depth. It's a dark rock album with few frills, the focus is entirely on the lyrics. The Manics have done Richey's lyrics proud on this album, creating a dark little nugget that is probably the best album they've released this decade + probably the best album of the entire year.

So there you have it, IT'S OVER!! I might make a compilation of tracks from these albums at some point for you all. But until next time, have a good christmas/holiday season and

WAIT

Whilst 'Journal For Plague Lovers' is my album of the year, it is not the best thing I've heard this year. My RELEASE of the year is not an album, it's a 6 track EP that I will reveal to you all soonish.

Albums of The Year: 2

2009-12-22T18:15:00.010Z

Being teleported through space to land in the weird lands of oklahoma:

2. The Flaming Lips- Embryonic

Warning: If you are only really into how The Flaming Lips sound on their albums The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, you will find this a very difficult album to listen to. If however you either prefer the Flaming Lips material from the early 90's or just love everything they've ever done (that'd be my group) then you will love this album a lot, but still find it difficult. You see, The Flaming Lips have taken a left turn and a half on Embryonic. They've made a very dark modern psychedlic album, which has hints of their past on it, but seems to be moving in some bizarre direction.

It's all a lot to take in which is why I will also advise you to only listen to it one half at a time (it is a double album afterall). It opens up with feedback and guitar squalls before a bass groove sets in and 'Convinced Of The Hex' introduces you to the dark world of weirdly effected guitars, dark ominous bass lines and Wayne Coynes mad man lyrics. And it only gets darker from there. 'The Sparrow Looks up At The Machine' seems to get even more manic before 'Evil slows things down to a crawl as Wayne Coyne laments the world. It's beautiful, yet creepy at the same time. What follows is an assault on Kliph Scurlock's drums (the instrumental 'Aquarius Sabotage') and the tense 'See The Leaves' (with it's propulsive bass sounding like a war cry in the intro).

'If' and 'Gemini Syringes' keep the first half of the album a float albeit more quietly after the storm of 'See The Leaves'. and still sounding somewhat sinister. 'Your Bats' conversely sounds moderately upbeat compared to everything thats gone before it it, with its laid back bass and drums gently weaving the song together. 'Powerless' then closes out the first half of the album. And epic 7 minutes that borders between the darkness and the light within the album it's mostly a spaced out jam gone wrong. It's fantastic.

So after an extremely dark and weird first half you'd think the second half would be lighter and more accessible right? Oh my friend, it carries on it's same course, of being extremely dark and spaced out. Oh and still being utterly brilliant. 'The Ego's Last Stand' features a stop/start giutar riff creep upon you but doesn't erupt into anything more. It's just taunts you with it's minimal sound. 'I Can Be A Frog' sounds like some twisted childrens bedtime story, and guests Karen O making animal noises. Seriously. 'Sagittarius Silver Announcement' is one of the lighter songs on the album, with it's fuzzy bass protuding from layers of harmonies. It's quite lovely.

'Worm Mountain' is up next and is loud. One of the most pschedelic songs on the album, it's loud bass and groovy drums intertwine with gentle keyboards and wails of guitar. Following on is another instrumental in the form of 'Scorpio Sword', which is very abstract and has some mental drumming and weird layers over the top of it. Yet as with everything else on this album, it's intriguing and enthralling. 'The Impulse' is a nice little quiet reprieve from most of the album, with a gentle paced and keyboards and strangely emotional vocoder lyrics. It's actually somewhat beautiful. 'Silver Trembling Hands' is nothing like it afterwards, a rush of panic, tension and desperation, Wayne Coyne sounds like everything is about to cave in on him as the song rushes through itself.

The album concludes with another minimal interlude of 'Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast' before finishing with the awesome 'Watching The Planets', which might just be the sound of frustration distilled into song. It's a culmination of everything on the album, it has propulsive basslines, gentle keyboards, odd guitar leads, heavy drumming and Wayne Coyne's desperate vocals, which sound more resigned on this track.

Embryonic is not an easy album in the slightest, even if you're used to this side of The Flaming Lips. It's 18 tracks long, extremely dark and features some amazing experimentation from the band. It's possible that they've made the perfect sound track for madness. If you have the patience you should definitely listen to this album.

Coming soon, James Ether's Album Of The Year!

Albums of The Year: 3

2009-12-22T13:04:00.003Z

Tumbling out the whirwind into post-industrial England:

3. Doves- Kingdom Of Rust

Released back in April, Kingdom of Rust has found its way to a soft spot in my heart as I expected. Doves' fourth album took some time to arrive (just like Mew's did) and it sunk it quite smoothly. Doves have progressed their sound further, into some more experimental territory. And as usual for a Doves album, just calling it sublime doesn't justify it.

It starts off quite slowly. 'Jetstream' slinks in and builds up but never seems like it peaks, though it's an absolute masterpiece of arrangement, with different instruments coming to the fore and layers forming and disappearing slowly. It's quite a marvel really. The title track then lazily drifts into the show, an unusual mix of the wild west and lush orchestration. It's very sedate and melancholic and just lovely. It's quite a quite way to start an album really, hence 'The Outsiders' is a shock at first bursting from the word go into a fuzzy and angry rocker of a song. It's jarring, taking you out of your comfort zone and into somewhere very uncomfortable.

That comfort is restored with 'Winter Hill', a Doves classic song in every sense. It retains all the features of a Doves song (euphoric, big chorus' and intricate guitar lines) whilst being bolster by some fantastic production (the entire album is emaculately produced it has to be said). '10.03' is quite simply a work of beauty, opening quitely on strings and gentle instrumentation before taking a left turn down a similar fuzzy route as 'The Outsiders' did and creating an absolute epic in the process. 'The Greatest Denier' then showcases an unusual take on quiet/loud dynamics, in that it at times gets quieter, then gets louder but only for short periods around an otherwise normal volume. It also features some fantastic vocals from Jimi Goodwin.

The album calms down on the melanholic 'Birds Flew Backwards' before there some classic Doves romanticism with 'Spellbound'. The two songs are beautiful in their own ways, the former because for all it's orchestration, it sounds amazingly intimate, the latter because it's so euphoric. 'Compulsion' follows on and is some what odd, revolving around a 3 note bass groove and atmospheric, giving a somewhat chilling factor to it. The wild west elements appear again in 'House Of Mirrors' but this time in a harsher and somewhat more sleazy manner. It's an ace run of songs it has to be said.

The album closes with another classic sounding Doves track, 'Lifelines', an ode to hanging on to life. A lovely optimistic way to close the album. It's an intriguing album ranging from being completely intimate with you to sounding expansive (sometimes in the course of the same song) and shows Doves progressing their already unique sound further. And with that I salute them.

Albums of The Year: 4

2009-12-21T21:10:00.005Z

And now a short flight across the north sea to the cold islands of Denmark:

4. Mew- No More Stories / Are Told Today / I'm Sorry / They Washed Away // No More Stories / The World Is Grey / I'm Tired / Let's Wash Away

Longest album title ever? Well, of recent times probably, of all time possibly not (I bet there's something ridiculously long somewhere). Anyways, 4 years after their last masterpiece '...And The Glass Handed Kites', Mew return with another one. No More Stories... is a more loose album than previous Mew albums, but it also features some of the most euphoric music Mew have ever made.

Oh, and it's got some weird stuff on it too, like 'New Terrain' which sounds like it's being played backwards, then if you do reverse it you DO get another song! Crazy stuffs. Anyways, in the main course of the album 'New Terrain' sets up the album as it means to go on, as experimental and epic, but then also simple and intimate. 'Introducing The Palace Players' kinda comes somewhere inbetween all those things though, starting off as though everyone is out of time yet weirdly in time whilst playing, before setting into a guitar driven groove and adding more layers. It's pretty damn ace. Oh then there's 'Beach' or "the simplest song we've ever done'' as Mew have said. And it is simple and very pretty and melodic. It's just wonderful and happy. It then goes all dark with the dark and melancholic 'Repeaterbeater'. Opening and closing with loud wails of guitars and featuring a keyboard driven tale of desperation inbetween it's enthralling.

In the middle of the album comes the centre pieces. Firstly the acoustic 'Silas The Magic Car' which sounds like a bedtime story in musical form it's so soothing. Following that is the epic 'Cartoons and Macrame Wounds' which at first sounds like it's getting ever quieter before it swells up to an almighty crescendo, that equally sounds like it's just for you as well as a thousand other people in a similar situation. And Jonas' vocals at the end of the song just send shivers down my spine. Seriously. This superb song is then followed by the gorgeous combo of 'Hawaii Dream' and 'Hawaii', that focus around a quiet little guitar line and build up to a swirling euphoria involving phased guitars and wooden blocks being hit together. Odd, but wonderful.

'Vaccine' is filled with somewhat more tension that the rest of the album. It's like it's in a rush to finish and never quite builds up in the same ways as other tracks do, even with it's big distorted guitar line at the end, but it's equally a joy to listen to. 'Tricks Of The Trade' is also a joy, being more keyboard driven and having a somewhat more electronic tone to it. It's one of the darker tracks on the album but just as enthraling as the others.

The album closes with the magnificently extravagant 'Sometimes Life Isn't Easy' and a long slow and gentle 'Reprise'. When the album is over you just want more. It's a journey from start to finish and show's off once more why Mew are simply one of the most inventive bands out there today.

Albums of The Year: 5

2009-12-21T17:29:00.003Z

Going past the north to Scotland to crash into the top 5:

5. We Were Promised Jetpacks- These Four Walls

This was a bit unexpected for me. I got this album for my birthday in august but kinda put it to the side. I eventually returned to it expecting something average but instead got a selection of well formed indie rock that will either break your heart or move your feet. It's a very intimate album, that then has the balls to sound absolutely huge as well.

Opener 'It's Thunder And It's Lightning' begins, quietly with a picked guitar and Adam Thomsons low vocals. Then it all gets a bit tenser and frantic before it suddenly builds up to an almighty crescendo of guitars and noise. It's like it starts in your bedroom but finishes in an arena. 'Ships With Holes Will Sink' then bounces into view with catchy guitar riffs and fantastic lyrics. The more acoustic 'Conductor' is quietly epic, building up slightly to great effect, and proves to be a bit of a heart clencher. WWPJ then go all post rock with 'A Half Built House' with swirls of noise and weird effects proving a fitting interlude to the album.

It's kind of a sensible point now to say that whilst the album has an overall cohesive sound, each track has such subtle nuiances to make them each stand out. And no track stands out more than 'Quiet Little Voices', a song which I can only describe as perfect. It's starts with a fantstic arpeggio, then runs into a propulsive verse before turning into a riff heavy monster for the repeated chorus. It's a breathtaking song and is just stunning. 'Moving Clocks Run Slow' seems relatively calm coming straight after it, despite sounding as desperate as the previous track.

The album closes with two beautiful songs. First the 8 minute epic build up of 'Keeping Warm' (which they amazingly opened with when I saw them in November) that just stuns with the layers of guitars before breaking into a brilliant little ditty. Finally, the acoustic 'An Almighty Thud' closes the album on a tender heaet wrenching note, with Adam sounding completely lost in the world we're in.

It's a bloody superb album this. I can't believe it took me 3 months to fully appreciate how amazing it is. Please get it please.

Albums of The Year: 6

2009-12-21T14:36:00.003Z

Flying up north again:

6. Sky Larkin- The Golden Spike

One of the first albums out this year that I bought and possibly the one that's stayed with me the longest (also first one reviewed a very long time ago on this here blog). Anyways, Sky Larkin made a brilliant album here full of pop hooks and catchy songs.

Katie Harkin leads the gang with her confident vocals and distorted guiar sound (see 'Pica') on songs that veer from tenderness ('Antibodies'), anger ('Geography'), romance ('Matador') and sheer silly fun ('Beeline'). It's al backed up with Nestor's terrifically heavy drumming and Doug's melodic basslines. There's also one of the best singles of last year including in 'Fossil, I', a two minute tour de force of brilliant indie rock. There's also a deviation into different sounds with the keyboard driven 'Somersault'.

But overall, this is a short album packed with fun catchy and addictive songs. It's pretty ace indeed. Stay tuned for the top 5!!

Albums of The Year: 7

2009-12-21T01:25:00.000Z

Flying off the mainland now:

7. British Sea Power- Man Of Aran

When I heard BSP were doing a soundtrack album, I thought it was a cool idea. Probably do something interesting right? Oh dear god I was not expecting it to be this good. They've made the best post-rock album of the year for me. It's more inspired by Constellation bands like Godspeed and A Silver Mt. Zion than Explosions in The Sky (the usual post rock band of choice to copy) and is a stunning album.

It's very slow and ambient thoughout, like the dark opening of 'Man of Aran', and the instruments are used minimally a lot, but then are built up when needed like on the hysterical epic maelstrom of 'Spearing The Sunfish'. Then there are tracks which just make your jaw drop they're so beautiful like 'Woman of Aran' and 'It Comes Back Again'. It's an instrumental album save for 'Come Wander With Me' which has some chanting on it. In both just listening to the album, and watching it in context with the film, it's a wise choice. It's practically perfect as it is. The final track 'No Man Is An Archipelago', is aanother nice suprise, a reworking of the track 'The Great Skua' from last years 'Do You Like Rock Music?', it's more matured and works better in this environment than it did on that album and is all the more ace for it.

It's a complete suprise how good this album is to me. I never really saw BSP as haing that much of a post rock thing in their music before now (even if looking back I see hints), but this is so good I just want them to make more of it, or to at least incorporate it more into future material.

Albums of The Year: 8

2009-12-20T23:41:00.002Z

Time to get heavy in the north:

8. Nine Black Alps- Locked Out From The Inside

Christ this album was worth the uncertaincy. NBA got dropped by their laber in early 2008 and after their tour in january of that year most were convinced they were going to split up. Not so! They soldiered on and created a new album and have released it independantly. And you know what? It rocks fucking hard!

It's possibly their heaviest album to date, with a mix of furiously fast paced rockers like 'Buy Nothing' and 'Cold Star' as well as some heavy chugging like 'Every Photograph Steals Your Soul' and 'Porcupine'. They barely give you room to breathe between each song, from the slow, grungey riff of opener 'Vampire in the Sun' shooting straight into the breathless 'Salt Water', or the blitz of 'Buy Nothing'. There are some slower moments like the tense 'Silence Kills' and atmospheric closer 'Ghost In The City'. Throughtout the album, vocalist Sam Forrest contributes some excellent lyrics (especially the closer) and put on incredible vocal performances, unusually sounding quite angry or passive aggressive.

Overall, the album is an intense experience. It's heavy, furious, angry but most importantly enthralling. Thank fuck Nine Black Alps didn't give it all up.

Albums of The Year: 9

2009-12-20T18:51:00.002Z

Taking a turn for the weird:

9. Super Furry Animals- Dark Days/ Light Years

After years of liking SFA, this album finaly made me love them. Why? Because it's possibly the funkiest and grooviest album of the decade let alone the year. It all starts off relatively weird with the psychedelic 'Crazy Naked Girls' (also, best song name EVER) and then settles into a selection of groovey songs to bop along to.

At times it's more minimal like on 'Mt.', at other times, a lavishly produced cherry of a pop song like 'Inaugural Trams'. There's weird noises and weird lyrics throughout which just adds to the charm of the album, especially on the epic 'Cardiff In The Sun' and the silly 'Helium Hearts'. There's no proper slow songs on the album, it's all very much foward propulsed groove. And it's impossible not to groove to the likes of 'Lliwiau Llachar' and 'Inconvenience'. The songs are just plain silly fun, with silly titles (though I don't think I'll ever understand why they chose to call a song 'The Very Best Of Neil Diamond').

It's an hour long and some people may find it a bit much by the end, but personally, SFA have released a fun album which will keep me bopping for sometime.

Albums of The Year: 10

2009-12-20T16:54:00.002Z

Breaking into the top half of the table time:

10. My Latest Novel- Deaths And Entrances

It is not very often when I read a review in a magazine of an album and be intrigued enough to go out and listen tothe album. The 2nd album from My Latest Novel was such a case though and I'm very pleased I did. It's the sound of the windswept Scottish Highlands, gently epic music with lots of instrumentation. It's a beautiful album.

'All In All In All Is All' and 'Dragonhide' both feature an expasive sound, with layered instruments swirling around to create a thing of beauty. It can be more toned down though for more delicate songs like 'Lacklustre' which has quiet passages before jumping in a festive chorus. It's a formula used throughout the album, kinda like the quiet/loud dynamics, but quiet+calm/swirling epic sound. It works well and doesn't get old at all, it can be really effective at times too like on the brother and sister tracks 'Argument Against The Man' and 'Man Against The Argument' (which are bloody awesome).

It's an album which is chilled and calm, but also epic and ambitious. It's gorgeous throughout with wonderful vocals and melodies. It's the soundtrack to winter and wil keep you warm during the cold nights.

Albums of The Year: 11

2009-12-19T15:28:00.003Z

I got two turntables and a microphone:

11. The Joy Formidable- A Balloon Called Moaning

Back in february I aquired this lovely little mini-album and it's become one of my most played releases of the year. The Joy Formidable have created 8 amazing tracks of fun and beauty here and they're addictive as fuck.

'The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade' sets off proceedings with a layered slow fuzz of a track that's just spellbinding. Then you have tracks like 'Crade', 'Austere' and 'Whirring' that just rock out to epic proportions. They're just so much fun you just have to jump around to them. Then there's slower atmospheric tracks like '9669' ad 'Ostrich' where they again use layers to their sound effective. You really wouldn't think they were just a 3-piece. It just sounds so huge and full it's incredible.

It's only a mini-album and there's a full length effort on the way apparently and hopefully it will be every bit as good as this teaser. Cos this is just so good I want more now!

Albums of The Year: 12

2009-12-19T14:05:00.003Z

Firing up like a scotch egg:

12. Metric- Fantasies

I have a thing with every metric album where it takes me a long time to actually get into it, but when I do get intoit it's bloody amazing. Fantasies was no exception, it took a while for it to dig under my skin but once it did it was like I'd fallen in love all over again. It's a somewhat darker album but it's a bit of a step forward for the band. They've each refined their individual roles and improved upon them in many ways. The rhythm section is tighter and more melodic ('Satalite Mind'), Jimmy Shaw's guitar work more effective than ever ('Sick Muse') and Emily Haines' vocals are more sultry than before ('Twilight Galaxy').

It gives the album a new atmospheric depth that previous albums didn't, 'Twilight Galaxy' feels like a journey through a dark and disturbing conscious and tracks like opener 'Help I'm Alive' revolve around panic desperation, as opposed to the tension Metric previously would've used. Big choruses are where Metric are at the best though, and it's no suprise Fantasies is full of them, from the weirdy electric/acoustic work out of 'Sick Muse' to the mindblowing 'Gold Guns And Girls' and the big synth extravaganza of 'Gimme Sympathy'.

The biggest is saved till last with 'Stadium Love' which sounds like it should be filling a stadium (and it did fill a large area of Glastonbury I must say). Fantasies is a darker, more streamline and focused Metric album, yet still as accessible as old Metric. As they'd say on Jazz Club: Nice.

Albums of The Year: 13

2009-12-18T14:41:00.004Z

Coming at you like an artic lizard:

13. Sonic Youth- The Eternal

Ok, it was inevitable they were going to be in this list somewhere. Sonic Youth are my favourite band and I adore virtually everything they've ever done. This year they released their 16th (!!!!) album The Eternal and I was more than slightly pleased with it. It's a straight forward rocker of an album retaining all the little things that make Sonic Youth so special. From the opening rush of 'Sacred Trickster' it doesn't let up in sheer awesome.

On the one hand, you get lovely atmospheric tracks like 'Antenna', a Thurston Moore track with a lazy groove. On the other hand, you got ferocious rockers like 'What We Know' which roar with feedback and frenzied guitar lines. The breakdown in the middle has the 3 guitars all going off in different directions before being forced back together. It's breathtaking. It's no suprise it's a Lee Ranaldo composition, he always tends to contribute 1 song on the album which is better than everything else. There's also songs that are mix of the two like 'Anti-Orgasm' that starts of frenzied, but ends chilled and spacey.

Being Sonic Youth though it does tend to stick to rocking out, like on 'Calming The Snake' and 'Poison Arrow'. The closing 'Massaging The History' deserves a mention too being 9-minutes of sheer epicness and having one of Kim Gordons best vocal performances ever (the woman really does seem to have got better with age). The band just sound so passionate and energetic for a group that has been going since 1981. They show no signs of stopping for which I am glad.

Albums of The Year: 14

2009-12-18T01:19:00.003Z

Carrying on quite swiftly I feel:

14. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead- The Century Of Self

Best band who've been around a while that I've discovered this year? Most probably. This is their sixth album and I'm late to the party bu Trail Of Dead are fucking brilliant as this album is testament to.

The Century Of Self is a big epic rock album with lashings of prog and the cathiness of pop. 'The Far Pavillions' is a best of a song, rocking out to the nth degree, 'Isis Unveiled' is about as epic as rock can get without being self indulgent and 'Bells Of Creation' is a gorgeous love song. The alum is helped by the fact it flows nearly seemlessly. The first three tracks blend together unnoticed and it's not until track 4 ('Halycon Days' which features an amazing breakdown by the way) that you realise the tracks have actually changed at all. It means the album can be easily listened to as a whole album and individual tracks rather than a collection of songs that a lot of albums are these days.

The abum features more restrained tracks than before too, like the fantastic 'Inland Sea' which threatens to go wild, but never does, holding back the tension and leaving the listener begging for more. 'Luna Park' meanwhile features auxilary vocalist Jason Reece singing an uncharacteristically quite and gentle song (he usually voices the bands more abrasive material) and is actually quite lovely. 'Pictures Of An Only Child' is also suprisingly restrained for a song that threatens to sound so epic. The band do let rip on the amazing 'Ascending' though, the final full song of the album, bursting through the speakers with feirce energy.

The Century Of Self is a fantasic and amibtious albm by a band who really should be more famous than they are. It's definitely one of my most listened to albums of the year.

Albums of The Year: 15

2009-12-17T20:42:00.005Z

5 down, 15 to go:

15. The Horrors- Primary Colours

At the beginning of the year, if you'd said I'd be saying positive things about The Horrors at all, let alone including them in this list, I would've laughed in your face. I hated the material I'd heard from the first Horrors album, it all sounded like tripe. But then something weird happened. I head 'Sea Within A Sea' and it was quite good. I then heard the album and discovered The Horrors could actually make good music!

Ok, so most of its influences slap you directly in the face (My Bloody Valentine and The Cure most obviously) but the songs are all really well arranged. Opener 'Mirrors Edge' is a case in point. It starts off with gentle keyboard hums and electronic glitches, before giving way to a rhythmic bassline and warped guitars. They've basically discovered shoegaze and how awesome it is and mixed it together with post-punk esque rythm sections. And it works bloody well as 'Three Decades' and the fuzzy 'Who Can Say' can attest to. There's a romantic quality to the album as well thank to lead singer Faris Badwan dismissing his shock lyric ways and moving to more personal subject matter (most obviously on 'I Only Think Of You').

The influences may be obvious and difficult to get past, but The Horrors have actually come up with a bloody good album here, it's hypnotic, intriguing, dark, romantic and at times, beautiful. I hope they stick to this path.

Albums of The Year: 16

2009-12-17T20:05:00.004Z

Let us continue:

16. Patrick Wolf- The Bachelor

Originally going to produce a double album, Patrick decided two separate albums would be a wiser choice. Thus The Bachelor was released this year, with The Conquerer set to be unleashed at some point in 2010. And is The Bachelor any good? Well, yes it is.

The album covers a variety of the styles Patrick has covered before, but now it a more refined and epic style. It ranges from the gentle to the fierce and everything inbewteen. 'Hard Times' is one of the poppiest songs he's ever written, 'Battle' possibly the angriest and 'Who Will?' possibly the most romantic. The album probably shines brightest when it gets dark though, like the desperation of 'Oblivion', the manic electronic tension of 'Vulture' and the determination of the title track. The range of styles from folk, to rock and electronic is broad and ambitious but it all works well.

At 14 tracks, the album may have needed a bit of trimming but as it stands, it's another work of brilliance from a truly original musician.

Albums Of The Year: 17

2009-12-17T17:39:00.004Z

Moving swiftly on:

17. The Rakes- Klang

I will say now that, whilst I'm pretty fucking gutted about The Rakes splitting up, I'm completely respect their decision to do so. They split cos they couldn't commit themselves 100% to the band anymore, and if you don't enjoy what you do anymore then you know your output will suffer because of it. The Rakes had a pretty good run it has to be said, and their third and final album see's them end on a high.

It's a stripped down and basic album, with 10 fantastic slices of their brand of spiky indie. 'You're In It', 'That's The Reason' and 'The Loneliness Of The Outdoor Smoker' are a fantastic trio to open an album with, and nearly as good as the trio that opened their debut 'Capture/Release'. They're filled with energy, tension and Alan Donohue's perfectly observed lyrics. It doesn't stop there either. '1989' is easily one of the best single of the year with its addictive chorus, 'Woes of the Working Woman' is dark and filled tense piano parts. 'TheLight From Your Mac' is also a lovely little slow song, to keep things calm after most of the previous tension.

Alan has a bit of a rant at the end of '1989' where he sings 'We'd love to stay but we have to leave'. It's kind of fitting for the end of the band I feel. So long The Rakes. Thanks for the albums and be proud that you finished on a high.

Albums of The Year: 18

2009-12-17T12:51:00.001Z

Next up:

18. Japandroids- Post Nothing

I was sent this album a looooooooong time ago by my good friend Vee being told I'd love it. I then promptly forgot she sent it to me. When she then reminded me I listened and I did indeed love it. Japandroids are a two piece thought you wouldn't think it. Their fuzzed up, noisy rock sound sounds like a full band. A bloody good band.

Japandroids made a wise choice choice to keep the songs simple. Simple lyrics, repetitive riffs and subtley complicated drumming all add up to make a strangely euphoric 8-track album. IT's very strangely uplifting, even the tracks that sound darker like 'Heart Sweats'. 'The Boys Are Leaving Town' is an amazing opening track whilst highlight 'I Quit Girls' is just plain genius with its arrangement.

I just hope they keep the high standard up for further releases.

Albums of The Year: 19

2009-12-17T12:41:00.003Z

Next:

19. And So I Watch You From Afar- And So I Watch You From Afar

This album is somewhat mental. It's post rock taken to an extreme, it's bloody fast but amazingly intricate. 'Set Guitars To Kill' is the perfect example of this, with crushing chords and a heavy sound overlaid with a pretty little noodling on the guitar.

It sets the tone for the album as a whole, it's just an hour long rush of energy played incredibly well. The closing trio of 'Don't Waste Time Doing Things You Hate', 'The Voiceless' and 'Eat The City, Eat It Whole' is practically the best way to close a album ever, varying into slower territory but still with the energy that make the fast tracks so enthralling. The music is arranged really well throughout too, with instruments intertwining each other, or dropping in and out of the songs with ease.

And to think there was a point when I thought all post-rock bands were all beginning to sound like Explosions In The Sky copycats.

Albums of The Year: 20

2009-12-15T23:45:00.004Z

So, I'm ready to unveil my albums of the year. Top 20 again as you'll see. I'm not doing big massive reviews this time, cos I'd like to keep them brief. But let us begin:

20. Muse- The Resistance

Apart from two absolute duffers (United States Of Eurasia and Guiding Light), this album is pretty bloody good. Uprising and Resistance kick of proceedings with Muse's odd brand of stadium rock whilst Undisclosed Desires showcases a very personal romanticism Muse rarely show (whislt sounding like Depeche Mode). Then Unnatural Selection and the almighty MK Ultra (best rock song muse have done since Absolution) rock the joint entirely and are great fun. I Belong To You is just funny in it's so unlike Muse. A jazz piano led gallop of fun. Finally, the Exogenesis trilogy is one of the best things the band has ever done. 3 tracks and 12 minutes of epicness, the score sounds great and the gentle yet violent rock instrumentation is stunning. Muse at their finest really.

Overall though, it's not as good as the earlier albums. Lyrically it's fine (apart from the two offenders mentioned already) but whilst there are moments of Muse getting weird (like the Doctor Who synth on Uprising, I Belong To You) there are other times when they just play it very safe and just make some very Muse songs. It's like they're tried to break out of their mould but haven't quite succeeded. Not that it's a bad thing at all you just think that the album could've been truely amazing if they'd pushed themselves that bit more.

That said, any album with a song as fucking good as MK Ultra is fine by me.

It's been while

2009-11-28T21:22:00.002Z

I've forgotten to post here for a while. It's a combination of things. 1. plain forgetfulness 2. uni work 3. getting depressed in october.

But with all that out the way hello again! I have my albums of the year coming up soon. but I should get my gigs I've forgot to mention in my abense a quick run down:

September-

Editors w/ Northwestern + Bombay Bicycle Club @ Birmingham O2 academy
Amazingly good.

Coldplay w/ Jay Z and White Lies @ LCCC, Traford
Missed White Lies, didn't like Jay Z and Coldplay were epic and fantastically good.

I Am Kloot @ The Deaf Institute Machester
Anniversary gig and fucking hell it was ace.

Postcards from Manchester @ Saki Bar
Lot's of local/small bands played. All were pretty good. He's who I caught: Christopher Eatough
PLANK!
Molly Macleod Band
Monsters Build Mean Robots
Mechanical Owl
Young British Artists
Run Toto Run
North Atlantic Oscillation
Meursault
6 Day Riot
Napoleon IIIrd
The Kabeedies

October:

Bloc Party w/ Grammatics @ Blackpool Empress Ballroom
Bloc Party were great as always. Grammatics won me over after previously disliking them.

Idlewild w/ The Xcerts @ Manchester Club Academy
They were stuck on the M6 most of the day and arrived late. But Idlewild fucking blew the crowd away with a stellar set.

The Longcut @ Manchester Academy 3
Started weak but by the end they were soaring.

Johnny Foreigner w/ Tellsion and Japanese Voyeurs @ The Deaf Institute
A painful gig cos of the memories it bought. Enjoyable, but not one I want to remember.

Editors w/ The Joy Formidable and Wintersleep @ Leeds O2 Academy
The perfect gig? All bands were superb and Editors played on of the best setlists ever for anyband (based on singles/fan favourites/new stuff).

In the City @ Manchester
Most bands I saw were good (bar Rogues who were AWFUL). Here's the list:
No Good Tourist, Nomad Jones, Air Cav, Driver Drive Faster, Dutch Uncles, Kongm The Northwestern, Rogues, Citadels

Nine Black Alps w/ Sucioperro and The Kiss Off @ Manchester Academy 3
Missed the Kiss Off, Sucioperro were quite good and NBA were superb as always.

Los Campesinos! w/ Copy Haho and Sparky Deathcap @ The Deaf Institute
Again another difficult gig cos of the memories it brought and cos I was deeply depressed at the time.

Isis w/ Mothlite @ Manchester Club Academy
Ace gig, even though I didn't know most the stuff. Fun times though.

Idlewild w/ Olympic Swimmers @ Leeds Cockpit
Missed the support, Idlewild were even better than in Manchester. Nuff said.

NOVEMBER!

MUSE w/ The Big Pink @ Sheffield Arena
Big Pink were great, and Muse were epic and entertaining as usual. Not 100% convinced though. Don't seem to have the energy they used to anymore.

Mew w/ The Choir of Young Believers @ Manchester Academy 2
So amazingly good. I was blown away completely.

The Flaming Lips w/ Star Death and the White Dwarves @ Manchester Academy
Best gig of the entire year. YOU MUST SEE THE FLAMING LIPS LIVE BEFORE YOU DIE!!!!!

65daysofstatic w/ Three Trapped Tigers @ Manchester Academy 2
Amazing fun with 65dos as usual.

LAURA MARLING w/ Pete Roe @ Salford Sacred Trinity church
She was wonderful and lovely and sung like an angel. I'm in love!

Lisa Hannigan w/ The Boy Who Trapped The Sun @ Manchester Club Academy
Nice quiet fun. Lisa was lovely and happy throughout. Hence I was.

We Were Promised Jetpacks w/ Lost Knives @ Manchester Roadhouse
I went in with no expectations. WWPJ were superb and left me wow-ed. Their singer has an amazing live voice.

And that's it! Stayed tuned for my album of the year!

The Mercury Music Prize

2009-09-09T13:50:00.002+01:00

So yeah, an outsider won last night at the Mercury's (Speech Debelle with her Speech Therapy album if you don't already know). I've been following the prize since 2003 and whilst I was initially suprised Speech Debelle won, it makes sense in a way now.

You kinda know where you stand with the Mercury prize which is quite sad in a way. You just know that the jazz album is never going to win, same for the folk album usually too. And the really big commercially successful bands (e.g. Coldplay, Radiohead and Kasabian) will never usually win it cos the prize doesn't seem to want to follow trends. So it tends to come down to either an experimental album, the indie flavour of the month or the hip-hop/rap album. Or maybe even the dance/electronica album if one gets nominated. And even then, more often than not the judges will choose the most unexpected album to win. So when you boil it all down, it's not that surprising Speech Debelle won.

So yeah, although it's a big shock that someone the general public has barely heard of has won they should remember that the history of the mercury prize has always been odd and shocking at times. It's a major award in the UK that values the musical value of an album rather than live acts, the people or any political factors (no matter how many people want to claim it's all political) and you can at least say it's always interesting.

A problem with it though is that, when all this is over and all the plauits have been made, the winner then has the challenge of carrying on their career in the shadow of their win. This could go two ways. Firstly, they could forever be cursed and never reach the same level of success again or have a dramatic change within the band. It does happen every so often, so let's go through a few:

1993- Suede with 'Suede'- During sessions for their second album the band reached meltdown and Bernard Butler quit. 'Dogman Star' was then given a cool reception and wasn't as big as it could've been. They did achieve more success with 3rd album 'Coming Up' though (which was again nominated for the mercury).

1996- Pulp with 'Different Class': The sudden fame of Pulp with the success of 'Different Class' put a massive strain on frontman Jarvis Cocker, and guitarist Russell Senior left leaving a gaping hole in their line up. They still maintained success but chose to move out of the spotlight a bit.

1997- Roni Size/Reprazent with 'New Forms': Reprazent virtually vanished without a trace and Roni Size, whilst making plenty of albums and a few appearances on Jools Holland has never really been seen in the public consciousness again.

1999- Talvin Singh with 'OK': Got dropped by his record label after a weakly received second album and didn't seem to release music fr quite some time (he's apparently had a new release this year though).

2002- Ms Dynamite with 'A Little Deeper': When she released her second album her label did fuck all to promote it, meaning she was completely ignored and then got dropped.

And whilst a bit too early to tell yet, 2007 winners Klaxons (with 'Myths Of The Near Future') seem to be struggling to finish their second album and alledgedly haven't been playing much in the way of new material at the few gigs they've played recently.

Saying that, the secong route is they could conversely enjoy major success after the mercury, or if they don't, remain a popular cult band. Primal Scream (1992 with 'Screamadelica') are possibly bigger than they ever were now, 1994 winner's M People (with 'Elegant Slumming') became one of the biggest acts of the 90's, Portishead (95 with 'Dummy') released an equally successful second album before takign a 13 year break and returning with another very successful 3rd album and remaing cult favourites and highly respected musically. Gomez (99 with 'Bring It On') are very much a cult band nowadays and still a fairly big draw whilst Dizzee Rascal (2003 with 'Boy In Da Corner') is one of the biggest acts in the world today.

Which probably brings me to my final point, a lot is made of the winners and their merits after each award. The media and public seem to then forget that there are about 10-12 albums nominated each year and they tend to be forgotten about once the winners are announced. If you look back through all the shortlists down the years and actually go through all the albums, you will actually find a lot of quality albums.

2001 is my major case for this, here is is:

Basement Jaxx- Rooty
Elbow- Asleep In The Back
Goldfrapp- Felt Mountain
Gorillaz- Gorillaz (though the band requested the nomination be withdrawn)
Ed Harcourt- Here Be Monsters
PJ Harvey- Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (Winner)
Tom McRae- Tom McRae
Radiohead- Amnesiac
Susheela Raman- Salt Rain
Super Furry Animals- Rings Around The World
Turin Brakes- The Optimist LP
Zero 7- Simple Things

Now then out of those 12 albums I own 7 of them, and have heard either all or the majority of another 3. I can tell you now that in my honest and earnest opinion. Everything I've heard from those 10 albums I've listened to either in part or in full has been utterly amazing. PJ Harvey was a well deserving winner (having been nominated twice before) with an extremely strong and emotional album. Elbow and Radiohead both had dark and mesmerizing albums which remain favourites of their fans, whilst Super Furry Animals and Gorillaz had an experimental pop masterpieces under their belts. Then you have Ed Harcourt, Tom McRae and Turin Brakes releasing extremely honest and compelling records. Finally, Goldfrapp and Zero 7 had 2 beautiful chilled electronic records to captivate.

To be more to the point, every album deserved to be recognised in the 2001 shortlist. If you were to listen to them all, you'd recognise that, even if they weren't to your tastes there's something special about each album. So you can say what you like about the shortlists, but you should bear in mind that the albums have all done something to get nominated, and more often than not, it probably is cos they're very very good.

I'm aware I'm rambling a lot at the moment. Lets try and wrap this up to a conclusion. The Mercury Music Prize is a prestigious award and it splits opinion. But if you look through the lists and investigate the albums that have been nominated, you will see that it is usually right about its nominations, whilst probably not always right about the overall winners.

Pointless August Gig Round Up

2009-09-04T19:26:00.002+01:00

How many gigs did I go to in August?

One.

Yes, One measely gig cos there was absolutely NOTHING on I wanted to see, and I never got the chance to see U2 nomatter how much I wanted to.

So the singular gig?

Gwenno (of The Pippettes fame) @ Pure Groove, London 14/08/09
I went to london for my mate James' birthday. Gwenno happened to be doing an instore at Pure Groove so the birthday boy requested his mates go see her. So we did. And quite enjoyable she was too. Nice and gentle, electro-indie stuffs. Somewhat like The Postal Service. I'll probably listen to her again at some point.

Yeah, thats about all I have to say about the gig seeing as I got immensely drunk afterwards.

September is also looking quite sparse gigwise. Hopefully this will change at some point soon.

October onwards will be jam packed though.

June and July Gig Round Up

2009-07-26T16:16:00.002+01:00

Ok this is going up early due to the following reasons:

1. Apart from Glastonbury, which I've already blogged about, I've been to a grand total of 4 gigs the last 2 months.
2. I can't go to anymore gigs this month due to the fact my debit card I'd have used to pay for said gigs was swallowed by a cash point. Hence I can't get to the money I'd use to pay for said gigs and won't get a new card until later in the week.

Anyhoo, here's the 4 gigs I've been to in the last 2 months:

The Northwestern w/ Gold Panda @ Roadhouse, Manchester 02/06/09
Gold Panda was one man doing some quite nice electronica from what I remember. Anyways, The Northwestern were amazing. Sam Herily writing poppy songs for the first time since Hope Of The States split up (as opposed to the post rock of Troubles and warp-esque electronica of Blocks) and doing it WELL! It was one of the bands first ever gigs, and they were slightly shakey yet didn't let it get to them. They obviously enjoyed playing together and their new stuff sounded like the happier moments of HOTS mixed with Wilko. All in all, excellent!

Blackbud @ Ruby Lounge, Manchester, 03/06/09
I went to this for my friends birthday. Can't remember any of the suports but Blackbud were very very good. Their bluesy rock and epic solo's were hypnotising and the band were very entertaining and funny. I was slightly drunk though so I don't remember the whole night.

The Joy Formidable w/ Pocketknife, It's A Buffalo @ Ruby Lounge Manchester, 05/06/09
Pocketknife were very very good doom stuffs. They usually have a member of Oceansize on bass but due to the size being in australia at the time, a member of Amplifier filled in tonight. Very good stuffs though. It's A buffalo were a bit shit. Boring genric indie *YAWN*.
Now The Joy Formidable were amazing. Opening with a whirl of noise before bursting into Whirring they never let up. Ritzy was a very engaging frontwoman and the band were very active, delivering powerful renditions of tracks from their Balloon Called Moaning album. Some new songs also went down very well. Very nice people too when I met them. All in all fantastic.

Kong w/ Chickenhawk, Soni-Quella @ The Flapper, Birmingham 22/07/09
The sole gig I went to in July. Soni-Quella seemed to be a mix of emo with math-rock, and not a good mix either. The guitar tones were very off putting. Chickenhawk were insane. They set up in the middle of the room and played from wherever they felt like playing (on top of speakers , tables, the bar). Very energetic rock stuffs. Kong finally were as good as always. Their album Snake Magnet has finally been officially released (I have an original copy, as was reviewed in my albums of last year) and they were performing just as ferociously as usual. Magpie even threw up midset and the band carried on as if nothing happened. Amazing.

That's all for June and July. I may go to some more gigs in august, though it's not very likely atm. I live in hope though.

Glastonbury Special! Part 2

2009-06-29T22:40:00.008+01:00

Now then, where was I? Oh yes:

Saturday (or, the greatest day of gigging ever):
Bleary eyed from falling asleep in my contact lenses i slowly rose then steadily headed to the John Peel Tent to watch The Nightingales (11.00am). They suffered some horrendous sound problems during and after their first song, but frontman Robert Lloyd kept the crowd entertained by singing some poetry. When all was fixed, the band blasted out some post punk brilliance, with Lloyd manic throughout the set.

I wandered across the site to see Blue Roses (Queens Head, 12.00pm) perform a fantastic set of beautiful acoustic music. Laura Groves has a fantastic voice and can certainly write some good songs. Me and Alex were off to Metric next but decided to take a detour through Jazzworld to try and catch some of Rolf Harris. Couldn't get anywhere near the place it was so packed and we were forced to find another route. whilst this went on I tried some Kangaroo. It tastes very good I have to say. Anyways, Metric (Other Stage, 1.05pm) were a bit ace. It was weird watching them in broad daylight rather than and atmospheric venue but they were very entertaining. Monster Hospital and Gimme Sympathy got the crowd going and Stadium Love was a stunning set closer.

By this point in the day the sun was high and everyone thought they were being cooked. I still made my way to see Spinal Tap (Pyramid Stage, 2.50pm) though and I was not disappointed. Sex Farm was rocking and Stonehenge was epic. They even had dancing druids! It was hilarious and fantastic. It was back to Queens Head for Broken Records next (4.10pm) who filled the tent with their fantastic brand of epic scottish indie. They gave an extremely heartfelt performance and won over many new fans in the crowd from what I could tell.

It was a return to John Peel now for The Gaslight Anthem (5.25pm). They rocked, they got the crowd to sing along and were extremely good. And then it got better. BRUCE FUCKING SPRINGSTEEN JOINED THEM ONSTAGE!!! he joined them for The '59 Sound which was not only one of the performances of the day, but one of the best of the festival. The Boss only stayed for the one song but christ the tent went mental for it. Gaslight anthem still carried on the momentum even after Bruce left, not even phased by his presence.

I left Gaslight slightly early cos I wanted to see some more legends. If I could spend every sunny afternoon listening to Crosby Stills and Nash (Pyramid Stage, 6.00pm) and playing catch with a group of strangers I would. It was perfect. The harmonies, the postive vibes, Crosby joking about songwriting in the band ("Stills writes the great Rock n Roll, Nash writes anthems and I write the weird shit) everything was fantastic. For What It' Worth is a song you MUST hear live.

I began my trek towards the front of the pyramid after CSN and got halfway to watch Kasabian (8.00pm) who were suitably anthemic and revelled every minute they had onstage. I've never actually seen Kasabian before but I thought they were great. They really went for it live (even thoguh Ian said it was the weakest he'd seen them out of the 5 or 6 times he's seen them. I want to see them on a good day if that was them weak) and songs like Club Foot and Empire have a great crowd pleasing quality to them.

Though they're nothing compared to Bruce Springsteen (Pyramid Stage, 10.00pm). Now that man knows how to please a field of a couple of thousand people. He opened with a tribute to Joe Strummer (playing Coma Girl) before launching into Badlands and leaving the rest of the bands playing that day in his stride. The crowd didn't know all the words which amused Bruce and just urged him to perform harder. And when he played fantastic versions of Because The Night, Outlaw Pete and No Surrender (featuring Brian of Gaslight Anthem guesting for Bruce this time) you don't think it could get better. Oh it can. The final 45 minutes of his set are simply mind blowing. The River, Radio Nowhere, Lonesome Day, The Rising and Born To Run finish his main set, then he's barely offstage to come back to an encore of Hard Times (an old fold song) Thunder Road, Land Of Hope And Dreams, American Land, Glory Days and Dancing In The Dark. You could actually see the steam coming off Bruce's body he was putting so much effort into his set. The best moment of the set was a skit between Bruce and guitarist Steve Van Zandt during the encore:

Bruce: STEVE! I think it's curfew time!
Steve: What?!
Bruce: I said I think it's curfew time!
Steve: No! It's not curfew time!
Bruce: Well... what time is it?
(music pauses whilst Steve thinks)
Steve: ... IT'S BOSS TIME!!!!!!!
(music kicks back in)

An unbelieveably good set. Everyone I've spoke to since has said they thought it was amazing too. The Boss seemed to win over a lot of new fans that night.

Saturday shenanigans had barely started though. A group of us decided to go to Trash City finally but we were coerced into a detour to meet someone. We lost half our party and eventually got to trash city at a silly time when all the clubs were either too full to let anyone in or closing. We found an electronic grafiti wall though which had some comical results ('draw a big cock!' Ciaran writes the work cock in huge letters). We then wandered to Arcadia at about 4am for no really reason, where we had the most unexpected suprise of the festival. Keith allen appeared on a tiny stage with a band, who then proceeded to knock out ska infused versions of classic songs such as Rock The Casbah, Ace of Spades, Smells Like Teen Spirit and Anarchy in the UK. It was unexpected, bizarre, crude, offensive, but downright hilarious. One of my highlights of the festival for sure.

Sunday:
Somehow sleeping for 5 hours I awoke even more bleary eyed than previous days, but still intending to trudge on. It took a while to get going though as The Boxer Rebellion (Other Stage, 11.30am) didn't exactly excite the crowd. In fact they were just plain dull, which was disappointing as i'd liked their song Code Red when I heard it.

Fortunately Art Brut were next (Other Stage, 12.40pm) and they never fail to make me smile. It was a typical set from them yes but they were funny and entertaining. I didn't watch the end as I ran across the site, primarily to see my brother but also to catch the end of 6 Day Riot (Avalon Stage, 12.40pm) which was lovely. Very nice acoustic fold stuffs. A long wander around shang-rila later and I headed to Croissant Neuf. Firstly, I caught Ian Ritchie and John Aston Thomas perform some lovely intrumental covers (which was nice), but mainly to see Biggles Wartime Band (4.00pm) who are still one of the funniest bands I've ever seen. Sketches about the recession and sammy the fish will be remembered for a long time.

A sprint was required to return to the Queens Head for the final time and catch Fight Like Apes (5.00pm). Yes I missed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to see them but I don't care, I love Fight Like Apes and their noisy synth rock... stuff. They were energetic and cheerful throughout and when a synth broke they got someone in the crowd to sing the synth line for Battlestations. Fantastic stuff. I jumped around a bit too much during the gig and was exhausted. I watched some of Bat For Lashes (Other Stage, 6.00pm) but couldn't pay attention to her performance so I crashed at the tent for a while.

I made sure I got to the pyramid stage for the legendary Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds though (22.00pm). I'm not entirely sure how well they went down with the crowd but I loved every moment of their set. Tupelo, Dig Lazarus Dig, Red Right Hand, Deanna, Midnight Man, The Ship Song, Henry Lee, We Call Upon The Author, The Mercy Seat, There She Goes My Beautiful World, The Weeping Song, Papa Won't Leave You Henry and Stagger Lee gave one hell of a setlist, and an hour and a bit of brilliance. One of the best performances of the weekend.

Then finally, it came time for the last band to watch. So, I did what came natural to me and watched Blur (pyramid Stage, 9.50pm). I remember jumping around my brothers bedroom listening to Blur when we were kids. They mean a lot to me that band. Did they live up to expectations? Answer: Yes, and then some. They were my favourite headliner of the weekend, and belted out the hits whilst Damon Albarn jumped around like a man on pills and gave an incredibly emotional performance during the likes of Tender, Coffee And TV and he even started to cry before This Is A Low. The crowd sung along to every single word, even the lesser known songs like Oily Water, Jubilee, Trimm Trabb and Advert (one of my all time favourite Blur songs). Tender was easily the song of the festival as the crowd sung it during the breaks between the main set and the encore set. The Universal closed the gig and the weekend perfectly. The refrain of 'It really really really can happen' has never felt more poignant to me.

So bands were over and me and my friends went to buy fudge and make a return to Flagtopia to survey the land we'd spent the past 5 nights in and reflecting on it. Well, until the wind picked up and we thought heading back to our tents would be a good idea. It was an amazing idea as it turned out as it pissed it down when we got halfway. Back at the tents we all collapsed and slept.

Monday:
We got up by 7 and had packed out tents and set off by quarter to 8. We spent about half an hour walking across the site and an hour waiting for a bus. Then a half an hour wait at Castle Cary and approximatelt 3 hours on the train made for a much easier journey home.

Overall, Glastonbury lived up to expectations and completely exceeded them. It was far better than the previous time I went to Glastonbury in 2007 (when it rained all weekend) and I think the overall atmosphere was so much better. Comparing the line ups of who I saw at each weekend both were equally brilliant and I saw a great many bands at each that I love. This year still wins hands down though. It was nearly perfect. I will hopefully return next year for the 40th anniversary.

Time to get some well deserved sleep I feel.

Glastonbury Special! Part 1.

2009-06-29T17:28:00.004+01:00

So Glastonbury 2009. There's so much that could be be said about the weekend but it can be summed up in a few words: Fucking awesome! I'll do this in two parts so it's slightly easier to digest.

Wednesday:
Bright and early at 7am I got up. At 9am I set off for Birmingham New Street. At 10.05 I met with friends Dan, Alex and Elliot and we got the 10.12 to Taunton in somerset. After excitement on the train we switch to a Castle Cary bound train and arrived there just after 1pm and got in the line to board a shuttle bus to the site.

4 hours later we actually boarded a bus to the site. Which then dropped us off 2 miles away instead of at the gate. We had to walk the last 2 miles. Finally arrived at the site by about 6-ish and had met up with friends Ian and Morena and pitched tents by 7.30. I wasn't very happy with the lack of organisation for the shuttle buses but in hindsight we were let off easily. Apparently there were accidents on both the M4 and M5 so any coaches or cars coming to the festival were fucked. I'm aware that the 7am coach from Manchester still hadn't arrived by 10.30pm. Bad times indeed.

So we got off lightly, but whe were pitched and saved a spot for other friend Ciaran, Chris and Mark who got there about 9-ish, followed by Dave and Abi after midnight. At some point we went for a wander to Flagtopia and the stone circle then some of us went to Williams Green to a bar playing reggae classics. It was all good.
Weather- mostly sunny and hot. Shame most people spent most the day on a coach, car or in a line.

Thursday:
The Festival kicked off properly here. A wander around the markets and greenfields was called for. It rained slightly but the sun was soon out again and the heat was blistering. Then about 3 me and some others headed to the Queens Head tent for-

Maximo Park (Queens Head, 4pm)
The williams green field was packed for this. You could get near the tent at all. So a lot of people settled for watching the gig on the village screen nearby. Unfortunately, when Maximo Park came on the screens sound wasn't working, so the first 3 songs seemed to pass by in silence. The sound gradually arrived though and got louder. From the looks of it, the band gave a blistering set including their classic singles and the rarely played (and personal favourite) Limassol. Paul Smith was at his hip swinging best and the band were all very energetic. Great way to start the festival.

After this, I went to meet Alex so he could put his tent up next to ours, then a group of us decided to see East 17 in the dance field. Unfortunately, they were moved to a later slot and we weren't bothered by returning later to see them. I met my mate louis for a drink and ended up sheltering in the John Peel Tent for about half an hour as a flash storm appeared.

Following on, I returned to the tent where there was merriment to be had. it was at this point we tried to think of rumours and decided to spread one Michael Jackson had died. This sort of backfired as the first group who passed our tents replied with 'yeah he'sin a coma now' not joking at all. Rapidly we got out phones out to get on the internet where we were greeted with the news that the King Of Pop was dead. We couldn't really comprehend such a legend being dead. We always assumed he'd find immortality somehow. Completely overwhelmed by this we did the only thing we could do in this situation...

We took the piss with no holding back. Yes the paedo jokes came out and we were mostly offensive and insultive but sometimes making fun of a bad situation is the only way to confront it. I can't remember them now (i was slightly drunk) but I do recall some corkers being there. We went for a wander to Arcadia and Shangri-la and ended up in the same reggae bar as the night before. We felt like we already had our moneys worth from glasto. Oh, if only we knew what the next few days would bring...

Friday:
First proper day of music. So what better ways to kick things off than to see an average rap, pop stuff from Mr Hudson (Other Stage, 10.50am)? Well, i can think of many better ways to start a music fest than Mr Hudson really. He wasn't bad but he wasn't good either. He was just, there.
A few of us went to check out Bishi (Park Stage, 12.00pm) who was quite entertaining with her electric sitar and dancers. Nice pop music. Kinda distracted by spotting a Q & A session with Michael Eavis though. We watched it and enjoyed some lovely facts about the festival and an amusing exchange:

Eavis: Bruce wanted 3 hours but we compromised on 2 and a half. If we can though we'll try and let him play the 3 hours.
Accountant: There's £300 a minute fine for every minute we go over curfew!
Eavis: Oh yes, how much is that for half and hour then?
Accountant: £9000.
Eavis: Ok, maybe we won't let him do that then!

After all of this went down I went to see a song of The Rakes (Other Stage, 1.15pm) which was quite entertaining as expected (Open Book by the way. Ace song). I then ran to see Regina Spektor do a wonderful performance at the Pyramid Stage though. (13.40pm). An hour of gorgeous piano ballads and whimsy, I'd forgotten how amazing that girl was. Just superb. Unlike N.E.R.D. afterwards (Pyramid Stage, 15.10pm). Energetic yes, but not really as entertaining as I'd hoped they'd be really. I got a bit bored I guess.

Now then, a big (non) suprise was the fact Jack Whites new band Dead Weather were the Special guests on the Park Stage at 6.45pm. All I can say is WOW! Heavy blues riffage from hell and Alison Mosshart slinking about the stage like a sexy minxread to fuck the stage it was a superb performance. Dean Fertita is a stunning guitarist, but when Jack White took over for their last song it was like heaven had opened. Jack played was of the best solo's I've ever heard and left the audience stunned. Brilliant through and through.

A suprise for me was The Specials not long after (Pyramid Stage, 8pm). I've never been a massive specials fan, but they were ace live. Two Tone goodness that kept the crowd entertained. And following this? Well the mighty Neil Young (Pyramid Stage, 10.00pm) rocking the living shit out of glastonbury. 2 hours and no let up at all, he played a load of classic's including Hey Hey My My, Cinnamon Girl, Heart Of Gold, Spirit Road, Needle And The Damage Done and an epic 15 minute version of Down By The River. He ended with a brilliant rendition of The Beatles' A Day In The Life. Highlight of friday easily. We returned to our tents intending to go to trash city but collapsed and fell asleep instead.

Part 2 to follow in the near future.

May gig round up

2009-06-10T15:41:00.002+01:00

I'm a bit late doing this but who cares:

Live At Leeds 2009- 02/05/09 @ various venues across Leeds
I say various venues, I was extremely hungover and ill for most of the day so apart from watching Tigers That Talked (who were average, but then again, I wasn't feeling 100%) at Josephs Well I spent vitually all day at The Cockpit. Wise decision I think seeing as I was happy to watch nearly all the bands there.

When I arrived White Light Parade were playing, and though they're just straight forward nme indie stuffs, they actually put on quite a good show and were very entertaining.

Fight Like Apes were up next and were the band I was most desperate to see. I was not disappointed, they were unbelieveably energetic and active onstay, with singer Maykay even joining in with the jumping crowd whilst singing Jake Summers. I'm just sad they had to stop.

Sky Larkin followed and whilst they were at their usual high standard of performance, the crowd was strangely muted, and no one seemed to be enjoying them as much as me. Still, Katie stood on the edge of the stage during the closing Beeline, spotted me and leant down to say hello. That was nice.

Slow Club followed and were extremely lovely. It was strange seeing them on such a big stage, as their music has a warm and cosey feel to it that would probably work better in a tiny venue. Still they were full of smiles and entertaining.

I Like Trains were the following band and were absolutely fucking amazing. Now reduced to a 4-piece but they haven't lost any of the passion that drives their epic music. Terra Nova, A Rook House For Bobby, and Spencer Percieval were all played (SP was especially good) and two new songs I didn't catch the name off were featured. Damn they were good though.

Next was Wintermute. Who were awful. Like, really really awful. Imagine Foals. Now, I don't mind a bit of Foals every now and then though I wouldn't say I was a fan. Now imagine, if Foals were unbelieveably shit beyond comprehension. You'd get Wintermute, who basically try and do the same thing as Foals, but whilst Foals actually succeed in making average-good songs, Wintermute are just shit every single time. I managed 20 minutes before I went for some fresh air.

I returned quickly though to get to the front for a band I love. Future Of The Left. Falco, Kelson and Egglestone set up their gear, then ripped into 40 minutes of mayhem . The new material sounded absolutely fantastic (Kelson: 'If you knew the words to that song then you're a dirty pirating fuck!') whilst the old material was brilliant too. The set descended into a jam, Falco started to violate his guitar with a drum stick, Kelson jumped into the crowd then climbed the light rigging, Flaco destroyed his guitar strings so dismantled Egglestones drumkit (whilst he was still playing) and some bright spark started a stage invasion. Overall, fucking amazing and the highlight of the day.

Live at Leeds was pretty fun overall. I hung out with friends Olli and Rosie most of the day and we all had fun. I think I shall be returning next year.

Metric w/ DJ Fish @ Manchester Academy 3, 11/05/09
DJ Fish was exactly what it says on the tin. A DJ. An alright one but nothing special. Metric were fantastic. It was the first time I'd seen them since they last toured in 2006 and they put on a great show. The new material off Fantasies sounded fuller in a live environment and stood well against the songs from Live It Out and Old World Underground. Emily was extremely talkative and entertaining and the rest of the band were all entertaining to watch (especially guitarist Jimmy Shaw).

Johnny Foreigner, w/ [We Are] The End, Calories, Copy Haho @ The Deaf Institute, Manchester 17/05/09
[We Are] The End sounded EXACTLY like Linkin Park and not even half as good. Calories and Copy Haho were nice if slightly similar indie stuffs but entertaining. Johnny Foreigner were great as expected. New material sounded very good and they were as energetic and talkative as ever. Banter about the new Star Trek film and blowing up pedals was included, the band being as funny as ever. Have high expectations of the new album having heard the new material.

Future Of the Left, w/Pulled Apart By Horses @ Manchester Academy 3, 21/05/09
Wow. PABH were unbelievable. They couldn't stay on the stay. they were in the crowd, on the speak stacks, in the drums. If the music wasn't any good then they would've just been irritating but the passion they played with and the quality of their songs really hit home.
FOTL were just as good, if not better than they were in Leeds earlier in the month. Energetic, funny, and crazy (they finished with another destructive jam, this time, kelson hanging from the lighting rig by his legs, exposing a hole in his trousers and showing off his arse) this is a band I could never get tired of seeing live.

Nine Black Alps @ Hungry Pigeon Festival, Urbis, Manchester, 23/05/09
After enduring a succession of awful bands (mostly oasis soundalikes and NMe indie aping shit), Nine Black Alps finally got onstage and blew the venue away. Their new material is their heaviest yet, with Buy Nothing, Salt Water and Cold Star being the highlights of the set. Sam Forrest despaired at the state of current indie music ('it's all fucking shit' or something like that was what he said) and the band were active throughout. If the venue either didnt have a barrier or at least one which wasn't the same as the type you get in banks, it would've been easier to cope with the moshing crowd. But no, the flimsy barrier had to stay cos there were photographers between it and the stage virtually all set. Eventually though, when NBA's roadie finished his duties he got the photographers to move away, tore down the stupid barrier and stopped the cunt of a bouncher (he really was being a heavy handed dick) from pushing everyone back and putting it back up. My hat is tipped to that man. Anyways, the usual closing duo of Ironside and Shot Down closed the set, the crowd went mental and I was pushed onto the stage with half the crowd on top of me. So much fun it was untrue.

Patrick Wolf w/ We Fell To Earth and Serafina @ Manchester Academy 2, 31/05/09
We Fell To Earth were very minimal rock stuffs and very enjoyable at that, even if they were a bit static. Serafina were a harp and keyboard playing duo who were superb and did and excellent cover of Morrissey's... Suedehead I think it was? I can't quite remember now, but they covered Morrissey and it was ace.
Now Patrick Wolf was so utterly good I (metaphorically) orgasmed several times throughout the gig and had a stupendously huge smile throughout. New material from The Bachelor was stunning (Oblivion and Who Will? in particular. Damaris was pretty ace too) and sat well with songs from The Magic Position and Wind In The Wires. Nothing from Lycanthropy sadly tonight but the gig was amazing, and he had Tom White from The Electric Soft Parade/Brakes fame on guitar duties which was nice. I met Mr White afterwards and had a lovely conversation with him about ESP, playing with patrick and how he smashed me over the head with a guitar accidently during a Brakes gig. Legend. Overall, this was probably the gig of the month and a fine way to bow out May.

Next months edition will probably be slightly shorter than usual. One: cos there's not many gigs I've been to in June yet. Two: There's not many gigs I want to go to in June. Three: It's making way for a Glastonbury special for when I return from the fest. I'm so excited about that.

Right, time to play more of Half Life 2.

Glastonbury's a-comin'

2009-05-25T13:13:00.002+01:00

I'm off to Glastonbury in a months time. Here's who I think I might go and see based on whats been announced today. Not in any particular order. (NB I don't think ANYONE knows the full line up until the event itself. There's loads of little stages where you only find out the line up on site)

Thursday:
Queens Head: Maximo Park, Liz Green, Metronomy

Friday:
Pyramid: NEIL FUCKING YOUNG!, Regina Spektor,
Other Stage: White Lies, The Rakes, The Whip (Bloc Party clash with Neil Young so won't get a look in sadly)
John Peel: Little Boots, Metronomy (Doves clash with NY)
Acoustic: Scott Matthews, Fairport Convention
Dance Village: The Whip
The Park: The Horrors, Noah And The Whale
Avalon: British Sea Power
Queens Head: Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, The Rakes, The Big Pink

Saturday:
Pyramid: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN! Kasabian, Crosby Stills & Nash, Spinal Tap, Eagles Of Death Metal
Other Stage: Franz Ferdinand, Maximo Park, Metric, Peter Bjorn And John,
John Peel: Jarvis Cocker, White Lies, Florence And The Machine, Gaslight Anthem, The Big Pink, The Nightingales,
Acoustic: Lisa Hannigan,
Dance Village: DJ Yoda
The Park: Bon Iver, M Ward, Horace Andy,
Avalon: The Wonderstuff, Badly Drawn Boy,
Queens Head: Blue Roses, Theoretical Girl, Emmy The Great, Noah And The Whale,

Sunday:
Pyramid: BLUR! NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS!!
Other Stage: Bon Iver, Bat For Lashes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Art Brut, Boxer Rebellion
Jazz World: Roots Manuva
John Peel: Echo & the Bunnymen (though they clash with Blur), Emmy the Great, Twisted Wheel,
Dance Village: Mr Scruff,
The Park: Cold War Kids, Alberta Cross,
Avalon: Seth Lakeman, Dodgy, The Mummers
Queens Head: The Aliens, Magic Numbers, Joe Gideon and The Shark, FIGHT LIKE APES!

A lot of the smaller bands that I've been listening to off late (Sky Larkin, Joy Formiable, Future Of The Left, Nine Black Alps) seem to be sadly absent, as do some more legendary bands about at the moment (Manic Street Preachers, Idlewild, probably some others).

Overall though, I don't care about the lack of bands I like atm, I'm more concerned with seeing all the bands that are playing. This could potentially be better than 2007 when I last went and had the best time of my life.

Music I have got since The Rakes review but cannot be bothered making a full blog about

2009-05-18T22:14:00.004+01:00

Like many people, I'm a lazy sod. I should try and be a bit more proactive and update this blog a bit more than I usually do (i.e. once-twice a month) but I tend to be distracted easily. Mostly by shiny objects. So basically I'm going to try and endevour to make a blog about all the new things I've listened to each week. How successful this plan will be I don't know but I'll give it a go (though there will still be some proper long reviews for albums I think are worth it). So here's some brief reviews of all the new albums/EPs?Mini-LPs (to me at least) I've listened to since I reviewed The Rakes in the order I aquired them:

Bob Dylan- Desire
Classic album obv and it has Hurricane and Isis on it. No need to say anything else. 8/10

David Bowie- Diamond Dogs
Mindblowingly amazing. Weird mix of glam and the soul direction he was about to move onto. Has Rebel Rebel which is one of the best songs ever and loads other brilliant tracks like Big Brother and the title track. 9/10

No Age- Nouns
Two piece pyschedelic shoegaze stuffs. Creeps is the clear standout but it's ace to chill out to. 8/10

Serena-Maneesh- Serena-Maneesh
Norwegian shoegaze which is alright for the most part but does seem a bit straight forward compared to other stuff thats out there. Don't Come Down Here is a right chooooon though. 7/10

Fight Like Apes- Fight Like Apes and the Mystery Of The Golden Medallion
I'm completely indebted to a french girl named Vee for introducing me to this album. 12 tracks of near perfect noisy pop with vocals that range from soft and emotional to manic screaming. Jake Summers is possibly the most addictive song ever and Battlestations just screams EPIC during its outro. Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant!!! 9/10

Doves- Kingdom Of Rust
It was 4 long years since Doves last released an album but the wait was bloody worth it as it's possibly their best. Their vision has gotten even more expansive than before with Jetstream and 10.03 sounding like the soundtrack to the universe. There's some classic Doves rocking out on Winter Hill but the albums at it's best during its weirdy rockers The Outsiders and The Great Denier, the former being tense and heavy, the latter featuring some very odd song structuring. Could potentially be the album of the year. 9/10

Yeah Yeah Yeahs- It's Blitz
Completely different to nearly everything they've done before and yet they're still good. Mostly. Half of the album is superb whilst the other half is kinda lacking. Hysteric, Skeleton, Zero and Heads Will Roll are brilliant, Soft Shock and Dull Life are pretty good and the rest is all just ok really. 7/10

Now, Now Every Children- Cars
I heard Sleep Through Summer and thought this could be a bit special. Sadly, it's kinda basic indie in a vague Broken Social Scene way and nowhere near as good. 5/10

The Joy Formidable- A Balloon Called Moaning
I wasn't sure about this at first. Again I thought it was basic indie. But there's definately something about TJF thats special. The melodies they seem to create are just so bloody addictive. After the first 'meh this is alright' listen, I couldn't get most the songs out my head for days. They range from atmospheric doom laden optimism (The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade, Ostrich), to sad reverb laden acoustica (9669) to full on noisy indie rock (Cradle, Whirring). It's a bit ace really, shame it's only 8 tracks. 8/10

Ash- Trailer
I've had this waiting on my hard drive for aaaages but only just got around to listening the other day. It seems more like a demo tape than proper mini-lp really but Jack Names The Planets and Obscure Thing are brilliant. The rest are ok and show the promise that soon developed from them. 6/10

Super Furry Animals- Dark Days/Light Years
I had 3 SFA albums before this, but this is the one that made it all click in place. Because it's just bloody weird. It's filled with amazingly groovy and psychedelic music like Crazy Naked Girls and Inaugual Trams whilst featuring some nice lighter moments too. I pretty much love this band now. 9/10

British Sea Power- Man Of Aran
Basically, BSP go post rock. And they do it very well. At times sounding a bit like Godspeed, at others like Cody-era Mogwai. Brilliant chilled out bliss. 9/10

Brakes- Touchdown
Hmm, not as good a their last two albums, but Touchdown is still a decent album from Brakes. Oh Forever is the clear standout, whilst Hey Hey and Don't Take Me To Space (Man) are very enjoyable. The slower songs are a bit weak though really and the albums is at its best when they rock out. 7/10

Bruce Springsteen- Nebraska
I came in my pants when I heard this. Ok not literally but I might as well have done. The Boss an acoustic guitar and occasionally a harmonica, singing some of the most gut wrenching brilliant, brutal and honest songs about working class life in america. Atlantic City is stunningly anthemic for such a stripped down song, Highway Patrolman is absolutely beautiful and State Trooper is just a dark and intense masterpiece. My Fathers House nearly made me cry and Reason To Believe is a gloriously optimistic closer after the darkness preceding it. MASTERPIECE! 10/10

Super Furry Animals- Hey Venus!
Having finally got SFA I absolutely loved this. It's simple and too the point unlike a lot of SFA albums but its a lot of fun to listen to and dance along with. 8/10

Talking Heads- Remain In Light
I know this is one of the most critically acclaimed albums ever or something but I didn't think this was the masterpiece I was led to believe it was. Once In A Lifetime is definately a classic single though and I liked the rhythms used throughout it like on Born Under Punches (The Heart Goes On). I think I just need to have more listens to it tbh. It's definately special though. 8/10

Manic Street Preachers- Lipstick Traces (A Secret History Of Manic Street Preachers)
Bsides albums are always interesting and this is no exception. There's some brilliant tracks like Prologue To History and Judge Yrself whilst there's some dull stuff too like Valley Boy. The cover of Last Christmas is beautiful too. 8/10

The Reindeer Section- Y'all Get Scared Now, Ya Hear!
Scottish supergroup instigated by Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol It's rathe lovely too, being mostly indie folk stuffs. Will You Please Be There For Me is gorgeous and Sting is quietly epic. Maybe a bit too samey at times but good nonetheless. 7/10

Johnny Foreigner- We Left You Sleeping And Gone Now
Unreleased album from the brummie band beofre they became the brilliant indie pop band they are now. More experimental and ambient that what they've become known for and still very good. There are hints at their current sound at times but mostly it's stuff like My Interest In Saving You Is More Than Idle Curiosity and I'm Leaving... Soon that are weirdy ambient sound collages really. It'd have been interesting to see them carry on like this. 8/10

Hope Of The States- Demos, download only tracks and sessions
Basically, I was given a load of HOTS material by my friend Alex when I was round at his the other day. The Fingerprints EP, Amm=ibm, Winters, the 8 track demo tape, various christmas downloads, Radio 1 Live Lounge appearance, Maida Vale sessions cover of the YYY's Maps, Later... With Jools Holland tracks, Dear Wendy, Winter76arcs, Left Sessions tracks, an XFM session and finally I downloaded the Three Days In The West EP separately from the rest of it. Some of it is better than others, but even the weaker stuff is nothing less than superb. Maybe I'm just biased cos they're one of my most cherised and favourite bands but I just loved all of it. 10/10

Ok that's all I've got to talk about for now. There maybe a proper review of the new Manics album soon an I still have a HUGE backpile of music to listen to, which I will try and get around to . Enjoy this for now though.

James

March and April gig round up

2009-05-03T12:32:00.005+01:00

I went to 3 gigs in march which was barely worth a blog to itself. So I thought I'd combine it with Aprils:

Amplifier with Charlie Barnes @ Rio's, Leeds. 07/03/00
Charlie was great as always and Amplifier rocked the joint. New material sounded amazing too. The Octopus is going to sound HUUUUUUUUUGE. Notable for waiting at huddersfield station with a wall of water wailing past 4 feet to my left. A storm I'd rather forget.

Pure Reason Revolution with League Liege @ Moho Live, Manchester 08/03/09
League Liege were the reason I went to this gig and they were very very good. I even managed to convert some friends I took with me. PRR were good too, though I'm not overly enamoured with them. An entertaining night nonetheless.

Dave McPherson with League Liege @ Jabez Clegg, Manchester 12/03/09
Again League Liege were the reason I was here. This time they were acoustic and did a cover of Thom Yorke's Harrowdown Hill. It was a bit ace. Dave McPherson (InMe) was also acoustic and was entertaining at that. Maybe slightly too emo for my tastes (I might get hounded for that, oh well), but good.

Hundred Reasons with Johnny Foreigner @ Moho Live, Manchester 01/04/09
Fuck me this was a good gig. JoFo won over a crowd that was initially wary of them and Hundred Reasons just rocked the joint. I don't think I've ever seen such a huge mosh pit at any gig ever.

Dananananakroyd @ The Deaf Institute, Manchester, 03/04/09
Despite the fact I was having an awfully depressing day, Dananana were fantastic and cheered me up when I most needed it. Though a lack of a wall of cuddle meant it wasn't quite as good as when I last saw them.

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead @ Urbis and Academy 3, Manchester, 17/04/09
Possibly the best of all the gigs I'm talking about in this post. Firstly a session for Channel M which was very entertaining, then they metaphorically destroyed Academy 3 in the evening. They broke 2(!!!!) snare drums for gods sake! The band was so amazingly energetic it was impossible to not have fun.

Das Wanderlust with Internet Forever and Ratface @ Fuel Cafe, Manchester, 18/04/09
A quieter gig this time but fun all the same. Ratface was energetic rap stuffs, Internet Forever liked to make weird noises and Das Wanderlust were supremely fun pop. Noice.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Academy 1, Manchester, 22/04/09
They only paid an hour and a quarter, but YYY's were great. Karen O was mental and they sound so good live. I've waited 5 years o finally see them and I wasn't disappointed.

65daysofstatic with Amusement Parks On Fire @ The Deaf Institute, Manchester 23/04/09
Another contender for best gig I went to in this time period. APOF were absolutely dreamy and 65 were as fantastic as they've ever been. Their new stuff sounds very DnB heavy which is aceness.

League Liege @ Roadhouse, Manchester, 25/04/09
I arrived annoyingly late but League Liege did yet another lovely gig despite sound problems. Apparently the summer will be spent recording new material. I can't wait for that.

Doves @ Academy 1, Manchester, 26/04/09
And finally another fantastic gig. Doves hometown gig was received very well by the crowd (which included Badly Drawn Boy and members of Elbow) and they did a superb set playing a great mix of tracks. Missing The Cedar Room but it was so good I can forgive them for leaving it out.

And that's it. More whenever I decide to update again.

The Rakes- Klang

2009-04-06T13:30:00.003+01:00

After the whining from my last blog about a lack of albums been released that I want to hear, he's a somewhat positive about an album thats been released that I wanted to hear. That album being The Rakes' 'Klang'.

It's been two years since Ten New Messages (their sadly under rated second album) and The Rakes have returned with an album which is more intense and downright more fun than the last album. No it's still not as good as debut Capture/Release, but then few bands can make an album as brilliant as that and carry on the momentum into every album afterwards. What Klang is though, is an album that shows a band still having fun regardless of what the critics think.

'That's The Reason' is an obvious track to look at for this. It's got the classic Rakes attributes to it, groovy bass lines and jagged guitars, along with Alan Donohue's stream of thought esque lyrics. It's nothing new from them, but it's still absolutely ace in every single way. 'You're In It' is the opener and a lot darker than most Rakes songs, opening as it does with the line 'Sometimes you can't smell the shit 'til you're in it'. It's still an insanely catchy song though.

It highights a werid thing about some of the songs on Klang. Some of the songs are darker than usual, yet still make you want to smile and then dance like a loon, 'The Woes Of The Working Woman' is another example of this, with its panicked piano line. For the most part though, The album is very energetic and see's The Rakes in their usual semi-happy, semi-derranged mood.

'1989' is one of The Rakes' best singles yet, being in the '22 Grand Job' class of being able to get people to sing along and is just perfectly formed with tempo changes and instruments dropping in and out. 'The Light From Your Mac' is a bit ace too, it's more relaxed but the on/off bass is utterly brilliant.

There are of course some tracks which fall a bit short. 'Bitchin' In The Kitchin'' doesn't live up to its brilliant title, and 'Shakleton' is instantly forgettable. these deviances do little to deter from the fact Klang is another great album from The Rakes. They probably won't make an album as brilliant as Capture/Release again, but as long as they keep making albums which are still fun and entertaining like Klang, then The Rakes will survive another day. And keep me extremely entertained too.

8/10

A Shocking Lack Thereof...

2009-03-29T04:16:00.003+01:00

So, we're now more or less a quarter of the way through the year and you'd think I'd have a lot to talk about albums wise woudln't you?

Well, the reality is, I haven't. For some reason I'm not searching out new albums to purchase/download as much as I have done in the past. Purchasing I'm cutting down on in the first plae (I'm a poor student and need to save money somehow), but I usually go on massive downloading sprees to try and aquire lots of new musics. I just haven't done that much recently and when I have it hasn't been for anything new. I've been mostly checking out older stuffs like Mars Volta, Hundred Reasons and ...Trail Of Dead (though I will listen to their new un some point soon).

I think it's something to do with the fact my collection is now huge. I now have over 1000 different releases (albums and singles, + mostly legal) and I seem to be content with just sticking with what I've already got at the moment. I just haven't the motivation to get up and go to my local record shops and get new albums or to hope on my laptop and search for them online. And I really don't understand why I don't have this motivation at the moment and why I'm not actively searching for new music.

Maybe it's because what I know has been released this year hasn't necessarily been from bands I'm obsessed with. Of what I've listened to, the new Sky Larkin album is pretty ace but I doubt it has any staying power with me. I listened to the new Metric sstreamed on myspace and it sounded great but I haven't returned to it as yet). U2 and Joe Gideon released damn fine albums but will probably suffer the same fate as Sky Larkin. Woodpigeon pleasantly suprised me with their album but i've not wanted to listen to it again despite enjoying it. Animal Collective's latest is just stupidly over rated (It's alright, but it's not anywhere near the high standard of Strawberry Jam and doesn't seem like the culmination of their previous work to me, just an extention of one of their ideas) and the Emmy The Great and Asobi Seksu albums were disappointing for me.

Apart from U2 (who I am a huge fan of) none of those bands/artists are ones that I would go out of my way to get new stuff by or am that big a fan of. I just happened to get those albums at the tim for whatever reason.

Another factor might be tha uni work is becoming so stressful that I've not been in the right mindset to get new releases and search for new musics. After a long day at uni all I want to do is eat and sleep. This sadly is likely to carry on til the end of the academic yer in june. June being an important month when the new Sonic Youth album is released (the one album this year that I genuinely can't wait for at all). When the summer arrives, maybe then I'll finally start to catch up with everything I've missed thus far this year. Until then, in the words of the rakes, it'll probably be Work, Work, Work, Pub, Club, Sleep for me for the next quarter of the year.

Here's a list of all the albums I want to hear this year (in some cases IF they are released this year)

Grizzly Bear
Mono
Mastodon
Super Furry Animals
Pure Reason Revolution
Bat For Lashes
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Franz Ferdinand
Bruce Springsteen
Neil Young
The Appleseed Cast
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
Yeah Yeah Yeah's
White Lies
Howling Bells
The Joy Formidable
The Astroid Galaxy Tour
Jason Lytle
Faust
Starsailor
The Rakes
Brakes
Doves
Art Brut
Patrick Wolf
Filthy Dukes
Isis
Blood Red Shoes
Sonic Youth
Amplifier
65daysofstatic
Dananananakroyd
The Like
Massive Attack
Mew
Nine Black Alps
Pearl Jam
Placebo
Garbage
Florence and The Machine
Maximo Park
Silversun Pickups
Editors

February Gig Round Up

2009-03-09T17:53:00.003Z

So what did I get up to in February? Well...

Brakes @ Moho Live, 01/02/09
Support: Ten Bears, Airship, Sir Yes Sir (missed)
Airship were an ok epic indie rock stuffs, Ten Bears were awful and had an irritating twat being their compere, bigging them up before they went on ("they're not five bears, they'e not 6 bears, they're not even 7 fucking bears!" yes, nice now shut up and fuck off). Thankfully, Brakes saved the day completely. Firstly, Eamon came on wearing what seemed like a spacesuit ("I'm sweating on the inside an out!" his reply to being asked if he was hot wearing it), Thomas White took the piss out of the compere idiot and overall, Brakes just rocked the house down. Even being wacked in the face by Tom Whites guitar couldn't stop me enjoying this gig.

The Airborne Toxic Event @ Ruby Lounge, 03/02/09
Support: Captial
Wow. Capital were ok, but ATE were just something else entirely. The passion and emotion, the love and hate between the members. I honestly can't remember being so enthralled with watching a band like this before, apart from Arcade Fire. And their songs were ace too. Superb stuffs.

NME Awards Tour @ Academy 1, 06/02/09
Watched: Florence And the Machine, White Lies
Firstly, I downright refused to watch Friendly Fires who are awful. Secondly, whilst I wouldn't have minded watching Glasvegas, I wasn't waiting through Friendly Fires to do so, particularly seeing as I don't care that much for Glasvegas. So, Florence was very very good indeed. Didn't really fit on the big stage though. White Lies weren't bad either, though they're not that entertaining, and plenty of bands have covered their sound before. Left afterwards.

Florence And The Machine @ Ruby Lounge, 06/02/09
So after NME tour me and mates ran over to Ruby Lounge to see Florence do another gig. Which was better than her set at the NME gig. Much better on the tiny stage and more fun and enjoyable. Aceness abounded.

The Rakes @ Fibbers, York, 07/02/09
Support: Dead Pixels, Official Secrets Act
I'm so glad I took the journey to York to see The Rakes. Not only did I love the town, meet up with an old college friend and get to meet up with Olli and Rosie again, The Rakes were absolutely superb. Alan was quite mental throughout and the band just went for it, playing all their best songs (apart from their actual best song Work, Work, Work). Much dancing was had.

Asobi Seksu @ Roadhouse, 10/02/09
Support: Young British Artists
YBA were pretty damn ace. Very hazy, and I liked that their singer sung through a Megaphone all gig. Asobi Seksu, not quite so good. Sound was dodgy for them and their new material just wasn't as good as the old stuff. They didn't look particularlly into it either. Shame.

Secret Machines @ Ruby Lounge, 12/02/09
Support: The Filthy Dukes
Thoguht they tok a while getting their groove on, Filthy Dukes were quite entertaining overall. Groovy electronic stuffs with dead pan vocals. As for Secret Machines they were nothign short of amazing. Lit only by 3 huge lights behind them, rendering them shilouettes, they just ploughed through their set, making loads of noise and being so ridiculously prog it made me horny. The encore of Alone, Jealous And Stoned followed by First Wave Intact was nothing short of stunning.

School Of Seven Bells @ Night and Day, 27/02/09
Support: Apache Beat, Kyte
Apache Beat were meh. Kyte were absolutely beautiful, reminding me of Maps and The Postal Service. They instantly went onto a new list of bands that make me feel hopelessly romantic whilst listening to them. SVIIB were hugely delayed but they were ace too. More lighting would've been nice but their electronic shoegaze ways work wonders live.

And that was my february. More next month.

THE!

2009-02-16T19:26:00.002Z

I got into a discussion today about the word 'The' in the context of band names. When asked what I was listening I correctly replied with The Stills. My mate said 'I'm not familiar with them'. All well and good but he then said this: 'Saying that, they're a 'the' band, so they're probably shit'.

Now, this enraged me. I was told that there are loads of bands in the world called 'The... (insert random plural here)' who were shit and shouldn't be listened to. My friend then seemed to imply that cos of this case that practically all bands with 'The' in their name are shit.

Well thats just a load of fucking bullshit. Sure, lots of bands include 'The' in their name, but that has absolutely no revelence on whether a band is good or not. To use a blanket belief that 'the' bands are shit just because some 'the' bands are rubbish is just nonsence. It's like assuming that cos George Bush was an absolute moron then all Americans are morons (which isn't true, every america I've met has always come across as very intelligent).

I really wish there wasn't a blanket belief that 'the' bands are shit. I'm not denying that none of the are shit, (The Feeling, I'm looking at you here), but just cos some are doesn't mean that all of them are (The Smiths or The Cure anyone?).

End of rant.

Sky Larkin- The Golden Spike

2009-02-14T16:21:00.002Z

February appears to be an unusually quiet time for me at the moment. There's not many albums forthcoming that I'm ridiculously excited about (they're all coming later in the year, like Sonic Youth!!! EEEE!!!)

Ahem, anyways, it's always nice when you pick up an album that you were somewhat interested in and it turns out to be an absolute belter of an album. Sky Larkin's debut 'The Golden Spike' did that for me recently. After my first listen to it I immediately played it again. And then after that I played it again.

It's possibly the most addictive pop/indie album I've heard since... well, Los Campesinos! But Sky Larkin are more like the buzz-saw alt rock of bands like Sleater Kinney, Sonic Youth, Husker Du and The Breeders than LC!'s Pavement mixed with Arcade Fire ways. Indeed, much like those bands I've mentioned (ok, Husker Du at least), Sky Larkin seem to specialise in writing songs that barely make the 3 minute mark. None of the 12 tracks here are particularlly life altering, but they all show so much melody and happy energy, it's impossible not to love the album.

There are several songs on the album which are just really superb though. 'Molten', 'One of Two', 'Beeline' and 'Matador' all show Sky Larkins strengths, showcasing Katie Harkins confident voice and obscure lyrics, her noisy guitar lines, Nestor Matthews incredible drumming (he looks like he should be in a metal band to be honest) and the bands gift for unique and catchy melodies.

At times they're confrontational ('Molten'), manic ('Beeline'), tender ('Antibodies'), adventurous ('Somersault'), laid back ('Pica') and many other things. I'm pretty sure at least 70% of the songs on the album could be singles too. They're all fantastic and ridiculously addictive. As previously stated, they're quite excellent live too. I look forward to keeping track of this band.

9/10