Monthly Archive for February, 2009

20-11 in my list featured some really great albums, but these are all better in some way than those found lower down in the list.

10. I Like Trains – The Christmas Tree Ship

Despite a change in the way you write their name I Like Trains (iLiKETRAiNS) have kept their quality levels high. This has to be counted as their most cohesive work to date. The EP is really just one long segmented song, it’s atmospheric and also instrumental. It features that clean guitar sound and also plenty of delay. South Shore sounds so delightfully glacial it’s unreal.This really whets my appetite for their forthcoming second album.

9. Radiohead – In Rainbows

I surprised myself with how low In Rainbows came in the list. I have a long standing love affair with the band and a number of the songs on the album. 15 Step is almost everything i look for in a song, expressive drumming, melodic guitar and Thom Yorke’s vocals are fantastic on it. I’ve also loved Nude for a long time in its various guises. At the end of the day though there’s something oddly insubstantial about In Rainbows, all the right pieces are there but somehow there’s still something missing.

8. Los Campesinos! – We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed

Their second album has clearly learnt the lessons from the first. It’s distilled the best elements of the first album into ten brand new songs. The album is better produced and features a better mix of instrumentation throughout. You feel it’s the output of a band that has honed their sound carefully. It also features the delightful little lyric “and we tell ourselves there’s future in the fucking, when there is no fucking future.” That sort of lyric appears more than a few times and is the sort of thing I enjoy.

 

7. volcano! – Paperwork

Designed to be more mainstream than their fantastically eclectic and bizarre previous album Beautiful Seizure (which is fairly descriptive of the music found within), it shouldn’t make sense that I like this more. I guess they’ve just discovered how to write slightly less abstract tunes and that it turns out is not a bad thing. Featuring excellent percussion, off kilter guitar and enough odd electronic sounds to shake a stick at (but in small doses), they truly are one of the most innovative bands around. Slow Jam is the standout track here, it changes about four or five times throughout. The song features a few crescendos and the moment where the central guitar riff reveals itself is simply delectable. 

6. Dananananakroyd – Sissy Hits (EP)

A band all about sheer energy and good tunes. The addition of a sort of floating band member who drifts between extra drums and extra vocals as required is a stroke of genius. It gives the band that extra power and depth that they so clearly display. The other element that really shines through is a great sense of humour, this is clearly a band who are having fun and that needs to be encouraged in this day and age. Their debut album is released this year and should be a contender for album of the year.

5. 65daysofstatic – The Distant And Mechanised Glow Of Eastern European Dance Parties (EP)

65daysofstatic have always straddled the gap between guitar based music, electronica and dance. In this release, which reworks a song from their last LP, the dance element is given a chance to really shine. What follows is an absolutely stunning example of how to take a track and produce two different, excellent dance versions of it; all without ever losing what made the track good in the first place. I can’t wait for their next LP, if it’s anything like this it will be amazing.

 

4. The Mars Volta – The Bedlam In Goliath

Many saw this as a return to form, however I saw it as another great stab in a new direction. Amputechre was unpopular despite being an excellent album in its own right, whereas this album almost served as a crazed summation of the band’s work to date. As good for its story as much as anything else (it involves a ouija board, a pan dimensional giant and a curse), the album has an almost crazed feel and this brings out the best in The Mars Volta. Not quite as good as Frances The Mute, but easily their second best album to date.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB3sDAnKuUM

3. The Week That Was – The Week That Was

This album caught me completely off guard. From one member of Field Music, the music has an unmistakable Field Music feel to it, though the drums are absolutely brutal. They pound away providing an amazing sense of momentum to most of the album. The album has a real murder mystery feel to it, much of it accusatory and oddly sinister. The album has a delicious dark quality and at 32 minutes in length leaves you satisfied, yet wanting more. A neat trick to pull off. The climax, Scratch The Surface, is an amazing finish; it feels like everything has been building to that point.

2. Youthmovies – Good Nature

Good Nature was a long time coming. Youthmovies have been on the music scene for so long, it’s difficult to believe that this is their debut LP. It is the finest blend of their musical style to date. The guitars can be melodic and vicious, the trumpet can come to the fore or merely provide support, the bass and drums are as driving and expressive as ever. Real standout moments are Last Night Of The Proms, If You’d Seen A Battlefield and Archive It Everywhere, though there’s no weak track here. Influences are diverse and even elements of Steve Reich can be found in the album. In any other year this would have been my album of the year.

1. ¡Forward, Russia! – Life Processes

An album which betters the band’s first effort in every single way. The progression in style and composition is remarkable, with a new found interest in guitar loops providing in interesting bed for the album. Whiskas guitar work is exemplary as ever, some tracks having looped guitar which is hard to keep track of let alone put in place in the first place. Katie’s drumming is expressive and intricate as ever, often coming to the fore unexpectedly mid-song. Rob’s bass fits perfectly as ever and Tom’s vocals and lyrics are exemplary once more. A brave record, including a piano led track which is as beautifully fragile as other moments are vicious. Easily my album of the year, not a single weak track.

So I finally got around to compiling my top 20 albums from 2008. It’s just a little late and probably a little controversial in places. Still most people can probably take a guess at my top 2. That’s for another time though, here are 20-11 in my top 20. I’ve included EPs as albums rather than do separate lists.

20. Vessels – White Fields And Open Devices

Vessels debut album proved to be something quite exciting. It’s an atmospheric post-rock affair, with plenty of interesting qualities. Heavier than most of the rest of the genre it reminds me of a more modern Upcdowncleftrightcabc+start, only with more electronics. That’s relatively high praise given how much I enjoyed that band’s album.

19. Polar Bear – Polar Bear

This album suffers from the fact that I bought it in 2009. It’s a heady jazz fusion affair that is uncompromising in its musical vision. The percussion as ever is outstanding, as is the saxophone. If there is one weak area in the album it is its length, it seems much too long. Despite being varied, it can’t quite sustain itself throughout the running time.

18. Youthmovies – Polyp EP

You get the feeling that this may just be the reheated leftovers from their fantastic debut album, with a few obscure recordings thrown in. For the songs Magic Diamond, Magdalen Bridge / Golden Palace (Hugo Manuel Remix) and Polyp alone this EP deserves to be in the list. It’s just a shame that the other tracks on the EP are a little weak. Magic Diamond in particular deserves high praise, it’s classic Youthmovies with complex melodic instrumentation meeting quickfire wonderfully structured lyrics.

17. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez – Calibration

Calibration is one of three albums Omar Rodriguez-Lopez was involved with on this list. Calibration is a much more laid back affair than most of his output.This is exemplified by Grey [Cancion Para El] which starts out with wistful violin. The album is generally very good, though lacks the punch of Omar’s better work.

16. Foals – Antidotes

Antidotes is an odd beast. It’s all very minimalist, with clean guitars and careful song structures. Math-pop this is not, everything is in a relatively straight forward time signature. However it’s interesting to note that they’ve taken the Battles sound and made it a million times more accessible to the general public. Tron is the standout track here; it pops, buzzes and fizzes in a way the other tracks don’t, all the while maintaining that trademark floaty, yet sharp, guitar sound.

15. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez – Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fungus

More visceral than his other solo album on the list, Absence has the punch lacking from Calibration. It sounds much more closely related to The Mars Volta’s work and probably benefits from being slightly less abstract. It spans the genres and is as ever full of plenty of experimentation. It also retains that latin, jazzy, character that sets Omar apart as one of the best musicians of this generation. It can be a hard listen if you’re not into unusual sounds and song structures, but if you can put up with it you are well rewarded.

14. Rolo Tomassi – Hysterics

A highly atmospheric album, from a band not quite sure of who they are yet. Much more mature than their earlier output, you sense that they are realising when to subvert and when to play it straight laced. They swing between quiet and loud, soft vocals and growls synth led and guitar led. Ones to watch for the future.

13. Los Campesinos! – Hold On Now Youngster…

Los Campesinos! don’t make sense. They manage to be almost painfully happy without being twee and painfully self aware while still being good. The boy / girl vocals work really well as do the frequent inclusions of gang vocals. This their debut album features perfect pop tracks and really clever lyrics. The happy sounds often hide dark lyrics, they’re usually well observed too. Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks is the track to check out here.

12. Adam Gnade – Trailerparks

A tour only CDR, but it counts as a release in my book. Adam Gnade always delivers with his spoken word tracks. It doesn’t matter what instrumentation is behind (and its often varied) Adam delivers the goods. December, January – Ruins and Strange Worship exemplifies this with a military march style tune, ending with a somewhat less than sincere refrain of “god bless the USA”. Gnade is always evocative with his poetry (and that’s what it is) and with a good eye for a tune and varied instrumentation, you can’t go wrong.

11. Johnny Foreigner – Waited Up ‘Til It Was Light

Like Los Campesinos! but on fire after heaving eaten their body weight in sherbet. Boy / girl vocals once more define the band, though this time the music doesn’t even stray near twee. It’s much more aggressive and intensely exciting than Los Campesinos too. They’re at their best when mixing synth with the rest of their music,exemplified by Salt, Pepa and Spinderella (the standout track). A slow synth buildup, harmonising /interjecting vocals, then the best “do, do, do, do, do” section of the year. The track later explodes. Later, Yr All Just Jealous degenerates into a lovely vocal ditty and segues marvelously into the brilliant synth led Absolute Balance. This so easily could have made the top 10.

That rounds up part 1 of my top 20. I think this exemplifies what a great year it’s been. There’s more than a few albums here that could easily have made my top ten in another year.