The Auditorium

how's your view of things today?

2009-12-18T08:28:00.004Z

Top 10 Albums Of 2009

1. Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions (bedshaped)

It took me a long time to get to listen to this album all the way through. Not because I had any 'difficulty', as such, for the album, quite the opposite. As each track played, I would skip back to listen to the track again, and then again from the beginning of the album. The first six tracks I found particularly addictive and completely lovable. And it's just grown on from there, really.

There's certainly a theme that runs through this album, and that's that it's about keeping the interest. Taking the shape of many forms. Honesty in the lyrics, twisted as they are. Wailing guitars and power chords; think Led Zep, Placebo, The Strokes at times, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, et al. Orchestrations at perfect moments. And beat and tempo changes, licked to death by The Devil himself. They like a tempo change, do Biffy and Co. Often the straight 8 bar gets kicked in the bollocks by some very odd, but amazingly catchy tempos switches.

Sometimes sounding like a typical Foo's song, sometimes Feeder, sometimes Bruce Hornsby and The Range, sometimes Genesis, sometimes Smashing Pumpkins, sometimes....well....insert pretty much any rock type band; not too heavy, but isn't afraid to do power chords. And yet, they still manage to retain their own originality....somehow. And some of the tracks are very original sounding. It's pushing a few boundaries, is this album.

It's fantastically enjoyable to listen to in the correct running order. The running order is just perfect for the album's feel, as a whole. I guess I'm left with a bitter-sweet but appealing sensation as I listen to it. I often wonder what other people might make of it.

Favourite track: I was gonna choose That Golden Rule purely for the last half of the song. Not only is the first half brilliant in itself, but when it changes from Foo-A-Like to some unsigned Swedish Rock band that want to represent their Country in the Eurovision Song Contest, it just switches up, like ten gears. The dramatic strings that flit in and out. The power of those dirty chords. The orchestration. And come on, who wouldn't wanna play drums on a track like that?! Surely the best outro to any song for a long, long time. Fo' Real! Snizzle.

And then I thought seriously about Cloud Of Stink, not just because it has a brilliant title, but the pace of the tempo changes....just wicked. Reminds me of Nirvana. Many Of Horror too. An outstanding track which begins in beautiful acoustic mood, the builds and builds into a wonderfully 'cinematic' sounding track. Brilliant!

I've finally settled with Bubbles, because not only is it the track that hit me the most after first listen, but the more I hear it, the more things I find buried beneath the surface. It's a great song, well structured. Kinda The Strokes at times. The guitar hook through the chorus is fantastic. The pounding drums keep driving the song and that deep repetitive bassline couldn't have been delivered any better.

I bet they're a brilliant band to see live.

Listen to: Bubbles

1. Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers (Swisslet)

As a band, the Manic Street Preachers have surely got nothing to prove to anyone…. Except perhaps to themselves. The success of 2007s Send Away the Tigers seemed to have finally give the band the courage to open up the cache of lyrics that Richie Edwards carefully left behind for them shortly before his disappearance in 1995.

Richie’s official status was changed from “missing’ to “presumed dead” in 2008, and this whole album is an eerie time-capsule back to the band that the Manics were around the time of the Holy Bible: even the artwork is reminiscent of an earlier time, featuring a painting by Jenny Saville, the same artist who produced the cover for that 1994 album.

Like The Holy Bible, this album also features awkward, punky, guitar-driven music (this time produced by Steve Albini), again often with clips from films inserted between tracks. The lyrics themselves are incredibly dense and are so compact, elliptical and reference-filled that it frequently feels as though it has been written in code. Like the Holy Bible too, this is not an easy listen, although the overall tone is somewhat less bleak and confrontational….if not exactly filled with the joys of spring.

What might have been ghoulish and exploitative has been handled with care and with no little dignity, and this is both a fitting epitaph to Richey and the band’s best work in decades. An absolutely superlative album, and I can pay it no higher compliment than to say that it’s right up there with the Holy Bible. It really is that good. My album of the year by a country mile.

Listen to: Marlon J.D.

1. Tina Dico - The Road To Gavle (LB)

So, here we are again. Another year, another Tina Dico album, another #1 favourite record.

The Road To Gavle wasn't quite such a shoe-in, though. Whereas I absolutely loved Count To Ten from the first moment I heard it, The Road To Gavle has a different sort of quality. It is ostensibly an album of songs that sprung from Dico being asked to write a soundtrack for the Danish film Oldboys, and so it is a curious mixture of styles and sounds, from some perfect Dico ballads to some instrumental tracks and songs which are half 'standard pop song' and half 'lush string orchestration'.

The result has taken some time for me to digest, but is no less brilliant than her previous work. The lyrics are yet again those of a singer despairing about her place in the world (the album opens with A Long Way Home in which Dico's regrets are apparent: 'it's a long way home, when you've burnt down every bridge that you've crossed'). With contributions from Helgi Jonsson (who worked with Dico on her An Open Ending EP) it's an eclectic selection - different, but great.

I wasn't sure about The Road To Gavle to start with but after repeated listens I have come to absolutely love it, and I have no hesitation about installing my current Favourite Artist Of All Time TM as my #1 in this chart for a second year running.

Listen to: Goldhawk Road

if you give me nothing i can't help feeling i'm in stalemate with you

2009-12-17T05:10:00.000Z

Top 10 Albums Of 2009

2. Ben's Brother - Battling Giants (LB)

After the relative success of 2007 debut album Beta Male Fairytales, Jamie Hartman was dropped by his record label during the writing of his second record. Rescued by Island Records, he teamed up with the likes of Joss Stone and Jason Mraz and released Battling Giants on his own Flat Cap Records in May.

I loved Beta Male Fairytales. His strength is in his songwriting and that was a stunning album of heartfelt, melodic tunes. With Battling Giants, however, he goes a step further and brings us a much bigger, more expansive sound. Whilst there are one or two piano ballads here, the whole album is fuller and more punchy with some great guitar work and some really high quality songs.

I had the pleasure of meeting Hartman in Nottingham earlier in the year and he was not only a lovely fella but also really pleased with the album. It's not set the charts on fire, which is a huge shame considering that is wipes the floor with the vast majority of Radio 2 style output that clogs up the airwaves. His duet Stalemate with Joss Stone (and later Anastasia) would have been an unbelievably big hit in the hands of, say, Leona Lewis whilst tracks like Apologise, If I Let The Ladder Down and What If I? are some of my favourites from 2009.

This really is a great record.

Listen to: Stalemate

2. White Lies - To Lose My Life (bedshaped)

Taking a heap load of influence from the eighties, but somehow, bringing that familiar beat up to speed. Mixing together various ingredients from the likes of Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, Furniture, The Cure, Depeche Mode, And Also The Trees, Editors, Doves, The Smiths, Suede, Madrugada....

The entire album is like a step back in time, but a breath of fresh air, all at the same time. Each track just makes the whole concept work even more. There are some wonderful anthemic moments that will make many a fan happy at their gigs. And it's....it's just so simple. There's nothing fantastically complex about the sound of White Lies. They are a simple rock band that have spent the last 5 years listening to 80's compilations and then interpreted their own songs within that sound. It works perfectly.

The lead singer literally throws out the passion in his voice, when he 'lets go', that is. Perfectly exampled on Nothing To Give. It's just a shame there isn't more of that. He's certainly got a great style. Powerful. Charismatic. Faithful. The guy can write brilliant lyrics too. Sometimes he paints a wonderful picture, then covers in it mist with his bizarre analogies and metaphors. It's still borderline poetical genius though:

"Just give me a second, darlin', to clear my head. Just put down those scissors, baby, on this single bed."

"The quilt of darkness darted with our teardrops."

"I looked at the case, he said ' I'll show you her blood'. I screamed down the phone line: Now is this the price of love!"

There is however, one more thing that unfairly over-shadows this album, and that's all the doom and gloom. Yes, his sombre lyrics and sullen voice can feel somewhat....well....gloomy. But the world behind his stories aren't all doom and gloom, as such. There's a lot of love in their. Good love. And passion. And self belief. And positive thinking. You just have to listen for it.

Favourite song.... To Lose My Life. A brilliant, driving song that resembles a Muse cover. The song grows by the second verse, adding some eighties sci-fi style keyboards. And then hits the bridge before a massive chorus. And the keyboard is the one to keep your ears out for. They are pounding, scary, sci-fi, flight of the bumble bee, and a huge wall of sound. A brilliant piece of songwriting.

Listen To: To Lose My Life

2. Flight of the Conchords - I Told You I Was Freaky (Swisslet)

Yeah, so it’s a comedy album. So what?

Jermaine Clement and Bret McKenzie proved with their last album that their songs were both funny and good, and here they’re doing more of the same with some songs from the second (and final) season of their TV show.

The first album was years in the making, with the songs well-honed from years of live performances – so the second album was always likely to be more difficult to pull off. Where their debut featured accomplished, well-observed parodies of the likes of Pet Shop Boys, David Bowie and Barry White, they were mainly songs that are funny in isolation from the TV programme and in fact predated the show.

Many of the new songs, however, are a lot more situation specific and were clearly written with the show in mind: We’re Both In Love With a Sexy Lady may be a parody of Same Girl by R Kelly and Usher, but how much of the enjoyment of the song is bound up in the specifics of the girl with the epileptic dog from the episode in question? Then again, how many people unfamiliar with the tv show will really be listening to this?

It’s perhaps not as immediate as the last album, but this is another classic: once again I’ve been unable to shift songs like Hurt Feelings, Too Many Dicks on the Dancefloor and the sublime Carol Brown from my internal jukebox. It might only be a comedy album, but it’s still comfortably better than most other albums released this year. Please tour.

Listen To: Carol Brown

the circus never dies

2009-12-16T09:13:00.002Z

Top 10 Albums Of 2009

3. White Lies - To Lose My Life (Swisslet)

I fear there’s something in my makeup that predisposes me to like doomy guitar music. White Lies are just the latest in a long line of gloomy bands from Interpol to the National that have tickled my fancy… and to give an indication of how predictable my music tastes are, it was our very own LB who tipped me off that they were probably right up my street.

It may seem odd that three nice young men from leafy Chiswick should be singing these frequently overblown, portentous tales, but sing them they certainly do. Besides, it’s pretty hard to argue with songs as good as Death, Unfinished Business, To Lose My Life and Farewell to the Fairground. Joy Division’s influence alive and well on the middle-class youth of England, you’ll be pleased to hear.

Listen To: Farewell to the Fairground

3. a-Ha - Foot Of The Mountain (LB)

It seems slightly cliched that I, the king of the 80s, should be championing an a-Ha album as my third favourite record of 2009. Surely they haven't released anything decent since Stay On These Roads in 1989....?

I tell you what, a-Ha's album releases have been of a consistent quality that many bands can only dream of. Since the turn of the century, Lifelines, Analogue and now Foot of the Mountain have all been terrific records. They are full of that sparse electronic sound that is their hallmark complimented by Morten Harket's despairing vocals.

I was devastated to find out that, after 25 years, the band are splitting in 2010, just as it seems they are reaching the peak of their powers. A surprisingly stunning live act, their continued success is entirely due to the quality of albums like this one. It's as far from the 1980s as you could imagine - familiar, but modern and relevant. I salute the trio, I really do, as they have continued to make beautifully crafted, great pop records for the best part of a quarter of a century.

Listen to: Foot of the Mountain

3. Florence and the Machine - Lungs (bedshaped)

The name of the band couldn't be any more fitting. The name of the album is....perfect. The power at work here is Florence, her machine try their best to keep up with her.

Musically, it's a wonder to listen to. A totally flamboyant example of using all sorts of strange instruments and sounds, which really works wonders at keeping every track enjoyable to listen to. And then we get stories of relationships, misunderstandings, drug abuse, ex boyfriends....stories unfolding in a cleverly twisted way, lyrically. No doubt of her song writing capabilities. And no do she can sing her heart out, either. It's breathtaking.

Dreamy harps, chanting drum pounding, brass, strings, bells, boxes, whistles, foot taps, finger clicking, humming, toy noises, all kinds of stuff. Florence's powerful voice belts out emotional, note perfect stories; time, after time, after time. She sounds like a twenty a day girl, probably the occasional whiskey or three, with her deep grinding voice, oozing with sexual promise. She also sounds like you wouldn't wanna fall out with her. I mean....if she can holler like that when she sings, just imagine what she's like when she shouts at you!?

Favourite track....?

You Got The Love. I love Candy Staton's version of it. All five or so remixes! But the way Florence sings this, she gives it the push over the edge it needed, taking it to a whole different level. No remix of Ms Staton could have ever delivered a version with as much vocal energy as this. The climbing piano riff, the strings, the choir-esque background, oh those strings. It builds and builds.

Listen to: You Got The Love

yeah i'm ok, thanks for asking

2009-12-15T08:06:00.003Z

Top 10 Albums Of 2009

4. Polly Scattergood - Polly Scattergood (bedshaped)

If you want to support a growing talent this year, then my money is on Polly. A true underdog, geeky, quirky, a little odd, poetic, full of potential, fucked up. She's all these things and so much more.

Think a young Kate Bush on acid. Think Tori Amos on mushrooms. Think Damien Rice as his female doppleganger. Think Alanis, Sophie B Hawkins, Fiona Apple and The Cardigans, Catatonia, Blondie, Bjork and Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan....

She's a frustrated poet who's doing her best to vent through her songs. And she's doing a pretty fine job at it too. So much anger and frustration hasn't been felt since Alanis's Jagged Little Pill. God bless Alanis.

Polly has a wonderful vocal talent. Her producers have taken this as key to the mix of the album. And it pays off, big time. At times, you can listen....close your eyes....and say out loud...."That's genius!"

This is a very bold debut album. It's to the point. There's no misunderstanding between the artist and the listener. This album feels very....personal. The piano can feel....isolated. The cello can feel....unloved....the violins can feel....

Best track? Dammit, this is a tough call. I'm gonna go for Breathe In, Breathe Out. Why....? Because it's just so beautiful and stunningly frank.

Listen to: Breathe In, Breathe Out

4. The Duckworth-Lewis Method - The Duckworth-Lewis Method (Swisslet)

An album about cricket? That sounds like a bad enough idea even before you hear that it involves that bloke from the Divine Comedy…. Named after an impenetrable mathematical formula used to work out revised batting targets in rain affected games, Neil Hannon and Pugwash’s Thomas Walsh have, somewhat against the odds, produced the most consistently charming album of the year.

It’s quirky, but in a good way, starting with The Coin Toss and closing, of course, with The End of the Over. In between we have songs referencing Pakistani batsmen (Meeting Mr. Miandad), Shane Warne’s ball of the century (Jiggery-Pokery) and lots of paens evoking the pastoral heritage and history of the game of cricket.

Odd that such affectionate whimsy should come from two Irishmen, but the quality of this album was almost as welcome a surprise as England’s Ashes win…..

Listen To: Jiggery-Pokery

4. Noah and the Whale - The First Days Of Spring (LB)

I'll be honest, the annoying chirpiness of Noah and the Whale's debut album, Peaceful The World Lays Me Down really ended up getting on my nerves. Ubiquitous single Five Years Time included, the whole thing was a little bit to twee and ridiculous for my liking and I consigned it to the cupboard pretty quickly.

Then, lead singer Charlie Fink split up with singer/songwriter Laura Marling.

The resultant album, The First Days Of Spring is as raw and bleak a record as you could possibly imagine. The album opens with the lines "It's the first day of spring/and my life is starting over again" and Fink has admitted that the album was both cathartic and therapeutic. However, whilst The First Days Of Spring is painfully honest, it manages to avoid being maudlin and self-absorbed. Lush string arrangements and downbeat guitars have replaced the tinny folkiness of their first album and the band have created an utterly captivating and engrossing album that is simply beautiful.

I can't overstate how stunning this record is. I had absolutely zero expectations for it when I gave it a listen on one bored morning a couple of months back. It made me stop in my tracks and listen to it over and over again and it has that brilliant quality where it is difficult to listen top it on random, or pick bits out in isolation. It is a proper album in the old-fashioned sense and the only way you can listen to it is in order, from start to finish. And listen to it, you should. You will not be disappointed.

Listen to: The First Days Of Spring

i just dont have the technology, it really is too advanced

2009-12-14T09:30:00.000Z

Top 10 Albums Of 2009

5. Little Boots - Hands (LB)

There has been no shortage of 80s influence in pop music over recent years in everyone from Keane to the Editors. Whilst La Roux's debut album was about as 80s as they came, its clinically perfect production made it somehow less of an album than it could have been. I like it but it's somehow soulless in a way that this album certainly isn't.

Hands has 80s influences but incorporates them in a charming and entertaining way. Whether Victoria Hesketh's slight Northern accent gives this record a slight 'down to earth' appeal, or whether is it simply because it is more real and honest (and far less like a concept record than, say, La Roux) it's a terrific and grounded record.

It varies in tempo from the manic upbeat disco of Earthquake to the beautiful No Brakes and includes hit singles New In Town and the excellent Remedy. I'm delighted that she has finally hit the big time after plenty of hard work and in Hands, Little Boots has made one of the most likeable pop albums of the year.

Listen to: Remedy (or hidden track Hands)

5. Paolo Nutini - Sunny Side Up (bedshaped)

What would you like to know about this album? What's the overall feeling of the album?....The feeling is....joyful....happy....can't help but smile.... What kind of music is it?....Fuck knows. Paolo is in a category all on his own. There's influences from Latin beats, sixties soul, indie guitar driven, soul, jazzy snizzle fizzle, easy listening....you name it. It's there. And not only is that why this album is a winner, but also for the fact that Paolo's voice is superb. There's just a little hint of his true accent, it's just....about....there. And the stories that unfold in his lyrics; lost love, new romances, life, touring, smoking weed, hard ons....

And musically? Lyrically?....Well, it's very clever, put it that way. Paulo's twisted lyrics are borderline genius, and the variety of genres, tempos and instruments keep the interest at def con one level. It's brutal!

There's a wonderful feeling that....when you listen to it, you get a lovely warm feeling that they all had such a brilliant time recording it. The orchestrations are lovely, the brass is unexpected, but welcome all the same,

Standout track? That's an easy one. No Other Way. The old skool sixties/soul feeling, that guitar pattern, the brass, and his voice....so....so emotional. Everything about this song rings true. The tempo, the lyrics, the story. A love that got lost along the way. Everybody can relate to that, right?

Listen to: No Other Way

5. White Denim - Fits (Swisslet)

White Denim’s debut album, Workout Holiday, was an absolute riot from start to finish: a glorious mish-mash of shifting tempos, improvisational drumming, shouty lyrics and screaming guitar breaks.

Fits is essentially more of the same, but the band have added texture to their repertoire, and as well as the shifting tempo squalling, wandering rock, there now appear to hints of Zappa and perhaps even some jazz. Sounds terrible, but this album is one 37-minute meander that you really don’t want to miss.

Opening track, Radio Milk How Can You Stand It, is White Denim encapsulated in a fraction under four minutes: we have a slow psychedelic start, pounding drums, raw sounding bass, an avalanche of wah-wah guitar breaks, high vocal harmonies, multiple changes of pace and style and a whole lot of shouting that I can’t really make out. They’re a brilliant band – nearly as good on record now as they are live. Don’t believe me? Go and see them for yourself.

Key Track: Radio Milk How Can You Stand It

the children of the future are drowning in the flood

2009-12-13T09:16:00.000Z

Top 10 Albums of 2009

6. Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (Swisslet)

I dislike Kasabian enormously: I hate their simian bearing and their staggeringly limited delusion that apeing Oasis is somehow greatest thing anyone could ever aspire to. I do, however, grudgingly have to admit that I quite like their music.

I wanted desperately to hate this album, from the moment that I first set eyes on its preposterously pretentious cover…. But again, I couldn’t do it. Lead single Fire sucked me in to buying the album, and from my very first listen, I was forced to admit that there’s more wit and invention on display than Oasis have shown in decades.

I wouldn’t quite go as far as Q Magazine by naming this as the album of 2009, but it seems that the gibbons have come up trumps again. But if, given infinite time, an infinite number of chimps with typewriters will eventually produce the works of Shakespeare….

Listen to: Where Did All The Love Go?

6. The Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts (LB)

Don’t be fooled by the Noisettes mammoth chart hit Don’t Upset The Rhythm. For months, I was, and I assumed they were some silly, Euro dance act with nothing but a bassline and a decent female vocal.

How wrong I was.

I was really surprised by how refreshing Wild Young Hearts sounds. If anything, it owes much of its charm to the great Motown hits of old rather than any formulaic, modern dance music. It manages to combine a really retro sound with something very 21st century and the result is a great selection of catchy, meaningful songs which actually have some depth to them. Don’t Upset The Rhythm is utterly unrepresentative of the rest of the album, and if you listen to one of their other singles like Never Forget You or the title track you’ll understand what I mean.

I really hope the Noisettes can build on this album and go on to bigger and better things. This could be the sign of great things to come, and if they have a car advertisement to thank for their big break, meh. So be it.

Listen to: Wild Young Hearts

6. Muse - The Resistance (bedshaped)

One has to wonder, just where are Muse headed nowadays? They've already reached global acclaim, filling stadiums left, right and centre. Album sales reaching stupid quantities and obviously huge amounts of money being thrown at them for their music video shoots. So what next?

Well....it's a case of more of the same, but with a few extra tweaks and a dash of really accomplished production, with Muse doing what they do best, but stretching their legs just that little bit more.

There seems to be a lot more 'filling' going on here. I don't mean that in a bad way. I'm not taking album filler tracks. Trust me, this album is all killer, no filler! To quote the fantastic Jamie T. No, I mean....there's lots of electronica, orchestrations, long instrumental breaks, and some of the most flamboyant piano strumming, the likes I've not heard for a long time. Matt's voice is as good as ever, and he does really great on the ballads. He really does seem to be finding his feet. I mean, it's only take ten years or so, hasn't it?

But yes....this album really is a must own for this year.

The album opens with the blistering Uprising. The bass pumping, sixties sci-fi emulating keyboard, pounding drums and a creepy similarity to Blondie's Call Me. Fantastic. And that grinding guitar is just brilliant. A great opening track.

The rest of the album doesn't disappoint. There's power chord rock, stadium anthems, funk, operatics, gentle ballads, tempo changes, story telling and voice that's hits notes all over the scale. Power chords a plenty, some very odd keyboard hooks, lots of piano, some massive drums, dirty basslines, Matt's falsetto vocals, great guitar work and lots and lots of orchestration. Ok, at times it may sound a little....pretentious, but put that feeling aside, just listen....and love the beauty....that is Muse.

Standing out just a little above the crowd are Resistance, a galloping, dare I say it, Queen type anthemic sound, and it's unbelievably potent chorus, which is surely a definitive 'Earworm' moment. Undisclosed Desires, which sounds breaktakingly familiar on first listen, with it's jaunty keyboard lead in. It's Muse on a funky day! Yay....go Muse, ya funky shizzle dizzle. And United States Of Eurasia/Collateral Damage is epic with a capital E. It's thrusting, operatic, Queen-esque, big, big and, erm....big. The song brilliantly calms itself down and exits with a lovely piano piece to close.

Best track for me is Unnatural Selection. Absolutely gorgeous church organ intro. The drum pounding, and then that phat guitar hook, Matt's weaving vocals and a chorus and bridge that's almost too big for it's boots. But not quite. This song drives and drives. Ooh...tempo change. Now it's a down and dirty swamp blues type groove. The guitar solo is decidedly jolly and Matts vocals are almost sexy. Almost. Aah, bollocks to it. Yes. YES! Matt's vocals make me feel naughty. Oh, tempo change again. The song finishes off like a neat sandwich. The top and the bottom are lovely, but the filling is delicious.

Listen to: Unnatural Selection

every time i feel your touch i'm broken

2009-12-12T08:09:00.004Z

Top 10 Albums of 2009

7. Leona Lewis - Echo (bedshaped)

Think what you may about people who find fame from a 'talent show', and yes, there have been some stinkers who have just been the best of a poor bunch, or in the right place at the right time....whatever. But whatever you think, I challenge anybody to question the fact that Ms Lewis can sing. And not just sing, but sing her fucking heart out.

I quite like the fact that she was 'discovered' amongst a pile of rabble in a pop contest. In my opinion, she has a fantastic voice, a great range and quite simply thank fuck for talent shows like X Factor looking for people like her, because had she not had the opportunity to gain public support that way, she probably would never have got anywhere.

Her debut album was, at the time, the fastest selling debut album in the UK and has since gone on being certified Platinum 9 times. That's some major feat for a nobody. Even more so considering most critics (et moi), didn't think it was that great an album. This second release pushes her vocal abilities to a much higher level. Not only that, but she sounds much more confident.

I guess a lot of the album is playing it relatively safe for Leona's voice, because it's dominated by ballads. And that's where she comes into her own. Her silky tones can handle a good range, but it's when she lets her powerful voice reach out that wins, hand down, every damned time. There are a few mid tempo tracks on here which are pretty damn good too. Lost and Found, featuring One Republic, Don't Let Me Down and I Got You all excellent examples of great, great pop songs. Nods towards the likes of Rihanna, Pink, Nelly Furtado, even Kelly Clarkson. All great stuff, but trust me, it's about the ballads.

It's interesting that Happy has been the lead off single release, because it's more of an uptempo track and nowhere near being a good example of the rest of the album. But considering she's been well received with tonnes or radio, video and Tv appearances on that single alone, it can only be a great sign of things to come for her.

I'm torn between songs for my standout track. The hidden track Stone Hearts and Hand Grenades is gorgeous, as is Don't Let Me Down featuring Mr Timbersnake on backing vox. The simplicity of Alive just gently massages the heart, while her cover version of Stop Crying Your Heart Out is just genius. And then she really strikes warmth and power from within Broken and does a wonderful female version of Prince on Can't Breathe, both of which are....just....stunning.

If I have to pick, then I'm going for Broken. A beautiful ballad, sung so emotionally. And of course it has the wonderful lines, "All those sorry's, there's a million reasons why....you can't mend me. Don't even try."

It's perfect late night listening pleasure. Girls tend to love Leona. Guys tend to keep their secret love of 'pop' to themselves. well, stand up and be counted, I say. She's an amazing singer, with a brilliant voice, a lovely personality who struck lucky and no matter what other people may think of you for saying so....do it! Stand up for the underdog who is making it!

I love Leona. And I'm proud to say so.

Listen to: Broken

7. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns (Swisslet)

Natasha Khan’s second album brought her a second nomination for the Mercury Music Prize. She didn’t win this time either, but who really cares about that? Here we’ve got an artist to treasure: playful, inventive and with a seemingly ever-growing palette of sounds and influences.

Here she sounds simultaneously like Kate Bush, PJ Harvey, Tori Amos with perhaps a dash of 1980s-era Fleetwood Mac thrown in for good measure… and it’s all good. Breathy, ethereal, poetic, mystical… the album even includes a song – Daniel – about a crush on the fly-catching, fence-painting hero from the Karate Kid films, and as if that wasn’t enough excitement, a duet with Scott Walker (The Big Sleep). And, ladies and gentleman, you can’t end an album on a better note than that.

Listen To: Glass

7. Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You (LB)

If you’d told me three years ago that I’d end up putting a Lily Allen record into my ‘Top 10 albums of the Year’ list, I’d have thought you were potty.

However, here we are and It’s Not Me, It’s You sits proudly at number Seven on my list. Quite how Allen has managed to weedle her way into my affections when I originally thought her daft, affected Cockney accent was nothing more than horrifically annoying, I’m not sure...

I really, really love It’s Not Me, It’s You. It has a real mix of styles and sounds, from some quite dance-orientated numbers to a couple of quite personal slower songs. It also features some great singles, of course, from the country and western silliness of Not Fair to the utterly superb number One single The Fear.

It is a much more mature record than Alright, Still. Allen takes herself much less seriously, concentrating simply on writing some brilliant records. Her voice is much more understated and the quality of the twelve tracks do all the talking here.

Pop music at its very, very best, this. A surprise, but a very welcome one.

Listen To: I Could Say

i didn't want to get out of bed this morning

2009-12-11T05:10:00.001Z

Top 10 Albums of 2009

8. The Yeah Yous - Looking Through You (LB)

I do like a bit of jaunty pop music. The Yeah Yous are a duo from London and their debut single Fifteen Minutes crept into the top Forty in the summer of 2009.

They haven’t really been plugged by their label and their terrific follow-up single Getting Up With You didn’t secure much airplay which is a crying shame. I wouldn’t say they sound like The Feeling, but they are two bands who make broadly the same type of records – classy, quality pop with huge anthemic, singalong choruses that don’t fail to put a smile on your face.

I actually think this pair could end up being pretty successful if they get the break that the quality of Looking Through You deserves. Let’s hope so.

Listen to: Getting Up With You

8. Imogen Heap - Ellipse (bedshaped)

A lovely, dreamy-feeling album, nicely produced and perfect late night listening material. Packed to the brim with some bizarre sounds and a wonderfully eclectic mix of percussion and noises that gel together so well, each listen if this album gives a fresh appeal. You keep hearing new things...."Oh, that's Soooo Sergeant Pepper....", "It's clunky, it's got some kind of Russian flavour....", "Wow, where did those strings come from....?", that sort of thing.

Whilst the music itself is pleasing to the ear, especially when it begins to experiment with itself, it really is down to the beautiful tones in Imogen's voice that makes this collection of songs so much more enjoyable. And it's even more wonderful when the producers chop, spin, sample, overdub, flaunt and emulate her voice within the songs, perfectly exampled in Earth. Genius!

Even people who say, "Imogen Heap....Nah, don't know her stuff" will know her without realizing. Her songs are often used in those American TV shows like The OC, One Tree Hill, ER, True Blood, et al. Usually at some very dramatic point, and probably involving a flashback....in slow motion.

I think this is her most accomplished album to date, and that even includes the stuff she recorded and released as Frou Frou. Wonderful as that was! Unfortunately, it's about as commercial and radio friendly as Terence Trent D'arby's second album, proper. This probably means that although she will receive fabulous critical acclaim for this album (she already has) and will most likely win some music awards (she will), her musical status quo will remain unchanged.

Best song 2-1, without a doubt. Strings, clever mixing and Imogen's gorgeous, smokey and seductive tones build and build in this song. It's a wonderful mixture of Kate Bush, Bjork, Sia, Fiona Apple and Tori Amos all in one. Layer upon layer of experimentation with instruments, sounds, and vocal techniques, building into what is quite simply an outstanding song. Note perfect vocals twisting and teasing the story.

Amazing!

Listen to: 2-1

8. Maximo Park - Quicken The Heart (Swisslet)

Not as immediate as A Certain Trigger and not as intimate as Our Earthly Pleasures, Quicken The Heart initially left me cold and took a few months to work its way into my affections.

More of the same, I thought, diminishing returns…. Surely there’s only so much quirky, spiky, north-east accented indie a man can take? Was Paul Smith’s schtick finally starting to wear as thin as we presume his hair is underneath those hats of his?

I could probably have lived without the tired cartography/sex metaphor in Let’s Get Clinical, but the rest of it is pretty good, from the siren that underpins opening track Wraithlike, through the curiously chorus-less The Kids Are Sick Again and on through A Cloud of Mystery, Roller Disco Dreams…. All the way through to the end of the album. Maybe it is more of the same, but Maximo Park’s quirky charms haven’t worn too thin yet and it’s been on my car stereo unchanged for months now.

Key Track: A Cloud of Mystery

is it dead at the end of the road?

2009-12-10T06:27:00.002Z

Top 10 Albums of 2009

9. Them Crooked Vultures - The Crooked Vultures (Swisslet)

“Super Groups” aren’t supposed to be like this: they’re supposed to be exercises in vanity and self-absorption where nobody dares to tell the star performers that their songs are overlong and under-interesting; that the album might have been fun to make, but it’s certainly no fun to listen to.

Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones appear to have broken the mould here with an album that’s a riot from start to finish. Yeah, so it’s not art, some of the songs are a little long, and perhaps there are times when someone might have had a word with the drummer about his solos…. But if you want a proper, honest-to-goodness, pedal-to-the-metal rock album, then there hasn’t been a better one than this all year.

Listen To: Dead End Friends

9. Athlete - Black Swan (LB)

2005’s Tourist remains one of my favourite albums of recent years and despite the commercial failure of 2007’s Beyond the Neighbourhood (not their best, but by no means as bad as it was made out to be) I had high hopes that Athlete would return with another great record.

I’m delighted to report that Black Swan is just that record.

Eschewing the electronica apparent on Beyond The Neighbourhood and returning to the simple, gentle guitar pop that served them so well on Vehicles and Animals and Tourist, Athlete’s comeback album is simply brilliant. From the great uptempo Superhuman Touch to the really beautiful title track it is another superb Athlete record from start to finish. If you ever liked any of their previous work I can pretty much guarantee that you will like Black Swan as well.

Listen to: Black Swan Song

9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz (bedshaped)

Karen O and the gang returned with an album that, in their words, "changes the sound around a little." Personally, I think they've under-sold themselves with that statement. Gone are the crashing, sometimes untidy drums. The guitars have been either replaced by keyboards or mixed right down in the tracks and Karen O's vocals are sounding cooler than ever.

It's a tight mix of very tidy tracks, with production, mixing and delivery giving more than it's fair share of nods towards electronica, programming beats and fashionable eighties beats. For those familiar with older Yeah Yeah Yeah songs, it's winning formula is that they've retained their indie status....their almost underground sound, as it were....and yet produced a great set of songs that sound like they've been written and played after spending the previous six months listening to Japan, Talking Heads, Blondie, Depeche Mode and anything produced by Brian Eno, Giorgio Moroder or Fluke.

Classy!

It's filled with hooks, ranging from the pulsing keys bassline in Zero ....to the almost anthemic bagpipes sound towards the end of Skeletons...to the haunting tinkly keys in "Runaway"....to the dirty, dirty guitar chords in Shame and Fortune.

Standing out for me, is Runaway. A simple story about love, loss, choices and reflection. The haunting piano melody is just lush, Karen's voice adding depth to the first half, until strings signal the song is really gonna fill out. And fill out, it does. Wonderful orchestrations drive the last half of the song, washing in and out, before strings take the basics of the song and wring its neck.

I think they've probably already peaked with their musical status. Which is a great shame. Like many other bands, they seem to have hit a point in their careers where they might still be around in six or seven years, but they'll never be any bigger. Whilst this latest album is certainly head and shoulders above much of the tripe that's been thrown at listeners this year, I don't think they will ever get much more recognition than they already have. Much like The Gossip, to a certain degree. And shameful as that may be, it's sadly far too common to see bands unable to climb the last part of that 'We can fill stadiums without even trying' wall. But I'd like to think, and hope that if they can continue to raise the bar with future releases, who knows....? They may even break the mould.

It's a brilliant album. Very easy to listen to all the way through and think "Yeah, that's a really good album." Thoroughly recommended.

Listen To: Runaway

winter seemed to linger but now the swallows have arrived

2009-12-09T09:35:00.001Z

Top 10 Albums of 2009

10. The Doves - Kingdom of Rust (Bedshaped)

I didn't like this album when I first heard it. Now that I've given it a plentiful helping of attention, I've completely changed my mind. I really like it. There's a lot of emotion in his lyrics this time around. Gone are the generic pictures of boy meets girl, or boy loses girl, Manchester life, these things replaced by more personal stories of a parental loss, illness, pain, fear, addiction and day to day life.
I've seen them play quite a few times now, and admittedly, they get better with each gig, but I can't help but feel like the 'album' side of things for them doesn't feature too highly in the 'we are a band and we play music' scheme of things.

As you would expect with Doves, the plunging basslines are still there, the pounding drums continue and Jimmy's somber voice meanders through tales of loss and woe.

In a complete listening, it really is a stunningly beautiful album.

It's Doves producing an out of the box sound for them. I guess, there's nothing too different here. Lots of pounding percussion, glorious basslines that talk extra long walks, and jangly guitar sounds that add hook after hook to the mix. Coupled with occasional tip of the hat to old, familiar ground (thanks Blondie, The Jam) and Jimmy's often sultry voice, Doves have once again delivered a fine and thoroughly listenable album.

Birds Flew Backwards is the outstanding track on the album for me. The gentle pace, his voice and those wonderful strings towards the end. It's a bittersweet story, delivered with compassion, empathy and sorrow. The first few times I listened to the album, I struggled. But above the initial thoughts of feeling let down by them, "Birds...." stood out. I love the whole atmosphere, hauntingly beautiful production and feel of the song.

It really is beautiful.

Listen to: Birds Fly Backwards

10. Morrissey - Years Of Refusal (Swisslet)

The critical and commercial success of 2004s You Are The Quarry saw Morrissey finally emerge from his self-imposed exile in Los Angeles and return centre-stage for the first time in years. The success of that album gave his career momentum for the perhaps first time since the breakup of the The Smiths and the release of Viva Hate in 1988.

Quarry’s follow-up, the Tony Visconti produced Ringleader of the Tormentors, sounded great, with Morrissey’s voice in particular sounding better than ever before, but it left me cold. I’ve followed Morrissey’s career for long-enough not to be surprised by this…hell, I even bought Maladjusted…. But for every stinker he delivers, I still can’t help but hope that the next album will be a good one.

With Years of Refusal, Morrissey delivered something of a curate’s egg. His voice again sounds fantastic throughout, but the themes are often too familiar: grudges are held, scores are settled and Morrissey continues to ponder in song how unappreciated and unloved he is. Still, when he gets it right, Morrissey is still capable of reaching heights that few others can touch.

Not a great album, but in a year when I haven’t yet got round to buying the albums by Muse, Florence and the Machine, Jamie T and others, this almost makes the list by default…. Mumford & Sons and Noah and the Whale in particular can probably consider themselves unfortunate that I haven’t had longer to give their albums a chance…. Ah well, what can you do?

Listen to: I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris

10. Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More (LB)

Considering I’ve had to leave great records by the likes of La Roux, the Red Light Company, Chantal Kreviazuk, Starsailor, Bruce Springsteen, the Pet Shop Boys and Kelly Clarkson out of the list, 2009 has been another great year for albums.

I bought this odd little record on the strength of hearing debut chart hit Little Lion Man, and it was one of those occasions where a speculative punt paid off. It's difficult to classify Mumford and Sons (a name that makes them sound like a removal company) - it has a folky feel without being folk music but isn't anything like the sort of traditional guitar indie you hear on the radio.

You may have heard Winter Winds on your radio of late - it has a Christmas feel to it - and those two songs are, I suppose, a good taster for the rest of an interesting, promising debut album.

Listen to: Little Lion Man

back in fifteen minutes

2009-05-22T23:07:00.003Z

Three great new records that you should hear.

The Yeah-Yous Fifteen Minutes is nice, breezy fluff of the highest quality.

Show Me What I'm Looking For by Carolina Liar is a great bit of American pop-rock in a Fray-esque style.

Finders Keepers is the new single from You Me At Six. Again, great, catchy tune.

Finger on the pulse, kids. Stay cool.

if you give me something then i'll believe it

2009-05-18T15:26:00.003Z

A couple of years ago I reviewed the promising debut album from Ben's Brother, a new British band destined for great things. Despite an Ivor Novello nomination (their track Let Me Out was beaten by Amy Winehouse) and a top Forty hit they haven't really broken through into the pop mainstream.

2008 nearly saw that, though, as brilliant single Stuttering secured much Radio 2 airplay but agonisingly peaked one place outside the UK top Forty. Dropped by their record label, the future of the band (I say band, it is basically Jamie Hartman and various assorted musicians) looked bleak until Hartman signed a deal with Island records for the release of second album Battling Giants.

Battling Giants took the same path for me as their debut Beta Male Fairytales. On first listen, I liked it. On second listen, I liked it more. From then on (and it has not been off my earphones for a week now) I like it more every time I hear it. It is an utterly brilliant album even in comparison with ...Fairytales and somehow Hartman has managed to take his superb songwriting into another dimension. The songs are punchier, fuller - somehow more rounded and, in places simply noisier as his trademark voice soars over piano and guitar.

From opening track (and single) Apologise, you are aware that you're listening to something polished and classy. It is difficult to pick out specific highlights, but the duets with Jason Mraz and Joss Stone (the latter is the stunningly beautiful Stalemate which would surely be a huge worldwide hit with, say, Leona Lewis on board) are a good place to start. Upbeat, catchy tunes If I Let The Ladder Down and Therapy are also terrific and the album highlight is the soaring What If? which wouldn't sound amiss on something by the likes of Coldplay or U2.

I had the pleasure if meeting Hartman at his gig in Nottingham last week and he is clearly delighted with this record. If anything, the live performance improved the material (if that were possible) and so after a combination of a chat with a very nice man, repeated exposure to the album and a fantastic live performance Ben's Brother are now officially my favourite band that nobody has heard of.

too much of everything is never enough

2009-03-25T14:36:00.002Z

I'd started a review of the Pet Shop Boys new album, Yes, yesterday in which I had written that it seemed like the duo were making an homage to the Pet Shop Boys back catalogue. Various songs from Yes sound like the pair at various stages during their career - Vulnerable sounds like it has been lifted from Actually, Pandemonium from Very and King of Rome sounds like the introduction to Behaviour's Being Boring.

Overall, I said, it had just made me want to listen to their last album (2006's Fundamental) which provided that the Pet Shop Boys could still make superb, progressive, celever pop of the highest order.

Two listens later, and I have changed my opinion a bit. I don't think Yes moves the Pet Shop Boys forward in any way and it isn't as clever, nuanced or textured as Fundamental but what it does continue to prove is that there are very few acts in the UK today who can produce such polished, consistent pop music of this sort of quality.

Yes is the Pet Shop Boys at their most simplistic - electronic pop music with clever lyrics, catchy melodies and Tennant's trademark voice. It's poppier than recent efforts - the production input of long-time Girls Aloud collaborators Xenomania sees to that - but after several listens what initially seems like average pop fodder becomes likeable, deep pop music at its finest. From the football-crowd chorus of top twenty single Love Etc to the slow-paced snapshot of 21st century living Legacy the record ebbs and flows in a way only a Pet Shop Boys album can.

It's not their best work and neither will it convert any new fans, but even in 2009 an average Pet Shop Boys record stands head and shoulders above the morass of hopeless pop on show.

blame the broken social scene

2009-03-09T16:00:00.004Z

Buying an album on the strength of hearing one song in the background on the radio is always a bit of a gamble, but with Fine Fascination, the debut from London five-piece The Red Light Company it certainly paid off.

From the introduction to the opening track Words of Spectacular this record grabs your attention and doesn't let go. It is one of those albums that manages to be both instantly likeable and that improves with several listens and I am really pleased with it. There are a couple of tracks here which I was vaguely aware of already - the sort of thing that must have been used on the BBC or that I have heard in a shop or similar without actually knowing what it was. This is particularly true of 2008 single Scheme Eugene and new release Arts and Crafts has also had some Radio 1 airplay.

Whilst their sound is familiar it's difficult to pigeonhole the Red Light Company. Vocalist Richard Frenneaux sounds reminiscent of Turin Brakes frontman Olly Knights but with influences including Radiohead and Elbow it's where the similarity ends. Their music is punchy, catchy and interesting but also richer than the normal guitar based indie fare we hear so much of.

I really like it, actually. I worry that they'll go the same way as other brilliant, one album wonders (Haven, Royworld, Morning Runner to name but three) and I am regretful I'll miss their Nottingham live show, but it's certainly well worth a punt at the princely sum of £6. A very promising debut.

a weapon of massive consumption

2009-02-11T16:24:00.003Z

I'm a grown man, father of one and in his mid-Thirties. I am not entirely sure therefore that I am the target demographic for Lily Allen and despite not being all that enamoured with her debut album Alright, Still I was convinced to buy It's Not Me, It's You by the sheer brilliance of the lead single and number One hit The Fear.

I'd had Allen pretty much pegged as a fashion fad and a one-album wonder. I wasn't sure her cheeky chirpy Cockneyness would survive more than the one summer and I figured her perky brand of modern pop wouldn't stand the test of time.

How wrong I was. Despite not being a fan I loved The Fear from the first time I heard it. The album is, I am delighted to say, much more of the same. Allen seems to have toned down her affected accent a little bit and the vast majority of the material on It's Not Me, It's You is catchy, brutally honest and surprisingly downbeat (even the uptempo tracks are biting and melancholy). I'd also hate to be the person on the receiving end of some of her acerbic lyrics....

From the superb opening track Everyone's At It this record grips and hooks you. Its musical styles chop and change from traditional pop through a strange country and western number to so-called "nu-rave". and lyrically it is simultaneously socially astute and heartbreakingly personal. Allen has admitted to unconsciously borrowing the chorus of Take That's Shine for the song Who'd Have Known and the bubblegum poppiness of F**k You hides a darker lyrical message. I particularly like Allen in reflective mood as her voice suits the slower, more fragile tracks like I Could Say and Chinese.

I thought I would never say this but Allen has come up with really brilliant album here, setting the benchmark for clever, well-crafted and mature 21st century pop that others will do well to meet. Highly recommended.

White Lies - To Lose My Life.

2009-01-23T11:44:00.002Z

The debut album from White Lies sits perfectly in the modern scene and yet could sound as easily comfortable had it been released at the back end of the eighties. And this is where it's beauty lies.

Short, sweet sounding and pretty much to the point, this collection of guitar driven indie and electronica influenced songs pay much homage to the wonderful sounds of times gone by without sounding dated.
Whilst the music in itself is crisp and polished enough to stand up on it's own, it's the lead singer's delivery that's most pleasing. With a style that draws comparisons from the likes of Echo And The Bunnymen, Julian Cope, Depeche Mode and at times Joy Division, to name just a few, there's a joyous sense of familiarity here without sounding like a crappy covers band that you'd expect to find playing a circuit of working men's clubs.
It's a dark and fairly gloomy sounding album (particularly with the lyrics), but that shouldn't put any potential listener off. Ok, so there are lyrical tales of suicidal tendencies, ghosts and death, mental breakdowns and even misguided kidnappings. Not the most uplifting of subject matter for any band to tackle, for sure. But the resulting songs of what sounds like a nicely polished set, coupled with some wonderful production, manages to give an uplifting and almost anthemic sensation, despite these stories of woe.

There seems to be a lot of breaking bands around, all tipping their collective hats towards a nostalgic eighties sound and if this is an indication of what 2009 has to offer, then in my opinion, we could be in for a very promising musical year.

Doom and gloom never sounded so good.

Death

The Price Of Love

To Lose My Life

they say i'm on top of my game

2008-12-31T10:19:00.000Z

Top 10 Albums of 2008

1. The Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow (Bedshaped)

There’s nothing I don’t love about this album. From the cover design, to the lyrics. From the wall of horns that signal Starlings bursting into life, to the sentimental, heart tugging song about their friend who passed away. From the wonderfully clever use of metaphors and situations that twist and turn and spin around in my head as I’m trying to paint my picture, to his soft voice that meanders and croaks and sighs like a 40 a day smoker.

A wonderful sense of togetherness fills me when I listen to this album. It sounds like an album made by a bunch of people who all get involved and absolutely love what they do. I like to imagine them all sat in a dingy room, listening to the newly completed album track by track, then when the last track fades out, someone breaks the silence by saying, “Now that is just fucking amazing”.

What we have here is a collection of songs that go beyond the typical indie/pop line. Sure, at the heart of it lies a drummer, a bass player, a guitarist, a keyboard player and a singer. But then there’s violins and cellos. Church bells and brass. Samples and all kinds of weird shit. Clunks, clicks and boinks. All melting together, wrapping themselves around the soothing voice that tells stories of town crane drivers, lost love, lost friends, childhood stories and of course their hometown. And all the time, he sounds so genuine. You just can’t help but be pulled into his stories. It’s a rare and wonderful talent.

Favourite track....Damn...Starlings....No, Some Riot....No....Damn....Ok, if I have to pick just one, then The Loneliness Of A Tower Crane Driver

1. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (Swiss Toni)

It was always going to take a pretty special album to keep Elbow from the top slot of my end of year list, and that’s exactly what the Fleet Foxes have delivered. The debut album by this hairy five-piece from Seattle was, for me, the most rewarding album of the year. They’re from the city, but the roots of this album are about as rural as it is possible to be, opening with a song about a squirrel, and going on to conjure up images of fields and backwoods and misty mountains.

The sound is almost timeless: the band themselves describe it as “baroque pop”, and although they are clearly influenced by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and the other members of the 1960s Laurel Canyon set, they also sound oddly as though they could be minstrels who have stepped out of the middle ages, with “White Winter Hymnal” in particular sounding like a medieval madrigal and “Your Protector” featuring a distant flute and conjuring up images of knights in armour. Perhaps it’s the medieval historian in me, but I really love that about them.

It’s the vocal performances that are ultimately the biggest draw here though, with Robin Pecknold’s remarkable voice either ably supported by the layered harmonies of the other band members, best displayed in “White Winter Hymnal”, or highlighted solo in the stark, acapella “Oliver James” that closes the album. To hear Pecknold in full flow is to hear a voice of great, unspoilt beauty and understated power. There’s been nothing else this year that sounds quite like the Fleet Foxes and neither has there been anything that sounds quite as good. A cool breath of crisp, clear country air. Superb, and my album of the year.

Key Track - White Winter Hymnal

1. Count To Ten - Tina Dico (LB)

I’m always slightly suspicious of lists such as these where people’s #1 choice is something obscure or random that no-one has heard of. To me it always seems slightly that people are flexing their individual identity by doing this and choosing a bizarre, unknown chart-topper is somehow a way of telling everyone else that they know something you don’t.

Clearly, though, there are instances where you sometimes find a diamond in the rough and whilst the rest of my top Ten albums sold in their millions, my number One is quite simply the most terrific album I have heard in a long, long time by a Dane who you’ve likely never heard of.

Tina Dico isn’t particularly famous outside her home country. Other than her appearances on a couple of mildly successful Zero 7 records you are unlikely to have ever come across her, unless you’ve been to one of her many intimate gigs up and down the land. It’s difficult to say what number album this is of hers, frankly, as her releases have thus far been an odd mix of album and tour-based EPs.

Count to Ten, her most recent studio album is simply fantastic from start to finish. It’s pretty simple really – girl with guitar doing a mixture of beautifully crafted pop records and acoustic ballads – but there is just something about Dico that sets her miles apart from her contemporaries. Her lyrics are interesting and emotionally direct, her voice is beautiful but also engaging and the quality of her songwriting is second to none. I could single out highlights but it is one of those rare records where every last second of it drips with quality and even though I must have listened to Count to Ten three dozen times I have yet to tire of any of it.

Sacre Coeur is typical of Dico’s music – a paean about her personal restlessness set against the backdrop of touring in France – and is simply beautiful. The gradual four minute crescendo of title track Count to Ten, the likeable On The Run and the cleverness of Craftsmanship and Poetry (“....ask yourself how much you care, about dining chairs and Beaudelaire? No craftsmanship or poetry can keep a young girl happy forever.....”) – it is difficult to find any fault anywhere here. Everything I love about Dico is best encapsulated in the stunning Cruel To The Sensitive Kind which not only spoke to me more directly than any other song in 2008 but is also time-stoppingly beautiful.

It might look indulgent and clever for me to pick a relatively unknown artist as my favourite album of 2008 ahead of the popular and critically acclaimed works before but I simply can’t ignore the fact that this amazing record blows everything else I have heard in 2008 out of the water. Simply, simply stunning.

Favourite track - Cruel To The Sensitive Kind

you're moving with such irresistible speed

2008-12-30T10:05:00.000Z

Top 10 Albums of 2008

2. Perfect Symmetry - Keane (LB)

Following the in-fighting and tension that underscored the trio’s last release – 2006’s Under The Iron Sea – it is something of a miracle that Perfect Symmetry ever saw the light of day. After Tom Chaplin’s well-publicised stint in rehab and the barely disguised resentment that manifested itself in the lyrics of their previous release it took the threesome to retreat to the German capital Berlin to come up with a record that, to their great credit, tries to push the boundaries of their simple piano-led sound.

Reaction to their download-only teaser, Spiralling, was mixed. Sounding like it had been plucked directly from one of the early Now.... albums (circa 1984) I couldn’t decide for weeks whether I loved it or hated it, and only with multiple listens have I come to the conclusion that it’s an OK record (it could certainly do without the silly “do you wanna be an icon?” posturing in the middle, mind.)

The rest of Perfect Symmetry is cut from the same cloth. With influences from Talking Heads to David Bowie (Better Than This sounds like the backing track was lifted directly from a Bowie record) Keane have managed to successfully combine their emotionally direct lyrics with a sound that can be described as a sort of “modern Eighties”. There are moments which are classic Keane (the beautiful ballad You Don’t See Me and closing track Love Is The End) and moments where I am not entirely sure what they were trying to do (You Haven’t Told Me Anything is possibly the weakest song they have ever recorded).

It’s an interesting record, and rather than the likes of Snow Patrol and Razorlight who both basically threw out “more of the same” in 2008, Keane have tried to build on their sound and develop it in a new direction. Nowhere is this better evidenced by the sweeping U2-esque title track Perfect Symmetry which is (by the bands admission) the most ambitious song they have written. I also love the driving Somewhere Only We Know-ish single The Lovers Are Losing which was the absolute highlight of their recent Q awards performance.

It’s not a perfect record by any means. The polished 80s production fails to make the most of Chaplin’s vocals – one of Keane’s most important qualities – and so the songs here lend themselves much better to a live performance. It’s also less populist and so whilst some will embrace the new direction they have taken, the absence of the simple piano-chugging pop of Hopes and Fears will alienate many.

Perfect Symmetry is a great album and has meant that Keane retain their place as my favourite band of the 21st century. In bygone years I’d probably have lazily made it my #1 album of the year (simply because it was Keane!) but this time round I’m afraid it just wasn’t quite good enough.

Favourite track - You Don't See Me

2. Seventh Tree - Goldfrapp (Bedshaped)

She’s got lovely vocal and she’s on my list.

Wonderful. dreamy collection of songs that sees Goldfrapp move into much older territory. Much of the disco and electronic sound previously heard by this band have been put aside in favour of a more musical, gentille and melodic sound. There’s a vast array of instruments and sounds on this album. All working their little wonder into the songs in their own lovely way. At times, it’s nothing short of magical.

Sounding like it was recorded in a shack, buried deep in a forest that nobody could ever find, a wonderful sense of contentment and peace washes through this short collection of songs. The melodies created on such a variety of instruments make the listening experience much more enjoyable. And of course there’s Allison’s lovely voice, which I think is criminally underrated.

Even though each song stands up on its own, the collection is most pleasing when listened to in full. There’s a satisfying feeling waiting for everybody when the last track, Monster Love plays out. That final track evokes a feeling of bringing everything else together.

It’s a brave album for them to put out and judging by how quickly people stopped talking about them, perhaps it backfired. A definite shift that saw them drop the glam and handbag dancing days, moving into a much more mellow and sometimes melancholy mood, resulting in a collection of wonderfully constructed songs that stroke at the listener’s ear when those strings come in....or when those bells chime....or when that oboe moans....or when Alisson’s voice seduces.

Favourite track - Cologne Cerrone Houdini

2. The Seldom Seen Kid – Elbow (Swiss Toni)

Elbow have been producing fantastic records quietly and without any great fuss or fanfare since 2001. Like a fine wine, they have been slowly improving with age, although I don’t really think that “The Seldom Seen Kid” is really all that much better than 2005s “Leaders of the Free World”. For some reason though, 2008 was the year that the great British public fell in love with one of Britain’s most accomplished bands, and it was also a year when their commercial success finally started to match their critical appreciation. The album won the Mercury Music Prize, but the momentum was behind them long before that and songs like “Grounds for Divorce” and “One Day Like This” really sank into the public consciousness and were being used to soundtrack everything from Euro 2008 through to rallying on Dave.

Guy Garvey highlights the moment that he realised how perfectly everything was going as being their sundown slot on the Other Stage at Glastonbury, when he looked out and saw a sea of faces all singing his songs back to him. I was there, and it was a magical, intimate moment shared by the band with about 100,000 people and a TV audience of several million. The bottom-line here is that “The Seldom Seen Kid” is a marvellous album. Elbow grew up together and have been playing as a band for some eighteen years. They are a proper, tightly knit unit and this shows in both their live show and in their recorded output. Guy Garvey has a lovely, expressive voice and a poet’s way with words, and the band, produced by keyboard player Craig Potter, know just how to bring the best out of him.

Right from the swelling surge of “Starlings” all the way through to the lovely “Friend of Ours” (and bonus track “We’re Away”), this album is a slow-burner and a real grower, seeming to get better and deeper with every play. “Bones of You” and “Mirrorball” are gorgeous, shimmering love songs, “Grounds For Divorce” features the biggest, dirtiest riff of the year, “The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver”, “The Fix”, “One Day Like This”…. It’s just a fantastic album from start to finish.

It’s not the biggest or most famous song on the album, but Elbow’s appeal is summed up for me in the opening lines to “Friend of Ours”, a song dedicated to Bryan Glancy, the seldom seen kid of the album’s title:

“Before leaving get to the bar
No one round here makes you pay
Never very good at goodbyes
So gentle shoulder charge
Love you mate”

What other band has captured the nature of the love between two blokes better than that?

Key Track - The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver

the humans are dead

2008-12-29T10:52:00.000Z

Top 10 Albums of 2008

3. Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords (Swiss Toni)

Yes, this is a comedy record. It’s a really, really funny record. But you know what? That’s not what makes this one of my favourite albums of the year, and probably the single album that has given me the most listening pleasure over the last twelve months. The thing that has enabled me to listen to this album over and over again is the plain fact that the songs on here, funny as they are, are also proper songs.

The Mighty Boosh clearly fancy themselves as a band, but a song like “I Did A Shit On Your Mum” only really works in the context of the episode in which Vince tries to become a punk. The beauty of Flight of the Conchords, is that the songs work in their own right.

In case you aren’t familiar with their work, Flight of the Conchords are an imaginary band and the stars of an eponymous TV series which sees them struggling to make it in New York. In their heads, they are genre-spanning geniuses, but the sad reality is they are formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo, and they’re rubbish. And now this imaginary band have put out an actual record, and I’m not entirely sure whether they’re trying to be the band that’s in their heads or the band that they actually are, and I’m not sure that it actually matters.

I’m not sure I can do the songs any justice at all by attempting to describe them: some are parodies, some are pastiches, some are simply daft…. Almost all are superb. How could you not love a song like “Robots”, which features a binary solo (0000001 00000011 000000111)? Or a tribute to “The Most Beautiful Girl (in the room)” that includes the lines "You're so beautiful, you could be an air hostess in the 60s...you’re so beautiful, you could be a part-time model…but you'd probably have to keep your normal job." Or a song like “Business Time” that inadvertently celebrates hopeless, once-weekly sex with a long-term partner. Hmm. Like most good jokes, it they seem to pale in the retelling, but do yourself a favour and give the album a go, even if you’ve never watched the TV show. Which you should, incidentally.

Key Track - Robots

3. Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends - Coldplay (LB)

OK, so I am a Coldplay fan. Whilst that might have ensured their fourth album made it onto my shortlist it doesn’t automatically follow that it will be one of my top three albums of the year. The reality is, however, that the Worlds Biggest Band (ish) returned with a quite superb record which would deserve its place in this list in any year.

Viva La Vida... ended up being one of those rare albums which I simply couldn’t take off my stereo for a few weeks. Most albums get a couple of spins and then go into the iPod morass with everything else to be plucked out at a later date. Viva la Vida..., though, accompanied me in the house, in the car and on the bus to the office for a month or so.

It’s difficult to pick particular highlights as everything here is great. The opening instrumental Life in Technicolor sounded like the best song ever crying out for some lyrics, until the “sequel” appeared on the Prospekt’s March EP and blew the original away. I love 42 and Lovers in Japan but it is the title track itself that bestrides the rest of this album. The band’s first UK number one single, Viva la Vida succeeded where other Coldplay tracks have failed not only by its uplifting, anthemic melody but also by Martin’s brilliant lyrics, something that has not always been in evidence on their previous releases. Destined to be a modern classic (and already being used at sports events and the like in its instrumental form) Viva la Vida is worth the price of the album in itself and provides a magnificent centrepiece for this record. Whilst lead single Violet Hill is, oddly, the creative low point on the album, it recovers through the gentle Strawberry Swing to a climax with the pretty Death And All His Friends.

Rather than dilute the quality of Viva la Vida, I also found that the later Prospekt’s March EP actually enhanced the overall collection (with the exception of Jay-Z’s rather unnecessary contribution to Lost, perhaps). Between them it is difficult to find a better collection of songs in 2008 and only the fact that it was a truly exceptional year of releases prevents this comfortably being my favourite album of 2008.

Favourite track - Viva la Vida

3. Only By The Night - Kings of Leon (Bedshaped)

First came Sex On Fire. So soon after their last great album and they already have an undeniably great song? How can this be? Well, it just is. Some bands struggle for years and put out some turkeys in between, but not, it seems, these guys. And the rest of the album is just as good. It’s always nice to have albums where you’re never tempted to skip the filler track, simply because there aren’t any.

Good old fashioned rock and roll. Dirty sounding guitars, heavy drums and Caleb’s throaty voice are all you need here. And the catalyst to it all lies within the songs. They’re all good. It’s a simple as that. From opener Closer, with it’s haunting guitar and hypnotic drumming, you get a good feeling for what’s about to follow. By halfway through it, you’re already convinced this is going to be a really good album. And it is.

Punchy guitar riffs that make you wanna join the local air guitar group and catchy choruses that even the tone deaf can howl along to. What more could you want?

Favourite track - Closer

you do what i like and you like it

2008-12-28T10:38:00.001Z

Top 10 Albums of 2008

4. Circus - Britney Spears (bedshaped)

Lead single and album opener Womanizer caught my attention when it started to gain radio and video channel rotation. A great pop song delivered in typical Britney style, with a chorus to die for that sticks in your head like a first kiss. It’s also a good indication of what can be found on the rest of the album. Funky basslines, samples a plenty, vocal alterations, catchy choruses, neat production and mixing, the occasional ballad and lyrics that make the listener double take all add to a very listenable collection of pop songs. And that’s exactly what this album is. It’s not trying to go in any other direction.

Just how involved Britney is with the writing process is questionable, although she’s regularly quoted as saying she more involved with the lyrics than anything else. Having said that, there are a few songs on here that fall out of the usual boy meets girls/love song criteria of typical pop songs and we get treated to yet another take on her relationship with the paparatzi, her relationship with her children and that photographer guy, her perceptions of how the public see her and a few brief but clever uses of word play; particularly on If U See Amy..If those words haven’t come from Britney, then you gotta take your hat off to the person who writes out her life so well.

Some of swankiest writers and producers around have been rounded up on this album, and there’s no mistaking it either. It all sounds very polished, almost too polished at times. There’s plenty of sampling and keyboard trickery afoot here too, so koudos to the guys twiddling the knobs. Britney sounds like Britney. She swoons, breathes, sighs, grunts, purrs and stutters through all the songs, sometimes with the help of keyboards, sometimes so over-layered that she’s in danger of stepping on Gwen Stefani’s toes.

There’s plenty of potential singles on here, if in this day and age that’s still a factor. It’s choc-a-block with songs the likes of The Pussycat Dolls, Madonna et al would probably perform public oral sex for. The album that Blackout should have been and the album Madonna wishes she’d made.

Favourite track - Mannequin

4. Workout Holiday - White Denim (Swiss Toni)

You can intellectualise music all you like, but once in a while a band comes along that hits you right in the guts and helps you to remember that music often works on an almost primal level. “Workout Holiday” is one of those albums, and White Denim are one of those bands. They caused a bit of a buzz at SXSW, but they didn’t hit my radar until some friends came back from the Park Stage raving about them (and their drummer in particular) at Glastonbury. I had gone to go and watch Tony Benn on the Leftfield stage, and he was as great as he always is, but I was determined to check out this band for myself at the first possible opportunity.

As it turns out, I didn’t have to wait long, and was able to see them a few weeks later at the Social in Nottingham. They were brilliant. The record is good, but they sounded even better live, taking their cues from each other and improvising freely, led by their sensational drummer, Joshua Block. On record, the band are a little less of a glorious mess, but not by much. The album kicks off with “Let’s Talk About It”, rips through quality songs like “Mess Your Hair Up”, “All You Really Have To Do” and “Look That Way At It” and doesn’t let the listener go until “IEIEI”. It’s barely 40 minutes long, but it’s the sound of a garage band captured in their prime. Thrilling… but seriously, go and see them live.

Key Track - Let’s Talk About It

4. Home Before Dark - Neil Diamond (LB)

Here’s a surprise entry of ever there was one. I have always had a soft spot for Neil Diamond, but only in a “I have a Greatest Hits CD and like some of it” sort of a way. I can’t say I have ever been tempted to buy an album of his, and wasn’t even tempted by this one when it went to number One on the UK album charts.

I then started reading some reviews of it which said, shock horror, that it was actually “quite good”. I then saw he was going to be playing the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury and so took a chance with Home Before Dark as I figured he’d include some of that material in his setlist.
It turned out to be a great decision. It would be easy to make a case for this album on a slightly ill-informed “well, he’s a legend, innit” sort of basis but the truth of the matter is that this is a very, very good album. Diamond’s abilities as a songwriter sometimes get buried amongst the slight Las Vegas naffness of his earlier career but this record proves that he really is a top drawer writer. There isn’t a bad song amongst this collection, and songs like The Power Of Two, If I Don’t See You Again and Pretty Amazing Grace are the equal of any of those recognisable songs of the 1970s.

I have no real affiliation with Diamond and this record is not here as some sort of tribute or eulogy. It’s here because it is very simply one of the best records I have bought in the last twelve months and I am as surprised as anyone that it is as brilliant as it is. Nothing in 2008 has been a finer accompaniment to a late, quiet evening than Home Before Dark and I can’t praise it highly enough.

Favourite track - The Power Of Two

good old texas, sat doing nothing while the world's up-coughing asbestos

2008-12-27T10:42:00.000Z

Top 10 Albums of 2008

5. The Cross Eyed Rambler - Paul Heaton (LB)

Let’s get one thing straight. Whilst the former Beautiful South frontman’s record is a departure from the two decades of work with his former bandmates if you were never much of a fan of the South, you aren’t going to like this all that much either. Whilst the material may be different and the sound a lot more guitar based and gruffer, his voice is basically still the same one that graced the charts with the Housemartins and the Beautiful South and so if that never appealed, this is unlikely to.

I was reluctant to buy this at first. I’d seen Heaton live in Nottingham and whilst I enjoyed his solo work, the sour taste of him steadfastly refusing to throw in even one obscure Beautiful South track for a baying audience remained. Eventually I gave in though and I am glad I did as the Cross Eyed Rambler is a really, really excellent piece of work.

Like I say, it’s edgier and tougher than his previous work but the beauty of the album remains the cutting satire of his lyrics. I’d argue that Heaton has been the leading British lyricist of the past twenty years or so (perhaps Neil Tennant might run him close) and whether you like his work or not there can be no doubting the quality and humour that define his songwriting.

The Cross Eyed Rambler is in much the same vein. The fantastic God Bless Texas is a wonderful satire of redneck America (“....good old Texas/lazy old days in the Amarillo haze in my work vest/sitting on the porch, wondering which country to torch next....”) and The Pub tells the story of the development of his local boozer from the 1980s to today (“....quiz night replaced the blues night in 1983.....”). The highlight though is Heaton’s very own Grumpy Old Men moment – the seven minute rant Everything is Everything in which he takes out every last frustration of the reality TV culture of Britain in 2008.

The butcher sells you pantyhose
The supermarket sells you land
The newsreader likes to read the news, but he’s also in a band
Feminism’s fast asleep with a cock in either hand
Everything is anything to anyone
And locate, locate, locate the victim’s house
Swap their wives, take their lives and turn them inside out
Nothing left in closet, nothing left in doubt
Everything is anything to anyone

I really like this record. It manages to combine the brilliance of Heaton’s lyrics with a modern, guitar based sound and is easily as good as anything he released with his bandmates over the last fifteen years. Highly recommended.

Favourite track - God Bless Texas

5. Como Te Llama - Albert Hammond Jr (bedshaped)

He’s the guitarist with The Strokes, don’t ya know. There’s certainly a strong influence from his own band, but there’s also nods towards Velvet Underground, Bowie, and even The Beach Boys to be found on here.

No suprises to find this is a guitar driven album, with catchy hooks, decent enough vocals and damn catchy melodies. He’s not got a fantastic voice, but it’s ample for the songs and it’s in the songs that this album wins, time and time again. There are some interesting interjections of instruments you wouldn’t expect to find on such an indie sounding album, but nothing objectionable. Yep, thank goodness those horns on Hard To Live In The City from his previous album have thankfully been laid to rest.

This isn’t an album that’s gonna make people start to question the future of The Strokes. If indeed anybody still cares about them? And it’s not an album that’s gonna win him lots of attention either, more so, it’s gonna be one of those really good albums that slips under all the radars, but is to be found in the stereos of cool people.

Favourite track - Lisa

5. Viva La Vida (or Death and All His Friends) – Coldplay (Swiss Toni)

When you aspire to be the biggest band in the world, one of things that you need to do, if you’re following the U2 model anyway, is to hire Brian Eno. If Eno could stop Bono singing about bullets ripping the desert sky, then perhaps he could stop Chris Martin worrying about puzzles missing pieces? Quite how much input or impact Eno ultimately had on “Viva la Vida” is debatable (he’s credited with ‘sonic landscapes’), but there are definite signs here that Coldplay are developing as a band. It’s not a dramatic change, and is certainly a case of evolution rather than revolution: for the most part Coldplay still sound unmistakeably like Coldplay.

They seem more self-confident though, as if have acknowledged to themselves that yes, they do want to entertain the largest number of people possible, and that actually, that’s ok. Radiohead, it should be remembered, from a similar position, drew a rather different conclusion. Coldplay are good with melody, and there are melodies aplenty on this album: “Viva La Vida”, “Violet Hill”, “Lost”, “Cemeteries of London”, “Lovers in Japan”… the lyrics might still be a touch woolly, but the tunes are huge and compelling, and with “Strawberry Swing”, the band even show a little bit of unexpected African swing.

They’ve been roundly criticised for their new stage costumes of course (they are a much criticised band), but this is a band trying to escape themselves, even by a little bit at a time. Those uniforms have enabled Chris Martin to escape from his long-sleeve t-shirts, jeans and from the slogans scrawled on his hand… all previously a key part of the band’s identity. They’re not a cool band, of course, but they’re striving to get better and I think they’re worth sticking with.

Key Track - Viva La Vida

who gives a f**k about an oxford comma?

2008-12-26T10:29:00.001Z

Top 10 Albums of 2008

6. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (Swiss Toni)

As a grammar pedant, there was always going to be something attractive about Vampire Weekend. Other people talk about their ‘Upper West Side Soweto’ and the way that they reference both Congolese soukous and classical music. Me? I just liked the way they referenced an arcane grammatical rule in such a catchy manner. Who does give a fuck about a comma used before a grammatical conjunction? Well, curiously enough, although we may not care much for its use in British English, it’s actually the recommended method in American English, and so the song takes on a new level of meaning in the USA that is entirely lost in England.

But I digress. At its heart, this is sunny, uplifting pop music, and so it was entirely appropriate that singer Ezra Koenig wore sunglasses throughout their Glastonbury performance in distinctly gloomy conditions. By the end of their set, the sun came out, as if unable to resist the magic for a moment longer. Paul Simon may have got to those rhythms first, but few bands have used them better.

Key Track - Oxford Comma

6. Man In The Machine - Royworld (LB)

Royworld are a really interesting band, actually. Although their second single Dust spent three weeks inside the top Forty they remain broadly unknown and the cancellation of their autumn tour denied the public the opportunity to see them close up.

After the first couple of listens, I was pretty unconvinced. Sounding like a cross between Coldplay and the Buggles (yes, such a thing is possible) I had a suspicion that some initial promise was going to fade, much as it had done with a similar band – the Ghosts – the year before.

When I saw they had been added to the Glastonbury line-up, I gave Man in the Machine another spin and found myself warning to it somewhat. Their performance on the John Peel stage on the Sunday morning endeared me to them further and from that point onwards I have found myself falling for this record more and more.

It’s difficult to pigeonhole, really – they are a traditional four piece with guitar and keyboards but they do incorporate some retro sounds, and singer adds really good, distinctive vocals. Singles Dust and Man In The Machine are lively enough but it is on the more reflective songs like the superb Brakes that they really begin to show what they can do.

I would heartily recommend this record and I really hope that with the right publicity and support they could end up being pretty successful. If not, they’ll just end up being a curious footnote to 2008 with one superb album and a well-received festival performance to show for their efforts.

Favourite Track - Man In The Machine (or Brakes)

6. Shine - Estelle (bedshaped)

Beginning with a funky choone that would have the likes of Mark Ronson creaming in his jeans, this album just doesn’t dampen down. Estelle’s voice rides through ballads, dance numbers, disco jumpers, reggae flavours, old skool numbers and R’n’ B songs with ease. There’s a wonderful fullness to her voice. Rich and creamy.

Great arrangements are to be applauded here, showing the likes of Mr Ronson (not wanting to pick on him or anything, but hey, what can you do....) how to put together a great sounding album, touching on the retro nerve, without having to overlay so much and giving that fucking horn section a much deserved rest.

The single American Boy was an inspirational move. That dirty keyboard hook through the chorus must have ear-wormed it’s evil way on pretty much anybody who came within a sniff of it. And it’s the abundance of killer hooks like that throughout this album that dig in and just wont let go.

A really great album by a very underrated Estelle.

Favourite Track - Come Over

it takes patience, lots of patience...

2008-12-25T10:15:00.000Z

Top 10 Albums of 2008

7. Scars On Broadway - Scars On Broadway (bedshaped)

An album of power chords and crashing vocals, riddled with hooks and ear pleasing song arrangements that reaffirms my belief that people can still make really good rock music. I know little about them, other than it’s a side project featuring a couple of members of System Of The Down.

The lyrics can sometimes leave a lot to be desired, but it’s the thought that counts and there’s enough monster chords and pounding drums to keep the listener occupied. Vocally, there’s nothing new here. It’s very much delivered in the System Of The Down style, and even though that’s not such a bad thing, his voice is nowhere near as good as Serj Tankian’s. That said, it’s the music here that’s so great to listen to. Song after song of catchy choruses, striking guitars and whoomp whoomp pounding are enough to make you sigh with pleasure as the last track plays out.

If you like loud guitars, power chords, driving beats and the occasional noisy vocal then this an album that’s definitely worth investigating. There’s nothing new here that will make the listener think that some divine intervention has just occurred, but it’s enough to stand out above some of the other drivel out there.

Favourite Track - World Long Gone

7. Alas, I Cannot Swim - Laura Marling (Swiss Toni)

Laura Marling is 18 years old and looks considerably younger, and yet here she has produced a frail, slightly gauche and yet at the same time stunningly mature debut album. Duffy and Adele have bigger voices, have garnered more attention and sold more records, but I'm not sure that the two of them together have anything approaching the talent of this slight girl from Hampshire.

From the world-weary cynicism of "Ghosts" ("Lover please do not fall to your knees, it's not like I believe in everlasting love"), through the frail bravery of "Night Terror" ("If they want you, then they're gonna have to fight me") all the way to the concluding refrain of "Alas I Cannot Swim" at the very end of the album ("work more, earn more, live more, have more fun."), this is a debut to be treasured – they don’t always get the shortlists for these things right, but this was deservedly one of the Mercury Albums of the Year for 2008.

Key Track - Night Terror

7. This Is Alphabeat - Alphabeat (LB)

Recently I saw a TV advert for the debut album by scary, are they/aren’t they, you know – “at it” brother and sister X-Factor losers Same Difference. It described their debut release as “the pop album of the year”, which made me want to spit out my Horlicks.

I’m sorry, but there is only one pop album of 2008, and it’s the insanely catchy, breezy debut by the Danish six-piece.

From the very opening moment of track 1 – the B-52s-esque Fantastic Six – I knew I was going to love this band. Whilst their lyrics have the look of some second rate Danish poetry put through Babelfish, the sheer energy and enthusiasm by which they bang out a string of nonsensical maniacal pop ditties can only endear you to them.

OK, so the album may have been a slight disappointment but that’s only because the bar was raised so high by their string of radio-lite smash hit singles. As well as Fantastic Six (my personal favourite) the highlights are the ones you’d know – the omnipresent Fascination, the superb Ten Thousand Nights and the nonsensical Boyfriend. Less successful single What Is Happening and the frantic Touch Me Touching You are also dancefloor friendly fun.

I wouldn’t call the rest of the album “filler” – it’s not quite that bad – but their attempt to slow things down is a bit unwelcome and slightly incongruous against the breathless bounciness of the singles. Whether they can sustain a long career out of producing brilliant but ultimately throwaway pop records in a Roxette-ish style is another question, but for the time being the world is their oyster.

Considering also their brilliant performance at Glastonbury and the fact that four of their singles are in my Top Fifty of the year, Alphabeat are also my Band of 2008. Say the word!

Favourite track - Fantastic Six

it's a rock and roll disaster

2008-12-24T10:30:00.000Z

Top 10 Albums of 2008

8. Join With Us - The Feeling (LB)

It was always going to be tough for the popsters to follow up their 2006 debut Twelve Stops And Home, chocked full as it was with radio-friendly top Twenty hit singles like Love It When You Call and Fill My Little World.

Follow it up they did, though, and whilst the number One album Join With Us might not have spawned the same number of mammoth singles it is a polished and likeable pop record. From the opening song, the top Ten hit I Thought It Was Over you know pretty much what you are going to get and Dan Gliiespie-Sells provides us with an hour of breathless, carefully written songs all of which could make a case for single release.

I am surprised that the fantastic and anthemic Join With Us or Turn It Up weren’t hits, and whilst the slower Without You nudged the top Fifty it knocks the socks off the majority of second rate pop and dance records in the hit parade. Whilst the pop balance here occasionally shifts from “catchily brilliant” to “annoying” (the daft Loneliness and Don’t Make Me Sad) and the final track’s attempt to be a long sweeping epic close just ends up making you want to turn if off before the end, it remains a brilliant and loveable pop record. I really, unashamedly like this band and this album.

Favourite track: Turn It Up

8. Glasvegas - Glasvegas (Bedshaped)

An indie album that sounds like Phil Spector’s been let loose with the controls. Huge washes of guitars, echo and various other wizardry effects give this album a huge sound. A neat package of ten songs that are....well, really good. The sound is good, the choruses are good, the playing is good, his voice is good.

I really like his voice. Gentle in delivery, but vocal enough when it’s needed. The Scottish accent adds to the enjoyment and the backing vocals bring in just enough balance and harmony to the sometimes overpowering guitar walls.

Big sounding. Anthemic almost. Possibly a little ambitious, but definitely an enjoyable listen. Ultimately a guitar driven collection of indie songs complemented by a nice voice and given a huge fuck off wall of sound production.

Favourite track: Flowers and Football Tops

8. Death Magnetic - Metallica (Swiss Toni)

Some bands are just louder than others. In Metallica's case, this is very literally true: for some reason, the MP3 files I have of this album are about 25% louder than anything else I have loaded on my iPod. If a track pops up on shuffle when I'm out running, it scares me half to death and I have to rip the headphones off before my ears start bleeding. Somehow, I think the band would approve.

After years of mucking about with therapists and trying to write songs only between the hours of noon and 3pm (or whatever), this was the album that finally announced the return of biggest and best rock band of them all. There's a glorious moment on the very first track on the album, "That Was Just Your Life", when the guitars really kick in at about 1m 28s, followed by some thunderbolt drumming. Hello, I thought, this is no "St. Anger".... When we get the first of the album's many, many dive-bombing guitar solos from Kirk Hammett at 4m 52s , then we really know we're back in business.

Each of the twelve tracks on the album clocks in at four or five minutes long, and the album as a whole is epic. Perhaps it's not something to listen to every day, but there's something about this kind of muscular rock that thrills me to the bottom of my soul. Brilliant. Best album of 2008 to listen to when jogging bar absolutely nothing. You run as though all of the hounds of hell are on your trail.

Key track: That Was Just Your Life

the judge and the defence

2008-12-23T10:39:00.000Z

Top 10 Albums of 2009

9. Mr Love and Justice - Billy Bragg (Swiss Toni)

Bragg's twelfth studio album is very much along the lines of his others: for a man renowned for being the missing link between Woody Guthrie and Joe Strummer, far more of Bragg's songs are about love than they are about politics. "I Keep Faith", "I Almost Killed You", "M For Me", "You Make Me Brave", "Something Happened", "If You Ever Leave"... all are fairly direct songs of love and devotion.

Politics is still there, of course, and "O Freedom" is a brutally direct and pretty unsubtle lament on the post "War on Terror" world ("O Freedom what liberties are taken in thy name"). Bragg recorded the album with the Blokes, his backing band, and the overall tone is distinctly country-tinged and similar to his work with Wilco on the "Mermaid Avenue" albums.

For me though, the definitive versions of these songs are to be found on the bonus disc, where Bragg performs them all solo, old-school style, accompanied only by his own electric guitar. This is where he really comes to life. Stripped of the backing band, this is where Billy Bragg makes the most sense. He's mellowed a touch with middle-age, and he's no longer quite the same frustrated young man of "The Saturday Boy", but his fires and passions still burn more brightly than most. He's a national treasure.

Key track: "O Freedom"

9. Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust - Sigur Ros (LB)

I am a late convert to the charms of the Icelanders but after the beautiful brilliance of Hvarf/Heim last year I was smitten. Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust has been their most successful album in chart terms to date and their singles have made mainstream radio playlists.

It’s difficult to explain Sigur Ros to people who haven’t heard of them. My mother thinks it sounds like some weird pan pipe music (although she likes Hoppipolla, mainly thanks to the BBC’s excessive usage of it some time ago). I have to say that I much, much prefer them when they are in relaxed, reflective mode and so the easy highlight of Meo... for me is the superb, sweeping nine minute Ara batur. The mixture of that gentle piano and his unique falsetto vocal is one of my very favourite things in a quarter century of buying music and nowhere is it better showcased than on this stunning piece.

Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust has less of these slow, gently moments than previous releases and as such it isn’t my favourite of their albums. There are more upbeat, ambitious moments here than previous and whilst the jaunty appeal of Gobbledigook and Inni mer syngur vitleysingur can’t be ignored, I would have preferred an hour of fantastic, sweeping piano ballads. It’s a minor and personal criticism, though, of a band who continue to grow and develop with each release.

Favourite track - Ara batur

9. Dear Science - TV On The Radio (Bedshaped)

The only thing I know about this band is that the lead singer has got a wicked beard. Other than that all I know is that they’ve made a really good album.

It’s like an indie sound, with lashings of rock, with added electronica, orchestration and funk. I dunno, think Genesis crossed with Gary Numan, Bloc Party crossed with Chic and Arcade Fire.....

His voice is often sombre in it’s appearance, sometimes breaking, sometimes leaping into a falsetto that’s right on the peak. It’s interesting to listen to, if nothing else. And the range of musical styles on this album also captivates the ear and gently massages it with each further listen. A definite grower!

They’ve just written and played some really good songs here. It’s pretty much as simple as that. One of the songs will be playing, all sounding very nice, then something else will happen...a beat change, a chord change....something....and it pricks up the listeners ears. An admirable quality for which they should be applauded.

It’s almost like a guessing game of who’s who on the influenced by list. I hear Peter Gabriel, Kraftwerk, Blur, Radiohead, Talking Heads, Beck, Prince, Bowie.... The sort of album you could have playing in the background at a cafe and know for sure that at least one person will ask you what it is. And it’s always good to have albums like that in your collection.