And you thought the albums of the year list was it for the year.....well, you don't know me at all!
Keeping up the work ethic while the rest of the country has a two week skive, I've been listening to and reviewing records for YOUR pleasure, and the first of a handful of reviews in the coming weeks leading into 2012 is the latest from JEFF the Brotherhood, We Are the Champions.
Brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall used to be in Be Your Own Pet, but have spent most of the last six years as JEFF, creating rockin' sounds as a guitar/drums two-piece. On this new album, they sound like Weezer with the amps turned up to 11, and this turns out to be A Good Thing. As always, this review is brought to you by the nice people at The Line Of Best Fit.
So, clicky click hereto read all about it, and I'll see you in 2012!
So, we reach the top of the tree (so to speak) and there we find New Jersey's Real Estate and their sophomore album Days. As the weeks closed in on the end of the year and the thought of composing this list, I found myself listening to this album more and more, two to three times a day at one point, and in the end it just pushed Korallreven to number two. I could have copped out and had a joint number one, but what would have been the point of that? Days just snuck into my life almost unnoticed until it became a part of my daily routine; one of the most lovely and affecting - and utterly simple - records I've heard in many years.
Made up of singer/guitarist Martin Courtney, guitarist Matthew Mondanile and bassist Alex Bleeker, the band released their self-titled debut album in 2009, and followed up with this one - a record of simple nostalgia, yearning and nascent romance. Beautiful guitar lines grace Days from start to finish, like 'Major Leagues'-era Pavement, or the early jangle of R.E.M.
It's the simplicity of lines like "floating on an inner tube in the sun" from gentle album opener 'Easy' that capture the essence of this record. Each song seems like a variation on the same theme, and so Days hangs together wonderfully, from 'Green Aisles'. 'It's Easy', 'Out of Tune' and 'Wonder Years' (yes, such a track name was inevitable). Given the band are childhood friends, it's hardly a surprise they share the same warm and fuzzy memories.
It's a truly glorious record, and on 'Green Aisles', one of the finest songs of 2011, we find the perfect encapsulation of the whole theme of Days:
"the phone lines, the street lights, led me to you/
It's the album that's meant most to me in 2011, the one that I've enjoyed the most, and the one I catch myself singing songs from on a regular basis. If that's not reason enough, then I don't know what it. Days is a wonderful, charming guitar record, one that reaffirms that guitar music isn't quite dead yet, and shows that Real Estate are a very, very talented bunch of lads. Life-affirming music at its best.
Okay, okay, so I jumped the gun a little bit with my "album of the year" fanfare last month, but Korallreven's An Album by Korallreven is still the best example of the traditional album album, that is, a coherent piece of music that needs and demands to be listened to as a whole, rather than downloaded and broken apart into favourite moments.
The duo of Marcus Joons and Daniel Tjader was inspired to make this record following a visit to Samoa and witnessing the pure joy of the Catholic Church choir singing that takes place on the Pacific island - and you can hear that sunny joy throughout An Album. It's a record of fantasy summers, romance, the naturalistic joy in living things and, above all, a wonderful pop record.
Speaking to Joons after their recent marvellous show in Glasgow (and here comes some shameless self-promotion and back-patting) he said that some reviews (mine) managed to pick up on the idea that the record was a song cycle, and had to be listened to as such. This feeds into the makeup of the various mixtapes the band has released this year, and also the way that the tracks 'Sa Sa Samoa' and 'As Young As Yesterday' reflect each other and tie the first half of the record together, just like how the final trio of 'Honey Mine', 'A Surf on Endorphins' and 'Comin' Down' tie the dreamlike state of the second half of the album together.
Lit up by guest spots from Victoria Bergsman and Julianna Barwick, it's a joy of a dream-pop album, it's 1980s synthpop, it's futuristic 21st century electro at its finest. A good few years in the making, but worth the wait, An Album by Korallreven is just the beginning of a beautiful sun-dappled journey with these Swedish maestros.
If I judged this list on sheer heartbreaking beauty, the self-titled debut record from A Winged Victory For The Sullen would have walked it by a country mile. But it's about more than that, so Adam Wiltzie and Dustin O'Halloran's new project has just missed out on the top spot glory. However, each of the final three on this list are deserving of top spot, but a joint number one would have been a cop-out.
Okay, so it's very much a mood piece and you wouldn't stick AWVFTS on as a party record, but it's without question the most moving record of the year and one I've returned to time and again to uncover previously unnoticed layers of glacial genius.
An orchestral record calling on ambient, classical and post-rock, and recorded as a kind of posthumous tribute to Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous, there'a a great well of sadness and emotion to much of the record, yet it also proves to be an uplifting experience. Consisting of piano and strings (some courtesy of Peter Broderick), these instrumental movements go from barely-there teardrop keys to grand swells of string quartets, and there's also choral backing, looped gentle guitars and washes of ambient synths. O'Halloran's piano work is the star of the show, just shading it from the gorgeous strings and Wiltzie's brilliant hand in making sure everything sounds perfect.
I can't fault this record at all; staggeringly beautiful and deeply emotional, ambitious but never grandstanding for the sake of it, A Winged Victory For The Sullen is an astonishing achievement.
With Strange Mercy, the saucer-eyed, stunning, Texan Annie Clark took the beauty of her previous two albums and added a darker edge, more intricate and inventive guitar work and ended up with her best record to date.
The opening of 'Chloe in the Afternoon' sets the tone for the album, a saucy tale of S&M, sung with Clark's delightfully demure voice, and then disrupted by some metallic and destructive guitar playing. Annie Clark has to be one of the finest shredders around at the moment, and her brutal riffing and enigmatic soloing dominates Strange Mercy. Witness the hammering on the repetitive "I, I, I" of 'Cheerleader', or the tricksy yet poppy lines on 'Cruel', or even the discordant punk-funk of 'Dilettante' and you know you're in the presence of greatness.
Even though most of the sensual role-playing sung about by Clark is very much her taking on a character, this doesn't mean there's a lack of emotion on the album. In fact, compared to the surface of Actor, Clark reveals much more of herself on Strange Mercy than we've experienced before as listeners.
It's a swooning, sweet listen, a juxtaposition of Annie Clark's angelic vocals and devilish guitar playing, confirming her position as a unique artist and the finest female performer of 2011.
5 - Josh T Pearson : Last of the Country Gentlemen
Josh T Pearson spent many years in the wilderness following his part in Lift to Experience's 2001 record The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads, an epic psychedelic rock record. Pearson suddenly quit playing music, disappeared into a series of dead-end jobs, occasionally playing and famously appearing on the cover of the sadly-missed Loose Lips Sink Ships magazine. Along the way it's clear there's been some issues : broken relationships, mental anguish, substance abuse? But suddenly this year, Pearson returned with a new record, detailing intimately what's happened in his life for the past ten years.
A confessional country record, mostly captured live, it's filled with sadness that builds across lengthy and meandering acoustic guitar lines, occasionally accompanied by the swell of strings. The centrepiece of the album is the 13-minute 'Honeymoon's Great!Wish You Were Her', a song full of Pearson's despair and inner troubles, a plea to a woman he's hurt, a long cry begging for forgiveness. It's a magnificent testament to Pearson's talents as a song writer, and is nearly matched by other moments like the anger of 'Sweetheart I Ain't Your Christ' and the troubled self-help of 'Country Dumb'.
It's never an easy listen and isn't a record you'd put on for a chilled night in, hence the appearance at number five in this list. Live, I saw Pearson twice this year, his music interspersed with a series of jokes, he had the audience in the palm of his hand throughout, commanding silence before playing his music. If we need a Hank Williams or Johnny Cash figure for the 21st Century, it's Josh T Pearson. We can only hope there's not another long silence before we hear more new music from him. Last of the Country Gentlemen is a glorious record and an incredible emotional journey that demands your attention.
Nanna Oland Fabricius gave us the best pure pop album of 2011, combining carefree solid-gold tunes with an indie approach to music making. So, while the songs on Oh Land are incredibly catchy, there's layers of instrumentation, gleaming production and an understanding of art shared with kindred spirits Lykke Li and Robyn. It was sad to realise that the mainstream music industry and media would come to ignore such classic pop music, focusing instead on the latest vapid "look at me, aren't I sexy?" yelpings from the likes of Rihanna. Still, you and I shared this record together, and it was quite uplifting, wasn't it?
7 - The War On Drugs : Slave Ambient
With Slave Ambient, Adam Granduciel and his boys combined the guitar power of Bruce Springsteen with the motorik Krautrock of Neu! and Harmonia to produce a record of hazy drones, Dylanesque country meanderings and pedal-to-the-metal indie rock classics. Whether it's the driving glory of 'Baby Missiles', the swagger of 'Come to the City' or the slo-mo comedown of 'Blackwater', Slave Ambient was always a thrilling listen, and a brilliant achievement from a young man who has still got plenty to give. The new Springsteen? Maybe, although old friend and ex-bandmate Kurt Vile might have something to say about that.
6 - M83 : Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
There's just not enough double albums made any more, but thanks to Anthony Gonzales' (and guests) ambition, M83 returned with their defining statement, an album that redefined the word "epic". As always, instrumentals and spoken word interludes peppered the record, but it's the moments when everything combines, as on the magnificent 'Steve McQueen', that you can truly understand Gonzales' vision. It's as if he threw the great moments from the last three records (Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, Before the Dawn Heals Us and Saturdays = Youth) and came up with Hurry Up - a near perfect encapsulation of nostalgia, dreams and everyday life, spread across two discs of stunning music.
The question of whether or not Wild Flag could be as good as Sleater-Kinney was dispelled within the opening bars of first track 'Romance' - this is some seriously good shit. The supergroup of SK's Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss, plus Mary Timony and Rebecca Cole are more of a jam band than SK ever were, but when you've got monstrous riffing from one of the finest guitar players today, epic Moon-esque drumming, organ breakdowns and Timony's pop sensibilities this project was never likely to fail. A fine, ragged rock and roll album, filled with passion, fun and storming tunes.
9 - The Antlers : Burst Apart
Debut album Hospital was quite an emotional journey, quiet yet epic, with gorgeously uplifting choruses lightening what might have been an otherwise spirit-crushing album about cancer and death. Returning with a slightly more electronic sound, Peter Silberman and co. produced a lush textured record filled with heartbreak and swooping melodies. Burst Apart is a record of anthems for the emotionally awkward and damaged hearts everywhere, and is dominated by the beautiful vocals of Silberman. A step forward from the debut album, who knows where The Antlers could go next.
You know it's getting good if these two can't make the top ten.....
12 - The Horrors : Skying
Channeling the spirit of, amongst others, Simple Minds and Psychedelic Furs, the formerly gothic chancers stepped it up yet again. If Primary Colours was something special, The Horrors surpassed that record by adding a scintillating pop sheen to the motorik grooves found on their second album. The best British album of 2011 by a country mile, they've got their eyes set firmly on a glittering prize. If My Bloody Valentine soundtracked a John Hughes film, it might sound a heck of a lot like this.
11 - Girls : Father, Son, Holy Ghost
It wouldn't surprise me if this was Pitchfork's album of 2011, and to be honest any other year it would probably make my top three of the year. Cribbing from the past yet sounding utterly fresh, Christopher Owens has an understanding of pop music like few other young men of his age. It's The Beatles, R&B, VU, Jonathan Richman and The Rolling Stones, yet none of them at the same time. A friend of mine said "they know how to play those 'sad girl songs' chords, don't they?" and that might best describe Father, Son, Holy Ghost - a record full of emotion, feeling, and wonderful songs.
Below is a link to a Spotify playlist for numbers 20 down to 11:
We return to Scandinavia, and Norway in particular, where we find Dutchwoman Jessica Sligter teaming up with a bunch of Norwegian musicians to produce Sacred Harp's debut album, Window's a Fall. A record of improv, weird time signatures and heroic riffing, it's over at The Line Of Best Fit for reading as per usual.
Far from being some end-of-year filler, it's got one of the best songs I've heard all year within its tracks, so do the clicks to learn more....
In 2011, I've reviewed their album, spoken to Jason Quever and shared my thoughts on a live show (all for The Line Of Best Fit) so it's perhaps not a surprise to see Papercuts make an appearance in my end of year list. Fading Parade is a fine example of fuzzy, dreamy, indie pop music about breaking up, girls and stuff. You can file alongside Galaxie 500, Beach Boys (and House) and The Clientele - charming stuff, with a real pop heart.
13 - Wilco : The Whole Love
Following a couple of albums that really didn't live up to the name of Wilco, Jeff Tweedy and the rest of the fine, fine musicians in the band regrouped and found a bit of passion. The Whole Love proved to be a mix of the band's YHF and A Ghost Is Born experimentalism and the country pop of Being There. Showing once again why the band are more innovative and interesting than most of their alt. rock classmates, the record was bookended by the finest examples of the two sides of Wilco. Opener 'Art of Almost' revisited the Krautrock moments of Ghost and was a pounding epic, whilst closing track 'One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)' was a 12minute gentle acoustic meditation on religion, containing Tweedy's knack for a melody, and his always intriguing lyrics. In between these, just little nuggets of pop, country and rock...business as usual, then. Live, they were bloody amazing.
The Portland, Oregon, band kicked up a quiet storm with this lovely record, their fourth full-length. Combining the lush instrumentation and harmonies of Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire and The Decemberists, and with Ritchie Young's voice calling to mind Michael Stipe, Colin Meloy and Jonathan Meiburg, such a mix was unlikely to fail. Whether it's the slowly rousing 'Blood Bank' or the fragile gems of 'Elephants and Little Girls' and 'Egg Song', the beauty unfolded slowly on what was the definitive "grower" of 2011.
15 - Fleet Foxes : Helplessness Blues
Things got darker and broodier on Fleet Foxes' second album, but at the same time the brilliance of Robin Pecknold's song writing seemed to double and strengthen. This album delved deeper into folk and blues territory, songs lasted longer and were allowed to meander and make fascinating diversions. At times it was almost a Pecknold solo record, but the instrumental passages showed that this was very much a band effort, from a bunch of guys who still have so much to give. Stunning.
18 - Mogwai : Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
It's hard to think of Mogwai now as veterans of the post-rock scene, and even of the Scottish music scene as a whole, but almost 15 years on from debut Young Team that's the reality. Following a rather hit and miss period which produced a couple of below-par studio albums but also a thrilling live record, Hardcore came across like an overview of the various 'Gwai guises over the years - thunderous riffs, noise, quietly beautiful passages, and even some straight-ahead indie rock. More than that, it was definite return to form, and by adding a second disc of orchestral magnificence and then the Earth Division EP, 2o11 was Mogwai's finest year for some time.
17 - Low : C'Mon
Another band in the veteran category, Duluth's finest have been going quietly at it since 1994, and with C'Mon they easily proved there's life in the old dog yet. I honestly thought that 2005's The Great Destroyer sounded like something of a goodbye from the band, and with suddenly appearing to have a revolving door of bassists since the departure of Zak Sally, it seemed to me that Low might be no more. But regrouping after the drab Drums and Guns, Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker found their mojo again. All you need to do is listen to opener 'Try to Sleep' to know you're in the presence of classic Low, and epic centrepiece 'Nothing But Heart' is simply stunning, and one of the band's finest moments of the past 17 years. Welcome back, and here's hoping there's still plenty more to come.
20 - Radiohead : The King of Limbs Announced suddenly, released ahead of schedule and almost more of an EP than a proper full-length, yet Oxford's most famous sons' eighth studio record was still something of a triumph of the experimentalist married to the band's more traditional sound. There was the skittering, off-kilter dance of 'Lotus Flower' and 'Bloom', but the final trio of 'Codex', 'Giving Up the Ghost' and 'Separator' point straight to why a Radiohead album is awaited with such baited breath by most music fans. Sure, it might have been something we've kinda heard before, but it was done brilliantly. Add in the remixes found on TKOL RMX 1234567 and it's a mighty fine body of work.
19 - The Middle East : I Want That You Are Always Happy Formed in 2005, released a record in 2008, split up, reunited to release this album in 2011, and now they've gone and split up again. Australia's The Middle East have never made things easy for themselves, and also never really seemed entirely happy being in the belly of the music industry machine. It's a shame, because with I Want, they produced an epically beautiful record of, at turns, fragile and rousing alt. country. Cracking harmonies, layers of instrumentation, wonderful songwriting....they'll be sadly missed.
25 - Okkervil River : I Am Very Far Will Sheff's band couldn't quite match the majesty of their last two records, but I Am Very Far still contained some wonderful tunes, rousing moments ('The Valley'), beautiful interludes ('We Need a Myth') and some of the most personal songwriting Sheff's committed to record . If you want your indie rock well-read and wearing a crumpled suit, Okkervil River are still the premier band, and the go-to guys.
24 - EMA : Past Life Martyred Saints Erika M Anderson produced one of the most intense and visceral experiences of 2011 with this album, laying bare her personal demons on top of abrasive Sonic Youth style guitar abuse, and sparse folk interludes. Thankfully, Anderson seems to have avoided the problems that led to the implosion of previous band, Gowns, and found a fitting outlet for her immense talent.
23 - My Morning Jacket : Circuital After the distinctly dodgy Evil Urges, Jim James and co returned to something approaching their best form with this record. It's the usual mix of country beauty, Disney soundtracks and heads-down rocking, but done with a passion that's been missing for a few years. Live, they're still something special, and a must-see. With Circuital, MMJ edge a little closer to capturing that spirit on record.
22 - I Break Horses : Hearts Scandinavia is where it's at this year, with many fine records coming from Norway, Sweden and Denmark. This album, a Swedish entry, contained some of the finest shoegazing married to solid pop tunes that I've heard in a while, with Maria Linden's honeyed voice soaring over the MBV-esque guitars and programmed beats. It was released on 4AD, the perfect home for the band's icy cool.
21 - TV On the Radio : Nine Types of Light Recovering from the death of Gerard Smith, TVOTR surprised everyone with the low-key release of what turned out to be testament to the power of the band. Switching from soaring balladry to confrontational rants, the key to the joy of the record was, as usual, the wonderful vocals of Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone, married to the genius production of David Andrew Sitek.
To hear a selection of tracks from these albums, there's a handy Spotify playlist via the link below:
I always thought I was John Cusack's character. Turns out I'm really Todd Louiso....
Aye, it's that time of year again.
By way of introducing the start of the countdown tomorrow, I'm here to explain my reasoning in compiling my top 25 of the year. Basically, it's records I've heard and loved in 2011, not influenced by other websites or magazines, just me and my thoughts on what I've loved this year.
There are some fine records that haven't made the final cut, so apologies in advance to, in no particular order: Treefight for Sunlight, Mountains, Peggy Sue, When Saints Go Machine, Gang Gang Dance (really sorry, that was tough), Tyler, Battles, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Jonathan Wilson, Beirut, Destroyer, Braids, The Dodos and Julianna Barwick. Still, Julianna's on Korallreven's album...
I should also add that I've not really listened to either Bon Iver's or PJ Harvey's records. I admire both, but for some reason I've just not listened to the albums from start to end. I'm sure youse'll get over it.
So that's it. Tomorrow, we kick off from number 25......ooooh, who will it be?
Not sure this strand of The Line Of Best Fit has appeared here before at 78s Don't Wobble, but I've written a small piece to accompany the site's Song of the Day for today!
It's called 'Analog Wheel' and it's by Parisian outrockers Yeti Lane. A slice of Gallic brilliance, it combines a Krautrockin' groove with the shoegaze of MBV, and you can read more (and listen of course) by doing the clicky link thing.
It's out via Sonic Cathedral, and what promises to be one of the albums of 2012 follows in March next year.
Samantha Crain has a great voice. That much is true. She also has a knack of telling a great story. Add to that her take on country music and you've got three things that I love quite a lot.
So, it was a pleasure to have an email chat with the young lady when she was here on tour in November, and I did it all for you. And The Line Of Best Fit, obvs.
So to read all about it, as Professor Green sez, and hear some music, click here!
