My Top Albums of 2011: Number 1

Pete & The Pirates – One Thousand Pictures

Despite the fact it’s hard to fathom what the songs are about, as metaphors are buried within metaphors, P&TP’s ‘One Thousand Pictures’ is an insanely catchy, heartfelt, bittersweet pop concoction. While this may not be the most courageous or sophisticated record, it sounds innately happy yet intuitively sad as robust melodies, harmonies & euphoric choruses aplenty form perfect nuggets of pop perkiness, all urging the listener to jump around the room in a fevered frenzy.  

Pete & The Pirates - Come To The Bar

My Top Albums of 2011: Number 2

M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

The sumptuously arranged & optimistic tracks on M83’s ‘Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming’ offer pure escapist music, with interludes every bit as purposeful as the main tracks. It continually strikes at the emotional pressure points of the listener, as explosive percussion, massive choirs & cathedral reverb, melancholic vocals & opaque lyrics all combine with tsunami like washes of retro synths to paint a massive & brighter world.

M83 - Midnight City

My Top Albums of 2011: Number 3

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat – Everything’s Getting Older

An album that mutters defiance at & embittered acceptance of the ageing process, BW&AM’s ‘Everything’s Getting Older’ delivers tales that are one moment tender, breathless, romantic, lovelorn & lusting, then the next caustic & depraved. The twinkling melodies & pensive piano chords mix wonderfully with the dry sense of humour that often dispels the dark subject matter, engaging the listener to accept that “Birth, love & death – the only reasons to get dressed up.” 

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - The Copper Top

My Top Albums of 2011: Number 4

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine

Billed as “a soundscape to the lives of an imaginary Scottish fishing village”, KC&JH’s ‘Diamond Mine’ is both gentle & desperate, capturing the longings & sorrows of everyday lives in a way that can reduce you to tears. The two artists combine to create an intimate, low-key affair, but with surprisingly affecting songs that accrue real emotional weight.

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Bubble

My Top Albums of 2011: Number 5

Low – C’mon

Simplistic choral harmonies & hymn-like melodies soak fear-spiked lullabies & dreamy folk-tinged pop, as Low’s ‘C’mon’ delivers emotionally direct & immediately satisfying songs, while the band effortlessly progresses through different shades of light of the day, with tension tweaked for the listener’s maximum impact.

Low - Try To Sleep

My Top Albums of 2011: Number 6

Found – Factorycraft

With cavernous guitars, brooding basslines & floating melodies, there is a sense of mischief at play amongst the vintage pop allure of Found’s ‘Factorycraft’. It is a dark, dank, slow-burning cauldron of invention, pulling influences as disparate as Motown, electronica & romantic Indie that often unexpectedly distorts the incredibly strange with the incredibly good.  

Found - Machine Age Dancing

My Top Albums of 2011: Number 7

Erland & The Carnival – Nightingale

Against a shadowy backdrop of sinister guitars & electronics, E&TC’s ‘Nightingale’ re-imagines traditional folk tales for contemporary times, being both eerily crooned & lyrically intriguing. Inventive arrangements find common ground between psychedelia, folktronica & ancient poetry, with the results never less than intriguing & occasionally sublime.

Erland & The Carnival - So Tired In The Morning

My Top Albums of 2011: Number 8

Gruff Rhys – Hotel Shampoo

Boasting an insatiable creative wanderlust, sing-song melodies & rich production enable Gruff Rhys’ ‘Hotel Shampoo’ to feel mysterious & exotic whilst still retaining a whimsical & comforting homely feel. The casually ornate songwriting creates faintly psychedelicised, romantically wistful lounge pop of the highest order.

Gruff Rhys - Shark Ridden Waters

My Top Albums of 2011: Number 9

The Method – Dissidents & Dancers

Displaying an impenetrably solid amalgamation of influences (too many to mention) & filtered through some highly skilful production, the noisy blend of sounds that blare throughout The Method’s ‘Dissidents & Dancers’ album is akin to that of a reverberant aural splatter, as slow- paced mantras mix readily with garage-style riffs & great grooves. 

The Method - Dissidents & Dancers

My Top Albums of 2011: Number 10

The Leisure Society – Into The Murky Water

Quintessentially English fare & straddling the thriving folk-pop scene, TLS’s ‘Into The Murky Water’ resonates with autumnal melancholy, decked out with beautiful, swirling melodies, dramatic twists & a continual desire to fill your eyes, mind & ears with little shafts of sunlight, while being committed, genuine, honest & lovingly cultivated.

The Leisure Society - You Could Keep Me Talking

My Top Albums of 2011: Number 11

Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

Thick with references to folk tales & mysticism, & using their harmonies not merely to decorate songs, but to push them along, Fleet Foxes’ ‘Helplessness Blues’ is a thoughtful, elegant record peppered with ghostliness & references to ageing, whilst being suffused with both melancholy, sunshine & melody second to none.

Fleet Foxes - Lorelai

My Top Albums of 2011: Number 12

Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972

Recorded in a church in Reykjavik useing a groaning pipe organ to lay down the foundation for tracks, before digitally adding synth-wash & wailing shoegaze crunch to the live recordings, Time Hecker’s ‘Ravedeath, 1972’ is a dark & often claustrophobic record that lives somewhere between the digital & material realms, creating a constant push & pull between discord & beauty.

Tim Hecker - In The Fog (Parts I & II)

My Top Albums of 2011: Number 13

Blank Disco – From Zero

Combining elements of cold, mechanical techno with rhythmic, hypnotic electronica, all sprinkled with an underlayer of assorted sounds & vocal samples, Blank Disco’s (aka British producer Dan Seville) ‘From Zero’ album successfully manages to fuse melancholy with bliss, creating listenable sound-collages reminiscent of some of the chief talents on Warp.

Blank Disco - NYC

My Top Albums of 2011: Number 14

Puressence – Solid State Recital

Packed with slow-building soaring anthemic tunes, Puressence’s ‘Solid State Recital’ keeps its eyes firmly fixed on the colossal. Stunningly lustrous & powerful vocals, progressive & powerful guitars, dynamic & pounding beats all combine to create a sonic stratosphere full of the deepest valleys & mightiest peaks. 

Puressence - Swathes of Sea Made Stone

My Top Albums of 2011: Number 15

System 7 – Up

Influenced greatly by the Berlin music scene, System 7 (i.e. 70’s guitar legend Steve Hillage & partner Miquette Giraudy) deliver positive, hypnotic & dreamy ambient electronica. With Hillage’s guitar playing reminiscent of his ‘Fish Rising’ solo era, there is subtly processed weirdness throughout the album that presents a refreshing take on psychedelia in modern dance music. 

System 7 - Berimbau (feat. Yuji Katsui)

Most Underrated Bands EVER!!! #1 CLOSE LOBSTERS

I guess I'd be about 16 when I first came across (oo-er, Matron!) Close Lobsters, a band that remain close to my heart all these years later (24 and counting, where does the time go?).
The setting was Cornwall in 1988 and the annual family holiday, my last with my Mum, Dad and siblings and one on which I now somewhat shamefacedly admit I was a complete and utter tosspot; arguments here, there and everywhere, teenage tantrums and sulks, storming off and "wanting to be alone"; hell, it's almost like I was the archetypal misunderstood Indie kid, and didn't I let everyone know it!
Anyway, the music. On one of my sojourns without the family, I visited a small local record shop just off the seafront in Penzance (the name escapes me, sorry). This was in my pre-CD purchasing days (I held off that until 1994 when I finally had to admit defeat & bought my first CD, Blur's 'Girls & Boys') and the majority of my purchases were on vinyl. 
However, as I was on holiday, reliant on my Walkman and in need of some new tunes, on this occasion I purchased a cassette that looked mighty intriguing, both because of the album title and the name of the band: 'Foxheads Stalk This Land' by Close Lobsters.

OMG! Never before had I heard such wondrous jangly, chiming guitars, coupled with monster hooks; such effortlessly sharp vocals and thoroughly inscrutable lyrics; and such thoroughly sing-along-able swirling psychedelic tunesmith, indeed! 
Salvation had been found and, while I'm aware this may sound a tad melodramatic, I'm going to say it nonetheless; Close Lobsters saved my life and gave me direction (although what that direction is I've still to discover).
Sadly, as with many bands from that era, Close Lobsters never got the critical or commercial success that in my opinion they so richly deserved; although conversely, this does mean that  happily they remain one of 'my bands', a little secret that none but a myself and a select few know about.
An EP (1988's 'What Is There To Smile About?) and a second album (1989's 'Headache Rhetoric') followed, but both were largely ignored by the media and public alike, with the band calling it quits not long after.
Close Lobsters had but a brief career, but all their musical releases were brilliant; in my humble opinion, they produced some of the best music of the late-'80s U.K. Indie scene.

Close Lobsters - In Spite Of These Times