Tuesday, 24 December 2013
My Top Albums 2013: Number 1
Hookworms – Pearl
Mystic
Created by a mysterious group who would rather be referred to in public by their initials than their birth names (anti-rock stars?), Hookworms' debut album is menacing, brutal and yet soothingly hypnotic.
With echo drenched vocals acting more as an additional instrument than anything else, 'Pearly Mystic' is steeped with many obvious reference points yet is so instinctively fresh and vibrant as to leave everything else trailing in its' wake. This is the sound of the past, present and future all rolled into one.
Video: Hookworms - Away / Towards
My Top Albums 2013: Number 2
Joanna Gruesome –
Weird Sister
Having supposedly met in anger management, a story almost too good to be true, Joanna Gruesome's debut album manages to cram hardcore beats, fuzzed-out bliss and violent urges into just about half an hour.
With a singer who stomps, screams, and shouts her way through plenty of the album, while verses slam into bridges before crashing headlong into choruses, this is without doubt one of the most purely exuberant, hook-stuffed indie-pop records of the year.
Video: Joanna Gruesome - Secret Surprise
Video: Joanna Gruesome - Secret Surprise
My Top Albums 2013: Number 3
Cate Le Bon – Mug
Museum
Cate Le Bon's understated and modest third album contains small, graceful songs with deceptive amounts of depth, while her voice grows more and more versatile with each release.
While the sound may not be wholly original, it is the way in which Le Bon combines styles that is more creative than many, being blessed with both sound melodic sense and a strain of Welsh peculiarity that lends the album such a singular sound.
Cate Le Bon's understated and modest third album contains small, graceful songs with deceptive amounts of depth, while her voice grows more and more versatile with each release.
While the sound may not be wholly original, it is the way in which Le Bon combines styles that is more creative than many, being blessed with both sound melodic sense and a strain of Welsh peculiarity that lends the album such a singular sound.
My Top Albums 2013: Number 4
Rick Redbeard – No
Selfish Heart
A debut solo album that has inner beauty and honesty, Rick Redbeard's 'No Selfish Heart' is a succinct, poetic and engaging listen, which makes it such a crying shame that it is likely far too few people will hear it.
With dark humour running throughout the album, the songs follow a more traditional path of finger-picked guitar and folk confessional than witnessed on his band's (The Phantom Band) albums to date, but lose none of the majesty and yearning wistfulness for doing so.
My Top Albums 2013: Number 5
My Bloody Valentine –
m b v
Taking almost two decades to make, 46 minutes to listen to, and arriving at three hours’ notice, My Bloody Valentine's ' m b v' is a rich, complex and rewarding listen that offers up a looser, more eclectic set than previous albums.
Featuring raw, rhythmic, jungle-style drums, frantically skittering dance rhythms, savage screeches of feedback and being tempered with pleasant sounding keyboards and the usual hard-to-decipher lyrics, 'm b v' draws on the past without forgoing the fierce originality that has defined the band from the outset.
Monday, 23 December 2013
My Top Albums 2013: Number 6
Steve Mason – Monkey
Minds in the Devil’s Time
Charting Mason’s transformation from a man too insecure to leave his room, to one who can no longer ignore the injustices transpiring outside his window, this album has sense of swagger and social conscience.
This is a sprawling collection that veers all over the musical map, anchored together by Mason's doleful but uplifting croon and an overwhelming sense of political anger and frustration.
My Top Albums 2013: Number 7
Kitchens of
Distinction – Folly
Their first album in 19 years, this is an album filled with deeply personal and provocative lyrics, sung with passion and restraint, stacked upon layers and layers of beautiful noise.
With a reverberating sound full of shimmering guitars and keyboards, huge drums, and the occasional orchestral flourish, this is a thoroughly rewarding album for those with a sense of adventure.
Video: Kitchens of Distinction - Oak Tree (KEXP Session)
Their first album in 19 years, this is an album filled with deeply personal and provocative lyrics, sung with passion and restraint, stacked upon layers and layers of beautiful noise.
With a reverberating sound full of shimmering guitars and keyboards, huge drums, and the occasional orchestral flourish, this is a thoroughly rewarding album for those with a sense of adventure.
Video: Kitchens of Distinction - Oak Tree (KEXP Session)
My Top Albums 2013: Number 8
Public Service Broadcasting - Inform - Educate - Entertain
With a raison d'etre to trawl through old film archives in search of snippets of voices to set to music, Public Service Broadcasting have created a wonderfully unique album in 'Inform - Educate - Entertain'.
The sampling may be basic but it creates a truly euphoric sense of retro-futurist optimism, so long may the sounds of yesterday’s futures haunt our airwaves.
Video: Public Service Broadcasting - Everest
With a raison d'etre to trawl through old film archives in search of snippets of voices to set to music, Public Service Broadcasting have created a wonderfully unique album in 'Inform - Educate - Entertain'.
The sampling may be basic but it creates a truly euphoric sense of retro-futurist optimism, so long may the sounds of yesterday’s futures haunt our airwaves.
Video: Public Service Broadcasting - Everest
My Top Albums 2013: Number 9
Kiran Leonard - Bowler Hat Soup
A seventeen year old making manic, ripplingly good music, Kiran Leonard plays drums, mandolin and even kitchen appliances, all with vivacious clamour.
Conducting a rapid fire supermarket sweep of musical influences, from Zappa to Sufjan to Wainwright, this album is simultaneously many things at once but overall is familiar yet new and exciting.
Video: Kiran Leonard - Brunswick Street
A seventeen year old making manic, ripplingly good music, Kiran Leonard plays drums, mandolin and even kitchen appliances, all with vivacious clamour.
Conducting a rapid fire supermarket sweep of musical influences, from Zappa to Sufjan to Wainwright, this album is simultaneously many things at once but overall is familiar yet new and exciting.
Video: Kiran Leonard - Brunswick Street
My Top Albums 2013: Number 10
The Flaming Lips - The Terror
In an attempt to further burst the bubble of the 'Soft Bulletin' and 'Yoshimi' years, The Flaming Lips have produced another unrelentingly bleak album that challenges the listener.
Dealing with personal turmoil (loneliness, depression, anxiety), the songs are layered with tones and drones of heady, hypnotic surges and combine to produce another significant work in their voluminous canon.
Video: The Flaming Lips - You Lust
In an attempt to further burst the bubble of the 'Soft Bulletin' and 'Yoshimi' years, The Flaming Lips have produced another unrelentingly bleak album that challenges the listener.
Dealing with personal turmoil (loneliness, depression, anxiety), the songs are layered with tones and drones of heady, hypnotic surges and combine to produce another significant work in their voluminous canon.
Video: The Flaming Lips - You Lust
Sunday, 22 December 2013
My Top Albums 2013: Number 11
The Black Angels - Indigo Meadow
Responsible for creating some of the most incendiary, reverb-laden and drone-orientated rock and roll in recent years, The Black Angels return with more 60's influenced psychedelia.
Although a touch less intense and thundering than on previous albums, there is no escape from the foreboding atmosphere as the songs choose to tease and jangle you into blissful submission.
Video: The Black Angels - I Hear Colors (Chromaesthesia)
Responsible for creating some of the most incendiary, reverb-laden and drone-orientated rock and roll in recent years, The Black Angels return with more 60's influenced psychedelia.
Although a touch less intense and thundering than on previous albums, there is no escape from the foreboding atmosphere as the songs choose to tease and jangle you into blissful submission.
Video: The Black Angels - I Hear Colors (Chromaesthesia)
My Top Albums 2013: Number 12
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
The first new BoC album in nearly a decade after what seemed an eternity of silence, this is without doubt their coldest album to date although the basic ingredients remain the same.
Seemingly portraying the feeling this is becoming a tougher and tougher planet to live on, this is the perfect soundtrack to a cataclysmic event or a stressful day and a worthy addition to their back catalogue.
Video: Boards of Canada - Reach for the Dead
The first new BoC album in nearly a decade after what seemed an eternity of silence, this is without doubt their coldest album to date although the basic ingredients remain the same.
Seemingly portraying the feeling this is becoming a tougher and tougher planet to live on, this is the perfect soundtrack to a cataclysmic event or a stressful day and a worthy addition to their back catalogue.
Video: Boards of Canada - Reach for the Dead
My Top Albums 2013: Number 13
Midlake – Antiphon
Their fourth album and first with a new lead singer, Midlake deliver punchy psychedelia, fuzzy synths, massive harmonies and drumming like you’ve never heard from them before.
That said, there is still enough of the Midlake of old, full of winding melodies peppered with flute, picked guitar and experimentation.
Video: Midlake - The Old And The Young
Their fourth album and first with a new lead singer, Midlake deliver punchy psychedelia, fuzzy synths, massive harmonies and drumming like you’ve never heard from them before.
That said, there is still enough of the Midlake of old, full of winding melodies peppered with flute, picked guitar and experimentation.
Video: Midlake - The Old And The Young
My Top Albums 2013: Number 14
Swim Deep - Where The Heaven Are We
A youthful, solid and entertaining debut album from Birmingham's Swim Deep, with its foundations cemented in lasting nostalgia and a overarching love of guitar music.
Combining elements of Madchester, Shoegaze and classic 60's pop, all the band's influences add up top something that should enable them to gracefulluy swim not sink in the deep end.
Video: Swim Deep - She Changes the Weather
A youthful, solid and entertaining debut album from Birmingham's Swim Deep, with its foundations cemented in lasting nostalgia and a overarching love of guitar music.
Combining elements of Madchester, Shoegaze and classic 60's pop, all the band's influences add up top something that should enable them to gracefulluy swim not sink in the deep end.
Video: Swim Deep - She Changes the Weather
My Top Albums 2013: Number 15
Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus
Following their starring role in last year's Olympic Games opening ceremony, Fuck Buttons return with their first self-produced album.
Featuring waves of raw noise and analogue drum beats, their crescendo building mastery culminating in euphoric, atmospheric, widescreen climaxes.
Video: Fuck Buttons - Brainfreeze
Following their starring role in last year's Olympic Games opening ceremony, Fuck Buttons return with their first self-produced album.
Featuring waves of raw noise and analogue drum beats, their crescendo building mastery culminating in euphoric, atmospheric, widescreen climaxes.
Video: Fuck Buttons - Brainfreeze
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