2011.

Here are my picks from 2011’s releases. It’s been a good year, with several debut albums making my list alongside some firmly established favourites and even a new Radiohead album. I’d love to write a bit on why everything is where it is, but who has the time?

Just remember, I’m not saying these are the best, they are just my favourites, and we all have different taste. If you agree with anything though, feel free to compliment me on my excellent taste.

 Holocene by boniver

Albums of the year

1. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
2. Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi
3. Radiohead – The King of Limbs
4. The Drums – Portamento
5. Yuck - Yuck
6. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
7. James Blake – James Blake
8. The Kills – Blood Pressures 
9. Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know
10. Benjamin Francis Leftwich – Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm

Honourable mentions: Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues, The Horrors – Skying, I Break Horses – Hearts, The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar, Ben Howard – Every Kingdom, Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Belong, Death Cab for Cutie – Codes and Keys, Florence + The Machine – Ceremonials, Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes, Daughter – His Young Heart EP + The Wild Youth EP.

Crystal Fighters - Plage

Songs of the year

1. Crystal Fighters – Plage
2. Metronomy – The Bay
3. Anna Calvi – Desire
4. Laura Marling - Sophia 
5. Bon Iver – Holocene
6. Summer Camp – Better Off Without You
7. The Drums – Money 
8. Bombay Bicycle Club – Shuffle
9. James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream
10. Yuck – The Wall
11. Ghostpoet – Liiines
12. Metronomy – The Look
13. I Break Horses – Winter Beats
14. Little Scream – Cannons
15. Lykke Li – Jerome
16. The Kills – Baby Says
17. Daughter – Candles
18. Benjamin Francis Leftwich – Butterfly Culture
19. Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Belong
20. Ben Howard – Old Pine
21. Florence + the Machine – What the Water Gave Me
22. Radiohead – Separator
23. Outfit – Two Islands
24. Hooray for Earth – True Loves
25. Noah and the Whale – Waiting for My Chance to Come

Although this is a music blog, here are a few films I’ve liked this year, in no order because I’m lazy.

• Drive
• Never Let Me Go
• Midnight in Paris
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• 50/50
• Submarine
• Black Swan
• The Rum Diary
• Bridesmaids
• The Fighter

Merry Christmas and thanks for reading this year, here's to a successful 2012

Festive Three for all.

It’s the week before Christmas and we’ve all been saturated with the same old stuff for going on a month now, is anyone else fed up yet?

It’s still hard to pick out just three Christmas songs though, knowing I may never do so on this blog again (my effort lasting until next December is questionable). There has been some debate, with a colleague pushing for the 'breathtaking buoyancy and melodic momentum' of Elton John’s Step Into Christmas. Ahem, I’ll leave him to it on that one.

While my favourite Christmas song is the obvious and most played of the 21st century, The Pogues and Kirstie MacColl’s Fairytale of New York, I’d like to highlight a few lesser-known or just alternative Christmas songs. Of which there are a surprising amount, with The Ramones, Smashing Pumpkins, The Raveonettes, RUN-DMC and The Killers amongst many to have released credible efforts.

I should preface my list by saying that, although I am no Scrooge and enjoy Christmas as much as the next guy (in spite of annual comparisons to Tiny Tim), I’m particularly fond of melancholy Christmas songs. The long dark nights, the bleak weather, the excessive drinking, the arguments, spending time with family, it’s a perfect time of year for being justifiably miserable.

And this has been reflected in music over the years, with a number of seasonably sorrowful songs making it into the mainstream xmas canon. The aforementioned Pogues, Mud’s Lonely This Christmas, The Pretenders’ 2000 Miles and even Wham’s Last Christmas are all stories of misery.

So first up, from a festive EP released a few years ago called A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss), a perfectly melancholy name indeed, is Glasvegas’ Please Come Back Home.

Raw, emotive and containing one of the most poignantly realistic lyrics ever put in a Christmas song - ‘The beauty and the elegance of this time of year only heightens all the darkness in me’ – this tale of lost love is tragic and yet hopeful. Perfect for a post-argument moment of reflection.



Next up is Joni Mitchell’s River. Famed for her lyrics of longing and disillusionment, Christmas was probably a pretty easy target for her, and this piano ballad with an arrangement similar to Jingle Bells certainly resonates.

From her celebrated Blue album, it tells of a longing to escape from the Christmas spirit around that we can all identify with sometime over the festive period.



And, just to put my credibility through the roof, Robert Downey Jr. did a pretty good version on Ally McBeal, which you can see here. Everyone loves RDJ.

Finally this week, to lighten the mood somewhat, is a new song I heard this week from Gruff Rhys. The Super Furry’s frontman, who I caught at Moseley Folk earlier this year, will release the brilliantly titled Athiest Xmas EP on Monday (19 December). But its more upbeat than its name suggests, even this track, Post Apocalypse Christmas, a jaunty romp about, well, what the title suggests.

 Gruff Rhys - Post Apocalypse Christmas by PIASGermany

And because this blog is the gift that keeps giving, I’d also recommend a couple of new albums for Christmas 2011. Firstly, A Very She & Him Christmas, an album of reworked classics and a few lesser-known covers featuring Zooey Deschanel’s beautiful, old-timey vocals, check out a live vid here. And for something a bit more alternative and fun, This Is Christmas from Tim Wheeler and Emmy the Great, featuring songs such as Zombie Christmas and Jesus the Reindeer, and Home for the Holidays.

No one can say I haven't got in the spirit now, just look at this picture.

Three for all.

Apologies for missing last week’s Three for all, a late night at work combined with a weekend in London meant time was limited, plus I bet no one noticed anyway. So, my festive Three for all will be pushed to next week, and my end of year lists will also appear sometime soon.

My three songs this week (technically from last week) are all courtesy of the fine people of 6 Music, having heard all these singles played recently, and, to be honest, it's not my most diverse selection, featuring three young bands who fit the classic ‘white, male, guitar-based indie’ label. Comparisons can be easily drawn between them, but what’s wrong with consistency?

First up is Geordie three-piece Little Comets, whose song Worry has been doing the rounds for a few weeks and has worked its way onto the A list at 6, quite an achievement in itself. The band has already had an eventful career, including signing with a major label and then acrimoniously leaving, before releasing their debut album in early 2011.

This song has a sound reminiscent of Vampire Weekend, particularly its riff and vocals. It’s a burst of sunshine, full of bounce and intricate guitars, perfect for forgetting the dreariness outside.

Taken from an EP of the same name released on 12 December, Little Comets are one to watch for next year.

 Little Comets - Worry by indieisnotagenre

Next up is Bear Cavalry, increasing the tempo with new track Roman Summer. This four-piece from Hampshire formed in 2008 and have released several EPs to date, this song is the first song on their latest EP, Maple Trails, also released on December 12.

The precise intertwining riffs that start the song and provide a balance after the louder moments are what grabbed my attention when I first heard it on 6.

The variation between the delicate and technical verses and the raw and noisy chorus suggest a band still finding their sound, but of one technically capable of creating any sound they want. It reminds me of Foals’ Cassius, which is not a bad starting point for any band.

 Roman Summer by Bear Cavalry

Coastal Cities’ Thinktank is the last song this week. The song has been around a while, but was rereleased on an EP of the same name on 5 December, and has been getting some decent airplay over the last two weeks.

Coastal Cities are five guys from High Wycombe, the founding members met in detention when they were 17, I like stories like that.

And Thinktank is full of pacey guitars and drums, projecting a real youthful energy, drawing comparisons with early material from The Drums, who took a liking to the song and tweeted about it upon its first release earlier in the year.

The heartbeat of the song for me is the overlapping guitar lines that soundtrack the short but catchy exclaim of ‘It’s just a thinktank, It’s just a thinktank’ in the chorus.

 Coastal Cities - Thinktank by CoastalCities

These three songs can hopefully help drag you through these short and dark winter days with a bit of energy and brightness, and provide you with a brief respite from the endless repeats of Slade and Wizard that haunt this month every year.

Three for all.

My Three for all this week features three female vocalists at completely different stages of their careers.

Up first, as I have just bought tickets to see her next year, is Florence + the Machine. Having never really joined in the hype around Florence with her first album Lungs, finding her cover of You’ve Got the Love particularly annoying, she has nevertheless changed my opinion of her with new album, Ceremonials.

The two singles released in advance of the album, What the Water Gave Me and Shake It Out, were both outstanding, the first a gothic epic in the same vein as Heavy in Your Arms, the song she contributed to the soundtrack of the last Twilight film, the second an uplifting example of Florence’s vocal range becoming an instrument itself, supported by organs and thumping drums.

The song I am choosing to spotlight though is album track Breaking Down, a piano-led song that would almost sound upbeat if it weren’t for the affecting lyrics, which Florence teases with subdued, whispering delivery. These, backed by further layers of her vocals and a choir, create the rich and atmospheric sound that is a feature of the album. A perfect pop hymn.



Next is the first track from Kate Bush’s outstanding new album, 50 Words for Snow.

I’ve liked Kate Bush for a while without really knowing too much about her, but the build up to the release of this album has been prominent on 6 Music, and opener Snowflake has been played several times, which is enough to compel you. It’s not a song you can easily shake off, as across its runtime of nearly ten minutes, its dramatic imagery floods your mind and stays there. While it may not make sense to some, she has somehow captured the sound of winter, whatever that may be.

I’m not sure anyone has written a concept album about snow before, despite it being an endlessly fascinating subject to take on. As even The Snowman showed, its fleeting existence can be heartbreaking, and figurative for so many other subjects, obvious ones being love and death. The darkness, the isolation, and the bleakness of a winter snowstorm is all captured within this sparse ballad of hushed vocals and piano. First person lyrics tell us of being born in a cloud and falling, longing to be caught. It’s a strangely desolate viewpoint.

Will Florence, or anyone else around at the moment for that matter, still be making music as original and captivating as this in 30 years time? It doesn’t seem likely.

This song, and album, was made for winter. In an interview, Kate Bush said that if she hadn't finished it soon enough, it would have had to wait to be released until next winter, so enjoy it while the nights are dark and long. It’s the perfect soundtrack for a winter walk under a dark orange sky, as snow silently falls around you. If it snows this winter, that’s what I’ll be doing.



Last up is an artist who is a musical toddler compared to Kate Bush. Elena Tonra aka Daughter, has been a revelation for me this year, despite only releasing a handful of songs across two EPs. This Londoner possesses a spellbinding voice, both delicate and forceful, and uses it to tell tragic tales of love and loss.

Her His Young Heart EP may be my most played release of the year, featuring four flawless acoustic songs. It can be listened to on Soundcloud here. And, as I’m generous and can’t pick just one, here are all four songs from her equally stunning new release, The Wild Youth EP, for you to enjoy.

I devastatingly missed her play in Birmingham in October with Benjamin Francis Leftwich, but hope she will return to the second city soon. She is one to watch for the future as 2012 will hopefully yield an album.

Three for all.

Has it been a week already? My second 'Three for all' comes hot on the heels of my interview with Q Magazine’s Editor Paul Rees, who discussed the use of lists in modern music journalism, and what goes into creating a list such as Q’s Top 50 Albums of the Year. If you haven’t read it already, it’s an insight into the UK's second biggest music monthly.

My first recommendation this week is Down by Summer Camp, the second single from the retro indie-pop duo’s excellent debut album Welcome to Condale. The only problem with the first track released from your album being one of the best tracks of the year, which Better Off Without You undoubtedly was, is that you then have to follow it with something. But Down sees the duo upping the tempo and replacing the Footloose-y groove with fuzzy garage guitars, as they continue to delve into life in the imaginary LA suburb their songs inhabit.

They have a fascinating knack of placing melancholy subject matter, lyrics of failed relationships and wasted lives, over buoyant music laced with twinkly synth moments, to create something infectious and defiantly upbeat.

Elizabeth Sankey and Jeremy Warmsley funded their debut album through Pledgemusic by selling items from signed merch and private gigs to homemade brownies and even a sparkly jumpsuit worn by Elizabeth at Reading festival, and it’s a good thing they did, as it’s one of the year’s best.

Having missed Birmingham out on their most recent tour, they have now announced a date at The Rainbow in March, which I can’t wait for.

 Down by Summer Camp

Up next is James Vincent McMorrow’s stripped-down cover of Steve Winwood’s Higher Love.

In a week when the John Lewis Christmas ad once again proved that no matter how good a song is, a soulless and bland cover of it can still become popular, this cover gives hope that some musicians can take a song and add something to it, rather than taking away. Ironically, McMorrow has added by removing, stripping the song to its bare bones with a less is more aesthetic.

I noticed this song from another ad as it goes, a Love Film ad, and it wormed its way into my consciousness over a number of views until I had to google who it was. This folk troubadour from Dublin is very much in the vein of Bon Iver, which is both good and bad, but this cover is a haunting and heartfelt version. With its falsetto vocal and echoing piano, it’s a million miles away from the number-one hit of the 1980s. It’s how a cover should be.

 Higher Love by jamesvmcmorrow

My third and final song this week is from a band close to my heart, literally, as I work with their drummer, and what would be the point of having a blog if I couldn’t give them a mention?

Is I Cinema are a five-piece from Birmingham, and The Unnamed is one of several new songs they have recorded to follow their 2010 debut EP ‘Is I Cinema, You Are Physics’.

I’ve seen Is I Cinema live five times this year, and seen this song develop over a number of months into this finalised version, which was recorded over a weekend at Magic Garden Studios, Wolverhampton in September 2011 with Gavin Monaghan (Editors, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Scott Matthews) producing.

They’ve been described as indescribable by better writers than me, and I’ll admit to finding it difficult to encapsulate all they do in a single sentence.

This song builds from a sparse opening of delicate vocals and keyboards, to a crescendo of atmospheric, layered guitar and swirling synth sounds, anchored with pounding drums and pleading lyrics.

 The Unnamed by is i cinema

Paul Rees.

The world loves a list

Lists are everywhere these days. You can’t pick up a magazine or visit a website or watch TV without seeing a greatest 100 this or a top 50 that. Making lists can even lead to a role in an Oscar-winning film, just ask Liam Neeson.



Lists are made about anything and everything, from the banal to the bizarre, the funny to the fascinating. We are all obsessed with, somewhat unnecessarily, ordering things and seeing how others do the same, especially when it comes to music.

This isn’t a new phenomenon, Desert Island Discs, the ever-popular radio programme in which a guest is asked to pick only a few pieces of music to be stranded with, is the second longest running factual programme on the radio, first being broadcast in January 1942.

Lists on music aren’t new, though the Internet has given people a voice to answer back, and they often do, with vitriol, ridicule and adulation, depending on their own viewpoint.

So how important are lists in modern music journalism? I spoke to Paul Rees, Editor of Q, about his own thoughts on lists, how the magazine uses them and what goes into producing their most important list of the year, the Top 50 Albums of the Year.

“My personal opinion is that done right, lists can be fascinating, provocative and useful. Done badly, they're lazy and boring,” Paul says, alluding to the problem of lists being used as quick and easy filler, hence their domination in modern journalism.

However, Paul admits to finding bad lists almost as engrossing as good ones. “I will still watch something as wretched as, say, the ‘100 Greatest TV Comedy Shows’ at Christmas, ostensibly to vent my spleen at the epic stupidity of the world at large for their choices. But also, even then, to be reminded of and relive flickering moments of magic,” he admits.

So, other than finding a sense of superiority in knowing that we, the reader or viewer, are right and they are wrong, what is it about lists that make them endlessly readable?

“I think lists simply carry an enduring fascination to people that isn't specific to journalism – but the media as whole and indeed life in general,” he says.

“It's one of the reasons Desert Island Discs is eternally popular: the notion of finding out how a person pares something down and the attendant debate it sparks is an engaging process. Q tries to make lists that are either useful, like the 50 Albums of the Year, and/or entertaining. Like everyone though we have been guilty in the past of over-using them,” he admits.

Paul has a rare viewpoint, having been on both sides of the judgement as someone who both compiles important and widely-read lists, and reads those of others. Does this position lead to a desire to please and avoid criticism from others, or does it only increase your conviction?

“In any event, you're never, ever going to please everybody. And that would also defeat the object to a certain extent,” Paul says.

“All lists provoke the same reaction, I suspect. People agree with anything that validates their own viewpoint and fulminate when it doesn't – and, often as not, do both together.

“I remember us copping an epic amount of flak one year for the temerity of having a Coldplay record as our album of the year. It was a record that had been bought, and enjoyed, by several million people. The implicit suggestion being that they, and we, were all wrong.

“By the way, I hasten to add that this flak came from other folk in the media – not readers. The readers/online users generally debate the whole of a list: the merits of what’s on it, what’s missing. That being precisely what you’d hope for – that on some level the content engages people.”

As alluded to, end of year lists are the most important in music journalism, Paul says of them, “I think they’re important in the sense that it's Q's chance to crystallise our view of music – and, increasingly so this year, that of the artists we write about and the readers.”

While creating a list yourself may be difficult, imagine trying to make a list that encompasses a magazine’s whole outlook on music, while also taking on board the individuality of each member of staff. As passionate as fans are, journos make a living from being obsessive and opinionated, and one who has championed a band in reviews and features throughout the year may feel a personal involvement in seeing said band placed high up the list. Is compiling a list that the staff are happy with even more difficult than one that readers are happy with?

“In my experience, compiling year-end lists for magazines is an enjoyable experience. Everyone has their say, debates can be heated, but it’s rare indeed that people don’t recognise the fact that the list should – and ultimately does – reflect the magazine’s view over individual choice.

“With Q, the list itself is compiled from mid-October by polling all the magazine's staff and its writers. That process is concluded in mid-November and the results of the poll are then debated by the editorial team. We take a final view on the standings. In my experience we haven’t had anyone take issue with the final outcome of any such poll.”

Paul’s favourite album of the year? “Bon Iver - Bon Iver. Without a doubt. A work of beauty.” To see where Paul’s choice makes it on this year’s list, buy the 50 Albums of the Year issue, available on 29 November. After wholly agreeing with their choice last year (The Suburbs), I’m keen to see which side I will fall on this year. And my own list will appear nearer to Christmas. Thanks Paul.

Three for all.

Because I was raised properly, I learned to share. When it comes to music, I live to share.

Over half of my Facebook statuses are links to songs on Spotify, Soundcloud or YouTube that I hope someone, somewhere listens to, though I doubt it. I’d say 90% of all my statuses and tweets are music related.

A friend recently mentioned she would like to know more new music. Without her saying anymore, I made her three CD’s worth. Across them there were just under 60 songs, with no band featuring twice. The total run time came in at a just under 4 hours and honestly that was only because of the limitations of CDs. It's an obsession really. It’s the reason I enjoyed being on student radio so much.

So, to satisfy my need to share further, this is the first of a new feature where every Friday, I will aim to share a few songs I’ve been enjoying that week. My Friday 'Three for all'. Clever eh?

First up is I See New Things Every Day by Pandas and People. I saw this young band in Kings Heath on Wednesday, and their brand of indie pop is certainly catchy, in the same vein as Two Door Cinema Club. They’ve already had exposure on 6 Music and recorded their debut album, also available on Soundcloud, so keep an eye out for this exciting four-piece from Redditch.

 I See New Things Everyday by Pandas and People

Next up is Sidewalk Safari by Chairlift, which I heard on 6 Music this week. I’ll admit I hadn’t heard of them before, but this Brooklyn based electro pop duo have been around since 2005 and have a successful album under their belt, with a track featured in an iPod advert in 2008, which is a pretty big deal in this day and age. This track, the opener from their upcoming third album Something, is an offbeat frenzy of synth noise with excellently delivered and disturbing lyrics, including ‘I am bad with bows and arrows, I’m not so good at guns, poison seems old fashioned […] but I do know how to drive a car faster than a man can run’.
 

 CHAIRLIFT - Sidewalk Safari by Young Turks 

Last up this week is Waiting for My Chance to Come by Noah and the Whale. Since their ‘fun fun fun’ hit 5 Years Time got overplayed in 2008, I haven’t given them much attention, hearing more about frontman Charlie Fink’s troubles getting over Laura Marling (which I admit must be difficult) than their music. But seeing this song performed on Jools a while ago and hearing it on the radio a bit, it’s a really good tune. And the album it’s taken from is a solid listen too.