It's Been A While (5-1)

5) Maths - Descent

Holy Roar, put simply, is perhaps the best record label this country has produced in a really long time. Not only do they have a roster to die for, but their shameless work ethic and continued D.I.Y. approach means that they are a definite weapon in the argument for the music industry. Arguably, the jewel in their crown this year has to have been Maths' debut, a soaring, hard-hitting post-hardcore record that flourishes at every opportunity. Equal parts Tool and At The Drive-In, each song is layered so exquisitely and the production means that the album as a complete piece of work is both seamless and glorious. A challenging, intricate debut that surpasses many of the old vanguard of the genre.



4) The XX - XX

Easily the most promising band of the year, the XX's debut was the ultimate soundtrack to the end of the decade. Dark, minimal, but evocative, the stunning vocals set to a post-post-punk backing track, it blew me, and many, many others, away. 'Islands' is my song of the decade, no question. The remixes, by both the band and their legion of admirers, show unbridled promise and although its a huge cliche, they really are a band to watch like a black shirt-clad hawk.



3) Wavves - Wavvves

Imagine the best beach party you've been to. Every in rolled up jeans, cheap Ray Bans and consuming more drugs than a multiple tumor cancer patient. Beer cans equal in number to the grains of sand under your feet. Now imagine this was done to a John Cale soundtrack. Wavvves make noise, but what a noise. The guitars don't sound like their being played, it sounds like their being kicked down the stairs into a Sonic Youth roadie.



2) The Horrors - Primary Colours

'Reinvention' is such a dirty word. Fuck you, Cher and Madonna. Reinvention has now become a term used solely to describe the length/visibility of vagina that old hags have on display. The Horrors, however, proved that reinvention was very possible. Dragging shoegaze kicking and screaming into the new year, the band shifted their image from horror-punk jesters drawn by Tim Burton with such attention to detail. The songs became longer, broader and immensely more powerful. Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine now have something to worry about; the Shoreditch bitches may challenge their position as kings of noise in years to come.



And the moment literally noone has been waiting for:

1) Fever Ray - Fever Ray

I genuinely thought that I would never find an electronica album that would ever top The Postal Service. I have looked, trust me. Bonobo and Mr Scruff have come close but nothing's channeled the wonderment and unlimited potential of synthesized noise. Then I heard Fever Ray (Karin from Scandinavian duo The Knife, famous for their Jose Gonzalez-covered 'Heartbeats') and the arse fell out of my world. Haunting samples, cardiac basslines and vocals taken from a Hayao Miyazaki movie, it was deeper and darker than the Indian Ocean. I love this album more than I may ever love my children. Please, turn off the lights, get yourself a bottle of absinthe and enjoy.



Well there we go. I may well try and do a '5 acts of 2010' but I don't know if I will have the time to. If not, happy Kwanza. Now fuck off.

EE
x

It's Been A While (10-6)

Sorry for the terrible Staind reference, but seriously, I have become lax as shit with regards to this blog. So I thought, as the year draws to a close, I should do a little summation of my top 10 albums of the year. Because everybody else seems to be doing it and it's piss easy :)

10) Converge - Axe To Fall

Ok, so hardcore's always going to be a divisive musical genre, but that's really the point. Anyone who has any sort of inclination can appreciate that Converge are one of the most intense and passionate acts in the past 20 or so years. 'Axe To Fall' is, to my mind, their finest piece of work, their magnus opum if you will. The brutality of each song in no way overshadows their skill as musicians, and the level of craftsmanship into each song, each breakdown, is something that should be revered highly. Yes, it's an assault on your ears, but this may be the best album to get you pumped up since Rage Against The Machine re-invented swearing in songs. And Jacob Bannon sings, which is surely one of the most intriguing developments in the scene ever.



9) Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Perhaps the unrivalled darlings of 2009, Animal Collective have a definite sound that can only be theirs, and on the new album channeled their psychedelic hybrid of folk and electronica into new, unchartered waters that will inevitably lead to many imitators, but few who can match the level of intensity. Lead single 'My Girls' is the world's greatest drug come-up put to music, and throughout there are definite signs that the outfit really have put thought into their product. Considering so many 'indie' bands are now relying on keyboards and electronic music to take their music to new levels, it is thoroughly refreshing to see a band that achieve this experimentation with such ease and aplomb.



8) Volcano Choir - Unmap

Folk has certainly been one of the big hitters of the past year, with Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and Mumford and Sons all achieving high degrees of both commercial and critical success. Volcano Choir, a meeting of minds courtesy of Justin Vernon (who is, to all extents and purposes Bon Iver) and underground heroes Collections Of Colonies Of Bees, provided one of the most pleasant and ethereal albums, if not of 2009, then perhaps of the entire decade. Taking an obvious nod from nu-folk archetypes Sigur Ros, the use of vocals as instrumentation as opposed to narrative produced a sonic-landscape that many have tried to accomplish, but few with such grace and charm.



7) Black Lips - 200 Million Thousand

If one band was guaranteed to get you into the right parties and give you the best drugs, Black Lips would be that band. The raukos 'flower-punk' has gained them a notoriety that most bands employ people to achieve, and their most recent release shows that the band have no intention of slowing down or changing tack. Equal parts overdose-meets-Stooges-meets-Velvet Underground, the careless approach and often shambolic guitars convey images of what the Libertines might have sounded like if they replaced crack with acid and had been born during Woodstock. Oh, and 'Drugs' is, not surprisingly, one of the best songs to tackle the subject since Andy Warhol died.



6) The Dead Weather - Horehound

When I first heard that Alisson Mosshart and Jack White were recording a collaborative album, I won't lie, terrible, unimaginable things happened in my pants. Two of the most original acts of the past decade, based around Mosshart's modern day Nico meeting Jack White's pioneering garage/blues credentials, the album certainly didn't disappoint. A dark, whiskey swagger and haunting keys made the album the best thing to happen to leather jackets and dark sunglasses since heroin. As a mark of how good this album was, one of my very dear friends, Polly, had 'Cut Like A Buffalo' tattooed on her. And Polly's awesome. She got me into weed and hairspray.



N.B Numbers 5-1 to follow soon.

R.I.P Jerry Fuchs

A very sombre post indeed. Jerry Fuchs, drummer from bands such as !!!, LCD Soundsystem and Holy Ghost tragically passed away yesterday. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform with !!! a few years ago and I cannot impress upon you how great a drummer/performer he was. He will be sadly missed by myself and many within the music community.

Below are two examples of this man's incredible talent.

Good Other People

A bit of publicity for some incredible blogs to anyone that hasn't already heard of them.

http://ellipticaledits.blogspot.com/ - Awesome film blog based from a post-grad. Real good technical knowledge and a genuinely well-informed opinion. For connoiseurs of film study.

http://castlegreyskullz.blogspot.com/ - Another film blog, this time written by two friends of mine. Their film, Boiling Point, is awesome and you can view the whole thing for FREE on the site.

http://drtchockii.blogspot.com/ - Insane ramblings from the quasi-fictitious Dr Tchock II who spends most of his time dipping from metaphysics and post-rock and general madness.

Check ya heads!

The Sly-Tones - The Sly-Tones

Cabaret has, in recent times, become a bit of a dirty word. Blame Dita Von Teese; suddenly a performance tradition that has been around since the early 18th Century is now accessible to all who can afford entry-level Anne Summers’ nipple tassles. It is, then, quite refreshing to see a band embrace the macabre, eery side of this hallowed art form. The Sly-Tones, dressed in Shoreditch smoking apparel and sporting facepaint that’s half Norweigan black metal, half Insane Clown Posse jugallo, are not afraid to wear their influences proudly on their cuffs, and this, their first major E.P, is promising in both it’s execution and its confidence.

Lead singer Ashley Edwards is best described as Tom Wait’s with less of a nicotine dependency, a growl that would sound awful normally but coupled with the atmospheric, carnival of horrors accompaniment channels all of the madness and horror of cabaret and acts such as Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Lord Sutch. This potent delivery is most superbly showcased on final track ‘Shake The Cage’, where the whole tone becomes far more sinister, channeling that most important of musical influences, mental illness. The angular, erratic guitars crash beautifully into honky-tonk piano, washing the listener in a sea of crushed velvet, sharp leather and opium smoke.

What’s perhaps most astounding with this band is that, unlike much music, they are not following a current or vastly popular trend in modern music; the only two bands I can think of who are in anyway similar are the Dresden Dolls and Darling’s Cabinet Of Sundry Horrors, neither of whom have gained that significant an audience in Europe. Songs such as ‘Run Rabbit Run’ and ‘Silver Harpoons’ show that the Sly-Tones are as much substance as they are style, and now that the Horrors have departed to fulfill longstanding shoegaze fantasies, the Sly-Tones might well be the next band to bring the spectacle and the macabre into the modern musical climate.

8/10

Weezer - Raditude

Time to put on your geekiest sweater, most comfortable chinos and develop an unnatural fear of the opposite sex: it’s new Weezer album time. A band that throughout it’s career has unashamedly embroiled itself with the cool-uncool dichotomy, Weezer are a fan’s band through and through. Their new album, with perhaps the most perfect Weezer-esque album title yet, is one of their most engaging yet, blending their characteristic pop/grunge /indie hybrid with new musical directions that seem both intriguing and perverse at the same time.

First things first; yes, there is a song with Lil’ Wayne, and sadly, it is awful. The buttock-clenchingly cheesy ‘Can’t Stop Partying’ is really, really bad. A horrible, cheap sounding backing track that shows none of the musical talent that is so apparent with Weezer, coupled with lyrics that sound like they were written on a 14 year old girl’s Bebo profile, it’s just really, really upsetting. Lil’ Wayne’s rapping sounds lazy, reflecting none of his characteristic wit or delivery that was present on the frankly brilliant ‘Tha Carter III.’ If you are a certified mentalist and the idea of a Weezy/Weezer crossover sounds appealing, then may I direct your attention to a free remix album called ‘Weezyer - What Lil‘ Wayne’s Rock Album Should Sound Like’ (www.weezyer.com) which is surprisingly refreshing and showcases a similar level of craftsmanship to that which went into arguably the Holy Grail of ‘mash-up’ album’s, Dangermouse’s ‘The Grey Album.’

Throughout the album, there are definite signs of musical experimentation. A key example is the refreshing and charming ‘Love Is The Answer’, which features a stunning Bollywood sample and sitar work by Indian legend Nishat Khan. Where the success of such ventures is at times debatable, such as the unnecessary level of synth on ‘Put Me Back Together’ that strays into Cyrus-sibling territory, it is nice to see the band attempting new things with an already successful formula. There are several songs on the album that are classic-Weezer, notably the ones where the production was solely in the hands of lead singer Rivers Cuomo. ‘Let It All Hang Out’ is McLovin in a Marshall amp and ‘In The Mall’, although somewhat cheesy, is still one of the best Weezer songs from their past 3 albums.

Weezer have produced an album that will both entertain existing fans and attract others, mainly with the presence of celebrity names such as Jermaine Dupri and Lil’ Wayne. Although at times hit-and-miss, ‘Raditude’ is a very strong album that shows the band retaining their trademark sound and ethos whilst at the same time continuing to move forwards.

7/10

Tubelord - Our First American Friends

Tubelord - ‘Our First American Friends’

Hassle Records

In a music scene which frequently finds itself turning somewhat stagnant, it’s truly refreshing when a band comes along that breathes new energy into it’s genre whilst at the same time happily acknowledging it’s predecessors and influences. Kingston locals, and Banquet darlings, Tubelord, are a band that are generating a lot of interest in exactly the right areas, mainly because of the quality of both their song-writing and their musicianship. Their eagerly anticipated debut has had many scenester-types doing all sorts of sex wees in their super-tight jeans, and now that it’s finally out, it’s easy to see why.

Each song on the album has been meticulously crafted; choosing to openly ignore the verse/chorus/repeat structure that so many bands happily fall into, their appreciation of all things mathematical create meandering, shifting songs that constantly challenge the rigidity of 4/4 time scales and guitar solos. The guitars layer and clash at exactly the same time; I’ve heard it described as 4 different people playing 4 different songs, but don’t let this put you off. The songs work; I don’t know how, and quite frankly I don’t care. Tubelord are a band that haven’t made this album to become yet another Vice ‘Do’, but to write songs that evoke a menagerie of emotions in just 3 or so minutes.

A key example of this is ‘Somewhere Out There A Dog Is On Fire’ (the band have a penchant for Fall Out Boy-esque song titles), which recently featured on the sublime compilation ‘Music Sounds Better With Huw.’ The narrative, if that’s the correct term, of this and every song, is beautifully exclusive. The music isn’t there for empathy, instead it’s there to appreciate the craft that’s been put into it. This isn’t a band that sets it’s goals at your heart, it sets them at your brain.

Lead singer Joe Prendergast has a stunning, ethereal and downright androgynous voice that contrasts the sometimes raucous music perfectly. The drums are as tight as a duck’s arse and the guitar playing is an enchanting mix of Bombay Bicycle Club and a less crack-addicted At The Drive-In. ‘Night Of The Pencils’ is the song that sums up what it means to be 20+ years old: an acceptance that teenage frivolity is over, but that fun is still possible and perhaps now far more worthwhile. It’s an embracement of youth without sounding twee or childish. It’s a stunning soundtrack to being ‘twenteen’ in London and quite simply one of the most charming, seductive debuts in a very, very long time.

9/10