Miércoles 31 Dic 2008, 16:08
20 - Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
This is one bizarre, yet thoroughly satisfying, listen. It starts off by coming on like the Clangers national anthem, before moving into driving electronica numbers laden with synth effects. The album continues this way throughout, referencing any number of influences from The Klaxons and Mars Volta through Depeche Mode and New Order. Highlights include the fluctuating jungle stomp of The Bears Are Coming and the vigorous attack of Focker but in truth the whole headfucking effort needs to be heard in order to fully appreciate it. Mad prof genius.
19 - Forward, Russia! - Life Processes
Going all standard for this release, FR decided that actual song names - rather than Give Me a Wall's arbitrary numbers - would be fine this time. How contemporary. The style is still jagged and raw, but with slightly more emphasis on melody, allowing for beauties like Spanish Triangles. The off kilter rocking numbers are still present too and the combination makes for an improved and highly coherent listen.
18 - Black Mountain - In the Future
About this time last year I was obsessively looking at the Jan '08 release schedule to see what might be worth picking up, when I downloaded Tyrants from this bad boy. It gave me the impression that I'd be buying a Sabbath-worshipping effort by a bunch of stoner long hairs. One member does fulfil that criterion, but the album from whence that track came is more varied than anything I could have imagined. Although it suffers a little for this, being too eclectically adventurous in places, they do create some exciting and dynamic tunes within it. Never knowing quite where they're going to go is also one of the positives as you move from track to track.
Not something you can simply put on as background music, sure, but Meshuggah deliver a technically brilliant and sonically challenging master class with obZen. It's a pleasure to have something so heavy, brutal and yet arse clenchingly tight to compare with Opeth's more organic but equally gifted Watershed in the same year. Contrasting Dancers to a Discordant System with Heir Apparent proves both the similarities and differences in approach. Although this doesn't come out on top, it's a more than worthy competitor.
16 - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus Dig!!!
I got into the double album Abbatoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus thanks to a friendly recommendation earlier this year, then had to follow up with this one. The title track is a typically brilliant storytelling effort, with Cave's trademark voice giving it the required biblical undertones. The album as a whole maybe doesn't compete with earlier releases but retains the high standard expected from a man with so much great material already out there.
15 - Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
Whilst not quite as immediately engaging as last year's The Stage Names, this one is nonetheless chock full of uptempo acoustic gems. They make it seem so effortless, pulling out deceptively simple tunes that lodge in your mind and release themselves via a slight hum later on, long after you've turned off the iPod. The Stage Names had more variety and as such was a more complete album, but this is still a worthy companion.
14 - The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
I avoided these folks for months due to their status of Kerrang! cover band and a strange link I had between them and an entirely separate emo band with Anthem in their name. More fool me! This is a terrific slice of nostalgic, gritty rock music that revels in worshipping another time, specifically that of Bruce Springsteen's hey day. The huge choruses are undeniable and catchy as the sniffles in this freezing season we currently pass through. Check out Old White Lincoln and the title track for a couple of prime examples. Then buy the album on the back of them, because the whole kit and kaboodle fits together to make the big tunes sound even better.
13 - Portishead - Third
As a Bristol kid growing up - and actually living in the naff little town from whence their name derives - a new Portishead release had me all a flutter after all these years. My trip-hop crown will always go to Massive Attack, though Portishead came some significant yards with this engrossing return to the scene. They conjure up the expected low-end, symphonic grooves that made previous albums so good, then add a little bit of extra attitude to really push home their return. It sounds more urgent, more certain than I remember them, nowhere more so than the aptly titled We Carry On, which almost dares you to challenge them for trying their hand again. Then there's the almighty Machine Gun, which is sure to be one of the first songs on playlists worldwide for this year.
12 - vessels - White Fields & Open Devices
After downloading the Yuki EP last year I was wondering when vessels would gather enough material for a full release. Thankfully, the answer was 2008. This is a stunning amalgamation of both the foremost post-rocking Texans (Explosions in the Sky, This Will Destroy You), epic soundscape bands like Sigur Ros, and the queer electronic noodlings of Battles. All these great reference points are insufficient, however, in describing quite how involving and dynamic a listen this album is. Best pick up a copy and experience it for yourself, I'd say.
11 - 36 Crazyfists - The Tide & Its Takers
There's not much to say about 36CF that hasn't been covered by previous album reviews. Yes, they have a contemporary metal sound with a touch of core thrown in here and there for good measure. Yes, the tremolo-affected vocals of Brock Lindow are a love them or loathe them affair. No, this doesn't sound entirely different from the last two efforts. But all of this is what I love about the band. I partially write them off after hearing a new song or two, thinking "it sounds like a lesser version of the last one", then see them live - for this is their natural environment and one in which they demolish all before them - and buy the album the next day. They wrote unbelievably affecting and positively uplifting songs, to my mind, and they always make me react. I have so many good memories and important lyrics linked to these guys that I almost feel bad for not jumping them higher on the list. At the end of the day it is still a good but similar album, though, and I'll add Absent Are the Saints and We Gave It Hell to my list of 'must-mosh' songs when I next see them live.
10 - Opeth - Watershed
Another powerful release with glorious shades from acoustic to all out metal thunder. Porcelain Heart showcases the differences exceedingly well in one song but as always it's important to listen to all the songs together to get the real contrasts taking place. An adventurous, exciting album from a band who could create no less.
9 - Murder by Death - Red of Tooth & Claw
Didn't expect this but it has actually been a while since the release of In Bocca al Lupo, at least the Stateside release, so it makes sense and is good this one isn't delayed into the UK CD bins. This one sees the singing going deeper still and really plumbing the influences of Johnny Cash songs, whilst the underlying instrumentation again benefits from Sarah Balliet's rumbling cello to add to the depth. The mix of western, folk, and alt rock all combines extremely well, leading to some rattling cuts like Coming Home, with more restrained and sometimes sinister numbers such as Ash setting them off in a similar style to the outstanding Who Will Survive & What Will Be Left of Them album. All in all, a great album where MBD may be finding their true identity now that all the facets of their previous works have been neatly rolled up into this outing.
8 - Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
I intended to purchase this for much of 2008, but only got around to it when they were further pushed by the Mercury Award in September. Fair play to them, because it's a stunning album that deserves to be up their pissing on the likes of Coldplay and Snow Patrol, whatever their own particular charms might be. Grounds For Divorce, Mirrorball, One Day Like This, Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver….the whole album triumphs on both the individuality of the songs and the gently beautiful way they all come together for a charming listen. I've found it suits a variety of moods and will have me delving fully into a back catalogue that I only know by a few choice songs. Thankfully, it looks like many others are doing the same and that these guys will get the widespread respect they have long deserved.
I didn't really enjoy the first songs I heard from Santi White but I've no idea why now, as this album has been appearing regularly on my playlists since I picked it up in May. It's concisely excellent, with an array of styles on display from the alt-pop zeal of L.E.S. Artistes to the jagged funk of Unstoppable, which lends it a certain personality and charm rarely replicated in other releases of the year. Despite the soundtracking of every advert from cars to hair goo, I didn't hear enough to put me off and I'm glad my first listens weren't the last.
6 - The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
"Let this be my annual reminder, that we can all be something better" and "Yeah dreams can cost some money, but money costs some dreams" are two of the more memorable lyrics that help place this one so high on my list. Aside from the fact that I love seeing the band live regardless, they do also pen some quality nostalgia-laden rock songs, whilst still managing to look to the future from time to time. This is a more mature take on life from the guys yet retains their verve and love for the good time songs. It's a case of doing what it says on the tin, because this record really does help you keep upbeat about life during an off day, which is always valuable to have loaded up on your iPod.
5 - Torche - Meanderthal
Two metal albums in the top 5…..I'm so happy! Furthermore, two expansive, 'out there' metal bands with very different approaches to their application of Big Riff. Torche take the hook laden approach - more so than ever - on this very accessible outing, with colossal songs like Grenades and Across the Shields proving that metal needn't be all bluster and no upbeat melodies. Metal for those that don't like really metal? Quite possibly.
4 - This Will Destroy You - This Will Destroy You
This one came in early in January, providing a similarly thrilling post-rock start to the year as Aereogramme offered in 2007. Though this couldn't quite win the same place in my aural affections as My Heart Has a Wish That You Would Not Go, it does tick many of the same boxes. Fragile passages of intricate guitars, stirring climaxes and dynamic breaks all combine to form a gorgeous album that doesn't need words to communicate its subtle points. I've reviewed elsewhere and all the comments still hold true, this being a huge highlight of the year.
3 - School of Language - Sea From Shore
A testament to the joys of indie CD store shopping, I picked this up in Probe Records (Slater Street, Liverpool….cheggidout) because it had an effusive hand written label extolling the virtues of its alt-pop. I thoroughly agree and have had a few sessions where I simply had to spin it again to get my fix of the huge hooks and naggingly catchy rhythms within. This Is No Fun is a good place to start and is quite the opposite of the feeling you come away with after spending some time with the album. Easily the happiest random discovery of the year and all the better for it.
The second of the adventurous metal releases I adored this year, 5ive created a masterpiece of swirling guitar walls and dynamic rhythmic peaks and troughs. It's another one that needs to be taken as a whole to really appreciate what's going on (and I haven't even begun to get into the concepts behind the album yet….although the artwork is tres pretty), though News I is as good a place to start as any. Although standard metal is struggling to win my affections a lot of the time, the experimental side is alive and well with some fantastic releases both now and slated for 09 release.
1 - TV on the Radio - Dear, Science
I was waiting for this from the start of the year, after playing Return to Cookie Mountain ad infinitum over the last couple of years. I wasn't immediately won over on the new, more positive approach upon hearing Dancing Choose first but now both that song, Golden Age, and the numerous other upbeat, funky beauties on this album have more than taken me in. It's not just happy times either. Shout Me Out and Crying add a more restrained, soulful side to the album and Family Tree is a heart-wrenching slice of melancholy. A glorious return and all the better for being so different to its darker, inward-looking forebear, there was simply no other choice for my #1 this year.