I’ve loved all sorts of music in 2019. I’ve not been able to write about as much of it as I would’ve liked – life is quite different in my world to how it was a few years ago and writing about music has never paid a single bill of mine – but music has given me joy at times this year, comfort at others and often accompanied me in times of stress and pressure. I’ve made quite a long playlist with songs from albums of mine that were particular favourites, but a list longer than 10 albums takes too long to read, so in that vein, here’s my top 10 of the year
Her Name is Calla ‘Animal Choir’
Sadly, this is the final album from the majestic Her Name is Calla. I have no doubt that they’re the best band that most people who claim to like music that falls into lazy categories like Post-Rock, Indie, Alternative and so on have never heard of. They’re truly a great band and this is their best album, a marvellous coda on a fine and, so far, grossly underappreciated career.
Shalosh ‘Onwards and Upwards’
I love me a good piano trio. Shalosh are an exceptional piano trio, particularly if you like your jazz trio’s to have rock leanings too. Which I very much do. So there you go.
Rymden ‘Reflections and Odysseys’
Another jazz trio, this time on the excellent Jazzland Recordings from Scandinavia, this one came as a pleasant surprise to me as I knew nothing about it when I pressed play. Enegetic, playful and muscular. This is high-quality stuff.
Son of Cloud ‘Son of Cloud’
Some albums are quick listens, the kind that you know are good, even excellent, but that don’t stay with you for weeks, months, perhaps even years afterwards. The self-titled album from Son of Cloud isn’t like that. It’s the best singer-songwriter album I heard this year by a million miles. A thing of true beauty and power, with some great songs and a thread of narrative to the album that will stay with you long after you’ve finished listening. More people should know about this album. Many, many more.
Flight Brigade ‘Chased By Wolves’
Indie rock bands who forefront guitars seem to be an endangered species in 2019. I love Flight Brigade because everything about them, their sound and their songs are impeccable and timeless. Their songs stay with you and their show is one of the best you’ll see from a band of any stature in the contemporary scene. Don’t miss them in 2020.
Pedro the Lion ‘Phoenix’
Listen to this, listen to “Quietest Friend” and then come back and tell me that the genius of David Bazan hasn’t grown with the resurrection of his awesome band Pedro the Lion. One of the greatest songwriters of this or any other era, full stop. And when he rocks, it’s extremely satisfying. Oh for a visit to the UK in 2020.
Portico Quartet ‘Memory Streams’
Probably the best live band in the UK right now, this newest record from Portico Quartet is among the most cohesive and potent of their career, even rivalling ‘Isla’ for power and emotion. Some of my favourite moments of this year have been watching them play, too.
Telefon Tel Aviv ‘Dreams Are Not Enough’
I have such a strong connection with the music of TTA. It has been with me through some of the best moments of my life, as well as some of the hardest. To find Josh coming back with the first new album under this name for a very long time this year was a joy tinged with sorrow as to what was lost and a hope that the great music of that past could be matched. I didn’t dream he could surpass the beauty of previuou records, but he pulled it off. A great album.
Hammock ‘Silencia’ and ‘Undercurrents’
Hammock are absolutely at the top of the game as regards ambient music and they only cemented that position and reputation in 2019. Not only did they complete a recent trilogy of albums with the beauty of “Silencia” but they released a monthly series of longer-form pieces named “Undercurrents” throughout the year too. Do seek that one out.
Sugarfoot ‘In the Clearing’
A glorious slice of country rock from Norway to close out the top 10. It will make you smile, no doubts at all.
And to finish things off, here’s the longer playlist:
Have a fantastic Christmas and a great start to 2020.
So, I got busy. I got behind. At some point, the sheer volume of music people who’ve read things I’ve written or who I’ve been in touch with has become huge. What’s astounded me most of all is that the absolute vast majority of it is absolutely brilliant. However, the sad and honest fact is that I just can’t write about it all, much as I’d love to. And so, I’m returning to the original premise of this series of posts. If I hear something which I think is fantastic, and necessary listening, I will write about it. I hope that whoever reads this will grow to trust me that I don’t knowingly or willingly listen to stuff that is no good. I hope you’ll also trust me that if I hear something and don’t write about it, it’s because I either don’t get it (this happens!) or I just didn’t love it enough to write the kind of positive review I think is the only kind worth writing.
And so, with that said, let’s do something of a mopping up job.
This is a musically fine EP of crunchy radio rock. In places it reminds me of the long-mourned (by me, at least) Leeds band The Glitterati. At others, The New Regime come to mind. As you’ll see (and hear) from the video above, there is plenty of musical intelligence to go alongside the aggression and lyrical aggro. That said, having initially glossed over the record, on the grounds of finding the lyrical bombast somewhat cliched and tiresome, I have thoroughly enjoyed it having returned to it. The band start a UK tour next week. I’d recommend checking them out. I hope someone cheers them up somewhere along the way too.
Sharon Van Etten – I Don’t Want To Let You Down EP
Sharon Van Etten has a fantastic voice. She writes powerful songs in which she, it seems, revels in laying herself entirely bare. This brief five track EP begins with the groove-driven title track which, at first sight, appears to be a jaunty little number, until she starts singing that is. ‘Just Like Blood’ slows things down, featuring the kind of piano riff that Thom Yorke would be proud of. Van Etten’s layered vocal close harmonies and occasional dabbles with alternative melodic choices are really to the fore here. ‘I Always Fall Apart’ is in a major key, a major key! And yet, as the title suggests, she always falls apart. If only she could be happy, just once.
Flippancy aside, Sharon Van Etten is a fabulous singer-songwriter and still criminally underrated. She’s playing Glastonbury next week. If you’re lucky enough to be there, do make a point of seeing her. Hopefully there’ll be a new full-length album from her before too long.
Watch the video for the Radio Edit of ‘Pink’ below
And now for something completely different. This is the debut release from Scottish instrumental post-rock/punk/funk/electronica/unclassifiable four-piece Outblinker, and damn fine it is too. Comprising two tracks, but weighing in at a hefty and concentration-requiring 23.02, this is punishing stuff, in just the right way. The fusion of acoustic and electronic instrumentation feels just right, as ‘Pink’ builds in it’s first 6.45, followed by a breakdown propelled on bleeping synths and competing melodies. It is wonderful, hypnotic and yet at the same time there is so much going on that you find your mind being drawn to different places in the mix. One minute a drum fill holds the attention, the next there’s a new synth layer to wrap your mind around. It truly is stupefying stuff.
Double A-sided with ‘Blue’, a much more menacing slow burner of a track which, again, draws you in to an unexpected degree, this is an exciting debut release from a band who have arrived fully formed. Here’s hoping for more, and soon.
Another great new discovery from Edinburgh, Urvanovic, whose name sounds like a Yugoslav player from Italia 90 (or is that just me?), offer a delightful take on music hall pop. It’d be lazy to cite Belle and Sebastien as an influence, but this seven-piece are certainly in that ballpark on “Amateurs”. Thankfully though, tracks such as ‘Bubblewrap’ and ‘The Mine’ have enough drive and punch about them to elevate Urvanovic above any potential criticisms for being ‘pastoral’ (pop music’s answer to beige) or twee. This is beautifully constructed, multi-layered pop music for the discerning listener. Another band who must be an incredible live proposition.
We’re dotting right along the genre gamut today! Next up is the debut album from French DJ Superoze. I have to admit to not being an electronica aficionado, as I think I have done on these pages before, but this album has a beautiful hue. I don’t know if it is meant to be, but as the record carries me along, it is a soothing listen. Superpoze has collaborated with a heap of people. I’ve heard of none of them. What I do know is that ‘North’, ‘Time Travel’ and ‘Ten Lakes’ are brilliant expositions of relatively minimalist techno. I’ve been writing this post for ages now. I’m inventing genres. The mixes are spacious rather than attacking your senses. Time drifts by as you become more and more involved in the slowly-developing musical landscapes.
Do you like electronica? You will find this sates your thirst. Do you dislike electronica? Try this. Do you have no idea what electronica is? Try this for starters. With apologies to Superpoze for my lack of understanding!
And on we go again. This time we find ourselves in the realm of woozy, folky psychedelia. ‘Between the Channels’ pulses along on a bed of Rhodes and off-kilter guitars, building a backdrop for J Fernandez’s sweet vocals. “Communication is a waste of time between the channels” he tells us. Preach. There’s a lovely use of strings here, along with some lovely chord progressions which take things in a 70s prog direction (honestly). This first taste of J Fernandez indicates how well his music fits on the roster of the wonderful Joyful Noise! (Son Lux, Thee Oh Sees) on which this album is released. If you’re a fan of that roster, this’ll fit beautifully in amongst your collection. You’ll be able to tell right from the get go.
From this beautiful introduction, we’re taken on quite a journey. ‘Read My Mind’ weaves and winds, once again combining synth and guitar layers to good effect, never getting in the way of J’s compelling vocal delivery. Once again, a lovely tag section is a highlight, and there’s a choppy funk guitar solo thrown in for good measure. Elsewhere, ‘Holy Hesitation’ has more urgency, with an elastic bass line delivering us into a daringly scored chorus. ‘Apophis’ grows from an organ-driven beginning, the album’s most relaxed moment, while closer ‘Melting Down’, to all intents and purposes, puts its title to music, as everything progressively comes apart over the course of six and a half minutes.
An album for the summer, this is a fine place to start with the singular talent of J Fernandez.
Watch the video for How it Goes from the album below
And now to an album so good it basically defies description. If you like prog or psychedelic music, this is one for you. If you think the Hammond B3 is the greatest of all musical instruments, this is an album for you. If you like slow burning progressive epics, this is an album for you. If you like anarchic romps, this is an album for you. If you want to gain a snapshot of why Birth of Joy are one of the best live bands in Europe, this is the album for you.
Recorded over two nights at the prestigious Ubu in Rennes, France, this is a dizzying document of the live prowess of a fine band. I first came across Birth of Joy through my love of Motorpsycho, Spidergawd, and a lot of other European bands who straddle the edge of ‘normal’. To my shame, previous album, “Prisoner” was one I never quite gave enough time to. Having digested this amazing effort, that’s a mistake I will have to rectify forthwith. If I were to write about individual tracks I’d be here all day. Suffice to say, this is a raw, ridiculously high-energy double album you don’t want to miss.
I’m quite behind on these posts at the moment, so apologies to the PR people who are probably chomping at the bit to hear what I have to say about their releases. This is meant to be fun for me 🙂
There’s some really interesting and diverse stuff in this post, so without further ado or waffle, I’ll get on with it!
Watch the video for the fantastic ‘Rock of Ages’ below
10 tracks of completely sublimely soulful and spiritually-charged jazz-pop is what’s on offer here. Eska has an incredible instrument of a voice. There’s not a track here which doesn’t feature her vocal as its main focus, but the glory of the vocal performances are that they are never overpowering or overbearing. This is an album of pop songs, but the kind of pop songs which are not spoon-fed or given to you on a plate. It took me several listens to digest the record and work out that tracks such as ‘This is How a Garden Grows’, the spine-tingling ‘Rock of Ages’ and ‘To Be Remembered’ were fantastically constructed songs with much to admire compositionally. Melodically and harmonically, these songs go in directions you wouldn’t expect but which feel just right. You’ll be grooving along before you know it. As a lot of her press has attested, Eska is the best singer you’ve never heard of. There’s a sweet tone and timbre to her voice, with just enough grit to separate her from the crowd of soul singers in the marketplace just now. She could be the missing link between Laura Mvula and Lianne La Havas, but to pigeon-hole her thus would be to diminish the strength of this fine album.
This is apparently the seventh album from Crazy P, a band who split themselves between Manchester and Nottingham. My initiation in to the ways of Crazy P, “Walk Talk Dance Sing” is probably an album that does exactly what it says on the tin. It will make you do all this (if possible for you) and more. It’s an unrelentingly fun-sounding piece of work, in spite of some darker lyrical matter, right from the moment the solid groove of ‘Like a Fool’ kicks in. The groove continues right to the closing track, ‘Witch Doctor’ (you will have seen the video above, and in between Crazy P take us on a joyously funky ride. Previous single ‘Cruel Mistresses’ is a prime example. A chorus to die for, soaring atop a synths and choppy funky guitars which are at once familiar and exhilaratingly fresh. Crazy P aren’t changing the world, but if you want a fun album chock-full of intelligent pop music for grown ups, you won’t get much better than ‘Walk Talk Dance Sing’ in 2015.
Charlie Barnes is a fiendishly talented singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is a collaborator of Mancunian rock heroes Amplifier. His debut album is produced by Steve Durose of who has worked with both Amplifier and Oceansize. So what you might expect is that it is an unremittingly heavy album, short on subtlety and high on technical musicianship, to the detriment of song craft. Well, you’d be wrong. This is not a record to be cast neatly in to any kind of genre label or box. Barnes has something of the Jeff Buckley or the Freddie Mercury about his vocal delivery, but apes neither to the point of parody or pastiche. Instead, whilst giving a nod to both, his performances, aided by the diverse yet effective collection of songs on “More Stately Mansions”, show that he is, in fact, a singular talent. Whether it’s on the ambitiously almost symphonic title track, the writhing ‘Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth’, which is a beautifully composed epic giving rise to Muse comparisons from when they were, you know, good, to the more restrained ‘Dresden’, (which, it has to be said, builds to a truly spectacular and pyrotechnic conclusion) this an album which defies categorisation, yet is successful at every step. Barnes and his band can rock hard, as on ‘Sing to God’ (see above) but there is much artful subtlety on show here too. A man who knows his way round a fully-realised piece of music, Charlie Barnes is a name to watch in the months and years to come. I can only imagine that his live show is something special. This is a brave and vital album.
It would be all too easy to dismiss Crocodiles as just another psych-rock band on the treadmill of that genre’s seemingly never-ending revival. That would be to do them a great disservice, however. “Boys” is a many-headed best of an album. From the off, with ‘Crybaby Demon’ which is a driven by a sumptuous salsa beat underneath its swathes of organ and guitars and a chorus that lodges itself in your brain never to leave, this record is a cut above. ‘Do the Void’ has a bass line in its intro which comes perilously close to ‘Billie Jean’ but settles in to a jaunty tune the likes of Dandy Warhols have been yearning unsuccessfully for for years. ‘Hard’ is, as you might imagine, a pretty uncompromising listen as the guitars are sharpened. The distortion added to the bass is a nice touch. This song is a more effective and straight-ahead take on the formula popularised in recent times by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club than that band themselves have managed recently. Somehow or other, ‘Transylvania’ reminds me of ‘Buddy Holly’ era Weezer. I imagine it’s not supposed to, but there we go. I have quirky ears. It also sounds like it features an off-kilter saxophone solo. Not your average psych workout.
As you’ll have gathered, this is an album that runs the gamut of what is possible within the realm of contemporary psych rock. Without falling into the trap of trapping us in their swamp thing, Crocodiles have made a fine return. One might even say it’s a fun album, but I’d probably be shot for that, so let’s pretend I didn’t say that, ok?
With a pedigree as good as that of Danny Seim (Menomena, Lackthereof), Bryan Devendorf (The National) and Dave Nelson (David Byrne and St. Vincent, Sufjan Stevens), it’s no surprise that “Gunnera” is an arresting prospect of a debut album from this new collaboration. According to Seim, According to Seim, “The record is about a dream I had where I’m reluctantly accepting a fear of drowning by focusing on being reincarnated as a giant Gunnera plant, which thrive on the banks of rivers (specifically the Jordan River i.e. the Biblical promised land) after I paint myself gold and sink to the bottom like the El Dorado of South American folklore.” I can definitively report that this is the best record about a fear of drowning anyone reading this will have heard.
Not just that, it’s a musical wonderland. Opening with the almost competitive synth and brass of ‘Benthos’, you’d be forgiven for wondering what alternate world you’d stepped in to, but all fears are assuaged, and rendered meaningless by the pulsing synth pop of ‘You Shall Know the Spirit’ which really reminds me not just of The National, but of some of the best work by David Bazan, as well as his synth project, Headphones. “When the spirit moves inside of me, you’ll know, cos I’ll stop breathing’ goes the lyric as a dark opening is drawn out in to a mid-section replete with a cavorting horn melody. Indeed. ‘Work For Me’, with it’s concoction of synths and processed drums, asks the question “how will I know when there’s love in the room?” Again, indeed. ‘El Dorado’ is a plain great pop song with a fantastic hook. ‘The Ol’ River Gang’ has an urgent drive to it that would make it a post-punk classic (and indeed it still might be) were the synth and horn parts supplied instead by guitars attacked in an overwrought fashion. So, yes, it’s a modern classic take on the synth-driven post-punk genre. You can keep your opinions on whether the hyphens are misplaced.
And on it goes. ‘How To Build a Tube’ could be an offcut from Sufjan’s “The Age of Adz” album with its amalgam of pop nous with synth sheen. Closer ‘Promised Land’ perhaps the destination in Seim’s journey of conquering fear is another track which begins with a fog of swirling synths, with ever more layers being added throughout the song’s first two minutes. As a percussive chordal pattern emerges from around the 2.10 mark, the sense that the song is arriving at its first stop becomes apparent. At 3.07, the first vocal: ‘Picked my suit up from the dry cleaners now I’m going bak to the Promised Land’ which is repeated amidst a swirl of horns before an invasive drum part and grooving bass part take the song home. A fine ending to a truly enticing debut offering from Pfarmers. Don’t miss this one, whether you are a fan of the members’ other projects or not. The mix of instrumentation and honest spiritual searching is fantastic.
It seems like no post in this series is complete without a review of a release from a band in the thick of the shoegaze revival, and this one is no exception. Australia’s Flying Colours (not to be confused with the American prog supergroup of the same name) have recently released their debut EP on the ever-fantastic Club AC30, as well as laying waste to the UK on tour with Russia’s finest Pinkshinyultrablast. The fact that this is on Club AC30 should give you the nod that this is a release worth investigating, as should giving a few minutes of your time to the video above. If that’s not enough, let me tell you that these 5 tracks exhibit the best elements of My Bloody Valentine and Swervedriver, and give the recent releases from both bands a more than decent run from their money.
‘I Don’t Want To Let You Down’ rolls along on a convulsive rhythm with some beautifully squally guitars floating above a seismic bass riff. The song has a fantastic singalong pop chorus which should, no, must make it a shoe-in for 6Music airplay. All the elements are in place. This is just one of those moments, when a band aligns all of its best elements in one short burst of song craft. Fantastic. ‘Running Late’ jingles and jangles more, showing another side of the band, whilst ‘Not Today’ (video above) is a straight-ahead driving rock song par excellence. ‘In the End’ is a short, sharp blast of punky energy, showing yet another side of this versatile band. Closer ‘Leaks’ survives the ignominy of stealing a Kula Shaker riff to end things on a cacophonously energetic note.
The end of the experience leaves two thoughts:
1. An album from these guys will be a thing of wonder
2. I sorely regret not being well enough to attend the recent Pinkshinyultrablast/Flying Colours show in Leicester. I will do all I can to ensure such silliness does not occur again.