Seeing as every other music blog in existence is doing it, I thought I'd take a break from Yorkshire music to talk about what I consider to be some of the best albums of 2012. Deep breath, here goes...
Alt-J (a triangle)- 'An Awesome Wave':
They may be a highly pretentious bunch of wankers and sometimes I randomly punch inanimate objects at the thought of lead singer Joe Newman having the fantastic idea of naming his band after a fucking keyboard shortcut, but 'An Awesome Wave' was, for me, undoubtedly, the album of 2012. It's achievements are so high in number that it's at times easier to consider what it in fact didn't achieve. It was the most highly-backed LP in Mercury Prize history to win the gong and it duly did on November fourth bringing to an end a fantastic year for the Cambridge quartet. Filthy-bass drops ('Fitzpleasure'), goosebump-inducing melodies ('Matilda') and a ridiculously unique singing style (pretty much all of them) characterise an album with such incredible variation that it often sounds like three or four in one. This is all coupled with three fantastic interludes and a quality intro. If composed and performed with due-care, it's these kind of finishing touches which separate the good from the great and this particular album definitely belongs to the latter category. Second-album syndrome is highly likely to set in for this posse of hipsters but for now I am content to whack on 'An Awesome Wave' at any time of day or night and, if their live reputation is anything to go by, am thoroughly looking forward to watching them at Leeds Academy in May (knew I'd work Yorkshire in there somewhere). Single 'Tesselate' also wins the prize for greatest sex euphemism of all time. The video for lead single 'Breezeblocks' is linked below and is pretty nuts even if the concept is ripped from Coldplay's 'The Scientist'.
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Django Django- 'Django Django':
Arguably the album which posed the greatest threat to 'An Awesome Wave' in the race for the Mercuries was also recorded by a group of four odd-balls, but these guys are Scottish and aren't in any way hipster so I automatically prefer them. I only began listening to this album a couple of weeks ago and have pretty much spent said couple of weeks wondering why it's taken me ten months to finally get round to listening to it. The album itself is a beautiful conglomeration of Beach Boys-styled melodies and modern electronic innovation. African drums form a huge part of what contributes to the uniqueness of the LP and manage to morph some of the album tracks from average fillers into songs which stick in your mind and don't let go. 'Default', introduced early and linked below, is the song which finally prompted me to give the album a listen and is 100% one of the tunes of the year. It is testament to the strength of the entire album, combining a sharp classical guitar riff with a ton of reverb in the intro. Anyone who hasn't yet given Django Django a try and has even a remote interest in either indie or electronica is thoroughly urged to do so and I wait in anticipation at the thought of more similarly innovative releases from the oddly-clothed Highlanders (they seem to have this weird thing about all wearing very similar outfits in band photos).
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Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs- 'Trouble':
In 'Trouble', TEED has done something rather rare in bringing electro/house to a pretty mainstream UK audience. It debuted in the top 40 of the album charts and a number of the released singles can be heard in various dance settings across the UK. This most certainly has to be one of my favourites of 2012, each track is an album in itself, layered with electronic innovation after electronic innovation and all backed by Orlando Higginbotham's (yes that genuinely genuinely is his real name) monotonous yet strangely hypnotic vocals. Album opener 'Promises' kicks things off with a delightful bang, the opening minute is as soulful as this genre can get and crescendoes beautifully into an ode to women and drugs, 'come on set fire/burn up my night'. The title track is undoubtedly TEED's most well-known and from the recognisable loop-beat it quickly becomes clear why, while 'Household Goods' combines Higginbotham's original sound with slight elements of dubstep and also contains what's probably my lyric of the year, 'Forgive me if I'm wrong/but you look shit/on your own'. Linked below is my personal favourite, the lesser known 'Solo'. Cranked up and listened through headphones, without sounding horribly clicheed it lifts you to previously unexplored dimensions, and there's not much out there nowadays that I'd ever make an outrageous comment like that about. He wears the most fucking ridiculous outfits I've ever seen and looks about 12 but TEED's 'Trouble' has provided the foundations for the 2012 explosion in the popularity of slowed-down electronica.
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About nine months ago, in a fit of boredom I thought I might check out who wrote the song from that advert for Greene King IPA (although I can't say I've ever tried a drop). Turned out it was some scraggy teenager, three years my junior, originating from the wholly unglamorous Clifton just outside Nottingham. Eight months on and I tuned into Radio 1 on a Sunday night just in time to hear that the Buggster had pipped Leona Lewis to the top of the UK album charts (take that you jumped-up bitch whose ridiculous popularity has been based on two reasonably average covers). Bugg's debut is a slap in the face to any of those outrageously cynical cunts who preach the old, 'rock music died in the 60's' mantra. Well Mr and Mrs. Cynic, I implore you to give this album a listen and then come back to me with the same story. 'Jake Bugg' opens as it means to go on, 'Lightning Bolt' is bolshy, packs a punch and carries lyrics which touch the heart. It was also used to soundtrack Usain Bolt's victories at London 2012 which is simply fantastic.What follows is vastly more of the same but with certain dainty melodic touches to boot, such as in 'Country Song' and 'Someone Told Me'. Bugg tells the stories of his adolescence with recognisable vigour, who reading this can't relate to, 'Was down in the kitchen/drinking white lightning', from 'Two Fingers' and, while it's arguable that a couple of the bottom tracks get ever so slightly stale, the linked track 'Seen It All' should be enough in itself to guarantee the appearance of Bugg's debut on the majority of mainstream 'Best of 2012' lists. Long live Clifton.
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Cheers for reading, Part 2 coming up tomorrow.
Max
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