Albums Of The Year... Part 2

Hello Friends,

5 more belters coming up for ya as I close my rousingly-verbal proclamation of the year's best LPs, starting off with a trio of art-rockers, one of which is named after an ancient EastEnders battle-axe.

London Grammar - If You Wait

For those of you who didn't work out the answer to my semi-riddle, London Grammar's keyboardist is called Dot. Anywhom... another must for this list were this daring, fashionable and experimental trio who met studying at Nottingham Uni and formed one of the breakthrough act of the year. There's been shouts of 'the new xx' but I consider them to be so much more, Hannah Reid's vocals are floaty, powerful and vibrant all at the same time and are the driving force behind the Grammar's success. That's not to understate the contribution of Dot Major and third man Dan Reid who provide all the musical nous they can muster to contribute with a wholesomely wide variety of instruments, sounds, tones and influences. 'Wasting My Young Years' was the one we all heard first, a ballad rich with empathic layer and solemnly reminiscent of another modern British female voice in Florence Welch - it was an ode to what's now being referred to as the 'quarter-life crisis', a theme frequently revisited by the three. The fear from the moment of its release was that they'd follow it up with more of the same, an album of lolling-ballads would be excellent for ten minutes but grating for sixty. Instead, If You Wait contains enough variation to feed the 5000 - 'Hey Now' offers us a choking riff the likes of which math-rock connoisseurs Foals would be proud of, 'Shyer' opens sweetly but closes brutally and allows Major and Reid to exhibit their formidable backing vocals and in 'Nightcall' they have as unique a cover as it comes, the song being the Grammar's take on a tune from the soundtrack of the Ryan Gosling 'he-doesn't-talk-much-but-boy-is-he-sexy' epic Drive. The talent is there to give these understated and humble twenty somethings quite the career as long as they continue to expand their repertoire and If You Wait  has all the potential to become a modern masterpiece in the same vein, it must be said, of that so very talked about debut xx release.

Jagwar Ma - Howlin'

Back in the summer, everyone's favourite Mancunian Noel Gallagher (the talented one) was asked for the umpteenth time by NME about the possibilities of Oasis reform. His paraphrased response - "Every time we get together a reformation is never mentioned because we're too busy talking about fucking Jagwar Ma" was high praise indeed from a man who you would have imagined hadn't even heard of this trio of Australian oddballs. On first listen to Howlin you kind of start getting what Noel's on about and by listen number three or four you're ready to preach to the masses about these guys. Jagwar Ma's debut LP is essentially the closest a band has come to reciprocating the care-free Britpop jungle sound of the Happy Monday's late 80s releases, a sound which inspired a generation of teenage pill-poppers. While you can't help but feel that had Howlin been released back in those times Jagwar Ma may have reached legendary status by this point, the album instead will have to settle for being hit with critical acclaim from all portions of the music press while sadly not really hitting major record sales. The opening minute of 'What Love' is enough to set the tone for the journey, with a powerful pulsing beat coupled with lead singer Gabriel Winterfield's loop-pedaled lyrical repetition. Other album highlights are thrown in thick and fast, 'Uncertainty' is an absolute banger and provides the lyrical inspiration for the title - 'How can you, how can you look so gloomy when you're gloomy howlin' look so good to me' is an absolute joy to listen to and is followed by trippy lead single 'The Throw'. As the LP veers onwards, it becomes more measured and with purely instrumental tracks like 'Four' giving the listener an idea of the talents of fledgling DJ Jono Ma, you feel like there could be a place for this bunch in musical idolatry some time in the future. For now Howlin' remains one of the most underrated releases of the year.

Darkside - Psychic

A collaboration to rival that of Mount Kimbie and King Krule, Darkside is the new double-moniker for DJ extraordinaire Nicolas Jaar and guitarist Dave Harrington. The two make for an unlikely duo, Jaar's chiselled boyish good looks coupled with Harrington's long-haired carefree and permanently sulky facial expression. The result musically has been nothing short of phenomenal. What's been most impressive about the way these two have been drawn together is the lack of compromise on sound. The album could easily be a solo Jaar record with a touch of guitar just as easily as it could be a Harrington record with a touch of electronic experimentation and yet it is clearly something that the two have put hours of work into in order to produce an undeniably polished piece of music with both their influences shining equally. 'Golden Arrow' was what we as baited listeners heard first, released on YouTube a few months previous to the album's issue date it is an eleven minute tribute to the subtle expertise these two have gained in their chosen fields. When the subtlety is removed however, we are allowed to see what these guys can really do and the talent that's been nurtured to get them both this far. Lead single 'Paper Trails' exhibits the underrated vocal side to Jaar's repertoire while allowing Harrington to show off that old-school funky side which they both know and love (Jaar does funk and he does it good - check out his edit of Nina Simone's 'Feeling Good' when you get the chance) but it was 'Heart' that really caught my attention when first listening to Psychic. This time Jaar unleashes a powerful falsetto to couple with a fascinatingly eery undertone which is matched and probably beaten by a thrilling riff from his collaborator, the closing minute is virtually orgasmic. The awesome twosome can give themselves a decent pat on the back as this is one bizarre collaboration which could stand the test of the time. Rather than linking one tune I thought I'd hit you with a classy Darkside boiler room broadcast from the top of a New York apartment a few weeks back.

Haim - Days Are Gone

Another release which as much as I tried hard to ignore it was never really not going to make the list. 

Myself and the rest have virtually run out of superlatives for this trio of Jewish sisters who have now been populating the hearts of Brits for coming up to a year. Days Are Gone was delayed and delayed and delayed, from the Spring to Summer to late September as the girls tweaked and u-turned and polished but the result was never particularly in doubt. Every single track adds a new layer, a new ability and a new understanding of the chemistry which separates these three from other similar all-female groups who didn't happen to all come out of the same womb. 'Forever', released a good many months before the album, displays a riff of pure quality, a quality of which is replicated in recent single 'The Wire' and also dark r 'n' b track 'My Song 5'. However it's the 70s and 80s influence which is most exciting, the synths and raunchy drum beats consistent with wonderfully subtle intertwining vocals give off a Fleetwood Mac meets Depeche Mode kind of vibe. What did I say in October's blog post on Haim - "the phrase "breath of fresh air" barely even covers it". Strangely I imagine this still ringing true in five/ten years time about undoubtedly one of the best LPs of the year.

Kanye West - Yeezus

It turns out that the 'I am the next Mandela' interview broadcast by global satirical The Daily Currant  was a hoax but one only has to look back at Kanye ripping in to Taylor Swift at the Grammys to appreciate that he is just a little bit of a cunt. However this is about the music not the man and as much as it may pain me to say it, Yeezus is in fact a wonderfully-crafted album. While I would never profess to exactly be a hip hop expert (although in fairness both Ghostpoet's Some Say I So I Say Light and Danny Brown's Old were within touching distance of this list) I feel there's a certain grit to this work which leaves it almost genre-less and that's a tribute to the excellently varied samples Kanye chose to mix in with his convoluted beats and warped overly-arrogant lyrics ('I am a God/Hurry up with my damn massage' being just one example). The release itself was as under-hyped as West could possibly manage, carried out on a Tuesday with absolutely no publicity behind it it was very quickly picked up by all sections and heralded as one of the year's most interesting albums. Of the two singles released after the event, 'Black Skinhead' is an undoubted success  and while the official video for 'Bound 2' appears a parody of itself and has in fact been parodied  brilliantly by Messrs Franco and Rogen, the song is an uplifting ode to being in love with the world's most fucking stupid woman. Each to their own and all that. However, if I was to pick just one track to represent the album then it would simply have to be the Frank Ocean collab 'New Slaves', one which on a personal level operated for some unknown reason as the self-appointed soundtrack to my travels around America and allows us to hear Kanye crooning 'You see there's leaders and there's followers/ but I'd rather be a dick than a swallower' before a blissful sample ripped from a 60's hungarian rock band bursts free from its shackles ('New Slaves' 'shackles', see what I did there??). Supposedly, West pieced this album together in just a few solitary days spent in the bedroom of a Paris hotel before enlisting the help of multi-award winning producer Rick Rubin to strip it down and give it that minimalist edge. Fair play to the guy, maybe time to focus less on the dickish personality and more on the creative juices flowing out of it.

So there you have it, a list which I hope has given you a balanced look at what's been blaring in 2013. Here's a few which narrowly missed the cut but which I still consider to be some of the best:

Foals - Holy Fire
Maya Jane Coles - Comfort
Austra - Olympia
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Daniel Avery - Drone Logic 
Kurt Vile - Wakin On A Pretty Daze
Black Books - Black Books
MSMR - Secondhand Rapture
Chvrches - The Bones Of What You Believe
James Blake - Overgrown

As always, thank you so much for reading and I would love to hear your take on the albums included. Any ridiculous choices on there? Or anything glaring I missed out?

Now out of seemingly nowhere there's a storm raging outside so I'm off to stick the fucking kettle on. Have a good Chrismas!

Cheers to all,

Max

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves (Haim & Chvrches)

Good day to one and all,

Hope everyone's enjoying the weekend. Been meaning to write this blog for quite a few days now but obstacles to my writing were frequent so now here I am on a grey yet mild Saturday afternoon relishing the idea of spending the day doing absolutely shit-all. In the news, the Daily Mail has once again been revealed for the blood-curdling spineless drivel spouter that it has always been, using the diary of a scared 16 year old refugee miles away from home to communicate him as 'hating Britain' and laying down an 'evil legacy' while its sister paper had the sheer audacity to send a reporter only days afterwards to a memorial service for one of his close relatives and the uncle of the man they were truly trying to slander (Ed Miliband). Miliband's popularity has only been increased by the debacle, all mainstream politicians have leapt to his side and yet the Mail refuses to apologise. But there you go, the same brand of crass idiots will still be reading that paper by the time we enter the apocalypse.Skin-crawling stuff. Here's the idiot that allowed all this to happen, balding egg-head and all. And if you want to have a butchers at his deputy being torn a new a-hole by Alistair Campbell then head over in this direction.

The last couple of weeks have seen albums released which have spawned a mini-revival of girl-bands with edge but with far more of a focus on the 'edge' part and far less on the 'girl-bands' bit. Haim are undoubtedly the most talked about new-band of the year, ever since being tipped by the BBC back in December as the 'ones to watch' for 2013. Their debut Days Are Gone has been hotly anticipated but unlike many new bands they continued to dispel the pressure to release a first LP quickly and tweaked and tweaked for months until it was finally issued last Monday (a solid year after the release of first single 'Forever'). Turns out it's just a little bit of a masterpiece. What these raunchy sisters have somehow managed to do is fuse about three decades worth of high-quality music (70's - Fleetwood Mac, 80's - Phil Collins, 90's - RnB) and span genres which many thought previously unspannable - the phrase 'breath of fresh air' barely even covers it.

The trio made that always rather ballsy decision to throw in all the singles right at the top of the tracklist leaving the listener initially compelled to listen to more without having much knowledge of what's to come but each new track supplants fresh ideas about the girl's individual talents. It takes a few listens to understand the more nuanced successes of the album - the sleek production of the synths in 'If I Could Change Your Mind', the dreamy lyrical shapes constructed in 'Honey and I' and 'Running If You Call My Name' and the spectacularly sharp guitar riff in Yeezus-esque RnB ballad 'My Song 5'. Anyone who watched these girls perform at Glastonbury or Reading will have known they witnessed a performance akin to that of a headliner and an extreme vision of what may be to come, the energy was electric. When listening to Days Are Gone two things are for sure, one is that contrary to earlier comments made in this blog Haim are in no way actually a 'girl-band' in the traditional sense of phrase but a musical tour-de-force in their own right and two is that it's certainly not looks which have carried them this far but sheer talent and grit albeit they are all very very hot, especially when surrounded by balloons. 

Chvrches have a far more localised following than the Haim girls but have still excelled themselves with much-anticipated  debut The Bones Of What You Believe . OK so with only 33.33% of their members being female the 'girl-band' label becomes even less applicable to these guys but in Lauren Mayberry they have a lead singer capable of following in the footsteps of the Kate Bush's and Sinead O'Connor's of this world and this is coupled with her having quite the smart head on her shoulders, writing in The Guardian Music blog this week on the perils of online misogyny. 

I personally have been looking forward to the release of this album for a good many months, ever since I first heard lead single 'Lies' followed by Chvrches fantastic remix of MSMR's 'Hurricane' and became addicted to the Glasweigan trio's strange brand of authentic electro nu-folk. Don't be fooled by the strong dialectical accent, these guys are no Biffy Clyro, in as much as, well, they're not shit. Instead they're very very good and just as with Haim, what's so intriguing about their debut LP is not the already accredited singles but the new and unheard genre-spanning tunes. 'Tether' begins in a slow-riffed ballad form but ends with epic synths-galore as Mayberry belts out 'I feel incapable of seeing the end/I feel incapable of saying it's over'. Just like with King Krule's album as discussed in the last blog, there is a raw honesty to the lyrics of the album which adds to the bands aura of modesty. 'Lies' follows 'Tether' and still remains one of my favourites but a real pearler comes slightly later on in the form of 'Science, Visions'. A daunting intro juxtaposed by Mayberry's sweet vocals and a vocal loop undertoning the entire thing is then joined by thumping bass and the somehwat underrated backing vocals of Mayberry's bandmates Iain Cook and Martin Doherty. The tempo is upheld throughout the three minutes and 58 seconds of awesomeness and the closing three tracks are equally as bold, the industrial bridge in 'Lungs' is exquisitely placed as is both guitar and drum riffs working side-by-side in epic closer 'You Caught The Light'. Chvrches began with a tiny internet-based Scottish fan-base and are now attracting a far wider range as interest in their brand goes global, the only way from here really appears to be up.

So that's that then, two bands I've been looking forward to writing about for ages and whose music deserves to be listened to across the land. Hope everyone enjoyed and as always cheers for reading.

Max

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Glastoblog!

Top of the afternoon to ya!

As anyone who has in any way crossed my path in the past week you may know that last weekend I attended a mass gathering in the middle of a gigantic farm in Somerset to watch a load of musicians frolick around varyingly-sized fields and enjoy some well-earned merriment. This was Glasto Effing Bury and here's a little run-down of the bands I saw and the general highs and lows (there weren't actually any lows but you can't just say general highs) over the weekend.

Friday 

After a Thursday night in the dance area, experiencing sets from the 2 Bears and T.Williams along with Glastonbury's own answer to Propaganda, the morning promised our first experience of the Pyramid Stage and all it had to offer - kicking off with three Jewish sisters and a random drummer who no one really cares about, all harbouring bags and bags of sass.

HAIM - The weekend couldn't have gone off with more of a bang if you'd set off a shit load of dynamite. Haim were the BBC's sound of 2012 and this performance made it easy to understand why. Their presence is constant and uplifting and they interlink their more well-known hits with the jams and periods of hard-ass drumming which give their live shows a real standout feel. An absolute treat.

JAKE BUGG - A disappointment from start to finish. Jake was clearly nervous which is utterly fair enough from someone who consistently has the complexion of a moody teenager on the way up to his bedroom but he approached the nerves in the totally wrong way. While other evidently-nervous acts I viewed over the weekend (see Jagwar Ma) were more willing to acceept them, Jake's attempts to hide the nerves made him appear sullen and almost rude. Undoubtable tunes like 'Seen It All' and 'Lightning Bolt' prompted big sing a longs but lil' Jakey has much to learn about big performances. My advice - don't hide the nerves, embrace them.

THE LUMINEERS - I absolutely love these guys and they didn't disappoint. By no means one hit wonders livng off the proceeds of a popular E-On advert, their debut self-titled album boasts tune after tune and these were replicated beautifully on this sunny Friday afternoon as I sat at the Other Stage munching on a six pound falafel. A band perfect for festivals, the performance was replete with energy and emotion and before I knew it it was being closed off perfectly with 'Stubborn Love', my personal album highlight. There was also the chance to hear some new stuff.

TAME IMPALA - I had the pleasure of watching the Australian trip-rockers in Sheffield back at the end of 2012 and the night ranks highly in my top ten gigs list. This particular performance had all the technical capability of that night in South Yorkshire but was ever so slightly self-indulgent. Lead singer Kevin Parker took the jamming part of the set a bit too far and appeared to be almost wasting time when he could have been exhibiting one of the many many tunes the Impalas have to offer from 2010's Innerspeaker or NME's number one album of 2012 Lonerism. However closer and fan favourite 'Half Full Glass of Wine' will never disappoint for as long as I live and the intro chords are still echoing round my head as I type.

ALT-J - Attracting one of the biggest crowds the Other Stage saw all weekend, the most pretentious band in the history of pretense looked brimming with confidence and were highly impressive. Their sets remain a bit wooden and they should really start experimenting with some of their live songs in terms of both order and tempo but not too much to complain about really.

FOALS - These guys are fucking mental. My most looked forward to band of the weekend, they set their intentions out from start to finish and didn't quieten for a second. New-album highlight 'Late Night' was an especial treat but the balance of the set was perfect and highly uplifting and reaffirmed Foals status as an essentially 'live band'. Watch out for the manner in which lead singer Yannis Phillipakis nods his head forward while lost in a solo, he takes the duck walk to whole new levels. While me and my crew missed the closing couple of tracks , closer 'Two Steps Twice' (as watched by moi the day after I got home on iPlayer) looked like it had all the capabilities to bring the house down... had there been a house present.

ARCTIC MONKEYS - Not too much to say on the Monkeys that hasn't been said already. This was my fourth time seeing them (fifth coming up in October) but it never ceases to amaze me just how tight they remain as a band. They opened with a teaser of how album number five may well end up sounding in the form of  'Did I wanna Know'. Bar that, the set included one more teaser and tunes from their recent and more distant back catalogue. A symphonic version of 'Mardy Bum' was as compelling as it was unexpected and a particularly touching moment came when Alex ordered his adoring fans to sing happy birthday to his mum (who's name continues to escape me). The perfect end to a first day of what I hope will be many.

Saturday

The weather came out to play in earnest on Saturday as thousands of slightly tubby middle-aged men and women set out their deck chairs in the front rows of the Pyramid Stage as early as midday to prepare for the coming of one of the biggest bands of the century. The Excitement was rippling through Worthy Farm.

JAGWAR MA - My day began with an Australian band in the John Peel tent who I've been keeping tabs on for a while. The lead singer looked incredibly overrawed but he worked with it, lost himself in the music and fast became a source of adulation for the crowd. This is an up and coming psych-rock duo who's music has already been touted by Noel Gallagher as 'more important than an Oasis reunion' and as I left the tent the phrase 'that was fucking fantastic' echoed round the crowd , making me feel a little as if I'd just been viewing an early set by the Gallaghers myself.

AZAELIA BANKS - I've never been a huge fan but boy does she put on a show. After the initial shock of seeing her weird contact lenses, Banks showed off a variety of tracks from her records of which I'm told she has many but there was also a certain recognition that she needed to break the performance up, allowing her sassy dancers time to strut their stuff and giving her DJ a slice of the limelight while she was taking breaks. Clad in brown spandex and a spiky green suit, Azaelia was one of the surprises of the weekend.

PRIMAL SCREAM - We had a bit of a break between Azaelia and the evenings entertainment (some in my camp took it too far and partook in a mass three and a half hour nap which spanned the entirety of the Stones set) and next up was Primal Scream. I only caught the back-end of this performance which was rich with energy and served up a slice of the album which put these moody Scotsmen on the map but what was clearer than anything was that lead singer Bobby Gillespie was utterly wankered. As the crowd moved less and less, his frustration grew more and more ending with a pleading wail of 'come on you fuckers!' Enjoyable nonetheless.

ROLLING STONES - The main event was here and boy was it worth it. All the angst of a two hour wait melted away when Jagger and co rolled on stage and launched into 'Jumping Jack Flash'. What followed was a lengthy set replete with variety and technical innovation. All the tunes were there, 'Gimme Shelter' was magnificent, 'Sympathy with the Devil' came accompanied with a fire-shooting bird and 'You can't always get what you want' proved to be a real tear-jerker. I don't confess to be anywhere near the world's biggest Stones fan but to enjoy this performance you really didn't have to be, you just had to love music.

Sunday

I awoke with a start Sunday morning in a tiny crevice of a tent pod that should fit two but was at that point harbouring four. We'd spent the evening before at Glastonbury's clubbing 'district' Shangri-La and to anyone who's been to Glasto but hasn't made it there then you need to sort yourselves out. My immediate thought was that the blister I'd slowly been developing on my small left toe was now covered in blood and somehow a small trace of urine but I put this out my mind and focused on a final day which had come around all too fast. First port of call was the reggae tent.

BLUE KING BROWNS - Whenever you get a spare couple of hours and the weather is nice, the reggae area is always a shout. At around 4 in the afternoon I happened upon this multi-insturmental Australian reggae troop and spent the next hour staring in awe. For a start the lead singer is a babe but beyond that their  blend of politically driven music and chilled-out reggae beats made for perfect listening and they were also there on a slight ulterior motive. Towards the back-end of the set a freedom fighter from a province of Indonesia called West Papua which is under autocratic rule was brought on stage and told to regale his experiences. It was a moving moment and the crowd loved it as the troupe promoted a cause incredibly close to their hearts.I hadn't heard of West Papua before the performance and so it was proof in itself that music can really bring people together and make a difference.

OF MONSTERS AND MEN - The perfect festival band on the late afternoon Other Stage slot. Plenty of hey-hey-heys and la-la-las got a tad samey near the end but thoroughly enjoyable and the female singer is an absolute darling while the male one is chubby, bearded and adorable.

EDITORS - Had wanted to see these guys for absolutely ages. While new album The Weight of Your Love is coming in for an unnecessary ton of stick, they dug into their back catalogue a la Arctic Monkeys and pulled out some absolute bangers. Lead singer Tom Smith is as erratic as he is baritoned with his self-hugging dance move one to definitely look out for. Another ultimate festival band, this was the fifth time they had played Glastonbury!

THE xx - We made the ever-so-slightly controversial decision to give baffled pyramid headliners Mumford and Sons a miss and instead opted for something a bit softer. What followed was anything but soft. The xx's live performances are an absolute spectacle. Each song is given its own mini-makeover by head DJ Jamie xx and the resulting creations are both soulful and ambient. Not one member of the crowd wasn't having a good time and the joy which the band were so obviously gaining from their own performance was great to watch. Couldn't have chosen a better way to end.




That's it then, we returned to the campsite, lit a fire and made a toast to the end of our first Glastonbury in as clicheed a style as we possibly could. I leave you with the man who makes all the shit happen.

Till next time,

Max