Well, everyone else has done one. I guess it’s the immediacy of the internet nowadays that lists simply can’t wait until the year end. I did try to do this properly, but trying to whittle down about 40 or so absolute corkers so far this year I soon realised that it’s all far too much work, especially as I’ll be doing it all again in December. So the following fifteen albums (no singles or EPs, will be saving those for year-end also) are in no order and their selection has been completely arbitrary in a daily mood-matching way. Some of those will be high up my (and most others’) list in the deep midwinter, some may well have dropped off a bit and others replaced by whatever is going to pop up between now and the end of the year. What I’m trying to say is that it’s all a bit random. As is the accompanying text; I copy/pasted it from my Facebook entries over the past fortnight and the tenses are all over the place.
The Leisure Society – Into the Murky Water
As quintessentially English as Peter Skellern playing croquet on a lawn with the cast of Brideshead Revisited, this lovely album from TLS is perfect for swanning about in the sunshine in a field with boozy accoutrements. As the sun was out today (until lunchtime, when it peed it down), a no-brainer for my first pick of the half-year. Reviewed here.
Dustin O’Halloran – Lumiere
I first heard Dustin’s piano playing through the last two Soulsavers albums, and just love the achingly patient way that he draws his music from his playing. Also, This album REALLY provokes a synaesthetic response from me; I’m listening to this song as I type and it’s really hard going due to the keys moving about. Seriously. Reviewed here.
Matthew Ryan – I Recall Standing as Though Nothing Could Fall
Not available in three dimensions until the end of the month, this is something that grabbed me straight away and has yet to let go. Sometimes very heavy-going emotionally, but such a rewarding experience for it. Not the only album I bought this year that puts the listener through the wringer, and certainly up there with the best of them.
Reviewed here.
Jonny – Jonny
Norman off of Teenage Fanclub and Euros off of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci get together and make a charming and occasionally silly pop album. A sense of fun runs right through this, even when it gets all 10 minutes long and psychedelically-epic as in Cave Dance. One of my most listened-to records of the year so far.
Reviewed here.
Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi Present Rome
Much-anticipated by myself, and now much-loved. Cinematic albums seem to the the order of 2011 so far, and Rome takes this notion to the extreme. 5 years to make, an absolute labour of love that feels just at home in the late 60s/early 70s Spaghetti Western dustbowl as it does in the 21st century.
Reviewed here.
Vetiver – The Errant Charm
The most aptly-named album of the year so far, it’s a great listen but because it’s generally so laid-back (the track below is like Slayer compared to most of the rest of the album) that any hooks it may have tend to happily dissolve, it’s all a bit difficult to grasp. Still, once it finally settles down into the subconscious it’s stuck there. One that I can honestly say that I like now, I suspect that before the year is out, I’ll be liking it a whole lot more.
Not reviewed yet. Sorry!
The Twilight Singers – Dynamite Steps
Certainly the most “settled” album from Greg Dulli’s collective, the focus that it has probably means that it’s not as immediate as its predecessors, but it’s another top-quality effort from a band who continue to fly off in their own direction, showing much younger acts just how a great rock record should be made and performed.
Reviewed here.
The Head and the Heart – The Head and the Heart
One of just two albums that I know will be at the very top of the lists come the end of the year. Great stuff for all weathers and all moods, this lot should/will be rather huge rather soon, and their hooky choruses will be all over adverts and TV links for the next decade or so.
Reviewed here.
Erland and the Carnival – Nightingale
Following on from last year’s impressive debut, Nightingale is a spookier affair that continues with the band’s “nick as obscure a reference point as possible and then do a song about it” ethos, with music that spans decades and centuries, and goes all Joe Meek about it. probably best not to watch the vid if you’re about to go to bed, or contemplating camping in the near future.
Reviewed here.
Timber Timbre – Creep On Creepin’ On
Another one for the “Not great pre-bedtime listening”. Reminds me of that Very Things video that was always on the Tube, so I’ll have to dig that out in a min. Kind of like Screamin’ Jay Hawkins if he’d watched too much Twin Peaks, featuring lots of “he didn’t just say that, did he?” lyrical oddness. Love it.
Reviewed here.
Malachai – Return to the Ugly Side
How to describe this? Highly danceable (well, for some people. I don’t dance) psychedelic Portishead chanelling lunacy fronted my a man in a fetching hat and a monkey face. That sort of does it. Despite – or possibly because of – its utter strangeness, it’s very easy to listen to and get into, and tends to get played more often than most this year because of it.
Reviewed here.
The Decemberists – The King is Dead
Or – “Band makes homage album, riffs heavily on REM and the Smiths but that’s OK because a bloke from REM plays on it”. Uses the obvious influences well, revisiting old songs as close as they dare (try not to go “Fiyaaaaa haaaa haa” during the chorus in the link below) and the end result is a riveting album in its own right, just as Reservoir Dogs is a great film despite mostly being City On Fire.
Reviewed here.
Josh T Pearson – Last of the Country Gentlemen
Something that you will either love or hate, Josh follows up the breakup of his band with his solo debut, with a mere 10-year gap in between. This is true staring-into-the-abyss stuff, made all the more harrowing because it’s someone else’s, with no punch pulled during the course of the 10-minute+ monologued confessions contained on the album. I’ve heard nothing like it in my life.
Reviewed here.
Daniel Martin Moore – In the Cool of the Day
Thurston Moore – Demolished Thoughts
Wasn’t even expecting to even give this a listen at first, as it was released in the middle of an absolute flurry of stuff and Sonic Youth were never that high on my register, this came as a huge surprise. Thanks in large part to Beck Hansen helping to turn it into something that hasn’t really been heard since Pink Moon, it’s an odd but comforting listen.
Reviewed here.
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