This list is not, I think, desperately representative, as I don’t always have scrobble turned on and listen to vinyl half the time – but here, according to Last.fm, are the songs I listened to most in 2011.
Archive for the ‘Currently Listening’ Category
Late! Albums of the year 2010
Posted 28 Mar 2011 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening, Music
Category Currently Listening, Music
This post is so ridiculously out of date that it’s only real purpose is posterity – every year I’ve done this blog I’ve posted my ten albums of the year, but in 2010 I only got as far as deciding my list; I didn’t write about it.
So I put off posting the top ten until I had written something thoughtful about it and then, having not reached that stage… well, then it felt a bit too late. Now it’s late March and there have been a slew of fine records out in 2011, but for the sake of completeness, here’s my carefully considered – but very late – list of the best LPs of 2010, according to Assistant Blog.
1. Caitlin Rose – Our Side Now LP
- the simplest of country records, in the best way. This is country music which doesn’t yearn to be Americana. Just beautiful, unaffected songs about love going bad, drinking and smoking. And Caitlin Rose is a marvel – young, brassy, wistful and massively talented. Easily my most played record of 2011, which is why it’s number one.
2. Katell Keineg – At The Mermaid Parade LP
- Honest Jons records continues to be the best record label in the world, as far as I’m concerned, knocking out release after release spanning African calypso, micro-house and folk music. This – like the Simone White record a year ago – is one of their most conventional released. Katell Keineg is a Breton-Welsh singer-songwriter in her mid-40s, about whom comparitively little is documented. She releases quiet, thrilling folk records from time to time. This is her latest.
2. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach LP
- Probably this was the record I expected to be topping the list this year, and it nearly did, except for the fact that this year it was playing live that Gorillaz most blew me away, and once I’d seen that the record paled a little, as studio-based records often do after they’ve been realised live. Of course, it’s marvellous – possibly under-realised, arguably lacking the punch that producers like Dan The Automator and Danger Mouse have brought to the table previously…. but it’s scope is unbelievable and Damon continues to knock out simply stunning, memorable tunes year after year. ‘Stylo’ is surely amongst his best songs ever.
4. Matthew Dear – Black City
- The last of the four records that could easily have topped the list. This is amazing, amorphous, micro-composed dance music. Somewhere between Berlin techno, Lodger era Bowie and Talking Heads, ‘Black City’ is a dark, sexy, complex record. Terrific stuff.
5. Phosphorescent – Here’s To Taking It Easy LP
- were it not for the album’s masterpiece, ‘The Mermaid Parade’, this LP might be written off as an inferior record to the last Phosphorescent long-player, ‘Pride’, but that song, and the wonderful, Neil Young-esque closer of ‘Los Angeles’ lift this beautiful, bruised collection of sun-kissed country rock in amongst the year’s best releases.
6. Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can LP
- Here because it would be ludicrous to omit it. There’s certainly been few more lyrically precise, perfectly realised LPs in the last few years, and Marling’s rate of progress is staggering. Part of me wondered if she’d lost a bit of the youthful wonder evident on her debut – but the move towards more mature songwriting is balanced by real insightfulness in her words.
8. Ghostface Killah – Apollo Kids
- It always looks tokenistic when, inevitably, I include one rap LP in my yearly list, but the truth is that every year there is just tons of amazing hip hop which I could include if, somehow, it wasn’t all slung in among weak album tracks and filler. There have been beautiful, vital tracks by Little Brother, Murs & 9th Wonder, Nottz, Reflection Eternal, Statik Selektah & Term, The Left and The Roots – but rarely does a rap artist create a coherent, consistent LP. Except, of course, Ghostface does, every time, and so it proves again. Apollo Kids isn’t his best – no Ironman or Fishscale – but it’s still stunning.
7. Gil Scott Heron – I’m New Here LP
- What an unexpected treat. Gil Scott Heron could have released a decent comeback record and, given his status and history, he’d have had it hailed as a classic. But that he conjured up an extraordinary return is one of the great minor miracles of our time, and it’s not hyperbole to rank this as amongst his finest. Listen to his voice on the title track.
9. Wave Pictures – Susan Rode The Cyclone
- I adore the Wave Pictures for their work ethic and productivity, but there’s little doubt that this was their weakest effort yet. It’s not bad by any stretch, but it lacks the punch of Instant Coffee Baby or the depth of If You Leave It Alone. But so long as David Tattersall continues to be the best lyricist in UK pop and delivers occasional guitar solos like the one he unleashes in ‘Kittens’, I’ll love them unconditionally.
10. Actress – Splazsh
- A second entry courtesy of Honest Jons, Actress’s ‘Splazsh’ was a dazzling combination of techno and dubstep; one of the most rich and satisfying records I’ve heard all year. A stuttering, shimmering, bass-heavy collision of bleeps and rhythms. At times it reaches ‘Incunabula’-like levels of loveliness.
Honourable mentions:
Some other great LPs were released in 2010 – notably by The Fall, Edwyn Collins, Field Music, Gangrene, Liars, Kort, MGMT, Own Pallett, Male Bonding, Pantha Du Prince, Paul Weller, The American Shakes, Peggy Sue, Robert Plant and These New Puritans. Plus a bunch I’ve probably forgotten about.
Currently listening, Jan 2011
Posted 23 Jan 2011 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening
Category Currently Listening
1. British Sea Power: Valhalla Dancehall LP (Still pretty much of the opinion that this is their finest, most fully realised LP yet. Some classic BSP stompers, and the best songs yet by the increasingly influential Hamilton).
2. Justin Townes Earle: Harlem River Blues LP (absolutely stunning live in Brighton last week, I prefer Justin’s music stripped down rather than fleshed out – but his stuff is brilliant; the key being the way he sings about the modern world in a way that recalls tradition).
3. Broadcast – Winter Now (Well, everyone is saying how much they miss Trish Keenan right now. I was never a huge Broadcast fan, but they’re undeniably lovely and of course, her death is a huge loss).
4. PJ Harvey – The Words That Makest Murder (she’s back – exciting)
5. Lykke Li – I Follow Rivers (she’s back – doubly exciting. I have really really high hopes for the new album; got a feeling it’ll be one of the best of the year).
6. Seth Nehil – Knives LP (agreeably discordant waves of sound and musique concrete; uneasy listening).
7. Clint Mansell – Swan Lake OST LP (Reliably brilliant stuff by Mansell, who scored Duncan Jones’ ‘Moon’ so successfully. Here Tchaikovsky’s original music is led down dark alleys and basements – serene one minute, chilling the next).
8. Colorama – Box (saw this lot live at the Hedgerow Society in Brighton this week and really enjoyed their fine tuned psych pop. This track is the lead song from their new LP. Video below; sorry about the gratuitous leg-shot).
Albums of the year, 2004-2009
Posted 29 Nov 2010 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening
Category Currently Listening
In a remarkable act of staying power, I find that I’ve been keeping album of the year lists since 2004. For the most part the lists are a fairly predictable affair, with multiple entries for certain artists (and a few dodgy calls which I wouldn’t include if I redid the lists now) but all in all it’s pretty decent, if indie-centric stuff. Am sure I missed lots of wonderful records from these top tens. Anyway – I’ll be doing an albums of the year list for 2010 too, of course, but in the meantime, here’s a catchup:
Albums of the Year 2009
1. Wave Pictures – If you Leave It Alone
2. Blue Roses – s/t
3. Brakes – Touchdown
4. Darren Hayman – Pram Town
5. Emmy The Great – First Love
6. Graham Coxon – The Spinning Top
7. Clint Mansell – Moon (Soundtrack)
8. Simone White – Yakiimo
9. St Vincent – Actor
10. Noah and The Whale -The First Days of Spring
Albums of the year 2008
1. THE WAVE PICTURES – Instant Coffee Baby
2. LAURA MARLING – Alas I Cannot Swim
3. LYKKE LI – Youth Novels
4. THOMAS TANTRUM – s/t
5. STEPHEN MALKMUS – Real Emotional Trash
6. FRIGHTENED RABBIT – The Midnight Organ Flight
7. PEGGY SUE – The Body Parts / The First Aid
8. VAMPIRE WEEKEND – s/t
9. NEIL HALSTEAD – Oh, Mighty Engine
10. CARL CRAIG – Sessions
Albums of the year 2007
1. Field Music – Tones of Town
2. The Good, the Bad and the Queen – s/t
3. Scout Niblett – This Fool Can Die Now
4. PJ Harvey – White Chalk
5. Jeff Lewis – 12 Crass Songs
6. Electrelane – No Shouts, No Calls
7. Burial – Untrue
8. Seabear – The Ghost That Carried Me Away
9. Dinosaur Jr – Beyond
10. Cribs – Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whateve
Albums of the Year 2006
1. K’naan – The Dusty Foot Philosopher
2. Cat Power – The Greatest
3. The Lemonheads – The Lemonheads
4. Ghostface – Fishscale
5. The Young Knives – Voices of Animals and Men
6. Hot Chip – The Warning
7. Midlake – The Trials of Van Occupanther
8. Lily Allen – Alright, Still
9. Graham Coxon – Love Travels At Illegal Speeds
10. The Hot Puppies – Under The Crooked Moon
Albums of the year 2005
1. Field Music – Field Music
2. Gorillaz – Demon Days
3. Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise
4. Electrelane – Axes
5. Annie – Anniemal
6. Stephen Malkmus – Face The Truth
7. Silver Jews – Tanglewood Numbers
8. LCD Soundsystem – s/t
9. Brakes – Give Blood
10. Maximo Park – A Certain Trigger
Albums of the Year 2004
1. Wiley – Treddin’ On Thin Ice
2. Bjork – Medulla:
3. Electrelane – The Power Out
4. The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come For Free.
5. Futureheads – Futureheads.
6. Junior Boys – Last Exit:
7. Dizzee Rascal – Showtime
8. Infinite Livez – Bush Meat:
9. Wu Tang Clan – Disciples of the 36 Chambers:
10. !!! – Louden Up Now
Currently listening
Posted 07 Mar 2010 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening, Music
Category Currently Listening, Music
1. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach LP (obviously)
2. Tristram – Someone Told me a Poem Last Night EP
3. Raekwon – The Gihad (and everything else from ‘Only Built For Cuban Linx Vol 2’, especially if Ghostface is on it)
4. ‘Open Strings’ LP – still loving this compilation of Middle Eastern string music from the 1920s.
5. Sparrow – Standon Road Green (from their ace ‘Sparrow’ LP)
6. Tindersticks – Falling Down a Mountain LP
7. Wu-Tang Vs The Beatles – Enter the Magical Mystery Chambers LP (Deb at work was complaining about how horrid the word ‘mashup’ is. She’s right. This is a great example of one, though).
8. Archie Bronson Quartet – Coconut LP (loud).
currently listening
Posted 15 Jan 2010 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening, Music
Category Currently Listening, Music
My listening habits for the first couple of weeks of this new decade are, frankly, more 1975 than 2010, but never mind. Here’s what I’ve been listening to recently.
1. Townes Van Zandt, Live At The Old Quarter, Houston, Texas LP. Van Zandt may have been, in his doctor’s words, “an acute manic-depressive who has made minimal adjustments to life”, but it’s the conventionality of his music that I love rather than its idiosyncrasy. On the face of it, he’s an orthodox singer-songwriter in the country-folk mould. But his records have a wonderful mixture of gravity and humour. Wildly unappreciated, but I think this recording of a live set from 1977 is his very best record, and worth treasuring.
2. Big Star, ‘The India Song’. As an Andy Hummel contribution, this is probably one of the least lauded Big Star numbers, but I think it’s beautiful – Big Star were ace.
2. Gillian Welch, ‘Elvis Presley Blues’ (from her Time (The Revelator) LP). This is the song that launched me on this week’s retro direction – a lovely, idiosyncratic bit of Americana I first heard on Jarvis Cocker’s new 6 Music show.
4. Bobbie Gentry, Touch ‘Em With Love LP. I was inspired to dig back to this late 70s country/soul hybrid courtesy of the lovely Beth Jeans Houghton, whose inspired folk reminds me much more of this than anything made in the 2000s.
5. Mary Hampton, ‘Honey’ (from her My Mother’s Children LP). Creepy, quiet, Brighton folk. I saw Mary live a couple of months ago and she played a song to the percussive sound of the audience rattling their housekeys. Awesome.
6. The Dream Syndicate, The Days of Wine and Roses LP . Apparently this lot were part of LA’s ‘Paisley Underground’ in the early 80s. That sounds awful, but the song is lovely, prefiguring the notion that one day Robyn Hitchcock and Peter Buck would hitch up and work together.
7. The Mantles, The Mantles LP – this is great stuff, just really simple, reverb-drenched indie, garage-formed psych. Good stuff.
8. Pérotin, Beata Viscera – caught a snippet of this amazing Gregorian choral music in Terence Davies’ marvellous ‘Of Time and The City‘ and had to seek it out. Beguiling stuff.
9. Lucinda Williams, ‘Maria’ (from the Happy Woman Blues LP). I know, more country-rock. But listen to it; it’s gorgeous – “damn the pain and damn those restless days”.
10. Younghusband, ‘Younghusband Says Relax’. Still can’t stop listening to this wonderful, post Lemonheads/Teenage Fanclub indie. My favourite single from 2009, by miles. A real slacker anthem, too – “Don’t feel sad / I do / and I’m guilty of an anxiety relax”.
OK, and I’m going to try to do Spotify playlists when I do this in future. Here we go then. Click to open:
Spotify playlist for my current listening, Jan 15th 2010.
I promise next week I’ll listen to some hip hop or something.
last.fm yearly roundup
Posted 02 Jan 2010 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening
Category Currently Listening
Last.fm monitors most of my listening habits, being plugged in as it is to my ipod, my iphone, to iTunes and to Spotify, so it only falls down when it has a hissy fit or else I’m listening to the radio or to vinyl. Like a lot of these services which track your habits, it’s faintly dispiriting when you use it to look back at your tastes. The following list is my most listened to artists of 2009 – some are surprising, some are blindingly obvious. Can’t help wishing the list was a bit more esoteric or interesting, but there you are.
1. Blur, 307 plays
2. Emmy the Great, 195 plays
3. The Wave Pictures, 153 plays
4. Field Music, 127 plays
5. Noah and the Whale, 126 plays
6. Bat for Lashes, 114 plays
7. Blue Roses, 112 plays
8. Edward Williams, 103 plays
9. Simone White, 84 plays
10. Graham Coxon, 81 plays
11. Pavement, 79 plays
12. Peggy Sue, 75 plays
13. The Zombies, 74 plays
14. Julie Doiron, 72 plays
15. Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny, 68 plays.
the lists descend
Posted 08 Dec 2009 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening, Music
Category Currently Listening, Music
What with it being both the end of the year and the end of decade, it’s LISTMANIA on the internet, obviously. I’ve been reading lots of lists and, so far, disagreeing with lots of them. It seems to me that lots of very good albums are being overlooked in favour of a lot of pretty average ones (I’m looking at you, The Low Anthem, you, The Big Pink, and you, The Mountain Goats). But until I unveil my own list, I shan’t moan too much – and I readily admit I look forward to the gnashing of teeth.
The Music Fix list isn’t one I was looking out for, and sure enough it mixes the sublime (Darren Hayman’s Pram Town) with a bunch of records I’d cross the road to avoid (The Airborne Toxic Event, Biffy Clyro, that surprisingly bad Florence & The Machine LP).
Anyway – one happy consequence of their list is that they’ve scrambled a set of mini-interviews with some of the winners, which provokes some interesting thoughts from the couple of artists on the list I’m interested in…
Luke Haines
Dear Music Fix, My heart brims with joy and seasonal good will on my inclusion in your list thingy. My heart brims with joy and seasonal good will anyway. You lot deserve my salutations because frankly I don’t know how you found 40 albums of the year. Man, I can just about think of 40 albums from the last 40 years that get the old five star treatment. By the way is my ‘record’ in the Sounds best of the year list? Melody Maker? Who cares, I’m more of a Zig Zag man. BTW, what number am I? Actually it doesn’t matter because I operate under a different numerical system to you lot. Anyway; to lists and my inclusion in them. Thank you.
For Xmas I would like a chisel.
Next year I intend to commence work on my replica scale model of the world.
Darren Hayman
Lists are infuriating, especially when you’re not in them. But that’s what they are there for, to encourage debate, to make people disagree. I’m not used to flattery. People say very nice things about my records and I know some people like them a lot but I don’t usually find myself in end of year lists.
But I’ll take a compliment! It’s been a strange couple of years, the Hefner re-issues and related shows have made me aware how much my old band means to people but the honest truth is that I think I’m currently writing the best songs of my life. I tried hard to make Pram Town unusual, beautiful and intelligent. I hope I half succeeded.
I have no idea of how good I am compared to my contemporaries. I guess if you had to push me on it I would say I’m better then the guy out of Snow Patrol but not as good as Emmy the Great. If you say I wrote one of the 40 best albums of the year I’ll think you’re taking the piss.
But it does make me very happy.
I’m hoping for the Big Star box set in my Xmas stocking. I think I have dropped enough hints to my wife. I think I have a reasonable chance.
It looks like Pram Town may be part of a loose trilogy of albums about Essex. The second Essex Arms is another folk opera about love in the lawless countryside. We hope to have it out by the summer. There is talk of a Hefner Peel Sessions album.
Both Luke and Darren will be pleased to hear, I’m sure, that both are in the running for my top ten.
currently listening
Posted 13 Oct 2009 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening, Music, Video
Category Currently Listening, Music, Video
Not sure what has prompted it, but been listening to lots of lush 60s garage and psychedelia since I’ve been in Budapest. Here’s a Budapest playlist, via Youtube.
1. The Apple – Bufallo Billycan
2. The Zombies – Care of Cell 44
3. The Idle Race – The Imposters of Life’s Magazine
4. The Kinks – Some Mother’s Son
currently listening
Posted 18 Aug 2009 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening, Daft
Category Currently Listening, Daft
1. Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue LP
2. Delorean – Ayrton Senna EP
3. The Antlers – Hospice LP
4. Yacht – See Mystery Lights LP
5. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca LP
Ah, not really. The above are all hip albums I’ve read about on the web in the last week or two. Out of a vague sense of duty, I downloaded ‘em. But I can’t really be bothered to listen to any of them. Here’s what I’m really listening to.
1. Blur
2. Old mp3s of the Adam & Joe show.
3. The new Noah and the Whale LP
4. Music from John Hughes films
5. …er. Radio 4?
I realise that this feature works better when I’m motivated to listen to music. Having a dry patch at the moment, clearly.
currently listening
Posted 29 Apr 2009 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening, Music
Category Currently Listening, Music
I’m absolutely loving this year for record releases so far. Some brilliant albums. And I’ve been playing them at the expense of pretty much everything in my record collection, so this week’s ‘Currently Listening’ is kind of a round up of this year’s best records so far.
1. The Wave Pictures – If You Leave It Alone LP
2. Emmy The Great – First Love
3. The Horrors – Primary Colours
4. Blue Roses – Blue Roses LP
5. Bat For Lashes – Two Suns LP
6. Graham Coxon – The Spinning Top LP
7. Julie Doiron – I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day LP
8. It Hugs Back – Inside Your Guitar LP
9. Hatcham Social – You Dig The Tunnel, I’ll Hide The Soil LP
10. Darren Hayman – Pram Town LP
currently listening
Posted 25 Feb 2009 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening, Music
Category Currently Listening, Music
I’ve just had a reminder from Lyndsey about just how slack I’ve been with blogging lately, and she’s absolutely right – I’ve had various fallow periods over the years but I seem to be going through a particularly sticky patch at the moment. It’s to do with time management and procrastination, rather than not having anything to write about, so I’m apparently going to have to re-learn the art of blogging, or rather find a way of getting back into the habit of it. Blogging works brilliantly as a habit, OK as a hobby, and terribly as a chore. So will try to reclimatise.
To get back under-way, here’s a breakdown of current listening, complete with ropey youtube links where possible. Proper bloggin’ to follow.
1. Peggy Sue – Alice In The Kitchen
2. Frida Hyvonen – Dirty Dancing
3. Stricken City – Lost Art (Tin Can Telephone mix)
4. Tom Tom Club – Genius Of Love
5. Diane Cluck – My Teacher Died
6. The Nextdoor Neighbors – The Werefolf Song
7. Jeff Lewis – North Korea: A Complete History of Communism pt 5
8. Harry Nilsson – Nilsson Schmilsson LP
also rans part two
Posted 15 Jan 2009 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening
Category Currently Listening
Okay, so I’ve already done one quick round-up of the first bunch of records which fell just outside of my top ten of 2008, so here’s a quick follow up concerning the second set.
The year started with the release of an album which pretty much everyone seemed to be excited about: British Sea Power‘s Do Your Like Rock Music. It seemed to have everything going for it; great lyrics, an interesting concept, and a big, full sound which recalled The Arcade Fire. It also contained a set of songs that everyone could imagine sounding great at the summer festivals. I’m not sure that in the end BSP fully lived up to these high expectations, but it was a pleasure watching them get some deserved attention (and an appearance on Countryfile!). DYLRM was a good – if not great – album, and it contained three superb songs: ‘Canvey Island’, ‘No Need To Cry’ and ‘Open The Door’, heartbreakingly lovely all.
It’s maybe not surprising that the songs I’ve highlighted above were rather quiet compared to the album’s more bombastic tracks, for that follows a trend I can’t escape in 2008. Another band that impressed me, Desolation Wilderness, made a lovely, sun-kissed record, White Light Strobing, which was drenched in echo and sounded like a cross between a quiet My Bloody Valentine and Galaxie 500. It was the perfect definition of a grower, a slow, precise album that got better and better as the winter drew in. Sometimes records don’t need to blow you away to win a place in your heart; I’ve no doubt that the Deerhunter record was better (and it was really lovely) but I preferred this.
I liked the Shearwater record too. They made an very natural, elegant contribution with their ornithologically-minded Rook, a mature, piano-led album made notable by Jonathan Meiburg’s clean, pure, almost operatic tenor voice. It was a very pastoral, wistful and beautiful art-rock record – like Radiohead covering Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden. And Brighton MA made another record that might have escaped me if I hadn’t for some reason come back for subsequent listens after initially being unimpressed. Their Amateur Lovers does nothing more than run with the spirit of Bob Dylan, Wilco and REM, but it does so in a quietly transfixing way, making for a sturdy, world-weary yet enigmatic album.
This year seems to be the year that the indie fraternity really fell for folk, surrendering to a series of young, serious and often gorgeous singer-songwriters, many of whom seemed capable of playing broadly traditional music, imbued with delicacy and vulnerability, without sounding old-fashioned. Contributions from Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes have been much lauded (and deservedly so) but they didn’t top my listening; I was rather more taken with records by Brian Borcherdt, who is otherwise best known for being a member of Holy Fuck, and whose Coyotes was a very tender, quiet and beautiful album, The Dodos, whose Visiter combined wistful Americana with unpredictable melodies reminiscent of the wonderful XTC, and Noah And The Whale, who made a tasteful, enthusiastic anti-folk album, Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down; the only flaw of which was a propensity towards a transatlantic accent on the part of Charlie Fink, and a bit of youthful precocity that made them sound overly serious. Iceland’s Hjaltalin and Sin Fang Bous both turned in sweet, tuneful indie-folk LPs that are well worth a listen, too.
Best of all the non-top ten folk stuff, was an album by an artist I discovered by accident: Talons. Released on the small Bark and Hiss label, Songs for Babes is made up of 12 lo-fi, bedroom-recorded paeans to girls, and is beautifully packaged into a delightfully presented record complete with sleeve notes which provide delicate graphical representations of each track’s arrangements. It’s a deeply personal record – although my favourite moment occurs halfway through ‘Juice’, when the song pauses for a brief, celebratory run through the chorus of Steely Dan’s ‘Deacon Blues’. Songs for Babes is the record that fell just outside my top ten, and comes highly recommended. You can pick up a copy here.
Finally, a mention for two more stunning, stately grown-up records. 2008 was the year I finally admitted that Elbow are a great band, and their Mercury Prize win was richly deserved. The Seldom Seen Kid is a terrific record, full of sadness and joy, memorable melodies and beautiful lyrics. And I’ve been wrong all these years. So there you go. On the other hand, I’ve been right all along about the Go-Betweens, so it was no surprise to find Robert Forster turning in another immaculate album, although it somehow felt more important than usual that he did so this year, following the early, tragic death of Grant McLennan. The Evangelist is in some ways a sorrowful record as a consequence, but Forster remains a peerless songwriter – dry, ironic, detached, and yet also deeply moving.
Right, This series of posts has dragged on far too long. Tomorrow I’ll post my top ten of the year, and we can move on.
albums from 2007
Posted 28 Nov 2008 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening, Music
Category Currently Listening, Music
Here at Assistant Blog Towers I’m beginning to think about my records of the year so that I can indulge in a bit of list-making, and it occurred to me – in particular after hearing the Wave Picture’s Dave Tattersal talking about his intuition that we wrongly favour what is new over what is special – to look back and see how many records from last year’s list I still rate really highly.
And then I discovered that I never posted a 2007 list, despite a clear memory of writing it. So a trawl through my huge drafts folder located this unpublished list, compiled in January of 2008, of my favourite albums of 2007. What’s interesting is that firstly I had remembered ’07 as a particularly bad year for albums, and yet I was surprised how many great records I singled out. Equally, there are a few there that quickly lost their sheen. So here’s the list, as written, with the exception that I’ve put any records I still listen to frequently in bold. There’s nothing on there I’d disown, but the paucity of bolded items indicates that it’s interesting what insights a bit of distance and perspective can bring.
1. Field Music – Tones of Town
2. The Good, the Bad and the Queen – s/t
3. Scout Niblett – This Fool Can Die Now
4. PJ Harvey – White Chalk
5. Jeff Lewis – 12 Crass Songs
6. Electrelane – No Shouts, No Calls
7. Burial – Untrue
8. Seabear – The Ghost That Carried Me Away
9. Dinosaur Jr – Beyond
10. Cribs – Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever
11. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
12. Thurston Moore – Trees Outside The Academy
13. Von Sudenfed – Tromatic Reflexxxions
14. Panda Bear – Person Pitch
15. Prinzhorn Dance School – s/t
16. Deerhunter – Cryptograms
17. Mountain Goats – Sunset Tree
18. M.I.A – Kala
19. Robert Wyatt – Comicopera
20. Horrors – Strange House
21. Prodigy (Mobb Deep) – Return Of The Mac
22. Shocking Pinks – s/t
23. Clipse – Hell Hath No Fury
24. Twilight Sad – 14 Autumns and 15 Winters
25. Holy Fuck – s/t
2008 list to come quite soon, when I’m finished arguing with myself.
currently listening to…
Posted 20 Nov 2008 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening, Music
Category Currently Listening, Music
1. It Hugs Back – Work Day 7″; over a clutch of singles, It Hugs Back are slowly burrowing the thought that they might be the most promising band in the UK right now into my head. Like Field Music – another band who grew and grew on me, until at last I loved them unconditionally – they are devising a sound of quiet genius. This latest single is lovely.
2. Deerhunter – Microcastles/Weird Era Cont… LPs; two blissful albums from one band, released on the same day. You can’t argue with that. But which is better? I really can’t decide.
3. Brighton MA – Amateur Lovers LP; another massive grower – at first I dismissed this as Dylan-lite, Midwestern indie rock, but I was quite wrong. Beautifully arranged and heavy with feeling, this is a dour cracker.
4. Emmy The Great – We Almost Had a Baby 7″; We’re finally at the countdown stage of the long, long, long wait for Emmy’s album. Thank goodness. The A-side you should know already. The b-side, ‘Short Country Song’, is spellbinding.
2. Deerhunter – Microcastles/Weird Era Cont… LPs; two blissful albums from one band, released on the same day. You can’t argue with that. But which is better? I really can’t decide.
3. Brighton MA – Amateur Lovers LP; another massive grower – at first I dismissed this as Dylan-lite, Midwestern indie rock, but I was quite wrong. Beautifully arranged and heavy with feeling, this is a dour cracker.
4. Emmy The Great – We Almost Had a Baby 7″; We’re finally at the countdown stage of the long, long, long wait for Emmy’s album. Thank goodness. The A-side you should know already. The b-side, ‘Short Country Song’, is spellbinding.
5. Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby – s/t LP; totally unexpected return from the marvellous Eric – this is a bright, funny, loopy return; some lovely, lovelorn and frazzled songs that could sit next to Robyn Hitchcock or Kevin Ayers in any record collection.
6. Don Cavalli – Cryland LP; an amazing, technicolour, love-it-or-hate-it effort from this Parisian loner; a twisted combination of delta blues, psychedelic rock, Beefheart and Devo.
6. Don Cavalli – Cryland LP; an amazing, technicolour, love-it-or-hate-it effort from this Parisian loner; a twisted combination of delta blues, psychedelic rock, Beefheart and Devo.
7. Francois Virot – Yes or No LP; An interesting, simple collage of acoustic guitar and handclaps which somehow recalls Animal Collective and XTC. Odd, intriguing, good.
8. Wallpaper – On The Chewing Gum Ground LP; Three-piece power pop from Washington State; this is a patchy but occasionally great combination of Make Up, The Jam and, er, The Merton Parkas.
9. Stricken City – Lost Art 7″; not quite as great as their super debut, ‘Tak o Tak’, but a great pop song nonetheless, and the band evidently possess, in Rebekah Rah, a bit of a star in the making.
10. CaUSE Co-MOTION - It’s Time LP; this one’s only at the bottom of the list cause I’ve had it for a while; it’s terrific, energetic stuff, imbued with the spirit of The Pastels and their kindred spirits The Vivian Girls. Infuriating band-name capitalization thing notwithstanding.
currently listening…
Posted 29 Sep 2008 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening, Music
Category Currently Listening, Music
1. Stricken City – Tak O Tak (buzzy, energetic indie pop from this new London group – recommended)
2. Neil Halstead – Witless Or Wise (Neil’s Oh! Mighty Engine LP has been the slowest burning record of 2008 for me, but I think it’s probably my very favourite)
3. The Wave Pictures – Our Perfect Lovers (quite amazing that the Just Like A Drummer mini-LP contains so many brilliant, brilliant songs. This is the best).
4. Dinosaur Pile-Up – Love Is A Boat And We’re Sinking (loving the simplicity of this one; looped, wonky guitar riffs always work a treat; and some great harmonies, too)
5. Peggy Sue – All In My Grill (I challenge you listen to Rosa and Katy’s take on the Missy Elliot track without bursting into laughter. As they do).
6. Frokost – Hanging Out With The In-Crowd (from their really good The Sound Of My Wooden Chest LP, which I picked up in NY)
7. Underground Railroad – Sticks And Stones LP (grunge is back. Again?)
8. The Vivian Girls – LP (only just heard this, so will hold back on the enthusiasm for a bit, but I think this’ll be on my record player a lot this autumn)
9. Jenny Lewis – Acid Tongue LP (Still struggling with Rilo Kiley, despite Dan’s promptings, but I like this new album a lot)
10. Aaron Neville – Hercules (old New Orleans funk from a Soul Jazz comp; came across it on shuffle and addicted now…)
currently listening…
Posted 16 Jul 2008 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening, Music
Category Currently Listening, Music
A mixture this week of indie-folk and underground-ish hip hop. A week of two halves.
1. Thomas Tantrum – Why The English Are Rubbish
2. C Rayz Walz And Parallel Thought – Chorus I
3. The Wave Pictures – Long Island
4. Dananananakroyd – The Greater Than Symbol and the Hash
5. K-OS – Electrik Heat, The Seekwill
6. Symmetry – Hater
7. Young Husband – Mass Kiss
8. Kimya Dawson – My Mom
9. Birdengine – Heads Off Dogs
10. Y Society – This is an Introduction
currently listening
Posted 11 Jun 2008 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening, Music
Category Currently Listening, Music
Argh, the sun is out and it’s all a bit weedy/folky this week. Sorry, punk rock.
1. Peggy Sue and The Pirates – Slowcoach
2. The Dodos – Red and Purple
3. The Anderson Tapes – Turn To Speak
4. Port O’Brien – All We Could Do Was Sing LP
5. Emmy The Great – Long Island (Wave Pictures cover)
6. Truckers of Husk – Cookie Cool and the Candy Mob
7. Anna Log – Scribble Talk
8. The National – Fake Empire
9. Florence and The Machine – Between Two Lungs
10. Jeffrey Lewis – The Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song
thoughts on travelling
Posted 17 May 2008 — by Jonathan
Category Currently Listening, Observations
Category Currently Listening, Observations
Of course, if I was a genuine traveller, rather than a tourist-fraud, I’d immerse myself completely in the culture I encounter when I’m abroad. Here’s an example: one thing I’ve noticed since I’ve been in Lisbon is the extent of the Brazilian influence in the city – and several times while I’ve been out I’ve noted a band playing the country’s music in the street. And each time I’ve walked by all but oblivious, hearing not their undoubtedly beautiful music but rather the bass pounding in my headphones. Equally, I’ve sat outside cafes with a stunning view before me, basking in the Portugese sun, but at least half my consciousness has been wrapped up in thoughts of post-war Tokyo, because I’ve perpetually got my head in a book about the city at the moment.
Obviously this isn’t constant – so I have spent hours admiring the city for what it is, enjoying the local food and beer, listening to the fado players in the Bairro Alto. But equally, when I look back on Lisbon, I suspect mixed in with the genuine observations will be flashes of Tokyo, played out on a soundtrack of the three records I’ve had on constant rotation: Supa D’s joyful Rinse mix of house and garage, Uusitalo’s Karhunainen LP, and the more-stunning-with-every-listen Think Tank, Blur’s last album.
My memories of other places work in the same way – in fact in many ways the sounds I remember become a distinctive feature of the city, even if their relationship to the city is entirely imposed. I remember listening to The Wave Pictures in Florence, Prodigy of Mobb Deep in Croatia, and The Silver Jews in San Francisco.
Am I in some way polluting the purity of my experiences? Or doesn’t it matter at all?
