is it dead at the end of the road?

Top 10 Albums of 2009

9. Them Crooked Vultures - The Crooked Vultures (Swisslet)

“Super Groups” aren’t supposed to be like this: they’re supposed to be exercises in vanity and self-absorption where nobody dares to tell the star performers that their songs are overlong and under-interesting; that the album might have been fun to make, but it’s certainly no fun to listen to.

Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones appear to have broken the mould here with an album that’s a riot from start to finish. Yeah, so it’s not art, some of the songs are a little long, and perhaps there are times when someone might have had a word with the drummer about his solos…. But if you want a proper, honest-to-goodness, pedal-to-the-metal rock album, then there hasn’t been a better one than this all year.

Listen To: Dead End Friends

9. Athlete - Black Swan (LB)

2005’s Tourist remains one of my favourite albums of recent years and despite the commercial failure of 2007’s Beyond the Neighbourhood (not their best, but by no means as bad as it was made out to be) I had high hopes that Athlete would return with another great record.

I’m delighted to report that Black Swan is just that record.

Eschewing the electronica apparent on Beyond The Neighbourhood and returning to the simple, gentle guitar pop that served them so well on Vehicles and Animals and Tourist, Athlete’s comeback album is simply brilliant. From the great uptempo Superhuman Touch to the really beautiful title track it is another superb Athlete record from start to finish. If you ever liked any of their previous work I can pretty much guarantee that you will like Black Swan as well.

Listen to: Black Swan Song

9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz (bedshaped)

Karen O and the gang returned with an album that, in their words, "changes the sound around a little." Personally, I think they've under-sold themselves with that statement. Gone are the crashing, sometimes untidy drums. The guitars have been either replaced by keyboards or mixed right down in the tracks and Karen O's vocals are sounding cooler than ever.

It's a tight mix of very tidy tracks, with production, mixing and delivery giving more than it's fair share of nods towards electronica, programming beats and fashionable eighties beats. For those familiar with older Yeah Yeah Yeah songs, it's winning formula is that they've retained their indie status....their almost underground sound, as it were....and yet produced a great set of songs that sound like they've been written and played after spending the previous six months listening to Japan, Talking Heads, Blondie, Depeche Mode and anything produced by Brian Eno, Giorgio Moroder or Fluke.

Classy!

It's filled with hooks, ranging from the pulsing keys bassline in Zero ....to the almost anthemic bagpipes sound towards the end of Skeletons...to the haunting tinkly keys in "Runaway"....to the dirty, dirty guitar chords in Shame and Fortune.

Standing out for me, is Runaway. A simple story about love, loss, choices and reflection. The haunting piano melody is just lush, Karen's voice adding depth to the first half, until strings signal the song is really gonna fill out. And fill out, it does. Wonderful orchestrations drive the last half of the song, washing in and out, before strings take the basics of the song and wring its neck.

I think they've probably already peaked with their musical status. Which is a great shame. Like many other bands, they seem to have hit a point in their careers where they might still be around in six or seven years, but they'll never be any bigger. Whilst this latest album is certainly head and shoulders above much of the tripe that's been thrown at listeners this year, I don't think they will ever get much more recognition than they already have. Much like The Gossip, to a certain degree. And shameful as that may be, it's sadly far too common to see bands unable to climb the last part of that 'We can fill stadiums without even trying' wall. But I'd like to think, and hope that if they can continue to raise the bar with future releases, who knows....? They may even break the mould.

It's a brilliant album. Very easy to listen to all the way through and think "Yeah, that's a really good album." Thoroughly recommended.

Listen To: Runaway

winter seemed to linger but now the swallows have arrived

Top 10 Albums of 2009

10. The Doves - Kingdom of Rust (Bedshaped)

I didn't like this album when I first heard it. Now that I've given it a plentiful helping of attention, I've completely changed my mind. I really like it. There's a lot of emotion in his lyrics this time around. Gone are the generic pictures of boy meets girl, or boy loses girl, Manchester life, these things replaced by more personal stories of a parental loss, illness, pain, fear, addiction and day to day life.
I've seen them play quite a few times now, and admittedly, they get better with each gig, but I can't help but feel like the 'album' side of things for them doesn't feature too highly in the 'we are a band and we play music' scheme of things.

As you would expect with Doves, the plunging basslines are still there, the pounding drums continue and Jimmy's somber voice meanders through tales of loss and woe.

In a complete listening, it really is a stunningly beautiful album.

It's Doves producing an out of the box sound for them. I guess, there's nothing too different here. Lots of pounding percussion, glorious basslines that talk extra long walks, and jangly guitar sounds that add hook after hook to the mix. Coupled with occasional tip of the hat to old, familiar ground (thanks Blondie, The Jam) and Jimmy's often sultry voice, Doves have once again delivered a fine and thoroughly listenable album.

Birds Flew Backwards is the outstanding track on the album for me. The gentle pace, his voice and those wonderful strings towards the end. It's a bittersweet story, delivered with compassion, empathy and sorrow. The first few times I listened to the album, I struggled. But above the initial thoughts of feeling let down by them, "Birds...." stood out. I love the whole atmosphere, hauntingly beautiful production and feel of the song.

It really is beautiful.

Listen to: Birds Fly Backwards

10. Morrissey - Years Of Refusal (Swisslet)

The critical and commercial success of 2004s You Are The Quarry saw Morrissey finally emerge from his self-imposed exile in Los Angeles and return centre-stage for the first time in years. The success of that album gave his career momentum for the perhaps first time since the breakup of the The Smiths and the release of Viva Hate in 1988.

Quarry’s follow-up, the Tony Visconti produced Ringleader of the Tormentors, sounded great, with Morrissey’s voice in particular sounding better than ever before, but it left me cold. I’ve followed Morrissey’s career for long-enough not to be surprised by this…hell, I even bought Maladjusted…. But for every stinker he delivers, I still can’t help but hope that the next album will be a good one.

With Years of Refusal, Morrissey delivered something of a curate’s egg. His voice again sounds fantastic throughout, but the themes are often too familiar: grudges are held, scores are settled and Morrissey continues to ponder in song how unappreciated and unloved he is. Still, when he gets it right, Morrissey is still capable of reaching heights that few others can touch.

Not a great album, but in a year when I haven’t yet got round to buying the albums by Muse, Florence and the Machine, Jamie T and others, this almost makes the list by default…. Mumford & Sons and Noah and the Whale in particular can probably consider themselves unfortunate that I haven’t had longer to give their albums a chance…. Ah well, what can you do?

Listen to: I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris

10. Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More (LB)


Considering I’ve had to leave great records by the likes of La Roux, the Red Light Company, Chantal Kreviazuk, Starsailor, Bruce Springsteen, the Pet Shop Boys and Kelly Clarkson out of the list, 2009 has been another great year for albums.

I bought this odd little record on the strength of hearing debut chart hit Little Lion Man, and it was one of those occasions where a speculative punt paid off. It's difficult to classify Mumford and Sons (a name that makes them sound like a removal company) - it has a folky feel without being folk music but isn't anything like the sort of traditional guitar indie you hear on the radio.

You may have heard Winter Winds on your radio of late - it has a Christmas feel to it - and those two songs are, I suppose, a good taster for the rest of an interesting, promising debut album.

Listen to: Little Lion Man

back in fifteen minutes

Three great new records that you should hear.

The Yeah-Yous Fifteen Minutes is nice, breezy fluff of the highest quality.

Show Me What I'm Looking For by Carolina Liar is a great bit of American pop-rock in a Fray-esque style.

Finders Keepers is the new single from You Me At Six. Again, great, catchy tune.

Finger on the pulse, kids. Stay cool.

if you give me something then i'll believe it

A couple of years ago I reviewed the promising debut album from Ben's Brother, a new British band destined for great things. Despite an Ivor Novello nomination (their track Let Me Out was beaten by Amy Winehouse) and a top Forty hit they haven't really broken through into the pop mainstream.

2008 nearly saw that, though, as brilliant single Stuttering secured much Radio 2 airplay but agonisingly peaked one place outside the UK top Forty. Dropped by their record label, the future of the band (I say band, it is basically Jamie Hartman and various assorted musicians) looked bleak until Hartman signed a deal with Island records for the release of second album Battling Giants.

Battling Giants took the same path for me as their debut Beta Male Fairytales. On first listen, I liked it. On second listen, I liked it more. From then on (and it has not been off my earphones for a week now) I like it more every time I hear it. It is an utterly brilliant album even in comparison with ...Fairytales and somehow Hartman has managed to take his superb songwriting into another dimension. The songs are punchier, fuller - somehow more rounded and, in places simply noisier as his trademark voice soars over piano and guitar.

From opening track (and single) Apologise, you are aware that you're listening to something polished and classy. It is difficult to pick out specific highlights, but the duets with Jason Mraz and Joss Stone (the latter is the stunningly beautiful Stalemate which would surely be a huge worldwide hit with, say, Leona Lewis on board) are a good place to start. Upbeat, catchy tunes If I Let The Ladder Down and Therapy are also terrific and the album highlight is the soaring What If? which wouldn't sound amiss on something by the likes of Coldplay or U2.

I had the pleasure if meeting Hartman at his gig in Nottingham last week and he is clearly delighted with this record. If anything, the live performance improved the material (if that were possible) and so after a combination of a chat with a very nice man, repeated exposure to the album and a fantastic live performance Ben's Brother are now officially my favourite band that nobody has heard of.

too much of everything is never enough

I'd started a review of the Pet Shop Boys new album, Yes, yesterday in which I had written that it seemed like the duo were making an homage to the Pet Shop Boys back catalogue. Various songs from Yes sound like the pair at various stages during their career - Vulnerable sounds like it has been lifted from Actually, Pandemonium from Very and King of Rome sounds like the introduction to Behaviour's Being Boring.

Overall, I said, it had just made me want to listen to their last album (2006's Fundamental) which provided that the Pet Shop Boys could still make superb, progressive, celever pop of the highest order.

Two listens later, and I have changed my opinion a bit. I don't think Yes moves the Pet Shop Boys forward in any way and it isn't as clever, nuanced or textured as Fundamental but what it does continue to prove is that there are very few acts in the UK today who can produce such polished, consistent pop music of this sort of quality.

Yes is the Pet Shop Boys at their most simplistic - electronic pop music with clever lyrics, catchy melodies and Tennant's trademark voice. It's poppier than recent efforts - the production input of long-time Girls Aloud collaborators Xenomania sees to that - but after several listens what initially seems like average pop fodder becomes likeable, deep pop music at its finest. From the football-crowd chorus of top twenty single Love Etc to the slow-paced snapshot of 21st century living Legacy the record ebbs and flows in a way only a Pet Shop Boys album can.

It's not their best work and neither will it convert any new fans, but even in 2009 an average Pet Shop Boys record stands head and shoulders above the morass of hopeless pop on show.

blame the broken social scene

Buying an album on the strength of hearing one song in the background on the radio is always a bit of a gamble, but with Fine Fascination, the debut from London five-piece The Red Light Company it certainly paid off.

From the introduction to the opening track Words of Spectacular this record grabs your attention and doesn't let go. It is one of those albums that manages to be both instantly likeable and that improves with several listens and I am really pleased with it. There are a couple of tracks here which I was vaguely aware of already - the sort of thing that must have been used on the BBC or that I have heard in a shop or similar without actually knowing what it was. This is particularly true of 2008 single Scheme Eugene and new release Arts and Crafts has also had some Radio 1 airplay.

Whilst their sound is familiar it's difficult to pigeonhole the Red Light Company. Vocalist Richard Frenneaux sounds reminiscent of Turin Brakes frontman Olly Knights but with influences including Radiohead and Elbow it's where the similarity ends. Their music is punchy, catchy and interesting but also richer than the normal guitar based indie fare we hear so much of.

I really like it, actually. I worry that they'll go the same way as other brilliant, one album wonders (Haven, Royworld, Morning Runner to name but three) and I am regretful I'll miss their Nottingham live show, but it's certainly well worth a punt at the princely sum of £6. A very promising debut.

a weapon of massive consumption

I'm a grown man, father of one and in his mid-Thirties. I am not entirely sure therefore that I am the target demographic for Lily Allen and despite not being all that enamoured with her debut album Alright, Still I was convinced to buy It's Not Me, It's You by the sheer brilliance of the lead single and number One hit The Fear.

I'd had Allen pretty much pegged as a fashion fad and a one-album wonder. I wasn't sure her cheeky chirpy Cockneyness would survive more than the one summer and I figured her perky brand of modern pop wouldn't stand the test of time.

How wrong I was. Despite not being a fan I loved The Fear from the first time I heard it. The album is, I am delighted to say, much more of the same. Allen seems to have toned down her affected accent a little bit and the vast majority of the material on It's Not Me, It's You is catchy, brutally honest and surprisingly downbeat (even the uptempo tracks are biting and melancholy). I'd also hate to be the person on the receiving end of some of her acerbic lyrics....

From the superb opening track Everyone's At It this record grips and hooks you. Its musical styles chop and change from traditional pop through a strange country and western number to so-called "nu-rave". and lyrically it is simultaneously socially astute and heartbreakingly personal. Allen has admitted to unconsciously borrowing the chorus of Take That's Shine for the song Who'd Have Known and the bubblegum poppiness of F**k You hides a darker lyrical message. I particularly like Allen in reflective mood as her voice suits the slower, more fragile tracks like I Could Say and Chinese.

I thought I would never say this but Allen has come up with really brilliant album here, setting the benchmark for clever, well-crafted and mature 21st century pop that others will do well to meet. Highly recommended.