I guess it's that time of year again where we look back over the last 12 months and try and pick some of the gems from the last year, in my opinion it has been a pretty poor year with only really a couple of good albums that have got me excited, hopefully though everyone else on here found it to be a better year and I can discover some classics that I missed, for me it was only the below that I found worth a mention -
Muse - 2nd Law - some fantastic guitars and rock rhythms on here + a great 24bit download
Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball - some classic Bruce on his latest release with songs like 'Death to my Hometown' Shackled and Drawn' and Jack of all Trades, Brilliant
For me the best new release has to be the new Neil Young album 'Psychedelic Pill'. With regard to the best reissues I would have to include the MOFI 45rpm of Bob Dylan's 'Freewheelin' and The Doors 45rpm LPs from Acoustic Sounds.
Steve
Posted on: 04 December 2012 by Guido Fawkes
There have been some great albums this year
Of course we had the Beatles reissues which I think were wonderful and Music on Vinyl did some great reissues, but lets concentrate on some of the new music that found its way in to the house ...
Bat for Lashes - The Haunted Man
Bellowhead - Broadside
Bob Dylan - Tempest
Cat Power - Sun
Cradle of Filth - The Manticore and other Horrors
Karine Polwart - Traces
Kate Rusby - 20
Lana Del Ray - Born To Die/Paradise
Lisa Knapp - Hunt The Hare - A Branch of May
Madness - Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da
Mary Chapin Carpenter - Ashes & Roses
Napalm Death - Ultimatum
Peter Hammill - Consequences
Scott Walker - Bish Bosch
Show of Hands - Wake the Union
Trembling Bells - The Marble Downs
Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band
Unthanks - Songs from the Shipyards
Van Morrison - Born to Sing, No Plan B
Van Der Graaf - Alt
Album of the year is between Karine Polwart and the extraordinary Scott Walker - though that new Bellowhead album is wonderful and Sir Peter Hammill is as good as always (a true star) ... there is a lot of great new material
My album of the year is
Karine is a national treasure.
All the best, Guy
Posted on: 04 December 2012 by Disposable hero
> The War Room by Public Service Broadcasting - quirky and interesting, hopefully the novelty won't ware off too soon.
> Koi No Yokan by Deftones - the band started out as childish nu-metal jokers but as this new album goes they've totally evolved into a mature unit to create dreamscape epic sounds.
Posted on: 04 December 2012 by TWP
Lower Dens Nootropics,,
moon duo, circles
la sera, sees the light .
thats the top 3 that have been played the most ,,
this is new to me this year though i believe was a 2011 release, but it still worthy of a Top 4 champions league place.
TWP
Posted on: 04 December 2012 by IanG
+1 for Jack White Blunderbuss and Psychedelic Pill and Wrecking Ball.
great gigs by Springsteen and White as well
Posted on: 04 December 2012 by Quad 33
In no particular order
Graham.
Posted on: 04 December 2012 by Redkev
My favourite albums this year in no particular order are;
Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas
Tift Merritt - Traveling Alone
First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar
Jesca Hoop - The House That Jack Built
John Hiatt - Mystic Pinball
Dead Can Dance - Anastasis
Gretchen Peters - Hello Cruel World
Saint Saviour - Union
Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man
The Staves - Dead & Born & Grown
Posted on: 04 December 2012 by Bananahead
Posted on: 04 December 2012 by Bruce Woodhouse
Good enough year but without the one or two really outsanding albums that I might have hoped for.
I enjoyed returns to form from Cowboy Junkies and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Also really liked Karine Polwart: Traces (a new artist for me) and Patrick Watson: Adventures In Your Own Backyard.
In the end however I'll gor for a pretty varied top 3, none of which is totally consistent but all seem to be getting played repeatedly:
The XX: Coexist. Feels a bit sketchy at times but I prefer it to the first album.
Lower Dens: Nootropics. Odd mixture of indie guitar, ambient and krautrock influences. Track 2 (Brains) is my favourite song of the year. TWP and I agree!
Antony +The Johnsons: Cut The World. Divides opinions, and you have to be in the mood but I reckon when he is good he is brilliant, and this live album is pretty good much of the time. My wife's favourite album of the year by a long chalk.
Bruce
Biggest dissapointments? For me Calexico: Algiers. Not bad but no spark for me anymore from them.
Posted on: 05 December 2012 by TWP
just want to add this to my list ,, as i was singing its praises earlier this year i feel i should
Cheek Mountain theif, it is a grower and took a few listens to appreciatte. if you are a fan of Bon Ivor etc this will probably be for you.
Posted on: 08 December 2012 by Guido Fawkes
A late contender for one the albums of the year, this is magnificent
Posted on: 08 December 2012 by mutterback
Originally Posted by Bruce Woodhouse:
Biggest dissapointments? For me Calexico: Algiers. Not bad but no spark for me anymore from them.
Sadly, I need to agree with you about Calexico - was really looking forward to that one. And, hasn't been a great year for new releases.
The few albums that I've really enjoyed this year:
Grizzly Bear - Shields
Fatoumata Diaware - Fatou
David Byrne - Love this Giant
Faust /Abbado - Berg Beethoven
Carolina Chocolate Drops - Leaving Eden
Posted on: 09 December 2012 by Quad 33
Forgot these two :
Leonard Cohen 'Old Ideas'.
The Temper Trap.
Graham
Posted on: 09 December 2012 by onip
Meat Beat Manifesto: Test EP
Menahan Street Band: The Crossing
Posted on: 09 December 2012 by Richard S
The three releases that I have enjoyed most this year are;
1. Richard Hawley - Standing at The Sky's Edge
2. Here We Go Magic - Different Ship
3. Smoke Fairies - Blood Speaks
Two of these feature in the Piccadilly Records Top 100 for the year, which is usually a reliable guide to the year's releases.
Posted on: 09 December 2012 by Nick Lees
Sorry. It is long.
Air - Le Voyage Dans La Lune
There have been a few “alright” Air albums recently but this is a return to their very best, great tunes, atmospheric (and a guest spot from Au Revoir Simone). The version that comes with the restored first ever sci-fi movie is well worth it. My only complaint that it’s a little on the short side. Two short extracts:
Astra - The Black Chord
Unashamedly prog on the slightly heavy side.
Belbury Poly - The Belbury Tales
Cornerstone of the Ghostbox label, they’re on the hauntology borders with odd voice samples and creepy bit of music, but also with a foot in the Boards Of Canada, wibbly electronica camp.
Martyn Bennett – Aye
This is sort of a cheat in that it’s a compilation issued this year. But it’s absolutely terrific, showing off Martyn’s range – from a cool remix of a Peter Gabriel track (Sky Blue) to the dancefloor stomp of Harry’s In Heaven. All done with a distinctly Scottish sound mixed with a dash of folk. Sadly deceased.
John Cale - Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood The album works a lot better in the studio than it did live as the variety of instrumentation stops the songs from sounding very similar. His most consistent and most accessible album for quite a while. Cale seems to have rid Youtube of all trace of the album, so you’ll just have to hum along to yourself. Or the whole thing's on Spotify
Eat lights Become lights - Heavy Electrics
Their second album (first download only) and they’ve really matured. Much heavier, much more krautrock, much better!
Brian Eno – Lux
Think of the very best of Eno’s truly ambient albums (e.g. Airport, Thursday Afternoon) then plonk this right up the very top. Plangent, tinkly, chimey, beautiful. Perfect for gloomy winter afternoons.
The Flashbulb - Opus At The End Of Everything
The Flashbulb is Benn Jordan, who started off as a slightly terrifying Drill n’ Bass merchant. Since Soundtrack To A Vacant Life, the drill has largely been put away and this album’s quite gentle and endlessly melodic. At 25 tracks, nothing outlasts its welcome, but they all tend to segue so it doesn’t sound in the least bitty.
Robert Fripp, Andrew Keeling, David Singleton - The Wine Of Silence
Keeling and Singleton take some of Fripp’s ambient (ish) Frippertronics and orchestrate them to the point where their origins become well obscured. The results are great – atmospheric but with surprisingly angular turns so this is by no means New Age crystal channeling music. Might appeal to fans of Arvo Part.
Goat - World Music
Take a garage band from the mid sixties, filter them through the Slits and Amon Duul 1 (not 2) with a whacked-up bass. And OK, I’ve probably put you right off! Quite rough, but great energy and sound. Swedish.
Holy Other – Held In that sort-of genre of Witch House. This is downbeat, glitchy washes of crunched-up synths, scattered with cut-up vocal samples. If you like this, then have a go at almost anything else on the Tri Angle label (especially Balam Acab).
Kid Koala - 12 Bit Blues
Using an ancient sampler that forced a linit on the sample lengths, he’s de-constructed old classic blues songs to make new classic blues songs. You might say why not just stick with the originals? But he’s really managed to update the sound and make something new without losing the soul.
Loom – Scored
Berlin School supergroup Jerome Froese, Johannes Schmoelling) playing a greatest hits package live maybe doesn’t sound that attractive, but the sound quality is superb, as are the performances. Have not stopped playing this.
L'Ombra Della Sera - L'Ombra Della Sera
This lot are another one of Fabio Zuffanti’s spin-offs (Finisterre, Hostsonaten, La Mascera di Cera), this time it’s Italian Prog based around the aesthetic of 60s and 70s soundtracks by the likes on Morricone and Nicolai. There’s a better and more representative track on Youtube (A Blue Shadow) but it appears to be stuffed up.
Mole - What's The Meaning?
This is Mexican jazz – a cross between Esbjorn Svensson Trio and National Heath. Obviously tremendously talented musicians, but not at the expense of good old melody and tune.
Motorpsycho - The Death Defying Unicorn
Motorpsyco are an Norwegian heavy rock group who’ve been going for yonks. Ståle Storløkken is a jazz musician who plays with Elephant 9 and Supersilent. They’ve joined up with a jazz orchestra to make an album that coiuld have been a stinker, as many such lofty collaborations tend to be. But it isn’t, it’s great. Not particularyl rock, not particularly jazz, not particularly classical.
Brendan Pollard - Live In Concert 2006 Part 1
Part of (very sadly) Brendan’s last releases, these are Berlin school electronics but on the dreamier side (think Epsilon In Malaysian Pale). No clips, but damn good (as is Part 2)
Public Service Broadcasting - The War Room
OK, so it’s an E.P. but it’s so bloody good.
Pye Corner Audio - Sleep Games
More wibbly, haunting electronica from Ghostbox. There are three download-only albums that precede this and they’re all worth getting.
Saint Etienne - Words And Music By Saint Etienne
Nothing particularly earth-shattering from them, just more of what they’re good at. Try keeping your feet still to this:
Seahawks – Aquadisco
Chilled, sub-aquatic mix from The Seahawks.
The Shins - Port Of Morrow
This surprised me a little, in that it had to grow a bit to really make its mark, but once it had I reckon it’s up there with Wincing The Night Away. There are a number of upbeat numbers on there, but this slowy is a favourite
Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion
Completely unexpected result from combining Porcupine Tree (Stephen Wilson) and Opeth (Mikael Åkerfeldt). Instead of some guitar-crashing heavy mess, you get something that’s more akin to late Talk Talk.
Sula Bassana - Dark Days
AKA Dave Schmidt on neo-krautrockers Zone Six and dozens of other festival bands. His latest solo album is pretty much full on krautrock and probably his best.
Tame Impala – Lonerism
One man Australian band. I expected a lot from this after Innerspeaker and if I’m honest I’d say it isn’t quite as good. But still one of the best albums of the year though. For fans of Ariel Pink, Animal Collective etc.
Loga Ramin Torkian – Mehraab
This bloke’s an exiled Iranian, based in New York. He’s teamed up with a traditional Iranian singer to make a cross-breed of ancient and modern.
This is one of the modern ones, followed by a more traditional approach
Various Artists - Sid Chip Sounds
These are fully realised versions of soundtracks to Commodore 64 games, all played by the SID chip. It’s all really good in its own right. My only very small beef is that it’s a long long CD and by the end I’m getting a bit weary of the soundworld. The sound is amazing. The clips I found on Youtube are all rather ropey ones from the games themselves and cannot convey the mighty sound on this CD.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Psychedelic Pill
It’s huge and sprawling, and bould have made a totally killer single album, but this is Young close to his grungey best, especially on the longer tracks. But it features Young hitting the strings even harder to get a different sound out of them. The fire’s not dead yet.
John Zorn - The Gnostic Preludes
More jazz. Zorn was better known for his noisier stuff, but this is a tinkly chamber affair for vibes, harp and guitar.
Close But No Cigar
Shearwater – Animal Joy
Lambchop - Mr. M
Calexico – Algiers
Chicane – Thousand Mile Stare
Can – The Lost Tapes
Jellyfish – Live At Bogart’s
The Decemberists - We All Raise Our Voices To The Air
Änglagård - Viljars Oga
DeWolff - IV
Posted on: 09 December 2012 by Jono 13
Originally Posted by mutterback:
Fatoumata Diaware - Fatou
Truly splendid.
Jono
Posted on: 09 December 2012 by Bananahead
Posted on: 09 December 2012 by Bruce Woodhouse
Gry
Thanks for taking the time to post the links, so nice to be able to invetsigate tracks and maybe discover something new.
I'd forgottent the The Shins album from early in the year. A goodie for sure.
bruce
Posted on: 10 December 2012 by hego99
Gary,
Thanks for the reminder/heads-up on Neil Young & Crazy Horse.
I'd pretty much given up on the Young/Horse combo, but this track is frikkin' awesome, whistling behind feedback guitars, doo-wop-ey backing vocals by Molina/Talbot...
/bubba
Posted on: 10 December 2012 by winkyincanada
Originally Posted by mutterback:
Originally Posted by Bruce Woodhouse:
Biggest dissapointments? For me Calexico: Algiers. Not bad but no spark for me anymore from them.
Sadly, I need to agree with you about Calexico - was really looking forward to that one. And, hasn't been a great year for new releases.
The few albums that I've really enjoyed this year:
Grizzly Bear - Shields
Fatoumata Diaware - Fatou
David Byrne - Love this Giant
Faust /Abbado - Berg Beethoven
Carolina Chocolate Drops - Leaving Eden
I think I'm going to pick these up. An eclectic mix that looks like it might appeal to me en mass.
Posted on: 10 December 2012 by Dave J
Gareee!
Provocative, enlightening and sometimes demanding but always so much more interesting than the rehashed fashionable "faves". I'm nominating you for an award of some kind, this year.
Posted on: 10 December 2012 by winkyincanada
Originally Posted by Dave J:
Gareee!
Provocative, enlightening and sometimes demanding but always so much more interesting than the rehashed fashionable "faves". I'm nominating you for an award of some kind, this year.
