"You Think Too Much..."

A preoccupation that weighs on me when I think, write and talk about music is whether or not I'm thinking about it too much. I think about my whole blog and desired career path being about the sharing, publication and analysis of music and wonder if I'm just sort of talking to myself and a few sparse others in the wind. First of all, how many people really care? I'm thoroughly different from a lot of my friends, even some of the closest, and I love them all hugely. But so many just don't really seem that bothered about the music I listen to, or the way I think about the music we all listen to. For a lot of people I know it doesn't really go beyond what they just enjoy hearing on the radio. And I often find myself wondering, shouldn't that just be how it is? Music made, goes in your ear, you enjoy, will listen to again, end of story. Shouldn't it all be that simple?

"And everything I had to know
I heard it on my radio"
- Queen, Radio GaGa

All my blog posts, my desire to pick apart everything about an artist, my distinction between music that's objectively good and music that I enjoy, my obsession with genre names, my increasing tendency to hunt for the influences on a track/album/artists - is it all just a bit too much? Sometimes I do feel like it is.

I know that a lot of the faithful readers of my blog are familiar with the music review website Pitchfork. If you're not, I'll provide a brief explanation. It's a highly reputable online source of musical criticism, publishing extensive album and track reviews, interview, articles and more. It's one of my personal favourite sources of new music, but I'm fully aware of some of its flaws; flaws that other people take in a much less positive way than I do. Pitchfork is, by and large, taken in two ways. It's either the irrefutable Holy Grail of musical criticism, the overlord of good taste and musical divinity, or the height of pretentious, intentionally "indie" balls that strives to sound intelligent and perceptive but is actually vacuous and self important. And I can fully understand why people take the second reading, though it's one that I disagree with.

Pitchfork assign decimal ratings to every album reviewed. A few popular recent albums and their scores:

The Fame Monster by Lady GaGa: 7.8
The Suburbs by Arcade Fire: 8.6
Come Around Sundown by Kings of Leon: 3.6
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West: 10.0

Now, as you might expect, such specific scores are accompanied by (mostly) extensive, in depth, detailed, highly analytic reviews. I read the vast amount that are published now and they highly inform my own writing and analysis. But sometimes I sit there, reading, and part of me thinks "is this too much? I mean this is just a new album, right? Is there really this much to say? Surely this guy is reading too much into this?"

People of a more hostile and deriding nature than myself published a parody of Pithfork a while back called Rich Dork Media. Sadly the parody site doesn't seem to be available any longer, but there are a few quotes from actual Pitchfork reviews which were used as "justification" for the parody, examples of the kind of supposedly pretentious, overwrought criticism that people dislike about the site. The choicest one for me is one from the review of Radiohead's Kid A - regarded by Pitchfork as the greatest album of the last decade. It reads:

"The experience and emotions tied to listening to Kid A are like witnessing the stillborn birth of a child while simultaneously having the opportunity to see her play in the afterlife on Imax. It's an album of sparking paradox. It's cacophonous yet tranquil, experimental yet familiar, foreign yet womb-like, spacious yet visceral, textured yet vaporous, awakening yet dreamlike, infinite yet 48 minutes. It will cleanse your brain of those little crustaceans of worries and inferior albums clinging inside the fold of your gray matter. The harrowing sounds hit from unseen angles and emanate with inhuman genesis. When the headphones peel off, and it occurs that six men (Nigel Godrich included) created this, it's clear that Radiohead must be the greatest band alive, if not the best since you know who."

Now I read that and just have so many conflicting voices flaring up inside me. I think how that might seem to different people I know. To many it may just seem like senseless babble. To others it might be extremely eloquent prose. Another, the perfect expression of their own feelings about the record. As someone who has listened to Kid A plenty of times now, I agree with what the reviewer is saying. And I love how he expresses it. I think that review is brilliant. I agree wholeheartedly. Yet I fully understand why someone would deride that writing. And I just can't help but wonder - am I thinking too much?

It's interesting that the indie community nowadays, convinced of its own impeachable nature and the deplorable nature of mainstream shallowness and spite, is in fact full of more factions and feuds than the mainstream pop universe. And as someone who - thanks to lots of normal, down to earth friends - finds himself firmly surrounded by indie music and the depths of obscure internet blogs as well as the comings and going of the Top 40, I end up feeling torn between all of these different groups and ideas. I want to be analytical, thoughtful and respectful to an artists work; and I also want to be able to unreservedly and simply enjoy a great pop song, yelling out a massive choon with my friends. Maybe it comes down to a fear of being myself. And I don't know why. My friends who have no interest in the supposedly pretentious realms of Pitchfork and its ilk are hardly going to think less of me. My other friends who read Pitchfork (FYI: I don't want this to seem like I'm ripping on Pitchfork. A lot of the blogs on the right of this screen put me in a similar position) are pretty much all as aware of things like this as I am, and either take it ironically or don't seem bothered. It's hardly as if I'm a professionally published critic, open to the derision of a paying readership, other critics or my boss. And even if I were - so what?

So at times when I feel like the weight of the musical world, with all its avenues and alleyways, is weighing down on my overloaded teenage mind, I cast my eye around, considering the value of everything I write in this blog.

And my faith is restored.

I see some artists, some bands, some albums, that comfort me. They reassure me. Not to say that my identity consists in all of this - far from it, I'm a Christian and my whole identity begins and end in Jesus. It just happens to take music in along the way, under his jurisdiction. A few immediately obvious things just reassure me. Let me know that I'm not thinking about this too much. Why? Because the artists who made the music put months, maybe years into their music. They thought out every detail. Lyrically, musically, visually. They put it all there, they spent their time thinking about it, probably a hell of a lot more than I'll ever do.

Like I probably will will all pop music now and forever more, I looked at the whole thing through the screen of Lady GaGa. There has never been a popstar who has had things more thought out than Lady GaGa. Perhaps slightly ironically, here's a quote from the Pitchfork review of her album The Fame Monster:

"...between the VMAs and "Paparazzi", she came into her own. And on "Bad Romance", the lead single from The Fame Monster, she became kind of awesome."

This set up for the next quote, from later in the article:

"I'd say once she became hideously popular Gaga was able to take more control of her career, the early result being 'Bad Romance'"

Taking her as a specific example. Lady GaGa HAD to have a master plan. Her ascent into pop's highest heights had to have been drawn out in every details and every phenomenally gargantuan action. As soon as she gained popularity from a fairly standard pop debut, she launched the first true offensive. Every outfit, every interview, every performance, every variation, every song, every video is strategically designed, thought out, staged and released by GaGa and her squad, The House of GaGa. It's brilliant. The amount of time (and money) put into it by a woman who is inarguably one of pop music's greatest geniuses is astonishing. And when she puts that much thought and effort into it, it is only reasonable and only fair that you and I should think about it. Should talk about it. We should be asking "why has she done that? Why is she wearing that? Why is this video like this?"

Now part of GaGa's assault on pop culture has been the rejection of the over familiarisation of the popstar and our increasing fascination with a Heat magazine culture that insists of rifling through the bins and underwear drawers of celebrities. And that attitude ironically (yet knowingly so, of course) draws waves of analysis and speculation.

Lady GaGa is just one example. Kanye is of course another, though is massively on the other side of the coin at the same time. Other recent examples would the Arcade Fire's album The Suburbs, which is probably one of the greatest cohesive wholes ever recorded. Crystal Castles with their effortless and terrifying mystique. These New Puritans who released Hidden earlier this year, an album that can't be listened to just once. The list goes on.

I will doubtless encounter the inner conflict I've described again and again throughout my life. Probably again before the week is out. But when I sit back (really far back) and look at the music that I love and the artists I appreciate, I slip into a wonderful place. A place where I can freely voice all of my thoughts about some music, listing the assocations, stimulations, images, links and reminscences it triggers in my mind. I can rant about it, wax lyrical about it or lay into it because I know that the artist has likely put time and energy into it that is deserving of such analysis. Sure, there is definitely going to be SOME point where you're just talking fluff, but that's probably quite far down the line. And when an "artist" or group hasn't put thought into what they do, then there's plenty of cutting criticism and bitter blogging to be done there too!

BBC Sound of 2011: Rest in Peace

I'm mad about "Best of..." lists, so December is really when my ship comes in. I'm not entirely sure why. I'm not generally a meticulous, obsessive compulsive kind of person, I just love ranking things in lists. You might have guessed this from my own Top 20 Tracks and Top 12 Albums of 2010 lists.

But soon after we've forgotten the beloved entries into the "Best of the Year" lists and polls we launch into the divisive realms of polls entitled things like "Ones2Watch", "Sound of the Year", "The Future of Music" etc. Some of these lists are derided the moment they're published - and nearly all of them end up being derided 12 months later.

The worst and most criminal of the bunch is the BBC "Sound of..." poll, which is about as cursed as the Defence Against the Dark Arts staffing position at Hogwarts. The poll endeavours to dictate to us the illustrious role call of artists and musicians who will come to define the coming year musically. The winners have almost invariably paled into startling mediocrity, failing to stretch beyond their respective years, and often even failing to see that year out. Key victims/culprits here would be The Bravery, Little Boots, Keane, Corinne Bailey, Rae, Mika, Adele and, most recently, Ellie sodding Goulding. The only one to really escape the curse was the first winner in 2003, 50 Cent. And look what he's become.



Aside from the "winners", the number of bands lower down the poll who fall into the category of mind numbing filler, utterly vanished from memory now, is laughable. The Twang? Sadie Ama? Ghosts? Marcos Hernandez? Audio Bullys? The Dears? The Dead 60s? The Datsuns? Tali? Gemma Fox? Joss Stone? Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong? The Rumble Strips? Just Jack? Kubb? VV Brown? Delphic? The Thrills? Care to name me a song anyone? Any of the band members? No? Heck, most of them didn't even make any kind of impression in their respective years, yet alone do enough to remain in our minds for 2010. I would like to personally point out that I said this time last year that Delphic and Ellie Goulding were gut wrenchingly mundane and would flop, and thus, I have been vindicated!

Then there's the acts who may hang around in our memories slightly more but either because of one unusually popular hit (The Ting Tings, Black Kids) OR because they've been hyped elsewhere, but end up being as anti-climactic as The Phantom Menace(The Drums, KT Tunstall, Kaiser Cheifs, Razorlight)

The acts championed by the poll are almost invariably overly radio-friendly pop acts or supermarket landfill "indie" bands who look like the kind of Topshop boys your mother would be relatively indifferent to if you brought them home. They produce one vaguely hummable hit single in their given year and then bugger off with disappointing album sales and a terminated record contract.

As well as championing bands who have all the staying power of an old woman's fart in a gale, when the poll DOES pick a quality act, they place them criminally low in the list!

2003- Yeah Yeah Yeahs only reach 3rd, Dizzee Rascal only reaches 5th.
2005- Bloc Party inexlpicably lose out to The Bravery for 1st place.
2007- Klaxons only reach 3rd- beaten my Mika and The Twang.
2008- Vampire Weekend only reach 6th and MGMT only reach 9th.
2009- Lady GaGa wasn't first. That is all you need to know.
2010- Marina and the Diamond are robbed of 1st place by Ellie Goulding (whose picture appears in the dictionary next to "underwhelming"), whose biggest contribution to 2010 has been a dreary cover of 'Your Song' in a John Lewis advert, which didn't appear until December.

This year doesn't look that great either sadly - though there are worryingly a couple of acts in there who I'm currently quite fond of, so here's hoping they'll do a Marina & The Diamonds and buck the trend. Either way. The BBC "Sound of..." poll is almost invariably a pathetic, horrendously white middle class, radio friendly advertisement for the Radio 1 January playlist.

I'm not going to compile a list of upcoming new bands that you should watch out for. Who knows what will happen, when they'll release material, whether they'll alter their sounds. I love "Best of..." lists, as I've said, but these lists predicting the rise of new stars often seen to create a touchwood situation. So here's just a few things I'm excited about from already established artists. It's been an awesome year musically, at least as far as my tastes go. What does 2011 have to offer?


- New Radiohead album at some point
- The Strokes FINALLY set to release a new album. This is make or break for possibly the most important band of the last 10 years.
- Kanye and Jay-Z releasing an EP entitled Watch The Throne. Doesn't get much bigger does it?
- System of a Down set to reunite, at least for live shows.
- Elbow set to release new album and your. After their breakthrough with the last album, this should be interesting.
- Lady GaGa has a new album ready to unleash uponm the world. Where is there left to go for her?!
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds set to record new album. Judging by Nick Cave's side project Grinderman releasing another album this year, he's still on top form.
- Pulp reforming for live shows... MUST seeeeee thiiiiiiiisssssssss...
- Blur recording new album in January...

Those are jsut a few of the should-be-amazing musical events coming up in 2011... we'll just have to wait and see...

Any tips for 2011?

Elbow - "Lippy Kids"

I received some rather nice gifts over Christmas and I hope you did to. However, possibly the best thing I've received from anyone over the past 72 hours has been the unveiling of a new track from one of the world's greatest bands - Elbow.

I was sat on the sofa, late Boxing Day morning, in my pants and dressing gown, twiddling my thumbs whilst cleaning up went on around me when I decided to check on t'internet to see if anything had been going on in the musical world, and I literally squeaked a little bit when I saw that Elbow had unveiled the first song from their recently named upcoming album Build A Rocket Boys! - the follow up to 2008's massive crossover success The Seldom Seen Kid. The song is titled "Lippy Kids" and well, here it is:



Now if you don't find that stunningly beautiful then either:
a) listen to it again, or
b) ask Santa for a soul next Christmas

Having become a massive fan of the whole of Elbow's back catalogue (I'll admit I hadn't heard of them until they released "Grounds for Divorce" as a single, but I investigated and fell in love with them before they rose to success, so my indie cred it kept in tact folks) I was incredibly worried that after the massive success they experienced with The Seldom Seen Kid, they would compromise their sound somehow. When they stated recently that they'd written this album with big venues in mind, my insides became a little more wary. But I kept faith. And I was right to do so.

Gosh this song is beautiful. Lyrically, it's classic Guy Garvey. Eloquent yet colloquial, wise yet human, restrained yet emotional. "Lippy Kids" finds Garvey watching a bunch of youths messing around on street corners and, rather than criticise or have a go like many others would, or delve into his remembered teenage fears and try to warn the kids a la Arcade Fire on The Suburbs, he just stands and admires them from afar, as someone who clearly lived the exact same way years ago. He wonders mildly "do they know those days are golden?", putting him at a mature and wistful adult distance, and then lovingly and with a sly grin in his voice imparts a golden pearl of wisdom - "build a rocket boys".

That's such a beautiful lyric. It's Guy Garvey, of course it bloody is, but still. "Build a rocket boys". He's telling these kids to live beautiful, aspirational lives. And that last word "boys" just brings him so close to them, let's you know that Garvey is singing as a greying, aging man of experience.

Musically, one could argue that it's not exactly the "arena sound" that they'd mentioned. It's only one song, and the rest of the album could sound different, but I think this could fit in an arena. Or a pub. A phonebox. A street corner, seeing as that's where it's set. The music never runs away and crescendos, escalating into a massive chorus - but you don't have to be singing "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" to fill an arena. This song's an exercise in restraint. Garvey never runs up to these kids and tells them what he thinks. He maintains a respectful distance, but the feeling swells in his chest, huge and beautiful like a pair of wings, one of those beautiful things that remains forever unsaid. It's similar in a way to Arcade Fire on The Suburbs - lyrically but also musically. There's a tendency among indie fans to love bands who make music that sounds majestic and massive, but to then recoil when that music is put into a massive venue like Wembley or the O2. But that's pure indie snobbery. I saw Elbow at Wembley in March 2008, at the height of their new popularity. They were stunning and when I reflect on that gig, it made me realise something. That's a massive venue and it was pretty much full. And yet it was such a personal experience for me as I got to see a band I had fallen in love with. Their music possesses a quality that is the key to great pop music - it has universal appeal but at the same time strikes a personal chord which makes that music immediately becomes yours.

Elbow are a band for Wembley Arena as well as dirty suburban street corners in Bury. And hopefully they'll prove that again in 2011.

Build a Rocket Boys!

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" - She & Him duet with Conan O'Brien

You may or not be aware of She & Him, the band comprised of folk musician M Ward and Zooey Deschanel - the gorgeous one from Elf, Yes Man, 500 Days of Summer etc. They make gentle, warm acoustic folk music where simplicity is the buzz word.



There's a lot of crap spouted about She & Him. Overly twee, sickeningly sweet, forced, are just a few of the judgements passed on them and their music. Poor Zooey draws a lot of the abuse as well from snobbish indie types who say she embodies a fake idea of what an "indie" girl in "indie" films and "indie" music is, due to the roles she picks and because she's so doe-eyed, stop dead in your tracks beautiful.

But I think those kind of insults and such totally miss the point and show an inability for snobbish indie types to let their guards down and just enjoy music that is simple, sweet, heartfelt and organic. And in this festive season, She & Him have allowed their wonderfully disarming sweetness to shine through in a private duet of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" which they performed with US talk show host Conan O'Brien in his dressing room when they visited his show.

The performance is sweet, open, cosy, friendly, warm and Christmassy. I just wanted to share it in the hope of injecting some warm Christmas cheer into your day :) It makes me feel like I'm watching Elf all over again...

Summer Camp - "Christmas Wrapping"

First of all, sorry it's been a good while since my last post! A mixture of end of year business and laziness has been responsible I'm afraid. I'd been planning a run of Christmas related posts and it's a bit more short notice and slap-dash than I'd have liked sadly, but oh well. Onwards!

Summer Camp have quietly grown into one of my favourite new acts of 2010, and they haven't even released an album yet. Their song "Veronica Sawyer" kicked off my Top 20 Tracks of 2010, and it's the perfect showcase for their echoey, melancholy yet heartwarmingly twee indie-pop. Now they've recorded a cover of The Waitresses' mildly popular festive hit "Christmas Wrapping" as part of a Moshi Moshi Christmas compilation entitled A Christmas Gift For You - available for purchase here.

It's fairly faithful to the original but has definitely been reworked with their trademark bouncy synth mannerisms, with chiming Christmas synths that sound just like the ones in "Last Christmas". Elizabeth Sankey's vocal delivery is as warm and natural as ever. The whole thing feels like warm cuddles with the one you love by the fire, under the mistletoe, wearing ghastly Christmas jumpers but not really caring because, hey, it's Christmas.

Click here to download it on Pitchfork. Hopefully should have a few more Christmas posts over the next couple of days!

Simon Cowell Thinks You're An Idiot

Simon Cowell does not like you. Simon Cowell does not care about you. He does not care about you as a person. Simon Cowell does not want to make your life better. He does not want to make you think, grow, rejoice or change in anyway.

Simon Cowell thinks you are stupid.
Simon Cowell thinks you are weak.
Simon Cowell thinks you are easily pleased.
Simon Cowell thinks you have no taste.
Simon Cowell thinks you have low expectations.
Simon Cowell thinks you don't have a brain in your head or a soul in your chest.
Simon Cowell thinks you have the memory span of a goldfish.

To Simon Cowell you are not a person.

Simon Cowell only cares about your money. Via the whole X Factor brand, every year, Simon Cowell and his massive gang of producers spend all of their time and energy working out how to get as much money as they can out of your pockets as possible.

Every year, a dozen or so vaguely "talented" people are trotted out onto our TV screens on Saturday nights for live performances for eight weeks or so. On their way there, they are hyped up everywhere - radio, TV, posters, magazines, newspapers - so that you are fully aware, fully prepped and informed for their arrival. All of it is an attempt to draw you in, to make you feel as if you have to be involved in this, you have to be informed, you have to have a say in how it all pans out.

PLEASE think about it. How many X Factor contestants from the live shows can you remember? Half a dozen at most. Nearly EVERY X Factor contestant is painfully, heartbreakingly AVERAGE. There are a million and one backing singers, musical theatre performers, cruise ship entertainers and more, all around the world, who can sing just as well and probably better than the dull, mediocre zombies who are slapped in Topshop gear week after week and shoved into your face. And because they're so average, and Simon Cowell KNOWS that they are average, what does he do?

He puts on the biggest, most absurdly over the top stage shows he can afford. He advertises them everywhere he can. He underscores every moment of the contestants backstories with Take That hits to tug at your heart strings. Why?

Because all he wants is your money. And Simon Cowell think that you are so stupid, so weak minded, so uninspired, that you will be willing to watch, pay to watch a dozen painfully average, unoriginal, uninspiring, uniteresting individuals "perform" a narrow group of pop songs every week just because he's battered you round the head with flashing lights and media coverage.

Simon Cowell thinks that you don't deserve good music. That's why he insists on putting on a TV program that has produced a tiny amount of sub-average pop "stars". That's why he gets his contestants to perform covers of songs that are ALREADY in the charts so that you then go and buy those songs which are put out by record labels which he has shares in.

Simon Cowell doesn't want you to start thinking independently about the music you listen to. He doesn't want you to develop your own tastes which could stray away from the charts and his own label. He wants to numb all of your musical tastes so that you only end up recognising and listening to the songs and "artists" that he puts out. He doesn't care about making music that can stir your soul, make your overjoyed, make you really dance like your feet are on fire, make you leap and jump around like you don't care because you're so happy, make you roll down your car windows and belt your voice out with your friends because that song on the radio is so awesome. Simon Cowell doesn't care about any of that. He wants to control you, and what you like and what you buy. Most of them time, when a person votes for someone on the X Factor, it's not really their choice. It's not them controlling the program. It's Simon Cowell and his whole empire controlling them.

Simon Cowell thinks you're so stupid that he's changed the name Matt Cardle's dire cover of Bify Clyro's "Many of Horror" to "When We Collide", so that the title matches the chorus. Because that's what the kind of uninspired, reproduced, cheap pop songs that he puts out do. He didn't think you were clever enough to handle a song that had a title that wasn't related to the first few words of the chorus. He thinks you are that stupid. To him you are a big, throbbing wallet which he just wants to take money from. His view of you is no better than a mugger's, a con artists, or any other devious little criminal you can name. To him you are a big, fat cow that he's doped up to the eyes with tranquillisers, and he's viciously and deviously squeezing your tired, weary and bruised udders.



People who slag off the X Factor nowadays are normally fobbed off as indie/rock/metal/whatever snobs, and called old misery guts who just can't switch off and enjoy some pop music. But this shouldn't be what pop music is like. Pop music shouldn't be something that treats you stupidly. "Pop" comes from "popular" - music of the people. But it's not popular if it's not really chosen by the people. It isn't. It's chosen for you by a bunch of greedy, selfish businessmen who want to batter you down and make you submit to their own selfish plans. Plans which involve creating "music" that is easy to replicate, control, reproduce, digest and cover in cheap gloss. "Music" that disappears within weeks and leaves no real imprint on your life - just an empty space in your wallet.

Please, don't give Simon Cowell the satisfaction this year. Don't buy Matt Cardle's appalling, soulless cover. He'll vanish overnight, and next year some other talentless bloke or blokette will find themself in the same position. Don't let Simon Cowell and his money grabbing empire get the better of you. That really is what it will be and I'm not exaggerating. Simon Cowell wants to make you a dumb little zombie who is entertained by whatever he decides you will be entertained by. Because he wants your money.

I don't vastly care if you join one of the various "Get such and such to Christmas #1" campaigns. Just don't let Simon Cowell con you out of your money. Because that's what the whole thing is.

A filthy con.

My Personal Favourite 20 Songs of 2010 1

Honourable Mentions
'All of the Lights' by Kanye West
'Hollywood' by Marina & The Diamonds
'Heartbreaker' by Girls
'Romance is Boring' by Los Campesinos!
'Sea Talk' by Zola Jesus
'Giving Up The Gun' by Vampire Weekend
'A More Perfect Union' by Titus Andronicus
'If You Wanna' by The Vaccines
‘Walk in the Park’ by Beach House
‘O.N.E.’ by Yeasayer
'Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains' by Arcade Fire
'Hologram' by These New Puritans
'Butterfly House' by The Coral
'Blackberry Stone' by Laura Marling
'Goodbye England, Covered In Snow' by Laura Marling
'The Calm Before the Sword' by Captain Ahab
'Summerblow' by Chief Black Cloud
'Have a Heart' by Lonely Galaxy
'The Withering Giant' by Ghosthorse

20. 'Veronica Sawyer' by Summer Camp
Summer Camp are a band to watch in 2011, and their Young EP from this year shows why. This standout track is a melancholy, slightly twee indie pop number that has one of the most addictive choruses I’ve heard all year. It’s a detailed, engrossing account of teen loneliness, bittersweet in lyric and melody. There’s a very individual sound to this song and the band as a whole, and a convenient opening in the indie pop market.



19. 'This Orient' by Foals
For me this was immediately the standout track of Foals brilliant album, and still is. I love “Spanish Sahara”, but this blows it out of the water as far as I’m concerned. A spliced, breathless info gives way to an inspired mix of guitar, bass, drums and vocals that sweeps you away into a cinematic journey of a song, with a massive chorus, boasting one of the most romantically grandiose lyrics I’ve heard “It’s your heart that gives me this Western feeling”.



18. 'Undertow' by Warpaint
When this one his the internet blogs, there was a little bit of an online orgasm. And rightly so. This song from my favourite new band of the year is captivating and alluring on absurd levels. It boasts a chorus that worms its way into your head, ingeniously hijacking a Nirvana melody, laced with sultry, slinking bass and echoing guitar lines. The gorgeous female vocals croon about ensnaring a lover, and ensnaring is certainly what this song does.



17. ‘We Want War’ by These New Puritans
Often toted as the prime example of the brilliance of my album of the year, We Want War is a sublime piece of music. It bursts open with a massive drum beat, freaky synths and terrifying bass drone. It splices epic percussion with dark, entrancing vocals. It sounds like its tital- looming, violent, aggressive, huge and brilliant.



16. 'The Wild Hunt' by The Tallest Man on Earth
The opener of my #3 album of the year, this is just a fantastically written folk song. It whisks you away in a world of evocative images, earnest vocals and warm, embracing acoustic guitar. Kristian Matsson’s voice leaps and strains upwards then drops down in pitch and delivery for brief moments to beautiful, emotional effect. It's a lyric about wonderfully carefree resignation to the inevitabilities of life, surrendering the pointless things and seizing life by it's gorgeous throat. Oh this song just overflows with life in every possible way!



15. 'Not In Love' by Crystal Castles ft. Robert Smith
This song had “BRILLIANT” written all over it from the moment the very idea was conceived. This icy synth pop song was so good that it made us all forget that a) it was a cover and b) there was a Smith-less version on Crystal Castles album. This song is massive, uplifting, emotional. It feels like your heart beating inside your chest at a moment of emotional fear and anticipation, perched delicately between euphoria and despair. Masterful.



14. 'The Oh So Protective One' by Girls
Girls made the song “Heartbreaker” available for free from their “Broken Dreams Club” EP and, again, the blogs went crazy (as did I!) But for me, this is the strongest song on the EP. Lead singer Christopher Owens somehow manages to sing and write from the point of view of a loverlorn teenage girl and make it sound tear jerkingly genuine and emotional. Musically its pure 50s guitar band, like The Shadows or something. But its superb indie guitar music, and lyrically brilliant. It makes me feel warm inside.



13. ‘I Want the World to Stop’ by Belle & Sebastian
I wrote a post on why I love Belle & Sebastian and their new album a while ago, and so it only makes sense for a track from it to make this list- but fairly so. This song is absurdly addictive, the melody genuinely intoxicating. The chord progression is just sensational, a genius piece of songwriting, and the contrast between chorus and verse inspired. Lyrically, it’s a fantastically human account of modern alienation and loneliness, yet still manages to be captivating indie pop. It’s just lovely everyone.



12. 'Alley Cats' by Hot Chip
Hot Chip’s album One Life Stand hasn’t quite made the cut across lots of end of year lists, and I can see why in part, but its full of some brilliant songs, a lot of them tender and emotional and- for me- none more so than this. Simple keyboard and drum open up the track, and Alexis Taylor’s distinctively light voice is so soft and tender that I can’t help but give myself over to it. The whole thing is comfy, warm and affectionate and just makes me think of home.



11. 'Power' by Kanye West
The first big indication that Kanye was soon going to the rule the whole damn world. This distils a lot of what his new album is about. It’s Kanye rapping about being Kanye. Its huge, ostentatious, cinematic. It’s boastful and grandiose. But lyrically it’s a masterpiece. A full West dissection. It’s a confession of his failures, his idiocy, but a slap in the face of haters and sceptics. This is the sound of triumph.



10. 'Girls' by Marina & The Diamonds
I adore Marina Diamandis. I confess, I love everything about her. Including this song. The vocal delivery is so absurdly individual and distinct, I can’t help but adore it. She just fires on all cylinders on a superbly vicious and sarcastic attack on superficial, vacuous modern girls. The lyrics are detailed and specific, yet never come across as cluttered or dated. Maybe I’m just so absurdly attracted to Marina that my judgement has been clouded. If so, I don’t care. Not when pop music this good is involved.



9. 'Tell 'Em by Sleigh Bells
One of the best riffs ever. Fact. Too soon? Maybe. Wrong? No. There is no denying the riff on this song is INSANELY awesome. And that’s just the start. MASSIVE drum beats. HUGE whirring sounds. GORGEOUS and sweet vocals that shouldn’t work against the intense heavy metal guitars and mammoth drums, but they do. And the melody is as insanely addictive as the riff. This song is twisted pop brilliance that just whacks everything up to 11 and is about nothing other than making as much brilliant noise as possible.



8. 'Rambling Man' by Laura Marling
Laura Marling cemented herself fully as one of the best (if not THE best) songwriter in the UK with her second album, and my favourite track from that album has got to this one. The melody is just so superb and the song builds and grows so much that, with its sentiments of identity and independence, it’s something ‘epic’ (though using that word doesn’t seem quite right). Brilliantly arranged, lyrically masterful and beautifully delivered. This is just a brilliant song.



7. 'The Sea is a Good Place to Think of the Future' by Los Campesinos!
Los Campesinos! are one of those bands who are able to tell entire stories and build entire, believable characters in the space of one song, and the most effecting example of that is here. An engrossing guitar line and tragic, brooding cellos draw you into a tragic tale of anorexia , bereavement and reflection. Probably my favourite song as a lyrical whole from the whole year, which is only helped by the chillingly detached vocal delivery. And it all crescendos into a sublimely noisy chorus. This song hits an emotional chord and draws me in in a way that I don’t experience very often.



6. 'I Can Change' by LCD Soundsystem
Despite the fact that it’s now used in adverts on Dave, this song has been one of the best pop songs of the year since it first appeared. It’s probably one of the best James Murphy has ever written. It uses his classic trick of repetition with subtle variation to create an addictive and engrossing piece of pop music. The melody is quite beautiful and I really can’t say enough about the chorus. That itself is an example of the repetition with a little bit of variation, and its AWESOME to belt out. Lyrically, it is spectacularly vulnerable and human, qualities people very often don’t seem to associate with James Murphy, and it contains some of my favourite lyrics of the year.



5. 'The Suburbs' by Arcade Fire
I find it difficult to believe that anyone who truly likes rock music could not love this song. The inspired mix of honky tonk piano, guitar, plodding bass and steady drums creates a disarmingly simple underpinning for a truly brilliant track. This song was a statement of intent as the opener of Arcade Fire’s sublime album. The lyrics veer from cinematic and grand in feel to beautifully specific details about learning to drive and your mother’s keys. Beautiful.



4. 'Runaway' by Kanye West
This song was how Kanye decided to announce his public return, at the MTV Awards. This song is similar in a lot of ways to “Power”, but in my opinion is the greater of the two. It sounds MASSIVE and pompous, like some imperial vessel moving onwards… imperiously. But its coupled with a melancholy chorus that is probably my favourite individual lyric of the year. Kanye wraps up his own self loathing and the loathing he feels for his critics and exorcises the two with a stupendous and actually quite amusing chorus. The whole of the new album is about what it’s like to be Kanye, and I think that this track nails that on the head as well as everything else you could possibly want in a pop song.



3. 'I Don't Have a Dick' by Captain Ahab
This track is so high on my list purely because it is genuinely unlike anything I have ever heard. Lyrically, it is hilariously, unbelievable absurd. It is the arrogant, ostentatious first person account of the mythologised Captain Ahab who spends most of the track rapping over a constantly shifting background about how he doesn’t have a dick, and what that means for him exactly. This song is overflowing with grandiosity, absurdity, EVERYTHING, in a way that Kanye or even GaGa can’t possibly hope to rival.



2. 'Trainwrecks' by Weezer
Unless you’ve bought Weezer’s most recent album, you probably won’t have heard this track. It’s not a single, at least as of yet. Lots of people have said that Weezer returned to form this year and for me the best example of that is Trainwrecks. Guys this song is just amazing. It’s a massive rock ballad. Heartwarmingly unpretentious, euphoric and rebellious, I have lost count of how many times I have belted this out in my car. It has “Season Finale” written all over it in a way DOESN’T seem crap. Lyrically its disarmingly simple, it’s honest, self aware. Rivers Cuomo’s vocal delivery is emotional, raw, varied and just bloody awesome. If you fob this off as uninspired, uninventive rock then you’ve missed the point you pretentious twat.



1. 'Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk' by The New Pornographers
I raved on Twitter a while ago about how much I love this song. Unless you read that then you probably have no sodding clue about it. This song isn’t a huge statement. It’s not a game changing pop revolution. It’s not a social diatribe. This is just a genuinely PHENOMENAL indie rock song. It has one of the best riffs I have ever heard. It’s vaguely off key, an inspired use of semitones, and thus has something I find so attractive – the twisting and warping of pop music. The melody is mind blowingly catchy. Genuinely. From the moment I heard it I haven’t been able to shake it. The chorus still just blows me away every time. It’s just amazing! I can’t tell you why, it just is. The way this song chops and changes into different repeated sections, the beautiful interplay of lead male and female vocals, the vulnerable lyrics. Good grief, this is just such a perfect song. I love it. I really love it. It has decimated every other song in my iTunes play count. It got me into this band. In years to come few will probably rave over the album, let alone this one track. Well screw them. This is my favourite song of the year, because it is just hits the mark in untold ways on every level that a song should.





So there you have it! My top songs of the year. Whaddya think folks? Hope to hear from you soon :) have a merry Christmas!

My Top 12 Albums of 2010: #6-1

Click here for #12-7.

6. 'The Fool' by Warpaint


If you have talked to me AT ALL about music in the last few months then you'll have known that I have fallen head over heels in love with Warpaint. The all girl American four piece entranced the world with their SXSW performances earlier this year, and their Exquisite Corpse EP became the record to own. Anticipation about their debut album was high. And they delivered in a gorgeously superb fashion. This album is a dark, sinister yet alluring journey. Menacing drums, throbbing huge bass lines, creepy guitar echoes and ghostly, sultry female vocals weave together to create a genuine experience. The songs veer in multiple directions at times ("Set Your Arms Down"); lending it a proggish air, but it never loses focus or drifts into aimless twiddly wankery. The engrossing music is coupled with simple yet evocative lyrics. This album is all about getting lost in emotion, weighed down by the dark underbelly of love and desire ("Undertow", "Lissie's Heart Murmur", "Baby", "Bees") I have fully given myself over to this album's enchantment, and I don't think I'll ever regret it.

5. 'This Is Happening' by LCD Soundsystem


LCD Soundsystem may very well appear in the musical dictionary next to the term "critic's choice". I have yet to read an "Album of the Year" list that doesn't feature this album, and a lot of people may think it's been included across the board purely due to expectation and a degree of entitlement. Well you're wrong. This is a genuinely brilliant album, and, if it IS James Murphy's last effort under the old moniker, a perfect swansong. Musically, the album retains a classic LCD template - epic dance tracks that use repetition to stunning effect. True. But there's a distinct sound to this album. It's probably more electronic than its predecessors and definitely a lot cleaner production wise. But the music is still sublime. Like lots of entries in this list, James Murphy takes pop music and shapes it into his own subversive image. Intoxicating pop hooks abound, especially on killer singles "Drunk Girls" and "I Can Change". You can't NOT sing along to those songs, the former being one of the most absurdly fun things ever. The whole album is just so danceable, and James Murphy nails the thing that I find so amazing about him. He takes dance and pop music and combines it with lyrics that are perceptive, honest and clever, covering paranoia ("Dance Yrself Clean"), vulnerability ("All I Want", "I Can Change") and, as always, his unique relationship with the music industry ("You Wanted A Hit"). A stunning record. Musically, sonically, lyrically and emotionally it's triumphant on all fronts and, at the end of the day, friggin' brilliant to hear.

4. 'The Suburbs' by Arcade Fire


I'll be honest. It took me MONTHS to get round to buying this album. I watched on as the hype and praise was heaped upon Arcade Fire, constantly dogged by the knowledge that I really SHOULD buy this album. It was an event. It would probably be looked back on as a classic in years to come. By the time I got to it, I was expecting either to be let down or to end up feigning appreciation to save my indie cred. But this album. This album. It broke through anything else I had heard or soaked up about it and, as I sat in my room listening to it, it was as if I was being introduced to a total stranger who instantly captivated me. Charmed me. Made me fall in love. The themes of this album are obvious - varied reminiscences of the bands suburban upbringings in the light of their adult lives. But that subject matter involves so much - a whole spectrum of recalled childhood emotions and experiences that spirals through the bittersweet, the triumphant, the defeated, the ignorant, the romantic, the disappointed, the broken. This is a true ALBUM. It covers all the angles of its subject matter, but not in a business like efficiency. In a way that genuinely reflects human experience. Whether it's fear ("The Suburbs"), insecurity ("Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)"), loss of innocence ("City With No Children"), loneliness ("Ready to Start") or a million and one other subtle feelings and emotions, this record overflows with humanity and lyrical beauty. Musically, it flows and varies and enters numerous new territories for the band, whilst always maintaining that enchanting, cinematic quality Arcade Fire pull off earnestly in a way Coldplay and U2 never will. A lot of people will be put off now by the fact that they're playing stadium shows. Screw 'em. This music was made to be huge. The word masterpiece is bandied about a lot nowadays, often with no justification. Not so here.

3. 'The Wild Hunt' by The Tallest Man on Earth


I'm confident that most of you won't be familiar with this record, which kind of makes me glad. Not because I want to inflate my pretentious, musically informed ego (well, probably) but because I hope I'm telling your something you haven't already been told. The Tallest Man on Earth, a.k.a Kristian Matsson, possesses the enviable ability to do untold amounts with simply his voice and an acoustic guitar. This album is a stunning, genuinely stunning, collection of songs. The sparse arrangements create an album that is warm, organic and inviting; and to put it simply Matsson is a superbly talented acoustic guitarist. Regardless of the fact that English is Matsson's second language (he's Swedish) this album is one of the most lyrically beautiful I've probably ever heard; full of emotional confession as well as vivid imagery. He covers mortality ("The Wild Hunt"), unrequited love ("A Lion's Heart"), playful fantasy ("King of Spain"), guilt ("Kids on the Run") and more. Those may sound like weighty, depressing lyrical themes but this album is beautiful and welcoming, like lullabies with well worn but effecting morals. A timeless gem of an album.

2. 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' by Kanye West


The world of Kanye, and the world WITH Kanye, is an insane place to be. Rather then repeat myself, read my previous post on why this album is so amazing. And really. It is amazing. It is a stone cold, terrifying classic. I can hyperbolise and dish out superlatives as long as I want. There really aren't words. Massive. Sublime. Bizzarre. Historic. I don't know. Just listen. Listen and marvel.

1. 'Hidden' by These New Puritans


Well here we are. For me, there has never really been a threat to the top spot for this year since Hidden was released. We've had nearly the whole of 2010 to digest this album. NME crowned it their album of 2010 and I anticipate an immediate wave of scepticism as a result of that. But if that is you: get stuffed. There really is no other option for album of the year. This album gave me the amazing experience of hearing something genuinely NEW. Sonically, nothing has been done like this album before. Chief song writer Jack Barnett has been open about his influences, and they're there if you listen, but they've been stripped, dissected, atomised and shaped into a terrifying, triumphant and sensational piece of work. The musicianship on this album is genuinely phenomenal. As a musician, it just blew me away. The percussion throughout is textured, varied and adventurous, both underpinning and at times dominating proceedings. They accompany throbbing, monolithic bass sounds to create the mind blowing "We Want War"- a mysterious, shadowy beast. It's a prime example of the inspired and mind boggling use of hip-hop beats and rhythms throughout- evident on equally dark "Attack Music"- and the aforementioned beats are combined with intricate and thoughtful arrangements for a woodwind ensemble. Bassoons and big beats? The thought is, and always was ridiculous. But it has been pulled off. And not JUST pulled off. It's unbelievable. The album experiences soft, vulnerable beauty as well- "White Chords" and "Hologram" are supremely beautiful and vulnerable, as well as stunningly textured. Nearly every track is a revolutionary piece of pop experimentation, bastardised and reshaped into something that I still cannot describe. This album is a true leap. Jack Barnett has said himself that this album is not experimentation for experimentation's sake. This music is sincere people. It's real and revolutionary, a towering example of just how original and exciting music can still be in 2010. But this isn't just a flash in the pan. Even if These New Puritans all die tomorrow, this album will stand as one of the most accomplished of the decade and, years from now when I can say this without being torn down, one of the most accomplished in the history of popular music. And the best part? The whole thing is overwhelmingly enjoyable to listen to.


Well there we have it! My top albums of 2010. You probably disagree with some if not not all my decisions. In years to come, I may look back and heartily wish to rearrange. Who knows. I just know that this year, I have loved each of these albums. Bring on 2011.