On The Trail Of The Great

Hark, is that tumbleweed?

2012-04-29T17:03:00.000Z

Hello... Apologies if you've been checking back here frequently in the almost two years since the last post. Not entirely sure what happened, but time has a way of scooting by. Anyway, I've relocated to a new blog home - onthetrailofthegreat.tumblr.com - on which there should be some stuff up and running soon.

Song of the Week #19: "Pastimes & Lifestyles" by Dogs Die In Hot Cars

2010-05-11T13:33:00.001Z

It's fair to say bands with stupid names have to try that little bit harder to make any impression on me. In the case of Dogs Die In Hot Cars, the turning point came with hearing a fantastic song called Somewhat off The Way on a compilation CD. Sure enough, further investigation into the band's debut album Please Describe Yourself showed a pop band very much in touch with early-80s new-wavers like XTC, best shown on tunes like the brilliant Pastimes & Lifestyles. They seemingly vanished soon after, but better to leave one brilliant album as a legacy than slowly fade, right?

MP3: Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Pastimes & Lifestyles

Spotify: Please Describe Yourself

Song of the Week #18: "A Darkness Now Is Coming" by Hope & Social

2010-05-04T08:29:00.001Z

It seems like only five minutes ago Hope & Social released Architect Of This Church, but they're back with another album already. I could swear there was no mention of it when I interviewed them at the start of the year. As with Architect, April can be downloaded for whatever you want to pay, and while not as strong as its predecessor, if you've liked any of their previous work either under the name Hope & Social or Four Day Hombre, there'll be something here of interest.

My pick of the bunch is the folky A Darkness Now Is Coming. At the recent Cuckoo's Fest (from where I took the above pic), for this song the band members scattered themselves around the crowd to play an unplugged version to great effect.

Head over to their website and chuck some money their way!

MP3: Hope & Social - A Darkness Now Is Coming

Song of the Week #17: "Keep Your Eyes On The Road" by Lone Wolf

2010-04-26T09:42:00.002Z

Some records have more expectations attached to them than others, and this year so far hasn't particularly been full of consistently good releases. I was hugely looking forward to the latest Josh Rouse and Rufus Wainwright albums, and while each has its moments, they're not albums that are finding themselves on the stereo too often. The really big one for me will be the new Crowded House album in June - Neil Finn hasn't let me down yet so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

One other album I now have high hopes for is the debut from Lone Wolf, which is due in May. There's a couple of great songs on his Myspace page, one of which being the thoroughly brilliant Keep Your Eyes On The Road. It's rare that such a great song would have such a great video to match, but everything about this is genius:

Song of the Week #16: "Word Of Mouth Parade" by Gus

2010-04-19T10:53:00.002Z

Last weekend's Record Store Day reminded me of numerous trips to Minus Zero in London (which I read in the Guardian might sadly be on its last legs). A fantastic little shop, aside from an incredible selection of records and CDs, its key success lay with incredible knowledgeable staff. Reeling off a list of favoured artists to the guy behind the counter, he'd usually come back with a recommendation that turned out to be a winner.

Even in these early days of Spotify, the idea of taking a chance on something unheard and splashing out a tenner on something seems like a very archaic way of doing things. A shame, as the thrill of the risk was quite intoxicating.

One such trip to the shop ended up with me buying a copy of Word Of Mouth Parade by Gus (whose subsequent records came out under the name Gus Black). A lot of the album is standard singer/songwriter fare, but there are some absolute crackers scattered in there too, not least the mesmerising title track.

MP3: Gus - Word Of Mouth Parade

Buy Word Of Mouth Parade @ Amazon

Song of the Week #15: "Nature Of Love" by Waterfront

2010-04-13T08:02:00.002Z

There can't be too many songs from the 80s I had on vinyl that I haven't managed to track down on MP3. Once in a while though I'm reminded of something I'd completely forgotten about, and the rush of nostalgia is a powerful thing. Waterfront were quite a forgettable late-80s pop duo who traded in the same kind of stuff as Johnny Hates Jazz. I remember the excitement of finding a 7" box set of their Broken Arrow single (complete with postcards and badge, naturally) at a car boot sale when I was about 12 or 13. Nature Of Love was the big one though, a cracking tune that still sounds fantastic even though the production has, obviously, aged badly.

I probably wouldn't have given Waterfront another thought if the song hadn't been posted over at the excellent Popdose a couple of weeks back, so thankyou Popdose for the memories!

MP3: Waterfront - Nature Of Love

Song of the Week #14: "Run With Us" by Lisa Lougheed

2010-04-08T14:22:00.003Z

If you recognise the guy above, you probably grew up in the 80s. The Raccoons was almost certainly the greatest cartoon of the decade, although not one that seems to get much retro love nowadays. But aside from being a great show, it had a theme tune that continually pops up on any 80s compilations I put together. Not an obvious kids' cartoon theme tune ("Come with us / I see passion in your eyes"???), Run With Us by Lisa Lougheed is a power-pop masterpiece.

MP3: Lisa Lougheed - Run With Us

Song of the Week #13: "Still Be There" by Alondra Bentley

2010-03-29T14:26:00.003Z

I went to see Josh Rouse play in Manchester last week, a fantastic gig despite his new stuff still taking its time to sink in. A healthy selection of classics helped, especially the encore of Sparrows Over Birmingham, 1972 and It's The Nighttime.

An extra bonus was a fantastic choice of support act. Alondra Bentley is based in Spain, but sings in English, with a speaking voice recalling Bjork and a singing voice somewhere between Charlotte Gainsbourg and Nerina Pallot. Sharing band members with Josh Rouse, she gave a great performance, cute and quirky in equal measure.

Then there are the songs - the gorgeous folky melodies on new album Ashfield Avenue really are a treat, Some Things Of My Own and Still Be There sounding incredibly familiar after just a couple of listens.

Couldn't seem to find a physical copy of the album, so ended up buying it from 7digital. Highly recommended!

Video: Some Things Of My Own:

MP3: Alondra Bentley - Still Be There

Listen to Ashfield Avenue on Spotify

Song of the Week #12: "Blues Run The Game" by Simon & Garfunkel

2010-03-22T11:13:00.004Z

Inspired by Laura Barton's glowing comments on the new Laura Marling album, I had a listen, thinking it'd be very much up my street. Turns out it's not, and it got me wondering whether I *think* I like folk music more than I actually do. Or is it just that, with the exception of one or two songs, the album on the whole just doesn't appeal to me melodically? I don't have a lot of folk music in my music collection, although I was recently sent some Fairport Convention which I've been enjoying a lot. Certainly can't think of much modern folk that's left any impression (apart from maybe Damien Rice's first album, and that's a few years old now).

I do however have a big soft spot for Simon & Garfunkel. Their Old Friends boxset covers pretty much all bases, and favourites change all the time. Right now I'm in the midst of a mild obsession with Blues Run The Game. One guitar and two voices - does it get much simpler (or better) than this?

MP3: Simon & Garfunkel - Blues Run The Game

More of Simon & Garfunkel's greatest hits on Spotify

Song of the Week #11: "Violent" by Stellar

2010-03-16T11:41:00.002Z

Haven't got too much to say about Stellar, although listening to anything off their fantastic debut Mix takes me right back to my Uni days. It was a result of one of those convoluted connections that I'd probably never take a chance on now. As a big Crowded House fan, I'd seek out any spurious link that might deliver something along similar lines. I chanced upon a single by Bic Runga that CH bassist Nick Seymour might have had something to do with. Quickly becoming enamoured with Bic's debut album Drive, I then moved onto... her sister. In hindsight that's not an obvious connection, but fortunately her sister Boh also knows her way around a tune, although the Garbage-alike electro-rock music she made with Stellar is quite a trek from Bic's gentle pop. Anyway, Violent was the opening track and still sounds gloriously spiky.

MP3: Stellar - Violent

Boh Runga on Myspace

Song of the Week #10: "Feeling No Pain" by Jason Falkner

2010-03-07T20:03:00.002Z

I was introduced to the work of Jason Falkner around 2002, and his first two albums completely blew me away. 1999's Can You Still Feel in particular is a genuine pop classic. For whatever reason, he remained pretty much under the radar for most of the last decade, his third full-length record getting a Japanese release in 2007 (and only just getting a US release around now). That record, I'm OK You're OK, is patchy at best - a huge shame, given the long wait.

Saying that though, in 2004 he put out an absolutely sublime 5-song EP, the aptly-titled Bliss Descending, which contained some of his finest work to date. Power-pop at its best, songs like Lost Myself and Feeling No Pain are almost certainly getting constant radio airplay in a more pop-friendly parallel universe.

MP3: Jason Falkner - Feeling No Pain

Spotify: A limited selection of back catalogue

JasonFalkner.net

I'm in hope, I know...

2010-03-03T11:16:00.001Z

If you're in or around Leeds, the new issue of the free music mag Vibrations is now out (in music shops, pubs, and various other locations). Among other things, it has my feature on Hope & Social.

If you know of the band at all, it'll more than likely be from their previous incarnation, Four Day Hombre, who released an album a few years ago in a blaze of next-big-thing press, but which ultimately failed to make much of a splash. A change in outlook later and they reappeared as Hope & Social, with new album Architect Of This Church available from their website for whatever you want to pay.

The article will appear on the Vibrations website at some point soon if you can't get hold of the physical mag.

MP3: Hope & Social - In Need
MP3: Four Day Hombre - Resolve

Song of the Week #9: "Faces" by Nik Kershaw

2010-03-01T09:53:00.003Z

I went to see Nik Kershaw play a solo acoustic show in Holmfirth a week or so back, and was reminded yet again of what a brilliant songwriter he is. There were evidently people there who only wanted to hear the classic hits, proceeding to talk through everything else. For me, his most consistent work emerged with his comeback in 1999 with the 15 Minutes album, but I guess that one passed most people by. The show was a nice mix of old and more recent, the biggest surprises of the night being the inclusion of Faces and Human Racing from his debut album way back in 1984. Always a couple of my favourite Nik tunes, it was a genuine thrill to hear him play them live. Following the show, I dug into my MP3 folder to hear the originals - Faces in particular always impressed me with its cold, clinical paranoia somehow perfectly matched by the almost nursery-rhyme chorus.

The Idiot's Guide To Nik Kershaw I wrote for Jefitoblog a few years ago disappeared when that site crashed and burned, so I might dig it out and repost it here at some point.

MP3: Nik Kershaw - Faces

Spotify: Nik Kershaw

Buy Nik's new acoustic album No Frills

Song of the Week #8: "Someday" by Embrace

2010-02-22T11:50:00.002Z

Embrace's first album was a big player in soundtracking my first year of Uni, bombastic, epic songs like Come Back To What You Know making their mark in those years straight after Britpop. The couple of albums that followed got slowly weaker, to the point that when they returned in 2004 with Out Of Nothing, hopes weren't high. Fortunately it turned out to be a career peak, full of big guitars and immense tunes, of which Someday is a fine example.

MP3: Embrace - Someday

Spotify: Embrace

Song of the Week #7: "Tinsel & Ivy" by Montage

2010-02-14T20:07:00.002Z

A little bit of obscure long-out-of-print, super-fey 60s baroque pop this week, with Tinsel & Ivy from the self-titled 1969 album by Left Banke off-shoot Montage. I randomly found this in a record shop on Bleecker Street in New York, which was a nice surprise (never having seen anything Left Banke-related in any shop ever). By no means the most macho song in existence, but what a tune!

MP3: Montage - Tinsel & Ivy

Wikipedia: The Left Banke

Song of the Week #6: "Hide Behind The Sun" by Natalie Imbruglia

2010-02-08T16:30:00.002Z

Listening to Civil Twilight's 'Human' put me in the mood for further piano balladry, which I've stretched out into a very tasty compilation CD for the car, full of (mostly morose) piano/voice songs (with a little extra accompaniment here and there). Songs with this arrangement have always been hugely appealing to me - not sure why, just something about a well-played piano being a suitable setting for 4 minutes of maudlin beauty. Good examples? How about Number Crunch by Mike Viola, My Blue Manhattan by Ryan Adams, Only In The Movies by David Mead, NY by Frida Hyvonen, Flint (For The Unemployed And Underpaid) by Sufjan Stevens and Untitled by Tom McRae.

And there's also Hide Behind The Sun by Natalie Imbruglia. Around the time of her first album in '97, a string of singles gave way to a set of cracking b-sides, of which I *think* this was one (I question that statement as I can't remember owning it on CD, but it's sat very nicely for many a year in my Natalie Imbruglia B-sides folder in iTunes). Anyway, this is a real beauty, stark and
haunting:

"Tonight... everything but me /

Taken out to sea /

All gone...

MP3: Natalie Imbruglia - Hide Behind The Sun

Spotify: Check out her back catalogue...

It's all the things you can't explain...

2010-02-03T10:05:00.001Z

Gotta say, I'm a sucker for a bit of melancholy, particularly when it's done by the likes of Leaves or Coldplay. In that vein, some of the stuff on the new album by Civil Twilight has really hit home. My pick would be Human, an utterly gorgeous piano ballad with a keening vocal that, while a more cynical soul might suggest it's been designed by committee to soundtrack death scenes in Grey's Anatomy, has more than enough emotional weight to stand on its own two feet. Other tunes on the album, like the single Letters From The Sky, have studied the Coldplay template maybe a bit too closely (which I guess is only a slur if you think Coldplay are unemotional and overblown), but if a touch of maudlin indie-rock is called for, this record is a good punt.

MP3: Civil Twilight - Human
Web: civiltwilightband.com

Song of the Week #5: "Love Made A Fool Of Me" by the Carolines

2010-02-01T11:48:00.007Z

It's fair to say my knowledge of 60s girl pop acts hasn't previously stretched much further than the usual Motown suspects and a healthy selection of work by the late and very great Dusty Springfield. Hurrah then for the Eclipse label's 'The Girls Are At It Again: UK Beat Girls 1964-1969', which lays out 20 joyous pop obscurities on one disc.

Some of the names are familiar (Diana Dors, Kiki Dee), but mostly these are presumably one- or indeed no-hit-wonders. Pick of the bunch is Love Made A Fool Of Me by the Carolines. It's a cracking tune, and even though the subject matter has been done to death before and since, the anguish in that chorus vocal is still guaranteed to send a shiver down the spine:

"Love made a fool of me /
What can I do now I've lost you? /
It's over now, leave it that way"

MP3: Carolines - Love Made A Fool Of Me

Buy: Amazon

Song of the Week #4: "Say That Again" by Crowded House

2010-01-25T13:35:00.000Z

Neil Finn is a deity of the highest order, so any decision he makes is likely to be a good one. Like, reforming Crowded House after a decade apart. In the meantime, he'd put out a couple of fantastic solo albums and an even better one with brother Tim, so creatively speaking it's not as though he needed to kickstart the old band. But he did, and 2007's Time On Earth was a masterpiece. My personal favourite track isn't one that got a lot of love in reviews, and it's not one you often hear even hardcore fans discussing, but to me, Say That Again is one of his finest moments yet. It's taut, it's claustrophobic, god only knows what it's about, but it sounds utterly amazing.

I think one reason why musically it works for me is that the chugging guitars remind me of a childhood favourite, Icehouse's 'Great Southern Land'. Now that's a tune and a half.

Fingers crossed Neil will come up with the goods again in the near future, as the new Crowded House album nears release.

MP3: Crowded House - Say That Again

Website: http://www.crowdedhouse.com/s_home/index.php
Spotify: Time On Earth

Song of the Week #3: "Maybe After He's Gone" by The Zombies

2010-01-18T13:34:00.004Z

Obviously, phrases like 'lost classic' and 'underrated masterpiece' are batted around like confetti nowadays (and I guiltily hold my hand up as quickly as anyone), but the fact that the Zombies' Odessey & Oracle isn't as revered as work by contemporaries like the Beatles really is baffling. The story behind its recording and release is a good one (the wikipedia account is well worth reading) and points to reasons why it wasn't the success it might have been, but to me, it might have something to do with the fact the record is so, well, odd. Not musically of course - musically it's of its time while still being hugely inventive, and the melodies flow like they've been beamed in from another planet. But lyrically, it's something else. You have to admire any band who start an album off with a song where the guy is writing to his girl who's in jail, writing pleasantries that we assume probably don't go down too well:

"Saved you the room you used to stay in every Sunday /
The one that is warmed by sunshine every day /
And we'll get to know each other for a second time /
And then you can tell me about your prison stay."

It's such a perky song on the surface, but hugely unsettling if you dig a bit deeper.

Then you've got the sombre organ-led Butcher's Tale, a tale of front-line combat nestled snugly next to Friends Of Mine, an ode to couples in loving relationships: "It feels so good to know two people so in love, so in love!"

In amongst the odd lyrical concerns and baroque beauty is this week's chosen selection, the magnificent Maybe After He's Gone. But even that diverts from any kind of male bravado - "Maybe after he's gone, she'll come back and love me again." You reckon? Typical British restraint and all that, but come on! Then again, this level of coyness makes its appearance elsewhere in their catalogue; Goin' Out Of My Head, which appears as a bonus track on some versions of the album, includes the killer line: "There's no reason why my being shy should keep us apart." Hmmm... Wishful thinking perhaps.

The Zombies then - masculinity issues, but fortunately able to set them against devastatingly wonderful songs.

MP3: The Zombies - Maybe After He's Gone

Website: http://www.thezombies.net
Spotify: Odessey & Oracle

Song of the Week #2 - "1972" by Josh Rouse

2010-01-11T13:09:00.002Z

If I had to pick one artist who stood head and shoulders above everyone else in the last decade, it would probably be Josh Rouse. Not only did he release a heck of a lot of records (by my reckoning there were 6 albums and a handful of EPs), but at least four of those were truly magnificent. The four in question are the run started by 2003's epic '1972', through 'Nashville', 'Subtitulo' and 'Country Mouse City House'. Each of those contains life-affirming pop songs, but '1972' edges it. In fact, if I were making a list of my absolutely favourite albums of the decade, it would probably be right up there at number 1. I bought it on a whim, having read a good review (possibly in Q) and having liked what I'd heard of his previous record, Under Cold Blue Stars. 1972 is very different from its predecessor, from the warmth of the production to the 70s singer/songwriter stylings and arrangements. What really sets it apart though is the tunes, and while Come Back is the perfect pop song, my pick for this week is the title track. So sad and with such longing, but musically so uplifting:

"Spanish girl with a tattoo
Working nights at the drive-through
And she asks herself, could this be all?
Screwing in a motel room
Watching news on channel two
Victoria tell me, where is your dream?

We're going through some changes
Hoping for replacement
Until we find a way out of this hole"

MP3: Josh Rouse - 1972

Here's a live version from Germany:

Website: www.joshrouse.com
Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/5SxkCsVQLLCt5edqjNvssO

Song of the Week #1: "Painkillers" by Candy Butchers

2010-01-06T11:38:00.005Z

Okay, so I'm going to make a valiant attempt to blog more regularly (although I've said that on various occasions previously and failed miserably to keep to it). Decided to start a Song of the Week series, writing a few words about something that's had some impact on me. Not a revolutionary concept by any means, but hopefully other people can find something new or interesting from some of these posts...

So, first up is a key track from one of my absolute favourite albums from the last decade, if not ever. Painkillers is a beautiful but harrowing track that appears halfway through the Candy Butchers album Hang On Mike, and tells the real-life story of singer/songwriter Mike Viola's grief over his wife's death from cancer, and how his new partner was helping him come to terms with it. Summarising it as simply as that feels wrong though, and you really need to hear the song for the full effect (and if you have any soul, you can't help but be affected by it):

MP3: Candy Butchers - Painkillers

"To wake up with Kim again
She's as beautiful as I remember
Spying on me through her long brown hair
Walking beside me without a wheelchair
Somehow I think she returns
To show there's nothing to fear any more..."

I get a lump in my throat listening to it even now, after playing the song hundreds of times since its release at the start of 2004.

The parent album is, quite frankly, a masterpiece. Essentially an autobiographical song-cycle, it takes us through Mike's life from his time as a child prodigy up to the mind-numbing mundanities of touring in a rock band, stopping along the way to discuss names for potential children and an ode to his mother. Again, putting it like that doesn't do the album justice, and it really needs to be heard to be believed.

Website: www.mikeviola.com
Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hang-Mike-Candy-Butchers/dp/B00016XO5Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1262778893&sr=1-1

Best Albums of 2009

2009-12-14T14:56:00.004Z

Download the MP3 Sampler (.zip)

1. David Mead - Almost & Always

On the MP3 sampler: Sicily

Top of the pile for 2009 is the latest release from David Mead, a set of breathtakingly beautiful songs that barely break a sweat but leave a huge emotional impact. I know I'm not the only Mead fan who thought he'd peaked with 2004's magnificent Indiana - and, to be honest, the two records aren't stylistically comparable - but here the songcraft appears to have gone up several notches on an already pretty high scale. Almost & Always couldn't be more different from his previous release, 2006's Tangerine - itself not a bad record by any means - if it tried. Tangerine was all bells and whistles, a stab at a classic-sounding pop record more in tune with his first couple of albums. Almost & Always is content to let its not inconsiderable but extremely low-key charms work their way slowly into your subconscious until the none-more-gorgeous melodies take up permanent residence. The arrangements are sparse for the most part, occasional flourishes of orchestration broadening the pallet. But ultimately this is David Mead, so it's all about that voice and how it portrays his timeless melodies.

Initially it looked like Almost & Always wasn't going to get any kind of proper release - at one point it seemed as if the only promotional push was Mead himself posting out promo copies to anyone hosting a widget on their website - which would've been a horrendous shame, but at the time of writing it's now available on CD from the likes of Amazon. Picking highlights is nigh on impossible, but the lump-in-throat Sicily and jaunty Rainy Weather Friend are probably the best places to start. All in all, a masterpiece and artistic triumph; how he's going to top this is anyone's guess.

2. Don McGlashan & the Seven Sisters- Marvellous Year

On the MP3 sampler: Not Ready

Someone else hitting major highs this year, this second solo record from Don McGlashan (well, not strictly solo as the Seven Sisters get equal billing) is surely his best set of songs since the Mutton Birds' high watermark Envy of Angels from 1997. A songwriter who's long since passed into the realms of can-do-no-wrong in my book, songs like Not Ready and You're The Song just go to prove his prowess once again.

3. A-ha - Foot Of The Mountain

On the MP3 sampler: The Bandstand

The second phase of A-ha's career has book-ended the decade nicely, this latest record working as a nice companion piece to 2000's excellent Minor Earth Major Sky. The two in the middle (Lifelines and Analogue) got bogged down in unmemorable MOR slush, so it's doubly surprising that Foot of The Mountain is so strong. The synths are back in force, as are the soaring melodies. Accurately described elsewhere as Coldplay meeting the revived Take That, this is the very definition of grown-up pop. A fitting swansong.

4. Regina Spektor - Far

On the MP3 sampler: Genius Next Door

One of the greatest things as a music fan is the surprise of when an artist who's previously occupied a middling position in your record collection (i.e. they've made a couple of decent-ish records but nothing that makes you desperate for the next release) puts out something utterly wonderful. Launching with the very understated single Laughing With was a fine bit of wrong-footing, as this is on the whole a lush, upbeat tour-de-force. Regina's most beautifully-produced record to date, and containing some of her absolutely finest tunes - start with Eet, Two Birds and Genius Next Door.

5. Nerina Pallot - The Graduate

On the MP3 sampler: Cigarette

Like Regina, Nerina Pallot is someone else who's made some records I've really liked in the past but never hinted at the greatness she's achieved this year. In addition to the brilliant Graduate record (on which she's shown some incredible previously unexplored pure-pop nous, e.g. on the single Real Late Starter), there were a couple of preceeding EPs, both containing moments of staggering beauty. Good to see It Starts from the Buckminster Fuller EP making it onto the album, but where's the spine-tingling Girl On A Wire? And how about the Junebug EP's truly heartbreaking This Will Be Our Year? Ignore the year's big-selling girl pop acts - Nerina's the one to track down.

6. Pet Shop Boys - Yes

On the MP3 sampler: All Over The World

Yup, that'll be Pet Shop Boys AND A-ha in my top ten for 2009. Not sure what my younger self would say about that back in the 80s, but the fact remains, these guys are still making brilliant records. Getting Xenomania in was a masterstroke, creating a collection of sublime pop songs with the kind of hooks that really should have been hanging around the higher reaches of the Top 40. On the downside, some shockingly simplistic lyrics (I'm not laying the blame for that at Neil Tennant's door) jar somewhat with the glorious pop sheen.

7. A Camp - Colonia

On the MP3 sampler: Golden Teeth and Silver Medals

I was never a fan of the Cardigans in their twee-pop years, and only started taking notice when they changed direction on Gran Turismo. The couple of records they've put out this decade have been brilliant, a run that continues into the second record from Nina Persson's sideline A Camp. Her voice is still one of the finest in pop, and she gets to put it to good use on late night Radio 2 favourites like Love Has Left The Room and Stronger Than Jesus. The Crowning and Golden Teeth & Silver Medals sound like outtakes from a Broadway musical yet to be written; on the whole, a cracking pop record.

8. The Bee Gees - Odessa (re-issue)

On the MP3 sampler: Lamplight

Christ on a bike, what are the toothsome threesome doing here??? It's very odd to think that less than a decade before their heinous disco reincarnation, the Bee Gees were making glorious baroque sort-of-concept albums worthy of mention alongside the likes of Odyssey & Oracle. Odessa has it all - tunes galore, wonderful harmonies, lovely strings, some rather odd bleating, and in moments like Lamplight and I Laugh In Your Face, songs that can make naysayers completely rethink their opinion of a band. Didn't see *that* coming...

9. Annie - Don't Stop

On the MP3 sampler: Hey Annie

I really feel like I've re-embraced my inner pop kid this year... This is superior pop music, made by someone so far removed from the Britney side of that genre it's almost embarrassing. Straight-up pop masterclasses like Songs Remind Me Of You sit easily alongside quirkier moments like Breakfast Song. It does die on its backside towards the end, but at least the first 6 or 7 tracks here sound like pop gold beamed in from an alternate universe.

10. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns

On the MP3 sampler: Travelling Woman

The big initial draw on this, aside from having really liked some tunes off Fur & Gold, was the appearance of Scott Walker actually singing a melody (rather than slapping a side of beef). His contribution is brief but beautiful, and fits perfectly at the end of a set of songs that have accessibility and mystery in equal measure. The vocal acrobatics and tribal drumming on Glass are spine-tinging, offset beautifully by piano ballads like Moon & Moon and Travelling Woman.

Download the MP3 Sampler (.zip)

Also worthy of mention.... Lisa Hannigan's Sea Sew is a beautiful record, but so quiet and polite it's sometimes hard to remember it exists at all. Five years after the last one, Kings Of Convenience made a new record; maybe it'll be a grower, but it doesn't have anything particularly new to add to their already perfect palette, and aside from the brilliant Boat Behind, the songs aren't a patch on those on Riot On An Empty Street. I Concur's Able Archer is a sturdy indie-rock record, full of intelligent songwriting and big guitars. In the year I finally got into Belle & Sebastian, I very much enjoyed Stuart Murdoch's God Help The Girl record, although it's a bit too sweet to take all in one sitting. Neil Finn & co's 7 Worlds Collide should've been amazing - Neil, Don McGlashan, members of Radiohead and Wilco, Liam Finn, Bic Runga and Tim Finn is pretty much my dream dinner party - but somehow fell down due to its own eclecticism. Don's Long Time Gone and Liam's Red Wine Bottle were the picks of the bunch, proving both to be songwriters willing to generously spirit away some of their best work to outside projects. Spent a bit of time on the epic projects released by Sufjan Stevens and the Decemberists; the neo-classical BQE was an absolute treat for the ears, while I must admit I found The Hazards of Love a bit too much. The Second Howling Bells album was a fine beast, building on the sterling work of their debut from a few years back.

Next year.... Even if nothing else, I'm already rubbing my hands with glee at the prospect of new albums from Crowded House and Josh Rouse...

Leave those decisions to us...

2009-10-26T15:43:00.001Z

My mates in I Concur have just released their brilliant debut album, Able Archer. I interview Tim and James for the Leeds fanzine Vibrations - physical copies of the mag are out around Leeds now (find it in independent record stores, Hyde Park Picture House, various pubs and choice locations), but if you don't manage to find one, the content is also online. Head straight to the I Concur interview here.

Here's the video for the single, Sobotka:

The single and album can be bought from the Club AC30 website.

Too many roads bypass my way...

2009-07-17T12:20:00.003Z

In honour of my car throwing another fit and requiring another day at the garage, here are some motor-related gems...

MP3: Prefab Sprout - Cars and Girls

MP3: The Divine Comedy - Your Daddy's Car

MP3: Citizen Band - Rust In My Car