2011 – A year in review (sort of) – Part one
Obligatory albums of the year post:
So, 2011 has been an odd year. I’m not much for looking back on stuff at the end of a year, but I thought it’d be good to do a brief catch up. I’m starting with the legally required ‘favourite albums of the year’ post.
These are only some of the albums that have soundtracked the year for me, in no particular order and oddly almost all of which I bought on vinyl, in an attempt to get back to sitting down with an album without all the modern day distractions.
Los Campesinos! – Hello Sadness
If I could pick a favourite album of the year, I think it’s this. I uterly loved their last album ‘Romance Is Boring’ and wondered what they would come up with next, especially with new members. This is a really concise album, devoid of any filler. Gareth Campesinos is probably my favourite lyricist of the past god-knows-how-long and I’ve fallen massively in love with Kim Campesinos’ vocals. When her vocal comes in on ‘The Black Bird, The Dark Slope’ it’s just brilliant. If I could level any criticism at the album, it’s that there isn’t enough of her vocals. But in reality, they’re perfect for the songs, I’d just like to hear what the band sounded like with her vocals a bit more prominent, like on their older songs with Aleks singing.
I saw them at The Barfly in Camden and KCLSU and both gigs were so good. It really feels like they’re a cohesive unit and only getting better with each new album.
Bangers – Small Pleasures
Awesome, straight-ahead catchy punk trio. I was a fan from the opening line: ‘How could any conscientious soul with a brain to call its own give in to nesting instinct for a night and say Baby I’m so bored, why don’t we create a life?’.
I discovered Caves at the start of the year, when one of the shows on my tour was cancelled. We wound up in Leeds instead at a gig with Caves on the bill and from the first note I was a fan. Simple songs. Catchy as fuck and loads of power. They’re a wicked live band and this album is pretty damn close to the experience of seeing them live.
Fucked Up – David Comes to Life
Late to party with this band. When I was piecing the band back together at the start of the year, Naomi mentioned them (she worked on the DCTL website) and I duly went home to check them out on the internets. The first thing I saw was a youtube video of them performing Baiting The Public on Canadian MTV, complete with their fans running amok. Utterly brilliant.
Great Cynics – Don’t Need Much
I first saw Great Cynics when it was just Giles playing as Cynics, supporting Bomb The Music Industry!. While I liked his set, I wasn’t blown away. The moment I heard the Dave and Angela EP with drums and bass added, it totally clicked into place. Another great, solid album. This is a band that are only going to get better and better with each new release.
Bomb The Music Industry! – Vacation
I love BTMI! If I remember rightly, I checked them out after my friend Dave Hughes put a show on for Jeff on one of his iPod tours. From there I actually wound up stumbling upon Allison Weiss (who is really really fucking great) doing a BTMI! cover on youtube and subsequently a shitload of other awesome bands/musicians also. So BTMI! have been hugely important in indirectly influencing my listening habits. This is their most cohesive album and the closest they’ve come to a ‘normal’ band record. I love this band and everything they stand for. Check out Quote Unquote records where you can download all their stuff for free/donation.
Dave Hughes – Despite The Blackout
The pedant in me wants to exclude this because it’s only 14 minutes and six songs long (So more of an EP in my eyes). Also, it’s only on CD, thus making it look I have massive freak hands in the photo above. However, Dave is a DIY punker and great songwriter and I’m clearly a dickhead, so it gets on the list.
It also gets on the list because it’s arguably Dave’s strongest collection of songs and features the best recording quality of his releases to date (It’s a totally DIY home recorded effort). I can be heard yelling in the background on the title track too. Decide for yourselves whether or not this is a good thing.
