| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
 |
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Etiquette |
| The musical alias of American Owen Ashworth, Etiquette is an often achingly beautiful combination of beats, emotional lyrics and a fragility that could move even the deadest of hearts. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
| Film School - s/t |  |
|
| Mature and thoughful indie rock for the more mature and thoughtful listener? Supporting The National last year, Film School showed a commendable knowledge of creating an atmosphere in their music - fitting for a band who are obviously members of the Joy Division fan club (see: Editors, Interpol etc) |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
Joanna Newsom - Ys |
| Likely to be loathed as much as loved, Newsom's sophomore effort offers a challenge to the listener that rewards in bucketfuls if the effort is put in. Combining Newsom's unusual vocal talents with her immaculate harp skills and then adding orchestration, the result is certainly different but utterly worthwhile. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
| The Broken Family Band - Balls | |
|
| An exciting mix of country and rock with lyrics veering from the daft to the poignant. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
Absentee - Schmotime |
| What is essentially a series of bazzin' pop songs (with a brilliant lyrical edge) is twisted somewhat by the vocals of Dan Michaelson. Living in the same vocal range as Tom Waits and Chris Rea, he often sounds like his vocals have been slowed down. Do you have to smoke a pipe from birth to get a voice like that? |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
The Lovely Feathers - Hind Hind Legs |
| Poppy oddity that manages to cram more styles, hooks and coolness into each song than many bands manage over a whole career. Canadian, as are a startingly high proportion of great bands nowadays. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House |
| People often dismiss melancholy as a weakness. Bollocks. Yellow House isn't the cheeriest album of the year, in fact it made me a bit sad and starey. But, it shows the power that sophisticated and beautifully crafted music can have. Melancholy is your warm, damp friend. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
| Giant Drag - Hearts & Unicorns | |
|
| Full debut from potty mouth scary lady Annie Hardy (plus sulky drummer). Slightly hit and miss, but with far more of the former. Often lo-fi and occasionally mental, it’s one worth persevering with. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies |
| Dan Bejar's Destroyer continue to produce challenging alt-rock that people across the pond seem to produce so easily (Lambchop, Mercury Rev and friends) yet over here we don't even seem to have the inclination even to try. Dan Bejar also continues to be Candian. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
| Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country | |
|
| Sumptuous, beautifully written and beautifully performed indie for the soft-hearted. An elegant statement, struggling to be heard in a land of laddish arsewits.
|
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming |
| Sunset Rubdown are the rather low-key and understated band of Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Frog Eyes). Charming and melancholic, it's another great album from a Canadian. Who can stop our moose chomping cousins on their quest for musical domination? |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
| Guillemots - Through The Windowpane | |
|
| An eclectic array of song styles, instrumentation and influences, Through The Windowpane screams out to be heard over the jingly-jangly nonsense produced by identikit twats with nothing to say. A little long and occasionally self-indulgent, it still manages to make the hairs stand up on your arms on several occasions. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther |
| Stark and often gorgeous indie/folk record, that bizarrely occasionally brings to mind - to me anyway - the quieter moments from the War Of The Worlds. An understated charmer. A bit like me...only the exact opposite. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
| Working For A Nuclear Free City - s/t | |
|
| Manchester! As most UK bands start to look back for things to steal, Manchester has turned to gorging on itself, spewing out numerous bands who owe debts to The Smiths, Joy Division and The Stone Roses. Which, actually, needn't be a bad thing; as long as nobody copies the Happy Mondays (who were shit) then I'll remain happy. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
Hot Chip - The Warning |
| Fun and dumb pop / dance music, designed to make people whirl around on a dancefloor. And it does; an instant floor filler of grinning faces. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
| Love Is All - Nine Times That Same Song | |
|
| The dispute over whether this album is a 2005 or a 2006 release has, I believe, hampered its placing in this list. A shame as its combination of noise, a fine line in melody and a lady screaming is quite frankly a winner. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
| Longcut - A Call And Response | |
|
| The Longcut create a wall of sound and sprinkle simple melodies across it, the emphasis is on the music rather than conveying a deep message through the lyrics. This is a good thing as in the most part the vocals are just yelps and shouts. The sound of Mogwai and The Stone Roses doing the sex. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
Brakes - The Beatific Visions |
| Short (sub 30 minutes) collection of super pop songs and spiky mentalness. The antithesis of someone like Joanna Newsom, and proof that sometimes music can fit different moods and occasions. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
Silver Jews - Tanglewood Numbers |
| Checking up on various albums for this list, I see that this album sneaked out in 2005. But it is worthy of its place, if only for the fact that it keeps some of the vaguely horrendous selections further down in the list. This is only my opinion though, other reviewers have different tastes. Whether their tastes are worse or better than mine I'll leave for you to decide. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope |
| I apologise Regina. I've always thought that you were talented, but "Mary Ann Meets The Gravediggers" gave me a headache. Begin To Hope has added a lushness and a coherence that I didn't previously find. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
| The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers | |
|
| Can you imagine if you ever met one of your heroes? You'd be nervous, excited and really looking forward to it, wouldn't you? It should be one of the best days of your life. Imagine then, that when you met your hero that he punched your little puppy in the face so hard that one of its eyes exploded. You'd be a little disappointed wouldn't you? Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you The Raconteurs! |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
Metric - Live It Out |
| For me, 2006 has consisted of two recurrent musical themes - Canadians and slightly scary female singers. Metric manage to combine both, sweet skellington singer Emily Haines may have a great voice and look kind of sweet, but I suspect she'd like to "stick me with a shiv". Live It Out is a frenetic and melodic threat, mixing loud and quiet to great effect. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
| Liars - Drum's Not Dead | |
|
| Experimental and rhythmic, like replacing a horse's hooves with miniature drums. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
| Jawbone - Haulage | |
|
| Punk blues with added "wooo-hooo's" and "Yip Yip's", played by one man and his guitar. And a harmonica. And some kind of bass drum / stompbox. Oh, and a tambourine. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
 |
| Snow Patrol - Eyes Open | |
|
| The last Snow Patrol album wasn't without its charms. What it led to was a journey into MOR, and the split with a band member over musical differences. Was it musical differences Gary Lightbody or was it more to do with the fact that your old bass player looked like an Oompa-Loompa? Fame seems to have both increased the size of Gary Lightbody's ego and his giant mushroom head of hair. |
|
| |
|
 |
26. The Hidden Cameras - Awoo
27. The Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops
28. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
29. Oneida - Happy New Year (Review)
30. Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
31. Thom Yorke - The Eraser (Review)
32. Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis
33. CSS - Cansei De Ser Sexy
34. Be Your Own Pet - s/t (Review)
35. Peter, Bjorn & John - Writer's Block
36. Xiu Xiu - The Air Force (Review)
37. Swan Lake - Beast Moans
38. The Magic Numbers - Those The Brokes (Review)
39. The Fratellis - Costello Music
40. The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes (Review)
41. I'm From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends (Review)
42. Man Man - Six Demon Bag
43. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t (Review)
44. The Grates - Gravity Won't Get You High
45. You Say Party! We Say Die! - Hit The Floor
46. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones (Review)
47. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
48. The Holloways - So This Is Great Britain
49. Black Moth Super Rainbow + The Octopus Project - The House Of Apples & Eyeballs
50. And You Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - So Divided (Review) |
| |
|
 |
| |
 |
|
Pavement - Wowee Zowee : Sordid Sentinels Edition |
| Re-release (with lots of extras) of Pavement's most experimental album. I approve of the way it kind of sabotaged their position when they were on the brink of being the "next big thing". |
|
Latest
Album Reviews