Despite what some might think, I found 2011 to be a cracking year for music; in particular for good old fashioned album releases. Since I also started reviewing music again after a long break, I heard more albums this year than I had for a while, and my long-list of those I liked came to 56.
I've already contributed to a few end of year lists and votes, changing my mind every time! So, for my own purposes, I've selected five albums that could easily be my album of the year, and I've listed some more which received heavy rotation and attention from me over the last year.
Albums of the year Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat 'Everything's Getting Older'
Moffat is one of the finest lyricists of his generation and his voice is sounding better than ever, working well with Wells's jazz-influenced arrangements.
King Creosote and Jon Hopkins 'Diamond Mine'
An album that I heard very early in the year and it stayed with me throughout. Great songwriting, plus the clever audio manipulations that Jon Hopkins adds tend to yield something new with each listen.
Eleanor Friedberger 'Last Summer'
The album that the Fiery Furnaces should've made after Gallowsbird's Bark. I reviewed it here
Fucked Up 'David Comes to Life'
Billed as a punk-rock-opera, this epic album tells the fictional tale of David and Veronica. The strong tunes and cracking guitar sounds mean that you can easily give it a couple of listens to let the abrasive vocal style get under your skin. Once you have got it, it's hard to put down.
Colin Stetson 'New History Warfare Vol 2: Judges'
Essentially a solo bass saxophone performance, this record delivers so much more than that description suggests. A stunning album.
and the runners up in no particular order...
Gang Gang Dance 'Eye Contact'
Tim Hecker 'Ravedeath 1972'
Low 'C'mon'
Wild Beasts 'Smother'
John Maus 'We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves'
Oneohtrix Point Never 'Replica'
Thurston Moore 'Demolished Thoughts'
Slow Club 'Paradise'
Destroyer 'Kaputt'
EMA 'Past Life Martyred Saints'
Wooden Shjips 'West'
Real Estate 'Days'
Summer Camp 'Welcome to Condale'
Lanterns on the Lake 'Gracious Tide Take me Home'
Fight Like Apes 'The Body of Christ and the Legs of Tina Turner'
Thee Oh Sees 'Carrion Crawler'
Atlas Sound 'Parallax'
Bonnie Prince Billy 'Wolfroy Comes to Town'
Wilco 'The Whole Love'
Peaking Lights '936'
I went to around 48 gigs and saw 91 bands, most of the details have been automatically logged here. Here is my top 20, complete with the odd review, setlist link and amateur video.
1 The Mountain Goats, London Koko, 25th May
For me it takes a lot to beat a Mountain Goats gig and this one saw them on cracking form. Set list here, and here's a bit of the solo performance mid-set.
2 Fucked Up, London Scala 31st October
Hallowe'en night, all of the band dressed as giant babies and a cracking atmosphere. This video clip was filmed by my friend Liz from our vantage point just above the main mosh-pit. Lovely.
3 Aidan Moffat/ Human Don't be Angry (Malcolm Middleton), Cambridge Haymakers, 18th March
Most definitely not an Arab Strap show, though Aidan did do one tune from Philophobia. Malcolm's new instrumental set was followed by Aidan's collection of songs, most of which were brilliant and some have (still) to be recorded. Review (not by me) on the Liminal here
4 King Creosote and Jon Hopkins/ Francois and the Atlas Mountains, London QEH 9 September
In the week they didn't win the Mercury prize (who cares), they played their largest gig to date. Very special. Read my review (the405)
5 Wild Beasts/ Dutch Uncles, Cambridge Junction, 25th November
This gig completely convinced me that Wild Beasts are the finest band in the land right now. A triumphant, inspiring performance which brought Smother to life. Setlist here
6. The Fall, London IndigO2, 24th November
I was nervous about this as there had been some very mixed reports of this tour, but this turned out to be one of the best Fall shows I had seen in years. The band were tight, MES was in great form and his 'live-mixing' (i.e. fiddling with the musicians' amp setting mid-song) actually worked. Setlist here
7 Oneohtrix Point Never, Ford and Lopatin (Games), London QEH, 9th April
A memorable experience from start to finish; a late show in the foyer of the QEH, with two very different sets and visuals bouncing off the architecture.
8. Gang Gang Dance, London XOYO, 16th May
One of the bands I listened to most this year, I was pleased to report their live recreation of Eye Contact was every bit as thrilling as the album. It was dark in XOYO though, as this truncated video clip shows!
9. Braids, London the Lexington 24th May Possibly my new favourite band, this show in the Lexington was so mesmerising I almost went to see them again later that week. I didn't make it, but I wanted to!
10. Thurston Moore, London Union Chapel, 31st May A beautiful show in a great setting, this set was almost entirely the Demolished Thoughts album, although it would have been higher up my list if he hadn't attempted some poetry reading near the end.
11. Yo La Tengo/ Condo Fucks, London Royal Festival Hall, 12 June They spun their wheel and gave us a Condo Fucks show as support. That wouldn't have been my first choice but as this was part of Ray Davies's Meltdown, it suited the overall vibe. my review (tumblr)
12. Eleanor Friedberger, Bethnal Green Workingmen's Club 1st December
I missed her first two solo appearances in London, but this show with her band was excellent.
13. Low, London Barbican, 3 June I don't think I've ever seen a bad Low gig, and the hushed atmosphere in the Barbican really worked for them. Setlist here
14. Destroyer/ Amor de Dias, London Heaven, 28 June
A fine double bill, it was quite a treat to see Amor De Dias (featuring Alaistair from the Clientele) in support, and it was my first time seeing Destroyer, who managed to do justice to the lavish, brassy arrangements on Kaputt.
15. Bitch Magnet/ Smallgang, London the Lexington 12th December Over the last few years I've been able to see a few bands I would have thought were gone for good. Bitch Magnet are the latest addition to that list and their Lexington gig was great.
16. Wooden Shjips/ Wolf People, London Scala 4 September Quality psychedelic fuzz, or a homage to Loop with an Americana twist, either way, Wooden Shjips were on great form at this. Keyboards wrapped in tinfoil as well!
17. The Besnard Lakes/ Suuns, London Scala, 22nd November Poorly attended but a cracking double bill, although Suuns could've treated us to another 10 minutes just to even things up. The sparse crowd meant that we could go right up the the front.
18. Zola Jesus/ EMA, London Heaven, 23rd November Not as dark as I had been expecting, and actually coming across as a bit club-friendly, ZJ's live show had tons of energy and an absolute (unnamed) powerhouse on the drums.
19. The Sonics/ Wire, London Royal Festival Hall, 18 June On paper this was an odd double bill as part of Ray Davies's Meltdown which worked very well. Read my review (the405)
20. Arbouretum/ Alexander Tucker, London Borderline, 24th March Another quality double bill, Tucker was full-on psych-folk mode with cello and loopstation and all, Arbouretum brought guitar wig-outs to their alt country tunes.
A final word about support slots/ special guests. As well as some of those mentioned in the list - Francois, Wire, EMA, Suuns and Smallgang, I have to give an honourable mention to Fennesz, who came on before Emeralds at Union Chapel in September and stole the show, and John Maus who left Washed Out with the impossible task of following him at Heaven in November. It has been a good year!
I'm not a huge fan of music video as a medium, but this year I found myself discovering some that I liked via Youtube and Vimeo. I've selected them below, in no particular order. As a list it is slightly more lo-fi and pyschedelic than some others I guess, but that's just my personal preference.
A visually stunning effort to accompany this Timber Timbre song, I watched this for the first time in Halllowe'en week. Pleasantly spooky.
A Summer Camp video made using only animated GIFs.
A race around Glasgow featuring hundreds of people, capturing Mogwai's home city in its daily flux.
This video is the perfect companion to John Maus's music, its psychedelic imagery is fuzzy and puzzling but suits this song so well.
I love animation and this Mountain Goats video hits the spot.
Slightly sentimental reasons for including this Cashier no9 video. The Ulster Hall looks great and the dancer - the reknowned Northern Irish artist Jack Pakenham reminds me of going to gigs in the Empire Music Hall in Belfast, as he would dance like this at the end of the night.
Destroyer made the first video I can remember making an impact on me this year.
On her album Last Summer, Eleanor Friedberger looked back at the time she first moved to New York and this videoo underlined that by inter-cutting old and new footage. Unusual and maybe annoying for some, but it worked for me.
Pretty cut-out animation for a pretty Amor De Dias tune.
As anyone who is aware of Sarah Lund in the Killing knows, jumpers are back!
Again, another video that suits the music perfectly. A cinematic feel to this, but the visuals are disjointed and psychedelic, just like the Shabazz Palaces record.
The first time I saw this Fucked Up video I thought it was ridiculous, by the third time I was hooked and intrigued by the story. Clearly there are more films to come in this sequence.
These videos are a companion to my Spotify top 50, which I posted yesterday. Enjoy!
I've compiled a top 50 of my favourite Spotify tunes of this year. It's been such a good year it was very hard to trim it back, but I decided not to include very long tracks and also to omit songs that worked better as part of a whole album, hence the absence of notables such as Josh T Pearson and Kate Bush. There are a lot of tracks here you will all know, but I've to keep it varied and include a few 'unknowns' as well. Enjoy!
