Albums & Gigs of the year reprised

I've been thinking of my favourite gigs and releases of the year for a while and decided that I really ought to put them in some sort of order. Arguably the most difficult part has been deciding whether or not to and if so how to include compilations and whole series of 7" singles in my lists. In a broadly similar vein, how to categorise festivals and all dayers amongst my top gigs (should they count as entire huge shows or can each set count as an individual thing) caused no end of confusion!! Ultimately, I might not (in fact almost certainly didn't aside from deciding not to include singles in releases) resolve either side to any great degree so here are the somewhat jumbled outcomes in no particular order and as a top 14 (almost) and a top 11 (sort of);

Top Releases
Europe - Allo Darlin'
Mature Themes - Ariel Pinks Haunted Graffiti
T.O.Y.S EP - T.O.Y.S
Believe Me - The Smittens
Martha EP - Martha
Five: A WeePop Covers Compilation - Various
Wildlife - The Lovely Eggs
wiaiwya 7777777 series - Various
Shrines - Purity Ring
Outside Its Cold Just Like The Inside Of Your Body And - Ace Bushy Striptease
Ten Songs About Girls - Tender Trap
Blunderbuss - Jack White
This Many Boyfriends - This Many Boyfriends
The Roots of Love (Come Tumbling Down) - Big Wave


Top Gigs
Tune Yards @ Shepherds Bush Empire
Allo Darlin', Martha, Tigercats @ Kings College Student Union
The History of Apple Pie, Hooded Fang, Eagulls @ Barfly Camden
Ace Bushy Striptease, Cosines, Downdimes @ Wilmington Arms
La Sera, Novella @ The Lexington
Allo Darlin', Herman Dune @ Heaven
Darren Hayman and the Long Parliament @ The Lexington
Casual Sex, T.O.Y.S, Wake the President, Post @Wilmington Arms
Evans the Death, Big Wave, Model Village, Violet Woods @ George Tavern
The Lovely Eggs @ The Social
Trailer Trash Tracys @ Rough Trade East

and of course,

London Popfest

Indietracks

OddBox Weekender

End of the Road

which I can't split up into separate shows because I largely remember them as one, and perhaps more importantly, my lists would become needlessly and unmanageably large!

There could and potentially will be an addendum to this post just as soon as I remember more albums and gigs which I had temporarily forgotten about, but then perhaps they shouldn't make the list for that exact reason...

Female Singers

Listening to the radio this afternoon and hearing some Beth Orton I was struck by how much of a soft spot I have for some female singer songwriters, if that isn't too pointless and generic a genre. This didn't exactly come as groundbreaking news to me (I do broadly know what I like already after all, or at least you would imagine I do) but it does sometimes take hearing something unexpectedly to remind me! Perhaps I shouldn't have been entirely surprised as Rose Melberg's frankly beautiful Homemade Ship has been sneaking its way in to the cd player with alarming regularity this week, which has meant a somewhat large amount of Ramones live albums being played all the way through as a sort of counterbalance, but then they certainly knew their way around a tune as well, so perhaps not that different after all...
Anyway, alongside Homemade Ship (and in no particular order) Pearl, Gonna take a Miracle, Smell the Mitten, The Big Black and Blue, anything by Sandy Denny, and (as always) any faintly acousticy Allo Darlin' all need to be listened to. Each one is perfectly different while maintaining something that I'll always be drawn to, but that I'd struggle quite dramatically to explain. Suffice to say a certain happiness emanates from them which I at least find uplifting in a strange way.

On a semi related note, somehow circumstances have contrived against me again causing the missing of the Lovely Eggs tonight (for the second time this year. Strangely, the same seems to happen whenever I try to see Jack White!!) but they are playing at Rough Trade on Saturday afternoon so I'll just have to catch them and hopefully the new album then.

Veronica Falls & The Lovely Eggs

Two startlingly fantastic and very much different but also in some ways (or at least sort of one way to me at least) similar singles are about to be released by Veronica Falls and the Lovely Eggs.

I Just Want Someone To Fall In Love With is the Eggs at close to if not in fact at (which it may well be) their finest. All spectacular chugging rhythm with the occasional blast of noise to stop the likes of me getting too melancholy and lovelorn. The video also happens to be perfect.

Teenage on the other hand is arguably the most beautifully pretty, jangly, poignant song that I've heard in quite some time. I was sort of expecting Bury Me Alive (I think) to be the next single having heard it a couple of times live and liking it a lot but Teenage might be even better!

To say that I'm looking forward to the new albums from both bands would be quite a massive understatement!! As far as I'm aware the releases are;

Waiting For Something To Happen by Veronica Falls on 4th February in the UK and 12th February for USA.

Wildlife from the Lovely Eggs released 26th November.

It would also appear that they are playing separate shows on the same night in London for those who might be interested, that night being 22nd November and one of the shows being 'secret'.

I'll leave the ways in which the two songs are either different or similar to your imaginations...

 

Bands & Songs of the year

Partly as a result of making playlists (and perhaps a little subconsciously from seeing regular reminders for the Dandelion Radio festive 50 which I still have to vote in!!) I've been considering what my favourite bands and songs have been this year, and am rapidly realising that the answer seems to vary quite dramatically from day to day. It also seems a little hasty to make any decisions quite yet as I have just received the new Ace Bushy Striptease album in the post and haven't had a proper chance to listen to it yet... It can safely be said however that Evans the Death, the School, the Spook School, Martha, Jeffrey Lewis, Horse Thief, the Lovely Eggs, the History of Apple Pie, Dirty Beaches, Methodist Centre, Standard Fare, One Happy Island, Allo Darlin' will be right up there somewhere, even if some of them haven't strictly released anything this year, and by that logic I might have to include Roky Erickson as well for having written my favourite song right now!! In fact, now that I think about it there are clearly far too many names on the list (which will continue to grow as I remember stuff that was released earlier in the year) so a complex system will have to be concocted to narrow down a top three or possibly five popular bands and songs...

Better get started.

Moody Electronica & Fortuna Pop! (again)

For anyone who enjoys a bit of moody electronica (and I'm quite sure that I can't be the only one) I can strongly recommend taking a look at an album called Ark by a guy called Halls. The word is that he's another young London based one man band fairly bass heavy producer who has no doubt been releasing all kinds of stuff that I haven't come across (perhaps unsurprisingly as I'm absolutely not an electro hipster and don't make a habit of frequenting underground east end warehouse parties) and now has this album out.

He most obviously appears to be in a similar vain to James Blake and to a lesser extent Burial so presumably is very much 'in' within certain circles, although that shouldn't put anyone off. The sound is relatively smooth with a broadly orchestral or perhaps chamber feel throughout, and as should maybe be expected, is very much on the minimal side of things. I could imagine that some people might dismiss it as somewhat background music straight away but I would urge anyone even slightly interested to give it a chance, and in particular to listen to the album in order the entire way through as it seems to make more sense as a whole.

If moody and brooding is even sometimes your scene then give it a go.

I have to admit that I temporarily forgot about the Fortuna Pop! Winter Sprinter taking place in early January while bemoaning the lack of all dayers to go to over winter in a post from a couple of weeks ago. As a result it came as an extremely pleasant surprise when the lineup began to be drip fed through twitter over the course of a week or so. Needless to say the lineup is exceptional and £30 for all four nights on the earlybird is almost unbelievable value!

Tuesday 8th January: Allo Darlin' + Tender Trap + The Spook School

Wednesday 9th January: Herman Düne + Withered Hand (solo) + Joanna Gruesome

Thursday 10th January: Darren Hayman And The Long Parliament + Shrag + Haiku Salut

Friday 11th January: Comet Gain + Milky Wimpshake + Evans The Death

http://www.

http://www.wegottickets.com/f/5197

I for one can hardly wait, particularly for the first night which I strongly suspect will set the bar spectacularly high for every other gig next year, but then it could be said that I'm a pretty big fan of all three bands.

Plenty of frankly awesome looking gigs still to happen this year though, so as ever, if you like a band and they play near you get out there and you won't be disappointed!!

Dalston, The Proper Ornaments, Omi Palone, Echo Lake

I made my way out to Dalston last night (thursday) to see a No Pain In Pop show at the Shacklewell Arms which I later discovered was apparently a sort of a fundraiser for the British Heart Foundation.

The first band on was Omi Palone, who I happen to consider to be arguably the best indie rock band around at the moment. I'd seen them once before and been a fan ever since. suffice to say they didn't disappoint. Incredibly strong songs and a fantastic sound make for a pretty potent combination. Also, I'm frankly always happy to see an indie band not harking back to britpop or (still) trying to be the Strokes! Everyone needs to see Omi Palone in a small venue before they surely graduate to much bigger things.

Next up came my highlight of the night in the form of the Proper Ornaments who are now without doubt one of my favourite bands. I had heard of them around the place before and possibly heard the odd track but somehow before last night they had somehow largely passed me by which is doubly strange as I am pretty partial to Veronica Falls!

The set didn't start ideally as there appeared to be keyboard problems which were tinkered around with for a while and eventually solved by dumping the keyboard entirely!! However, after that the band soon got back into their stride and were spectacularly good. At first they seemed to be almost psychedelic, then shoegazey, and after a while I'm not sure what. What suddenly came to mind was the Jesus and Mary Chain playing American Beauty (the Grateful Dead album rather than the film of the same name), which as far as I'm concerned is absolutely perfect. The only shame was that there wasn't anything of theirs for me to buy.

The night was headlined by Echo Lake who I suddenly realised have a quite beautiful dreamy sound (even more so live than recorded), but at the same time manage not to drift off into the realms of easy listening and chillout which so many similar bands seem to struggle with. They periodically develop a harder edge when needed to jolt everyone back to reality and keep things lively. 

One of the best complete lineups I've seen recently, and it turns out that Dalston isn't as much of a hassle to get to and from as I had originally suspected.

Lido

Finally got around to properly listening to Lido by Darren Hayman over the last few days. Although I've had it on vinyl for a while, a series of complications have meant that my record player has been somewhat out of action for almost the same period of time! Fortunately it is now back and in the same place as me. Anyway, I had heard parts of the album both on free download and when seeing Darren Hayman & the Long Parliament live and had been pleasantly surprised given the dread that instrumentals commonly inspire (I'm pretty sure that I can't think of a second genuinely good full length instrumental album, although perhaps someone can), and was as a result quite keen to see how Lido was as a whole.
I can now say that it is in reality a truly fantastic thing. As hard as it is to imagine I absolutely found myself transported to the world of the Lidos while listening to it the whole way through. Each piece seems to suit the different location in it's own way and tell a little imagined story about what might or might not have happened there over time, with the ones now closed seeming to incorporate that funny sense of loss without drifting in to being too sombre. Also, the drawings included in the notes are tremendous.
Certainly worth a listen or two as far as I'm concerned.