Best Tracks of 2008 #15-11

15: Fleet Foxes
"He Doesn't Know Why"
[Sub Pop]
Fleet Foxes invest their music with such emotion and grandeur that merely a whisper or a pluck is enough to make me shiver. Their debut is an epic canvas so awash with feeling it sometimes threatens to overwhelm, and nowhere is this more apparent than in this beautiful track. Like most of the album, it paints an abstract narrative without piling on unnecessary detail, the backbone provided by Pecknold's moving refrain, "I didn't understand". From the first verse, it builds and builds, until finally you feel cleansed and happy. Cathartic.

14: Bloc Party
"Ion Square"
[self-released]
It's ironic that, in an album where Bloc Party pushed both their musical and lyrical boundaries more than ever before, it is the track that sounds most like "old" Bloc Party that is also the best. Like most of their best songs, "Ion Square" is about love. This time though, it's the happy side. For over 6 minutes, Kele sings with palpable love and affection of a relationship that, oddly, appears to be going just fine. That may sound boring to you, but chances are if it does you wrote off Bloc Party a long time ago. Lyrically, this is as beautiful a song as Okereke has ever written, even if the most affecting line is cribbed from an E.E. Cummings poem.

13: Foals
"Big Big Love (Fig. 2)"
[Transgressive Records]
After being the British band to watch for at least a couple of years, everyone seemingly stopped caring about Foals the moment they released an album. A great shame, as they all missed out on gems such as this. Odd title aside, "Big Big Love" is a spare, hypnotic track. Yannis spins an abstract yarn of love and towers, of electric shocks and cracked hearts. His voice is distant, as if singing from another time. The instrumentation remains sparse throughout, only as clear as it needs to be. The result is a mesmerising song that will hold you in its thrall for far longer than its running time.

12: Kings of Leon
"Closer"
[RCA]
I shouldn't have been surprised by Only By The Night. In hindsight, the line from lo-fi southern kicks to stadium anthems is straight and clear as an arrow. All the same, Nathan Followill's opening drums - crisp and clean as a full moon - initially took me aback. Luckily, it also enthralled me, and combined with understated guitar and frankly epic lyrics made it into both a fine first track and a decent statement of intent. While I'm still not entirely sure about the Kings' new direction (for my money, their best work was on albums 2 and 3), if they continue to write songs like this then I'm behind them all the way.
Plus, it's about friggin' vampires. Need I say more?

11: MGMT
"Electric Feel"
[Columbia]
I don't believe MGMT are pioneers, saviours, geniuses, or any of those other hyperbolic terms the NME wheel out every five minutes. However, on occasion they can bust out a bloody fine song. While their epic, anthemic side is well-demonstrated on singles "Kids" and especially "Time to Pretend", second single "Electric Feel" was unfairly left on the wayside. A great shame, as it combines the widescreen quality of the rest of the album with a thoroughly danceable tune. Much like the video, it is beautifully hazy - the kind of song you would dance to in a dream - with enough kick to the percussion to be energetic. Finally, like all the best music, it sounds incredible when played as loud as possible.

Best Tracks of 2008 #20-16

Well hey lookit that, it's Xmas Eve already. Without further ado, I present my 20 favourite tracks of 2008. Hopefully I'll be done by New Year's Eve.

To ease my hands and head, this list will be split into three or four bite-size chunks. First up is numbers 20-16.

(Yes I did steal the list format from Pitchfork)

20: Islands
"Creeper"
[ANTI-]
It figures that Islands' first dance song would be about being stabbed in the night in your own home. Despite the macabre subject, "Creeper" is an agreeably catchy tune. Opening with menacing, thumping bass, the song quickly winds through several verses of brisk guitar lines with eerie half-whispered vocals. Like much of their discography, what initially appears to be uncomplicated pop soon reveals itself as a multi-layered track, forever unwinding and always revealing new depths.

19: Los Campesinos!
"Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats"
[Wichita/Arts & Crafts]
Of all the giddy sugar rushes on Los Campesinos!' debut album, this is surely the most exhilarating and fun. Shocking you into submission with an amusingly shouty opening (1!!2!3!!4!), you are dragged with breakneck speed through a maelstrom of angular guitars, pounding drums and earnest vocals. Beautifully loud and passionate on its own, in the context of the album its like eating a stick of pure youthful joy.

18: Santogold
"Lights Out"
[Atlantic Records]
On a debut where Santi White bent her distinctive voice around any number of genres, it is oddly fitting that the best track is also the most back-to-basics. Despite being licensed to advertise pretty much anything you care to mention, "Lights Out" is still pleasantly arresting, with nicely heavy-sounding bass and Santogold's multi-tracked vocals ooh-ing and ahh-ing in the background, while the central vocals stand up front clear as crystal. The song is a simple drums 'n' guitar affair, but it proves a very effective vehicle for this artist's many talents.

17: Autechre
"Tankakern"
[Warp Records]
An IDM track you can almost dance to? Well, not quite. Like most of Autechre's back catalogue, you'll likely end up a twisted mess on the floor if you try and bust a groove to this. That doesn't stop "Tankakern" being thoroughly fun to listen to, and increasingly so on every listen. Where this track (short by genre standards at just under 4 mins) succeeds is in evoking a palpable industrial atmosphere with little more than percussion. Muddied squelches of bass, skittering cymbals and a constantly wavering central drum line combine to do what IDM does best - immerse you in strange worlds for a few minutes at a time.

16: Laura Marling
"Failure"
[Virgin Records]
It wasn't at all easy to pick one best track from 18-year old Laura Marling's stellar debut. I eventually settled on "Failure" because it pretty much ticks all the boxes that make the entire album great. Delicate, simple and elegant guitar strumming? Check. Subtle but gorgeous backing instrumentation? Check. An abstract narrative that combines melancholy, loss and happiness? Check. Beautiful voice? Check. A brilliant song by one of the most promising young artists of the decade? CHECK.

Just don't mention Creed

I am a very lazy man. Luckily, a small part of me is pro-active and creative (not to mention gosh-darned handsome), and he managed to jostle me into a writing position.
So, here we are once more. To ensure I don't waffle on, I'm going to jump straight into a list. Sorry to fall back on the old standby once again, but this should be fun. Join me!

4 Enjoyably Overblown Modern Songs

I don't tend to care much for supposedly epic, pretentious and downright ridiculous rock songs. I'm not in the business of making enemies, so lets just say I'm not a fan of Queen and leave it at that. However, some lucky artists have the talent of being able to create 10-minute long epics, lush with church-filling noise and laden with gravitas, without sounding like idiots. Here's four:

"The Gash" by The Flaming Lips (from The Soft Bulletin)
Get past the unintentionally hilarious (or perhaps intentional - who knows?) title and you will be in for quite an experience. If you're already familiar with The Flaming Lips, then this song probably won't overly surprise you. If not, well hey - listen to it on headphones first, and ensure you're sober (to be fair, probably good advice first time you listen to any Flaming Lips album).
Try not to snigger when I say "The Gash" is wondrous. The sort of song that sounds like the soundtrack to an exploding star, it sucks you in with thunderous symphonics, before harmonised falsettos describe a seemingly epic battle, and the soldiers at it's heart. It is Wayne Coyne's earnest vocals that provide a heart to go with the bombast, and ultimately it is the band's masterful juggling of so many musical elements that saves this beautiful track from ridicule.

"Genesis" by Justice (from †)
It's not hard to make assumptions about a band that uses a symbol for their album title, and brazenly slips biblical references into their tracklistings. Despite all that, Justice are really all about highly danceable fun, and nowhere is this more apparent than the brilliantly extravagant opening track, "Genesis". Beginning with deep, imposing synth lines, the track eventually breaks into an epic dance number. While the synths rise and fall, waver and stagger, the backing drum programming stays firm and steady. It's just unpredictable enough to make it brilliant to dance to. Oh, and it ends with near-isolated, dramatic piano, before lurching into the frenetic intro of Track 2. Dance music for midnight mass? Perhaps.

"Swans (Life After Death)" by Islands (from Return to the Sea)
While it would be a stretch to call Return to the Sea a concept album, it's generally accepted that 10-minute opener "Swans" is a sequel of sorts to the last track of The Unicorns 2003 album, Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?. The two bands are virtually the same, give or take a few members.
Still with us? Good. So while Unicorns' track "Ready to Die" describes.. yep, death on a desert island, "Swans" returns to what we can only assume is the same beach, with the same guy.
However, while "Ready to Die" was a simple (but no less poignant) affair about a man coming to terms with the end of his life, part two paints an epic picture, taking in endless seas, waking up after death, climbing through the insides of whales, and so on.
Some might argue that Islands overstretch themselves in the final few minutes of "Swans". I would say that the ridiculous running time is key to this track's appeal. The story may make little sense, but I can think of few other songs from the last few years that fire my imagination so.

"For Reasons Unknown" by The Killers (from Sam's Town)
Back when I was still fairly "new" to music, The Killer's debut Hot Fuss was one of my favourite albums. Fast forward two years of joyous discovery and I was pretty underwhelmed by the follow-up. While I was a big fan of the breezy, synth-laden debut, this one was too full of hollow bombast for my liking.
On the other hand, there is a part of my brain that will always crave widescreen rock such as this, even if it is devoid of true emotion. Sam's Town is great in this regard, offering several gems of desert rock excess. "For Reasons Unknown" is truly the best example of this. While the lyrics are merely examples of generic yearning, Brandon Flowers' unabashed passion is highly infectious. Best listened to at top volume in your room, when you think no-one can hear you singing along, hand on heart.

Well, that about does it for now. Next post I will try and come up with something more original. More importantly, I will attempt to come up with something that doesn't end up with just talking about my favourite music! Meh, we'll see.

05

Man, am I ever sorry. It's been a good three weeks since my last post, and I started this blog with the intention of updating at least once a week! Damn you, life and laziness, for getting in my way all the time.
Anyway, to make up for it I'll try and make this a sizeable post. Do not worry! I will cut it up into bite-size chunks for your convenience and enjoyment.

So, I downloaded iTunes 8 the other day (my 4G iPod is looking increasingly rustic with each update), and after shifting the new-fangled library system out of the way it err.. well, pretty much looks the same as iTunes always has. It has this new feature that caught my eye though, the audaciously-titled "Genius". Basically you select any track in your library, click the Genius button (which inexplicably has a picture of an atom as its symbol) and Apple will helpfully give you twenty or so similar tracks from your library. The idea is, of course, that you can make spanking playlists instantaneously. Could actually be pretty useful and cool, though it's yet to offer any truly wacky combinations. Less impressive still is when it simply matches one song to another by the same artist. Yeah, cheers for that. Think I'll stick to doing it myself when it comes to the annual "Best Of" playlist. Opening and closing tracks are just too important to leave to chance, dammit!

I'll try and keep this next bit short, as I pretty much spent the whole last post talking about Bloc Party. In short, I really like the new album, though I appear to be largely alone in that sentiment. My enjoyment of Intimacy has only been dulled by the recent unveiling of the lyrics on their website. While a great deal of Kele's writing on this record is remarkably solid and affecting, the few clunkers are a lot harder to ignore out of context. Opener "Ares" in particular is an absolute blast so long as you can disregard Kele awkwardly imploring you to "get out the way, or get fucked up." As I said, aside from that, it's a storming track and easily one of their most exciting.
Other highlights include "One Month Off", a pleasingly rawking track that recalls Silent Alarm with a few Korgs thrown in, and exhausting but beautiful closer "Ion Square". Aside from its length (over six and a half minutes) and instrumentation, it's very much standard BP fare. However, it is standard BP fare done extremely well, and for that it goes down as one as my favourites.
One more note, what bizarre track titles they've chosen! With a couple of exceptions (notably "Better Than Heaven", in which Kele is seemingly trying to outdo both Talking Heads and The Cure), these all sound like game console code names. Still, makes a nice change I suppose.

I spent last weekend on the Isle of Wight, enjoying the quite wonderful Bestival. It was my first festival, so I can't really say how appropriate the title is. Suffice to say it was a brilliant time, despite it raining like a bitch on the Friday and Swamp Thing apparently throwing a tantrum the day before the festival. It would be pointless for me to list all the bands I saw, however I will say that Foals, Laura Marling and The Specials (a surprise act - my God did the crowd go nuts) were definite highlights. I also really wish I'd taken some wellies, and that I'd had the energy to stay for Aphex Twin's entire set (sorry, Richard James, but I was just too sober and aching to enjoy two hours of acid techno). I may well do a proper write-up of the whole event sometime soon, but I don't want to make this post too bloated and rambling.

Well, that about does it for now! Unfortunately I can't say for sure when the next post will be, as I'm moving into new student digs on the weekend and will likely be without Internet for a week or so. Rest assured, as soon I have consistent access to Blogger, I will blog once more!

"If you're a member of the BNP, don't bother listening."

If all goes to plan, the new Bloc Party album will sit snugly on my hard drive in a little under nine hours. What's more, I'm pretty excited. LP2 didn't really have anything on the modern indie classic that is Silent Alarm (at least as far as I'm concerned), but "Flux" was a fun and thoroughly danceable twist on the regular BP formula. "Mercury" made me frown at first - are Kele and co. merely being experimental for the hell of it? Then I remembered that Kid A is a strong contender for Radiohead's best album, and a few listens later the new single grew on me.

As a result of all that, I'm confident that the new album should be damned good. Bloc Party wouldn't be the first band to hit upon a masterpiece with their third LP, but perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself..

As before, I'm not so sure about the title (Intimacy), but hey, with previous titles like "Waiting for the 7.18" I guess I should just be grateful we didn't get something like "I love romance and tenderness but isn't it just so hard to get it right in this suffocating modern culture?" The post title is a suggestion for Intimacy's liner notes. Believe me, I am emphatically not a member of the BNP, and in fact would be all too happy with such a bold-faced statement.

Anyway, since I've been listening to a whole lot of Bloc Party the last couple of days in preparation, I figured I'd knock up a quick list of 5 of their best songs. Not in order, 'cos that's just too bloody hard to decide. If somehow you've never heard these folks, I recommend you start with these.

Ahem, you may have figured out I like lists by now.

"Helicopter" (from Silent Alarm)
The first Bloc Party track I heard, and a perfect example of a song I initially found irritating becoming a favourite. Some people reckon it's about George W. Bush, but I'm not so sure about that. Political subtext aside, it's a storming track with awesome, quirky guitar lines. Great fun to sing along to as well.
However, I could love this track 'til the day I die and I doubt I'd ever crack it on Guitar Hero.

"Flux" (standalone release, later included on a re-release of A Weekend in the City)
I guess Kele and pals (I'm running out of different ways to say Bloc Party, so guess I may as well use up awesome foursome now before I embarass myself) got tired of twisting drums and guitars into tracks you can move to, and instead opted for a full-blown dance number. Luckily, they pulled it off with aplomb, and also achieved the admirable feat of changing their entire instrumentation while retaining their signature sound.
Lyrically, "Flux" is fairly standard stuff. On the instrumental front however, it's sublime. A 4-minute adrenaline rush that practically demands you to get jumpin'.

"SRXT" (from A Weekend in the City)
Being a big fan of Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, Bright Eyes and the like, I've been accused more than once of being into depressing music. I'm never been quite witty or clever enough to come back with anything more than mumbling "hmm, well they're only depressing if you don't listen to them properly.." However, there's no denying that the closing track of AWitC is a thoroughly morbid and downbeat affair. That's right folks, it's about suicide! Tricky territory to cover without sounding overwrought or, at worst, whiny (I do love a bit of alliteration). Bloc Party's effort is instead sparse and lonely, featuring some of their most affecting lyrics to date.

"This Modern Love" (from Silent Alarm)
I chastised Kele Okereke earlier for going down the romance route in his lyrics a little too often. On the other hand, he can do it very well indeed on songs such as this. Further proof that Bloc Party are very handy indeed at getting more from less, "This Modern Love" gently teases out a tale of frustration with modern romance. Accompanied by drums and guitar slowly building, the layers of instrumentation stack, then finally collapse. "This modern love breaks me". He's given up.

"So Here We Are" (from Silent Alarm)
My only problem with what I consider to be the highlight of Silent Alarm, is that it sets such a high benchmark that it can be hard to enjoy the following three tracks. Such is my love for this song that I firmly believe it could be a contender for my Desert Island Discs. I'll never detail the others in the same post, as I'd run out of superlatives fast.
Often I find it hard to accurately describe why a song is among my favourites without resorting to woolly stuff like "oh, well this song just soothes my soul" (a very difficult sentiment to pull off in everyday conversation without sounding like a complete and utter twat). However, it's pretty simple here. Bloc Party are one of my favourite bands, and "So Here We Are" displays them at their best. Spare, abstract lyrics, Kele's voice at his strongest yet most delicate, thickly atmospheric, layered guitars, and a beautiful culmination of all these elements at the close.
Plus, it provided the basis for a quite excellent remix by Four Tet.

Yawn, I'm really quite tired. Hope the post was enjoyable. I'll be away from teh internets over the weekend, but will hopefully have time to digest the new album over several bus and train journeys, and will post my thoughts next week. Fingers crossed they'll be uber-positive.

Until next time!

d-d-d-d-d-d-DJ!

August was really a terrible time to start a music blog. I'm penniless, haven't written anything creative or constructive in weeks, and I'm way out of touch of any live music "scene" (OK, so I only live in Winchester during term-time, not Toronto or anything like that.. but, still, it's been a while since I went to a good local gig). Nevertheless, I shall press on one way or another.

Talking of local gigs reminded me of their similarly inconsistent counterpart - the DJ set. Winchester's hardly club central, but I know a couple of places that throw down a good alternative mix. What's the key to a good DJ set, I hear you ask? Well, I don't really know. I've done a grand total of two sets in my life, and they were small pre-gig affairs, not the thumping night of floorfillers you might have heard at your local Liquid. As a discerning listener (though I still dance like a twat), however, I could easily, talking to the DJ, name some things that make me enjoy a set more.

#1: You don't have to play what everyone knows.
Alright, so a lot of people will gripe when a track they've never heard comes on. Those people need to be more open-minded. Seriously, it's awesome discovering a band like Crystal Castles, Justice, or hell, even The Flaming Lips via a dancefloor. Any music fan loves finding a new band, and there are better places to do it than MySpace.

#2: Throw in a classic every now and again.
Yeah, I know. I come on all preachy about music to dance to and then throw a fat contradiction right in your face. Deal with it!
Anyway, despite what I said about avoiding the standby floorfillers, there isn't anything quite like a.. ahem, blast from the past to get your dancing spirit soaring (didn't mean to sound like a gay dance instructor then). May I suggest "Take On Me"?

#3: Throw a curveball.
I don't mean you should literally start throwing stuff into the crowd, though that would make it a very unique set. What I mean is be inventive! As far as I'm concerned, if you can dance to it and it's a little different to the mainstream (remember, I'm talking about alternative clubs here), throw it in and mix it up, in that order. I can almost guarantee a couple of music geeks in the corner will woop at some of your more left-field track choices. If it's Aphex Twin, that'll be me.

#4: Don't talk. Ever.
Seriously, just play the damn music.

At the end of the day (or, indeed, night) atmosphere is key. You could be listening to the best playlist in the history of music, but it means little if you're stuck in a room with a bunch of arseholes. A good set always helps, though.

I'll be back soon! Will try my best not to do a list next time, but no promises.



Man, did I really say "throw down"?

02

Although, in 2008, the music world hasn't seen anything quite like the explosion of awesomeness that cinema has been privy to, we should still be thankful for some pretty fine albums. Here, in no particular order, are some highly recommended gems from the first half of the year:

Antidotes by Foals
It seems people have been talking about Foals for an awfully long time. Personally, I never much bought into the hype back when NME were raving about them (mostly because NME rave about any and every new British indie outfit). I only really sat up and took note when nonsensical but irresistible single "Cassius" started making the rounds.
Oddly enough, as soon as the album landed, everyone decided they'd had enough of Foals and promptly labelled them as "nothing special". I, on the other hand, was intrigued enough to go buy the album.
I remember hearing, sometime before Antidotes came out, that the band had binned the original mix (done by Dave Sitek) as it sounded "too empty and spacey" or something. Now I don't know what they did to the mix after Dave was done with it, but the finished product sounds pretty damn spacey to me. Funnily enough, that's what I like best about it.
Antidotes is a largely minimal, but gorgeous, record. Singles "Cassius" and "Balloons" turned out to be terrible choices as far as representing the whole album goes, although the abstract lyrics pop up in pretty much every song. In many ways it reminds me of early Bloc Party, which is no bad thing at all. "Big Big Love (Fig. 2)" in particular feels like a stripped down, more lyrically ambiguous "So Here We Are". Other standouts include "Olympic Airways", which features simple yet melodious guitar and a - genuine - yearning in Yannis' voice, and "Heavy Water", which builds to an instrumental climax that your ears will thank you for.

Saturdays = Youth by M83
While Foals debut is spare in its instrumentation and shy with emotions, the oddly-titled Saturdays = Youth is positively brimming with heart-bursting teenage soundscapes. Before you recoil in horror, this isn't a troubled emo boy bent over an acoustic guitar. Rather, it's an electronic album, its sound a tribute to '80s teen movies, with whispered vocals in the style of shoegaze.
OK.. I guess you're still shaking your head. Trust me, it's awesome. From the sombre and hushed opening of "You, Appearing" leading to the euphoria rush of stellar single "Kim & Jessie", right through to the midnight whisper that is "Too Late". The 11-minute closing track is a bizarre misstep, but hey, good to fall asleep too.

Ringer by Four Tet
OK, a bit of a cheat here. Ringer is a 4-track EP, but it's about half an hour in length so better value than most albums. Ringer sounds much like a stripped down, futuristic vision of Four Tet's earlier work. Any "folktronica" trappings have all but vanished, replaced by something more akin to minimal techno. Make no mistake, the old Four Tet is still easily recognisable. Hebden's love of clattering percussion and seemingly random (but no less wonderful) electronic squiggles are both present and correct. After several listens, it becomes apparent that Ringer has more in common with semi-ambient music such as Boards of Canada, as these tracks tend to settle into a comfortable groove and remain there, swimming along very nicely. A fairly major change from the constant shifting and shaking of a track like "Slow Jam".
Make no mistake, Ringer is a fine EP. Track titles like "Ribbons" and "Swimmer" are very appropriate for music that is ideally suited to getting lost in.

Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend
I can't help but feel that NYC-based quartet Vampire Weekend were unfairly sneered at from the start. To begin with, they're American, and considering the British music press pretty much ignore anything from beyond our shores, that's not a great start. What I also kept hearing was that these guys went to an Ivy League university, so hey, they must all be massive snobs. It took quite a few months for everyone to realise they just made great music, and - guess what - that's actually the most important thing.
Considering their eponymous debut landed in January, the album itself is a very summery affair. In particular, the rollicking (man, I love that word) drums of opener "Mansard Roof" and the breezy "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" are the perfect soundtrack to a summer stroll (if, indeed, anyone still goes on summer strolls in 2008).
Frontman Koenig turns out to be handy with lyrics too, spinning handsome yarns about student life and beyond. Short and sweet "A-Punk" is a highlight in this regard, telling a tale of two uni friends who lose touch and become separated by distance once they graduate.
Plus, keyboard player Batmanglij has the funniest name since David Ngoombujarra.

Well, if anyone is reading this, I hope my thoughts were of some use to you! It is very late now and I am well and truly knackered. I will return very soon to the interwebs!

P.S. If you're wondering, I will come up with more original post titles eventually. The numbering is simply what I'll use when I'm feeling lazy or devoid of ideas.

01

Welcome. This is a blog about music. Or at least it will be as soon as I write more posts. First, of course, I need to introduce said blog. So, here we go.

I love music. I love listening to music, reading and talking about music. Thus, in theory I should also love writing about it. I'm writing this blog to find out. Also, I'm hoping to write something entertaining, interesting, free of snobbery and funny.

I should point out now that I'm not, and have never been, a musician (well, except for when I played recorder back in Year 3). So I'm not going to be discussing tracks in terms of time signatures and double quavers or any of that jazz.

Another thing I should mention is that (in case you hadn't twigged already) I'm not a professional reviewer or anything like that. I'm just a student, and like the stereotypical student my pockets are empty. I can't afford to buy all the albums that come out, and nor do I have the time to listen to all of them on my own. Basically what I'm saying is I'll write about anything I happen to be listening to, not necessarily what's newest.

With all that out of the way, enjoy!