Another Form of Relief

I’ve missed far too much music in the past year to make a proper best of list, so instead, here’s a list of 22 songs that I’ve loved from 2009. Listed in alphabetical order, not preference. Even though all of them are bloody good.

4 or 5 Magicians – Preaching to the Converted
So 2009 didn’t turn out to be the year that 4 or 5 Magicians finally “made it”. They did manage to put out their first proper album though, and despite a few missteps, it’s an excellent start. Dan Ormsby’s great talent as a songwriter shine through throughout, perfectly chronicling both a struggling band and the state of the country side by side.
Obama is your new Che Guevara / Scouting for Girls are your new Nirvana / You’ve written ‘Free Tibet’ on the back of your hand / But you figure Tibet is a part of Iran
Youtube

Allo Darlin’ – Henry Rollins Don’t Dance
Pretty much the song of the year for me, although The Polaroid Song put in another strong effort for Allo Darlin’ Seemingly going from strength to strength at the moment, I’m half expecting them to be everywhere this year.
But in my head you’re Patrick Swayze / You drag me from the corner and call me ‘baby’ / But baby you don’t even wanna see Dirty Dancing
Youtube

The Answering Machine – Another City, Another Sorry
The album as a whole never quite lived up to the promise, but The Answering Machine did manage to deliver some superb individual songs. Kind of what the Arctic Monkeys might be sounding like now if they hadn’t turned to shit.
I’m sort of lacking certainty / Situations tease the drunk out of me
mp3

Art Brut – Demons Out!
Three albums in and Art Brut seem to be stuck in a holding pattern. No real advancement in terms of songs or abilities. A set of decent songs that are a hell of a lot better when performed live due to the natural charisma of Eddie Argos. I suspect Art Brut are about as a popular as they are ever going to be at this point. Which is why we can expect plenty more songs like Demons Out! in the future.
How am I supposed to sleep at night when no one likes the music we write / Record buying public, we hate them / This is Art Brut vs. Satan
Youtube

Camera Obscura – French Navy
2009 seemed to be the year that Camera Obscura finally came into their own, to the extent that after 13 years, the band were finally able to give up their day jobs. Each album has seen the band grow considerably, with more complex and elaborate arrangements making their way in. It might have taken a while, but they certainly aren’t the “female Belle & Sebastian” any longer.
Spent a week in a dusty library / Waiting for some words to jump at me
Youtube

Cats on Fire – Horoscope
The album was a little patchy, but Horoscope is an excellent little song. Mattias Björkas’s voice is the standout attraction here. He may sound like a Euro-Morrissey, but it’s incredibly easy to drift away in his voice.
I don’t believe in happy ever after / A pyramid scheme, I keep telling you
mp3

Dananananaykroyd – Pink Sabbath
A band that creates such a ruckus that they require a whole new genre has to be created for them (fight pop). Dananananaykroyd’s album was an assault on the ears from start to finish, but in a good way. If such a thing is possible.
Buy it, run it, kick it, fuck it, yeah
mp3

Emmy the Great – First Love
It took her the best part of five years, but Emmy the Great’s debut album just about lived up the high expectations. Boldly leaving off a number of “old favourites” in favour of a more structured collection, the album is a grower, but worth investing the time in.
You said I have a room / At the top of the stairs / I have a room with a view
Youtube

Fight Like Apes – Something Global
Possibly the most exciting band that I came across this year, I can’t think of album that has anywhere near as much play on my car stereo. And boy does it sound superb when bombing along at speed. Wonderfully unhinged.
So give me my hook / I know it might sound lame / Do you like my new look? / Waistcoats are so today
Youtube

Go Away Birds – The Year of Letting You Down
The first of two songs on this list to feature Catherine Ireton, who quickly became one of my favourite voices. A small start for someone who deserves to be huge.
I met with a little success in my work / You wouldn’t call it taking off / But you wouldn’t call it starving
mp3

God Help the Girl – God Help the Girl
..and here’s the second. For some reason that’s baffling to me, the Gold Help the Girl album didn’t seem to get the acclaim I expected it to. The fact it’s not showing up on many end of year lists is deeply confusing to me, but I suppose you can’t win them all. The song choice here is pretty arbitrary, as it could have just as easily been I’ll Have To Dance With Cassie, Musician Please Take Heed or a handful more.
The dawn will touch me in a way a boy could never touch / Their promise never meant so much to me
Youtube

Johnny Foreigner – Choose Yr Side and Shut Up!
An excellent song from what was an ultimately disappointing second album. Don’t get me wrong, I do like it and all, but it doesn’t even come close to Waited Up Til It Was Light. This album opener hints at the bigger things in store though. Short and to the point, it has anthem written all over it.
So we scattered pretty / Arcs across the city / Turned pockets of doubt / Into blankets of hope
Youtube

Let’s Wrestle – We Are The Men You’ll Grow To Love Soon
A slightly disjointed debut album from Let’s Wrestle still brought us a bunch of excellent little songs, if nothing incredibly exciting. Still, a band very much of their time. Few others can so perfectly articulate life in modern Britain.
We’re going down the job centre / And soon we’ll come out with a job
Youtube

Loney, Dear – Airport Surroundings
Typically late to the party with stuff like this, I never got into Loney, Dear (is there a comma or not?) much when the critically loved Loney, Noir came out. I absolutely love Airport Surroundings though. You’d think that would inspire me to check out the rest of the album, but I still haven’t got around to it. One day.
The last pain got away when I gave up myself / I bought a ticket to hell when I met up with you
mp3

Los Campesinos! – The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future
Utterly, utterly perfect. The album is quite good too. So I’m told.
I ask her to speak French and then I need her to translate / I get the feeling she makes the meaning more significant
mp3

Pocketbooks – Footsteps
The debut album from Pocketbooks delivered on all of the promise of the past few years. One indie pop gem after another, it makes me very excited for the future. From their adoration soaked performance at Indietracks to high profile support slot of God Help the Girl, bigger things are almost certainly in their future.
From the supermarket aisles to the dance floors of provincial towns / I’d occupy my vacant hours just waiting for something
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Projekt A-ko – Molten Hearts
It always great when you discover a great band that is still rocking as if it’s 1994, and that’s exactly what Projekt A-ko do. Distortion, lazy vocals and even the odd “woo”. More like this in 2010 please.
I’ve got no fashion sense / I haven’t got any sense / I’ll never make any sense
Lastfm

Stagecoach – Break
Another band unashamedly influenced by the 90s US indie rock scene, Stagecoach bring the sound of Seattle to Brighton. Break is three minutes of song perfection, from a band we’ll be hearing a lot more of in the near future.
It’s not like her to cross the line / But she crossed it before and she’s gonna cross it one more time / Shit breaks / I kick in her face
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Superman Revenge Squad – Super Sad Morgan
Pretty much any song from the supremely talented Ben Parker could have made it onto the list. I actually debated placing a Nosferatu D2 song on here, but it seemed to be pushing things a little. His songs are a masterclass in the writing of lyrics. Quite why a label hasn’t snapped him up is completely beyond me.
If someone mentions Woolworths again I think I’m gonna combust / We stole all of the Pic ‘n’ Mix from out her hearts
Lastfm

Tigers That Talked – Black Heart Blue Eyes
One of the most beautiful songs of the year from a band I really need to listen to more of. Black Heart Blue Eyes has such a wonderfully theatrical sound to it, topped off with some perfectly snappy wordplay.
Bigotry’s obligatory around here / There’s nothing for me to defend / Just got to go
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Voxtrot – Berlin, Without Return…
Everything that the debut album should have been but never managed. Ramesh Srivastava’s vocal is as pitch perfect as ever, once again with a song worthy of his talents.
Do you spend your whole life trying to get back home? / Where do you go?
Youtube

The Young Republic – The Wolf
Now a fully formed band, The Young Republic may not be the same band they were a few years ago, but they know exactly what they want to be. Shifting from orchestral indie pop to Americana isn’t the easiest leap, but they’ve pulled it off with style. Incredibly self assured.
It hasn’t been this bad since my grandpa was a kid / He made it through, he never told us what he did
Youtube

It’s been a couple of years since we heard anything new from Voxtrot. Two beautiful EPs followed by a disappointing full length and the band seemed to fall from the face of the earth. The band have popped up again now though with a brand new song. The only problem is that I’m not even convinced this is Voxtrot, for the change is so different.

Certainly the vocals are still Ramesh Srivastava, his voice sounding a little more his own and a little less Morrissey’s, but the rest of it seems kind of off. It’s more electronic than anything previous, almost to the point where it resembles a drum machine and computerised keys in the background. I say almost as I don’t intend to be harsh if this is the sound the band were going for, but something doesn’t quite sit right with me.

Perhaps the lukewarm response that last album has pushed the band onto a path that explores new territory. In itself, it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if it did, assuming it means more than just attempting to replicate the sound of the 80s. Trepanation Party is fine, and I can actually see it playing well at indie discos, but without more to go on, I’m a little worried about where Voxtrot may be heading next.

It’s amazing how quickly the tide can turn for a band. When I first started this blog over two years ago, Voxtrot were a band that I was really excited about. Their first two EPs were fantastic, and they were the very definition of the music I wanted to write about. Despite this, tonight is the first time I’ve listened to Voxtrot since last year. Blogging seems to require one to be far more judgemental than a music listener should be. When I first got hold of their full length album, I was excited to hear it. One play later, I was disappointed. There ended my excitement about Voxtrot.

Overly harsh? Perhaps. I’ve tried listening to the album as a whole a couple of times since, but it still leaves me cold. The songs themselves aren’t bad. When my iPod plays me one on shuffle, I tend to enjoy it, but only in such small doses. I’m not sure whether I’m to blame or the band just peaked too early. Either way, Voxtrot do little for me at this point. Yet the song that kickstarted all of those original excited feelings, The Start of Something, is still superb. It’s just tinged with the feeling that it won’t get any better than this.

I’ve managed to almost entirely avoid the hype surrounding ‘Neon Bible’. I didn’t download any of the leaks, and it was only a few days ago that I listened to ‘Black Mirror’ for the first time. Since then I’ve only heard one more song from the album. While I like both of them, for some reason I can’t seem to get myself excited about hearing the album as a whole. I suppose I had a similar problem with ‘Funeral’. I only really liked the ‘Neighborhood’ songs and didn’t much care for the rest. I’ll still probably end up picking it up once I find it in some bargain bin though. All of that said, I really like the song below. I’ve given up on trying to draw any deep meaning out of their songs, but the imagery is wonderful, and it’s all presented in a vaguely unsettling way. Is the rest of the album like this?

MP3 Arcade Fire – Black Mirror (expired)

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Another Form of Relief favourites Pocketbooks will be playing a rather unique gig on April 28. They, alongside fellow indiepop bands Slow Down Tallahassee and Tottie, will be playing as part of Indie Tracks in Ripley. The twist here is that the entire event is centred around the railway. Bands will be playing on the station platform, and between sets, an indie disco will be rocking on a 1950s steam train as it bolts through the countryside. You can get fuller details from the Indie Tracks Myspace.

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The Features are back after being dropped by their record label following their ‘Exhibit A’ album. I actually rather liked that album, although I never gave it quite as much atention as I should have done. ‘Contrast’ is the title song from their first self released EP, a jaunty little number that sets the tone for their newer sound. The EP itself is a collection of five songs that you can purchase for only $6 from their website.

MP3 The Features – Contrast (expired)

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Homo Eclectic has two songs from the upcoming Voxtrot full length album. ‘Kid Gloves’ is fantastic, and I think ‘Stephen’ will be a grower like ‘Soft & Warm’ was. This is probably the album I’m most excited about for this year.

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The new Ted Leo and the Pharmacists record, ‘Living With The Living’, is released next week and would you believe it? Ted is still pissed at the state of the US. Like their previous ‘Shake the Sheets’, it’s another collection of powerful, lyrically direct rock songs. Which means while there is nothing unexpected here, it is another solid collection.

‘A Bottle of Buckie’, awkward sounding title aside, is one of Leo’s finest vocal performances yet, knowing perfectly when to jump from the restrained to the forceful. It’s a somewhat sweet song involving love in Glasgow, even if it’s a little weird to hear Leo of all people singing about Neds with their Burberry scarves.

MP3 Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – A Bottle of Buckie (expired)
MP3 Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – The Sons of Cain (expired)
MP3 Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Bomb. Repeat. Bomb. (expired)

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I try to not post all that many Youtube videos, but I’m including the music video for ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ by Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip below. I am doing this for two reasons:
1. It’s an absolutely fantastic song, but I can’t post an mp3 of it.
2. The video is a hell of a lot of fun.
Judging by the amount of play and acclaim this song seems to be getting, I have the feeling we could be looking at something huge here.

I don’t like mashups. I have never encountered one that I like, but I don’t really give them much of a chance in the first place. I’m an originialist when it comes to music. I’m barely okay with samples and it’s only recently that I’ve been able to bring myself to listen to remixes. I’ve never understood the appeal of a mashup though. To take two other artists work and combine them seems a little pointless and a tad wrong. That said, I’m absolutely loving the one that I’ve posted below.

Voxtrot are one of my favourite new bands from the past couple of years, and while I don’t really like Massive Attack, ‘Teardrop’ is a pleasant song. To combine it with Voxtrot’s ‘Mothers, Daughters, Sisters & Wives’ seems like an act of lunacy though. Not one to be put off that by that risk, Voxtrot’s Jared Van Fleet (aka Sparrow House) has done exactly that. As he explains:

Massive Mothers” came about because of a Voxtrot remix contest that the spanish site Buffet Libre was hosting. It had been a year since we had mixed, mastered, and released “Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives” and I hadn’t listened to the individual tracks since then. I was curious to see what was there, so I downloaded them, and it was inspiring to hear the song in new ways. Later that night I was listening to “Teardrops” by Massive Attack, and with the remix still on my mind, i couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of a mashup entitled “Massive Mothers”. I stopped laughing long enough to take the two songs apart and start piecing them back together, and this is what i came up with.

All of this means is that we now have the polar opposite of how ‘Mothers’ originally sounded. An upbeat, piano driven song has now been largely stripped down to the basis of ‘Teardrop’ as the backing with Ramesh’s vocal laid over the top of it. The feat here though is how well it all slots together. The vocal times perfectly with the beats in the music, with the words gently guiding the song, but never dominating it. The end result is a song that sounds perfectly crafted. Not bad for something that’s spliced together.

MP3 Voxtrot – Massive Mothers (Voxtrot / Massive Attack mashup) (expired)

#9
Hello Saferide
‘The Quiz’

Website
Myspace

I only discovered Hello Saferide at the end of the year so I haven’t had the chance to write a full post yet, but very few artists have grabbed my attention to the same degree in the past year. Hello Saferide is the solo project of Annika Norlin, a singer songwriter from Sweden. What appeals to me most is that each song has a ton of personality shining through. Norlin isn’t afraid to project herself entirely into her songs, leaving each one with a kind of brutal honesty. The darkness of this is countered by a ton of little knowing references and quirks that just make the whole thing seem so real. At the forefront of this is ‘The Quiz’, the first song from her recent ‘Would You Let Me Play This EP Ten Times A Day?’ EP. She’s found a guy that she gets on well with and likes (even if he has a bit too much scifi in his shelf of DVDs). She’s vulnerable though so she puts together a quiz for him, with questions that range from the mundane (“Do you talk in the middle of Seinfeld?”) to the insecure (“Do you still keep pictures of old girlfriends? / Are they prettier than me?”) to the all important (“If I’d fall / Would you pick me up?”). Kind of a far less annoying version of Alanis’ ‘21 Things I Want In A Lover’.

#8
Art Brut
‘Nag Nag Nag Nag’

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Myspace

There isn’t really anything new here to the Art Brut formula, but surely that’s half the point? I had minor fears about new material not being a patch on the first album because the novelty would wear off, but despite it’s similarities, ‘Nag Nag Nag Nag’ works just as well for me as the old stuff. The whole thing can be seen as the story of ‘My Little Brother’ after the guy grows up, although I have no idea if that was intentional. Anyway, the Art Brut style remains the same as it was before: driving guitars, random bursts of energy and a witty song about a music dork delivered in Eddie Argos’ usual half-talking, half-shouting, half-singing (yes, I’m aware that’s three halves) style.

#7
4 or 5 Magicians
‘Forever On The Edge’

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Myspace

“4 or 5 Magicians are a four piece, led by Dan Ormsby, who did pretty much everything on their recorded songs, and takes charge of vocals and guitar duty when the band play live. The most obvious thing in Ormsby is that he has based his style on an influence not often seen in British bands: Stephen Malkmus. ‘Forever On The Edge’ has “slacker anthem” written all over it. A brash, honest song about wasting one’s life and almost depending on becoming famous to be successful (”I’m wasting my time in this band / Pinning all my hopes on getting signed / Well it could happen / Some idiot might sign us”). It’s this kind of witty, self-aware writing that first drew me to the band, and that they have the sound to back it up is even better.” – originally posted July 18.

#6
Belle & Sebastian
‘Funny Little Frog’

Website
Myspace

By far the best song on ‘The Life Pursuit’ and one of the finest that Belle and Sebastian have put out in years. The usual B&S staples are here, as well as a couple of new things like a piano, which they really don’t utilise anywhere near enough. Murdoch really throws himself into the vocals too, giving one of his strongest performances since ‘Your Cover’s Blown’. It’s either the official theme song for stalking or a love letter to the Virgin Mary depending on how you listen, bringing just over three minutes of perfection.

#5
Voxtrot
‘The Start of Something’

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Myspace

I know this technically was released in 2005, but the ‘Raised By Wolves’ EP it’s taken from didn’t get released in the UK until 2006, so I’m going to go with that excuse. Anyway, if you’ve read more than a handful of music blog in your lifetime you’re probably aware of who they are and who they sound like. This one sounds rather like The Smiths, and it’s incredibly good, particularly given that I don’t like The Smiths very much. I’m not entirely sure what it all means, as it seems to change focus an awful lot, but it’s full of wonderful imagery that’s delivered beautifully. If a full album next year doesn’t make them explode into the limelight Death Cab style, I’ll be very surprised.

#4
Kate Nash
‘The Nicest Thing’

Website
Myspace

“‘The Nicest Thing’ is up there with the best new songs that I have heard this year. It’s her most stripped down effort, just a sparse acoustic guitar and her voice, which helps an awful lot. This allows her voice, which manages to be both mournful and grounded at the same time, to become the centrepiece of the song. There is also a wonderful knack for random conversational lyrics here (”I wish that you needed me / I wish that you knew when I said two sugars, actually I meant three”). Granted the production is pretty awful here, with the vocals becoming distorted in the louder parts, but even through that the strength of this song shines through. If it were to be cleaned up a little in a studio, it could be amazing.” – originally posted June 15.

#3
The Young Republic
‘Girl From The Northern States’

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Myspace

The Young Republic are an eight piece (I’m sure there used to be nine though) indie folk pop band from Boston. If you’ve ever been through this blog before, you will have read me rambling about them on a fairly regular basis, so I’ll spare you here. Despite finding it very early on in the year, ‘Girl From The Northern States’ is still one of my most regularly played songs. It’s a gentle, melancholy tale of lost love that sounds more cheerful than it really has any right to. Combine this with a delightful orchestral background and you’ve got what is, for me, an almost perfect pop song.

#2
The Light Footwork
‘The Art of Everyday Communication Part 1′

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Myspace

The Light Footwork were the perfect example of why I started this blog in the first place. Pushing a band as good them onto unsuspecting readers is what makes this whole thing so worthwhile. A lot of songs come and go, but there are some that grab you immediately and never let go. ‘The Art of Everyday Communication Part 1′ is one of those. It starts off interestingly enough and then jumps up a gear a little way in, morphing into an entirely different song. Constantly time shifting and styles and pitch perfect male-female vocals make for an always surprising but constantly enjoyable listen.

#1
Los Campesinos!
‘You! Me! Dancing!’

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Myspace

“Los Campesinos! are a seven-piece from Cardiff who have seemingly already mastered how to make the perfect pop song. Best of all, they manage to bring a glockenspiel to the proceedings. Standout song ‘You! Me! Dancing!’ is just sheer joy from start to finish, it’s six and a half minute runtime actually feeling like half that. Jangly guitars combined with harmonising combined with witty, gleeful lyrics, and you’ve got a winning combination.” – originally posted July 4.

I wrote that six months ago and I’ve only grown to love this band even more in the time since. During which I’ve posted more songs from them, including fun things like a Pavement cover and other songs have turned up on the net. I saw them live back in September and will be doing so again in March. When I (and a number of other blogs) first wrote about them, they had around 600 friends on Myspace. They now have over 3000. At that time, they had no label and just a four track demo. They are now signed to Wichita and will be releasing their debut double a-side single in the new year. It cost me £3 to see them last time. It’s going to cost £6.50 this time. What I’m getting at here is that Los Campesinos! have been by far the biggest success story of 2006. Few bands arrive so fully formed and garner so much attention so quickly. I can think of nowhere more deserving though. 2007 should be a hell of a year for them, and us.

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Well that’s my favourite nine songs of the year. It turned into a little bit of a slog toward the end, but I’m pleased with how it all turned out in the end. This brings to an end any kind of organised posting structure until this kind of time last year. This will probably be the last thing that I post in 2006, so I’ll wish you all a happy calender change now. This year has been a hell of a lot of fun for me, and this blog has been a big part of that. So thanks to everybody that stopped by, even if it was just to grab the songs. I’ve got a lot of great music to write about in the early days of 2007, so come on back and let me share the good music with you.

I know I didn’t do a ‘Way Back Whensday’ feature yesterday. I haven’t abandoned it after only two weeks, I just don’t have the time to do both it and one of these countdown posts on the same day. Rest assured it’ll be returning next week when we’re be back to having very little else to write about.

#29
The Young Republic
‘Modern Plays’

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Myspace

One of my favourite discoveries of the past year or so was The Young Republic. In fact, they were one of the bands I wanted to babble about that indirectly prompted me into starting this thing, and they become the first band I ever wrote about. Now I don’t know if ‘Modern Plays’ is actually from 2006 as I’m thinking that the EP it’s from was released late in 2005, but it’s one of the songs that I’ve played the most in the last year, so it makes the list. While it was easy in the early days to assign The Young Republic a label of being like Belle & Sebastian, they have grown far more abstract with each release. This song even manages to have a mini jam session in the middle of it, which still all comes together again for one final round of the chorus. About as perfect as indie folk pop can get.

#28
The Indelicates
‘New Art For The People’

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Myspace

The Indelicates is largely the project of Simon and Julia Indelicate, which may not be of a great deal of interest. What might be though is that Julia used to be a part of The Pipettes before departing the band sometime last year. This is what led me to The Indelicates, and the most fun part of it all is that they are the far better band. It’s hard to pigeonhole them as each song seems to sound so different to the last, but what we’ve got here are a lot of witty, down to earth lyrics sung by a gruff male voice and a sweet female one. ‘New Art For The People’ is the best example of this, a charming tale about two people who really don’t like each other but stay together in a band because they are successful. With it’s back and forth deliveries and rising final section, it all comes across a little bit like a modern version of ‘Fairytale of New York’.

#27
Sky Larkin
‘Traits and Traitors’

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Myspace

Sky Larkin are one of the British “success stories” of 2006, and that will hopefully continue through 2007. Through a bunch of great songs on their Myspace page to gigging the hell out of their native Leeds and London, the band have built up quite a formiddable following. ‘Traits and Traitors’ is one of their darker songs, all moody arrangements and refined vocals. Big things loom for 2007, including a release of their debut single, ‘One of Two’ in January and a small tour with fellow AFoR favourite Los Campesinos! in March.

#26
Voxtrot
‘Mothers, Daughters, Sisters & Wives’

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Myspace

What can I say about Voxtrot that hasn’t already been said? They have pretty much dominated indie blogs over the past year and now seem to be crossing over into the mainstream. I still think that the ‘Raised By Wolves’ EP is better than the ‘Mothers, Daughters, Sisters & Wives’ one, but this song still stands out entirely. Trying to find a band that could craft songs in a finer manner than Voxtrot would be an almost impossible task. The words, the textures, the depth. All perfect.

#25
I’m From Barcelona
‘We’re From Barcelona’

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Myspace

Coming off like a rather less creepy version of The Polyphonic Spree, the 29 members of Sweden’s I’m From Barcelona (go figure) simply bring pop songs that are full of joy. Incredibly simplistic pop songs at that take. Take introduction song ‘We’re From Barcelona’ for example: it only actually has eight lines that it just repeats a couple of times. But who really cares when it all sounds as gleeful as this? If you’re not singing along to “love is a feeling that we don’t understand / but we’re gonna give it to you” within a couple of plays, you’re dead inside.

#24
Cansei De Ser Sexy
‘Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above’

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Myspace

The second song from CSS to make our list, and by far their strongest. It runs the risk of being overrun by the style over substance thing and it’s almost too post-modern for it’s own good, but it sounds too good to dislike. It’s all sultry vocals and overblown synth with a nod and a wink, but that’s what makes CSS so much fun in the first place. It even manages to have a little Death From Above 1979 style breakdown in the middle of it, just to make music geeks like me happy. One of the best videos of the year too.

#23
Human Television
‘I Laughed’

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Myspace

I’ve loved Human Television since their ‘All Songs Written By’ EP nearly four years ago, and thought for some time that they were destined to do nothing more than those seven lovely songs. Then out of nowhere a new album appeared, led by ‘I Laughed’, which proved that hadn’t skipped a beat in the gap in between and had maybe picked up a couple of new ones. Nothing is all that different from the EP with it’s gentle guitar and smooth harmonies, but the songwriting has certainly improved, and an addition of a female vocalist to the mix does them no harm at all.

#22
The Besties
‘Prison Song’

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Myspace

I’ve been meaning to write about The Besties for the longest time, but never seemed to get around to actually typing anything. This means they are probably only one of only a handful of bands that have made this list without anything more substantial on the site. For those unfamiliar, The Besties are a three-piece twee pop band from Brooklyn. All of their songs tell adorable little stories, and ‘Prison Song’ is at the forefront of these. Harmonies, melodies and nice little lyrics rule the day here.

#21
Los Campesinos!
‘Death To Los Campesinos!’

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Myspace

I’ve already prattled on about Cardiff’s Los Campesinos! over and over, so there isn’t very much more that I can add here. They are easily in my list of the top five bands of the year, and all of that is based on a four song EP entitled ‘Hold On Now Youngster’. Four songs of perfect pop bliss full of all of the elements I love, their next twelve months should be fascinating to watch. Only forming early in 2006, they were propelled into the limelight and were garnering label interest before they had even played ten gigs. They signed to Wichita (home of Bloc Party) at the end of the year, and a double a-side debut single (‘We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives’ / ‘Don’t Make Me Do The Math(s)’) is to follow in the new year.

#20
Shake My Hand
‘Invincible’

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Another band to come out of the seemingly unstoppable Cardiff music scene is Shake My Hand. I actually wrote about these guys earlier on in the year, but they were called Yossarian back then. I’m not entirely sure on the reason for the name change, but it doesn’t matter as they still sound just as good. Wonderfully simple songs about mundane things (“Fancy a cup of tea? / Fuck, we’ve got no milk / Ben, d’you fancy going down the shop?”) all delivered in the kind of bored vocal style that makes The Rakes so enjoyable.

So here we are at the start of October with the usual ‘leftovers’ post for the previous month. I hardly wrote anything in September (and that’ll probably continue a bit into October unfortunately) so you’d think I’d have a lot left, but alas not. Luckily for you though, the ones I do have are all rather great. So great in fact that they deserve their own posts, but I just don’t have the time to get to them right now. Left with a choice between not writing or just doing the little blurb here, we’ll go with the little blurb. You can probably find longer (and better) writings about all of these from some of the other fine bloggers on the right menu, so go and give them some of your time too.

MP3 Bound Stems – Refuse the Refuse (expired)
Bound Stems’ ‘The Logic of Building the Body Plan’ EP was something I picked up on a whim last year, and it turned out to be far better than I expected, even if I don’t play it nearly as often as I’d like. The band had pretty much entirely slipped my mind when I learnt about their first full length album, ‘Appreciation Night’, which was released a couple of weeks ago. I’m a fan of songs that don’t conform to rigid patterns, and so Bound Stems are something of a treat. All of there songs are full of randomness that they can sound like an assault on the ears at first, but it quickly all comes together perfectly. Time changes, key changes and a bunch of other devices keep sending their songs off in different directions and ‘Refuse the Refuse’ is a great example of this. Starting off with something of a manic energy, it jumps about until it calms down, almost exhausted at the end of the song. I can’t wait to discover what tricks they have in store over the course of the full album.

MP3 In Civilian Clothing – Current Therapist (expired)
I don’t know a great deal about In Civilian Clothing beyond what came in the promo email, and even that kind of information all blurs together eventually. They are a four piece from Flint, Michigan making vaguely electronic indie pop, but all you really need to know is that it’s really good indie pop. On a songwriting level they have been compared to both Ben Gibbard and Conor Oberst, and while I wouldn’t go quite that far, I can see where the comparisons come from. The lyrics wouldn’t sound that out of place from Bright Eyes, nor would the instrumentation on a Postal Service song.

MP3 Voxtrot – Trouble
Voxtrot are one of my favourite discoveries from the past year, and one of the most likely to become something huge. It’s already starting: they are selling out places all over the place (even on this side of the Atlantic), are now releasing their third release, a single of ‘Your Biggest Fan’ which will be followed by their first full length album in the spring of next year. ‘Trouble’ is the second song from the upcoming release, and isn’t a great departure from the band. Which is certainly no band thing when you sound like Voxtrot do. I could listen to most of their songs repeatedly and still keep discovering something new in them. ‘Trouble’ is just a perfect example of what this band is capable of: making absolutely wonderful pop songs. ‘Your Biggest Fan’ will be released on November 7 on Beggars Group / Playlouder.

MP3 David Ford – State of the Union
This is something that Janet at Out The Other posted a while back. I didn’t think all that much of it at first, but it grabbed me on the third or fourth listen. Ford is a singer-songwriter from Lewes, a part of the UK not a million miles from me, yet he somehow manages to be the angriest political singer in the US at the same time. I only discovered he was British a few days ago, and it was quite a surprise given I just automatically assumed that angry political must be American, particularly given the title. All of this is irrelevant though, as it doesn’t matter where he’s from. He knows how to write a meaningful song, and the lyrics could be applied to about half of the countries in the world at the moment anyway.

I always thought when I started this thing that I wouldn’t bother with “lame” things like lists of the top ten of the year and stuff like that, but now that we’ve reached the halfway point of the year, I feel the need to look back over just some of the fantastic music I’ve discovered since I started the blog. With that in mind, I now present my top ten songs of the year so far. Obviously this list isn’t perfect, and probably contains some 2005 songs too, but they are all ones that I’ve discovered this year. Seeing as all of these songs are so good, I’m not even going to try and rank them, so they are here in a nice and simple alphabetical order.

MP3 The Foundry Field Recordings – Buried Beneath The Winter Frames (expired) (Prompts/Miscues)
Grandaddy-esque lo-fi rock from Billy Schuh’s Missouri band. This entire album is quickly becoming one of my favourites, and is perfectly represented by ‘Buried Beneath The Winter Frames’, an upbeat, distortion coated guitar song, topped off by Schuh’s abstract words and restrained voice.
The Foundry Field Recordings: Website || Myspace

MP3 I’m From Barcelona – We’re From Barcelona (expired) (Let Me Introduce My Friends)
Wonderfully cheerful music from the 29 band members that make up Sweden’s I’m From Barcelona. It’s all pretty non-sensical and silly, but boy can it brighten up a day. ‘Let Me Introduce My Friends’, their debut album, is full of numbers like this, and performed in such a way that it never becomes grating.
I’m From Barcelona: Website || Myspace

MP3 Jenny Owen Youngs – Fuck Was I (Batten The Hatches)
An insanely good songwriting talent from New York, with a voice that’s far more developed than her years would have you believe. Backed up with an impressive array of strings, ‘Fuck Was I’ is pretty much the ultimate regret song. If this girl hasn’t made it big in the next couple of years, something is very wrong in the world.
Jenny Owen Youngs: Website || Myspace

MP3 Kate Nash – The Nicest Thing (expired)
I’m not sure what I can say about Kate Nash here that I haven’t said over the past couple of weeks. Simply one of the finest songwriters I have heard recently, backed up with a fantastic voice. Dodgy production aside, ‘The Nicest Thing’ is just a beautiful song.
Kate Nash: Myspace

MP3 The Light Footwork – Coastlines Are Landmines (expired) (One State Two State)
‘One State Two State’ is about my favourite album that I’ve bought this year, and it still sounds entirely fresh several months on. The Light Footwork are a two-piece making simply great music. With lyrical skills similar to that of Malkmus and Beulah like melodies, these guys should be something big in the near future.
The Light Footwork: Website || Myspace

MP3 The Mountain Goats – Woke Up New (expired) (Get Lonely)
The prolific Mountain Goats are back once more with yet another album, and ‘Woke Up New’ is an excellent preview of what is hopefully to come. More restrained and introspective than ‘The Sunset Tree’, the song covers the period immediately after a break-up. As such, it isn’t the happiest songs, but the little observations give the song a realism not often found.
The Mountain Goats: Website

MP3 Nathan Asher & The Infantry – Turn Up The Faders (expired) (Sex Without Love)
New band Nathan Asher & The Infantry somehow managed to bridge the gap between Bright Eyes and Bruce Springsteen, combining shaky, uncertain vocals with flashes of hard rock and the odd piano breakdown. If these guys haven’t signed to a major label yet, it’ll be happening very soon.
Nathan Asher & The Infantry: Website || Myspace

MP3 Sky Larkin – Keepsakes (expired)
A fantastic little band from Leeds who keep putting out demos that are getting better and better. ‘Keepsakes’ comes from the latest batch of these, and allows them to reach new heights, both musically and lyrically. One of the few British bands that I’m genuinely excited to hear more songs from.
Sky Larkin: Website || Myspace

MP3 Voxtrot – Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives (Mothers, Daughters, Sisters & Wives EP)
The songs on the ‘Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives’ EP never quite reach the brilliance that was ‘The Start Of Something’ from last years ‘Raised By Wolves’ EP, but they are still great songs. This title track is the best of them, a pounding number that brings together 80’s British rock with the sounds of the 60’s. Throw in Ramesh Srivastava’s voice and you have the perfect combination for success. I’ll put money on them being somewhere on The OC soundtrack in the next twelve months.
Voxtrot: Website || Myspace

MP3 The Young Republic – Modern Plays (Modern Plays)
The Young Republic are a nine-piece from Boston making some fantastic orchestral pop music. ‘Modern Plays’ is the title song from their latest release, a more abstract affair than their previous works, allowing them to pull away from the inevitable Belle & Sebastian comparisons a little. Oh, and did I mention that this why they are all still in college? They will go a very long way if they stick with this into the future.
The Young Republic: Website || Myspace

Other mid-year goodness..

Mike at Nothing But Green Lights has a 19 song mix of the best music from the first six months of year, including more Sky Larkin and Voxtrot, as well as some fantastic music that may be brand new to you.

Ryan at Good Hodgkins has posted up his seven essential albums of the year so far, including Belle & Sebastian, Figurines and Band of Horses.

Calum at Mocking Music has numbers 5-10 of his top ten albums of the year so far. Presumably the top five will be following soon, and there’s sure to be some good stuff in there.

Now I know that every blogger and his brother have already written about Voxtrot, but seeing as this is supposed to be an outlet for excellent music, I’m going to write about them anyway. Particularly given that I believe they are about the best new band to spring up in the past few years. I know that’s a pretty bold statement, but I think it’s true. I can’t think of anyone else who has entertained me so consistantly despite having so few songs available. And seeing how they have a new EP coming out, I have an extra excuse to include them.

The first thing that’ll probably strike you is how similar to Morrissey lead singer Ramesh Srivastava (try saying that quickly three times) sounds. Thankfully though, the songs Voxtrot produce sound nothing like The Smiths. Although being just as depressing most of the time (see The Start of Something), the lyrics have so much depth that every new play reveals something new about the song. Some quirk that makes it interesting again. Few songs manage this for me, and it might just be one of my music dork things, but I love intelligent lyrics on my songs, often at the expense of the music. Lucky for us though that the music of Voxtrot is also of the highest quality, leaving us with an awesome new band that more people should be discovering. Their time will come though, and I’d even go as far to say that they will be on a Death Cab kind of level within a few years.

MP3 Voxtrot – Raised By Wolves (expired)
MP3 Voxtrot – The Start Of Something

MP3 Voxtrot – Mothers, Daughters, Sisters & Wives

I’ve included three songs here, two from their Raised By Wolves EP and one from their upcoming Mothers, Daughters, Sisters & Wives EP. Personally I prefer the Raised By Wolves material to the new one, but it’s already growing on me.