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
mp3

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
mp3

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
mp3

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

Assuming that bands progress in the same way people do, the last time I saw The Young Republic, they were going through their awkward teenage years. Having just split from a bunch of their original members, the band were starting to find a new sound, one rather more rooted in Americana as opposed to the upbeat folk pop of the early years. They were good and put on a decent show, but there was still a sense that the band didn’t really have a clear direction.

In the little over a year in between, so much has changed. The Young Republic that takes the stage in Cargo on a Monday night aren’t here to play songs. They are here to rock. The fact the venue isn’t exactly full isn’t going to stop the crowd going right along with them, and the band are happy to reward their enthusiasm. Launching into a set made up mostly from their latest album Balletesque, we get a solid hour of rock and roll that only scratches the surface of their potential.

Much of this confidence comes through front man Julian Saporiti. He’s no longer the slightly awkward (but hugely talented) personality on stage he appeared to be a year ago. A new charisma seems to have appeared about him as he throws himself completely into every song as if his life depended on it. To his right, violinist Kristin Weber is a subtler presence, adding layering to each song. That is until The Alchemist, with it’s full-on violin solo halfway through. The rest of the band utterly still and silent throughout, her violin alone commanding the entire room. Not something you see at gigs everyday.

Then of course there’s the occasional treat thrown in for the older fans. “This is the point where we play a couple of old ones” notes Saporiti, before we realise these aren’t the old songs at all. Sure, at their core they are still Excuses To See You and the wonderful Girl From The Northern States, but they’ve been given the same overhaul the band had. What was folk pop is now Americana, and it’s still just as good.

After an hour, the band say goodnight and head off the stage. The crowd aren’t letting them off so easily though, and the band return for an encore seemingly at a loss for what to play seemingly having used everything in the main set. Shouts for their cover of Dylan’s Isis are shot down by Saporiti pointing out their lack of harmonicas. Eventually they settle on a couple of Beatles covers and most surprisingly of all, the Ghostbusters theme song. Complete with dance moves. It’s a hell of a way to end a gig, but by this point the audience would have let them get away with anything.

It was all the way back in February that I first talked about The Young Republic’s new album Balletesque. It’s taken a further eight months for the album to be ready for release to the masses, but in an odd sort of way, this could work in it’s favour. The album has very much of an autumn feel to it, even if that is difficult to articulate. These are the kind of songs that suit the mood of a chilly room as the light disappears earlier and earlier.

There’s not much more I can say about the album that I didn’t say then. It’s still a rather large departure for the band in terms of sound, it still sounds supremely confident and wise beyond it’s years. Most of all, it still sounds really good. This is a band that has finally found it’s true sound, even if that’s taken many years. It’s been an interesting exploration up until now, but Balletesque is the point where The Young Republic could finally find the wider audience they deserve.

Edit: Okay, so apparently The Alchemist and Black Duck Blues are supposed to be exclusively available from The Young Republic website, so I’m unable to offer them here. Still, I am happy to be able to offer a different track from the album below.

Balletesque will be released on October 12 via End of the Road. The band will be embarking of a tour of the UK shortly after.

It hasn’t been this bad since my grandpa was a kid
He made it through – he never told us what he did

Has any line summed up the state of the world currently as much as that?

Of all of the bands I’ve had the pleasure of writing about on here, it’s The Young Republic that have developed the most of a band in that time. If I’m honest, I’d been a little apprehensive about the direction the band had been taking of late. Moving to Nashville from Boston and trading in the gentle indiepop of their earlier releases for a more classic rock, Americana influenced kind of sound was a risky gambit. While the results were largely very good, nothing really blew me away in the way those earliest songs did.

That changed when a couple of songs from the band’s upcoming release Balletesque dropped into my inbox though. The instrumentation on The Wolf suggests a band far larger than it’s current six member lineup. Indeed, the band never sounded this rich even as an eight piece. The real revelation here though is the songwriting of Julian Saporiti. Each verse manages to outdo the previous in both content and wordplay. This is certainly the closest he has come to not just writing like Dylan, but sounding like him too. Sure, it’s a lazy comparison given their Isis cover a while back, but we’re well beyond sounding like Belle and Sebastian at this point.

Balletesque will presumably be released in the nearish future.

Two and a half years after I originally wrote about The Young Republic on here, I finally got to see them live on Monday as they supported The Mountain Goats at ULU. Despite having a ton of Young Republic songs, it seems that the changes in the lineup have led to a new musical direction as they only played one song that I already know (the superb Modern Plays). The rest of the set was made up of far more country and folk influenced songs from their Idiot Grin EP, which isn’t really a bad thing. I’m just kind of disappointed I didn’t get to hear Girl From The Northern States. No matter though. The only other song I was familiar with was their cover for the night: Bob Dylan’s Isis. With a full band setup the song sounded superb, and while the recorded version below is rather more stripped down, it’s still a pretty damn good version of it.

It’s been a while since I did my occasional Young Republic blurb, mostly because I haven’t had any new material to write about it. Truth is, I still don’t, but at least there is something different. Seeing People You Know is taken from one of the bands early singles, and while their sound has grown a little since then, it still covers all of the hallmarks. Not a bad feat for a song barely two minutes in length. Oddly acidic for something that sounds so cheerful too.

Lots of random news with some good music thrown in between on this post. It seems that I can’t keep on top of all of the exciting things that are happening with bands I like of late.

—

Another Form of Relief favourites The Young Republic have signed a recording contract with End of the Road Records, the label run by the curators of the End of the Road Festival. This is particularly exciting as it’s a UK label, meaning the band will finally achieve distribution on this side of the Atlantic. The label will release a series of 7″ singles (no comment) leading up to a full album made up of previous songs and new material. All of which is very exciting, but it gets even better. End of the Road will kindly be bringing the band to the UK for a run of UK shows sometime over the summer. With all of this, they are destined to blow up in a big way, so be sure to listen to them now so you can claim you were there at the start when they become huge.

MP3 The Young Republic – Blue Skies

—

Certified “next big thing” 4 or 5 Magicians have their new demo up for you to listen on their Myspace page. Entitled ‘The 2nd or 3rd EP’, it contains new recordings of ‘Forever On The Edge’ and ‘Your Ficticious Character’ as well as a stunning new song called ‘Behind Each Others Backs’. If a label isn’t willing to put these guys out properly, something is very wrong in the world.

—

Now for the most unlikely thing for me to be posting in quite some time, we have Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip. I’m not down with the electronical music or the hipity hop, so I have no idea exactly what genre this kind of thing falls into. However, since some nice person posted a link to it on the Drowned In Sound boards, I have been listening to ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ regularly on their Myspace page. It’s a glorious manifesto for modern life that wants to right as many wrongs as possible in this country, no matter how big or small they may be.

Thou shalt not think that any male over 30 that plays with a child that is not their own is a paedophile, some people are just nice

Much as I’d love to share that particular song for you, it’s coming out as a single in the near future, so I probably shouldn’t. However, I do have ‘A Letter From God To Man’, a song that is exactly what it says it is in the title. It’s a wonderfully down to earth essay from god, in a conversational turn, that’s in turns both logical and reasonable. It’s the kind of thing that makes you think that if the religious thought along these lines, the world would be a far more pleasant place.

MP3 Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip – A Letter From God To Man (expired)

Oh, and if anyone knows what the piece of background music is that’s been sampled on this song, I’d love to know. I’m certain that I recognise it, but I have no idea what it is or where it comes from.

—

The Svengalis have their debut single up on their Myspace. It’s a double a-side consisting of ‘Sting In The Tale’ and ‘Swimming Upstream’ and will be released via their own Villains and Rogues label on March 10. I’m not entirely sold on the songs yet, with ‘Sting In The Tale’ coming across perhaps a little too much like The Libertines. Don’t get me wrong, both are good little songs, but they aren’t entirely what I expected. ‘Swimming Upstream’ is growing on me quite a bit though.

—

I’m not usually one to reprint press releases, but how can I resist things like this:

Inspiration for the album came from a tempestuous relationship with his long-term Danish girlfriend Marie Nielsen. He started writing songs to finally win her back after becoming conscious of being “a total nob”, and dispatched them to Denmark in CD cases packed with dried flowers.

This isn’t actually my first encounter with Findlay Brown’s music. I caught the second half of his set back at the Electric Gardens Festival in August entirely by accident while I was waiting for Absentee. I didn’t think that much of the songs then. They weren’t bad, but nothing that made me want to rush to hear more of his music. It seems that a studio really helps Mr. Brown though, as these songs come off far better than the Ryan Adams-lite I had him tagged as before. These are gentle, thoughtful songs, backed with a lovely sounding acoustic guitar. Which sometimes is all I really want from my music. His album, also called ‘Separated By The Sea’, will be released on Peacefrog Records on February 19.

MP3 Findlay Brown – Separated By The Sea (expired)
MP3 Findlay Brown – Tonight Won’t Wait (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’

Website
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’

Website
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’

Website
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’

Website
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′

Website
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!’

Website
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.

—

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’

Website
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’

Website
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’

Website
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’

Website
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’

Website
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’

Website
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’

Website
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’

Website
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!’

Website
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’

Website
Myspace

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.

I adore The Young Republic. They have been one of the best discoveries that I’ve made in the past year. I also adore them even more since a copy of their new EP arrived in my postbox this morning. Which I’ll probably end up writing about eventually so you’re going to hear me gush more about them in the near future.

They seem to have a rather prolific output, with two or three releases in any given year. One of the 2005 releases was an eight song Christmas album entitled ‘Merry Christmas Again…’, of which the song below is obviously the title track. There’s something fitting about orchestral bands doing Christmas songs as something just sounds right about it, and this suits The Young Republic perfectly. Sparse arrangements, withering male/female vocals and a generally wintery feel allow it to slot right in with the other songs in the indie Christmas canon.

MP3 The Young Republic – Merry Christmas Again… (expired)

More songs from ‘Merry Christmas Again…’ and a nice little story offering some background to the record can be found here.