Best Albums 2011

2011 was not a vintage year for music. My gig highlights were largely sets by established acts like Pulp and Snoop and few breakthrough artists really grabbed my attention. I discover Tuneyards too late in the year to decide if I like it or not, admired but couldn't adore PJ Harvey's award winning Let England Shake and seem to have let Bjork's Biophilia pass me by. None of those artists are in my top ten...

Bon Iver: Bon Iver
A stunningly beautiful album of haunting, yearning songs. Justin Vernon has an amazing vocal range which invests his simplistic yet moving lyrics with a majesty and intimacy which others can only dream of. Opener Perth features the greatest military tattoo of all time and Holocene was the year’s best single bar none. I was not magnificent? I beg to differ!



Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues
There are too many songs about apple trees and orchards, but setting aside the twee lyrics, Fleet Foxes have raised their game. The multi layered harmonies have oomph and bite which has previously been missing and Grown Ocean was one of 2011’s strongest singles. Helplessness Blues is an album from a band who are growing in stature.



Radiohead: The King of Limbs
Released when nobody expected it, The King of Limbs surprised Radiohead fans with its appearance – but not with its quality. It’s a truly brilliant album (although perhaps would have benefitted from a couple more tracks) featuring a riff which sounds like it was stolen from a seventies cop show, a touch of dubstep and arguably Radiohead’s most beautiful ever song: the haunting, delicate Codex. My thoughts in full can be read here!



Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi: Rome
Is it a film score? Classical music? Pop? It’s pretty difficult to categorise Rome – but to try and do so would be to miss the point. It’s all of those things and more, features Jack White’s vocals and manages to make Norah Jones sound interesting. It’s a wonderful tribute to an era of classic film soundtracks by the likes of Ennio Morricone and has reputedly inspired a film: surely the first example of a soundtrack leading to a movie production. For more, click!



Elbow: Build A Rocket Boys
There’s nothing new for Elbow fans here: just another great big bear hug of an album from Guy Garvey and his brilliant band of Mancunian poets. It’s a beautifully nostalgic meditation on Northern life and friendship from a band who are fast becoming the nation’s favourite. And Lippy Kids features the best whistling since Otis Redding’s Dock of the Bay. The full review is here.



Gruff Rhys: Hotel Shampoo
It doesn’t matter whether Gruff is recording with Super Furry Animals, Neon Neon or as a solo artist: he’s always brilliant. This is more reminiscent of the former, and none the worse for it. Eccentrically poppy, always interesting and genuinely warm, Rhys is a thoroughly likeable artist who produces consistently likeable, catchy tunes. Great stuff.



Beirut: The Rip Tide
One of my all time favourite bands return with multi-layered accordions, a bit of oompah, some jaunty singalongs and even a little bit of electronic. It’s certainly not an album for everyone, but main man Zach Condon is a genius in my eyes and this was by far the most listened to album on my iPod in 2011. My fuller thoughts are here.



Fionn Regan: 100 Acres of Sycamore
Regan has unplugged his amp after the wildly inconsistent The Shadow of an Empire, preferring to return to the more comfortable and comforting acoustic sound of his earlier material. He can certainly pick a phrase, meaning that the lyrics are arguably more interesting than the tunes, but either way this is an album worth listening to for anyone with a passing interest in singer-songwriters more interesting than Ed fucking Sheeran. The full review can be read by clicking this!



Explosions in The Sky: Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
Apparently this is their seventh album. This begs the question: how have I only just discovered them? Intensely melodic, epically understated, huge but intimate. It’s a sound you can almost – but not quite – put your finger on. Is chilled-out prog-rock the right label? Have a listen and decide for yourself.



Black Keys: El Camino
Normally December releases are compilations and ‘best ofs’ designed purely to shift units to non-discerning listeners in the build up to Christmas. So let’s thank fuck that The Black Keys blew that idea out of the water with the release of their excellent El Camino. Produced by Dangermouse and channelling Led Zep, The White Stripes and a million-and-one other influences, El Camino is both forward thinking, retro and – most importantly – fun.

Bon Iver @ Leeds O2 Academy

Even in the most civilised crowds lurk utter wankbaskets. After arriving early enough to ensure a prime position in front of the stage we were amazed that nobody made any real attempt to usurp us. We remained resolutely still with nobody jostling shoving or attempting to push past us. Yet we were still deeply annoyed. This was attributable entirely to the thoroughly irritating twerp directly in front of us. She spent approximately one hour attempting to lure her reluctant sister to join her in the throng of eager Bon Iver fans. Bobbing up and down like a hyperactive meerkat, bashing messages into her iPhone, waving manically and making call after call she tried unsuccessfully to encourage her sibling to join her. It was apparent to everyone that said sister wanted no part in this. Apparent to everyone else around her, that is. In the end, nobody came to join her. A sizeable portion of the crowd laughed inwardly. I laughed outwardly.

Mercifully, once the band took to the stage, the solitary sister kept her eyes forward and her mouth shut. She didn’t really have a choice – the sheer power and majesty of the early numbers were enough to keep anyone’s eyes glued to the stage.
Bon Iver have certainly swelled in size over the last few years. Practically a solo endeavour in the early stages, Justin Vernon is now accompanied on stage by a nine-piece band of assorted guitars and percussion, brass and clarinets. It’s still not enough – one band member simultaneously played trumpet and keyboards. And they make one hell of a noise. Opener Perth was a soaring, majestic performance accompanied by a military tattoo rattled out on twin drum-kits: a magnificent way to open the set.

And things didn’t let up from there. Blasting through songs from their eponymous latest album, Bon Iver’s rousing versions of songs which are altogether more fragile and slight on the album, was truly brilliant. A mariachi-style horn section on Towers added flare and rhythm. The year’s best single, Holocene, was both haunting and moving simultaneously.

To round off the opening salvo, non-album track Blood Bank was given an airing. Beefed up with pounding drums, the stage awash with red light, it was a memorable performance of one of their lesser known songs. Sadly, it also heralded a slight slip in the standards previously set.

Older material from debut album For Emma, Forever Ago doesn’t quite suit the sheer size of the new band. Previously gentle, fragile songs have been beefed up a little too much – or in the case of Stacks – stripped back a little too far. That said, Vernon had the crowd eating from the palm of his hand as he performed the song solo – but for his voice and guitar you might have heard a pin drop.

And what a voice it is – from a deep growl to a high pitched yelp, Vernon’s vocal range is amazing. Yet he looks nothing like a rock star. After entering the stage dressed like a particularly tweedy geography teacher he became gradually gawkier-looking as his thinning hair moved further and further from his scalp. Coupled with his Deco Cuffe style facial mannerisms he’s an entirely unlikely frontman.

Even some amusing between-songs banter couldn’t rescue the set from sagging slightly in the centre. Beth_Rest, undoubtedly the band’s worst song, was a baffling part of the set – interminably dull and utterly dreadful. Sadly, the slightly underwhelming mid-section was accompanied by the arrival of a drug addled moron eager to shove her hair and elbows in the faces of anyone in the vicinity. She also attempted to crawl between people’s legs. Thankfully she eventually crawled back into her K-hole and vanished from view.

A rousing finish ensured that the audience left smiling: Vernon encouraged some cathartic screaming on Wolves and then gave the crowd exactly what they’d been waiting for with sing-alongs Skinny Love and For Emma. Perhaps with another album of material under their belt, Bon Iver will be able to shift the fat around their middle: Skinny Love, indeed.