Albums Of The Year

I've been writing reviews for my mate Francis' blog, so I thought I'd stick them up here along with the rest of my Top 10 Of The Year.

1. Frank Turner - Love, Ire & Song
These days, it's not often that an album grabs you from the first chord and you just and listen through every track, without doing anything else. Frank's perfect blend of folk/rock with his punk heart from his Million Dead days, combined with perfect tales of loneliness and epic social commentaries makes for something a bit special. Add some of the greatest lyrics ever and the most passionate delivery I've heard on record and the result is one of the greatest, heartfelt albums of all time.
This album is heartwrenching, shivers down your spine, makes you want to jump around and sing then fall over and cry.
"Life is about love, last minutes and lost evening. About fire in our bellies and about furtive little feelings." All hail Frank Turner.

Best track: I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous

2. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Brooklyn based band The Hold Steady release their 4th album in 4 years, and the progression from 2006's Boys & Girls In America is huge.
Lyrically it's front man Craig Finn's strongest work, taking the tales of girls, booze and drugs ever present in their first 3 albums and contorting them into dark tales of murder and sleeping around. These clash perfectly with the (few) upbeat tracks, the likes of Yeah Sapphire and Sequestered In Memphis.
The Hold Steady have produced the most epically grim and also brilliantly upbeat album in years. It's hard to grasp Finn's real attitude towards life, there's moments of despair followed quickly by moments of immense positivity. His attacks on "the scene' in Slapped Actress are canceled out by the genius Stay Positive, where Finn essentially lists all the issues and then says "it'll be alright though".
This band deserves so much more press than they get, and this album proves that. With Kings Of Leon going stadium rock and The Killers going...well...jazz and disco, The Hold Steady are the band to save American rock music in the UK, "we gotta Stay Positive".

Best track: Constructive Summer

3. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Musically, the bands best work. Recording as one in a open studio creates a brilliant raw sound, completely contrasting with 2005's Plans. Lyrically, it's also a massive change. Ben Gibbard's lyrics are far more literal than previous albums, but are not without their highlights.

Best track: Pity & Fear/I Will Possess Your Heart

4. Laura Marling - Alas, I Cannot Swim
The Reading born indie-folk songstress finally gets an album out, and it's superb. 12 perfect tales of teenage romance. From the perfectly poppy Cross Your Fingers to the epically dark Night Terror. The potential this 18 year old shows is frightening.

Best track: Old Stone

5. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Got the publicity it did due Justin Vernon recording it in a cabin in the woods of Wisconsin, but it deserves every bit. It's perfect soulful folk for the broken hearted.

Best track: re:stacks

6. Glasvegas - Glasvegas
Epic debut from the latest "big thing". There is so much emotion poured into it on the part of front man James Allen, especially on opener Flowers & Football Tops and the epic It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry. It has moments where it can genuinly "get you right there".

Best track: It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry

7. Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
The mind behind Bright Eyes releases his first "solo" album since he was 16. It's a long departure from the moody teenaged angst of Bright Eyes, lyrically and musically. Conor's lyrics are more upbeat here, althought that's hardly an achievement, and his "Mystic Valley Band" create a sound that is far more stipped down than the numerous musicians that have featured on Bright Eyes albums.

Best track: Moab

8. Sigur Rós -Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
Beautifully epic 5th album from the Icelandic 4 piece, but far more upbeat than their previous efforts. Title means "With a buzz in our ears, we endlessly play". Not really that much else to say as I can't really comment on the lyrics. The music is amazing and perfectly produced. Needs to be heard to be appriciated, or seen live if possible.

Best track: All Alright

9. Coldplay - Viva La Vida/Death And All His Friends.
A huge improvement on 2005's X&Y. It's about as pretentious as it gets but that's not a bad thing. From the epic Viva La Vida to the lovely Strawberry Swing it proves that Coldplay still have the ability to write songs for huge gigs that their debut Parachutes promised

Best track: Lovers In Japan

10. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
Late entry to my Top 10. The Gaslight Anthem, like The Hold Steady, are proprioters of fast paced rock 'n' roll. The '59 Sound is hardly innovative, a great change in sound from the bands debut, Sink Or Swim, but more it's just pure and simple punk-rock for the masses. Heartfelt lyrics meets awesome indie rock.

Best track: The Backseat


Honourable mentions to (in no order):
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns
Lightspeed Champion - Falling Off The Lavender Bridge
The Courteeners - St. Jude
Everything Is Borrowed - The Streets
Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip - Angles
Benga - Diary Off An Afro Warrior
Bloc Party - Intimacy
She & Him - Volume 1
Little Man Tate - Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy
The Subways - All Or Nothing
Late Of The Peir - Fantasy Black Channel
Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires
Flight Of The Conchords - Flight Of The Conchords
Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night
The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely
The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement
Feeder - Silent Cry
Lykke Li - Youth Novels
British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight


A seriously good year for recorded music.

Live Review: The Pogues, Carling Academy Sheffield. 12/12/2008.

Another Christmas is creeping up on us fast, meaning The Pogues are once again embarking upon their annual tour of the country to perform their greatest hits to the old fans and the new generation. Tonight's crowd is a great mix of youngsters (both those who really love the band, and those who have clearly been dragged along by their parents) and the old hardcore.

Opening their first gig in Sheffield for a good while with Streams Of Whiskey and then proceeding to rattle through their greatest hits, highlights include The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn, The Body Of An American and the mass sing-along to Dirty Old Town. However, the biggest highlight of the night was the state of singer Shane MacGowan, who did not miss a beat or word all night, interacted a lot with the crowd and was clearly having the time of his life.

Saving the best till last, The Pogues (second) encore comprises rare track Poor Paddy On The Railway followed by Fairytale Of New York, featuring Jeremy Finer's daughter on co-lead vocals with Shane in place of Kirsty MacColl, complete with a shower of fake snow. The band close with Fiesta, igniting a full scale jump around session, encompassing young and old alike. I'm not sure how Shane is still alive, but if he's lasted this long there's no reason he can't for at least one more tour, if not, might as well cancel Christmas for next year, The Pogue's reunion is easily the best bit.

Live Review: Pendulum, Carling Academy, Sheffield. 10/12/2008.

Let’s get one thing cleared up before I start discussing the event in question. Going to see Pendulum is in no way going to a dance event, even one along the lines of going to see an act like Faithless or Prodigy. Tonight Sheffield’s Carling Academy hosts a full-blown, sweaty (for want of a better phrase) rock concert.

So, onto the gig itself. The academy is as packed as ever seen it for this summers big festival hit. Pendulum’s set at Leeds Festival in summer has the NME Stage in uproar as full-scale carnage broke out as the band played highlights from both their albums. Tonight the story is much the same. From the minute Pendulum thrash into opener Showdown, pure chaos ensues within in the crowd, and by the time the band have moved onto making the floor shake with the bass line to Fasten Your Seatbelts, a full scale mosh pits break out, consuming most of the crowd.

The rest of the set continues in much of the same vein, Pendulum rock their way through the highlights from their 2005 debut Hold Your Colour and new album In Silico, and the crowd continue to jump/fight their way around the room. As far as the band’s performance goes, nearly every song sounds perfect despite the volume. The only criticism I can make is the classic Slam sounding slower than the album version, but the band building up to it with an excellent rendition of Metallica’s Master Of Puppets helps to take my mind of this.

The set list includes nearly everything that could be expected. Granite, Propane Nightmares, The Other Side, Tarantula and Voodoo People (a cover/remix of Prodigy) are all present, but the inclusion of old tracks Hold Your Colour and Another Planet are particular highlights for me.

So, to conclude. Pendulum were pretty much perfect, the crowd was insane. The perfect combination of indie-rave kids and metal heads that Pendulum appeal to these days creates a brilliant atmosphere. Even the people who were clearly there more out of interest than genuine fans of the band get in on the havoc that Pendulum caused at the Academy tonight. This all leads to one simple lesson: go and see Pendulum. And do it soon, before they are selling arenas out. So you've probably got about a year...

Live Review: Glasvegas & White Lies, Plug, Sheffield. 5/12/2008

If Glasvegas are the current “big thing” in British music, then White Lies are definitely the next, so it’s hardly a surprise that the room is already packed by the time the main support walk on stage. The London 4-piece thrash out a very impressive set, ending with their latest single (and contender for single of the year) Death. Other highlights include their next single and debut album title track, To Lose My Life and debut single Unfinished Business. Big things predicted for these lads.

Glasvegas themselves, who have been criticised for playing too loud and allowing the music to descend into distortion and unintelligible noise, are perfect. Following in the footsteps of their debut album, they do not put a foot wrong all set. Opener Flowers & Football Tops is even more heartbreaking live, and this is followed a host of album tracks, including the epic It’s My Own Cheating Heart… Polmont On My Mind and the chaotic Go Square Go, which ignites a full scale upbeat indie jump around session. The inclusion of a couple of tracks from their new Christmas EP is also great to hear.

The one black mark I could put on Glasvegas tonight is their inclusion of Stabbed at the beginning of the encore, especially as they missed off S.A.D Light, one of my favourites on the album. However, all is cured by closer Daddy’s Gone. Singer James Allen puts his hand on his heart and points at the crowd as they sing the words for him, the set comes to an end, and my faith in new British music is restored by two of the best bands I’ve seen in a while.


Glasvegas played:

Flowers & Football Tops
Lonesome Swan
Fuck You, It’s Over
It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry
Polmont On My Mind
Please Come Back Home
Geraldine
Ice Cream Van
Go Square Go

Stabbed
Daddy’s Gone

Live Review: Frank Turner, The Cockpit, Leeds. 21/10/08

The Cockpit is absolutely rammed for the first gig on Frank Turner’s latest UK tour, a sign the ex-Million Dead man is moving up in the world. When I saw him in Sheffield in April the venue was barely half full and people appeared to be there more in interest as to what Frank was doing with himself these days, rather than being their to hear the songs they love. This time it’s different, everyone here is here to see, hear, and sing their hearts out to, Frank’s perfect blend of folk music with his punk rock heart.

Opener The Ballad Of Me And My Friends proves this point. Every word is sung back at Frank, excluding the iconic line “we’re definitely going to hell, but we’ll have all the best stories to tell” for which Frank leaves the crowd to do his job for him. It’s and epic to start to what is clearly going to be a special night.

The rest of the set comprises all his classics, as well as a few surprises. Inclusion of Worst Things Happen At Sea from his 2007 debut is a particular highlight for me, and made even better when the crowd sing back every word of this lesser known track, the same goes for the airing of Substitute, one of my favourite tracks off his latest album.

The main highlights of the set are epic renditions of album tracks A Love Worth Keeping and Father’s Day, linked by a great little piano solo, and the timeless The Real Damage, accompanied by the crowd at deafening volume.. The (apparently unplanned) encore of Love, Ire & Song is a perfect ending to a perfect gig.

From watching Frank, there’s a huge part of me that wants to see him back in a punk/hardcore band, and it’s this that makes him such a brilliant live act. To quote Frank himself, “I know I don’t break new ground, many have travelled this sound, but I try to make it sound like home” (from Nashville Tennessee), his music is hardly original but it’s the perfect combination of the angst and passion of his days in a hardcore band with his genius folk-rock lyrics that make Frank Turner one of the best acts in England today.


Frank Turner played:

The Ballad Of Me And My Friends
Reasons Not To Be An Idiot
Imperfect Tense
Nashville Tennessee
Worst Things Happen At Sea
Substitute
Back In The Day
Vital Signs
Once We Were Anarchists
The Real Damage
A Love Worth Keeping
Father’s Day
I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous
Long Live The Queen
St Christopher Is Coming Home
Photosynthesis

Love, Ire & Song