ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.15 - P.J. HARVEY, Let England Shake

In PJ Harvey’s mind, an England shaken to its core would see the big black crows being stunned and disturbed enough to flee their nests and fly away in blind panic. That alone is the visual representation on the cover of this album and it’s an image that Harvey’s taken to her stage show, appearing in a sort of ruffled crows feather head dress standing alone and separate from her band mates, as if to emphasise the observation role she now finds herself in. This is just one of the many finer attentions to detail you’ll find on this concept record, a suite of songs in some ways similar in category to Neil Young’s ‘Living With War’ in that it focuses exclusively in the modern day military conflicts our country finds itself involved in. Rather than protest however, these songs are more of the perspective of a reporter and a brutally honest scribe at that. This songwriter doesn’t just leave her commentary at the plain facts, she also lays bare the horrific impression these scenes have left upon her. Neil Young tried to revive the tradition of protest music but PJ Harvey appears to have learnt that those 1960s topical tunesmiths were doomed to failure, at least in terms of how much difference their songs actually made in the grand scheme of things. That doesn’t stop her from occasionally pointing the finger though; take ‘The Words That Maketh Murder’ questioning the lack of support for those suffering from traumatic stress with its “what if I take my problem to the United Nations?” The one other great thing about this PJ Harvey album though it has to be noted is that, like on ‘Stories From The City Stories From The Sea’, when she has a real lyrical message or theme to put across she really pulls her best tunes out of the bag. ‘Let England Shake’ is a record with an abundance of important messages wrapped up in music that you’ll want to keep on coming back to. There’s some strong competition for the title, but this might just edge it as her masterpiece.

Free music - Let England Shake

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.16 - THE UNTHANKS, Last

It can be so hard to love some Folk music with it's basis in tradition. The very sight of Kate Rusby and her sensible clothes and her Daily Mail face so full of contempt for the modern world with her legion of fans worshipping her for nothing more than the politeness of her music and the inane stage banter about jelly babies. I don't mind a bit of arts and crafts you know, but that world can stumble so easily into overtly twee territory that the chances of finding a bit of genuine raw emotion amongst that tribes choice of folksy music can be remote. On paper the Unthanks should be more twee than a home made Christmas Wooly bobble hat with matching sweater and socks, after all they're a tight knit sibling based traditional combo at home in rural surrounds whose stock in trade is traditional material. The truth is quite the opposite, theirs is a sound that is as pure and lovely as you'll ever hear and at every step it's clear that music is their primary concern. They're not traditional because they yearn for bygone eras, it's merely the easiest category for commentators to land them in; I doubt they care much for those limiting name tags at all, it's clear that they possess the questing spirit of all music buffs simply from the obscure yet inspired choices of material. Yes there's tradition but we also visit a Tom Waits tune along with material created by the chief Unthanks composer Adrian McNally. It's hard to pick out these changes in source without prior knowledge though, the whole set flows like a perfectly formed sequence right down to the closing reprise of album centrepiece and title track 'Last'.

With 'Last' the Unthanks have delivered their most assured, complete album of music to date. A record that's perfect in every detail, down to the antique dance scene on the cover chosen to depict the importance of direct human interaction in an age when we spend too much time staring at computer screens. Best of all, and evidence of what committed music fans this bunch really are, they're about to release an album of Antony & The Johnsons and Robert Wyatt music. Ask yourself this; can you imagine Kate Rusby listening to a Robert Wyatt album? I picture her, a couple of tracks in, moaning in those flat Barnsley intonations "it's all a bit weird isn't it?"

Free music - Last

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.17 - WILCO, The Whole Love

Here’s an album that wasn’t going to make our top 20 initially. It’s problem? Well none really other than the sense that it was merely just another very good album by Wilco. Now there’s no shame in that of course, but these days they’re a band enjoying the most settled line up of their life and perhaps there was a sense that they were a tad too comfortable with the recording process. Things kick off sharply enough; there are some who hear the hypnotic Krautrock vibe of opener ‘Art Of Almost’ and wish that Wilco would go for it with an albums worth of experimental fare. That’s not where they ‘re at though now; in fact if it wasn’t for the fact that they appear a fairly amiable working unit I’d say they’re almost going through a kind of ‘White Album’ phase. This band are really exploring their sonic and stylistic ranges which is why a Country type tune is followed by a song with Britpop flourishes (‘Capitol City’, it even ends with very English sounding church bells) amongst out and out Rockers, Garage Rock and then finally the strung out Folk picking of the long flowing narrative ‘One Sunday Morning’. This is the track that resonates the longest on the album, it’s a major Tweedy piece of writing that beautifully illustrates the story of a son’s fractious conflict of religious opinion with his father and the feelings he experiences on the older man’s passing. Already a highlight of this great songwriters back catalogue, I suppose it does have the unfortunate effect of Dylan’s ‘Wedding Song’ on ‘Planet Waves’ in that it slightly overrides the impression left by the perfectly fine album that’s preceded it. Maybe that too was the reason this record wasn’t looking initially like a contender for the year’s best. As we have seen on the past few records by Wilco however, the entire set is packed with an expansive pallet of slowly unfolding pleasures. Now I feel it sits proud alongside the best of their work and we should cherish them why this combination remains together. This is the band’s defining period of work as they’re slowly, subtly putting together one of the finest music catalogues in the modern era.

Free music - The Whole Love (Deluxe Edition)

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.18 - DEVOTCHKA, 100 Lovers

Devotchka are one of those bands where I’m genuinely envious of anyone who hasn’t discovered them yet; bubbling below or around that mythical radar that most decent acts remain forever beneath. They’re a pretty difficult band to pin down though; a multi-instrumental four piece from Denver, they sound at times more like an Eastern European rabble-rousing Indie-Folk collective. This is largely thanks to the yearning cold swoon in the vocal of singer Nick Urata but this too is a strong spiritual weapon in the bands impressive arsenal. Since enjoying something of a minor US breakthrough in 2008 with ‘A Mad And Faithful Telling’ they’ve consolidated that position in the live arena, particularly impressing when supporting Muse in front of 90,000 strong crowds. Compositionally too, they’ve enjoyed movie soundtrack success including award winning work on the ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ film. But it’s here, on the home ground of an original album that their genius really shines on; they’re writing songs with a real cinematic flare that current studio collaborators Calexico have helped occupy a vast landscape that’s all their own. Add to that the multitude of international reference points and you end up with that rare thing today, a sound that is truly unique. On ‘All The Sand In All The Sea’ they manage to reclaim the Turkish rhythm used by Dave Brubeck on ‘Blue Rondo A La Turk’, stick a rocket up it and send it flying off to previously unimagined destinations. Elsewhere we’re awash with whistles, flutes, bouzoukis, accordions, trumpets and drums stirred to the most potent brew of rampant gypsy-soul to be found anywhere at the moment. Please take the time to preview this great album below:

Free music - 100 Lovers

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.19 - JONATHAN WILSON, Gentle Spirit

This is one of the big revelation albums of 2011. A record that opens up to full bloom slowly and gently, revealing as it does wave upon wave of melodious, textural, layered beauty and warmth. A proper album, at double LP length on vinyl that you can lose yourself to under the headphones, on a spaced out evening or melt into on a hot summers’ afternoon. Best of all, it rewards the repeated listens time and again. The only problem, and I mean the only problem, is that its cultural reference points are so strong that it has at times been swamped by comparisons to them. I mean Wilson lived and recorded large chunks of the record in Laurel Canyon, he’s used a 1972 analogue recording console and a 1969 guitar, he’s performed with David Crosby, Graham Nash and Jackson Browne this past year and even appeared on TV backing Robbie Robertson so he’s hardly shying away from the connections. The similarities in sound on the opening bars of ‘Can We Really Party Today’ to the general laid back vibe of Neil Young’s ‘After The Gold Rush’ album are incredible.

The point surely is though, that none of that matters a jot. Just as the current crop of Retro Soul purveyors are following that vintage path because it expresses what they want to do with their music the best, so too an artist like Wilson naturally settles on a period from Rock history when free flowing instrumental excursions, solos and dreamy reflective lyrical tangents were the norm. It’s not limiting because this music feels boundless in its scope. His current workmates are pretty significant too, for people like Andy and Otto of Vetiver (who both feature here) and the Fleet Foxes are amongst the most exciting of America’s current crop of acoustic, Folk-Rock friendly bands. One other flavour that I think comes through quite heavily is Elliott Smith; he’s floating in there somewhere amongst the breathy vocals and melancholy acoustic picking. With this first official debut album (there was an earlier recording in 2007 that didn’t get a proper release) Jonathan Wilson has given us a gift glimmering with the rays of a golden age in music that isn’t for one moment wishing it was 1969. Instead it searches for hope, peace and love in the modern world with the ready acknowledgement that all is not right with the way things are; in doing so he has delivered a wonderful, timeless and extensive piece to cherish forever.

Free music - Gentle Spirit

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.20 - CAROLINE FAUCHET, Piano

I'll admit that I came to this album because I quite liked the look of the cover, something about it said that this would be less an album about studied reverence and far more a vibrant musician artist looking to express herself through these pieces. Really it's only the Chopin Nocturne that opens here that could be said to be an obvious route for a solo pianist to take, the journey's a pretty radical one after that and all the more thrilling for it. Little is known about Fauchet, it would appear she is 26 and her Mother was a violinist, her Father a pianist and she found her way into music by following them around on concert tours. It appears she took some time working out which particular instrument to settle on before ultimately making the piano her font; an obvious choice it can be said with hindsight for her playing is impossibly sensitive to the feel of the compositions. I guarantee once you zone in on the flow of these pieces the spell will not be snapped until the last note fades away (or crashes to a thunderous halt as is actually the case here). She certainly saves the best to last, with a trio of lively and lush pieces by the under-valued 20th Century Argentine composer Alberto Ginestera. The Latin American flavours at the core of these pieces shine brightly and reveal Fauchet to be a pianist of some considerable flare. I for one want to find out and hear a lot more. Have a listen to this wonderful record through the link below:

Free music - Caroline Fauchet - Piano

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011

As promised exactly 12 months ago today, if our end of year Top 20 failed to hit the spot last year we would return again for another attempt, so here it is. Starting tomorrow, our 20 favourite albums of the year will be highlighted daily, in the order of our choosing, building up to the big reveal of the winner on New Years Day. There's no change to the judging criteria, these are the albums that we've enjoyed the most deciphered by the trusty method of just listening to lots of music as much as is humanly possible. Where the system gets a tad skewed is when, as has just occured, two of our top 20 albums are released in the month of December. I mean it's a safe bet that the top two records, both of which have received regular plays for most of the year, are assured placings but when there's only been a few days the potential for lessening appeal with repeated plays is still very real. That said, the two records I'm thinking of here are so fine that the only real danger is in twelve months time I might feel they should have appeared higher up the chart. Hey ho, there you go...

Musically 2011 has often seen more brilliant albums coming out than a mere top 20 countdown can adequately convey. Still my feelings when tuning into almost anything mainstream radio or TV are putting out is invariably despair. I know I'm beating on an old drum with this one, but I can't comprehend what's happening with the blanket use of Autotune on pop records. There's a tune doing the rounds at the moment where a quite lovely Lily Allen vocal is juxtaposed with another Autotune treated voice that for me renders the whole track unlistenable. It's just heartbreaking, you know, because I love a bit of great Pop, I've got no issue with Rap and great Dance music is invariably more life affirmingly joyous than anything the Indie set ever come up with. Yet it's almost as if three or four years ago a private dare went around the worlds recording studios to see who could get away with sprinkling the shittest vocal effect on records before anyone noticed and so far nobody has, and the joke just keeps getting ever more ridiculous. The idea that a top producer could make me a backing track so I enter the studio for five minutes, hung over and nauseous, only able to vomit the word "huey" into a bucket and he could turn that into a workable Autotune treated vocal should only really endure for a couple of minutes on a 'One Show' factual featurette. It shouldn't be the basis on which the entire pop recording industry works around.

Still there has been some great Pop this year with Adele's record being top of that particular tree. Of course it's a traditionalist's formula but how it works; write some great songs and get a great voice to sing them, good production and market it with the music centre stage. I regret that Adele didn't make our Top 20 but I'll rest assured she won't care much! Then there's the other end of the mainstream spectrum; the big money major label release whose dire content is masked by the promotional circus that circles it's every move. That'll be Coldplay then. I know people of the 1960s generation who'll make a blanket decision on whether a new band are any good or not by how much they move on stage. It's that idea of if they're staring at their feet the whole time they're not all that because they've got to concentrate too much whereas if you're jumping around and playing you've got to have a bit about you. I go for the opposite position with Coldplay, I think the more Chris Martin pogos about on stage the more he's over compensating for the lack of creative spark in the content of his music. I've seen Chris Martin do an awful lot of bouncing around on stage this past year. His bands music has an abundance of "whoa oh oah oooh's" floating about, the first calling port for any uninspired stadium band fearing for their reach in the cavernous arenas they're about to spend two years playing to. Oh and lastly, I sincerely wish that indie bands would stop sounding like the 80s Human League or Talk Talk or A Flock Of Seagulls etc etc. This is because the 80s were crap for music; I thought that fact was long established?!

So onto the good stuff. Here are a few that just missed the leaders pack, number 20 in our chart will be revealed tomorrow:
THE BLACK LIPS, Arabia Mountain
TORI AMOS, Night Of Hunters
ZEE AVI, Ghostbird
RANDY NEWMAN, Songbook Vol.2
TRUMMOR & ORGEL, Out Of Bounds
LUCINDA WILLIAMS, Blessed
JONNY, Jonny
BABY WOODROSE, Mindblowing Seeds...

Finally three musical departures left their mark on us this year. One awfully tragic, another sadly inevitable and the third a blessed relief. For Amy Winehouse there's little I can say other than what a terrible loss and a massive blow for 21st Century music. She really should have had a lot more in her, gone too soon doesn't even begin to cover it. With Bert Jansch I've been feeling his absence quite intensely this winter but sad to say, I was shocked by his sunken appearance at this summer's Cambridge Folk Festival playing with Pentangle and feared he may not be long for this world. Then on a more positive note R.E.M. knocked it on the head this Autumn. Did they read my pleading with them to call it a day on this blog and decide enough was enough? I think they might have. The great thing for me though was this; the moment they were no more I could once again enjoy their back catalogue free from the fear that they would keep testing my love for them.