ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.8 - MY MORNING JACKET, Circuital

With 'Circuital' My Morning Jacket have completed their journey from purveyors of out-and-out Southern Rock into the versatile experimental pop beast they threatened, at times unconvincingly, to be in 2008 with 'Evil Urges'. They're basically a vehicle for the visionary songwriting talent of Jim James and of late he's really shown a refusal to be pigeonholed by genre. As was hinted at with the George Harrison tribute set released under the name Yim Yames, his musical artistic template is none other than the wide open palette that The Beatles operated within. Fortunately, his compositional skills have a range to match and this record has brought to the forefront the premier league standard of his songs. Tunes like 'Victory Dance' and in particular 'Outta My System' (about the writers relief at having put his wild days behind him combined with understanding as to why he behaved that way at all) are direct and beautiful melodies, the kind that provoke wonder that you haven't heard the song before, as the best songs often do. Stand out foot stomper 'Holding On To Black Metal' is a tantalising mixture of soulful chorus backing vocals, funky riffing and viscious guitar slashing alongside a daring James falsetto vocal. Played live it's even more of an impressive piledriver. This is a strong album from start to finish and it's one that cements My Morning Jacket's position as a band serving the muse of one songwriting genius a-la Wilco; the difference possibly being that this band are still building towards a career defining creative peak.

Free music - Circuital (Deluxe Edition)

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.9 - DANGER MOUSE & DANIELE LUPPI, Rome

This project may have begun as a loving trip into the world of Italian film scores of the 60s and 70s, an affectionate nod to a sound, style and era highly regarded by both Luppi and Danger Mouse, but it's ended up as something with a whole lot more substance than a mere impressionist tribute. It's a touch simplistic to just put that down to the involvement of Jack White and Norah Jones, neither Brian Burton or Luppi are lightweights when it comes to production, but there's no doubt the two distinct vocalists bring a certain drama to the set with White in particular treating the project to every ounce of the commercial ear he'd bring to the work of his own bands. Norah Jones too is regularly sending out the signals that the next period of her career could hold some mouth watering surprises as she continues to evolve away from the rather MOR Jazz informed vein she first appeared in ten years ago. With 'Rome' it's the infusion of a Rock element that I feel lends the album a proper sense of drama and gravitas. At times the lolling grandeur is more akin to the anxiety and slowly unfolding emotional landscape first heard on Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon'. With the combined best efforts of four significant musical talents we end up with one of 2011's strongest and most satisfying pieces.

Free music - Rome

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.10 - FLEET FOXES, Helplessness Blues

Let's face it, the purity of vision in Fleet Foxes incredible debut album was never going to be repeated. There was a directness to that set which left an instant impression with songs that knocked you out immediately because os their melodies. The gorgeous close harmonies and wall-of-sound Folk music were merely the icing on the cake. 'Helplessness Blues' on the other hand is a harder listen at first, it may take four or five goes before these songs really lock together and start to make sense. This is still lush Folk-Pop bound with amazing Beach Boys vocals to make a unique baroque flavour. But this time there's more, the expressive guitar patterns on 'The Cascades' bring to mind the pastoral shades of the UK's progressive Folk years in the early 70s as all over more experimental tangents are thrown in. Towards the end 'The Shrine/An Argument' explodes at one point with what sounds like a burst of far out sax blowing Jazz hard bop. Then, as if to remind us of who we're dealing with, they close on 'Grown Ocean' which ebbs and flows with a hymnal, hypnotic grace. The Fleet Foxes second album expands on their debut whilst retaining the core elements that set them apart from the pack. Given time, it opens up to become an even better record than that hugely acclaimed debut.

Free music - Helplessness Blues

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.11 - JILL SCOTT, The Light Of The Sun

After attaining possibly her most high profile status ever via a leading acting role in HBO's 'The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency' it's been a relief to find that Soul music hadn't lost one of it's greatest female voices to the world of TV and film. Far from it as it's turned out, in so many ways Jill has seriously laid her soul bare on this incredible comeback record. In fact details of a relationship lived between records (leading to the birth of a child) are dished up across this album in raw detail with wit, venom and a raw intensity. If the love expressed for her child in opening track 'Blessed' comes over a little syrupy it at least also sounds 100% sincere. The positive attitude pours out of every groove, there's no self pity here and even a tune like 'Quick', basically an expression of regret at the brevity of the affair that gave her a son, has a knowing wink in its eye. With human beatbox Doug E. Fresh backing up on 'All Cried Out Redux' Scott brilliantly recalls the fun and innocence of the early Rap days. Best of all is 'Shame', a funky tune so familiarly infectious you keep thinking "it must be an old Northern Soul track",  "it's gotta be an old Disco classic". This isn't 'old school' in the sense that it's going for a conscious vintage retro vibe; it's more 'old skool' because it sounds totally now but, as this lady's got so much class, it instantly sounds like it belongs in the upper league of Souls back pages. It's been a year in which Beyonce has crowned herself 'Soul Queen' thanks to some well chosen high profile shows and an actually not all that bad, more adult orientated record.  For us though, nothing has quite hit the diva spot as indelibly as this versatile odyssey by Jill Scott, a real undervalued album that delivers on every single track.

Free music - The Light Of The Sun

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.12 - PAUL SIMON, So Beautiful Or So What

Yesterday I sang the praises of current recording artists putting out new material with more regularity than has become the norm in modern times. So today I find that my plaudits are going to an artist who has, on this occasion and similarly in the past, taken about five years to produce a new album. To be fair to Paul Simon though, he did keep that album-a-year work rate up when he was in his twenties so nowadays he's pretty much earned the right to take whatever time he wants. He's always been a meticulous worker anyway and at least doing things thoroughly he ensures that when he does put out an album it will be something worth listening to. I'll say this for him too; out of all the songwriters of his generation he is arguably the only one who to this day constantly moves forward with every release. Paul Simon has never repeated himself across his entire career. 

This time around he's created a sonic mix that brilliantly blends electro-Rock sounds with more flowing acoustic guitar work than Simon's indulged in for at least 30 years. Top that off with some thunderous rhythms and a lyrical turn that's as sharp, witty and moving as we've ever heard from this songwriters pen and you've got a legend enjoying an Indian summer every bit as potent as Bob Dylan's or Neil Young's. Yes there's layers upon layers of incredible production flourishes to marvel at but underneath it all Simon has once again written some great songs. It's such a shame that the singles chart have become so Urban dominant because there's little doubt that the man could still write hit singles in his sleep. He had a stab at it last Christmas by releasing the infectious lead track 'Getting Ready For Christmas Day' as a single. It really should have been given a chance to make a mark on the festive market, with a looping hook and a finely aimed lyric about the unfortunates who have to celebrate the season of good will far from home in a war zone, it's chances of  becoming a winter standard were surely robbed. I mean unless you specifically followed the work of Paul Simon you'd be forgiven for not knowing he even had a Christmas single out this time last year, let alone hearing that it was pretty good. The dark humour is a treat too, especially from the earnest songwriter who in 1968 wrote the line "how terribly strange to be seventy". Now that strangeness is near, he's imagining scenes of God returning to the 21st Century Earth and declaring "the people are slobs here" and a journey into heaven that requires a wait in line and a form to be filled in. But then it's not all tongue in cheek and when the fantastic closing track sings "you know that life is what you make of it, so beautiful or so what" you see that Paul Simon has nailed it again just as he always could.

Free music - So Beautiful Or So What

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.13 - LAURA MARLING, A Creature I Don't Know

In 1992 R.E.M. released 'Automatic For The People' 18 months after their big commercial breakthrough album 'Out Of Time'. I recall at the time some shock was expressed by observers unable to countenance how a big act could produce a follow up album so quickly. "They managed it because they didn't tour 'Out Of Time'" was the general conclusion. U2 won similar praise for releasing 'Zooropa' a mere two years after its predecessor; "EP sessions that got unexpectedly creative" came the consensus of explanation. Nowadays, and I don't know if it's down to the collapse of major label marketing strategies or advances in recording technologies or just a general speeding up of processes brought by the internet, but a 3-4 year gap between albums is no longer taken as standard. This is great news too, that Beatles work rate of creating two albums worth of material per year is the output I still believe new acts should work towards, especially in their first ten years. I mean obviously bands like Coldplay still indulge in that extended time lapse but then they've got to come up with a multitude of gimmicks to deflect attention from their piss-poor music. Laura Marling is by no means alone in following up a great 2010 album with another this year (take The Roots yesterday doing exactly the same thing, and there's others in this years list) but she's worthy of praise because not only has she followed up quickly but she's also topped the earlier effort. This time around the sound is slowly beginning to branch out, although the influence of that golden late 60s early 70s period I spoke of last year continues to resonate with one beloved Canadian singer-songwriter shining through. With the intimacy of those gently plucked nylon guitar strings, then the distant, angelic and choral female backing vocals drifting behind the up-close and occasionally semi-spoken Laura Marling dialogue this is pure early Leonard Cohen. Short of recording on analogue in a Montreal bedsit it's hard to reckon how she could possibly get any closer to that classic sound. In fact she's pulled it off with such aplomb over the last two records now that I wouldn't be surprised if she leaves it behind in the future. Indeed there are pointers here that a change is about to happen. Take the albums midway diversion into crunching electric guitars and snarled delivery on 'The Beast', here already is a side to Marling we have yet to see much of. On opener 'The Muse' the Cohen/Dylan-esque vocalising is still deployed but there's Jazz piano breaks and a frantic air of guitar picking urgency. The record concludes on a pretty jubilant note too, with the words "all my rage has gone" repeated around the most uplifting foot-stomping refrain of her career. Three albums in now and still impossibly young, the potential in Laura Marling is a rare thing indeed and we're very lucky to have both her and her music.

Free music - A Creature I Don't Know

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.14 - THE ROOTS, Undun

If you’re looking for a record with an album length story arc, based on a semi-fictional character whose story unfolds across dramatic interludes on a song suite where each number seamlessly blends into one another. A concept album where the voices of the ensemble seem to step in and out of character in order to illustrate the drama, as musical themes are stretched out during an instrumental section with a classical suite in four movements. If this is the kind of album you desire then surely you’ll flip back to the Prog-Rock scene of the early 70s wouldn’t you? You’re not going to hope to find such a grand premise and the musical dexterity to pull it off in the US Rap arena, now are you? I’m being a touch facetious here, not to mention forgetful, for I already made plain in last year’s countdown that we’re witnessing an incredible modern day act blossom into an amazing maturity with The Roots. They are just so multi-talented it’s frightening. It’s not simply that they’ve attempted a deep work of urban fiction with this album, it’s that it is executed with so much credibility; on every single track the vibe of the music captures the exact sensation being experienced by the stories central character. Even a relatively upbeat song like ‘The Other Side’ somehow manages to capture a sense of overwhelming foreboding. It’s nothing short of a musical work with the detail and punch of TV’s acclaimed crime drama ‘The Wire’. It’s only been released this month and may yet stand the test of time as one of the greatest pieces of work in 2012 but at the moment I’m tempering my amazement by considering the longer held appreciation and love I have for the albums placed above it, but this is pretty damn special!

Free music - Undun (Explicit Version)