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20 Songs of 2015: Part 1 of 4

Over the next few days I’ll be posting my 20 favourite songs of the year. Songs are alphabetically ordered and otherwise not ranked.

Amateur Best – ‘Leviathan’

Much as I love Amateur Best’s debut No Thrills there’s no denying it was a bit of a downer, a nebulous concept album about an aspiring DJ that was in actuality an album length examination of depression and mental health. The Gleaners isn’t a complete volte face but generally finds Joe Flory feeling a bit more chipper, never more so than on the truly infectious “Leviathan”. In a series of comics drawn to accompany the record Flory said “If you're feeling a bit shit and you need something to keep you going then you need a mascot to cheer you on. Mine is a unfathomably powerful sea creature that lives inside of me and will never, ever, surrender. That's what ‘Leviathan’ is all about”. The song is just as much fun as that description sounds.

Courtney Barnett – ‘An Illustration of Loneliness (Sleepless in New York)’

Courtney Barnett has a Malkmusean knack for making the seemingly mundane and nonsensical appear somehow compelling, and although the strength of her tunes certainly plays a big part in this there’s something genuinely captivating about her scattershot approach to songwriting. On a record that sees her debating the benefits of buying organic vegetables and informing us “I much prefer swimming to jogging”, ‘An Illustration of Loneliness’ is one of her more lyrically focused efforts, dealing as the title suggests with a lonely night in a New York hotel, and is a highlight of the excellent Sometimes I sit and think, and sometimes I just sit.

Justin Bieber – ‘Sorry’

On Purpose, Justin Bieber strives for artistic maturity while simultaneously attempting to apologize for his past misdeeds and immaturity. In neither of these goals is he entirely successful, and the former is often hampered by the latter, but when everything clicks it’s clear just how far he has progressed from the likes of ‘U Smile’. Pick of the bunch is the absolutely massive ‘Sorry’, which manages to overcome some admittedly clunky lyrics (“I’m not just trying to get you back on me”, anyone?) by virtue of being so damn catchy.

Deerhunter – ‘Living My Life’

After the visceral thrill of Monomania’s noisy garage rock it’s possible to view Fading Frontier as a bit of a cop out, a regression to the band’s comfort zone and essentially a more accessible update of Halcyon Digest’s dreamy indie-pop; it’s certainly the easiest Deerhunter record to listen to, with songs like the single ‘Breakers’ and closer ‘Carrion’ containing proper singalong choruses most bands would kill for. There’s nothing wrong with a band taking a formula and perfecting it though, and the record’s undoubted highlight ‘Living My Life’ sounds like the purest distillation of the Deerhunter sound as their has ever been.

Dutch Uncles – ‘Be Right Back’

Aside from being one of the best live bands around at the moment, Dutch Uncles continue to create great records and this year’s O Shudder is possibly their best album yet. On a record with many standouts closer ‘Be Right Back’ is the pick of the bunch, a slow burning affair which, with the help of a string section and additional vocals from Stealing Sheep, builds from languid beginnings and lyrics about escalators and fire exits to an anthemic close.

Playlist of songs below (will be updated as each part is posted)

https://open.spotify.com/user/jhowlett/playlist/6W6JitCKU18tL97Idc04Aw

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Albums I Enjoyed This Year: White Women by Chromeo

Chromeo should have gotten old by now; four albums into their career and they're still writing pretty much the same songs now as they did on their first record. Their clumsy innuendo should have become tiresome, and at times it is, but lines like 'I wanna be in the intersection of your thighs' ("Over Your Shoulder") are delivered with a mischievous wink, not a leer, and Chromeo's infectious brand of synth-funk has never sounded better than it does on White Women. Guest appearances from Solange and Ezra Koenig on "Lost On The Way Home" and "Ezra's Interlude" respectively are particular highlights, but no song on the record, or indeed across the entirety of Chromeo's career, can hope to match the ridiculously catchy pop perfection of "Jealous (I Ain't With It)".

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Albums I Enjoyed This Year: Humlebrag by Uncle Luc

In September 2013, after nearly ten years together, the excellent indie-pop-rockers Stagecoach decided to call it quits, with minimal fuss and little in the way of explanation. Almost exactly a year on from that announcement former Stagecoach frontman Luke Barham released Humblebrag, his first record as Uncle Luc, and provided fans with an epitaph of sorts. Alternately bitter and witty, mournful and celebratory, the shadow of Stagecoach's split hangs over all; explicitly on the stunning "Still A Country Song" ('This is where it ends/No breakthrough hit descends/It's run its course/how we loved that ten year horse we gambled on') and in the industry frustration evident on "Leader Boards" and "I Write". Humblebrag is far more than just some guy whining about his old band though and Barham has a knack for crafting great melodies, no more so than on the exquisite "Farewell Monsoon" and the Figure 8-esque "Rainbow".

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Albums I Enjoyed This Year: Mixed Blessings by Beaty Heart

I don't know a great deal about Beaty Heart, other than the fact they supported Kishi Bashi when he played Glasgow in October and I liked what I heard enough to investigate their début album Mixed Blessings. It's an appropriate title for an eclectic record that tries to cover a hell of a lot of ground, ranging from the tropical influences of nonsensical opener "Banana Bread" to the delicate piano trills of "Muti". Not everything works and the resulting record is an at times exhausting listen, but when Beaty Heart get it right as on the insanely catchy single "Seafood" the resultant racket is glorious.

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Albums I Enjoyed This Year: Wig Out at Jagbags by Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

Stephen Malkmus could never really be described as po-faced; a quick glance at the lyrics to almost any of his songs is all it takes to confirm that he's not a man who take things too seriously. Nonetheless "Wig Out at Jagbags" still sounds like the most fun he's had in years, whether singing about 'tripping my face off since breakfast' on the languid "Cinnamon and Lesbians" or conducting blasts of brass on the irresistibly catchy "Chartjunk". Best of all is "Rumble At The Rainbo", a post-Pavement reunion Malkmus snarling 'this one's for you, Grandad' before poking fun at the bands with 'no new material just cowboy boots', inviting you to 'come slam dancing with some ancient dudes'. As is the case with much of his work, it's hard to know whether Malkmus is being sincere or not, but who cares when the results are this much fun.

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Albums I Enjoyed This Year: Lanterns by Son Lux

There's a good reason for this series of articles being titled 'Albums I Enjoyed This Year' and not 'Albums of the Year'; put simply that reason is Son Lux and the excellent Lanterns, a record that came out in 2013 but which completely passed me by at the time of release. When I finally got around to checking out Lanterns, off the back of Son Lux's involvement in the patchy but occasionally brilliant Sisyphus record, I was blown away. Flitting effortlessly between the joyous maximalism of "Lost It To Trying" and "No Crimes" and the slower, more sombre fare of "Ransom" and "Enough Of Our Machines", throughout Lanterns combines digital and orchestral instrumentation to brilliant effect. Ryan Lott's voice is what really sets Son Lux apart though; extraordinarily intimate, alternately strident and fragile, simultaneously wearied and soulful - it is never anything less than stunning. No song on the record combines all these elements as well as final track "Lanterns Lit", performed as his second encore when I saw Son Lux live in Glasgow this June and probably the closest I have come to properly crying at a gig. It takes a lot to turn this cynic watery eyed, so Son Lux has to be doing something right.

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Albums I Enjoyed This Year: Blank Project by Neneh Cherry

Like many people my knowledge of Neneh Cherry began and ended with "Buffalo Stance", and it was only when she was added to the line up of this year's Field Day festival that I was prompted to check out the excellent Blank Project, her first solo album in 18 years. Recorded as live over just 5 days in collaboration with Four Tet's Kieran Hebden and RocketNumberNine, Blank Project is a sparse and understated effort; on several songs a drum beat is the only accompaniment to Neneh's voice, and where further instrumentation is employed it mainly takes the form of harsh, fuzzed out synth. The result is an often deeply unsettling listen, minimalist in the extreme, but as the album opener "Across The Water" proves there's some truth in the old cliché of 'less is more'.

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Albums I Enjoyed This Year: Songs by Deptford Goth

Daniel Woolhouse specialises in the sort of soppy love songs that I’d normally run a mile from, but on Deptford Goth's aptly titled second record Songs he somehow manages to bypass my usual cynicism and uncover a latent sentimental streak in me. It helps that his romantic paeans are augmented by wonky synth lines and stuttering percussion, ensuring the album is never a dull listen; the disjointed beats of “The Lovers” create the sense of a song on constant verge of collapse. Yet the undoubted highlight of the record is perhaps it’s simplest moment, the heartfelt piano ballad “Two Hearts”. The chorus of “love, love is enough” may not be the most original sentiment but Woolhouse sings it with an intensity that brings a lump to the throat.

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Albums I Enjoyed This Year: Old Fears by School of Language

I guess this record didn't arrive completely out of the blue; the signs were there on the past couple of Field Music albums, with "Let's Write A Book" and "A New Town" seeing David Brewis breaking out in both falsetto and funk to brilliant effect. Yet on Old Fears, his second album as Field Music spin-off School of Language, Brewis seemed determined to style himself as a Mackem Prince, all squelching synth bass, choppy guitar riffs and vocal acrobatics. On no song is his reinvention more successful than "Dress Up", a ridiculously catchy 3 minutes of tightly wound funk-pop that ranks among the very best tracks I've heard this year. 

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Albums I Enjoyed This Year: Wendy by Small Wonder

I don't think any record this year has had such an instant impact on me as Wendy did when I first heard it. Visiting Small Wonder's bandcamp after seeing ludicrously monikered emo band The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die post about him on their facebook page, I knew from the moment I first heard Henry Crawford's bruised and tremulous vocal pleading "I'm a weak young thing" on Wendy's opener "Ball Lightning" that this record was something special. The album's seven tracks are often deceptively simple  - "Suddenly, Suddenly" is essentially just two chords - but as in this song's opening couplet of "Watching your father die/4.9 on a scale of 5", the sheer emotional intensity of Crawford's lyrics gives every track an anthemic and cathartic power. Nowhere is this more apparent than on "Until I Open My Wings", a beautiful, fragile piano-led duet that builds to a stunning finale. 

Buy Wendy

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Best of 2013 - "Human Gain" by Stairs To Korea

One of my favourite records of 2013, "Human Gain" is probably one of the best 'lo-fi' albums I've come across. The inverted commas are there because listening to the likes of Guy Fawkes and Paid Position it's hard to lump this album in with the work of your standard bedroom producer, Will Vaughan's crystal clear production making this one of the nicest sounding homemade records you'll ever hear. It helps that the songs are great too, varying from the Pavement-esque She's A Waste Of Time to the pop gloss of The Afternoons, while in the exquisite Rabbit Years Vaughan has crafted one of my favourite songs of the year. It's a great album which you should go and buy HERE. DO IT NOW!!

<a href="http://tapealarm.bandcamp.com/album/human-gain" data-mce-href="http://tapealarm.bandcamp.com/album/human-gain">Human Gain by Stairs To Korea</a>

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Best of 2013 - Sensitive Men With Synths

I'm not particularly au fait with all the different genre divisions that make up what is broadly known as 'electronic' music, but I do know that 2013 has been a good year for the genre of music I know as 'sensitive men with synths'. Here's three of my favourite records of 2013 which mixed melancholy with moog.*

Amateur Best - No Thrills

Deptford Goth - Life After Defo

Kwes - ilp.

*I'm willing to bet not one of these records features a moog synthesizer, but alliteration bitch!'

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Best of 2013 - Jai Paul's "album"

Despite being an apparently unofficial release, supposedly uploaded to the internet from a stolen laptop (there's some evidence that suggests Jai Paul himself leaked these tracks), Jai Paul's 'album' was one of the years most exciting records. The only official Jai Paul releases remain BTSTU and Jasmine, but if the 16 tracks here are really just the demos for the long-awaited Jai Paul record I can't wait to hear the real thing. You can find the album quite easily if you search for it (I'm not going to directly promote illegal downloads of course), but here's Crush to give you a taste.

Jai Paul - Crush (Jennifer Paige Cover) from FirstCrush on Vimeo.

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Best of 2013 - Trophy Wife

&lt;a href="http://trophywifeband.bandcamp.com/album/trophy-wife" data-mce-href="http://trophywifeband.bandcamp.com/album/trophy-wife"&gt;TROPHY WIFE by Trophy Wife&lt;/a&gt;

In May Trophy Wife finally released their long awaited début album, and it was great. Unfortunately they also announced they were splitting up on the same day, which was a bit less great. Still, at least they left behind a brilliant record that you can get over at their bandcamp for 'pay what you want'. Have a listen to "Hold On", one of my favourite songs of the year, and then go and download the album here.

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REVIEW: "Screaming Maldini" - Screaming Maldini

If there is one moment on Screaming Maldini’s debut that defines them, it is the quite frankly ludicrous synth break midway through album centrepiece The Albatross. For a moment you can’t quite believe what you’re hearing, a synth line seemingly parachuted in from a completely unrelated song, sounding so hilariously dated that it could have been lifted straight from the Sonic The Hedgehog soundtrack. But for some reason, and don’t ask me how, in the hands of Screaming Maldini it works.

This is the story of the entire record. Screaming Maldini try so hard to make you hate them, with their near pathological aversion to 4/4, kitchen-sink-included songwriting and unrelenting cheerfulness all vying for pole position in the obnoxiousness stakes. Yet the end result is not only an extremely likeable collection of songs but one of the most promising British debuts of recent years. For all their obscure time signatures and prog tendancies, Screaming Maldini sure know how to write a good pop song.

Frenetic opener The Awakening sets the tone from the off, Nick and Gina Maldini duelling vocals before unleashing a gloriously anthemic chorus of “oh-oh-oh-ooo-aaa-ooo-aaa-ooo-aaa-oh”s. Followed by the unashamedly joyful Life In Glorious Stereo and the soaring lead-off single Summer, Somewhere, which sees Gina taking the microphone to devestating effect, the band make it clear that the album’s frantically barked opening line -  ”we’re not planning on a quiet one” - is no empty promise. It is not until the fifth track, album highlight I Know That You Know That I Would Wipe Away The Snowflake From Your Eye, that the pace lets up and Screaming Maldini show what they are truly capable of, that alongside writing should-be terrace anthems they are equally adept at creating moments of real beauty and subtlety. 

It’s a rare moment of respite in an album which barely pauses for breath as it lines up the hits, and it’s soon back to business as usual with the record’s second half trio of The Extraordinary, The Silver Mountain and Minor Alterations three of the finest pop songs you’re likely to hear this year. By the time the album comes to a close with the canivalesque Four Hours From Now, a song in 5/4 which features a clap-along outro sure to confound and confuse audiences across the land, it’s hard not to feel exhausted. 

If there is one criticism to be made of this record it is that it never really sounds like a cohesive whole. This is in part down to the band’s refusal to stick to any one sound for more than a few bars, but perhaps has more to do with the record’s long gestation period. A few new tracks aside, this album is largely a collection of 3 or 4 years worth of EP and single releases, and as a result it sounds more like a greatest hits compilation than a coherent musical statement in it’s own right. But really, when my main criticism of a record essentially amounts to “too many hits” it should be obvious that we’re dealing with something special. 

Indeed while it may not be perfect, Screaming Maldini have still managed to craft an astounding debut here, a record full of invention and surprise. This is an album teeming with ideas, in the way that I Know That You Know That I Would Wipe Away The Snowflake From Your Eye suddenly explodes into life halfway through, in the unexpected a capella breakdown in Life In Glorious Stereo and, of course, in that simultaneously glorious and godawful synth break in The Albatross. As an opening statement Screaming Maldini couldn’t have done much better than this, but nonetheless it’s hard to shake the feeling that the best is yet to come. As Nick Maldini sings on Stutter, “we’ve got so much left to discover”, and Screaming Maldini are just getting started.

9/10

BUY “SCREAMING MALDINI” HERE

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THE AGCS BEST OF 2012 PLAYLIST

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"Unto Caesar" is an AGCS Track of the Year

The AGCS Christmas Calendar counts down our 24 favourite tracks of the year.

#1 - Dirty Projectors - Unto Caesar

Here we are at the end of our Christmas Calendar, and at the end of our countdown of the best tracks of 2012. But first a small confession to make; the sequencing of songs on the list, far from being painstakingly, scientifically calculated, was actually pretty arbitrary. SHOCK HORROR! Sure, the tracks are arranged in a loose order, but on the whole I might as well have picked the 24 songs out of a hat to choose the rankings. There was one exception though; there was never any doubt as to what would be #1, because no other song this year has given me anywhere near as much happiness as "Unto Caesar".

How to explain my infatuation with this song? I could try and get technical about it, but what it all really boils down to is the sheer joy of shouting "RENNNNNNNNNNN!! DERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!! UN-UN-UN-UNNNNNN!! TO CAESAR" at the top of your lungs. Give it a go. Good right? Add to that a ridiculous call and response breakdown "Where the high custodians (MOP IT!) / Where the panic violins (PANIC!) / Where the crabby handmaidens (SCRUB IT!)", and the point at 2:47 where Amber Coffman complains "Uh, that doesn't make any sense?" after a particularly obscure David Longstreth lyric, and you have a truly ridiculous song. Yet it is this ridiculousness, this sense of fun, which sets "Unto Caesar" apart from other, more po-faced Dirty Projectors fare, and make it my very favourite track of 2012.

Have a good one, and we'll see you next year.