Virtuosos Above Ignominious Condemnation,
As a year for great walbums, 2008 left me waiting, the problem was not a shortage of good albums but a delay in the arrival of new material from the bands I love.
My favourite singles were as follows:
Desolate Icicle by The Travelling Band: a wonderfully gentle song with beautiful harmonies and percussion that perfects the imagery.
Harold T Wilkins by Fanfarlo: Musically brilliant and about a TV and UFO guru; seems about right for The Bellyaches. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah ploughed this Talking Heads-esque vocal furrow a few years back but they didn’t have the mini-orchestra or subtlety to back it properly. I can’t wait for the album.
What is Not But Could be if by Silver Jews: doleful Americana of the highest quality with a superb, jangly, hillbilly flourish at the chorus.
Turn Tail by Young Knives: leaders of the Twits’n’Guitars genre, the string quartet might just be on hire and House of Lords might actually be a terrible singer but it all fits together well. The stomp and the distortion on the shouting at the end is classic. I could have chosen any of the other Young Knives singles, but one had to make the definitive set.
Slow Parade by Broken Records: I love when a song slows down or stops and then starts back up again, it’s a crafty trick to emphasise the lyrics. It’s a wonderful composition by gifted musicians, like My Latest Novel, they play live note for note perfectly on cue.
I Don’t Know Where to Begin by The Pictish Trail: for so long, he’s been a vital part to the King Creosote machine for ages, it’s nice for him finally to put his work on record and his name on the cover although he’s obviously backed by some of his talented Fence buddies. The fragility and the honesty of his voice is the key to this exceptional song, I can imagine him sitting by the window peering down the garden path and then out to the sea.
Good albums were released by Silver Jews, Pictish Trail, Rosie Taylor Project, Drever, McCusker and Woomble, James Yorkston, Young Knives, Devotchka, Fleet Foxes, Neil Halstead and Colin MacIntyre.
My favourite singles were as follows:
Desolate Icicle by The Travelling Band: a wonderfully gentle song with beautiful harmonies and percussion that perfects the imagery.
Harold T Wilkins by Fanfarlo: Musically brilliant and about a TV and UFO guru; seems about right for The Bellyaches. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah ploughed this Talking Heads-esque vocal furrow a few years back but they didn’t have the mini-orchestra or subtlety to back it properly. I can’t wait for the album.
What is Not But Could be if by Silver Jews: doleful Americana of the highest quality with a superb, jangly, hillbilly flourish at the chorus.
Turn Tail by Young Knives: leaders of the Twits’n’Guitars genre, the string quartet might just be on hire and House of Lords might actually be a terrible singer but it all fits together well. The stomp and the distortion on the shouting at the end is classic. I could have chosen any of the other Young Knives singles, but one had to make the definitive set.
Slow Parade by Broken Records: I love when a song slows down or stops and then starts back up again, it’s a crafty trick to emphasise the lyrics. It’s a wonderful composition by gifted musicians, like My Latest Novel, they play live note for note perfectly on cue.
I Don’t Know Where to Begin by The Pictish Trail: for so long, he’s been a vital part to the King Creosote machine for ages, it’s nice for him finally to put his work on record and his name on the cover although he’s obviously backed by some of his talented Fence buddies. The fragility and the honesty of his voice is the key to this exceptional song, I can imagine him sitting by the window peering down the garden path and then out to the sea.
Good albums were released by Silver Jews, Pictish Trail, Rosie Taylor Project, Drever, McCusker and Woomble, James Yorkston, Young Knives, Devotchka, Fleet Foxes, Neil Halstead and Colin MacIntyre.
posted by Leif at 6:59 PM
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