31 - Active Child 'You Are All I See'

 

http://www.tastedshapes.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/active_child_you_are_all_i_see-150x150.jpg

 

The second of three albums by acts I first became aware of through BuzzJack's Unknown Pleasures competition, and who without it, I'd probably remain blissfully unaware of. His track 'I'm In Your Church At Night' was one of my favourite UP entries this year, the album is very similar to that track and I think that's what stops it from being great for me. It's all very good but as an album it's just a little to samey for me to appreciate as much as I'd like to.

 

Track: '

'

 

So much love for this. Easily one of my avourites of the year :wub:

 

& Noel's solo stuff > Liam's yeahh

Ooooo, I'd forgotten this forum existed aside from gezza's thread. I am most disappointed by one of your initial picks for not being worthy of inclusion but I shall not give away which!

 

As for the others, there's a lot to love here. I'm particularly fond of the Active Child, Zola Jesus, M83, Destroyer and James Blake albums. There have been so many good records this year I feel though and I haven't even begun to collate my list to know whether they would all even feature in the top 50 or not.

Ooooo, I'd forgotten this forum existed aside from gezza's thread. I am most disappointed by one of your initial picks for not being worthy of inclusion but I shall not give away which!

 

As for the others, there's a lot to love here. I'm particularly fond of the Active Child, Zola Jesus, M83, Destroyer and James Blake albums. There have been so many good records this year I feel though and I haven't even begun to collate my list to know whether they would all even feature in the top 50 or not.

I'd imagine that would be either Feist or Cold Cave. Possibly Panda Bear?

 

Good to see you liking a lot.

25 - The Go! Team 'Rolling Blackouts'

 

http://s.dsimg.com/image/R-150-2685952-1296663278.jpeg

 

The Go! Team returned this year with their third album 'Rolling Blackouts'. With a debut that remains one of my favourite albums of all time and a follow-up which I found alright but very disappointing, this ranks somewhere in the middle. It seems to be a lot more lively than 'Proof of Youth' and its good to have that side back, they're at their best when they're fun, and in 'Buy Nothing Day' it contains my most played song of 2011. Previous albums seem to have been pretty much 50/50 instrumentals and songs where Ninja takes the lead vocal, but with this album they take a different direction occasionally, with the appearance of a few guests and the Japanese girls taking lead on some of the songs here. Unfortunately, they're amongst my least favourite. More Ninja please. Or just use Beth all the time.

 

History:

'Proof of Youth': #13, 2007

 

Track: '

'

 

24 - Gauntlet Hair 'Gauntlet Hair'

 

http://www.joltradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Gauntlet_Hair1-150x150.jpg

 

The final act in here that I first heard through Unknown Pleasures. It took me quite a long time to appreciate Gauntlet Hair, but in time 'I Was Thinking...' became a favourite of mine. It's a shame the song isn't on here as I think it's probably their best, but that doesn't stop the rest of the album being excellent. The distortion on the vocals works so well.

 

Track: '

'

 

23 - Friendly Fires 'Pala'

 

http://www.subba-cultcha.com/album-reviews/images/friendly-fires-pala1.jpeg

 

Friendly Fires were an act that took quite a long time to grow on me but when they clicked I began to love them and I now love their debut album. Is this album as good? No, not really. And I don't think it's different enough to have shown much progression. But it's still a very good album in its own right, the songs are still well crafted and there are catchy hooks aplenty, particularly on the first two singles 'Live Those Days Tonight' and 'Hawaiian Air'.

 

History:

'Friendly Fires': #11, 2008

 

Track: '

'

 

22 - Howling Bells 'The Loudest Engine'

 

http://static.blahdvd.com/images/standard/COOKCD546.jpg

 

The third album from Aussie foursome Howling Bells is well, pretty much the same as their first two. I was never sure whether to bother with this or not, second album 'Radio Wars' seemed to be a poor mimic of their self titled debut but I thought I'd download this anyway, and although they've done it all before, there's something about it that's made me fall for them again, perhaps it's just the stunningly beautiful voice of Juanita Stein shining through more than it has done before?

 

History:

'Radio Wars': #31, 2009

 

Track: 'Charlatan'

 

21 - Scroobius Pip 'Distraction Pieces'

 

http://www.musicraws.com/cover/scroobius-Pip-Distraction-Pieces-150x150.jpg

 

Although rapper and poet Scroobius Pip's work with DJ Dan Le Sac has always interested me, I've never felt overly compelled to want a full album of it, however they both began working on solo projects and Pip released his in the Autumn, lead singles 'Let Em Come' and 'Introdiction' are both really good so I thought the album would be worthy of a chance. As you'd perhaps expect from him, it's an album that focuses a lot on the lyrics and in places they're excellent, in others less so but there's not a bad tune on it. Even the sampling of 'Soldier Boy (Tell Em)' works pretty well. With 9 tracks and at 35 minutes the album is the perfect length.

 

Track: 'Death Of A Journalist'

So far:

 

 

55 Zola Jesus 'Conatus'

54 Givers 'In Light'

53 Glasvegas 'Euphoric /// Heartbreak'

52 Foo Fighters 'Wasting Light'

51 M83 'Hurry Up, We're Dreaming'

 

50 Grouplove 'Never Trust A Happy Song'

49 James Blake 'James Blake'

48 White Lies 'Ritual'

47 Cloud Control 'Bliss Release'

46 Veronica Falls 'Veronica Falls'

 

45 Male Bonding 'Endless Now'

44 Beady Eye 'Different Gear, Still Speeding'

43 Arctic Monkeys 'Suck It and See'

42 Tennis 'Cape Dory'

41 Destroyer 'Kaputt'

 

40 Noah & the Whale 'Last Night on Earth'

39 Coldplay 'Mylo Xyloto'

38 Tune-Yards 'Who Kill'

37 Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds 'Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds'

36 Metronomy 'The English Riviera'

 

35 TV on the Radio 'Nine Types of Light'

34 Lykke Li 'Wounded Rhymes'

33 The Duke Spirit 'Bruiser'

32 Airship 'Stuck In This Ocean'

31 Active Child 'You Are All I See'

 

30 jj 'Kills'

29 Kasabian 'Velociraptor!'

28 Cults 'Cults'

27 Summer Camp 'Welcome To Condale'

26 Gold Leaves 'The Ornament'

 

25 Go! Team 'Rolling Blackouts'

24 Gauntlet Hair 'Gauntlet Hair'

23 Friendly Fires 'Pala'

22 Howling Bells 'The Loudest Engine'

21 Scroobius Pip 'Distraction Pieces'

The top 20 albums include:

 

By nationality: 8 from the USA, 10 from the UK (8 English, 1 Scottish, 1 Welsh), 1 collaboration between USA & UK and 1 from Sweden - somewhat lacking in diversity!

By vocal: 17 male, 3 female

By act type: 16 bands, 3 solo, 1 collaboration between 2 solo

By album no.: 8 debut albums, 5 2nds, 4 3rds, 2 5ths and a 7th

By previous success: 5 acts have had a top 20 album for me in previous years, 15 haven't.

By UK chart position: 17 made the top 100, of which 13 made the top 40, 9 the top 20, 8 top 10, 5 top 3 and just the solitary number 1.

 

I reckon anyone who's paid close attention to my posts this year could get close to a full house.

Well that's two of my UP entries that you liked enough to give the albums a listen.

 

Thought the Veronica Falls album was a trifle disappointing after the brilliant run of singles that preceded it.

Gauntlet Hair is a reacord I am only just starting to get into now.

 

As for some of the others, I really don't get Metronomy, I think it's a bland, passionless dirge of an album. Just part of that recycling of that mid-eighties piffle that Kaputt and others have used to craft incredibly dull records.

Lykke Li's record was a joy from start to finish (Heck, I charted 8 of the songs on my personal chart!)

 

Howling Bells is a good album as well. They're so under-rated.

20 - Washed Out 'Within And Without'

 

http://needcoffee.cachefly.net/needcoffee/uploads/2011/08/washed-out-within-without.jpg

 

Washed Out, the stage name of US solo artist Ernest Greene, is someone I first discovered last year, their song 'Hold Out' being included in the the CD I received in the Indie Forum's CD swap. It was one of the best discoveries I made from it and I also had time for 'You And I' with Caroline Polachek. The former doesn't appear on the album which is a bit of a shame, but it's still great nonetheless, it's so chilled and incredibly relaxing. Somewhat inexplicably, I never charted single 'Amor Fati' any higher than #34.

 

Track: '

'

 

19 - Foster The People 'Torches'

 

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_llsn7s2ajZ1qighb4o1_1306398564_cover.jpg

 

For me this was one of the more surprising albums of the year. 'Pumped Up Kicks' is a great song but I expected that to be it, but this is one of the best indie-pop albums of recent years, full of incredibly catchy hooks and and feelgood throughout, the closer 'Warrant' being one of my favourite things I've heard this year.

 

'Warrant'

 

 

18 - Gang Gang Dance 'Eye Contact'

 

http://musicfarmers.com/sites/default/files/covers/gang_gang_dance_eye_contact.jpg

 

Although Gang Gang Dance have had songs I've loved in the past; 'Egowar', 'Princes' and most of all 'House Jam', they've never been an act I thought I'd enjoy an album by, but the release of their 5th album earlier this year made me test the theory anyway, and I was wrong. It's exactly the type of album I'd have wanted them to make, not the type of album I thought they'd make, it's experimental to a level that I can really enjoy, rather than to a point where I found it unlistenable (a comparison would be pre-'Strawberry Jam' Animal Collective). There's definitely not a bad song on here, and the 11 minute opener 'Glass Jar' is one hell of a fantastic mindfuck.

 

'Glass Jar'

 

17 - Death Cab For Cutie 'Codes And Keys'

 

http://www.zmemusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/death-cab-for-cutie1.jpg

 

Continuing a trend of getting the American albums out of the way, Death Cab For Cutie's 7th album is up next. Although it's their 7th I only possess their most recent four. I keep thinking I should go back and delve further but then I always decide I have enough Death Cab in my life and I do tend to find on occasion they can be a bit boring. Not so on here though, as 'Codes And Keys' is generally the most upbeat they've ever been and it works well for them. They did their usual trick of releasing a great first single in the form of 'You Are A Tourist' which made sure I was full of anticipation for the album and as a whole, it's probably my favourite album of theirs, with Ben Gibbard's voice shining through as always.

 

Track: '

'

16 - Kassidy 'Hope St.'

 

http://www.soundofviolence.net/Reviews/originals/Kassidy%20-%20Hope%20St.jpg

 

Although this album often sounds really rather generic, I can't help but adore it, and they still manage to quite unique with each band member contributing vocals and playing guitar. which the album is very much centered around this which I find quite interesting. I first saw their dull hairy faces on a TV programme (I forget which) being interviewed and they couldn't have come across more offputting. It was purely by chance that I saw one of their music videos whilst channel hopping and it grabbed me, I thought the album might be worth checking out and it certainly was, full of wonderful melodies and harmonies over some folk-rock. It can get tiring quickly so it's not something I find goes well with repeated listens in a short space of time, but it soon grows on me, opposite to Noah & The Whale's album really, who they sound a little like.

 

'Stray Cat'

 

 

 

15 - Elbow 'Build A Rocket Boys!'

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gJLE3aPEfS8/TZ4GQVOqdvI/AAAAAAAAApk/yNq61E5qJEM/s1600/elbow.jpg

 

Perhaps a bit lower than may be expected, and perhaps a bit lower than I'd hoped as the act that I've grown to love incredible amounts over the last four years fail to get near the success of previous album 'The Seldom Seen Kid'. It shows just how good their earlier work was when I think this is an excellent album, but of their 5 I'd rank it a distant 4th. There are moments when it's classic Elbow, Guy's beautiful lyrics matched only by his equally beautiful and moving voice. A couple of months ago I didn't think this would end up in the top 20, but seeing their BBC concert in Manchester Cathedral just made me fall even more in love with them again and I realised that really, this is still a great album, just not as good as my perhaps unrealistic hopes wanted. There are big choir moments where you think they have tried to recreate 'One Day Like This', but there are only two and both 'With Love' and 'Open Arms' are excellent in their own right and use the tried and tested formula incredibly well. It's weakest in the middle before picking up at the end, but whilst it's only my 15th favourite album of the year, the opening trio of 'The Birds', 'Lippy Kids' and 'With Love' is certainly the best opening trio on an album this year.

 

History:

'The Seldom Seen Kid': #01, 2008

 

Track: '

'

The only question here is who's going to finish 2nd to The Saturdays! *.*

 

(That aside, CRACKING LIST thus far. I particularly enjoy jj + Lykke Li, and Destroyer's album was my surprise love of the year :o)

The Saturdays are, if anything, TOO GOOD, to consider. They're at #0.

 

But THANKYOU! I hope you'll appreciate some of what's left, if not many!

Well that's two of my UP entries that you liked enough to give the albums a listen.

 

Thought the Veronica Falls album was a trifle disappointing after the brilliant run of singles that preceded it.

Gauntlet Hair is a reacord I am only just starting to get into now.

 

As for some of the others, I really don't get Metronomy, I think it's a bland, passionless dirge of an album. Just part of that recycling of that mid-eighties piffle that Kaputt and others have used to craft incredibly dull records.

Lykke Li's record was a joy from start to finish (Heck, I charted 8 of the songs on my personal chart!)

 

Howling Bells is a good album as well. They're so under-rated.

 

Cheers for the comments! Yes, it is 2 of yours - hadn't noticed that before. I do really like both, took me ages to get into I Was Thinking but ended up loving it. Album is fairly similar, but really enjoying it at the moment. Didn't even realise they'd released an album until it had been out a few weeks!

 

I can certainly see why you'd think that of Metronomy, it's all quite nice but fairly unspectacular. I enjoy listening to it but 'The Look' aside I by no means love it. Lykke's album is good, it's one I went off to be honest, I enjoyed it a lot at the time but I've completely grown out of 3 or 4 songs from it now.

 

Howling Bells are very under-rated, loved them for 5 years or so now, their first album was great. Setting Sun, Low Happening, Velvet Girl, Wishing Stone :wub:

14 - Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx 'We're New Here'

 

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_llx3t69PzI1qbd6svo1_1306606321_cover.jpg

 

A remix album now, as Jamie Smith from The xx re-works hip-hop icon Gil Scott Heron's 2010 album 'I' New Here' incorporating UK dubstep and garage beats, and incorporating samples of other music such as Rui Da Silva's number one single 'Touch Me'. It works far better than I ever thought it would, not being overly familiar with Gil's work this was something I downloaded more on a whim than anything else, and has continued to grow on me throughout the year, with both his sad death and then Drake making me realise just how good the album is.

 

'I'm New Here'

 

 

13 - Those Dancing Days 'Daydreams and Nightmares'

 

History:

'In Our Space Hero Suits': #18, 2008

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2OT4gsRICwY/TYCx-iFt6aI/AAAAAAAAADs/fTRffK6CJjg/s320/Those-Dancing-Days-Daydreams-Nightmares-250x250.jpg

 

Continuing from their 2008 debut, 'Daydreams And Nightmares' is a fairly similar album in terms of style, but it's a far more consistent album where the overall quality is much higher, so it's a huge shame that they're now on hiatus. Those Dancing Days have always been at their best when performing up-tempo pop songs, with catchy hooks, chorus' and melodies, and they're in abundance here, 'Reaching Forward', 'Ill Be Yours', 'f***arias' and 'Forest of Love'. There's also a guest appearance for The Maccabees singer Orlando Weeks who duets on penultimate track 'One Day Forever', a song which could so easily have sounded out of place but fits in rather well.

 

Track: '

'

12 - Example 'Playing In The Shadows'

 

http://www.expressandstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/example250.jpg

 

Despite including the superb trio of singles 'Watch The Sun Come Up', 'Kickstarts' and 'Last Ones Standing' Example's second album, last years 'Won't Go Quietly' was a largely disjointed and disappointing affair, making for a rather poor listen. Within 14 months third album 'Playing In The Shadows' had been released and he reached number one for the first time. With such a quick turnaround many acts come back with a disappointing album, particularly when it's one that they've written themselves. But with Example, that's not the case. Although the best three songs on the album ('The Way', 'Under The Influence' and 'Change The Way You Kiss Me', for me anyway) are not as good as the three best on his previous album, it's a remarkably more consistent album, with a perfect tracklisting too, making it flow excellently. There's certainly nothing on here that could be described as bad, 'Microphone' sounds very out of place (song written for Take That) but it's far from being a bad song. It works as the point where the album changes direction, from the mainstream pop influence of the first three singles to the heavier, more dubstep influenced songs. A huge step in the right direction for Example and a fully deserved number one album.

 

History:

'Won't Go Quietly': #54, 2010

 

Track: The Way'

 

11 - Bombay Bicycle Club 'A Different Kind Of Fix'

 

http://www.musicomh.com/albums/albums_images/bombay-bicycle-club-3.jpg

 

A third album in just over two years, it could easily be argued that BBC should begin to slow down now, but for the moment they have managed to keep the quality high on album #3. After the success of typically Brit-indie debut album 'I Had The Blues But Shook Them Loose' last years 'Flaws' was an entirely different affair, an acoustic album drawn from entirely different influences. 'A Different Kind Of Fix' manages to sit somewhere between the two and as a result the majority of songs here sound like they'd be a decent fit on either of their previous albums. At 12 tracks in length it starts like an album to go one place higher than they managed last year, stuck solely behind Beach House, the first 8 tracks are all Album of the Year worthy but after forthcoming single 'Leave It' the tempo slows and the quality doesn't match the rest. Of the final four tracks 'What You Want' is still very good, but as an album its spoilt by 'Fracture', 'Favourite Day' and 'Still', which sound like they weren't quite good enough to be included on the flawless 'Flaws'.

 

History:

'I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose': #24, 2009

'Flaws': #02, 2010

 

 

'Your Eyes'

 

I shall start the top 10 later today and hopefully finish over the weekend. It contains a rather un-BuzzJack 9 bands and 1 solo act, with just one of those sung by a female.

 

Four are debut albums, four are second albums and two are the 3rd albums from an act, just two have been in my top 20 albums before, both in the same year. Half hit the UK top 10 although just one of them top 3. 2 never reached the top 75.

 

Just four of the albums contain Personal Chart number ones.

10 - The Joy Formidable 'The Big Roar'

 

http://gravyandbiscuits.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/The-Joy-Formidable-The-Big-Roar-400x400.jpg

 

For as long as I've done an End of Year album chart, this is the lowest position that the top female-fronted album has been in. Welsh rock trio The Joy Formidable have been around for years, and so have quite a few of these songs, 'Austere' was a single in 2008, 'Cradle' and 'Whirring' were singles in 2009, and all three were released as singles this year. Although they've been around for a long time and I've been aware of them for ages too, having seen them mentioned in various places on the web for some reason they're a band who I managed to completely ignore, until last November when I downloaded single 'I Don't Want To See You Like This'. I was suitably impressed and when their album finally emerged at the end of January it was something I instantly downloaded, helping it debut in the top 40. The majority of the best tracks have since been (re)released as singles as they've tried to keep themselves in the public image throughout the year. Although this is an excellent collection of songs on record, it's something that you can tell would be suited so well to a live setting, and a lot of videos I've seen of them they have been superb. The full album version of 'Whirring' where they descend into a couple of minutes of madness. The other standout is the other longer track, opener 'The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie', the way it keeps building is superb.

 

'The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie'

 

 

'I Don't Want To See You Like This'

 

09 - The Drums 'Portamento'

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lr42yurHjH1qzx9ueo1_400.jpg

 

It's 2 1/2 years or so now since I first listened to The Drums, when they released their single 'Let's Go Surfing'. It was followed in the Winter with the excellent 'Summertime' EP featuring some of their greatest moments so far, 'Saddest Summer' and 'I Felt Stupid' in particular. I was very excited for their self-titled debut last year but it was a tad disappointing, not quite as good as I'd hoped it would be after they'd done much better. The hype pretty much ended there for them, and I wasn't overly excited for a return but there was still enough about them that would at least make me want to listen to it. Lead single 'Money' carried on where they left off, but luckily it's the song I think is the albums worst, although their style is very much the same, and there's not really been any noticeable change in sound from their debut, all-round it's just a much better album, more refined and with some killer tunes and hooks, it's the sing-a-long catchy pop I'd always wanted from them. They've become interesting after I'd become rather bored of them.

 

History:

'The Drums': #31, 2010

 

'Book Of Revelation'

 

 

'What You Were'

 

Portamento's cover is probably the best of the year. <3

08 - Bon Iver 'Bon Iver'

 

http://unbiasedwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/BonIver-album-cover.jpg

 

Um... yeah. I've surprised myself putting it this low, but when compiling this list I had 8 albums that were clearly ahead of the rest and I thought this would almost certainly be a minimum of #3. Then I gave them all a listen and compared their various qualities. It was soon after I realised that the pure beauty of certain songs on this album made me love it more than I really do. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic album but half of it being perfect doesn't make the other half perfect too. It can have best artwork of the year though, I'll happily award it that!

 

I'd not really paid a great deal of attention to Bon Iver before, they were decent enough, I really liked both 'Blood Bank' and 'Skinny Love' but apart from that nothing came anywhere close to grabbing me. This is different though, lead single 'Calgary' is wonderful, as is second single 'Holocene' (I'm sure they'll get a greater commentary in my singles countdown), opener Perth is beautiful and sets the scene as perfect as any album I've ever heard does, and the closer 'Beth/Rest' seems to be something of a love/hate song and would definitely be out of place anywhere else on the album, it's clearly influenced by the 80s I've seen it described as knock-off Phil Collins, but WTF, it's so incredible, I could listen to that piano riff with that voice all day. Favourite non-single of the year? Almost certainly. The rest of the album is all very good (there's certainly nothing below 7-8/10 on here) but those four I find are the clear standouts. It's an album which I find shows off the beauty of Justin Vernon's voice far better than anything they've done before. It might be a bit more polished but it's generally just better.

 

'Beth/Rest'

 

 

'Perth'