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

I love how you wrote that at probably the same time I was writing Bon Iver is my favourite of the year! :D

 

But yes, I do really like that picture!

07 - The Vaccines 'What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tMeOgE4tado/TZWtOc2LE_I/AAAAAAAACvA/Ezn4NKHQL4U/s1600/maimai_04012011th_wh.jpg

 

What did I expect from The Vaccines? Well not this, that's for sure! I downloaded 'Wreckin Bar (Ra Ra Ra)' when it came out a year ago and I thought it was excellent, a superb very short track that took me back, reminding me of everything I loved about British guitar indie of the mid-noughties. But I didn't really get onboard them and the hype, and then when the next single 'Post Break-Up Sex' came out I didn't think much of it, it was dull and cliched. Was I fussed on hearing the album? Not at all. But eventually I gave it a listen anyway. And it's bloody good. No, they're nothing new. No, they're not good enough to take indie back to the mainsteam, but this is simply an album that, for me at least, came a little too late. It's the type of album that all of their 2006-8 contemporaries failed to make, The Enemy, The Pigeon Detectives, The View and so on. The Vaccines are of the same vein, punchy, typically British guitar led indie songs that make you want to get up and dance, but the difference between these and the 'landfill' of four years ago is they're actually enjoyable and don't resort to filler. Singles If You Wanna and Norgaard join Wreckin Bar in taking me back and feeling nostalgic, and the likes of Wetsuit and Blow It Up offer something a bit different with a slower tempo. It's essentially the album I've been waiting for years to arrive, and I'm really glad that it finally did!

 

'Wreckin Bar (Ra Ra Ra)'

 

 

'Under Your Thumb'

 

06 - Wild Beasts 'Smother'

 

http://pitchforksays.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/wild-beasts-smother.jpg

 

Following 'Money' and 'Post Break-Up Sex' for The Drums and The Vaccines, this is another album which I was initially a bit put off by from the first single, only for it to be the song on the album I consider to be the worst. I thought their previous album 'Two Dancers' was very good, but didn't quite love it as much as I perhaps thought I should, or as much as many others did. This third album sees them go up a notch, it's all quite similar to their last album but it's another that's a bit more refined as they continue to find their direction. I can't still quite happily skip over 'Albatross' though, the only blemish on an otherwise fantastic record. A baffling Mercury snub though.

 

History:

'Two Dancers': #35, 2009

 

'Lion's Share'

 

 

'End Come Too Soon'

 

Portamento was such a huge disappointment, I don't think I even bothered downloading it because I didn't like what I had heard. The last album yoyos a lot for me as well... sometimes I love it but I go through phases of just really disliking them.

 

Bon Iver, Vaccines and Wild Beasts though :wub:

Here are the albums I know/have heard and like.

 

55 Zola Jesus 'Conatus' I've been meaning to download this album though! I don't know why I haven't yet, tbh. 'Vessel' is a good song. (Not as good as 'Night' though) I guess I just haven't found the time to download it.

---

51 M83 'Hurry Up, We're Dreaming' Brilliant album. Pleasantly surprised by it. I took a listen to 'Saturdays = Youth' sometime this year, I liked it, but didn't really love it. 'Midnight City' is absolutely beautiful though. Incredible song. 'Raconte-Moi Une Histoire'

---

40 Noah & the Whale 'Last Night on Earth' Easily inside my top 10 of the year. They go from strength to strength. Although it doesn't have the same atmospheric, beautiful sound to it as 'First Days of Spring' has, it's easily their most accessible album to date. Such a solid album. The singles choices have been pretty spot on.

---

39 Coldplay 'Mylo Xyloto' Downloaded this as I found myself liking 'Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall', 'Paradise' and 'Princess of China' a lot more than I should do considering they are Coldplay songs! :lol: I thought the album was decent, I guess. But nothing else stood out for me as much as those three. Particularly POC. Well that was until they performed 'Charlie Brown' on the XF final haha.

---

19 Foster The People 'Torches' Very good album. Wasn't that much of a fan of 'Pumped Up Kicks' (although it's a good song) but I downloaded it out of curiosity and I'm glad I did, otherwise I doubt I would have heard/known about 'Helena Beat', 'Call It What You Want' and (my favourite) 'Houdini'!.

 

Nice enough Mark. Predictably not a lot, but from those that I have heard I do like them to some extent. (love in M83 and Noah's case though :P)

05 - Fleet Foxes 'Helplessness Blues'

 

http://informalflick.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/fleet-foxes-helplessness-blues1.jpg

 

Fleet Foxes self titled debut was something of a slow burner, both for me and in its success generally, taking over half a year before peaking in the UK as it became a steady if not high seller. I did originally think they were quite overrated and I couldn't really see what the fuss was about but over the last three years its grown on me to become an album that I hold in extremely high regard.

 

This album kicked off well, as title track and first single 'Helplessness Blues' took no time at all to grow and instantly became one of their finest songs, and as a result this album was something I couldn't wait for. It was reported that whilst recording this album lead singer Robin Peckhold split up with his girlfriend due to the amount of time he spent away from her perfecting this album, and that as soon as it was finished he gave her a copy, before taking him back upon listening to it. To be honest it's not difficult to see why, it's something that comes across as having a lot of work put into it, perfecting it, and it's also a record of true beauty. It's a mixture of sounds that have been carefully put together to make sure it's perfect, it flows like an album should, each track complementing the last whilst being different at the same time. At times it's also very thought provoking as Robin wonders about life, the album opening with the lyric "Now I'm older than my Mother and Father when they had their Daughter...." Is it a better album than 'Fleet Foxes'? Perhaps not, but it's a second great album from their band and they've taken their somewhat unique and signature sound and refined it very well.

 

'Grown Ocean'

 

 

'Sim Sala Bim'

 

04 - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart 'Belong'

 

http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/wp-content/media/2011/03/the-pains-of-being-pure-ate-heart-belong-400x400.jpg

 

With the release of their self titled debut album in 2009 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart became my favourite new act in quite some time. Single 'Young Adult Friction' ended the year in my top 10 and the album did too. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from the second album as, the title track aside, the 'Higher Than The Stars' EP sounded like cast-offs from the album. But, just like Fleet Foxes, this album took their signature sound and refined it slightly. It's still quite obviously them but they tweaked their sound enough to make it sound fresh. On occasion it can still be quite lo-fi and shoegaze, but it's just got that little more edge and grit to it, first single 'Heart In Your Heartbreak' sounds like it could well have been on their debut but as the album progresses it changes direction slightly, making it sound like a record of transition. There are still plenty of hooks which at least have the potential to lead to a hit single, even if it's highly unlikely, 'The Body', 'Girl Of 1000 Dreams' and 'Heaven's Gonna Happen Now' in particular.

 

'Girl of 1000 Dreams'

 

 

'Heart In Your Heartbreak'

 

 

The top 3 shall be posted tomorrow... I'd imagine it's fairly guessable but feel free if you wish!

Kicking off an all British top 3!

 

03 - The Horrors 'Skying'

 

http://www.planet-mag.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/horrors-skying.jpg

 

When The Horrors first emerged in 2006 I thought they were absolutely terrible, on the cover of the hideous NME before they'd released anything, they were the absolute worst of the new wave of indie, stupid names and trying far too hard to be cool, all hype and zero substance. They weren't even that young that it could be excused. Luckily they didn't really get anywhere and began to find their feet, ditching names like Faris Rotter and Spider Webb and come back three years later with the 8 minute long, Portishead inspired 'Sea Within A Sea'. It was fantastic and was one of two singles to make my top 10 of the year. The album has gone on to become one of my all time favourites too, it shocked me to see I only considered it worthy of the 13th best album of 2009!

 

Moving forward another two years and they carried on where they left off with third album 'Skying'. Its full of 80s influences and often contains some wonderful synths, lead single 'Still Life' is something that gradually works its way into your consciousness rather than being particularly instant, and the album is pretty much the same. It's something that keeps growing with each listen, taking its time to show you its beauty. It shows a band finally finding their feet and a direction, it's a much more mature sound and is an extremely cohesive but diversified body of work, often dark, but still managing to contain some decent hooks.

 

History:

'Primary Colours': #13, 2008

 

'Moving Further Away'

 

 

'Changing The Rain'

 

 

I shall post the all British, all debut top 2 later!

Naturally nearly all of the ones towards the top of your chart are jolly spiffing indeed, especially Skying, Bon Iver & Smother which have grown on me no end.

 

I can't think of what your top 2 are. Well, I'm hopeful of one but the other I cannot think of. I'm struggling to do a list this year, primarily as I usually just go back through my iTunes and list everything I've added - however this year I got my new laptop in June so everything from the first half of the year was added on the same date and it's taking forever to find things I've forgotten about.

02 - Wu Lyf 'Go Tell Fire To The Mountain'

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D6lZIJ8zcP8/TuJGtL-XyRI/AAAAAAAACrs/rLtosiHr30o/s400/chronique-wu-lyf-go-tell-fire-to-the-mountain.jpg

 

The interesting tale of Wu Lyf, they tried to make it all about the music by never revealing anything about them, never gave interviews, showed their faces or revealed their names. They simply let the music do the talking instead. It was described as 'carefully designed anonymity" and I think that sums it up quite well really. By going to such lengths to make them mysterious, they of course got more publicity and attention than they would've because the mystique added to their persona. I admit that I know I became more interested in hearing what they had to offer when I read about them, were they just a typical band I doubt I'd have been anywhere near as bothered.

 

When getting all that out of the way and just focusing on the album it really is superb. For a debut album it seems incredibly ambitious, it's far from instant but there's enough interesting sounds on it to make you want to listen to it again, the wonderful mix of instruments, the use of the organ is fantastic, it can be quite prominent but it's never overdone, I love that each song seems to blend seamlessly from the previous and into the next but they all sound quite different. The vocals are distorted so that it's hard to tell what the lyrics are the majority of the time but they seem to act as an instrument themselves, perfectly complementing the drum beats and soaring guitars. It's another album that just keeps getting better with every listen, there's precious little about it that's instant but it just slowly beats its way inside tour head. It's hard to imagine they're all only about 20.

 

'L Y F'

 

 

'Heavy Pop'

 

Portamento was such a huge disappointment, I don't think I even bothered downloading it because I didn't like what I had heard. The last album yoyos a lot for me as well... sometimes I love it but I go through phases of just really disliking them.

 

Bon Iver, Vaccines and Wild Beasts though :wub:

 

A shame you didn't like Portamento. I wasn't expecting much really and was pleasantly surprised.

 

Those 3 are so good, love my top 8 so much :wub:

Here are the albums I know/have heard and like.

 

55 Zola Jesus 'Conatus' I've been meaning to download this album though! I don't know why I haven't yet, tbh. 'Vessel' is a good song. (Not as good as 'Night' though) I guess I just haven't found the time to download it.

---

51 M83 'Hurry Up, We're Dreaming' Brilliant album. Pleasantly surprised by it. I took a listen to 'Saturdays = Youth' sometime this year, I liked it, but didn't really love it. 'Midnight City' is absolutely beautiful though. Incredible song. 'Raconte-Moi Une Histoire'

---

40 Noah & the Whale 'Last Night on Earth' Easily inside my top 10 of the year. They go from strength to strength. Although it doesn't have the same atmospheric, beautiful sound to it as 'First Days of Spring' has, it's easily their most accessible album to date. Such a solid album. The singles choices have been pretty spot on.

---

39 Coldplay 'Mylo Xyloto' Downloaded this as I found myself liking 'Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall', 'Paradise' and 'Princess of China' a lot more than I should do considering they are Coldplay songs! :lol: I thought the album was decent, I guess. But nothing else stood out for me as much as those three. Particularly POC. Well that was until they performed 'Charlie Brown' on the XF final haha.

---

19 Foster The People 'Torches' Very good album. Wasn't that much of a fan of 'Pumped Up Kicks' (although it's a good song) but I downloaded it out of curiosity and I'm glad I did, otherwise I doubt I would have heard/known about 'Helena Beat', 'Call It What You Want' and (my favourite) 'Houdini'!.

 

Nice enough Mark. Predictably not a lot, but from those that I have heard I do like them to some extent. (love in M83 and Noah's case though :P)

 

Thanks for commenting, good to see you liking a few! The singles for Noah's album certainly have been spot on, with 'Give It All Back' the 5th they've now released the 5 that I still enjoy listening to. The singles, Charlie Brown and Hurts Like Heaven are the best ones for me. Not really a fan of Princess of China but see why a lit of people think it's so great.

Is your #1 what I think it may be? :o

 

If so, :wub: for EVER.

Naturally nearly all of the ones towards the top of your chart are jolly spiffing indeed, especially Skying, Bon Iver & Smother which have grown on me no end.

 

I can't think of what your top 2 are. Well, I'm hopeful of one but the other I cannot think of. I'm struggling to do a list this year, primarily as I usually just go back through my iTunes and list everything I've added - however this year I got my new laptop in June so everything from the first half of the year was added on the same date and it's taking forever to find things I've forgotten about.

I'd imagine the one you're hopeful of will be the next one to be honest. If it's not then I have no idea what it is you're thinking of! :D

 

Have most of your albums been downloads or physical? It's easy to look in your account if they're from download sites but any physical or illegal download will be a pain. I have a spreadsheet I update with all the albums I add, highlighting ones which I paid for.

So after three years of bands getting my number one album, it's time for a solo artist again, and the first ever male solo artist. Four months ago, I'd never even heard of them, let alone anything by them.....

 

 

01 - Ben Howard 'Every Kingdom'

 

http://www.lyricshall.com/dbimages/albums/1318368814.jpg

 

In a couple of years where alt-folk & dream pop bands of the likes of Bombay Bicycle Club, Beach House, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver and Mumford & Sons have all released albums I adore it's perhaps little wonder that when a singer-songwriter has come out with a folk album that sounds like it's made for radio, that I'm going to love it. I downloaded lead single 'Keep Your Head Up' having never heard of it purely because I had a load of free downloads from HMV. I quite liked it to start with but it was the definition of a grower, and within 2-3 weeks I couldn't get it out of my head. It's the most wonderful sing-a-long anthem with the most amazing hook. I thought I'd give the album a go too and it's well worth it. The four singles are the obvious standouts, with current single 'The Fear', next single 'The Wolves' and 'Old Pine' easily my favourite few, but the rest of the album is amazing too, with 'Black Flies' being the only song I don't love. It's a very varied album too, the instrumental intro on the album's opener 'Old Pine', an array of backing vocals and catchy choruses and some truly heartfelt beauty. I said in its thread the only fault I could find with this album was its release date, it's sounds like such a summer album but was released as we got into October, I listen to it and long for a warm summers evening with this on the stereo.

 

The success of the likes of Ed Sheeran and the fact that James Morrison can still get number one albums and top 10 singles gives me hope that with a push, this album could become a sleeper hit in 2012, but I'm sure it's just false hope and I'll end up listening to Ed Sheeran's album as it's breezed well past a million sales and become sad people have lapped up that shit for being different and authentic and remain blissfully unaware of Ben Howard, as 'Every Kingdom' is an album that could appeal to so many people.

 

'The Wolves'

 

 

'Only Love' [live acoustic]

 

 

'Old Pine'

 

Full list:

 

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'

 

20 Washed Out 'Within And Without'

19 Foster The People 'Torches'

18 Gang Gang Dance 'Eye Contact'

17 Death Cab for Cutie 'Codes and Keys'

16 Kassidy 'Hope St.'

 

15 Elbow 'Build a Rocket Boys!'

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

13 Those Dancing Days 'Daydreams and Nightmares'

12 Example 'Playing In The Shadows'

11 Bombay Bicycle Club 'A Different Kind Of Fix'

 

10 Joy Formidable 'The Big Roar'

09 Drums 'Portamento'

08 Bon Iver 'Bon Iver'

07 Vaccines 'What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?'

06 Wild Beasts 'Smother'

 

05 Fleet Foxes 'Helplessness Blues'

04 Pains of Being Pure at Heart 'Belong

03 Horrors 'Skying'

02 Wu Lyf 'Go Tell Fire To The Mountain'

01 Ben Howard 'Every Kingdom'

I knew you liked Ben Howard but had no idea you liked the album that much! :o

I've only heard 'Keep Your Head Up' and wasn't too keen on that, but I often have similar taste to you so I think I'll give the album a go!

 

Anyway, brilliant countdown, especially love 'Smother', 'Bon Iver', 'You Are All I See', 'Wounded Rhymes' and 'Kills'.

I've only heard two of the top 20 and wouldn't rank either amongst my favourites of the year but nevertheless this has been an interesting read, looking forward to your singles one!

I knew you liked Ben Howard but had no idea you liked the album that much! :o

I've only heard 'Keep Your Head Up' and wasn't too keen on that, but I often have similar taste to you so I think I'll give the album a go!

 

Anyway, brilliant countdown, especially love 'Smother', 'Bon Iver', 'You Are All I See', 'Wounded Rhymes' and 'Kills'.

 

Thanks. Ben Howard is fantastic, it's been my soundtrack to the last three months of the year, it's just so good!

 

Good to see you liking quite a few, hope you'll be doing one! :D