As is customary, I tend to do my albums of the year about a week into December.

 

This year I've bought/downloaded 53 albums, which is about 20-25% down on the last couple of years. I shall count down a top 40 but first I shall do my 5 worst albums of the year.

 

Previous albums of the year:

 

2006: Guillemots 'Through The Windowpane'

2007: M.I.A. 'Kala'

2008: Elbow 'The Seldom Seen Kid'

2009: Animal Collective 'Merriweather Post Pavilion'

2010: Beach House 'Teen Dream'

2011: Ben Howard 'Keep Your Head Up'

 

Two of those released albums this year, but are either likely to become the first act to have made my album of the year twice?

Worst Albums

 

05 - Mumford & Sons 'Babel'

 

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OK, I don't actually dislike this album. It's perfectly decent on its own. The problem is that it's a completely pointless album. As 'Sigh No More' exists already, there is simply no need for any more of it. If I'm going to listen to Mumford & Sons, then I'm going to listen to the album which is much better than the other.

 

04 - The Killers 'Battle Born'

 

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Again this is probably a little harsh, given that there's extremely little chance of The Killers releasing album I'd enjoy listening to. At least there isn't actually anything awful on this one, there's just not really anything worth listening to on it either.

 

03 - The Temper Trap 'The Temper Trap'

 

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Their 2009 debut was one of my favourite albums of the year, a real success story which had me anticipating their return. But this is like a completely different band. One which can't actually write anything you'd want to listen to more than half a dozen times.

 

02 - Josh Osho 'L.I.F.E.'

 

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This is probably really harsh as it was essentially a low priced gamble based on two decent singles (one great). But there's nothing to the rest of it, and whilst he might have a very good voice, this album is incredibly dull.

 

01 - Bloc Party 'Four'

 

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There was only ever going to be one winner. One of the century's best albums, a great album and one which is very good had previously been released by Bloc Party, they were definitely one of the best bands of the 2000s. But their fourth album 'Four' is possibly the worst album I've ever actually paid money for. Hideous tuneless dirge from start to finish. Truly woeful.

I like two of your worst albums of the year (Bloc Party and The Killers). :(

Temper Trap / Mumford & Sons YES

 

Bloc Party NO

The albums which don't make the top 40:

 

Amy MacDonald 'Life in a Beautiful Light' - true to form, a couple of thoroughly excellent tracks ('Slow It Down' and the title track) but the rest of the album is merely pleasant enough. 12 tracks and 45 minutes is too much.

Band of Skulls 'Sweet Sour' - this has its moments but they're neither as good or as frequent as their impressive 2010 debut.

The Big Pink 'Future This' - has nothing at all on their debut, though realistically I didn't expect it to.

Friends 'Manifest!' - given how good their 2011 singles (and b-sides) were I was massively looking forward to hearing more from Friends in 2012, but only one song ('Sorry') came anywhere close to matching previous highs. Very disappointing.

Karin Park 'Highwire Poetry' - I downloaded this because I thought she sounded a bit like The Knife, and what I heard was pretty Knife-like, half of the album borders on excellent, the other half is dire.

Stealing Sheep 'Into The Diamond Sun' - too recent, not enough listens to judge.

Two Door Cinema Club 'Beacon' - their debut was truly excellent, some of the best indie-pop written in recent years but this spectacularly failed to live up to it. Only opener 'New Year' is comparable to the quality of 'Tourist History'.

Willy Mason 'Carry On' - too recent, not enough listens to judge.

Temper Trap / Mumford & Sons YES

 

Bloc Party NO

It's easy to see why people may loon over Bloc Party, until you listen to 'Four'. In fairness 'Kettling' did actually come on shuffle the other day in my 2012 singles playlist and I managed to listen to the WHOLE SONG without skipping it, highly impressive for anything on that album really.

I like two of your worst albums of the year (Bloc Party and The Killers). :(

I can see the appeal of The Killers, but I've never really liked them that much, some great singles years ago but I even thought half of their debut (their best album) was quite poor. I only stuck it on my iTunes out of curiosity because someone else in the house bought it.

I can see the appeal of The Killers, but I've never really liked them that much, some great singles years ago but I even thought half of their debut (their best album) was quite poor. I only stuck it on my iTunes out of curiosity because someone else in the house bought it.

 

WHAT! You can't say that about the third best band ever (after Coldplay and The Beatles).

 

And in reference to your comment that was directed to Pavel, what about not skipping Octopus? That was a good song.

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40 - Tennis 'Young and Old' - coming only a year after their previous album 'Cape Dory' was perhaps too soon. 'Young and Old' is a decent effort, but their debut was still fresh in the mind and it's better. '

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39 - Howler 'America Give Up' - when this is good it really is rather excellent and it's easy to see where the early Strokes comparisons come from, but it can get to distorted and generic at times which prevents this from being a solid debut album. ''Told You Once'

 

38 - The xx 'Coexist' - again, this isn't really a bad album, and judging the album by itself it would be higher up, but this is disappointing because there's nothing on this album which hasn't already been done (and better) on their debut. Their debut had me returning to it for a hell of a long time. This one doesn't at all. '

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37 - Crocodiles 'Endless Flowers' - 'Mirrors' is one of my favourite ever entries into BJ Unknown Pleasures, 'Sunday' was one of my favourite songs of the early part of the year. So the album was always going to be worth listening to surely? Well yes and no, it's consistent throughout but 'Sunday' stands head and shoulders above the rest of it. One great song amongst 9 others which are simply quite good. '

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36 - Blood Red Shoes 'In Time To Voices' - just like their previous album 'Fire Like This', this album never really improves from the first couple of listens you give it, which is disappointing given how good they can be when they're at their best. It's solid enough but there's nothing anything like as beautiful as their best song 'When We Wake'. '

'

LOL don't come into my EOY thread then when I've counted down my top 20 albums. Both The Killers and Mumford & Sons feature (probably top 10 too! :lol:) but I sort of understand your reasoning for 'Babel' (and I might have understood your opinion on TK album (to some extent) had I not seen them live this year). Hearing the album live, in concert is what made it properly connect with me. I always liked it, a lot. But it just seemed to connect so much more after hearing it live.

 

I can't comment on many other albums you've stated so far as I haven't heard any of them. I'm sure there will be one or two albums I've heard that will have featured. :D

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35 - Muse 'The 2nd Law' - it wasn't that long ago that I said 'The 2nd Law' looked certain to become my favourite ever Muse album. That comment looks a little embarrassing now, as I'm already over this. It kept growing on me and I got totally bored of it suddenly. The 2nd half never was as good as I hoped it would be. That said, 'Madness' and the two '2nd Law' tracks would still fit on a Muse best of should I ever make one. '

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34 - Best Coast 'The Only Place' - debut album 'Crazy For You' was an absolute delight of an album, perfect for the summer, easy to listen to, catchy and sung by Bethany Cosentino's beautiful voice. The follow-up is a good album and solid throughout, but unfortunately doesn't get anywhere close to the lo-fi pop highs of 2010. 'Let's Go Home'

 

33 - Cave Painting 'Votive Life' - 'Rio' from their 'You'll Be Running Soon' EP was an early 2012 personal chart number one for me, so I thought the album would be well worth listening to. It certainly was, however it's safe to say that inconsistent would be a decent way to describe this album. 'Gator'

 

32 - The Vaccines 'Come of Age' - 'What Do You Expect From The Vaccines?' was an unexpectedly excellent debut album which featured in my top 10 of 2011, so their follow-up was always going to interest me. 'Come of Age' is a perfectly good album, but it lacks the energy and the songs which made their debut so good. It lacks anything as good and punchy as singles 'Wrecking Bar' or 'Norgaard', and there's certainly nothing anything like as beautiful as 'Somebody Else's Child'. The first two singles are too generic and lacking identity for this to have pushed them to greater heights, and whilst the album does have highs, 'Aftershave Ocean', 'I Always Knew', 'Weirdo', they aren't enough for me to be overly bothered when their next offering arrives. 'Weirdo'

 

31 - Maximo Park 'The National Health' - long gone were the days when I cared for Maximo Park, and back in 2005 I really did, a hell of a lot. But they'd been largely terrible since so they released album number 4 and I had no desire to listen to it at all. But the first single was the best thing they'd made since 'Our Velocity', and then the 2nd single was just as good. I had to make sure it wasn't a fluke and luckily it wasn't. There's certainly nothing else to match 'Hips and Lips' and 'The Undercurrents' and it's certainly no 'A Certain Trigger' but it's their best work since by a long way. '

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30 - Alabama Shakes 'Boys & Girls' - it took a while to really appreciate 'Boys & Girls', and even longer to realise it wasn't a man singing, very bluesy and White Stripes like, though as I've said with other bands before, far more consistent than I ever found the White Stripes to be. 'I Ain't The Same'

 

29 - Noisettes 'Contact' - 2009s 'Wild Young Hearts' was one of the most surprisingly good albums I've ever bought, a solid pop album throughout. This doesn't quite reach those heights and does seem to go on for a bit too long but they're still certainly capable of writing a cracking tune. 'Final Call'

 

28 - Grimes 'Visions' - the first of five albums in the top 30 by female soloists, and the third of fourteen sung by female vocalists, is Grimes with 'Visions'. At times I can love this album from start to finish and others its very hit and miss, it's certainly an album you need to be in the right frame of mind for. '

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27 - Jessie Ware 'Devotion' - this is a very promising album from Jessie and it contains a superb run of singles, however it's perhaps a little samey in places as I often thing it lasts a little too long, but 11 tracks at 42 minutes, it really doesn't. 'No To Love'

 

26 - Yeasayer 'Fragrant World' - unlike its predecessor 'Odd Blood' this isn't an instant album and instead requires repeated listens, but when it clicks it is a very rewarding listen. Its more consistent than their last album, though nothing quite manages to be as good as the top moments from it. '

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25 - Purity Ring 'Shrines' - as their singles seemed to get better with each one that they released, 'Shrines' eventually became something that I had to listen to. It's a remarkably consistent album full of wonderful electronics and synths that works really well as both an album and as individual tracks. 'Crawlersout'

 

24 - iamamiwhoami 'Kin' - almost certainly the most overrated thing released this year, and a contender for the decade and century so far, but that doesn't stop this from being a very good album, I just don't see what makes this so special at all. When it's at its best ('Idle Talk', 'Sever', 'Kill') it really is stunning but I will never ever accept 'Play' as being anything more than a half decent song. '

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23 - Jake Bugg 'Jake Bugg' - coming from the same musical wasteland as I do, I've perhaps had more exposure to him than most, but I never thought his singles were up to much. 'Lightning Bolt' it easy to see the appeal of, but it's not for me at all, and 'Taste It' is possibly the weakest track on the record. The album though, is much better, a remarkably cohesive and intelligent album from someone still so young, and it's easy to see what his influences are, this manages to sound like so much else but nothing else at all, as it's very distinctive in this day and age. '

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22 - Alt-J 'An Awesome Wave' - it's easy to see why Alt-J have been so heavily praised this year, I just wish they'd produced a whole album worthy of such praise rather than half of one. There's no doubt that they've the potential to be a truly great band but a third of this album could disappear and no one would miss it. 'Dissolve Me'

 

21 - The Shins 'Port of Morrow' - it took half a decade for album four to arrive and in the end it's hard to say it wasn't worth it. They were never going to make another album as gloriously poppy as 'Wincing The Night Away' was, but this does stray into that territory in parts, and it strays well when it does. This album almost seems like a link between their earlier albums and 'Wincing....' and it largely works well. 'Bait and Switch'

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20 - Richawd Hawley 'Standing On The Sky's Edge' - Richard Hawley has made a decent career in the 21st century by making truly beautiful music, so this album was something of an unexpected departure. It's a guitar album, much heavier than you'd ever expect from him and only one song is shorter than five minutes in length. By and large it works, and works well, the title track and the opener 'She Brings The Light' are both superb in a much different way you'd expect from him, but occasionally he reverts to type, and both 'Seek It' and 'Before' end up sounding better than they would if their didn't stick out so much. 'Before'

 

19 - DIIV 'Oshin' - a completely random download of their single 'Geist' early in the year got me quite interested in Diiv, but they were known as 'Dive' back then and it was hard to find anything else by them. 'Oshin' is a surprisingly strong debut album, comprised of a roughly even number of instrumentals and vocal tracks, it's very dreamy and shoegaze throughout. 'Air Conditioning' & 'Sometime'

 

18 - 2:54 '2:54' - if ever there was an album to define the word consistent this would probably be it. It's great throughout, solid stuff from start to finish with songs similar in structure but having identities. It's hard to pick a standout, but the opening and closing tracks 'Creeping' and 'Revolving' are probably 9/10 moments on an album otherwise full of 8/10s. '

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17 - Sleigh Bells 'Reign of Terror' - a slight disappointment initially but this is actually a very good follow-up to 2010 debut 'Treats'. It's enough of a departure for it to be different enough from 'Treats' but every track on it is still unmistakably Sleigh Bells. The highs are just as high and there are precious few lows on this. 'True Shred Guitar'

 

16 - The Futureheads 'Rant' - another departure here, The Futureheads making an album entirely in the form of acapella certainly is one. But not as much as you'd perhaps imagine, if ever there was a band that would suit acapella it would be The Futureheads, given the amount of harmonies in their work. The concept started two years ago in Radio 1's Live Lounge as they covered 'Acapella' by Kelis without instruments, and the concept grew and grew to become a whole album. The tracks are easily split into three different categories, covers of recent well known songs (from Kelis, Black Eyed Peas and Sparks), re-workings of some of their own songs ('Robot', 'Meantime', 'Thursday') and workings of traditional songs, some of them going as far back as the 13th century. It was hard to expect a great deal from this album, it was the type of thing I imagined I'd like for a bit but soon cast aside, but 8 months after release it's still a fresh and enjoyable listen. The three covered tracks I don't care for as much as I originally did but the re-workings of their own tracks are certainly interesting interpretations, they add more to the likes of 'Thursday' and 'Man Ray' in this form than their original.

 

Some fantastic albums so far - "The 2nd Law" and "Reign of Terror" are both in my top 5 of the year.

Keeping a quiet eye on this one. Almost entirely consisting of albums I know I should have listened to but haven't quite got round to. Best Coast, The Shins and 2:54 being the big ones so far (and Temper Trap and TDCC but we won't mention those).

 

Django Django to win? I DUNNO.

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15 - Wild Nothing 'Nocturne' - I don't know why but Wild Nothing were an act I always imagined would turn out to be one album wonders, either 'Gemini' would be all we heard, or it would be the only decent thing they made. But luckily that wasn't the case and 'Nocturne' continues where the debut left off, wonderful dreamy indie pop that's really rather beautiful in places. '

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14 - Hot Chip 'In Our Heads' - an act such as Hot Chip were always going to make an album I'd enjoy listening to all the way through one day, I certainly hoped that would be the case anyway. A clearly talented band that I could just never get into. But that changed with this, their fifth album, where there's a highly unusual lack of any filler. '

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13 - School of Seven Bells 'Ghostory' - continuing where they left off with the 2010s excellent 'Disconnect From Desire', School of Seven Bells were one of the highlights of the early part of the year with the singles 'The Night' and 'Lafaye' and the release of album number three, the dreamy vocals of Alejandra excellent throughout. '

'

 

12 - Two Wounded Birds 'Two Wounded Birds' - emerging in early 2011 I had to wait quite a while for these to release an album, but they clearly took their time for a reason making it this good. They sound a bit like the likes of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and The Drums in places, but they're from Margate rather than some cool place in the US. Short, sweet and punchy describes most of this album quite well. '

'

 

11 - Beach House 'Bloom' - slightly disappointing follow-up to my favourite album of 2010, but this is still an excellent album. It just doesn't quite reach the standards I unrealistically hoped it would do. The likes of 'Lazuli' and 'New Year' are a bit below par for Beach House, but then 'Other People' and 'Irene' are as good as anything they've made previously. 'Other People'

Keeping a quiet eye on this one. Almost entirely consisting of albums I know I should have listened to but haven't quite got round to. Best Coast, The Shins and 2:54 being the big ones so far (and Temper Trap and TDCC but we won't mention those).

 

Django Django to win? I DUNNO.

Ta, I really wouldn't bother with TTT, TDCC maybe, it's alright, just nothing on it that really touches their debut.

 

MAYBE. I'm sure it's obvious they're still to come.

Some fantastic albums so far - "The 2nd Law" and "Reign of Terror" are both in my top 5 of the year.

Thanks, I did really like 'The 2nd Law' then I didn't listen to it for a while and it just dragged the next time I did. Not sure what happened really, might start liking it a lot more again.

Will start the top 10 tomorrow.

 

IT CONTAINS:

1 solo male

2 solo females

2 female fronted bands

5 male fronted bands

 

3 debut albums

2 second albums

5 third albums

 

3 reached the uk top 10

3 more the uk top 40