Saturday, January 22, 2005

Top Ten Of 2004

Well, I started this before the New Year (you remember that?) and only just got it finished this weekend. In the best tradition of laziness, I'm copy and pasting the same introductory text as last year's review - reading it now it says it all perfectly and I don't feel like re-writing it.

"In the best tradition of the end of year awards that you are now sick of, I give you my top ten musical albums of the last year (not in order of preference as that's impossible.) Straight away I can see you peering down and saying, "That didn't come out this year, or that's ancient, has Dio lost it?" Well, personally I've never cared about when a record came out, I've never listened to artists in chronological order and take and pick albums as they become available through whatever means.

It's the albums that have turned me on and defined where my head has been in the last year, whenever they were released. There are a few rediscoveries in there as well as new music as I've spent a fair few bob in the last year replacing all my old cassettes and scratchy vinyl with nice shiny CDs from Ebay and car boot sales."

They are not in order of preference, but I can place where I (and my musical year) began thanks to a few good early purchases in 2004. And that is where I start. Like last year, its with another classy and classic Constellation Records release. It won't be the first with a Constellation link either.

Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band - Born Into Trouble As the Sparks Fly Upward

This is the second review of this album to make it onto the blog in the space of a year. When I wrote about it the first time, I knew I'd be writing about it now. Lavish, brave and cinematic, the album sweeps through some of the most incredible rock orchestrations of recent memory. Post Rock is maybe a pretentious but apt label.

The best Constellation releases have an apocalyptic finality to them. This album is there, and its one I want playing as my life ebbs away - its that good. The last track, The Triumph Of Our Tired Eyes has been a good companion through many a drunken night of melancholy this past year, and no doubt will remain a constant companion for the foreseeable future.

Interpol - Antics

They did it again. At first this album is disappointing, but then it builds and builds in your psyche until all initial disappointments have been dispelled and replaced by love. They have a great formula and hammer it with a passion. If I had one complaint about this album, it would be that there is a real one tempo similarity to it.

That said, its a great similarity and the tempo they've chosen is near perfect. For me, Not Even Jail is the standout track on the album - the number of times I've found myself air-bass-slabbing and singing the lyrics to this track is immeasurable.

Its fair to say there is nothing particularly ground-breaking or original about the band's sound and songs. However, there is a throbbing soul and irresistible drive that makes them equal parts dour and joyful and downright singable to the end.

Kitchens Of Distinction - Strange Free World

I first got this album when it first came out - and for the best part of 13 years it's been the disappointing second album. Finally got a CD of it in the last year and fuck me was I wrong. I suspect the problem was me not being grown up enough to appreciate the adult lyrics and song structures.

The Kitchens remain one of my favourite bands of my youthful years - the dreamy and layered shoe-gazer guitars and the hard edged pop song structures remain a winning formula. This album spent a lot of time in exile for me - catching it now, its an exhilarating and chimingly beautiful old friend that I used to ignore but now have caught up with my life enough to finally appreciate and really enjoy.

Jamie Says - Soul Gumshoe

This year saw Jamie Says release their debut official release in the form of the 7" single Down To The Debauchery, Kyle, the Jamie main man sent me out a copy of their second demo LP - Soul Gumshoe. A tad less lo fi than the previous demo album The Silver Screen And The Stanley Blade, its none-the-less infectious and downright life-affirming. Incredible guitar riffs, honest and heart felt vocals and sharp indie-pop song writing. Its music like this that makes me want to pull a moonie to HMV and iTunes and their soulless clinically over-priced product.

Southern Death Cult - Southern Death Cult

Bizarrely I've had a copy of this album for almost two decades. Not so much an album as a compilation of 12"s, demos and live recordings. It languished on a tape I bought cheap in the HMV sale as it didn't have a cover. It got listen to occasionally - but never really sunk in.

Proving that old music is always worth a revisit, a recent download of the album has left it one of the most played in recent months. Catchy guitar hooks, some great lyrics and solid songs. A real sleeper hit - the expanded CD added a few tracks which no doubt would have got me hooked on this album a good decade or two ago had they been there on that tape I bought then. He's the singer of the Doors now, go figure...

Polmo Polpo - Like Hearts Swelling

Another fine Constellation release - I took a chance, threw some dollars into an envelope and sent it Trans-Atlantic post to Canada. A few weeks later a nice thank you note and this album turned up in my mailbox and has been enjoying a regular playing ever since.

Hard to explain, this is pop music without words and many recognisable instruments other than some reverb drenched slide guitar. Imagine Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music toned down to the softest of throbs, coated in semi-conscious dream colours and spun out to epic length - and you have a vague insight into Polmo Polpo. Throbbing, buzzing, soft and happy - five lavishly layered pieces of electronic bliss - music to zone-out too.

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain

Funkadelic have always been on my 'to get stuff by' radar for a good few year. I'd been treated to a few tracks on mix tapes I've been given, but this was my first engagement with a whole album. Its a bit of a schizophrenic album, from the opening title track opus and master class in psychedelic guitar doodling to the stomping funk of tracks like Hit It And Quit It, the album delights and grabs at every turn with its choral singing, warp drive solos and kicking guitar riffing. Top stuff.

Mclusky - The Difference Between Me And You Is That I'm Not On Fire

Sadly now split, my local heroes released their far superior to the much loved but far too poppy second album, with little fanfare and once again were unjustly ignored. A searing return to form, class songwriting and class thrashing guitars. Probably their first coherent album and a fitting epitaph to some bright stars that burned twice as hot for half as long as they should have. I feel like I'm repeating myself here - here's what I wrote when this came out. Farewell brave guitar manglers - it was much fun.

Set Fire To Flames - Sings Reign Rebuilder

Another Constellation themed entry, although not a label release, its populates with many of the label's regulars. 74 minutes of field recordings, scraping metal, beautiful strings and a quietly sharp sadness and longing. Mesmerising vocal samples talk of hell fire and persecution to a back drop of wilderness evoking instrumentation and compositions. Just lovely, if a little tricky to initially love, further listenings are rewarding in the extreme. A real slow burner this one.

Valley of the Giants - Valley of the Giants

And again, more Canadian post-rock. Featuring members of all my favourite aforementioned Canadian/Constellation bands, this is a strangely disjointed but fully engaging LP that sees some real pop moments alongside the apocalyptic frenzy of its' noise driven instrumentals. Part folksy, part pop-whimsy and part frontier wilderness strings - each track surprises and rewards. Favourites include the beautifully strung Westworld and its luscious female pop singing, set against chiming guitars and rolling strings which evoke Arctic snowfields; and Whaling Tale, with a long rickety spoken piece by an aging whaler about saving a penguin form killer whales. The instrumental pieces at times call to mind Spanish villas and Velvet's fuelled feedback. A truly grand album to end the year on.

Posted by Dio Bach at 23:33

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