While it lacked the crisp production of Halcyon Digest, spending some time with Bradford Cox’s latest release would turn out to be rewarding. There were howls of feedback throughout, but get past the dischordant noise and you’d uncover an bundle of lo-fi belters.
4. Algernon Doll – Citalo Pop
Beautifully measured guitar pop from Glasgow troubadeur Ewan Grant. At points both raucous and fractured, this was 2013′s overlooked gem.
3. Monoganon – F A M I L Y
Wow. Where the bloody hell did this come from??? While they initially looked like a low key signing to Lost Map and a surprising choice for a first release for the label, this left our minds utterly blown.
2. Local Natives – Hummingbird
We were pretty ‘meh’ about debut album Gorilla Manor at the time, but have now seen the error of our ways. This was a terrific follow-up – dreamy and summery with enough pop to make an impact on daytime radio.
1. The National – Trouble Will Find Me
Intriguingly this doesn’t seem to be scooping the same plaudits that 2010′s okay-but-not-amazing High Violet did. God knows why – this is absolutely majestic and in their considerable body of work only Boxer comes close. It’s been a delight to watch the band both grow and grow old and Matt Berninger has become one of rock’s most elegant, most characteristic frontmen. Tidal Wave hearts The National.
So we grabbed a word with NYC’s fi…..
No, not really. But we’re sure they’d appreciate the accolade, right?
Vicious slashes of guitar punctuated Jill O’Sullivan’s mid-Atlantic snarl throughout Sparrow’s third album. They’re nastier than you’d ever believe, but bloody good.
9. Foals – Holy Fire
Also know as the one where Foals went metal. Providence and Inhaler were enormous-sounding and a lightshow at dusk was the perfect accompaniment for the storming Latitude set.
8. Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse
All hail Frabbits! Back to their best after the middling Winter of Mixed Drinks, this was a joyous romp with some of Scott Hutchison’s finest writing to date. One of the finest bands Scotland have ever produced and concerns over a major label contract were needless.
7. Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus
Loud and oppressive, Slow Focus was never going to be a family favourite (‘difficult’ band name notwithstanding) but blasts of synthesised noise ticked the boxes round here.
6. These New Puritans – Field of Reeds
Awkward and contrary, few knew how to take this difficult third album from Jack Barnett and co. We’re delighted to be among the few that did – it’s incredible.
15. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Push the Sky Away
Eloquent and sinister as ever, Cave continues to impress at every turn. This was his best in years and the howling coda to Jubilee Street matches pretty much all his previous output.
14. Aracade Fire – Reflektor
Bit of a strange one, this. By no means their best, there was still enough going on here to elevate this to levels that few bands can reach. From the curveball title track to the fancy dress and to the subtle marketing this turned out to be a worthy return.
13. Waxahatchee – Cerulean Salt
See previous entry Swearin’ for the familiar links, this married abrasive guitars with genuine delicacy. And pretty, pretty vinyl.
12. Chvrches – The Bones of What You Believe
When this lot appeared out of nowhere, our cynicism got the better of us and we wrote them off until we were slowly, but surely, seduced by the music. Hugely impressive thumping synth pop.
11. Kid Canaveral – Now That You Are a Dancer
Accomplished, mature and bloody brilliant, Kid Canaveral’s second record set an early benchmark this year. In the amp-shredding A Compromise, they created something heavier than ever before and potentially their best song yet.
When reading over our list yesterday we realised that, to our absolute shame, WE MISSED ONE. It appears we forgot to write one down, so in the interests of making sure it doesn’t slip away we’re popping it in right away, at equal 20th which should be about fair. So, clue: it’s one of the next two! We’re sorry…
20 = Homework – 13 Towers
Thumping, beats-driven funk, it was fun, infectious and clever. Their album launch (boiler suits and all) was also one of the gigs of the year.
20 = Adam Stafford – Imaginary Walls Collapse
Last year’s Vanishing Tanks single was incredible and Stafford’s first release for Song, by Toad continued in the same vein. One of our most talented and unique performers.
19. Kurt Vile – Walkin on a Pretty Daze
Hazey stoner at it’s finest, Vile is carving a niche as one of this generation’s finest songwriters. He made you work for this though – three songs of eight minutes or more made it occasionally challenging.
18. Quickbeam – Quickbeam
The dream-like Glaswegians crafted something both heartfelt and emotional on their debut album, with echoes of Sigur Rós ebbing through their glacial veins.
17. eagleowl – This Silent Year
Eight silent years more like! The peerless eagleowl followed a handful of accomplished EPs with a long-awaited longer player. Worth the wait? Definitely.
16. Mogwai – Les Revenants
Jesus, this wasn’t even a ‘proper’ Mogwai album, but even when scoring someone else’s visuals they can cook up something sublime. The French drama was as creepy as hell and this was a fitting soundtrack.
The adorable former Tidal Wave gig stars excellent themselves on their first long player for the Fortuna Pop! label. Always fun live, this went some way to capturing their energy – and on cherry coke-coloured vinyl too!
24. Big Deal – June Gloom
Any friends of PAWS are friends of ours. This was a scintillating set of guitar pop anthems with huge hooks stacking up throughout.
23. Majical Cloudz – Impersonator
Dreamy loveliness; hitherto unknown to us but a damn near perfect set of laments. One of the biggest surprises of the year.
22. Youth Fathers – Tape Two
The Edinburgh hip hop troupe are finally starting to bloom. This short release on Anticon hit the spot in a depressing 2013 where Kanye West seemed to become the world’s biggest star.
21. Boards of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest
A dramatic, impeccably marketed return fell just short of the classic department, but eight years away has evolved them into an even more sinister force. There were no tunes to be found here but the atmospherics were powerful.
Well hi there. Miss us? No? Fair enough. Let’s great straight to the point – here’s the first instalment of our annual Christmas countdown.
50. Trips and Falls – The Inevitable Consequences of Your Stupid Behaviour
Cutting lyrics and shonky guitar pop from Song, by Toad’s American imports.
49. Russian Circles – Memorial
Blistering, intricate riffs from monstrous Chicagoan three piece.
48. RM Hubbert – Breaks and Bone
It might not linger as long in the memory as Thirteen Lost and Found, but this was a fine effort.
47. Sigur Rós – Kveikur
A supremely dark set from Iceland’s greatest ever band.
46. When the Saints Go Machine – Infinity Pool
Snyths aren’t just for dancing to, a static thousand yard stare is just as appropriate according to these dreamy Danes.
45. Daughter – If You Leave
One of the UK’s biggest breakout bands of the year. Hugely melodic but with a dark undercurrent.
44. Suuns – Images du Futur
Eclectic Canadians. Serrated guitars bled into throbbing electro throughout this intriguing record.
43. Yo La Tengo – Fade
Comfortably their best record in years, a real mishmash of styles.
42. Laura Marling – Once I Was An Eagle
Fast becoming England’s national treasure. Possibly her best album yet.
41. Sweet Baboo – Ships
Super-cute quirk-pop from Wales. This was about a billion times better than that sounds.
40. Franz Ferdinand – Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action
It was looking like their best days were behind them, but this was like the paddles off a crashcart for their career. *CLEAR!*
39. Joanna Gruesome – Weird Sister
Pun-tastic fuzz-pop. By no means original but a big bag of fun nonetheless.
38. The Besnard Lakes – Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO
Two-minutes cheery, hook-laden melo….. oh wait. Sorry, we meant barely penetrable, spacey epics. We get easily confused here.
37. Public Service Broadcasting – Inform-Educate-Entertain
Built nicely on the cut-up sounds of their debut EP with more samples and pounding drums on their debut proper.
36. Pictish Trail – Secret Sounds Vol 2
Tours with metal bands and a new label made this an interesting year for Johnny Lynch but this is where his 2013 began. Rather well, too.
35. And So I Watch You From Afar – All Hail Bright Futures
Derry’s post rock experimentalists found their inner sunshine on this lively rollercoaster of an album.
34. PVT – Homosapien
Dark, pulsing techno from down under bore fruition on a record that matched their previous best.
33. Conquering Animal Sound – On Floating Bodies
Where Kammerspiel could sounds a little flimsy in retrospect, this cranked up the bass to floor-shaking levels. A real progression.
32. My Bloody Valentine – m b v
Undoubtedly an ‘event’ release and it will surely be a grower. Not quite into classic territory just yet though.
31. The History of Apple Pie – Out of View
2013 was overflowing with scuzzy guitar pop, but this was a genuine treat, awash with cracking hooks.
30. Dutch Uncles – Out of Touch in the Wild
Manchester’s musical boffins found critical and commercial acclaim, and rightfully so with the fully formed follow-up to Cadenza.
29. Rick Redbeard – No Selfish Heart
Who needs the Phantom Band, eh? Rick Anthony’s name was writ large as one of Scotland’s leading troubadours with this gentle near-classic.
28. Steve Mason – Monkey Minds in the Devil’s Time
The Beta Band are now surely long-forgotten. Mason’s legacy now lies as much with his solo material than the divisive Fence pioneers.
27. Swearin’ – Surfin’ Strange
A fine follow-up to last year’s self-titled debut. Commercial success also looms in the slipstream of Waxahatchee – but let’s be clear, Allison Crutchfield doesn’t need her sister’s help to make fine records.
26. Future of the Left – How to Stop Your Brain in an Accident
The abrasive Welsh shit-stirrers surpassed themselves here. Nasties lurked alongside pop nous to create some hissing evil.
Album of the Week: Adam Stafford – Imaginary Walls Collapse
While 2011′s Build A Harbour Immediately was a well received and well respected album, there’s no doubting that its creator – one Adam Stafford – is seen more as a live performer more than a recording artist.
To say the man has mastered the loop pedal would be the greatest understatement in Christendom. Stafford can put on a one man show like no other, from layers and layers of acapella doo wop on Shot Down You Summer Wannabes to transforming the full band-recorded Step Up, Raise Hands in a squalling solo vacuum of venomous feedback, he holds the stage like no other.
Last year’s Gerry Loves release Vanishing Tanks bettered anything on the album and cheekily reappears on album number two, Imaginary Walls Collapse. A bizarre mix of rough guitar and beatboxing, it already feels like a modern Scottish classic, and anything placed alongside it would pale in comparison, right?
Wrong, dummy.
Very, very wrong. Vanishing Tanks is just one of a number of highlights on an album that feels more cohesive, more of a single piece of work than Build A Harbour. And it’s not just one man going tonto on his pedals, either, however these songs end up translating to the live setting. Please is a languid, twangy little country song with the talented Anna Miles adding some rather pleasant harmonies, while Ghost Arms is a neat, hushed little affair.
It’s remarkably accessible stuff, especially placed alongside his deliberately difficult Record Store Day tape Millions Must Work Forever. The beatboxing – truly a lost art that needs rescuing from the 80s – is back on Cold Seas, duelling with more Wilson vocals and some parping brass.
Stafford’s old band Y’all is Fantasy Island were cult heroes, but his solo work has surely crept past their work in terms of appeal, something which will surely be aided by this album being out on Song, by Toad Records.
Imaginary Walls Collapse is clever, tuneful and wildly inventive (take Sound of Fear Evaporating’s many, many layers of sound). If Build A Harbour felt like a man bridging two musical stages, this is us very much on to stage two. Next stop, world domination?
Ah, Mr Stafford. Wilkommen. How does this album differ from Build a Harbour?
There are less acoustics I suppose and more of a propulsive electric sound. There was maybe a more experimental side of Harbour – in terms of song structure – that I just avoided on this album and tried to distill it to the bare essential of “the song” without too many ornaments or too much faffing. The process of recording loop-based songs has just extended since that album, we treat the whole thing as if we were making a dance or electronic album and sampled every part individually, building it up to a click-track.
What inspired the songs that feature on it?
The big theme I think is the bondage that the purveyors of modern life truss you up in: work, debt, paying your dues to society. We all want to be happy little drones without a thought to what the alternatives could be. We gobble-up the garbage that the mainstream media, the banks and the government tell us is gospel and all we’re doing is tightening the bondage ropes even more. The title – stolen from Ginsberg, I think – is about when the imaginary walls that you’ve erected in your mind collapse and you can start having more confidence in your own ideas and being less paranoid about what kind of person you haven’t become. In terms of other influences, I would cite a Taschen book of 1950′s Fetish magazines called Bizarre, the Talking Head’s LP Remain in Light and dreams about my childhood as playing a big part.
How the hell did you get involved with Song, by Toad??
They saw me performing live with the Twilight Sad in Edinburgh and we chatted afterwards. Matthew from the label wrote a glowing review of the gig and then came to see me again the following night. I might have joked with them about putting out the next album because self-releasing can be exhausting when you’re trying to do all of the PR yourself, and just the fact that they are one of the three great Scottish labels active right now. I must give them massive credit too as I was on the verge of giving up before I recorded the album and they talked me off of the ledge.
Tell us about your upcoming live shows!
July 5th for the LP Launch in The Glad Cafe, Glasgow and one at the Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh on the 4th.
Imaginary Walls Collapse is out on July 15 through Song, by Toad Records.
Roxy Jules is hitherto unknown Dane Julie Runa, and one of those neat little surprises that follows an otherwise unpromising PR email.
Despite using a pseudonym that makes her sound an *ahem* ‘arty’ actress, Jules’ music is a muscular brand of shoegaze-y indie based on a powerful rhythm section and Runa’s breathless vocal delivery.
This is her second album out on the soon-to-be-defunct Danish Pad and Pen Records, following the shockingly titled Roxy Jules. The back catalogue’s in our sights though, and has been pretty much from the opening guitar wails on Butterflies. It’s a pounding blast of anger, and while some of the lyrics stray towards the ‘obvious’ file, it’s a forgivable felony. You try splicing couplets in Danish, eh?
You Can Borrow My Sweater is exactly as suggestive as you’d think and oozes stalker vibes. I Left You A Note takes a hushed tone before the brutal assault of Lilies of the Valley.
Occasionally you’ll find yourself seeking a faster tempo… most songs flit around a reflective mid-paced feel and the band could do with letting rip a little, but subtle changes to the sound – like the abrasive synths on Blood Makes Noise enhance the record’s musicianship and songwriting when they come.
Runa may well be a solo artist but is more than happy to let Sofie Kvist’s drums take a front seat throughout Roxy Jules II, and often her guitar, and that of third member Manoj Ramdas, simply just adds waves of noise just like some of the finest shoegaze acts.
From the Sugarcubes to the Shout Out Louds, and to Runa’s countryfolk Mew, Scandinavian indie has a rich history of innovation and excitement. We rather hope in Roxy Jules we’ve unearthed another fine act to join them. This album definitely deserves your attention.
What inspired the music on Roxy Jules II?
We wanted to create a universe where musical contrasts constantly bump into each other. Roxy Jules II is at the same time noisy and confronting and fragile and porous. We like the tension when distorted guitars, pounding drums and an eerie theremin collide with dusty keys and a vulnerable and longing vocal. Another thing is that all three of us in the band like noise, so we wanted the album to revolve around different kinds of noise and noisy soundscapes, so in all the songs you find noise somewhere. Sometimes it’s just quiet noise dancing in the background and in other songs it grows into loud and confronting noise or howling feedback.
And how was the recording process?
We recorded the album with an old friend called Johan Lei Gellett at his studio in a basement in Copenhagen – and we had the best time doing it! Every time we went there the rest of the world just disappeared and it was all about the music. I’m sure we all loved those days and nights below the city recording Roxy Jules II.
How do you feel it differs from the first album?
On the first album there were a lot of electronic elements. On the new album all instruments are played live (except a few things on Blood Makes Noise, which by the way is a remake of a song from the first album), so the whole vibe is very different.
Can we expect to see you in the UK at all?
We hope so! But unfortunately we have no plans to go to the UK at the moment, though we would love to.
Album of the Week: The Purrs – The Boy With The Astronaut Eyes
Presenting Seattle’s The Purrs! Now we’re prone to bigging up bands on these pages just for the sake of some oblique cat reference, but despite their name, The Purrs just aren’t interested in moggies (see interview below).
Disgraceful views to hold of course, but when you make music as good as this, it’s just about forgivable. This is something like the band’s sixth album and they’ve been slogging about the North West for upwards of ten years. Time for a wider audience we reckon, and The Boy With the Astronaut Eyes might just be the album to do it.
Charmingly unfocused, it’s a record that blends numerous styles and motifs together to make something vaguely cohesive, but it’s the strength of the tunes that truly make it stand up.
Rotting on the Vine is a corking tune with snake-hipped guitar riff and some soloing that not only stays on the right side of wanky, it’ll draw out your inner guitar hero. Its sound is classically American, a twangy sound that British bands have tried desperately to emulate, but that only the Stones have truly carried off.
There’s more than enough here to amuse just the Americana enthusiasts though. The Fire Next Door is a terrific pop song with lovely backing vocals and thumping piano interspersed amongst the laconic guitars.
Piles of reverb and spindly arrangements strongly suggest elements of shoegaze and psych-rock spread throughout. Guitarist Liz Herrin’s backing vocals (Cracked Head especially) pull the band away from the muscular masculinity that most bands of this ilk drift towards, meaning their audience should be more than just a few hundred men with beards.
We had a natter with singer/guitarist Jima.
We’re am really enjoying the album!
Thank you!
You’re new to us…
You’re new to me too!
Tell us a little bit about yourselves!
We are a Seattle based rock band that formed in the year 2000 and is about to release a new awesome album.
How does this album differ from your previous works?
It’s better than all the others!
What inspired the songs?
The pain and pleasure of our daily lives, our spirit-breaking day jobs, whiskey and the ins and outs of being in a rock band.
How has the band changed over the years?
We tend to go through rhythm guitar players. We have a new one named Liz Herrin, this new album is the first one she is on.
The Purrs? You’re cat people, right? Right???
We are cat people in the same way the Rolling Stones are geologists or the Red Hot Chili Peppers are Mexican chefs.
Quickbeam have been on our radar for ages, but their debut album has snuck up on before we had a chance to get stuck into them, so to speak.
Flecked with delicate piano, heartbreaking cello and atmospheric harmonium sounds, this will well and truly soothe the soul. Monika Gromek’s vocals are never overdone and are a breathless foil to what is a sad, shuffling collection of minimalist numbers.
Well, mostly. Home catches fire with a burst of new wave guitar almost four minutes in, but the cello and vocals continue at their slow pace, making it feel a little like Godspeed or Sigur Rós.
Fall builds and builds after a hushed beginning to bring in mournful brass sounds and some hammering drums and cymbal crashes, before dramatically cutting away again. The drums on Seven Hundred Birds could easily wake the dead, but somehow Liam Chapman’s hitting doesn’t jar with the melancholy tone.
In some ways it feels like an companion piece to last year’s uttering stunning Orkney project. While this is no concept album, it hangs together beautifully and maximises the male/female vocal match-up lends it a certain classicism that will endear Quickbeam to those who like their music played in ornate churches with crystalized acoustics.
That’s the kind of venue where Low, Sigur Rós and Laura Viers tend to rock up… welcome to the (calm, sedate) party, Quickbeam.
We spoke to singer/guitarist Andrew Thomson.
How does it feel to get an album out?
Working on Quickbeam has been a massive part of our lives for some time now. To reach a stage where we have a physical album in our hands feels great. All these ideas we’ve had in our heads or scribbled in notebooks are now there to be heard. There’s a sense of satisfaction. It’s been a massive task to bring it to this point. We knew it was going to be a lot of work and we were prepared for it, but equally it’s been a massive learning curve and overall a great experience.
Tell us what inspired the songs on the album.
There are a few running themes throughout the album. We were conscious that it should work as a whole and not just be a collection of individual songs, hopefully that comes through in the record. The main themes are time, journeying, distance and loss. All the songs are somehow intertwined. ‘Immersed’ looks at the detail of a single moment whilst ‘Matter’ and ‘The Great Expanse’ think about vastness of distance and traveling. We tried to balance the whole album out through the themes and the music. For all the lows there should be a high to counteract it.
And how was the recording process?
We went into the studio with very definite ideas and a clear vision of what we wanted to achieve. Although there was a lot of creativity once we got started, we had spent a lot of time planning exactly what we needed to do beforehand. The album was produced by a very talented guy called Stuart MacLeod. He has a lot of experience and knows how to get the best out of people. It was brilliant to work with him, he became one of the band for the time we were there.
Are you hoping to take it out on the road?
Yes, we have a launch show on Friday May 31 at the Govanhill Baths in Glasgow. It’s an empty swimming pool that the council closed down some years ago which is currently being used as a community and arts space. We’re collaborating with some local artists and it’s our chance to really show what we want to achieve in our live shows. That’s our main focus just now, but after that there will be shows around the country.
