#21

Viagra Boys - Street Worms

Swedish post-punk. Someone recommended this on here. I was put off by the name of the band(bloody awful), but tried it for some reason. What an amazingly fun album.

2 Likes
#22

Yeah thereā€™s some obvious touchstones there but done very well. Favourite album from January for sure

#23

Lots of these this year.

You may laugh but I really enjoyed the Richard Ashcroft, his best solo work in my opinion. Totally embracing his inner Radio 2!

In a similar vein, The Coralā€™s album is their best for a while. Just great tune after great tune, and very ā€˜Radio 2ā€™. Maybe Iā€™m getting old!

Low is just mind-blowing. Probably my album of the year, though that may change.

Again you may laugh, but Razorlights album is full of cracking indie-pop songs.

Jack Whiteā€™s solo album is his best work since ā€˜Elephantā€™ in my opinion. Bonkers too.

1 Like
#24

Ben Howard:

Despite his not inconsiderably broad appeal, I had never up to this point heard Ben Howard. In my mind he was some surfer dude - probably with a beard and Bon Iver penchant - reproducing falsetto-ed ballads for apres-surf campfire singalongs. But this has unpredictable detours, and a commitment to mood and ambience over coherence. It was in my top 20 LPs of the year quite comfortably which I would never have predicted.

2 Likes
#25

His first album is pretty much as you described. His 2nd album is a nice mix between his latest and his first. Maybe too close to his first for some, but I love it.

1 Like
#26

Arctic Monkeys. Iā€™m not sure it 100% works but itā€™s a brave and creative album for a band like the Arctic Monkeys to make. It would have been very easy and remunerative for them to keep milking the stadium rock direction so credit for them for trying something different. Itā€™s a really enjoyable and interesting record.

6 Likes
#27

Surprised that if you like Double Negative that much you donā€™t rate Ones and Sixes - itā€™s not as fully realised as Double Negative but itā€™s an excellent album in a similar vein.

3 Likes
#28

There are some good tracks on there definitely (Landslide is especially great), but portions of it play without me really noticing or caring, which has seemingly been the way for me with Low albums since Cā€™mon. But Double Negative held my attention all the way through, and most importantly made me want to hit play all over again every time it finished.

#29

Double Negative is another level of brilliant but I really like Ones and Sixes. Invisible Way is the only Low album where the standard slips, I think. Even then it has some good songs, itā€™s just the production that blands it out.

#30

Definitely Spiritualized for me - didnā€™t expect them to do anything great or even anything Iā€™d particularly care about listening to again but the new album is just glorious

2 Likes
#31

Arctic Monkeys released something good?

This is news to me. Iā€™m intrigued.

#32

Itā€™s worth a listen for the sheer oddness of the concept, though I wish theyā€™d properly ran with it the whole way thru

#33

Personally I think the problem is that not enough of the individual songs are memorable enough to work outwith the concept. Always the challenge of the concept album. Itā€™s a brave and interesting exercise though.

#34

It is a bit one-note. But it made me listen to them properly for the first time in years and then I went back and listened to their previous album again and thatā€™s decent too

1 Like
#35

For me it was discovering Spanish Love Songs thanks to a thread on here. Apparently, theyā€™re an also-ran LA punk band on a tiny label with no budget who came out of nowhere with my favourite album of the year, Schmaltz . The best parts of contemporary menzingers and The Greatest Generation-era Wonder Years mashed up with how my mind talks to me a lot.

1 Like
#36

What an album. Really hope more people pick up on it so they get the attention they deserve.

#37

My mate who has given me so many bands over the years messaged me the other day too. And i noticed it was high on Punktasticā€™s aoty. So good.

#38

Dose your dreams by fucked up - hadnā€™t really been grabbed by any of their long players since ā€˜chemistryā€¦ā€™ and only bought this on a nostalgic whim.
My most listened to album of this year, and off the top of my head canā€™t think of a better double album

1 Like