1. Blood Red
Shoes – In Time To Voices
Blood Red
Shoes have been one of my favourite bands since first spotting them at a
festival a few years back: a beautifully simple set-up with only two members
covering guitars, drums and shared vocals, yet somehow managing to produce a
huge sound that escapes many bands with twice the instrumentation. The shared
vocals also provide one of the more unique aspects to Blood Red Shoes, with
both male and female voices trading off during tracks for a great contrast
and sound. If you are familiar with the last two albums, In Time To Voices is both familiar and yet slightly new: instead of sticking to the
fairly simple rock tracks that populated the previous albums, they have
instead chosen to go for a slower and more textured sound that sounds absolutely fantastic. This is not
to say that all the tracks are now slow ballads, with tracks like Je Me Perds going the complete opposite
and creating even more noise than before.
2. Metric – Synthetica
The fifth
album from Canadian new wave/indie artists Metric, and easily one of their
best, taking all the elements we loved from their earlier work - the pop sensibilities and hook laden music,
the blend of styles and Emily Haines' superb vocals – and adding to them, improving
and growing as a band and as songwriters. If you are a fan of their last few
albums (or even just heard them after having one of their songs used in the
Scott Pilgrim movie) then you won’t be disappointed.
3. Amanda
Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra – Theatre
Is Evil
The first
of two albums on this list to come from the crowdfunding website Kickstarter,
this one being the third solo album from Amanda Palmer. Theater Is Evil is a cabaret-influenced pop/rock album, blending guitars, piano and vocals in a bouncy, enthusiastic package that
sounds quite unlike anything else I have heard, going as far on the theatre/cabaret
theme to include a short intermission at the midway point. One of the best
albums this year by a fair distance, only pipped to the post in this list by
two long time favourites of mine.
4. Sigur Ros –
Valtari
Sigur Ros
have a place in my record collection as a band that never fails to let me relax and forget about the day, and Valtari
fits that bill perfectly. Full of ethereal soundscapes and vocalist Jónsi’s
distinctive falsetto vocals, Valtari
just draws you in to the music and sound.
5. Kid Koala –
12 Bit Blues
Created
solely by sampling old blues records on an SP1200 sampler and decks, and
eschewing the use of computer based recording, sampling, sequencing and
editing, 12 Bit Blues is the perfect
example of how older methods can still produce incredible results in the
right hands. Sampling purely from old blues records has meant that this time
around Kid Koala has taken on a lovely laid-back sound, blending together old
blues licks, beats and vocals with a more recent hip-hop style. It's one of those combinations
that on paper sounds pretty dreadful, but works perfectly with the right guy
behind the decks. I should
also give some respect to Kid Koala for making one of the most unique CD
releases I have seen for years – including a (working) DIY cardboard turntable
and record to play on it, along with some proper effort put into the packaging
and liner notes – something all too regularly missing nowadays with the move to
digital downloads.
6. Deerhoof – Breakup Song
Bizarre
noisy indie of the best type, Deerhoof are one of those bands who seem to collect together
a wide range of sounds that shouldn’t really work together, but somehow just
do. Electronics, noise, unique vocals and a top album throughout.
7. Meursault –
Something For The Weakened
Here at
Hercules Moments we were big fans of Meursault’s first two releases, and their
third album Something For The Weakened is no exception. This time around
Meursault seem to have lost some of the noise and electronics that underscored
their earlier work, instead shifting to a more traditional indie band setup and
making full use of Neil Pennycook’s distinctive soaring vocals to draw you into
one of the best Scottish indie albums of the last few years.
8. Danielle
Ate The Sandwich – Like A King
The second
album on this list that owes its existence to the website Kickstarter, this
time the singer/songwriter Danielle Ate The Sandwich, known by many thanks to
her songs/skits posted on Youtube.
Interesting
beginnings aside, Like A King stands
proud as a superb album in its own right, blending together the ukulele, guitar
and Danielle’s voice with the perfect amount of strings and assorted backing instrumentation to
really immerse you in the sound, and with everyday relatable songs that just
draw you in to Danielle’s world.
9. Jeff Wayne
– War Of The Worlds: A New Generation
Jeff
Wayne’s original interpretation of H.G. Well’s novel still stands as one of the
best concept albums out there, so with a new tour it was decided to release an
updated version with modern cast and music. The new
cast hold their own well – in particular the combination of Liam Neeson and
Gary Barlow as the spoken/sung parts of the narrator – and the updated music
has been kept very similar to the original score, only updated with modern
flourishes to bring it slightly more into line with modern culture,
if anything helping to enhance the grandeur and feel of the music.
The latest
album from the genre hopping Sonic Boom Six, joining together the forces of
ska, punk, metal, reggae, dubstep and more into a stellar hybrid and example of
why sticking rigidly to genre classifications is a bad thing. Add to that
lyrics very much based in real life outside the view of tabloid readers, and a
refreshingly pleasant moral outlook, and you have a superb album.
DL
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