Albums Of The Year: The Also-Rans
Stone the crows, seems like only a few weeks ago I was writing this post for last year's entries. And this has been a fucking massive year for music. Unlike last year, when most big bands released wank as their follow-ups, this year so many amazing artists released albums of pure quality, it was hard to pick. That's not even counting the new bands and artists that came out of left field and took me by surprise. Overall, an amazing year for albums, and I wish I didin't have to boil it down to 10... but here we go...
A bittersweet entry, this one. A double album of lost tracks and rarities (such as a 'Miss Misery' demo with completely different lyrics!), on the one hand it warms the heart to hear new material from arguably one of greatest songwriters the world had. On the other, it breaks the heart to be reminded that the great Elliott Smith is no longer with us. Still, it's Elliott Smith, and easily up there with his best work.
Bloc Party once again prove they're nothing like their 'NME Band' peers by releasing an album that's a huge step forward from an already brilliant debut. Slightly more downbeat, but far more musically complex, this is the album that proves Bloc Party have a long shelf-life ahead of them. One of the few albums that retains its freshness months after the first listen. Then they only went and released the most disco-chomping anthem for years with 'Flux'. And that's not even ON this album! That's how good they are!
ARCADE FIRE - 'Neon Bible' (7)
Arcade Fire slightly back themselves into a corner by releasing an amazing first album that was totally unique. How are they going to top it? Apparently by locking themselves in an abandoned church for a year, then releasing their most amazing, unique work since... well, since their last one. Far more haunting than 'Funeral', yet every inch as beautiful and rewarding as shown perfectly in the tracks 'Intervention' and 'No Cars Go'. How are they going to top it???
RADIOHEAD - 'In Rainbows' (6)
I'm going to ramble a bit more on this one, and it was reeeeally hard not putting this in the top 5, so bear with me...
I've always liked Radiohead, but even people who've never been keen (Jonster, for instance) are admitting that the 'Head have been somewhat reinvigorated in the last few years. Having gotten the techno-wankery bug out of their system (which I still liked), they took a few years off, the singer did a mega solo album, they decided not to renew their record contract, then released this beast.
Aside from the album being the best thing they've done in probably a decade (seriously, it's that good), it's how they released it that made this special: No record contract, no singles, just a digital download from their website. And - the best part - pay as much or little as you like for it! Apart from a 45p transaction fee, you could literally enter the amount you wanted to pay for it, what you thought it was worth.
They called it an experiment to see how people felt about music in an age of illegal downloading. If unconfirmed reports are true, the average amount paid was £10, and the album is well into profit (after all, there were no promotion costs). The experiment seems to have been a success, and it's probably fair to say the music industry's a little nervous.
As brilliant as it was, it's almost a shame that the release strategy made more news than the album itself, as the gimmick would be for nothing if the actual product wasn't any good. But thankfully this truly is a case of artists returning to their best form (which, to me, they never really lost) and seeming excited about what their doing again. And don't even get me started on how beautiful the boxset is!
KLAXONS - 'Myths Of The Near Future' (10)
Stupidly deemed as "new rave" when it's actually just bloody good, messy, mental pop music. In a year of outstanding, but sometimes sombre, original music, Klaxons gave a welcome shot of adrenaline and fun. Even if it wasn't great, I'd include it simply for stopping Amy Whingeface winning the Mercury Prize!
ELLIOTT SMITH - 'New Moon' (9)
Stupidly deemed as "new rave" when it's actually just bloody good, messy, mental pop music. In a year of outstanding, but sometimes sombre, original music, Klaxons gave a welcome shot of adrenaline and fun. Even if it wasn't great, I'd include it simply for stopping Amy Whingeface winning the Mercury Prize!ELLIOTT SMITH - 'New Moon' (9)
A bittersweet entry, this one. A double album of lost tracks and rarities (such as a 'Miss Misery' demo with completely different lyrics!), on the one hand it warms the heart to hear new material from arguably one of greatest songwriters the world had. On the other, it breaks the heart to be reminded that the great Elliott Smith is no longer with us. Still, it's Elliott Smith, and easily up there with his best work.BLOC PARTY - 'A Weekend In The City' (8)
Bloc Party once again prove they're nothing like their 'NME Band' peers by releasing an album that's a huge step forward from an already brilliant debut. Slightly more downbeat, but far more musically complex, this is the album that proves Bloc Party have a long shelf-life ahead of them. One of the few albums that retains its freshness months after the first listen. Then they only went and released the most disco-chomping anthem for years with 'Flux'. And that's not even ON this album! That's how good they are!
Arcade Fire slightly back themselves into a corner by releasing an amazing first album that was totally unique. How are they going to top it? Apparently by locking themselves in an abandoned church for a year, then releasing their most amazing, unique work since... well, since their last one. Far more haunting than 'Funeral', yet every inch as beautiful and rewarding as shown perfectly in the tracks 'Intervention' and 'No Cars Go'. How are they going to top it???RADIOHEAD - 'In Rainbows' (6)
I'm going to ramble a bit more on this one, and it was reeeeally hard not putting this in the top 5, so bear with me...I've always liked Radiohead, but even people who've never been keen (Jonster, for instance) are admitting that the 'Head have been somewhat reinvigorated in the last few years. Having gotten the techno-wankery bug out of their system (which I still liked), they took a few years off, the singer did a mega solo album, they decided not to renew their record contract, then released this beast.
Aside from the album being the best thing they've done in probably a decade (seriously, it's that good), it's how they released it that made this special: No record contract, no singles, just a digital download from their website. And - the best part - pay as much or little as you like for it! Apart from a 45p transaction fee, you could literally enter the amount you wanted to pay for it, what you thought it was worth.
They called it an experiment to see how people felt about music in an age of illegal downloading. If unconfirmed reports are true, the average amount paid was £10, and the album is well into profit (after all, there were no promotion costs). The experiment seems to have been a success, and it's probably fair to say the music industry's a little nervous.
As brilliant as it was, it's almost a shame that the release strategy made more news than the album itself, as the gimmick would be for nothing if the actual product wasn't any good. But thankfully this truly is a case of artists returning to their best form (which, to me, they never really lost) and seeming excited about what their doing again. And don't even get me started on how beautiful the boxset is!
posted by AlphIANo at 9:08 PM
1 Comments:
Ooh ooh, it's that time of year again! I don't believe it! None of those albums have got in my top ten, though all were red hot contenders until a few seconds before I took my final decision, Bloc Party especially. Ooh ooh, I can't wait to see what's next, what could it be? who will you choose? I'm so excited, it feels like Christmas!
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