The Musical Advent Calendar - Door Number Five

Ali Mason

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson (ADA)

Track: My Good Luck


The visceral thrill of seeing Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson's raw stage act doesn't quite transfer to record, but his pounding, shambolic rock anthems (Woodfriend, My Good Luck) and the feeling that you're listening to a man constantly on the brink of a breakdown lend an excitement of their own. The confessional aspect of the songs makes for uncomfortable listening at times, and the album doesn't so much climax as lapse into a musical coma of guilt and self-doubt, but it's raw, affecting stuff.

Rory Dollard

John Vanderslice - Romanian Names (Dead Oceans)

Track: D.I.A.L.O.


When I first heard the burring, rolling static and multi-tracked vocals of DIALO it was love at first listen. It felt like hearing the much-missed Elliott Smith fronting a lost Super Furry Animals track. Strange but brilliant. Romanian Names, the album from which it was hewn, is a varied affair, with the fuzzy edges present on DIALO occasionally giving way to a sparer, more mournful sound. But throughout, Vanderslice, a spritely 42-year-old seven albums into his career, thrills with his playful use of melody and layered production.

Dom Farrell

Seasick Steve - Man From Another Time (Warner Bros.)

Track: Diddley Bo


One of the more surprising and welcome breakthrough acts of the decade, self proclaimed “song and dance” man Seasick Steve returned in 2009 with Man From Another Time. Following hot on the heels of Dog House Music and I Started Out With Nothing And I Still Got Most of it Left – records on the back of which Seasick has deservedly established himself as a thrilling live act and a festival favourite – Man From Another Time is perhaps a little more laid back than its predecessors. Just Because I Can (CSX) and Dark provide genuine touching moments, carried effortlessly by Steve’s heartfelt sincerity. Never Go West provides a telling reminder of his trademark blues stomp, but it is raucous opener Diddley Bo that leaves the most indelible impression.

Andy Welch

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest (Warp)

Track: Two Weeks


Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood called Grizzly Bear his “Favourite band in the world” after they supported the Oxford quintet on their 2008 American tour. Paul Simon turned up at one of their shows to personally invite them to appear at a series of concerts and Fleet Foxes’ frontman Robin Pecknold said this was the best album in a decade. With so many famous fans and critical adoration at every turn, it’d be easy to hate Grizzly Bear and write them off nothing more than a hype band. To do so would be to miss out on glorious, glorious music though. Hard to describe but easy to love, Veckatimest, the band’s fourth record, draws on everything from jazz and doo wop to folk and Sixties pop – namely Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys – which makes for a seriously special album.

Guy Atkinson

Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer (Jagjaguwar)

Idiot Heart


Spencer Krug from Wolf Parade branches out again with another collection of stunningly grandiose anthems - this is the record Arcade Fire should have made after Funeral. Contains the year's best song in the shape of 'Idiot Heart'.



Pranam Prabhakar

Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (V2)

Track: 1901


Phoenix produce the kind of artful pop that makes me thinks of Deloreans, shades, neon and shoulder pads. This is no bad thing. Listen to 1901 while eating a Pepsi ice cream float, and all will temporarily seem right in the world.



John Skilbeck

Daniel Johnston - Is And Always Was (Feraltone)

Track: Freedom


In November I caught a rare Daniel Johnston show, when he played the first of two sold-out nights at Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club. His short run of UK gigs followed the release of Is And Always Was, though you’d have hardly known he had a new record given he was more interested in ripping through a flurry of Beatles covers. Nevertheless, the album was a good ‘un. Just as with 2003’s Mark Linkous-aided Fear Yourself, Johnston was supported by a professional backing band, meaning the ramshackle sound which has become his calling card was replaced by a more pop shine. Anathema to some purists perhaps, but it worked well, and Johnston has always worshipped pop groups so becoming ‘the singer in the band’ was never going to prove a hardship. Moreover there were no further compromises and Johnston was clearly in charge, singing to his late pooch (Queenie The Dog), coming over all ‘60s garage band on Fake Records of Rock And Roll, and covering familiar lyrical ground in touching and always witty hymns to love, life and death.


Matt Collins

Julian Casablancas - Phrazes for the Young (Rough Trade)

Track: Left & Right in the Dark


Filling in time in the ever widening gaps between Strokes records? Hardly. Well, halfly. Lead singer Julian Casablancas has done what everyone wanted his band to do, which is essentially release a Strokes record. The first half is four to the floor tight Last Nite-tastic action, up there with the finest songwriting of the last year, and the second half a drifty is-he-making-it-up-as-he-goes-along? mess. It’s like they never went away.

SP

Portico Quartet - Isla (Real World)

Track: Isla


I first saw the Portico Quartet busking on the South Bank about three years ago. Looking like a bunch of posh, unwashed students with exotic instruments bought on their gap year, the signs weren’t good but the music they teased out was a thing of simple beauty. Their second LP sees John Leckie try and broaden their hypnotic jazz sound and while it lacks the tight punch of Cittagazze from their debut, this is still a gorgeous soundtrack for kite-flying days.

Me

The Dirty Guv'nahs - The Dirty Guv'nahs (Dualtone)

Track: Borrowed Time


Having been on it for 18 months, I've still not fully figured out my relationship with Twitter, but if it's brought me one thing, it's brought me The Dirty Guv'nahs. I expect I'd have stumbled upon them sooner rather than later anyway - a good friend in Tennessee feeds me most music out of my one-time home Knoxville - but instead the band came to me via a wee tweet. I'm sure glad they did. Their sound harks back to the Stones or Black Crowes, and their impassioned live performances have become legendary in East Tennessee. They're currently up north at Levon Helm's studio in Woodstock recording the follow-up. Can't wait to hear what that sounds like...

The Musical Advent Calendar - Door Number Four

It's day four, so it is.

Which makes it the No. 21 albums of the year.

Once again, for the newbies, here's a wee intro.

Over to the panel.

Ali Mason

The Unthanks - Here's The Tender Coming (Rough Trade)

Track: Here's The Tender Coming


At a time when anyone with an acoustic guitar is labeled a folk musician, it's good to be reminded what proper folk music sounds like. The Unthanks have had a subtle change of their name and return with a collection of songs which are witty and warm, yet unquestionably bleak, typified in The Testimony of Patience Kershaw. The music is rooted firmly in the band's native Northumberland, a fact reflected in voices of the Unthank sisters, Rachel and Becky, while the arrangements are rich and allow the songs to move at their own gentle pace.

Rory Dollard

Headless Heroes - Silence of Love (Names)

Track: Blues Run the Game



Expect to see Nevada folkie Alela Diane feature in the upper reaches of at least one Ragged Glories contributor later this month, but for me her sideshow proved even more interesting. Joining forces with the comedown kings Headless Heroes she lent her fine voice to 10 exquisitely chosen covers which in turn entranced (MBV's Just Like Honey) and enraptured (Nick Cave's Nobody's Baby Now). This reworked Paul Simon cut was perhaps the show-stealer though.

Dom Farrell

The Horrors - Primary Colours (XL)

Track: Primary Colours


A couple of years ago The Horrors were adorning the cover of the NME dressed as comedy goths in cartoon make-up to promote generally pathetic records. If someone had told me then that I’d be holding their second album up as one of 2009’s better efforts, I’d probably have chased them down the street wielding a cricket bat. Imagine my surprise to hear genuinely fantastic music coursing out of Primary Colours. Reference points including My Bloody Valentine, Joy Division and Heaven Up Here-era Echo & The Bunnymen combine to produce an impressively brooding soundscape. This record is a lesson that well layered guitars with classic 50’s style echo produces far more gothic darkness than shit eyeliner ever could.

Andy Welch

Emmy The Great- First Love (Close Harbour)

Track: First Love


I’ve got to admit I actually forgot about this album when I was compiling my list, forcing Mr Parker, the brain behind this crazy scheme to ask the question ‘How much could you have loved an album you didn’t remember to put on the list?’ The long answer included reasons why I was bumping the Manics’ album in favour of this (plus I first heard it at the end of 2008). The short answer is ‘A lot.’ A very lot, in fact. It’s just so damned charming. Emmy’s homespun, anti-folk *shudder* aesthetic could easily grate, coming close on occasion, and there’s nothing particularly innovative about First Love, but the album’s sheer enthusiasm, diary-like lyrics and gorgeous delivery win the day. And, being a weak male just like the one she sings about so dismissively, I’m a sucker for a elfin-looking girl with a fringe and a vintage dress. Resistance is futile.

Guy Atkinson

Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone! (Best Before)

Track: Song One Puzzle


Swashbuckling onto the 'toilet circuit' nearly two years ago with two drummers and a tiny clutch of memorable tunes, Dananananaykroyd were always onto a winner with me. Fortunately, they delivered on this early promise in the shape of a raucous debut album which combined playful riffs with sinister vocals to devastating effect. Riff-tastic track 'Song One Puzzle' suitably captures the essence of these Glaswegian upstarts.

Pranam Prabhakar

Dizzee Rascal – Tongue N’ Cheek (Dirtee Stank)

Track: Bonkers

Rascal for PM?
The facts: Dizzee Rascal is now a popstar. He had three successive number one singles this year which soundtracked the summer of 2009.
Ambition and his recent success might have led Mr Rascal to express his ambitions for being a future prime minister. I say: go for it Mr Rascal!
Dizzee has charm in abundance, a winning smile, a way with words and a greater experience of armed combat than any of our recent leaders (Rascal was stabbed in Aiya Napa in 2003, lest we forget).
With this track, Mr Rascal reintroduced 'Bonkers' into the national lexicon. And for this, he should be thanked.
Sell out? Not a chance!

John Skilbeck

Sky Larkin - The Golden Spike (Polydor)

Track: Molten


A second Leeds band on the list (and the last, I promise), for a while I was undecided over Sky Larkin. Promoted to me as close musical cousins of Sleater-Kinney, that turned out to be pretty misleading. But rather than hold the fact they were not S-K against them forever, I came around to their sound and their debut album which appeared on Wichita in February. What is certain is that they trade in the catchy guitar pop I would have absolutely swooned over at the turn of the century - coincidentally singer Katie White has a voice which is eerily similar to that of Eliza Geirsdottir, the singer from that almost-big-in-2000 Icelandic band Bellatrix. So it made me feel 22 for a while, making it well worth its place in the chart.

Matt Collins

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Where There Are Mountains (Memphis Industries)

Track: Wind Phoenix (Proper Name)


Cymbals Eat Guitars are an oddball New York indie rock band. Made from a very different cast to The Strokes et al, they eschew straight up pop songs for turning their amps up to 11, riding the often slow and lilting waves of feedback and occasionally shouting some crazed and earnest phrases over distant microphones. Strangely, it works, particularly in this track. Refreshingly barmy.

SP

M Ward - Hold Time (4AD)

Track: Rave On


In between moonlighting with the impossibly pretty Zooey Deschanel in She & Him and the impossibly hairy Jim James in Monsters of Folk, M Ward’s fifth solo album was easy to miss. Those who did skipped past it passed up one of the year’s most heartfelt albums, packed with dusty gems that sounded like a sandblasted ELO or a jauntier, mid-western version of early Tom Waits.

Me

Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons - Death Won't Send Me A Letter (Black Seal)

Track: Tennessee


'Tennessee' was the first song I'd heard by this lot, and from it I had them marked down as a fairly charming Americana outfit. It turns out they do so much more, with an album rooted in, er, rootsy country, but with a healthy dose of melodic pop thrown in, not least thanks to collaborator Brendan Benson. So why did I stick Tennessee up here, rather than something more representative? Well, I'll let you enjoy the same voyage of discovery as I did.

The Musical Advent Calendar - Door Number Three

Three is a magic number.

But, well, these are actually the 22nd best albums of the year. You'll need to wait until December 22 for our No. 3s. You see how this works?

If there is magic in the air though, that might explain how one album has reproduced itself and managed two nominations today. For more, read on...


Ali Mason

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (Fortuna Pop)

Track: A Teenager In Love


In the midst of an 80s revival which has, on the whole, given us such undesirable trends as leggings, big hair and New Romantic reunion tours, it seems only fair that we should get some of the good stuff as well. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart sound like The Smiths, Jesus and Mary Chain and The Stone Roses, while lyrics move from genuinely funny to out-and-out creepy. A little more variety wouldn’t go amiss but (know your audience…) indie-pop fans are always gonna love a band who sing about microfiche.

Rory Dollard

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion (Domino)

Track: My Girls


MPP has roundly emerged as the critical darling of the traditional 'lists season' with publications and websites queueing up to shower the Baltimore quartet with garlands. I struggled to buy the 'album of the year' buzz but it was hard not to be won over by the hypnotic, disorientating synth washes and fractured rhythms. In My Girls the band even stumbled upon the year's most forward-looking pop song.

Dom Farrell

Florence & The Machine - Lungs (Island)

Track: Girl With One Eye


In spring 2008 I saw Florence Welsh supporting The Coral at an intimate acoustic gig in Manchester. Already a magnetic stage presence, she was joined only by a single drum and an awkward looking chap playing guitar. The songs were great, the lyrical subjects a bit unusual and, best of all, she seemed ever so slightly barmy. A year later, Lungs’ fantastic breakthrough single Dog Days Are Over had blasted its way into the public consciousness with altogether shinier production values. Indeed, the move towards the mainstream means some of Florence and the Machine’s edge is lost, but this is still a very good record. Lazily grouping Welsh in with the likes of La Roux and Little Boots as part of a 2009 female clique is complete folly as there is discernable talent at play here. And tracks like The Girl With One Eye show the crazy to still be very much in evidence.

Andy Welch

The Dead Weather – Horehound (Columbia)

Track: Treat Me Like Your Mother


Another Jack White band? What does this guy do, write a song and decide he needs a new band to play it with? Maybe, but whatever the Duke of Detroit’s reasons are for forming The Dead Weather, we’re not going to argue with them. The Kills’ Alison Mosshart finally gets the material her voice deserves, coming over like some dangerous snake-hipped femme fatale, while White sounds remarkably restrained compared to the way he dominated the last Raconteurs record. It’s not perfect, which accounts for much of Horehound’s charm, having been recorded quickly in White’s studio – on antique equipment, obvs – with little to no editing. They’re recording their second album early in the New Year, and if it’s half as good as this, we should be very excited indeed.

Guy Atkinson

Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers (Sony)

Track: This Joke Sport Severed


Without question, the most triumphant return to form by any act this year. The natural successor to the flawless 'The Holy Bible', it harnesses Richey Edwards' lyrics with a batch of tunes so stonking it almost makes up for the bilge-fest that was 'Send Away the Tigers...ALMOST.



Pranam Prabhakar

Super Furry Animals – Dark Days/Light Years (Warner Bros.)

Track: Inaugural Trams


Down with DemRockracy!
DemRockratic freedom is the bane of rock and roll. Why else would Pink Floyd allow their drummer a whole side to himself on Ummagumma? Who let Ringo sing on Octopus' Garden? And was it really such a bright idea to allow Nicky Wire more 'vocal duties' for the Manic Street Cleaners?
Demrockracy is at least partly to blame for the mediocrity of SFA's latest album. Patchwork songwriting with a stinker from Bunf and an under par contribution from Cian dillute outstanding efforts from Gruff such as Inaugural Trams.

John Skilbeck

Joe Gideon and the Shark - Harum Scarum (Bronzerat)

Track: Kathy Ray


Supporting the Hold Steady is a task for the bravehearted, given Craig Finn's band are rarely upstaged, but brother-sister combo Joe Gideon and the Shark pulled it off this year. At the Leeds Cockpit back in May they were a revelation and the next day I bought this album. Like the Hold Steady, their strength lies is in their storytelling, and Harum Scarum is an album laiden with tales - witty, noirish, inventive, probably largely fabricated. Their sound is bluesy but the attitude is punky, with 'the Shark' (sister Viva) beating the bejesus out of her drum kit at the slightest invitation and Gideon's deep half-spoken, half-sung vocals craning over a wall of guitar noise.

Matt Collins

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (V2)

Track: Lizstomania


Phoenix are one of the few bands that are too smart to mess around with their tried and tested formula. No noodling jazz odysseys or getting out of the comfort zone with some ill-advised electronic influence infusion for them, just plain old fast fun songs. Their fourth album is simply a distillation of the joy of being an indiepop band which tours the world making people jump around in sweaty rooms with big grins on their faces. This track was the first single from the album so might lose points for being an obvious choice, but like the record as a whole, it's impossible to resist.

SP

Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years (Warner Bros.)

Track: Crazy Naked Girls


For years, I always liked the idea of the Super Furries more than I liked their records. The psychedelic references, the defiantly Welsh patriotism, the constant stream of releases... Admirable sure, but often strangely soulless. This latest adds bad foreign language rapping and full on Can-style wig outs to their long line of unlikely influences, yet it remains - in my opinion - their most cohesive, inventive and downright fun album to date.

Me

William Elliot Whitmore - Animals In The Dark (ADA)

Track: There Is Hope For You


It's just occurred to me that, in selecting 'There's Hope For You', I've gone for the only vaguely optimistic sounding song on what is a superb album of bluesy gospel and americana. Consider that other song titles include 'Who Stole The Soul', 'Hell or High Water', 'Hard Times' and 'A Good Day To Die'. Whitmore has one of those priceless voices that a million songwriters must surely be willing to kill for, and he mixes it with guitar or banjo to outstanding effect. Seasick Steve may have drawn the hype, but Whitmore has made the better album.

The Musical Advent Calendar - Door Number Two

Welcome to day two, and the 23rd best albums of the year.

(All these numbers are confusing me).

For those just catching on to this project, by the way, some form of explanation is offered here.

Ali Mason

The Felice Brothers - Yonder Is The Clock (Team Love)

Track: Cooperstown


The Big Surprise (“your jazzy band has lost its swing, revolution's lost its ring”) sets the tone for what is, on the whole, a pessimistic collection of songs which contrasts with the country rockers’ boundless energy, which makes them one of the best live acts around. They might be cynical, but that doesn’t been they can’t be enthusiastic about it. On the whole they’re at their best when they let rip on barnstorming crowd-pleasers like Run Chicken Run, but the highlight here is the nostalgic slow trail of Cooperstown. They may only be 23rd in my albums of the year, but in my (entirely theoretical) list of gigs of the year, their Brudenell show in Leeds is a comfortable number one.

Rory Dollard

Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream (Columbia)

Track: The Wrestler


It was not a vintage year for the grand old men of rock, with Bob Dylan and Neil Young both releasing interesting new albums that fell some way short of even their recent vintage. The Boss' latest was also a step down in quality from his imperious best but while WOAD is unlikely to gain classic status in the Springsteen canon, his curious channelling of cinematic westerns (Outlaw Pete), The Byrds (Surprise, Surprise) and unashamed motown lifts (This Life) brought it back to the turntable an impressive number of times.

Dom Farrell

Brendan Benson - My Old Familiar Friend (ATO)

Track: Garbage Day


Brendan Benson returned from Raconteurs duty to deliver his fourth solo offering, picking up largely where he left off with 2005’s Alternative to Love. My Old Familiar Friend comes flying out of the blocks with A Whole Lot Better and Eyes on The Horizon – all power-pop guns blazing. The usual Benson touch points of mid era Beatles and Kinks pop sensibility are gladly in evidence. The album does tail off towards the end, falling short of the effortless consistency that still makes 2002’s Lapalco his definitive work. Nevertheless, the Philadelphia soul-tinged Garbage Day stands up against any of Benson’s best moments and could very well be one of the finest understated love songs of the decade.

Andy Welch

Kings of Convenience - Declaration of Dependence (Source)

Track: Mrs Cold


Thankfully, and I expect to be shot down for saying this, Erlend Øye has left the dreadful side-project Whitest Boy Alive behind and gone back to what he does best with the Kings Of Convenience - gentle folk with intricate melodies and heavenly harmonies. The band’s first album, Quiet Is The New Loud, was released in 2001 and was the perfect counterpoint to The Strokes and the rest of those leather-jacketed invaders from across the pond. Declaration Of Dependence doesn’t move too far away from that formula, with Erlend and musical partner Eirik Glambek Bøe’s voices and guitar-played magically matched, nowhere better than Mrs Cold, which, despite being defiantly acoustic, proves there is funk to be found in folk after all.

Guy Atkinson

Julian Plenti - Julian Plenti Is...Skyscraper (Matador)

Track: Unwind


While never hitting the giddy heights of Interpol's finest moments, this solo freshman offering by frontman Paul Banks delivers a tantalising insight into where next year's 'Pol record could be headed. Haunting, stripped back offerings duel with bombastic and brash anthems and, in truth, it's often on the softer moments where he really finds his voice.

Pranam Prabhakar

Devendra Banhart - What Will We Be (Warner Bros)

Track: Walliamdzi


An open letter to Devendra Banhart from a super fan who isn't me:

"Devendra, why don't you make records like you used to? You know, those timeless, acoustic records that led to the folk revival in the mid-noughties. We love those records because they had sparse, minimal arrangements that highlighted your way with melodies and words. Those records were abstract and haunting, and completely unlike anything we'd heard before.
Some of us think you lost it the moment you went out with Hollywood actresses. Those people are probably shallow, but others also got concerned when you licensed your music to cheese and mobile phone ads.
The majority of us remain loyal to you and your music and anticipate the day you return to your roots - roots that were displayed all too rarely on your latest record - and not simply because we appreciate comfort in conformity.
Yours,
Bearded nu-folk Devendra uberfan"

John Skilbeck

Girls - Album (Fantasy Trashcan)

Track: Summertime


The pre-release hype had centred on Girls frontman Christopher Owens' background story, which you can read all about elsewhere, so when it arrived the record soared beyond my expectations. Recalling Deserters Songs era Mercury Rev in places, and with Owens' vocal strikingly similar to Elvis Costello, an aching sincerity bled from the likes of Ghost Mouth and Hellhole Ratrace, Summertime was just sublime, and at times, as extravagance rippled through its 12 tracks, it felt like a record which might have been touched by the hand of Brian Wilson. Smile? Despite the often desperately sad subjects tackled by Owens, I hardly stopped.

Matt Collins

Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications (Rough Trade)

Track: I Never Said I Was Deep


It really doesn't matter that Jarvis is still trying to be a pop star at well past 40 - he looked like the weird old man across the street when he was 25. Divorce seems to have unleashed the beast within Mr Cocker, causing him to reach for the electric guitars, crank out some crunching rawk riffs and attach a set of unashamedly sexual lyrics to them. This track for example sings the virtues of being a love-you-and-leave-you kind of guy, while at least being up front about it. There's no Common People on this record, just honesty - loud, chaotic honesty.

SP

The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage (MRI)

Track: The Howling


The Beta Band comparisons drew me to this Scottish troupe but it is the frenetic pace of opener The Howling that gets me going every time, coupled to Rick Anthony’s unnervingly direct Glaswegian accent - imagine Nick Cave and Arab Strap duetting on a krautrock album spun at 45rpm.



Me

Broken Records - Until The Earth Begins To Part (4AD)

Track: Nearly Home


This is one of those tremendously addictive albums that you might leave on one side for a while, but once you do pick it up again, you want to just listen to over and over again until it wears itself out. The seven-piece band come with their own in-built orchestra which lifts them out of the mundanity of being just another indie-rock band, giving them a sound of their own and lending power to their grand anthems.

The Musical Advent Calendar - Door Number One

It's here folks.

The website I usually use to put music on here last night took an ill-timed decision to start producing exotic error messages - producing no end of teeth-gnashing here at Ragged Glories HQ - so I've had to change it up to a different system, but hopefully it all still works.

Without further ado, allow me to present Day One of the Musical Advent Calendar.

Below our 10 panellists present their 24th best album of 2009.

Ali Mason

Taxi Taxi! - Still Standing At Your Back Door (Fierce Panda)

Track: Old Big Trees


Taxi Taxi!, not to be confused with Brooklyn five-piece Taxi Taxi, are Swedish twins Johanna and Miriam Eriksson, whose first full-length album is fragile and beautiful. The pair sing about love and loss - loss mostly - in simple but affecting terms (“we don‘t see the same side of the moon at night”, Same Side of the Moon), while their, and I’m sorry to use this word, sweet voices can‘t help but complement each other. The vocals drip with longing, so even the more upbeat tracks…well, track (Old Big Trees)…sounds blissfully melancholic, while the instrumentation is slow, sparse and deliberate, never more doleful than on closer Mary. Sounds better with every listen.

Rory Dollard

NASA - Spirit of Apollo (Anti-)

Track: Spacious Thoughts (feat. Kool Keith and Tom Waits)


By some distance the year's most unusual cast list, but also one of the most entertaining. Tom Waits? Check. David Byrne? Check. Assorted Wu Tang Clan members? Check. Kanye West, Lykke Li and Santogold - all on the same song? Oh yes. As an album it neccessarily lacks coherence but you are never more than 90 seconds away from a startling cameo

Dom Farrell

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (Honest Jon's)

Track: War


I first clapped eyes on this lot on an episode of 'Later with Jools Holland' earlier in the year. In the middle of the studio where Jools usually minces around conducting the contrived opening jam between all of the night’s chosen artists was a drummer with eight horn players standing around him in a circle, blasting him with a cacophony of sound as they swayed to his nailed down funk beat. Apart from the drummer’s almost inevitable tinnitus, there was nothing not immensely like. Thankfully Hypnotic Brass Ensemble’s eponymous LP manages to deliver on this promise. Funk and soul draw upon the best of the New Orleans Jazz tradition to produce an incredibly enjoyable record. Thirteen trumpet-driven largely instrumental tracks means the album can at times seem a little one paced. But it is a hell of a pace.

Andy Welch

Asobi Seksu - Hush (One Little Indian)

Track: Layers


With a name that means ‘playful sex’ in Japanese, you might expect New York dream-poppers Asobi Seksu to produce sultry, seductive music, and that they do. Hush is their third album and tones down the fuzzy guitars of their eponymous debut and follow up Citrus, replacing them with chiming arpeggios and a solid wall of synths. Yuki Chikudate’s dazzling voice remains the band’s best asset, drawing the listener in like a siren and never sounds better than on the dramatic, epic Layers. Hush fills a narrow niche, but by crikey it does it perfectly.

Guy Atkinson

Converge - Axe To Fall (Epitaph)

Track: Dark Horse


The modern sound of hardcore has never sounded so threatening or fearless. Riffs so enormous they make Jordan's tits look like Smarties combined with some of the most pulsating drumming this side of Slayer makes this album a must for anyone who has a penchant for 'the 'eavy



Pranam Prabhakar

The Crystal Stilts - Alight of Night (Angular)

Track: Departure


Crystal Stilts have a great sound. A sound that's repeated succesfully over the 11 tracks that make their debut album. I like their sound and Departure captures it best. I look forward to hearing the 'new sound' they cultivate for their second album..



John Skilbeck

The Medusa Snare - Cinderella (Squirrel)

Track: NCY


When Leeds noiseniks The Manhattan Love Suicides' split was revealed on a Derbyshire steam train in July, the disappointment only lasted as long as it took for Adam John Miller's spin-off band The Medusa Snare to strike up the first chords of their excellent debut album. The MLS had traded in a fuzzed-up, JAMC-inspired sound, and although The Medusa Snare did not veer too far from the same template - this is a loud record at whatever volume you play it at - there were fresh, perhaps more poppy moments to enjoy. Miller takes lead vocals but they are often way back in the mix with his guitar more often than not the star.

Matt Collins

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz (Geffen)

Track: Dragon Queen


I love the fact that this is an act that are popular and good - not a typical combination in my experience. Much is made of Karen O's sexiness and stage presence which I can't comment on, but these are disco indie pop songs bolshily delivered by a hot woman, so we're on a winner. It's not all fun fun fun either, born out by Skeletons, the short break from the good night out this album soundtracks.

SP

Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon (Universal)

Track: The End of the Day (Pursuit of Happiness)


Hip hop isn’t normally the place for sprawling, five-act conceptual masterpieces about space exploration and inner visions, but then Kid Cudi isn’t your average rapper. A protege of Kanye, the Cleveland kid invited MGMT and electro geniuses Ratatat along for the best track, Pursuit of Happiness, creating his own stoned-psych hybrid of pop along the way.




Me

The Heartless Bastards - The Mountain (Fat Possum)

Track: The Mountain


After completly reforming the Heartless Bastards, Erika Wennerstrom re-emerged with a fuller sound but the same characteristic rootsy rock. With her new line up, Wennerstrom clearly feels emboldened to try plenty of new ideas, mixing in greater instrumentation and even a handful of acoustic tracks. But as the opening title track demonstrates, they've lost none of their edge.

Let the debates begin.

Join us tomorrow to see what is behind door number two...