Winning '11: 20 - Boris

Boris - New Album

So as previously mentioned, Boris' unique approach to organising their music saw them offer three albums in 2011. The first pair were Attention Please and the self-explanatory Heavy Rocks. The last one, a short while after those, was New Album. Which as well as being one of the less inspiring album titles is slightly misleading, given that its newness was reduced six of its ten songs appeared on one or other of the previous albums.

The songs reused from Attention Please are a revelation, though. The relatively straightforward guitar feedback sound of Attention Please is reinforced by all kinds of electronic and production trickery. Just like the album's cover painting with the figure dripping paint and additional structures and growths to the point where she looks like the final form of a Final Fantasy villain, there are layers and depths added to the songs to give them a whole new power.

"Hope" and "Spoon" are back and again the highlights, but massively improved. For "Hope" they put the beat further forward and give a new urgency, as well as adding demented electronic spirals and extra guitars and bookending its already disruptive and mighty guitar solo with warped tape effects. "Spoon" gains percussion made up of shattering glass and someone tapping out Morse code, and an extra chiming counter melody, both bringing new dynamics to life.

Elsewhere on the album "Jackson Head" does pounding techno rock, with a confrontational Takeshi re-assuming vocal duties instead of Wata and having great fun shouting a lot. "Flare" is also a lot of fun and as close to the commercial J-Rock sound as I've ever heard them get, with all the ridiculous guitar solos and driving beats that entails. Other songs take on different styles of rock, incorporating dance elements to various degrees. Though the album doesn't have the same consistency of tone as Attention Please, the experiments are generally more successful.

Winning '11: 21 - Radiohead

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

It's difficult to write about The King of Limbs without starting with why it's sitting at number 21 when all their other recent albums were significantly higher up my lists.

So, the loose and simplified tale of Radiohead's 2000-on career path as I see it: Kid A and Amnesiac made a statement that they could, and would, now do something really different from anything they had before. Hail to the Thief said that they could continue with that alongside more traditional songs, but had an awkward fit between the two. In Rainbows lacked the highest highs of any of those three but finally managed to reconcile the new and old and was their most consistent record in songwriting, sound and quality since OK Computer.

The King of Limbs is a weird step back, built on much the same sounds and atmosphere as In Rainbows but without the songs. 'There are no songs' was a futile protest at Kid A,  not only because it frequently wasn't true, but because where it was true it was pretty much the point. The King of Limbs is the first time it feels like a valid complaint, because they've already shown that they can write catchy and moving songs that sound like it! "Morning Mr. Magpie" has been around unreleased for quite a while but does make you wonder whether this was deliberate or at least something they're aware of - it's difficult not to read into its wry final lines 'now you've stolen all my magic/took my melody'.

Negatives out of the way, The King of Limbs is a really very gorgeous album, something to sink into and explore and which for its similarities does still sound very fresh. And at its brief length every song counts, as it has to.

"Bloom" with its loping rhythms, Thom and the universe sighing over the top, pulling itself into an amazing swirl of strings and brass sounds before retreating into the forest with whispers all around. Jittery "Morning Mr Magpie" which starts from the none-more-Radiohead opening taunt 'You got some nerve/Coming here' and goes from there. The twisted groove of "Little By Little" existing in uneasy but compelling harmony with a delicate melody. "Feral" and its journey into the dark unknown.

Then the second half (and this is an album with a very obvious split in two) when things open up. There is still a wealth of details but what melodies there are are less crowded in, given more room to breathe. "Lotus Flower" taking the shuddering beats of "Idioteque" and setting them to something as pretty as it as panicky. The embracing serenity of both "Codex" and "Give Up The Ghost", one hopeful and one hopeless. The twinkling and elegiac parting gesture of "Separator".

Plus they did give rise to one of 2011's better memes.

Winning '11: 22 - Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga - Born This Way

Easiest to start this off with what I said about the first two singles at the time:

"Born This Way" - For the past year or so, watching the “Just Dance” video has been a sure way of inducing cognitive dissonance. After the awesome, meticulous realisation of vision that was The Fame Monster and associated campaign, it’s a bizarre and unreal feeling to go back to seeing and hearing a document of Gaga not as unstoppable phenomenon but as mere ordinary pop star. “Born This Way” will not have as ordinary looking a video, and doesn't give up a large section of its lines to some guy called Colby, but it produces a bit of the same feeling. There are more moments of buzzing excitement in its multiple layers than “Just Dance”, and it has an even more hugely constructed chorus, but for the first time in a while you can see the joins.

"Judas" -  This is more like it! The recycled elements are of minor consequence next to the way the beat clangs with awesome industrial force like nothing else she’s done, the best thing about it. Then there’s the sweet and addictive hi-NRG chorus and the way that that and the heavier elements are not so much stitched into a song as crammed violently together into the same four minute space. The effect is actually to make both of them sound all the more strange and exciting and the straight-faced nonsense delivered over the top works perfectly in that context.


The album carried on from there really, covering the whole range of points between those two, as well as a surprisingly enjoyable foray into Shania Twain/80s pop balladry for its closing two tracks and singles. It's overly long, especially the bonus edition (but that does get you the less stupid cover art), and undoubtedly a bit of a mess, but when it works it's amazing. "Government Hooker" and "Scheiße" sound like no one and nothing else in a fantastic way, and even when she doesn't pull things off to the same extent there's such likeable personality alongside the ambition that it's easy to forgive.  

Winning '11: 23 - Chapel Club

Chapel Club - Palace

I used the word 'epic' again yesterday. I should really stop that, it's a bit overused. Plus it's going to difficult not to bring it into play for Chapel Club, since 'epic indie rock' is kind of the genre they operate in. Think  more guitar-heavy early Doves stuff like "Catch the Sun" and you're nearly there. Lewis Bowman's voice is a little more tuneful than Jimi Goodwin's, but almost as deep and just as naturally set on transmitting overpowering emotion.

Their lyrics are perfectly pitched evocative vagueness (the only way they can get away with a song called "All the Eastern Girls", and even then it's touch and go), the interpolation of "Dream a Little Dream" on "Surfacing" is fantastic twisted romanticism, absolutely everything sounds appropriately HUGE. There's not enough range, and this isn't a genre which I can love in unalloyed form, for them to get any higher up than 22 (or to give me much more to say), but they are great at what they do.

Winning '11: 24 - Help Stamp Out Loneliness

Help Stamp Out Loneliness - Help Stamp Out Loneliness

Help Stamp Out Loneliness are, as you could probably guess from that name, indie pop. But not of the fey and twee variety, or the sharp and scratchy variety. Maybe it's also in part the resemblance of their album cover to that of "Slight Return", but there's something in their jangly, richly melodic sound that puts me in mind of The Bluetones. Long time readers will know that that is very much a good thing in my books.

Both the voice of D Lucille Campbell and the words she's singing take them to a different place from The Bluetones though. Somewhere between Nico and Morrissey, she sings in a knowingly witty, self deprecating way, expertly treading a line between humour and emotion as she suffers breakdowns in record shops and sings lines like "She said maybe he is not a real man/I'm not so sure, cos you don't even like Wham".

The album is also bookended by two joyful epics. "Cottonopolis & Promises" slowly builds anticipation before twinkling keyboards and guitar riffs which wouldn't be too far out of place on  Los Campesinos!' début take over. "Split Infinitives" bounds to a huge singalong chorus finale of its own, and then steals one from Arab Strap to take things up even further.

My year in Jukebox

A friend said recently that she had difficulty keeping up with everything I write for The Singles Jukebox. Which is pretty reasonable with three posts a day! So I thought for her and other interested friends it would be good to bring some of my highlights this year together in one place.


The Vaccines - Post Break Up Sex
Mainly for the fact that I got named in the intro, and how funny the gap between me and everyone else was.


Jessie J - Do It Like a Dude
Jessie J - Price Tag
An exploration of why "Price Tag" is one of the worst songs ever, preceded by her previous hit for context.

The Wombats - Jump into the Fog
Something else I didn't like, but was slightly more conflicted on.

Lady Gaga - Born This Way
I'm happy that my fairly instant reaction to this still stands up so well.

Patrick Wolf - House
Patrick Wolf - Time of my Life
Patrick Wolf - Together
This was the year that Patrick Wolf finally broke through to something approaching mainstream success and we (and I) did three of his songs and loved all of them.

Robyn - Call Your Girlfriend
Another song that I really love and tried to explain. There were some interesting discussions around its somewhat ambiguous narrative, as there were with...

Lana Del Rey - Video Games
My first mammoth blurb of the year. Originally even longer, but got edited down by me and the editor. Not entirely happy that my drawing of parallels between the song and the game I talk about came through as well as I'd like, but that wasn't down to the editing.

Emmy the Great - Paper Forest
I explain my love at length; song gets a total non-reaction from everyone else.

Coldplay - Paradise
I just liked how this one turned out. And the dubstep joke in the comments.

Sak Noel - Loca People (What the Fuck)
Most credit due to my friend George here!

Charlene Soraia - Wherever You Will Go
I detail what's wrong with (some) British pop at the moment. I hope at least someone appreciated 'Twincest tweebags'.

Perfume - Spice
Me giving the background to this particular strain of (amazing) Japanese pop. Everyone else actually liked the song too. Got my first compliment in the comments since, ooh, Owl City?

AKB48 - Ue Kara Mariko
Another mammoth blurb, about a different and less amazing strain of Japanese pop. Rather more fact-heavy than I usually get, but I was pleased with how it turned out.

Little Dragon - Ritual Union
Mammoth blurb number three. My single of the year and the very personal reasons why.

Winning '11: 25 - Boris

Boris - Attention Please

Boris are a Japanese group, not one person or any relation to the mayor of London. I became aware of them at the start of the year through their presence alongside Radiohead and The xx on the soundtrack to Confessions, my favourite film of 2011. There are several overhead and slow motion shots in the film which would not have had anything like the same power if not scored by Boris' brooding post rock.

This discovery was just in time for a year in which Boris released three albums, none of which sounded anything like that! Well, it's a bit more complicated than that, but Attention Please certainly was very much new territory for them - guitarist Wata (I presume that's her on the cover) taking lead vocals for the album and the band making an attempt at a 'pop' record.

Certainly they remain a long way away from AKB48 or Perfume style J-Pop, but on the two singles "Hope" and "Spoon" they hit upon an exhilarating blend. Those songs sound like shoegaze played without the same slurred thickness but with the same sense of overwhelming sweetness masking a harshness beneath. "Hope" makes that harshness particularly clear when it suddenly breaks into a vicious guitar solo near the end before the sweetness takes back over even stronger. "Spoon" does wind tunnel noise and double drumming over the top of what passes for a chorus. The sense that Boris are making it up as they go along and don't really understand the genre they're playing just adds to the exhilaration.

The rest of the album is not on the same level and offers a more uneasy compromise between their noise past and pop wishes, but has plenty of other compelling moments, from the stripped back breathy pleading of "Attention Please" to the malfunctioning machinery rhythms of "Tokyo Wonder Land", to the calm of their best Sigur Rós impression on "Hand in Hand"

Now for the spoiler - this is not the last Boris album in this list, and things are going to get both better and weirder from here.

Winning '11: 26 - Vanbot

Vanbot - Vanbot

Between the ease of instant album listening through Spotify and the vast amounts of data last.fm and amazon have on my listening habits, this has been the first year when I've actually started making successful discoveries of artists I'd never heard of through algorithms. Sister Crayon doing Bat For Lashes/Glasser type alt-pop for instance.

Vanbot is both the biggest success of last.fm's recommendations for the year and kind of the easiest - it was recommended on the basis that I listen to Robyn a lot and 'if you like Robyn, you'll like Vanbot' doesn't seem likely to be a contentious statement. At least, if rather than the Robyn of "Konichiwa Bitches" or "Fembot" you prefer the Robyn of "With Every Heartbeat" and "Dancing on my Own" and "Hang With Me", of synth-pop filled with emotion and dance energy until the two become indistinguishable. With songs like the fizzy abandonment pop of "By the Side of this Road", and the chilly "Bitter is the Sweetest Part" (if ever there was a summary in one title...), that's very much the territory Vanbot is sharing

Vanbot is one Ester Ideskog, as the Paypal payment for my CD copy of the album went to - this is clearly a small scale enterprise. That makes it all the more impressive that the music frequently sounds so huge - the colossal beats of "Make Me, Break Me", the building layers of sound in "Ringing" before it collapses into the saddest of soft synth breakdowns at the end, the embracing washes of sound on "Safe By the Numbers". There's always a danger in getting closed into ever decreasing genre spaces if you only listen to things which sound like stuff you already like, so it won't be the only thing I listen to but if it's done as well as this I would be very happy to hear more like Vanbot.

Winning '11: 27 - Active Child

Active Child - You Are All I See

This is an album which hits you with its musical themes just about instantly - after one harpsichord like keyboard note you are abruptly hit with actual harps tinkling all over the place and synths imitating wheezing brass instruments. Soon enough that's joined by retro synth drums and Pat Grossi's voice, which is high pitched, otherworldy and amazing and accounts for a lot of Active Child's appeal. Think Wild Beasts or Antony Hegarty but without the bleating quality. The opening (title) track slowly unfurls as a gorgeous reverie, highly strung both emotionally and musically.

It very much sets the tone for the whole album, but his is an unusual and rewarding sound and merits the full exploration that it gets. "Playing House" sees him joined by fellow traveller How to Dress Well and more closely approaches pop though twists it into strange shapes. Instrumental "Ivy" is a bigger showcase for the harp before plunging it into synth fuzz.

Every song contributes to the overall mood and has its own spin on the sound but "Way Too Fast" is probably the biggest highlight. It reaches dramatic heights even greater than the rest of the album through its slowly creeping melody and some really amazing choral vocal effects as Grossi sings about a relationship which is going wrong but he can't do anything to stop, sounding regretful, bitter and scarily vengeful in turns.

Winning '11: 28 - Coldplay

Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto

"Every Teardop is a Waterfall" and "Paradise" are a seriously impressive pair of singles in doing everything which Coldplay have done so well in recent times (they're BIG) while simultaneously integrating new elements and setting them up as just a tiny bit closer to a mainstream pop sound. It's a shame that "Princess of China" feels too underwritten to make full use of Rihanna's appearance and doesn't complete the hat trick.

The rest of the album doesn't offer much in the way of big surprises (there are still impassioned choruses, lyrics which could politely be called impressionistic, guitars which sound a bit U2) but is no retread with the surging pop of "Hurts Like Heaven" difficult to imagine existing in its current form on previous albums too.


Mylo Xyloto is also much more coherent than Viva La Vida, stitched together with a series of lovely little instrumental interludes and seamlessly builds in (presumably Eno-influenced) moments of ambient prettiness. It sounds consistently gorgeous, with a rich sound even on the slower songs like "Us Against The World" where Viva La Vida sometimes sounded thin (That song shows off the deeper end of Chris Martin's vocal range to good effect, too).

I have a long history with the band that makes it a bit difficult for me to look at them in anything approaching an objective way, but if they'd continued on the compressed, ultra-serious anthems of X&Y I think I might still have fallen out of love with them completely. So I'm really happy that they've found a way to succeed while doing more than that. Though I kind of wish they'd found room for the ridiculous (yet strangely poignant!) space-prog of B-side "Moving to Mars". Maybe more like that next time?

Winning '11: 29 - Twin Sister

Twin Sister - In Heaven

Going as far down as 30 albums this year, a lot of the lower entries are ones with one really outstanding song and a lot of other enjoyable but lesser songs. Twin Sister's In Heaven fits that pattern but is unusual in how little resemblance the one stand-out has to the rest of the album. The massively fun "Gene Ciampi" is a two minute blast of twanging guitars, clomping beats and "ha-ha!" backing vocals which reminds me most of the energetically updated retro pop of The Coral, though Andrea Estella's softer vocals are a long way from theirs.

Only the guitar and organ driven drama of "Spain" is remotely similar in sound. Over much of the rest of the short album they instead work on a much calmer and more electronic basis. Stuff like "Space Babe" and "Kimmi in a Rice Field" sets up synth-pop beats but use them as the backdrop to drifting songs of a quiet beauty. They actually come very close to a second stand out with "Stop", thanks to its amazing whooshing bass sounds as much as the songwriting, but the rest of the album is so easygoing and likeable that even just one amazing moment is enough to make me want to keep returning to it.

Winning '11: 30 - Neon Indian

Neon Indian - Era Extraña


I never had a NES or a SNES or a Gameboy. I am about the right age but only had Commodore 64s and Amigas, both of which were a little past their times by then. Some bits of Chiptune (and some Calvin Harris productions) do sound like C64, but it tends to be Nintendo and Sega which are the dominant reference points in what the genre is going for. If anything, though, I think that having only come across them in brief sessions at friends' houses at the time makes the power of nostalgia all the greater.

This is an introduction to talking about Neon Indian because the dominant sound of Era Extraña is sharp and electronic and, if not actually played on a SNES, mostly sounds like it could be. While that sound is dominant, though, Neon Indian build layers of hazy sound built under and around it. So they have both an instant hit of excitement and nostalgia and a deeper and rewarding atmosphere to sink into. Using precise and unyielding sounds in pursuit of haziness (even the catchiest songs, like "Polish Girl" maintain a vocal indistinctiveness) - an unusual combination which consistently comes off very well.

Winning '11: 31 - Medina

Medina - For Altid

We cover a rich diversity of stuff on The Singles Jukebox, but it's fair to say that melancholic Scandinavian synth-pop is one of our specialist subjects. As such it's no surprise that I first came across Medina's melancholic Danish synth-pop through "Kun for Mig" appearing in the Jukebox's top songs of 2009. And indeed found out about their return this year, with the awesome "Synd for Dig", in the same way.

You can already my thoughts on the wonders of that song via the link, but after "Synd for Dig" kicks off For Altid it carries through on that promise. "Kl. 10" does dramatic strings and perfect poise, "Lyser i Mørke" does a fine job both anthemic piano ballad and weird discordant futurism. All repeatedly punch through the language barrier (although amidst the Danish I'm pretty sure that "Vend Om" features some very Anglo-Saxon swearing), which is no mean feat.

So, um...

I was really planning to follow up the Music Diary Project posts with some kind of summary! Something to do with one of the things Nick initially said about critics listening to music in an artificial or unusual way, and the fact that aside from The Singles Jukebox I don't write about music any more, but despite never having to review them I've still been seeking out new albums constantly. I keep a Spotify playlist to keep track of all the 2011 albums I've listened to and I'm on 185.

But yes, it's seven months later an I still haven't written it, or anything else. Oh well. I think I'm going to bring my write ups for my favourite albums of the year back off facebook and onto here this year though, starting from the 1st of December, so there will be some posts in a bit!

Music Diary Project Day 6 (09/04/11)

Spotify starred playlist on shuffle for about 15 minutes. Young Galaxy came up twice and I enjoyed both songs so I definitely need to listen to the whole album. Also got "Tog" by Colourmusic.

After that I was out for most of the day. I heard a lot of music along the way, of which the below is only a selection of the most notable. I do find that I almost always notice background music, but getting a chance to note it down or remember what it was is another matter!

Chapel Club/The Drums (in pub bit of gastropub)
Lots of very low key triphop and soul (in restaurant bit of gastropub)
Numerous buskers, including an impressive beatboxer with an amplifier near South Bank
Doves - "There Goes the Fear" while getting a drink in EAT
Alexis Jordan - "Happiness" / Aqua - "Barbie Girl" / Spice Girls - "Mama" very loud, in a new Mexican restaurant.

Music Diary Project Day 5 (08/04/11)

Hot Horizons - "October"
Tall Ships - Tall Ships EP / There is Nothing but Chemistry Here EP

Checking out new bands on the way to work. Hot Horizons on this evidence seem to be treading similar ground to Trophy Wife to slightly lesser effect, but I love Tall Ships' combination of downtempo, fairly minimal songs and early Biffy Clyro guitar riffs. Later have to conduct some research on the Tall Ships album from 2009 that Spotify has to make sure it isn't the same band and I don't have to disqualify them from my new bands playlist.

Olivia - Greatest Hits (Disc 2)
For my journey home, a Japanese album bought on a whim in Hong Kong which turned out to be really great, at least for Disc 2 (which I think is the B-sides, maybe, but is much better than the straightforward rock of Disc 2). Probably closest to Ellie Goulding, if she'd carried on being as good as "Under the Sheets" suggested.

Chapel Club - Palace
Epic Echo & the Bunnymen / early U2 indie which I actually like a lot, despite not having that much time for anyone else doing it. Listened to this at home before heading out.

Departure DJ set
A night at a bar in Camden which apparently plays 'Dark Wave, New Wave, Industrial, Synthpop, EBM, 80s'. Was there because other friends were (including the DJ) rather than for the music, almost all of which I didn't know. There was an excellent more industrial remix of Editors' "Papillon" though, during which I had an enthusiastic conversation about how good their last album was.

Music Diary Project Day 4 (07/04/11)

Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi
For my journey to work. I like this album a lot more than I expected, appreciating its dramatic sweep without descending into pastiche or being too over the top.

A few tracks on my mp3 player on shuffle
To fill up the remainder of my journey. I do like that my journey to and from work is usually about the length of an album.

Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
While doing some work. I think this was actually a bad choice as it proved to be a bit distracting, or maybe that was just down to the work in question.

Adele - Someone Like You
On my way out of the office to get some lunch this was blasting out of someone's car at full volume, sounding distorted and a little unpleasant. The song itself as colossus bestriding British pop remains baffling.

Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
On my mp3 player on my way home. Made a mental note to myself to play it to my girlfriend again at some point as we are going to her gig at Shepherds Bush Empire next week.

British Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall
Once I got home. This choice was partly dictated by having one hour to fill and nothing else recent that was long enough (as you may have noticed, I spent most of my time this week listening to quite new music, which is typical). I listened while reading/playing Don't Take it Personally Babe, it Just Ain't Your Story. I spend a fair bit of time listening to music while playing video games and usually it's the music which takes priority - I think I get some of my more concentrated listening done while playing stuff like FIFA and Street Fighter IV, and if anything having my mind mostly elsewhere actually helps me to win more at them asthey become more instinctive without concious thought getting in the way. In this case though, playing something very text and narrative heavy, combined with listening to something which I'm already very familair with, meant that there was a point where I realised that I was barely taking in the album at all.

MTV Hits - various top 40 songs
I had MTV Hits on the TV for about an hour while washing up, browsing the internet and sorting various things out. Much of the channel's schedule is now taken up by runs through of videos for the top 40 in order, which is the best thing to have ever happened to it - the democratic old Top of the Pops / chart show format has long been my preferred way of taking in chart music. You get to hear more different songs and if there's something unlikeable it feels better to blame the public at large rather than some unknown playlist selector's taste. It would be better still if the chart wasn't so slow moving these days though, and I do have to turn off when it gets to Jessie J because there is no way I'm listening to "Price Tag" again.

Xposure on xfm
For about an hour and a half. Nothing which really stood out as great in that time which I didn't already know, but there was a rather lovely live version of Elbow's "Some Riot".

Music Diary Project Day 3 (06/04/11)

Katy B - On a Mission
On the way to work, since I didn't get to give it a proper listen the previous day. A few amazing songs (not just singles) but a lot of it still passing me by so far.

Einar Stray - Chiarascuro
Amazing Norwegian post-rock-meets-Sufjan-Stevens debut which was well worth the 20 quid I had to pay for the CD. Listened to while working.

Adele - probably something from 21
While browsing in HMV at lunchtime. Sounded quite a lot like "Chasing Pavements", but wasn't.

Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys!
Again while working. This has nothing as absolutely perfect as "Starlings" or "Great Expectations", or... half of Asleep in the Back, but that would be asking a lot, and I still love it. Competing with the aforementioned Einar Stray for favourite album of the year so far.

Various tracks from Spotify starred playlist, on shuffle
Couldn't make up my mind what to listen to on the way home.

Xposure (xfm)
For about an hour and a half while doing various things in the evening.

Day 2 (05/04/11)

Conquering Animal Sound - Kammerspiel
On my way into work, my first listen to the album that I bought at the gig. Very much as expected, which is a good thing.

Elbow - Ticker Tape
Patrick Wolf - The City
Guillemots - The Basket
Delays made my journey a bit longer, so I listened to the last few mp3s which I'd bought - the new singles (or B-side) of three of my favourite acts and among the few that I would bother doing so for.

Admiral Fallow - Boots Met My Face
New album (well, it was released last year but has been rereleased and put on Spotify) which I listened to for the first time based on this piece and its mention of recommendations from a couple of my favourite bands. I liked the arrangements and the obvious depth and care that went into them, but wasn't so sure on the songwriting or singing. Will give it another go at some point.

Katy B - On a Mission
Another new album through Spotify Mobile which I listened to on my way home. Didn't quite get all the way through it and didn't form much of an opinion yet.

Hannah Peel - The Broken Wave
Listened to once I got home while on the web/playing games. On my own in the room. Lovely album which the previous day's gig made me want to go back to.

Oh Land - "Sun of a Gun" x3
I wanted to check that my thoughts on the song from listening to it on the album would stand up to concentrated listening before submitting my review for The Singles Jukebox (they did), and I needed to check the exact wording of a line that I was quoting.

Emmy the Great - First Love
Followed on from the indie folk of the previous day, but also a choice influenced by a discussion with my girlfriend about British people who are part-Chinese (she had been reading Matt Tong and Alexa Chung interviews for her PhD), and because she was in the room so I wanted to pick something she would be happy to listen to as well. I love this album a lot.

Xposure on xfm
Listened to this for about an hour, it's the only thing on xfm that I will listen to but is very good for new indie stuff. The highlight was the gorgeous new single from Clock Opera, "Belongings", which was played immediately after The Pains of Being Pure at Heart's "Belong".

Music Diary Project day one (04/04/11)

Hi everyone! I really wanted to take part in Nick Southall's Music Diary Project. This involves writing down all of the music that you listen to for a week (and trying not to let your choices be too affected by the fact). Luckily I already have this neglected blog handy to write it up in! Day one is a bit late as I was out last night (as you will see) but this is what I listened to:

Connan Mockasin - Forever Dolphin Love
I listened to this album for the first time, during my commute into work. At the start of this year I signed up to Spotify Mobile and it has had a big impact on my listening habits as I love listening to new music and now can read about something intriguing, set it in my 'starred' playlist and it will almost instantly be available to listen to on my phone wherever I am. I think I still actually buy the same (large) number of CD albums as previously, but listen to many more and make a lot fewer bad purchases. In this case the title track appeared in Sweeping the Nation's Spotify playlist for the month and I'd never heard of it, looked it up and it sounded intriguing. It turned out that it indeed was, psychedlia which wasn't all possible to process on first listen but which I will definitely come back to.

Kassidy - "Stray Cat" (from Hope St.)
Connan album didn't last the whole journey and so Spotify went on to the next thing on my playlist. I put this whole album on after seeing a friend of a friend talking it up on Facebook, but it turned out to be horrendous landfill indie of a kind I thought was dead, and I didn't make it through more than one song.

Niki & the Dove - "DJ Ease My Mind"
Instead I went on to this to fill the last minutes of the journey - from my playlist of stuff by new acts. Owes a lot to The Knife, but really great regardless.

Oh Land - Oh Land
Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
I listened to both of these on headphones while working. I usually listen to one or two albums a day at most as I don't like to keep dipping in and out of an album and am not usually concentrated on doing on single task for that long, but when I am I find it easier to do so with music.

Something I didn't recognise which may or may not have been Macy Gray / someone whistling the World 1-1 theme from Super Mario Bros.
The soundtrack to getting my lunch.

Braids - Native Speaker
For my commute home. I have listened to this album a lot and it's one of my favourites of the year. Quite annoyed that I will be away when they play in London next month.

Conquering Animal Sounds live set
Various folk songs I didn't know, and a very proggy instrumental version of "Scarborough Fair"
Hannah Peel live set
I went to the Lexington to see Hannah Peel. I had never heard of the support act Conquering Animal Sounds but they were really impressive, building looped voices and keyboards into fragmented but increasingly powerful songs which also just about fitted the folk theme of the night. I bought their album before I left.

It was the first time I'd seen Hannah Peel and things took a while to properly get going, not helped by the drums being overpoweringly loud in such a small venue. Strong voice though and the quieter songs lived up to her excellent album. I love her music box playing too - such a clever idea! Also a neat bonus to see Laura Groves (aka Blue Roses) as part of her band.