Albums of the Year: Part One

We're showing our hand pretty late this year and honestly, there's not that many good reasons. But for now, here's some words from Braden.

Hi there, before I begin, let me explain. Toby figured out some form of algorithm that I found to be really very complicated, but, I trusted him and his unwavering vision of some form of democracy and frankly, the results speak for themselves. They're the reason he's in charge around here; why he's asleep somewhere whilst I'm writing the albums of the year introduction. I could write anything...
This year, Robin Thicke made me lose my faith in the public and Miley Cyrus' press made me lose faith in sanity. Luckily, our team here are better than both and they've outdone themselves this year. We're still a small fish in a big ocean, but this year we put a show on on the underground, we talked to some amazing musicians and got allowed to hang out in some of the most amazing fields. This job's not made worthwhile by the money we earn from it; because we earn none. No, this job's made worthwhile by the fact that we get to listen to music, new music, basically every day. It's made worthwhile by you coming to us and telling us that you liked something we wrote/shot. It's made worthwhile by someone at a gig saying they've read your site. Heck, it's even made worth while by the occasional staff gathering for drinks/burritos/records/gigs.
The only thing that's left to ask really is; what happens when music, which is entirely subjective, gets listened to across a year, by people that you trust to bring it to you?
Answer? A top 50.
Shout at us, praise us, point us in the way of something new. Most of all though, incase I don't get the chance to say it again in 2013, thank you.

Braden Fletcher (Co-Editor)

50. Nai Harvest – Whatever
A key factor in Nai Harvest's force is their clear understanding of the genre they are in, their representation of the other genres that represent them and their unabashed enthusiasm to create something passionate and distinctly their own.  

With a few years under their belt and a chance to settle into themselves comes the release of 'WHATEVER', their album. In truth, this album is the album they were supposed to make.

Elliot H

49. FIDLAR – FIDLAR 

FIDLAR are a four-piece punk outfit from Los Angeles and I use punk in the official sense, not as some kind of fashion campaign by Topshop. They took their name from the skater saying ‘Fuck It Dog, Life’s A Risk’ and although they won’t change the world on this first outing it is evidence that there is still room for a dumb and brutal rock album. This is a venture into feedback and riffery that isn’t particularly vogue at the moment but clearly doesn’t give a shit.

Paul S

48. The Knife – Shaking the Habitual

47.  Lorde – Pure Herione

46. Jessy Lanza – Pull My Hair Back

45. Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus

44. Anamanaguchi - Endless Fantasy

Anamanaguchi also feature in our Label of the Year feature for Alcopop Records!

43. Daughter - If You Leave
If You Leave proves that Daughter have gone from creating music focused on pain, to creating music that encapsulates pain and acts as medicine. Some may call it depressing, I’d argue they’ve not listened hard enough.
Braden F

42. King Krule - 6 Feet Beneath The Moon
The Zookid's come a long way. He's been on Letterman and he's been around the world. Not something you'd expect from an album so sparse and honest. That Archie's still got such a great buzz around his name after years of toying with the idea of putting a record together, is testament to the pure enjoyability of a record built around the sound of a crumbling capital city. King Krule has the capacity in him to create a life out of this record and he's hardly the kind that's going to get carried away by fame.
Braden F


41. And So I Watch You From Afar - All Hail Bright Futures
Cementing their place as one of the UK's most exciting acts both on record and stage, ASIWYFA's third record is a jubilant celebration of post-rock and alternative music as a whole alike. Swelling from it's beginnings, it quickly becomes the kind of record you can soundtrack only the most enjoyable of lives to. In contrast to their second, darker record, AHBF is magnificent.
Braden F



40. Of Montreal - Lousy WIth Sylvianbriar

FIDLAR - FIDLAR

There are times when we all want to lay prostrate on the floor and weep as something light and melodic whispers it’s gentle acoustic lullaby to us as we think of the one who got away and hold a pillow close to our chests. There are also times when you get up from that position and realise you want to just drink beer, smash automatic doors off their hinges and end the night upside down at the bottom of a concrete staircase. Luckily, to cover the latter, there is FIDLAR.

FIDLAR are a four-piece punk outfit from Los Angeles and I use punk in the official sense, not as some kind of fashion campaign by Topshop. They took their name from the skater saying ‘Fuck It Dog, Life’s A Risk’ and although they won’t change the world on this first outing it is evidence that there is still room for a dumb and brutal rock album. This is a venture into feedback and riffery that isn’t particularly vogue at the moment but clearly doesn’t give a shit.

Opening track Cheap Beer drops in like Black Flag, it could drive you out to the desert and leave you for dead. The chorus (“I drink cheap beer, so what fuck you”) is fit to be screeched back to them in packed out, leather clad, sweaty clubs, or indeed as it turns out at festivals. FIDLAR were one of the stand out new bands at Reading and Leeds 2012. Before it can get tiring it is over, in The Ramones sensibility of songwriting. It’s nothing complicated but it just works. It creates an impact that is often overlooked when everything is studio-produced to mediocrity. There’s something straight and genuine about these songs. This isn’t an act. When Zac Carper hollers the lyrics to Whore, you buy it, you feel it.

There are some obvious anthems to be taken from the album, most notably ‘Wake Bake Skate’ which appears custom made to be used over footage in a bowl or pipe. It’s another example of the band talking about what they know and it serves as further proof that it is the best way to write. FIDLAR are a band making the music they grew up listening to, it’s something new in the turgid climate of nonsense pop records, but it’s close enough to their forefathers that it feels almost homely. On LDA there is an almost Joey Ramone stuffiness to the vocal that is like watching a home movie.

If you need something to pick you out of the gutter or for that unforgiving road trip then this album comes highly recommended, it’s a familiar headbutt.

7

Paul Schiernecker