Top Fifteen Albums Of The Year: 15 – 11

December has cometh and thus, so does the annual round up. We’re beginning with albums, and opting for a top fifteen only. Whittling down this list has been tough, but we’re finally happy with our choices, so, let us commence.

15. Solange – True

Solange’s ‘True’ is latecomer to the album of the year stakes, having only been released a couple of weeks back, and in actuality, is an EP rather than a full album. However, it’s very much worthy of a nod owing to its generous portion of seven tracks, each with their own charm. Production duties for this were shared between Solange and Dev Hynes (AKA Blood Orange / Lightspeed Champion) and the resultant vibe is one with a certain amount of nostalgia – 70’s disco, 80’s funk and 90’s R&B all being checked sonically. These are reference points really though, and in fact, the sound is very current, reflected by Jessie Ware’s recent success in similar territory. Lead single ‘Losing You’ is the sunniest thing here, with ‘Some Things Never Seem To Fucking Work’ equally cheery, even if its message is less so. ‘Locked In Closets’ follows with an upbeat, electronic feel, then the second half of the EP gives way to three songs that we think owe Aaliyah a bigger debt than anyone else – ‘Lovers In The Parking Lot’, ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ and ‘Bad Girls (Verdine Version)’. Showcasing Solange for the artist she obviously wants to be, let’s hope that ‘True’ finally puts her on the map.

Bad Girls (Verdine Version)

14. Echo Lake – Wild Peace

If we were awarding a prize for ‘dreamiest album of the year’, Echo Lake’s ‘Wild Peace’ would win, no contest. What really seems to have impacted upon us is the amazing consistency in the aesthetic of the record – whilst varying in tempo and instrumentation, the loose, hazy, heavenly vibe remains the overwhelming characteristic throughout. There’s also an acute focus on songwriting, even if you can’t quite make out Linda Jarvis’ largely unitelligble, multilayered, reverb-heavy vocals. As with many great albums it’s also one which takes you on a journey, from the cascading organ line of opener ‘Further Down’ all the way through to knowingly overblown guitar solo that finishes closer ‘Just Kids’. En route you’ll also find numbers that are scuzzier (‘Even The Blind’, ‘Breathe Deep’, ‘Young Silence), psych and kraut influenced (‘In Dreams’, ‘Last Song Of The Year’) and even a homage to Beach House on the title track. As far as guitar-led albums went this year, this was undoubtedly our favourite.

Even The Blind

13. The Staves – Dead & Born & Grown

We’ve been writing about The Staves for some time now and are delighted to see them getting the recognition they deserve as the year comes to a close. ‘Dead & Born & Grown’ is a record that draws it’s influences from a few places – most notably the folk and pop of the 1970s, with Joni Mitchell the shining influence here. What makes this record truly exceptional however is two key things; firstly, the stunning harmonies sung by the three Stavely-Taylor sisters – ‘Wisely And Slow’, ‘Pay Us No Mind’ and ‘Mexico’ are three of the best examples of the bliss that can be created when three voices blend. The second string to this record’s bow is the largely restrained techniques that have been applied during production, allowing every small element to make itself matter and be heard. This light touch also means that on ‘Winter Trees’, our album highlight, the crescendo it reaches has all the more impact – indeed, the girls described it as their “club banger” at Bestival this year. ‘Dead & Born & Grown’ has been the soundtrack to much of our winter so far, and if you’re looking for something cosy, reflective and soothing to see you through the coming months, you’ll struggle to find better than this.

Winter Trees

12. Santigold – Master Of My Make Believe

‘Master Of My Make Believe’ was a long time coming, with the danger being that fans would have lost their enthusiasm for Santigold in the four years that preceeded its arrival. To combat waning interests, Santi proved herself once again to be the ultimate chameleon taking the album in about 10 different directions, ensuring a thoroughly engaging listen at all times. Those trajectories include the punk battle march of ‘Go’ featuring Karen O, tropical ska ballad ‘Disparate Youth’, the Buraka Som Sistema-produced tribal madness of ‘Big Mouth’ and dancehall banger ‘Freak Like Me’. Also staying true to her earlier guitar leanings, ‘The Keepers’ and ‘The Riot’s Gone’ provided some delicious bittersweet indie pop. For us though, the album’s pinnacle comes in the form of ‘This Isn’t Our Parade’, which combines all the best elements of a Yeah Yeahs Yeahs ballad (thanks to Nick Zinner), TV On The Radio funkfest (thanks to Dave Sitek) and a leftfield anthem (thanks to Santigold herself). ‘Master Of My Make Believe’ had a lot to live up to, but absolutely delivered. Bring on album number three.

This Isn’t Our Parade

11. Grimes – Visions

Arriving at number eleven is yet another lady – Grimes – proving what a strong year 2012 has been for female artists. We reckon it’s probably a mark of excellence that ‘Visions’, Claire Boucher’s third album proper, didn’t initially seem all that. Riding arguably the biggest wave of hype experienced by any artist this year, our preliminary reaction to the record was “three incredibly strong singles, quite a lot of filler”. But, as with many great releases, over the course of the last 10 months, tracks that initially left us cold have slowly revealed their intricacies and inner workings. Musically, ‘Visions’ is definitely a pop record more than anything else, but imagined through the eyes and ears of someone pulling ideas from anywhere and everywhere. ‘Genesis’ and ‘Symphonia IX (My Wait Is You)’ are two of the prettiest songs this year, whilst ‘Oblivion’ has been possibly the most ubiquitous song heard on the indie disco dancefloor in the same time period. Weirder moments include the demon robo-pop of ‘Eight’, the acid collage of ‘Circumabient’, and spazzy trance experimentation on ‘Vowels = Space And Time’ and ‘Be a Body’. Ultimately though, the key component holding the whole album together is Grimes’ vocals – beautiful, unique and unrivalled by any other artist this year.

Symphonia IX (My Wait Is You)

Ten Songs We Love At The Moment (Part 1)

We’ve had so much music invade our iTunes library recently that absorbing it alone has been a considerable challenge. Whilst you can expect some more detailed posts in the coming week on our choice picks from the influx, we thought we’d do a quick(ish) run down on a handful of tracks we’ve had on repeat. We’d suggest you press play on the following:

1. Bullion – It’s All In Sound

Having established himself via the ‘Pet Sounds: In The Key Of Dee’ mixtape which put The Beach Boys‘ seminal LP head to head with a variety of J Dilla‘s finest productions, Bullion has since proved himself to be quite the chamelon. His latest venture, the ‘Love Me Oh Please Love Me’ EP, sees him building on the more song based material he’s been producing latterly and offering up some fully formed psychedelic, kraut influenced pop. We mean this is as a compliment when we say that it’s a bit like what you’d imagine Deerhunter would come up with if re-imagining Metronomy‘s last album. Our favourite from the collection is ‘It’s All In Sound’, a pacy number characterised by its retro drum machines, loosely twanged guitars and distinctly British vocals.  We think what’s really getting under our skin though is the saxophone, playing a key role with both it’s insistent parps throughout and lengthy solo as the song reaches its climax. Very unlike anything we’ve ever posted on Beats & Pieces before, but very good indeed.

2. Adana Twins – Everyday

Representing Hamburg are Adana Twins (as far as we’re aware, they’re not prefixed with ‘The’). The last year has seen the duo carving out a name for themselves as Exploited‘s most accomplished purveyors of thoroughly groovy house music, notably on their Notorious BIG / Mtume-sampling ‘Juicy’ alongside Doctor Dru. The Twins’ latest, ‘Everyday / Strange’, has been doing big things, riding high in the Beatport charts and getting spins from a broad range of DJs, owing to how carefully it straddles the line between deep house, tech house and plain ol’ regular house. ‘Everyday’ balances it’s elements perfectly, with it’s soulful American vocal hooking the listener in and setting the scene before some tight percussion and deep, groovy bass takes hold. Carefully placed 80’s electrofunk pops hit in all the right places and the track contains one of the best builds and drops we’ve heard in quite some time making it the perfect candidate for dancing in the summer sunshine (if, of course, any of that EVER appears).

3. Nelly Furtado – Big Hoops (Bigger The Better)

We have to admit we’re slightly baffled as to why Justin Bieber‘s ‘Boyfriend’ seems to be regarded as the cool, happening pop song du jour; whilst we can definitely see it’s a big step up for Biebz and pretty solid, it is essentially a very sanitized version of The Ying Yang Twins‘ ‘Whisper Song’ on the verse, and an underwhelming homage to NSYNC‘s  ‘Girlfriend’ on the chorus. Nelly Furtado‘s latest, the Darkchild-produced ‘Big Hoops (Bigger The Better)’, is, on the other hand, getting us very excited indeed. There are many things we love about it – the big rumbling bass, the military drums, the cowbell (obviously) and the squelchy synths are but a few examples. Nelly’s vocal techniques is also steely and detached, not unlike Rihanna, which can be no bad thing. And, although we only very occasionally condone such things (Tinie Tempah and Björk we’re looking at you), the drum and bass breakdown at the end is frickin’ rad. If the rest of forthcoming album ‘The Spirit Indestructible’ is as good as this, we’re in for a treat.

4. Clock On 5 – Theme From Furyo (Special Disco Remix)

A bit of a curveball here – “Wait, isn’t that an illustrated David Bowie on the cover of the ‘Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence’ soundtrack from 1983?” you ask. Well, yes, but it is not he that we’re dealing with today, instead we’ll be looking at Clock On 5‘s luscious italo reworking of Ryuichi Sakamoto‘s beautiful theme from the film. This is a piece of Oscar-winning music that in it’s original form you will undoubtedly be familar with.  We have to thank Dalston Superstore‘s Facebook feed for putting us onto this remix, released a year after the film, but two years before we even existed.  It’s a testimony to Clock On 5 (Italian producers Raffaele Fiume and Alberto Carpani) that this still sounds amazing nearly 30 years later, like so many of the italo classics.  Both discotastic and grand, but also mellow and contemplative we’re going to dedicate this one to the queen of disco Donna Summer who sadly died yesterday. We feel love!

5. The Staves – The Motherlode

And to finish part one of this round up, some beautiful folk from The Staves – a band who’ve embedded themselves deeply in our consciousness. There’s not much that needs to be said about these three sisters from London as they’re an act whose music absolutely speaks for itself. Delicate guitar, gorgeous melodies and flawless harmonies characterise their sound which is perfectly illustrated on new single ‘The Motherlode’, from the EP of the same name. It’s worth YouTubing some live performances to see how captivating their vocals really are (we particularly like this version of ‘Winter Trees’), but we’d also highly recommend getting your mitts on both this latest release and the ‘Mexico’ EP if you fancy treating yourself to some aural bliss and a watery eye.