My End-Of-Year In Lists

From the snappy, clever, witty Los Campesinos! related title to the final, award winning (I gave it to myself, alright?) sentence at the end, this is clearly going to be the most important thing you'll read all year.

First I'd like to take time out to reassure you that this will NOT be my Top billion albums of 2008. For that go to www.myspace.com/playmusicpickup to see my Top 5's. What it wil be though is a list, in no particular order, of the albums that got little or no attention whatsoever. Knicked wholesale from Drowned In Sound, my list is different to theirs, just so no one notices. Oops.

School of Seven Bells - Alpinism

Cursed with the late-in-the-year (better than being Late Of The Pier - arf) syndrome, this glorious shoegaze scenic-scope debut - featuring an ex member of the godawful Secret Machines - is actually one of the best things I've heard in ages. Painted with the scrapings of Alpine air, it feels as if it's floating above and beyond most people's pop horizons. Forget MGMT (if you can stop being reminded about them every ten seconds by EVERY list this year), this was the soaring pop gem of 2008.

The Chap - Mega Breakfast

Making as much sense as trying to literally split hairs, The Chaps electronic-leaning hyper-eclectic blend is both fascinating and hilarious. Taking themselves seriously about a tenth of an iota, this playful, explosive and innovative record shouldn't be ignored. This band has been around for ages, and this record represents the point where they became an extremely engaging concern for the UK.

Shield Your Eyes - Shield Your Eyes

Seriously, I've been banging on about these lot for an age. Why? Because I adore Meet Me In St Louis, one of the saddest losses of the year. Still, never mind because Toby found himself with long-term musician buddy Stef and formed one of the most violently surprising prospects I've seen in ages. Their album was recorded live, in a circle with mics dangling from the ceiling. Stef practically tore his guitar apart playing the songs - bending the neck, tearing strings off, detuning, his rapid-fire Rory Gallagher-inspired blues-esque attack laden with extreme pinch harmonics and off key chords. His rough vocals leave room for Toby's effortless delivery. THe whole package - octopus percussion, dramatic bass riffs - all feel like the collapse of sanity, yet represent heartbreak, love and an enormous amount of passion. It needs to be channelled through many, many ears.


Rings - Black Habit

A feminist boxing glove of an album, its occasionally improvised nature means tunes dwindle and skate around the outside of accepted harmony - which is naturally a very good thing. Speaking of natural, it all feels like the whole album flows even in the face of musical obstacles. It's a flood that threatens to rise and rise until you're engulfed. You soon are, and there's little you can do but get carried away.

Abe Vigoda - Skeleton

Perhaps more well known than the others above due to the band's association with The Smell - and by extention, No Age, HEALTH and Mika Miko - yet no one bothered to point out that its wild experiments within a strangely tropical wasteland was an overwhelmingly positive thing in 2008. It could be compared to another inescapable record (Vampire Weekend's debut) yet, ambiguously, it's so far removed in approach, ambition and vibe that they may aswell be alien languages in comparison to each other. This, as you may well know, is a VERY good thing, regardless if you like VW or not.

Frank Turner - Love, Ire and Song

Criminally demolished by critics, these people just aren't listening with their hearts. I find it hard to abandon my emotions when indulging in music, so it's obvious that Frank's passionate, poignant and amusing tales of excess, heartbreak and life would hit a resonating key. Yes, his lyrics are skillfully moulded pottery with ornate artwork carefully painted upon them within a ramshackle house of rock, but that house is a fun, melodic and vibrant place. Mandolins, timpani and fiddles give streaks of colour to solid songwriting that should capture the hearts and minds of anyone who's ever had any experience of life, good or bad.

These New Puritans - Beat Pyramid

So it took six months to get it into this journo's stubborn skull that this band have produced one of the most exciting debuts in recent times, but I got there. It's the brutality of simplicity. Drums are singular, purposeful thuds; electronics are subtle or seething; samples are blaring urban mayhem; guitars are stuttery, post-punk bleakness - and the vocals. The vocals are strident, walking tall amongst a clutter of menacing shadows - it's a young man walking down an alley spitting out the most insane couplets to all and sundry, DARING them to challenge him. Brave bold and boastful, it's worth it's entire weight in soul.

This Will Destroy You - This Will Destroy You

While I could never claim to be a wild fan of post-rock, I definitely adore certain records. This one has yet to settle into my mind yet it's beauty, severeness and boiling fury hasn't passed me by. It's an album where the sounds of the universe turning are more important than the microcosm of Earth. It resonates frighteningly with each listen and, like Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky and Do Make Say Think before them, there's no doubt that instrumental music speaks volumes to those attuned to it.

I defy you not to love these records. They are just as worthy of being in any Top 10 records of 2008, but they are, by and large, not. Not even my own, and I feel ashamed of that. Actually, SYE is, but I've only just discovered School of Seven Bells and the others lit up my year more than most records. Notable mentions to Gang Gang Dance, Autechre and about twenty other incredible records. This may need updating tomorrow.