2014

This year has been a bit of a disaster when it comes to geo-political news. 2014 has seen ISIS going nasty, North Korea sticking to their ways and Vladimir Putin being a pain in general. And that's not even looking at the madness in Ferguson. And to top it all off, Ebola is having a comeback and it is nasty. The only thing this year that hasn't really gone to pot is music. To try and make an end of year list is a massive nightmare, I've been having sleepless nights. But here we go...

Best Newcomer- Kate Tempest

2014 has been the year of the debut, not only were we inundated with a new artist every week dominating the charts but the Mercury nominations we splitting at the seams of new talent. One of the most invigorating and newsworthy artists was a white female rapper with a big mouth and strong accent, no not Iggy Azalea. Kate Tempest's album Everybody Down showed that  a spoken word poet can write the best rap album of the year. Kate's believable tales in her lyrics give her a razor-sharp edge and a fresh look at the music scene. A hard choice but well deserved.

Best Comeback- Jamie T

An unsupring but deserving win for the Wimbledon artist. After five years of radio silence, Jamie T raised himself from the dead. After lead single 'Don't You Find' Jamie sold out dates across the country, played the prestigious secret set at Reading and Leeds and released a stunning third album Carry On The Grudge. The record has moments of rage such as 'Peter' and beauty in 'Mary Lee' and of course the shouty lad chorus of 'Zombie'. It wasn't exactly a Kate Bush sized comeback, but it was brilliant all the same.

Best Song- NEW YORK.NEW DORP

The SBTRKT and Ezra Koenig pairing created undoubtedly the best song of the year. A fantastic piece of production tallied with even better lyrics, a club track without the cheese or repetitiveness. A 10/10 win for SBTRKT.

Worst Year- Robin Thicke

Not necessarily the worst year in music (cough Bono, cough Liam Gallagher) but pretty dire in comparison to 2013. Last year Thicke performed at the VMAs, worked with Pharrel and sold millions of  copies of 'Blurred Lines'. The backlash at the misogyny of 'Blurred Lines' hit home when Thicke's wife left him and no-one gave him a shoulder to cry on. Forlorn Robin then made an album dedicated to his missus, selling a whopping 530 copies in it's first week. You can all still buy the album Paula,I know you want it. 

Worst Album-Royal Blood

In fairness, Royal Blood never set themselves the task of changing rock n roll. A genre which has arguably been waning since it's very conception. So when a pair of leather wearing dudes from Brighton started making a tonne of noise from a rhythm section, people began to throw themselves at them. Their album, 10 or so songs of boring and loud rock music. Does it push boundaries? Is it meaningful? No. It is just souless and mindnumbing. Pants.

Best Album-Salad Days

This is the hardest decision I have had to make this year. Personally, I have loved the crop of albums to choose from this year. FKAS Twigs, Kate Tempest, Superfood, SBTRKT, Ben Howard, Jungle, Young Fathers, Temples, the list goes on. But I had to go for the album that means the most to me. Mac DeMarco is a personal favourite of mine, and finally this year my friends caught on to his genius. Salad Days is a mismatch of emotions and sounds, all encompassing in a bit of a mess. However the Canadian ultimately made a cracking piece of art through the anarchy, and that is why it is my album of 2014. His iconic red vans are currently being auctioned off at 20 grand, which is the cherry on his bizarre but brilliant life


I don't really know what is going to happen in 2015. But I just want to thank anyone who has ever read my blog, it means a lot. Big love, get wrecked this NYE and catch you on the flip side.

Aldershot Alldayer, Review

Sausau

Starting off the evening with a gruellingly stripped back acoustic session, Sausau sung some original material and a selection off brilliant covers. The singer used his haunting vocals to completely change the Ozzie Tame Impala track ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’ into a simplistic bare bones ballad. The crowd was 50% his mates, heckling him and asking for covers of ‘Jolene’ by Dolly Parton.

Char Goodfellow

The second acoustic act came from Char Goodfellow. With strong playing skills and a fantastic voice her set sounded exceptional. After a few strong originals singing about the woes of being a teenager Char moved onto some brilliant up to date covers. Firstly, The Wytches ‘Crying Clown’. She took the creepy and ethereal nature of the debut album Annabel Dream Weaver and turned it up to 100, lines like ‘graveyard girl swinging her bag like a pendulum’ stuck even when understated. Next up was Peace’s anthem ‘Wraith’, usually incomprehensible sung by Harry Koisser Char made the lyrics the most important part of the song. And the crowd loved it.

Manatee!

A band hailing from my own college were up next. They were also the first ones on the packed sweatbox that was called the main stage, perfect for the events to come. The three piece specialised in tongue and cheek lyrics with a pop edge. Lead singer Joe Alexander came on stage donned in a garden centre fleece and ripped through a set sending the crowd into feel good vibes. The slight American twang was different and the beg for a glockenspiel/violinist/synth player was entertaining to say the least. A highlight was an embarrassed cover of ‘Call Me Maybe’ which sounded bizarrely fantastic in the hands of Manatee!.

Annabel Allum

The second stage was intimate as it was, but as the Guildford based singer got on stage the whole room shrunk to the size of an airing cupboard when we heard her voice. With musical talent rivalling fellow redhead King Krule and a voice I cannot describe how strong, Annabel Allum is onto a winner. With tunes reminiscent of Everything But The Girl the audience were stunned into a silence as me and my friend shed a single tear. A favourite song was certainly ‘Foxes’, described as ‘well the media just portray foxes to just kill babies and shit, but we don’t know anything about they just do their thing’.

WIKER

The first band to bring the heat to the Alldayer was WIKER, another local band with a razor sharp edge and tunes to match. The set started with the frontman complaining that the hairdresser ‘fucked up his top knot’ and completed their set at breakneck speed. Although from Fleet the songs had the vibes reminiscent of the bands like Cage The Elephant. Although there were no Mark Hoppus stage dives the energy was still there as the band captured our imagination.

Dazy Chain

While watching Dazy Chain my mind was telling me ‘this shouldn’t work’ but the low-fi sound works with enough trippy imagination. Starting off with a bold Stone Roses cover, they changed up the entire masterpiece to make it rock. Through the set we were treated to a selection of refreshing experimentalism that got me moving. The unarguable highlight was a cover of ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, which oozed cool. A band to look out for.

Seers

As the night began to draw in, we were treated to a performance by Seers.  Not only were the three experts in crazed free flowing indie, they had the coolest hair in Aldershot. Guitarist and singer: strong beard game and simple short cut, Drummer: full afro and mutton chops calling back the 70s and the bassist had no face- just hair. In all seriousness, Seers rocked the main stage like no one else. With killer riffs and a sound like they are stuck in space with the sex drive of Alex Turner you couldn’t help but want to move. What was even greater was that they didn’t stop, the band just went on and on for a full 30 minutes. It was like watching The Wytches take tonnes of MDMA and let them loose on some instruments. Wild stuff.

Vinyl Staircases

After the best haircuts in music we had the best dressed. Vinyl Staircases had obviously raided the 1960s for both style and sound as lary shirts and psych donned the young band. The two brothers taking honours of vocals sounded fantastic, and the laid back tunes relaxed the tiring crowd and truly did get select bunches of people properly dancing to the Surrey band.  They were my standout band of the night, the Tame Impala-esque’s new material sounding stunning.

Native People

The pre-cursor to headline act Best Friends who I missed due to my eardrums being completely knackered (don't go to three gigs in three days). The unapologetically pop orientated band who sound not to dissimilar to The 1975 (in a non wanky Matt Healey way). Their music is instantly feel good and fun. Lead singer Reuben Todd was more than keen to get the crowd going, engaging in good banter with the crowd (in a non football hooligan way). Native People are a fantastic band who have huge things in front of them, the Kent boys could be on the way to fame quite soon.

Superfood, Live

I woke up on Wednesday with black and blue shins, a voice not to dissimilar to Stevie from Malcolm In The Middle and covered in sweat from strangers in tent sized vintage shirts. I had the night of my life watching Superfood and Honeyblood at their Camden date on the NME New Breed tour. Watching the Birmingham band for the fourth time in my life that night was a blinding idea by me as after their debut 'Don't Say That' has invaded my eardrums for the last week I needed to know how good their new songs sounded live.

The evening began with probably the coolest band that you've never heard of, Bad Sounds' uncommon mix of electro and indie was almost as cool as what they were wearing. Watching them live was like running into vintage shop Rokit down the road and having an epileptic fit, lead singer donned pin stripe dungarees and looked normal next to his bassist. The music was pretty cool swell, reminiscent of early MGMT and following in the footsteps of new dance bands like Milky Chance. The inundation of cool didn't stop there, Glaswegian two piece Honeyblood were both polite and ruthless. Thanking people for arriving and demanding they 'start jumping' banning the polite head bobbing. This is where I began to feel pain.

The pain continued as I hustled my way to the very front, with just a few monitors in my way between actually being a Superfood member. The next forty five minutes flew by as Dominic Ganderton and co. played a selection of classics from 'Mam EP' and their debut album. To say the crowd went crazy is a huge understatement. I spent the set splayed against the barrier-less stage holding on speakers for my dear life, it was awesome. Security at Dingwalls were stretched to their limits sorting out kit and pushing back Superfood kids who were very enthusiastic. Superfood interspersed their set with conversations with fans throughout, every time they perform it feels like a thank you note to the people who consume their throwback Britpop.

The thank you note finished with the stage invasion which rivals any I have ever seen. As fans no older than 18 bum rushed the already cramped stage Superfood carried on in ecstasy and euphoria as we (yes of course I got on stage) hugged and shared glances to Carl the drummer who carried on despite the anarchy. I finished my night by being hurled off the stage by a burly security guy to my dismay. I now have no voice and will probably have to visit my GP about my neck, absolute blinder.

Wonder Where We Land, Sbtrkt Review

As the year draws into it's final few months, British music still has some gems to release before 2015. This time it's producer Sbtrkt and Wonder Where We Land. Sbtrkt (real name Aaron Jerome) has helped form the careers of Sampha and Jessie Ware and is already a formidable name in the dance scene post his self titled debut in 2011.

However, WWWL is an instantly different album to his debut. Day 1 is a fantastic intro which moods straight into the atmospheric and bizarre title track. Sampha throughout this LP delivers perfect vocals which is expected by him every time. By the two minute mark there are more vocal samples and electronic beeps than a year seven keyboard class, it makes for an uncomfortable listen. Lantern develops from Sonic The Hedgehog into a rave tune in under a minute and is certain to have even the most dreary club on fire. One thing is certain, Sbtrkt is taking risks on WWWL- and they are paying off. Putting almost unheard and nubile southern rapper Raury on his track Higher is brave, but what we see is Raury murdering every single line- like a brash and misanthropic Chance.

The guest spots on the album are varied but each artist manages to provide another facet to Jerome's surrealist soundscape of rent-a-island Osea (surprisingly close to London!).  Christina Polacheck is difficult to understand in her feature on Look Away, which could easily be sung as Walk Away.  As I've already mentioned Sampha is brilliant on this album, with four appearances. Jessie Ware on Problem(Solved) is Drake-y without the corny rhymes, just pure night-time r&b. A$AP Ferg too is fantastic, finishing the album off with a lesson on drug rap for beginners that is stylish and cool. Play this at a party and you've got a full lounge.

I cannot review this album without talking about the single of the year. NEW DORP.NEW YORK with Vampire Weekend's Ezra is as close as we are going to get to perfect musically. Lyrically genius Gargoyles gargling oil and brilliant beat has given birth to a technically great piece of music that you can dance to. Wonder Where We Land is a fantastically weird album, nice to see an album where EVERY song has merit on it's own.

PS. I would highly recommend the Deluxe Vinyl Edition to any record aficionados, picture disks and stickers and secret tracks galore!

This Is All Yours, Alt-J Album Review

I've been very busy with college and homework recently, therefore I have been lagging on my blogging (apologies if you care.) But anyway, onto more impressive things.

Alt-J. Just the band's name is a bit of a nerdy reference, and after An Awesome Wave many people dismissed them as hipsters who were far more style than substance. But two years and a lost band member later we have This Is All Yours. It's fun, frisky and fantastic. Going into this album I expected a snooze fest of over indulgence and mono tonal singing. What I did get from Alt-J's second album is close to alternative perfection.

In Japan there is a city called Nara in which tame deers wander round without being flattened by Land Rovers. Alt-J dedicate three songs to this idyllic place (un creatively named Arrival In Nara, Nara and Leaving Nara). Both Arrival In Nara and Nara appear at the front of  the EP, and Nara is the first track in This Is All Yours that is really interesting. A dirty skuzzy guitar riff followed by twinkling percussion, a big difference from the mundanity of Matilda. Every Other Freckle sounds like a 14 year old boy's first dream with a woman in it, turn you inside out and lick you like a crisp packet. It is filthy perfection, the first time the so called hipsters get frisky and the first time you might be able to dance to Alt-J. Link this up with western banger Left Hand Free you've got some potential headliner material.

The most disappointing thing about music post junior school is the lack of Recorder Solos. WELL LOOK NO FURTHER BECAUSE ALT-J HAVE PUT IN A RECORDER SOLO. Yes really. It works almost as an inside joke of their experimentalism, or was it a drunken bet? Nobody knows. Another possible dirty pint moment is a sample of the ever-twerking, ever-embarassing, ever-instagramming singer Miley Cyrus. On track Hunger Of The Pine there is a pulsing beat which has come straight out of Tron, skip a minute or so and there she is Hannah Montana screaming I'm a female red bull (rebel). Yet again, Gwil and co have actually managed to make it work. And that is why This Is All Yours works so damn well.

The Gospel Of John Hurt is the most recognisable factor from An Awesome Wave where vocals were recorded through a fan. Even though vocals are similar, the progression from the ultimate bedroom band to international performers is clear. Alt-J are no longer a music nerd's guilty pleasure, grabbing a number one record last week shows how cool they are. This Is All Yours is an excellently crafted album with a little bit of wit, little bit of weird and the tiniest ounce of sexual ferocity.

Mercury Shortlist Announced

Another year, another outrage at the Mercury Prize shortlist. Last year's rants were tinged with the mundanity of acts such as Rudimental and Laura Marling received noms. In 2014 it is this general feeling of anxiety that the important people in the industry are losing touch with music as the all seeing web is taking over. For example The BBC has made faux pas after faux pas in the last twelve months, including pasty Ed Sheeran being voted the most influential musician in Urban music and a senior member claiming that Playlists are the future (which isn't a obvious plug for BBC Playlister at all). The Mercury Prize panel ignore all Bandcamp EPs and anything which isn't a classic album, which to many seems quite narrow-minded and old fashioned in a day where Apple can send a wanky U2 album to every single human alive.

But what about the albums in the shortlist? Are they the best Britain has to offer? Have you even heard of them? And who even deserves to win? I'll go through a few of the LPs for your benefit.

Bombay Bicycle Club- So Long See You Tomorrow
The fourth album in a five years sees London boys BBC really live up to their sub-continental name, with more Indian vibes than a Friday night piss-up in Brick Lane. In comparison to their other albums, it has a much stronger pop feel which could be grasped quite easily as it is Bombay's first number one album. The LP is an excellent show of progression and how indie can be pushed forward in 2014, it's chances this year are slim.

Daman Albarn, Everyday Robots
Whether it be with Blur, Gorillaz or orchestras Albarn can't seem to put a foot wrong. His first true solo venture Everyday Robots was a funeral pyre for iPhones and tech. Like any 40ish man, Damon is wary of the new age of social media saturation and his album showed that. Despite it's moroseness Everyday Robots was dripping in genius, you felt alone listening to tracks like The Selfish Giant and jubilant during Mr Tembo. A fair bet could be put on Mr Blur.

FKA Twigs, LP1
In my opinion, FKA Twigs' album is the best British debut this year. The London born Tahliah Barnett makes unique and sparse beats, then lays her heavenly voice over- it's the closest we have to Grimes in the UK. Her first album is the next feather in the hat of the indie dance scene which includes SBTRKT, Sampha and now superstars The xx. Her original style is pushed throughout the album to create a singular piece of art in the form of music, and isn't that what we want from a Mercury Prize winner?

Royal Blood, Royal Blood
Everyone has heard of Brighton duo Royal Blood by now. You'll know them as the pair of guys in Topman leather who like to make loud music. And everyone loves them, from the blogs claiming they're the saviours of rock music to the 'shock' number one album (despite tonnes of air play and the best PR campaign this year). I'll let you into a secret- Royal Blood is not a groundbreaking or even a good album, it is middle of the road mindless rock for the lowest common denominator for those who believe a Nandos is a good night out.

Jungle, Jungle

What does CHIC, Daft Punk and Michael Jackson all have in common? They make us dance, and that's what Londoners Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland have set out to do with their group Jungle. Shrouded in mystery and monikers, the self-titled debut struck it big in the blogosphere and provided an alternative to the chart drivel EDM for people who wanted to dance. It's funky, un-offensive and a great listen. Tracks like The Heat and Time scream Barbecue weather. Is it Mercury worthy?, quite possibly.

Superfood, New Tour New Album

The relationship between you and your favourite band is very special. For some that means spending ridiculous  amounts of money on merch, eventually looking like a bit of a fool in your 15th Blink 182 hoodie. Others it's all about a follow on twitter and screaming for a selfie. Some fans insist on being keyboard activists for their favourite artist, ultimately causing a stir and embarrassment for all involved (believe me, I've been told to kill myself by an Avril Lavigne fan).

My favourite band is the Brummy four piece Superfood. My relationship with them includes many photos, instant song recognition and seeing them play live three times within the space of ten months. I was lucky enough to interview the band and really enjoyed their company, something that should stay with me for a fair few years (Until the point where I interview Kanye West and my mind turns to jelly).

Therefore you could imagine my huge excitement when three of the biggest things that could happen in a band's career all happen on the same day. First of all NME announce that Superfood along with Honeyblood will headline the 'New Blood' tour which is coming in late November and early October. Then on Superfood's soundcloud a completely new tune was released, Lily For Your Pad To Rest On is a Happy Mondays-esque freak out with off the wall lyrics and a solid drum beat to excite any retro fan. Probably most important is the release date of their new album 'Don't Say That". The album, released on the 3rd of October, may be one of the biggest and best releases of the new wave of Birmingham indie washing over the UK. I personally hope this album is more successful than even Royal Blood who are on track to dominating the charts for another week.