how was your christmas? mine has been fun. present wise, i finally own a record player meaning that i can now play the piles of vinyl i’ve built up due to my complete lack of self restraint when faced with a pretty looking 12″. no longer will i have to shift uneasily or change the subject when somebody when i get home from flashback records and emma asks me why i’ve bought another record. having said that, 2011 has once again been dominated by digital music of course. your spotify account now links to your facebook, everybody has their top three played artists of the week feed through from their last.fm to twitter and you can’t move on the tube for people with a pair of beats headphones plugged into their iphone. some artists are fighting back though. it is not unusual to see a band release lovely vinyl versions of their albums with limited edition t-shirts, posters or chocolate brownies. but they still have to include that code for the digital download of course.

enough of all that though. let’s get on with the list. once again, i’ve nominated a top ten, with a single winner and then an extra addition which i simply couldn’t ignore. the 2011 apologies for just missing out go to battles, emmy the great, the kills, pj harvey, the pains of being pure at heart and last year’s winner cloud nothings.

bon iver. bon iver

he’s still a miserable fucker, but compared to for emma, forever ago this is positively rainbows & puppies. let mr iver take you on tour of his favourite places while he sits alone in a vets. (buy here)

girls. father, son, holy ghost

their ep was one of my favourites of 2010 and this full length is a worthy successor. in a year when the beach boys announced they’re reforming for 2012, girls released an album that any californian worth their salt would be proud off. (buy here)

the horrors. skying

i’m still at a loss as to how a band can improve so immeasurably (actually, you can measure it. only in terms of back to the future though). still debating whether it’s as good as primary colours, but who would i have thought they’d be anywhere near this list four years ago? (buy here)

lykke li. wounded rhymes

oh lykke. we all love lykke. her second album ticked all the boxes about growing up and while not as instantly pickupable (real word) as her first is far more accomplished overall. (buy here)

m+a. things.yes

this was the album that i could just put on this year and drift away. what a a truly beautiful album. (buy here)

metronomy. the english riviera

what isn’t to love about this album? nothing. the perfect advert for tourism of the english coast. (buy here)

times new viking. dancer enquired

there are lots of bands producing that lo-fi sound that i love so at the moment. the greatest example of the year though came not from a teenage genius in his bedroom, but a five-album veteran three piece. (buy here)

tom vek. leisure seizure

so excited i was about the release of this album that i dedicated a day to tom vek day. any other year he would have probably walked off with the winner’s badge. tom vek is back in a big way. (buy here)

yuck. yuck

the first new album i listened to of the year. a great start it was too. especially for a sonic youth and cajun dance party fan like myself. (buy here)

so, who wins? if you’ve been an avid reader of this blog over the year i’m sure you already know. a couple of years ago nobody knew whether they were a swedish collective or an east london teen. it transpired that they were in fact a guy who was already established as solo artist in his own right, and a girl who was a music journalist – and had in fact been asked to cover the band before people knew their true make up. i’ve seen them over a dozen times live and i hoped the album would live up to the high standards they’d set. it more than did.

summer camp. welcome to condale

summer camp introduced us to the fictional american town of condale. with teen crushes, a burgeoning rock band and ultimately death, welcome to condale and the accompanying fanzine takes us through an americana dream. it isn’t just the story that makes this album so good though. elizabeth has the sort of voice that is recognisable and easy to listen to. jeremy knows more about electronic instruments and how to use them than i know about cheese. the songs have more variety than early releases did and straight away remove the risk of becoming bored of the sound. this is a worthy winner. as an aside, if i was writing a list of my live performances of the year, i fancy summer camp’s gig at efes would top that too. (buy here)

alex turner. submarine original songs

i couldn’t complete the list without giving a shout out to alex turner’s soundtrack to submarine as well. my favourite film of the year was also my favourite soundtrack. just six tracks long, but it was pretty much all i listened to for a period earlier in the year. superb songs, brilliantly performed. (buy here)

in case you’ve ignored all of my subtle hints to buy the albums mentioned, you can listen to them all on this handy spotify playlist.

if ever you needed proof of how lykke li isn’t as happy on her second album as she was on her first, all you need to do is watch the video to ‘sadness is a blessing’. girl has father issues. stellan skarsgård plays her father that is both desperate to please, but not allow him to control her. that’s how i read it anyway, but it might be complete bollocks. whether that is the case or it is in fact just an excuse for lykke to drink some vodka and have a dance in a nice looking restuarant, the song is brilliant. like the rest of the album.

yeah so lykke li has recorded three live performances on the moon. like you do. she’s fucking great isn’t she? to see the other two you’re meant to travel the world with her, which you can do by clicking just here. above is ‘i know places’. it’s one of the most beautiful songs on the album, so enjoy. quick disclaimer… you might not even be able to see the video. it is unlisted apparently and you can’t search for it. i don’t know whether i can see it because i’m on her special list already but you won’t be able to if you’re not on the list. i don’t now basically. if you can see it and you’re not on the list, the majority of these words have been a waste. shit.

album review: lykke li. wounded rhymes. 28 february 2011. ll recordings
(buy here)

so lykke li returns with her second album after three years of self-confessed “craziness”. i won’t need to tell anybody that has heard ‘get some’ or ‘i follow rivers’ that a change of pace is very evident on the mesmerising wounded rhymes. the title of opening track, ‘youth knows no pain’, couldn’t make it clearer that this is a departure from youth novels, and one that has been based on her experiences since.

there was heartbreak on her debut, but it was always tinged with a little catchy pop melody. this time around the feel is very much (i hate this word, but it is the best to describe it) darker. her voice is as beautiful and distinctive as ever, but the melody this time around is deeper. more haunting. the lyrics follow suit. no longer is she an innocent girl singing about dancing and love. this is replaced by sex and sadness.

it really is the perfect second album and almost a continuation of her life story. i remember reading one review of youth novels that described it as a diary. wounded souls is the next instalment of that diary. the instalment that follows a life changing experience.

9

this is pretty much perfect timing. i was going to blog about how brilliant tyler, the creator‘s remix of lykke li’s ‘i follow rivers’ was today anyway. now i can also mention the performance on jimmy fallon last night.

for those that don’t know, tyler is the main man of rap collective odd future wolf gang kill them all. they’re a bunch of young rapeprs who are about to take the world by storm. they rap about rape, drugs, sex, violence and everything that the daily mail will hate. i get confused as to which members are in which internal group and who’s been sent to boarding school. this is where wikipedia helps.

tyler’s work on lykke li is fantastic and shows that they aren’t just all about being controversial. download it now. love it. then watch the video from last night. and remember how fucking cool mos def is as well. “swag swag swag”.

you should definetley follow tyler on twitter as well (unless you’re one of those easily offended types). you need to know why he can’t be a moose because he’s lost his shoes. and similar stories.

this was my christmas. 9am. josh got up. later than expected. open stocking. 10am. kedgeree. good. 10.30am. open presents. i’m getting a bike so i had a book and some lights. josh got a table football table. ben 10 ds game. lego. lots of bits basically. 11.30am. to my brother’s with the family. guinness on arrival. 12.30am open presents. i got a massive daft punk print. josh got an ant world and chemistry set. i see danger and mess ahead. 1.30pm. sister in law’s family arrive. rum is given to me. good. more guinness. 4pm. dinner. very good. brother and his wife’s first effort. impressive. red wine. 5pm. christmas pudding. custard. excellent. 6pm. rapidough. lager. 7pm. shout out loud. lager. 8pm. london underground game. lager. 9pm. four player mario kart on the wii. i won. lager. 10pm. christmas cake. black bomber & biscuits. lager. 11pm. sports resort on the wii. i won. midnight. fifa on the wii. i won.

what this basically means is that i don’t know what to post about. how about a spotify playlist to relax on a boxing day to? perfect.

boxing day playlist (spotify)

if you’d like to know who’s included, probably best to check the tags at the bottom as i can’t be arsed to write out the full playlist here

i’m still feeling shit, so apologies for the quick post and shit title. we all love a bit of lykke li though don’t we?

the very brilliant and very bonkers lykke li is giving away ‘get some’ for free. and the b-side. get some here. now

lykke li went to the desert. she went out there after a tour while a bit depressed and wandered about a bit. she’d just gone through a break up and it was all pretty deep and shit. she filmed it in black & white on a super 8, then put some soft music with it and found herself. or it can just be seen as an excuse to watch lykke prancing about in a leotard. no bad thing.