Albums of 2009: Surprises and let-downs

Six months in and 2009 is looking like a great year for new albums, with so many coming out right now that my wallet can’t quite keep up; new records from Frank Turner, Placebo and Taking Back Sunday* are all on the horizon.

As a result of this veritable musical glut, I pondered the idea of doing a top 10 of the year so far, after my tutor Jason praised my top 20 list for last year. Instead, I thought I’d branch out and list my five biggest surprises and five biggest let-downs of the year so far, as powered by Myspace and my favourite new application, Spotify. So here they are, in no particular order:

5 Surprise packages:

Brakes – Touchdown
A fantastically well-written album from a band who have grown beyond bizarre 1-minute tracks about porcupines and pineapples to produce some genuine indie-pop gems.

New Found Glory – Not Without A Fight
Florida’s finest return to what they do best; chugging riffs, massive choruses and enough energy to light up the national grid.

Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown
The jury is still out on this 18-track rock opera, but you have to admit (drab lead single aside) it certainly is surprising!

Fake Problems – It’s Great To Be Alive
An explosive third record from this Florida Quartet which makes you feel exactly what it promises. The thunderous vocals and uplifting melodies are simply irresistable.

Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything To Nothing
I’m including this as a surprise, mainly because I’m astonished they they managed to top their fantastic debut, I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child. METN is an astonishingly diverse record with crushing riffs and moving acoustic moments. I am giddy with excitement about seeing them at Reading Festival!

5 Serious let-downs:

Maxïmo Park – Quicken The Heart
Not a patch on their first record, with the synth-led approach failing to deliver any big hitting tunes, but may prove to be a grower. See my live review on inthenews.co.uk here.

Hundred Reasons – Quick The Word, Sharp The Action
This turgid effort from HR is inexplicably getting a re-issue, albeit with B-sides as bonus tracks. Admit it boys, this was not your finest moment; move on and write some new material!

Thursday – Common Existence
After talk of an ambitious triple-record, for Thursday to come out with this samey record is quite a let-down. Chunky riffs abound, along with the odd flourish of inspiration, but it’s not quite up to their usual high standards.

Flight of the Conchords – Series 2

Something of an inevitability, given how long they had to write material for the first series. I’ve Got Hurt Feelings and You Don’t Have To Be A Prostitute are particular highlights, but there is nothing to rival Business Time or The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room).

Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band – Outer South
A muddled second solo record from the former Bright Eyes man, who seems to have lost his sense of quality control. The MVB are afforded seven of the 16 tracks to exercise their vocal talents and none of them are particularly memorable.

As always, any thoughts/recommendations on any of the above are most welcome.

*I know New Again is out today, but I haven’t got it just yet. Steady on!

 

Spot(ify) The Difference

Take a quick look at this picture:

Has iTunes had a gothic makeover?

No, iTunes has just met it’s worst nightmare. This month Spotify has arrived in the UK and will change the way we listen to music online forever.

For those not familiar with this free and legal service, I will briefly explain. Spotify is a free-to-download program which allows you to stream music live. A lot of music in fact. Its database currently comprises four million tracks and it is growing by 10,000 a day. Not everything is on there, but I’ve been trawling around for a while and it is yet to disappoint.

The whole thing is not only legal, but is endorsed by several major record labels who see this as less of a threat to their interests than pirated music, because Spotify pay them a small premium to host their entire back catalogue. It’s sort of like America siding with the Russians in WWII because, despite their differences, they were more worried about Germany. In this tenuous analogy, America is the music industry, pirated music is Germany and Spotify is Russia. Revolutionary, power to the people etc. etc.

Yesterday, I downloaded Spotify and listened to the new Morrissey album, Years of Refusal. Hot off the press, came out that day. I listened to the whole thing without any loading time and although it’s quite good I probably won’t buy it.

That sort of decision making could be crucial for the music industry. Now listeners worldwide have the right to listen to (almost) any album in its entirety and then decide if they want to buy it or not. If people still decide they want to own a physical CD to show their loyalty and support to the band, then they will surely head to HMV or Amazon and order a physical copy, complete with artwork, lyrics and other such bonuses.

I cannot see how iTunes fits into this new landscape, though. Ditto, MySpace Music. If you just want to listen to music on your computer, then fire up Spotify and listen to full albums as many times as you want.

At this point, I should pay lip service to the few small drawbacks. Every half hour you are forced to listen to a 15-second advert, thus securing Spotify’s revenue which they use to placate the record labels. Alternatively you can pay a tenner a month to cut this out, but that hardly seems worth it.

Secondly, you don’t actually own the tracks and so can’t upload them to an MP3 player. It hardly takes a genius to record streaming tracks, but of course no-one would be that immoral…

Since downloading Spotify, I have been catching up with bands who I have been too busy or too stingy to follow over the past few years and it is simply brilliant. Some I will buy, most I wont, but one thing’s for sure: I’m never spending money on downloading MP3s again.

 

Albums of the Year, 2008

In an attempt to branch out and diversify my blog, I thought it would be worthwhile recapping the year gone by and the best Indie/Rock albums released in my humble opinion, starting with:

1. Frank Turner – Love, Ire & Song
A mature, diverse record from the cult hero who is fast becoming the defining songwriter of our generation.
Download: Love, Ire & Song; A Love Worth Keeping and To Take You Home.
2. Fighting With Wire – Man Vs Monster
Snarling, energetic punk-rock from Northern Ireland that makes you feel 16 again – Fighting With Wire finally released the sizzling debut album they had been threatening for 3 years.
Download: The Quiet; Cut The Transmission; All For Nothing.
3. City and Colour – Bring Me Your Love
Alexisonfire guitarist, Dallas Green continues to grow in his own right with this touching acoustic album. I’m still kicking myself that I missed his show at Islington Union Chapel.
Download: As Much As I Ever Could; The Girl; Forgive Me.
4. Conor Oberst – Conor Oberst
Richly lyrical, ponderous and observational, this record is the beginning of a new era for the man formerly known as Bright Eyes.
Download: Eagle On A Pole; Souled Out!!!; Cape Canaveral.
5. Kings of Leon – Only by the Night
A cracking album, packed full of tunes, provided you love, rather than loathe, Caleb Followill’s voice.
Download: Sex On Fire; Crawl; I Want You.
6. Funeral for a Friend – Memory and Humanity
Welsh rockers return to what they do best after a year in the wilderness singing about deep sea fishing, for some reason. Expect riffery and screamage aplenty.
Download: Constant Illuminations; Rules and Games; Waterfront Dance Club
7. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. – Searching For the Hows and Whys
Sam Duckworth’s sophomore effort is overflowing with new ideas and orchestral flourishes, but somehow lacks the earnest charm of his debut.
Download: Moving Forward; Find The Time; Postcards From Cataluña.
8. We Are Scientists – Brain Thrust Mastery
America’s wittiest export, Keith and Chris’ latest album is instantly loveable.
Download: Lethal Enforcer; After Hours; Let’s See It.
9. Coldplay – Viva La Vida
Chris Martin’s voice and lyrics remain charming as ever, as Coldplay’s sound reaches epic proportions. (Disclaimer: may contain stolen Joe Satriani riffs…)
Download: Cemeteries Of London; Death And All His Friends; Lovers In Japan.
10. This Town Needs Guns – Animals
The most technically inspired album I’ve heard in a long time. I can only assume that the guitarist in this Oxford-based quartet has seven fingers on each hand.
Download: Pig; Baboon; Chinchilla.

11. Travis – Ode to J. Smith
12. Thrice – The Alchemy Index, Vols III & IV: Air and Earth
13. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
14. The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age of the Understatement
15. The Music – Strength in Numbers
16. Jim Lockey – I’ll Be Neon
17. Senses Fail – Life is not a Waiting Room
18. Weezer – Red Album
19. Bloc Party – Intimacy
20. The Mars Volta – The Bedlam in Goliath

So, it’s been a very acoustic year for me, with four of my top 20 being mostly non-electric. Kerrang! Magazine went with Metallica’s Death Magnetic as their album of the year, but what do they know?!
Now, what can we look forward to in 2009?
The elusive fifth album from Muse is in the pipeline and Idlewild have already entered the studio for a new album. Hundred Reasons are well overdue a return to form, while Biffy Clyro are recording new material. Lostprophets say they will unveil their long awaited fourth record in “April or May”, perhaps we’ll even see some new material from Rage Against The Machine? We can but dream…