2011 in Lists - The Year in the Rearview

Attempting to construct some sort of 'round up' of a year is, by now, so cliched and so many options are available that to do it seems almost redundant. However, it is worth stating that there was an unusually broad range of excellent albums and songs and it is the discovery of this music that seems the greatest challenge. Though much of it comes from seeing local live shows, and a little from friends and various websites like last.fm, Pitchfork, Mess+Noise and , almost none of it comes from radio or any technology not popularised in the last 15 years. This increasing reliance on technology seems to accompany a push away from it, to a romanticised version of music before this time. Few of the albums populating Top 10 of 2011 lists take advantage of these technological developments and ignore them when it comes to the writing of music, which still seems best done by people over 30. When someone is imaginative and reconsiders the concept of an album and sees the whole process as a chance to reconnect with an increasingly distant and often distracted audience, as Bjork did with Biophilia the result is not wholly successful. Biophilia was so revolutionary that barely any consideration was given to the music (a charge some rashly made against Bjork herself). 


All this shifting does beg the question how much more differently can we listen to music? It could hardly be more casual or integrated into our lives. The idea of incredibly convenient music which is about incredibly inconvenient experiences seems to dominate Top 10s; the war-laden stories of confrontation on PJ Harvey's Let England Shake, the traumatic and tragic personal history of Girls' singer and songwriter Christopher Owens and the futility of escape from suburban ennui that lies like a fog over the Twerps glorious eponymous debut. Now that digital downloads have finally passed physical sales (50.3% vs 49.7%) there's no reason to think it will stop anytime soon despite passionate listeners espousing vinyl over all else and a culture-lead concept of authenticity reigning supreme.

TOP TEN ALBUMS
1. Let England Shake PJ HARVEY

2. Father, Son, Holy Ghost GIRLS

3. Hello Sadness LOS CAMPESINOS!

4. Go With River OWLS OF THE SWAMP

5. Twerps TWERPS
6. Biophilia BJÖRK

7. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming M83

8. New Brigade ICEAGE

9. Rolling Blackouts THE GO! TEAM
10.50 Words For Snow KATE BUSH 

TOP TEN SONGS
1. Underneath Tonight LOWTIDE

2. Heartlove ALPINE

3. Holly JAMES BLACKSHAW

4. Too Beautiful to Work THE LUYAS
5. Holiday in America BITCH PREFECT

6. Hey Cool Kid CLOUD NOTHINGS
7. Need You Now CUT COPY
8. Hard Times GILLIAN WELCH

9. Turn Me On THE GRATES
10. Crystalline BJÖRK

BEST NEW ARTISTS

1. Lowtide
2. Alpine
3. Tully on Tully

4. Collarbones
5. Bitch Prefect

TOP FIVE INTERNATIONAL ARTIST GIGS
1. Belle and Sebastian GOLDEN PLAINS

2. Gang of Four CORNER HOTEL
3. Pulp FESTIVAL HALL

4. The Antlers CORNER HOTEL
5. The Go! Team CORNER HOTEL

TOP FIVE AUSTRALIAN ARTIST GIGS
1. Alpine CORNER HOTEL
2. D. Rogers EDINBURGH CASTLE
3. Tully on Tully NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB
4. The Good China, The Bon Scotts THE GRACE DARLING
5. Collarbones SUGAR MOUNTAIN

TOP FIVE RADIO SHOWS/PODCASTS
1. Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s Film Reviews BBC RADIO FIVE LIVE
2. Filmspotting CHICAGO PUBLIC RADIO

3. Adam and Joe BBC 6 MUSIC

4. Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me NPR
5. This American Life NPR

TOP FIVE TV SHOWS
1. Mad Men AMC

2. Game of Thrones HBO 

3. Lawrence Leung’s Unbelievable ABC

4. At The Movies ABC
5. Media Watch ABC

TOP TEN MOVIES
1. True Grit

2. Le Quattro Volte

3. Tree of Life

4. We Need to Talk About Kevin

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

6. Jess + Moss

7. Certified Copy

8. Melancholia

9. Tiny Furniture

10.The Guard

THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES AWARD
Odd Future; horrific lyrics and rampant egos fuel songs with no structure, melody or purpose beyond offense, though it’s just as easy to construct an argument for their being band of the year.

QUOTE OF THE YEAR

It’s Fri-ee-day Fri-ee-day / Gotta get down on Fri-ee-day – Rebecca Black, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and most of the developed world at some point.

PREDICTION FOR 2012
Obama to go, anarchy to reign, music to become increasingly cross-referential; first London Olympics to be a fiasco, world not to end, but very interesting things to happen. It will be a glorious year to be alive.

Live Review: THE GOOD CHINA, THE BON SCOTTS, ANIMAUX

The Grace Darling

Neither French nor animalistic, Animaux are one of the more competent bands to grace the small stage of the Grace Darling.  The first of the evening’s three bands (none of which have fewer than seven members), Animaux specialise in the brand of polished soulful pop beloved by teenage musicians having fun with their instrumental proficiency, which means there are riffs copped from all over the place everything is played and sung with technique to spare, and is totally bereft of actual pop or soul. Despite this, it’s hard to deny the fun being had on and off the crowded stage. It’s also the first of three exemplary displays of sound engineering by the mixer who does a brilliant job juggling instrument swapping, horn sections, copious percussion and multiple vocalists.

As audience numbers pick up, The Bon Scotts give them something to get excited about. Featuring harp, baritone horn, accordion, cello and a rhythm section raised on The Waterboys and Beirut, songs like Let’s Do What the Catholics Do and Lovely Bones (‘this has nothing to do with the book or film, that’s an unfortunate coincidence’) showcase singer Robert Zimmerman’s (yes, really) deft way with words and references. So passionately delivered is the music, its pace so frantic and acoustic instruments so prominent the songs sound politically driven, though the only politics Zimmerman is interested in are personal. The band’s gifted arrangements and banter like ‘this song is about songs you love now that will eventually be used to sell you crap, like fridges’ betray an imagination at work that will only get better with time.

By the time The Good China assemble themselves amongst the plastic foliage and paper lanterns decorating the stage, the venue is packed. Within minutes of the first song kicking in, you’re forced to ask ‘how can a band this good not be everywhere?’ While there are at least four singers in the octet, each with a different style of song, the songwriting quality never drops and the variations on attention-wresting imaginative pop music seem limitless. Singer James Grech favours clipped Phoenix-like funk, Nick McMillan an exciting Go Team!-style verbose intensity while backing vocals of Mietta Sancolo and violin of Quyen Le are the most notable examples of the musical prowess needed to make songs seem this thrillingly simple. Tonight’s show is to launch new single No More Maps, No More Roads one of several high points in a stellar set.