ALBUMS OF THE YEAR (in no particular order):
Bite the Buffalo - Blue Lips
Perhaps the best live band in the country now with an album to back it up. 'Blue Lips' is irresistible and consistently rewarding.
Bite The Buffalo's website
Buy the album
Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt
It was a long wait but worth it. Maybe their best album for a decade. It just keeps giving, with a clutch of songs that are amongst the best they have ever recorded.
Pearl Jam's website
Buy the album
The Fauns - Lights
A wondrous journey into sound that is mesmerising and entrancing.
The Fauns' website
Buy the album
Shawn Smith - Kid Bakersfield
The ridiculously prolific Mr. Smith keeps sneaking out albums for free on his Bandcamp site. 'Kid Bakersfield' is up there with the best of his cannon including 'Brad and Satchel'. And that voice never looses its ability to move and inspire you.
Shawn Smith's website
Buy the album
Wooden Shijps - Back to Land
One of their most accessible albums, but no less outstanding. There is a lightness and touch of euphoria mixed in here that simply shines through you.
Wooden Shjips' website
Buy the album
David Bowie - The Next Day
No one knew it was coming. No one knew it was going to be this good. The most welcome return of the year.
David Bowie's website
Buy the album
Black Joe Lewis - Electric Slave
The sound of your best night out turned up to 11.
Black Joe Lewis' website
Buy the album
Foals - Holy Fire
Simply stunning. It perfectly encapsulates the now while being an album that you will keep returning to in the years to come.
Foals' website
Buy the album
Jonathan Wilson - Fanfare
Still wrapped in the dappled light of Laurel Canyon but now with a stronger, less ethereal edge, that gives 'Fanfare' a strength and core that was lost at times on debut 'Gentle Spirit'.
Jonathan Wilson's website
Buy the album
Civil Protection - Stolen Fire
Dark, intense, at times spellbinding, but never less than enthralling. 'Stolen Fire' is a post-rock monolith that marks Civil Protection as ones to watch rise and rise.
Civil Protection's website
Buy the album
Steering By Stars - The Cold Embrace
An album that I keep coming back to and revelling in its stature and breathtaking scope. If you are looking for a hit the same as 'Holy Fire' then you have to listen to this.
Steering By Stars' website
Buy the album
Ned and The Dirt - Giants
An expertly crafted album honed out of the a bedrock so strong that it will have you swaggering, swooning and stomping like Keith Richards on PCP.
Ned And The Dirt's website
Buy the album
Thousands - Dream Isle
Quietly mesmerising and enchanting. After a couple of plays you will have fallen totally for 'Dream Isle's magical charms.
Thousands' website
Buy the album
TRACKS OF THE YEAR (in no particular order):
Drenge - Bloodsports
2.33 of blood-soaked riffage and a groove so deep you could hide the Titanic in it.
Drenge's website
Buy the track
Carousels & Limousines - Alive
Only a demo, yet so good that every time I play it it still sends shivers down my spine. Already the anticipation for the second album is sky high. Hurry up boys!
Carousels & Limousines' website
Download the track by clicking the bottom right of the stream above
Kid Wave - Shelley
The soundtrack to summer. And in the depths of winter it is no less enriching, flooding you with sunlight.
Kid Wave's website
Buy the track
Girl Band - Second One
One of the most perfectly formed songs of year. Yet they hid it away, and themselves, please come out and play with us very soon...
Girl Band's website
Download the track free from the player above
The Diamond Lights - Secret Hell
The most exquisitely fuzzed-up guitar and the best break to slide over and dance your hairy ass off to in years.
The Diamond Lights' website
Buy the single
Bright Young People - Liberties
A street walkin' cheetah coated in napalm. Consume its essence and you will get laid.
Bright Young People's website
Buy the track
Whales in Cubicles - Nowhere Flag
Mesmerising, pounding, beautiful, with one of the videos of the year.
Whales In Cubicles' website
Download the track
Affair - To Get
Sublime, beguiling, '80s-tinged masterful electro-pop.
Affair's website
Buy the track
Foxy Shazam - I Like It
It may not have come out this year. I don't care. A guilty pleasure.... fuck it, just a sheer indulgent ROCK orgiastic pleasure.
Foxy Shazam's website
Buy the track
Volcano Choir - Bygone
Near aural perfection. Like catching the perfect wave in the warmest waters.
Volcano Choir's website
Buy the track
Lone Doe - Leon, Leon
Quietly magnificent and full of awe.
Lone Doe's website
Download the track free from the player above
Pharoahe Monch - Stand Your Ground
A blistering, frenetic blast of funkified glory.
Pharoahe Monch's website
Download the track free from the player above
Slim Wray - Bear
Drink up them whiskeys, order shots, dance like a brudda wanting to mate with a mutha... "c'mon girl". Nuff said. Listen loud and listen proud.
Slim Wray's website
Buy the track
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