So I've already told you all that it's not been a vintage year haven't I? Don't get me wrong, I still like plenty of material to put in a top ten, but 'like' isn't normally strong enough to make the list. What made it worse was the crushing disappointments from many a favourite act this year, mostly of the guitar band variety. We can't really complain about guitar music not getting a fair hearing when the 'brightest hopes' are putting out such average offerings as Noah and the Whale, Bombay Bicycle Club, Arctic Monkeys and Coldplay. Even the next big things, whilst decent enough and producing one or two tracks worth a listen, have a decidedly tired, been here before aura about them (hello The Drums, Mona, The Vaccines). Actually The Vaccines went straight from being talked about as the new Strokes, bringing about a new guitar revival, skipped straight over releasing a debut to equal their forebears and put one out equal to The Strokes second album instead. This is not too much of a compliment.
Far more crushing for me was Radiohead's 'The King of Limbs' who seem dangerously close to taking the now-retired REM's title of 'Band who've now past their best but who's new album is being touted as the best since that big one they did 10 years ago'. I do hope they prove me wrong. At least a version of 'Lotus Flower' provided us with the funniest video of the year when spliced with Beyonce's 'Single Ladies'. Go Thom! Radiohead need to pull their collective socks up and stop sounding like parodies of themselves.
Out of the '10 (plus 1) for 11' I put together at the start of the year, only four in fact feature in this ten. So no Friendly Fires, no Radiohead, no White Lies, no Vaccines etc. The far more positive aspect of 2011 however was the great acheivements of (mainly UK) female singer-songwriters. Six of the ten albums (and seven of the ten singles) of my year are female-led, which is great to see. Not only that, but it's encouraging how diverse the talent is. Whereas in previous years there's been a million Lily Allens or KT Tunstalls there is now a broad range of styles and artists that are their own people rather than copies of a small handful of well-known female singers. Bodes very well for the future. So on that more positive note...
(and at least it proves an all-male panel can select a female-dominated shortlist unlike the sports presonality judges)...
Number 10
UK Chart high : Number 31 in February
I put The Joy Formidable's cracking single 'Whirring' in my top ten. Problem is, that was 2008's top ten. Three years later and their debut album appears at an almost Stone Roses' pace of production. That aside (and I'm not entirely sure why the delay) 'The Big Roar' is a confident sounding album from a band that have at least had the luxury to really flesh out their sound prior to releasing their debut. There is one negative though in that they do sound like they should have released this a few years ago at the height of the last guitar-boom and then they would have reaped the benefits. Today the style does start to sound a bit tired. There's no denying however, what a great frontwoman they have in Ritzy Bryan and also how surprisingly hard they rock live. I saw them at the start of the year and the show was absolutely relentless compared to what I was expecting from a 'mere indie band' full of powerful drums and heavy riffing. Let's hope they follow this up quick smart and help kick start the guitar revival we've been talking about for a while. Dave Grohl also rates them, what more do you need?
Look at Whirring ; Austere ; Cradle ; A Heavy Abacus
Laura Marling 'A Creature I Don't Know'
UK Chart high : Number 4 in September
Firstly, Laura Marling was born in 1990. That's born, not went to school or picked up her first guitar. Born. Secondly, this is her third album. Third. No wonder she won the Brit this year. Thirdly, to be perfectly honest I've never been totally sold on her, being more admiring of her talent than loving what she does. That all swiftly changed upon hearing 'Sophia' which must be the best tune created this year even if the guitar at the beginning sounds exactly like the intro to 'I Know Him So Well' by the mighty Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson. It's a stunning song, starting in such a low register as to be almost inaudible and building to a full band crescendo. Highlight on the album though is 'The Beast' where Laura turns into a snarling narrator backed by dirty, sneering guitars - the likes of which I've not heard from her before - it's a great piece of work. Sure, there are points where her music verges into 'fiddle-de-dee' territory, but luckily they are seldom. Standing out more than the music or vocals however are her lyrics. They're incredibly visual, evoking legends of old (though of what time it's never really clear - Greek myth, English folk-lore, perhaps a complete mix) and telling their own compelling stories. It's this trait that sees her live up to the Joni Mitchell comparisons and it makes you marvel at how someone so young can conjure up such unique storytelling. It's scary to think of where she'll go to next with all those years ahead of her.
Look at Sophia ; The Muse (Live on 'Later...')
Adele '21'
UK Chart high : Number 1 in January
Number 1 in January and practically every other month to be fair. Hard to remember now but there was a time when Adele wasn't so bloomin' ubiquitous (and that time was called 'before Jan '11'). She'd done well with the first single 'Rolling in the Deep', released in that comfy post-New Year slot when everyone's looking to latch onto the next big thing, but it was 'that' performance at the BRITs that really catapulted her into the stratosphere. Now she clearly divides opinion, her detractors can point to overexposure (of the music if not the woman herself) and the fairly standard production on the record but, that aside, she has a seriously good voice and sings it like she means it. I'd much rather have someone of her calibre selling truckloads of records than a Susan Boyle or Westlife and I'm sure you would too. The album is filled with heartbreaking tales of betrayal and longing brought to life by her vocal delivery and is a perfect fit for radio as well as pleasing the producers of dozens of reality tv shows worldwide. Away from all the hype and baggage this is still a fine album and worthy of its top ten placing. She also can set fire to rain, which is rather impressive.
Look at Rolling in the Deep ; Someone Like You (Live at The BRITs) ; Set Fire to the Rain (live at the Royal Albert Hall)
The Horrors 'Skying'
UK Chart high : Number 5 in July
An entire hemisphere away from Adele, the next entry is from those lovable ex-gothic punk scamps turned electro-psychedelia poineers The Horrors. Crafters of my top album of a couple of years ago, in part because of their step-change transformation from a joke act to one of the country's brightest hopes in one bold move, the were never really going to match the sheer shock value impact that 'Primary Colours' had made with that of their third effort. 'Skying' sees them continue to follow the path they set out on, though granted, with a few forays into the undergrowth along the way. 'Skying' is aptly named, even if I didn't really get the connection at first. There's a feeling of escape, of drifting off into space evoked by soaring keyboards layered with textured guitars and louche basslines. Until that is, halfway through 'Endless Blue' where the peace is shattered and we get a glimpse of The Horrors of old in a fantastic tempo change. 'Still Life' and the epic 'Moving Further Away' get even mightier and grander, though in a more measured way until we're set adrift with the final track 'Oceans Burning'. In a dire year for indie guitar bands, the boys done good again.
Look at Still Life ; I Can See Through You ; Moving Further Away (live)
Yuck 'Yuck'
UK Chart high : Number 62 in March
Next is a compilation album called 'The Sound of Grunge Classics'...well not quite, but it could easily be the best bits of Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, Pavement and the like all rolled into one via, er London. That's a very blase way of summarising what is a decidedly brilliant debut album. Yes, the band wear their influences on their plaid sleeves but they manage to sound fresh all the same - far fresher than many of their contemporaries of longer standing in fact. There's an innocent charm on show throughout, whether it's on the slower tunes of 'Sunday', 'Shook Down' and 'Suck' which hint more toward Fanclub and quiet-day Pumpkins territory or the more immediate showstoppers of 'Get Away' (hello Kim Deal bassline) or 'Holing Out'. This band more than any other are keeping my guitar hopes alive, even if they did still have to tune their own instruments and put up their own banner when I saw them play live in Newcastle. They even end the album on the grunge era failsafe of pushing the listeners patience to the limit with feedback and off-kilter instrumentation during the seven minute 'Rubber' (in which a dog is groomed in the accompanying video obviously). Perhaps more than any other act on this list, I can't wait to hear where they go next.
Look at Get Away ; Holing Out ; Rubber ; Shook Down
Anna Calvi 'Anna Calvi'
UK Chart high : Number 40 in January
So one day Shirley Bassey, Bob Dylan and Hank Marvin form a supergroup and record the soundtrack to Ennio Moricone's life story. Alternatively we just get Anna Calvi to do it. Right from the intro to 'Rider to the Sea' the steel guitar whisks you off to the middle of the US desert tracking Eastwood on your trusty steed. From there, the drama doesn't let up - a quality we've been lacking in spades this year. Calvi's playing is a breath of fresh air, it's not a style I've ever really thought of as being exclusively male but it is so surprising to hear it from her that it makes you wonder why you've not heard it so often before. The accordian-led 'Desire' is just wonderful and is the stand out track here (and yes, the opening shot of the video is the desert) but that's quickly followed up by 'The Devil' which soon has her proclaiming 'The Devil, the Devil will come' with such sincerity that it's always best to check over your shoulder just in case. Yes, there's inevitable comparisons to PJ Harvey at times (maybe it's the bright red lippy, I dunno, or the gender role swapping lyricism) but there's more than enough here to set Calvi apart from Polly. But even on the tracks where similarities are fair (such as the first half of the sublime album-closer 'Love Won't Be Leaving') there's soon a unique spin taken to shake off any copycat claims. In such a strong year for female singers, Anna Calvi stands head and shoulders above any other debutante this year.
Look at Desire ; Suzanne and I ; Blackout ; Love Won't Be Leaving (live)
Chase and Status 'No More Idols'
UK Chart high : Number 2 in February
Just when I'd more or less given up on intelligent dance music, thinking that Pendulum would be as good as it would get from now on (crikey!) up pops Chase and Status. Well, they popped up a few years ago apparently but I didn't really notice them until their collaboration with Plan B 'End Credits' which was a briliant slice of guitar and breakbeat splicing and before Plan B would go all 'geezer' on us to make a living. Since then they released 'Blind Faith' which, if 'Sophia' is the foot-tapping, beard-stroking tune of the year, is the foot-stomping, hand-waving choon of the year. It takes you straight back to the illegal-rave era Britain and even manages to freshen up that 'Sweet Sensation' sample we've all heard more times than fired Apprentice contestants have said 'Thank you for the opportunity Lord Sugar'. 'No More Idols' is easily the best dance album since The Prodigy's 'Fat of the Land' and even has a fierce animal on the cover to stretch comparisons even further. There's a consistency here that is so often missing from the genre's long players. And that's made even more remarkable when you consider they have Plan B, Clare Macguire, Cee Lo and Tiny Tempah as featured artists and they don't even sound annoying! But it's the lesser known acts that steal the show, be it on the aforementioned 'Blind Faith' or the equally anthemic 'Time' and 'Let You Go'. Yes they sometimes try a bit too hard to be 'worthy' - with Kyle-style chat shows and domestic abuse as frankly clumsy video subjects, but rather some of that than the usual gubbins we're served currently by the supposed inventive end of the musical spectrum. They also allow Dizzee a chance to swear again...which is nice.
Look at Blind Faith ; End Credits ; Time ; Let You Go
Florence and the Machine 'Ceremonials'
UK Chart high : Number 1 in November
Now I love a bit of Flo, me. Great image, stage presence and voice as well as some cracking tunes. The debut album though, not so keen. How she managed to milk seven (yes, seven) singles from it is beyond me. On hearing she was readying her second, I did think 'haven't we just started having a break from you?' and probably was less than enthused. 'What the Water Gave Me' is a barnstormer of a comeback tune though and very much like most of this album - bit too much going on at first listen and then on repeated airings just gets better and better as you unfold all the layers. It's definitely the best track here, with an ending that defines the term 'crescendo' well and truly and the only place you'll probably hear a harp included in a wall of sound. Everything is 'Florence turned up to 11' here, so you'd be in good company to think there's a lot of repetitive musicality and not enough variation at first but gradually you get accustomed to the tone and can appreciate the album for what it is. So there's no 'Kiss with a Fist' or truly stripped back, simple songs that would have brought some light and shade, but then so what? Let's have an album of OTT drama and uplifting, soaring emotions banging about all over the place even if you do sometimes envisage a travel advert to the Seychelles at times. There's not so much a growth of a young artist here as an artist finding their niche and mining it really effectively. Suspiciously, I have yet to see her in the same room as Noel Fielding though.
Look at What the Water Gave Me ; Shake it Out ; No Light, No Light
The Strokes 'Angles'
UK Chart high : Number 3 in April
A large five year gap since their last album puts The Strokes in Stone Roses and Kate Bush productivity territory, though I guess if all the abuse and intra-band strife was anything to go by it's a wonder 'Angles' ever saw the light of day to begin with. The five year wait also brings with it inevitably high expectations - mags like the NME expecting The Strokes to come back and save the planet seemingly. Based on their last two albums (and lead singer Julian Casablancas' solo effort) that realistically was not going to happen and reviews, equally inevitably, sighed with the weight of serial disappointment. For me though, 'Angles' comfortably surpasses albums two and three and is up there with their debut, though for different reasons. Here's a band that finally seems to not give a damn about living up to previous heights and is just making music for the hell of it - that freedom resulting in a great sounding set of songs not just a shadow of their former selves. The relaxed atmosphere filters through to the sounds on the record too - reggae style rhythms punctuating album opener 'Macchu Pichu' and early 80's keyboards on 'Two Kinds of Happiness' for instance. They also continue to poke fun of themselves and play up on the (self) exaggerated band strife (as seen in the 'Julian is missing from the table' opening in the video for lead single 'Under Cover of Darkness') - that song proclaiming they were back to their winning ways. The old Strokes staples are still here - particularly Nick and Albert's abilities to make their instruments sing (corny but true) and their mastery of economy by seeming to throw away killer riffs and noodlings by only playing them for five seconds and then moving on, where lesser bands would have made entire albums out of them. 'Life is Simple in the Moonlight' is also as perfect an album closer you could hope for. Album five's apparently on its way already and on this basis that's very good news indeed. Oh and they still look the absolute b0llocks.
Look at Under Cover of Darkness ; Taken For a Fool ; Life is Simple in the Moonlight (live)
PJ Harvey 'Let England Shake'
UK Chart high : Number 8 in February
Sometimes my friends, the obvious choice is the only choice. So just as last year saw me give the nod to 'The Suburbs' I'm giving PJ Harvey the TTT crown this year to accompany her Mercury Award, 10 out of 10 from the Observer and top honour from both NME and Q magazine. Like The Arcade Fire's effort, 'Let England Shake' takes a theme (here, war) and crafts different songs around it from different perspectives - in other words it's a true concept album rather than a 'We Will Rock You' type affair (thankfully!). That 2011 hasn't been a stellar year should take nothing away from what has been accomplished here. You get tales from both WWI and WWII (such as 'On Battleship Hill') as well as more modern conflicts (the superb Iraq-evoking 'Written on the Forehead'). It's her lyrics that set this apart from other efforts though from either first or third person narratives starkly setting out harroring scenes on the battlefield during and after conflict or contrasting England's Empire-building past stature with where we are now (often through a folk music sound). There's so many good examples to choose from but repeating a couple of lines here wouldn't really be doing them justice - go and look them up yourself. Best track for me is the amazing 'This Glorious Land' with its repeating hunting bugle refrain which seems to work on two levels - to take you back to the 'tally-ho' upper-class spirit which led so many soldiers to their deaths in the Great War and also (maybe unintentionally) referencing Polly's own country upbringing which got her into such trouble when she defended aspects of foxhunting a few years ago. They also crafted a video for each song which are all worth seeing, which often begin with someone reading excerpts from the lyrics in often less than reverential tones (and made all the better for it, not to make light of the subject matter but to humanise it). Incredibly this is PJ Harvey's ninth studio album. I can't think of another artist that has produced such a high point this far into their careers. I'm afraid, Kate fans, that in my eyes at least, this achievement easily makes Polly Harvey England's premier female artist and, judging from the critical reception of this album, she's made England shake well and truly.
Look at The Glorious Land ; Let England Shake ; The Words That Maketh Murder ; Written on the Forehead
Listen to the Top Ten on Spotify - almost three hours of splendid music.
