Albums of: // About March
An honest and unprofessional look back and, in some cases, forwards, to some of the albums that I spent my time with in March, not constrained by archaic concepts such as release dates.
The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
I want to say that this is a guilty pleasure, but I’m not sure how I’ve become convinced by the music media that enjoying pop music is shameful. It’s not inventive, it’s doesn’t present a new template for pop music and it definitely doesn’t have a dubstep influence (thank the Lord), but it never was going to be, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything other than exactly what it is. Enormous, slightly thoughtful, fun. I spilled a lengthy diatribe of defence over at the Line of Best Fit which you can read here.
Post Break-Up Sex by The Vaccines
The Strokes – Angles
Unfortunately I think that Caitlin Moran writing in The Times that Rebecca Black was better than “some of the rubbish on the Strokes new album” has turned me from comfortably sat on its fence to a dedicated, blood-covered advocate of ‘Angles’. Pete Paphides wouldn’t make us listen to his views on useless celebrities, so don’t you criticise our rock-stars Miss Moran. If, however, what she was getting at was that, in a set list that includes ‘Is This It’, ‘Hard To Explain’ and ‘Reptilia’, then it might potentially be possibly quite hard to imagine some of ‘Angles’ songs living up to their older siblings then… she might have had a point… On the other hand, we can’t argue that ‘Angles’ is disappointing simply because ‘Is This It’ was truly decade defining, because, taken out of that context and placed into another one, ‘Angles’ is some of the most interesting and catchy guitar music that 2011 has yet provided us with.
Noah & The Whale – Last Night On Earth
For a band whose career was originally based on one of the most irritating pop songs of recent centuries, it’s surprising that the still have a record deal for a third album, yet alone the ability and inventiveness to pen 10 new songs. Ranging from the brilliant quartet of the album’s middle (‘L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N’, ‘Wild Thing’, ‘Give It All Back’, ‘Just Before We Met’) to the slightly more average following three, to the entirely un-enticing opening duo, ‘Last Night On Earth’ is an album in the most traditional sense. It has some great songs, some good ones, and some average ones. Such a simple idea, but, in retrospect, it was a system that was never broken.
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – Belong
People criticising ‘Belong’ can be divided (very generally) into two categories – 1) those who loved their first eponymous LP precisely because it was regressive and derivative, and are now apparently disappointed that their second LP lacks invention and 2) those who didn’t like the first LP either (these people can be discounted). If you can possibly get over the constant struggle to “push music forward” then I would argue that ‘Belong’ is everything that its predecessor was, yet more accessible and arresting. And if that doesn’t sound appealing to you, then you just really don’t like pop music.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- Belong by Anorak London
Wye Oak – Civilian
This could well be the slow-burning alternative hit of the year. The wandering melody of ‘Dog Eyes’ and its captivating change of pace, the perfectly layered ‘Civilian’, and the latent frustration of ‘Plains’ are all some of the most spectacular moments that we’ve heard this year, and unless Radiohead extend their new release strategy by releasing a new LP each week from now until December, we’d be surprised if 2011’s end of year lists didn’t agree.
Dutch Uncles – Cadenza
As someone born with the unfortunate affliction of not actually being able to understand numbers, I have never experienced this particular sensation, but I would imagine that hearing all of ‘Cadenza’s’ parts slip into place in your mind is a satisfaction similar to fully understanding E=MC2 after years of study. Perhaps not years, it’s not quite that good. But a good few months, at least. For a band so championed by the mainstream media, ‘Cadenza’ is a surprising and satisfying balance between intricacy and pop.
Bibio – Mind Bokeh
Oh dear. After the beautiful experiment that was ‘Ambivalence Avenue’, we were poised to receive an album far less embarrassing than the auditory equivalent of watching your usually reserved father drunkenly dancing like an England football supporter circa 1995. Given that one of the (worst) songs half-way through the album is called ‘Take Off Your Shirt’, perhaps he’s just having an ironic joke at our expense. Let us hope so.
Cold Cave – Cherish The Light Years
Another debut album let down by a loose second. Once noise was punctuated by melody, now noise gives way to noise and we refuse to listen to it again. Even more disappointing than being unable to holiday for 10p in Egypt because it’s “too dangerous” according to family. Bollocks. I’m one of them! As Bush would probably say, “I’m a democraticiser, too”. Anyway, yeah, it’s not very good.
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