Wrapping up my review of 2015 with a repeat of my Top 5 Albums of the year. I got a bit carried away with the Songs & Albums run down before Christmas and ran out of time to write my own words so here are my favourite albums from a remarkable year in music. The top three here were all contenders for number one and the other two entries snuck ahead of at least ten contenders for a top 5 spot.
5. Sleater-Kinney "No Cities To Love" - The first album in 10 years for one of my favourite bands was bound to strike a chord with me and this was no disappointment. It's a little difficult to be objective so soon after release but I think No Cities To Love compares really well with Sleater-Kinney's best albums. A clear successor to their last LP, and the album that really got me into the band, 2005's The Woods. There are 10 songs on here and they all sound fantastic. I really love Sleater-Kinney and if you've not heard them this is a good a place as any to start.
4. Thee Oh Sees "Mutilator Defeated At Last" - Thee Oh Sees have been on the periphery of my music radar for quite a few years. They sounded like the sort of band I ought to like but for whatever reason I'd not managed to go and investigate further. When 6music started playing The Web, the first single from this album (at least I think it was a single, are they still a thing or do we just have playlist tracks now?), I wasn't blown away. But, Marc Riley in particular kept playing it and it began to seep into my consciousness. By the time I bought the album I was very much on-side but that still didn't prepare me for how preposterously great the album would be. I've started working backwards through their catalogue now and it's not a one off. Another amazing band to add to my collection.
3. Ezra Furman "Perpetual Motion People" - Ezra came to my attention in 2013 with the Day of the Dog album. That blew me away and led to me catching him live early the following year. The songs on Perpetual Motion People took a while to win me over. Perhaps they're not quite as raucous as the previous LP (and I'm a big fan of raucous) but they grew on me pretty quick and show a real maturity in Ezra's songwriting. Though the musical vibe is very upbeat some of the lyrical themes are both personal and soul baring. In particular Body Was Made which hints at the Ezra's non-binary status and, my favourite tune on the record, Ordinary Life which gives clear indications about coping with depression. Ezra deserves to be a huge star and if you ever get the chance to see him live I guarantee you'll leave with a massive smile on your face.
2. BC Camplight "How To Die In The North" - This was my record of the year for so long, in many ways it's still first equal. Brian Christinzio has been around for some time but relocated to Manchester in 2011 after a period of health issues. Having nearly quit music he rediscovered his passion in the UK and the songs that make up this album began to take shape. I'd heard some of these tunes as far back as 2013. You only need one listen to work out why the album took so long to arrive. It's immaculate, hints of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys in both vocal style and instrumentation but still very much a work that speaks volumes of its creator.
1. LoneLady "Hinterland" - Although I'm sure the influences might be there, to my ears this sounded like something new and fresh. LoneLady is another solo project, Julie Campbell originally performing genuinely solo with just a drum machine for company. For this album she has added a full band and the songs sound all the better for it. Julie's spiky, angular guitar lines are the seam that run through the whole album but there's a real groove to the sound. It's not dance music but it's music you can dance to. I'm not sure I've found the words to explain why this is number one but throughout the year this has been the one album to remain a constant on my playlist.
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Err, you'll notice this isn't a Top 5. That's because I only read five books all year and, although I enjoyed most of them, I didn't think it was fair to list them as a legitimate Top 5. There was one book though that I could not leave unheralded.
Chop's Book of the Year 2015
Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys by Viv Albertine
The Slits weren't like other punk bands. Not just because they were all girls (well, most of them) but because they had a different approach to making music. Whilst the boy punk bands could be thrilling and appeared to be ripping up the rule book, musically they were still following a fairly standard path. The Slits on the other hand really forged their own path.
Similarly, Viv's style of writing in her autobiography is a breath of fresh air. In the first sentence of her introduction she states that "Anyone who writes an autobiography is either a twat or broke. I'm a bit of both" and she stays close to that ability to speak truth to the very end. Chapter one is a short treatise on masturbation, it ensures you're under no allusions about the author or how she plans to tell her story.
The chapters are short and snappy and read a little like a scrapbook of memories. An approach I thought worked really well, making it very easy to read but also getting under the skin of Viv's personality in a way few other biographies I've read have managed. The pages on the early years of punk are fascinating providing an insider's view of a dramatic period in music. I was a little too young to witness this first hand but the influence of punk remains in most of the bands I love today.
When the Splits disbanded in 1982 Viv didn't follow the expected route to solo music but booked herself onto a film studies course which eventually led to her working as a freelance director. The second half of the book covers the long period when she wasn't a rock'n'roll star. She got married, had a daughter and lived a fairly normal life as wife & mother down on the south coast. She didn't pick up a guitar for a very long time and when she finally did, another moment of emancipation, it took her some time to regain her confidence in her own abilities.
In 2009 she released her first solo album, The Vermillion Border. Hearing Viv play some of those tunes in session for 6music was the spur for me to investigate her music more thoroughly. Until that point I think I only really knew the Slit's single Typical Girls. Viv's solo album is a joy and in many ways the book is a companion piece to that album.
A fabulous read that feels like a conversation with the author, one that drew me in so deep I needed a few days off before I read anything else. I think I read that Viv is writing a second book, I really hope she is as I'll be first in line to pick up a copy.
Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys. via Amazon
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A strong year for television I thought, though perhaps because of a few excellent shows that stood out from the bulk of average stuff. There were some strong contenders that didn't make the list though; Parks & Rec (Series 4), Catastrophe (Series 1 & 2) and This Is England '90 being the closest.
5. The Bridge (Series 3) - The third series of my favourite show from 2012 & 2014 was just as good as the previous ones but trails in 5th place because I'd not finished watching it at time of writing (and was up against some stiff competition). I was worried the loss of Kim Bodnia would have an impact but if anything Saga's new partner, played by Thure Lindhardt, has made this series even better.
4. Count Arthur Strong (Series 2) - I suspect this is an acquired taste but I think, at it's best, it was the funniest show on telly all year. Two episodes in particular elevated this above top comedy contenders such as the final series of Peep Show and Sharon Horgan & Rob Delaney's Catastrophe. I watched the episode where Arthur is mistaken for a flying instructor 3 or 4 times and it got funnier every time. Similarly the episode when Arthur is almost conned by a dodgy plumber, which turns into a pastiche of the Stephen King film Misery was just as good.
3. Spiral (Series 5) - The 5th series of this French detective drama was my top show for most of the year but got pipped at the post by two excellent shows. I think this is the first series I've caught on initial airing but it felt like I really know the characters well now and worked all the better for that familiarity. Laure is still the star though and coping with being pregnant didn't slow her down a great deal.
2. Detectorists (Series 2) - I'd enjoyed the first series of Mackenzie Crook's subtle sitcom but it took a while to work its charm. This second series seemed to be great from the off. Maybe the benefit of knowing the characters and understanding the pace and style but this was a huge improvement to my mind with a wonderfully feel good conclusion. The Christmas Special was excellent too.
1. Fargo (Series 2) - Similarly to Detectorists, the second series of Fargo outstripped the first by some distance. The influence of the Coen Brother's is clear though this series has developed a life of it's own. The casting is great too. Big stars like Ted Danson and Kirsten Dunce in less typical roles and rising stars like Nick Offerman and Cristin Milioti putting in fantastic turns. The coup de grace is the way they link the story to series 1. I may have just been a little slow but it caught me completely by the surprise. Magnificent telly, I hope they'll find a way to make a third series.
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If 2015 was a wonderful year for new recorded music (and I think it was) it also mirrored this in the standard of gigs I went to. Another year where I intended to cut back, another year where I averaged two a month. I'm not going to bother even suggesting cutting back next year. Almost without exception every gig I went to was fantastic which made it all the harder to pick my top five. In the end these five were the ones I think I'll remember the most (though a special mention for Brakes at The Lexington for missing out by a smidge)
5. Barrence Whitfield & The Savages at The Boileroom, Guildford (Thursday 8th October) - The Boileroom managing a pretty good hit rate, two gigs both in my top five (and not just because I could get home at a reasonable time). The crowd was a little sparse for these Garage Punk R&B titans but they didn't let that stop them putting on a belter of a show that literally set the hairs on my neck on end.
Read full report at Chopper's Gigs
4. Hookworms at The Oval Space (Saturday 21st March)- The most energetic gig of the year, and the one time I let myself get really carried away leading to aggravating a calf muscle injury and spending most of the next week limping. It was totally worth it though.
Read full report at Chopper's Gigs
3. C.Joynes & Dead Rat Orchestra at The Laughing Bell (Wednesday 22nd July) - A contender for the smallest venue I've ever been to, and almost certainly the hardest to find. Effectively a studio flat in Bermondesy. I've seen the DRO plenty of times now but this was my first experience of their collaboration with guitar maestro C.Joynes. The cosiness of the venue made the evening feel very special and the music was spellbinding. A magical night.
Read full report at Chopper's Gigs
2. Ezra Furman at The Boileroom, Guildford (Wednesday 8th July) - My first trip to the Boileroom proved to be very successful. Ezra is a joy to see live and this show left me with a huge smile on my face. A few months later he was playing a sold out Shepherd's Bush Empire but a short UK tour of much smaller venues provided me with one of my best nights out this year.
Read full report at Chopper's Gigs
1. Sleater-Kinney at The Roundhouse (Monday 23rd March) - My first chance to see a band that had become one of my all time favourites during their period of hiatus since 2006. Although the venue and audience provided some challenges the band completely overcame them with a fantastic set of new and old songs.
Read full report at Chopper's Gigs
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The final part of my Top 25 Albums of 2015 neatly provides my first Top 5 summary of 2015. All five of these albums were contenders for the number one spot at some point in the year. The fact that Sleater-Kinney, one of my very favourite bands returning after a ten year hiatus, only come fifth underlines this.
5. Sleater-Kinney "No Cities To Love" - Pitchfork review - No Cities to Love is a disarming, liberationist force befitting the Sleater-Kinney canon. Fervent political leftism has been implicit to this Olympia-born trio since they first inverted Boston's "More Than a Feeling" on a 1994 comp and that goes on here as well; we desperately need it. It is astonishing that a radical DIY punk band could grow up and keep going with this much dignity and this many impossibly chiseled choruses. No Pistol, Ramone, or unfortunate mutation of Black Flag could have done this.
4. Thee Oh Sees "Mutilator Defeated At Last" - Pitchfork review - Thee Oh Sees have one type of song that is consistently great. It’s the fast and heavy track that combines the creepy and ugly sensibility of the Cramps with krautrock's streamlined sense of repetition. Mutilator delivers plenty of these songs. "Withered Hand", "Lupine Ossuary", and "Rogue Planet" each strikes that perfect balance of druggy alienation and soothing forward motion, of sublime rhythmic focus and freaked-out guitar violence.
3. Ezra Furman "Perpetual Motion People" - Guardian review - It rages along at a cathartic intensity that perfectly matches the lyrics. Haunted Head evokes the tumult of a bipolar mind in manic mode, the opening Restless Year and Lousy Connection are part painful self-examination, part triumphant Rebel Rebelish rallying cries.
2. B.C. Camplight "How To Die In The North" - The 405 review - This will be a lot of people's first encounter with BC, so let's get one important thing out of the way: he sounds a lot like Brian Wilson. Not just in voice, but in tone, delivery and arrangement too. It's a little disconcerting at first, but go with it: there is treasure in abundance on this record. The theatrical influence is undeniable, from the torch-song opening of 'Good Morning Headache' to the deliciously overwrought chorus of closer 'Why Doesn't Anybody Fall In Love'. It is light years ahead of his previous two albums.
1. LoneLady "Hinterland" - The Quietus review - Hinterland is playful – a vibrant and urgent combination of genealogy and vision – and it is this that truly makes it a masterpiece. Not only does Julie Campbell have the creative chops to create such richly evocative music, but she does it with a wink and a smile. Hinterland feels like a thesis on Manchester and its musical lore. By simply adding the rhythm of her shoes hitting the pavement, she's transformed a nostalgic archive into tightly executed, profoundly new, dance music.
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Into the top ten now and proof that 2015 really was an exceptional year for music. This batch of records would stand up pretty well to previous years top fives and I've played all of them a lot.
10. Sauna Youth "Distractions" - The Quietus review - If you're coming to London-based post-punk four-piece Sauna Youth as a new listener, then the first thing to point out is that their name is something of a misnomer. Although definitely too young to remember first-hand the DC hardcore scene that occasionally perforates their sound they're probably old enough to recognise that Loud & Quiet's recent comparison of them to Parklife-era Blur might be more than just a music journo shorthand.
9. The Wave Pictures "Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon" - Pitchfork review - Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon is roughly their 16th album, their gnarliest yet, and it’s another collaboration, this one produced and co-written by beret-wearing punk artiste Billy Childish. The garage-rock primitivism marks the first time they’ve really glamourized their limitations. The slight redirection is likely thanks to Childish, who was expelled from art school for having "an attitude of total rejection" and has since devoted his life to demystifying the pompous institutions of modern art and music.
8. Courtney Barnett "Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit" - Pitchfork review - Sit is Barnett's first album, the follow-up to two EPs collected on The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas. Its music is descended from 1990s grunge, descended in turn from '60s garage and psychedelia—the rocks to the balloons of Barnett's thoughts, which blow back and forth above the distorted guitars buoyed by gas we can't actually see. Without her words, the music would sit there; without the music, Barnett would drift away. Half the time, she doesn't even sing, but talks, slipping into melody mid-line as though she just remembered she was playing music.
7. Joanna Newsom "Divers" - Guardian review - A lean, compact summary of the joys of Newsom, still an acquired taste to some, but to others, one of the undisputed greats working in our lifetime. Here are 11 tracks, none of them outstaying their welcome, in which glee and sorrow and erudite lyrical puzzles worthy of Araucaria come wrapped in music of breathtaking agility, conjoining eras and textures without a care.
6. Low "Sixes & Ones" - Guardian review - Ones and Sixes is an ear-pricking listen, particularly on headphones. It’s not just the death watch beetle tick of the programmed drums on Congregation, either. The discrete potato-chip crunch of Parker’s drum beats, and the space around each instrument on first single No Comprende, are two more ways in which producer BJ Burton has brought Low’s music into crisp resolution.
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The next batch of five includes a band releasing they're first album for almost 50 years and a band who include a member who's main on-stage involvement is drinking cans of Red Stripe.
15. The Sonics "This Is The Sonics" - Pitchfork review - If garage rock was conceived in the ’60s as the primal sound of teenage boredom, frustration, and angst, what does it mean when men in their seventies attempt to play it? There’s probably a deep and worthy discussion to be had somewhere in there, but the Sonics don’t give a shit about that, nor should they. The Tacoma band’s new release This Is the Sonics is their first studio album of all-new material in 49 years, and that fact alone is staggering. What’s even more remarkable, though, is how one of garage rock’s most legendary bands has dared to test their legend by making a record that spits, snarls, drools, honks, wails, and screams as if it were 1966 all over again.
14. Godspeed You! Black Emperor "Asunder Sweet & Other Distress" - Quietus review - 'Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress' is exceptional in the GY!BE canon in a whole heap of ways. Firstly, it's a mere 40 minutes long - which is short by anybody's modern standards, let alone for the band which popularised the 20-minute plus track time for a whole generation. What's more the four tracks that make up the album play through as one single suite, resulting in a potent statement that it's tough to argue against always sitting through in its entirety.
13. Primitive Parts "Parts Primitive" - Short punky blast that wears its influences on its sleeves but leaves you smiling and wanting more. Featuring Lyndsay from Sauna Youth and Kevin & Robin from Male Bonding this is an album full of catchy hooks and no nonsense tunes that wouldn't sound out of place on a Stiff Records compilation.
12. Sleaford Mods "Key Markets" - Clash Music review - One-dimensional. Exhilarating. Crude. Hilarious. Gritty. Perplexing. These are just some of the words that have probably been used to describe Sleaford Mods in the last 12 months. All of them may be true, but 'Key Markets' is some of the most invigorating, honest and vital music you will hear this year.
11. Samantha Crain "Under Branch & Thorn & Tree" - Guardian review - Samantha Crain has been championed and invited on tour by folk sisters First Aid Kit, though where their music supplies ringing harmonies and dappled sunlight, something more solemn broods within hers. Crain’s songs are often peopled by outsiders struggling against bitter circumstances; Elk City imagines a woman eking out a life in a crumbling town, You or the Mystery addresses a reclusive neighbour found dead in his kitchen. But though many of these songs are racked with sadness, their effect is strangely uplifting. The richness of Crain’s voice and the elegant simplicity of the musical arrangements bring drama to these stories. And the striking imagery of her lyrics finds beauty and pathos in the details of downtrodden lives.
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Continuing the countdown from 20 to 16, this section provides a nice mix of Folk, Pysch and Garage Rock. Time is getting the better of me so rather than struggle over the words I'm quoting from online reviews.
20. Föllakzoid "III" - Drowned in Sound review - It’s the band’s stated aim with this record to show what can be done with a minimalist techo approach to their craft, and as the lead guitar swirls in and out during this track’s sixth minute it is impossible to say anything other than that Föllakzoid have scored a resounding success.
19. Dead Rat Orchestra "Tyburnia" - The Dead Rat's have been on a run of fascinating projects recently and show no signs of slowing down. Tyburnia is the soundtrack to James Holcome's film of the same name, charting the history of public execution and the echoes of those events on contemporary times.
18. Trembling Bells "The Sovereign Self" - Line of Best Fit review - A glorious collage of musical artistry, drawing from darker regions than did any of its predecessors, it’s a work of extraordinary ambition, integrating aspects of Classical Greek tragedy, unorthodox religious imagery and some of the more jagged, acid-tinged pastoralism of drummer-vocalist Alex Neilson’s late 1960s psych-folk heroes the Incredible String Band.
17. Barrence Whitfield & The Savages "Under A Savage Sky" - Allmusic review - The production captures the raucous sound of the Savages' live show with good and greasy accuracy, and when Barrence sings "It's no sin to lose control," he's neatly summed up what's great about this band -- and this album. Those who still believe that rock & roll can and should make you move ought to put Under the Savage Sky on their playlists pronto; it's the raw real thing
16. Moon Duo "Shadow of the Sun" - Pitchfork review - Although Shadow of the Sun is rooted in psychedelia, there are elements of proto-punk all over it, darkening the songs and making them more human. "Wilding", the album's standout opening track, resembles one of Jonathan Richman’s more uptempo songs, tinged with a tinny Haight-Ashbury tambourine and some wigged-out synths. Johnson’s solos, which can occasionally wander, are concise and focused here, setting an energetic stage for what’s to come.
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2015 was a fantastic year for music. I don't know if there was something special in the water or I just managed to hear a lot of good stuff but I don't remember a year in which I discovered so many new albums that I loved. For the first time since I started this blog I've got enough for a Top 25 (and plenty more beyond that).
25. Speedy Ortiz "Foil Deer" - Punk infused Indie rock that never fails to put a smile on my face. Their second proper album (third if you count Sadie Dupuis' self recorded debut) is the perfect combination of spiky guitar and well crafted lyrics.
24. La Luz "Weird Shrine" - An album of Garage Rock influenced tunes with Sixties Girl Group harmonies was always going to lure me into it's charms and seeing them live at the back end of October removed any doubts I had.
23. Beirut "No No No" - Zach Condon's full band version of Beirut continues where the excellent Rip Tide left off in 2011 with another wonderful album. It didn't fair so well critically anyone who counts a rotary valve flugelhorn and a ukulele as his main instruments is going to get a lot of slack from me.
22. Fuzz "II" - Few bands could be quite so well named. Fuzz are yet another string in Ty Segall's many bows. There's more than a hint of Sabbath here and, though I don't actually own a copy yet, this was too good to leave out of my top 25.
21. Deerhunter "Fading Frontier" - Bradford Cox's first release since recovering from being hit by a car. It's a beautifully fragile release that reveals more each time I listen. They played a session for Marc Riley which really opened my ears to their music, Bradford was particularly erudite that night and I was drawn in as much by his enthusiasm as anything else.
