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 | Album: 1 of 60 Artist: Kit Downes Trio Title: Golden Released: 2009-11-02 Tracks: 8 Duration: 53:11 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2010 | 1 Jump Minzi Jump (07:01) 2 Golden (05:16) 3 Homely (07:40) 4 Power and Patience (07:05) 5 Madame (05:15) 6 A Dance Took Place (07:28) 7 Roots (06:58) 8 Toms Tune (06:24) |
 | Album: 2 of 60 Artist: Biffy Clyro Title: Only Revolutions Released: 2009-11-09 Tracks: 13 Duration: 46:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2010 | 1 The Captain (03:43) 2 That Golden Rule (03:49) 3 Bubbles (05:01) 4 God & Satan (03:09) 5 Born on a Horse (02:49) 6 Mountains (03:21) 7 Shock Shock (03:03) 8 Many of Horror (04:18) 9 Booooom, Blast and Ruin (03:16) 10 Cloud of Stink (02:55) 11 Know Your Quarry (03:29) 12 Whorses (03:55) 13 Sky Demon (03:26) |
| Only Revolutions : Allmusic album Review : Understandably pleased with the success of their mainstream breakthrough album, Puzzle (2007), Biffy Clyro dont change much on the follow-up effort, Only Revolutions. Like Puzzle, it finds the Scottish alternative rockers at their most immediate and accessible. Once again they work with producer Garth Richardson and smooth out the rougher aspects of their early recordings, the Beggars Banquet albums Blackened Sky (2002), The Vertigo of Bliss (2003), and Infinity Land (2004). They restrain their prog tendencies, keeping the songs short and concise, and amplify their melodic side, recording with a full orchestra. They include a few mellow tunes on Only Revolutions, "God & Satan," "Many of Horror," and "Know Your Quarry," yet Biffy Clyro are still at their best when they let it rip. "That Golden Rule," "Bubbles," "Mountains," and "Booooom, Blast & Ruin" are highly charged rockers that race along quickly and shift gears often. These album highlights are edgy and rock hard, yet theyre graced with memorable hooks and melodies at the same time. Now and then the bands pop/rock is off balance, for instance the album opener, "The Captain," which leans too far toward pop for comfort. Among the standout rockers, the previously released "Mountains" from 2008 and the lead single "That Golden Rule" are both great, and "Bubbles" is even better. Featuring Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age on second guitar, "Bubbles" has it all -- hammering riffs, adventurous jams, ear-pleasing chorus, sharp dynamics -- and its the albums longest and most satisfying song, rocking for a full five minutes whereas most other songs on Only Revolutions are over and done with a minute or two sooner. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 60 Artist: Mumford & Sons Title: Sigh No More Released: 2009-10-05 Tracks: 12 Duration: 48:41 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2010 | 1 Sigh No More (03:27) 2 The Cave (03:38) 3 Winter Winds (03:39) 4 Roll Away Your Stone (04:23) 5 White Blank Page (04:14) 6 I Gave You All (04:20) 7 Little Lion Man (04:07) 8 Timshel (02:53) 9 Thistle & Weeds (04:49) 10 Awake My Soul (04:15) 11 Dust Bowl Dance (04:43) 12 After the Storm (04:07) |
| Sigh No More : Allmusic album Review : English folk outfit Mumford & Sons full-length debut owes more than a cursory nod to bands like the Waterboys, the Pogues, and the Men They Couldn’t Hang. The groups heady blend of biblical imagery, pastoral introspection, and raucous, pub-soaked heartache may be earnest to a fault, but when the wildly imperfect Sigh No More is firing on all cylinders, as is the case with stand-out cuts like "The Cave," "Winter Winds," and "Little Lion Man," it’s hard not to get swept up in the rapture. Like their London underground folk scene contemporaries Noah & the Whale, Johnny Flynn, and Laura Marling, Mumford & Sons take on British folk is far from traditional. Theres a deep vein of 21st century Americana that runs through the album, suggesting a healthy diet of Fleet Foxes, Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Blitzen Trapper, and Marah. That melding of styles, along with some solid knob-twiddling from Arcade Fire/Coldplay producer Markus Dravs, helps to keep the record from completely sinking into the quicksand of its myriad slow numbers -- tracks like "I Gave You All," "Thistle & Weeds," and "After the Storm" are pretty and plain enough, but they neuter a band this spirited. Sigh No More is an impressive debut, but one that impresses more for its promise of the future than it does its wildly inconsistent place in the present. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 60 Artist: Dizzee Rascal Title: Tongue n’ Cheek Released: 2009-09-21 Tracks: 21 Duration: 1:20:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2010 | 1 Bonkers (02:57) 2 Road Rage (03:14) 3 Dance Wiv Me (03:24) 4 Freaky Freaky (03:42) 5 Can’t Tek No More (03:28) 6 Chillin’ Wiv da Man Dem (04:39) 7 Dirtee Cash (04:21) 8 Money, Money (03:23) 9 Leisure (04:13) 10 Holiday (03:40) 11 Bad Behaviour (04:31) 12 Bonkers (Doorly remix) (04:32) 13 Bonkers (As Heard on Radio Soulwax edit) (03:47) 14 Holiday (Nero remix) (04:36) 15 Holiday (Burns remix) (04:59) 16 Dirtee Cash (Sub Focus remix) (04:08) 17 Dirtee Cash (Phonat remix) (03:08) 18 Dance Wiv Me (03:26) 19 Bonkers (02:57) 20 Holiday (03:40) 21 Dirtee Cash (03:47) |
 | Album: 5 of 60 Artist: Wild Beasts Title: Two Dancers Released: 2009-08-03 Tracks: 11 Duration: 43:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2010 | 1 The Fun Powder Plot (05:35) 2 Hooting & Howling (04:35) 3 All the King’s Men (03:59) 4 When I’m Sleepy (02:09) 5 We Still Got the Taste Dancin’ on Our Tongues (04:36) 6 Two Dancers (i) (04:06) 7 Two Dancers (ii) (02:37) 8 This Is Our Lot (04:32) 9 Underbelly (01:54) 10 Empty Nest (03:24) 11 Through the Iron Gate (05:42) |
 | Album: 6 of 60 Artist: The xx Title: xx Released: 2009-08-14 Tracks: 12 Duration: 42:11 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize *** WINNER *** 2010 | 1 Intro (02:07) 2 VCR (02:57) 3 Crystalised (03:22) 4 Islands (02:41) 5 Heart Skipped a Beat (04:02) 6 Fantasy (02:38) 7 Shelter (04:30) 8 Basic Space (03:08) 9 Infinity (05:13) 10 Night Time (03:36) 11 Stars (04:22) 12 Hot Like Fire (03:33) |
| xx : Allmusic album Review : Debuts as fully formed and confident as the xxs self-titled first album are rare, but then, there is very little that is typical about this band or their music. Their influences are wide-ranging -- traces of post-punk, dream pop, dubstep, indie pop, and R&B pop up at any given moment -- but are focused into songs that are as simple as they are unique and mysterious. These tracks are so sleek, theyre practically sculptural, and they boast impeccably groomed arrangements. The beats pulse rather than crash; the guitars are artfully picked and plucked; and the vocals rarely rise above a wistful sigh. This restraint and sophistication make the fact that the xxs members were barely in their twenties when they recorded the album all the more impressive; artists twice their age would be proud to call the maturity and confidence that flow seemingly effortlessly through the xx their own. Even their song titles are the perfect mix of concise and evocative: "Stars," "Shelter," "Night Time" (actually, all of their songs could be named this -- theyre that intimate and sleepily cool). The moody, monochromatic sound the xx sets forth on "Intro" is lovely enough, but its how the band subtly shifts and tweaks it on each track that makes the album truly special. "VCR"s innocent guitars hint at the bands fondness for Young Marble Giants radically simple indie pop, while "Infinity" leans more heavily on their post-punk roots, and "Heart Skips a Beat" underscores its name with wittily fractured rhythms. And while singers Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim sound good on their solo turns (Sim particularly shines on the spacious "Fantasy"), together theyre truly inspired -- the aloof sensuality they generate makes romantic intrigue actually intriguing again. "Crystalised" might be one of the more intense songs here, but it still carries the confessional quality of a conversation between lovers, reaffirming what "heart-to-heart" really means. The standout "Basic Space" takes Croft and Sims push-pull chemistry in an even more pop direction, but its still awash in subtly fascinating details like its exotically rolling beat and Durutti Column-esque guitars. While the bands subtlety and consistency threaten to work against them at times, XX is still a remarkable debut that rewards repeated listens and leaves listeners wanting more. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 60 Artist: Villagers Title: Becoming a Jackal Released: 2010-05-24 Tracks: 12 Duration: 49:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2010 | 1 I Saw the Dead (05:03) 2 Becoming a Jackal (03:19) 3 Ship of Promises (04:36) 4 The Meaning of the Ritual (03:14) 5 Home (04:41) 6 That Day (03:10) 7 The Pact (Ill Be Your Fever) (03:28) 8 Set the Tigers Free (03:22) 9 Twenty-Seven Strangers (03:24) 10 Pieces (05:25) 11 To Be Counted Among Men (04:43) 12 On a Sunlit Stage (04:35) |
 | Album: 8 of 60 Artist: Tinie Tempah Title: Disc-Overy Released: 2010-10-04 Tracks: 14 Duration: 51:33 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2011 | 1 Intro (02:30) 2 Simply Unstoppable (03:33) 3 Pass Out (04:28) 4 Till Im Gone (03:31) 5 Illusion (03:16) 6 So Addicted (03:44) 7 Snap (03:05) 8 Written in the Stars (03:40) 9 Frisky (04:55) 10 Miami 2 Ibiza (03:26) 11 Love Suicide (04:08) 12 Wonderman (03:39) 13 Let Go (04:17) 14 Invincible (03:21) |
| Disc-Overy : Allmusic album Review : Bursting onto the scene seemingly from nowhere, 21-year-old MC Tinie Tempah has rapidly overtaken Dizzee Rascal as the U.K.s biggest urban star, scoring two huge-selling number ones and two further Top Five singles in just six months. Indeed, whereas the likes of Ellie Goulding and Marina & the Diamonds dominated the 2010 "ones to watch" lists, Tempah was pretty much ignored, with the likes of Giggs and Devlin occupying the hip-hop quota instead. His unexpected chart dominance is undoubtedly down to his unique lyrical content, which is littered with pop culture references and amusing one-liners, his quick-fire delivery, and some rather epic production, from the guitar solo-filled stadium rock-inspired "Written in the Stars," to the dub-heavy Labrinth co-writes "Frisky" and "Pass Out." But despite debuting at number one, Tempahs second album isnt necessarily a case of an underground artist giving in to commercial sensibilities. Indeed, much of Disc-Overy could have easily fit on his 2007 grime-influenced mixtape Hood Economics Room 147, particularly the harsh techno beat-driven "Simply Unstoppable," and the frantic drumnbass of the Pendulum-style "Intro." Featuring several well-established guest singers, there are concessions to the poppier end of the spectrum, but they work just as convincingly as the grimier moments. Kelly Rowland appears on "Invincible," whose huge piano riffs sound suspiciously similar to her David Guetta duet "When Love Takes Over"; "Wonderman" combines computer game synth sounds with Ellie Gouldings folk-led vocals to surprisingly powerful effect, and "Miami 2 Ibiza" is an anthemic house floor filler produced by dance supergroup Swedish House Mafia. Elsewhere, "Illusion" echoes the plinky piano sounds of early-2000s Dr. Dres "Just a Little," featuring the soulful tones of Range, and is the closest the album gets to a ballad, while the Naughty Boy-produced "Let Go" is a dark, brooding finale featuring rising R&B star Emeli Sande. A super-confident and adventurous collection of songs, Disc-Overy is the sound of an artist completely on top of their game, which could finally help the distinctly British grime scene go worldwide. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 60 Artist: Laura Marling Title: I Speak Because I Can Released: 2010-03-19 Tracks: 10 Duration: 37:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2010 | 1 Devil’s Spoke (03:39) 2 Made by Maid (02:51) 3 Rambling Man (03:16) 4 Blackberry Stone (03:28) 5 Alpha Shallows (03:42) 6 Goodbye England (Covered in Snow) (03:45) 7 Hope in the Air (04:32) 8 What He Wrote (04:07) 9 Darkness Descends (03:40) 10 I Speak Because I Can (03:59) |
 | Album: 10 of 60 Artist: Everything Everything Title: Man Alive Released: 2010-08-30 Tracks: 15 Duration: 55:32 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2011 | 1 MY KZ, UR BF (03:37) 2 Qwerty Finger (03:53) 3 Schoolin (04:40) 4 Leave the Engine Room (03:09) 5 Final Form (05:28) 6 Photoshop Handsome (03:19) 7 Two for Nero (04:22) 8 Suffragette Suffragette (04:06) 9 Come Alive Diana (04:15) 10 NASA Is on Your Side (05:06) 11 Tin (The Manhole) (04:29) 12 Weights (05:40) 13 Wizard Talk (?) 14 Hiawatha Doomed (?) 15 Schoolin (Games remix) (03:28) |
 | Album: 11 of 60 Artist: I Am Kloot Title: Sky at Night Released: 2010-07-05 Tracks: 10 Duration: 39:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2010 | 1 Northern Skies (04:05) 2 To the Brink (04:18) 3 Fingerprints (04:33) 4 Lately (03:56) 5 I Still Do (03:03) 6 The Moon Is a Blind Eye (04:07) 7 Proof (02:50) 8 Its Just the Night (03:00) 9 Radiation (06:11) 10 Same Shoes (03:23) |
| Sky at Night : Allmusic album Review : Manchester-based alt-rock trio I Am Kloots fifth long player is sentimental, elegant and drenched in booze, falling somewhere in between the autumnal twilight of the Clientele and the streetlamp glow of Richard Hawley. Sky at Night unfolds over a rainy, world-weary United Kingdom, and vocalist/guitarist John Bramwell, who delivers his lines with appropriate amounts of wit and worry, can sound like an English Willie Nelson, especially on the pub torch song “To the Brink.” As fellow northern Englanders, Elbow members Guy Garvey and Craig Potter know the landscapes that Bramwell and company draw their inspiration from, and the duo’s simple, reverb-heavy production work lends added weight to album highlights “Northern Skies” and “I Still Do,” resulting in a stormy, soulful and nuanced collection of late-night last spins that get better with each rotation. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 60 Artist: Corinne Bailey Rae Title: The Sea Released: 2010-01-20 Tracks: 11 Duration: 42:49 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2010 | 1 Are You Here (04:13) 2 I’d Do It All Again (03:08) 3 Feels Like the First Time (03:13) 4 The Blackest Lily (03:38) 5 Closer (04:17) 6 Love’s on Its Way (03:55) 7 I Would Like to Call It Beauty (04:19) 8 Paris Nights/New York Mornings (03:51) 9 Paper Dolls (03:20) 10 Diving for Hearts (04:51) 11 The Sea (04:04) |
 | Album: 13 of 60 Artist: Foals Title: Total Life Forever Released: 2010-04-07 Tracks: 12 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2010 | 1 Blue Blood (?) 2 Miami (?) 3 Total Life Forever (?) 4 Black Gold (?) 5 Spanish Sahara (?) 6 This Orient (?) 7 Fugue (?) 8 After Glow (?) 9 Alabaster (?) 10 2 Trees (?) 11 What Remains (?) 12 Tron (Kieran Hebden version) (?) |
 | Album: 14 of 60 Artist: Paul Weller Title: Wake Up the Nation Released: 2010-04-19 Tracks: 16 Duration: 40:03 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2010 | 1 Moonshine (02:08) 2 Wake Up the Nation (02:18) 3 No Tears to Cry (02:24) 4 Fast Car/Slow Traffic (01:58) 5 Andromeda (01:53) 6 In Amsterdam (01:27) 7 She Speaks (02:14) 8 Find the Torch, Burn the Plans (03:08) 9 Aim High (03:07) 10 Trees (04:18) 11 Grasp and Still Connect (02:15) 12 Whatever Next (01:37) 13 7 & 3 Is the Strikers Name (03:23) 14 Up the Dosage (02:40) 15 Pieces of a Dream (02:25) 16 Two Fat Ladies (02:38) |
| Wake Up the Nation : Allmusic album Review : Prior to 2008’s 22 Dreams, Paul Weller was shorthand for stalwart rock & roll, never disappointing but rarely challenging, either. With 22 Dreams, he reconnected with his spirit of adventure -- the thing that drove him to split up the Jam at their peak to form the Style Council -- and created a rich pastoral double album that thrived on risk. Buzzing with guitars and gurgling effects, and built upon a succession songs that barely crest the two-minute mark, Wake Up the Nation doesn’t share much with 22 Dreams, apart from that sense of adventure with Weller cramming a suite’s worth of twists into a song. As packed as these tunes are, they’re drawn with crisp lines; for as busy as these are, nothing feels cluttered, they’re all teeming with life. Many of the left turns arrive via the arrangements -- witness how everything careens out of control after the chorus of “Grasp & Still Connect,” the elastic psychedelia of “Andromeda,” the updated New Orleans shuffle of “Trees’ -- or the unexpected collaborations, whether it’s the tightly wound reunion with the Jam’s Bruce Foxton on “Fast Car/Slow Traffic” or bringing in My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields to craft the dense dangerous heartbeat of “7&3 Is the Strikers Name,” but this isn’t window-dressing: the entire effect is 22 Dreams in reverse, contracting where its predecessor expanded, substituting introspection for action, swapping contemplation for excitement. Wake Up the Nation pulsates with an energy considerably different than the stomping rock & roll of As Is Now. That was all musical muscle, but this is music of the mind that remains fiercely visceral, music that feels of a piece of Weller’s entire body of work, but is quite unique in its execution and impact. | ||
 | Album: 15 of 60 Artist: Adele Title: 21 Released: 2011-01-19 Tracks: 11 Duration: 48:03 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2011 | 1 Rolling in the Deep (03:48) 2 Rumour Has It (03:43) 3 Turning Tables (04:10) 4 Don’t You Remember (04:03) 5 Set Fire to the Rain (04:01) 6 He Won’t Go (04:37) 7 Take It All (03:48) 8 I’ll Be Waiting (04:01) 9 One and Only (05:48) 10 Lovesong (05:16) 11 Someone Like You (04:45) |
| 21 : Allmusic album Review : Adeles 2009 debut album, 19, was a Grammy-winning smash hit that revealed the British singer/songwriters knack for bittersweet soul and folk-infused love songs that brought to mind an infectious mix of Dusty Springfield and Terry Callier. The album earned her a ton of fans, and interest was high for the inevitable follow-up. In many ways, her sophomore album, the similarly age-appropriate-titled 21, is a continuation of the sounds and themes Adele was working with on 19. She is still the bluesy pop diva with a singer/songwriters soul and seemingly bottomless capacity for heartbreak. If the tastefully organic production and overabundance of well-known co-writers come off a bit too on-the-nose in terms of delivering to fan expectations, then the best thing the album does is to showcase Adeles titanic vocal ability, which -- more than a few times on 21 -- is simply spine-tingling. Last time around we got the gauzy, Callier-esque folk-soul ballad "Daydreamer" to slowly draw us into the album; here, Adele immediately injects us with the propulsive gospel fever-blues anthem "Rolling in the Deep." While the track certainly owes a heavy debt to the punk-blues of Beth Ditto and the Gossip, it is also ridiculously sexy and one of the best singles of any decade -- and, unfortunately, completely sets the bar way too high for everything else on 21. Which isnt to say that 21 is bad; on the contrary, tracks like the similarly blues-inflected Ryan Tedder co-write "Rumour Has It" and the old-school-style soul cut "He Wont Go" are terrifically catchy, booty-shaking numbers, and exactly the kind of songs you want and expect from Adele. That said, if Adeles voice goes on forever here, so apparently does her appetite for bad relationship mojo. An inordinate amount of the material on 21 is about yearning for lost love. In fact, the centerpiece of the album, the mega-ballad showstopper "Take It All" -- co-written by her "Chasing Pavements" partner Francis White -- begins with Adele proclaiming "Didnt I give it all?" Delivered starkly at first with Adele set against simple piano accompaniment and later backed by a gospel choir, its an instant-classic sort of song in the tradition of "The Rose," "And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going," and "All by Myself" that could stand over the years as a career landmark for the singer and a cathartic moment for fans who identify with their idols Pyrrhic lovelorn persona. For others, over the course of the album, that persona and the insistence of track after track of heartbreak can get a bit alienating. Ultimately, however, Adele does give us her all on 21, and for now that is enough. | ||
 | Album: 16 of 60 Artist: Anna Calvi Title: Anna Calvi Released: 2011-01-17 Tracks: 10 Duration: 39:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2011 | 1 Rider to the Sea (02:40) 2 No More Words (03:51) 3 Desire (03:51) 4 Suzanne & I (04:11) 5 First We Kiss (03:05) 6 The Devil (04:34) 7 Blackout (04:05) 8 I’ll Be Your Man (03:10) 9 Morning Light (04:13) 10 Love Won’t Be Leaving (05:37) |
 | Album: 17 of 60 Artist: Elbow Title: Build a Rocket Boys! Released: 2011-03-07 Tracks: 11 Duration: 51:42 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2011 | 1 The Birds (08:03) 2 Lippy Kids (06:06) 3 With Love (04:12) 4 Neat Little Rows (05:39) 5 Jesus Is a Rochdale Girl (03:18) 1 The Night Will Always Win (04:24) 2 High Ideals (05:39) 3 The River (02:51) 4 Open Arms (04:53) 5 The Birds (reprise) (01:31) 6 Dear Friends (05:01) |
| Build a Rocket Boys! : Allmusic album Review : Build a Rocket Boys! is Elbow’s first release since winning the Mercury Prize with The Seldom Seen Kid. Following that multi-platinum behemoth is no easy task, particularly for a 20-year-old band whose modest, “aw shucks” demeanor makes Chris Martin seem like a braggart. On these 11 tracks, though, Elbow continues its ascent from cult band to stadium filler, skirting all but the outermost orbits of mainstream pop while focusing on innovative, lushly textured songwriting. Elbow has rarely sounded like anyone else, yet Build a Rocket Boys! draws enough parallels to hitmakers to make it relevant in 2011, finding some sort of left-field compromise between Snow Patrol’s arena anthems and Sigur Rós’ sonic exploration. At the center of the creative storm is Guy Garvey, who sings about the mundane in a way that elevates it to stadium grandeur. The lyrics are specific -- Garvey croons about childhood plans, middle-aged reality, and everyday people who aspire to something greater -- but the music is imaginative and open-ended, with guitars that fade into the ether and arrangements that include vintage organs, electronics, orchestral percussion, harmonies, and the echoing ambience of the recording studio itself. On “High Ideals,” the band locks into a globetrotting trip-hop groove, flirting with a Middle Eastern scale before cooling things off with mariachi horns. A gospel choir makes its way into the next song, “The River,” but the songs thick vocal harmonies are used sparingly, serving as a minimalist backdrop rather than a chest-swelling climax. Build a Rocket Boys! knows when to push forward and when to pull back, and its songs find the accessibility in out-of-the-box thinking without alienating either side of Elbow’s audience: the longtime fans who worry about losing their band to the mainstream, and the recent converts who climbed aboard after The Seldom Seen Kids success. | ||
 | Album: 18 of 60 Artist: King Creosote & Jon Hopkins Title: Diamond Mine Released: 2011-03-28 Tracks: 7 Duration: 32:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2011 | 1 First Watch (02:36) 2 John Taylors Month Away (06:31) 3 Bats in the Attic (03:43) 4 Running on Fumes (06:36) 5 Bubble (05:34) 6 Your Own Spell (03:51) 7 Your Young Voice (03:17) |
 | Album: 19 of 60 Artist: Ben Howard Title: Every Kingdom Released: 2011-09-30 Tracks: 10 Duration: 50:05 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2012 | 1 Old Pine (05:28) 2 Diamonds (04:06) 3 The Wolves (05:09) 4 Everything (04:45) 5 Only Love (04:09) 6 The Fear (04:20) 7 Keep Your Head Up (04:24) 8 Black Flies (06:21) 9 Gracious (04:57) 10 Promise (06:26) |
| Every Kingdom : Allmusic album Review : Risking arriving a little too late to the party, Devon-born 23-year-old Ben Howard is yet another young troubadour whose sound appears indebted to the 70s pastoral folk of John Martyn and Nick Drake. His debut album, Every Kingdom, therefore, has its work cut out for it from the offset if its to make itself heard above similar recent efforts by the likes of Marcus Foster and Benjamin Francis Leftwich. But its clear from the opening track, "Old Pine," a slow-burning epic that begins with some hushed choral harmonies before building into a strident slice of nu-folk, that this is a more intriguing affair. Indeed, considering that much of the album features nothing more than Howards intricate fingerpicking guitar skills with the occasional flourishes of cello and percussion, its remarkable that its only toward the closing minimal acoustic balladry of "Gracious" and "Promise" that the evocative autumnal vibes begin to lose their appeal. Thats partly down to Howards versatile and intense vocals, which manage to capture the understatement of José González, the gruffness of Ray LaMontagne, and the soulfulness of James Morrison, without ever sounding like a tribute act, and partly down to the inventiveness displayed throughout its ten tracks, whether its the military beats, sea shanty melodies, and howling wolf calls on "The Wolves," the burst of grandiose post-rock that interrupts the somber breakup song "Black Flies," or the buoyant campfire singalong of "The Fear." Its not clear whether Howards stripped-back approach will cross over to the mainstream, as other than "Keep Your Head Up," a slightly more energetic rebel-rousing slice of folk-pop that found its way onto the Radio 1 playlist, its charms are more slow-burning than immediate. But its an impressively timeless debut that suggests Howard should have no problem standing out from the overpopulated nu-folk crowd. | ||
 | Album: 20 of 60 Artist: Gwilym Simcock Title: Good Days at Schloss Elmau Released: 2011-01-07 Tracks: 8 Duration: 58:31 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2011 | 1 These Are the Good Days (06:12) 2 Mezzotint (06:40) 3 Gripper (06:38) 4 Plain Song (05:51) 5 Northern Smiles (05:48) 6 Can We Still Be Friends? (12:19) 7 Wake Up Call (05:31) 8 Elmau Tage (09:28) |
 | Album: 21 of 60 Artist: James Blake Title: James Blake Released: 2011-02-04 Tracks: 11 Duration: 38:05 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2011 | 1 Unluck (03:00) 2 The Wilhelm Scream (04:37) 3 I Never Learnt to Share (04:51) 4 Lindisfarne I (02:42) 5 Lindisfarne II (03:01) 6 Limit to Your Love (04:36) 7 Give Me My Month (01:56) 8 To Care (Like You) (03:52) 9 Why Dont You Call Me (01:35) 10 I Mind (03:31) 11 Measurements (04:19) |
 | Album: 22 of 60 Artist: PJ Harvey Title: Let England Shake Released: 2011-02-14 Tracks: 12 Duration: 40:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize *** WINNER *** 2011 | 1 Let England Shake (03:09) 2 The Last Living Rose (02:21) 3 The Glorious Land (03:34) 4 The Words That Maketh Murder (03:45) 5 All and Everyone (05:39) 6 On Battleship Hill (04:07) 7 England (03:11) 8 In the Dark Places (02:59) 9 Bitter Branches (02:29) 10 Hanging in the Wire (02:42) 11 Written on the Forehead (03:39) 12 The Colour of the Earth (02:33) |
| Let England Shake : Allmusic album Review : PJ Harvey followed her ghostly collection of ballads, White Chalk, with Let England Shake, a set of songs strikingly different from what came before it except in its Englishness. White Chalks haunted piano ballads seemed to emanate from an isolated manse on a moor, but here Harvey chronicles her relationship with her homeland through songs revolving around war. Throughout the album, she subverts the concept of the anthem -- a love song to one’s country -- exploring the forces that shape nations and people. This isn’t the first time Harvey has been inspired by a place, or even by England: she sang the praises of New York City and her home county of Dorset on Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. Harvey recorded this album in Dorset, so the setting couldn’t be more personal, or more English. Yet she and her longtime collaborators John Parish, Mick Harvey, and Flood travel to the Turkish battleground of Gallipoli for several of Let England Shakes songs, touching on the disastrous World War I naval strike that left more than 30,000 English soldiers dead. Her musical allusions are just as fascinating and pointed: the title track sets seemingly cavalier lyrics like “Let’s head out to the fountain of death and splash about” to a xylophone melody borrowed from the Four Lads’ “Istanbul (Not Constantinople),” a mischievous echo of the questions of national identity Harvey sets forth in the rest of the album (that she debuted the song by performing it on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show for then-Prime Minster Gordon Brown just adds to its mischief). “The Words That Maketh Murder” culminates its grisly playground/battleground chant with a nod to Eddie Cochrans anthem for disenfranchised ‘50s teens “Summertime Blues,” while “Written on the Forehead” samples Nineys “Blood and Fire” to equally sorrowful and joyful effect. As conceptually and contextually bold as Let England Shake is, it features some of Harveys softest-sounding music. She continues to sing in the upper register that made White Chalk so divisive for her fans, but it’s tempered by airy production and eclectic arrangements -- fittingly for such a martial album, brass is a major motif -- that sometimes disguise how angry and mournful many of these songs are. “The Last Living Rose” recalls Harveys Dry-era sound in its simplicity and finds weary beauty even in her homeland’s “grey, damp filthiness of ages,” but on “England,” she wails, “You leave a taste/A bitter one.” In its own way, Let England Shake may be even more singular and unsettling than White Chalk was, and its complexities make it one of Harvey’s most cleverly crafted works. | ||
 | Album: 23 of 60 Artist: Katy B Title: On a Mission Released: 2011-04-01 Tracks: 12 Duration: 55:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2011 | 1 Power on Me (04:20) 2 Katy on a Mission (03:39) 3 Why You Always Here (05:32) 4 Witches’ Brew (03:19) 5 Movement (02:40) 6 Go Away (03:35) 7 Disappear (03:30) 8 Broken Record (03:19) 9 Lights On (single mix) (03:25) 10 Easy Please Me (03:55) 11 Perfect Stranger (03:13) 12 Hard to Get / [silence] / Water (15:17) |
 | Album: 24 of 60 Artist: Ghostpoet Title: Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam Released: 2011-02-07 Tracks: 10 Duration: 41:32 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2011 | 1 Onetwos / Run Run Run (04:02) 2 Us Against Whatever Ever (04:30) 3 Finished I Aint (04:20) 4 Longing for the Night / Yeah Pause (03:49) 5 I Just Dont Know (03:36) 6 Survive It (04:24) 7 Gaaasp (05:30) 8 Cash and Carry Me Home (03:38) 9 Garden Path (02:52) 10 Liiines (04:51) |
 | Album: 25 of 60 Artist: Metronomy Title: The English Riviera Released: 2011-04-11 Tracks: 11 Duration: 45:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2011 | 1 The English Riviera (00:37) 2 We Broke Free (04:06) 3 Everything Goes My Way (03:30) 4 The Look (04:38) 5 She Wants (03:51) 6 Trouble (04:46) 7 The Bay (04:50) 8 Loving Arm (03:31) 9 Corinne (03:16) 10 Some Written (06:03) 11 Love Underlined (05:58) |
| The English Riviera : Allmusic album Review : Previously a nu-rave trio in the mould of Klaxons, Metronomy, the brainchild of Joseph Mount, have changed tack for their third studio album, The English Riviera, following the departure of original member Gabriel Stebbing three years earlier. Having permanently recruited the talents of bassist Gbenga Adelekan and former Lightspeed Champion drummer Anna Prior, the follow-up to 2008s Nights Out, abandons their indie-disco sensibilities in favor of a more laid-back but equally idiosyncratic, sun-kissed sound which positions them as avant-garde purveyors in the vein of Saint Etienne rather than debauched glowstick wavers. But while its opening number, a 37-second snatch of cowing seagulls and distant waves lapping against the shore, may evoke the glamorous beaches of California, its remaining self-produced ten tracks are very much a love letter to both Mounts hometown of Totnes in Devon, and a romantic fantasy of the titles seaside resort he used to drive around in, blasting Ace of Base as a youth. While thankfully there arent any attempts at European faux-reggae, there are nods to the rich and warm West Coast sounds of 70s Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles on the swaying, country-tinged "Trouble" and the ominous, fretless, bass-led "She Wants." But ultimately, as the title implies, the bands third album is unmistakably an English affair, and none more so than "Some Written," which kicks off with a shuffling end-of-the-pier waltz rhythm and the kind of old-fashioned Wurlitzer last heard in wartime ballrooms, before ending in a cavalcade of stylophones, cymbals, and even kazoos that sounds like a particularly clumsy one-man-band falling down the stairs. Its utterly bonkers, but fits right in when placed among the likes of "The Look," which borrows the hook from Perez Prados "Guaglione" and fuses it with summery Beach Boys harmonies and archaic video game style synths, the lolloping Serge Gainsbourg-esque jazz-rock, and psychedelic guitar solos of "We Broke Free" and "Everything Goes My Way," a gorgeous 60s-inspired slice of cooing lounge-funk featuring the deadpan vocals of Veronica Falls Roxanne Clifford. The band occasionally revert back to their more familiar electronic roots, such as on the ambient, Orbital-esque "Loving Arm," and the woozy synth wizardry of closing number "Love Underlined," but as sonically interesting as they are, they feel like slightly jarring interruptions to the albums underlying vaudeville nature. Relentless in its pursuit to soundtrack the uniqueness of the British summer, The English Riviera is a challenging but ultimately rewarding effort which cements Mounts reputation as one of Britains most intriguing pop mavericks. | ||
 | Album: 26 of 60 Artist: alt-J Title: An Awesome Wave Released: 2012-05-28 Tracks: 44 Duration: 2:58:25 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize *** WINNER *** 2012 | 1 Intro (02:37) 2 ❦ (Ripe & Ruin) (01:12) 3 Tessellate (03:02) 4 Breezeblocks (03:47) 5 ❦ (Guitar) (01:17) 6 Something Good (03:38) 7 Dissolve Me (03:59) 8 Matilda (03:48) 9 Ms (03:58) 10 Fitzpleasure (03:39) 11 ❦ (Piano) (00:53) 12 Bloodflood (04:09) 13 Taro (05:06) 14 Hand-Made (02:37) 15 Breezeblocks (03:07) 16 Breezeblocks (03:59) 17 Breezeblocks (04:41) 18 Breezeblocks (05:07) 19 Breezeblocks (05:18) 20 Fitzpleasure (04:24) 21 Fitzpleasure (03:19) 22 Fitzpleasure (04:20) 23 Fitzpleasure (04:30) 24 Matilda (03:49) 25 Something Good (06:29) 26 Something Good (04:36) 27 Something Good (05:08) 28 Something Good (08:22) 29 Tessellate (Anstam remix) (03:58) 30 Tessellate (Ben de Vries remix) (04:07) 31 Tessellate (05:56) 32 Tessellate (Broadbandits Afro mix) (05:27) 33 Tessellate (Dam Mantle remix) (06:17) 34 Tessellate (Marlais remix) (03:53) 35 Fitzpleasure (04:04) 36 Taro (04:24) 37 Tessellate (04:27) 38 Bloodflood (03:34) 39 Matilda (04:00) 40 Something Good (03:40) 41 Tessellate (03:03) 42 Breezeblocks (03:47) 43 Tessellate (03:01) 44 Something Good (03:39) |
| An Awesome Wave : Allmusic album Review : Named after the Mac command also used as a mathematical equation to show change, formed while studying fine art at university, and prone to throwing in the odd geometric reference within their lyrics, there are signs that Cambridge-based quartet Alt-J might be a little bit too clever for their own good. Produced by Charlie Andrew (the Laurel Collective), their debut album, An Awesome Wave, is occasionally guilty of pretentiousness, particularly the irritating a cappella vocal warmup of the interlude "(The Ripe & Ruin)." But for the most part, its 13 tracks do for nu-folk what Everything Everythings equally ambitious debut did for indie rock, breathing new life into the genre with an intriguing but accessible series of art rock twists and turns. Indeed, other than frontman Joe Newmans impassioned -- if occasionally bordering on parody -- vocal style, theres little here in common with the tweeness of Mumford & Sons. "Tessellate" combines the glitchy electronica of Thom Yorkes solo career with the wistful wintry harmonies of Fleet Foxes; "Fitzpleasure" fizzes along with its dubstep-lite beats and acidic basslines before its interrupted, first by a burst of jangly post-rock and second by the kind of shimmering guitar twangs youd expect from a Tarantino soundtrack; while "Taro" somehow melds together the unlikely bedfellows of Americana and bhangra to produce a fittingly oddball but enthralling finale. Its to Andrews credit that these eclectic arrays of sound are woven together in a manner so effortlessly that the results never feel forced or contrived. There are a few more straightforward moments such as "Matilda," a gentle acoustic folk ode to Natalie Portmans troubled character in Léon, and the sparse, haunting "Ms." But Alt-Js wave is far more awesome when its at its most schizophrenic. | ||
 | Album: 27 of 60 Artist: Jessie Ware Title: Devotion Released: 2012-08-16 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:02:39 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2012 | 1 Devotion (03:21) 2 Wildest Moments (03:42) 3 Running (04:26) 4 Still Love Me (03:55) 5 No to Love (03:34) 6 Night Light (04:14) 7 Swan Song (03:45) 8 Sweet Talk (03:38) 9 110% (03:27) 10 Taking in Water (04:21) 11 Something Inside (03:36) 12 Running (Disclosure remix) (05:17) 13 Strangest Feeling (03:41) 14 What You Wont Do for Love (04:04) 15 Wildest Moments (acoustic version) (03:37) 16 Running (acoustic version) (03:56) |
| Devotion : Allmusic album Review : A handful of collaborations released during 2010 and 2011 hinted at Jessie Wares range and potential. The singer outclassed her fellow vocalists on SBTRKTs SBTRKT and Jokers The Vision; she displayed exquisite restraint on the formers "Right Thing to Do," while she had her way with the latters lancing title track. Along with the two low-key 2011 singles, "Valentine" and "Strangest Feeling," there were indications that Ware was capable of making something like Devotion -- an album of uncommon depth, a sophisticated but stimulating hybrid of pop, soul, and adult contemporary. Ware works extensively with Dave Okumu, Julio Bashmore, and Kid Harpoon, but its Okumu -- a member of the Invisible, as well as an affiliate of Bugz in the Attic and Matthew Herbert -- who is most responsible for helping Ware prance across the tightrope that comes with making subtle, sophisticated music. Wares voice is an instant draw. Her whispers are as powerful as her wails. Whenever the lyrics read like theyre aiming for the profound but appear hollow, she rescues them with elegance and power impressive enough to astound any of the elders to whom she has been compared -- Alison Moyet, Annie Lennox, Sade Adu, and Lisa Stansfield included. Take the weakest link, "No to Love"; the repeated exasperation "Who says no to love?" seems utterly ridiculous, but the delivery fits into the all-consuming heartache that is alternately concealed and exposed throughout the sets duration. If this isnt the album of the year, its at least the art-pop album of the year, or the neo-sophisti-pop album of the year, or -- beside Frank Oceans Channel Orange -- the alternative R&B album of the year. As far as "proper music" from the U.K. is considered, it belongs in a class with Roxy Musics Avalon, Sades Diamond Life, the Blue Niles Hats, and Caron Wheelers UK Blak. | ||
 | Album: 28 of 60 Artist: Django Django Title: Django Django Released: 2012-01-30 Tracks: 17 Duration: 1:07:11 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2012 | 1 Introduction (02:12) 2 Hail Bop (04:03) 3 Default (03:05) 4 Firewater (04:49) 5 Waveforms (04:26) 6 Zumm Zumm (05:19) 7 Hand of Man (02:36) 8 Loves Dart (03:49) 9 Wor (04:31) 10 Storm (03:14) 11 Lifes a Beach (03:05) 12 Skies Over Cairo (03:32) 13 Silver Rays (03:50) 14 Drumforms (06:23) 15 Bail Hop (05:10) 16 Skies Over Cairo (Adrian Sherwood On U Sound dub) (03:33) 17 Default (Tom Furse remix) (03:26) |
 | Album: 29 of 60 Artist: GoGo Penguin Title: Fanfares Released: 2012-11-19 Tracks: 7 Duration: 35:15 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2014 | 1 Seven Sons of Björn (05:17) 2 Last Words (03:05) 3 Unconditional (05:15) 4 Fanfares (04:53) 5 I Am That (04:05) 6 Akasthesia (06:01) 7 HF (06:36) |
 | Album: 30 of 60 Artist: The Maccabees Title: Given to the Wild Released: 2012-01-09 Tracks: 13 Duration: 52:55 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2012 | 1 Given to the Wild (intro) (02:11) 2 Child (04:31) 3 Feel to Follow (03:29) 4 Ayla (03:47) 5 Glimmer (04:03) 6 Forever Ive Known (05:21) 7 Heave (04:27) 8 Pelican (03:44) 9 Went Away (03:39) 10 Go (04:12) 11 Unknow (05:09) 12 Slowly One (04:17) 13 Grew Up at Midnight (04:00) |
 | Album: 31 of 60 Artist: Sam Lee Title: Ground of Its Own Released: 2012-07-02 Tracks: 8 Duration: 43:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2012 | 1 The Ballad of George Collins (03:59) 2 On Yonder Hill (06:19) 3 Wild Wood Amber (06:14) 4 Goodbye My Darling (04:32) 5 The Jews Garden (04:09) 6 The Tan Yard Side (05:32) 7 Northlands (06:29) 8 My Ausheen My Old Shoes (05:42) |
 | Album: 32 of 60 Artist: Michael Kiwanuka Title: Home Again Released: 2012-03-09 Tracks: 11 Duration: 43:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2012 | 1 Tell Me a Tale (04:12) 2 I’m Getting Ready (02:25) 3 I’ll Get Along (03:31) 4 Rest (03:52) 5 Home Again (03:30) 6 Bones (03:52) 7 Always Waiting (04:31) 8 I Won’t Lie (04:06) 9 Any Day Will Do Fine (03:40) 10 Worry Walks Beside Me (05:02) 11 Lasan (04:38) |
 | Album: 33 of 60 Artist: Lianne La Havas Title: Is Your Love Big Enough? Released: 2012-07-06 Tracks: 17 Duration: 1:02:57 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2012 | 1 Dont Wake Me Up (03:44) 2 Is Your Love Big Enough? (03:21) 3 Lost & Found (04:27) 4 Au Cinéma (04:18) 5 No Room for Doubt (04:05) 6 Forget (03:51) 7 Age (02:43) 8 Elusive (03:55) 9 Everything Everything (03:49) 10 Gone (04:25) 11 Tease Me (03:37) 12 They Could Be Wrong (03:21) 13 Hey, Thats No Way to Say Goodbye (In Paris) (03:03) 14 Arms of Danger (Solo in Paris) (03:27) 15 Empty (In Paris) (03:13) 16 He Loves Me (Solo in Paris) (03:30) 17 Forget (Solo in Paris) (04:01) |
 | Album: 34 of 60 Artist: Jake Bugg Title: Jake Bugg Released: 2012-10-15 Tracks: 14 Duration: 39:26 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2013 | 1 Lightning Bolt (02:24) 2 Two Fingers (03:15) 3 Taste It (02:24) 4 Seen It All (02:51) 5 Simple as This (03:19) 6 Country Song (01:49) 7 Broken (04:07) 8 Trouble Town (02:50) 9 Ballad of Mr Jones (02:39) 10 Slide (03:08) 11 Someone Told Me (02:36) 12 Note to Self (02:40) 13 Someplace (03:32) 14 Fire (01:46) |
| Jake Bugg : Allmusic album Review : As far as debut albums go, this eponymous release is a surprisingly accomplished effort from the Nottingham-born teenager Jake Bugg. Although he stares out from the album cover like a younger, long-lost cousin of the View or the Enemy, while those U.K. indie acts found their nourishment on a diet of the Jam, Oasis, and the Strokes, Bugg found time to explore pre-Beatles music from the likes of Buddy Holly and Richie Valens. These influences -- combined with a folk sensibility and moments of delicate acoustic fingerpicking that betray a love for Bob Dylan and Donovan -- make for an accessible, pop-focused record that doesn’t attempt to chase innovation. Much of the material here was co-written, produced, and mixed by Snow Patrol and Reindeer Section collaborator Iain Archer. When Bugg and Archer combine on “Taste It” and “Trouble Town” -- two of the album’s stronger, more raucous tracks -- it’s as if you’re hearing what the La’s would have sounded like if John Power had been their dominant force, as opposed to Lee Mavers. It’s the intro to “Taste It” in particular that apes “Feelin’” -- the Liverpudlians’ final single -- while “Trouble Town” comes across as a rewrite of their cautionary “Doledrum” with its skiffle-fueled tales of unemployment benefits and missed payments. The comparatively positive and sprightly opener “Lightning Bolt” didn’t do Bugg any harm when it was featured just prior to the BBC’s live coverage of Usain Bolt’s Olympic 100m victory and was heard by a U.K. audience of 20 million people. Built around a three-chord shuffle and a bridge that Noel Gallagher would be proud of, it’s another example of a Bugg/Archer gem. While it’s the analog-sounding upbeat tracks such as these that impress, it’s the mid-paced, digitally polished ballads and resultant formulaic pacing that underwhelm. It’s safe to say that those searching for experimental music should most definitely look elsewhere. “Broken” -- co-written with former Longpigs frontman Crispin Hunt -- takes Bugg into broad, “X-Factor does indie” territory, while “Country Song” tiptoes between James Blunt’s vocal quirks and John Denver’s suffocating pleasantry. Inoffensive and clean-cut as they are, both tracks signify a mid-album lull and sit awkwardly on a record that is littered with overt drug references and imagery from the street. To his credit, Buggs too young by far to be a drug bore, and when he takes “a pill or maybe two” in “Seen It All” or is “high on a hash pipe of good intent” in “Simple as This,” it feels like social documentation rather than a misguided attempt at glamorizing their use. Elsewhere, Clifton -- the south Nottingham village that Bugg calls home -- gets what is possibly its first mention in song on the irresistible, Hollies-inspired “Two Fingers.” All in all, though Bugg’s debut may not share the wordy precociousness of Conor Oberst’s formative steps or the political astuteness of Willy Mason on Where the Humans Eat, it’s his sheer earnestness and rare gift for writing simple, hook-filled tunes that ultimately charm the listener. | ||
 | Album: 35 of 60 Artist: Field Music Title: Plumb Released: 2012-02-13 Tracks: 15 Duration: 35:47 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2012 | 1 Start the Day Right (02:18) 2 Its Okay to Change (00:58) 3 Sorry Again, Mate (02:08) 4 A New Town (03:58) 5 Choosing Sides (03:12) 6 A Prelude to Pilgrim Street (01:48) 7 Guillotine (03:12) 8 Wholl Pay the Bills? (02:20) 9 So Long Then (02:06) 10 Is This the Picture? (02:41) 11 From Hide and Seek to Heartache (02:49) 12 How Many More Times? (00:40) 13 Ce soir (01:13) 14 Just Like Everyone Else (03:00) 15 (I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing (03:16) |
 | Album: 36 of 60 Artist: Roller Trio Title: Roller Trio Released: 2012-08-06 Tracks: 9 Duration: 57:57 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2012 | 1 Deep Heat (06:40) 2 Roller Toaster (08:07) 3 Howdy Saudi (04:29) 4 R-O-R (07:03) 5 The Nail That Stands Up (05:04) 6 The Zone (11:15) 7 A Dark Place to Think (05:29) 8 The Interrupters (03:46) 9 Wheres My Whip (06:00) |
 | Album: 37 of 60 Artist: Richard Hawley Title: Standing at the Sky’s Edge Released: 2012-05-07 Tracks: 9 Duration: 50:33 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2012 | 1 She Brings the Sunlight (07:23) 2 Standing at the Sky’s Edge (06:39) 3 Time Will Bring You Winter (05:26) 4 Down in the Woods (05:23) 5 Seek It (05:11) 6 Don’t Stare at the Sun (05:46) 7 The Wood Colliers Grave (03:07) 8 Leave Your Body Behind You (05:19) 9 Before (06:13) |
 | Album: 38 of 60 Artist: Plan B Title: ill Manors Released: 2012-03-23 Tracks: 5 Duration: 20:34 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2012 | 1 ill Manors (03:46) 2 ill Manors (The Prodigy remix) (03:55) 3 ill Manors (Funtcase remix) (05:33) 4 ill Manors (a cappella) (03:34) 5 ill Manors (instrumental) (03:46) |
 | Album: 39 of 60 Artist: Arctic Monkeys Title: AM Released: 2013-09-06 Tracks: 14 Duration: 47:23 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2013 | 1 Do I Wanna Know? (04:32) 2 R U Mine? (03:21) 3 One for the Road (03:26) 4 Arabella (03:27) 5 I Want It All (03:04) 6 No.1 Party Anthem (04:03) 7 Mad Sounds (03:35) 8 Fireside (03:01) 9 Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High? (02:41) 10 Snap Out of It (03:12) 11 Knee Socks (04:17) 12 I Wanna Be Yours (03:04) 1 2013 (02:29) 2 Stop the World I Wanna Get Off With You (03:11) |
| AM : Allmusic album Review : If Arctic Monkeys launched a tentative retreat on Suck It & See, their first effort after being seduced by Josh Homme, the group once again forge ahead into bold new territory on AM, their fifth album. Neatly splitting the difference between the bands two personalities -- the devotees of barbed British pop and disciples of curdled heavy rock -- AM consolidates Arctic Monkeys strengths, a tricky task in and of itself, but the band pushes further, incorporating unapologetic glam stomps, fuzzy guitars, and a decidedly strong rhythmic undercurrent. At times, AM pulses to a distinctly danceable rhythm -- "Fireplace" percolates while "Why Do You Only Call Me When Youre High" simmers and "Knee Socks" nearly rivals Franz Ferdinand in disco rock -- but this isnt an album made for nights out; its a soundtrack for nights in. Too much of Alex Turners mind is preoccupied with love gone wrong, jealousy, and general misanthropy, so even when hes singing about a "No. 1 Party Anthem," hes doing so with a nearly visible sneer. Such an undercurrent of cynicism makes AM an ideal album to listen to under the cover of darkness, but due to the Arctic Monkeys muscular wallop and musical restlessness, it never feels like the band is wallowing in bleakness. Instead, this is vibrant, moody music that showcases a band growing ever stronger with each risk and dare they take. | ||
 | Album: 40 of 60 Artist: Foals Title: Holy Fire Released: 2013-01-31 Tracks: 11 Duration: 49:42 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2013 | 1 Prelude (04:07) 2 Inhaler (04:52) 3 My Number (04:00) 4 Bad Habit (04:40) 5 Everytime (04:02) 6 Late Night (05:27) 7 Out of the Woods (03:24) 8 Milk & Black Spiders (05:17) 9 Providence (04:07) 10 Stepson (04:48) 11 Moon (04:53) |
| Holy Fire : Allmusic album Review : While there are lots of bands dealing in either danceable rock or navel-gazing pop, few bands combine the two quite like Foals. On Holy Fire, the third album from the English band, the post-punk revival is given a newfound sense of depth, creating songs that are rhythmic enough to draw listeners, but hypnotic enough to leave listeners lost in their wide-open spaces. This combination of atmosphere and momentum find Foals growing out of the shadows of titans like the Talking Heads and into a spaced-out, dance-punk niche thats all their own. Though a lot of the bands charm comes from the delicate interplay between the guitars and keyboards, the real star of the album comes by way of the massive, stadium-ready "Inhaler," which takes the sparkling, slow build used throughout the album and turns it on its ear with an eruption of massively fuzzy, Muse-esque guitars (and, to some extent, their bombast), creating one of the albums biggest and most rousing moments. Now that theyre three albums deep, it feels as if Foals have found a nice middle ground between funk and feeling, making Holy Fire an album that is just as likely to get a room moving as it is to send its inhabitants into a fit of introspective conversation. This kind of duality is something thats hard to find, and its a quality that could take Foals a long way if theyre able to hold onto it. | ||
 | Album: 41 of 60 Artist: Rudimental Title: Home Released: 2013-02-22 Tracks: 12 Duration: 56:26 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2013 | 1 Home (03:50) 2 Feel the Love (04:05) 3 Right Here (05:36) 4 Hell Could Freeze (04:40) 5 Spoons (05:23) 6 Hide (06:01) 7 Powerless (03:55) 8 More Than Anything (04:55) 9 Not Giving In (04:00) 10 Baby (04:00) 11 Waiting All Night (04:52) 12 Free (05:06) |
 | Album: 42 of 60 Artist: Jon Hopkins Title: Immunity Released: 2013-06-03 Tracks: 20 Duration: 2:07:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2013 | 1 We Disappear (04:49) 2 Open Eye Signal (07:48) 3 Breathe This Air (05:29) 4 Collider (09:21) 5 Abandon Window (04:57) 6 Form by Firelight (05:45) 7 Sun Harmonics (11:54) 8 Immunity (09:56) 9 Open Eye Signal (Happa remix) (06:01) 10 Open Eye Signal (Lord of the Isles remix) (07:26) 11 Open Eye Signal (Luke Abbott remix) (06:53) 12 Open Eye Signal (Nosaj Thing remix) (03:28) 13 Breathe This Air (04:06) 14 Collider (Pangaea remix) (07:01) 15 We Disappear (04:16) 16 Abandon Window (Moderat remix) (06:55) 17 We Disappear (remix instrumental) (04:16) 18 Open Eye Signal (08:02) 19 Breathe This Air (04:12) 20 Collider (05:23) |
 | Album: 43 of 60 Artist: Laura Marling Title: Once I Was an Eagle Released: 2013-05-27 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:03:27 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2013 | 1 Take the Night Off (04:12) 2 I Was an Eagle (04:21) 3 You Know (02:30) 4 Breathe (05:00) 5 Master Hunter (03:16) 6 Little Love Caster (05:52) 7 Devils Resting Place (03:14) 8 Interlude (02:16) 9 Undine (03:12) 10 Where Can I Go? (03:40) 11 Once (03:38) 12 Pray for Me (05:05) 13 When Were You Happy? (And How Long Has That Been) (03:53) 14 Love Be Brave (03:04) 15 Little Bird (05:40) 16 Saved These Words (04:27) |
 | Album: 44 of 60 Artist: Anna Calvi Title: One Breath Released: 2013-10-07 Tracks: 11 Duration: 39:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2014 | 1 Suddenly (03:34) 2 Eliza (03:38) 3 Piece by Piece (03:16) 4 Cry (02:54) 5 Sing to Me (04:01) 6 Tristan (02:42) 7 One Breath (04:43) 8 Love of My Life (03:06) 9 Carry Me Over (05:27) 10 Bleed Into Me (03:41) 11 The Bridge (02:08) |
 | Album: 45 of 60 Artist: James Blake Title: Overgrown Released: 2013-04-05 Tracks: 10 Duration: 39:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize *** WINNER *** 2013 | 1 Overgrown (05:00) 2 I Am Sold (04:04) 3 Life Round Here (03:37) 4 Take a Fall For Me (03:33) 5 Retrograde (03:43) 6 Dlm (02:25) 7 Digital Lion (04:47) 8 Voyeur (04:17) 9 To the Last (04:19) 10 Our Love Comes Back (03:39) |
| Overgrown : Allmusic album Review : With his 2011 debut full-length, dubstep-via-fractured R&B producer James Blake delivered on the promise of his earlier singles while at the same time overhauling his sound, moving away somewhat from the sample-heavy dubstep of those tracks to a sparser atmosphere. The album focused more on Blakes equally haunted piano and vocal lines, submerged elements of implied rhythms, dubsteps subsonic bass resonance, and ghostly samples to create a picture of restraint and contained emotional upheaval. The album felt not so much like the calm before the storm, but like silently watching a hurricane slowly and soundlessly move closer from the distance. Sophomore album Overgrown offers a similar feeling, but Blake approaches the songs here with even more restraint and a subtly deconstructed take on pop. Subtlety is perhaps Blakes greatest attribute on Overgrown, with what could even be the albums heaviest moments blurring into a pleasantly melancholy whole through deft production choices. Take for instance "Take a Fall for Me," a partially rhythm-less track featuring Wu-Tangs RZA in an extended set of rhymes over a looping sample of static and processed backing vocals, and samples that recall Trickys earliest work. The jagged edges of a track like this could render it awkward with more obvious production, but Blakes touch pushes even RZAs toughest verses into a rainy, lamenting place. The skeletal piano of the debut returns on tracks like "DLM" or the gorgeous album-closer "Our Love Comes Back," which has the faintest hints of Chet Bakers springtime loneliness buried in Blakes mumbling blue-eyed R&B vocals. Brian Eno even shows up to collaborate on the sputtering rhythms of "Digital Lion," perhaps the most hyperactive track here, though only in relative terms. Somewhere between the vacant echoes of dub and trip-hop, dubsteps sample-slicing production, and the contained heartbreak of a singer/songwriter playing piano to himself in an empty room, Blake has crafted Overgrown. Its understated to the point of invisibility at times, with Blake subtracting even himself from the songs, allowing the lead vocals or hooks to be consumed by the song at large. Though the stormy textures and somber reflections are pretty specific to a particular mood, Overgrown finds and fits that mood perfectly. While it might take listeners a few spins to find the right head space for the album, once they get there, its an easy place to get lost in. | ||
 | Album: 46 of 60 Artist: Disclosure Title: Settle Released: 2013-05-31 Tracks: 14 Duration: 1:01:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2013 | 1 Intro (01:01) 2 When a Fire Starts to Burn (04:44) 3 Latch (04:16) 4 F for You (04:29) 5 White Noise (04:38) 6 Defeated No More (06:08) 7 Stimulation (05:20) 8 Voices (04:09) 9 Second Chance (02:27) 10 Grab Her! (05:13) 11 You & Me (04:26) 12 January (05:55) 13 Confess to Me (04:10) 14 Help Me Lose My Mind (04:05) |
| Settle : Allmusic album Review : Cunning if not particularly novel synthesists, Surreys Guy and Howard Lawrence draw from several styles and sub-styles of dance music -- house, garage, dubstep, bass -- and add pop appeal on Settle, their first album. The Lawrences began humbly with MySpace uploads of scruffy, sampling-enhanced dubstep tracks, but they quickly accelerated to making lustrous, impeccably assembled tracks with varied vocalists. Between October 2012 and April 2013, the duo released a trio of singles that fared no worse than number 11 on the U.K. pop chart: the soaring shuffle-tech of "Latch" (with a bursting, almost overdone lead from Sam Smith), the undeniable crossover house track "White Noise" (a perfectly timed partnership with upcoming duo AlunaGeorge), and the rush-inducing so-called future garage of "You & Me" (featuring Eliza Doolittle, something of a sequel to their fine remix of Jessie Wares "Running"). Those hits appear here. Without them, the album would still be generous. Few tracks, however, will appease those who bemoaned the duos departure from relying on sampled and treated vocals. The sluggish "Second Chance," where a downcast Kelis line dissolves into mush, and the rattling "Grab Her!" -- its refrain pinched from Slum Village -- are no match for past sample-heavy delights like "Carnival," "Flow," or "Whats in Your Head." The new vocal cuts are either near the level of the hits or are merely pleasant. Howard Lawrences lead turn on "F for You" approaches the sweetness of Scritti Polittis Green Gartside. Teenaged Sasha Keable sounds wise beyond her years on "Voices," one of the albums deeper house tracks ("I tried to dismiss what you taught me"). London Grammars Hannah Reid has the unenviable task of following Doolittle, Jamie Woon, and Jessie Ware but delivers one of the most heartrending leads on "Help Me Lose My Mind." Like the closing songs on the first three Basement Jaxx albums, the song initially comes across as an insignificant finale but gradually bubbles to the top as a discreet highlight. Considering all the shrewd alliances and its polished attack, Settle seems like it was designed to be 2013s acceptable dance album. That said, any purist who denies its pleasures is a crank. | ||
 | Album: 47 of 60 Artist: Savages Title: Silence Yourself Released: 2013-05-06 Tracks: 11 Duration: 38:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2013 | 1 Shut Up (04:48) 2 I Am Here (03:20) 3 City’s Full (03:27) 4 Strife (03:57) 5 Waiting for a Sign (05:25) 6 Dead Nature (02:06) 7 She Will (03:27) 8 No Face (03:35) 9 Hit Me (01:41) 10 Husbands (02:50) 11 Marshal Dear (04:03) |
| Silence Yourself : Allmusic album Review : Plenty of bands have resuscitated post-punk throughout the 2000s and 2010s, but few have done so with the passion that reverberates through Savages debut album, Silence Yourself. The bands early singles drew favorable comparisons to Patti Smith, Siouxsie Sioux, and a host of other strong female acts with post-punk roots, and the entire album burns with the same kind of confrontational fire those older artists had -- which, somewhat paradoxically, makes Savages sound particularly refreshing compared to many of their more blasé contemporaries. Yet Silence Yourself is also an emphatic declaration of independence that is reflected in the bands approach to making music -- they paid to make it with their own money and splashed their manifesto on the cover -- as well as in the actual music. Since Sleater-Kinneys dissolution, powerful all-female bands have been few and far between in indie rock, and theres nothing wispy, precious, or coy about Savages on these songs. Their music is pointedly undecorative, particularly on tracks like "No Face," a searing three-and-a-half-minute showcase for what they do: singer Jehnny Beth leads the charge with her furious wail, and Ayse Hassan, Fay Milton, and Gemma Thompson do their best to keep up with her. Beth may be the bands lightning rod, but shes also a fairly versatile and evocative singer, moving from the feral, taunting "Husbands" to the ultra-gothy swoon of the closing torch song "Marshal Dear." At this point in their career, theres no escaping that Savages music owes a significant debt to their foremothers, but Silence Yourself is more than just a collection of touchstones and footnotes. Beth and crew have a riveting presence that makes each track magnetic, and more than a few songs here hint at how wide their musical scope actually is: "Strife" swaggers along at a self-assured pace, and follows the albums poppiest chorus with doom-laden chords suggesting that Savages may be (not so) secret metalheads, while "Hit Me"s breakneck pace nods to hardcore. Even their more traditionally post-punk tracks like "She Will" reflect a viewpoint -- regarding the wilder parts of female sexuality in this case -- that is unique. Given that much of the initial buzz about the band revolved around its electrifying live performances, in some ways Silence Yourself doesnt provide the full Savages experience, but it offers more than enough to make it a powerful debut that suggests theyll become an even more distinctive force to be reckoned with over time. | ||
 | Album: 48 of 60 Artist: Laura Mvula Title: Sing to the Moon Released: 2013-03-01 Tracks: 13 Duration: 53:05 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2013 | 1 Like the Morning Dew (03:40) 2 Make Me Lovely (04:38) 3 Green Garden (04:09) 4 Can’t Live With the World (06:05) 5 Is There Anybody Out There? (05:11) 6 Father, Father (04:42) 7 That’s Alright (03:34) 8 She (03:25) 9 I Don’t Know What the Weather Will Be (03:30) 10 Sing to the Moon (04:07) 11 Flying Without You (03:21) 12 Diamonds (03:14) 13 Unbelievable Dream (03:26) |
| Sing to the Moon : Allmusic album Review : Birmingham Conservatoire graduate and former music instructor Laura Mvula appeared in November 2012 with She, a four-song EP led by its title track. An elaborate and uplifting number -- part lullaby, part empowerment anthem -- "She" was unlike anything on the U.K. charts. It left an impression immediate and deep enough to land her a nomination for the BBCs Sound of 2013 poll. Sing to the Moon, her full-length debut, features "She" and builds upon that songs theatrical sound. Its rooted in decades-old forms of gospel, jazz, R&B, and, most deeply, orchestral pop. Almost all of the material is as serious and as refined as it is majestic, with vocal showcases and hushed-belted-hushed-belted dynamics galore. Taking in all the floating brass and drifting strings can be strenuous, but the tempo and mood perk up on the chiming romp "Green Garden," where Mvula drops the histrionics, loosens up, and projects pure joy: "Putting my bag down, taking my shoes off/Walk in the carpet of green velvet." "Thats Alright," another wholly spirited number, opens with little more than tumbling drums and melodic hums as Mvula beams, "I will never be what you want, and thats all right/Cause my skin aint light, and my body aint tight." The song then bursts with horns as the singer asserts, "Tell me, who made you the center of the universe?" and "What cha gonna do when I fly over you?" Although its more admirable than it is enjoyable, Sing to the Moon marks the arrival of a unique and major talent -- one with a commanding voice seemingly from another dimension -- who should be worth watching for many years to come. | ||
 | Album: 49 of 60 Artist: David Bowie Title: The Next Day Released: 2013-03-08 Tracks: 17 Duration: 1:00:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2013 | 1 The Next Day (03:26) 2 Dirty Boys (02:58) 3 The Stars (Are Out Tonight) (03:57) 4 Love Is Lost (03:57) 5 Where Are We Now? (04:09) 6 Valentine’s Day (03:02) 7 If You Can See Me (03:12) 8 I’d Rather Be High (03:44) 9 Boss of Me (04:09) 10 Dancing Out in Space (03:21) 11 How Does the Grass Grow? (04:34) 12 (You Will) Set the World on Fire (03:32) 13 You Feel So Lonely You Could Die (04:37) 14 Heat (04:25) 15 So She (02:31) 16 Plan (02:02) 17 I’ll Take You There (02:41) |
| The Next Day : Allmusic album Review : Say this for David Bowie: he has a flair for drama. This abiding love of the theatrical may not be as evident in the production of The Next Day as it is in its presentation, how Bowie sprung it upon the world early in 2013 following a decade of undeclared retirement. Reasons for Bowies absence were many and few, perhaps related to a health scare in 2004, perhaps due to a creative dry spell, perhaps he simply didnt have songs to sing, or perhaps he had a lingering suspicion that by the time the new millennium was getting into full swing he was starting to be taken for granted. He had settled into a productive purple patch in the late 90s, a development that was roundly ignored by all except the devoted and the press, who didnt just give Hours, Heathen, and Reality a pass, they recognized them as a strong third act in a storied career. That same sentiment applies to The Next Day, an album recorded with largely the same team as Reality -- the same musicians and the same producer, his longtime lieutenant Tony Visconti -- and, appropriately, shares much of the same moody, meditative sound as its predecessor Heathen. Whats different is the reception, which is appropriately breathless because Bowie has been gone so long we all know what weve missed. And The Next Day is designed to remind us all of why weve missed him, containing hints of the Thin White Duke and Ziggy Stardust within what is largely an elegant, considered evocation of the Berlin Bowie so calculating it opens with a reworking of "Beauty & The Beast," and is housed in an artful desecration of the Heroes LP cover. Unlike his Berlin trilogy of the late 70s, The Next Day is rarely unsettling. Apart from the crawling closer "Heat" -- a quiet, shimmering, hallucination-channeling late-70s Scott Walker -- the album has been systematically stripped of eeriness, trading discomfort for pleasure at every turn. And pleasure it does deliver, as nobody knows how to do classic Bowie like Bowie and Visconti, the two life-long collaborators sifting through their past, picking elements that relate to what Bowie is now: an elder statesman who made a conscious decision to leave innovation behind long ago. This persistent, well-manicured nostalgia could account for the startling warmth that exudes from The Next Day; even when a melody sighs with an air of resigned melancholia, as it does on "Where Are We Now?," it never delves into sadness, it stays afloat in a warm, soothing bath. That overwhelming familiarity is naturally quite appealing for anyone well-versed in Bowie lore, but The Next Day isnt a career capper; it lacks the ambition to be anything so grand. The Next Day neither enhances nor diminishes anything that came before, its merely a sweet coda to a towering career. | ||
 | Album: 50 of 60 Artist: Villagers Title: {Awayland} Released: 2013-01-14 Tracks: 11 Duration: 43:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2013 | 1 My Lighthouse (02:59) 2 Earthly Pleasure (04:09) 3 The Waves (05:01) 4 Judgement Call (03:23) 5 Nothing Arrived (03:46) 6 The Bell (05:08) 7 {Awayland} (02:35) 8 Passing a Message (02:59) 9 Grateful Song (04:24) 10 In a Newfound Land You Are Free (03:30) 11 Rhythm Composer (05:06) |
 | Album: 51 of 60 Artist: Young Fathers Title: Dead Released: 2014-01-31 Tracks: 11 Duration: 34:31 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples AlbumCover Mercury Prize *** WINNER *** 2014 | 1 No Way (02:49) 2 Low (03:11) 3 Just Another Bullet (02:37) 4 War (02:50) 5 Get Up (03:50) 6 Dip (03:03) 7 Paying (03:12) 8 Mmmh Mmmh (03:31) 9 Hangman (02:53) 10 Am I Not Your Boy (03:08) 11 Ive Arrived (03:22) |
 | Album: 52 of 60 Artist: Kate Tempest Title: Everybody Down Released: 2014-05-16 Tracks: 12 Duration: 48:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2014 | 1 Marshall Law (05:39) 2 The Truth (03:21) 3 Lonely Daze (03:58) 4 Chicken (02:46) 5 The Beigeness (03:08) 6 Theme From Becky (03:55) 7 Stink (02:46) 8 The Heist (03:54) 9 To the Victor the Spoils (03:01) 10 Circles (05:06) 11 A Hammer (03:42) 12 Happy End (07:13) |
| Everybody Down : Allmusic album Review : Falling somewhere between John Cooper Clarke and Scroobius Pip, or the Streets and Samuel Beckett, Londons Kate Tempest is a poet/rapper, and the real deal on both sides of that slash. Everybody Down, her debut album for the Big Dada label, could be considered performance poetry -- just like her piece Brand New Ancients, which was performed with orchestral backing at Londons Battersea Arts Centre and won the Ted Hughes Award for innovation in poetry that same year -- but the music from Dan Carey is beat-driven, street stuff, plus if the urban characters that wind in and out of this story arent wearing hoodies and sneakers, it must because theyre taking their weekly bath. Thats the problem with the aptly titled Everybody Down, as this concept LP deals with three characters who are so lonely, theyve become spiteful, sullen, snide, and self-destructive while only speaking of hope as something encountered in dreams. Its a drab palette with the only wash of color being how skillfully Tempest paints the picture. Besides, its easy to slide into unattractiveness when your ex-convict uncle comes around and gives a look that says not "I love you" but "This is business and you should go" ("To the Victor the Spoils"), and while Brand New Ancients had its share of phoenixes, this one is all about the ashes. Even if Everybody Down is all thrills, pills, and bellyaches, and mostly the last, Tempest is only 27 and already dealing in pop music as high art. Forgive her for not raging against the darkness, and then delight in how she sings the fallen and forgottens song so well. | ||
 | Album: 53 of 60 Artist: Damon Albarn Title: Everyday Robots Released: 2014-04-25 Tracks: 12 Duration: 46:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2014 | 1 Everyday Robots (03:58) 2 Hostiles (04:09) 3 Lonely Press Play (03:42) 4 Mr. Tembo (03:55) 5 Parakeet (00:43) 6 The Selfish Giant (04:47) 1 You and Me (07:05) 2 Hollow Ponds (04:59) 3 Seven High (01:00) 4 Photographs (You Are Taking Now) (04:43) 5 The History of a Cheating Heart (04:00) 6 Heavy Seas of Love (03:43) |
| Everyday Robots : Allmusic album Review : If there ever were a modern rock star who could be called an auteur, itd be Damon Albarn. As the leader of Blur, he was responsible for the groups grand themes, taking credit for the birth of Brit-pop circa 1993s Modern Life Is Rubbish, but his signature -- a sly, theatrical blend of melodic post-punk and new wave undercut by electronic exoticism and a thirst for world music -- grew ever more distinctive in the projects he pursued after the groups 2003 dissolution, surfacing in the dystopian future of Gorillaz and the glum present of the Good, the Bad & the Queen. He didnt hide within a collective so much as embrace collaboration, using other musicians to accelerate exploration, with all the different musicians underscoring his own world-view. Albarn is not without a collaborator on Everyday Robots, his first official pop solo album (he released the experimental opera Dr. Dee under his own name in 2012). Hes produced by Richard Russell, the head of XL Records, and Damons co-producer on Bobby Womacks 2012 comeback The Bravest Man in the Universe, a sparse electronic soul album that shares some skeletal characteristics with Everyday Robots. Russell assists Albarn in shaping Everyday Robots into a quiet, contemplative extended meditation on modernity and the past, a record that seems personal but stops just short of confessional. "Hollow Ponds," which intercuts pivotal vignettes from throughout his life, acts as the autobiographical centerpiece but often the lyrics that stick depict the isolation of modern technology, the "everyday robots on our phones" who press play when theyre lonely. Underneath this high-tech alienation, whats left unspoken is how Albarn and Russell are hardly Luddites. Everyday Robots embraces modern technology -- its rhythms are digitized, electronic instruments are interwoven with acoustics, spoken samples are deployed strategically -- which doesnt undercut Albarns disconnection thesis so much as underscore his resignation at existing in the fractured present. This is the key dichotomy of the album; its surfaces are Spartan, its tempos slow and measured -- it quickens its step only at "Mister Tembo," a joyous ode to the birth of an elephant -- but its a soulful album, not chilly. Its sadness is a warm, enveloping melancholy that harks back to the floating psychedelic dissociation of "This Is a Low" while touching upon the digital desolation of Demon Days. Upon repeated listens, the sorrowful undertow of Everyday Robots becomes a comfort, a balm for moments of alienation; its the kind of record that when youre lonely, you press play. | ||
 | Album: 54 of 60 Artist: Nick Mulvey Title: First Mind Released: 2014-05-12 Tracks: 12 Duration: 50:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2014 | 1 First Mind (03:05) 2 Fever to the Form (04:12) 3 April (04:08) 4 Juramidam (05:16) 5 Cucurucu (04:27) 6 Ailsa Craig (04:57) 7 Meet Me There (03:26) 8 Nitrous (03:12) 9 Venus (05:25) 10 I Don’t Want to Go Home (03:29) 11 The Trellis (05:33) 12 The World to Me (02:44) |
 | Album: 55 of 60 Artist: Polar Bear Title: In Each and Every One Released: 2014-03-24 Tracks: 11 Duration: 1:07:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2014 | 1 Open See (07:05) 2 Be Free (04:31) 3 Chotpot (05:05) 4 They’re All Ks and Qs Lucien (07:18) 5 WW (04:22) 6 Lost in Death, Part 2 (04:57) 7 Maliana (08:38) 8 Lost in Death, Part 1 (06:51) 9 Life and Life (06:41) 10 Two Storms (03:32) 11 Sometimes (08:14) |
 | Album: 56 of 60 Artist: Jungle Title: Jungle Released: 2014-07-14 Tracks: 12 Duration: 39:12 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2014 | 1 The Heat (03:16) 2 Accelerate (03:04) 3 Busy Earnin’ (03:01) 4 Platoon (03:10) 5 Drops (02:53) 6 Time (03:33) 7 Smoking Pixels (01:47) 8 Julia (03:15) 9 Crumbler (03:02) 10 Son of a Gun (03:28) 11 Lucky I Got What I Want (04:21) 12 Lemonade Lake (04:19) |
 | Album: 57 of 60 Artist: FKA twigs Title: LP1 Released: 2014-08-06 Tracks: 14 Duration: 56:49 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2014 | 1 Preface (01:46) 2 Lights On (04:24) 3 Two Weeks (04:07) 4 Hours (04:35) 5 Pendulum (04:58) 6 Video Girl (03:47) 7 Numbers (03:43) 8 Closer (03:45) 9 Give Up (04:17) 10 Kicks (05:24) 11 Weak Spot (03:43) 12 Ache (05:00) 13 Breathe (04:16) 14 Hide (02:59) |
 | Album: 58 of 60 Artist: Royal Blood Title: Royal Blood Released: 2014-08-22 Tracks: 10 Duration: 32:34 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2014 | 1 Out of the Black (04:00) 2 Come On Over (02:51) 3 Figure It Out (03:04) 4 You Can Be So Cruel (02:44) 5 Blood Hands (03:07) 6 Little Monster (03:32) 7 Loose Change (02:36) 8 Careless (03:21) 9 Ten Tonne Skeleton (03:07) 10 Better Strangers (04:12) |
| Royal Blood : Allmusic album Review : The bludgeoning opener to Royal Bloods self-titled debut, "Out of the Black" is a riff-fueled onslaught that belies their two-piece status; with just a heavily processed bass guitar and a drum set between them, they make some four-piece rock bands look inconsequential. Their bustling career started just 24 hours after drummer Ben Thatcher picked up vocalist/bassist Mike Kerr after he touched down from a trip to Australia with a show in their hometown in Brighton, and they didnt look back. In roughly a year together Royal Blood have learned quickly, and tour dates and the early support of Arctic Monkeys -- who themselves were thrust quickly into the limelight -- influenced tracks such as "Blood Hands," which has all the cocksure swagger of the Sheffield outfit. Combining crushing drums and Kerrs hybrid bass setup -- which is ingeniously split through both a bass amp and a guitar amp, with pitch-shifters, modulation, and heavy distortion bolstering the rugged sound -- the duo draws immediate comparisons to luminaries the White Stripes, with "Loose Change" bearing significant familiarity, while there are nods at various times to Muse and Two Gallants as Royal Blood pummel their way through "Figure It Out." When Kerr and Thatcher arent pounding their instruments hard, the limitations to their sparse setup does leave songs feeling a little flat, with "You Can Be So Cruel" and "Ten Tonne Skeleton" suffering slightly to fill the dynamics, but at the same time strains of early Queens of the Stone Age creep into the rolling guitar riffs and Kerrs voice is stretched to its limits. However, its not all guitars and drums, and singles "Little Monster" and "Come on Over" illustrate their aptitude for well-crafted structures and melodies, and the moody delivery of Kerrs wholehearted vocals is prominent in the radio-friendly mix. The whirlwind year that took the duo from obscurity to 2013s Glastonbury Festival is akin to the full-throttle rock music Royal Blood create, and there is little time for respite during their breezy debut album that bridges the gap between heavy-hitting rock and digestible pop/rock. | ||
 | Album: 59 of 60 Artist: Bombay Bicycle Club Title: So Long, See You Tomorrow Released: 2014-02-03 Tracks: 10 Duration: 44:54 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2014 | 1 Overdone (03:38) 2 Its Alright Now (04:09) 3 Carry Me (04:25) 4 Home by Now (04:34) 5 Whenever, Wherever (05:30) 6 Luna (03:10) 7 Eyes Off You (03:57) 8 Feel (04:59) 9 Come To (04:24) 10 So Long, See You Tomorrow (06:02) |
| So Long, See You Tomorrow : Allmusic album Review : Bombay Bicycle Clubs fourth studio album, 2014s So Long, See You Tomorrow, finds the band building upon the dance-oriented sound of 2011s A Different Kind of Fix while still remaining faithful to their melodic, introspective indie rock roots. Once again centered around the lead vocals of Jack Steadman, the album was purportedly written while Steadman was traveling through Europe and India, and many of the songs on So Long, See You Tomorrow contain samples of the various sounds, music, and rhythms Steadman encountered on his trip. And while there are definitely Bollywood-esque qualities here, especially on such songs as the hypnotic and driving "Overdone" and the equally as swirling "Carry Me," the results are never overt or heavy-handed. These are organic, living productions that touch upon rave culture and world music while remaining rooted in melodic songcraft. The album also features guest lead and harmony vocals from British singer/songwriters and rising pop divas Lucy Rose and Rae Morris. All of this stylistic and creative synergy lends the album a layered, late-80s adult contemporary vibe. In fact, cuts like the sparkling "Luna" and the yearning "Home by Now" definitely bring to mind So-era Peter Gabriel. Similarly, the moving ballad "Eyes Off You" has sustained drama that recalls Gabriels classic 1986 duet with Kate Bush, "Dont Give Up." Ultimately, So Long, See You Tomorrow is highly engaging, thoughtful, kaleidoscopic pop music for citizens of the world. | ||
 | Album: 60 of 60 Artist: East India Youth Title: Total Strife Forever Released: 2014-01-13 Tracks: 11 Duration: 51:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover Mercury Prize Nominee 2014 | 1 Glitter Recession (04:19) 2 Total Strife Forever I (06:35) 3 Dripping Down (04:14) 4 Hinterland (06:16) 5 Heaven, How Long (06:09) 6 Total Strife Forever II (02:55) 7 Looking for Someone (04:15) 8 Midnight Koto (03:13) 9 Total Strife Forever III (04:41) 10 Song for a Granular Piano (04:01) 11 Total Strife Forever IV (04:25) |