My Favourite 41 Albums of 2012

Yes, it's another list of albums released within a twelve month time-frame. The difference between this list and those found elsewhere is that this one isn't influenced by the 'aid' of record-companies or 'back-handers'. I actually liked these 41 albums. I think you might like a few of them as well - so read on... here's to 2013! And yes, until today, it was just 40 albums long - but then I bought Dr John's sterling effort. I just couldn't leave him out of this list....

41 - Dr John - Locked Down

What a blinder - the hoodoo-voodoo maestro hooked up with The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach for what can only be described as a cracking comeback. There's funk, there's blues (natch) and more jovial jambalaya then you can shake a chilli at. The title-track and swamp-stepping Ice Age are the stand-outs on an album designed for the feet as much as the mind.





40 - Dead Rat Orchestra - Guga Hunters

Ancient Lewisian gull-culling tradition filmed by Mike Day and sound-tracked by brooding folk trio made for an unsettling listen for the most part, with the grisly business of sailing dangerous Atlantic waters to Sula Sgeir made all the more atmospheric by Dead Rat Orchestra's sombre symphony of death (and food).







39 - Andrew Poppy - Shiny Floor Shiny Ceiling

ZTT's forgotten minimalist composer continues his exploration into sound and performance with a cast of vocal luminaries such as Claudia Brucken and James Gilchrist, all giving their tonsils a test with Poppy's busy and occasionally unsettling electronica score to accompany the show of the same name.







38 - Laura Gibson - La Grande

Self-produced elegaic Americana that seeped traditional mid-West lyricism and contemporary country rock straight out of Portland, Oregon. There's something reassuringly 'campfire' about the entire album, making Laura Gibson another vintage variant of the welcome wilderness-inspired dirt-tracks also travelled by the likes of Alela Diane etc...






37 - Kevin Tihista - On This Dark Street

Sweetly-sung bleak, black barbs of poignant pop ooze the sort of grimace found on Smog, Low and M Ward albums. The album's opener Taking It To The Streets (Again) is lilting, lucid and bittersweet, the closer Country Road is summer personified, harmonious and carefree and a testament to Tihista's ear for a tune.






36 - Ed Vallance - Volcano

Accomplished and epic pop from another universe, well sung, well written and well executed. Vallance is a cut-above your average indie-by-numbers songwriter and gives the likes of Snow Patrol and Keane a run for their money throughout this second album. Key song - Black and White Light.







35 - Murray McLauchlan - Human Writes

Offering up years of experience and a fragility that is often missing from American roots music these days, McLauchlan writes songs that sit comfortably with the likes of Hank Williams, Gary Louris or Grant McLennan, remarkable in their simplicity.







34 - Nightingales - No Love Lost

Gritty, visceral and uncompromising - sounds like another Nightingales album, their seventh in 30 years. Still sounding like they've just assembled band members just five minutes ago, the chaotic angular DIY riffin' and rockin' never relents and No Love Lost sounds for all the world like their best work.






33 - Alasdair Roberts & Mairi Morrison - Urstan

A meeting of like-minds from the Highlands and Islands duo who chanced upon each other at Ceol's Craic Club in Glasgow, an organisation committed to reclaiming Gaelic as the natural language of the isles and coastlines of Scotland. Simple tales, new and old, simply played and respectfully told. A treasure.






32 - John Surman - Saltash Bells

For the saxophonist's first solo-album proper since 1994, Surman revisited his childhood haunts of the Cornish borders and valleys surrounding the Tamar riverside. Subtle electronica blends seamlessly with Surman's expressive reedwork on stunning tracks such as On Staddon Heights and Saltash Bells.






31 - Ty Segall - Twins

One of many garage-rock and blues revivalists shredding frets for all their worth, but Segall comes armed with more than just a nod to Hendrix and 13th Floor Elevators - this man can rock. Twins was one of three albums released by the prolific guitarist this year and is probably the best. The Hill and Love Fuzz are as good as it gets.






30 - Breabach - Bann

Understated folk from a supergroup of local inhabitants drawn from Canadian and Scottish roots, including Gaelic traditions stretching from Skye to Back on the Isle of Lewis. Bann is a tour-de-force encompassing busy urban life and remote rural idylls with sprightly intelligent music full of tradition and hope.







29 - Napalm Death - Utiliterian

30 years old and showing little sign of throwing the denim jacket in, Napalm Death's first album in 3 years was as explosive as their earlier work, if a little longer in song-length in places. Standouts included the brick-wall aggression found on Think Tank Trials, Leper Colony and the album's concluding Gag Reflex.






28 - Phantom Limb - The Pines

Bristol's acclaimed soul-country outfit came good in 2012 with The Pines, earning themselves TV, radio and festival appearances, all bolstered by some strong songs on this album produced with Marc Ford (Black Crowes, Ben Harper, Burning Tree). Their most recent support slots have included Rumer and Rodriguez, as well as their own tour-dates packed with great renditions of the title-track, Tumblin Down and Gravy Train.





27 - Milagres - Glowing Mouth

Memphis Industries continued to fill another year with exemplary indie-pop that steered clear of the cheesy antics favoured by certain other chart-hogging acts. Milagres pieced together an altogether darker set than label-mates Polica and Hooray For Earth, making this just a tad more timeless. The title-track and album-opener Halfway turn out to be keepers, while Lost in the Dark perhaps best demonstrates the band's ability to mix sadface with hope, as well as pin-sharp production.




26 - Bobby Womack - The Bravest Man In The Universe

After a lifetime of making the odd mistake (courting Sam Cooke's widow and drug dependancy), Womack's renaissance has continued on from being Quentin Tarantino's go-to soundtrack inclusion and guest vocalist with Gorillaz to a fully-blown victor over cancer and the creator of this soulful and eclectic album. The title-track is glorious, his duet with Lana Del Rey a triumph and few artists in Womack's position can lay claim to a comeback half as good as this.




25 - Kevin Hewick - All Was Numbered

The album's title refers to Factory Records' insistance at cataloguing every bloody project it signed off, including offices, dental bills, cat, nightclub and even Tony Wilson's coffin. Hewick deals with his own fond (and frustrated) memories of being young and wide-eyed under Wilson's wing up to the point of Wilson's passing and the whole anarchic mess around him. Overshadowplaying is a superb example of Hewick's ear for a riff, while the more acoustic elements such as Larry and Memory Stone show Kevin's reflective nature to its fullest.



24 - Saint Etienne - Words and Music

And then there was pop-music, once again. Sarah and her boys swept aside the minimal electro flavours of previous albums Finisterre and Turnpike House and delivered resplendent disco-pop and nostalgic glances to bygone ages of collecting vinyl and glamming up for a night out. It's kitsch, it's handbags and it's a surprisingly engaging listen that includes the belter of a single, Tonight.





23 - Mala - Mala In Cuba

What happened when esteemed Digital Mystikz' Mala hooked up with a collective of Cuban musicians? Why, they created the supreme fusion of dubstep and Latino riddims that is, Mala In Cuba. Not just aimed at the feet, tracks such as Ghost and Change mixed elegaic and filmic soundscapes with respectful beats and table-wobbling sub-bass, without sounding like it's been designed to blast out of a Subaru. Spellbinding.





22 - The Ghosts - The End

Perhaps the most 'poppy' offering in this rundown comes from a band with a fairly standard name (there are a few acts called The Ghost or just Ghost(s) etc) but a ridiculous ability to knock out songs that sound like hits but probably never will be. Near title-track Ghosts is a jaunty tune reminiscent of what the Pet Shop Boys might have been better off doing on their album, while other electro stadium-fillers such as Enough Time and They've Started Guarding are worthy radio-friendly anthems.




21 - Various - Spirit of Talk Talk

So then, not strictly 'new' material but not exactly wide of the mark when it comes to the premise behind it - a new art-book that follows the life, times and designs of Talk Talk. This compilation of new versions of key TT tracks ended up a masterstroke, since Mark Hollis' canon is rarely touched up for cover-versions. And when it is, occasionally (hello, No Doubt) it can go wrong. Turin Brakes, Zero 7, King Creosote and Jason Lytle might sound like odd bedfellows for such beautiful music but, trust me, for the most part it works.



20 - John Foxx & The Maths - Evidence

As ageless as its creator, Evidence borrows from the past and gives to the future. Jam-packed with unsettling, fidgety electronica and fierce shards of processed beats drawn from a seemingly bottomless well of analogue synths, Foxx and Benge (plus guests) have crafted another powerful selection of songs and vignettes drawn from The Maths sessions, including further reworkings of Interplay-era tracks and a few new songs. The cover of Floyd's Have a Cigar is as beautifully sinister as it gets.




19 - Efterklang - Piramida

The Danish outfit's strength is subtlety and the sumptuous and atmospheric Piramida has it in spades. Recorded at a derelict outpost and mining town in the northernmost region of Denmark and including sounds and textures collated at and inspired by the deserted town, Piramida is at once harmonic, choral, warm and human. Layered with strings and peppered with busy percussion, there is something for everyone on this grower of an album.





18 - Field Music - Plumb

Sunderland, home town of Field Music, returned to the spotlight once again as the town's most-talented duo pieced together a short, but compact, album of fragmented and inventive pop. Still sounding a little like XTC and, well, Field Music of course, Plumb is enriched with the Brewis brothers' composition skills and musical prowess, making them unique. One minute their songs twist and distort, the next they delight - A New Town is a case in point.





17 - Brian Eno - Lux

Only Eno could come up with four softly resonating slices of ambient wallpaper and call it Lux. The concept is not as predictable as it sounds - each piece is different and created for an exhibition in Turin and each long track is divided into bite-size chunks of digital bliss, not far removed from his early Music For ... series in the '70s. Lux is lush.






16 - Snow Palms - Intervals

Taking glockenspiels, xylophones, mallets and bells as a base layer and by adding minimal electronica, pianos, textures and strings Snow Palms, who are comprised of composer David Sheppard and arranger Chris Leary, have given birth to the type of music that could soundtrack snowfall, children's fables, Hebridean sunsets and time-lapse film-making, without resorting to cheesiness or cliche.





15 - Paul Buchanan - Mid-Air

A 14-track album of short stories, of vignettes and gentle reflections, propelled gracefully by Buchanan's saddened, world-weary voice and the merest tinkle on the ivories.  Nothing will frighten the pets, very little will stun or surprise but most of it will pass muster with fans of this most reflective of songwriters. At first listen I despaired at its lack of variation - now I'm captivated by its despair. Very lovely.





14 - Hot Chip - In Our Heads

Repeated listens to the band's first outing on Domino reveals flaws and revelations in equal measure, suffice to say that "In Our Heads" fails to be yet another perfect Hot Chip album throughout but, when it's great it's great and when it's dire well, you know the rest. "These Chains" and "Flutes" represent the more familiar repetitive end of Hot Chip's canon, both strong enough to be singles as well, with the latter proving to be a beguiling and moody epic.




13 - The Hut People - Picnic

You can't but help nod your head, wiggle your toes or rustle up some grub to Picnic, or at the very least chill out and wonder where on Earth they got half these bizarre instruments from. Not Amazon, that's for sure. THE Amazon yes, perhaps. The highlights are many, but my favourite standouts would include the Danish/Balinese "Marvaerk", the cheeky "One for Lily" (Pirt's first ever composition, written for his daughter), the traditional and simple "Siege of Delhi" and the opening three tracks. Totally engaging world-folk music from start to finish.



12 - Mark Lanegan Band - Blues Funeral

Lanegan signed to 4AD a year ago and for his first release with them, opted for a sprawling array of baritone blues and tobacco-stained melancholia that sounds like it crawled out of Beelzebub's bowels. It's a far cry from the stifling grunge of his Screaming Trees period and a welcome one - here cometh the holler of a troubled man and he's got bones to pick and scores to settle. The Gravedigger's Song is a great rumble of a song and a top way to open an album.




11 - Triptides - Sun Pavilion

Considering that this is their debut album, Triptides sound like they've been around for ten years not two, such is the strength of the songwriting and even the running-order, often a bug-bear and a trip-hazard for many newbies. Sun Pavilion is a woozy selection of a dozen dazzling dazed little trinkets that veer from sun-kissed beach-bum pop nuggets to surf-rockin' boppers. They've nailed pretty much everything on this inaugural album and deserve to be coveted by all who hear them. Great opening track too (Bright Sky).



10 - Richard Hawley - Standing At The Sky's Edge

The acoustic guitars were swapped for electric ones and an album was born - Richard Hawley's seventh collection, once again referenced his beloved Sheffield, only this time his musical attentions and sources were tapped from psychedelia and classic '60s pop, rather than romantic retro country and rock and roll. Amped to the max, initial listens provoked a nonchalent shrug from this listener (a fan, I hasten to add), but Sky's Edge is a slow-burner, full of tingles and tantalizing choruses that actually add up to brilliant business as usual.



9 - The Distractions - The End Of The Pier

Much has been made of the 27 years it took for Dexys to conjure up their fourth album - The Distractions went a few years better by taking 32 of them to knock the sophomore follow-up to 1980's Nobody's Perfect. And yes, it was certainly worth the wait. There isn't a duff song on here - from the opening sparkle of "I Don't Have Time" (as opposed to that same time that used to go by so slow), the bottom-lip trembling "Wise" and the comparably jaunty "Girl of the Year", you have three stone-cold classic songs in the making after just ten minutes. The other thirty are just as good.



8 - Dinosaur Jr - I Bet On Sky

Mascis, Murph and Barlow on were fine fuzzy form for this tenth triumphant long-player. Oddly enough though, the opening song to their first album since 2009's full-on Farm is actually quite unlike most Dinosaur Jr tunes - Don't Pretend You Didn't Know is almost, well, funky and upbeat and rather unlike a typical opening track. Nothing wrong with that of course and there's nothing wrong with much of this set. Watch The Corners, the single, is classic Mascis, as is every one of his eight contributions here with the laid-back romp of Almost Fare and the finger-shredding riffola that is Pierce The Morning Rain standing out. 

7 - Karen Tweed - Essentially Invisible To The Eye

Her previous releases have involved other musicians but "Essentially..." features the enigmatic teacher and musician on her tod, performing a bewitching array of English, French, Gaelic, American and, you-name-it, global passages of deftly-realised accordion-playing that will delight. Tracks are combinations of the familiar ("Edelweiss", "Que Sera Sera"), the quizzical ("Mattie and Karines", "Pamela Rose Grant") and self-composed ("Lovely Lorraine", "No Better Friends"), and none of this lovely instrumental music falls short of expectations.

6 - Jon DeRosa - Wolf In Preacher's Clothing

With an undiminished approach to quality, not one song on Wolf's disappoints, from opener (and single) Birds Of Brooklyn to the concluding and brooding Hollow Earth Theory - the whole set works a treat, with each track acting as a window into the reflective mind of DeRosa. Nine of the songs are his own (as far as I can make out from the promo download) and one isn't - a cover of The Blue Nile's gorgeous Easter Parade that is actually up there with the original, if not quite as minimal then certainly as calming. 


5 - The Wake - A Light Far Out

In a year which saw a few bands take decades to make follow-up albums, The Wake only took a mere 18 years to finish off theirs. One of few new releases issued by LTM, A Light Far Out is by turns, sweet-natured indie-pop and gloomy atmospheric melodrama that rewards with every listen.  From the opening wistful "Stockport", with its self-deprecating lyric "Walk through any town/towns all look the same", to the final closing epic "The Sands", The Wake have visited every previous precious creative trademark and buffed it up with pin-sharp arrangements. 


4 - Dead Can Dance - Anastasis

For my money, Anasthesia is up there, consistency-wise, with ...Labyrinth and Aion. With the final song on here, All In Good Time, they have a stone-cold jewel in their crown. Moving, symphonic and utterly beautiful, Perry has once again struck gold with simplicity. Children of the Sun is almost uplifting and, dare one say it, 'hippy', while Agape is a woozy cavort around the Middle East. DCD also managed to perform my gig of the year at the Royal Albert Hall - it was great to have them back.



3 - Peter Blegvad & Andy Partridge - Gonwards

Gonwards sounds more like the product of two impish schoolboys playing with musical toys rather than a couple of long-in-the-tooth eccentrics. The songs duck and dive in various guises, with widescreen cinematic descriptives on The Cryonic Trombone, furtive ghostly goings-on during Sacred Objects and a string of infectiously catchy pop songs in the shape of St Augustine Says and the totally superb The Impeccable Dandy In White, which is the first example of ukelele playing I've heard this century that hasn't made me want to turn one into matchsticks. Compelling.



2 - Public Image Limited - This is PiL

From the point the opening track ends and song number two rumbles within earshot, you quickly realize that Lydon's muse of old has returned and it's a sign of relief all round. "Deeper Water" is perhaps one of the album's key counterpoints while later on, there follows a raft of top-notch trademark Public Image Limited, spearheaded by "Terra-Gate", "Human" and "I Must Be Dreaming". A powerful and engaging way to spend 60 minutes.





1 - Orbital - Wonky

Far and away the most appealing prospect of the year for me was Orbital's return to the studio and the release of their first album since 2004's rather moreish Blue Album. The Hartnolls made an album that was not only incredibly danceable, it was, sorry, IS a warm, human and organic listening experience that showcases the duo's deft ability to serve up the prettiest melodies powered by the toughest beats. Just listen to Straight Sun and New France for proof - resplendent examples of the sort of electronic dance music you wish would last forever. Perversely, Wonky is their most-straightforward album and the least wonky when it comes to quality. Long may Orbital reign.