Bring me the hams, Firefox. Bring me the hams.
Playing Favorites.
I’m at least three days behind on this, but wanted to post my favorite albums and artists of the last calendar year. I’m not going to say that these were the best or most acclaim-worthy or Bon Iver-ish records of the year; you guys know that my tastes run toward pub rock and middle-aged Englishmen.
BUT last year I did manage to make a few footsteps away from the path that leads to Robyn Hitchcock. And, although Nick Lowe released another disc, it didn’t make the list, partially because as exquisite as “House for Sale” and “I Read a Lot” are, “Restless Feeling” sounds like something you’d hear over the speakers at the Borgata Casino while you sniff a plate of cocktail shrimp and decide whether they’re still fresh enough to eat.
If I’m forced to choose an absolute favorite, it would be a close call. Some days, it might be head-Arctic Monkey Alex Turner’s solo outing for the Submarine soundtrack. The kid might have some questionable hairstyles (see: his recent pompadour) but he knows how to spin a phrase. Others days, I’d pick Nothing is Wrong, by Laurel Canyon band Dawes, who borrowed Jackson Browne’s pre-political sound—and I mean that in the best possible way.
There are a couple of sentimental selections on here, mainly R.E.M.’s Collapse into Now. It’s not the best of their back catalog, but since it’ll be the last non-greatest hits release, it made the list. The other is little-known Baxter Dury’s Happy Soup. His late father Ian is my all-time favorite polio-afflicted pub rocker and the four letters of his last name carry a lot of weight in the middle of Greenwich Mean Time. There’s no competitive “He’ll never be what his dad is” sneering; instead, I think people—like me—are just chuffed that Baxter can continue what his dad started.
Other notes: Elbow is about to suckerpunch mainstream America; they’re the track playing in the Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close trailer; I probably ran more miles listening to Zonoscope than any other album; Patrick Wolf’s “The City” is my go-to getting ready song. When you listen to it, picture me doing my best attempt at dancing before slipping on the long end of a bath towel and careening headfirst into the shower door. You’re welcome; I feel ridiculous writing TUNE-YARDS as they want it to be written. It’s not like they’re EE CUMMINGS or some shit. Also, I’m not cool enough for that album, not at all. I know that my sweatpants and I are going to be listening to it while I drink store-brand skim milk when someone from the label comes into my apartment and confiscates it. Neither one of us will say a word. We’ll…just…know; Both Noel and Liam Gallagher released post-Oasis records. Not only are Noel’s High Flying Birds better than the Lennon-lite of Liam’s Beady Eye, he’s written a solid collection of songs, period.
So, here goes, the records I spun the most and enjoyed the most between last January and today.
Alex Turner, Submarine [Original Songs]
Baxter Dury, Happy Soup
The Black Keys, El Camino
Cut Copy, Zonoscope
Dawes, Nothing is Wrong
The Decemberists, The King is Dead
Destroyer, Kaputt
Elbow, Build a Rocket Boys!
Frank Turner, England Keep My Bones
Frankie & the Heartstrings, Hunger
The Head and the Heart, The Head and the Heart
Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx, We’re New Here
Girls, Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Givers, In Light
Grouplove, Never Trust a Happy Song
Gruff Rhys, Hotel Shampoo
Holy Ghost, Holy Ghost!
Mayer Hawthorne, How Do You Do
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
Patrick Wolf, Lupercalia
R.E.M., Collapse Into Now
SBTRKT, SBTRKT
The Streets, Computers and Blues
The Vaccines, What Did You Expect from the Vaccines?
tUnE-YarDs, w h o k i l l
Wilco, The Whole Love
WU LYF, Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
Yuck, Yuck
Also, here’s an overstuffed Spotify playlist, just in case you’ve ever wanted your home or office to sound like my apartment. [HTML or URI]
