Thursday 1 December 2011

The Sound Of 2011 - Andy's List



Shalom ‘Sound Of..’ readers, it’s been a while; but then you know what old people say, ‘good things come to those who wait’ - or more accurately, to those who hang around Kev’s Facebook page with nothing better to do.

As you may have deduced from the cunningly less than cryptic title, the time has arrived once again for the contributors to this blog to pick our favourite tunes of the year. Now let’s not stand on ceremony here, I know, and you know, that the list we’re all waiting for is the one being compiled by Kevin 'King Of The MP3's' (bow please), however as an appetiser to his banquet of tasty tracks, we're once again inviting you to peruse my delectable selection too.

For the uninitiated amongst us, I traditionally (can it be a tradition by the third year?) like to use this post as an opportunity to broach a couple of subjects, the first of which is of course the coronation of the deserving victor in our annual 'correspondents bet’.....but I don’t think anybody wants to hear about that this year do they so let’s just move on....*cough*

Secondly this provides an opportune platform to heap praise on the unsung sources that have helped us discover the best new music. This year I’d like to highlight a blog that consistently displayed impeccable taste, and was a limitless source of wit and informative narrative; step forward The Found Of Confusion, you are a richly ....q8tzfrgtr**87/h....(sorry folks just had to wrestle the keyboard off him, he’s been given a written warning and told not to plug his own blog! – Kev W).....FINE, if that’s how you want it!! Towing the party line I’ll say a thank you to Soundcloud and Bandcamp; you’re both great......now does anyone have any ice and plasters please?

Thirdly, Last year I asked you all to send me presents – oddly none were forthcoming. I’m not perturbed though, and with our vastly expanded number of diligent followers I’m sure a second appeal will be far more fruitful – please send me lots of good stuff ASAP, here’s my address:

Andy L C/O The Sound Of Confusion
The Internetz
MySpace Memorial Building
1 Information Highway
Webland
Zip Drive Code: 010010

Great with that cleared up, and my broken fingers now nattily bandaged, I can get on with bringing you THE LIST! Usual rules apply: 25 tracks and only one song allowed per band. Most of the artists mentioned will have appeared in this blog at some stage or other, so if you want to read more about/hear from them, you can do so by putting to work the helpful search box up at the top of the page. Those bands marked with an asterix have been Found Of Confusion featured artists, and if you feel like investigating any of them further you can pop over and visit me via the link on the right, all are welcome. Ok, Shall we?

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THE LIST


1) Careless Teens – The Bilinda Butchers*: San Francisco’s answer to The Radio Dept. master bittersweet, hiding lyrics about lost loves and faltering friendships beneath a gorgeous cloud hopping melody; dreampop hugs shoegaze then floats away in a big hazy chillwave bubble - glorious.

2) Rolling Blackouts – The Go! Team: There’s no ‘I’ in Team..but there is an exclamation mark next to Go, and that punctuation’s epitomised in this jet propelled, soul stomper, title track from the album of the year.

3) Civilian – Wye Oak: Listen to the studio version, with its untamed, sprawling guitar work and contemplative lyrics, then look up the galloping, acoustic rendition on YouTube; spend the rest of the year trying to decide which is best.

4) Lizzy Come Back To Life – TV Girl: ‘One ‘cause you’re beautiful, one for your soul’ – departed French singer Lizzie Mercier gets a glowing tribute via the medium of looped samples and bouncing drums beats.

5) Under Cover Of Darkness – The Strokes:  The lads with the cool names do what they do best with this sing-along anthem; how all comeback singles should sound.

6) You Can Wait – Standard Fare: Feeling trapped by impending domesticity? Run away to the seaside, get suitably drunk and then stick this jangly, indie pop gem on.

7) Weekend Burnings – Discopolis*: Edinburgh’s growing electronic scene delivers the goods as DJ Shadow’s 'High Noon' is cross pollinated with Delphic’s 'Acolyte'; euphoria ensues!

8) Keep Me In Your Pocket – Those Dancing Days: The Swedish girls' decision to call it a day was the biggest disappointment of the year. Thankfully they bowed out with a great album that contained northern soul flavoured corkers like this.

9) Hauntin Me – Keep Shelly In Athens: Romance returns to the dancefloor with the help of sultry synths, hushed vocal delivery and liberal references to Romeo and Juliet *swoon*

10) Sleep – The Rosie Taylor Project: Bundles of charm in this quirky, lover’s duet; bobs along sweetly without ever sounding too twee - served with a garnish of trumpets.

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11) Medicine – Daughter*
12) Romance – Wild Flag
13) Sol – Mausi*
14) Blue Cassette – Friendly Fires
15) Noah’s Ark – The Shutes*
16) Heaven’s Gonna Happen Now – The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
17) Locomotive – Alex Winston
18) Vultures – Tiger Choir*
19) South Carolina – Tennis
20) Let You Go – Dimbleby And Capper*
21) Telephone – For Abel
22) Keep On Trying – Lanterns On The Lake*
23) Forget That You’re Young – The Raveonettes
24) Ghosting – Secret Rivals*
25) Somewhere In Mexico – Wishing Wars*


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Well that’s it all done for another year, and for the first time it’s the female chanteuses who outnumber their male counterparts, chapeau ladies! If you’ve got any views (good or bad), or would like to submit your own picks, why not voice your opinion in the comment box below and don’t forget to check back in the near future to have a look at Kev’s selection. Enjoy!

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