Some Days Are Just Bad, The Rest Are Worse

Here's the MUCH ANTICIPATED Part II

Of Albums Of The Year


Please bare in mind I can't written
very well, so most ideas of these
are borrowed of stolen.

05. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

Jason Vernon’s album under the moniker Bon Iver (a play on the French Bon Hiver meaning Good Winter) is a beautifully peaceful and serene composition, unchallenged in its flourishing passion. Having broken up with his girlfriend, Vernon retreated to a remote log cabin in the forests of Wisconsin and spent the next three months writing and recording ‘For Emma, Forever ago’. Much like Fleet Foxes, the vocal harmonisation is what makes this such an absorbing album.

The album is full of heartening, and inspirational moments. It is both engaging and poignant. ‘Skinny Love’ and ‘For Emma’ soar above the rest as standout tracks. They are both touching and thoroughly emotional. The solitude in which the album was constructed is exhaled through every word sung, and every note plucked on Vernon’s acoustic guitar. Overall the sense of hope is one that is conveyed throughout the record.

Vernon’s deeply intimate songwriting, elegant musicianship and lucid imagery are what makes this album one of the most refreshing albums of the year. Free from over production and unnecessary and intrusive effects, there is very little more than a man and his guitar. This is an album that will be remembered for years for its seamless construction and vividly poetic delivery.

04.Conor Oberst – S/T

His first solo album in over a decade, Conor Oberst delivers an uncharacteristically uplifting album in contrast with his previous work under the moniker ‘Bright Eyes’. Oberst was once described, by Rolling Stone as ‘Rock’s Boy Genius’, a title that couldn’t, in my opinion be more fitting. With each album made as Bright Eyes, Oberst manages to mature, and develop his style, this album is without a doubt his most assured work to date.

For his new record, Oberst enlisted the help of some close friends, and long time collaborator Nate Walcott. In the heart of Mexico, they constructed a make-shift recording studio and laid down various tracks, many off which made the album, and a few that didn’t. The albums focus is on Oberst’s constant travelling, touring, and his own self discovery. Oberst reflects himself as a somewhat modern day musical Jack Kerouac like figure, in his honest and careful lyrics. His attention to subtlety and the self-assuredness seen on this record is a far cry from his earlier solo work, as a teenager young-naïve and lacking the confidence that makes Oberst’s work so special now. Oberst’s deeply intimate lyrics are one of the things that make him such a brilliant musician, and this record is no exception. His astounding ability to construct such powerful imagery through his lyrics is a skill musicians twice his age fail to achieve. His vocal ability carries the lyrics throughout, with his bleak and desperate tone seen on some of the tracks contrasting with the uplifting high rising vocals on others.

Overall this album is one of his best works to date, while not quite reaching the emotional level of previous outings such as ‘Fevers & Mirrors’, it is still incredibly personal, and scarily intimate. The comparisons are well deserved, as believe it or not Conor Oberst is, without a doubt the modern day Bob Dylan.

03.Late Of The Pier – Fantasy Black Channel

Welcome to the world of Late of The Pier. Their debut album, according to them is the aural substitute to taking drugs, I can think of no better description. It’s a unique album, spinning contrasting beats, sounds shapes and vocals. After a slew of singles Late of the Pier established themselves at the forefront of synthesiser led bands in the UK. They even managed to lure Erol Alkan out of retirement to produce their debut, a stroke of genius on their part.

The impressive debut is completely bonkers. Each track flows seamlessly into one another, forcing you to concentrate on working exactly when one track finishes and the next starts. Having heard many of the tracks on the album before it was released I was slightly worried that they would be the standout songs, and the rest would be filler, how wrong I was. The new songs are just as elegant and bizarre as the previous singles and some more so; ‘The Enemy are the Future’ springs to mind.

The spacey, obscure and downright odd lyrics take a backbench in this record, as the music is where Late of the Pier shine, and that’s the point. This isn’t an album to sit down and reflect about life to, this is an album to get up, get drunk and dance to. For those who managed to catch them on their NME tour or in support of Justice will know just how downright epic this band are live.

The album ends on a complete high, my person favourite track; ‘Bathroom Gurgle’ ends proceedings and is the track to check out if you still need convincing that this Doncaster 4-piece are better than Klaxons. All that’s left to say is ‘Can you smell snacks?’

02.Fleet Foxes – S/T

It is clear within the first few seconds of ‘sun it rises’, the album’s opener, that you’re in for something special. The mystical lyrics accompanied with the perfectly orchestrated instruments mean that straight away you know you’re in for something special.

The highlight of the entire album is without a doubt Robin Pecknold’s astonishingly exquisite voice, the way he delivers it and how it perfectly harmonises with the music and the rest of the band. It is the soothing and alluring vocal melodies that capture you, and make you realise that Fleet Foxes are one of the most genuine bands of recent years. ‘White Winter Hymnal’ is a clear highlight of the eleven track LP. The charming imagery of the lyrics see Pecknold ‘following the pack’ in the snow of wintertime, it is peaceful, and it is total bliss.

The album hardly ever, if at all lets up, if anything it continues to grow and grow as the album progress. The album leads up to the epic finale of ‘Blue Ridge Mountain’, followed by the heartfelt close ‘Oliver James’. Some claim that Fleet Foxes are boring, and as a band offer nothing original. Many American’s are at a total loss as to why the band has received such critical acclaim in the UK, I for one don’t understand why people can’t see what is special about this band. I honestly can’t stress enough how remarkable I think this album truly is, it is without a doubt one of the most original and pure albums I have heard in years.

01. Elle Milano – Acres Of Dead Space Cadets

(also bearing in mind that this is a rip of a friend's review which is better lots.)

Which can be found here;

http://2forward4back.blogspot.com/

‘This cabin fever, the shocks and the shivers, intoxicant rivers through binge drinker's livers'

The best band that no-ones ever heard of. This will probably read more like an obituary than a review because as of October 2008 Elle Milano are no more. Their Debut album, is without a shadow of a doubt the finest album of this year. Four years in the making, from their incarnation in Leicester from the ashes of former band (for Lead Singer Adam) Psirens, it has been a tough old time for the Brighton based three piece. A lack of recognition from critics, and a constant struggle to get even the smallest amount of column space in any music related magazine have led the band to become the ultimate sufferers of a corrupt and frivolous music industry. For a long time I feared their debut album would never see the light of day and that Elle Milano would disappear in obscurity for ever more. Luckily for us they didn’t and instead managed to unleash a near perfect debut.

The shrewdly entitled ‘Laughing All The Way To The Plank’ starts the ball rolling, and it’s possibly the best album opener ever conceived. The lyrics are witty, the music is loud, and it’s the perfect song to introduce; Adam Crisp (Lead singer/Guitars) with his cynical social commentary, and tortured vocals, he is anything but the archetype front-man. The blistering opener is followed by singles ‘Meanwhile In Hollywood’ Adam’s bleak reflection of the repetition of modern life and ‘My Brother, The Astronaut’ a frustrated view of the struggle to be the best you can.

‘Carousels’ sees a deeply personal side to the band, with the lyrics revealing Adam’s desire to turn his back on everything and everyone and escape into the ‘English Sunset’. The song is somewhat more subtle and sublime in comparison to other tracks on the album. The closing jaunty piano is poised, delicate and magnificently haunting. This intimacy is continued in ‘Curiosity Killed The Popstar’. The Band’s own way of sticking their middle finger up at the inane Music industry that fail to recognise

them in any shape or form.

The later part of the album feels like the band is on the verge of self destruction. Those that were lucky enough to see them live will understand exactly how close this was to happening every time they performed. The final two songs round off the album in a climactic way. ‘Wonderfully Wonderful (All The Time)’ the penultimate song is the standout track of the entire album. The song is steeped in cultural references, both positive and negative. It sees Crisp descend into the macabre melodrama that make Elle Milano such an outstanding band. Adam himself claims the song makes him feel like the world is about to end. The album closer, aptly titled ‘This is how it ends’ opens with a spoken word verse by Chloe Joanna, the band’s bassist. Set to a much calmer musical arrangement than any of the previous tracks on the album, the song details the failing relationship between two people. It’s a tame song to end the album on, and this may be the only reason I find it to be the weakest of all the tracks on the record. It’s a brilliant song, but I feel somewhat underwhelmed by it in comparison to the rest of the album.

Even if I spent this entire article writing about Elle Milano, I’d still feel as though I hadn’t quite said enough about them. This is the greatest British debut album since The Libertines’ ‘Up The Bracket’. Elle Milano’s ‘Acres of Dead Space Cadets’ is to music what J.D.Salinger’s ‘Catcher In The Rye’ is to literature. The biggest shame of it all is that bands with little or no talent in comparison are lauded by critics when truly original and special bands are left to disappear into obscurity. Long Live Elle Milano, hopefully in years to come people will marvel at this masterpiece, and realise what a brilliant debut album this is. But for know all you can do is ‘leave a message, Coz we’re already dead’……