Top 5 albums of the year (in no particular order):

MGMT – Oracular Spectacular

Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night

My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges

Band Of Horses – Cease To Begin

The Raconteurs – Consolers Of The Lonely

Honourable mentions go to:

Everest – Ghost Notes

Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs

Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid

Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

The Futureheads – This Is Not The Word

Glassvegas – Glassvegas

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Cardinology

Sigur Rós – Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

Supergrass – Diamond Hoo Ha

Songs of the year:

Everest – Rebels In The Roses

Biffy Clyro – Mountains

MGMT – Time To Pretend

Foo Fighters – Let It Die

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Fix It

2008 proved by far the hardest year since I’ve begun posting my top 5 albums, but this can only be a good thing as it means there was a lot of good music! I hope 2009 is just as hard, if not harder!

Previous years:

Albums of the year: 2008 (so far)
Albums of the year: 2007
Albums of the year: 2006
Albums of the Year: 2005

I’ve always fancied myself as a bit of a music reviewer, but I ramble too much and generally hate music reviewing members of the press, so I’d never lower myself to do actual ‘reviews’. Below you’ll find a list of what’s currently floating my boat and a bit about why. Just don’t call them reviews whatever you do.

MGMT – Oracular Spectacular

Yes, yes, I know! Everyone is raving about this band. I happened to hear MGMT just before the hype got to me and put me off. Musically the album is a real mish-mash, it’s pretty poppy in places with tons of synths, and at times wanders off into prog-rock territory – overall it’s a really interesting sounding album which covers a lot of ground – I can’t get enough of it!

Sounds like: Beck meets Secret Machines meets Prince.
Fave Tracks: ‘Time To Pretend’ (the first single), ‘Kids’.

REM – Accelerate

Only just out, but wow – REM are rocking once again! I don’t own many REM albums, but I do love them – some of their albums seem to have passed me by over the years, this one certainly hasn’t. It’s a real rocker, and it’s great to see a veteran band who can still give it some despite having entered that dangerous ‘mid 40’s’ stage of their careers.

Sounds like: REM kicking ass.

Guillemots – Red

Guillemots are a strange band. People seem to love them or hate them, and they seem determined to mess with you. Just as you start getting into a song they throw in completely crazy middle eight that leaves you wondering what just happened. I really liked their debut album ‘Through The Window Pane’ and ‘Red’ doesn’t disappoint. It took a few listens to get my head around as there’s some interesting instrumentation and production, but essentially the majority of the songs are great -albeit with their weird freak outs.

I think Guillemots are the closest the UK has to an Arcade Fire, and I don’t mean that they sound like Arcade Fire, there’s just something about them which is reminiscent – maybe it’s the madman/genius thing and the vast instrumentation?

Sounds like: An instrument factory, with great choruses, and strange middle eights.
Fave Tracks: ‘Get Over It’ and ‘Cockateels’.

Supergrass – Diamond Hoo Ha

Great album title! In a similar move to REM, Supergrass return to their rockier roots after the relatively mellow last album ‘Road To Rouen’ (I could never get into it). This reminds me of my favourite Supergrass album ‘In It For The Money’ – chocked full of bluesy glam power-pop, with Gaz Coombes’ warbling voice backed by fuzzy guitars, booming bass, crazy-ass drums and even crazier keyboards and organs. There’s even a few Jellyfish-esque moments in there – gotta love it!

Sitting here listening to it has made me realise I was a fool for thinking I wouldn’t bother going to see them live this time around – fingers crossed there’s still tickets left!

Sounds like: Supergrass at their best.
Fave Tracks: ‘When I Needed You’, ‘Ghost Of A Friend’, ‘Diamond Hoo Ha Man’

Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid

My favourite Elbow album is their second ‘Cast Of Thousands’. I liked ‘Leaders Of The Free World’ (their third) but not as much as ‘Cast Of Thousands’, so I was looking forward to ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’. The first single ‘Grounds For Divorce’ has a great line; ‘I’ve been working on a cocktail, it’s called grounds for divorce’ and Guy Garvery’s gravelly voice certainly sounds like he means it.

I’ve not given this album enough listens yet to really get into it, but I’m sure there’ll be plenty of gems – a return to form…not that they ever lost their form.

Sounds like: Only Elbow can, dark, brooding, moody…

Also…

I’ve also been listening to The Gutter Twins – ‘Saturnalia’ and The Raconteurs – ‘Consolers Of The Lonely’ both of which I’m really enjoying, more about them soon.

Care to share?

Maybe you’ve got your own tips on what’s hot in 2008? Post them in the comments!

Below are my top picks for 2007… (Don’t forget to post yours in the comments!)

Kings Of Leon – Because Of The Times

I’ve never been a particularly big fan of KOL, in fact they’ve annoyed me somewhat in the past being inconsistent and never delivering a great album. I’m pleased to say that with ‘Because Of The Times’ they have finally delivered a great album.

When I saw them in April 2007 the live show more than lived up to the album, in fact there were moments where the live versions of songs outshone the studio recordings. Third time lucky? I think so!

Stand out tracks: ‘On Call’, ‘Charmer’ and ‘Knocked Up’.

Foo Fighters – Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace

‘Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace’ carries on from where ‘In Your Honour’ left off, with a mixture of hard rocking ‘classic’ Foo Fighters tunes and several softer, stripped down acoustic tunes reminiscent of the acoustic portion of ‘In Your Honour’. Add to this a sprinkling of 70’s rock stardust (did Taylor Hawkins’ love of The Eagles finally rub off?) and you have another great rock album from one of the world’s greatest ever rock bands.

Having caught the Foos at the O2 Arena in November (my 10th Foo Fighters gig since 1995!) I was pleased to see that their live show now includes both electric and acoustic sets – perfectly representing this latest album and it’s predecessor. Roll on Wembley Stadium next June – I can’t wait!

Stand out tracks: ‘Let It Die’, ‘The Pretender’, ‘But Honestly’, ‘Home’.

Biffy Clyro – Puzzle

Part of the reason Biffy Clyro are so great is because they don’t do things by the book. Just as you are getting into a big sing-along chorus, they throw in 16 bars of white noise in an obscure time signature. There was a point where I thought Biffy Clyro would never achieve any commercial success, whether they wanted to or not.

With ‘Puzzle’ Biffy have remained true to their ’spaz-rock’ roots, but also managed to include the ‘Questions & Answers’ element they touched upon during previous albums, and produce what is their most commercial sounding and commercially successful album (no.2 in the UK album chart) to date, without becoming a different band.

‘Puzzle’ includes all the things that make Biffy Clyro great and you’ll do well to find a tighter or noisier live band on the planet!

Stand out tracks: ‘Saturday Superhouse’, ‘Get Fucked Stud’, ‘The Conversation Is…’, ‘Now I’m Everyone’.

Wilco – Blue Sky Blue

Wilco are a band I’ve only discovered in the last two or three years and yet they’ve made it into my albums of the year list in both 2005 (with ‘A Ghost Is Born’) and 2007 with ‘Blue Sky Blue’. Because of this I was especially disappointed when they cancelled their UK tour in November this year, fingers crossed they’ll return in 2008!

‘Blue Sky Blue’ opens with what has become one of my favourite Wilco songs ‘Either Way’, a song that embodies everything I love about Wilco. When I listen to ‘Blue Sky Blue’ it reminds me of summer evenings spent in the garden with my girlfriend. To say that it’s ‘more of the same’ would be an insult to a great band, however ‘Blue Sky Blue’ continues the Wilco tradition of beautifully crafted songs, full of subtleties and colour.

Stand out tracks: ‘Either Way’, ‘Impossible Germany’, ‘Hate It Here’.

My Morning Jacket – Okonokos (live)

Like Wilco, I was late getting in on the act with My Morning Jacket. I had ‘It Still Moves’ a couple of years ago and quite liked it, but somehow I missed ‘Z’ until about 6 months ago – once I realised just how good it was, it didn’t take me long to discover ‘Okonokos’ which may just be the best live album I’ve ever heard! Maybe it’s because I’m having a real My Morning Jacket-fest at the moment, but I just can’t get enough of this double live album. I must get the DVD!

Many comparisons can and frequently are made; acts such as Neil Young and Led Zeppelin come to mind and these are conjured by the dreamy epicness created on ‘Okonokos’. There are moments on this album where it sounds as if there are 3 bands playing at the same time, such is the power of the haunting vocals and pounding drums. Even the quieter moments (of which there are plenty) sound truly massive.

‘Epic’ is a word I keep coming back to when describing My Morning Jacket and it’s one I like!

Stand out tracks: ‘Gideon’, ‘Off The Record’, ‘One Big Holiday’.

Albums that only just missed out on the top 5 include:

Idlewild – Make Another World
Mute Math – Mute Math
Bloc Party – A Weekend In The City
Eddie Vedder – Into The Wild

Related Posts:

Albums Of the Year: 2006
Albums Of the Year: 2005

Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam

The Killers – Sam’s Town

Wilco – A Ghost Is Born

Neil Young – Living With War

Incubus – Light Grenades

Other albums that came close to the top 5….

Secret Machines – Ten Silver Drops
Head Automatica – Popaganda
The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers
Rocco DeLuca & The Burden – I Trust You To Kill Me
The Zutons – Tired Of Hanging Around
Ben Kweller – Ben Kweller

My top 5 songs/singles of 2006 (in no particular order):

Pearl Jam – World Wide Suicide

The Killers – When You Were Young

The Raconteurs – Steady, As She Goes

The Kooks – Naive (shame about the album!)

Muse – Starlight

Albums I’m looking forward to in 2007…

Chris Cornell (new solo album)
Biffy Clyro
Idlewild
Jimmy Eat World
Josh Doyle?
Foo Fighters

[tags]Music, Albums, 2006, Pearl Jam, The Killers, Neil Young, Incubus, Wilco, The Raconteurs, The Kooks, Muse, Secret Machines, Head Automatica, Rocco DeLuca & The Burden, The Zutons, Ben Kweller, Chris Cornell, Biffy Clyro, Idlewild, Jimmy Eat World, Josh Doyle, Foo Fighters[/tags]

I was going to write ‘reviews’ of each album, but when I tried I ended up sounding like some kind of NME journalist, so I’ve decided to give that a miss – instead I will list a couple of my favourite tracks that I’d recommend you download to see if you’re likely to enjoy the band/album and a brief description.

As with all lists there will no doubt be someone crucial left off – but I can’t help that my memory sucks! So without further ado…The albums that made my 2005 are:

Foo Fighters – In Your Honour (2CD)

2 disc album which showcases what the Foos do best both on the rock front and the acoustic front. Not quite their strongest album overall – but definitely their most versatile!

Tracks to download: ‘No Way Back’, ‘Best Of You’ and ‘DOA’ (from the rock disc).
Miracle’, ‘What If I Do’ and ‘Cold Day In The Sun’ (from the acoustic disc).

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Idlewild – Warnings/Promises

Idlewild’s strongest album yet (and my fave) – despite a brave change in direction.

Tracks to download: ‘El Capitan’, ‘Love Steals Us From Loneliness’ and ‘The Space Between All Things’.

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Arcade Funeral – Funeral

Possibly one of the few ‘original’ sounding bands around. Can’t wait to see what they do next! Hearing ‘Wake Up’ blasting over the Stadium P.A. as U2’s intro song this summer made me realise how much I love Arcade Fire!

Tracks to download: ‘Wake Up’ and ‘Rebellion (Lies)’.

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Green Day – American Idiot

Green Day’s best album to date has secured their place as one of the biggest bands in the world, and rightly so. Not sure they’ll ever top this!

Tracks to download: ‘American Idiot’, ‘Boulevard Of Broken Dreams’ and ‘Jesus Of Suburbia’.

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And finally, my ‘old school discovery’ of 2005 – an artist that has been around for years that I’ve only recently fully discovered the genius of:

Neil Young – Greatest Hits

So many great bands that I like have been influenced by Neil Young, I thought it was about time I got this album and learnt the ways of ‘Uncle Neil’ as Pearl Jam call him! Also check out the albums ‘On The Beach’ and ‘After The Gold Rush’ – he has so many albums it’s going to take a while to get them all!

Tracks to download: ‘After The Goldrush’, ‘Harvest Moon’ and ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’.

2005 has definitely rocked, here’s to 2006 rocking even more! I want to know who you’re tipping for greatness in 2006, so post in the comments ;-)