#24 – Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero
When Zero surfaced early on in 2009, it didn’t sound like anything the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had produced before – it was more electric, more synthy, less shouty, less YYYs. But hey, if you’ve got Karen O on vox you can pretty much get away with anything and by the release of the album it started to look a canny trick; a sound re-invented and shot through with urgency and bass, leaving the band with yet another smashing single and reputation further enhanced.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero (mp3)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero (video)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Myspace
Buy It’s Blitz!
Photo: Mick Orlosky @ Coachella, CA, 04/09
#23: Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Out of the chaos that forms much of their back catalogue, Animal Collective have finally made sense to me. Merriweather Post Pavilion is an album of fractured pop beauty, easily their most accessible record to date. Within it’s pulsating cover lies snatches of glorious harmony, glitchy riffs and pummelling basslines. It’s a hypnotic listen, and like a good comedy reveals something new to enjoy on each revisit. This has grown and grown on me throughout 2009, after first dismissing it on the basis that everything they’d done previously left me flat. Boy, I’m glad I did.
Animal Collective – In The Flowers (mp3)
Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes (video)
Animal Collective Myspace
Buy Merriweather Post Pavilion
Photo: Peter Mooibroek @ Vera – Groningen, Holland, 07/07
#24: Florence + The Machine – Lungs
Florence Welch was a revelation in 2009. The signs were there from 2008; her first few limited singles were a blast, then there was her success in the BBC’s Sound of 2009 poll. No-one could have predicted the level of exposure she would gain however. Her’s was easily one of the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen in the Radio 1 tent at Reading, support slots for Blur’s Hyde Park mega-gigs, countless spots on adverts: 22-year old Welch was everywhere in ‘09. Underpinning all of that was a highly creditable debut LP, an album full of huge choruses, massive hits and that clarion call of a voice out front. Tracks veer from Bat For Lashes style percussion driven torch pop through to the quicker paced, almost White Stripes-esque bash Kiss With A Fist – and they meld together to form a compelling introduction to one of Britain’s brightest new stars.
Florence + The Machine – Kiss With A Fist
Florence + The Machine – You’ve Got The Love (Live @ Bestival) (video)
Florence + The Machine Myspace
Buy Lungs
Photo: Anne Helmond @ Lowlands, Netherlands, 08/09
#25 No Age – You’re A Target
There’s a noise in this track that I can’t get out of my head. It sounds like a bent out of shape guitar being pulled backwards through a hedge, dragging a full board of pedals behind it. It comes into my peripheral thoughts when other stuff is on, if only many pop tunes had a hook half so memorable! I struggle to comprehend how these two guys make music with such depth of sound, whilst maintaining a pop knack that escapes so many of their contemporaries. They only put out the Losing Feeling EP in ‘09, just four tracks, but it was enough to keep their name on so many lips. Their preceding two long-players were fantastic too, which raises expectations for a third to fever pitch. Can’t wait.
No Age – You’re A Target (mp3)
No Age – Losing Feeling (video)
No Age Myspace
Buy Losing Feeling
Photo: Cassie @ Wexner Centre, Columbus OH, 11/08
#25: Passion Pit – Manners
Oh, the sound of 2009’s summer of dampness! Not quite as psych as MGMT, not quite as preppy as Vampire Weekend, yet still eminently danceable Passion Pit brought some true anthems to the festival circuit this year. Debut album Manners is stuffed to the gills with indie-slash-electro tunes, each one borrowing from a thousand bands previous and still sounding fresh as a daisy. Even when listening back in the dank recesses of a London winter the album still evokes memories of the summer, only a tad faded – something that previous ’summer’ albums have never managed for me. Picking a standout isn’t easy but I’d probably plump for the hugely catchy Little Secrets - which adequately sums up what you can expect from this album. Suspend your seriousness for a while, sit up and embrace the fun.
Passion Pit – Little Secrets (mp3)
Passion Pit – The Reeling (video)
Passion Pit Myspace
Buy Manners
Photo: Kate Millet @ Phoenix Theatre, Toronto, Canada, 08/09
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