Top albums of 2009 – number 5

Just a reminder that you can hear my December show on Dandelion Radio throughout the month at www.dandelionradio.com.  Check the schedule on the website for details of when.

5. Ras Zacharri – Herbs Man (Shem Ha Boreh)

Someone once commented to me that ....Jamaica.... is responsible for more great music per head of population than any other nation in the world.  The evident truth of that should be apparent without encountering Ras Zacharri’s masterpiece, but such is its power it somehow renders the statement even more true.  The guest appearances from the likes of Gregory Isaacs and Luciano are welcome enough, but mostly it’s Zacharri’s effortless blending of vocal dexterity and rhythms.  Up there with Culture at their best.

www.myspace.com/raszachari

www.myspace.com/shemhaborehrecords

Just a reminder that you can hear my December show on Dandelion Radio throughout the month at www.dandelionradio.com.  Check the schedule on the website for details of when the show goes out.

First half of my top ten countdown for the year.

Only one day of the November Dandelion Radio shows after today.

December schedule starts Tuesday at www.dandelionradio.com

10. Joker’s Daughter – The Last Laugh (Team Love/Domino)

Sometimes you get a accused of being soft.  Not often though.  And when you get accused of being soft for loving this gentle, perfectly crafted masterpiece, you don’t mind.  The hand of Dangermouse in the production of this gave it a higher profile than it might have had, and rightly so.  Not high enough a profile?  That doesn’t really concern me.  There’s gonna be a lot of noise made in this top ten, and this is one of the few gentler moments in there.  As such, it stands out in just about any company.

www.jokersdaughter.co.uk

www.dominorecordco.com

9. Get Back Guinozzi – Carpet Madness (Fatcat)

Another album that gained some deserved wider recognition.  Quirky indie pop with a simplicity at its heart that makes you wonder why no one thought of it before.  Their version of ‘Police & Thieves’, while probably not the best thing on there, does show once again how fucking (slowly, and relatively gently) with an established formula can achieve so much innovation and originality.  And fuck the purists.

www.myspace.com/getbackguinozzi

http://fat-cat.co.uk

8. Crocodiles – Summer Of Hate (Fat Possum)

Just magical.  Sometimes I play something I’ve received and I just hope it’s got all the elements I expect it to have, as well as something a bit extra.  On this album, that bit extra just squirms gradually from its belly as the listening experience proceeds.  Some of the riffs and feedback passages should be dated by now, but not in the hands of Crocodiles.  This one doesn’t fuck with formulas, and still achieves those heights of innovation and originality mentioned above.  Reassuring and utterly exciting all in one bundle.

www.myspace.com/crocodilescrocodilescrocodiles

www.fatpossum.com

7. The Chasms – Advance Paranoia, Advance (Command To Destroy)

What can I say?  I’m pleased to see they’ve conquered so many hearts at Dandelion this year, because when I first heard them it just beggared belief that sometime this good could remain relatively undiscovered.  And then when they put this out for free on their website, that beggared belief as well.  There are lengthy, pulsing, guitar driven tracks on here that tick on well past the ten minute mark and the only thing that feels vaguely unsatisfactory is that it has to end somewhere.  There are shorter tracks that feel so perfectly pitched and manicured.  There’s an entire sonic experience here that should be conquering the world.  Please get hold of this, and the Chasms vs Dandelion Radio EP, because you need them.

www.thechasms.co.uk

6. Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport (ATP)

In my top ten last year, and right up there again.  It was difficult to see how they would go beyond ‘Street Horrrsing’ but they did it.  The whole soundscape of ‘Tarot Sport’ just takes noise and electronic twiddling somewhere else entirely and leaves Fuck Buttons right out on their own.  Despite the praise I’m lavishing on the rest of the bands in this top ten, this album confirmed Fuck Buttons as the single most important musical project on the planet right now.

www.fuckbuttons.co.uk

Once again, remembering that the only end of year chart that really counts is the festive fifty, and that you still have time to vote at www.dandelionradio.com/festive50.htm

Here's my personal 15-11 of the year's best albums:


15. Quantica – Groove & Roots (Self-released)

Superior trance from an Ibiza-based musical genius who’s one of only two artists from last year’s list who’ve made it in again this year.  Every wondered what the musical equivalent is to that guy in the film ‘Society’ who gets pulled inside out?  It’s like this, but in a good way.  Entrails, meet mind.

http://quantica.eu

14. The Bran Flakes – I Have Hands (Illegal Art)

Sound collages are bit like bran flakes, I suppose.  Sometimes you wonder why there are quite so many about, doing the same tired old thing, and why they taste like cardboard.  But sometimes you understand exactly why they’re so great, and how nothing else can be quite like them.  This is like the equivalent of a bowl of the most fantastic flakes you ever tasted, and with so much other stuff piled on top (sweetenings of various kinds and, er, fruit) that every bite is an experience in its own right.  Enjoy with or without freshly squeezed pomegranate juice.

www.thebranflakes.com

http://illegal-art.net

13. Cortney Tidwell – Boys (City Slang)

Loved her previous album, but this is something else.  The only album I’ve ever heard where I’ve been able to say, ‘that’s exactly what the Cocteau Twins did for me when I first heard them’ and for it not to be the Cocteau Twins.  Cortney has taken a perfectly good formula, fucked with it, and created something so good for which no formula exits.  And it’s ratcheted an artist with a fantastic voice right up another notch in terms of reputation and estimation.

www.myspace.com/cortneytidwell

www.cityslang.com

....12... ..Town.... Bike – Town Bike (Super Kawaii Pop!!)

How we waited, and with such anticipation.  And how we quietly suspected it couldn’t really be as good as what we’d already heard, or those fantastic live shows.  And how if anything it exceeded those expectations, and we loved it, and it was one of those few albums that so many of us at Dandelion played and loved and played and loved.  And how we still love it now. 

www.myspace.com/townbike

www.superkawaiipop.com

11. Night// - Shuffled Not Stirred (Self-released)

Extraordinary, out-of-nowhere bedroom electronica that knocks other similarly described efforts into a shit-filled bucket.  I don’t know who the artists responsible is, and when I messaged him he didn’t get back.  Frankly it just added to the considerable mystique it already possessed.  And by my reckoning this is one of six albums in this top thirty you can procure for the princely sum of bugger all.

www.myspace.com/night//

When you read this, please remember that the only end of year chart that really counts is the festive fifty.  Vote at http://www.dandelionradio.com/festive50.htm


20. The Kabeedies – Rumpus (NR One)

It’s fair to say I hadn’t given The Kabeedies the credit they deserved until this album.  One of those releases that does exactly what it says on the tin and is absolutely right to do so.  Gorgeous, sublime indie pop with vocals that fair set your teeth on edge.

www.myspace.com/thekabeedies

www.nrone.co.uk

19. Dogs Will Be Dogs – Shine Don’t Burn (Self-released)

I don’t think anyone regards musicians who can play their instruments as a tautology any more.   Finding such talented geezers who can do so with such originality and in turning their hands to so many different styles across what would once have been called a double album, though, is about as rare as a cow with balls.  Find it here.

www.dogswillbedogs.com

18. Dubkasm – Transform I (Dubkasm)

Roots/dub conflagration to chill out and rise up to.  Favourite dub album of the year.  Plenty of competition.  No more needs to be said.

www.dubkasm.com

17. The Brownies – Ourknife Yourback (NR One)

Where the NR One label becomes the only one on this list to have two entries.  Savage, uncompromising and audaciously sexy, this pretty much creamed my innards first time I heard it.  If you ever thought of ....Norwich.... indie types as essentially non-threatening, this lot have broken the mould for good.

www.myspace.com/thebrownies

www.nrone.co.uk

16. Adam & Naïve – Summer In The Storm Cellar (Self-released)

When I found a mediafire link to this on their myspace page, I was sufficiently intrigued, then pleased, then finally stunned.  Gorgeous summery simplicity sits side by side with droning, introspective mantras and the result is an orgy as pleasing in its way as the third Velvets’ album, and, in another way, actually going way beyond it.  Every time I listen to it, I edge it further up this list.

www.myspace.com/adamandnaive

Remember: the only end of year chart that really counts is Dandelion Radio's festive fifty.  Vote for your top three tracks of the year at http://www.dandelionradio.com/festive50.htm  


25. Duck – Logical Fallacy (Fresh Poulp)

Serbian dubby electro, meticulous yet spacy in its approach.  In a great year for the Fresh Poulp label, this was their best release.   And in a fine year for Serbian artists, this was the best thing to emerge from there too (Nemanja Vidic aside).

www.myspace.com/duckindub

www.fresh-poulp.net

24. Mexican Institute of Sound – Soy Sauce (Nacional)

Kind of blows that whole ‘hap’orth’ of tar theory out of the water.  One of many fine albums this year to throw in everything including the kitchen sink, defy description and give scattered variety the good name it’s always deserved.

www.myspace.com/mexicaninstituteofsound

www.nacionalrecords.com

23. ....Eureka.... Brown - Digitalia

As my colleague Andrew Morrison pointed out, it seems a shame actually to extract an individual track from this for radio play, because the album works so well in its undivided whole form.  Quirky, and with an unashamed spring in its step.

www.myspace.com/polehouse

22. Extradition Order – Since The Bomb Dropped (I Blame The Parents)

I’ve been playing preview tracks from this on the show since early in the year.  Gets better every time I hear it.  Behind the guitar-drive there’s a philosophical pulse to tracks like ‘Peterloo’ and ‘Candide’ and enough intriguing lyrical content elsewhere that ensure this is like nothing else. 

www.myspace.com/extraditionorder

www.iblametheparentsrecords.com

21. Apple Rabbits – ....Kilburn.. ..State.... (Infernal Machine/Kilburn State)

Audaciously varied electronica.  From sumptuous vocal delights like ‘Yeah’ and ‘I Could Not Care Less’ to meandering electronic epics like ‘Metro Dromedary’ via abstract compositions like ‘King Kong Vs King Canute’, Apple Rabbits have more musical ideas on a single album than most have in a whole career.

www.myspace.com/applerabbits

www.kilburnstaterecords.com

This is my rather perilous attempt to organise the great albums I’ve heard this year into some sort of top thirty.  Perilous because there were far more than thirty great albums released this year, and therefore quite a number I’ve had to leave out, including excellent, albums by Crowhead, Health, Mario Kart, Shitmat, 13^th Hole, Blank Dogs, Black Dice and Psychedelic Rain.  And only yesterday I received a copy of the new Comanechi masterpiece, which should probably be in there too.  But it was too late.  Best year for albums ever?  Very possibly.

So anything that I’ve listed here must therefore be of considerable merit and quite clearly deserves to be heard by any breathing, thinking being on the planet or anywhere close to it.  Let the countdown begin. 

Here’s 30-26, and remember that the only chart that really counts is the festive fifty, which can vote in until the end of November at www.dandelionradio.com.

30. Kittens Ablaze – The Monstrous Vanguard (Self-released)

Much-awaited and certainly didn’t disappoint.  Highlights from last year’s EP like ‘Strobelight’ were very welcome, plus a whole bunch of new stuff that indicated a significant step forward from that EP.  So much great stuff from ..Brooklyn.. around that I fear they may be overlooked – please help to ensure this doesn’t happen

www.myspace.com/kittensablaze

29. Downtown Cuckoo – Downtown Cuckoo (Limbo)

One of many great bands from northern France to introduce me to their work this year, Downtown Cuckoo’s self-titled release puts them firmly at the head of the pack of those bands who you might be tempted to say ‘sound a bit like The Fall’ but know it isn’t really saying anything meaningful.  Beautifully jagged and idiosyncratic.

www.myspace.com/downtowncuckoo

www.limborecords.fr

28. Kukan Dub Lagan – New Life New Vision (MikelaBella)

A fine year for Israeli artists, all round really (Yair Yona, Lemonchill), and this collection was the best of the lot.  Dubby yet strangely melodic.  Vibrant and often playful.  One excited listener contacted me to ask if the track I played had sampled The Clangers. 

www.myspace.com/kukandublagan

www.myspace.com/mbrec

27. Llamatron – Lunatic Tendencies (Self-released)

Second France-based artist in this list already, Llamatron’s manic beats and breaks have a personality that set them apart from so many other artists he might get lumped in with.  And the mix (not on this album) that I played in my October shows was one of the musical highlights of the year.

www.myspace.com/leslama

26  Nobunny – Raw Romance (Burger)

In a year of some extremely fine cassette-only releases, this was by far the best.  Last I heard it had got into a third pressing, and very much encourages my belief that there will soon be an economic boom around the reintroduction of cassette players, if only to play this masterpiece.

www.myspace.com/nobunnylovesyou

www.burgerrecordsbigcartel.com

The great ‘lost’ Miaow album

I suppose there’s a danger music’s becoming a bit like the earth and the sea at the moment: there aren’t too many mysteries left to uncover.  I mean, couldn’t Brian Wilson just have left it at and not give Uncut and Mojo wet dreams by actually releasing ‘Smile’? Did ‘Let It Be’ have to be disrobed?  And why couldn’t what remained of the Basement Tapes bootlegs remain just that?

So, by revealing some of what’s about to be finally released as the great ‘lost’ Miaow album, am I guilty of the same thing? 

A bit different, I would contend.  For a kick-off, what was released by Miaow in the eighties amounts to far too small a legacy for such a great band.  While we certainly have more than enough of Wilson, The Beatles and Dylan to be going on with, the same can scarcely be said of Cath Carroll’s fleeting, yet unquestionably fine, outfit, one of the very best of the large glut (and in their case the word is wholly inappropriate) of ‘indie’ bands of the mid-eighties, and yet their recorded output amounts to a single from late 1985, a track on the NME C86 compilation and two Factory Records releases from 1987.

Amid this, they recorded two fine Peel sessions, both very well remembered but insufficiently discussed.  The first of those Factory singles, ‘When It All Comes Down’ I have on seven inches of treasured vinyl and I’ve always regarded it as one of the finest releases of the period.  And their debut single also contains ‘Grocer’s Devil Daughter’ one of many great songs from the sub-genre of anti-Thatcher songs that so bestraddled the decade.

This is a fine, but very brief, legacy from a great and very briefly active band.  Of course, there were always rumours of an album they recorded for Factory but which was never released, but I have many friends in the ....Manchester.... area who assured me this was complete bollocks and that there is nothing else to be heard from the band.

They’re still telling me it’s bollocks, by the way, even though I’m claiming to have three versions of tracks from the album, now scheduled for release in early 2010 via the Lilypad label, in my November Dandelion Radio show.  They are all, I insist, genuine articles rescued from demos the band made of them in the eighties.  And frankly, this excites me to hell.

The three tracks ‘Angel Spit’, ‘Marry Me Dusty’ and ‘Inglorious Miltons’ are all mindblowingly good, carrying that trademark ultra-sweet Cath Carroll vocal lilt, and being just precisely what they are – examples of the very finest guitar-based indie from a decade filled with such stuff, very little of it deserving to stand alongside something as wonderful as this.  In that sense, maybe it’s better than it’s coming to light now.

Fitting, as well, that the exclusive Miaow feature follows on the heels of the Woodentops exclusives in the last show, because Miaow supported The Woodentops back in the day, and share with them the distinction of being one of those guitar-bands of the period that make you look very silly if you try to pigeonhole them in any misleadingly convenient way.

You can hear the three exclusive tracks throughout November on my show at www.dandelionradio.com, and hear more from the project at www.myspace.com/cathsmiaow.  After that, you can join me in positively aching with anticipation to hear what the rest of this album sounds like.  On the evidence of what we have so far, it promises to be well worth the ache and far more worthy of this than those aforementioned ‘legendary’ sixties sides.  These are releases worth getting moist over.

Also in my Dandelion Radio show this month is a second Dandelion session from The Pocket Gods, a preview track from the new Schuman The Human album, brand new Spidersleg, a track from the most extraordinary reggae album of the year from Ras Zacchari, more from the wonderful Dead Times, a couple of ace slabs of Belgian electronica, and tracks from albums by show favourites Wet Hair, Retrigger, Nickname: Rebel and of course the amazing Fuck Buttons.  Plus loads more in a three hour extravaganza.

Remember to vote in the Festive Fifty while you’re at the Dandelion website.  As usual, your three tracks, in order, from 2009 releases, to be with us by 30 November.  Cheers.

Peel Legends: Caroline Martin

Have written now about most of the Peel legends contributing exclusive tracks to my October two-part specials on Dandelion Radio, I find myself wondering why I’ve not written anything about the track Caroline Martin submitted.  Then I sat down to write this, and I realised why.  Because Caroline’s one of those artists whose touch is so light, whose appeal is so subtle and whose songs creep up on you in the night like an experience as perfect as a dream, but with the power of a nightmare.  The phrase ‘indescribable beauty’ in this context just wouldn’t do, because such a trite description doesn’t get anywhere near the force in Caroline’s music. 

Caroline recorded three Peel sessions between the years of 1999 and 2003.  Her track ‘The Singer’ appeared in that first session and later appeared on record and in the final Peel festive fifty of 2004 at number three, thus holding the distinction of being the ‘oldest’ track to appear in one of the yearly festive fifties (as opposed, of course to the ‘all time’ ones).

Perhaps this fact speaks volumes of the timelessness of Caroline Martin’s songs.  In any just world, her music would be spoken of in the same hushed tones currently reserved for Nick Drake.  It’s only to be hoped that Caroline’s true contribution is recognised in a more timely manner than was Nick’s.

I know Caroline was making a CD of her Peel sessions available at gigs.  I don’t know whether this is still the case, but there are many reasons, anyway, for going to see her live.  She plays two ....Bristol.... gigs before jetting off to ....Germany.... for a full tour in December.  If you’re anywhere in the vicinity I’d advise you to take the opportunity to see her now or regret missing out later (dates below)

And of course, you’ll want to hear her exclusive track in part two of my Dandelion Peel legends special, which will continue to stream at various times throughout the month at www.dandelionradio.com.  For more information on this remarkable artist, go to www.carolinemartin.net and www.myspace.com/carolinemartinsmalldog.

....Bristol.... gigs:

7 November – ..Island.. Records Night, The Folkhouse, ....Bristol....

11 December – Warm-up gig, The Folkhouse, ....Bristol....

....Germany.... tour:

Starts at Wildehausen on 14 December.  Check Caroline’s myspace for dates and venues.

Mark W

Peel Legends: Solex

Solex – A French carburettor manufacturer

Solex – A California-based manufacturer of construction equipment

Solex – An Australian electronics supplier

If you have more time on your hands than you really should, you can quite easily find dozens of things named Solex.  But what I find most reassuring is that, typing the word into Google, the top link reads: Official site with information on Elisabeth Esselink, pop artist.

This is a rare example of the world getting its priorities right.

In Elisabeth Esselink’s case, I don’t even mind the rather suspect term ‘pop artist’ because it fits her Solex project rather well.  I’ve found myself putting on Solex CDs in those awkward moments when you really can’t find anything else that fits your mood.  Her music is something to which normal rules don’t apply.  The cut and paste she applies to sound collages doesn’t work the same way as when other people do roughly the same thing.  A Solex rhythm may take from other rhythmic sources, but sounds unlike anything else.

‘Quick Step & Hard Bop’ is my favourite Solex album.  This is predictable in the sense that it is the only album to yield festive fifty entries, two in fact.  But it also showcases Solex’s unique appeal in a way no other collection quite does.  Despite this, if I were to award stars or ratings to Solex’s work (something which I never do, so I’m not really sure why I’m even writing this, except that it makes the point, which is…) I couldn’t actually bring myself to award any of her other albums any less than this one.

This may seem bizarre, even paradoxical.  To which I would say, welcome to the world of Solex. It’s a great place to be.  So good, I spend a few weeks here every year and, despite the unpredictable nature of what is here, whenever I return I always get the same feelings from it.  Solex is emotionally reassuring, despite being jarring and extreme.  Its experience is never intense, and at its heart is a playfulness that is rarely a feature of truly great music.  The rules aren’t so much different here, as absent.

Solex recorded four Peel sessions between 1998 and 2002.  Now, in memory of John Peel on the fifth anniversary of his passing, she has contributed to part one of my Dandelion Radio show an exclusive live track (‘Reve’) which is characteristically Solex-like in the sense that it is different from any other Solex recording I’ve heard.   Solex is like a story that keeps getting added to but is nevertheless the same, well-loved story with every additional page.  It’s great that my Dandelion show can now add a very short page to that story.

Hear this exclusive Solex track on my show at www.dandelionradio.com.  It’s in part one of a two-part Peel Legends special that also includes exclusive sessions from Calvin Party and Trembling Blue Stars.

And find out more about Solex at www.solex.net.  You can safely ignore all the sites dealing with construction equipment, internet plug-ins, electronics and carburettors.  Elisabeth Esselink’s Solex is a necessary part of life; these are not.

Mark W