What better way to kick off the new year than a whole month’s worth of songs by this humble blogger’s favourite English troubadour, Mr Darren of Hayman.  This time last year, he was just setting out on a valiant quest: to write, create and record a new track each and every day during January, which you can still review over on the blog.  Accompanied by the talents of friends and artists alike, January Songs is a 31 gun salute to endeavour and to new years resolutions.  He’ll even be performing them all in a series of gigs this month so if you’re lucky enough to be in England, be sure to see it.

Oh Panda Bear, how were you ever supposed to live up to expectations on Tomboy?  The critical success of Person PItch weighed heavily and the seemingly-forever postponed recordings (due in part to the success of Merriweather Post Pavilion and Animal Collective’s touring) that led to the release of this album 4 years later didn’t help.  Tomboy is certainly not a bad record, indeed there are quite engaging tracks in there, but really not enough to keep you returning and certainly nothing nearly as inventive as he’s delivered before.

Part of the 2011 winter clearout - albums not reviewed when they came out but still worth sharing before the end of year lists hit.

Original release date: 11 Apr 2011

The King Is Dead… Long Live The King!  A fitting companion piece to the Decemberists fine album from all the way back in January.  ’twas so long ago this record almost sounds vintage now.  So old that it’s cool again.  Well okay, it’s actually one of the few records of 2011 that’s stuck all the way through the year so having a little fill-up on that is more than welcome.  Tracks like Row Jimmy and E. Watson (which is not about the Harry Potter starlet but a lawless cane sugar plantation owner called Edgar Watson) would’ve fit perfectly on The King Is Dead were it not for their very selective editing. So long live the Decemberists…

This disappeared just before I had a chance to blog it but it has just returned.  Not really with a bang of course because this album is entirely about the slow burn, the subtlety with which things creep up on you in life is reflected delicately in the songs of Trevor Powers.  Each song is a carefully considered meditation, drenched in so much reverb and echo that you feel like you’re listening to this through a waterfall.  A really promising debut overall.

Mixed gender duets (especially over limited instrumentation) can generally go one of two ways: either charming (Slow Club) or trying (Ting Tings).  Luckily, London-based Big Deal fall into the earlier category.  Led by 18-year old Alice Costelloe and assisted by Kacey Underwood, the pair play opposing guitars while their singing complements each other as they yearn for something fulfilling out of life.  Whatever the backdrop, there’s a tender, emotional side to the songwriting that manages to never feel fake.  Indeed, it’s that sincerity that is probably Lights Out’s most endearing quality.  A charming debut that rips at the heart.

Cant is the solo work of Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor (several instruments, backup vocals).  It’s a different sound from Grizzly Bear- more muted, more distant, channeled from a dream or another world.  It’s music from a walk home in the early morning hours, when it’s still dark and the lights from signs and cars blur together between the darkness.  It’s the voice you hear when you’re unconscious. Soft, strong, solid. 

A relatively recent album to be indicted into the Sunday Sermons having been released in 2005, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! was not only a fantastic album but also something of a watershed moment.  Back in the day when music blogs were still finding their feet in the mainstream music press, Brooklyn’s CYHSY! very quickly shot from nowhere to be one of the most talked about acts on the net all through the power of a few MP3s mailed out by the band.  The strength of their lo-fi noodlings, Alec Ounsworth’s distinctively wailing voice and a sure sense of fun saw them break through the blog buzz cycle and garnered them underground support.  Underground support that was soon to turn to more widespread critical acclaim as they became one of the first bands to receive and subsequently define a “Pitchfork moment”, scoring an impressive 9.0.  For a band who had just been messing around creating songs this was a catapult and, embracing the slingshot effect, the self-released debut album went on to win over popular support through it’s whimsical and curious charm. Six years later, but a lifetime in modern music history, it still stands as one of the most interesting, important and best albums of the 2000s.  

The band now find themselves with a record deal (V2) and putting out their third album, entitled Hysterical, on 20th September this year.

Bon Iver’s eponymous second album has obviously been out for a little while now but I hadn’t posted yet because I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Now I am. And I think it’s simply this: Bon Iver is an okay record. A lot of hype has surrounded it but to my ears (and these are ears that we’re particularly taken with For Emma, Forever Ago) that is mostly unjustified. You have to give some credit to Justin Vernon for trying something new here but by unstripping away all the elements he’d originally stripped away, the album feels bloated and, in places, bland. It’s lost the gut wrenching songs that laid bare his state of mind and replaced them with complex compositions that don’t always equal the sum of their parts.  For example, if Beth/Rest, the final track on the record, was the first Bon iver track you heard, would you really be pressing on with it’s unashamedly 80s vibe?  That’s not to say there aren’t good parts… Some tracks are quite marvellous, mostly furnished by Vernon’s exquisite voice and it could well turn into a grower.  But for now, it’s just okay.

This is a courtesy post for Mr Stevens whose fine, fine 2010 album has just been made available on Spotify (alongside the surprise EP All Delighted People which preceded it).  Proclaimed by HotSpotMusic writers as the #3 album of last year, “Sufjan’s signature sound innovated = absolutely incredible” with “a surprise album that keeps unfurling it’s epicness with every listen”.  And unfurl it did, the cosmic pop and unreal euphoria of this album is only surpassed by the live show.  If you’ve yet to check that out, make sure you do.