Here's the opening track to the new Readers' Wives album (remember, the positioning of that apostrophe is all important), Rachel's Apartment. It's got a harder edge than some of their previous material, but the album itself offers a nice variety of lyrically intriguing songs from one of Ireland's best contemporary rock exports. But don't take my word for it - you can download the whole album for free, direct from the Readers' Wives themselves, if you click this link before the end of June. Go on, give it a listen, and help spread the word.
My favourite band of the 21st century is back again - having previously delivered my favourite albums of 2008 and 2010, can The Indelicates make it a hat trick? Only time will tell, but they're venturing into murkier waters this time round with... dare I say it... a concept album! David Koresh: Superstar is a full on musical extravaganza based on the infamous Waco Siege of 1993, "a bitter cocktail of rebel country disco rock opera" featuring guest appearances from David Devant & His Spirit Wife, Jim Bob of Carter USM, Philip Jeays, Lily Rae and "a full Greek chorus of strapping Camdenite youth". Watch the promo film here, or play the opening single, I Am Koresh, below. Then pop over to the Corporate Records website to download the full album, and pay whatever you think it's worth.
The Lancashire Hotpots are driving down to Glastonbury this weekend to promote their new album, Achtung Gravy. They're playing the Croissant Neuf stage at the same time a bunch of narcissistic hacks are headlining the Pyramid. As a result, the Hotpots have established a Say No To Bono campaign which I wholeheartedly endorse... if you happen to be on your way to Worthy Farm this weekend, I hope you'll give them your support.
Buddy Miller is a veteran Nashville singer songwriter who's worked with Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss and many others. I'll be damned if this track from his 2004 album Universal United House of Prayerdoesn't make me think of ex-Del Amitri man Justin Currie. Yes, it's that good.
Finally, here's a great song from the late Warren Zevon. Reminds me of a character we used to have on our Saturday morning radio show... 20+ years ago now (is it really that long?) The character was a rubbish magician called Bald Daniels. You can guess the rest...
I can saw a woman in two But you won't want to look in the box when I'm through I can make a love disappear For my next trick, I'll need a volunteer...
Twice now I've had tickets to see former Del Amitri frontman Justin Currie playing live in his new solo incarnation. Twice, despite the fact that he's written some of my favourite misanthropic songs of the last twenty years, I've had to give those tickets away... once because I'd just broken my arm, once because my back was so bad I couldn't stand up. (Back update - I still can't stand up for long, but using a combination of seated or partly-seated venues or painkillers/heated wraps, I'm not letting it spoil my appreciation of live music too much.)
Saturday night it was third time lucky, in my new favourite venue (and not just because it's a five minute drive over the hill), the Holmfirth Picturedrome. The last time I saw Currie live was back in 1998 when he was just a Drunk In A Band. The general consensus by all who attended that evening is that it's one of the most memorable gigs of our life. True, a certain amount of alcohol was consumed (those were the days, eh?), we were wild, we were free, we were still in our 20s... and Del Amitri looked like they'd last forever. And so would we.
In the cold light of 2011 then, when we're all starting to feel our age, there's no more Whiskey Remorse to be had (not for me, anyway), and JC's binned the band as part of "the new austerity"... how would the solo act compare with the hellraising days of old?
Well, it won't. They're two entirely different beasts. But while Wednesday October 28th, 1998, was exactly what a 26 year-old semi-alcoholic hedonist needed to blow his mind... Saturday January 22nd 2011 was much more in-keeping with the wants and needs of an occasionally morose teetotal 38 year-old. I don't care about getting old, as long as my favourite artists come with me.
The first time I heard the song below was in the early days of 1990. I was 18, hadn't yet touched a drop, and still believed my future involved spinning records and talking in between them for a living. How wrong can you be? Sitting there in the last free seat on the Picturedrome balcony, I wondered where I'd be in another ten of these increasingly fleeting years? As long as Justin Currie's still singing, it won't be too bad...
I really do not get "embedding disabled by request" on youtube. Why would the record companies not want me to cross-promote their songs? Could they be scared someone might hear it and actually want to buy a copy? It's another ridiculous example of copyright law being used to shoot yourself in the foot, and I expect more from the Manics. I reckon there's more chance of you clicking play on an embedded video than clicking a link to that video - it's only a couple of extra clicks, but we all have such a fast-paced, "feed me now" lives, those two extra clicks are a great big wall of stop. I mean, you've already quit reading this paragraph because it's gone on for more than 5 lines, haven't you? Your granny's a whore. See? Nobody even flinched.
Anyway, the new Manics album. I liked it much more than the last one (the one all the real Manics fans loved because it used up all Ritchie's old lyrics) but not as much as the one before (the one with tigers).
9. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
No, I never wanted to change the world, But I'm looking for a new New Jersey Because tramps like us, baby, we were born to die
Any band that quotes Billy Bragg and Bruce Springsteen within two consecutive lines... well, you know they've got me, right?
While The Gaslight Anthem sounded more and more like a Bruce tribute act this year, Titus Andronicus took the Born To Run spirit and fired it with a punk ethos that... shit, I hate it when I sound like a music journo.
This is ace. Click play now.
8. Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip - The Logic Of Chance
What's this? Hip hop? Electronica? Rap? In my Top Ten? Surely this is taking up space that could be given to more landfill indie or another sad old bastard songwriter? What the fuck is wrong with me?
I first became interested in the songwriting of Scroobius Pip with his masterful list song Thou Shalt Always Kill. It made me laugh and touched a nerve, but I really didn't expect to enjoy a whole album of this stuff.
Guess what?
(The song below offers further explanation.)
7. Babybird - Ex-Maniac
Babybird? Ah, that's more like what you expect. Obscure one-hit wonder Britpop losers long past their sell-by date. From Sheffield too!
Actually, I was never a huge Babybird fan. I've liked a few of his songs, but never fallen for a whole album. This one took me by surprise. I liked the lead single, Unlovable, enough to give it a shot - and boy, was I glad I did. There's honesty, wit and a refreshing lack of cliche about his songwriting, particularly on tracks like Failed Suicide Club, the heartbreaking Rest Of Our Lives (one of my Songs of the Year) and the Daily Mail-baiting Like Them...
6. Justin Currie - The Great War
More mature songwriting and world weary cynicism from the ex-Del Amitri bloke, now writing the strongest material of his career.
I stand on a mountain of pitiful prose My mind is a fountain that pointlessly flows They give you a trophy if you make the kids scream But it's such a joke to me; how insipid I've been.
I hate the world they gave me, I hate the world they gave me
In Morrissey's absence, Justin Currie will be writing the story of my life this year.
Sigh.
5. Eels - Tomorrow Morning
More and more artists are shaking off the shackles of big corporate record deals (a new album every two years, please) and catering to a smaller, loyaler fanbase with far more frequent releases. E has released two albums this year (three in the last 18 months), and like James before him they were thematically linked. While Tim Booth & co. gave us an upbeat Saturday night record followed by a laid back Sunday morning, E gave us an album of heartbreak (End Times) followed by this... his most positive and forward-looking record to date.
4. Frank Turner - Rock 'n' Roll / Poetry Of The Deed
My most important musical find of 2010 (Amanda Palmer was second), Frank Turner is another artist who combines the fire, lyrical nous and inspirational self-belief of young Bragg and Springsteen to show-stopping effect. He sings every song like his life depends on it. Our lives too. The sort of artist who doesn't need to carve 'For Real' into his forearm... he just is.
Strictly speaking, Poetry Of The Deed was released in 2009 (though Frank was still promoting it and releasing singles from it in 2010) and Rock 'n' Roll is a mini album, what they used to call an EP. But Frank Turner has been such an important discovery for me this year (his previous albums Sleep Is For The Week and Love, Ire & Song are also worthy of investigation), he deserved a place on this list. Very excited to hear what he does next.
3. Bruce Springsteen - The Promise
Another record that, strictly speaking, shouldn't really be here. After all, the tracks on this double album were mostly recorded in the mid-70s in preparation for Bruce's follow-up to Born To Run, Darkness On The Edge Of Town. You know the story by now... and if you don't, I doubt anything I say will make you care.
What strikes me most about listening to this record is how much bigger a pop star Bruce could have been in the 70s (prior to his eventual worldwide breakthrough in the 80s). Rejected songs like Fever, Because The Night and Someday We'll Be Together would have been massive radio hits, far more so than any of the tracks he actually chose to release. But that just wasn't where he wanted to be at that point in his career... you've got to respect that.
2. Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Lonely Avenue
These days, Ben Folds seems to do his best work when he's working with somebody else. The Shatner album was inspired insanity, but hooking up with author Nick Hornby gave him possibly the strongest record of his solo career. A selection of short stories, from the heartwarming biog-song of Doc Pomus to a blues track based on Sarah Palin's unwanted son-in-law Levi Johnson ("I'm a fuckin' redneck, I live to hang out with the boys, Play some hockey, do some fishin' and kill some moose") to the self-loving/self-loathing delights of A Working Day ("Some guy on the net thinks I suck and he should know - he's got his own blog.")
And then there's this... Belinda... my song of the year...
1. The Indelicates - Songs For Swinging Lovers
They did it again.
Scoring my favourite album of 2008 with their debut, American Demo, the Indelicates returned to prove there's no such thing as Difficult Second Album Syndrome (and they're already working on their third). Broadening their musical horizons in all kinds of different directions (if I were a true muso, I'd namedrop Kurt Weill and the like - but what do I know about these things?), this is further proof of their genius. Witty, angry, iconoclastic, tender, surprising, joyful, intense, uncompromising... etc. etc. etc.
Can't believe I've been doing this meme since April and I've only just reached the halfway point! In case you missed any of the previous days (how could you live with yourself?)...
Oh, the endless possibilities! Do I go for Theaudience's A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed (Sophie Ellis-Bextor when she was cool...er - she'll always be cool, even as a pop kid.)
Thursday night, I went to an imaginary gig. Justin Currie is an artist I've been looking forward to seeing live (and solo) for a good few years now. I'd see him with his former band (the criminally underrated) Del Amitri back in the days of wonder, but missed the tour for his first excellent solo album, so was eager to catch him touring its sequel. We got the tickets well in advance and I was all set to go.
But I didn't. I couldn't. Because of my worsening back. I can't stand still for more than a few minutes at a time without absolute agony. I can sit down fine, I can walk about OK... but standing still is impossible. Unfortunately, at venues like Manchester Academy, standing still is your only option. So I had to tell Dave to find someone else to go with him... I just couldn't stand it.
Instead, I went to an imaginary gig. I built a stage in the living room and imagined a misanthropic, curmudgeonly, archly-cynical songwriter was up there singing his bitter heart out (to help me visualise this, I put a mirror at the back of the stage). Then I got Louise to push past me on her way to the toilets or the bar every two minutes, to have loud conversation with her friends just behind the sofa, to film the whole gig on her phone, and to whistle shriekily after every song.
Then I sat back and listened to the new Justin Currie album, The Great War. It was almost like being there. And as close as I'm going to get to gigging until my back is mended...
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doesn't make me think of ex-Del Amitri man Justin Currie. Yes, it's that good.
