He's a clever chap, that Wiley. Grime was always destined to be the sound of a particular time, much like garage and two-step before it. Where many of his peers have faded into near obscurity, Bow's most famous poet knew he'd have to pull a few tricks out the baggie to stay ahead of the game - to make sure his star burned bright for a few more years.
See Clear Now is the result of Wiley's rebirth as a chart-bothering pop misfit and does its job admirably. While the inevitable 'Wearing My Rolex' brings back memories of a warmer, more financially stable time of year, further listening demonstrates this once-street trailblazer has got an ear for a pop hook to rival the best, and the contacts book to match. 'I Need to Be', 'Turn It Up', 'Can't Stop Thinking' - this record is filled with potential smashes, whilst working with the likes of Mark Ronson on latest single 'Cash In My Pocket' and Hot Chip on 'Step By Step' will only further his chances of crossover domination. The grime police might not like it, but you can be sure everyone else will!
Tom
Listen and download here.
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It's impossible to look at Weird Era Cont. without juxtaposing it with Microcastle. In the clunky world of physical retail (who the hell buys CDs any more, really?) it was seen fit to include the Weird Era as a bonus disc but sadly not for the digital release (boo!). There is however some logic in this - the two albums do work as standalone products, in much the same way that Radiohead's Amnesiac is almost a Kid B to the sublime Kid A.
Weird Era is not just more of the same however - whilst the meloncholy shoegaze and Phil Spector walls of sound of Microcastle are reflected in Weird Era, it's a far more experimental and less immedaitely approachable number than Microcastle. The Ride-esque shoegaze pop sounds have been toned down and left to fill the gap, Eno-esque dramatic soundscapes have flourished.
The bottom line is that if you didn't love Microcastle you probably won't like Weird Era. This is no slander - any given band would love to play second fiddle to a surefire contender for album of the year, and the two together make Cox's band Deerhunter odds-on favourite for artist of the year.
James K
Listen and download here.
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Following Take That's incredible comeback over the last two years, new album The Circus looks set to take the boys to another level. Continuing to hone their mature sound, 'The Garden' opens the record in epic fashion, with a melody you'll be whistling for days. Romantic piano and strings wash over Gary Barlow's catchy pop tunes, giving the album a classic feel you can't help but fall in love with.
In terms of style, there's something for everyone; from heart-wrenching ballad 'Greatest Day', to the bouncy 'Hello' (think 'Shine') and the Beatles-y 'lalala's' on 'Julie'. Robbie must be wondering why he ever left.
Petula
Listen and download here.
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Roll up, ladies and gentlemen, roll up! The star attraction of 2008, the long awaited uncovering of Axl Rose's mystical, magical labour of love is finally here for all the family to enjoy! Marvel at the return to the cirque du musique of one of the most controversial and heralded acts of our time!
Be amazed at these twisted concoctions, finally set loose from the inner workings of Rose’s mind after 17 long years in the wilderness - 'Better', with its sneering, bile-fuelled vocals and shredding guitar histrionics; ‘Street of Dreams’, where every year is 1988 and power ballads still reign supreme; and ‘Riad & the Bedouins’, where punk attitude and metallic riffs jostle for position at the head of Axl’s new sound. Step right up, for Chinese Democracy has finally been unleashed on your ears – fourteen tracks, a dizzying array of musicians and styles - all unmistakably Guns N’ Roses.
Tom
Listen and download here.
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Whatever you think of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, it's hard to argue with his heart-warming blend of intimate melodies and life-affirming anthems. With this collection of Viva la Vida off-cuts and reworks, Coldplay continue not only to tread the ground laid by Radiohead and Sigur Ros before them, but also venture out into Beatles-esque strings, drum machines ('Rainy Day') and Jay-Z ('Lost+').
Despite the foray into new sounds and structures, clearly inspired by uber-producer Brian Eno, Prospekt's March still has that classic Coldplay pop-sensibility. The three reworked Viva la Vida tracks hold the otherwise more experimental EP together, reminding you that these guys really know how to pen a tune ('Lovers In Japan (Osaka Sun Mix)').
As with previously cast out songs, (see 'One I Love', and 'Til Kingdom Come') when Martin isn't worrying so much, Coldplay really excel. This is a band at ease with themselves, who may have put together their best set of tunes since Parachutes.
Joe
Listen and download here.
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Siblings in bands have a history of making music which has something extra special; the Deheza twins are no different. The sister's angelic vocal harmonies wash over Alpinisms, providing a captivating focal point for School Of Seven Bells mysterious take on Postal Service/Imogen Heap inflected electro-pop. Ex-Secret Machines man Benjamin Curtis builds sheets of guitar behind the raw harmony, which nods towards My Bloody Valentine; this is particularly evident on the reverb drenched 'Face To Face On High Places'.
Underpinning layers of lush sound are gently pulsating, electronic rhythms, which bubble softly beneath the shoegaze inflected surface. Opener 'iamundernodisguise' merges School Of Seven Bells' seemingly disparate influences to the best effect, with the beat dropping at just the right moment to draw you in further as the vocals, synths and guitar build to form a wall of sound.
Despite being an album which gradually entrances and captivates, Alpinisms manages to retain a certain pop sensibility amid the wash of sound. The infectiously catchy melody of 'Half Asleep' will come back to you like a dream, rather than an annoyance, and the oriental 'Prince Of Peace' has more hooks than an M.I.A. ditty.
A captivating collection of charming songs exploring the emotional and the supernatural through the mechanical sounds of electro, Alpinisms is an album to get lost in.
Joe
Listen and download here.
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Some people have all the fun. Not content with merely putting together his own big band, featuring a number of the UK’s most notable swing musicians (as well as soul-pop darling Jamie Lidell), maverick dance experimentalist Herbert then takes the resulting output, chops it up and feeds it through an electronic sieve - sampling, looping and distorting the produce as he sees fit. A masterful lesson in marrying old with new; the fractured sounds of modern electronica mix seamlessly with a genre of music long since lost on today’s average music fan. Best of all, the results never straying into the more ‘interesting’ (read- ‘unlistenable’) avenues of much avant-garde music.
Some might think mixing electronics with 50's jazz would be a mistake – on this evidence, they would be sorely mistaken.
Tom
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Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod. Now this, this is UNBELIEVABLY good. When I first saw The Verve at Phoenix '95 (or was it '96?), I'd never heard of them. They were on before Spiritualized as I dimly recall. I left the tent an instant convert, rocking on my heels, mind fully blown, and immediately sought the entire back catalogue.
This album is way above the more commercial ‘Urban Hymns’ which followed it; the thread of psychedelia evident in their early EPs and first album ‘Storm In Heaven’, is still there. String-laden epic "History" invokes Blake (as does 2008 comeback single ‘Love is Noise’) and is surely a precursor to ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’. ‘New Decade’, ‘This is Music’ (which they still open with live) and the title track are standouts, but the whole thing is just... well, you get the idea. Rocks, chills and bends minds. Compelling.
Will
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William Orbit isn't a man likely to be remembered by history for anything other than Barber's Adagio, but he's a very clever man. Not only because he took the credit from saucer-eyed trance monster Ferry Corsten for the monstrous remix of ‘Adagio For Strings’ (Orbit's ‘original’ is actually quite subdued), but because he's produced some of the best earworm pop numbers in recent history.
Check out Madonna's ‘Beautiful Stranger’, All Saints' ‘Pure Shores’, P!nk's ‘Feel Good Time’ or pretty much anything on Blur's 13 for evidence of this. But I digress. Orbit's distinctive sound came to my attention back in 1990 in Bass-O-Matic's debut Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Bass. Back in the early nineties, aside from the odd half-decent rave number to make it into the charts, no-one managed to commercially walk the line between credible pop and something you could actually dance to without looking like an uncle at a wedding.
Despite having a band name like a compilation South London badboys might listen to while cruising the streets, this wonderful piece of dance-pop-memorabilia really stands the test of time. In a club environment any of these numbers will get me moving like a madman. But thankfully not like an uncle at a wedding.
James K
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When you ask someone ‘what's your favourite Bob Dylan album?’ they might tell you with their best Alan Partridge impersonation ‘I'd have to say, the Best of Bob Dylan’. The trouble is that songs from this masterpiece are rarely featured on the many 'best of' collections and Desire is in fact, my favourite Dylan album, if not one of my favourite albums of all time.
Most of Desire was co-written with Jacques Levy and the instrumentation, sound and atmosphere of these recordings are truly unique. This is due to the album being recorded with the musicians from the famous Rolling Thunder revue tour and it's the haunting violin and backing vocals from Emmylou Harris, prominent throughout the whole album, that help to make this album so special. 'Hurricane' kicks off the album at racing speed, telling the true tale of the Rubin Carter murder case and although it’s story telling at its best, for me the album peaks with the hugely personal 'Sara', the sensitive 'One More Cup of Coffee' and 'Oh Sister'. If you like Dylan but haven't heard this album, I suggest buy it now and listen to it again and again until you know every violin screech and every vocal snarl like the back of your hand.
Jim
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New Zealand has been a breeding ground for acts in the category of dub reggae, notably producing acts such as Salmonella Dub, Katchafire, Kora, Black Seeds and probably the most successful export in this genre, Fat Freddy’s Drop. This is the 2005 debut from the 7 piece in which they manage to successfully fuse together elements of reggae, dub, jazz, blues, soul, funk, rap and disco into their own warm, laid back blend.
Introduced to me by a former Kiwi colleague, this is such a versatile album; it serves as a great soundtrack for both hot, lazy summer days and cold winter nights by the fireside.
Mark
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With her second album, Fiona Apple took a step away from the more stereotypical jazz sound of her debut Tidal, demonstrating a more far-reaching ambition. Along with multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion, the result was one of the most underrated and impossibly perfect albums of the new millennium thus far.
Lyrically, Apple's stock is full of ruminations on lost love, but the sheer beauty of each track ensures any emoting never becomes too much to bear. Apple's stunning voice falls from a tender croon to a seething attack at the drop of a hat; it’s this brazen show of untreated emotion that probably kept the album from troubling the mainstream more.
The focus throughout is on Apple's phoenix-from-the-ashes vocals and heavy piano playing, but further listens uncover an ever-increasing number of layers to each song - heavily reverbed drums, string sections, electronic flourishes - the level of instrumentation on When the Pawn... is absolutely astonishing throughout, placing it far above most other singer-songwriter albums.
I’m not going to focus on any songs in particular as When the Pawn... is an excellent example of a piece of work that should be listened to as a whole. The ten songs here work perfectly with each other, and as such you’d be hard pressed to improve upon any of them.
Tom
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Buy this album. Go to the pub. Drink a lot. Go home. Listen to this album. Throw the rest of your music out of the window.
Wake up. Regret nothing. Repeat…
James P
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Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor was born with 12 fingers until he cut one off with a razor blade while drunk. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is as "blues" as it gets. No! Wait! Come back! This not your run-of-the-mill, hoary old blues rumblings. This is something else.
This is the Ramones of the blues. Never downhearted or truly melancholic, its wasp-in-a-jar production values are a virtue, and it pelts along. Careful though, as played at the correct volume it will slay a small child, and rip the face off even the most experienced adult. His band aren't called the Houserockers for nothing, you know.
This album (his best) from 1973, is the sound of a cheap Japanese guitar played through an even cheaper amplifier while drinking the cheapest liquor. The album's best track, 'Sadie', is a creeping groover that slopes along like an alley cat, different to most of the rest of the album, and most of the rest of his career.
If you want to know from whom Jack White or Jon Spencer took their cues, Hound Dog's punky, primal take on the blues will give you some hints. In the words of the man himself, 'When I die, they'll say, "He couldn't play shit, but he sure made it sound good!"'
Stephen
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After sleazing their way into the mainstream with indie-kid favourite Rated R, Josh Homme and his merry band of desert troubadours returned to their roots for their third album Songs For The Deaf. Few could have predicted the sheer ferocity of their return. Recruiting the considerable talents of tub-thumper Dave Grohl and renewing their working relationship with ex-Screaming Trees howler Mark Lanegan, Queens proved there is simply no one better at providing hard rock and roll around today. Sticking two fingers up to any preconceived notions and trends, it shot out the blocks with the monstrous ‘No One Knows’ and showed no dip in quality over the record’s fourteen tracks. This is arguably the best rock album of the last ten years, and is to date the highlight of Queens’ mighty back catalogue. Songs For The Deaf is relentless - everyone else just seems a little wet after listening to this…
Tom
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The arrival of the dark evenings is the cue to dust off the glorious Behaviour in my house. Elegantly co-produced by Harold Faltermeyer, Pet Shop Boys' fourth album is an unmistakably autumnal affair - reflective, evocative and richly melancholic.
'This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave' is a wonderful title and an overwrought take on provincial youth and oppressive schooling. Culminating in Neil Tennant's determined exclaim 'I don't want to belong', it would have been a teenage anthem for me if I hadn't been listening to Vanilla Ice at the time.
I discovered Behaviour five years after its 1990 release at university, where the historic and tranquil surroundings were better suited to the rest of the album. Between the understated 'Being Boring' and graceful 'Jealousy', the album's centrepiece is 'My October Symphony', which relates Soviet hope and despair with the help of Johnny Marr, The Balanescu Quartet, a Shostakovich sample and Italian piano house.
It's difficult to avoid describing this work as "mature", but for me, it perfectly captures the essence of adulthood - often unspectacular, occasionally tragic, always emotional.
Ian
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Blending rock, dance, funk and Jackson Pollock with an era-defining swagger, this album is effortlessly brilliant and an unalloyed delight. From the lolloping bass intro of '...Adored' to the wig-out jam of 'Resurrection', these songs have graced a million indie dance floors from Manchester to Marrakesh. Incendiary, inspirational and indispensable; if you don't already own this, there is a gap in your music collection the size of a small planet. Purchase immediately.
Will
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Every now and then, an album comes straight out of leftfield, instantly heralded as a classic of its genre. Crying Over Pros For No Reason is a perfect example.
LA's Ed Ma came out of nowhere, dropping this incredible album on the UK's Planet Mu label in 2004. Weaving melancholy guitar, bass and strings over hyper-cut sampled drums and glitches, Ma created a perfect late night soundtrack for the new millenium, and a record that was a major player in the populisation of the current 'glitch hop' sound. The level of maturity shown by Ma, not only in his drum programming and sound manipulation but also his songwriting craft is incredible, even more so when you consider Crying… was his debut release.
A perfect break-up soundtrack for the Apple generation, Crying Over Pros for No Reason is essential listening for anyone with even a passing interest in the IDM/Glitch/Leftfield genres.
Tom
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The work is so coherent and fluid you’d never know it was a film soundtrack – unless of course you already knew it was a film soundtrack. Or indeed part of the GTA IV soundtrack. Koyaanisqatsi works perfectly in isolation; I became involved in it before watching the film (which of course you must see).
As moreish as chocolate-covered Pringles, it’s impossible to listen to just one track without seeing the musical journey through to the end. At once minimal and incredibly involved and involving you’ll genuinely pick up more and more from this on each listen.
You’d have some justification for considering Philip Glass’s work to be impenetrable nonsense. Unless you’ve heard Koyaaniqatsi and suddenly it all makes sense.
James
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Regularly nestled in the upper echelons of those 'Top albums of all time' lists, Exile is considered by many to be the Stones' masterpiece. It's a sprawling epic of an album which rocks out ('Rip This Joint'), slinks ('Shake Your Hips') and struts ('Stop Breaking Down') with Jagger's usual pomp and aplomb. Penultimate track 'Shine A Light', from which the 2008 Scorsese concert film was titled, is in turn melancholic and uplifting. If ever an album were deserving of the epithet "classic", this is it. Essential.
Will
Listen and download here.
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