1. Kaputt, Destroyer
I’m 99% sure that Wild Beast’s amazing Smother is my album of 2011 (how did this not make the Mercury shortlist?), but a tiny part of me thinks that Destroyer’s Kaputt might be even better. The video smacks of Pitchfork-friendly hipsterdom but the sentiment on the record was so guileless, the emotion so honest, the sax so over the top, I was completely smitten. Just ace. Big thanks to my friend Eve Barlow for the tip.
2. Still Life, The Horrors
In jeans so skinny they needed to be lowered into them like a spacesuit, The Horrors still looked like they were on their way to a Tim Burton audition, but this year they sounded like they really wanted to be Jim Kerr. Air-punchingly excellent in a John-Hughes-soundtrack kinda way.
3. The Words That Maketh Murder, PJ Harvey
This summer my girlfriend and I went to Town Square Festival in Picardy. I recommend it wholeheartedly: it’s like Glastonbury, only with a portcullis and squidgier cheese. We had a ball watching Elbow and Côldplay, Portishead shaking their melancholy la-las and PJ Harvey playing her amazing Mercury Award-winning album, Let England Shake. It was the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, a major touchpoint for the record, and we were in Arras, close to the heart of things back in 1916, so I wondered if she’d mention it. She didn’t, but then I guess her music speaks louder than most. (A few trench maps wouldn’t have hurt, PJ.)
4. The Lazerbeams, Fresh Espresso
I think I read that this is on Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie’s playlist for when he goes out jogging with Zooey Deschanel. Beyond that I don’t know anything about them except that it's the good stuff.
5. The Wall, Yuck
The new Dinosaur Jr.. This means that the old Dinosaur Jr. are now Dinosaur Senior. Here they sing about some problems they’re having getting over a wall. No wonder, with those tiny arms.
6. Never, Scuba
Sasha loves this. He wants us to love it too.
7. Shuffle, Bombay Bicycle Club
After going lo-fi with their second album, Bombay Bicycle Club came belting back to take a clear lead in the battle of the ‘clubs’ in 2011. Can Chapel Club, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Toyko Police Club strike back in 2012, perhaps by forming an association?
8. Santa Fe, Beirut
Gotye aside, I think I’m right in saying that Beirut's Zach Condon plays the most instruments of anyone in the world right now. Here he added the humble sequencer to the trumpet, guitar, Balkan trombone, harmonica, flute, timpani, recorder, yazoo and party streamer.
9. Far Nearer, Jamie XX
Jamie XX is a seriously talented man. Here he conjured the sound of Streatham by way of St Lucia. Steel drums for the win!
10. End Come Too Soon, The Wild Beasts
True fact: any track with the word “end” in the title goes on forever. I’ve been listening to that Doors track since I was 17 and I’m still only at the bit where he's trying to find the blue bus.
Honorary mentions: Rolled Together, The Antlers; Helplessness Blues, Fleet Foxes; Survive It, Ghostpoet; The Look, Metronomy; Coastin’ Master, Cities Aviv; The Birds, Elbow; Apartment, Young The Giant; Try To Sleep, Low; There’s Nothing In The Water We Can’t Fight (feat. Mother Gunga), Cloud Control; Scale It Back, DJ Shadow & Little Dragon; Polish Girl, Neon Indian; Come To The City, The War On Drugs; I’ll Take Care Of You, Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX
