Powder Burns

by The Twilight Singers

Powder Burns is the fourth Twilight Singers record, essentially the latest outlet for former Afghan Whig and current Gutter Twin Greg Dulli to excorcise his many demons. With the subject matter focusing on carnal desires, longing, loathing, and of course Dulli's well-documented addiction troubles, this isn't what you'd call a 'pretty' record; nevertheless, Powder Burns is highly accessible - epic, piano and string-led rock that manages to completely avoid coming across as pompous and bloated, instead sounding urgent and highly visceral.

Tracks like 'My Time Has Come' and 'I'm Ready' are some of the hardest in Dulli's sizeable repertoire, and work fantastically when off-set with slower, more traditionally 'epic' numbers like 'Bonnie Brae', 'Candy Lane Crawl' and the sublime 'Poder Burns'. These are by no means the only highlights, though - further listens uncover more and more throughout every track.

Dulli's strained vocal style certainly has the capacity to turn folk off his work, but for those it manages to enrapture, this won't disappoint. It's fitting that someone with the pedigree of Dulli should be on hand to transcend trends and styles, taking liberally from rock, soul, jazz and gospel as he does to create something beautiful out of such grim subject matter. There have only been a handful of rock albums really worth their salt over the last few years - Powder Burns is right up the top of the list.

Tom Macdonald

Body Riddle

by Clark

Every artist has one album where their sound really starts to take flight. Where all the promise comes together into a cohesive whole, where they finally crack 'their' sound and become an artist referred to in their own right, as opposed to the sum of their influences. For Chris Clark, Body Riddle was undoubtedly that album.

After releasing a number of very good, if not startlingly original, electronic records, Clark decided to completely revamp the direction he was heading in. Out went the icy cold, spectral feel of Empty The Bones Of You (still a beautiful soundtrack for icy mornings), in came jazz influences and a hitherto unexplored warmth to his sound. The glitchy, microcut samples were eschewed for bigger, more 'traditional' drums, though to suggest Body Riddle is a more 'normal' sounding record would be, well, wrong.

The first things that hit you as 'Herr Barr' kicks into gear are how powerful, yet delicate, the album sounds. A xylophone melody meanders in between the rolling drums until the synths make their presence felt, slowly elevating the song to higher and higher reaches. The production is absolutely pristine, Clark managing to make the dirtiest, most distorted samples sound clean and pure; coupled with 'Frou Wav', where a jazz influence is even more explicit, Body Riddle already managed to announce that Clark had moved to an entirely new level with his music.

The delicate feel doesn't last throughout the album - the monster centrepiece 'Ted' is made specifically for getting the feet moving on the dancefloor, as is the fantastic 'Vengeance Drools'. The overriding sense, though, is one of pure artistry; with this album, Clark succeeded in crafting something fresh and exciting in a genre that can all too often sound formulaic and drab. Yes, there are influences to point at, but Body Riddle manages to shake off these notions and help move Clark into a musical field all of his own.

Tom Macdonald

Ghosts

by Siobhan Donaghy

Leaving the Sugababes just before they became truly successful may not seem like the best decision, but for Siobhan Donaghy it was. After singing the lead on most of the band’s early hits, she went on to release a solo album of hit-and-miss pop-rock in 2003. She returned four years later with Ghosts, an album that showcases a more experimental side.

'Don’t Give It Up' gets the album going with a galloping electronic riff, before plummeting into a swooning chorus. The grand ballad 'So You Say' follows, replete with firework imitations and hypnotic harmonies, and though typicality is to be expected from an ex-girlband member, even Ghost's more straight-forward tracks have a kooky edge. For instance, the breezy 'Sometimes' has a chorus made up entirely of ‘woo-hoos’ and little shrieks.

Admittedly, there are a few throwaway numbers. 'There's A Place' sounds like a Sugababes ballad demo, but her more peculiar moments make up for less inspiring ones. 'Goldfish', (imagine Kate Bush meets Frou Frou), shows off Siobhan’s vocal ability, with a celestial breakdown leading into an atmospheric climax of this bittersweet track. Other songs are a little more low-key, yet still come with intriguing whispers and sweeping refrains aplenty.

The focal point of the album, however, is the title track. 'Ghosts' sounds like a song played backwards, cleverly concealing that the lyrics are actually bonkers lines such as ‘fuel full fat her glass of milk’.

The album mixes radio-friendly tunes with more complex songs and shows that Siobhan had plenty to offer when she decided to go it alone. A refreshing collection that is a million times more original than fellow ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena’s solo efforts, and for that reason alone Ghosts is well worth downloading.

Beren Reid

Movements

by Booka Shade

When dance music producers get bored of the single and EP outlets for their work, venturing into the realms of the artist album can be the natural progression. I think it's fair to say the results can often be hit or miss. In fact, the artist album wilderness is littered with half-baked, uninspiring, often wooden attempts at music that tries to do more than just keep feet on dance floors. More often than not, the techniques and textures that sound great on a Funktion One soundsystem at 5am don't quite cut it on your average iPod headphones or stereo and it can often be hard for a producer to break free of the rigid, formulaic structures that they're used to, with say House or Techno, and translate that into a striking album. It's coherent, yes, it's just not very inspiring.

So, to produce an album that not only shuns any preconceptions you might have about dance music but manages to consolidate so many categories and sub-categories of the style itself into one genre-defying, yet accessible, album is more than an achievement, it's a triumph. Unlike some other albums of its type Movements doesn't rely on the obvious big hitters. Body Language, Mandarine Girl and In White Rooms will always be classics but it’s tracks like the somber, reflective Paper Moon that still make me wonder how such a simple, 3-note hook can express so much in so little; and the ambient closing track, Lost High, that might not have the strongest of starts, but with its layer-upon-layer of processed vocals and distorted keyboards leaves you aching for another track by the end.

The first decade of the millennium will definitely be remembered as an era when laptop DJs, software synthesizers and home studios on computers meant that making electronic music became easily accessible to all. Inevitably that also meant an unfathomable number of questionable ‘artists’. For me, Movements reaffirmed that electronic music could still be very much artistic, subtle yet hugely emotive and above all fascinating to listen to both in and out of a club. Booka Shade well and truly raised the bar for all dance music producers to follow, and for me that bar is still where it was back in 2006.

Jon White

Broken

by Soulsavers

Soulsavers' 2007 release, It's Not How Far You Fall, It's The Way You Land, was the very definition of a slow-burner. It crept out into the world to no great acclaim, no massive promotional push, yet as word got around, coupled with some acclaimed live shows on the festival circuit, the record became embraced more and more as time went on. Much of this was down to the duo's success in roping ex-Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan to provide vocals on the majority of tracks, even going so far as to give him co-writing credits for much of the record. Mixing bluesy rock, trip hop and alt-country, It's Not How... put Soulsavers on the map, and raised expectations massively for their follow-up, Broken.

Again co-written with Lanegan, Broken plows a similar path to its predecessor, though the sound is more rootsy than before - electronic flourishes are all but absent here. A stronger gospel influence can be found supporting Broken's bluesier tracks, especially on 'All The Way Down'. The more simplistic ethos of Lanegan's work with Isobel Campbell is touched upon during the achingly sad 'You'll Miss Me When I Burn', while elsewhere the floor is opened up for further guest cameos - Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers, rising star Red Ghost, Faith No More frontman Mike Patton, Jason Pierce of Spiritualized and Richard Hawley are all found duetting with Lanegan, though only Red Ghost is given the considerable honour of having whole tracks to herself in 'Praying Ground' and closer 'By My Side'.

Despite the high caliber of the guest appearances, it's still Lanegan's voice that holds centre court throughout. His supremely warm, bassy tones compliment Soulsavers' musicianship perfectly, especially on both the stunning 'Some Misunderstanding' and the more cinematic 'Shadows Fall', both highlighting his continuing appeal some fifteen years after the grunge movement ended. Aided considerably by Soulsavers sounding more of a coherent band than in the past, Broken stands to be looked back at as one of the best alternative albums of 2009.

Tom Macdonald

Dreams

by The Whitest Boy Alive

The first time I came across Erlend Øye was when a friend recommended his Unrest album to me back in about 2005. Instantly recognising his distinctive voice I realised that I’d actually been listening to him long before that on Royksopp’s Melody AM but never really taken an active interest in the vocalist himself.

The electronic element of Unrest appealed to me at the time much more than Øye’s work in Kings Of Convenience, but it’s in The Whitest Boy Alive, his 4-piece acoustic outfit, that he seems to have found the ideal balance between folk and dance/electronica. Purposefully lacking any programmed elements to any of the songs, in Dreams you can still hear the precision of years working with sequencers and drum machines, yet it manages to sound natural, understated and stripped down. Each distinct element, whether it’s guitar, bass, drums or Rhodes piano, is reduced and almost compressed to its bare essentials so that nothing is wasted, nothing is superfluous, and this gives room for Øye’s rich, warm, melancholic voice to fill all the gaps and bring it all together. It might be a bit too melancholic for some, but tight, punchy, up-tempo drums keep the energy and momentum up to stop the songs from ever sinking too low.

Discarding any need to push the technical or structural boundaries of music, Dreams takes a step back and goes back to basics, not dissimilar to the minimal direction dance music was taking at the time it was released, but with melody, rhythm and polyphony shining through as its defining characteristics. It’s not ground-breaking, but that’s the point, music doesn’t always have to be, and Dreams shows how good the results can be when you just keep things simple.

Jon White

Vol 2.

by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

Describing what The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band sound like is made all the more easier by having a name that neatly wraps it up in 6 words. If it was at all possible, the record sleeve for this 1967 album would've been printed on blotted acid dripped paper. Obviously this could never be possible but the sound of this album is soaked in the stuff.

The band bring together everything great about psychedelic pop, the lyrics are naïve, loved up and at times pretty bleak. There's the token anti-war tribal fuzz stomp of 'Suppose They Give a War and No One Turns Up', 'Unfree Child' is a rebellious garage call to kids to leave 'quares', it's start-stop-phasing-crashing with a riff that could almost be glam rock. It's frontman and lyricist Bob Markley a law graduate and the son of an oil tycoon, who came to LA in search of fame, who adds a personality to the album. Lyrics like 'when your older we'll have a time/ when you're older there'll be a place for us' from 'Queen of Nymphet' would be just plain creepy if it wasn't for band of brothers Danny and Shaun Harris who turn his words into fuzzed up, sun soaked harmonies and often thunderous psychedelic delights.

It's a shame that the band never got bigger than their cult status. Separated from its obvious LSD infused influences and hippy idealism is an interesting and immensely enjoyable west coast pop experimental album.

Rob Morgan

The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place

by Explosions In The Sky

I can't quite remember the first time I heard The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place, but at a time when I was starting to lose faith in a generic 'band' approach to music, I certainly remember the effect it had on me. I'd been a fan of artists lumped under the 'post-rock' umbrella for a while, but it was only upon hearing this gem of an album that my ears were really opened to the possibilities that still existed between typical 'rock' instruments.

There have been few occasions a song title befits the track so well than with 'First Breath After Coma'. Opening with a single chiming note, the track begins so quietly you wonder if anything is happening, but slowly the simple guitar/bass/drum setup unfurls into an astonishingly beautiful cacophony of sound, one which still sounds completely fresh after its hundredth airing. The interplay between the individual musicians is astounding, the emphasis being on layering interwoven lines around each other, knowing where to let the mix shine and when to reel everything back to a whisper. They then manage to repeat the trick, to stunning effect, time and time again.

One criticism levelled at post-rock is that the bands suffer a lack of originality and can be, more or less, interchanged with each other - not so here. Explosions In The Sky certainly share similar traits with their peers, but their sound never fails to be picked out of a proverbial post-rock lineup. The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place is one of the most exquisite records I own - you should soon be able to say the same thing.

Tom Macdonald

Instant Coffee Baby

by The Wave Pictures

The Wave Pictures are never likely to break into the big-time. Lead singer David Tattersall’s voice is an acquired taste, their lyrics are occasionally obscure to the point of nonsense, and the arrangements are generally far more delicate and considered than you’d ever hear on the radio. What the band lack in commercial potential however, they more than make up for in charm.

Coming on like early Hefner, but with more confidence and catchier tunes, this is their debut album proper, although a quick glace at their website reveals a whole back catalogue of self-released titles complete with badly photocopied artwork for that authentically indie look. They’ve obviously spent time honing their craft as every track on this record is a winner with its own unique character and story to tell, from failed romances through to small town politics via a myriad of pop cultural references and surreal lyrical juxtapositions.

Indeed, although the instrumentation is tight and joyfully balanced it’s the lyrics which are the real focus of this record. Whilst the songs typically have a theme to them the words sound assembled like a collage where rhyme and alliteration is rife and meaning often takes a back seat, giving a strange aura of Middle-English psychedelia. How else can you describe an extended metaphor beginning, ‘The sun came in like a pack of orange spaniels’? Such whimsy is commonplace and indeed there’s a certain playfulness to the whole thing. If you can have such a thing as a fourth wall in recorded music, The Wave Pictures have no problem with breaking it: ‘Tell them about it on the bass guitar’ requests Tattersall on ‘We Come Alive’ before half-joking that, ‘Everyone who knows me knows I make up every one of these stories’. Made up or not, Instant Coffee Baby is a thoroughly engaging and idiosyncratic record with enough wit, character, and most importantly tunes, to keep you coming back for more.

Sam Leppard

Tres Tres Fort

by Staff Benda Bilili

The rags-to-riches story of the Congolese band Staff Benda Bilili, a group of homeless paraplegics and street children who have become international Afropop superstars, is remarkable in itself. But it is the raw talent that is evident throughout their debut album, Tres Tres Fort, that has propelled Staff Benda Bilili to become the current darlings of world music enthusiasts. As the title suggests, this album presents us with a sound that is bound by no handicaps when it comes to talent, creativity and all-round joie de vivre.

Critics have dubbed Staff Benda Bilili as “the Buena Vista Social Club of the Obama Age”. The comparison between a Congolese band and the Cuban superstar son-masters seems far fetched, but the similarity is made clear within the first few notes of the opening track ‘Moto Moindo’. Considering the common Caribbean roots of African rumba and Cuban son, it is perfectly natural to link the two bands together. Songs like ‘Je t'aime’ and ‘Tonkara’ are so full of energy that I find it hard to resist the urge to get up and dance.

Members of the band have often remarked in interviews that they view disability as a state of mind rather than physical being, and that they don’t see themselves as handicapped. Staff Benda Bilili doesn’t ask for your charity or pity. Indeed, they clearly have a purpose in mind to use their music to enrich the lives of others. Tres Tres Fort reminds us that self-doubt and negativity are far more damaging to one’s character than any physical disability could ever be. If you’re feeling low, this album will give you the motivational kick you need to get out there and be somebody.

Brittany Shannahan

Sunday At Devil Dirt

by Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan

This was always going to be an intriguing match-up; Isobel Campbell, formerly of fey indie outfit Belle & Sebastian, pairing off against Mark Lanegan - gruff, whisky soaked Screaming Trees grunger. Their debut, Ballad Of The Broken Seas, was a predictably dreamy folk-pop affair, but with their sophomore release, Sunday At Devil Dirt, things certainly changed a tad.

For a start, this is a record firmly rooted in the waking present. Sparse instrumentation over many tracks and a crystal clear, intimate production leads to the feeling that Lanegan's deep baritone (dominating almost every track) is positioned directly in front of you, lamenting right into your face... in a completely non-creepy, fully comfortable way, of course. There's a much stronger sense of simplistic, porch-bound southern country, whilst stand-out track 'Come On Over (Turn Me On)' pays tribute to 'Feeling Good' style vamp-jazz; Lanegan and Campbell's perfectly synced vocals pulling off such a departure with style. The bluesy 'Back Burner' even manages to take what could easily have been an age-old religious spiritual and injects it with Lanegan's sleaziest drawl intoning the merits of a bit of 'bump and grind', highlighting in sound the contradictions that are made to work so well throughout these twelve tracks.

Sunday At Devil Dirt, like it's predecessor, is an album to convince even the most hardened country/folk avoider that there is music of worth in these genres. It seems they can knock these collaborative albums at will...

Tom Macdonald

The Script

by The Script

I absolutely love this album. It tells a tale of love, heartbreak, struggle and life’s ups and downs, with a mix of amazing soulful vocals, eclectic drumming, dream riding piano notes and beautiful sharp guitar sounds.

The most romantic song I have ever had the pleasure of hearing, 'I’m Yours', makes your heart skip a beat when Danny O'Donoghue recites those words through song.

Along with Kings of Leon – Only By The Night, The Script’s album has got to be a favourite of 2008 that will continue to grow in 2009.

Hipatia Velastegui

Gold

by Sublime

As an American, I never fully understood how a band like Sublime could be so successful in the US and remain relatively unheard of in Britain. Well, you’ve read that sentence now, so you don’t have an excuse any more. It’s time to go and discover what’s been missing from your life all these years.

I was thirteen years old when Sublime first hit the US mainstream in 1996. The band’s ska efforts (40 oz to Freedom, Date Rape, Wrong Way, Caress Me Down) rivalled those of contemporaries like No Doubt, Mighty Mighty Bostones and Reel Big Fish. But it was their experimentation with reggae dub (What I Got, Doin’ Time, the stoner anthem Smoke Two Joints) that made Sublime stand out from the wave of ska punk bands that dominated the alternative charts in the late 1990s.

Personally, I think that the Sublime’s attitude toward music and life in general is responsible for their enduring success in the US. The songs do address a variety of unpleasant social issues, but this only serves to reinforce the band’s optimism. In response to these challenges, Sublime celebrates the better aspects of life: friendship, music and having a good time.

Brittany Shannahan

Everyone's Entitled To Our Opinion

by Slyde

If you're into great big fat breaks, electro and hip hop with a dash of punk, you'll love this album. Ever since this came out I've been thoroughly addicted to it.

The album kicks off with Lady Posh (Jamaica's Dance Hall princess) belting out 'Vibrate To This'. The track isn't half bad but she also features on 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang', which is an absolutely cracking track that makes you want to throw some crazy shapes. The album also includes the remake of Ian Dury's classic 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll' which is certainly jam packed full with dirty beats and sleazy sounds.

Pop this little beauty on, crank up the volume to 11 and start grinning.

Kate Hayden-Ellis

Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?

by The Unicorns

You like The Beach Boys? Ever wondered what they might have sounded like if they were given a toy piano, an accordion, a few synthesizers, some old school drum machine and something that goes by the name of an echoplex?

If the answer is yes, try this. Recommended tracks - 'Ghost Mountain', 'I Was Born A Unicorn' and 'Tuff Luff'.

Alex Corradi

Distance and Time

by Fink

Ever since he ditched the laptop electronics of his debut record (Fresh Produce), Fin Greenall, aka Fink, has been forging a path for himself as an acoustic guitar-toting troubadour, and has been doing rather well with it too. Distance and Time takes the promise of his first outing into singer-songwriting, 2003's Biscuits for Breakfast and does a sterling job of realising Fink's vision to the fullest.

Helped along the way by the dark production of Lamb's Andy Barlow, Distance and Time is fantastic from start to finish; as brooding and haunting as it is beautiful. The nine tracks on offer allow no room for any dip in quality, and whilst drums, bass and occasional electronics fill out the sound, they never encroach on the album's focus – Greenall's gently plucked guitars and drawling vocals. Distance and Time is a timeless album of reflection, loss and closure, placing Fink as one of the UK's most promising artists in the process. Turn the lights low and get your brood on.

Tom Macdonald

Gong Lake

by Neptune

Hailing from the same New England noise triangle as racket luminaries Lightning Bolt, Daughters and Arab On Radar, Neptune are simultaneously anachronistic and the sum total of every celluloid future dystopia you’ve ever seen; brutal, ugly and utterly compelling. They’re the equivalent of the static on your decaying tube television; merrily flogging themselves away in the face of their digital obsolescence.

Their mix of claustrophobic white noise, sparse melody, muscular tribal drumming and bizarre drawled vignettes, marks them as kin of Sightings and AIDS Wolf, but while so many of their brethren generate atmosphere through 1 and 0s, Neptune spawn their menace by squeezing every single squeal and snarl from their analogue home-made contraptions. Their set-up is part art project, part white-good carving board; the result of a hideous in-vitro experiment between HR Giger and Scrapheap Challenge. Betamax cases fashioned into the bodies of baritone guitars, oil drum floor toms, home made synthesisers and oscillators that lie with their bellies slit open; a mess of copper entrails.

Some bands induce happiness, others arousal, others still, incandescent rage. Upon witnessing Neptune at a dirty snooker hall on a dirtier midweek winter evening, my non-smoker associate became briefly and intimately acquainted with the fragrant delight of a sweaty, half-smoked Dorchester. Neptune’s recordings are a memento of an evening spent in a delightful, din-filled morass.

Alex Bundock

Daydream Nation

by Sonic Youth

Few teenagers can resist the narcissistic aura of Kurt Cobain. At 14, I discovered a magazine exploring the Nirvana mastermind's top 50 albums, and immediately bought as many as I could afford. Among these purchases would be my first taste of The Stooges, Pixies, and Bad Brains. In these albums I could see links from the history of rock'n'roll to the present. But one of them was different. Daydream Nation was like nothing I'd heard before; it was a challenge, an adventure, an explosion. Sheets of lush, hazy guitar sat between raw electric punk stabs. Melodies jumped from sweet and catchy, to obscure and doomy, consistently unpredictable.

As the patchwork of weird melody sank in, I came to appreciate that the record is narrated by the three coolest voices you will hear on the same record (very much in the rock n roll spirit of Lou Reed). The words these uber-cool New Yorkers were coming out with seemed almost pagan on first listen, with lines like "Let's go walkin on water/Now you think I'm/Satan's daughter". I've come to realize since that rather than toying with the occult, the band were channeling the spirit of the 1950s beat poets, verging on stream-of-conciousness, verbalising the ennui which has come to epitomise modern youth.

The album's defining quality is the way its wonders mystically evolve. I don't think I will ever fully understand Daydream Nation, but every new slice of noise I discover is enchanting.

Joe Barker

Bubblegum

by Mark Lanegan

Quietly sneaking out as his collaborators in Queens of the Stone Age hit the mainstream with Songs for the Deaf, Bubblegum was always destined to be an oft-overlooked album. Without the mainstream chic of the aforementioned record, Bubblegum always risked being lost in the pack (one suspects this suited professional miserablist Lanegan down to the ground anyway), but those familiar with it will be the first to attest to the gem others are missing out on.

Though the initial focus is pulled towards the rockers, particularly ‘Hit the City’ (featuring PJ Harvey) and ‘Sideways in Reverse’, the real highlights for me are when the songs are stripped down to their bare essentials – the haunting ‘One Hundred Days’ is absolutely stunning, whilst ‘Strange Religion’ can most certainly be read as a precursor to Lanegan’s later work with Isobel Campbell. Trendless and fantastically assured – Bubblegum is one of a fine singer’s best works to date.

Tom Macdonald

Sea Monsters

by The Wedding Present

England. The North. Leeds, specifically. This deliciously grumpy noisefest from Monsieur Gedge et al. will always have a special place in my heart. Some might say their finest hour, but there's a strong case for Bizarro or indeed George Best; no matter, there's joy (for the listener) here aplenty, not least in opener 'Dalliance', 'Corduroy' and 'Heather'. Touched by the hand of Steve Albini, whose other credits include Nirvana, Pixies, Gogol Bordello, etc etc. Features all the b-sides from the singles which supported the album's release at the time. How could they throw away 'Fleshworld' on the Lovenest 12"? I still recall shouting for it in vain when they played York Uni once upon a time. Apparently the bass player couldn't be bothered to learn it... love the sparse snare intro to 'Blonde' too. Get involved.

Will James

A Northern Soul

by The Verve

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 James

Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Bass

by Bass-O-Matic

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 Kane

Desire

by Bob Dylan

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 Sanders

Based On A True Story

by Fat Freddy's Drop

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 Unsworth

When The Pawn...

by Fiona Apple

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 Macdonald

Songs For The Deaf

by Queens Of The Stone Age

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 Macdonald

Behaviour

by Pet Shop Boys

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 Bell

Stone Roses

by The Stone Roses

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 James

Crying Over Pros For No Reason

by Edit

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 Macdonald

Koyaanisqatsi

by Philip Glass

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 Kane

Exile On Main St

by The Rolling Stones

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 James