Albums of the Year 2012

It's been a great year for music. In trying together all my favourite releases of the year into one place I've been bowled over (as well as concerned not to miss anything important, sorry if I have!).

I'm not too fussy about when these records came out. For me it's all about compiling a list, a document of the albums which have moved me the most this year. Here they are.

I'd recommend checking out any of these if you haven't already. I'd post links and video etc to all the albums, but I just don't have time! Mostly this is in no particular order, except to say that the top 8 or so have really blown my mind, for a wide variety of reasons. No collection is complete without them.

Special mention to the Neil Cowley Trio album - I have no idea how these guys aren't ginormous (they would be if I had anything to do with it) but it does seem like things are finally starting to move for them, so be sure not to miss this amazing record.

There are so many fantastic albums here that I haven't written about them all. I have very reduced time these days. Trust me though!

Neil Cowley Trio - The Face of Mount Molehill

Karima Francis - The Remedy

Old Wives - Tidal Tales

Luke Sital-Singh - Fail For You EP

Ryan Stubbs - The Waking Cardinal

The Staves - Dead & Born & Grown

Lovedrug - Wild Blood

Matt Chamberlain, Viktor Krauss and Dan Phelps - Modular

Glissando - The World Without Us

Gareth Davies, Leo Fabriek, Thomas Cruijsen - Mere

Owen Thomas - Languages (Or: Get Dark & Find Yourself)

Ghosting Season - The Very Last of the Saints

T E Morris - We Were Animals

Sons - Keep Quiet

Fink - Wheels Turn Beneath My Feet

JT Daly - Memory
Sucre - A Minor Bird
Jason Aaron Coons - The Numbers

Paper Route - The Peace of Wild Things

Gungor - A Creation Liturgy (Live)

Get the Blessing - OCDC

Ormonde - Machine

Milo Greene - Milo Greene

Our Lady Peace - Curve

3 Car Pile-Up - Find Love

Happy Christmas!

Glass Animals - Leaflings EP

Recently, I had a greatly enjoyable time visiting Gathering, a brilliant one day festival in Oxford. It really was splendid. I saw several acts for the first time. Three of these, Karima Francis, Luke Sital-Singh and The Staves, have become instant favourites of mine. All of them have great recent releases which I am still enjoying devouring. I would heartily recommend you check them all out.

BUT, one of the biggest surprises of the day for me were Glass Animals. I'll be honest, by the time their set began, I had pretty much had enough. A one-day festival can lead you into a kind of musical overload after a while, and their set wasn't helped by the venue they found themselves in (basically a rather crusty community centre). However, even with my relative lack of attention, it was pretty obvious that something special was going on here. The indie-leaning synths, and strongly bass-driven grooves of the songs offered the tantalising sense that something special was going on here.

Pleasingly, the "Leaflings" EP" provides substance and clarity to these thoughts. Every song here is basically great. Cocoa Hooves (Parts 1 and 2) are both sumptuous, glacial grooves, bursting with melody and vibe. Golden Antlers takes its time, with flecks and flourishes aplenty. Closing with the equally impressive Dust In Your Pocket, probably the highlight of the EP, this is a great new discovery. A good example of why you shouldn't judge a band on first hearing, this is one of my favourite Eps of 2012. Check it out.

Enjoy the video for Cocoa Hooves below and hear the potential greatness for yourself.

Sound Supp.ly Drop 5

I haven't posted much here for a while. One of the last times was celebrating the last, great, drop from Sound Supp.ly, Drop 4. Well, it seems that two months have passed, and another drop has around 8 days until it is removed once again. If you are as yet unaware of what happens here, basically the deal is amazing. 10 albums, for $15 (£9.50) which you can get from here. What is even better about this latest drop is that it features incredible new albums from Circa Survive, Pswingset and John Frusciante. Yes, he is the one from Red Hot Chilli Peppers. This is a high quality set of releases, with some wonderful new acts for us all to discover. And so you should. Now.

If you need more incentive to do so, watch this:

The Good The Bad "034"

The Good The Bad were one of my favourite musical discoveries of last year. I was pleasantly surprised earlier on today to receive news from their PR that they have returned with a new album. It doesn't seem five minutes since the last one to be honest, but who am I to quibble. This is one of the "funnest" bands in Europe. No doubt. If you want the evidence of the continued growth and greatness of these instrumental genii, watch the video for new single "034" below.

'034' (The Film) by The Good The Bad from The Good The Bad on Vimeo.

Sound Supp.ly Drop 4

It's that time again, Sound Supp.ly is back. This time with drop four. Included this time are brilliant albums from Civil Twilight, Kevin Devine, Conduits, Mansions and LA Dispute, amongst a whole heap of others. As I write this, there are six and a half days left to download these five albums, and five more, for only $15 (that's just under £9.50). This year I've found Sound Supp.ly to be the best way to discover new music in affordable, legal way, in which artists get properly paid for their work. Definitely worth supporting, whether you do it bi-monthly like I do, or pay $75 for an annual subscription.

3 Car Pile Up - Find Love

I'll write more about this later, but for now, just download the new EP from 3 Car Pile Up, a recently reformed 90s alternative band, featuring Josh Stump, a friend of mine. Josh is one of the funniest and insightful people I know. His band is brilliant.

Moro - Lay Down Your Ghosts EP

I can't remember where I first came across Moro - I think it might have been a tweet from Tim Hughes or something equally random. Whichever it was I'm glad I followed a link to Soundcloud and basked in the glory of the title track of this EP. Lay Down Your Ghosts is immense, soulful, dirty and heavy, but perfectly formed as the best pop song you've heard all year. You will love it. Your mum'll love it. Your dog'll love it.

This EP is the follow up to an album from last year, Slow River, which I really need to hear. All the rhetoric is that this new EP is a change of gear, a new direction. Motorcade, the second song, features some chiming U2-esque guitars, and a vocal performance with incredible energy and passion from Steve Hughes. Hunting For Gold is driven by a rock solid rhythm section and another soaring chorus.

There's so much invention here. Partly, I suspect, provided by the production team of Mo Hausler (U2, Lily Allen) and Adrian Hall (Sinead O'Connor, Alicia Keys) but also drawn from the musicality and skill of the band themselves. This EP provides a snapshot of a band on a major growth spurt. Probably, they are already in a place where domination of airwaves/live settings should be within their grasp, but woe-betide other indie bands if Moro actually have the temerity to grow even further over the coming months. We'll be powerless to resist.

This is most clearly seen on this wonderful taster EP's closer "Don't Need Your Love", a song which threatens to explode throughout and never does, as Hughes whispers and hollers over a bed of beautiful atmospherics.

Simply put, this is great, and I can't wait to hear more.

Billy Vincent - Dead Man's Shoes Video showcase

Billy Vincent to showcase their new video for ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’ tonight

Billy Vincent release the second single from their debut album ‘She’ on August 20^th through Something Nothing Records.

Highlighted in Paul Moody’s excellent review in Q Magazine as “conjuring up visions of a debauched Mumfords”, ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’ embodies the heady mix of influences that makes their debut album ‘She’ such an intriguing delight.

Centered around the fabulously playful lyrics of Billy Barratt - “If I was a preacher, I’d get Jesus to meet ‘cha……” - and an irresistible chorus, Dead Man’s Shoes initially embraces a country flavour, embellished beautifully by the guest appearance of pedal steel legend B J Cole, before heading into territory inhabited byThe Kinks or The Faces.

The video for ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’ was directed by Brendan Cleaves and can be seen just above this.

Billy Vincent will be breaking into their festival schedule (placed at No1 in The Evening Standard’s “must see this summer” list), to headline Club NME at London’s Koko on July 27^th to celebrate ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’ release.

Billy Vincent are: Billy Barratt & David Vincent – vocals, guitars; Joseph Kinsey – bass, harmonica, vocals; Matt Woodward – fiddle, vocals; Jack Blenkinsop – drums, vocals.

Ormonde - Machine

Ormonde - the new band from Anna-Lynne Williams (Trespassers William, Lotte Kestner) and Robert Gomez - release their brilliant debut album, Machine, on August 7th. This record has been a long time coming. Released on Hometapes, this is a beautiful record.

Anyone who has followed my writing for a while will know that I have made a point of keeping up with what Anna-Lynne has been up for a number of years now, ever since I discovered the wondrous Trespassers William album Different Stars. I have to report that this, by far and away, is the best release I've ever heard from her. As I've said before, she has one of those voices. The kind that you could die happy listening to, the kind that you'd thank for telling you you needed a tooth extraction because the news would be delivered so lyrically. Here, with Robert Gomez, she has struck the perfect collaborative note. Indie yet immediate, pop. yet dark enough to appear dangerous, retro and vintage, yet incredibly insistent and vital, as the press release attests, every track here could be the opening track, or the first single. This album will deservedly sit atop many end of year best of lists, so completely does it tower over any "opposition" which it may face.

Beginning with the Midlake-like Can't Imagine (hear it below) the album proceeds serenely through ten perfectly formed paeans of poeticism and indie beauty. The temptation to describe the magisterial magnificence of each and every song is immense, but just writing words upon words would not be enough. There are inflections of creativity in the mixing and arrangements here which bely the fact that this was a collaboration between two artists who barely knew each other when they began. Both have their chance to shine, vocally, with Williams' best moment on the organ-infused title track, while Gomez features prominently on Cherry Blossom. Best, though, is where the two magical voices intertwine together, as heard most clearly on Sudden Bright, with it's lilting acoustic riffs and persistent synth flourishes, and the slow build of Hold the Water's woodwind and percussion.

Throughout the interplay between the acoustic and bass guitars is wonderful, as arpeggiating figures of acoustic underpin most songs, weaving in and out of the mix, carried along on beds of probing bass. The attention to detail here is staggering. Every note, every flourish, feels just right, like it had to be just where it is, at just that moment

Previously I cited Midlake as a potential influence influence, and it does seem to me as if the shadow of that brilliant band is cast long over this album. Rhythm section sounds are pleasingly similar, and the almost playful musicality which is at the record's core as a counterpoint to the minor key chord progressions which pulse throughout seems to take the pastoral folk template of an album like The Trials of Van Occupanther, and improve on it ten-fold. Machine is a clearly distilled alt-folk masterpiece, a combining of powerful creative forces and visions which has resulted in the best thing released by either artist in any of their previous incarnations and iterations. A clear must buy and album of the year shoe-in.

Duke Special - Oh Pioneer

There are things you need to hold in mind when reading my musings on Oh Pioneer, the newest record from Duke Special. One is that, secretly (to this point, although it's not a secret anymore) I wish I was him. Who wouldn't want to have hair like that? Who wouldn't want to write songs as distinctive and devilishly melodic, so poignant and yet so playful? Further, as someone with a history of faith, Duke has inspired me more than most in having the guts to step outside the horrors of the faith-driven music scene and simply be the best songwriter he can be in the same, over-populated pool as everyone else. It's been a long journey, from 65DBA and Spring Harvest CDs, through Booley, Booley House (both brilliant live acts, criminally under appreciated by the soporific British scene, through to Benzine Headset, and then through what seems like a journey as Duke, from the early days with a piano, a turntable, and the monumentally talented Chip Bailey on drums and percussion as singer songwriter class and theatric whimsy collided, to this point where Oh Pioneer places the Duke on the brink of richly deserved household recognition.

It's what he deserves. And he should get it too. Oh Pioneer features some of his best songs to date, including the splendid Punch of a Friend and My Lazy Saviour. This is Duke's most direct, even accessible album to date, but it loses none of the drama, the twists and turns that have characterised his earlier work. I remember early gigs in which he upstaged supposedly more established and proficient acts for whom he was opening in a whirlwind of wonderful songs and energetic performances. This is the album which, at last, sees him fully realise his potential in the studio to go alongside that. These songs showcase all that is great about Duke Special, a wonderful, lilting, lyrical vocal performance  sits atop production which encompasses both space and the kitchen sink in bringing the songs, and the world which Duke and his team have created, fully to life.

This is a great record. You will fall in love with it, and with Duke Special, if you just give yourself the chance. Hear it now.

Zammuto - Zammuto

Finding new music is one of my passions and greatest joys. Recently, the rather splendid Mr Steve Cowley, aka Camp America, in the midst of remodelling a track for my own band Ghostree, turned me on to the music of Zammuto. One listen through to YAY, the opening track on the project's self-titled debut album, and I was sold.

This is a special album. Nick Zammuto is a genius. Riff and hook-heavy "pop" music for grown ups is the order of the day here. Whereas much of the press from bastions of indie-ness such as Pitchfork have  commented on similarities and differences with Zammuto's former work I, being in the perhaps unfortunate position of unfamiliarity with his former band, Books, was able to approach Zammuto with fresh ears and an uncluttered mind.

I love this record. Layer upon layer of just great creativity seeps out of every pore. Nothing is wasted, nothing is over-done, everything feels just right. Take for instance the jazz-infused Idiom Wind, the first track to feature truly discernible vocals, led by a wandering bass line and off-kilter percussion, this track  follows the pattern of much of the album of being something of a mini pop-symphony. Often, when listening to new bands, I can be churlish and think "I understand that, that's easy to do" or some such. Not so here. The compositional mind at work here is a wonder, a thing of beauty. To not only come up with the ideas here, but also to bring them to fruition on such a beautifully formed record is a sign of greatness. The wonderfully named FU C3PO is another highlight, the most un-single sounding single you're likely to hear all year, but at the same time, a perfect single for a band like Zammuto, it distills all that is brilliant about the band in three and a half minutes and leaves you begging for more. Of particular interest here is the fusion of electronica and processed vocals, which give an unsettling sense, but at the same time feel just right.

This is one of my favourite records of the year so far. A triumph, and a dizzying call to creativity and challenging pop music for the rest of us.

It seems that others agree with me. Zammuto is busy on the road in the USA right now, including forthcoming dates with Gotye. I can only dream of how these songs would transmit live, but I urge you, if you are fortunate enough to live on that side of the pond, to take the opportunity to find out when they roll through your town.

Listen to this wonderful album below.

Sound Supply - Drop 3

First of all, you need to click this link. Now. Did you click it yet? Now you've clicked, you'll be starting to see what all the fuss is about.

The gimmick, if you can call it that without being unintentionally insulting, is easy. Ten albums, available in a bulk download, for 10 days (starting today) for $15. That's just under £10 of your English money. Or, not very much. Or an album for a pound.

I got into this a couple of months ago (they release bi-monthly it seems) and discovered the newest records by Jeremy Enigk and The Xcerts, as well as catching up with TW Walsh (Pedro the Lion) and several others.

This time, it's even better. Albums from The Dear Hunter, Asobi Seksu, the quite brilliant Via Audio, as well as Hellogoodbye and Small Cities are the highlights here. Highlights that is, apart from the return of The Get Up Kids, one of the best bands, in like, ever. You can get this deal for a little over 9 days. You would be an idiot not to. An idiot. The Dear Hunter's record is blowing my mind right now.

You can read an interview with the ideas man behind the project here

Sound Supply offer a $75 annual subscription deal too. Tempting isn't it? Especially when the music is this good...

10 albums, for $15 every two months. It's like the best "introduce me to new music" idea I've seen in years. Click the link now, or watch that there intro video below. But do it. Do it now.



I'm off to do some serious listening...

Help Gaz Coombs (You know you want to)

Gaz Coombs (he used to sing in Supergrass you know) has just released his debut solo record. Gaz Coombs Present...Here Come The Bombs is a brave new step in a career which has been full of brave steps.

And now, if you're in the UK, you have the chance to be in his new video (tomorrow). Head to the link below, and get ready to simulate!

Sign up here - http://assets.emi.com/gazcoombes/signup/images/index.html

Foreign Slippers - Farewell to the Old Ghosts

"Welcome to the world of Foreign Slippers, where flocks of scratchy birds fly over enchanted forests full of cloth dogs and mercurial musicians, while a bewitching voice sings lullabies to the icy sky…"


So begins the press release for this brilliant new album, one of the finest singer-songwriter albums 2012 has so far had to offer. If it wasn't so, well, spot on, you could dismiss it as pretentious nonsense, but one listen to this intense, sometimes unsettling, but always wonderful and ultimately uplifting record renders the description perfect.


Foreign Slippers, the brainchild of Gabi Froden are yet another band you need to know about this year. Current touring mates of Duke Special, an artist who ploughs a similar furrow to Froden's ethereal and yet indulgent songs, theirs is an album sure to take up residence in the end of year best of lists of the discerning listener. Not as immediate as some people might like, lacking in pithy, singalong choruses it may be, but Farewell to the Old Ghosts is chock full of invention, creativity and musical nous. I am sold. Completely sold. The world needs more songwriters who aren't afraid to push boundaries, to try things. And not just to try things, but to winningly, spectacularly succeed whilst doing so.


There are a lot of great songs here. I particularly loved the pulse of Under Your Ribs, while the more restrained Two People in You is a thing of beauty which must go down a storm live. This is a consistent album for certain, not one to be easily penetrated on first listen, but one to be lived with, to grow in to. Take the time, you won't regret it. Watch the video for the brilliant title track below, and be sure to buy this record!

Needmore - Back At the Start

Needmore are one of the most exciting new faces on the American college pop-rock circuit right now. Already asked to perform on the prestigious Jimmy Kimmel Live in the USA, and propelled by the anthemic single Lost My Way (watch the video below) their newest mini-album, Back At The Start is a cool collection of radio-ready rock songs, precision-engineered to achieve maximum impact for those times when you just fancy whistling a song as you walk down the street, sing in the shower, or pretend to be a rock star with your hair-brush in front of the mirror (you do that too, right? RIGHT?).

This is a band, as the people in the know say, who have traction. Radio success on multiple continents, exposure on MTV, and a slew of highly successful college tours are already under their belts. A rise to the big leagues seems assured on the basis of their hard work-ethic and sensible business plan alone, but what of the songs?

Well on this seven track EP (which is really only six, as the first track acts as an intro), we are met with, primarily, BIG STUFF. Everything is huge, from the drum sounds, which are the most immediately apparent aspect of the band's sound, to the widescreen and full-on vocal placing at play on the title track, as it flows in to a Coldplay-esque fusion of piano and emotive single note guitar riffs, leading to a  plethora of "woah, oh, ohhhs" and a bull-horn of a chorus, you know where you are and why this works. Everything here is just right. These guys can write, play, and they have something to say.  In lead vocalist Garrett McArthur, they possess a weapon, able to sound sugary-sweet one moment, and to caterwaul like the best of them the next. Add some cinematic strings towards the end of the track, and really. everything a band needs to try and out Chris Martin Chris Martin barring an annoying falsetto is present and correct.

Next we have the afore-mentioned Lost My Way, which is a great song. Period. This one comes off a little more in the Lifehouse direction for me, but again, features some good invention in the instrumentation, a great vocal performance, and is just dying to be played on the radio. 

The final main track on the EP is Too Late, which builds from a piano-led intro in to an epic close. Once again, this is perfect for radio. 

Following these, acoustic versions of the three previous songs round out the EP and show that good songs, done in any style, remain good songs. I would have preferred a couple more songs performed in Needmore's signature style, but I guess they must be saving those for an album or some such. A band marketed this well always has a plan :-)

If you love pop-rock which is on the softer end of things, but which is all about the songs, this record is for you. I would be shocked if Needmore do not continue their apparently meteoric rise to greater things, so get in early and enjoy them from the start.

Butterfly Boucher - Self-Titled

A few weeks ago, I posted the video for the brilliant single, 5,6,7,8 from Butterfly Boucher. As a calling card to her new, self-titled record, it was perfect. Memorable, catchy as all get-out, inventive, small, but perfectly formed. All of these comments can, I think, be readily applied to the new record.

Butterfly Boucher is a precocious talent. Falling somewhere between electro-pop and the more creative end of the singer-songwriter pantheon, this ten track album showcases Butterfly's emotive and expressive vocal to the fullest extent of any of her output so far. What's more, every song here could follow 5,6,7,8 as a single. For instance, Fooling Around is propelled along by a strong beat, some ethereal synths, and the kind of chorus that you can fall instantly in love with, and yet find yourself growing to appreciate more and more as time passes by.

The fact that this song is followed immediately by the more restrained, but no-less radio-ready Warning Bell is indicative of the quality at play here. The writing and production here is first rate. We live in an era of *the song*, rather than *the album* these days, and Butterfly and her co-producer Jamie Kenney have worked wonderfully here to craft a collection of songs which both vindicate A&M's decision to sign her in 2003, and call in to question why she has yet to taste the kind of national and international acclaim her prodigious talent deserves.

Coming across as a labour of love, meticulously pieced together, yet playful enough to be enjoyed as a "pop" record, this is a rare kind of album. It is the kind that works on multiple levels, suits many different moods yet, at it's core, maintains an artistic integrity which is pleasing on the ear and heart. My favourite track here is probably the jangling "Unashamed Desire" with it's winning combination of kitchen sink production and a confrontational lyric. I'd be shocked if this song doesn't do the business for Butterfly at radio in the months to come, but either way, this is a cracking track which fully showcases all that is best about an exciting new discovery.

Get this record and devour it. You won't be disappointed.

Superhero - Things We Need For the Journey

Superhero have become good friends of mine over the years. The band have been on the Battle For Your Soul Tour for what seems like decades now, and I have had the pleasure of opening for them on numerous occasions. Quite a few of the songs that make up this new album have formed staple parts of the live sets I've heard over the last couple of years, and I'm happy to report that all have made a smooth transition to the studio, emerging as what is Superhero's best album to date by far*

As a band, Superhero have changed much since the days of being signed to Fierce Distribution here in the UK. A strong sense of purpose and clear evangelistic mission has come to the fore in the last few years - an exciting development in a British Christian music scene seemingly devoid of vitality and vision in recent times. To this point though, for me, Superhero's albums since their seminal self-titled label debut hadn't lived up to the panache and vibe of their live outings. This all changes here.

Immediately on opener, "Human", things become clear. This is going to be a very good record indeed, full of nuance and craft. It will be expertly mixed by the masterful Julian Kindred, and most of all, Tim Cheshire really really means more than you could possibly know everything you will hear him sing hereafter. It is the passion in Cheshire's voice which most directly jumps out at you. The best he's sounded for years, his words draw you in and leave you tapping, humming, nodding, praying, perhaps even shouting along. Backed by his wonderfully agile and hirsute band, each of the nine songs which follow give Chesh the opportunity to lay out a manifesto for change, not just of the music scene, but of lives and souls.

"We Will Not Forget" builds from a calm beginning to an epic conclusion, while the title track, a live favourite of mine for some time now, is simply wonderful, with a gargantuan riff from Gav McGrath propelling it along. "No Surrender", with it's bold refrain of "don't give in to what the enemy wants" as a call to arms, along with some cool keys effects, and perhaps even a touch of brass, is another great, as is "Let's Kill Klaatu (what is that song about?!), while rollicking closer "Graduation Day" has you reaching for the repeat button as it draws to a cacophonous close.

I haven't commented on every song. I could have. They're all great. They could all be singles. None of them feature cheesy Christian nonsense lyrics. All of them leave you humming, smiling, and thinking about life and faith. Job done.

Best of all, it's fantastic to finally have an album from an unashamedly Christian British band that doesn't need to be qualified or apologised for before it can be played to friends, be they Christian or not. This is an album which sets a new standard for independent British bands.

I am biased, these guys are friends of mine, but this is a band with a mission, a sound, and a bunch of songs, that it is very easy to get behind and support. Do it today.

*In my humble opinion.


Buy the album here

We Are Creation - Self-Titled

We Are Creation is the brainchild of David Lim, worship leader at Anchor Nashville. The band and album seems to have been conceived as a vehicle for the epic, anthemic songs David has been penning for that congregation to sing over the last few years. Released by the (nearly always) reliable Come and Live! as a free download a week or so ago, as well as being available from iTunes and from the band direct, this is one indie-worship record you won't want to miss if you enjoy, well, indie-worship.

I have a bias here, it has to be said. I visited Anchor last summer whilst recording for my own band's record, and instantly fell in love with the Church as a whole, and particularly with the unusual and fresh approach they had to singing in Church. Basically, all of their bands were good. Really good. In a Church which must number somewhere circa 100-150, the quality of music on offer pretty much blew my mind, particularly David Lim's powerful songs. They were simple, yet artfully written. Memorable, yet musically satisfying too. And more than that, they drew me in to a place of praise that few songs had managed before, or have done since. Basically, I was sold.

When I heard that David was recording an album, I was excited, and waited expectantly and somewhat impatiently for its releasee. Now it has finally come, and I am far from disappointed.

Here are ten fully-formed, muscular modern rock songs, delivered with a craft and passion which is disarming. The sense of abandonment is tangible throughout. Best of all, every song, to my ears, could be picked up by Churches and worship leaders elsewhere and run with. Right from the first notes of You Are Holy, to the beautiful coda of live closer At Your Feet, these are songs which can be admired, but also which can, and should, indeed must, be used. David Lim is a great songwriter. I wish I'd written some of these songs. I think that's the greatest compliment I can pay him, and this album.


You should go and download it. Now. If you like Jesus, music, guitars or your ears, you owe it to yourself. I only hope that the creativity and courage on show here gets the breadth of audience it deserves, and that through it, many people are brought to their knees in praise.

Brilliant.


We Are Creation - At Your Feet from We Are Creation on Vimeo.


Download the album for free here from Come and Live!

The 72 - What I Want From My Football Club

I wrote for The 72 about what I want from Northampton Town a few weeks ago. The post is here

Click here to visit the blog

The 72 is a great blog. I heartily recommend it.

Butterfly Boucher

Butterfly Boucher is an exciting indie pop artist, with a new, self-titled album out this week. I haven't heard the record yet, but if the tracks on the recently released free download album "The Evolution" are anything to go by, it's sure to be a treat and a delight. You can watch the video for her current single, 5,6,7,8 below.

I would urge you to check out the new record, on the basis of this song alone. If you need more convincing, head to Noisetrade and pick up The Evolution now!

Neil Cowley Trio + Mount Molehill Strings, CBSO Centre Birmingham 13.4.12 Live Review

Sitting at my desk, around 10 hours after arriving home from Birmingham, I'm faced with the task of putting last night in to words. It will be a tough ask. Neil Cowley, Evan Jenkins, Rex Horan and Julian Ferraretto's inspired Mount Molehill Strings did things to me last night that very few live acts can manage these days, or in fact ever have. Rather than give a song by song rundown of the night's wonderful and epic proceedings, I want to focus on a few key aspects of the sheer brilliance of Neil Cowley Trio and their approach to the craft of live music.

Earlier in the year, I had the privilege and joy of reviewing the band's new album, The Face of Mount Molehill. Featuring new double bassist Rex Horan, a full on string section, and guitar-toting legend Leo Abrahams, the album was the fullest realisation yet of Cowley's widescreen vision and potential. So strong, in fact, was said album, that I was slightly nervous to see one of my favourite live bands again. How would the songs and sounds translate to the live stage? Would the playful beauty, sheer energy and sometimes visceral attack of the previous live trio be translated to the larger ensemble format? Would they play Clumsy Couple? (A personal favourite). I needn't have worried.

Right from the first strains of opener Lament (once the ever-present Lizard had been placed atop the piano, surveying his estate for the evening), the audience were swept along in a whirlwind journey of emotion. I've never known a band who can provoke such joy in their audience one minute, as with the wonderful closing of How Do We Catch Up, whilst in almost the next breath reducing them to eyes-closed reverie with a slice of melodic beauty like Skies Are Rare. These are songs about spiders who live at the bottom of the garden, men who look like greyhounds, or, more seriously, historical documents at the emotion at the sickness of a newborn daughter, and somehow, without the aid (or should that be hindrance) of lyrics, the desired emotional connection is made time and again.

Second, the musicianship. Oh the musicianship. Every track here had something special. All built on rock-solid foundations of melody, and the kind of chordal structure most writers can only dream of, Jenkins and Horan's flourishes of colour turn each piece in to an opportunity to marvel at the possibilities when a trio are as in sync with one another as these three. The playful glances, winks and smiles between the band members as each song grew and moved, requiring each member to up their game and improvise, within the structures of the original piece, were a joy to behold. These are masters of their instruments, serious musicians, cutting loose and having a little fun, whilst at every step paying homage and respect to their craft and heritage. As someone who writes songs and plays in bands, I am left awed by the free-flowing wonder of how this band connects with each other. The journey it seems they take together, and which they lead the audience on.

It's hard to pick out favourite moments, although the trio of Meyer, Fable and The Face of Mount Molehill which closed the main set, were special. Fable, especially, showcased the sheer depth and breadth of the rhythm section's' power as the ever-changing time signatures came and went with nary an upward glance, before descending into an almost Metalica-like, upright bass-led cacophony to close. Wonderful. Encoring with Clumsy Couple and She Eats Flies, two older tracks, which stood up wonderfully alongside the newer material, was a fine way to finish a wonderful evening. And as the last strains of She Eats Flies rang out, I was left to reflect that I would quite happily do it all again tomorrow, surely the best advert I can give to a band I would say are the best live band I've ever seen.

Find out more about this wonderful band here. Please do check out their new album, The Face of Mount Molehill. In fact, buy a copy of everything they've ever put out if you can. A truly wonderful band.

See the brilliant video for Fable here:

14 April, SOUTHAMPTON, Turner Sims
15 April, CORK, Triskel Christchurch
26 April, BRISTOL, St Georges
28 April, POLAND, Jazz Club Hipnoza
10 May, PARIS, New Morning
11 May, BRUSSELS, AB Club
12 May, AMSTERDAM, MC Theater
16 June, NORWAY, Midtsommer Jazz Fest
29 June, GLASGOW, Jazz Festival
01 July, MOSTLY JAZZ FEST, Birmingham
06 July, MONTREAL JAZZ FEST, Can

Sucre and Invisible Children

I suppose the question is, what do you get if you put Jeremy Larson, who I feel is a vastly underrated musician, together in a band with Darren King of Mutemath, and Stacey DuPree of Eisley, who, themselves, are two of the best bands on the planet right now? Well, it seems that you get Sucre, and their staggeringly exciting new album, A Minor Bird, which is out next week. Their first single, When We Were Young is a classic in the making. See below for a special performance for Invisible Children.



I cannot wait to hear this album in full. Watch this space for a hyperbolic write-up when the time comes.

Ascend the Hill's new single

Ascend the Hill are one of the most exciting bands around at the moment. On the cusp of releasing their much-anticipated third album for Come and Live!, O Ransomed Son, on April 17th, the band have released the first single, So Good to Us. And what a cracker it is too. If only all the music in Churches sounded like this, we might enjoy Church a little bit more. Drink this in, in preparation for O Ransomed Son, and if you haven't checked them out yet, download both the self-titled debut, and the classic Take The World But Give Me Jesus, from Come and Live! right now. Done it? Yes? Good, now you can carry on going about your day.

There is much good stuff to plunder, share and enjoy from Come and Live! I'd particularly recommend Emergency and Finger Painting by indie rockers The Ember Days, if Ascend the Hill doesn't sate your thirst for great, God-focused music on this Monday evening

Audrey Assad: Heart

I just came across the fabulous new album, Heart by Audrey Assad today. It is a thing of rare beauty, a proper album in the true, traditional sense of the word, and a real step on in the artistic development and journey of a truly innovative modern songwriter. I am very much looking forward to digging into this album further in the coming days and weeks!

The Good The Bad "023"

The Good The Bad are one of the most exciting bands I've come across in the last few months. Their newest release, "From 018-033" follows debut album "From 001-017." You can see where they're going with the song titles can't you. If all they had going for them were quirky approaches to the naming of songs, things would be all the more mundane, but The Good The Bad offer plenty more than that. An intriguing, heady mix of raucous, riotous rock and roll, their classic takes on vintage tones and rhythms are given added potency by the fact the the songs are instrumental, a neat trick, which draws attention to their songwriting prowess all the more clearly. "From 018-033" is a different album that is very much worth your time.

Check out the video for "023" here:


'023' by The Good The Bad from The Good The Bad on Vimeo.


Buy the album here: The Good The Bad Online Store

Ed Vallance "Crystalline"

Ed Vallance has a brilliant new album, Volcano, out this week. You should check it out here. The video for his new single, Crystalline, is newly out too. Check it out here. Great stuff indeed. We like a bit of quirky round here and this certainly fits the bill, as well as setting the scene for the rest of what is a really enjoyable album. The New York Times have already said that 


"This London-born singer-songwriter delivers contemporary pop with a classic elegance and an expansive suavity"


Who am I to disagree?! Check this out now if you know what's good for you.

Catch Me Up!

I've been really lax since the start of this year at keeping this up to date. Life always seems to get the better of me, annoyingly. So here it is, my attempt to catch up!

I thought what I'd do would be a brief rundown of my favourite records of the year so far, in no particular order, to clear the decks, as it were, and try and get myself back to zero. So here goes....

Unsurprisingly, one of my favourite records is mentioned in the post just down the page a bit. Neil Cowley Trio's vital and vibrant "The Face of Mount Molehill" is an instant classic, and sure to be up there on my end of year-list when it arrives at, erm, the end of the year. Look for a live review of their forthcoming Birmingham show to come at the end of April.

Another favourite is Phantom Limb's brilliant indie-pop masterpiece, "The Pines" This really is an indescribably good record. I pretty much missed the boat on getting out a full review prior to the album coming out, but the single "Gravy Train" is out today. Check out the video below.

Another brilliant record, but one from an entirely different genre, is Wild Blood from Lovedrug, one of the most underrated bands in the indie/alternative scene. Since the heady heights of 2007's Everything Starts Where it Ends, the Ohio band took something of a mis-step in my view, but now they're back and better than ever with their finest work to date. You owe it to yourself to check this one out forthwith.

Fourth in this list is one of my favourite discoveries of 2012 so far, Sons. Their new album, Keep Quiet is a fantastically emotional and energetic rock record, one of the best you'll hear in this or any other year for sure. Definitely a new band to keep an eye on in the months to come.

Every new Portico Quartet album that passes sees this talented jazz band expanding and exploring their sonic palette still further. Newly-retooled with a more electronically focused sound, without losing any of the "otherness" that made their past efforts stand out, and led to their much-fabled Mercury Prize dalliance, their self-titled 2012 album is another sterling effort;. Here's the brilliant video for Ruins.

And still there's more. Agora Fidelio must be the most exciting band to come out of France for ages. Their new EP, Baghdad, the follow up to last year's Barcelone, and the second in a series of three, entitled Les Illusions D'une Route (the last is the forthcoming Belfast) is another beautiful slab of controlled dynamic shifts and noise rock. If you can cope with not having much of a clue what the songs are about (they're in French, I am a neanderthal) and are instead happy to be enthralled by the wonder and space within these songs, you won't be disappointed.

David's Lyre gets the early award for best pay what you like/free album of the year with the sublime "Picture of Our Youth", a perfect collection of finely-honed pop songs. You owe it to yourself to check it out now. If I were you, I'd pay for it too.

Ryan Baker-Barnes has a fantastic, 80's infused worship record The Deepest Part, produced by Julian Kindred, out on Joining the Dots. That record is fantastic. I am looking forward very much to touring with Ryan later on this year, so I may be a little biased, but if there's been a better worship record released by a UK artist in the last 5 years, I've not heard it. Brilliant.

There are other great releases from last year to which I am only just cottoning on, particularly those from Sosaveme and Least of These. Check those out too!

All told it's been a great year for music so far! Here's hoping for plenty more great records in the months to come

Steve Smyth - Endless Nowadays

ENDLESS NOWADAYS, the single, March 12th
Live In London @ Boogaloo Bar, February 23rd

I am, unsurprisingly, all in favour of the success of hirsute musicians (if you don't know why, you don't know me). As such I would implore you to become acquainted with this fine single, and check out Steve's album forthwith...

Steve Smyth releases his debut single, Endless Nowadays, on TeenAgeRiot Music on March 12th. Following a recent homeland tour, this hirsute young Aussie, incredible live performer, and owner of a unique voice whose timbre can take him from be-gravelled blues-man to angelic upstart in the space of a stanza, will perform live in London ahead of the single’s release, with a date at the Boogaloo Bar on February 23rd and further dates to follow.

Endless Nowadays is taken from Steve Smyth’s debut album, Release, available now digitally and set for full release this spring.