A God-awful Small Affair

So yeah... this is the second thirty, which in hindsight is rather an arbitrary number, but I've been busy with stuff and just want to build more suspense for the top twenty. So, in the mean time, enjoy these not-quite-good-enough offerings. #50 - "Love Illumination" - Franz Ferdinand Did anyone notice that they released an album? ANYONE? #49 - "New Slaves" - Kanye West Probably the best verse on the album. #48 - "Something About You" - Dornik 2013's spiritual successor to Frank Ocean's Sweet Life . Smooth. #47 - "This Ladder is Ours" - The Joy Formidable They're going to take at least 10 of these to make them as instantly loveable as, say, CHVRCHES, but in the mean time I'm happy to see them bash out jams like this. #46 - "Back Together" - Annie HOUSE-POP HAS REACHED NORWAY. Wonderful. #45 - "5AM" - Katy B I was kinda hoping for some more Diplo following 2012's Danger EP...

I and a great deal many others tuned into the BBC coverage of this year's Glastonbury and spent an uncomfortable period of time wincing over Alex Turner's new mannerisms and stage performance. In recent memory only one other Briton has undergone such a drastic and embarrassing transatlantic personality change (Joss Stone), and it filled me with fears that the Arctic Monkeys - not exactly the most American-sounding band, would soon falter. I had a read back over the review I made of 2011's Suck it and See and was surprised to see that I'd not only given it an 8.5, but also called it my second favourite album of theirs. Whatever I was smoking at the time soon wore off, and it became pretty boring pretty fast. It now stands, in my opinion, as just about their weakest ( Humbug remains divisive, but at least interesting). Where will #5 stand? (For now, that is...) If there were any concerns, 'Do I Wanna Know?' shook them off quite rapidly. Toeing the line...

50 - "Into The Murky Water", The Leisure Society It failed to set the world alight as much as their 2009 debut did, but there was still something beautiful about this band and their penchant for full orchestrated songs. 49 - "Suck it and See", The Arctic Monkeys Despite an initial burst of enthusiasm from me, this album has largely dropped off the radar for me. Whether this is out of a fondness for their earlier material, a higher placing for Alex Turner's soundtrack on Submarine or just a whopping lack of tunes is irrelevant - this album wasn't without its charm. 48 - "Mirrors", U.S. Royalty Bold, brash and rather bloody lovely. 47 - "Go Tell Fire to the Mountain", WU LYF The indie press might have raved about them like excitable lunatics, and it's certainly a decent album, but I can't really place it too highly here - again it's something I've loved for a brief period of time and feel little inclination to return to. 46 ...

They're back. It's been six years since "don't believe the hype" became the ironic soundbite of British indie music - and the gradual decline of favourability the Arctic Monkeys have suffered since has come faster than most bands would endure over decades. The general consensus about 'Humbug' was that, whilst good, the hooks had gone. This of course will divide opinion in itself, because tracks such as 'Cornerstone', 'Crying Lightning' and 'Fire and the Thud' expanded the band's horizons. They were probably never intended to become instant hits in the same vein as '...Dancefloor' or 'When the Sun Goes Down', and if anything, saved the band from monotony. Their fourth album, 'Suck it and See' is almost a bridge between the two. Opening track 'She's Thunderstorms' might very well be a nod to 'Crying Lightning' in name, and does carry much of the romanticism-with-odd-wordplay themati...