A God-awful Small Affair

With the aim of trying to get 2014 underway (or rather, the last few albums of 2013 anyway), this'll only be split into two parts: the first thirty, and the top twenty! #50 - "Mosquito" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs OK, so, brace yourselves because this first list of ten has some positively appalling artworks on display. The first is the 4th YYYs LP, and although far from the best it made enough of a pleasant listen to creep onto this list right here. #49 - "Apocalypse" - Thundercat Not nearly as ugly is Stephen Bruner's face, which adorns the front of his Thundercat project's second effort. It's been a pretty big year for him - worming his way onto the GTA 5 soundtrack and continued great work with Flying Lotus - and whilst this wasn't quite as wonderful as his debut it's a pretty groovy album nonetheless. #48 - "Spreading Rumours" - Grouplove There is a sneaking suspicion that this band are secretly a bit terrible...

How depressing: this is my third blog post on Grouplove now. We are time's subjects , and time bids be gone and all that. The first was a little shortsighted "one to watch out for" piece that I may have written under the impression that they would have the same level of breakthrough that Cults/Sleigh Bells enjoyed in the same year. Then came their debut LP Never Trust a Happy Song , an album dotted with potential hits that had a true feelgood factor. It would seem the advertising scouters would agree: their single Tongue Tied went on to feature in adverts for the iPod Touch and then Coca Cola, throwing it into the Billboard Hot 100 at a respectable #42.  The major boost though has come for their profile: the debut album only charted at #75, and this time around they've leapt to #21. Over here in the UK, however, they remain relative unknowns - probably because we have a pretty strong roster of uplifting pop as things stand already - but the record is something ...

Things have finally come full circle for this little old blog of mine. Back in March I posted here a little bit of giddy praise for an EP that had come out last year, spawning several of my favourite playlist inclusions this year (particularly ' Don't Say Oh Well '). But enough ego boosting, I have a band to rave about. Hopefully. Borrowing just the two of their EP tracks for this, their debut LP, Grouplove have set out to inject buoyancy and vitality into a predominantly sour-faced indie scene. The album begins with clapping and twee basslines on 'Itchin' on a Photograph', a brash and blustery vocal assault that teeters uncertainly between youthful and irritating thanks to Christian Zucconi's nasal delivery, but is backed promisingly by a gripping chorus and climactic instrumentals. Any uncertainty about their poppy sounds are washed away though in 'Tongue Tied', a sugary-sweet anthem that exclaims "don't wave no goodbye!" with raw en...

Not so much of a review for today as a blind bit of ass-kissing for a relatively new band that should, if there's any justice in the world, make it big. From time to time I have these compulsions - the last notable ones were for The Leisure Society and Music Go Music, two of my favourite albums from the noughties. Their backstory is a little sugary sweet to be suited for a particularly indie 5 piece. Lifted from their last.fm: Hannah Hooper met Christian Zucconi late one evening on the lower east side of Manhattan. They had both been living in New York for years and had never crossed paths before. But from that night forward the two could hardly be pulled apart. Soon after their connection Hooper was invited to an art residency in Greece on the island of Crete and Hooper insists “without any hesitation” she invited Zucconi to join her on this journey. “Seriously, we had only known one another for a few days but are both so inspired and alive when we are together that going to Greec...