The next person in our series of "Top 10s" is Dave Wolinski from Calvinball. He kind of cheated by adding another 6 albums but I owe him money so I'll let him off.
Top Ten (well 16 really...) In no particular order...
Dikembe - Chicago Bowls EP
Even though it’s just a 4 track EP coming in under 10 minutes, I’ve probably clocked up more time listening to it than most albums on this list. Poppy, twiddly, punky...it’s ace. It reminds me of early (but better) Moneen (in fact, dig out Moneen’s album Are We Really Happy With Who We Are Right Now and listen to if you haven’t already). You can hear a track called Librarians Kill For That Kind of Quiet that’s gonna be on Dikembe’s full length somewhere on the internet. Go do that, it doesn’t disappoint. I tried to get Kieran 'MovingNorth' Kelly to go watch these guys with me at Fest. He was too busy getting a crudely drawn bat tattooed on his chest or something. His loss.
Joyce Manor - Self-Titled
I’m gonna go out there and say this is my favourite on this list. 20 minutes of messy, catchy, pop punk. Unpolished, rough, simple, guitar, with great lyrics. Just fucking awesome. Every song sticks in your head. And the album closer Constant Headache is one of those songs you just wish you’d written.
Circle Takes the Square - Rites of Initiation
This is the first chapter of their new album Decompositions Volume 1. I think screamo post-hardcore is kinda the official term...but it doesn’t do them justice. They’ve always been about the dramatic, and i love it. It’s taken them 7 years to release this since their last album. They’re over in the UK in February, touring with Kylesa. It’s gonna be mint. See you at The Well, Leeds.
The Smith Street Band - No One Gets Lost Anymore
I was a bit of a late comer to this, but our friend Paul gave Calvinball this CD for the trip home after a show in Southampton. About 4 songs in I called bagsies on the CD and have listened to it at least once every day since. Australian bands don’t crop up that often, maybe just because they’re so far away, but this album shows they’ve got some gems.
The Slow Death - Born Ugly, Got Worse
I had the pleasure of touring down to Fest with these guys. They’re some kind of super-group I guess - basically a bunch of wasters from other bands. This album is drunk country punk at it’s finest. I heard them play most of it for 8 days in a row, but it was still the first album I put on as soon as I got home.
The Lonely Island - Turtleneck and Chain
Of course. I’m not even sure I need to justify this. This album was a huge hit all through our european tour in the summer. Not just because their songs are funny, but because they’re massive fucking pop tunes too. I can’t get enough of really well produced pop. Akon being on the first single from this album got me excited before it had even come out, and it just got better once it had.
Cher Lloyd - Sticks + Stones
Okay, okay, you may think this is either to try be funny or ironic but seriously I’m not. I might be being swayed by how fresh in my head it is, and I may be bored of it soon, but right now I’m not. Like I just mentioned, i fucking love well produced pop. Normally this consists of loving singles and the odd track of pop albums. But normally these albums are ruined by lame ballads (i.e. 4 by Beyonce - Countdown is a tune, the album is piss poor). Sticks + Stones, however, is a half hour awesome mix of Lily Allen and M.I.A kinda stuff. The beats are so catchy. With just one proper ballad, this album isn’t ruined. I Really like it.
Laura Stevenson and the Cans - Sit Resist
I fell in love with Laura Stevenson when I first heard the song Baby Bones. I fell in love with her boyfriend, Mike Campbell, when he was in Latterman. I met them as a couple when they came over to tour the first album as an acoustic duo. I was blown away. That tour consisted of rooms full of silent people watching with amazement as this voice appeared out of Laura. Since then they’ve released this album. Now it doesn’t do anything drastically new, it’s an indie-folk record. But it does it so much better than the rest. Such bittersweet lyrics are what really sets it apart. I can’t tell you how many times Laura Stevenson has sung me to sleep.
The Wonder Years - Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing
So I quickly passed this album off as just another want to be New Found Glory album...I was wrong. This is a album about getting old, and being stuck in dead ends. I can relate. Once I gave it a chance, I listened to it on repeat (Except that awful acoustic song. Gotta skip that) whilst I packed ALL my shit up to move from London back to Manchester...and that’s a lot of shit. “My heart keeps saying stay young. My lower back seems to disagree...” nuff said.
Small Brown Bike - Fell & Found
I’m not sure if my thoughts are clouded on this because I was so scared it was gonna disappoint. But I’m putting it in anyway, because fair play to a band with such an awesome back catalogue to to reform and put out such a great album. Mike Reed’s voice doesn’t quite have the power it once did, but they clearly knew that and adapted. Tracks like Fell & Found and Sleep River Sleep are enough to warrant this inclusion.
And because just choosing ten was hard -
Honorary mentions:
Red City Radio - The Dangers of Standing
Still
Really well polished pop punk record. The opening song An Introduction of Sorts sums up the album instantly. And my life. Didn’t make it in mainly because I haven’t listened to it as much recently, but when it comes to end of the year lists, think they’ve paid the price of bringing an album out in February.
‘Great’ Cynics - Don’t Need Much
Awesome, but doesn’t get in because Giles is a div. Plus apparently he doesn’t need much, so getting in my top ten would only clog his sparse life.
Caves/Bangers - Homeward Bound/Small Pleasures
These two had to make way mainly because I knew most people would have them in their top ten anyway. Both amazing albums, but having been hearing the songs live for ages, the albums don’t even feel like they came out this year!
The Front Bottoms - Self-Titled
Really, really great, but doesn’t get in because I’d already heard half the album on the ep. Was pretty annoyed about that when the album came out. Took me a while to get in to it for that reason.
Polinski - Labyrinths
Okay, if (like all of us) you secretly like chart dance music, and you just wish it was done better then check this album out. If you have a fondness for 80s computer games and crazy electronica then even better. Check out the video for Stitches ( http://youtu.be/1-KG7bhqUrg ).
Tomorrow we'll have Jonathan Minto (Minty) from Caves Top 10!
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