Hottest 100

It's that time of year when we take stock of our listening habits for the past 12 months and I realise just how homogenous my musical tastes really are. This year's Hottest 100 shortlist has been an especially straight forward mix of nice melodic, Triple J-favoured indie-pop made by white people with acoustic guitars handy. Not a particularly edgy list, especially after Lisa Mitchell and edged out Animal Collective, and I just plain gave up on my usual practice of voting for obscure local tunes that had barely scraped a couple of spins on Home and Hosed, didn't make the shortlist and hadn't a chance in heck of making it into the final countdown, but what the hey, here is my fairly unadventurous, pretty homogenous but y'know, still pretty nice top 10.

Leader Cheetah - Fly Golden Arrow (Pt. 1)

The Middle East - Blood

Grizzly Bear - While You Wait For The Others

Sarah Blasko - Hold On My Heart

Washington - How To Tame Lions

Oh Mercy - Get You Back

Bon Iver - Blood Bank

Dirty Projectors - Cannibal Resource

Lisa Mitchell - Clean White Love

Cloud Control - Gold Canary

Sally Seltmann

If questioned about New Buffalo's music I would shamefully have to plead woeful ignorance. Despite having a passing awareness of her much fêted second album Something, Somewhere and that elephant in the room, the behemoth hit she spawned for Feist in 2007, my only actual exposure to her music was a cover of Crowded House's 'Four Seasons In One Day' from the excellent She Will Have Her Way compilation.

But thank you Mess+Noise for shaking me out of my living-under-a-rock-ness by bringing this, her first single under her own name, to my attention and making it the soundtrack to my November/December. At the risk of having someone confuse me for a lady for the kind of "sensitive" gush I write about here (thanks again, Megan Washington), this song is endlessly lovely. Swaying between moments of shimmering intimacy and bursts of lush drums and momentum building shininess. It positively drips with lilting sweetness yet doesn't make me want to vomit (unlike her current press picture which is a little saccharine even for my tastes).

Her third (or debut, whichever way you look at it) album, is titled Heart That's Pounding, which seems a pretty appropriate title.

Sally Seltmann - Harmony To My Hearbeat

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Bishop Allen

I first got turned on to this Brooklyn duo-come-quintet through the film 'Mutual Appreciation', an earnest, scratchy little black and white 'mumblecore' film by Andrew Bujalski. In it, Bishop Allen frontman Justin Rice played (although I'm unsure how much acting was necessary) a struggling Brooklyn musician, who had recently moved to the big apple to restart his band The Bumblebees after breaking up in Boston. It's quite a nice little film, and featured a few Bishop Allen songs from their first album Charm School, notably 'Quarter to Three', which Rice plays in a duo at a live show within the film.

It turns out they had released two albums and achieved some level of online notoriety through the "EP project", where they spent 2006 writing, recording and releasing a new EP for each month of the year. Their second album The Broken String was composed largely of cuts from the huge pool of material generated in that year and features sweet tunes like 'Butterfly Nets' and 'Rain'. Unfortunately I bought this album while on a family road trip, and for a while it was the only new CD I had, so it is somewhat dead to me after countless hours of repeated listens in the back of a car driving to gosh knows where and now gives me a feeling of claustrophobia whenever I listen to it. My bad, fellas.

This year however, they put out a new album of material, Grrr..., that allowed me to enjoy their tunes without feeling like I'm back in the car in the 6th hour of a 10 hour journey. Better yet, they retained that nice twee acoustic vibe whilst getting a lot more upbeat and drum-driven, a return to their first record.

Annnnyway, my parents, the lucky devils, just got back from a trip to America, and while in Brooklyn they went and saw who else, but Bishop Allen, pretty much because it was the only name in the "listings" they recognised because of my over-listening. My dad really enjoyed them and thought they were were having fun and sounded nice and punchy, as one would at the final homecoming show of a tour, although my mother just thought they were too loud and rocky (Bishop Allen, really??), but she did love Darbie Nowatka-Rice. She was also somewhat peeved that they only started playing at 11pm, despite doors opening at 8pm... but I'm pretty sure shows are like that everywhere, no?

(photo taken by my Mum.)

In conclusion, my parents, both past 50, went out to a hip indie pop concert at some crowded New York venue whilst surrounded by hip young New Yorkers getting their twee-rock on. Isn't that a beautiful thing.

Bishop Allen - Oklahoma

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Two Thousand and Knit

It seems a little self-indulgent, but what the hey, that's what this blog is for. So, in no particular order (except for the first), here is my inevitable 'best-of' list for the past year.

Favourite Album:
Leader Cheetah - The Sunspot Letters
Spirit To The Bone

Not just the best local release, but for me this is up there with Veckatimest and Bitte Orca. I enjoy pretty much every element of it; the nostalgic yet contemporary songwriting and neurotic shaman vocals of Dan Crannitch, the subtle yet dextrous rhythm section and the rich vocal harmonies and hooky lead guitar melodies (with that beautiful 12-string Rickenbacker) of Dan Pash. My one point of detraction would be the mixing and mastering of the thing, which is a little loud and confronting, with maybe a little too much weird reverb thrown on everything, which doesn't really suit the sound an awful lot. But that is really nitpicking, because in every other way it succeeds. Now it is just a matter of waiting for the follow-up.

Oh Mercy - Privileged Woes
Get You Back - Acoustic

Since these fellows won an unearthed competition at the start of 2007 I've been anxiously anticipating this album from afar with unhealthily frequent trips to their myspace to check on their progress. In that time they've gone through a few drummers, a few setlists worth of songs and made a nice but unreleased 2007 EP before settling on their current brand of incredibly tight and catchy nostalgic pop. Aside from a few underwhelming moments, this album met pretty much all of my expectations and delivered a few pleasant surprises along the way, with meticulously written pop nuggets such as 'Lay Everything On Me' and 'Get You Back' alongside the lofty melodies of the suitably ethereal 'Met A Wizard' and the riffy cool of 'Can't Fight It', which gives the album's second side a great boot up the arse.

Humble Bee - When I Should Be Sleeping
Happy

This album is so darn nice in it's own simple little way. I'm not sure why I enjoy it so much, but it's something between Carly's happy, sad but always endearing lyrics and delivery, Ben's nimble little little guitar arrangements and melodies and that general feeling of intimacy and warmth that is exuded across the album's 10 home recorded tracks. It's the kind of unassuming debut that few bands would dare to make, and it is all the more special for that.

M. Ward - Hold Time
For Beginners

My friend Tim turned me onto this album early in the year, and although I haven't revisited in a while, it is still one of the nicest "public transport listening" albums I've heard this year. It's brilliantly lush, calming escapism. I just realised looking back over this list that at the end of the day, my tastes can be distilled down to a pretty homogenous mix of 'nostalgic', 60's influenced pop with sweet melodies and nice acoustic and clean electric guitar textures. But what the hey, I dig that.

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
All We Ask

I wanted to avoid listing the more obvious albums, like Bitte Orca and this, but to be honest, I've gotten so much out of this it'd be misleading not to list it. While it is undoubtedly relentlessly inspired, for me the best moment is the simplest and briefest; the final stretch of 'All We Ask', as all their falsettos join together to deliver the buoyant, simply golden refrain "I can't get out of what I'm in with you", which sums up the album in a lot of ways: often sombre, reflective lyrical themes about troubled relationships rendered with the most splendid, uncharacteristic technicolourjoy with rad 4-part harmonies to boot. That 20 odd seconds is definitely one of my favourite musical moments of this year, followed a little later by "BITTE ORCA ORCA BITTE!!!!!!"

Sarah Blasko - As Day Follows Night

What a swell record. Her voice is just perfect, the production and arrangements are unobtrusive yet rich and fresh and timeless, and it has generous lashings of singing saw throughout. Her songwriting too is at its simplest yet most genuine. What's not to like? And her Norwood Town Hall show this year was perhaps one of the best shows I have seen this year, and I have seen many.

Clue to Kalo - Lily Perdida
The Infinite Orphan, By The Familiars

I know it came out in 2008, but I only got ahold of it in very late December, and I've been listening to it consistently ever since. Catchy, well written and fluidly structured songwriting and interesting, dynamic pop-folk arrangements with lashings of electronic crackles and lo-fi boy-girl vocals, this album, like it's titular protagonist, is at times beautiful, bewildering, dense, penseive and lost, and that it still sounds remarkably consistent and cohesive is quite impressive.

Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
The Sweetest Thing

I just realised this album came out in 2009, having only recently started listening to it I presumed it came out sometime last year. Even though it hasn't been with me for very long, it has such sweet melodies and an intoxicating atmosphere, with the unrelenting mid-tempo bop and lushly hooky string arrangements courtesy of Bjorn Yttling (who also produced the equally gorgeous As Day Follows Night, mentioned above) that I would be remiss to omit it. And Traceyanne Campbell has such a delicious, endearing voice, I am ashamed to have only just started listening.

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Useful Chamber

Woe betide me for omitting this one from the original post, but this was another amazing album that just keeps giving. Unlike Veckatimest, the other hugely hyped international album that made it in here, I haven't been quite as guilty of relentlessly over-listening to this one, so it still sounds pretty fresh and rewarding having not ground every note of it into the deepest recesses of my brain. What an amazing year they had, from the opening David Byrne collaboration of the Dark Was The Night compilation, which set an impossibly high standard for the rest of that pretty sweet disc, to this, completely and utterly delivering on the promise of that briiiilliant tune. I'm guilty of being completely ignorant of their entire back catalogue, but with Bitte Orca that just isn't a problem. It's the perfect introduction, an immediate, impeccably crafted record that grafts brilliant vocals with breathable arrangements and approachable sounds, whilst still being knotty as hell and and batshit mad for the majority of it. Once again, BITTE ORCA ORCA BITTE!!! I believe I have made my point.

The Crayon Fields - All The Pleasures Of The World
Disappear

I'm definitely a latecomer to this band and album, but in the past few weeks it's really impressed me. It's kind of like a more introspective, less straightforward and ultimately more inventive and lush flip-side to the similarly timeless, immaculate retrospective pop of Oh Mercy's album. And the more I listen to it, the more Geoff O'Connor's subtle yet, dare I say it, quirky lyrics just get better and better, full of lines like "I hear drowning's quite pleasant when you've swallowed enough, and a tiny orgasm can be felt in a cough" and "I scruffed up my collar, just to feel you straighten it out". So sweet, and kind of nice coming from such a unassuming little fellow as he.

The British Robots

The British Robots might be familiar to students at the University of Adelaide for a couple of reasons; they represented the Uni at the state finals (and later national finals) of the National Campus Band Comp, and can sometimes be seen, for little apparent reason, to partake in small acoustic shows on the Barr Smith Lawns. They were also apparently in the film 'Coffin Rock', which featured a guy terrorising one of McLeod's Daugthers. Pretty sweet, hey?

With duel vocalists Mark and Zoe, the band make a leafy kind of pop-rock with sparkling melodies and at times bluesy guitar, occasionally spiced up with rollicking upbeat numbers like early vibra-slap infused single 'Trickster', where Zoe's cute vocals become an almost menacing growl. With this first song from their debut EP, Mark takes the lead and delivers a pretty priceless little melody, and even though it opens a little abruptly, and Zoe is a little under-utilised, it makes for one charming little tune.

And it's name escapes me, but they have one super folky song they play live where everyone drops what their doing, picks up a tambourine and sings. "So you'll wait..." or something like that? That song too, is pretty brilliant.


The British Robots - Favourite Shade


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Crayon Fields

I remember seeing Steph from Home and Hosed write about this Melbourne band a while ago, but I don't think I ever got around to actually listening to the track. It was a nice surprise then when I went out to their local album launch last night (mainly to check out the supports, I'll admit) and found them to be pretty darn endearing. Little did I realise they've already had a stack of airplay and two pretty favourable Pitchfork reviews.

With the trembling vocals and melancholic whimsy of singer-guitarist Geoffrey O'Conner, they are somewhat reminiscent of a non-acoustic Tigermilk-era Belle & Sebastian, with interweaving, reverby electric guitars and layered vocals akin to the nostalgic pop of the last Mystery Jets album with a more sedate and introspective edge. Live, I really enjoyed their other members' tight vocal harmonies, something that on first listen doesn't really come across on the record, but adds a nice flavour to the subtle organs and baroque pop instrumentation that augment their 4 piece sound.

Crayon Fields - All The Pleasures Of The World

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Dan Kelly

I saw Paul Kelly last night and was a tad disappointed to see that Dan Kelly no longer plays in his band (no offense to Ash Naylor, who was quite gnarly nonetheless). Anyway, it is cause to revisit his own stuff, which I first started listening to at my guitar teacher's behest back in high school (I still never learned that solo from Drowning in the Fountain of Youth... just think of the mad chops I could have if I persisted with it).

And you know what, it is pretty nice. His falsetto croon, suburban lyrics that are realistic but not quaint and vomit-inducing and those dastardly talented Alpha Males made for one special album back in 2006. According to his blog he is in the process of finally recording a follow-up, this time without his Males, called 'The Decommisioner', which features a bunch of talented people such as Dave from Augie March, who is clearly getting no rest in his main band's down time.

Dan Kelly - SUV Song

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