Best Albums - November 2011

1.Siskiyou - Keep Away The Dead (Constellation) 
2.Atlas Sound - Parallax (4AD)
3.Other Lives - Tamer Animals (Tbo)
4.EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints (Souterrain Transmissions)
5.Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls (Slumberland)
6.Black Box Revelation - My Perception (PIAS)
7.Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness (Arts & Crafts)
8.The Walkabouts - Travels in the Dustland (Glitterhouse Records)
9.Paramount Styles - Extra Heaven (Cycle)
10.Johnny Foreigner - Johnny Foreigner Vs Everything (Alcopop!)

EP's:
1.Kurt Vile - So Outta Reach (Matador)

Best Albums - Oktober 2011

1.Waters - Out In The Light (City Slang) 
2.Comet Gain - Howl Of The Lonely Crow (What's Your Rupture?)
3.Real Estate - Days (Domino)
4.Sleeper Agent - Celabrasion (Mom & Pop Music)
5.The Beets - Let The Poison Out (Hardly Art)
6.Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Mirror Traffic (Matador)
7.The Grates - Secret Rituals (Universal)
8.Forest Fire - Staring at the X (Fat Cat)
9.Crooked Fingers - Breaks in the Armor (Merge)
10.M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (Mute)
11.Superchunk - Foolish (Merge)
12.Future Islands - On the Water (Thrill Jockey)
13.Ganglians - Still Living (Lefse / Souterrain Transmissions)
14.Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds (Sour Mash)

EP-s:
1.Surfer Blood - Tarot Classics EP (Kanine)

"O Holy Break of Day" (live) " from the album Out in the Light :

Best Albums - September 2011

1.Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost (True Panther)
2.Robbers On High Street - Hey There Golden Hair (Rocco Grecco Records)
3.Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde (Fat Possum)
4.French Films - Imaginary Future (Gaea)
5.Jon Fratelli - Psycho Jukebox (Island)
6.Howling Bells - The Loudest Engine (Cooking Vinyl)
7.Kasabian - Velociraptor! (Sony Music)
8.The Kooks - Junk Of The Heart (Astralwerks)
9The Rifles - Freedom Run (Right Hook)
10.The Drums - Portamento (Frenchkiss)

Best Albums - Avgust 2011

1.Wilco - The Whole Love (dBpm)
2.Jacuzzi Boys - Glazin'(Hardly Art)
3.The War On Drugs - Slave Ambient (Secretly Canadian)
4.The Devil Whale - Teeth (The Devil Whale)
5.Grouplove - Never Trust A Happy Song (Canvasback)
6.The Ettes - Wicked Will (Varèse Fontana)
7.The Static Jacks - If You're Young (Fearless)
8.Needtobreathe - Reckoning (Atlantic)
9.Male Bonding - Endless Now (Sub Pop)
10.Brett Anderson - Black Rainbows (EMI)

Best Albums - Julij 2011

1.Fountains Of Wayne - Sky Full Of Holes (Yep Roc)
2.Fucked Up - David Comes To Life (Matador)
3.The Features - Wilderness (Bug Music/Serpents And Snakes)
4.Milk Maid - Yucca (Fat Cat)
5.The Horrors - Skying (XL)
6.The Panics - Rain On The Humming Wire (Universal)
7.The Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps (Sub Pop)
8.Emmy The Great - Virtue (Close Harbour)
9.Thee Oh Sees - Castlemania (In the Red)
10.Washed Out - Within And Without (Sub Pop / Weird World)

Best Albums - Junij 2011

1.The Features - Wilderness (Serpents and Snakes)
2.Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See (Domino)
3.Bon Iver - Bon Iver (4AD / Jagjaguwar)
4.Black Lips - Arabia Mountain (Vice)
5.Joe Lally - Why Should I Get Used To It (Dischord)
6.The Ladybug Transistor - Clutching Stems (Merge)
7.The Rosebuds - Loud Planes Fly Low (Merge)
8.The Vines - Future Primitive (Sony Music)
9.Death Cab for Cutie - Codes and Keys (Atlantic)
10.Sparrow and the Workshop - Spitting Daggers (Distiller Records)

Best Albums - Maj 2011

1.The Vaccines - What Did You Expect From the Vaccines? (Columbia)
2.Sloan - The Double Cross (Yep Roc)
3.Okkervil River - I Am Very Far (Jagjaguwar)
4.Generationals - Actor-Caster (Park the Van)
5.Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop)
6.My Morning Jacket - Circuital (ATO)
7.Luger Boa - New Hot Nights (Stuka Records)
8.Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math (Columbia)
9.Art Brut - Brilliant! Tragic! (Cooking Vinyl)
10.Nat Baldwin - People Changes (Western Vinyl)

EP's:
1.Matt Pond PA - Spring Fools (Altitude Records)

The Vaccines - What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? (2011)

Preteklih nekaj sezon, se mi je zazdelo, da je britanska indie rock scena padla v nekakšno krizo, vsaj kar se tiče novih, svežih ter dobrih imen. Večina debi albumov je kar hitro padlo v pozabo in niso imeli "nekaj" kar bi jih takoj vrglo v elito.
Pomislil sem, da počasi izumira britanski indie rock, saj nekoliko starejši bendi raspadajo kot po tekočem traku. Potem pa so se pojavili The Vaccines, zaradi katerih je vsa moja misel padla v vodo. Njihov album je narejen po indie rock standardih prejšnje dekade s polno nalezljivimi komadi.
Na albumu "What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?" najdem v glavnem vse in samo pozitivne vplive precej let nazaj, ki so jih demonstrirali The Libertines, Interpol, The Strokes in na momente celo kakšnih The Jesus and Mary Chain in Ramones.

 Že uvodna, punkoidna, poskočna ter nevarno nalezljiva "Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)" da vedeti o kakšnem bendu je govora, čeprav v nadaljevanju vseeno dobimo bolj široko formulo kjer so zajete tako pop linije ko tudi shoegizirane kitare. Nikoli ne pišem o posamezni playijadi komadov, vendar tokrat moram obvezno izspostaviti komad "Post Break-Up Sex", ki je definitivno najboljši komad na albumu, kjer so združeni vsi že omenjeni vplivi v eno zelo čvrsto in spet zelo zanimivo radiofonično kuliso.

V kratkem obstajanju benda so The Vaccines naredili velike stvari, ki se kažejo tudi v hitrem izdajanju albuma za namen koncertiranja kjer že žanjejo rezultate. The Vaccines na srečo niso izpadli kot še ena "fora" ali kakšni "kekci" o najboljšem bendu na svetu, ker si take opazke resnično ne zaslužijo. Bend si zasluži vse pohvale in vašo pozornost, še posebno če se "palite" na indie sceno zadnjih deset let.



http://www.thevaccines.co.uk/gb/home/
http://www.myspace.com/thevaccinesuk

Best Albums - April 2011

1.I'm from Barcelona - Forever Today (Mute US)
2.Mother Mother - Eureka (Last Gang Records)
3.Pint Shot Riot - Spell It Out (Life in the Big City)
4.The Airborne Toxic Event - All At Once (Island)
5.Thao and Mirah - Thao and Mirah (Kill Rock Stars)
6.The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck (Merge)
7.Low - C'mon (Sub Pop)
8.Mazes - A Thousand Heys (FatCat)
9.Smoking Popes - This Is Only a Test (Asian Man Records)
10.TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light (Interscope)
11.Nežni Dalibor - Normalan Život (Odličan hrčak)
12.Sonny and the Sunsets - Hit After Hit (Fat Possum)
13.Ha Ha Tonka - Death of a Decade (Bloodshot)
14.Guillemots - Walk The River (Geffen)
15.An Horse - Walls (Mom & Pop Music)
16.Hands and Knees - Wholesome (Self-released)
17.Maritime - Human Hearts (Dangerbird)
18.The Donkeys - Born With Stripes (Dead Oceans)
19.The Pigeon Detectives - Up Guards & At 'Em! (Dance to the Radio)
20.Glasvegas - EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\ (Columbia)
21.Wombats - The Wombats Proudly Present...This Modern Glitch (Bright Antenna
22.The Raveonettes - Raven in the Grave (Vice)

EP's:
1.The Fresh & Onlys - Secret Walls (Sacred Bones)
2.The Charlatans - Warm Sound (Frinck Recordings)

Peter Bjorn And John - Gimme Some (2011)

Gimme Some je šesti album teh odličnih švedov, ki ne prenaša kakšnega izrazitega in nalezljivega singla, kot je bil "Young Folks", ki je bil izdan na fenomenalnem in uspešnem albumu "Writer's Block" (2006).Ni ga ,ampak tudi ne manjka. Tukaj sta "I Know You Don't Love Me" in "Second Chance", ki sta nekakšna nosilca albuma, vendar pri tem nista pod nobenim pogojem osamljena, saj album pod taktirko sedaj že kar legendarnega švedskega producenta Per Sundinga prinaša kar nekaj biserov oziroma zvrhano dozo pametnega švedskega rocknrolla.
Vsi komadi skupaj delujejo kot ena gurmanska poslastica, ki te na široko sprehodi po spominih psihodeličnega rocka 60'tih, new wave-a in tudi power popa. Tukaj vidim primerljivost predvsem z The Stranglers, Jesus and Mary Chain ter rojaki The Soundtrack Of Our Lives.

In kaj dela to švedsko trojko tako posebno? V bistvu nič, če odvzamem prepoznaven Peter-ov vokal, bobnanje brez konvecionalnih paternov, nepredvidljive aranžmaje in prepričljive tekstualne slike. Glede na to, da album vse to ima, postane ta "nič" gromozanski, ki se v bendu začuti, kot čista kemija in inspiracija, ki se ne kuha v glavah raznih producentov, kot je to dostikrat navada.
"Gimme Some" je še eden vrhunski izdelek, vrhunske švedske trojke, ki kljub blagim asociacijam deluje sveže in neverjetno cool.

http://peterbjornandjohn.com/blog/
http://www.myspace.com/peterbjornandjohn

Best Albums - Marec 2011

1.Peter Bjorn and John - Gimme Some (StarTime)
2.R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now (Warner Bros)
3.Yuck - Yuck (Fat Possum)
4.The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing (Saddle Creek)
5.The View - Bread And Circuses (Columbia)
6.The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong (Slumberland)
7.The Kills - Blood Pressures (Domino)
8.Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo (Matador)
9.Frankie & The Heartstrings - Hunger (Wichita)
10.Mind Spiders - Mind Spiders (Dirtnap)
11.Obits - Moody, Standard and Poor (Sub Pop)
12.The Crookes - Chasing After Ghosts (Indie Europe/Zoom)
13.Wye Oak - Civilian (Merge)
14.Those Darlins - Screws Get Loose (Oh Wow Dang)
15.Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys! (Polydor)
16.The Strokes - Angles (RCA)
17.The Boxer Rebellion - The Cold Still (Absentee Recordings)
18.Alex Turner - Submarine OST (Domino)
19.Fergus And Geronimo - Unlearn (Hardly Art)
20.Alamo Race Track - Unicorn Loves Deer (excelsior recordings)

EP's:
1.The Veils - Troubles of the Brain (Pitch Beast)
2.Generationals - Trust (Park The Van Records)
3.Dum Dum Girls - He Gets Me High (Sub Pop)
4.Of Montreal - Thecontrollersphere (Polyvinyl)
5.Broken Bells - Meyrin Fields (Columbia)

The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing (2011)

Kanadčani so res neverjetni. Že sem pisal na tem blogu o Islands, odličnem koncertu Wolof Parade v Ljubljani in nazadnje tudi o novi plošči vedno odličnih Arcade Fire. Tokrat je pred mano (že) drugi album verjetno nekoliko bolj neznanega, vendar odličnega benda iz Ontaria z imenom The Rural Alberta Advantage.
Trio je izdal prvenec "Hometowns" leta 2009 in moram priznati, da ni nikoli prišel na moja ušesa, kar je dokaj nelagoden občutek glede na kakovost tega benda. Vsekakor bom zanesljivo preveril tudi njihov debi, saj sem prepričan, da je to bend, ki ga bo treba uloviti tudi na kakšnem odru blizu ljubljane.
Album "Departing" prinaša vse, kar mora imeti vrhunski album. Polno melanholije, melodičnosti, energije, nežnosti, kitarskih prelivov, frenetičnih ritmov, dvoglasnih vokalov in"zmedenega petja". Če na koncu še dodam, da album deluje dobro tudi, ko ga ne poslušam v enem koraku oziroma celoti, potem je to to.
Pravi alter-pop indie-rock album, ki da pravi značaj in smer tovrstni glasbi, ki je že davno prešla iz žanra v neko splošno gibanje in postala scena, ki se vse preveč spogleduje z mainstreamom.

http://www.theraa.com/
http://www.myspace.com/theraa

Best Albums - Februar 2011

1.The Cave Singers - No Witch (Jagjaguwar)
2.Shapes Have Fangs - Dinner In The Dark (Reverberation Appreciation Society)
3.The Babies - The Babies (Shrimper)
4.Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes (Atlantic)
5.Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still Speeding (Dangerbird Records)
6.Telekinesis - 12 Desperate Straight Lines (Merge)
7.PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (Vagrant)
8.East River Pipe - We Live in Rented Rooms (Merge)
9.The Dears - Degeneration Street (Dangerbird)
10.DeVotchKa - 100 Lovers (Epitaph)
11.Bright Eyes - The People's Key (Saddle Creek)
12....And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Tao of the Dead (Richter Scale)
13.Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years (Matador)

Best Albums - Januar 2011

1.Apex Manor - The Year of Magical Drinking (Merge)
2.Cloud Nothings - Cloud Nothings (Wichita)
3.Tapes 'n Tapes - Outside (Ibid)
4.The Decemberists - The King Is Dead (Rough Trade)
5.Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde (Fat Possum)
6.Ducktails - Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics (Woodsist)
7.Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean (4AD)
8.Cold War Kids - Mine Is Yours (Interscope)
9.British Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall (Rough Trade)
10.Cake - Showroom of Compassion (Upbeat Records)
11.Tennis - Cape Dory (Fat Possum)

Best Albums - December 2010

1.No Joy - Ghost Blonde (Mexican Summer)
2.The Tallest Man on Earth - Sometimes the Blues is Just a Passing Bird (Dead Oceans Records)
3.Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - III/IV (Pax-Am)
4.White Lies - Ritual (Geffen)

The Walkmen - Lisbon (2010)

Ali je sploh potrebno postavljati vprašanje, koliko je The Walkmen zares dober bend? Če je kdo sumil v njihovo kvaliteto tudi po 5.izdanih albumih, bo ta šesti sigurno in definitvno odbil ta sum. Za svoj šesti album so inspiracijo našli v prestolnici Portugalske. Zmeraj sem smatral, da je Lisbona inspirativno mesto, vendar nisem nikoli niti pomislil, da so leto in pol, kolikor časa je nastajal ta album, to misel delili tudi fantje iz New York-a. Hamilton Leithauser, frontman tega benda je letni dopust preživel ravno tam. Poleg tega, da  je odlično preživel dopust, mu je uspelo napisati 11 prelepih pop fines, ki so nastale na tem albumu.
Album odpira "Juveniles", odlična uvodna zadeva, ki da popoln apetit za poslušanje celotnega albuma. Ravno ta prepoznaven Leithauserov glas, ki prši po "feeling-ih" in iskrenosti, ne dovoli, da bi nas odneslo nekam stran pri poslušanju albuma. "Angela Surf City" je drugi komad, je komad hitoidnega značaja, ki je tudi mene tako "zjebal", da je verjetno postal komad, ki sem ga največkrat letos poslušal na mojih slušalkah. Komad sestavljajo strašansko ritmični bobni, fantastična surf-pop podlaga in seveda tudi ta močni  Leithauserov vokal. Ena "najmočnejših" pesmi je tudi "Blue as your Blood", s fino kitarsko podlago in popolno melodijo. Singel "Stranded" nekako zaključuje prvi del albuma. Je tipičen Walkmen komad, nabrušen z močno liriko in močno melodijo.

Drugi del albuma teče v podobnem toku, morda ne tako intenzivno, vendar še zmeraj na visokem nivoju. Predvsem vesel in ritmični komad "Woe Is Me" močno dviga raspoloženje. Album se zaljučuje zelo poetsko. Predvsem mislim tu na fenomenalno "While I Shovel The Snow", ki skupaj z "Lisbon" tvorita "odhod" iz sončne Lisbone.
Slikovito, razigrano, melodično in neprecenljivo!

http://thewalkmenmusic.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/thewalkmen

Best Albums - November 2010

1.Girls - Broken Dreams Club EP (True Panther)
2.Kings Of Leon - Come Around Sundown (RCA)
3.The High Dials - Anthems for Doomed Youth (Rainbow Quartz International)
4.Abe Vigoda - Crush (Bella Union)
5.The Fresh & Onlys - Play It Strange (In The Red) 
6.Sufjan Stevens - The Age Of Adz (Asthmatic Kitty)
7.Winter Gloves - All Red (Paper Bag Records)
8.Belle & Sebastian - Belle & Sebastian Write About Love (Matador)
9.Foals - Total Life Forever (Sub Pop)
10.Abel - Lesser Men (Come&Live!)
11.Robert Plant - Band Of Joy (Rounder)
12.Cheap Time - Fantastic Explanations (And Similar Situations) (In the Red)
13.Guster - Easy Wonderful (Universal Republic)

Best Albums - Oktober 2010

1.Local Natives – Gorilla Manor (Infectious Records Ltd.)
2.The Moondoggies – Tidelands (Hardly Art)
3.The Greenhornes - **** (Warner Bros.)
4.The 88 - The 88 (Rocket Science)
5.Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest (4AD)
6.The Phoenix Foundation - Buffalo (The Phoenix Foundation)
7.LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening (Virgin)
8.John Grant - Queen of Denmark (Bella Union)
9.Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can (Astralwerks)
10.The Jezabels - Dark Storm EP (MGM)
11.Twin Shadow - Forget (4AD)
12.The Gay Blades - Savages (Triple Crown Records)