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7th December 2012:Top 10 Albums of 2012 – Part 2
Ok, so following on from my last Blog here is the
second part of my favourite 10 albums from 2012. If you missed Part 1, fear not dear reader as
you can still find the Blog here or by simply scrolling down the page to after
this post. However, if you did read Part
1, well firstly many thanks for the support and secondly I hope you enjoy
reading Part 2 which, with air-guitars still at the ready, we shall jump
straight into with a great up-and-coming young band hailing from The US-of-A,
Minneapolis.
#5. Howler – America Give Up (Reviewed in Flynndie
Reviews Blog #22 – 8/10)
Arriving on the scene in early January this year,
young up-starts Howler released their debut album ‘America Give Up’. Now long time readers may know I’m quite a
fan of this bright, young band’s slasher, surfer-rock Indie style and this
debut album certainly didn’t disappoint when it arrived. With a collection of fast, catchy garage-rock
tracks the band very much remind me of a lite version of The Strokes from the
beach-party styled opener ‘Beach Sluts’ to ‘This One’s Different’ reminding me
very much of the juke box from the old TV series ‘Happy Days’ (ask your parents
kids!). ‘Told You Once’ continues the
classic 60’s Diner theme, while uniquely titled ‘Pythagorean Fearem’ reminds me
a lot of the dark, sinister sound the band ‘80’s Matchbox B-Line Disaster’ were
famed for. Throw in more fast, paced
garage-rock with incredibly catchy tracks ‘Wailing (Making Out) and excellent
closer ‘Black Lagoon’ and what we have here are a fun, exciting young band,
which if you’re a fan on band’s like The Strokes, The Vaccines and to an extend
The Libertines and missed this early album from 2012, then I would highly
recommend it!
Recommended Tracks: ‘Beach Sluts’, ‘Wailing (Making
Out)’, ‘Told You Once, ‘Black Lagoon’
Personal Favourite Track: ‘This One’s Different’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bWBdBMffoU 
Howler brought their Surfer, Garage-Rock sound to The Garage back in January
#4. Maximo Park – The National Health (Reviewed in
Flynndie Reviews Blog #26 – 9/10)
Our next stop on this journey through 2012 see’s us
arrive in the North-East; Newcastle to be exact with the long-awaited return of
Maximo Park and their 4th studio album ‘The National Health’. And in my opinion it was well worth the wait
as ‘The National Health’ saw the band on real top-form this year, really
pushing at the boundaries of the fast, paced guitar sound the band are famed
for. From opening piano ballad ‘When I
was Wild’, a surprising start to the record but sets it up nicely, we then had
the more ‘traditional’ Maximo Park guitar sound on title-track ‘The National
Health’ and the sound continued to be found on tracks ‘Until the Earth would
Open’ and ‘Wolf Among Men’, which I always find I can’t help but dance to every
time I hear it. Also featuring more,
‘darker’ electro-pop on previous single ‘Hips and Lips’ and ‘Banlieue’; we also
then had the sweeter, more romantic side of Maximo Park on tracks ‘The
Undercurrents’, ‘Reluctant Love’ and ‘Unfamiliar Places’. It’s fair to say the band really challenged
themselves and packed quite an impressive range of tracks into a 40-minute
record and again this has been another record I’ve found myself listening to a
lot this year.
Recommended Tracks: ‘Hips and Lips’, ‘The
Undercurrents’, ‘Reluctant Love’, ‘Wolf Among Men’
Personal Favourite Track: ‘The National Health’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiVxX3r5GhI 
We next head further North still to Kilsyth, Scotland
as The Twilight Sad released their 3rd album in February this year with ‘No One
Can Ever Know’, the follow-up to their fantastic second album ‘Forget the Night
Ahead’. The distinctly Scottish band
returned with another collection of dark, intense and cryptic songs with a
generous dose of synths, electronics and even accordions applied to tracks
throughout the record. Each track acts
very much as a ‘chapter’ through the record, ranging from opener ‘Alphabet’
setting the more synth-based direction of this album, to the more traditional
guitar tracks by the band in the momentum building and fast paced guitar track
‘Dead City’ and then the excellently told tale by third track ‘Sick’. More synth-heavy tracks appear on the album
in the form of ‘Don’t Move’ and ‘Don’t Look at Me’, while we have two excellent
Indie-dance tracks closing the album with Joy Division-esque track ‘Another
Bed’ and the excellent, building closing track ‘Kill It in the Morning’. The Twilight Sad seem to remain another very
underground Indie band but their style of dark, cryptic and intense guitar and
synth-based tracks have a real charm about them and ‘No One Can Ever Know’ is
yet another brillant album by a band I would highly recommend to check out and especially
go see live.
Recommended Tracks: ‘Alphabet’, ‘Sick’, ‘Don’t Move’,
‘Don’t Look at Me’
Personal Favourite Track(s): ‘Dead City’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wi5iyxGsIQ
‘Kill It in the Morning’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn8jcPXYc1g (Live)
The Twilight Sad stormed through an intense set at The Borderline earlier this year
From Kilsyth, Scotland, we next travel to Bangor,
Northern Ireland as September saw Two Door Cinema Club release their much
anticipated second album ‘Beacon’ the follow-up to their successful debut album
‘Tourist History’. ‘Beacon’ was released
the same week as The Vaccines album ‘Come of Age’ and while the latter may have
won that particular chart battle that week, I’ve found myself listening to this
album slightly more of the two over the course of the year. A record laced with the band’s now more
familiar fast-paced, guitar and synth pop tracks this album really builds on
the band’s debut record for me. Each
track tends to unfold a tale through lead singer Alex Tremble’s falsetto voice
and lyrics; this is particularly evident on tracks such as opener ‘Next Year’
and previous single ‘He Sleeps Alone’.
Some of the tracks on the album are just brilliantly put together and
build slowly then explode lavishly bold in their style of music and vocals see
‘Sun’, ‘Settle’ and particularly ‘The World is watching (with Valentina)’ for
examples of this and overall this has been a highly enjoyable album.
Recommended Songs: ‘Sun’, ‘Sleep Alone’, The World is watching
(with Valentina)
Personal Favourite Track(s): ‘Someday’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y08Y15ik5pg (Live at Reading Festival 2012)
‘Settle’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seQX4m2gYNE (Live at Brixton Academy)
So the final date on our tour of 2012 sees us arrive
in London as Bloc Party returned with their cunningly named fourth album ‘Four’
also ironically released four years after their previous album ‘Intimacy’. There was a lot of speculation as to what
direction the band would take with this album, after their very rocky,
Indie-based debut ‘Silent Alarm, to the more ‘chilled-out’ ‘A Weekend in the
City’ and the previously mentioned ‘Initmacy’ which showed more of a nod to the
Indie Dance scene. I think what we got
with ‘Four’ from Bloc Party was actually a blend of all three of their previous
albums to date, making for a unique, eclectic range of tracks from intense,
guitar-heavy Indie rock on tracks ‘3x3’, recent single ‘Kettling’ and
‘V.A.L.I.S.’, to the more serene, softer tracks such as the banjo-featuring
‘Real Talk’ and the beautifully sublime ‘Day Four’, to the post-punk sound
found on closing track ‘We’re Not Good People’.
Throw in some dance-vibes on comeback single ‘Octopus’ and the excellent
and urgent ‘Team A’, plus a couple of old-school sounding Bloc Party bonus
tracks in ‘Mean’ and ‘Leaf Skeleton’ on the deluxe version of the album and
basically this album formed a great return from the band. I said at the time I reviewed this, the album
felt like ‘a grower’ and this has certainly proved to be the case for me during
2012.
Recommended Tracks: ‘Octopus’, ‘Day Four’, ‘Real
Talk’, ‘We’re Not Good People’
Personal Favourite Track(s): ‘Kettling’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk-J1zT7TfQ
‘Team-A’’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tRK1iAIMT8 (Live at Koko)
So that concludes my Top 10 albums of 2012, I hope you’ve enjoyed my selections and if you have any good recommendations of albums I may have missed this year and are not on my list, feel free to send me some recommendations across on Twitter or leave them in the comments section below. Many thanks for taking the time to read the Blog and here’s looking forward to some great Indie and alternative music in 2013!
Rocking into 2013
‘Flynny’
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