My very lazy top 3 albums of 2010

Time for the obligatory 'my best albums of the year' post. Usually I don't bother, and yet the world manages to remain spinning on its axis, so why this year? Well, actually I was a bit intrigued. And I'm more than a bit lazy. So I just checked out my 'most played' on itunes and it yielded quite a good representation of my favourite 2010 albums and my year in general. Also a lot of favourites that had nothing to do with 2010, but I'll stick to the brief.

Yeasayer's album Odd Blood came top. And just to keep things super neat their track 'ONE' was my number one most played track, which makes me think that deep down maybe I'm not an 'organised chaos' kinda girl but actually more psychotically OCD than anyone could imagine. Now, it would have been at this point that I'd have pointed out that the video below was one of the weirdest music videos of the year, but since Klaxons came along with their 'Twin Flames' video, Yeasayer's efforts may as well be an episode of Playdays.

I got to enjoy seeing Yeasayer perform earlier in the year and tracks 'ONE', 'Ambling Alp', and 'I Remember', still make me hop about excitedly if they come on in a bar. All-in-all a worthy choice for the top spot.

Arcade Fire is up next with their spectacular album The Suburbs. In contrast to Yeasayer, this was definitely not an album that got me throwing shapes all over London, but rather one that helped put my brain back together after all the shape throwing (and sometimes, throwing up) was done. In fact the lilting melodies and shimmering instrumentation of this Canadian band are partly responsible for getting me through the final stretch of my Masters. Having just been annouced as the winner of HMV's album of the year I'm ready to admit that I might not be alone in cherishing this particular release.

Finally, Stornoway and their debut Beachcombers Windowsill have snuck in as my third most played 2010 album. Not surprising that there should be a folksy entry but I think one word can sum up it's inclusion in the top 3, Glastonbury.

The Park, Saturday afternoon, glorious sunshine - the stage is set for what would be some of the best moments of this year's festival. Stornoway kicked off proceedings, and then having swayed in the sun for a little too long already that day, we retreated to the shade where we heard Biffy Clyro do a storming secret gig, had a groove to Candi Staton and the original 'You've Got The Love', and regained our strength in time for Laura Marling and a night of mischief. Clearly I've been trying to recreate that afternoon ever since as 'Boats and Trains' has racked up over 100 listens.

Right, and that's it. My very lazy top 3 albums of the year. For someone as indecisive as me that was a winning formula - letting my itunes do all the hard work.

I think I'm going to go and download a Lucky Number 8 Ball app and let it choose what I'm doing in 2011.

The Barclaycard Mercury Prize – A Preview

Written for and published on Amelia's Magazine

Laura Marling by Natasha Thompson, for more of her work click here.

Started in 1992 during the height of Brit pop cool, the Mercury Prize still exists to champion the best of British music. Judged by a range of musicians, journalists and executive muso types the winners get a massive cash prize and usually see their album sales soar. Unless of course, they are one of the unlucky ones who fall victim to the ‘Mercury curse’, which will see them become a distant musical memory - a fate suffered by last year’s winner Speech Debelle. Or ‘Who?’ as you might know her.

As the twelve nominated acts gear up for tonight’s awards we run through the shortlisted nominees. As usual some are well known, legends the likes of the ‘Modfather’ himself — Paul Weller, some have burst onto the scene just this year such as the banjo-loving Mumford & Sons, and some are less well known such as experimental jazz outfit Kit Downes Trio.

The xx by Gareth Hopkins

The xx and their debut album, the imaginatively named ‘xx’, are joint favourites along with Dizzee’s ‘Tongue N’ Cheek’. When you consider the young rapper has already claimed the prize once in 2003 for debut album ‘Boy in Da Corner’ it could be looking quite hopeful for the indie trio. The xx, infamous for their quiet unassuming indie anthems — a description that also fits the band’s demeanour – have enjoyed a brilliant first year. Winning fans on both sides of the Atlantic and among music stars and the public alike, they were perhaps a safe bet for a Mercury nomination. In fact much has been made of the rather impressive list of nominations this year. Important though the Mercury’s are to British music, there is usually criticism that the list is perhaps not representative enough, or trying to be too representative, or, that the judges are guilty of tokenism. 2010, however, sees one of the strongest line-ups of recent years.

Laura Marling and her beautiful second album ‘I Speak Because I Can’ will compete with boyfriend Marcus Mumford’s, of Mumford & Sons, debut ‘Sigh No More’. The boys have enjoyed a pretty meteoric rise to fame this year in contrast with Laura’s steady rise in popularity since she started winning over fans with her pretty folksy ditties as far back as 2007 — her album ‘Alas I Cannot Swim’ was shortlisted for the prize in 2008. And it could be argued that either Laura or the Mumfords would be deserving winners. After some thrilling performances at this summer’s festivals, 2010 really has seen folk rock re-enter the mainstream.

Mumford & Sons by Natasha Thompson

Nominees Villagers and I Am Kloot also belong to the folksier side of British indie rock, the genre to which The Mercury’s remain the most faithful ever since the Brit pop days. Villagers enter the fray as total newbies with debut ‘Becoming A Jackal’. As beautiful as their songs are, eerie and driven by some powerful ‘80s pop influences, some critics argue that front man and chief songwriter Conor J O'Brien still has some scope for growth. I Am Kloot are definitely not newcomers; having come together from various bands in 200, Kloot are a mishmash of some of British music’s biggest names. Nominated album ‘Sky At Night’ was co-produced by former Mercury winner, Elbow front man, Guy Garvey.

Villagers friends — Conor and co. have been touring with the Cumbrian group — Wild Beasts are next, with second album ‘Two Dancers’. It impressed fans and critics upon its release and is finding new fans all the time, possibly thanks to their sound belonging to a genre similar to a range of upcoming and forward thinking American outfits like Animal Collective, Yeasayer and Grizzly Bear.

Biffy Clyro by Natasha Thompson

Biffy Clyro have been around for the best part of a decade but it is this year’s ‘Only Revolutions’ that made an impact on the Mercury shortlisters. Perhaps their increase in sales and fan base is largely down to the securing of admirers among the Radio 1 playlist compilers and consequently listeners, but their Scottish slant on stadium rock certainly appears to have taken off this year.

Then to Corinne Bailey Rae’s moving second album 'The Sea', Rae admitted that many of the songs are about her late husband and the album would probably be up there among the favourites if the list of nominees was not as strong as it is. The follow-up to her million-selling eponymous first album ‘The Sea’ sees a shift from upbeat lounge-friendly soul to songs packing a whole lot more emotional punch and meaning, understandable after the tough couple of years that punctuated the recording of the two albums.

Another Mercury act making a shift in styles between albums is, of course, Foals. Where 2008’s ‘Antidotes’ was all about bounding in with all guns blazing; guitars on the attack and punctuated chant-like vocals, 2010’s ‘Total Life Forever’ showcased another side of the Oxford five piece’s musical talents. This time round it is about quieter melodies, hushed voices and layers of instrumentation that gradually build into something really beautiful like in stand out track ‘Spanish Sahara’.

Since going solo in the early 1990s Paul Weller has released an impressive ten albums, although always selling amazingly well none have particularly made much of an impact, apart from within the circles of his hardcore followers perhaps. His 2010 effort ‘Wake Up The Nation’, however, received some critical acclaim upon its release in April making the Modfather a deserving nominee for a Mercury. It’s the second time Weller has made the shortlist, 1993 album ‘Wild Wood’ made the cut in 1994 — the same year that saw M People controversially snatch the award from firm favourites Pulp.

And then to left-field nominees the Kit Downes Trio and their album ‘Golden’, perhaps proving that the Mercury’s can be guilty of a little tokenism after all? So maybe it was the case that someone on the panel felt the list was lacking an experimental jazz band, but actually the album is totally worthy of inclusion. Beautiful in its brave attempt to forge something different and new — it wouldn’t be that unusual for the Mercury’s if outsiders, the Trio, got the prize – unfortunately for them it could be the last we ever hear of them.

Festival review - Glastonbury

Published over at amazing Amelia's Magazine, here. Laura Marling by Natasha Thompson

There is no denying Glastonbury 2010 was a really special one. So if, like me, you are still feeling a touch of the post-festival blues read on and let us reminisce about some of the musical moments that made this years festival truly great.

In the weeks before the 40th Glastonbury there was an anticipation that everyone down on Worthy Farm would be pulling out all the stops. And sure enough, ecstatic festival-goers arrived to a spruced up site; a beautiful patchwork sign spelling Glastonbury surveyed the beauty of the colossal site from its perch on the hill near The Park; a giant wicker man stood proudly in the middle of the stone circle; and a ravetastic new henge made from glowing cubes provided a place for guys and gals of Glastonbury to come and worship in the dance fields. I’m sure there was much much more but all this added to a general impression that Glasto 2010 was going to be bigger, brighter and better than ever before.

Then, of course, something really magical happened, something that no one could have predicted. The sun shined for the entire festival – and boy did it shine! Umbrellas found a novel new purpose in life protecting their owners not from rain but the unrelenting heat of the sun, and wellies remained slumped in dark corners of tents or abandoned by the very optimistic in cars.

As with the extra effort put into everything else, the line up was incredible — too good! Everyday my heart was broken a little as I realised that two, three or four of the bands I would have liked to have seen were on at the same time. The line-up was an eclectic music fan’s (such as myself’s) dream. Neatly summed up, of course, in the festival’s headline acts; Gorillaz, Muse and Stevie Wonder — three acts big enough to hold their own on the famous Pyramid Stage but definitely diverse in their musical stylings. I’m going to end on Stevie but first to another of his namesakes.

Seasick Steve took to The Pyramid in what felt like one billion degree heat in the middle of the day on Saturday. The cider in my hand was hotter than the sun and doing nothing to quench my thirst but Seasick Steve was all the refreshment that the large crowd who had turned up to see him needed. He’s been on the summer festival circuit for a while now but his stripped-down act, wailing three string guitar, and songs about life on the streets in the USA were still as thrilling as ever. ‘Burning Up’ managed to sum up quite succinctly the general atmosphere among the sea of sweating fans but we all stayed with him despite the heat for his tremendous trademark finale of the ever-accelerating bluesy number ‘Dog House Boogie.’

Then, later that day, Laura Marling’s gig provided one of the most memorable moments of festival. After a blissful and beautiful Saturday afternoon Marling emerged just as the bright ball-like orange sun dipped behind the trees. She said very little but the hush over The Park as everyone stopped to listen to her was such that my friend aimed a “Shhh” at a low flying helicopter above us. Her set was a combination of the now veritable folk standards from the old album such as‘Ghosts’, ‘My Manic and I’ and the countrified ‘Alas I Cannot Swim’ and pretty ditties from new album I Speak Because I Can. She began ‘Blackberry Stone’ to whoops of delight from the crowd and by the end of the delicate guitar-based ballad from her latest work Laura had herself a few new fans and a boy at the front had himself a new fiancé. “I don’t know if you saw, but someone just proposed and got a good answer,” Marling told the mesmerised crowd.

Mumford & Sons caused me a fair bit of heartache, an ill-timed arrival meant that I could barely get near the tent. Recently the Mumford boys have pretty much exploded — planting their banjo-touting and harmony-singing selves firmly at the forefront of the British antifolk scene. Their gig at the John Peel Stage was a monument to how popular they have become. The audience and, really endearingly, the band were completely overwhelmed. As their set saw some of the biggest sing- a-longs of the festival it was all the boys could do to steal glances at each other with looks of utter disbelief. The intimacy of their songs and acoustic nature was not lost among the huge crowd though — proving once and for all that these are folkies who really know how to rock. In fact many were left wondering why the boys had been billed for the John Peel and not The Other or West Holts Stages, they definitely proved they can draw a big enough crowd.

Dizzee Rascal, a bit of a festival staple these days, was perhaps one of the only acts who could have drawn me away from the Mumfords. Ever the entertainer he bust out his best hits including ‘Bonkers’, ‘Holiday’, new one ‘Dirty Disco’ and a version of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ — all unbeatable at geeing up a cider-fuelled rabble for a night of raging away in the dance fields, Shangri-La, their own tent, or whatever it might be. And, of course, his set wouldn’t have been complete without an appearance from Florence for ‘You Got the Dirty Love’ (her own gig on The Other Stage another massive festival highlight for many). After also appearing withThe xx, Florence actually sung ‘You Got the Love’ three times this Glastonbury. In fact if you watched Florence at her gig and all her guest appearances and then went to see Candi Staton croon her way through her original version, you could have gotten a whole four renditions — I’m not sure that’s ever happened before at Glasto and surely that’s more than enough love for anybody?

But it was Stevie Wonder who stole the show for many, proving that 50 odd years in the business only makes you more of a superstar not a washed-up one. Ripping a keytar to shreds, Wonder promised a night of celebrating Michael Jackson’s life as well as 40 years of Glastonbury. Now, I would never have bought a ticket to see Stevie Wonder play but clearly this was going to be a once in a lifetime experience and anyway, his music holds some pretty serious sway in our house (my Mum requested songs by Stevie to be played out on hospital radio after the births of me and my sister!) But even my friend, who couldn’t claim to be a Stevie Wonder fan — “I don’t know any of the songs, sing one to me!” — soon realised that basically everybody knows Stevie Wonder’s music. His songs are all around us and like some kind of musical oxygen have been seeping into our brains via osmosis since the dawn of time! Stevie unashamedly rattled through the biggest hits of his half century-long career, saving ‘Superstition’ until near the end of his set, unleashing a rapturous response among arguably the biggest crowd of the festival.

Stevie Wonder by Abi Daker

Then the ultimate finale to what has since been reported as the best Glastonbury ever, Stevie’s legendary soul interpretation of Happy Birthday. Glasto founder Michael Eavis was dragged out on stage and serenaded by the superstar — providing the ultimate warm fuzzy feeling in the stomachs of everyone who witnessed it. Even if Eavis’ singing was less than easy on the ears.