Sheer Music #AOTY 2017

It’s that time of the year again, #TeamSheer run through their favourite albums of the year. Turns out after reading last years top 10 again, I’ve listened to a lot more music this year, and I’m much happier for it. You can head over to TheColourOfVinyl to see the run downs, but here’s my list, with explanations… Let’s get cracking.

10. Gnarwoles – Outsiders (BSM)

My first listen of the album was “difficult second album” after Chronicles of Gnarnia simply bolted the first EPs together, before their self titled debut proper, both absolute belters. So this was always going to be a tough ask, but after repeated listens the album not only stood up, but became a bit of a fav. 10 tracks, 30 minutes and a Placebo parody.

Their set at 2000 Trees was absolute killer too. A band hitting their stride.

 

9. Kamikaze Girls – Seafoam (BSM)

This duo came out of nowhere for me. I hadn’t bothered with the earlier EP (you can’t listen to everything) but I found myself with some spare cutter burning a hole, and decided to pick it up, and from the off I loved it. First listen, I loved the tones, the songs, the message. For me it was pure, as I knew nothing else about the band, so it was with subtle intrigue I also caught their set at 2000 Trees, and they were superb.

They have promised to play for us at some point too………..

 

8. Heartwork – Things I Wish I’d Said (Aaahh!! Real Records)

Dan O’Dell crowd funded this debut album, and in no small part that came form a lot of the regulars that come to our shows in both Devizes and Swindon. Dan has done a lot of shows for us, supported some great acts and really built himself a nice niche in our local scene. Heartwork’s last EPs were more than splendid so finally having an album to really express himself on, Things I Wish I’d Said, was a huge step up and step forward, which is hugely encouraging of things to come. 

Whisper it… there may be a second album, and a full band show in 2018. 

 

7. And So I Watch You From Afar – The Endless Shimmering (Sargent House)

Now on their 5th album and no real reinventions of their sound here, this album is still a glorious cacophony of noise. I recently caught them at Bristol’s Thekla, supported by Gallops, and it was a fantastic show. The best parts of this album easily stack up with their back catalogue. 

 

6. Paul Draper – Spooky Action (K-Scope)

I was a HUGE Mansun fan. Apparently not as crazy as some, but crazy enough to pledge to vault recordings being pressed up. A looooong time ago Paul, Mansun’s front man admitted that he had material for a solo album, and that it would be called Spooky Action. I waited patiently for it’s release, and finally this year it saw the light of day.

To be honest, I struggled with it to begin with. The singles were excellent, but first impressions of the album didn’t instantly satisfy me. After speaking to the only other Mansun freak I knew, Phil Cooper, I stumbled across the reason why. I kept wanting it to sound like Mansun, and obviously it doesn’t. There’s no Chad. Once overcoming this obstacle, I “got” the album, and I loved it. Perhaps not quite as much as I loved Mansun albums, but certainly up there. Shortly after, I managed to catch Paul Draper on his solo tour. A tour that was mired by ill-conceived comments on social media before it even started, gave me an internal tussle over how I felt about art and artist, but I managed to settle that with myself, and enjoyed the gig. Hearing those Mansun songs made me pine for the band soooo bad, but hearing his own material made me realise all was good. After that tour Paul announced another solo tour and a live performance for the debut Mansun album, forgoing any support slots. Amazing idea, and dream come true for super fans.

I’m going with Phil, and we will have a whale of a time.

 

5. Gallops – Bronze Mystic (Blood & Biscuits)

Ahhh, now this is a band. I first caught Gallops at the International Bicycle Convention at the Barbican. They were performing in the foyer, and they were utterly awesome! A live drummer, syncopated guitars and keys, a beast of a drummer, a wall of noise. Epic. I bought the EP, 7″ and double LP, and then they split in 2013. Fast forward 4 years, and the band have reformed, recorded a new album, and then toured with ASIWYFA. The 4 year gap was worth it, as they’ve lost none of their power, despite a line up change.

 

4. Alpha Male Tea Party – Health (Big Scary Monsters) 

This was another stab in the dark, having had some extra moula in my pocket I decided to plunge for this, and I’m glad I did. More in the vein of ASIWYFA, Gallops, That Fucking Tank etc style, a sound that could only have been made by a northern band, Alpha Male came with sounds and tones never heard before, and a penchant for tunes.

There wasn’t a single duff track on the album, and the epic album closer, complete with repetitive vocal line was just glorious. I even managed to sneak a live show in Trowbridge in as a warm up to their Arc Tan Gent performance. What make the whole shabang even better is that they are thoroughly, thoroughly bloody lovely people.

 

3. Ben Marwood – Get Found (Xtra Mile) 

Ahhhh Ben & I go waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy back, to just after his first EP (that upon checking has been white washed from his history!), right back to the beginning of Sheer Music some 14 years ago. We met on a band forum (remember those?) and I fell in love. Skip forward 14 years and without doubt we are listening to a musician that’s fully & comfortably grown into his sound, but still hinting at more to come. Stand out track of Ben’s year is arguably “Safe Mode” and that wasn’t even on this excellent 3rd album!

 

2. Japandroids – Near To The Wild Heart Of Life (Anti-)

The album opens with the stunning line “she kissed me like a chorus” and doesn’t let up over their standard 8 track records. Another band not to reinvent their sound, but instead focus on delivering quality and a distilled perfect version of what they are. To me this is inspirational road trip music, that equally soundtracks a night time city-scape as it does a daytime desert drive. This record makes me want to ditch everything, pick up my car keys and find an adventure. Powerful stuff.

 

1. TALL SHIPS – IMPRESSIONS (FatCat Records) 

I pre-ordered this album the day it was available. 2x LP with etching on side 4. Super-uber limited edition vinyl! It’s an investment! This is a band that will go down cherished in the annuals of British rock. A bit of a grower on me, as it took a number of listens to get under my skin (a familiar theme this year… maybe you need to try a little harder to get better rewards?). At times I wanted more bombast, at others I wanted the songs to get going quicker, but upon repeated plays I realised that each song was just perfect in it’s own way. I’m literally still spinning this album daily, along with a few others above and it still sounds fresh. 

 

 

Special mentions to Tellison for their re-issue of their debut album Contact! Contact!, and to Oceansize for their re-issue of Effloresce. UBER special mention to Mark Morriss for his 3rd solo album, “Look Up” that I rightly couldn’t include in the top 10 because I’m on it. Hand claps and oohs & arrs, and you know, that would be bias. 

Some awesome EPs released this year, certainly being lead by Southampton’s Sean McGowan. His vinyl EP Graft and Grief was a belter.

So that’s it. What does 2018 hold in store? You know, with everything else going on, I have no idea what’s due…. but I’m sure I’ll catch up.

See you at Xmas x x 

Emperor Yes! come to Swindon.

The London based, almost twee indie-electro-poppers EMPEROR YES! hit up Swindon for the first time, as part of their tour to support début album, “An Island Called Earth” this Friday the 24th October.

Performing at The Victoria, they bringing to mind bands such as Super Furry Animals, MGMT and Passion Pit. The trio of drums, keys and guitar make a glorious mix of harmonious and saccharine  pop, enough to ruin your fillings.

Their first three singles, released on Tape Club, include The End Of The World, dubbed “A happy marching song about the apocalypse” which pretty much sums up what they’re about. I described it as, what a British band would do with Flaming Lips’s sound.

For those of you who, like me, love a bit of pretentious arty wank to go with it, you’ll be ticked pink to know the band held art exhibitions based on imagery from the videos to Cosmos and Wasps – you can see the video to latter below.

Having already notched up some coveted tour supports to Tim Wheeler (Ash), Emmy The Great and Tall Ships, the band have also been seen supporting bands like Brawlers and Whoanows before. If that doesn’t confirm you suspicions of their quality, nothing will.

The album was released through AIM Best Record Label winner, Alcopop! Records, on 2nd October, you can grab a copy from Awesome Distro. The band support Sam Green & The Midnight Heist this Friday at Swindon’s Victoria. Entry is £4 otd.

The sort of useless piece of info, that I get off on… Their member, Ash, does live sound for Three Trapped Tigers, and has produced ASH, Emmy The Great and Sparkadia – You can find more about him OVER HERE.

Little Leagues new EP

Eeeek, one of my favourite bands to come to town, LITTLE LEAGUES came  over from Falmouth and played with Sailors last year and brought a trumpet player with them – they were rad. 

Last time I checked in on them, they were playing the Eden Project opening for Vaccines (Wait! Another bunch to play The Lamb! – the front man, Justin Young did in 2006.) they had just put out their 2nd little self release, A Problem Solved, and were about to have a bit of a break.

A break they had, and now they’re back with 2 tracker, FALCO, which probably has no relation to Future Of The Left front man, with the same name. 

On this release we see an updated version of a stand alone song they had on their bandcamp, Versicolour. This time round it is a touch faster and certainly more confident. Well recorded and tight as hell, it’s perfect danceable indie pop, though it appears to lack the stand out trumpets in the chorus, but a more Miles Davis-esq free form in bridge… 

The lead track of the two, Falco, opens with a bass charge and trumpet blast bursting straight from the stalls like a race horse at the Grand National, with really passionate, almost spat out lyric “ba ba ba ba ba!” “I’ve got nothing left to give!” and “Where do we go form here?” 

They played with Tall Ships in Falmouth on the same tour Russian Blue (aka Sailors) played with Tall Ships in Bristol, so they’re keeping good company – I’d love to have them back at some point too. 

DOWNLOAD THE EP FOR FREE FROM THEIR SOUNDCLOUD BELOW!

MY 2012 “best of” list…

Here’s my run down of my favourite records of 2012 – Feel free to tell me why I’m wrong, and submit your own best of’s…

1. runWALK! – “Health” (Holy Roar)

2. Japandroids – “Celebration Rock” (Poly Vinyl)

3. You Slut! – “Medium Bastard” (Stressed Sumo)

4. Tall Ships – “Everything Touching” (Big Scary Monsters)

5. Maps & Atlases – “Beware And Be Grateful” (Fat Cat)

6. Hysterical Injury – “Dead Wolf Situation” (Self release)

7. Jim Lockey & The Solemn Sun – “Death” (Xtra Mile)

8. Future Of The Left – “The Plot Against Common Sense” (Xtra Mile)

9. Straight Lines – “Freaks Like Us” (Xtra Mile)

10. She Makes War – “Little Battles” (Self release)

I have to add into this list, the fact that I loved the, Fighting With Wire, Hold Your Horse Is, Minus The Bear and Retrospective Soundtrack Players records too!

EP’s of 2012…

1. Little Leagues – “A Problem Solved” (Self release)

2. Decade – “Decade” (Self release)

3. Gnarwolves – “Cru” (Big Scary Monsters)

4. The Naturals – “Concrete Sea” (Howling Owl)

5. Russian Blue – “Etiquette (Self release)

Favourite Gig Of The Year

1. Frank Turner @ Wembley Arena – April 

So there you have it, I could go on, like all of us with various lists, but it would be tedious. Except to say, well done to all the local bands who produced great EP’s (Salute The Magpie, Nathan Detroit, Homeland etc) to all the great shows (All of yours Abe) and a huge thank you to all of the touring bands who came and made Devizes a slightly better place. 

2013…

Next year already looks rad, with new records from Thought-Forms and Ben Marwood (I’ve heard them both, and they’re both corkers!). I have some great gigs lined up, including Josie Ghost (The King Blues) so keep your eyes peeled on this here web-blog. 

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR COMING TO THE GIGS AND VOTING WITH YOUR FEET – IT MEANS EVERYTHING.