top 50 records of 2011 - 37. Civil Civic - Rules

37. CIVIL CIVIC - RULES

I will let the critics do the talking for this one, and then add my own little snippet at the bottom:

They put the "brawl" into cerebral
- The Guardian

Rocking out in the manner of Holy Fuck covering Hüsker Dü
- Uncut

A ball-busting distorted musical leviathan
- The Fly

The duo craft these exquisite melodies that are completely without peer
- The Pigeon Post

Civil Civic will get you by the balls. I haven't come across anything this year that brings the party like this
- Shattered Satellite

This mix is insane on so many levels, it makes me cream my pants – every time
- A-Life

like having 50,000 Volt live jump cables attached to your nipples whilst sat in a torrential downpour
- Don't Panic

"No lyrics. Just drum machines, pulverizing bass-lines, and a groundswell of synthesizers. Hedonism in a nutshell. Essential"
-Spaghetti Blogonese

GET SOME: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVmY7zCAgFA

top 50 records of 2011 - 38. John Foxx & The Maths - Interplay

38 - JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS - INTERPLAY

This was made to make you feel good. It mixes post-punk, goth and electro-pop. It's the past dreaming of the future and it's pretty foxxy.

John Foxx was born in 1947 (!) and is a singer, artist, graphic designer, photographer and teacher. He's from the county I was born in, in England (Lancashire) and I have only just discovered him thanks to the newsletter of my favourite record shop http://www.resident-music.com/ in Brighton.

Now I feel a bit uncouth praising an artist I know little about, but it's a nice opportunity to check out a huge back-catalogue of material.

As for this album, it's pop-vocoder heaven as Foxx plays with a lot of different styles. I don't wanna say it recalls Brian Eno, David Bowie or Gary Numan as he's their peer really, albeit an understated one. But I look forward to getting into his material soon and being transported into the past future.

GO HERE: http://www.resident-music.com/

top 50 records of 2011 - 39. Washed Out - Within and Without

39. WASHED OUT - WITHIN AND WITHOUT

This album is like taking a nice cool shower on a hot day or a nice hot shower on a cold day. Despite the sexy time going on in the album cover, it's not the thing I think of when I listen to Washed Out.

Instead, I feel the shoegazey aesthetics and dreamy melodies with the voice echoed down in the mix. It makes me feel good, wandering the city, getting intimate with my own thoughts.

All in all, it's nothing massively dynamic or innovative, but it flows extremely well as a record with the synths, drum machines and hushed vocals.

I just had a shower actually, but I want to take a 40 minute one and turn this up. We just got a water bill though and it's expensive enough.

GO HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRXQAn1Tv1E

top 50 records of 2011 - 40. Sbtrkt - Sbtrkt

40- SBTRKT - SBTRKT

I love this shit. It reminds me of Basement Jaxx. It's got soul. It's the third debut in a row on this list. Unintentional.

"playful, yet gritty" said Drowned In Sound. I'll dance to that.

So SBTRKT have remixed everyone from Radiohead to M.I.A. This album sounds a bit like a remix album actually in the sense that it:

"plunders all corners of the dancefloor" - Q Magazine

Yes. These are better descriptions than "Dubstep."

My friend Mattboy Rowe just wrote around 50 words on them for me:

"Hey mate. Nice to blabber with you again no doubt. Do you know No Doubt? That Gwen Stefani is a right catch. Oh my lordy! If there's any foreign readers reading this, they won't know these colloquialisms that I'm using. Well, as for the SBTRKT; is that like to subtract like:

here's a simple equation:

2-2 = ....that's easy!"

Thanks Matt!

GO HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6IFYMJ63V0

top 50 records of 2011 - 41. Ghostpoet - Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam

41. - GHOSTPOET - PEANUT BUTTER BLUES & MELANCHOLY JAM

Reminds me of Roots Manuva. The lazy drawl. The gruff and beefy delivery. The contemplation: "I'm just sitting here drinkin', playing pro-evo and thinkin."

This debut LP from Coventry, UK based MC Obaro Ejmiwe is structured so well. It really swells in the middle and ends with "Life's too short to sort out grudges." Ejimiwe raps about the struggle of late 20's life throughout this record and it's a 40 minute colossus. A splendid, self-deprecating journey.

The production is killer. The electronic aceness of "I Just Don't Know" is a sharp dart away from the wholly live feel of the album. Here he says "I can't be a retrospective rapper all the time" - the present tense of "I know what I'm doing / But I've gotta keep on moving / Don't ask me what my plan is / Cos I'm not quite sure how I planned it:" is plain and honest, but also vital and revitalizing.

Most hip-hop albums this year make me want to get my party on, but this is the reflection afterward. Parties are nice, but the quest for self-improvement takes up more hours in the day surely. Well it does when you hit 28 anyway!

GO HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEG3SL-GoUY

top 50 records of 2011 - 42. James Blake- James Blake

42 - JAMES BLAKE - JAMES BLAKE

So much has been said. So much has been written. So many opinions.

Best to avoid hyping this young London producer so much and let his sound grow. He's already released a ton of EP's, and this, his debut was put under the microscope so much, that the heat fried it up.

That was back in January and thankfully now, it still sounds great. Nobody talks about it anymore, although it may pop up on a few end of year lists. I think great electronic music, of a great soul voice - a bit like Jamie Lidell the way he combines those two elements -and Blake's penchant for changing direction really freely. He executes this whole thing with ease.

He would do well to make it sound less easy. Crank up the bass next time. Peel off into weirder directions. Throw down some Aphex Twin style explorations. For now though, James Blake's debut LP comes off like it thinks it's a classic and it sounds like one. Still, I want him to get even weirder!

GO HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSvb_jGwQ7s

top 50 records of 2011 - 43. Fujiya & Miyagi - Ventriloquizzing

43. FUIJYA & MIYAGI -VENTRILOQUIZZING

Critics slagged this one off for being pretty safe, predictable and cliched. Well, Fuijya and Miyagi certainly use cliche in their lyrics:

"I'll beat you black, I'll beat you blue"

or

"You don't know which side your bread is buttered on"

or

"You go up and go down like a yo-yo"

or

"It's no good crying over spilt milk"

However, they sing about Taiwanese leather boots and minestrone soup, so I don't see this as dull, but comfortable and inviting. It's kitsch. That might make you want to vomit now you read that, but really Fujiya & Miyagi have the skills as producers to create a great jam. Though the lyrics are cheesy and greasy; fat tastes good. Audio-calories.

The songs are not cluttered. They're tight. 4 albums in and they're sitting pretty. So I give it to you, though not everyone's in agreement: this high-fat blog Spaghetti Blogonese puts this record right on the menu.

GO HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7KYOdKTnKM