Sam Duckworth

The Best Records of 2015 (IMHO) – Part 3

Posted on by edwardlayland

Going through other end of year lists and also reading reviews from other publications, I can’t help but feel that there is a tendency to celebrate the technically proficient, the groundbreaking or the daring, with little emphasis on how music actually makes you feel, which is surely the most important thing, no? I mean there are things in life that you fall in love with totally illogically, it’s not important how technically good it is, sometimes it’s simply how that thing, person or piece of music makes you feel. Anyway, my so called best records of the year are not necessarily the most technically brilliant, but each and every one of them moved me one way or another. Here’s the third and final part.

Girl Band – Holding Hands With Jamie
Luckily, Girl Band manage to combine daring with emotion; their music spoke to me in ways I can barely begin to express. Sublime.

Wolf Alice – My Love is Cool
A constant on my headphones since July, this is an album of great songs about friends and lovers with a very cool indie/pop/rock vibe. Its highly listenable, easily relatable and even the filler is killer.

British IBM – Psychopaths Dream in Black and White
A fairly simplistic easy going record with beautiful swathes of cello that turn it into a soothing feast of aural delight. Lovely.

Sam Duckworth – Amazing Grace
A deceptively deep album underpinned by subtle atmospheric touches beneath the folky acoustics; it’s a bit like running into an old friend and being greeted with the warmest of hugs.

Haybaby – Sleepy Kids
Haybaby have a hard edged indie sound described as sludge pop and slop rock, whatever they may be, and they make a mighty fine racket. I absolutely adore their album – buy it!

The Libertines – Anthems for Doomed Youth
Contains song of the year in ‘Gunga Din’ plus a host of other top moments like ‘Barbarians’ and ‘Iceman’. It’s lyrically sharp, musically vibrant and has just the slightest hint of music hall charm. Comeback of the year.

Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
Obvious choice I know, but it’s really good; you don’t get eleven Grammy nominations by chance you know. This is the kind of direction hip-hop has been begging for, a little less bling and a lot more substance and with killer tunes like ‘i’, ‘King Kunta’ and ‘Alright’ Kendrick is the Negus right now.

Sleater-Kinney – No Cities to Love
Quite simply a great album. The veteran Riot Grrls came back with slice after slice of hook filled punk fuelled badass tunes. Every track a winner.

What’s that? Put them in order! Really? You´re sure?
Ok, go on then; counting down from twenty to one here are the top twenty records of the year in my humble opinion.

20 Luna Sol – Blood Moon
19 Blind Wives – Recovery positions
18 The British IBM – Psychopaths Dream in Black and White
17 Romans – – = +
16 Sam Duckworth – Amazing Grace
15 Girl Band – Holding Hands With Jamie
14 Of Allies – Fragments
13 The Libertines – Anthems for Doomed Youth
12 Iron Maiden – Book of Souls
11 Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
10 Sleater-Kinney – No Cities to Love
9 Halestorm – Into the Wild Life
8 Haybaby – Sleepy kids
7 Blur – The Magic Whip
6 Placebo – Unplugged
5 Public Enemy – Live from Metropolis
4 D’Angelo – Black Messiah
3 The Echo and the Always – And After That The Dark
2 Dave Gahan & Soulsavers – Angels and Ghosts
1 Wolf Alice – My Love is Cool

So there you have it! Part one of the list is here:
https://hardpresseded.wordpress.com/2015/12/07/the-best-records-of-2015-imho/
and part 2 here:
https://hardpresseded.wordpress.com/2015/12/09/the-best-records-of-2015-imho-part-2/

Roll on 2016!

What’s Hot in my House – August

Posted on by edwardlayland

Basically, I spend any available moment of any given day (i.e. When I’m not in the classroom) listening to music, so, I take in a fair mix of styles and genres. I readily admit to my fair share of mainstream listening; Blur, Bjork and Kendrick Lamar in particular of late, but I’m open minded and will give anything a chance, from new alternative releases to blasts from the past. So here’s what’s been on heavy rotation of late…

WOLF ALICE
‘My Love is Cool’ is required listening, from the invitingly soft laid back vocal of opener ‘Turn to Dust’, through the Pixies inspired You’re a Germ’, past the poppy ‘Lisbon’ and onto the pure indie heaven of ‘Swallowtail’ and ‘Fuzzy’s feedback fury. Track after track of top quality songs full of nuances and complexities that make this a debut album of surprising depth that keeps me coming back for more. Quality.

SAM DUCKWORTH
Sam Duckworth’s Amazing Grace has been my go to album for the last couple of months when I want something a little more reflective and a little less noisy. I actually described it as being “like a warm hug from an old friend” when I first reviewed it, and time has just turned it into an older friend. The subtleties and atmospherics make for an interesting dynamic – perfect for end of the day headphone listening.

D’ANGELO
D’Angelo has been a playlist constant since Black Messiah’s surprise release at the back end of 2014. The politically charged album defies classification, buzzing around the fringes of funk, soul and R&B with a rocky edge to the guitar playing, D’Angelo’s smooth as honey voice understated and confident on this retro- familiar collection of percussion rich tunes. Modern classic.

LED ZEPPELIN
Released in the middle of 2014, the reissue of Led Zeppelin II was a late Christmas present, and while I have more or less ignored the disc of extras, (I’m a great believer in the philosophy that if it was that good they’d’ve put it out before), it does have one or two moments of note like the rough mixes of ‘Heartbreaker’ and ‘Ramble On’ and the interesting ‘La La’. ‘Whole Lotta Love’ without the guitar solo makes for excruciating listening though! However, coming back to the original was like catching up with a childhood friend and chatting like it was just yesterday. Now we get together a couple of times a month because it is without a doubt still one of the finest collections of songs ever recorded – all killer, no filler.

LONELY THE BRAVE
I’m not entirely sure why I can’t stop playing this record, but I just keep going back to Lonely the Brave’s The Day’s War (Victory Edition). I guess it’s the measured approach to their fearless song writing – they’re not afraid to talk about how they feel and explore their own sound – I suppose there’s a kinda naked honesty that I find endearing, even on the redux versions and extra tracks. There’s been all kinds of comparisons to the likes of Biffy Clyro but LTB possess a much more robust sound, both instrumentally and vocally, which gives the music a strength that is rarely found theses days. They will be enormous.

MARY J. BLIGE
Don’t know if this counts as a guilty pleasure, especially given that she played Glastonbury this year, but I do love a bit of Mary J. and London Sessions has given a welcome reboot to her career. The collaborations with the likes of Disclosure and Emeli Sandé have reinvigorated her sound and though there are a couple of throwaways, killer moments like the intense ‘Whole Damn Year’, the retro ‘Therapy’ and the clubby ‘Follow’ make it worth repeated listens.