As another passes I reflect on another year where I criticise myself for becoming more removed from new music. I still love that moment when you discover a tune or an artist that contains something special. In this digital age, discovery should be easier than ever, but I find it increasingly difficult. Why? Two linked reasons: 1) the internet actually makes sourcing recommendations much more fragmented, there is no "go to" place (though if I had to choose one, I'd suggest Marc Riley on 6Music); 2) I don't have enough time!
With this in mind, I thought I'd share my limited experiences of 2012 and my favourite songs of the last year. I hope that this provides you with a taster of some music that you might not have otherwise heard.
The list isn't in order, other than to say that First Aid Kit is absolutely a favourite.
Please leave a comment if you want to share your tunes of 2012 and, more importantly, tips for 2013.
First aid kit - Emmylou
An incredible album, but this song blows me away every time I hear it. About the only lyric of the year I remember is "Stockholm's cold, but I've been told, that I've been built to endure this kind of weather". Not sure if that's a classic line, but I love it.
Sharon Van Etten - Give Out
It feels like this song has played on every run I've been on in the last few months. So good
Trailer Trash Tracys - You Wish You Were Red
There's a handful of songs that have a guitar sound that makes me ache, this is one of them
Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks
"Ba da da da da da da daaa, hey!" I defy this to not make you dance
Francois and the Atlas Mountains - Les Plus Beaux
A real dreamscape of a song. Beautifully put together
The DΓΈ - Gonna Be Sick
Heard this in session and loved it ever since. I'm gonna throw up...
Darren Hayman - I Taught You How To Dance
Almost cried the first time I heard this and every time since
Chilly Gonzales - Othello
What a pianist. The notes to the album say that the piano is a limited instrument and this is an attempt to make it sing. Absolutely achieves that
Two Door Cinema Club - Sun
Got me at the end of the year, and seriously catchy (should the song partly credited to Mark Owen?)
Martin Rossiter - I Must Be Jesus
See here for more thoughts on Martin, whilst the lyrics are deliberately outrageous, the Bacharach influenced piano is the thing that attaches me to the song
The first gig I went to without parental supervision was Gene at the UEA in Norwich. It was a coming of age. It was also the first time I tried to smoke a cigarette. I quickly proved that smoking wasn't cool. This was a major step of my independence, and fuel for my future passion for live music. Gene became a flagship band for my teenage years.
As much as I liked them, my friend Marcus took it on himself to let Gene into his inner sanctum of idols and this passion helped sustain my interest throughout the years. A few acts have been granted immortality by Marcus and he is rarely wrong.
I was naturally excited when Marcus told me that my birthday present this year was an exclusive listening session for Martin Rossiter's new album with Q&A with the legend himself. Even though Gene weren't the biggest band, and haven't been around for years, I believed that he would be of such wealth and importance that to gain his audience must be a rare privilege. And that is absolutely was.
The present was gifted through Pledge which I urge everyone to use where possible, bypassing record labels where the artist puts in the effort to build a relationship direct with fans.
Listening to the album in a room of c30 people was a surreal experience. I couldn't tell you the last time that I just sat down and listened to music. I resisted the itch to unlock my phone and look at something, it would have been disrespectful and I needed to prove to myself that I could do it. It was harder than I expected (a problem that requires much more analysis), but it was lovely taking in the details that would typically pass me by.
The album is an ambitious piano and voice record, sung brilliantly and with accomplished songs that have been lovingly pulled together. Martin talks about these being hymns and I can see that description. The overriding image I had was of a deeply melancholic Burt Bacharach playing piano and singing songs he wouldn't dare record for the outside world, alone in a beautiful house with open windows overlooking the ocean on a rainy day. The last bit of this sentence shows how my imagination was allowed to run away. This was occasionally replaced with an image of Martin playing piano loudly in his home and wondering if his neighbours ever complained of the noise (he absolutely belts out some of the notes).
After the listening, we had a Q&A with Martin in which he was incredibly open and honest. He was much more accessible than I expected, again assuming infinite wealth and importance. I had presumed (hoped) that he would be his cutting self, but he wasn't, he was just honest. I now wonder if headlines like this are misquotes (eg "Blur and Pulp can f*ck off to Butlins"). He was humble of the situation he was in with the release of the record and proud of his work which was refreshing. At times I feared it could become like "An Audience with Alan Partridge", but his self awareness reigned it in.
(Had this been the case, I was sitting next to Jez - I suspect Marcus has a tattoo of Martin's face on his back).
Most of the questions were introduced with a story or summary of how important Gene and Martin were to the audience's life. Having thought Marcus and I were strange for many years, it was great to take some comfort that others had seen and fallen for the same things. Few live bands could match Gene's energy - and although this is a blog about Martin -the guitar playing and general musicianship was beyond the size of venue they were typically playing. But the songs were powerful too and resonated with my teenage frustrations and ambitions (I originally started a list of songs I loved, but that is too boring, even for this blog).
Given this emotional attachment, can I be truly objective about the album? Probably not, but I have listened to the album 4 times today and it stands as an incredibly accomplished work, without the history. I heard one of the songs on 6Music the other day and it did not sound out of place with new songs in the same way that many songs from Gene's era can do.
You're unlikely to be dancing to the album, but give it the attention it deserves and it will keep giving. It's taught me to take more time actually listening to music, which is only fair when we consider the effort that goes into the creation.
Do me a favour and listen to an album from start to finish with no distractions. It's worth it. I recommend it be this one.
