Best Albums of 2010 – 20-16

Before I crack on, it’s worth giving an honourable mention to acts who’s records I’ve only recently got my mits on, and therefore been unable to consider properly, as good and they’ve sounded from an initial listen.

– Jenny Lewis finally delivered something to live up to Rabbit Fur Coat with the Jenny & Johnny album I’m Having Fun Now.

– I can put up with Sleater Kinney’s ‘hiatus’ charade if the Corin Tucker Band can produce an album as good as 1,000 Years.

– Why, why, why did I not pick up the John Grant album Queen of Denmark sooner??

– Engineers have had a tough time of late but the Ulrich Schnauss-assisted In Praise of More sounds really promising.

– Having seen them play as Brother Louis Collective and really liked them, I don’t understand why it took me till late November to buy Boots Met My Face by Admiral Fallow.

– Apparently Ital Tek are classed as dubstep. On the strength of their Midnight Colour album, I think I need to revise my sweeping opinion of that genre.

– Losing Sleep by Edwyn Collins is another one I should have pounced on a bit quicker. Tremendous comeback by a Scottish leg-end.

– Shetlander Thirty Pounds of Bone sound like he drank a bucket of whisky before recording Method. This is a good thing.

– If only Laeto had held on to III until the New Year. Silly boys…

– The first Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan album was great; the second was lacklustre. Hawk sounds like a return to form.

So where was I?

20.       Oceansize

The Manchester prog-metallers recaptured their mojo with this, their fourth album. This sounded absolutely enormous and was everything that you’d want an epic rock album to be. Mike Vennart, who I interviewed in September, delivered some of his finest lyrics and vocals to date and the album comfortably mixed experimental arrangements and commerciality across eleven snarling tracks.

19.       Grinderman

Raucous and filthy, this was a natural successor to the first Grinderman album. Again an outlet for Nick Cave’s garage rock fetish, it wasn’t for the faint-hearted as my original review testified.

18.       Tunng 

Pastoral English folk with a twist. They’ve been plugging away for years to moderate levels of recognition but this album, which I reviewed earlier in the year, feels like a career high. Hustle and Sashimi twinkled with pop nous and snaking Fairport Convention-style guitars crackled throughout. I thought they were custom-built for Latitude but it didn’t happen :-(. 

17.       LCD Soundsystem

If this truly is to be LCD’s last album, then they’ve certainly gone out on a high. Not everything worked, but from the point where Dance Yrself Clean went supernova to the final bars of Pow Pow, it’s classic James Murphy. The influence of Bowie was massive but this was an homage rather than a pastiche and aside from two humdrum closing tracks, scintillating throughout. Full review’s here.

16.       Blood Red Shoes – Fire Like This

A vulgar display of power from the Brighton duo, at least the equal of 2007’s debut effort. Light It Up was punch the air rawk and Colours Fade a blinding drone of an outro. Great stuff.

Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up

Album of the Week: Oceansize – Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up

Manchester rock behemoths Oceansize are back with their first album in three years.

Since 2003’s Effloresce – one of the finest albums of the last decade – they’ve been making critically acclaimed post metal* that’s trod the line between the tried and tested quiet/loud/REALLY loud dynamic and some more reflective, delicate moments.

Since the release of 2007’s Frames – perhaps a little one-paced for some – they’ve managed to fire out a limited edition live boxed set and an EP of fairly calm (by their standards) melodies called Home and Minor.

If their more recent work has had its neasayers, here’s hoping this diverse set of songs will be a game-changer for them.

Part Cardiac is a bruising start, all detuned guitars and Mike Vennart snarling the name of the album. It would make the Melvins proud before SuperImposer is a radical change of tact. It’s the first song they’ve released since Heaven Alive that screams “ANTHEM!!!”. It’s heavy as hell but still oozes melody with some neat female backing vocals before Build Us A Rocket Then… keeps up the bonecrushing momentum

Vennart was quoted pre-release as saying Self Preserved’s music was ‘the heaviest we’ve ever done’ but there’s still room for the quieter moments. Oscar Acceptance Speech feels appropriately cinematic with a lengthy atmospheric finish and conversely, Silent/Transparent builds up subtly before the riffs kick in half way through.

Old compadre Simon Neil from Biffy Clyro adds some Caledonian squawking to It’s My Tail and I’ll Chase It If I Want To. If you weren’t previously aware of Neil’s cameo you might not even notice his sweaty presence, but it’s not just a big name guest that makes the song accessible – it’s fast, furious and utterly compact, the closest they’ve come to a three-minute rock song and its frequent time changes make it sound like… well, early Biffy actually.

Accessibility does seem to be the key. Most of the songs on Frames hit the eight-minute mark while the opposite is true here. Even the more languid numbers don’t outstay their welcome and the closing SuperImposter (unless you have the rather neatly packaged special edition which includes the understated Cloak) isn’t the traditional epic, fading to a menacing coda at barely five minutes. 

Thankfully, accessibility doesn’t always lead to compromise and this has to Oceansize’s most powerful album since their debut. I caught up with singer/guitarist Mike Vennart this week for a quick chat:

It’s been a few years since Frames, which didn’t get a great reception. Have you shook things up a bit? And how did the Home & Minor recordings influenced the recording of the new album?

It’s strange – in the most part Frames wasn’t well received initially. It certainly sold more than our other records but early reviews panned it. Our fans didn’t know what to make of it. Ironically, it’s now considered our benchmark and everyone’s using it as a barometer to measure our new album. I suppose it’s a good thing really – we like the fact that our albums take a while to sink in. It does get fucking annoying when people (often big fans) dismiss new work offhand. Anyway…. the Home And Minor stuff was pretty much written at he same time as the album, so I can’t really say it influenced the music itself – it might’ve influenced the running order though. I think Gambler (guitar/keys) was the one gunning for the heavy stuff all at the front end of the new record.

A levitating Oceansize anticipate a good review...

Does the record feel like a bit of a watershed after releasing last year’s enormo-box set?

I dunno – what’s a watershed? It feels like another Oceansize album. I can hear that it’s got a lot in common with the other records – it’s got the ambition of Everyone Into Position with the maturity and self-control of Frames. The last album was where we started to sound more human – less contrived.

You and Biffy Clyro go back a fair bit, but how did it feel to get Simon on the album? And what do you make of his rather dubious new look?? 

It was a long time coming, getting Simon on one of our records. I’ve always loved his broken yelp – it’s a unique sound, his whistly scream. He’s been up for it since they did Vertigo Of Bliss, but we never wrote the right song…. I guess if I’m honest I was thinking of him when we did One Out Of None, but I never asked him…. As for his look, I must admit it took a while to get used to. We were away on tour and every time I looked at him it was a shock! Simon’s a lovely lad. They all are. I’ll be missing them a lot over the next couple of months. 

You can listen to SuperImposer right here:

* Sorry – I’m so very sorry about the use of this phrase but I couldn’t help it.

Oceansize are on tour around the UK for the next few weeks:

Sep 18 Newcastle O2 Academy 2
Sep 19 Glasgow Oran Mor
Sep 20 Aberdeen Cafe Drummonds
Sep 21 York Fibbers
Sep 23 Leeds Cockpit
Sep 24 Liverpool O2 Academy 2
Sep 25 Cambridge Aru
Sep 26 Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Sep 28 Birmingham O2 Academy 2
Sep 29 Cardiff Millennium Music Hall
Sep 30 Stoke Sugarmill

Oct 1 London KOKO
Oct 2 Oxford Academy 2

 For full details of European dates and further UK shows in November go to www.oceansize.co.uk.