Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
It’s kind of hard not to regard Journal as a follow-up to The Holy Bible: the lyrics were written by Richey James, the cover is a painting by Jenny Saville, the album has 13 songs. But instead of lines about hate and nihilism, the lyrics are about finding peace with oneself and a strange serenity. It seems James has finally found the answers to the questions he had on The Holy Bible. And where the 1994 album had a suffocating sound, Journal seems to be more of a relief: every chiming guitar, every piano chord, even the harp on Facing Page: Top Left is cathartic. Yes, the lyrics sound like a time capsule but this only adds to the sense of nostalgia and somehow make the loss easier to bear.
The Horrors – Primary Colours
The Horrors are like the 1977 punk movement: few followers initially, many after the initial blow. Critics still exist, people who say these five Southenders just borrow. Sure, the album can be regarded as a tribute to various bands: My Bloody Valentine, Neu!, Jesus and Mary Chain, Joy Division, even Interpol. But The Horrors manage to take each influence, each chord and make them their own and completely fresh. Even when they are paraphrasing The Shangri-Las, use keyboards that remind one of The Who or guitars that are just are suffocating as Joy Division as Warsaw. After all, they are the same music nerds who wrote Strange House and who find references to older songs mandatory.
The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
To say Embryonic is just an album is a huge mistake: this is a statement. Sometimes you might get the feeling it’s just a collection of random songs. But The Lips give you hints to prove this is actually a whole: the lack of traditionally structured songs (verse – chorus – verse), the drums that take over your speakers and the heavy almost stoner rock bass. Some songs turn into a different one half way through (from jazz to ambient music, from noise to electronica), some songs contain references to those before (a chord, a bleep, a line). And this album also has two of the best featurings ever: Karen O (who imitates animals on one track and on another plays with a gun) and MGMT (who turn Worm Mountain into one of the most explosive tracks on the album).
The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead
This is an album that leaves a hole in your stomach. It’s an album that throws you into a story whose characters are alone, isolated, hopeless. People who, just like the lead James Graham, wish the day would end before it even begins. The instrumental only amplifies the pain and fear. The Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine-styled distorts are almost always there. You also get moments of calm that are there only to prepare you for the storm that’s about to come. And sometimes, the tension grows steadily while sonic elements (a piano, a web of distorts) make their way through the musical structures. And always Graham amazes you with the passion he puts into each story he tells.
Hatcham Social - You Dig The Tunnel, I’ll Hide The Soil
Indie pop taken straight out of the ‘80s, those of Josef K and C86. Stories about crocodiles (Crocodile, Superman) and Lewis Carroll’s monsters (Jabberwocky). Shoegaze-titled songs (Sidewalk) and Morrissey-like ones (I Cannot Cure My Pure Evil). Songs that give you diabetes and lyrics that are as bitter as a lemon. Lost bits of experimental electronica (Superman) and noise (I Cannot...). Songs that have references to the ones before (from So So Happy Making and its hint to Wonderland and the lines of Jabberwocky, to a lost chord). A dazzling British accent. And, most important of it all, the reassurance that nowadays alternative bands make the most delicious pop.
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