Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Go New York...




I never quite got round to doing a post on my fave tunes of 2013 so although a tad late here goes..

John Grant released a worthy follow up to 2010's "Queen Of Denmark" with his 80's album "Pale Green Ghosts", Bowie came back with his best album in many years, Glasvegas released their best work since their debut back in 2008, Edwyn Collins produced another life affirming set of tunes on "Understated" and Lloyd Cole returned to the jangly guitar and organ driven sound of those classic early Commotions albums with the excellent "Standards".

However my two fave albums of the year both came out of NYC with Parquet Courts' smart, literate, hugely addictive "Light Up Gold" continuing in the tradition of bands like The Strokes. There is nothing very original about the album but sometimes originality is not that important, especially if you produce an album as thrilling as this.

My fave album of the year goes to a band that I'm not even sure I am meant to like. I have a hunch that I am not within the age bracket of most Vampire Weekend fans but there is something about them that really appeals to me. "Modern Vampires Of The City" is instantly recognisable as Vampire Weekend but is a huge leap forward from their two previous albums. It has a slightly darker edge than the first two releases but continues the tradition of making interesting, inventive, unique sounding music. There is something about Vampire Weekend that reminds me of Talking Heads. They may not have produced a "Psychokiller" or a "Life During Wartime" but they are here for the long haul and continue to get better with each album.


2 comments:

  1. I like the bit about you possibly not being in the same age bracket as the fanbase. I felt like that when I went too see Suede in Newcastle in 1994 - I had the distinct impression I was about twice the age of everyone else there, which seemed a bit pervy so I left after 30 mins

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  2. Felt like that when I went to see Vampire Weekend a few years ago. I remember remarking to my ex wife about how good it was to see the kids enjoying themselves and then thinking how out of place we looked. But we did stay to the end and am glad we persevered.

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