Album Rankings for 2016

Another year, another list because everyone loves lists.

A Few Words on... Feeder - All Bright Electric

Back in 2014, Grant Nicholas released an uninspired and dull solo album that only fanned the flames for a return of Feeder, even album after album of meddling returns.

The band's ninth studio album All Bright Electric again asks whether Feeder can return to their glory days of the decades prior or simply settle with pleasing their rabid fanbase.

Lady Gaga - Joanne Review

One of my favourite reviews I've ever written was on Lady Gaga's last album ARTPOP. Whilst at the time I was besieged with a bad album (along with a few interruptions from telephone scammers), it appears I wasn't the only one who thought the album was pretty dire.

But with every cloud, the silver lining was ARTPOP inspired me to do something different and, because of how bad it was, I had ample material to draw upon, even as I hammered away with the album still making it's first play.

A Few Words on... King of Leon - WALLS

Whilst Kings of Leon have been nothing short of a major success story (with five consecutive number one's in the UK anyway), whether it's their more mainstream sound or the fact that their last two albums have been progressively decreasing in quality has rubbed people up the wrong way.

Pixies - Head Carrier Review

Back in 2014, Pixies released their first album in over two decades without their original bassist to middling reception. Not me however, I really liked Indie Cindy and still listen to it from begining to end when I need a forty-five minute burst to the ear drums.

Later that year, the band released an additional track for Record Store Day called Women of War which I absolutely adored and, whilst a hold over from Indie Cindy, it gave me hope that there was more to come from the band and, just over two years later, my prayers were answered.

Wild Beasts - Boy King Review

Despite being the band behind two of my album's of the year, I never found the time to review the past two Wild Beasts albums, even though, no surprises, they're one of my absolute favourite bands, ever.

Best described as Kate Bush's eccentricities with David Bowie at his most flamboyant and moulded into indie-rock, the Kendal four-piece have come far from their baroque-pop debut but still retain all the gratuitous amount of clever wordplay and vocal performances that craft them as a strange but unique band amongst their more generic compadres.

Ghostbusters Review

You might wonder why so many films now are remakes or reboots of old franchises. Usually; it's because the original films are old and with modern technologies and hindsight, their stories can be expanded and made into something better.

Remakes can work. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, John Carpenters' The Thing, Scarface, True Grit, The Fly and many, many others have proven that remakes can work, given the right circumstances, attention and love.

But a question that lingers is; if a film has a legitimate problem, in that, even with all new technologies and hindsight, if it has no chance of surpassing the original, is it worth remaking?

Ghostbusters Review Prologue

I have no problems with being proven wrong and taking a delicious, if familiar, slice of humble pie. Surprises are one of the great things in film because, with such low expectations (or no expectations), a film can suddenly radiate on it's own merits instead of it's own hype.

A Few Words on... Aphex Twin - Cheetah EP

Named after a synth released in the eighties that was as cumbersome to use as it was unusual, Cheetah is the latest release by Richard D. James since his decade long hiatus ended with the release of Syro, one of my favourite albums of 2014.

Biffy Clyro - Ellipsis Review

When listening to Ellipsis for the first time, I felt something might be wrong the moment Friends and Enemies finished. I knew Biffy Clyro's direction into a more mainstream sound had put off people (although I loved Only Revolutions and Opposites) but this song in particular, sounded too generic and familiar, in that it was like every-other soft pop-rock song of the last thirty years.

Blood Orange - Freetown Sound Review

I'd like to think that Dev Hynes' personal revelation that he's actually black was something like Richard Pryor's discovery in See No Evil, Hear No Evil. Of course it was probably never that funny. For years, Hynes' old project of Lightspeed Champion literally championed ode's of nerdom and lovelorn lust...and occasionally complaining at why his best friends were listening to crunk.

A Few Words on... The Boxer Rebellion - Ocean by Ocean

The Boxer Rebellion have been another band who I've desperately wanted to review but when life, the universe and everything gets in the way and there then new releases are no longer new.

But no more I say!

Jake Bugg - On My One Review

Whilst there was nothing particularly wrong with Jake Bugg's previous releases, it seemed hypocritical of him to headline bait on how manufactured mainstream pop is when, he himself, uses co-writers and composers for his previous releases.

Whilst nowhere near as heartbroken as Noel Gallagher (although I do agree that he could have been in a band instead to help writing duties), Bugg is always marketed as Diet-Gallagher; headline grabbing, giving zero fucks and simply trying to make a name for himself against the same five people who write the majority of songs in the top forty (seriously folks, Google it).

A Few Words on... Revere - Man of Atom EP

In their ever evolving change of sound, Man of Atom is Revere's jump away from gypsy carnival fanfare and indie-rock into the mostly unknown territory of more electronica and dance influences (I say mostly as their cover of Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence serves as a nice precursor to their sound here).

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool Review

In the buildup to the release of A Moon Shaped Pool, the video for Daydreaming had Thom Yorke walking through twenty-three doors, likely referencing his past relationship with longtime partner Rachel Owens of twenty-three years before the song ends on a back masked and heavily distorted call of "half of my life".

It'd be easy to blame a traumatic breakup and death of producer Nigel Godrich's father during the time between The King of Limbs and now, but Yorke and Godrich were involved in a solo album and a side-project release whilst the other band members also continued to expand their solo discographies so, before listening to the album, I wondered why it took five years and whether, much like the extended break between In Rainbows and TKoL, whether it was worth the wait.

Worst to Best Radiohead Albums

After years of waiting, nothing came. Until last week when all hell broke loose in the best use of using opaque in living memory.

Yes folks, Radiohead are back with their latest, as of now, untitled ninth album. After a five year long absence which has seen Coldplay release three albums, the Marvel cinematic universe finish it's first and second phases and inexplicably; this once rarely read opinion piece blog mostly focus on rarely read music reviews.

Star Fox Zero Review

When you think Nintendo franchises, you’d immediately be drawn to pick Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong as your holy trio, possibly Metroid if you correctly agree that the series outings on the SNES and GameCube were masterpieces.

Worst to Best Weezer Albums

Weezer have always been a running joke in the music press. A band that had an unbelievable start in the mid-nineties before crashing, trying a more mainstream sound and failing miserable with a sadly accurate period dubbed the decade of decline.

Sure, frontman Rivers Cuomo still sounds like a lovelorn twentysomething fresh off the campus scene over twenty years since the band's debut album and, whilst the band should be applauded for at least trying new things, they're undoubtedly at their strongest when sticking to their formula of killer riffs and nerdy lyrics.

A Few Words on... Animal Collective - Painting With

Whilst Animal Collective's last album did become a grower in the surprising amount of time between it's release and their latest, album ten Painting With sees the band drift further from their experimentation routes to a more formulaic brand of pop (if such a thing was possible with them).

Kanye West - The Life of Pablo Review

Note: This review is for the version of the album available on 28/03/2016. If it's edited even more after this date, I may come back to this review with an update.

In the aftermath of Yeezus, Kanye West's ongoing battle with megalomania took more downward swings. He finally put a ring on Kim Kardashian despite his obvious crush on Beyoncé, he had another kid and gave him a stupid name because of course he would, he jokingly threatened to invade Beck's Grammy award before revealing in an interview afterward that he should have because he didn't respect artistry (yep, that Beck) and so much more that I'm keeping it to this paragraph.

He also kept talking about his new album called Swish like it was going to be the greatest thing in the history of ever.

A Few Words on... Firewatch

Whilst it's easy to blame Telltale's Walking Dead series for reintroducing interactive novels/point and click adventure hybrids to the market, they always delivered an interesting story. So the first release of the first season of that particular franchise as a new studio, along with impressive looking trailers, was enough to make me purchase Firewatch on day one.

Bloc Party - Hymns Review

2012 should have been a second renaissance for Bloc Party. After taking a hiatus and every member going off for a solo career/side project/becoming Ash's touring guitarist, the band re-convened, released a balls-to-the-wall rock album (which I ranked the best album released that year), nearly completed a successful tour and was already planning to release new material quickly after.

A Few Words on... Steven Wilson - 4 ½

Calling Steven Wilson's latest release an album is a disservice to his previous releases. Despite clocking in at just under forty minutes, 4 ½ consists of six tracks and mostly consists of material deemed unsuitable for either The Raven That Refused to Sing, Hand. Cannot. Erase. and a re-recording of Porcupine Tree's Don't Hate Me.

David Bowie - Blackstar Review

We should have seen it coming. It should never have been a surprise.

Back in 2013, David Bowie shocked the music world by daring to release a comeback album. A decent album, let down by it's length and normality. At fourteen tracks, it was a long journey from beginning to end, but it was good nonetheless, not his best comeback but miles better than say, Black Tie White Noise.

Album Rankings for 2015

Another year, another list of albums with hyperlinks to ones I bothered to write about and ones that I listened to, rated and then either had no intention of reviewing or lost momentum to.