Album Of The Year 2008 #7 - Lykke Li - Youth Novels

As Breaking More Waves mulled over its one to watch list for 2008, two names that were flagged up were Fanfarlo and Lykke Li. Eventually neither act made it on the list, being narrowly pipped at the post by Glasvegas and The Ting Tings. Then in January both acts played a London gig together at the Hoxton Bar and Grill with Breaking More Waves in attendance. We swooned at Lykke Li and her seductively commanding set and the album due for release later in the year became a must buy.

Youth Novels didn’t disappoint. It’s an album of well crafted idiosyncratic stripped down pop music. Unlike much of pop today, this it is an album of presence and substance that doesn’t rely on overproduction, a few hit singles and a mass of X Factor TV style exposure to lodge itself in your brain. Much of this is down to the minimalist and light touch production of Bjorn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John fame, who leave space between the sounds to create a focus for what has been recorded. This production gives weight to Lykke Li’s cute fragile voice, her sad lyrics, the rhythmic percussion lines and simple but lovely melodies. From the obsessive love song of Little Bit to the hurting Hanging High where Lykke Li sings sadly “Oh thunder in my heart, these razors cutting sharp, leaves me with an ever bleeding scar, so soft so suddenly, so that I cannot breathe,” this is most certainly adult pop of the very best kind.

In 2008 Breaking More Waves fell in love with Lykke Li. Here is Little Bit, maybe you can see why....

Album Of The Year 2008 #8 - James Yuill - Turning Down Water For Air

Turning Down Water For Air by James Yuill combines maverick electronic beats, gentle acoustic guitars and Yuill’s massage soothing vocals to produce Breaking More Waves eighth favourite album of the year. Like a one man Radiohead who strapped his acoustic guitar on his back but left the electronic ones at home, Yuill’s album will appeal to those who enjoy a groove to Aphex Twin or New Order, but also find songwriters such as Nick Drake in their album collection. It’s an inventive and clever album that manages to capture moments of restraint and an off your face dance floor madness.

With this winning formula Yuill manages to conjure surprises throughout, such as on the single No Pins Allowed, where dirty shuffling beats gradually build and a repeated guitar loop seems to set the pattern. Then the whole thing breaks down into a segue of mammoth robotic euphoric synth sounds; Aphex Twin himself would be proud of such moments like this. One can almost imagine Yuill as a mad scientist who has taken too many drugs at the disco.

Despite these manic moments, what makes this album work so well is that despite the computerised beats, the album feels warm and very human. The fragility of songs such as the xylophone lead Head Over Heels dispense with the electronica completely and even the pulsing No Surprise leaves a lasting impression of comfort.

Turning Down Water For Air is an album of contrasts that demonstrates perfectly that opposite sounds attract. If you haven’t heard of Yuill yet, this video to No Pins Allowed shows perfectly what he is about.

Album Of The Year 2008 #9 - Duffy - Rockferry

OK, if you are a regular visitor to Breaking More Waves you may well be cringing at the title of this blog. Yes, Breaking The Waves 9th favourite album of the year is Rockferry by Duffy.

The welsh songstress has sold bucket loads of albums this year, and her music was described in the press as an alternative to Dad Rock - yep, Mum Soul. Not the greatest title admittedly, and certainly Aimee Duffy is not producing cutting edge, inventive or original music. I’m sure many Radio 2 listening housewives have purchased Rockferry whilst shopping at Waitrose, and the music police will shoot them down for their actions. How can middle aged mums have such poor taste you may ask ? Is that what happens when you reach a certain age, does all quality control go out of the window? Well this middle aged dad is right with those mums and votes that Rockferry is really a rather good album, and that the quality control is working fine. I do not seek the approval of the music police. Sorry, I can’t help what I like, and sometimes my choices and arguments will contradict each other. Consistency is boring.

Essentially Rockferry is gorgeous piece of heavily produced retro sounding pop. Sure, there are a couple of songs that are just a little lacking in balls, and arguments remain about the authenticity of a girl who once appeared on the Welsh version of X Factor. But when Breaking More Waves leaves all prejudices aside and simply listens to the music with no preconceived ideas, there are some show stopping 60’s styled classic pop songs on this album. From the epic Distant Dreamer which is quite possibly the best song Bernard Butler has produced since Suede and the McAlmont and Butler projects, to the Lulu like hit single Mercy, with its “Yeah Yeah Yeah” chorus that gets deep inside your head (even if it was a little too similar to a certain Ms Winehouse’s “No, No,No,” refrain), this is a well constructed pop album that captures perfectly the sixties soul sound.

Sorry music police. I’m right, you’re wrong. Maybe thousands of middle aged housewives are right after all. But if you don’t agree maybe my No.8 choice will be more your cup of tea ? Here's why thousands love her.....and her performance on later with Jools.

Album Of The Year 2008 #10 - TV On The Radio - Dear Science

For many albums, the realisation of its greatness comes only after repeated listens. The subtle nuances, the deeper melodies and hidden joys that grow on you, over cheap pop thrills. Yet with TV On The Radio's Dear Science it takes just one listen to the opening track Halfway Home to know that this is going to be a great album. Heavy clattering war like drums punctuated with Beach Boys style “Ba Ba Ba” vocals propel the song forwards until a moment after exactly four minutes and twenty seconds Tunde Adebimpe sings softly “ Go on throw this stone, into this halfway home” and the song musically orgasms. The pace of the drums increases, squalling electric guitar crash over in waves, the bass suddenly drives home and the “Ba Ba Ba’s” become an almost chaotic mess. It leaves you feeling wasted, spent and totally exhilarated.

But one song does not make an album, and the New York quintet have with Dear Science produced an artistically complex album, where no two songs are the same but all are equally as good. It is a fully realised, often complex piece of work, loaded with giddy slightly sixth form political and cultural references. “Hey Jackboot, fuck your war. Cause I’m fat and I’m in love and no bombs are fallin’ on me for sure. But I’m scared to death that I’m livin’ a life not worth dying for,” Adebimpe sings on Red Dress hinting at many of the issues that the United States consciousness deals with in 2008.

Some have compared Dear Science to the work of Radiohead, but musically there are very few similarities. However what both bands do share here seems to be an ideology of making challenging artistic rock records that sit outside of the mainstream. In sound alone TV On The Radio sound more like Prince funking out at his best on Golden Age and a marching band singing about breaking beds and sucking skin on the climatic Lovers Day. And that’s the picture not even one twentieth painted.

The three best things about this album are first that despite its diversity of songs, its overall cohesiveness as an album works impressively. The second is that although it is in the main not an album of simple verses and catchy choruses, it is surprisingly instant to listen to, and yet remains addictive several months later. The third is that it is one of a very small number of albums on this list that is not a debut.

Whilst you would suspect that Breaking More Waves no.9 choice tomorrow will not feature in many critics end of year polls, Dear Science probably will, and I applaud anyone that shows faith in this exciting modern rock record. It neatly balances artistic intrigue with a sense of the commercial populist in the same way that, in the past, great American bands such as REM and Talking Heads have done.



Dancing Choose from Dear Science by TV On The Radio