Album Of The Year 2008 #3 - Glasvegas - Glasvegas

Breaking More Waves third favourite album of the year is the debut from Glasvegas.

When the album finally dropped this autumn many cynics were already writing them off, simply because of the hype they had received. However it is more realistic to replace the word ‘hype’ with the phrase ‘excitement and enthusiasm’ that was generated by a vastly impressive piece of work. The cynics missed an aural treat.

This is a record full of breathtaking, chest thumping anthems formed out of vintage rock and pop sounds that are loaded with emotion and fuzzy guitars. It fulfils all of the promise shown by their early singles and then some, packing musical punch after musical punch with a shimmering wall of sound, booming drums and James Allan’s vulgar but beautiful Scottish brogue. It is an album that is intensely masculine in its delivery and yet often wears its heart fully on its sleeve.

The reference points have been often quoted and are perfectly correct. It’s Jesus and the Mary Chain meets Phil Spector and the Shangri-La’s with a Scottish gangland mentality. But over this wonderful noise there are the songs. Brilliant, uplifting, bruising songs that seem to get bigger and more mountainous with every listen. Themes of social commentary, masculinity and wasted youth cut through the lyrics. The band introduce you to Geraldine, possibly the only song to be sung from the perspective of a social worker, the incredibly sad and poignant Flowers and Football Tops, which deals with the loss of a son and Go Square Go the most joyous song you will ever hear about violence, with it’s football terrace chorus of “Here we fucking go!”

Quite simply Glasvegas by Glasvegas is a staggering record that shows that after the hype at the start of the year, the band could deliver. Here we fucking go indeed !

Unfortunately the bands record company seem to have decided that none of their You Tube official videos can be embedded in blogs, so instead here's a clip of the band playing live on Later With Jools Holland, which lacks the bass heavy atmospheric punch of the album production, but at least gives a flavour.....

Album Of The Year 2008 #4 - Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim

Alas I Cannot Swim by Laura Marling is a bold and creative folk album from a singer songwriter who has arrived without significant hype and is all the better for it. Released last February the album has grown in stature over the year which culminated in a nomination for the Mercury Music prize. It was probably just as well that Marling didn’t win, as the teenager is a shy individual, and the exposure from it may have been too much for her.

Breaking More Waves first came across Marling after hearing New Romantic, which sadly was not included on the album. It has been a love affair with her songs ever since. Subtlety and simplicity is the essence of Marling’s work to date, from the understated backing from members of Noah And The Whale and Mumford and Sons, to the lyrics which are sung in gentle maturity. “And I’m sorry young man, I cannot be your friend, I don’t believe in a fairytale end,” she sings on My Manic And I. These are not the words of your typical happy teenager full of the joys and naiveties of life. This theme of her lack of belief in the permanency of relationships is continued on Ghosts; “Lover please do not fall to your knees, it's not like I believe in everlasting love", she sadly intones.

This sadness is rooted in the country folk heritage of introspection more usually listened to by those in their older years. Yet Marling’s youthfulness has also engaged a whole new young audience more used to bouncing around a moshpit and getting drunk than thoughtful preoccupation of life and its complexities to acoustic music.

Whatever your age, and whatever your thoughts on life however, it would be almost impossible to listen to Alas I Cannot Swim and not agree that it is one of the best albums of the year.

This is the song Night Terror, just one of the many highlights.

Album Of The Year 2008 #5 - Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

In the year when the British skinny jeans indie rock boys finally ran out of steam with their one idea, it was left to cardigan wearing Ivy League graduates Vampire Weekend from the USA to show that boys with guitars could still do something inventive.

Vampire Weekend’s self titled debut album is a smart, fun, infectious and ever so slightly ridiculous kaleidoscopic mix of Afrobeat, indie-funk and post-punk that triumphs with its cocktail of forms. Of course this is not the first time that African influences have been taken so far into the mainstream, Paul Simon got there years ago with Graceland, but this album still feels highly refreshing. Vampire Weekend has energy written through its core and it is praise indeed when one can say that this album sounds unlike anything else released this year.

God knows how they will follow this one up, Breaking More Waves suspects that it is going to be difficult as their chirpy clever rhythmic pop may wear thin after a short burst, but for now in 2008 Vampire Weekend is our fifth favourite album. Here's A Punk from the record.

Album Of The Year 2008 #6 - Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head

When Scarlett Johansson revealed that she was releasing an album, memories of other film stars turned rock singer nightmares rose up. The Dogstar project of Keanu Reeves anyone ? Bruce Willis doing Under the Boardwalk ? Ok, actress Juliette Lewis makes a fairly decent front woman with her band The Licks, but by and large Hollywood cool doesn’t translate well in the sonic spectrum.

Intrigue and indie credentials were added to the project with the news that Anywhere I Lay My Head would, with the exception of one self penned number, consist entirely of Tom Waits tunes and production duties had been accredited to Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio. Guest appearances with Jesus And The Mary Chain cemented the fact that Ms Johansson’s record had a strategy that was as credible and sophisticated as her best film Lost In Translation.

On release the album took very mixed reviews in the media and initially Breaking More Waves found it rather lacklustre, particularly Johansson's inexpressive vocal. However, Anywhere I Lay My Head had other ideas about itself, and was not going to sit idly at the back of the CD collection. Six months on and it sits justifiably in this list of Top Ten albums of 2008. It’s a real grower.

Johansson’s monotonous throaty alto voice may be limited but it gives the album a dark atmosphere which is then extended by the music. Full of shoe gazing droning, reverb, multi instrumentation and a backing of electronic wash, Sitek’s production has created sounds that give the recording a ghostly, hazy feel that works perfectly. There are distant backing vocals from David Bowie on the haunting Fannin Street and Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s adds guitar on a number of tracks to bolster the already impressive line up.

An impressive line up, and an impressive album that gets better with every listen. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it quenches Breaking More Waves musical thirst nicely. Here’s the song Falling Down....