Al Palmer – Soliloquy
Alex is certainly something of a polymath, his work covers video, text art/poetry, photography, illustration, comic art. I’d imagine there’s more I haven’t seen. I particularly like how his work in various forms overlaps some, there’s a definite storyboard influence to his comic work, his photographs are quite painterly in composition and his video work has quite a photographic feel to it.
His portfolio site can be found here, his blog (mostly illustration) can be found here and his vimeo page showcases his video work.
Alex Mercado – Heaven No More, Page 1
Alex Mercado – Bride Of
Alex Mercado – Blaque
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Joel Sternfeld – The High Line (Looking South From 29th Street, Late June Afternoon)
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Always loved his stand-up work. Clever, thoughtful and utterly hilarious.
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Hannah Starkey – The Dentist
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If you don’t like lists you probably shouldn’t bother reading this. If you do like lists you should make a coffee, read this and then send me your list(s)!
Top Ten Albums of 2011:
- The Dauntless Elite – More Bloody Bad News (Bombed Out). It’s been a long time coming, it exceeded my (high) expectations.
- Tenement – Napalm Dream (Mandible). I’ve loved all the 7″s to date but this full-length puts them firmly in the shade. Experimental but remembering the important task of marrying the experiments to actual songs ala Japanther. And Running Into Mirrors is still the best song I’ve heard all year.
- Big Eyes – Hard Life (Don Giovanni). I only bought this after seeing Alex Jerk Store and Andrew from Bangers/Subject Specialist both mentioning online they couldn’t stop listening to it. And now I can’t stop listening to it. Fantastic garage-y power-pop with a singer who reminds me of one of the Dance Hall Crashers. They have to tour the UK next year.
- Former Cell Mates – Presented As A Work Of Fiction (Boss Tuneage). Their third and, sadly, final album as they split up not long after releasing this. This is certainly their most cohesive album and a high note to go out on.
- Bangers – Small Pleasures (Specialist Subject/Kiss Of Death). A less raging release than their songs from various 7″s but a fully realised album of coherent songs. Super tight live (as well they should be, they tour for most of the year) on the three times I saw them. All top people too – Andrew rules Subject Specialist Records, Hamish writes his blog, Lucida Console, and Roo… I don’t know what else Roo does but I’m sure it’s top-notch too. This band exemplify DIY punk rock and are a hell of an inspiration.
- Kurt Vile – Smoke Rings For My Halo (Matador). A seething paranoid bunch of songs which really captivate. I hadn’t much cared for his earlier stuff, this is really solid.
- Zapiain – Jibberjabber (Bombed Out). Everyone reckons this sounds like Jawbreaker. I think they’re insane, it sounds like Farside. Farside without the horrible rawwwk production and with an English singer but Farside all the same.
- Turkish Techno – Past Due (Muy Autentico/Dirt Cult/Wolfdog). It’s like Tiltwheel but they release more stuff and this album is a blinder.
- The Copyrights – North Sentinal Island (It’s Alive/Red Scare). Pop-punk in the realist sense of the phrase. Anthemic, catchy, great songwriting. What’s not to like?
- The Dirtbombs – Party Store (In The Red). Garage punk covers of Detroit techno (Atkins, Saunderson, Craig, May, UR etc) – it shouldn’t work but it certainly manages to. The band are tight enough to carry the rhythms off, the songs are good enough to work out of genre. I wasn’t expecting to like this, without a doubt my surprise of the year.
Other good stuff: Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will, Future Virgins – Western Problems, Mazes – A Thousand Heys, Sparrow And The Workshop – Spitting Daggers, Those Dancing Days – Daydreams & Nightmares (over-produced but still great, why on earth did you have to split up!?), Caves – Homeward Bound, Hidden Spots – Hundred Thousand Voices and many, many more.
Top Ten EPs of 2011:
- The Magnificent – 1981 (Drunk Sailor). Looking back/looking forwards. Anthemic and pertinent.
- Eagulls – Council Estate Blues (Not Even/Moshi Moshi). Snotty young tykes from Yorkshire straddle the line between punk and indie in a fine fashion.
- RVIVR – Belebend (Yo-Yo). Released for their 2011 Euro tour, more unwashed, raging punkrock from these unwashed, raging punkrockers. Great live, too.
- Superchunk – Learned To Surf (Merge). How on earth are Superchunk still making music this good? Fantastic stuff. Also, I listened to a lot of stuff this year that sounds like Superchunk.
- Caves/Sundials – split (Kiss Of Death). Caves need no introduction. Whoa, whoa-ah. Sundials are Buffalo Tom and Lemonheads jamming together to make indie/punk/powerpop. They both shredded live too.
- Tide Of Iron – Sow (Shy Bairns). I don’t normally like ‘heavy’ music. Heavy music isn’t usually as good as this. A really solid debut. Would get a place for Bill Crosby alone.
- How Do We Jump This High – s/t (Answer Key). Was expecting this to sound exactly like Get Bent, Potboiler etc. It doesn’t. It sounds like Superchunk playing Get Bent, Potboiler etc. Love the sleeve too.
- Shit Creek – Scene Cred Is Our Name (Dirt Cult). Nice and sleazy drunken love songs and party anthems. Can’t wait for next year’s UK tour.
- Awful Man – New Ways To Say Fuck Off (Dead Broke). Ex-Witches With Dicks folks sounding like Witches With Dicks.
- The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Belong (Fortuna Pop!). The album was waaay too overproduced. Kinda ruined the sweetness of their songs. This, however,works well.
I will, however, say that if Sparrow And The Workshop (or more likely, their record label) had released Snakes In The Grass as 7″ as well as just a download it may have ended up at the top of this list. And if Mallory by The History Of Apple Pie had been available anywhere I looked it would probably have listed high.
Top Five Books Read in 2011.
- Patrick Hamilton – Hangover Square.
- Haruki Murukami – A Wild Sheep Chase.
- Jess Walter – Financial Lives of the Poets.
- Robert Anasi – The Gloves
- Simon Reynolds – Rip It Up and Start Again.
Top Ten Live Bands of 2011:
- The Dauntless Elite @ Out Of Spite XI (The Well, Leeds, July). They’ve never been anything less than great when I’ve seen them. This was absolutely jaw-dropping. They played second from last on the last day of three days of bands. I’d drank God-knows how many pints of Guinness, seen possible thirty-odd bands over that time and The Dauntless Elite grabbed and shook me. Their cover of Jonas by Weezer was a gem too. The crowd watched with massives smiles on their faces, myself included.
- Imbalance @ Out Of Spite XI (The Well, Leeds, July). First gig in a decade, last gig maybe ever. Without a doubt my favourite ever hardcore band. And they were raging. The crowd was really into it (well, most of the crowd!), they sounded tight as hell. And the visiting Grimsby contingent were, well, not shy about making their enjoyment known!
- Throwing Muses (Manchester Academy, November). I’ve waited years to see Throwing Muses and this year I got to. I returned to Manchester and saw them with my brother. Everything Kristin Hersh touches is gold and this tour was no exception. Was surprised not to hear Counting Backwards or Two Step but they played something from every album, can’t fault that. Only negative was the drunk arseholes to the left of the stage who were under the misapprehension that people were there to see them see the Muses.
- Bangers/Ssssnakes/Broken Few (White Rooms, Sunderland, March). Love afternoons spent watching bands, this was a (shock horror) well attended gig with three great UK bands. Ssssnakes should play more, much prefer them to The Arteries.
- Southport @ Out Of Spite XI (The Well, Leeds, July). Another band I’ve waited a long time to see. They exceeded all expectations. Simon Wells is a top bloke and the band sounded great. Also, the drummer looks like me!
- Hot Snakes (The Cluny, Newcastle, December). My favourite of all the bands Rick Froberg and John Reis have been in. Fantastic stuff, just song after song of driving, garage-y punkrock. My friend Chris took photos of this which you can see here.
- Former Cell Mates (The Central, Gateshead, September). Their final gig before singer Davey moved to the US. He spent most of the set giggling through the songs as Frankie Stubbs from Leatherface distracted him. Nice cameo from Lesta of Pure Graft on the ol’ trumpet too.
- Leatherface (Independent, Sunderland, December). My favourite band playing in their hometown, always superb.
- Bangers/State Lottery/El Morgan (White Rooms, Sunderland, July). Those blasted Bangers once more. A terrible turn-out but a great gig. The night Dave got schooled in punk rock.
- RVIVR/The Dauntless Elite (Off-Quay Rooms, Newcastle, October). Two of the best bands around shouting loud in a room during the day. What’s not to like?
The Year In Numbers:
- 103 books read (not including graphic novels and photobooks)
- 81 albums bought.
- 135 EPs bought.
- 82 bands seen live (although some were seen more than once).
Thank you for reading my self-indulgent number-throwing. Normal service will resume tomorrow.
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Although I don’t post very much about painters, I still take quite a degree of influence from contemporary painting. Late to the party I’ve just discovered Jacob Kassay. His canvases are covered with a highly reflective silver paint, the light falling on the surfaces gives subtle tonation of abstract shapes.
Jacob Kassay – Untitled, 2010
Jacob Kassay – Installation view at The Institute of Contemporary Arts
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