RELEASED in January, Iechyd Da (Domino) from Merseysider Bill Ryder-Jones set the pace for the year. Informed by a serious case of heartbreak, it’s a hugely ambitious record — check out the immense This Can’t Go On, with its Mercury Rev-sized grandeur and reference to Echo & the Bunnymen’s best known song.
Romance (XL), Fontaines DC’s fourth album, feels like a conscious decision by the Dublin indie guitar outfit to strive for a bigger audience. Starburster, supposedly about a panic attack frontman Grian Chatten had at a London train station, In The Modern World and Favourite are all oven-ready arena anthems.
Across the pond, Vancouver duo Japandroids released their swan song, Fate & Alcohol (Anti-), a scuzzy set of punky rock about drinking, women, touring and more drinking. As I said in my five-star Morning Star review: “Romantic, young and rowdy, it’s a glorious racket. This band could be your life.”
There was no new music from The War On Drugs this year but they did release their second live album, Live Drugs Again (Super High Quality). On this evidence it’s clear the Philadelphia rock group have become a potent live act, their motorik-Heartland Rock giving their music the size and scope of their hero Bruce Springsteen (though lyrically there’s no discernible engagement with the wider social and political world).
Two newish US acts released terrific records this year. Having learned guitar playing the Guitar Hero 2 video game, 27-year old Yasmin Williams made her “major” label debut with Acadia (Nonesuch), a luminous set of instrumental acoustic guitar tunes. Chicago’s Brigitte Calls Me Baby are a pretty derivative indie band — see The Smiths, Elvis, The Strokes etc. — but the songs on The Future Is Our Way Out (ATO) are so good, so exciting, they are very much forgiven.
Reading the Uncut and Mojo magazines’ albums of the year lists over the last couple of weeks, I’ve realised anew they consistently ignore many exceptional, lesser known artists.
Acts like British singer-songwriter Ruth Theodore with her album I Am I Am (River Rat), an infectious shot of street folk sitting somewhere between Rory McLeod and Ani DiFranco.
Giving voice to alternative Britain, there are cracking songs that touch on trespassing, protest, the Windrush scandal and Peggy Seeger’s Carry Greenham Home.
Likewise, while they have a dedicated following, Brighton indie band Porridge Radio haven’t made much of a dent in the old mens’ music mags. Their latest release, Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me (Secretly Canadian), is another deep dive into frontwoman Dana Margolin’s turbulent emotional and romantic life. Look up “cathartic” in the dictionary and it will say “Porridge Radio”.
Hardwicke Circus is another UK band who have flown under the radar. Cumbria Pizza (Alternative Facts) documents an unplugged “greatest hits” concert at, er, Pizza Express in Holborn, London. Taking liberally from classic British bands like Dexys Midnight Runners and The Jam, the Carlisle group work up a folk-pop storm, with heart-on-the-sleeve singalongs like Johnny Come Lately and Helmand-set Can You Hear Me Now? chart hits in a parallel universe.
Finally, a shout out to two brilliant London acts. The Rhythm Method’s second longplayer, Peachy (Moshi Moshi), confirms the duo as the latest in a long line of great British pop songwriters. Refreshingly, there is considerably more sincere emotion on display than their debut.
Nominated for this year’s Mercury Prize, Trinidad-born Berwyn’s debut Who Am I (Columbia) is a striking autobiographical set of hip-hop, taking in the ups and (mostly) downs of his urban upbringing, existential questions (“Lately I’ve been talking to the man in the sky”) and an acerbic spoken word missive titled Dear Immigration.