MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2011
I think it’s been a fantastic year for LPs. Even if fewer punters want to listen to whole records, still the classiest talents want to make them. How did Decemberists, Sam Duckworth, She Makes War, The Horrors, MJ Hibbett, Standard Fare, EMA, Grace Petrie, tUnE-yArDs, Metronomy and Matt Creer not even make it into my Top 10? All made superb records in 2011. But oh no they di’in’t, my 10 favourites are…
1 PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
2 Scroobius Pip – Distraction Pieces
3 Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know
4 The War On Drugs – Slave Ambient
5 Nicola Roberts – Cinderella’s Eyes
6 British Sea Power – Valhalla Dancehall
7 Something Beginning With L – Beautiful Ground
8 Fucked Up – David Comes To Life
9 Frank Turner – England Keep My Bones
10 Tom Williams & The Boat – Too Slow
SONGS
The Muppets – ‘Am I A Man Or Am I A Muppet?’
Standard Fare – ‘Darth Vadar’
Joanna Neary – ‘Youth Club’ closing song
Franz Nicolay – ‘Do The Stuggle’
Jim Bob – ‘Mr Blue Sky’
James Blake – ‘A Case Of You’
This Is The Kit – ‘Easy Pickings’
tUnE-yArDs – ‘Bizzness’
The Singing Adams – ‘The Old Days’
Hugh Laurie – ‘Swanee River’
Second annual honourable mention for Jon Boden’s Folk Song A Day project, which in June successfully completed a new recording of a traditional tune every day for a year. Inspiring and brilliant. Also excellent was Darren Hayman’s January Songs, where he wrote and shared a new song each day for a month. Insightful into process.
FAVOURITE GIGS OF THE YEAR (AUDIENCE)
Carter USM, Tim Ten Yen at Edenfest, Mr Spoons’ garden, south-east London
Clowns at The Hydrant, Brighton
ONSIND and others at Book Yer Ane Fest 5, Dexter’s, Dundee
Robyn at The Roundhouse, London
Jim Jones Revue at Blissfields 2011
Midwinter Picnic 3 at West Hill Hall, Brighton
Tom Williams & The Boat, My First Tooth, She Makes War, The Borderline
The Singing Adams at The Basement, Brighton
Frank Turner, Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo, Franz Nicolay at Newport Centre
Dive Dive at The Frog & Fiddle, Cheltenham
FAVOURITE GIGS OF THE YEAR (PLAYED)
In 2011 I did 112 shows (solo, Hoodrats, Milne, activist stuff, short spots and a few public talks). This top 10 is just based on how much I enjoyed the time onstage – doesn’t mean much about the whole night, or audience quality, or even how well I played. It’s just that magic (hard to explain) ‘thing’ onstage:
1 Laurence, Jølle and Kenneth’s basement party, Copenhagen
2 The Hoodrats in Cheltenham, Swindon & Art Uncut gig, London
3 Falmouth University on their new Yamaha CF6 grand piano
4 Carter USM, me and Tim Ten Yen in Neil’s garden
5 Cambridge Portland, supported by MJ Hibbett and Anna Madeleine
6 The Church stage at Indietracks Festival
7 frantic Pecha Kucha talk about Twitter and post-Capitalism at Brighton Digital Festival
8 Edinburgh Fringe – pretty much the whole thing, especially the final two weeks
9 York, maybe Edinburgh and/or Reading on Franz Nicolay’s tour
10 Robin Ince’s late night show, Comedy Stage, End Of The Road Festival
Honorable mention to Matt Creer’s brilliant gig in a church in Douglas on the Isle Of Man, which was magic but for the absence of some Manxie friends. Also honourable mention to the Aberdeen Lost & Found show where (entirely coincidentally) the stage set was toilets, because they’d had a play on set in a public loo.
FAVOURITE TV OF THE YEAR
Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle
Game Of Thrones
The Shadow Line
Breaking Bad
Human Planet
Curb Your Enthusiasm
30 Rock
Bruce Parry’s Arctic
Rev
The 10 O’Clock Show
(I’m sure The Killing and The Slap would be in here but I haven’t watched them yet)
*EDIT* just realised (watching Adam Curtis on the Screenswipe review of 2011) that I forgot the magnificent series All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace. Stick that in at number #1 and drop the 10 O’Clock Show off the list. 🙂
FAVOURITE OTHER CULTURAL THINGS
1. Isy Suttie ‘Pearl & Dave’ at Edinburgh Fringe
2. Adam Curtis’ BBC archive blogs
3. collection of English and Scottish ballads Franz Nicolay found me in Buxton, published in 1868
4. Private Eye, a vintage year for Hislop & co.
5. Joanna Neary ‘Youth Club’ at Edinburgh Fringe and the Three And Ten, Brighton
6. Jason Burke – The 9/11 Wars (book)
7. Louis CK’s Beacon Theatre $5 special
8. debate about protest songs at Interrogate! Festival in Dartington Hall
9. Caitlin Moran – How To Be A Woman (book)
10. Slate’s Political Gabfest podcast, thanks to Franz Nicolay
11. Margaret Cho at Edinburgh Fringe and Brighton Comedy Festival
12. Boring 2011 (even though I only saw 2 hours)
13. Tom Price ‘Say When’ at Edinburgh Fringe
14. MJ Hibbett & Steve’s ‘Moon Horse’ at Edinburgh Fringe
15. Charlotte Young and Mark Dean Quinn’s Darwin show
16. Josie Long in various places
17. revisiting Chomsky vs Foucault
18. Crunch Festival in Hay-on-Wye
honorable mention: Jim Bob’s second novel is extraordinary and brilliant but I’ll list it when it’s published (2012 I believe).
HERO OF THE YEAR
Time Magazine named ‘the protester’ and I agree. Specifically, my heroes of the year are: UK Uncut, Anonymous, Art Uncut, @BendyGirl and The Hardest Hit, Josie Long and Neil Griffiths’ Arts Emergency campaign and the global Occupiers.
VILLAIN OF THE YEAR
Of course: government, bankers, corrupt media and the tax dodging corporates are ugly villains but I’ve got a personal one this year: celebrity conductor Charles Hazlewood. He briefly got involved with a project developing an orchestra for musicians with disabilities, which UK charity Drake Music had been working on for years. But when his participation didn’t work out and he walked away, suddenly he was developing his own near identical project with TV production company What Larks. I wrote about it in the Morning Star and Private Eye picked up the story – but mainstream press steered clear, with the Evening Standard even publishing a puff piece for his plans. I can’t imagine much worse than stealing ideas from a charity.
