Stewart Nash

Here’s what I’ve been listening to in the last twelve months….

Veronica Falls

The thing I love about Veronica Falls, is the fact they specialise in the one thing that many mainstream artists forget about these days… and that is songwriting. Their shows are incredibly undertstated as they appear extremely nervous despite the fact they have been touring loads this year. All this though makes me love them all the more, rather like Belle & Sebastian or My Bloody Valentine when they released their debut albums, it’s just the music that does all the talking. When you’ve got songs as good as ‘Beachy Head’ and ‘The Fountain’ you don’t need any gimmicks.

Factory Floor

Heaping praise on Factory Floor has become such a cliche, everyone flippin’ loves them and it’s so easy to see why. Live they are one of the best bands I’ve ever seen just by the sheer volume of their sound and they’ve got one of the best drummers since Keith Moon, but the records take you somewhere else. It’s a genius idea, Factory Floor make dance music for people who like experimental guitar music, Imagine if Sonic Youth had decided to make an acid house record, this is it. Their debut due out Spring 2012 will no doubt be the best album we’ll hear next year.

The Primitives

Featuring The Primitives in a ‘Best of 2011′ list is somewhat strange as it’s nearly a quarter of a century since their heydey, but last years tour seemed like more of a celebration than a nostalgia trip and their debut album ‘Lovely’ sits perfectly alongside many of todays bands. A new EP (their first in 19 years) was released in the spring which gave us a teaser of what their forthcoming covers album may sound like. The EP featured two covers and two new Paul Court songs, but it was the Toni Basil cover of ‘Breakaway’ that stood out and hopefully nods a hat towards the new album….

Katy B

99.9% of pop music is rubbish, fact. The charts and my taste in music are so far apart these days it’s just like the late 1980′s when every track in the top 20 was produced by Pete Waterman. Only one chart album interested me this year and that was Katy B’s wonderful ‘On A Mission’. Reminiscent in attitude to The Streets’ debut ‘Original Pirate Material’ every track on ‘On A Mission’ had enough hooks for daytime radio while keeping clubbers (that includes retired clubbers like myself) happy. Let’s hope her follow up album is better than anything Mike Skinner did after his debut.

Hollie Cook

I stumbled across Hollie Cook’s debut single one night on 6Music and immediately was hooked. The obvious comparison to Hollie’s music is Janet Kay’s 1979 hit ‘Silly Games’, that summery regggae sound really reminds me of being a child dropping one of my aunties back to her flat in Hackney and the occasional trip down Petticoat Lane. When I got her debut album in the summer I loved it. It was nice to see her finally get some recognition the other week with an appearance on Jools Holland’s normally dull show.

Washed Out

As Ulrich Schnauss doesn’t seem to want to finish his forth solo album, Ernest Greene stepped in with his debut proper long-player ‘Within and Without’ which bizarrely charted at 26 in the US Billboard charts. Despite a very boring instore at Rough Trade the album supplied much of the soundtrack to my summer.

Gil-Scott Heron and Jamie XX

Someone we said goodbye to this year was Gil-Scott Heron. I must be honest and say his music had previously passed me by. The only association I had with him was shouting his name during LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Losing My Edge’. It took Jamie XX to make me go out and buy his new album which I was listening to when the boring royal wedding was on.

The Field

I flippin’ love The Field, I know the second album was seen as a dissappointment by many, mainly because it had a cheesey cover version on it, but it still featured some great tracks. The third album caught me by surprise this year as I hadn’t anticipated anything new from him for a while yet. My wife hates The Field.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

I was really looking forward to the second album from Pains of Being Pure at Heart despite the bridging single ‘Say No To Love’ being very weak, I was however won back by the first two singles from this album ‘Heart in Your Heartbreak’ and ‘Belong’. Both singles were so good my expectations were just too high. It was nowhere as good as their debut but it still had it’s moment. I’m sure I’ll get into it properly one day….

Amy Winehouse

The passing of AMy Winehouse in the summer would take a cold person to not at least recognise her contribution to music so far this century, unlike the dreadful X-Factor conveyor belt (I still watched it too) Amy Winehouse took music and fashion from the 50s and 60s and made it sound contemporary. Her contribution to fashion can only be compared to that of the Gallagher brothers the previous decade, you only have to walk around Shoreditch in 2011 to see that 5 years after the release of ‘Back to Black’ her legacy is still truly alive and kicking as the place is packed with clones. The new ‘Lioness’ album reminds you how sad it is that we’ll never get a third album from her.

Other releases I liked this year but I’ve not enough time to write anything about…

SBTRK
Balam Acab
Jamie Woon
Sarabeth Tucek
Peaking Lights
Yuck
Summer Camp