2011: my year in music reviews

Best new album: Reflecting back on this year, I realise I haven't listened to even half the new music that's been released...remember the reason I started this blog was because I am shamefully lazy at exploring new music properly. But from what I have heard floating around the airwaves I have to say Gotye's Making Mirrors impressed me rather a lot, so it can bear this prestigious title for 2011. It is both refreshing and reassuring to see such new and original innovation emerging amongst all the Jessie J and Nicki Minaj.

Worst new album: I'm sure Lady GaGa's latest offering would have qualified, but I have denied myself the displeasure of sitting through that and so will give this anti-award to The Kooks' Junk Of The Heart. On the upside, it was completely forgettable.

Favourite musical purchase: The Original Broadway Cast recording of JERSEY BOYS. Beautifully updated versions of epically classic songs became without a doubt my most-listened-to album of 2011. So. much. love.

Favourite review: Definitely going to give this one to Tom Waits' epic Raindogs - such a sophisticated and eclectic collection of originals gave me much delicious listening material that was beautiful to attempt to illustrate for you guys.

Most tortuous review: I have to be honest with you here dear readers...I chickened out of one review this year. Yes, I, The Wanna-Be Music Journo, who has sat through the pain of Lady GaGa, admitted defeat in the face of one album. I began with my best objective ears on and ended rather soon after by pressing 'stop' and backing slowly away from my laptop in the middle of track 3. The offending album? Joanna Newsom's Ys. I couldn't. stand it. However, I plan to return and make it through the album dead or alive just to review it for you all. Stay tuned for the carnage later this summer...

Most surprising discovery: Nothing could have surprised me more than my newfound love for glockenspiel music, resulting in my purchase of Rockabye Baby!'s U2 album. Glock 'n roll dudes!

Album that elicited the largest volume of 'meh': The 'meh' reaction is surely the most terrifying of emotions applicable to the job of a reviewer. Such albums fall into the chasms of indifference, forever doomed to a life of limbo somewhere between Flipping Fantastic and Utterly Abysmal. Sadly, this title presents me with a difficult decision...but it definitely settles somewhere between Florence + The Machine's Lungs and Michael Buble's Christmas.

Most forgettable over-played radio-trash: Let's please not mention Rebecca Black or Friday ever, ever again...for her sanity and mine, okay? And if the radio stopped playing Adele I might actually be able to contemplate the thought of reviewing her without screaming.

New favourite band for 2011: This one has to go to Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, once again courtesy of Jersey Boys. Don't roll your eyes at me. I'm certain I would have been a fan a long time ago, had I been able to find a more comprehensive collection of Four Seasons originals, but the epicness that was the stage musical has now opened the flood gates for my intense Jersey-love. This won't be the last you hear of this. I said, don't roll your eyes!

Most anticipated 2012 release: Word on the street was that Mumford & Sons' new album would be in my eager mitts before the Harbour Bridge explodes with fireworks, but with no projected release date as yet, a 2012 would seem to be on the cards. With rumours of a very different sound from Sigh No More, the band seem set to prove their versatility, resulting in much excitement from me.

Next on the list...
I'm craving 70s, 80s and some noughties alternative, so:

• Sufjan Stevens' Illinois
• The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds
• Angus & Julia Stone's A Book Like This
• Traffic's John Barleycorn Must Die
• The Grateful Dead's American Beauty
• The Velvet Underground's The Velvet Underground
• The Who's Tommy
• And yes...Joanna Newsom's Ys. When I can face it.

Bring on the holidays :D

Not just smoke and mirrors

Album: Making Mirrors
Artist: Gotye
Label: Eleven
Release date: 19 August, 2011
Peak chart position/sales: (AUS) #1 (NZ) #9


RATING: 4/5 stars.

If you're not in the know, like I wasn't, an artist like Gotye is one of those whose annoyingly ambiguous name leads you to avoid gender-specific pronouns in knowledgable company as you tiptoe around the fact that you have no idea whether to say "he", "she" or "they".  Tired of being devoid of such street cred, I decided to diffuse my social minefield of woeful ignorance and discovered that Gotye is Wouter "Wally" De Backer, a Belgian-Australian musician with a bundle of instrument skills and musical talent up his sleeve. After two albums passing fairly unnoticed by the wider population, the talent has hit the mainstream for Gotye and suddenly everyone's talking about Making Mirrors. Mirrors is Gotye's third studio album and shot to number one in the ARIA charts, while simultaneously holding the top position in the singles chart for "Eyes Wide Open". Impressive.

Unwilling to buy into the hype however, I decided to press the 'play' button for myself and was met by a carefully crafted medley of airy synth lines, buzzing electronica, indie-esque atmospheres, bouncing old-school pop and De Backer's distinctly emotive vocals that by turns whisper or holler lines of curious poetry that weaves its way through this rich combination of styles and themes.

"Dreamt of a doorway that opened into everything" whispers De Backer on the title track and album opener, which, at just 1'01" long, serves as a cryptic preface to this reflective (coughpunintendedcough) album. Filled with mesmerising layers of dreamy synth pipes and an otherworldly processed vocal, this inspired snippet is frustratingly short for something so beautifully crafted.  Instead, the album dives into infectiously catchy dance-inspired tune "Easy Way Out", filled with pumping energy and fun pop influences - and it's so damn good that all is instantly forgiven. Fellow rising star Kimbra makes a cameo appearance, adding an insightful aspect to the floating acoustic accents of "Somebody That I Used To Know" that, with its homely percussion and jangling countermelodies emits the sort of indie folk organicism that would sound comfortable on an Angus & Julia Stone album. "Smoke and Mirrors", an incongruent mesh of pumping percussion, harp accents, brass blasts and the eerie hook "Mother" that echoes throughout, shows Gotye's darker side, but he is not over-indulgent in such unease, interspersing the heavier numbers with infectiously uplifting tracks "I Feel Better" and "In Your Light" and even a cheekily satirical look at technology's increasing influence on music in "State of the Art"; "Now for an arm and a leg / We get three half-dozen beats to choose from / So now we can pretend / That there's an orchestra in the lounge room".

Before I realise it, I've listened to the entire album in one sitting - Mirrors is the kind of journey that holds you from start to finish, a truly thoughtful collection of songs that work together to make a cohesive and, for all its artiness, completely accessible album.

The versatility is winning, vocals soulful and sweet and the influences cleverly combined to make an unpretentious album that puts its own stamp of originality on paths that have been trodden. Injecting a fresh, fun vibe and fusing retro inspiration with refreshingly original creativity, Making Mirrors has a by turns dance-worthy and poignant sound that will have me keeping an eye out for Gotye's next release.

Is it worth my $$$? - Yes! Not only will you be supporting an Australian artist, you will also acquire a delightfully varied collection of songs that fairly drip with creativity. Do it.


Listen to: Making Mirrors, In Your Light, Somebody That I Used To Know