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

Junk of the art

Album: Junk Of The Heart
Artist: The Kooks
Label: Virgin
Release date: 12 September, 2011
Peak chart position/sales: 


RATING: 2.5/5 stars.


By all rights, The Kooks should be 'my' kind of band. A Brit-pop band inspired by the 1960s 'British Invasion' music (including the likes of The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who and just about every other band I love to pieces) should, theoretically, already be on my iPod. So I leapt at the chance to listen to Junk Of The Heart, The Kooks' third studio album and acquaint myself with a band that I hadn't fully explored yet.

But what strikes you first about Junk is the complete...unremarkability of it all. Now, The Kooks were never out to reinvent music and that's no crime, but this album is just so boring. Can I say that again? So. freaking. boring. An inexperienced grab at a wonderful vibe, smothered in monotony and poorly plagiarised material, poured into a shiny plastic casing and presented to us by a band whose very name should have alerted us to the fact that they have no originality. Don't get me wrong, technically speaking they're doing all the right things. There are funky bass riffs, clanging guitar chords and happy-go-lucky harmonised choruses all round. But there is nothing that is particularly "Kooks".

After the somewhat seedy title track, and an awful lot of forgettable filler tracks, "Eskimo Kiss" and "Mr. Nice Guy" redeem the album slightly with happily catchy and energetic though no less produced tunes. iTunes bonus track The Saboteur is also a pleasant surprise, delivering a heavy, dangerous piece that treads the line of grunge and shows traces of *gasps* originality. Trying to prove they have something worth saying, the band throws some profanity into the mix with "F**k The World Off" - a curiously passive-aggressive song that only comes off as a misguided stab at bravado. Meanwhile, "How'd You Like That" channels The Kinks quite successfully - at least more successfully than their Beatles attempts. And there are so many of those it's cringeworthy.

"Don't believe in things that don't believe in you /All the things that you do will come back on you" vocalist Luke Pritchard sings with Lennon-esque world-weary - but unconvincing - wisdom and Petulia sounds so blatantly but pathetically like Julia that my jaw dropped. Not to mention the countless rhythms and riffs that could have been plucked from almost any Beatles album. There is such a thing as a respectful tribute to your influences, but this is just plain lazy.

It's disappointing to admit, but The Kooks are still the cheap Brit-pop substitute for the schoolgirls of today who want slightly updated boy-next-door pop. Yeah, the songs are nice to listen to...once. But  nothing compels you to come back for more, unless you're driving with the sun-roof open and need some peppy background music to not pay attention to. It's just impossible to shake the feeling that these are amateur song-writers trying desperately and clumsily to emulate their heroes. And in the end, they don't even hold a candle up to them.

Is it worth my $$$? - If you're a Kooks fan, you'll be thrilled to hear they've produced more of the same stuff you fell in love with in the first place. But otherwise...get some REAL '60s into ya.


Listen to: Eskimo Kiss, Mr. Nice Guy, How'd You Like That