2012 was ist los?

Dan treats us to his review of the year...:

Soooo, this blog has had a VERY busy 2012. In fact we have all been so busy hanging out,  peeping at foxes and appearing in Hello magazine that we have barely had time to maintain a healthy skin care routine let alone write a blog. But, we’ve holed ourselves up in a bunker for the past month (it’s all become slightly awkward) and will be releasing our reviews of the year for 2012, one a week for the next few weeks! YAAAY!

Looking back at the last post, written as the brave new world of 2012 dawned, a crisp, fat tear has welled up in mine eye as I realise that is all in the past. The Olympics is over. There will be no more extended bank holiday weekends. And we have seen the last of dates like 12.12.12 FOREVER. Shiiiiiiiiit. (Also, I hate the number 13.)

But perhaps I’m just feeling morose because I have only eaten four of the recommended five portions of fruits and veg today. So as I crack open a bottle of White Strike (apples count right?) let’s take a journey back in time and work out what just happened.

A)    So, the obligatory list of my favourite discs of 2012 innit. I am available for interviews and talking head style commentary in 2013 on these and other elements of popular culture so please do get in contact. Please do.

1.      TNGHT- TNGHT

2.      NZCA/LINES– NZCA/LINES

3.      Halls- Ark

4.      altJ – An Awesome Wave

5.      Errors– Have Some Faith in Magic

6.      PerfumeGenius – Put Your Back N 2 It

7.      François andthe Atlas Mountains – E Volo Love

8.      CloudNothings – Attack on Memory  

9.      Grimes- Visions

10.  Beach House– Bloom

11.  Hot Chip –In Our Heads

B)     This year I’ve mostly been living in Brighton and I have had a jolly good time there. I like the sea, I like the food, I like making a party at Pride and I like the fact that I can skip (my favourite form of travel) from one side of Brighton to the other in about fifteen minutes. The music here is amazing and there are some pretty rad venues. My favourites are the Green Door Store and the Prince Albert.

C)    I was enormously enthused by sports this year and almost became what one might describe as a ‘sportsfan.’ I even found myself drinking in a Walkabout at one stage, clutching a non-premium lager and craning my neck to get the best views of the plasmas. The Olympics were totally raaaad and I loved Nicola Adams and JEnnis and the Browlees Bros and Bradley Wig. Yeah bois! Also cycling was toll. I done a tribute to it by cycling around Brighton for a few weeks until I got and puncture and then I had to stop.

D)    I did like going to the The Great Escape this year (not least because I could crawl home and be sick into my own toilet rather than that of a dodgy hostelle). There wuz some great performances and my favourites were: Francois and the Atlas Mountains, Savages, Haim, Dillon, Milagres, Doldrums, Micachu, The Soft and Drop Out Venus. Another highlight was the traditional Yeah Club team TGE meal of Fish and Chips and Wine. Mmmmm, fishlicious. I also liked the man who shouted at me on the peer for running. He had a nice heart.

E)     BBC Radios 6, 4 and 1. I listened to a lorra radio this year. I have liked being at work and listening to Rob da Bank on 1. Sitting in a traffic jam and listening to the Eddie Mair on the PM show on 4. And sitting, trying to write an essay and listening to Gideon Coe on 6.

F)     In 2012 I have loved the medium of dance. I have loved bogling and popping, small amounts of locking and also I did a bit of krumping. I am a casual fan of Strictly and have (obviously) been obsessed with Gangnam. And I also was a housemate with Shun an incredible dancer and contortionist who is in the video below. 2013 resolution no.1: learn to touch my toes.

2011, with these treats you are really spoiling us

So 2011 has gone and it’s now 2012 which is the year we’ve all been waiting for with the Olympics and the Queens’ Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics and stuff. But wait! There can’t be any closure on the events of the past year without the final Yeah Club! ‘Review of 2011’ post right? So you can all breathe a heavy sigh of relief as you peruse instalment number 4 composed by yeah club! Dan and relive the highs and lows of a full year summarised in a nicely ordered list.

A) And why not start with my top ten albums of 2011 in no particular order (except for the Metronomy one which I loved the most)…I am slightly irritated that it is quite similar to some of the other lists I have read on other blogs and national newspapers and I can only conclude that my mobile has been tapped. AGAIN. I may have to start an angry letter writing campaign…

1) Metronomy – The English Riviera

2) Other Lives – Tamer Animals

3) Phoenix Foundation – Buffalo

4) Connan Mockasin – Forever Dolphin Love

5) The Rapture – In the Grace of Your Love

6) Iron and Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean

7) James Blake – James Blake

8) Gil Scott Heron & Jamie XX – We’re New Here

9) Yuck – Yuck

10) Ghostpoet – Peanut Blues & Melancholy Jam

11) P J Harvey – Let England Shake

12) Drake – Take Care

B) I really jolly enjoyed three festivals this year.

Glastonbury for Phoenix Foundation and Metronomy on Oxlyers in West (big regrets = I DID miss Beyonce :’’’’-( )

Latitude for Crystal Fighters, James Blake and Nigel Barrett, Louise Mari and AK/DK’s TATE sponsored ‘Watercolour’ porridge, balloon, electro mash-up.

And finally The Green Man (my first time and favourite of the lot) for Iron and Wine, the Low Anthem, The 2 Bears and Squarepusher. And for the big Welsh hill. And the cider. Mmmmm cider.

Live Synth Set at St. Andrews Church 2011 by AK/DK

D) I <3 Amsterdam and Berlin. I am lucky enough to have some chums living in both of these amaaazing cities (Ben Yeah Club! being one of them obvs) and for that reason visits to these places form a couple of highlights of 2011. In Amsterdam I had a party on a boat and chillaxed in the sunny parks with my fam. Berlin visits were awesome with tastes of Angry Chicken (So So Angry), biers, wurst and Electrelane. One of the visits included a drive there and back which was a two thousand mile Fear and Loathing style journey into the unknown in the company of Ben and a Luton van full of furniture and bikes. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours was on the stereo. They were crazy days.

Siriusmo is from Berlin. He ist gut. Sehr gut.

Nights Off by Siriusmo

E) The Nelson 11/11/11: I was overexcited to celebrate probably one of the biggest date events in recent history this year: the 11th of November 2011 Nelson, one of those rare occasions when the dates align to form a mystical sign full of the number 11. Luckily the world didn’t end but I did watch some super great live music from the likes of Shitsock, Liz Melia, the Pancakes and TheLunaFly.

Happening Now by TheLunaFly

F) This was the year I learned to love Spotify. I probably feel most excited and smug listening to some exciting music with my headphones plugged into my phone, satisfied that I will not be advertised at and furtherly-smug in the appreciation that other non-subscribers will not enjoy this sweet experience. There are a few niggling worries however: Grooveshark-users who keep scoffing at my frivolous habit of spending ten pounds a month. And also my CDs and vinyl. I can no longer look them in the eye. They all look really sad sitting around my house wondering when they might get played again. To quote Bros. ‘I can’t answer, I can’t answer that.’

I saw these guys recently. I have since listened to this track about a million times and so I think you should too.

Tessellate (demo) by alt-J

Cheers 2011

Ok, so it’s been a super busy year and I’ve hardly had time to catch my breath let alone visit all the exhibitions, read all those books and get a new job like I planned in January… But it has been an awesome year with many amazing moments like my first ever Electrelane gig in their hometown of Brighton- woo! So good that I saw them another three times that month! Primavera, End of the Road (Cecile’s already covered that so I won’t bore you with details) and a stop over in Berlin was also ace. So here goes…

1. Kate Bush releases two albums in one year!
I have to confess that I still haven’t listened to all of the The Dreaming, argued by many as one her best albums (of course Hounds of Love is my favourite album of all time), because when I was younger I was convinced that Kate wouldn’t release anything after The Red Shoes so I wanted to stretch out the pleasure of listening to her albums for the first time by holding out for a specific time period (sometimes years) before I would allow myself to listen to another album. So when she released Aerial in 2005 I was pretty much beside myself with excitement of the prospect of hearing new material. The mature richness and depth of Kate’s voice and her generous use of progressive sound and space, most notable on A Sky of Honey had created something that almost rivals Hounds of Love. Understandably 2011 was an awesome year for me as Kate released not one, but two albums – cheeky!

Director’s Cut is an intermediary album, a re-working of old songs recorded in analogue, which creates a notably warm and brighter sound. The lyrics of Deeper Understanding are more disturbingly pertinent than ever while the bleeping computer complete with Auto-Tune voice fits the track perfectly. Lily is the highlight for me with Kate letting loose over driving bass and rhythms.

50 Words for Snow in sound and spirit is the winter equivalent of A Sky of Honey, an organic and honest work. It deserves to be listened in full but each track holds it own with individual wintry narratives that cover suitably bizarre topics including a romantic night with a snowman that tragically melts come the morning.

If it’s going to be this good I don’t mind waiting six years for the next one.

2. I’ve missed most of the exhibitions that I wanted to go to, probably due to too many lie-ins at the weekend, but I did manage to see a fantastic exhibition in a recent trip to Paris. La Maison Rouge held an exhibition, Memories of the Future, the Olbricht Collection, which was an overwhelming display of art and historical objects spanning a period of 500 years from the 16th to the 201st Century. It was a brilliantly diverse mix of media and felt like a macabre cabinet of curiosities. Highlights were some Druer engravings, Cindy Sherman prints, a giant stuffed crocodile suspended from the ceiling and a suitably disturbing claymation short from Nathalie Djurberg which portrays with dark humour the sacrifice of a young woman when dealing with the affects of ageing and illness.

You can also catch a fantastic installation by Djurberg at the Camden Arts Centre until the 8th January - all info here.

3. Tip top albums of 2011
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow
Metronomy – The English Riviera
Austra – Feel It Break
Francois & The Atlas Mountains – E Volo Love
Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine
Nicola Roberts – Cinderella’s Eyes
Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest
Britney Spears – Femme Fatale

4. Phil Solomon – In Memoriam (2005-2009)
Phil Solomon is an experimental filmmaker and artist whose previous work include short films created by chemically altering film. In 2005 Phil Solomon and fellow filmmaker Mark La Pore (1952-2005) made a film that used Grand Theft Auto as its source material. After La Pore’s death in 2005 Solomon made a series of further films entitled In Memoriam. The series was screened for the first time in the UK in October and my friend James took me along; I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was pretty blown away by the experience and then went straight to watch Melancholia so it ended up being an intense evening!

The films were poignant, mesmerizing, and melancholic; I was struck by the surprising stillness and breadth of detail made using such a populated, action-packed videogame. One of the more haunting moments from Last Days In A Lonely Place, a film noir inspired by Rebel without a Cause, was a shot in front of an old cinema that displayed no films. It was lit by the headlights of a car, out of shot, and Solomon explained after the screening that he got rid of the people by ‘spawning’ tanks which he then used to block of the roads. You can catch clips here: http://www.philsolomon.com/

5. Josie Long – The Future is Another Place
I LOVE JOSIE LONG! GO SEE HER LIVE. Warm, witty and with charming enthusiasm you’ll be laughing with delight, but if you can’t catch her live then she also does an ace podcast with Robin Ince, until last week she also did a BBC 6 Music show with Andrew Collins which, fingers crossed, will return in the new year. And you can also find her Radio 4 series, All of the Planet's Wonders, in which Josie attempts to better herself through learning from reference books, here.

Merry Christmas!

Merci 2011

Back in January, I took this serious resolution: this year, I'm going to slow down on gigs and get more nights at home to watch all these films that I should have seen. Well, to put it simply, it was a big FAIL. Now that I have to look back on my favourite things of this year, I realise how busy I've been and how small the number of nights at home is. As a perfect illustration of this, I am writing this top 5 on my lunch break because I have been unable to find the time to do it in the past 2 weeks. Don't get me wrong, it was a GREAT year, I saw so many amazing bands, places and artists but I also had a lot of these scary blanks after the 'what have you been up to recently?' question. So, anyway, let's get to it:

1) Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains finally getting the recognition they deserve.
I've known Frànçois for about 6 years now, we met in Brighton when he played guitar for Ray Rumours at the Ladyfest. After the show, being the only Frenchies around, we had a nice chat and he gave me a copy of his first album Les anciennes falaises. I fell in love with his music after just one listen, tracks like Revu or Katrina were absolutely striking. Over the years, we became friends and I've always tried to support him as much as I could, mainly by taking all my friends to his shows, playing his music to everyone I knew etc. I've always thought that Frànçois should get more success that he was getting and finally this year by signing on Domino and releasing E Volo Love in France (on Jan 23rd in the UK), he's had a tremendous success. What I've always loved about Frànçois' music is that it's getting better with time and every time I see him, he does something different. His creating process is constant, which makes everything so much more exciting. He's coming to the UK for a tour in January, don't miss him, this is the last chance to see him in small venues before he gets the success he deserves so much here too.



2) Electrelane reforming
It's always hard to do a end of the year top 5 but when it's a year in which your favourite band ever has reformed, then it's easy! This summer, we saw the return of Electrelane after a 4 year hiatus and it was amazing to see them stronger as ever. All the songs sounded fantastic, they were enjoying themselves and how good was that cover of Smalltown Boy?!



3) Very good albums
This year was a great year for albums, here is my top 10:
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains – E Volo Love
Metronomy – The English Riviera
Austra – Feel It Break
Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls
Stranded Horse – Humbling Tides
Still Corners – Creatures of an Hour
Yuck – Yuck
I Break Horses – Hearts
Britney Spears – Femme Fatale

4) Amazing festivals
This year was very very good on the festival side. I went to End of the Road for the first time and OH MY DAYS, these 'best small festival' awards were well deserved! Everything is so special there: the line-up is a complete killer (and it's looking already very good for next year), the site is gorgeous, the food is deliciiiious and the whole atmosphere makes it totally amazing!
I also went to Primavera for the first time and you know all your friends who have been and always say 'olalala it's the best festival ever, I can't believe you've never been, you HAVE TO COME next year', they're annoying, aren't they? Well, now I'm one of them. Same as End of the Road: killer line-up + amazing food (try the chocolate cake of the pro area) + crazy site + Barcelona = winner!
And finally, I went to this totally cool new festival called 'Concerts Sauvages'. The concept is this: it takes place in a skiing resort and they've put stages on the slopes and you have to ski to the gigs. It's very coolos. Line-up wasn't mind-blowing but the idea is good enough to make it a great experience.

5) Going to the Brits
I've always loved awards ceremonies and this year, I got to go to the NRJ Music Awards which was fun (mainly for Usher and seeing French legend Mylène Farmer) but a bit long and had too much Shakira. But the best thing was that Ben and I went to the Brit Awards at the O2 and THAT WAS SOMETHING! Take That opening the whole thing was very impressive and then we witnessed an O2 going complete silent for the astonishing performance of Someone Like You by Adele. But let's be honest here, Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons etc, whatever, the key performance was RIHANNA. Ben and I completely lost our minds and screamed like teenage girls, IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!



Have a lovely Christmas and see you next year xx

Thank you 2011

Over the next few weeks, once a week, each of us from Yeah Club! will be adding their own memories and standout moments, things, tracks, whatever from 2011. Thanks for checking out the site over the past year, and have a wonderful Xmas and New Year. Oh, and we're starting with me...

******

Rather than the usual scenario of wondering where the year went, I find myself looking back and wondering how we managed to pack so much in during one calendar year. Aside from getting the call to move to Berlin, there was also the small matter of moving house (thanks Dan for the 17 hour drive company), starting a new(ish) job, getting married (eeee!) and all the other fun weekends that scattered the year with fist-pumping righteousness. Anyway, enough about me, here are some highlights from 2011, it's been a pleasure.

1) A quick shimmy across my top 10 albums of 2011 in order, wickedest at the top:

Pure X - Pleasure

Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

Chad Van Gaalen - Diaper Island

Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls

Let's Wrestle - Nursing Home

Gruff Rhys - Hotel Shampoo

Connan Mockasin - Forever Dolphin Love

Primary 1 - Other People

Emika - Emika

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffatt - Everything's Getting Older

2) Big Star have played a Big Part in 2011, kind of picking a constant thread between all the changes that have been going on. They were on my radar previously, but I really got into all three albums in a big way this year, and started getting a little bit obsessive in terms of reading biographies.

The best read was from the wonderful 33 1/3rd series, and I can thoroughly recommend it. Rob Sheffield brings up Big Star a fair bit in his unbearably sad book 'Love is a Mixtape', and I feel in some ways they've also accompanied me through one of the most intense periods of my life. One of those bands that sticks around. For the better.

3) One of the particularly rad things about getting married is you can kind of turn the reception into your PARTY OF DREAMS. So with this in mind I got a bunch of close friends who I'd played music with over the years, but who hadn't necessarily played together, to come and do some rehearsals.

One, Pierre, came all the way from Paris for the 3 practices. The band prepped a series of diverse family / friends-friendly tunes, and delivered a monster set on the day. But above all, hanging out with them all at the practices and seeing them play such a blinder as the sun went down over Barcelona remain cherished memories.

4) Let's Wrestle are one of those bands that I probably should shut up about, but their gig in Hamburg in October was just so fucking good that I have to mention it. They're bursting with an undeniable mix of devastating tunes, wordsmithery and they look funny too. WINNING COMBINATION. I also feel a bit like a stalker when I watch them play live. Which is fine.

So over and out, I leave you with my hottest album of a tip-top year. Yours, Ben.

Pure X: Pleasure by alteredzones

Desert Island Discs, I Salute You

In a week where Blackberry seem to have done the career-move equivalent of British Airways making more luggage space in the cabin by putting all the passenger seats on the wings of the plane, I find myself pondering upon my (over) use of the dreaded iPhone...

Forget emailing and phone calls which I barely ever get it out for, for me it's all about the podcasts (you can get them straight to your phone via iTunes which is ace for commutes), the games, and the nifty festival apps that are becoming more and more frequent (MaMA in Paris and Transmusicales in Rennes ones are both looking handy).

The wealth of podcasts is embarrassingly rich. Favourite include Football Weekly (sorry, I am completely addicted to this and there's nothing anyone can do about it), A History of the World in 100 Objects (all objects can be found in the British Museum which is pretty rad unless you're from one of the countries the UK nabbed the items from), and yes, Desert Island Discs.

DiD opened up their archives to the iTunes podcast thingy in March, and since then I've been doing my best to trawl through them. The DiD intro music, Kirsty Young's dulcet tones, (and Sailing By, another radio 4 classic) are all deeply engrained in my psyche...

Here are the episodes that stand out, and deserve a good old listen:

1) Jan Pienowski - 18.Oct.2009

Ahh, Meg and Mog, Haunted House pop-up book. THE STUFF OF LEGENDS. I tried to make a pop-up book when I was 5 but with A4 it turned out to be a bit flimsy. There was a giraffe involved. Beyond the creativity and the books, here Jan talks about his Polish heritage, living with his bipolarity (preferring not to take prescription drugs as they dulled his mind), his extensive collection of charity shop clothes and his 40-year relationship with his partner. Quite an exceptional man who has slipped onto my 'maxi-dinner party of all time' list.

2) Tony Adams - 27.Jun.2010

Being anti-Arsenal to the point of distraction, I wasn't looking forward to this one, but Adams' candid and unnervingly honest account of his alcoholism, crippling insecurities and lack of education are startling. His recovery, work with other professionals with addiction issues and his new management role as coach of the Azerbaijan team is worth checking out.

3) Anna del Conte - 19.Nov.10

One of the great things about the archive is you stumble across people you haven't heard of, or who you may have heard of but can't remember what it is they get up to. Signora del Conte is the Italian food writer who came to the UK in the late 40, and has been one of the main instigators in making Italian food as popular in the UK as it is today. Her tales of making horse-meat ragu without telling customers (they loved it and came back for more) is particularly good, especially when recounted in her inimitable voice and accent.

4) Lang Lang - 31.Oct.10

Lang Lang's Dad used to kick his arse into gear if he didn't do enough piano practice. I know exactly what this is all about, so this rather endearerd me to old Lang Lang. He takes his Dad to task a bit as well as far as I remember, go Lang Lang! He also got kicked out of the conservatoire in China for not having enough talent. Ha, fools!

5) Barry Manilow - 27.Sep.09

I have a memory, deeply etched in my brain of Manilow performing Copacabana when I was around 8. To me, he looked like the epitome of uncool or whatever that is. But I knew he looked like a bit of a div. So this episode kind of change my mind, as he came out of it looking like a bit of a dude. His obvious, deep-seated passion for music doesn't always come out with other musicians, but he is frighteningly knowledgeable and humble with it. Copacabana rocks as well I now realise.

Teeth by DZDEATHRAYS


Cheveu - Charlie Sheen by Wrong End Of The Seesaw

Reasons Why You (ok, I) Love Let’s Wrestle

It's quite simple really. Just follow these 4 easy steps, and you'll remember why they are totally stalk-worthy:

1) Jape-skills - I don't remember Matt Cardle getting the X-Factor tourbus-driver to divert to the nearest model village and end up with a (unsubstantiated)story in the local press a la this...

2) They are particularly reliable bunch of guys, and have their own Scorsese, Ben Ransley making their videos...

3) The drummer has a great relationship with the cymbals...

4) They had a whole Ninja Film made for them by the aforementioned Ben Ransley. He's like their George Martin figure.

Their second album was out recently on Fulltime Hobby and is called Nursing Home.


Let's Wrestle - For My Mother by MergeRecords


Let's Wrestle - I'm In Love With Destruction by cafe_magro span>