Links + End of Year Lists: The British Run Down
There’s been a hell of a lot of end of year lists floating around, here’s the breakdown of where some of the British artists have featured….
Pitchfork is one of the major trendsetting music websites in the U.S and a great place to gage the success and critical appraisal of some the homegrown UK acts….
#48: The Long Blondes - Someone to drive you home [rough trade]
#44: The Pipettes - We Are the Pipettes [Memphis Industries]
#39: Fujiya & Miyagi - Transparent Things [Tirk/Word and Sound]
#30: Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit [Matador]
#29: Lily Allen - Alright, Still [Parlophone/EMI]
#26: Hot Chip - The Warning [DFA/EMI]
The “Heart on a Stick” Blog also used end of year lists to calculate the albums getting the most love in end of year polls from hundreds of blogs (including this one). Again, here’s where British artists featured in the top 50. Possibly a more indicative poll than Pitchfork due to a vast number of sources used, and the wide range of writers contributing. Not a particularly good year for the Brits in my opinion, the tracks were good; but I didn’t quite feel excited by any album releases. Get’s hope 2007 offers more….
#37 Lily Allen - Alright, Still [Parlophone/EMI]
#24 Muse - Black Holes and Relevations [Label]
#19 Hot Chip - The Warning [DFA/EMI]
#18 Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not [Domino]
#6 Thom Yorke - The Eraser [Beggars]
All albums are purchasable @ Amazon or you can download a couple of the albums for free @ Emusic by using the 25 free downloads that you get if you sign up for a free trial. The albums highlighted in bold are available at Emusic.
Some British artists you might expect to see on next year’s lists:
Bloc Party #2 / Arctic Monkey #2 / PJ Harvey / Radiohead / Klaxons / Art Brut / British Sea Power and of course the new album from The Go! Team. I predict a riot. But not from the Kasier Cheifs. I expect they will gain slightly more weight and put on a terrible show at Glasto The Go! Team will rock - as long as Sony/BMG keep their distance.
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20 JFGs, one of the best UK Mp3 blogs, offers one of the few lists that matters, is thought out, and contains some incredible suggestions that past my by this year, including a superb track by Grabba Grabba Tape. I brought the album immediately.
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The latest edition of my podcast ‘Take Your Medicine’ is out. An extravaganza of the best of the year, and an equal amount of brand spanking new music from across the globe. A 1 hour show. Go to the T.Y.M site, or subscribe immediately in Itunes by using this link. Fill you brand new shiny mp3 player with new music….
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Sky Larkin have got the new mix of their début single available to listen to on their myspace page. Go listen to “One of Two” now. And buy it!
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I was a Cub Scout have a great video for their single, which I spoke about down the page a bit. Go watch it on the Youtube
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The NYUB podcast is out again, containing some fantastic new music, all played a little faster, using more digitalisation than the music I favour on my podcast. If that’s your sort of thing, head on over. Tracks 1, 3, and 15 are absolutely incredible.
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Stay tuned for a 2007 preview before January hits us…
You don’t think the Coral might be making an appearance in the 2007 end of year polls?
Hmmmm…. quite possibly. I can imagine them capturing the imagination of the blogosphere - I had completely forgotten about them. Let’s hope some great material emerges.