I am Plastic Fuzz. I am a musician from Leeds, UK. I have a 100 song album and I often make pasta. I also gig regularly.
Archive for December, 2009
Albums of 2009
December 29th, 2009
*WARNING* I shall not praise the year nor the decade in an attempt to strum your heartstrings and romanticise unduly, afterall I’ve only been alive for two whole ones.
However I have enjoyed some great music this year and found that what I was really looking for was what I have always looked for in music since the Radiohead/Nirvana years. It seems that melody, meter and a joyous nihilism were the accidental themes.
1. Itch – Illusions Of Grandeur From A One Trick Pony
Itch are from Leeds, UK have been around since 1999 but why do I get the feeling that no-one knows about them yet? I’m not sure people in masses ever will nor am I sure that they really should but they’ve certainly ticked some boxes for me. Lines such as “YOU’RE NOT SO BIG AND CLEVER” and “WHAT DO WE DO WITH A DRUNKEN FAILURE?” take you to places of mid-90s emo with playful meters and sincere melodies to keep you coming back.
2. Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
Leeds via Kendel band the Wild Beasts are all over the broadsheets. After receiving 5 Stars in the Sunday Times and appearing in the Guardians’ top albums list of the decade, Two Dancers has that phrase critical acclaim plastered all over it. Described as “music that Liam Gallagher would hate”, the Wild Beasts boast two vocalists with entirely different delivery systems of romantic baritone and theatrical fallsetto ilks. After working with bassist, Tom Fleming in the Food Hall at Marks & Spencer, Leeds – I am now truly wearing my I-wasn’t-expecting-that face.
3. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Canada has been producing some great music in recent years and no not Celine Dion, Jonny. I’m talking about Metric, Feist, and Apostle of Hustle to name but a few. And it appears that the UK is starting to listen in (or maybe has done for a while, and I’ve just turned up late to the party). Dirty Projectors is essentially a solo project by Dave Longstreth now boasting 5 albums the latest of which stands out pride as another one of those critics favourites. Harmonies galore and African style virtuoso 12 string guitar numbers create a delightful 9 song potion which the critics are calling “art rock” (but it really isn’t). Whatever it is, it keeps you coming back, then going back to their older stuff and then coming back again.
