Before christmas I was asked to record a podcast for the lovely Seeks Music people (coined and set up when 6 music was threatened with closure) and operating in a similar vein..

I finally got round to it this morning!

I’ve been writing for John Robb’s ‘Louder Than War’ website for a whole year, kicking off with a list of 50 bands last january. To this day that blog is one of the most read posts on the website! 

And so I thought I’d step things up in 2012 with 100 bands! Believe me, they’re not all brand new but bands that I feel will be making some kind of impact in 2012. Happy listening!

Any of my friends will tell you that Its very rarely that I have a night in, infact, not only am I at gigs multiple times each week, my voice recorder joins me on most festival trips and weekends away, just incase y’know..

I’ve been known to interview bands in an array of random situations over the last three years. A few that stand out for me this year:

Interviewing Young Husband at the end of the bar in The Griffin, whilst the Jesus & Mary Chain sat across from us; Interviewing the Black Angels sat cross legged on the concrete outside the service entrance to the Ruby Lounge, meeting Crystal Stilts on the stationary train-bar at Indietracks and fawning over their vinyl; my Deaf Institute bunk bed interludes with EMA, Benjamin Francis Leftwich and Sissy & The Blisters, watching Twin Shadow re-string his guitar and hold down an interview simultaneously, fun times with Frankie & The Heartstrings whilst they played pool at Salford Lads Club (technically 2010 but aired 2011), quizzing Lee from Viva Brother to see if he really was a total tool whilst he wore a pirate hook for a hand.. 

Mostly though, its not as glamorous as people think, waiting around for hours (i now own a kindle and a fancy phone for that time killing reason) chatting in dark vans, in corridors, or whilst they’re eating their tea.  Looking back, I’ve interviewed over 100 bands/musicians in 2011 and have loved meeting every person.  I love hearing their stories, influences etc and a meeting face to face is so much more personal and interactive than a phoner, so i’ve tried to shy away from them this year.

My biggest ‘whoop whoop’ moment this year was finally meeting the lovely Edwyn Collins and wife Grace at Indietracks festival.  More adorable and hospitable people you could not wish to meet, and a dream come true for me.  I even got to make a visit to the legendary West Heath Yard in December, although master and mistress were not at home, I got to meet the awesome Susan and Seb, check out the latest project from the guys at http://aedrecords.com/ the home of their new record label.

Amazing music, amazing people!  Here is the list of interviews from 2011.  Here’s to many more in 2012, and from me to you for 2012 Happy New Year!

If you want to listen to any of these shows again, they can all be found on my mix cloud HERE

06/01/11 Sound of Guns

09/01/11 Orphan Boy 

13/01/11 !!!

16/01/11 Little Comets (x3)

20/01/11 Darwin Deez (x2)

23/01/11 12 Dirty Bullets

27/01/11 Black Angels

30/01/11 Silver Columns

03/02/11 James Yuill

06/02/11 Lysergic Suite

10/02/11 The Vaccines

13/02/11 We Are Scientists

17/02/11 Ringo Deathstarr

20/02/11 Salem

24/02/11 Answering Machine

27/02/11 Frankie & The Heartstrings

03/03/11 Trojan Horse

06/03/11 Blind Atlas

10/03/11 Engineers

13/03/11 Paul Smith (Maximo Park)

17/03/11 Sleigh Bells

20/03/11 Twin Shadow

24/03/11 The Rainband

27/03/11 Doyle & The Fourfathers

31/03/11 The Narrows

03/04/11 The Crookes

07/04/11 Eagulls

10/04/11 The Joy Formidable

14/04/11 Danny Mahon

17/04/11 Trophy Wife

21/04/11 Duke Spirit

24/04/11 Brother

28/04/11 Wolf People

01/05/11 May 68

05/05/11 Miles Kane

08/05/11 Dinosaur Pile-up

12/05/11 The Boxer Rebellion

15/05/11 Pigeon Detectives

19/05/11 Crocodiles

22/05/11 Benjamin Francis Leftwich

26/06/11 Vinyl Jacket

29/05/11 Foreign Office

02/06/11 Cloud Control

05/06/11 Kill Van Kulls

09/06/11 Pete & The Pirates

12/06/11 The Dears

16/06/11 The Wave Pictures

19/06/11 The Leisure Society

23/06/11 Fixers

26/06/11 Sarabeth Tucek

30/06/11 Jim Jones Revue

03/07/11 Patterns

07/07/11 Beat Connection

10/07/11 Deep Sea Arcade

14/07/11 Arrows Of Love

17/07/11 Holy Ghost

21/07/11 Cults

24/07/11 Various Cruelties

28/07/11 Battles

31/07/11 Papercuts

04/08/11 Greetings From Beacons Festival preview

07/08/11 Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

11/08/11 Breton

14/08/11 Hyde & Beast

18/08/11 Tame Impala

21/08/11 Babeshadow

25/08/11 Edwyn Collins

28/08/11 Crystal Stilts

01/09/11 Beth Jeans Houghton

04/09/11 Janice Graham Band

08/09/11 Factory Floor

11/09/11 Ogenesis Records

15/09/11 Other Lives

18/09/11 Wye Oak

22/09/11 Replicas

02/10/11 Milk Maid

16/10/11 Visions Of Trees

20/10/11 EMA

23/10/11 Howling Bells

27/10/11 Slow Club

30/10/11 Lets Buy Happiness

03/11/11 Teeth

06/11/11 Golden Glow

10/11/11 Constellations Festival preview

13/11/11 Wakey Wakey

17/11/11 Veronica Falls

20/11/11 Spectrals

24/11/11 Underground Railroad

27/11/11 Summer Camp

01/12/11 Outfit

04/12/11 Ghost Outfit

08/12/11 Gardens & Villa

11/12/11 Trophy Wife

15/12/11 Sissy & The Blisters

18/12/11 Swimming

At the current time I work full time and not in the radio or music industry. Don’t get me wrong I listen to a lot of new music, but there is only so much music I can listen to on an iPod at work.  Truthfully, I have not listened to all this years new releases, No Kate, No Bjork, I’ve not even managed to grab a listen to the Kurt Vile record. Whilst I would adore to, there simply hasn’t been the time. So people may disagree with me, or there will invariably be albums I discover from 2011 when i’ve already written my top albums list. There, disclaimer done!

The truth of the matter though, is I love sharing the music, and if you can discover one band that melts your heart or one band that gets you excited about seeing live bands and music, then my heart is warmed and It has been worth the effort.

It has not been an easy decision this year, despite people tweeting me saying they can barely find 5 great albums of the year, i’ve struggled to cut my list down to just 50.  Despite topping an array of lists elsewhere and winning the Mercury Music Prize, there could be no other winner than PJ Harvey – Let England Shake. Raw, emotional, inventive and soul destroying perfection. If you listen to one song from this post, make it this one:

My top 50 albums of 2011 are:

1. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
2. Other Lives – Tamer Animals
3. Real Estate – Days
4. Cloud Control – Bliss Release
5. Black Keys – El Camino
6. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra
7. Wye Oak – Civilian
8. Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls
9. I Break Horses – Hearts
10. Frankie & The Heartstrings – Hunger
11. Crystal Stilts – In Love With Oblivion
12. The Horrors – Skying
13. Dum Dum Girls – Only In Dreams
14. Wild Beasts – Smother
15. The Boxer Rebellion – The Cold Still
16. Cults – Cults
17. The Kills – Blood Pressures
18. Summer Camp – Welcome To Condale
19. The Antlers – Burst Apart
20. Metronomy – The English Riviera
21. The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar
22. Sarabeth Tucek – Get Well Soon
23. Little Barrie – King Of The Waves
24. Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
25. Peggy Sue – Acrobats
26. Foster The People – Torches
27. Dutch Uncles – Cadenza
28. Memory Tapes – Player Piano
29. Doyle & The Fourfathers – Man Made
30. Ice Age – New Brigade
31. Gardens & Villa – Gardens & Villa
32. Colourmusic – My ______ Is Pink
33. Swimming – Ecstatics International
34. Tom Vek – Leisure Seizure
35. Spectrals – Bad Penny
36. Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi
37. Slow Club – Paradise
38. The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
39. The Crookes – Chasing After Ghosts
40. Wolf People – Steeple
41. Austra – Feel It Break
42. Hyde & Beast – Slow Down
43. Toro Y Moi – Underneath The Pine
44. Still Corners – Creatures Of An Hour
45. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Belong
46. Pete & The Pirates – One Thousand Pictures
47. Little Dragon – Ritual Union
48. The Leisure Society – Into The Murky Water
49. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
50. Blood Orange – Coastal Grooves

Well it might not be Louder Than War, but it’s the loudest train you’ll probably hear, the good old Steam Train from Indietracks this summer. It’s been an eventful year overall, and one I shall look back on with great fondness, but one thing runs through 2011 for me and thats writing for John Robbs cool as website Louder Than War.

It was back In January that John told me he was putting together a list of new bands and he asked would I do the same, so I stayed up late after work one night and wrote a list of 50 bands.  For days, weeks and even months afterwards I got asked about that post, it is one of the most popular posts on the site to this date and for that reason I continued to write every month for the site, albeit about 10 new bands a month, a more manageable delivery.

You’d think there would be a shortage of new bands and music, but I’m dumbfounded to realise that I’ve tipped 150 bands on Louder Than Wars pages this year.  This week I’ve spent time pulling together my next list and i’ll be offering 100 new bands in January 2012, as such I thought it would be useful to try and capture the lists that i’ve already written during 2011, to summarise, if you wish.  I’ve only ever repeated one band twice (an accident) and therefore bands mentioned previously won’t make the next 100 bands post.
So here it is my summary of 2011 for Louder Than War, I’ll provide the links to the detailed posts on Louder Than War which hold band descriptions and links to their music, but this will just offer a brief summary. I missed one month due to holidays and backlogs but as I still work full time outside the music/radio/media industry I’ll let myself off on that one.
I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!

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January (LTW POST)

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1.Slow Motion Shoes (RIP)

2. Brown Brogues

3. Young British Artists

4. Spectrals

5. Rodeo Massacre

6. Boy & Bear

7. Esben & The Witch

8. Doyle & The Fourfathers

9. Chapel Club

10. Little Comets

11. The Joy Formidable

12. Flashguns

13. Porcelain Raft

14. Trophy Wife

15. Patterns

16. With That Knife

17. The Lysergic Suite

18. Blind Atlas

19. Veronica Falls

20. Ringo Deathstarr

21. Miles Kane

22. Smoke Fairies

23. Wolf People

24. Fiction

25. Chief

30. Tamaryn

31. Two Wounded Birds

32. Black Dove Experiment

33. Dutch Uncles

34. Airship

35. The Suns

36. Milk Maid

37. Weird Era

38. Suzuki/Method

39. The Boxer Rebellion

40. Islet

41. Golden Glow

42. Beat The Radar

43. Travelling Band

44. Run Toto Run (RIP)

45. Daystar

46. Sad Day For Puppets

47. The Screening

48. Arcadian Kicks

49. May 68 (RIP)

50. The Lines

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February (LTW POST)

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51.Money

52. Eagulls

53. Frankie & The Heartstrings

54. Alex Winston

55. Jamie Woon

56. Cults

57. Plank!

58. Friends

59. Fixers

60. The Crookes

Mint Julep have probably sent out the most consistently cool music videos of 2011, but that aside, the music has also kept my ears enraptured.

Falling somewhere between Chairlift and Saint Etienne, the light and airy indie pop electronica has been a joy to discover in 2011..

If you know nothing of my music taste, know this –  I love psychedelic, far out and sometimes slightly wacky music.. some call it eclectic, others may understand it better by me explaining that I prefer MGMT’s Congratulations to Oracular Spectacular..
For this reason Connecticut’s The Stepkids fit me like a glove, tipped on twitter by James Endeacott and it’s not hard to hear why.. spaced out, extreme, but ultimately fulfilling..

You know when you’ve been waiting to see a band patiently for a number of months and through one reason or another, every attempt you make to see them fails. Well despite broken vans, I managed to finally get to see Swimming last night, and boy was it worth the wait..

I also got to hear about an exciting binaudio shindig that the band will be involved in at the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham on the 2nd December, if you’re in the area don’t miss it!

Despite my earplugs being in place at the gig though, I was also overexcited to have this absolute TUNE dedicated to me, Swimming YOU ROCK..

Twice in a week, and its still not enough right?! The Oxford three piece who play live as a four piece have been a band that got totally under my skin from the first time I heard Microlite.  By the time The Quiet Earth / White Horses hit the shelves I was happy to get in the car and drive to Sheffield to catch them live for the first time..

That seems so long ago now though! They finally have a new EP out, the ‘Bruxism EP’ which boasts tracks produced by a range of different producers including James Yuill and Yannis from Foals. Plus they’ve now played Manchester a handful of times.. I honestly can’t wait to hear the album, which they are heading off to record after their current set of tour dates.  If you want a taster of whats instore, you could do worse but listen to these two tracks, taken off the latest EP.