Best Records of 2011 (so far)

Inspired by NPR All Songs Considered doing their midway wrap of the year's best, here is my own list. With videos of the standout track from each. There is a big list here to help you compile your own.

1. Destroyer - Kaputt



2. Toro Y Moi - Underneath the Pine



3. Cass McCombs - Wit's End



4. Bon Iver - Bon Iver



5. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues



6. Bill Callahan - Apocalypse



7. Smith Westerns - Dye it Blonde



8. Panda Bear - Tomboy



9. Low - C'Mon



10. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

Teenage Fanclub - The Concept

A couple of weeks ago I got Bandwagonesque, the classic Teenage Fanclub album from '91. I can't stop listening to it, especially the astonishing opening track The Concept. I was taught the tune on guitar by a mad welshman in a hot rehearsal room during London's summer '07 and it just brings back all those memories. I wish i'd owned the record before then though, i'm sure i rooted up the solo having never heard it. Anyway, since its stuck in my head, get it stuck into yours:



Unfortunately its not the full album version, you get the MTV fadeout at 3'22. Starsign and What You Do To Me are also standouts on the record. If you're a Big Star, Neil Young, Dinosaur Jr or Byrds fan then its a must-own.

And if yr in Spain in September you can see Teenage Fanclub at the Ebro Vision festival on the 19th. Woo!

Sea Scouts

Just found a link on mess and noise to this incredible super8 footage of the Sea Scouts taken from their last ever show at The Corner Hotel on Feb 18th, 2000.



The Sea Scouts were one of my favourite bands in the late 90s and put out two excellent records - the abrasive Pattern Recognition (which they released twice after re-recording with their original drummer) and their masterpiece Beacon of Hope. Tim from the group went on to form The Bird Blobs, while Monika plays with Baseball and Love of Diagrams.

A wiki bio is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Scouts_(band)