Albums of the Year, 2010.

Thought I would publish my list, for the benefit of the good people over at The Hype Machine. Here goes.

A full extended, 25 album list can be found on spotify, here: http://open.spotify.com/user/steelersfan_uk06/playlist/46BLRANz7AFRJZxc8olOh5

Here's the top ten:

Foals - Total Life Forever.
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach.
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs.
Kele - The Boxer.
Bombay Bicycle Club - Flaws.
Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History.
Delphic - Acolyte.
Ellie Goulding - Lights.
The Boy Who Trapped The Sun - Fireplace.
Yeasayer - Odd Blood.

That is all!

Boycotts - 'Start a Boycott' EP review

Boycotts – Start a Boycott EP

Name-checked in Radio 1 DJ Vic Galloway's ever-respectable (and somewhat not as straightforward as you may think) "50 Artists to Watch in 2010", Glasgow and Edinburgh based quartet Boycotts release their long-awaited debut EP Start a Boycott through Andy Miller’s What If Music project. There isn’t too much out of the ordinary here – the casual listener would be forgiven for lumping them in with The Long Blondes, Pull in Emergency and many of the other “indie-riff-with-the-female-twist” bands emerging from the latter half of the noughties. Boycotts aren’t too far away from this – short, sharp pop songs are the clear agenda here throughout the four tracks. But a closer listen suggests more – lead singer (and perfectly named) front woman Stina Twee’s elegant vocals wrapped within the Scottish accent give the band the well-needed edge they require. A heart-wrenching call for help comes in the form of the slower-paced “A Lesson in Gravity”. Sitting on nearly five of the EP’s fifteen minutes, the chilling “…did you hear the splash? ...I’ll freeze to death if you don’t find me soon.” shows signs of what could be hidden at the core of this young indie pop outfit, and suggests Twee has more emotion to throw in than the four songs here let on.

Start a Boycott is available now through EmuBands and What If Music, and look out for Boycotts’ debut single around the end of the year.