Last year I couldn’t be bothered doing a best albums list, and in a way I was quite right because I discovered a few of my favourite albums of 2008 in the first part of this year, such as Devotion by Beach House and Deerhunter’s Microcastle. I agree to a large extent with Jamie from Conquering Animal Sounds/The Japanese War Effort when he says, “music is not a competition”.

 This year though I was asked to compile lists by a couple of fellow bloggers and felt it would be rude to refuse.

THE “SCOTTISH BAMS” ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

 I was kindly invited by Peenko to contribute to The Scottish Bloggers and Music Sites Award 2009 top ten albums of the year. He asked a whole bunch of (mostly Scottish) music bloggers to take part and although it wasn’t specifically Scottish albums he had in mind, in the end the crown was taken by Glasgow’s The Phantom Band. Head over to Peenko’s blog to find out the full list and also to read a very gracious quote from the Phantom Band’s Andy.

Six of the albums from my own top ten made it in the top 20 – you can see my list below. I will be listening to the others, most of which I haven’t heard yet, at the earliest opportunity.

 My Top Ten:

•  King Creosote – Flick The V’s
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
• Withered Hand – Good News
• The Phantom Band – Checkmate Savage
• The xx – the one with the big X on front
• Ambulances – The Future That Was
• My Latest Novel – Deaths & Entrances
• Malcolm Middleton – Waxing Gibbous
• Grizzly Bear – Veckamist

No.10 I have disqualified as not only was it embarrassing I have just realised it came out in 2008!

The other “BAMS” who took part:17 Seconds, AyeTunes, Dear Scotland, Earz Mag, Elba Sessions, Glasgow Podcart, Hooligans Lament, Jim Gellatly, JocknRoll, Jockrock, Kowalskiy, Last Years Girl, Love Shack Baby, Manic Pop Thrills, My Portiswasp Says, Off the Beaten Tracks, The Pop Cop, Song By Toad, The Blues Bunny, The Daily Growl, The Spill, The Steinberg Principle, The Vinyl Villain and Under the Radar.

 MY FIVE BEST ALBUMS OF THE DECADE

Secondly I was invited to contribute to Finbarr Bermingham’s Five of the Best series on his Scrawls & Bawls blog (which also features his superb interviews with the likes of Johnny Rotten and Frightened Rabbit as well as Five of the Bests by my pals Nick and Ally amongst others).

 This is the five albums of the decade that are most important to me – I certainly don’t claim that this is an objective choice, just those which I personally enjoyed most. I really enjoyed writing this too, mainly because of Finbarr’s excellent questions which helped spark memories of the great gigs I’ve been to since the turn of the decade.

 My top 5:

 1. The Fall – The Real New Fall LP (formerly Country on the Click)

2. James Yorkston – The Year of the Leopard

3. Arcade Fire – Funeral

4. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois

5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell

 Go here to read the full story…

The Rest of The Best 

And in no particular order, some other albums which meant a lot to me this decade (in some cases my tastes have changed a lot since then):

•  Arab Strap – Monday at the Hug and Pint
• King Creosote – Bombshell & KC Rules OK 
• Britney Spears – Blackout (and it’s not just me, the Times has it as the fifth best pop album this decade!)
• Uncle John & Whitelock – There is Nothing Else
• The Strokes – This is It
• Herman Dune – Giant
• Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus – Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
• Out of Season – Beth Gibbons & Rustin’ Man
•  Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not – Arctic Monkeys
•  Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea – P. J. Harvey
•  A Ghost Is Born – Wilco (for some weird reason I’ve not heard Yankee Hotel Foxtrot yet)
•  Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
•  Original Pirate Material – The Streets (Locked On, 2002)
• The Pictish Trail – Secret Soundz Vol. 1
• 24 Hour Party People Soundtrack
• Thom Yorke – The Eraser
• Malcolm Middleton – Into the Woods & Fluxy.. the one with crappo the clown on the cover
• Bjork – Vespertine
• The White Stripes – White Blood Cells & Elephant
• M.I.A. – Arular
• Evan Dando – Baby I’m Bored
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones
•  Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP (yeah, I know)

THE LIST OF OTHER LISTS TO END ALL LISTS

 Or perhaps not, but here’s a few other excellent end of year/decade lists:

Said The Gramophone’s Best Songs of 2009

Last Year’s Girl – Best of the Noughties

The Steinberg Principle’s Top 50 albums of the decade

Evil Stu (an occasional contributor to this blog) and  his not very evil music lists

Tommy from Found’s excellent Christmas computerscheisse laptop mix

The Skinny’s Scottish Albums of the Decade 

Contrast Podcast Festive Fifty (only part one is up so far)

 If you made a list and I didn’t mention it here let me know in the comments. Or just say hello!

I missed the impromptu set by The Three Craws at Homegame earlier this year, so I was delighted when my friends Iain and Aileen, who live in Aberdour, got Mel and I tickets to go see them at the Aberdour Festival.

As it turned out, we were already heading to Fife that weekend to visit my mum and her partner, who were renting a little holiday house in Lower Largo, so we were able to head to Aberdour on the way back and catch the set.

In case you’re not aware, the Three Craws are James Yorkston (James Yorkston), King Creosote (Kenny Anderson) and the Pictish Trail (Johnny Lynch). Now individually these are three of my favourite songwriters/performers, so to see them all together at the same time was a joy.

They played a wide variety of stuff – at the beginning they took turns to play one of their own songs but they soon went off into what was obviously an improvised set of great folk songs and tracks by their friends including by Kenny’s brother Gordon, who has recorded so many great songs under the name of The Lone Pigeon and with the Aliens and the Beta Band. The highlight for me though was an absolutely storming version of Adrian Crowley‘s Walk-On Part.

I have to admit I didn’t know this song previously but on my return I immediately bought his album Long Distance Swimmer so I could listen to it on repeat whilst furiously knitting my brow and wringing my hands at the pointless absurdity of life, drinking whisky and smoking crack (er ok, whilst having a nice cup of tea).

What’s so great about the Three Craws, in addition to the silly banter and improvised nonsense, is their harmonies. Their voices complement each other so perfectly it was stunning to hear.

So, yes – I couldn’t resist making another wee video. I hope the Craws don’t mind me including some personal footage of my visit to Fife with clips from their performance – and I suppose this is a bit of a companion piece to my Homegame video seeing as I missed them at that. I have to admit, and this is coming from an avowed city lubber, I think I’m starting to fall in love with Fife a little bit. Hope you enjoy it.

Vimeo:

YouTube:

 At the beginning of the video James Yorkston is referring to a gift he was given of a crocheted tortoise, hare and fox – go the fence forums to get a closer look..

If you’re lucky enough to be heading to the Green Man festival this year in Wales, you’ll see the Three Craws there, along with various other Fence Collective peeps.

Also worth checking out are these live acoustic performances by King Creosote in Hyde Park for the website www.bandstandbusking.com especially if you want to find out what the actual words to ‘Rims’ are… hint: it’s not “let me remind you that you had a menu”

I have to admit I found the prospect of sitting down to a whole album of ‘proper folk’ rather off-putting, even though it was recorded by James Yorkston (who it is no secret I am a massive fan of).

You see, my old man is the folkie really and I consider myself more of an aficionado of modern/urban/anti-folk. And while I’ve enjoyed the traditional folk covers included on Yorkie’s last couple of releases, with his storming version of Lal Waterson’s Midnight Feast on ‘When the Haar Rolls in’ and an early version of Blue Bleezin’ Blind Drunk on his ‘Roaring the Gospel’ compilation, it was always within the context of his original songs.

Despite these songs origins, spanning the entire UK and Ireland, and the fact this was recorded with a different group of musicians, the distinctive Yorkston style remains (apart from the singular Spanish tune, a Galicia gypsy hoe-down which may well be my favourite track for its sheer novelty).

See, Yorkston embodies the characters in these songs as if they were his own; and he changes the melody when it suits him – and James Green and the accompanying musicians from the Big Eyes Family Players add their own influences, bringing Can and Johnny Cash inspired basslines to the mix, as well as a hypnotic combination of accordion and strings.

One thing this collection seems to bring to light is Yorkston’s apparent obsession with “a poacher’s life”, being a poacher, and generally hunting and/or poaching quite a bit – the tracks Hills of Greenmore, Thorneymoor Woods, and Rufford Park Poachers all feature such bloody activities heavily. Yep, he seems quite taken with that whole poaching thing. As a non-meat eater this was all a bit disturbing for me as I listened to it whilst drifting off to sleep at night, and I awoke with vivid pictures of dying, bloody animals in my mind. Not one to send Morrissey for Christmas, I suspect.

Of course this is a little unfair, as the first track, Hills of Greenmoor is on closer listening, from the point of view of both the hunters and the hunted – the kind of clever twist in perspective that still hasn’t permeated into mainstream songwriting and doubtless never will.

Truth be told, tracks like Little Musgrave which comes from way back in the 16th century, are quite amazing stories set to melody that would rival the best River City omnibus.  There’s a haunting quality about these dark, twisted tales that have been passed down the generations because they still ring true in quite a spooky way, like the best ghost stories round the campfire. So whilst not completely converted, I do think I will explore the world of trad folk a little more, and Yorkston’s own track-by-track liner notes are the best place to start for hints on where to look if you’re interested, with plenty of info of who have recorded these songs before such as the “bonny” Anne Briggs.

 First single Martinmas Time

 An insight into the recording of the bonus disc accompanying the album (which I haven’t heard yet!)

Sign up to the Domino Records mailing list to get the song I Went to Visit the Roses for free.

Unboxing of James Yorkston ‘When The Haar Rolls In’ Boxset from Milo McLaughlin on Vimeo.