Saturday 12 December 2015

Best Of 2015 lists for Monorail Music

This year while deciding what should go in my top 10 albums list  (and top 5 reissues and top 3 singles) for Monorail Music's annual poll, I felt like a football manager who doesn't know his best eleven.  So many records could have and should have been on the list and I have guilt in my heart that they aren't.  Some I purchased too late to make the cut, such as the ridiculously pretty Vic Mars "The Land and the Garden" lp (Clay Pipe) or Heather Leigh Murray's unique and eviscerating "I Abused Animal" (Editions Mego).  Based on repeated plays alone, Four Tet's euphoric "Morning/Evening" (Text) would probably have made off with the first place garland.  Why it doesn't appear below is a mystery!  Michael Kasparis's Night School Records had an extremely strong year releasing ace material by the likes of Paper Dollhouse, Apostille, Liberez and Molly Nilsson.  Any one of them would've made a worthy addition to my top 10.  Oh, and Night School's reissue of Rose McDowall's "Cut With The Cake Knife" deserved a spot on my top reissues list.

N.B. All titles link to a song from the record.

Albums:




1.  The Green Door All-stars "Youth Stand Up!" (Autonomous Africa)
2.  Salad Boys "Metalmania" (Trouble In Mind)
3.  Flying Saucer Attack "Instrumentals" (Domino)
4.  Wildhoney "Sleep Through It" (Deranged)
5.  Domenique Dumont "Comme Ca" (Antinote)
6.  Helen "The Original Faces" (Kranky)
7.  Charles Howl "Sir Vice" (Ample Play)
9.  Diät "Positive Energy" (Adagio 830)
9.  The Fireworks "Switch Me On" (Shelflife)
10. Vital Idles "Demos" (self-released cassette)

Singles:

1.  The Debutantes "Adam's Apples" (Emotional Response)
2.  The Wake "Clouds Disco" (LTM)
3.  Hooton Tennis Club "Jasper" (Heavenly)
4.  Terry "Talk About Terry" (Upset The Rhythm)
5.  Lime Crush "s/t" (Fettkakao)
6.  Golden Teacher "Sauchiehall Enthrall" (No Label)
7.  Sukie and The Browns "If You Want Me" (Choonz Inc.)
8.  Sheer Mag "II" (Static Shock)
9.  Tropic of Cancer "Stop Suffering" (Blackest Ever Black)
10. Bel Étage "Quiet Town" (Where It's At Is Where You Are)

Try as I might, I couldn't limit myself to 3 singles - there were just too many belters released in 2015 for that to happen!  I saved Spinning Coin's "Albany" for next year when the Geographic 7" is released despite the fact that it graced a cassette single in 2015.  Oh, and the Expert Alterations 12" on the mighty Slumberland Records would definitely have been on this list had I not been too stingy to pay the postage from the US.  Sorry, Mike!

Reissues:

1.  Michael Head and The Strands "The Magical World Of..." (Megaphone)
2.  Lizzy Mercier Descloux "Press Color" (Light In The Attic)
3.  Darrell Banks "Darrell Banks Is Here!" (The Blank Recording Co.)
4.  Departmentstore Santas "At The Medieval Castle Nineteen 100-Year Lifetimes Since" (Superior Viaduct)
5.  The Clientele "Alone And Unreal" (Pointy)

I suspect that when I finally have Gloria Ann Taylor's "Love Is A Hurting Thing" in my hands I'll have a rethink and Golden Teacher's compilation of their first three e.p.s appeared in the racks too late to qualify.