Categories
Aesthetics

Albums of the Year

Embracing cliche, and alphabetically –

Good –

Demize – Maleficent (Nine Inch Nails fronted by Danielle Dax rather than Trent Reznor)
Divided – Theoretical Girl (well-observed superior chamber folk )
Djin – Queen Adreena (Heavy and scary, sometimes too much so but worth it anyway)
Flattery Not Included – Mister B The Gentleman Rhymer (sharp, witty chap-hop fun)
From An Ancient Star – Belbury Poly (irresistible mid-life-crisis nostalgia electronica)
Here She Comes A-Tumblin’ – Birdeatsbaby (excellent contemporary cabaret)
Lungs – Florence and the Machine (ignore the soi disant radical music press backlash)
More Mature Escapades in Hi-FI – Furny (surprisingly affecting mash-up satire)
Primary Colours – The Horrors (fun even when you remember the source of the pastiche)
33 – Esben And The Witch (Good post-Goth)

Bad –

Defiance – Lahannya (the industrial version of Ben Elton’s “We Will Rock You”)
Hands – Little Boots (technically competent but aesthetically and affectively vacuous)
Quicksilver – The Cruxshadows (bad Eurodisco is not the future of Goth)
Sunn O’s album (Not heard it, but a million middle-aged music journos can’t be right)
To Lose My Life – White Lies (want to be Joy Division? Work at the Job Centre)
XX – The XX (Remedial Pixies with Doctor Avalanche on drums and no song structure)

What did I miss?