Noctourniquet… Oh what night have been

2012 Top 100 LPs #72-69: Mars Volta, Dear Reader, Pure Conjecture, Soap Company

Published on December 8th, 2012 | Jonny Abrams

Yes, it’s…Rocksucker’s Top 100 Albums of 2012!

Rocksucker listened to a lot of albums this year and conferred varying degrees of merit (in quail form) upon them based on our own spurious criteria…

…and now we bring you our favourite hundred of them, counted down in order arbitrarily/for fun. By dint of mathematics (specifically 4 x 25), top spot shall be revealed on Christmas day. Now, let’s get crackling, and then cracking…

72. The Soap Company – Big Bang

“Psychedelic music for the gut and hips as much as for the brain and soul, so open up your ears and heart… A resounding triumph” – that’s how we described this one in our four-and-a-half-quail review, and we can only echo those words all these months later. Check out this spellbindingly funky title track and be charmed…

Click here to read Rocksucker’s full review of Big Bang

Click here to read Rocksucker’s interview with The Soap Company

71. The Mars Volta – Noctourniquet

An odd one this (cue a mass sarcastic cry of “nooo, really?”) – the opening three tracks are each amongst this year’s finest, and had their likes been extrapolated across the album we’d be looking at a serious contender for top spot. As it is, Noctourniquet seems to lose its way a tad after that, tripping up on its own cerebral maths-work and sinister atmospherics, when really The Mars Volta are at their best when pulverising you. Just listen to the astonishing opening track “The Whip Hand” and try to disagree…

Click here to read Rocksucker’s full review of Noctourniquet

70. Dear Reader – Idealistic Animals

Cheri MacNeil pulled a blinder out of the bag with this dreamy exploration, which may be too soft and sleek for some but has more levels than its lavish production might initially suggest. One to savour alone, for background airing does it few favours.

Click here to read Rocksucker’s full review of Idealistic Animals

69. The Pure Conjecture – Courgettes

Award-winning vinter Matt Eaton got a mini-supergroup together (including members of British Sea Power and Electric Soft Parade) and recorded a ruddy splendid album’s worth of breezy, laid-back, soul-tinged pop that sparkles and cools within the patch of sunlight it casts around you and anyone listening. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s sufficiently gorgeous for that not to matter; check out this gem, for instance…

Click here to read Rocksucker’s full review of Courgettes

Click here to read Rocksucker’s interview with Matt Eaton of The Pure Conjecture

Watch this space for a continuation of the countdown of Rocksucker’s Top 100 Albums of 2012! Bloody do it!

Artists: dear reader, the mars volta, the pure conjecture, the soap company

About the Author

Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.