2012 Top 100 LPs #96-93: Cosmo Jarvis, Tim Burgess, Wishmountain, Ultrasound
Published on December 3rd, 2012 | Jonny Abrams
Yes, it’s…Rocksucker’s Top 100 Albums of 2012!
Rocksucker has listened to a lot of albums this year, so just for fun we decided to slog back through them and confer varying degrees of merit on them based on our own spurious criteria, so as to count you from 100 right down to number 1. By dint of mathematics (specifically 4 x 25), top spot shall be revealed on Christmas day. Now, let’s get crackling, and then cracking…
96. Ultrasound – Play For Today
Bound to be written off by some for the sheer Britpop excess of opener “Welfare State”, but pay attention and they’re pulling it off very well indeed. It’s a red herring too, as Play For Today ventures for the most part into more Elbow-ishly soulful territory; and, on “Glitter Box”, a synth-assisted Bond theme. There are better tracks on the album – especially the immediately ensuing “Twins” and “Nonsense” – but here is the single “Beautiful Sadness”…
Click here to read Rocksucker’s full review of Play For Today
Click here to read Rocksucker’s interview with Ultrasound front man Andrew ‘Tiny’ Wood
95. Wishmountain – Tesco
Found-sounds legend Matthew Herbert decided to make a track each out of the ten best-selling items in a Tesco supermarket according to a 2010 survey by The Grocer magazine. An odd successor to last year’s controversial One Pig project, which comprised of recordings mate during the birth, life, butchery and consumption of a single pig reared for meat. Don’t expect an acoustic album from this guy anytime soon, but do enjoy the poppin’ ‘n’ clickin’ synaesthesia. Here’s Herbert giving some insight into the album’s making…
Click here to read Rocksucker’s full review of Tesco
94. Tim Burgess – Oh No I Love You
The involvement of Lambchop main man Kurt Wagner on Burgess’s second solo record would go some way towards explaining how gospel-monged some of the tracks are, not least “A Case of Vinyl”, but its finest moments are the sun-smooched, life-loving groove of “White” and the classically fluttery string arrangements of “Hours”.
Click here to read Rocksucker’s review of Oh No I Love You in full
93. Cosmo Jarvis – Think Bigger
That strange kind of album, one which gets much better the further you go into it. The opening few tracks we can give or take in retrospect, but the closing title track is almost Beach Boys-worthy, truly gorgeous. In fact, here it is…
One of the songs of the year, that is. “Hopeless Bay”, too.
Click here to read Rocksucker’s full review of Think Bigger
Watch this space for a continuation of the countdown of Rocksucker’s Top 100 Albums of 2012! Bloody do it!