A really quiet end to the year.

Bands I liked

Honeyblood, Pins, The Julie Ruin, Laura J. Martin, Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer, British Sea Power, Hatis Noit

Bands that were okay

Enderby’s Room, School of Noise, Whoa Melodic, Rex Speedway and Thee Fortune Tellers, Wing-it Singers, The Gentle Good

Bands I won’t be going out of my way to see again

Rattle

Best Gig

Obviously, it’s going to be British Sea Power. It’s been a bit of a fallow year. Hopefully, 2017 with bring many more gigs

Best new band

A really quiet month, but the Japanese singer Hatis Noit was sublime at Daylight Music

Albums of the Month

• Memories of the Future – She Drew The Gun,
• Citizen of Glass – Agnes Obel

Best photo

New bands are in italics

Bands I liked

Goat Girl, Happy Meals Ltd, REVERE, John Paul White, Professor Elemental, Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer, Snowapple, H.Hawkline, Aldous Harding, Savoy Motel, Black Mountain, The Gravestones, Brandy Row, Bonfire Nights, LA Witch, Public Service Broadcasting, Haiku Salut, Savages, Moses, The Joy Formidable

Bands that were okay

Boys Forever, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Alasdair Maclean, Rory Buttler, Ed Dowie, North Sea Radio Orchestra, Quilt, Mass Datura, Freddie Webber, More is More, Cevanne & Crewdson, Woodpigeon, Good Sad Happy Bad, Mythos of Violins, Laura Cannell, Charles Haywood, The Estrons

Bands I won’t be going out of my way to see again

None!

Best Gig

The Savages are simply the best band around.

Best new band

A pretty strong month. Goat Girl, Happy Meals, Savoy Motel, and Moses were really good. I think simply for the quality of their live performance, I’ll give it to Happy Meals Ltd.

Albums of the Month

• Babes Never Die – Honeyblood
• Arrival – Jóhann Jóhannsson
• The Dear One – Baltic Fleet
• Older Terrors – Essen and the Witch
• Teens of Denial – Car Seat Headrest

Best photo

I love my Savages set, taken with a pocket camera, there’s some really effective photos. It was tempting to select the whole set! But I’ve decided to select this photo instead. I like the way it’s a glimpse of the drummer.

This month’s bands

New bands are in italics

Bands I liked

Danny and the Champions of the World, Kitty Daisy and Lewis, Steve James Adams, Pix, Pumarosa, Porridge Radio, Frauds, Dressmaker, Calva Louise, Gillbanks, Nosebleed, Bella Figura, Bette Noire, Bo Ningen, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Dronningen, Thurston Moore, Mothers Xylaroo, The Wild Things

Bands that were okay

Applewood Road, Gwenno, Charla Fantasia, Mad Kid Library Trap, Spinning Coin, Whooperups, Young Romance, Evans the Death, Skinny Milk, Bo Gritz, You’re Smiling Now But We’ll All Turn Into Demons, Electric Child House, Little Green Men, The Confederate Dead, The Wholls, Fil Bo Riva

Bands I won’t be going out of my way to see again

Kurt, Them Sonny Green, A Standard Model, Bandler Ching

Best Gig

I think for the combination of ambiance and a great performance by Pumarosa. The Gwenno evening at the the Globe Theatre was a nice introduction to a new band and a great new venue

Best new band

Pumarsoa

Best photo

This month’s bands

New bands are in italics

Bands I liked

Left With Pictures, Bat For Lashes, Dream Wife, Shame, Magic Gang, The Wytches, Lola Colt, Bonfire Nights, Lisa Knapp, Low Anthem, Suuns, Cult of Dom Keller, Dirty White Fever, Martha, The Leisure Society, Danny and the Champions of the World, Steven James Adams, Kitty Daisy and Lewis

Bands that were okay

Douglas Dare, Spring King, The Hermes Experiment, Brix Smith, Coldredlight, Bee Bakare, BJ Barham, The Sun Days, Swampmother, Happy Accident, Daniel Glover, Wyldest, Applewood Road, 

Bands I won’t be going out of my way to see again

Stranger Stranger, Cecil Sharp House Choir, Cellars

Best Gig

The best gig was the Hyde Park gig that was moved to the Dome, featuring The Wytches, Dream Wife, Shame, Magic Gang and Spring King. There was a great atmosphere with some brilliant bands.

Best new band

Bat For Lashes – why I haven’t bothered to see her before, I really don’t know. What a beautiful voice

Albums of the month

• Minor Victories – Minor Victories
• Goodbye to the Light – Cult of Dom Keller
• Blisters in the Pit of My Heart – Martha
• Hold/Still – Suuns

Best photo

The Wytches gig had the most stage diving I’ve seen in one gig. I moved to the back towards the end and I just love this photo.

This month’s bands

New bands are in italics

Bands I liked

Membranes, Thee Fiction, Nova Twins, Oh Boy!, The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Notthing, Billy Bragg, Vukovi, Queen Kwong, Lock, Lift To Experience, Rozi Plain, serac, Parquet Courts, The Staves, Saint Agnes, Dolls, Darren Morris, Matthew Bourne, Glass, Nadine Shah, Car Seat Headrest, Preoccupations, British Sea Power, Darren Hayman

Bands that were okay

Black Crack, Pearl Harts, Blackwaters, Kiran Leonard, Ellie Ford, Nat and the Noise Brigade, Augustines, Cuts, Guy Garvey, Josephine Oniyama, Cassals

Bands I won’t be going out of my way to see again

The Pop-up Choir (just not my thing), Nick Mulvey

Best Gig

It wasn’t the strongest month. But any British Sea Power gig is always going to feature amongst my best gigs and one that involves a nice weekend away was always going to win.

Best new band

The Nova Twins were pretty impressive.

Albums of the month

• Ash & Ice – The Kills
• Human Performance – Parquet Courts

Best photo

Not a great month for photos. But a few of my photos from Camden Rocks were decent. This one is one of my favourites. Proves that a photo doesn’t have to always be in focus

This month’s bands

New bands are in italics

Bands I liked

Duke Spirit, The Coathangers, Night Shades, Tacocat, FISH, Casual Sect, Evil Blizzard, Kagoule, Malin Andersson, Bill Botting, Alev Lenz, Jambinai, Soda Fabric, FEWS, Aldous Harding, Cult of Dom Keller, NOTS, Diet Cig, Joy Formidable, Dream Wife, Baba Naga, Inis Mor, Black Honey, FRIGS, Catholic Action, Anna Meredith, Crows, White Miles, Larkin Poe, Howling Owl, Wildest, Bleached, Anteros, Slow Club, Monster Treasure, YAK, Half Loon, InHeaven, The Kindling, A. Dyjecinski

Bands that were okay

Gillbanks, Jo Mango, Golden Spike, Deerful, Robert Rotifer,Franc Cinelli, Jimmy Cake, Yuck, Duke Garwood, Glass, Chastity, Post Heather, Chastity Belt, Barbarella’s Bang Bang, Kim Churchill, PAUW, Ellie Ford, Pleasure Beach, Blush, The Anchoress, Shark Dentist, Good Foxy, Cosmic Strip, Banff, Cloves, Clea, Hein Cooper, Methyl Ethel, Skies, Slow Dancer, Slum Sociable, Jack Watts,

Bands I won’t be going out of my way to see again

Puppy, Tigercub, Joe Nolan, Coves, Pollyanna, Margo Price, Exmagician, Nadine Carina, REWS, James Gruntz, Drones Club, Leif Erikson, Frankie Cosmos, Amy Von, Bouche, ES, BC Camplight, Beth Orton

Best Gig

The Great Escape was a fun few days but there weren’t any real outstanding performances. The performance of the month was from Yak. They have the potential to be a really big band but these are the gigs when they will be at their peak. Feeding off the energy of their audience.

Best new band

Dream Wife impressed this month. But Black Mountain’s warm sound actually left me with a beaming smile.

Albums of the month

• Okoshiyasu!! – Octoboke Beaver
• Alas Salvation – YAK
• KIN – The Duke Spirit
• Means – FEWS

Best photo

It was a really difficult choice this month. I often had a decent camera with me and towards the end of the month, upgraded my zoom lens that helped me capture for good face shots. But the highlight for me was this hair flicking shot by Duke Spirit

Best Video

I’m really pleased with the results of this video.

This month’s bands

New bands are in italics

Bands I liked

Aldous Harding, Dream Wife, Gold Class, Black Mountain, The Weather Station, My Baby, The Magic Gang, Meilyr Jones, Peaness, Try the Pie

Bands that were okay

Stranded Horse, M.Ward, Hayley Harland, Farao, Throws, Basia Bulat, Sophie Winterson, Arcadian, VITAMIN, FISH, The Great Pagans, Girl Ray, The Cross Makers, Whitebelt, Wolf Girl, T-Shirt Weather, Two White Cranes, T.O.Y.S

Bands I won’t be going out of my way to see again

EMMI, Lull, Seconds, Modern Rituals

Best Gig

I managed to catch Aldous Harding twice in April. Both gigs were really good. But her headline gig at Hoxton Square at the start of April was about as perfect a gig as you could hope for. Silencing a usually noisy crowd and even doing a very good Kate Bush cover / impression.

Best new band

Dream Wife impressed this month. But Black Mountain’s warm sound actually left me with a beaming smile.

Albums of the month

IV – Black Mountain
It’s You – Gold Class

Best photo

The Dream Wife gig returned some surprisingly good photos. I’m not sure how, as there was little front lighting. I love the colours of this photo and the fact that despite the big spot light behind the singer, it somehow came out okay.

This month’s bands

New bands are in italics

Bands I liked

Sunlight Service Group, Mystified, Saint Agnes, Abjects, Autobahn, Baby Shakes, Big Thief, Big Ups, Blaenavon, Boy Toy, CallMeKat, Capsula, Chocolat, Diet Cig, Dilly Dally, Ezra Furman, Fear of Men, FEWS, Gold Class, GYMNSHORTS, Haelos, Hinds, Lusts, The Parrots, Petite Noir, Jambinai, Mercury Rev, Modern Sons, Mothers, Moustache Prawn, Nancy Pants, PINS, Rubblebucket, Slingshot Dakota, Spooklyland, Spook School, Stealing Sheep, Sunflower Bean, Tacocat, TEEN, Waxahatchee, The Weather Station, White Lung, Yak, Yonatan Gat, Clint Mansell, Bo Bingen, Poppy Ackroyd, Swim Deep, Wolf Alice

Bands that were okay

Muertos, Broken Soundtracks, The Sly Persuaders, Avec Sans, Basia Bulat, The Blind Suns, Bombino, Castillo, Caveman, Ciaran Lowery, Clean Cut Kid, The Crookes, Demob Happy, The Do Aways, Dude York, Eleanor Friedberger, Enemies, Faith Healer, Fizzy Blood, Get Inuit, The Gooch Palms, Guerrilla Toss, Gwenno, Harts, Heaters, The Heavy, Hooton Tennis Club, Houndstooth, Jack Garrett, Jane Weaver, Judah and the Lion, Juiceboxxx, Kat Dehlia, Keeps, Khruangbin, Laura Carbone, Lazyeyes, Lushes, PMS and the Mood Swings, Julia Jacklin, Luke Sweeney, Magic Is Real, Mainland, MONEY, Mr Lewis and the Funeral, New Berlin, Night Moves, Obn IIIs, Oh Pep!, The Outfit, TX, PARTYBABY, PHASES, Phebe Starr, Poliça, Power Trip, Protomartyr, Pure Bathing Culture, Queen Suitcase, Ritual Howls, Rozi Plain, Runaway Saints, The San Juan Project, Sara [], September Girls, Seratones, Sister Fuzz, Sorority Noise, Sons of an Illustrious Father, Sweet Talk, Sweet Spirit, Sugarmen, Tele Novella, Tiger Town, Thelma and the Sleaze, Trash, Trevor Sensor, Twin Limb, VACATION, Violet Skies, Warprty, Welshly Arms, White Denim, The Whistles and the Bells, Wild Belle, Hidden Charms, Ivan Ilić, Haiku Salut, Gavin Greenaway, Angus MacRae, Is Bliss, Indigo Child, Love LUV, Melt Dunes, Bloody Knees.

Bands I won’t be going out of my way to see again

[Alexandros], Amber Arcades, Black Fast, Chad Valley, DEXSTRINGs, Fior, Golden Boys, _Methyl Ethyl

Best Gig

It goes without saying, but SXSW as a whole is difficult to beat.

Best new band

I saw lots of great new bands at SXSW. It’s hard to chose just one band. But Yak and Yonatan Gat both stood out amongst some strong opposition.

Albums of the month

It was a pretty quiet month for albums. I was away for so much of the month and saving up for the rest. In fact, I think I only bought two albums, Gold Class and the Joy Formidable.

Best photo

This month’s bands

New bands are in italics

Bands I liked

Sunflower Bean, Dearbhla Minogue, Jim Ghedi and Toby Hay, Dakota Suite and Quentin Sirjacq, Michael Price and Peter Greyson, Arcadio, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Sarcasm, Sauna Youth, Alex Mendham and His Orchestra, Rory McVicar, Joy Formidable, Mothers

Bands that were okay

Paperface, Laura J. Martin

Bands I won’t be going out of my way to see again

So Sorry, Ben See

Best Gig

Some excellent gigs this month with some top-notch live bands. But it was an easy choice. The Savages and Bo Ningen on the same bill was always going to be an awesome gig.

Best new band

Sarcasm

Albums of the month

• When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired – Mothers
• Synthia – The Jezebels
• Funs Cool – The Prettiots
• Human Ceremony – Sunflower Bean

Best photo

This month’s bands

New bands are in italics

Bands I liked

India Electric Company, Dilly Dally, Chorusgirl, Tigercats, Wide Skies, Diet Cig, Sap, The Slaves, Duke Street Collective, Partikle, Saint Agnes, Cold In Berlin, Roger Doyle, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Experience Ensemble, Savages, Citizen Helene, The Leaf Library, Wave Pictures

Bands that were okay

Flowers, Wonk Unit, Spring King, Strange Boy, Dead Coast, Elius Inferno and the Magic Octagram, Mystified

Bands I won’t be going out of my way to see again

Kit Hawes and Nuala Honan, Eyes of Others, Tuska, OK Bertie!

Best Gig

There were two outstanding performances this month. The first was from the Slaves. Playing a much large venue than when I first saw them in St Albans. They’ve managed to take their fun energetic set and transform it into a set that can hold big audiences.

The second highlight was the ever amazing Savages. They just get better and better. Playing the tiny 100 Club at 8am in the morning, they managed to get the audience dancing and left everyone wanting more. Getting up early to go to a gig before breakfast, isn’t something that I do very often and there was a special feeling about this gig. So this has to be the best gig this month.

Best new band

There were a few good bands this month. Dilly Dally show potential and I’ll have to catch them again when they’re not suffering from jet lag. Diet Cig were fun. But my favourite new band this month were Chorusgirl. Although I enjoyed their album, I felt it was a little over produced. Live, without the extra layers of production, they were excellent.

Albums of the month

• Adore Life – Savages
• Blackstar – David Bowie
• Leave Me Alone – Hinds
• Not to Disappear – Daughter
• Sore – Dilly Dally

Best photo

There was quiet a few photos that I liked this month. So it wasn’t an easy choice. But I like the theatricalism of the singer of Cold In Berlin in this photo.