This is a blog.

Favourite Albums / 2021

As has become a tradition around these parts — in fact it’s probably the only reason I ‘maintain’ this blog. Here are my favourite albums of 2021... listed in random (kinda) order:

“I Don’t Live Here Anymore” by The War On Drugs,

“Ignorance” by The Weather Station,

“Green To Gold” by The Antlers,

“The Million Masks of God” by Manchester Orchestra,

“Changephobia” by Rostam,

“Home Video” by Lucy Dacus,

“Quietly Blowing It” by Hiss Golden Messenger,

“The Golden Casket” by Modest Mouse,

“Loving In Stereo” by Jungle,

“Flying Dream 1″ by Elbow,

“How Long Do You Think It’s Going To Last” by Big Red Machine,

“Screen Violence” by Chvrches,

“Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night” by Bleachers,

“Glowing In The Dark” by Django Django,

“Local Valley” by José González,

“Raise The Roof” by Alison Krauss & Robert Plant,

“Bright Magic” by Public Service Broadcasting (not pictured).

Favourite Albums / 2020

A bit late to post this here, I'll blame the cross Atlantic move during a pandemic that we had just embarked on this time last year. My favourite albums of 2020 are listed in random order:

“Everything Else Has Gone Wrong” by Bombay Bicycle Club,

“Saint Cloud” by Waxahatchee,

“The New Abnormal” by The Strokes,

“Color Theory” by Soccer Mommy,

“Making a Door Less Open” by Car Seat Headrest,

“iimini” by Bonegziwe Mabandla,

“RTJ4” by Run The Jewels,

“Love, Death & Dancing” by Jack Garratt,

“Punisher” by Phoebe Bridgers,

“Women in Music, Pt. III” by Haim,

“Dreamland” by Glass Animals,

“Imploding the Mirage” by The Killers,

“Shore” by The Fleet Foxes,

“The Ascension” by Sufjan Stevens,

“Shiver” by Jonsi,

“Sad Hunk” by Bahamas.

#favourites2019

I think these are my favourite albums of 2019 listed in a sort of random order. All in all a good, but not great, year of album music:

“Father of the Bride” by Vampire Weekend,

“i,i” by Bon Iver,

“My Finest Work Yet” by Andrew Bird,

“Anima” by Thom Yorke,

“I am Easy to Find” by The National,

“Erotic Reruns” by Yeasayer,

“Assume Form” by James Blake,

“Immunity” by Clairo,

“In the Morse Code of Brake Lights” by The New Pornographers,

“A Bathful of Ecstasy” by Hot Chip.

Favourite Albums 2018

Okay, I think these are pretty much my favourite albums of the year (in random order):

"All Melody” by Nils Frahm

“Cocoa Sugar” by Young Fathers,

“American Utopia” by David Byrne,

“Lamp Lit Prose” by Dirty Projectors,

“Microshift” by Hookworms,

“Freedom” by Amen Dunes,

“Dirty Computer” by Janelle Monae,

“I’ll Be Your Girl” by The Decemberists,

“re:member” by Olafur Arnalds,

“7” by Beach House,

“Big Red Machine” by Big Red Machine,

“A Brief Enquiry into Online Relationships” by The 1975,

“Noonday Dream” by Ben Howard,

“Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life” by The Wombats,

“Chris” by Christine & The Queens,

“Golden Hour” by Kacey Musgraves.

Ten Albums

Okay, I think these are pretty much my favourite albums of the year:

"American Dream” by LCD Soundsystem,

“Colors” by Beck,

“The Greatest Gift Mixtape” by Sufjan Stevens,

“Fake Sugar” by Beth Ditto,

“Crack-Up” by Fleet Foxes,

“A Deeper Understanding” by The War On Drugs,

“Silver Eye” by Goldfrapp,

“New Energy” by Four Tet,

“Beast Epic” by Iron & Wine,

“World Eater” by Blanck Mass.

Some honourable mentions:

“Heart Worms” by The Shins,

“Waiting on a Song” by Dan Auerbach, 

“Sleep Well Beast” by The National,

“Love What Survives” by Mount Kimbie,

“Carry Fire” by Robert Plant,

“Plunge” by Fever Ray,

“Rest” by Charlotte Gainsbourg,

“Slowdive” by Slowdive,

“Kelly Lee Owens” by Kelly Lee Owens,

“No Shape” by Perfume Genius,

“Half-Light” by Rostam,

“Migration” by Bonobo,

“I See You” by The xx,

“Solide Mirage” by Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains,

“Little Fictions” by Elbow,

“Antisolcialites” by Alvvays.

Ten Albums

Here are my favourite albums of the year (unless someone releases a stunner in the next few weeks):

22, A Million by Bon Iver,

A Moon Shaped Pool by Radiohead,

Utopia Defeated by D.D Dumbo,

The Hope Six Demolition Project by P.J Harvey,

How to be a Human Being by Glass Animals,

Hopelessness by ANOHNI,

Teens of Denial by Car Seat Headrest,

Skeleton Tree by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds,

Painting With by Animal Collective

Amen & Goodbye by Yeasayer.

The (not much longer) long list is here.

Ten Albums

Here are my favourite albums of the year (currently):

Currents by Tame Impala,

The Magic Whip by blur,

Every Open Eye by Chvrches,

Art Angels by Grimes,

In Colour by Jamie xx,

Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens,

Savage Hills Ballroom by Youth Lagoon,

No No No by Beirut,

Why Make Sense? by Hot Chip,

Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes,

The long list is here.

Ten Albums

Here are my albums of the year (and for the first time I reckon, they are in order):

Lost In The Dream by The War On Drugs,

Singles by Future Islands,

Present Tense by Wild Beasts,

Zaba by Glass Animals,

Morning Phase by Beck,

Stay Gold by First Aid Kit,

So Long, See You Tomorrow by Bombay Bicycle Club,

This Is All Yours by alt-J,

Shriek by Wye Oak,

HEAL by Strand Of Oaks,

The long list is here.

Only Ten.

It's no secret that I love music. So, for a recent photo series on Instagram, I shared my ten favourite albums of all time. A daunting task I know, but it was fun.

Kid A by Radiohead.

Released back in 2000, during my first year at University, but still so interesting and fresh that I can listen to it for weeks on end in my car.

There isn't a bad track on it, but "Idioteque" and "The National Anthem" are highlights. 

Achtung Baby by U2.

Yes they're mediocre now, but U2 were once my favourite band (I even stalked Bono for his autograph when he was in Pretoria—I know). The pinnacle of their music output was Achtung Baby. The recording sessions apparently almost led them to breaking up, but that tension and pressure resulted in something truly great; and a sound that they've been unable to match ever since.

It's a pretty solid album, but "Mysterious Ways", "Until The End Of The World" and "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" are highlights.

Graceland by Paul Simon.

Surely the ultimate road trip album of all time? I'd love to say that we listened to this on our family road trips back in the day, but we didn't (my family was quite partial to Super Trouper by ABBA at the time). My wife's family did listen to it though, and we've continued that tradition by playing this album on every road trip we've taken in our eight-plus years together. I will never ever get tired of it.

Highlights include "Graceland", "The Boy In The Bubble" and "You Can Call Me Al". 

Debut by Björk.

Debut was released in 1993, but (apart from a brief encounter with "Human Behaviour" on one of my brother's Pop Shop records in high school) I only really listened to the entire album in 1999. We were in Barcelona getting ready for a big night out, and our host (a friend of a friend) put it on to get us all into the mood. It was the start of a great evening, and it's one of those happy moments that has just stuck with me all this time.

Highlights include "Violently Happy", "Human Behaviour" and the fantastic "Big Time Sensuality".

The Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem.

James Murphy must be the most reluctant, and relaxed, frontman of all time. And I guess that, and the fact that their sound is so unique, appeals to me. If there's one band that ended everything too soon, it has to be LCD Soundsystem. I miss them.

All nine tracks are incredible, but "Get Innocuous", "All My Friends" and the fantastic "Someone Great" are highlights.

(What's the Story) Morning Glory by Oasis.

If I was forced to pick sides during the great Britpop rivalry of the early nineties, I would've picked Blur—they were more consistent and far more likeable. But none of their albums can rival (What's the Story) Morning Glory. It defined much of my high school and university years and it still enjoys a spot in my top ten. Sadly, it was so massive that Oasis could never ever match it again (yet they limped on until 2009).

Highlights include "Some Might Say", "Champagne Supernova" and, the simply massive, "Wonderwall".

Automatic For The People by R.E.M.

This album is near perfect. Apart from the singles; "Drive", "Man On The Moon", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts" and "Nightswimming", it features gems like "Sweetness Follows", "Try Not To Breathe" and "Ignoreland". Impeccable. What did I know back in 1992? Nothing really. I was a 12-year old kid living on a farm in the middle of nowhere and the closest town, just over 20 kilometers away, was the edge of my universe. But life was uncomplicated. And this album, which I use to listen to on cassette (this very one) in my brother's Toyota Corolla on the way to and from primary school, is my time capsule to get back there.

The Suburbs by Arcade Fire.

Choosing your favourite Arcade Fire album is hard. Funeral, their debut, is great, but I find it hard to listen to in one go. And while Neon Bible has its moments, the hard choice for me is between The Suburbs and Reflektor. The Suburbs sneaks it, just.

"City with No Children", "Ready To Start" and, my favourite Arcade Fire song, "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" are highlights.

Boxer by The National.

I was late to The National and to Boxer, their fourth album. It was released in 2007, but I can't exactly remember how and when I got into it.

My favourites are "Start A War", "Mistaken For Strangers" and "Fake Empire". The latter being one of my favourite songs of all time.

Mezzanine by Massive Attack.

Released in 1998. They also toured South Africa in support of the album in 1998. So it's frustrating that I only really discovered them and this album in 2000. Cue epic sadness. It's 16 years old and still as good as anything you'll hear today.

Just realised that I've never written out a list here of what my favourite albums were of 2013, I only pinned them here.

Time to rectify that (because I've done it since 2008 and OCD).

Here goes.

Frightened Rabbit - "Pedestrian Verse"

Foals - "Holy Fire"

Atoms For Peace - "AMOK"

Young Galaxy - "Ultra Marine"

Kurt Vile - "Walking On Pretty Daze"

Daft Punk - "Random Access Memories"

The National - "Trouble Will Find Me"

Vampire Weekend - "Modern Vampires Of The City"

Daughter - "If You Leave"

The Boxer Rebellion - "Promises"

Jagwar Ma - "Howlin'"

London Grammar - "If You Wait"

Arctic Monkeys - "AM"

Cayacus - "Bigfoot"

Chvrches - "The Bones Of What You Believe"

Typhoon - "White Lighter"

Laura Marling - "Once I Was An Eagle"

Arcade Fire - "Reflektor"

M.I.A. - "Matangi"

Haim - "Days Are Gone"

Just over seven months ago I, with the help of Jordan Metcalf, Michael Tymbios and a few other folks, started a project called cttype. The aim was to crowdsource images of the unique letterforms found in and around Cape Town using the #cttype hashtag—much like similar projects in New York City and London.

To say that we’ve been blown away by the response is an understatement. We’ve received over 1 300 submissions to date, via the blog and instagram, with the number and quality of submissions growing each week.

If you are one of the kind folks that have already tagged your photos with our hashtag—thank you! And if you live in and around Cape Town, or are planning to visit us sometime soon, keep a look out for those unique letterforms in our city and remember to share your photos with us.

I suggested to Karen that we take photos of all the river signs on our way back from St. Francis Bay to Cape Town a few weeks ago. Why? Just because.

Finding great music to listen to these days can be tough. What's on the radio is not always to everyone's taste, and our music stores only stock the big sellers.

Increasingly people are turning to the Internet to find music, and using social media to share their discoveries. 

So, on the 1st of August 2011, I launched the Noonday Tune.

Inspired by the Noon Gun, which signals the start of the afternoon for Capetonians, the Noonday Tune kicks off the afternoon for music lovers.

The Noonday Tune is a website that combines music discovery with the immediacy of Twitter

So how does it work? Every day at noon, we publish a new (or forgotten) tune and a short bit of content about it, to the website. Simultaneously, a link to the website is posted to the Noonday Tune Twitter account.

Are people interested in what we're doing? 

Well, I think so.

We have a small fan base of 84 of Facebook,

A growing following of 260 on Tumblr (which hosts the website),

605 followers on Twitter, and,

About 1 500 unique visitors to the website a month.

The site was also listed at 46 in FHM South Africa's "150 Greatest Things On The Internet" feature.

Well look at that, we've been featured at 46 in @fhmsouthafrica's '150 Greatest Things On The Internet'. Thanks okes. twitter.com/noondaytune/st…

— Noonday Tune (@noondaytune)

May 24, 2012

So what have I learnt along the way?

Regular, consistent, easy-to-digest content keeps people coming back,

People are also quite busy these days. Keeping content down to one post a day means that they're more likely to keep up, and less likely to lose interest,

Blogging, or maintaining a website, is hard. I realised after two months that I wouldn't be able to keep the site going unless I enlisted other contributors to share the workload, and keep the content interesting. By engaging with followers on Twitter I managed to enlist some of them to become regular contributors to the website. (Note: I haven't even met about half of my contributors),

Getting more people involved, some of them quite influential (in terms of Twitter followers and content credibility), also means that more people end up sharing content with their networks,

Tailoring content for different audiences also helps. I started an 8tracks service to cater for fans that couldn't listen to the Noonday Tune everyday. Initially the monthly playlist included all of the songs from the month, but to simplify it even further, it now only includes the top 8 tracks from the month (as chosen by one of the contributors to the blog),

A simple, bright, logo can really help you stand out on Twitter.

You don't need to reinvent the Internet. Lots of tools already exist to make your life easier, you just need to harness them. For instance, Tumblr autoposts to the website at noon, and triggers the content for the Tweet, and a service called IFTTT sends the post to Facebook (and a your inbox if you wish),

So, if you're not already kicking the afternoon off with a tune, visit our website, or follow us on Twitter.

We hit the streets of New York City and Chicago in 2011.

Here is a very short list of places you should check out:

In New York City

Go here:

Central Park (more than once), 

Penn Station,

Grand Central Station,

The Apple store on Fifth Avenue,

Wall Street and the Charging Bull,

The Flatiron Building,

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island,

Yankee Stadium for a ball game,

A walk across Brooklyn Bridge,

Coney Island (even if it’s closed),

MOMA, 

The Met (pick wisely though, don’t try and do it all),

A show on Broadway,

Time Square at midnight,

The streets, cafés, record stores and bars of Williamsburg.

Accommodation:

We used a service called City Lights. Don’t be put off by the website, they’re super helpful and we managed to get a great apartment a block down from Columbus Circle. link.

Food:

Someone else said: "When you're in America, order for one and it'll be more than enough for two". It's true.

Try the Cupping Room Cafe in Soho for great American breakfasts. link.

Big Wing Wong in Chinatown for great (American) Chinese food. Go very hungry. link.

Keens Steakhouse has been serving mutton chops since the late 1855. They also have a pretty impressive whiskey collection. Rated big time by the New York Times at the time. link.

S’mac or Sarita’s Macaroni & Cheese. They serve over thirteen different flavors of mac & cheese. So ja. link.

Corton. We managed to catch a "A Matter of Taste" at the Tribeca Film Festival, and then subsequently made a reservation at Paul Liebrandt’s restaurant. If you’re into adventurous flavor combinations, tasting menus (and burning money on your credit card), then you should definitely go. link.

Totto Ramen was billed as the best Ramen bar in New York City when we were there. We queued for just under two hours and it was well worth it. You can’t not go. link. 

Jin Restaurant. This place was recommended to us, and now I’m recommending it to you. White tuna roll and bento box goodness (and it’s around the corner from Back Room - see beer later on). link.

The National is a great quick lunch spot on the Lower East Side. Friendly folks and a great barber (fsc Barber: link) next door. link.

Food on the run:

Dean & Deluca is your friend. There is near Central Park, on the Met side. Grab some goods and head into the park for a picnic. link.

Hit the Shake Shack if you want fast food, skip the golden arches, this is way better. Great burgers, beer, and artery clogging cups of chocolate peanut butter crunchcrete. link.

Take a walk in Prospect Park and then head on over to Joyce Bakeshop for great coffee and rhubarb pie. link.

Bageltique. Great bagels and coffee in Brooklyn proper. link.

Starbucks, it gets flack, but whatever, nothing beats free (fast) wi-fi, hot bagels and cream cheese and decent coffee early in the morning before you hit the streets.

Beer:

If you’re into beer, you’ve landed in paradise. We were in America for three weeks and I think I probably only had the same beer twice. You should also probably follow @brewyorkny on Twitter for the duration of your trip.

Blind Tiger in Bleecker Street. The first pub we went to. Great beer selection and great place to start your night. link.

Back Room is hard to find, which is the point. A spectacular old speakeasy bar that serves beer in coffee mugs and whiskey in tea cups. close your eyes and imagine you’re on the set of "Boardwalk Empire". link.

Brooklyn Brewery. I love beer, and a Sunday afternoon at the Brooklyn Brewery is well worth it. Lots of different beer to try (they brewed a bacon beer once with mixed results). Do the beer tour, it’s quick and worth it. link.

d.b.a. Brooklyn has more beer and whiskey choices than you have ever been offered ever. on twitter.

Sights:

The Guggenheim is by far the best art experience in NYC. It’s way smaller than The Met and MOMA so everything is easier to digest and less overwhelming. link.

Rockefeller Centre. We never made it to the top of the rock, but i’ll definitely do that next time. link.

The Empire State Building is great, once you made it to the top. We bought tickets that skipped a lot of the queues, but it still ended up taking a few hours to get up there. Go early. link.

The Highline and Chelsea Market. Hit the market, stock up on lunch (pork belly pies, shrimp croissants etc.), and head on over to the Highline to eat it. link.

There wasn’t much to see at Ground Zero at the time to be honest, except for the new World Trade Centre construction. Only head there if you have time to spare.

Music:

Sound Fix records in Williamsburg. Just down the road from the Brooklyn Brewery, walk in and burn your credit card. Go before you hit the brewery though, otherwise you’re playing with fire. link.

You need to catch a show in NYC. this site will help (link). Terminal 5 and The Webster hall are both excellent venues, and I’d imagine that the others listed here are too.

In Chicago

We didn’t spend nearly enough time in Chicago. But of the things that we did do, these are recommended.

Sights:

Cloud Gate, a.k.a. The Bean, in Millennium Park. Great for Facebook profile photos. Kidding (slightly).

The Willis Tower (formerly The Sears Tower). The Tallest Building in America at the time. Great views of Lake Michigan, and way less busier than the Empire State Building. No need to buy tickets in advance really.

An Architectural boat tour. Chicago boasts some of the worlds best architecture, and the best way to see it is from a boat. Unmissable. link.

Food:

Billy Goat Tavern. Go to the original one for lunch. No frills burgers and beer. link.

Pizzeria Uno. How has deep dish pizza not taken the world by storm? This is apparently the oldest deep dish spot in Chicago (the world). If you’re a fan of food you must go here. Order the smallest one. link.

Beer:

The Goose Island brewery is based in Chicago. They brew about 22 different types of beers. Reserve a spot for tasting (they do great pub food too) and book a taxi home. link.

Music and Comedy:

See if anything is on at Lincoln Hall while you’re there. It’s a great, small, venue. link.

You definitely have to catch an Improv Show. We headed to IO. It’ll be your cheapest, funniest, night in America. link.

Overall

Get a Rough Guide. It'll be indispensable. 

Pack the bare minimum, clothes are cheap, really, really cheap. 

Burn your credit card at: Gap, J. Crew, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters and every single record store you walk past. It'll be worth it.

Make sure you have the following loaded onto your iPod when you're in New York: The Beastie Boys (obvs), Vampire Weekend, The National, Interpol, The Avett Brothers, Ryan Adams, Frank Sinatra (obvs), Blonde Redhead, Liars, LCD Soundsystem, Yeasayer and TV On The Radio.

Use it. Don't use it.

Enjoy the trip.

Here you go. A list of my favourite albums from 2012. The albums I've listened to the most. The albums that have probably defined my year.

In order of the amount of times I've listened to them (roughly):

Hot Chip - "In Our Heads"

alt-J - "An Awesome Wave"

Beach House - "Bloom"

Django Django - "Django Django"

The Lumineers - "The Lumineers"

First Aid Kit - "The Lion's Roar"

Alabama Shakes - "Boys & Girls"

Dirty Projectors - "Swing Lo Magellan"

Grizzly Bear - "Shields"

Bat For Lashes - "The Haunted Man"

The Shins - "Port Of Morrow"

What are yours? Let me know.

Previous lists: 2011 / 2010 / 2009 / 2008.

It's that time of year again. Everyone and their aunt is compiling their "Best Albums of 2011" list. Now while this list is impossible for me to get right (I always leave something awesome out), I do always give it a bash. Why? Well for you to tell me if I did leave something awesome out.

In alphabetical order:

Battles - "Gloss Drop"

Beirut - "The Rip Tide"

Ben Howard - "Every Kingdom

Bon Iver - "Bon Iver"

Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi - "Rome"

The Decemberists - "The King is Dead"

Foster The People - "Torches"

Gotye - "Making Mirrors"

M83 - "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming"

Radiohead - "The King of Limbs" / "Supercollider" / "The Butcher"

Ryan Adams - "Ashes & Fire"

The Kills - "Blood Pressures"

TV On The Radio - "Nine Types of Light"

Washed Out - "Within and Without"

If you think I've missed something, please let me know.

Previous lists: 2010 / 2009 / 2008.

I'm not a music critic, but I do love music. So the albums featured here might not be the greatest ever (or hey, they might be), but they are the twelve albums that I've played heavily in 2010.

“Contra” by Vampire Weekend,

“Teen Dream” by Beach House,

“Heligoland” by Massive Attack,

“Odd Blood” by Yeasayer,

“Sigh No More” by Mumford & Sons,

“Broken Bells” by Broken Bells,

“High Violet” by The National,

“This Is Happening” by LCD Soundsystem,

“Brothers” by The Black Keys,

“The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire,

“Age Of Adz” by Sufjan Stevens,

“My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” by Kanye West.