Neon Neon's Next Album

I've no idea whether or not Neon Neon (the synthpop nostalgia outfit helmed by Gruff Rhys and Boom Bip) will ever make another album. I sincerely hope they do, but frankly, the world is lucky to have seen even two LPs from the duo; after the release of Stainless Style, an '80s-themed album about John DeLorean, Gruff Rhys told a BBC interviewer: "I don't know about making another Neon Neon album because it was quite a specific record about DeLorean's life story." When a sequel (Praxis Makes Perfect) did materialise five years later, it felt like an unexpected bonus, and it would be ungrateful of me to demand yet more material from Camp Neon.

Welsh Music Prize: 3 Months On

The nominees for the 2013 Welsh Music Prize were announced back in September, and since I'd only heard one of the albums on the shortlist, I resolved that I would listen to all of them before the award ceremony in mid-October. And I did - you can see the blogs I wrote for each album by clicking here.

Exactly three months have passed since (SPOILER ALERT!) Georgia Ruth took home the prize for her album, Week of Pines. I thought that today would be a good opportunity to look back on those twelve albums, and to see if my feelings towards them have changed. Let's go:

Fist of the First Man by Fist of the First Man

I'm still not overly keen on this, with one important exception: once I'd listened to all twelve albums on the shortlist, I made a playlist of the best songs from each one, and Volta Regulat made an excellent opener. The rest, well...I can take it or leave it. See them live if you can, but don't shed too many tears if you can't get your hands on their CD.

Top 10 Albums of 2013

Right, I've done the best songs of 2013 - now it's time for the albums. These are my ten favourite albums of the last 12 months, and each one is an outstanding testament to the album as a format. Some scale the highest of high concepts with subtlety and aplomb, while others simply succeed by filling a CD with corkers from one rim to the other.

One side note before we get started: The Crimea's Square Moon is noticeably absent from this list, but not because it's not good enough for the top ten. The band's double-length swansong was officially released this summer, but since I got a pre-order version way back in autumn 2011 (ner ner na-ner ner), I don't really count it as an album of 2013. If you like, you can read my tribute to Square Moon - and The Crimea generally - by clicking here.

Right, now that that's out of the way, let's crack on with that all-important list...

#10 - Reflektor by Arcade Fire
There are plenty of reasons to dislike it (not least its inescapable promotional campaign, which certainly ruffled the feathers of one Trent Reznor), but it's hard to deny that Reflektor is one of the best albums of 2013. It's easily been among the most talked-about, and that kind of hype will often lead to disappointment when things actually get released, but fortunately, the music on those two discs more than justified it. It was a more daring, more ambitious, and altogether more exciting album than The Suburbs, with songs like Afterlife and Here Comes the Night Time making up for the slight lack of truly brilliant tunes on the band's previous release. Oh, and even if it could quite easily have fit on one CD,  the second one makes it feel a lot bigger, and a lot more important.

What's So Great About Praxis Makes Perfect?

For several weeks now, I've been listening to Welsh Music Prize-nominated albums and saying that they're not as good as Praxis Makes Perfect by Neon Neon. What I've yet to do is explain why I actually like Praxis... so much.

That's what I'm going to do today, and I'm hopefully going to focus on the music instead of on the mind-blowing National Theatre Wales performance that took place back in May. When I judge rather good albums like February and Summer Special to be inferior to Praxis Makes Perfect, I do worry that the live show is colouring my opinion of the album, giving it an edge that simply can't be beaten. However, I've had a good, long think about this, and I've decided that Neon Neon's second album would still be a source of awesomeness even without the help of NTW.

Image taken from National Theatre Wales

Here are a few of my favourite things about the album:

It's a concept album
As I've mentioned previously, I love a good concept album. Even if the tunes were rubbish, I'd still give Praxis Makes Perfect a bit of credit for daring to tell us a story about the life and times of Italian publisher and activist Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. As is my wont, I've searched for arcs and unifying concepts in all the other WMP albums I've heard so far, but PMP seems to be the only clear-cut one.

It sets a good scene
The title track is an edgy instrumental that's splattered with urgent-sounding beeps and snippets of information about Feltrinelli himself. I wouldn't say it eases you in - the music actually sounds rather uneasy - but it's a great introduction nonetheless.

It brings the tunes thick and fast

Didn't enjoy that opening track? Felt that it was a bit unnecessary? Not to worry, because your listening efforts will be instantly rewarded by track two, The Jaguar:

I *love* this track. It might well be my favourite song of 2013. Those synths, the steady, unflinching beat, and that soaring, electrifying chorus - it's all fabulous. And the good news is that it isn't the only top-notch track on the album: in the next fifteen minutes, we get Dr. Zhivago (another one with a great big chorus), Hammer & Sickle (as throbbing and as infectious as any, uh, wound), Shopping (hypnotic in its silliness), Mid Century Modern Nightmare (short but effective), and The Leopard (that rare slow, reflective track that isn't boring). Gems, one and all.

Even its lowlights are pretty good
There are two tracks on this CD that don't excite me as much as the others: Hoops with Fidel and Listen to the Rainbow. And yet, even these songs are decent - LttR is bouncy and ends with a nice sax-fuelled freakout, while Hoops with Fidel - as pointed out in one review that I read - is as close as the album comes to a Super Furry Animals song:

It ends well, and doesn't outstay its welcome
I like short albums almost as much as I like concept albums, and Praxis Makes Perfect pulls off that trickiest of tricks: feeling like an epic without going on for too long. Ciao Feltrinelli is a great, achey-sounding closer, the most final of all finales, and while you feel like you've come to the end of a long, long journey, you're not afraid to start it all over again. At just over thirty minutes long, it's a very digestible LP indeed.

So that's why I love Praxis Makes Perfect. Four Welsh albums have so far failed to displace it as my favourite - there are seven more to come in October. How will they do?

WMP Nominees - Fist of the First Man

The Welsh Music Prize shortlist was announced a couple of weeks ago, and I immediately decided that I was rooting for Praxis Makes Perfect by Neon Neon. It's a great album with great songs and a great back story (not to mention the great gig-cum-theatre performance it spawned) - what could possibly beat it?

And then I realised that I had absolutely no idea of what could beat it, because Praxis Makes Perfect was the only album on the list that I'd actually heard. The music I listen to tends to come from the States, and considering that I used to write for a local music magazine, I am shamefully ignorant of all the great stuff that's right on my doorstep. I'm familiar with most of the nominated artists: I've seen Racehorses and Fist of the First Man play live, reviewed a single by Little Arrow, and conducted a blimmin' interview with Metabeats (albeit via email). But if anything, these experiences just destroy any excuse I might have had for not listening to these albums.

So I've decided that every Wednesday between now and Swn Festival will be dedicated to one of the albums nominated for the WMP. I'll be having a listen to each album in turn, and deciding whether or not Praxis Makes Perfect really is the best of the bunch.

I'm starting with Fist of the First Man, because they were great when I saw them live (opening for Public Service Broadcasting last December) and I figured that the album would be equally good. I had to download it from FotFM's bandcamp page, because when I asked for it in Spillers I was told that the limited pressing had sold out (maybe time for a second run, WMP-nominated band Fist of the First Man?)

Sadly, when I finally sat down and listened to Fist of the First Man, I was a little disappointed. The songs aren't nearly as dramatic as I remember, and while that restless, uncomfortable energy is still present and accounted for, the studio stuff never sounds as dramatic, or as urgent, as the live performance did. The "industrial post-rock spaghetti western bazaar" has trundled out of town, it seems.

That said, when I did go back to my PSB review (mostly seeking evidence that I was listening to the same artist), I was reminded of how good the bass work was that night, and actually, it's still pretty awesome on the album. But something has definitely changed; Mothers Against Violence in particular is worlds away from what I remember, with soulful vocal samples that sound like DJ Shadow, of all people. Cool, yes, but not what I wanted from Fist of the First Man.

So...is it better than Praxis Makes Perfect?

Nope. It will take something severely stellar to top Neon Neon's second album, and while FotFM surely know their way around a groove, this album just isn't connecting with me. A few more listens might endear it to me a little more, but to the extent that I prefer it to Praxis? Doubt it.

Come back next Wednesday to see what I make of the next nominee. I haven't decided who it will be yet, but that all adds to the suspense, don't you think?

My Favourite Albums of 2013 So Far

It's the first of July today, and with 2013 half-gone, I wouldn't be much of a music blogger if I didn't cobble together a list of the best albums of the year...so far!

Except I don't feel especially qualified to tell everyone what 2013's "best" releases are because, well, I haven't listened to all of them. I do try to stay abreast of the good stuff, but I've glanced at some other mid-year best-ofs, and there are albums on those lists that I've not even heard of, much less listened to. So, instead, I've just grouped together a few of my favourite albums that were released in the last six months - they're not necessarily The Best, they're just the best I've heard.

Now, without further ado, let's all gaze down at the atrophied legs of 2013...

We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic by Foxygen

This album sounds like it was made in the seventies and, unlike a lot of albums that actually were made in the seventies, I love it! The slightly hippie-ish classic rock vibe ties everything together nicely, but the songs themselves are diverse enough to keep things interesting. San Francisco is a slightly twee summertime song with a lovely boy/girl duet in the chorus, while In the Darkness is more theatrical and the title track is an unhinged freak-out. Melody is never in short supply.

Praxis Makes Perfect by Neon Neon

I wonder if I'd like this record as much were it not for the jaw-dropping National Theatre Wales performance that it spawned, but I suppose that's kind of moot. This is an album with a story to tell, and while that story isn't quite as lucid when it's not being performed by actors, the LP still bristles with the intrigue and danger that typified the life of Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. Check out his Wikipedia page if you're curious to find out more; I'm just going to say that if you want to hear synth music that remains perfectly cool and detached while it grabs you by the balls, this is the album for you.

Pale Green Ghosts by John Grant

I've already written a lot about this album, so go and read my track-by-track review and we'll leave it at that.

La Costa Perdida by Camper Van Beethoven

This could yet prove to be my album of the summer. I'm already head-over-heels for Northern California Girls (a slow-burning, skyscraping come back to me), Peaches in the Summertime (a frantic ode to a sexy lay-day), and the title track (a sweet-ass murder song), and the other seven tracks will surely follow given another listen or two. It might be presumptuous to put a record on my Best of 2013 list before I've truly gotten into it, but frankly, those three songs alone would be enough.

Wonderful, Glorious by Eels
As lyrical content goes, this is far from E's best, but you can't fault the music. The last three albums - Hombre Lobo, End Times, and Tomorrow Morning - got a slightly mixed reaction from critics, and while I've got time for all three of them, this album is definitely superior. On the surface, it's a fuzzed-up rocker in the same vein as Souljacker (and, hey, that would have been great), but it's actually something of a rattle-bag; You're My Friend is a stuttering, staggering laptop anthem, while Accident Prone and On The Ropes are softer numbers that allow a little bit of light to shine through. Even the big, rocked-up numbers have their little diversions, which make the whole thing feel slightly proggy. I'm a big Eels fan, can you tell?

Honourable mention goes to Mosquito by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (uneven, but worth a tenner just for Despair) and Inform-Educate-Entertain by Public Service Broadcasting (great, but not as cohesive as I'd hoped). I also purchased new albums by Tullycraft, Future Bible Heroes, and Mikal Cronin over the weekend; I've not had a chance to listen to them properly yet, but they could all prove to be better than anything on this list.

Which awesome albums have I overlooked? And what will you be looking out for in the next six months? Let everybody know in the comments.