Well here we are. A week of gradual blogs has led to this exciting moment. But before you quake in your boots at the almighty choice I’ve made, a quick reminded of my top 20:
20. Zola Jesus- Conatus
19. I Break Horses- Hearts
18. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart- Belong
17. Elbow- Build A Rocket Boys!
16. Wild Beasts- Smother
15. M83- Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
14. PJ Harvey- Let England Shake
13. Chapel Club- Palace
12. Guillemots- Walk The River
11. Radiohead- The King Of Limbs
10. The Airborne Toxic Event- All At Once
9. The War On Drugs- Slave Ambient
8. Ringo Deathstarr- Colour Trip
7. Laura Marling- A Creature I Don’t Know
6. The Twilight Singers- Dynamite Steps
5. We Were Promised Jetpacks- In The Pit Of The Stomach
4. Amplifier- The Octopus
3. The Joy Formidable- The Big Roar
2. Levi Weaver- The Letter’s Of Dr. Kurt Godel
All of these albums have entertained me this year and they’re all unique in different ways. There could only be one winner in this all important competition though, and choose I did. The winner is an album that shocked me in how much progression the band had made, both in writing and maturity. But what album is this I hear literally zero people cry?? Well…
1. Johnny Foreigner- Johnny Foreigner Vs Everything
I was sat in messyvee’s flat in Paris when I spotted the link to the album stream on Art Rocker via twitter. I got excited. Not long later Vee herself arrived home and I informed her. ‘I don’t want to listen to it’ is what she said. This was followed about 5 minutes later by ‘Ok I need to listen to it!’. So we listened in her flat and every so often we’d say, ‘this is really good.’
And that’s the truth cos I’ve not been able to get enough of this album. Johnny Foreigner basically recorded this album on a budget of nothing and utilised as many friends as possible to try and finish it. For an album recorded on nothing the production is incredible. Clean and focused, and emphasising the nuances of their indie rock pop fun. that’s an unjust description of the album though. Yes, there’s fun rock songs, but the album also has an equal number of more experimental tracks, mixing keyboards and synths with guitars, intertwining with each other and making a full layer sound. It’s awesome and the effort that’s gone into song writing here is brilliant.
It’s starts of typically enough. The guitar swell and crashing chords that introduce, “If Im The Most Famous Boy You’ve Fucked, Then Honey, Yr In Trouble” sounds like standard JoFo fare, with it’s fast pace and Alexei’s complex lyrics. But something changes with “With Who, Who and What I’ve got”. It opens with a solitary picked guitar before shifting gear. The guitars get heavier and the lyrics more introspective. It’s just that bit darker. It gets even weirder with “200x”, a song powered by Junior’s keyboards and drum machines whilst Kelly takes centre stage vocally. When the quiet and repetitive guitar comes in it makes up something quite beautiful. This is just the first three songs as well.
It all stems from here. The album is in three sections, broken up by two pieces of Musique Concrete. It’s 17 tracks in total, and the pacing is spot on. Apart from the three aforementioned tracks, part one’s stand out is “Johnny Foreigner Vs You”, slow burning piano number with heartbreaking lyrics. In part two, there’s the fun rocker “Electricity Vs The Dead” as well as the mellow, horn flourished “Jess You Got Yr Song, So Leave”, but they pale compared to “Supermorning”. Probably my favourite track off the album it opens with a weird drum line before keyboards drift in and out. Finally a propulsive bass arrives and song starts to break down. It’s absolutely breathtaking. “What Drummers Get” is another fun rocker and “New Street, You Can Take It” is a slow burning epic, but Supermorning is definitely my highlight here.
Part three rounds the album of nicely. “(Don’t) Show Us Your Fangs” is an awesome slice of acoustic pop and “You Vs Everything” is probably best rock song on the album, getting wilder and wilder before slowing down and bursting into life again. The lonely acoustic romp of “Doesn’t Believe In Angels” is another beautiful and haunting track and it proceeds the epic “The Swell/ Like Neverwhere”, a track slowly builds up before erupting in a cathartic wall of noise. The album finally closes with the quiet “Alternate Timeline’s Piling Up”, repeating the guitar line from “With Who, Who and What With” but slower and more melancholic, it bring the album full circle neatly.
It really is something else. I didn’t expect Johnny Foreigner to make an album like this at all. It has a wider range of sounds that on any of their previous releases, and those sounds are used in imaginative ways, from the rockers to the quieter numbers. It’s a much more mature sound and is just really impressive. I really urge you all to give this album a go. I absolutely love it.
Well that’s it from me. At some point over the weekend I’ll upload a mixtape of select tracks from each album in the top 20 for you to sample. Then maybe do a gigs highlights blog. We’ll see.
