SOUND JUNKIE

10. Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See - Full of sun soaked, guitar pop magic, the Monkey’s fourth album is packed to rafters with anthemic, riffy pop hits from start to finish. One of the year’s biggest triumph’s!

9.  City And Colour - Little Hell - The man with the angelic voice returns with another beautfiul set of blues infused indie folk songs creating some of his most passionate and intimate moments to date as well as some of his sexiest and poppiest.

8.  Tellison - The Wages Of Fear - Just a simply perfect indie pop record, every song is an infectiously catchy guitar pop hit! people really need to listen up to Tellison as they’re probably Britain’s best kept secret. 

7.  Tubelord - Romance - Reinventing themselves as indie electro wizards, the mathy-pop outfit have excelled themselves on this quirky collection of forward thinking pop songs.

6.  Los Campesinos - Hello Sadness - Darling’s of the UK indie underground, Los Camp deliver their ‘breakup album’ and as a result have made their most solid album to date that is both lyrically and musically, the sound of a band at their most accomplished.

5.  Lower Than Atlantis -World Record - Once a hardcore band, then a rock band with hardcore tendencies, now a straight up rock band with a punk pop attitude and an army of huge chourses and big riffs on this superb second album. The only way is up.

4.  Bon Iver - Bon Iver - Steering away from the intimate acoustics of his first album, Bon Iver creator Justin Veron has inlisted an array of muscian’s to create an album that takes you on a journey of soundscapes that sound huge but intimate at the same time. An album hard to describe; marvel in it’s beauty.

3. Young Leigonaire - Crisis Works - One of the UK rock’s most talented songwriters (alt rock hero Paul Mullen) backed up by a solid rhythm section to crate an earth-shattering assault of fuzzy, riffy awesomeness!

2.  Twin Atlantic - Free - Another massive sounding rock record. The Scot’s truely delivered on an album brimming with riffs, melodies, and harmonies; a fantastic start to a band that are surely going bigger and better places.

It’s taken me a while to figure it out but here are my top 10 favourite LP’s/EP’s of 2011. So far!

10.City And Colour - Little Hell
9. Radiohead - The King Of Limbs
8. Young Leigonnaire - Crisis Works
7. Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See
6. Tangled Hair - Apples (EP)
5. Brontide - Sans Soucci
4. Twin Atlantic - Free
3  Lower Than Atlantis - World Record
2. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
1. Rosa Valle - Holy Bermuda (EP)

Artist: Arctic Monkeys

Favourite Song(s): Do Me A Favour/ Only Ones Who Know/ A Certain Romance/ Dangerous Animals (I have four as its hard to decide which out of these hitz I love the most, so I popped em’ all down!)

Favourite Album: Favourite Worst Nightmare

Favourite Lyrics: “I hope you’re holding hands by New Year’s Eve,
They made it far too easy to believe, that true romance can’t be achieved these days…” - Only Ones Who Know (Favourite Worst Nightmare)

First Song You Heard: Fake Tales Of Sans Francisco. I think I saw the video on MTV2 and the tune proper getting stuck in my head, the guitar lines, the lyrics, it was just all so catchy. I love the groove to that tune; very much an indie anthem!

Times seen live: None, unfortunately! Which I’m slightly disheartened about cuz I’ve been a fan since Whatever… came out, so they are certainly on my to watch list!

BAND OF THE WEEK: Stagecoach

Currently on tour having just released an excellent double A single named after a rugy player (Jonah Lumo) and a skater (Tony Hawks), this London based outfit are on their way to bigger and better things, and with an army of super catchy fuzzy pop songs behind them, It seems that nothing is going to get in their way! I had the pleasure of seeing these boys on Wednesday and they were bloody marvelous, also extrememly lovely chaps too! High energy mandolin-infused indie rock for the win! Watch out for festival dates throughout the summer! (Search for them on FB)

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Suck It And See by Arctic Monkeys

This is gust a really solid indie pop record with plently rock ‘n’ roll twists and psychedelic turns. It’s got the hooks, the riffs, the sing-a-longs; it’s the sound of a band heading for the sun!

TUNE OF THE WEEK: Pumped Up Kicks by Foster The People

Only just heard this track, apparently it’s been floating around for a while now. It’s just a really slick piece of sun-soaked pop. I love the harmonies in the chorus and those super chilled synths too; very much a summer anthemic in the making. Watch out for their debut LP Torches, which is being released in the UK at the end of the month I believe.