The Hair Thieves are a duo from Shropshire UK, creating an eclectic mix of indie pop rock with a smattering of soundtracks, punk, rost rock and any other genre we think of on any given day.
2020 is the 20th anniversary and we still don't take this very serious at all.
Time for my annual list of the top ten albums of the year.
Rule is, I must have physically purchased the album and not just streamed it, so although I have enjoyed (and at some point will buy the cd and or vinyl or cassette) the likes of Bjork, King Creature, Alison Moyet, Slowdive, Daniel Cavanagh etc etc, they are all ineligable.
The other problem, is most of my music purchases have been back catalog stuff, For example, I have bought a few older The Pineapple thief albums and most of the Lunatic soul ones.
So anyway here is the top ten.
10 - Dave Krezner - Static
9 - Pete Murphy - Go Dark Humm not sure there is a video for this, but you can listen on the bandcamp site via the link.
So I lied, it is the same length as last year, just in a different order.
Back to the list
5 - Bruce Soord -
The Pineapple Thief front man has released an album of lighter tunes, from the recent TPT and Wisdom of Crowds albums. Slightly reminiscent of the acoustic bonus TPT albums with hints of The smashing pumpkins in places. It hasn't been out long, else it might have been higher on my list.
Starting to worry the Bruce and his various bands keep getting higher on
my recent lists than the prpg god that is Steven Wilson.
4. Heidi Browne - White Rabbits
Local Shropshire musician and winner of the UKs 2014's open mic competition,
Heidicame back with her third album. Autocannibal is one of my favourite tunes of the year. The title track is also great.
3. Of Monsters & Men - Beneath the skin..
E got me into those after writing a bit of tune with a tom groove. He said he'd been listening to Of monsters and men and felt inspired. So he played me Crystals.
I have probably listened to this once a day since I got the album (other than weekends).
We also went to see them last month.
Plus one of their tunes was used in the trailer for the excellent Jessica Jones series. Rumour has it, they have a part in the next season of Game of Thrones.
2 Vennart -The Demon Joke.
Anyone who knows me, should know, I am a massive Oceansize fan. It was a sad day in the Rollasoc household when they split.
But Mike Vennart is back after his stint as touring guitarist for Biffy Clyro with a new album, with two ex Oceansize members, Gambler and Mr Durose.
"Operate" is probably my favourite tune of 2015. E wasn't impressed when I took his Of Monsters and Men verse tom groove songs and bolted in the drums from "Operate" for the chorus. Trust me it was epic.
Now "Don't forget the joker" when it was previewed before the album was released, did worry me. It wasn't until it was heard in context with the rest of the album, that I started liking it.
So the album is part beauty, part filth. Which was exactly what was expected and it didn't disapoint.
1. Paper Aeroplanes - Joy
Now along with Vennart, I seem to have signed copies of both these albums.
It was really hard to pick between Vennart and Paper Aeroplanes, given I listen to each of them most days.
But I think Paper Aeroplanes just inch it, possibly since I managed to catch them live in Shrewsbury earlier in the year, possibly since it has been out a little longer and has managed to stay in my consciousness for longer, possibly due to the beauty and quality of songs like Emily, race you home and Guessing game.
Biggest Disappointment of the year: Elbow - The take of and landing of everything.
Being a huge fan of the first three albums, I feel a gradually quality drop off over the last couple of albums. This one, I have listened to probably 20+ times and I couldn't name a single song off it, let alone hum any of it. Shame really.
Great Hope for 2015: The Anchoress
As a huge Mansun fan, any project that Paul Draper is a part of is of interest. I'd previously been unaware of Catherine A.Ds work. This is a great slice of anti pop. Good tune, great melodies. Looking forward to the album (plus Paul Draper's solo album....)
Plus it is not often that an EP comes with a free Mills and Boon book (mine is called A world of Difference!)
Disqualified from the top ten:
1. Erica Nockalls - EN2
Should be in the top five. Disqualified on account of not having a video. So nothing to link to.
Possibly less bonkers than her debut "Imminent Room", this is a more sweary, cutting, harder, heavier, faster, angrier Erica, with moments of beauty just to disorientate and confuse you.
Plus "Whatever makes your heart bleed" is possibly one of my favourite tunes of the year.
Nearly Made the top Ten:
On another day any of these might have made my top ten.
1. John Wesley - Disconnect
John Wesley is probably best known as the touring guitarist for Porcupine Tree, of which there are several nods to on this album. Everytime I play it, I think I should listen to it more often. One bonus is Alex Lifeson on Once a Warrior.
2. Thom Yorke - Tomorrow's modern boxes
Famous posterchild for being released on the bitorrent network. This did inspire us to release our EP6 onto Bittorrent. We were presently surrprised how many people downloaded the full package of EP and video.
I have to be in the mood for this, sometimes it just irrates me, other times it is just stunning.
3. Ed Sheeran - X
I went to see Ed Sheeran a couple of years ago. For one bloke with a loop pedal, I was blown away.
I was worried that this album would be terrible after his great debut. I would be interested to hear the album he scrapped before coming up with this.
It does have some dodgy moments (Sing what is the point of Pharrell Williams on this), but that might just be too many tracks on the deluxe version.
4. Royal Blood - Royal Blood
Great album, but does make me want to go and listen to Death from Above 1979 afterwards. Sorry.
Worst album I've listened to:
Katy B - Little Red.
The thing with spotify is most things are on
there. So when I get the urge to listen to the number one album. I
can. A single song on its own is fine, but a whole album was painful.
At least I tried listening to something different.
