Albums of 2012 // 10-1

And there was only ever going to be one winner for me in 2012. How To Dress Well's record stands apart, taking R&B into divine new places, and for that 'Total Loss' sits proudly at the summit of an incredible top 10.

10. Japandroids - 'Celebration Rock'



9. Grimes - 'Visions'



8. Perfume Genius - 'Put Your Back N 2 It'



7. Frank Ocean - 'channel ORANGE'



6. Death Grips - 'The Money Store'



5. Sharon Van Etten - 'Tramp'



4. Kindness - 'World, You Need A Change Of Mind'



3. Liars - 'WIXIW'





2. Jack White - 'Blunderbuss'





1. How To Dress Well - 'Total Loss'





Follow @No_Action

Yuck // Daughter

Doesn't that look a cosy place to be? Nestled in the moist warmth of Yuck's armpits and matted hair. Smells like contentment, feels like happiness.

Much the same effect applies when listening to their free-to-download new single Daughter, enveloping you as it does in furry guitar reverb, aiming as high as Postal Service and nigh on getting there. The ambition of Yuck is admirable, riding the wave of their former members' fleeting yet deserved notoriety with Cajun Dance Party to nail support slots with Japandroids most recently and Modest Mouse and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart most imminently. More shoe-gazing epics like Daughter, echoed by surging garage like early single Georgia, suggest much to come from the London-based foursome.

Their new EP Weakend is out on August 2nd. In the meantime, get your ears around Daughter from their blog, or listen to Weakend below.

Yu(c)k - Weakend from Yuck on Vimeo.

Japandroids // No Singles

No Action has quite a thing for twosomes. Something in the base brutality that seemingly only a couple can generate has resulted in healthy obsessions with The White Stripes, The Black Keys, Tiny Masters of Today, Death From Above 1979 (RIP) among many, many others.

Latest and, perhaps, greatest of these is Japandroids, whose Post Nothing LP of 2009 is a gem. The grooves of the aforementioned DFA 1979 are melded with the surging guitar soundscapes of Sonic Youth, creating a devastatingly beautiful noise-blitz on The Boys are Leaving Town and the stunning Wet Hair.

Before all this, though, came a couple of EPs; 2007's All Lies and 08's Lullaby Death Jams, kindly re-issued to us Brits as album No Singles come May. While the tracks are no match for Post Nothing, Darkness on the Edge of Gastown hints at a heavy metal Whirlwind Heat, while Coma Complacency proffers fist punching cries over a brooding base. Much to enjoy, but what's more interesting is where Japandroids are going than where they've been.

They'll be plying their trade at Islington's The Garage on 20th May after February's sold out ICA show and wowing the SXSW-ers this month.