My favourite #albums and #gigs of #2016 #CityDailyPhoto #Manchester @piccadillyrecs

A list of my favourite albums that were released in 2016, followed by my fave gigs- if you're interested...in no particular order. The fact that there are ten is coincidental. Some might make my all-time Top 100 western rock-tinged/indie/crossover/blissed-out list though, should I ever have time or inclination to compile it...

The Slow Light by All India Radio. Martin Kennedy's long-term Australian chill out band delivers right on the spot, as always. Some hooks, some clouds to float off into, some feat.


Alturas by Signal Hill. Trippy, ambient, chill out, a welcome if rare release from my fave LA-London combo.

Pop or Not by Whyte Horses. Gripping, melodic, thrusting, indie rock crossover with a 60s vibe, kinda reminded me of the Stone Roses debut in places, with a partially new sound on top of the familiar. 

The Album Paranoia by Ulrika Spacek. Swirling walls of sound, hypnotic and edgy, trip away on a rocky plain.

Resistor by Lera Lynn. Americana with an edge of sadness and bittersweet loss. Lera deals with joking hecklers well (oh, how we all laughed together at the ludicrous thought of Trump getting elected, back in June at Band On The Wall). Unlike Trump, Lera and bandmates are lovely and genuinely friendly offstage too.


Blind Spot EP by Lush. A four track feast of shoegaze (we've reclaimed the word!) saw the all too brief return in 2016 of the wondrous 1990s' Lush. They still have it, Miki Beryeni's biting lyrics and layers of Emma Anderson's guitar sound to lose yourself in.


Episodic by Field Mouse. Angst indie rock with shoegaze nods, this third album, or second depending on how you count them, grew on me throughout the summer.

Inner Journey Out by Psychic Ills is a voyage of mellowness with an edge at times reminiscent to me of the Jesus and Mary Chain. Keyboards swirl and hushed vocals reach out to you, even some steel guitar going on in there. 

Echoes of the Dreamtime by Miranda Lee Richards- from San Francisco, maybe music to travel by? Twangy guitars, good bass lines, an echoey voice, kinda psychedelia meeting Americana via Aimee Mann and Mazzy Star perhaps.

Will by Julianna Barwick. Warm and other-worldly.

All well worth checking out if you don't know them. IMHO all are united by an ability to reach out and grab you emotionally, riding the waves in your head that only music you truly "get" can. Apologies it's so westernised- Please let me know of any co-called World Music and other genres I should listen to.

Thanks as always to the wonderful Piccadilly Records for informing some of my music selections through the past year.

Gig of the year? Oh, so many - lucky me, with about 80 acts to choose from before we even get to the classical concerts I saw when I was working at RNCM. But these are up there:

Lush - their final gig :-(  at The Academy, Manchester
Horsebeach and Chastity Belt at Night and Day, Manchester
Vryll at Festival Number Six, Portmeirion
Super Furry Animals at Festival Number Six, Portmeirion
Lera Lynn at Band On The Wall, Manchester
Sarah Jarosz at The Elizabethan Suite, Bury 
The Tapestry at Soup Kitchen, Manchester (despite the stresses of it being a gig I organised - for The People's Assembly Against Austerity, or Chrissyfest, as my friend Laurel called it!)

My other honourable mentions, lol, go to Wolf Alice at Parklife and at The Academy, She Drew The Gun at The Buyers Club in Liverpool and I bet I have forgotten others...such as Echo and the Bunnymen and The Stone Roses- good to see both acts for the first time, even if their reputation at times exceeded their live sound IMHO.

Sarah Jarosz at The Elizabethan Suite, Bury, November 2016.