5 records that slipped under the radar this year

It's that time of year again; that time is album of the year list time. As always, lists spring up here, there and everywhere across the web. Of course, there is no way of finding an overall best album of the year (unless you spent £12.99 on Reflektor) but there are always a number of fantastic albums that just slip under the radar, and this is a post I've written to celebrate some of this year's greatest under-the-radar records.

Wooden Shjips - Back to Land 

Wooden Shjips are one of California's finest modern bands, and like the majority of Orange County, they make upbeat psychedelic rock. With Back to Land, the Shjips have combined their already fine tuned sound with influences in the shape Krautrock (Neu!), Shoegaze (Loop) and Steve Reich-esque minimalism to make one of 2013's greatest albums. Back to Land features my second favourite (after Telegram's Follow) song of the year; Ghouls, which at first listen sounds like a pulsating psychedelic cover of Joy Division's Interzone, which it borrows a chord progression from. Although it sounds similar throughout, the sound has much more of a togetherness than the rest of the band's back catalogue, and is very in-need of a listen.
Songs to hear: Ghouls, Back to Land, Servants

California X - California X
Staying with the Golden State (in name only- they're from Amherst, MA), 2013 also saw the release of California X's self titled debut album. Like compatriots FIDLAR, California X make scuzzy, fuzzy yet fantastic surf-inspired punk rock, and with their debut they've propelled themselves into that sort of league. California X is one of 2013's more overlooked albums, as most publications failed to even speak about its release, but don't let that fool you. California X is 34 minutes of non stop punk rock, with more adrenaline and more energy than anything any actual Californians could muster up this year, and is well worth a listen.
Songs to hear: Sucker, Spider X, Pond Rot

Public Service Broadcasting - Inform-Educate-Entertain

One of Britain's finest debuts of the year, Public Service Broadcasting combine catchy hooks with archived vocal samples in a way that is more than listenable. 2012's Lemon Jelly-inspired War Room EP showed the world that PSB were set for big things in 2013, and it didn't lie. Inform-Educate-Entertain is one of those rare albums where each track is fantastic and worthy of a single release in its own right, but on top of that, it manages to make 12 conceptually similar songs sound completely different. The album peaks with digital-release-only single Everest, which features PSB at their most synth-poppy and "lyrically" intriguing, but the entire album is well worth a go.
Songs to hear: Everest, Night Mail, Spitfire

Beach Fossils - Clash the Truth
Although well-known for being Cole Smith's band pre-DIIV, Beach Fossils are very much a fantastic band in their own right, and after 2010's self titled release, the sophomore album had a lot to live up to. Much like DIIV, Beach Fossils dabble in traditional 90's/Krautrock-inspired shoegaze, and on Clash the Truth it's more apparent than ever. Songs like Caustic Cross and Shallow make Clash... a worthy contender in any album of the year list, with their dreamy majesty, so if you haven't checked out Clash... now is a very apt time to do so.
Songs to hear: Caustic Cross, Sleep Apnea, Crashed Out

Hookworms - Pearl Mystic

The last of my Overlooked Albums of the Year comes in the shape of Pearl Mystic by Hookworms. Hookworms, like Wooden Shjips, draw influence from bands like shoegaze pioneers Spacemen 3 and Krautrock gods Neu! and like the Shjips, they've churned out one of 2013's finest alternative records. The Leeds five-piece released Pearl Mystic in March, to tremendous acclaim, with it sounding much fresher than all the rest of the year's releases combined, still. If you haven't heard the majestic masterpiece that is Pearl Mystic now a good time to begin.
Songs to hear: In Our Times, Preservation, Away / Towards

(Written by Calum Cashin)

Obviously, many fantastic albums have slipped under the radar this year and these are just a few. Comments and suggestions are more than welcome, but I can't advice you heavily enough to check these 5 records out. Enjoy.

As Part Of The Crowd You're Also Part Of The Show

Crowd interaction and participation are important at gigs. Whether a band member is speaking to you directly or you're all doing a mexican wave, it all matters. This week I've chosen to write about how the fans in the crowd can play a big part in the show.

Harrison Koisser talking to the crowd in Newcastle

1. Making A Band Do Something
I saw Peace a few weeks back in Newcastle and the crowd were crazy. Harrison Koisser took time to talk to the fans at the barrier (these fans happened to be myself and my friends) and listen to everyone shouting at him; one lad stood in the middle of the crowd threw Harrison a denim jacket and Harrison offered him a trade for it - I don't think anyone knows what happened with that trade or whether it took place. Throughout the show the crowd chanted "Last Christmas!" and even more between songs to try and convince the quartet to play their latest Christmas cover and so they did in the encore between California Daze and Bloodshake.

2. Glow Sticks and Neon Paint

Glow sticks and neon paint are mainly taken to larger shows such as arena and stadium concerts and festivals. Neon paint is often seen to be worn by ravers and festival goers with an interest in seeing dance or electro artists. Glow sticks are held high and often during emotional songs - take Robbie Williams' song 'Angels', I've seen it performed twice and both times fans held up either glow sticks or lighters.

3. Xylobands

Xylobands are a more recent invention by Jason Regler, they're radio signal powered bracelets that flash to the beat of a song and light up the venue. Coldplay were the first to use them on their Mylo Xyloto world tour. They have been described as a progression from lighters held up in concerts and are now used regularly in huge shows.

Xylobands being used during a Coldplay concert in 2012

-Laura (@FloatForev3r)

Bedroom Walls

I am guessing that most teenagers of this day and age have bedroom walls covered in posters, gig tickets, photos and other precious memoirs; I am only assuming this though. I have discovered that here at FIBLAR, we have quite a varied range of bedroom walls which are all magnificent and need to be shared. 

Molly's Wall

It's kind of typical nowadays for a teenager's bedroom walls to be entirely dominated by pictures and posters of the things that they love. The wall behind my bed used to be just that; every inch covered in tiny little pictures cut from magazines, no order or pattern at all. Thankfully, that phase has ended and around a month ago, I decided I no longer liked how my wall looked. I took everything down and kept only the biggest things, arranging them in a new, minimalistic and almost symmetrical way, which I am immensely proud of. The wall includes Palma Violets, The Smiths, The Vaccines, JAWS and more, but taking centre stage is Biffy Clyro (I also have a poster of them on my ceiling) because really, I just love looking at Simon Neil.



Amelia's Wall

  This is above my desk. My stereo is blocking out a lovely picture of grimes and hidden behind my lamp is the poster of peace that came with In Love.

This is a close up of my main wall featuring some bunting and fairy lights. I think I stuck this up around the time In Love came out and every magazine was filled with Peace pictures as there seems to be an alarming amount. Having a slanted ceiling makes fitting stuff in a challenge but all the more rewarding when it ends up looking ok.








Laura's wall

 Filled with indie dreamboats, memories, tickets and whatever else is up there; my walls are the best part of my room. The photos of me and band members from gigs of the past are there such as Peace, Swim Deep and JAWS. Smaller sections are dedicated to various artists such as Everything Everything, Arctic Monkeys and Haim. Almost every band or artist that puts a smile on my face, they're all on there.




Sometimes I take a moment to step back while music hums in the background and look around my walls - reading what the Peace lads wrote on the back of the photo we got together in April, seeing photos of me and JAWS taken inside the Think tank and Swim Deep outside. Metro tickets with the dates of shows on them, reminding me of how good thise nights were and that limited edition poster of Mark Owen my friend got me last year when I thought I'd never get to meet him. Everyone on my walls, they're all there for a reason - because they mean something to me.


Paige's Wall

 I tend to hoard any music related 'stuff'. That stuff is usually posters, old tickets, ripped magazine articles. This is for a few very basic reasons which I shall list:

1. It makes my very dark room look very cool

2. I feel like I'm hanging out with a different rockstar every night - a thrilling idea!

3. It's a form of escapism for when I want to burn my school work






Rohanie's Wall

 I have 3 walls covered in various scraps of paper and magazine cuttings, but this is the wall by my bed and so is my favourite.
I moved on from the plastering my walls from top to bottom with posters when I was about 14, since then I've been blu tacking various gigs tickets, adverts, articles, photos and posters until I was almost back to my circa 2009 roots, this time without dodgy google images of mgmt and Jonny Pierce (of The Drums) printed from my more than temperamental printer. My favourite parts of this wall are my Horrors tickets signed by the band when I met them in 2011 and Felix of the Maccabees' plectrum I caught in a fantastically James Bond moment at their gig in Birmingham in January 2012. My room was once a hideous cerise colour (the paint was actually called "sexy pink" which made my 7 year old self feel so punk rock) but it got painted to a more ~mature~ pastel colour, that ended up acting as a canvas for the scraps of all sorts that ended up being stuck on the walls. Other highlights include the 7 pictures of Grimes, a limited edition print by artist Robert Ryan and a handwritten setlist by Gareth of lc!, handed into my very hand by the then bassist Ellen, a moment that I replayed in my head in the car journey over and over until I had near convinced myself it hadn't happened and was a materialisation of my dazed mind. 

As skin crawlingly embarrassing as it may appear, my walls feel like memories, scrapbooks of what's happened so far in my life, although the majority is gig tickets from the past 3 years, there's dodgy disposal camera photos from a school trip to Germany when I was 14, clothing tags from the first time I went to brick lane aged 12, a photo of me dressed as elvis Presley as part of my tap dancing classes aged 3, a Drums poster I took off a notice board from Birmingham city university social sciences department when waiting for my mum to finish work. The only regret I have is when I move away for uni in (hopefully) 2 years, and having to intricately prise everything off the walls, pack them away and reapply them to my prison cell of a halls room, nostalgically reminiscing of a time when I had pastel pink walls and enough floor space to ultimately unsuccessfully practise doing the splits for 8 years. (the bird paintings came when I was on a school trip to france and my mum got bored)

ps. the square shaped hole is where one if my mums paintings was before being used for an exhibition, I haven't found anything suitable to fill the geometric gap yet

Nina's wall

I wish I could say there's some really deep meaning behind the posters on my wall but really all that's behind them is blu tack. But at the same time I guess certain posters can bring back memories like songs can such as my Swim Deep tour poster which reminds me of where I met one of my now best friends.

Avalon's wall 

I have always enjoyed having posters on my walls - when I was ten, I had a slightly creepy obsession with the youtuber charlieissocoollike, so I built my own 'wall of stuff' to match his. This summer, I decided that the jumble of pictures on my walls was pointless, outdated and ugly. I spent two days tearing them down and painting the wall white. I listened exclusively to Splashh and Dog is Dead and wore only my bra and faded denim cutoffs. Starting from scratch I made a 'music wall' - basically a shrine to my favourite bands and musicians. The pictures are a combination of ebay and tour posters, cutouts from NME, and A4 sheets printed secretly from my school's art room. There are a bunch of gig tickets, and awkward photos with band members, and just things that make me happy - photos taken on broken disposable cameras at gigs, polaroids with friends, pages ripped from magazines, photobooth pictures. I add things to it everyday, and it is very much still a work in progress. I am not even sure that it will ever be done!

Amy's Wall

I don't like my room. I never actually have. The first stages of my wall started in the summer of 2012 where I thought I was very cool having pictures of YouTubers and small, motivational yet cringey notes stuck up on every inch of my wall. I then started reading NME and a huge Jake Bugg obsession hit me like a swarm of flies; this urged me to have NME cutouts and front covers arranged on my wall in a messy fashion. My skin would be crawling if I had to re-live that wall and see the chaos of it. My next stage came quite recently, perhaps during summer this year, and is now the stage of my current wall. I decided that order and organisation satisfied me a lot so wanted to portray this on my wall. I built it around my Ben Howard poster which I bought at the Summer Stampede earlier this year. I have a small section dedicated to David Bowie as know that my obsession with Bowie will (fortunately) never leave. I bought The Beatles poster with no real reason at all; It just fitted in the gap that my wall once possessed. I only put the christmas lights up earlier this week but may have to keep them for the whole year until I need a new set. A few weeks ago, I decided that, yet again, I dislike my wall. I haven't tried to rearrange it as I simply do not have the effort. I plan to paint all my walls white so it feels minimalistic and clean; just how I want it. I probably won't change it for a while as I know my mind will surely return to the state that it were once in.

-Amy x

specific songs bring back certain memories

Songs are amazing memory triggers. They can bring back unwelcome flashbacks of tween phases, or take you back to music festivals and passing out at three in the morning inches away from your tent. I have chosen four of my favourite songs to get nostalgic to. 

1. 'Music When The Lights Go Out' by The Libertines

Last weekend, Nina and I saw Peace perform live at the Shepherds Bush Empire. It was the best night of my life, and not only because of the music - I met so many great people. My friend Alex and a guy I met called Mike spent most of the time that we were queueing singing this song - they had met literally half an hour before and bonded over a love of the Libertines. It was a pretty cool moment, and this song now brings back memories of the whole night. 

2. 'All I Wanna Do' by Splashh

I am the kind of person who discovers new music and then listens to it obsessively over and over again.  This summer I found Splashh through a routine search for new bands, and listened to nothing but this song whilst I repainted my room alone. The windows were flung open and this scuzzy psychedelic song was playing at full volume, and I was wearing nothing but denim shorts and my bra. It was possibly the most summery I have ever felt, and for me,  'All I Wanna Do' is now tainted with the smell of wet paint.

3. 'Corinne' by Metronomy

My friend and her family recently bought a very remote house in Devon - the car journey to it takes five hours, and it is at least a forty minute walk away from the nearest shop. It sits on the side of a huge cliff, with the sea crashing wildly beneath. My friend and I both love Metronomy, and this journey was very dominated by us singing along, very out of tune, to this track. Since Metronomy are from Devon, I felt that this was a very fitting song for our trip.

4. 'Tassleman' by Austin Williams and Ellie Rowsell

I saw both Swim Deep and Wolf Alice play live in London on the Where The Heaven Are We tour in September, and as an encore Austin and Ellie played this song - one that the couple wrote together about a year ago, after a couple of beers. During this song, there are some quite quiet breaks, where only the vocals are heard. I stupidly shouted 'YOU GUYS ARE SO CUTEEEE' at them, and I got a LOT of dirty looks from fans around me. Oops.

-written by avalon x