5 The Twilight Sad – Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters

As far as I was concerned the Twilight Sad came out of nowhere. Yet they arrived fully formed with this sweeping epic of a record, even if it took a little while to properly lodge itself in my head. Whilst live their wash of guitars is reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine on record there are plenty of little instrumental touches to broaden their sonic range. Underneath its rough hewn production, ‘14 Autumns …’ hinted at stadium potential so it will be fascinating to see what they do next but this will do very nicely for now.
The Twilight Sad – Walking For Two Hours (from ‘Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters’) [Buy it]
MPT said: “A Scottish accent, it seems, is no longer a barrier to progress”
4 The National – Boxer

I’d just never picked up on this lot until very recently so ‘Boxer’ was a very pleasant surprise. Despite being very much mid-paced, in fact not dissimilar to REM’s disappointing ‘Around The Sun’, these tunes aren’t obvious yet seem to have the potential to be keepers. Being so dilatory in picking up on them meant that I missed them live but somehow that doesn’t seem to matter too much for such a good record with its own distinctive atmosphere.
The National – Start A War (from ‘Boxer’) [Buy it]
MPT said: “It has the sort of subtle tunes that don’t blow you away immediately but suggest long term staying power”
3 Kristin Hersh – Learn To Sing Like A Star’

I confess I’ve not always been wild about some of Kristin’s previous solo LPs but ‘Learn To Sing Like A Star’ was certainly the exception to that rule. Quite possibly her most accessible record ever, under any guise, ‘LTSLAS’ was packed to the gunnels with quality songs with fabulous backing from the McCarricks on strings. An album to treasure.
Kristin Hersh – The Thin Man (from ‘Learn To Sing Like A Star’) [Buy it]
MPT said: “On the first listen LTSLAS is definitely one of the good ones and, in fact, could be her best yet.”
2 Malcolm Middleton – A Brighter Beat

Somehow, Malky managed to produce an LP which was every bit as good and consistent as 2005’s ‘Into The Woods’. Split into a two distinctive sides, the first was more upbeat than his previous solo efforts whilst the second proved that he hasn’t lost his touch with the ballads. And, just good measure, he even made the Christmas Top 40! A good year then for Mr Middleton which almost inevitably ended with him talking about splitting up with himself!
Malcolm Middleton – Up Late At Night Again (from ‘A Brighter Beat’) [Buy it]
MPT said: “‘Into The Woods’ released in 2005, was one of the finest records of recent years so ‘A Brighter Beat’ has a lot to live up to. Thankfully it does exactly that.”
1 Thurston Moore – Trees Outside The Academy

I would have been pretty dismissive of anyone who suggested 12 months ago that my album of the year for 2007 would be a Thurston Moore solo acoustic LP. But it just goes to show what I know. The first time I heard this was on my Walkman and I really had to work hard not to make a spectacle of myself in public by dancing around M&S!
Recent Sonic Youth LPs have been far from bad but Thurston sounds reinvigorated by the different instrumental approach on TOTA. Sure, there are echoes of SY’s aural assault throughout. But the simplicity of the approach combined with a great batch of songs made for a brilliant record.
Don’t be put off by the SY solo record tag – this truly deserves a much wider audience.
Thurston Moore – The Shape Is In A Trance (from ‘Trees Outside The Academy’) [Buy it]
MPT said: “Thurston Moore’s latest solo outing, ‘Trees Outside The Academy’ is really rather fucking wonderful.”