It’s the end of the year, and as promised here is the inaugural I Said Yeah yearly round-up. It’s exciting stuff. I know, I know…
I’ve been thinking a little bit about what the best approach for this kind of thing would be. I’ve only been writing since July, so the idea of having the top five albums would be kind of pointless, as I’ve probably only covered five in total. To be honest, I’d be amazed if I’ve managed to do that many. Writing about an album (or an EP, for that matter) in any meaningful way takes fucking ages. That is, of course, unless you’re one of those shitehawks taking a tenner a pop on Musosoup to listen to twenty-odd seconds of most of the tracks and cobble together some inane rubbish mixed with the band’s press release (fifteen-plus if you count the charge on top for all that nonexistent advertising you’re *definitely* going to get across social media). Cough cough. Ahem.
I got sidetracked again there. I’ll save anymore ranting about that stuff for the follow-up piece on my recent Payola article that’s in the works. The point I had been trying to steer myself towards was that the idea of listing albums and EPs seems a little too restrictive, as I’ve covered far more single tracks. Also, I’m not really comfortable with the idea of ranking them in order of how good they are. The whole idea with I Said Yeah is that I only cover stuff that I think is great, and therefore worth sharing. Plus, ranking music in that way reminds me of lists on MySpace, the anxiety of choosing the right top 8 friends, and that small picture of Tom. Smiling Tom. Wholesome Tom. You’d never see Tom being summoned to appear in front of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee.
Anyway, now that you’re sufficiently briefed bored; here – in no particular order – is a list of ten of my personal favourite tracks featured on this blog in 2020.
Asylums – Catalogue Kids
Southend-on-Sea’s Asylums hit the ground running after a year away with the insanely good Catalogue Kids. As the first taster of the material on their third LP, Genetic Cabaret, it pulled no punches either. Essentially they took everything they did well on their first two records and stamped into overdrive. Recording with the legendary Steve Albini in Chicago seems to have unlocked a new confidence in the band, and nowhere does it leap out at the listener more than on Catalogue Kids – although it must be said that its follow-up single, Platitudes, is also right up there. Both hit like an early Manics single too; full of restless energy and channeled anger, and I’m all for that. Anyway, the album that followed was their best yet, and with the band working away in isolation over the last six months on new material, don’t rule out album four arriving before 2021’s out.
Check out my original review of Genetic Cabaret, as well as a short interview with Luke from the band, here.
Peter Cat – The Day After the Funeral
Peter Cat’s debut album, The Saccharine Underground, is full of literary-leaning pop songs in the vein of The Divine Comedy, Pulp, and Franz Ferdinand. It’s the kind of rich, finely-crafted record that doesn’t come along very often, and in an alternate universe it’s surely picking up plaudits left, right, and centre. I’d like to think it will become something of a cult classic in the years to come, and from my limited communication with its architect – Glasgow-based Graham Neil Gillespie – I imagine that he’d be perfectly happy with that. The Day After the Funeral is the standout track on the record – dealing with the cold mundanity of life, death, fried eggs, and much more. The final third has me welling up every time. It’s stately, elegant, poetic, profound, modest, and extraordinary all at once. Go listen, and maybe snag yourself a copy of the LP on vinyl while you can.
Check out my reviews of ASMR and The Saccharine Underground, as well as an in-depth interview with Gillespie here.
Izzie Yardley – I’m Still Here
Recorded remotely over the first lockdown period, I’m Still Here is a song that deals with the concepts of absence and grief to great effect. It’s a truly sublime thing; built up from a sparse live take of just Yardley and acoustic guitar, the song is augmented beautifully by an understated string arrangement which helps to elevate it further still. In my review, I harped on for ages about how there’s music for music’s sake and then there’s art. Months later, I stand by it: I’m Still Here stands as a timeless piece of work that still moves me. Rather than blather on about the track anymore, I’ll point you back to that original piece. Also, before you go, make sure that you check out Yardley’s previous, equally-beguiling single, Aurelia, too. Here’s hoping for some new material over the next twelve months.
Beckah Amani – Standards
I was watching some documentary on Sky Documentaries the other day (could there be a more middle-class, privileged opening than that?) and somebody was saying something to the effect of “great art doesn’t just reflect the world around it, but it has something to say about it”. Anyway, that’s the way that I feel about Beckah Amani’s Standards. Released in the wake of the BLM protests over the summer, it’s without question the most powerful two-and-a-half-minutes of music I heard this year. Just Amani’s extraordinary voice set against her sparse acoustic guitar; the track pulls no punches in chronicling what it’s like to grow up as a young black woman in a predominantly white neighborhood – and specifically the pressures to conform to the standards of others. It’s devastating. What a song, and what a talent. Her follow-up single, Stranger, is out now and – spoiler alert – is also awesome. Check out my review of Standards here, and look out for an interview with Beckah in the new year.
Matti Jasu – A Love Story
Matti Jasu’s Up and Running is one of the real highlights of 2020 for me. I lived with it for a long time before finally posting my review, and picking a favourite from it has proved to be no easy task. However; the melancholic, bittersweet A Love Story – with its gorgeous brass and string swells, mellotron, and Soft Bulletin vibes – is a real gem. If you’re a fan of the Flaming Lips, Beck, the Walker Brothers and early Wilco then you’ll find a lot to love here. Every now and then as a blogger you find yourself wondering why you are bothering to write about new music, then you come across somebody like Jasu and it all makes sense. There’s so much great music being made right now – and in a lot of cases you have to look past the Miles Kanes of the world, and the sniveling little buzz bands on Jools Holland, and dig a little deeper to find it. With four equally-brilliant LPs under his belt, Jasu is the real deal. Check out my review of Up and Running, as well as an interview with Matti here. Also, get over to Bandcamp and order his back catalogue.
Merry Christmas – Magnets
As with Matti Jasu and Peter Cat, Tokyo’s Merry Christmas released a pretty flawless LP this year. Before I say anything about Magnets, I just want to throw it out into the universe that the physical version of The Night The Night Fell is a beautiful thing, complete with some gorgeous illustration work (by Yuki from the band) that further brings the unique story of the record to life. You can get it from Bandcamp right now, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Merry Christmas are a band that put as much thought into their artwork as they do into their music, and I love that. Anyway, it was difficult to pick a track from the album – as it’s full of songs that are contenders – but one of my absolute favourites is Magnets. As a track, it kinda encapsulates everything that’s great about Merry Christmas; it’s surprising, ambitious, melodic, uplifting, melancholic, a little ramshackle in places, and a lot of fun. Other highlights include the more straightforward (or as straightforward as Merry Christmas can get) Shapes Appearing, or Meredith Bites the Earth, but for me it’s the understated emotional heft of Magnets that hits hardest. Check out my review of the album here, as well as a great interview with Ben and Yuki from the band here.
Campbell Sibthorpe – Good Lord
Campbell Sibthorpe’s Ytown EP was the second release that I covered on the blog back in July, and I had a strong sense at the time that it was going to be right up there fighting for the top spot in whatever end-of-the-year list I would inevitably end up doing. Ytown itself is a near-perfect seven song collection that vividly paints the story of a young man returning to his hometown, revisiting memories and reliving the emotions that come with the journey. It’s the echoes of the adolescent yearning to leave one’s hometown, seen through the eyes of the same little kid who left returning as an adult. The songwriting is right up there with anything I’ve heard this year, and the production – also by Sibthorpe himself – is superb. Of all the tracks on the EP, it’s Good Lord that just shades it for me. It struck me as being perhaps the most powerful and cathartic four minutes on an EP absolutely packed full of them. There are a lot of people looking forward to new music from Campbell, and I’m very much one of them.
Read my review of Ytown here, and an in-depth interview with Campbell here.
SMSR – Gentle Seed
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the year for me came in the form of Jakarta’s SMSR; a five-piece whose stock in trade is a shit-hot hybrid of prog, rock, indie, psych, jazz, and pop. Of their three superb singles this year, the mysterious, poetic, and magnificent Gentle Seed left the biggest mark on me. If you’re a fan of Tame Impala or Grizzly Bear, these guys may well be right up your street. There’s an undeniably 80s vibe running through their music, but it’s buried underneath a modern aesthetic – with slick production and unconventional song structures that keep you guessing. This track in particular benefits from a gorgeous ethereal vocal that flawlessly ties everything together. In short; Gentle Seed is brilliant, as are the band. Check out my original review here.
Funeral Lakes – Eternal Return
Eternal Return is the opening track from Canadian duo Funeral Lakes’ 2020 EP, Golden Season. It takes a special band to walk the line between all-out protest and accessibility without toppling straight into preachy sloganeering, and that’s what’s so great about what Chris Hemer and Sam Mishos are doing. Their music is fueled by an anger at the world around them, yet channelled succinctly into finely-crafted indie folk anthems. Eternal Return is a treat, from beginning to end – building from a relatively sedate opening into an exhilarating coda that takes aim at “toxic masculinity and the scourge of petro-nationalism, along with the misery fueled by the false promises of politicians”. Fans of their compatriots Arcade Fire will no doubt find a lot to like about Funeral Lakes, but there’s a lot more to them than superficial similarities to one of the greatest bands of their generation. As with everything in this list, I look forward to whatever comes next for these guys.
Check out my review of Golden Season here, and an interview with Sam and Chris from the band here.
Mehalah Ray – Nevermind
Much like Izzie Yardley’s I’m Still Here, somewhere up above, Mehalah Ray’s Nevermind is one of those tracks that seemed to float out of nowhere and completely floor me. Essentially a song about cutting away something (or someone) that’s holding you back in order to move on and thrive in the long run, it’s a slow-moving beauty of a track that moves over you like a wave of emotion. Underneath the gorgeous woodwind swells, shimmering electric guitar, and brushed percussion is a rich, earthy acoustic guitar that keeps things moving ever-forward. It’s the kind of song – like Yardley’s – that almost has the power to lift you from one place and into another. Utterly gorgeous work.
Read my review of Nevermind here.
A little about the future of the blog
So that’s that. I never presume that anybody really looks at this stuff, but I’ll say it anyway: thanks for reading and I hope that you might have found something amongst these ten songs that piqued your interest. And, if you’ve genuinely read a bit of my writing over the last few months: cheers for that too. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care that much about numbers and stuff – because on some level I think everybody does – but I genuinely did not expect to end 2020 with 350 followers of the blog on Instagram, and 200 on Twitter. Of course, the stats for the actual site are way, way lower – still hovering under 3,000 views, with the highest view count of a single piece at 117 – but it’s cool to know that some people are looking, and that some of my writing has meant as much to some artists as good, honest, organic reviews have meant to me when our band have had a cool write-up. If nothing else, that’s why I spend time writing this stuff.
The plan is to keep going in 2021, although posts will likely be less frequent and shorter in length. Time is scarce, and on top of this we’re back to focusing on getting another record made, so – between caring for my son who rarely sleeps, spending time with my wife, making a record, and keeping up with I Said Yeah – it’s the blog that can be reeled in a bit. In truth, I never envisaged covering this much stuff in the first six months or so, and unless I wind it back a bit there’s no way I can continue to do it. After all, it’s just me here. So I’ll still be here writing about stuff, shouting into the gaping abyss of the internet, and generally paying it forward, but more sporadically and in more compact posts – probably more like the round-ups in these last two. That’s it really. Please keep sending me cool stuff and I’ll see what I can do…
Have a good Christmas. Be seeing you.
I stood up & I said yeah 
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