Would you like us to assign someone to worry your mother?

       

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's top 50 albums of 2022. 

#8 : Wet Leg - Wet Leg

On one level, Wet Leg’s rollicking debut album is an autopsy of a past relationship conducted with goofiness, with Rhian Teasdale often sounding openly disgusted by men before spraying a squirty-cream smiley face over that judgment. But she and Hester Chambers pair sweet with sour to disarm, then pull you in close and whisper the real story in your ear. It’s also an album about middle-class millennial malaise – though they always temper worry with something lighthearted: their gags and the sing-a-long choruses hint at an attitude so throwaway it’s almost absurdist. But look beyond the smirk and there’s skill, observational wit and melodies that burrow into your brain.

ANOTHER one we've previously met - and this one I would have actively sought out and have listened to a few times since.  And I really like it - "Chaise Longue" is one of my tracks of the year and has a most amusing video.  At the time, I said I suspected it wouldn't hang around in the charts for long (despite debuting at #1) but if it was lucky, it might catch a wave - which way did it go?  Well, I'm super pleased to say it's managed 24 weeks and is currently at #37, so it's got some life left in it yet - it's really nice to see a good album doing well.

#7 : I Love You Jennifer B - Jockstrap

On their debut album, Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye pan for nuggets of sound that have never been put together before. Everything that makes a noise is fair game as they plunder every genre for a possible production style here, a unique chord progression there. I Love You Jennifer B should sound like a nightmare – and sometimes it does – but there’s a current of fun that holds it all together: the cartoonish chopping and reassembling of vocals reminds you that this album is not as po-faced or art school as it might sound on paper.

Well, that's quite some introduction from The Guardian, isn't it?  I've no idea what this is going to sound like...

And, having listened to it, I'm still not quite sure what it sounds like.  It really is very kitchen-sinky, but The Guardian is quite correct when it says it "is not as po-faced or art school as it might sound on paper" - although at times it does definitely veer towards an art school final year project.  I guess some of Kate Bush's more challenging stuff also springs to mind.  Whether it's any good, I'm not entirely sure - but it's certainly a load of nonsense fun in places and I also think it's not as challenging as The Guardian suggests.  I'm intrigued as to how little effort must have been spent on that cover though...

Lordy - it charted.  #57 for just the one week, but that's one more week that I was expecting.  Wikipedia has very little on the album, except for the litany of end-of-year lists that featured this album.  "Customers also listened to" Sorry, Special Interest (it shares a female vocalist with this, but that's about it, I'd say), Gilla Band (I wouldn't say it's much like this) and Horsegirl.  All in all, this was a bit of an odd album - I don't quite know who would LURVE it, but it's an enjoyable enough one time listen.

#6 : The Car - Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys’ best music has always been about yearning in all its forms; here, this is manifest in Alex Turner’s unmistakable, swooning vocals that brim with intimacy and lyrical longing, and instrumentals that make moods of love, lust, grief, insecurity and dislocation flutter somewhere deep within. The Car delves into depths and subtleties of feeling with gilded music that belongs to a past which never existed: velveteen strings, gleaming keys and licks of guitar that veer from funky to blazing and anticipatory.

I don't mind most of what Arctic Monkeys do, but as a whole I find them a frustrating group because there's such a massive variety from album to album - and their first album was the one I liked the most, so it's been downhill all the way for me.  But, I like "Body Paint" and am amazed I've avoided the album so far this year, so am looking forward to listening to it.

And yeah, I really quite like it.  It's all in a very similar vein to "Body Paint" - I think it's got quite a Scott Walker vibe to it.  And yes, the vocals are definitely "unmistakable, swooning" - it all works pretty well.  Will I ever revisit it?  Probably not, but I won't go out of my way to avoid it either.  And it's a very cool album cover.

I know this charted - peaking at #2 in its debut week (kept off the top by Taylor) and currently having managed nine weeks so far.  I suspect it will manage a few more weeks yet though because 24 weeks is the least any of their studio albums has managed so far - surprisingly (for me) AM is their album that managed the longest (484 weeks - 9.3 years!) because I would have gone for Whatever People Think... (423 weeks).

Wikipedia has quite a lot on the album, but most of it is telling us how the album has all sorts on it.  Like EVERYTHING!  The critics mostly liked it, but some thought it was a bit of a continued swerve from what the lads are best at and so they weren't so keen.  It must hold some kind of record for album which got to #2 in the most countries though - it certainly suffered going up against Taylor.

"Customers also listened to" The Lathums, The Strokes, Phoenix and Razorlight - a slightly odd mix.  This album did nothing to counter my frustration with the lads for the variation in their music - but at least it was an enjoyable variation.

All in all, three pretty strong albums doing what they want to, even if it's not always quite my thang.

#11-9 - Three albums I spectacularly fail to describe
#5 - Yeah, I liked this