Archives for July 2010

Yesterday I profiled six acts in with a good chance of featuring on this year's Mercury Prize shortlist - read about The xx, Dizzee Rascal, Laura Marling, Wild Beasts, Steve Mason and Four Tet here. The 12 artists competing for the award, now in its 19th year, will be revealed on Tuesday, 20 July. Here, I give you another six, plus alternatives.

(I realise there's no classical pick amongst my 12, but there's not been one on the Mercury shortlist since 2002. Don't hold your breath for one this year.)

Artist:King Midas Sound

Album:Waiting for You

Why: 2010 is a big year for dubstep, with the ever-evolving genre taking significant steps into the mainstream - Rusko has already broken cover with his patchy O.M.G.! album, and there are high-profile long-players on the horizon from Skream and his collaborative project with Benga and Artwork, Magnetic Man. But my pick from this broad musical arena is a rather less busy affair. King Midas Sound is Kevin Martin, Kiki Hitomi and Roger Robinson; their music is an intoxicating mix of doom-edged slow-mo mechanics and dubbed-out beats, ethereal vocals and woozy atmospherics. The Hyperdub-released Waiting for You is a wonderful record that infects the listener with a feeling of uneasy calm, chill-out vibes tempered by an inherent paranoia. Martin should have earned a nomination for his last record as The Bug, London Zoo, in 2009; the judging panel can do the right thing in 2010 and give him the wider exposure his latest work deserves.

If the Mercury was the Word Cup they'd be: Ivory Coast

Watch on YouTube:Goodbye Girl, Earth a Killya, Meltdown

And if not them: Sticking to the Hyperdub label, which received a nomination in 2008 for Burial's Untrue, Ikonika's superb Contact, Love, Want, Have album is a treat of chiptune tangents and sink-into synths. Or, on a more playful tip, Hudson Mohawke's aquacrunk adventure Butter would be a worthy shortlist inclusion.

Artist:The Unthanks

Album:Here's the Tender Coming

Why: Every year the Mercury selects a 'traditional' folk act as one of its shortlisted 12, and with a nomination already under their belts (albeit as Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, for their The Bairns album of 2007) this Northumberland group stand a good chance of being 2010's fairly token inclusion from their field. The Mercury has never shied away from nominating the same artist for consecutive albums - Bat for Lashes and Arctic Monkeys are two examples - so Here's the Tender Coming could well be amongst the far-from-dirty dozen come Tuesday's announcement. Nominations at the BBC's Folk Awards have been plentiful, and there's no reason why The Unthanks won't enjoy similar recognition from the Mercury's judging panel.

If the Mercury was the World Cup they'd be: Mexico

Watch on YouTube:The Testimony of Patience Kershaw, Lucky Gilchrist, Here's the Tender Coming

And if not them: Take your pick from The Imagined Village's Empire & Love, Damien O'Kane's Summer Hill, and Kris Drever's Mark the Hard Earth. All are worthy, but not one actually stands a chance of winning the thing.

Artist:Polar Bear

Album:Peepers

Why: Much like the above reasoning for The Unthanks - Polar Bear have been previously nominated, in 2005 for Held on the Tips of Fingers, and play a style of jazz that lends itself to crossover circles. It's hardly easy on the ear, but features as many parallels with rock outfits as it does anyone from the jazz community. Drummer Seb Rochford is a master of his art, and capable of earning awards entirely on his own - factor saxophonist Pete Wareham, ex-Loose Tubes man Mark Lockheart, electronics wizard Leafcutter John and bassist Tom Herbert, also of The Invisible, into the equation and you've the sort of ensemble that dreams are surely made of. Strange, surreal, jazz dreams, anyway. Peepers would be considered among the favourites, if only a jazz album had previously won the Mercury. It's hard to see the panel taking such a plunge this year.

If the Mercury was the World Cup they'd be: Argentina

Watch on YouTube:A New Morning Will Come, Peepers, The Love Didn't Go Anywhere

And if not them: Strong albums from previous nominees Portico Quartet (Isla), bonkers relative newcomers trioVD (Fill It Up With Ghosts), and acclaimed pianist Django Bates (Charlie Parker tribute Beloved Bird) are all good shouts.

Artist:Paul Weller

Album:Wake Up the Nation

Why: The BRIT-winning Modfather's tenth studio album is his best since 1993's Wild Wood, shortlisted for the 1994 Mercury (his only appearance to date, surprisingly). Containing substantial soul alongside a hefty dose of grittiness, Wake Up the Nation is a strikingly varied solo record from a man who had previously seemed content to be pigeonholed as a rather past-it creative force. While it runs to 16 tracks it never once drags its heels, songs spat forth with alarming speed, and the album's slower moments are truly touching. Some would see a victory as overdue, but in truth Weller has never been more worthy of the Mercury than he is this time out.

If the Mercury was the World Cup he'd be: England

Watch on YouTube:Wake Up the Nation, No Tears to Cry, Find the Torch, Burn the Plans

And if not him: Sticking to oldies whose time might well be now, why not Teenage Fanclub? Their new album Shadows, released 20 years after their debut, has attracted universal acclaim. Amazingly, they've never been shortlisted before (no Bandwagonesque in 1992, no Grand Prix in 1995). Maybe, just maybe...

Artist:Plan B

Album:The Defamation of Strickland Banks

Why: Plan B, otherwise known as Ben Drew, achieved the career turnaround of recent pop history with his second album. Previously a potty-mouthed rapper in the vein of a British Eminem, albeit with an acoustic guitar strapped to his chest, his return as a blue-eyed soul boy left many a critic readying their poison pens. But didn't he do well, eh? The Defamation... (a concept album!) has been a mainstay on the albums chart ever since its April release, debuting at number one (in the same week that Scouting For Girls released their second LP) and returning there soon after. It's spawned top-ten singles, and turned Drew into a star with the world at his feet.

If the Mercury was the World Cup he'd be: Japan or South Korea

Watch on YouTube:She Said, Stay Too Long, Prayin'

And if not him: He'll never switch his style in the manner of Plan B, but south London's Giggs has had a year to remember so far (albeit for reasons fair and foul). His debut for the XL label, Let Em Ave It, is easily one of the best British rap records of the last 12 months.

Artist:Foals

Album:Total Life Forever

Why: Guitar pop, mainstream indie, whatever you want to call it - it's not had much joy in a commercial sense lately as the charts, and playlists, have been dominated by RnB and rap acts. But Foals' Total Life Forever broke the top ten, and its singles have received substantial airplay, marking them out as a British guitar band with genuine cross-demographic appeal. The same can't, sadly, be said for several other great acts with excellent new records - recent long-players from The Futureheads and Mystery Jets missed the top 40. That Foals' second album (their debut, Antidotes, was also a top ten hit) is not only a winner on a sales front but also a superb evolution that demands all the respect it's received - it averages an 8/10 score - is a brilliant bonus. It absolutely deserves to be recognised as one of the best British albums of this Mercury year.

If the Mercury was the World Cup they'd be: The Dutch (without the dirty antics)

Watch on YouTube:Miami, Spanish Sahara, This Orient

And if not them:Mystery Jets' Serotonin and The Futureheads' The Chaos are both fantastic, and there's no doubt both acts could do with a little pick-me-up following disappointing sales figures.

Read part one of this Mercury Prize article here.

In September last year I wrote a blog entry on the acts likely to be contesting this year's Mercury Prize, the 12-act shortlist for which is announced on Tuesday (20 July). Then, Speech Debelle had just picked up the award, in its 18th year, for her Speech Therapy debut. Now it's time to look ahead to next week, by going over the likely contenders for the 19th Mercury - many of whom were identified in my previous article.

Artist:The xx

Album:xx

Why: The London youngsters have made the unlikely transition from cautious critical darlings to commercial heavyweights, with an album that relies as much on space and silence as it does stirring sonics. Their rise to headliner status - two nights at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire were followed by a recent top-billing gig at the Roundhouse - has been astonishing, and they're probably the only band around who can have their audience singing along to an intro. They've lost a member along the way, but since negotiating said disturbance the band has become an unlikely unstoppable force, with appeal far beyond the indie scene. They must be considered favourites.

If the Mercury was the World Cup they'd be: Spain

Watch on YouTube:Islands, Basic Space, Crystalised

And if not them:These New Puritans have supported The xx, and their excellent second LP Hidden adheres to rules exclusively of the band's making. It's not an easy listen, but neither was xx the first time you heard it.

Artist:Wild Beasts

Album:Two Dancers

Why: The Kendal-formed four-piece's 2008 debut, Limbo, Panto, was a mini-masterpiece, but with their second long-player Wild Beasts have gone further - away from the indie middle ground and deeper into lyrical lustfulness that plays out to such a graphic extent that the songs of Two Dancers are as likely to prompt blushing as they are bopping. It's not all torn blouses and tattered trousers, though, and as immediate melodies sink deep into the listener the twin vocal powerhouses of Hayden Thorpe and Tom Fleming shine like never before. Theirs is an especially infectious recipe for leftfield success, and a Mercury nod is surely deserved. It's what the band needs, now, to properly take their wonderful music into the mainstream.

If the Mercury was the World Cup they'd be: Germany

Watch on YouTube:All the King's Men, Hooting & Howling, We Still Got the Taste Dancing on Our Tongues

And if not them: Similarly intelligent and immediate of impression, but equally under-appreciated beyond a limited listenership, are Field Music. The Sunderland band's double-disc (Measure) album is one of the critical hits of 2010 so far, and the judging panel made a mistake in 2007 by not shortlisting their Tones of Town LP.

Artist:Dizzee Rascal

Album:Tongue N' Cheek

Why: A winner in 2003 with his debut album Boy in da Corner, and one of the shortlisted 12 four years later with Maths + English, it's fair to say that Bow boy Dizzee is a Mercury favourite. But since hitting the top spot with Calvin Harris hook-up Dance Wiv Me in 2008 the man born Dylan Mills has also been a fixture on the charts. He's now had four number one singles, all of which feature on Tongue N' Cheek (albeit courtesy of its deluxe edition). A bona-fide pop star hasn't won the Mercury since Arctic Monkeys triumphed in 2006, but such is Dizzee's dominance of the domestic market that a second victory could be on the cards... Unless overcoming the he-REALLY-doesn't-need-the-exposure hurdle proves too much.

If the Mercury was the World Cup he'd be: Italy

Watch on YouTube:Dirtee Disco, Bonkers, Dance Wiv Me

And if not him: Switching sexes, and cities, how about Envy? The Manchester rapper's debut Set Yourself on Fire is one of the most confident and accomplished releases of its type heard by these ears for some time. Take Lady Sov', strip away all the nonsense and throw in some serious attitude: bingo, you've the makings of a star, surely?

Artist:Four Tet

Album:There is Love in You

Why: He's one of the most celebrated musicians on the British electronic scene, yet Four Tet (aka Kieran Hebden) has never enjoyed a Mercury shortlist berth before. There is Love in You is his fifth album proper, and continues the development of a hugely influential brand of texturally rich, senses-stimulating organic electro - call it folktronica if you must, but Hebden outgrew that tag several records ago. If anything, this release finds him adopting a more stripped-back, minimalist approach, ensuring immediacy while also enveloping the listener with his traditional warmth. Its mesmerising melodies are truly joyous.

If the Mercury was the World Cup he'd be: Uruguay

Watch on YouTube:Angel Echoes, Love Cry, Circling

And if not him:F*** Buttons' Tarot Sport is a monster of ever-building layers, beguiling the listener with shifts subtle but striking. But that name will almost certainly play against their chances.

Artist:Steve Mason

Album:Boys Outside

Why: The ex-Beta Band man's solo debut under his own name is one of those albums that takes its time to connect with the listener, but once it does all one wants to do is play it again, and again, and again. It's an electro-soul affair of utmost understatement, its cathartic revelations regarding the breakdown of a relationship cutting to the core but delivered in such a fashion that, unless attentions are maintained, these insights can be missed beneath the sumptuously melancholic backings. Despite success both critical and commercial, The Beta Band never appeared on a Mercury shortlist - but Boys Outside absolutely deserves a place amongst Britain's finest LPs of the last year.

If the Mercury was the World Cup he'd be: Ghana

Watch on YouTube:Lost and Found, All Come Down, I Let Her In

And if not him: It's not the same, at all, but another artist to release their latest album in the wake of a relationship's end is Corinne Bailey Rae. Her husband, Jason, died in 2008, and while there are few direct references to him in The Sea, it's nevertheless an album haunted by loss.

Artist:Laura Marling

Album:I Speak Because I Can

Why: Shortlisted for her debut album, Alas, I Cannot Swim, in 2008, Hampshire-born indie-folkster Laura Marling was widely tipped to scoop the prize at her first attempt. The Mercury went to Elbow, but there's no doubt Marling left her mark, and her second album is the cream of a bumper recent crop from the country's crossover folk crowd. Placed beside efforts from Noah and the Whale, Mumford & Sons and Stornoway it's inarguably the outstanding achievement, emanating a gentle grace and poetic prowess that's hard, still, to equate with the singer's tender age of 20. Heaven knows what she'll be capable of come her next record, which must be a Mercury winner should she again fall short in 2010.

If the Mercury was the World Cup she'd be: Brazil

Watch on YouTube:Rambling Man, Devil's Spoke, Goodbye England

And if not her: Marling's friend Johnny Flynn has a great second album under his belt, Been Listening every bit as wonderfully arranged as I Speak... but slightly less engaging due to its theatrical lyrical slants. It's a grower, though, and worth investigating by those moved by any of the current alt-folk favourites.

Part 2 of this feature can be read here.

The second entry in our Album Reviews Q&A series focuses on two acts whose albums of May this year received fantastic reviews across the board: Irish indie-folk outfit Villagers and Oxford alt-rock quintet Foals.

Band:Villagers

Album:Becoming a Jackal (released May 24, Domino)

Recommended by:Dermot O'Leary

Villagers' debut album has seen its creative lynchpin, frontman Conor O'Brien, earn fantastic comparisons to the likes of Elliott Smith and Roddy Frame. Formed following the dissolution of O'Brien's previous band, The Immediate, Villagers began their ascent with a number of festival performances in 2009. Their debut single, On a Sunlit Stage, was released in October and they've since toured in support of Tindersticks and appeared on Later... with Jools Holland. O'Brien answers our questions.

Becoming a Jackal has certainly received its share of plaudits - what sort of expectations did you, as the album's creator, actually have for it? As a debut was it difficult to let go of, to assess from an objective perspective once others began to criticise it?

I never had any expectations for it, in terms of critical appraisal or other people's reactions. I did have hopes for the songs as I was writing them, but this was mostly along the lines of, "I hope my friend David likes this one; maybe I'll play it for him when I see him next", or: "There's no food in the house. I hope I get this one finished before I get too hungry. I should go to the shops. Maybe I'll record a quick demo of it and listen to it on the way to the shops. I need to go to the toilet." It is difficult for me to let go of the album, but I'm okay with that. I don't think that there is such a thing as an "objective perspective" when it comes to art. I know what it means to me, and I'm content with that.



Something frequently mentioned in coverage is how accomplished these songs are for an artist of a young age. Presumably this isn't patronising to you? As you've been in a band before, were these songs some years in the making before being collected here?

No, that isn't patronising. All of the songs on the album were written in the period following the break-up of my previous band. I would sit down with an acoustic guitar and make random noises with my mouth until they started assembling themselves into some sort of pattern or form. Sometimes this initial process would be very fast, but would be followed by months and months of changes in arrangement ideas, which may, in turn, suggest changes in lyrical ideas. So the song would keep folding in on itself. The song Pieces for instance: this was written in 15 minutes, but I was still recording new demos of it a year later. The last few songs I wrote for the album, such as I Saw the Dead and Set the Tigers Free, were completed in a much quicker fashion. I think I was gaining some sort of momentum.

Many debuts are simply collections of disparate songs strung together because the artist has enough material to fill a CD, but Becoming a Jackal has a consistency and coherence to it that suggests it's designed with this sequencing in mind. Is that the case?

I constantly had a sequencing idea for the album, but it kept changing as more songs were appearing. I think perhaps that the consistency of the album comes from the fact that the songs were all written in the same period of time, with the same general preoccupations in terms of lyrical theme. I was obsessed with death, basically.



How do you feel about some of the comparisons you have received, to artists such as Conor Oberst and the late Elliott Smith? Is this something you're able to hear yourself, or does modesty prevent you from even considering such things?

I feel fine about it. They've both written some very good songs so it's a nice thing for someone to say. I think perhaps that my songs are slightly more traditional than theirs, in terms of song structure and melody. This is neither a good nor a bad thing, just different. Modesty would never prevent me from comparing them with other people's work. I've always had a lot of faith in my songs.



Overall, the mood of Becoming a Jackal is fairly sombre. Can we expect to see a shinier, happier Conor in the future? After all, all art is a product of circumstance, so presumably your head wasn't always in the sunniest place when writing this record?

I have absolutely no idea what future Villagers albums will sound like. If I had to release one tomorrow, it would be very quiet and very intimate. But this could change. I'm approaching all of this with my eyes closed. Art is a product of circumstance, but circumstance is a multi-faceted creature, as are you.

Lastly, do you have any favourite albums of 2010 (so far)?

I like The Wonder Show of the World by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and the Cairo Gang, in particular the song The Sounds are Always Begging. It is very beautiful.

Read the BBC review of Becoming a Jackal

Visit Villagers on MySpace

Band:Foals

Album:Total Life Forever

Recommended by:Zane Lowe

Overcoming the supposed difficult second album syndrome, Oxford five-piece Foals have returned triumphantly with a record that improves upon their 2008 debut, Antidotes, in a style that few could have predicted. A far more organic-feeling, freer-flowing affair, Total Life Forever makes finds the band furthering their sound, previously boxed into the math-rock pigeonhole. Bigger, bolder, more mature and yet still resonating with the hunger of young artists who won't be restricted by industry-imposed boundaries, it's a splendid achievement. Frontman and guitarist Yannis Philippakis answers our questions.

Righto, the difficult second album, then: a myth that hasn't manifested itself on Total Life Forever by the sound of things. Was it a pleasant experience, making this album?

Writing this record was free-flowing, without a lot of conflict - we had a long time to put everything together, and we'd been assembling little loops and fragments of songs for some time. A lot of time was spent sewing these elements together, but it was done in a very relaxed environment. When we went to Sweden, to actually record the album, it was definitely different, but it's what we needed at the time. We were getting to the point where we could have just carried on working.

Were you experiencing any cabin fever before flying to Sweden? As you were living together in the same house in Oxford during the gestation of this album...

A little cabin fever, yes. And also by going to Sweden we gave ourselves a point at which this all had to be finished. Otherwise it could have become quite formless. Half the battle is trying not to overwork things. Without this structure we'd have probably kept working on the record, which would almost certainly have made it worse.

With the release date approaching, was the band worried at all about how Total Life Forever was going to be received? It's quite clearly different to the debut, which Spanish Sahara made apparent.

We were a little apprehensive - not so much when the album was about to come out, but definitely when the video to Spanish Sahara was put out. I was anticipating some interesting reactions, as it's the most different thing that we'd done compared to our previous work. But the response was good. It's not really our job to accord with what people are expecting, though, and I think if we did have that in our minds when writing it would be very destructive. Whatever we produce it'll still sound like us - it's the same people working together, in the same ways. There's something distinctive, but we do have to do what we feel, and while it seems that albums are often assessed in a kind of conflict with previous releases, to us this is a body of work that shouldn't be seen as a signpost to the future. We'll never find one sound that we want to remain on.

Was Total Life Forever started from a clean-slate position, with no thoughts of Antidotes?

Well, Antidotes was a reference point of sorts - we realised what we'd achieved there, and knew we didn't want to do the same thing exactly. We just want to keep covering different ground. I'm not sure to what extent we've managed that, as you hear bands claim that their new album is a total progression but in fact it's just a replica of what's come before. But I do think we've got some momentum, and we've shown some courage to move on from a template that suited us for the first album.

I like how Spanish Sahara is a song of many parts, blended to comprise a coherent whole. It's a sort of microcosm of the album as a whole.

I agree. Regarding the order of what gets released as singles from this album, I'm not massively interested. But I do like to see reactions. We get input on what comes out, but it really doesn't interest me that much.

Unlike the debut, this album was - I would assume - conceived as a whole? Antidotes featured tracks that'd been kicking about for some time, whereas Total Life Forever's content is - again I'm assuming - all taken from the same period of writing?

Absolutely. It's a document of the environment it was written in, and the year off we had from touring. None of this stuff is especially conscious - we finished touring, sorted the basement out and just started writing. One thing, one goal, was to make something that sounded pretty, and more lush than what we'd done previously. And I think we achieved that. Most of the sound of the album was in place before we went to Sweden, as we'd become attached to equipment we'd picked up. There were some obvious restrictions - we couldn't play as loudly in the house as we could live. So I think that's made for it being more delicate. Then Luke [Smith, producer] was quite rigorous, and focused it all. He had a very definite plan about how to make the record, and it was a great experience to work to the structure he brought. With Antidotes it was just, like, getting stoned... but this was the opposite. It's wild freedom, and a careless attitude to making records - in a good way, an explorative way. Even though it might not sound it, there's a precision to how things were recorded here, and most things were recorded in real time. All the guitar sounds, we weren't relying on post-production. Luke talks about intent a lot - but on a simple level it's about concentration, and putting your whole body into what's being recorded. There was a lot said about mind space.

Any thoughts of the Mercury? To these ears Total Life Forever must be in the running this year.

It's definitely something that'd be nice. But I try not to think about things like that. However, we're very content with this record, and it'd be lovely to be nominated for the Mercury.

Okay, finally: what are your favourite albums of 2010, so far?

I'm just looking through my most recently added... I like the new EP by Kurt Vile. I like the Pantha Du Prince album, and Sisterworld by Liars. Oh, and I really like the Janelle Monáe record, too.

Read the BBC review of Total Life Forever

Visit Foals on MySpace

Peter Crocker, one of the folks involved in the campaign to save 6 Music, was a guest on Radio 4's Feedback programme this week.

Roger Bolton has written about him on the Radio 4 blog where you can also hear his interview with Mr Crocker. It's an interesting listen.

• Read Roger Bolton's blog post and leave a comment

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Forgive the slightly belated arrival of this blog. You know how it is. I wish I could say I had Glastonbury as an excuse, but the truth is I didn't attend (ten years since my last visit, now - I'm overdue a return). I was able to follow the festival through the BBC though - and there's still plenty of Glasto content available across these music pages, so do have a rummage. The truth of the matter is that I have simply been too deafened by the World Cup's vuvuzela onslaught to properly assess what my favourite new albums of June were. That, and I've been absolutely suckered by the HD television coverage, often watching highlights of a game I caught in full only minutes earlier just for those fantastic slow-mo replays. Really, just how brilliant did Dutchman Demy de Zeeuw's boot in the face during the match against Uruguay look in HD? Superb stuff, if not a little grizzly.

But I digress. Here are my picks of June's new album releases. (It's fairly chilled this month, a couple of exceptions aside.)

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today

(4AD, released 7 June)

"Every track on this superb album is a winner - and, draped in the quiet glamour, fun and stateliness of bygone radio pop-rock, it offers evidence that Ariel has emerged from his bedroom to exact his revenge on Hollywood's Hills."

Read the full review and listen to previews.

Here We Go Magic - Pigeons

(Secretly Canadian, released 7 June)

"Redraw those best music of 2010 lists because Pigeons, the second album from Here We Go Magic, will be alighting somewhere near the top of them. This is the sound of a smart, talented band carving out their own uncommon, enchanting space."

Read the full review and listen to previews

The Chemical Brothers - Further

(Parlophone, released 14 June)

Recommended by Nick Grimshaw, Steve Lamacq; 6 Music Album of the Day 9 June

"On Further, The Chemical Brothers show no signs of fatigue, and the absence of any star names matters not a jot. It's better to continuously explode than fade away, or something. Really rather wonderful indeed."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Watch the video to Swoon on YouTube

Drake - Thank Me Later

(Cash Money, released 14 June)

Recommended by MistaJam, Westwood

"Virtually a concept album about the loneliness and lovelessness of the successful celebrity, a sort of sequel to Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreak, only more audaciously dolorous because Drake has only just started. Yet it ranks with the year's best."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Washed Out - Life of Leisure

(Mexican Summer, released 14 June)

"Chillwave, dream-pop, glo-fi, whatever - sub-genre classifications count for nothing if the music they describe isn't up to much. Fortunately for Georgia-based solo artist Ernest Weatherly Greene, aka Washed Out, his output is of a refined quality."

(Okay, this is an EP. But I had to include it for the track below - the best I-want-a-holiday-NOW video of the summer. And the song is beautiful.)

Read the full review and listen to previews

Pulled Apart By Horses - Pulled Apart By Horses

(Transgressive, released 21 June)

Recommended by Huw Stephens, Nick Grimshaw, Zane Lowe

"The great live band has somehow managed to create a record so brilliantly brutal and fizzing with ferocious energy that it feels, from the first track onwards, like you're plonked face-down in grime and battered relentlessly with beer. This is a very good thing."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Watch the video to Back to the F*** Yeah on YouTube

Lissie - Catching a Tiger

(Columbia, released 21 June)

Recommended by Rob da Bank; Radio 2 Album of the Week 12 June

"Catching a Tiger is a debut that dreams beyond typical new artist parameters. Lissie already sounds like one of the greatest female vocalists of a generation. Give the girl a second and she'll steal your heart; give her another album and she will, quite possibly, become untouchable."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Perfume Genius - Learning

(Turnstile Music, released 21 June)

Recommended by Huw Stephens

"Though deeply melancholic, so sublime are these ten spectral soundtracks to the minutiae of a modern lover's tribulations that their sorrow is translated into something more uplifting than unsettling. Optimism might seem in short supply, but there's light at the end of the tunnel."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Wild Nothing - Gemini

(Captured Tracks, released 28 June)

6 Music Album of the Day 1 July

"A comment akin to 'believe the hype' would suit, if there was much to confirm. There isn't a whole lot out there yet - but what's here is so perfectly formed, albeit with material misery accompanying apologues of love, that it sells itself without the need for attention-grabbing overstatement. (Whoops.)"

Read the full review and listen to previews

The Roots - How I Got Over

(Def Jam, released 28 June)

Recommended by Benji B

"While socially conscious rhymes are the order of the day, it's impossible not to be reminded of Mayfield's Superfly soundtrack. The message is, essentially, 'Times are hard, but let's make things better'. As honest and uplifting statements of intent go, it's hard to fault - just like this album."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Revisit Editor's Pick articles from the year so far...

May

April

March

February

January

My first show day at my first ever Glastonbury is busy. I find myself out in the blazing heat with the Red Button film crew and 6Music's Cerys Matthews. This is not just hot... this is more like dusty, shimmering Sahara.

We start pre-recording some links on a hill overlooking the beautiful Park Stage with the sun pelting down. Within half an hour I'm sent off to find a man called Hamish in a bunny costume (I find him backstage, sitting on a throne with a broken leg), discover the name of a band of nearby steel drummers and find some wellies, ASAP! All in a day's work...

Later, on a lone recce of the next place we're filming from, I blag a free straw hat from a stall vendor who is touchingly sympathetic when confronted with a burning redhead. I organise for Craig Charles to present a link later from a giant wooden television, flanked by people in orang-utan costumes. It goes down really well.

Back at the BBC Compound that evening the live BBC Two show is excellent and the set looks beautiful- twinkly and colourful against the vast indigo sky. The young singer songwriter Lissee is particularly amazing, with a voice clear as a bell. I arrive back at the B&B at 4am and do a little celebratory dance - I'm not sleeping in a tent!

The next day, after we've shot Cerys' links, I walk what seems like 20 blistering miles in the searing heat back to the BBC Compound to pick Craig Charles up. Yesterday I got sunburnt and will not make that mistake again so I put on sunblock every 40 seconds. Back at the 'Unfair Ground', Craig draws huge crowds of fans everywhere he goes and plays up to them when he fluffs his lines. Later, I am to be found chasing Bez around the backstage area in order to get him to sign a contributor form and watching a huge animatronic robot dog bounce around in front of a parade of various massive, clunking, fume expelling home-made modes of transport. It's like living in 'Robot Wars'.

That evening - in between being on hand for the Outside Broadcast trucks and on set - I manage to watch a tiny bit of Kylie storm the Pyramid stage with the Scissor Sisters (excellent) and laugh a lot as the caberet act for the live BBC Two show shocks Jo Whiley as he bursts from a huge latex balloon, dressed as Elvis.

The final show day arrives only too soon and, after more links out in the field, I'm off in a 4x4 to pick up Imelda May and her fabulous 50s-styled band from the Avalon stage. I'm taken by her tour manager, Paddy, to watch side stage and she's infectiously energetic, with a huge quiff, towering heels and a sassy, rockabilly style to her music.

Later, after I've dropped Imelda off at the Compound and given the poor, sunlight deprived staff in the OB trucks tea and sweets, I watch the Glasto crowds go understandingly beserk for the legendary Stevie Wonder. As Michael Eavis heartwarmingly sings along to 'Happy Birthday' a whisper goes around backstage... Stevie Wonder is coming back for an interview! When the man himself arrives, flanked by a small number of polite people, the set is completely silent. I am four feet away, standing with Zane Lowe. After Lauren Laverne and Mark Radcliffe have done the live interview and Stevie has said his goodbyes, there is a stunned silence. Everyone is totally starstruck.

Much later on, after we have finished broadcasting, packed up the production office and arrived back at one of the nearby hotels, we stay up until it's light. On the way back to the B&B, we pass children going to school. I am exhausted but elated. What a weekend.

Sam Alderson worked as a runner at the Glastonbury festival

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I don't like football. I'm not the sort of person who holds a contrarian position simply for the sake of it but I am genuinely uninterested in what is happening in South Africa's sporting arenas at the moment.

So when BBC Audio & Music production staff crowded into the Interactive OB truck at 3pm on Sunday, it was time to head out into the blinding sunshine.

I'd been working all weekend on the code which facilitates our live web-streaming. From 10am until after midnight each day, we offered video and audio of 6 Music's outside broadcast studio, lovely panoramic views of the Pyramid and Other stages and selected love performances. If you weren't at Glastonbury this year and wanted to watch Foals, Grizzly Bear, MGMT or LCD Soundsystem, you could do so at bbc.co.uk/glastonbury.

As clear as our 512kpbs stream of the Other stage is, I wanted to see Grizzly Bear in 3D, and gambled that the 90 minutes that the country was fixated on the game in Bloemfontein was a safe time to duck out. The BBC Interactive OB truck was rammed. Stepping over Jarvis Cocker's elongated legs, I made by way out into the 30 degree heat.

Hundreds of fans congregated at The Park stage where the game was showing on monster screens. It's rumoured that Emily Eavis was concerned about the effects of a possible English defeat. Would hundreds of bummed out supporters leak down Pennard Hill spilling bad vibes into the festival like an oil slick? For me, watching televised football while there's this much incredible music within 500 metres seems perverse. A colleague likened it to watching Prince last year at the O2 and seeing droves of people heading to buy hotdogs during Controversy.

I wasn't alone: there seemed to be awareness that everyone at the Other Stage was not only watching Grizzly Bear but also not doing something else. "How's the game?" asked Daniel Rossen. "I have no idea" Edward Droste replied dryly.

I was disconcerted for a moment to hear the 5live coverage booming from the Other Stage PA stacks, but it was only Christopher Bear holding a transistor to the mic, announcing England's defeat. "As night falls, England's World Cup dreams die," crackled the commentator's antique radio voice. Heading towards the Dance Village, I swam against a tide of crestfallen faces. It was a contrasting experience to arrive at the Wow stage as garage don Roska dropped tropical UK funky tunes, appropriately enough, from inside a day-glo pineapple.

Related Links

BBC Glastonbury 2010 - videos, photos, behind-the-scenes coverage

Related Posts

Inside 6 Music's Glastonbury Coverage

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A Truly Interactive Glastonbury

The Glastonbury Advance Party

Glastonbury Takes Over 6 Music

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