My Top 5 Albums of 2011

I'm not (generally) the sort of person who buys a lot of new music as soon as it comes out. I rarely go out browsing for music in shops and if I come across something online, I usually just get the one track rather than a whole album. In order to actually invest in a whole album I have to be convinced that I'll listen to it until I'm sick of it. Add to that the fact that my tastes are pretty eclectic (and about 25 years out of date) and this list will probably be pretty weird.

Chameleon Circuit - Still Got Legs

I've mentioned this album in my other blog before, and four months later I'm just as obsessed with it. Still Got Legsis the second album by Chameleon Circuit, the Doctor Who themed rock band. I love concept albums and novelty songs, and I'm slightly obsessed with Doctor Who, so this is the perfect album for me. The only problem is choosing a favorite song.... Is it this one (I do love The Mister Master) -



Or maybe it's this -

Unwoman - Uncovered volume 1: 1980-1995

I love Kickstarter, and this is by far my favorite thing that I've been able to support through that site. I've supported a few of Unwoman's projects in the past, but Uncovered combines some of my very favorite things - Covers! Nick Cave! Robotic voice effects! It also has one of the very best covers of Nine Inch Nail's Hurt that I've ever heard-

Aperture Science Psychoacoustics Laboratory - Songs To Test By

Speaking of robotic voice effects, I'm a huge fan of the Portal game series. For years the original Portal was the only game on my Mac and I was hugely excited when the second installment came out, it was a fantastic bonus when Value released the entire soundtrack in three albums. It's not that helpful when you're trying to work as it makes you wish you were playing Portal but its huge fun for running about to. And now I'm off to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that'll burn your house down.

8in8 - Nighty Night

Until she married Neil Gaiman I wasn't especially familiar with Amanda Fucking Palmer's work. I have a few Dresden Dolls songs on my harddrive but nothing else. Where as I have stack of Neil Gaiman books and graphic novels, some of them signed. I was attracted to this album simply because Neil Gaiman has a dreamy voice but AFP's love song to Nikola Tesla should be a steampunk classic!

Gary Numan - Dead Son Rising

So I said at the beginning that I don't usually buy music as soon as it comes out, Gary Numan is one of the exceptions. Since I first saw him live at Leeds Festival In 2001 I've bought all his releases as soon as they came out. I probably shouldn't say anything else on the subject though, just in case I won't shut up again.





So far for 2012, I'm looking forward to the last of the Ego Likeness compass point EPs and the next TMTWNBBFN album "This May Be The Reason Why The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing Cannot Be Killed By Conventional Weapons" which will be out in March. Awesome.