1. WILD BEASTS – Two Dancers
Britain’s finest and most unique new band have improved on last year’s Epoch Times runner up spot with this, their second album. A work of staggering precocity, this set primal rhythms to the much debated operatic vocal range of Hayden Thorpe and the Nutella-rich voice of Tom Fleming, and told tales of sexual misadventure and bothersome boot boys. From the intro to album opener ‘The Fun Powder Plot’ the album pulses with percussion that seems to have been drawn from an African tribal ritual. It is the perfect backing to the burgeoning eroticism the band seem immersed in. By the album’s high point ‘This is Our Lot’ eight tracks in, Thorpe can barely contain himself, heavy breathing as he sings “my darling, my dumpling, my plump heart a thumping/begging you to come to me” with the most overwrought delivery you’re ever likely to hear. Slightly sinister but always intoxicating, Two Dancers is a testament to the possibilities of popular music, and what can happen when convention is not permitted to constrain boundless imagination. PH
2. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE – Merriweather Post Pavilion
It was only with this euphoric and electronic-inflected ninth album that Animal Collective’s psychedelic and often impenetrable sound, became, dare I say it, mainstream. Mind you, with support from the likes of Kanye West for ‘My Girls’ and Twilight writer Stephenie Meyer (an appearance on the Twilight soundtrack duly followed) mainstream is where these boys seem to be headed. Merriweather Post Pavilion reached number 13 in the US Billboard charts with its fusion of primal chants, danceable bass kicks, synth loops and reverb-drenched vocal harmonies. AC’s genius is in anchoring it all with a killer pop sensibility and zeitgeist-friendly lyrics. Essential. JS
