Angel Olsen - Half Way Home added to 2012 Recommended Albums

I'm making a conscious effort to make my reviews shorter from now on (it's only by accident that over time they've become wordier), so the choice moment for me to announce that is on a review of an album which associated genre I know little about anyway (or is short enough not to demand further description). All I could really find out about Angel Olsen was that she's been a member of Bonnie "Prince" Billy's Cairo Gang, the band Will Oldham has used for several of his last few albums and tours. A six-track cassette of Olsen songs entitled Strange Cacti was also released in limited supply last year, but Half Way Home stands for all its intents and purposes as her debut album.

It begins with the mesmeric "Acrobat". One of the few numbers to stretch out its instrumentation beyond merely vocals, acoustic guitar and occasional drumming, it nonethelesss pulls one of country music's most searing qualities straight to the foreground: its capability to showcase great sadness. This is painful music, and Olsen makes no bones about wanting to break your heart while she's being recorded. Her voice is a major catalyst in this regard, more specifically the moments when she strains her cords into uncomfortable, even unsettling territory. At other times it shrinks back down to the level of the guitar, and she can be an equally effective comforter, albeit a melancholic one. This dualism is particularly apparent on the extended centerpiece "Lonely Universe". The storytelling on this track is also vivid, beginning with the childhood loss of her mother, before sliding back into a more regular register, although not completely, whilst giving out sagely life advice. The refrain also contains one of the album's strongest thought-provoking images: "Goodbye sweet Mother Earth / Without you now, I'm a lonely universe". Death is a major theme of Half Way Home, and Olsen's attitudes really have to be heard to be appreciated; however love is just as prevalent, cropping up on virtually every track. The shorter tracks that are more focused on the subject - "You Are Song", "Free" and "The Waiting" - rank among the best.



Half Way Home feels like a special album; a strangely nostalgic one at that. At times it reminds me of the kind of music my parents used to play through the house when I was growing up. I've avoided specific cornerstones to avoid inaccuracy, as I'm really a novice when it comes to country, but this album is a welcome discovery, and easily ranks beside the best I've heard this year. Hopefully her connection to Will Oldham will allow Olsen to get her music into the wider community, because her current perspective is a fascinating, alluring one.

Single of the Week: Bat For Lashes - "Marilyn"

Natasha Khan values the idea of people. The most popular (and dare I say best) Bat For Lashes songs have used the concept of first names as a gateway to deeper moods, themes and explorations into relationships. "Marilyn", the second single from The Haunted Man (after the similarly-eponymic "Laura") is no different to these. The large, glistening, Cocteau Twins-like instrumental backing suits Khan's lyrical atmosphere perfectly. As she examines the notion of celebrity, contrasted with her own normality, you get the image of Khan's proximity to the sublime. "Marilyn" is a pretty track, but it's also substantial, and breathes deeply into the spaces that "Laura" found more effective to leave untouched.

This track is free for all Amazon.co.uk customers. Download it here.

Wild Nothing - Nocturne added to 2012 Recommended Albums

For certain people, the "dream-pop" label can carry with it a number of negative ideas. Ideas of sunbaked American students spending hours in dorms with MacBooks and the latest music editing software, writing songs about the girl they're too wet behind the ears to ask out at the cocktail bar. Moreso than that this new generation of indie songwriters are accused of being lazy and unoriginal, favouring the trend of soaking their guitars and vocals in reverb to hide the lack of substance to their work. Add to that the derivative nature that comes from the copy-and-pasted style thse bands follow and dream-pop becomes ripe for parody and ridicule.

The upshot of this genre's popularity is that when someone like Wild Nothing (aka the now Brooklyn-based Jack Tatum) comes along, a songwriter with integrity and charisma, he isn't slept on. Nocturne is the second Wild Nothing album, folowing 2010's sleeper success Gemini, and on surface level there maybe isn't enough change here to convert the typical dream-pop cynic. The most significant is the introduction of producer Nicolas Vernhes, who insures a professional touch to Tatum's otherwise homespun sound. Also of note from a sonic perspective is the influence of 80s British electronic acts such as New Order in some of the guitar/keyboard lines and occasional Stephen Morris-esque drum patterns. Much has been made of this, and it does serve as another usp for Wild Nothing, but you're not going to mistake it from a Factory Records album anytime soon. We are still firmly in the land of reverb.



The true asset to Nocturne is Tatum's capabilities as a songwriter, the moods and themes he creates through his aesthetic. Maybe it was supposed to be Gemini's darker twin - the first three track names "Shadow", "Midnight Song" and "Nocturne" seem to suggest so - but its breezy nature makes that idea a little hard to take seriously. Instead we're treated to songs about girls called Heather and Rheya, and told that "love is paradise" in the five-and-a-half minute centrepiece, the most ambitious track by a stretch. Not exactly dark night of the soul-like stuff. That's not to say these moments aren't rewarding in themselves, and that trio of openers does hold a more tortured presence under all the wistfulness. Take lead single "Shadow". Although the vocals are low in the mix (below some lovely string arrangement), they're not so indecipherable as not to catch such pessimism as "I'd go with you if you asked me to / but we wouldn't get very far, two strangers in the dark". It's a pop song in the Robert Smith template: couterbalancing the instrumental's glimmer of optimism with crushing lyrical blows, and it can't be helped to hang on to the lyrics from there, whether they're the sensual "you can have me"'s of the title track, or the aforementioned laments for "Rheya".

With Wild Nothing's gift for songwriting and extended instrumental and tonal pallette, Nocturne successfully bucks the "style over substance" argument for dream-pop out of the water. Although Jack Tatum's heart is still firmly stuck to his sleeve his lyrics, song structures and tasteful nods to his influences add up to a sincere talent, and there are enough musical ideas happening for the album to work satisfyingly well. Until now I found the closest thing to a varied dream-pop album to be DIIV's Oshin, released a few months ago also on Captured Tracks. And while that certainly isn't a bad album it takes something like Nocturne to show that with any genre there's no obligation to play by the rules when it comes to making an album. There's plenty to stake out on the fringes.

Dirty Projectors present their short film Hi Custodian

On the subject of short films, Dirty Projectors have premiered their visual accompniment to recent album Swing Lo Magellan, which was produced in association with Pitchfork x Youtube. Written and directed by bandleader David Longstreth, and starring bandmembers David Longstreth, Amber Coffman, Nat Baldwin, Haley Dekle and Mike Johnson, Hi Custodian is now available to view below. As promised the film contains elements influenced by Kanye West's similar 2010 project Runaway, not least alternate versions of songs featured on Swing Lo Magellan, so if you're still not convinced of my review of the album look no further:

Single of the Week: Angel Olsen - "Acrobat"

This is the second time I've blatantly ransacked a Pitchfork Best New Music track for my own Single of the Week feature, but whatever. When a track evokes such strong feelings of desperate hope and lovelorn curiousity as "Acrobat" does, it becomes a disservice not to recognise it. The opening track to Angel Olsen's second album Half Way Home, out now on Bathetic, does all these things by tugging at the line that seperates harmony and dissonance, played out through creeping yet comforting synthesizer, occasional guitar notes and the lower register of Olsen's extraordinary voice. The lyrical themes are perhaps more affecting, also using binaries to pattern the narrator's intricate feelings, including in the refrain: "I am alive / I thought that I'd died". Other lyrics capture the feeling of distance like some of the best of any unrequited love song; Olsen wishing to be merely "a bit like you" and "that distant thought, / Some growing meaning in yor mind", which in turn creates an interesting contrast with the unrestrained nature of the guitar and vocals. The only trrue reference to an "acrobat" in the song is the one that Olsen manages to survive these imbalanced ideas.


Angel Olsen - Acrobat (Official Music Video) from Toshadeva Palani on Vimeo.

Cat Power - Sun and Deerhoof - Breakup Song streaming at NPR Music

New albums ahead of release this week come from Deerhoof and Cat Power, who release Breakup Song and Sun respectively next Monday. Enjoy yourself with these links:

Cat Power - Sun
Deerhoof - Breakup Song

Stream Jessie Ware's debut album Devotion and JJ DOOM's KEYS TO THE KUFFS

I've posted enough Jessie Ware tracks to prove that I've been looing forward to hearing her full-length debut Devotion for a while. Now in time for its release next Monday it's here, available to stream below courtesy of the Guardian:



UPDATE: Also streaming on the Guardian is the new JJ DOOM album, KEYS TO THE KUFFS, featuring collaborations with Damon Albarn and Beth Gibbons (Portishead). I decided to include it in the same post. Click here to listen.

King Krule - "Rock Bottom"

New single on the way from King Krule, whose self-titled EP was an easy 2011 favourite. Here's "Rock Botttom", which has the ginger Rick Astley look-a-like singing part of the Streets' "Empty Cans" during its frenetic climax:

Single of the Week: Mac DeMarco - "My Kind Of Woman"

The problems with retreading not only a familiar style of music but also subject matter are many. At worst it can sound kitsch, insincere, lazy and uninspired; not to mention there's always going to be someone else doing the same thing, especialy nowadays. Up and coming singer-songwriter Mac DeMarco, who plans to release a debut album, 2, on 16th October via Capured Tracks, sidesteps all of these problems by doing what his chosen genre does best (in this case 50s rock & roll). On "My Kind Of Woman" DeMarco plays it straightforward, letting his guitar ring out cleanly behind his lovelorn vocals, noticeably higher than his usual baritone. It's obvious that DeMarco is leaving behind the lo-fi, often jocular nature of his earlier recordings as Makeout Videotapes and heading for the big time.



Track all the info up to the release of 2 on the Upcoming Releases page.

Jessie Ware - "Sweet Talk"

Jessie Ware - who you may know of through collaborations with SBTRKT and Joker - releases her debut album Devotion on the 20th of this month (artwork above); be surre to lookout for it. Here's the latest single, "Sweet Talk", produced by Julio Bashmore:



Track all the info up to the release of Devotion on the Upcoming Releases page.

Cat Power - "Cherokee" / Nicolas Jaar Remix

"Ruin" has worked its way towards my ears quite regularly since its inclusion in my June playlist. Now not only has Cat Power released the next single from her new record Sun (artwork above) for free, there's also a remix by my favourite house producer Nicolas Jaar to boot!



Track all the info up to the release of Sun on the Upcoming Releases page.

Wild Nothing - "Paradise"

The first Wild Nothing track to emerge from the upcoming Nocturne was the beautiful "Shadow" (see my June playlist). Now we have "Paradise" to whet appetites before Nocturne's imminent release date (27th August via Bella Union in the UK, a day later via Captured Tracks in the US):



Track all the info up to the release of Nocturne on the Upcoming Releases page.

Unreleased Dirty Projectors: "Buckle Up"

Tour-only single from these guys that serves as a nice, brief curiosity if nothing else. Presumably there might be a b-side to it soon. Be sure to check out that Swing Lo Magellan! Stream / download below:

*Dirty Projectors - "Buckle Up"

Frank Ocean - Channel Orange added to 2012 Recomended Albums

The reason I've been shirking discussinng Channel Orange has nothing to do with Frank Ocean's recent public confession which has undoubtebly coloured the air around the album. I do believe revealing his bisexuality to be a courageous, celebratory move, that hopefully becomes an inspiration to others in the future, but to approach the album from purely that perspective would be entirely a mistake, one that would undersell the monumental musical accomplishment that it is.

This is the actual reason it's taken a while to come up with accurate words of praise for Channel Orange, and I'm still struggling. This is exemplified by the fact that the last album I wrote about, Dirty Projectors' Swing Lo Magellan, was equally deserving of high praise. I'll start with what we had before the release of the full album. Ocean, the R&B singer of hyped shock-rap collective Odd Future came to attention last year with a mixtape/debut album Nostaligia, Ultra, which was enough to earn fans and accolades outside of the group he started in. Add to that a couple of relative hit singles ("Novocane" and "Thinkin Bout You", the latter re-recorded for Channel Orange), songwriting credits on tracks by Beyoncé and Justin Bieber, and guest spots on two tracks on Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch The Throne, it was clear that Ocean was (and currently still is) edging towards a potential breakthrough commercialy with his Def Jam debut.

Despite pressure to release something half-assed in the short time Ocean's popularity blew up, the first single in promotion of the album changed all preconcieved ideas of a quick cash-in, as well as the sonic possibilities for commercial R&B in today's instant-gratification musical climate. "Pyramids", released for free on Ocean's tumblr is more than just a song. It's an R&B-prog odyssey spanning ten minutes, that serves as just one of Channel Orange's focus points (more on the second later). Choosing "Pyramids" over Grizzly Bear's "Sleeping Ute" for Single of the Week at the time felt like going against the grain, but now it feels even more of a logical decision, and when I think about the number of times I've listened to it from start to finish, to remain as powerful a statement as it is adds to Ocean's testament as a musician willing to walk the more difficult routes for the sake of his career.

Rumours regarding Ocean's sexuality circulated the internet after an inaugural press listening session of the album: the album's last few tracks - "Bad Religion", the André 3000-featuring "Pink Matter", and "Forrest Gump" - allude to homosexual relationships and expressions. Ocean quelled the whisperings with a document posted to his tumblr detailing his love for another man, elegantly written in itself. Unfortunately this has to be seen as a risk-taking move for Ocean's career; there have still famously not been any successful LGBT hip-hop or R&B artists, and one would hope Ocean has set a future precedent for the industry. Channel Orange's next single, "Sweet Life" came just a few days after the confession, probably the best possible move for Ocean at the time. It's just one of many short, single-worthy slices of pop that are truly immaculate. "You had a landscaper and a housekeeper since you were born", goes the chorus, Frank channeling the most soulful parts of old Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder 45's, with piano to match. The Earl Sweatshirt-guesting "Super Rich Kids" continues the allusion toward certain decadant corners of our generation, and catches another Odd Future star on the rise showing adequate restraint for the moment. Other singles touch on pop perfection - "Lost", "Forrest Gump", the immortal "Thinkin Bout You"; but of course the thrill is in discovering what exactly they add to the varied Channel Orange's legacy. And also it genuinely is tough to leave tracks out of the discussion; they work so well to form a highly-developed whole despite the draw of multiple ideas from five decades of musical heritage the album carefully sifts from.

If I do touch on one in more detail however it would have to be the one Ocean debuted on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon the night he announced the album was up on iTunes ahead of release schedule. "Bad Religion" is perhaps the true centerpiece of Channel Orange, despite it coming in towards the end of the album, as it puts the thirteen tracks before it back into perspective, "Pyramids" included. Frank's plea with his taxi driver to "outrun the demons" leads him to mistake the reply "Allahu Akbar" as a curse. As he accepts it for the prayer and sympathy he originally wanted he is able to move on. Not only is it so relevant to Ocean's current situation it is the most mature, tender and original part of Channel Orange, and in its own right a ballad for the ages, with its orchestral backing mirroring the lyrical predicament. Watch it below if you haven't yet; it's one of the best TV performances in years.

The quickest way to assess the quality of this new album might be to relate it to Nostalgia, Ultra, the 2011 self-released mixtape that first brought Ocean notable attention. Clearly next to that record, which was no slouch, Channel Orange shows leaps and bounds of progression. One of the few things that relate it to its predecessor is the tape-deck samples between tracks: the Playstation start-up sound which begins the album is music in itself to listeners of my generation. In fact the use of this technique to disguise the possible disjointedness of the tracks is maybe the only criticism of the whole album. Channel Orange's stature is closer to Kanye's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy than anything from the Odd Future canon. Though not quite as grandiose as that parrticular epic, instead the record has Ocean's humility and extremely likeable personality in its place. The last R&B album of this significance was D'Angelo's Voodoo, which twelve years ago went straight to #1 on the US Billboard 200. As someone who believes real underground talent should be brought forward to the general masses I'm hoping the right combination of promotion, radio airplay and fan appreciation through social media and the like are enough to propel Ocean towards household name status. It's clearly within his grasp. The world needs to hear about the outstanding achievment that is Channel Orange, and the wonderful singer, songwriter and performer who was inspired to create it, Frank Ocean.

See what other great albums have caught my attention this year on the 2012 Recommended Albums page. Was my review of Channel Orange any good?

Jens Lekman performs new song for the Guardian

"I Know What Love Isn't" is the title track to Jens' new album, out 3rd September. Below watch his solo rendition of the track, with an introduction containing the quote "And that didn't really work for me, because I'm Jens Lekman":

Stream Frank Ocean's new album Channel Orange, available on iTunes

The official date for physical copies of Channel Orange appear to be the same (17th July, i.e. next week), however Frank Ocean decided to go ahead and release the digital version on iTunes last night. Channel Orange can also be streamed in full on Frank's Tumblr, so get on it!

Frank Ocean - "Sweet Life"

Frank Ocean has posted a new song on Tumblr, perhaps to move discussion away from his recent revealation and back onto his music. He does have an album, Channel Orange, on the way later this month, remember? Download "Sweet Life" below, or listen here:

*Frank Ocean - "Sweet Life"

Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan added to 2012 Recommended Albums

It's probably no surprise that if a new Dirty Projectors album comes out, I and many other people are going to enjoy it. But I didn't expect to like this one quite this much. I've listened to it much that I've barely had time to do much else. Today I listened to it, rushed the Slaughterhouse writeup that was hanging over me (probably unfairly, it is of course an excellent record in itself), took a break, listened to it again, another break, and now I'm writing it up whilst listening to it again. It's very distracting, but in the most complimentary way. And I'm convinced it's a masterpiece; it hasn't been anything but rewarding from the moment I first put it on a few days ago.

Swing Lo Magellan follows Dirty Projectors' 2009 breakthrough Bitte Orca; an album I've always admired (as a guitar player especially) but found difficult to connect any more deeply with. There's no question bandleader David Longstreth has made efforts to simplify his approach to album and songcraft, and the omission of the previous record's sporadic afrobeat guitar phrases and sudden polyrhythmic shifts will undoubtebly irk some. But Longstreth's "album of songs" is still the work of a pop maverick, he's just better at it. "Stillness Is The Move" is replaced with "Gun Has No Trigger"; both lead singles have demonstrated the furthest point of Longstreth's latest direction for each of their albums. The structure of "Gun Has No Trigger" is largely linear, with backing singer's Amber Coffman and Haley Dekle (replacing Angel Deradoorian) as the main instrument, the volume of their singing intensifying as each verse reaches its pinnacle.

Unique and refreshing the single is, the rest of the album is not without its share of variety and innovation. The girls' harmonies are still a key component of Dirty Projectors' sound, and despite the lack of a guitar in Dave's hands on the cover the instrument is far from absent. Opening track "Offspring Are Blank" introduces its first chorus with a loud blast of electric guitar, and its second with an acoustic replication. "Unto Caesar" also explores the possibilities of both instruments, and also cuts up studio outtakes in interesting and entertaining ways. Handclapping is a prominent new addition on many of the tracks, but it never feels gimmicky or repetitive, just another percusive element that falls in both aesthetically and with the renowned advernturous percussion.

But if Swing Lo Magellan truly is "an album of songs, an album of songwriting" as Longstreth claims it is, the quality of these songs needs to be checked out. Fortunately that's an easy task. Like Bitte Orca a formula of accessible avant-garde and spiky R&B rules the day, but as with the instrumentation the mix is even stronger. There's the eco-political "Just From Chevron", and the closer "Irresponsible Tune" addresses the influences of music itself. The Amber Coffman-sung "The Socialites" is the true pop gem on the album, and one of the best examples of the many love songs scattered throughout. There are more of course; variety is one of Swing Lo Magellan's real strengths, as are song arrangements and lyrical depth. The overall feel of the album isn't too far away from classic songwriting benchmarks like Revolver, which is referenced in "See What She Seeing", and it's refreshing to see such pinnacles being aspired to, especially with the amount of success the talented Dirty Projectors approach that standard.

The album is a must for fetishists of detail, hooky experimentalism and tight musicianship. I don't write track-by-track reviews of albums but I feel with Swing Lo Magellan it's almost necessary to translate its appeal into words. All I can say is there are few records are album of the year-worthy, and fewer still are album of the decade-worthy. This is one of the latter, and probably the last of its kind to hit me in such a way since Deerhunter's Halcyon Digest. I hope I'm wrong but the chances of the new Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective records - Dirty Projectors' nearest competition in indie cricisism land - being as solid, meaningful and beautiful as Swing Lo Magellan seem to have shrunk considerably. Same applies for Dirty Projectors. It may be cliché, but it's hard to see how they'll ever top this.

Swing Lo Magellan is out on Monday on Domino Records (my copy's already in the mail), but until then you can listen to it on the Guardian.



And that's not all from Dirty Projectors this year. A short film featuring music from Swing Lo Magellan is "coming soon"! Hi Custodian is directed by David Longstreth. Trailer below:



Click here for the rest of the 2012 Recommended Albums list

Frank Ocean - Channel Orange info, album art and tracklist

That image is the album cover of Channel Orange, the official Def Jam debut for Frank Ocean, which is out on 21st July. Channel Orange will also feature contributions from André 3000, Earl Sweatshirt and John Mayer. Tracklist below shows it will have "Pyramids", and newly recorded versions of "Thinking About You" (Frank's biggest solo hit outside of Nostalgia, Ultra) and "White" from OF Tape Vol 2 featuring John Mayer:

1. "Start"
2. "Thinkin Bout You"
3. "Fertilizer"
4. "Sierra Leone"
5. "Sweet Life"
6. "Not Just Money"
7. "Super Rich Kids" [ft. Earl Sweatshirt]
8. "Pilot Jones"
9. "Crack Rock"
10. "Pyramids"
11. "Lost"
12. "White" [ft. John Mayer]
13. "Monks"
14. "Bad Religion"
15. "Pink Matter" [ft. André 3000]
16. "Forrest Gump"
17. "End"

Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel... added to 2012 Recommended Albums

Fiona Apple stands in a peculiar place in the context of pop music. After gathering notoriety in the mid-90s for her single "Criminal" (and steamy accompanying music video), she has rarely taken much effort to become a public figure, instead retreating into her knotty and sparse (in multiple senses of the word) songwriting muse, taking only her more dedicated followers with her. In this sense she holds the polar opposite standpoint in contemporary music to someone like Beyoncé, who started her career at a similarly young age but has only embraced the role of a public figure more with time and age. This is an especially apt comparison when taken into account both women as of now have four solo albums each; however Apple's debut Tidal came out in 1996, whereas Dangerously In Love was released in 2003, just two years before Apple's next most recent album Extraordinary Machine.

Given Fiona Apple's persona on this new album, full title The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw, And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do, there may not be such a surprise to a relative newcomer such as myself that there needed to be a seven-year gap between the albums, or a six-year gap between Extraordinary Machine and the album before that. And it's also clear why her group of fans would stick with her irregularities, not only in her release schedule but in her piano arrangements and lyricism. They all serve as part of her appeal. In her songs Apple sounds vulnerable, lost but more crucially awkward and uncomfortable, most frequently in her relationships. She makes deliberate attempts to strain her vocal deliveries on tracks such as "Left Alone", where she stokes the fire of self-punishment and isolation over clanging minor chords. "Regret" continues in this manner, together they make up some of the darkest moments of the album, far removed from what could be picked up by a casual listener.

Although Apple's lyrics, vocals and piano rightfully steal the show on The Idler Wheel, they benefit greatly from the additions from drummer/percussionist Charley Drayton, who contributes many an interesting sound or idea to the majority of the tracks, from the glass bottles of  "Anything We Want", to the unusually sampled machinery detailing the background of "Jonathan". None of these additions are particularly distracting, rather balance ideally between being attention-grabbing and complimentary. The Idler Wheel... is by no means a drummer's album, but has a drummer's love put into it, a useful counterpoint to Apple's jazz piano and voice.

Both musically and thematically The Idler Wheel... isn't something suited to widespread radio play for the most part, which is a shame, because Apple's ideas point towards areas tht have since disappeared from popular music. It's as if she's jumped through time and had no exposure to the last decade or so of music,  which would usually be a criticism. It proves to be the album's strongest asset and main selling point however. It's unlikely that it'll find it's way to any more than a handful of teenage girls, but I hope that it does, because in spite of Apple's repeated traumas and mistakes the constant aspect of her personality that shines through is her strength, her bravery and confrontational attitude in her songs. It's no wonder fans that grew up on her earlier albums have stayed with her through to this one, and more importantly she doesn't disappoint them.

It's really difficult to compare The Idler Wheel to anything else out there, yet another dimension to it's appeal. If I was trying to describe it to my friends I would probably just end up with something like "intelligent pop music", which makes it sound as pretentious as it isn't. The only other recent album I could compare it to would be the excellent tUnE-yArDs album w h o k i l l, released last year. Both feature empowered, defeminised, confrontational women at their centre, however unlike Merril Garbus Fiona Apple is more focused on problems closer to home, reaching out to claim the strength to make her way through the world, a struggle that seemingly continues as her life carries on. If that's not a teenage sentiment, I don't know what is.

Click here for the rest of the 2012 Recommended Albums list