#24: Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires (2008)

1. Jump In The Pool
2. In The Hospital
3. Paris
4. White Diamonds
5. Strobe
6. On Board
7. Lovesick
8. Skeleton Boy
9. Photobooth
10. Ex Lover

My first encounter with Friendly Fires was oddly incongruous - their appearance as support band at Interpol's long-delayed Newcastle show last year was easy to overlook given the pent-up anticipation reserved for the headliners. But, upon re-visiting the band after the show, I could feel that they weren't ones to be ignored. And so we come to this, their self-titled debut, which effortlessly continues this year's record of good indie-dance albums.

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Let's get this out of the way first - Friendly Fires are unashamedly pop. Not in a manufactured, vomit-inducing, chart-humping-schtick sort of way, but in the fact that they want their music to be heard and liked by everyone. How to achieve this goal is the only question on their minds, and they've come up with a pretty good answer in leading track 'Jump In The Pool' - an irresistible intro to the band's style that combines an infectious groove with breathily emotional sensibilities, resulting in something simple but oh-so damn effective.

It's a line of thinking that informs the album throughout. 'Lovesick' aims for 'anthemic floor filler' status from the off, cementing it with a soaring chorus line, and 'Skeleton Boy' is equally masterful - when vocalist Ed Macfarlane sings "Let's face this night and see it through," it's a real fist-in-the-air moment. Even the almost comical cowbell-based bounce of 'White Diamonds' is transformed into a slick, heavy funk by the time the song reaches its edgy chorus.

Elsewhere, the band add to the majestic yearning of previous single 'Paris' in the only way possible - by roping in Au Revoir Simone to add some sweetly breathy female vocals to the song's already skyscraper-sized chorus. The tracks from previous EPs that made it onto the album are equally impressive, from the tense buildup of 'On Board's Hot-Chip-meets-The-Rapture disco-punk to the cocksure, jerky riffs of 'Photobooth'.

Even the lower-key moments maintain their lustre by applying the same formula that's gone before. 'Strobe's minimal, shoegazey synths and the downbeat bass groove of 'In The Hospital' both house choruses that pack a mighty emotional punch. However, the biggest heart-wrencher is saved until last: 'Ex Lover' sees a sinister, reverberating guitar line laced with darkly emotional lyrics concerning the death of a loved one - and yet, even this song has an oddly uplifting feel to it.

Friendly Fires is an album comprised of great songs, but its true brilliance is that it somehow manages to sum up to more than its already impressive parts. The band's debut album, therefore, is an understated triumph. It's the kind of record that stealthily creeps into your consciousness: Instantly replayable, it's only when you take a step back that you realise that an album you merely thought was 'quite good' is in fact blessed with a touch of genius. Friendly Fires have made one of this year's most effortlessly listenable albums - all you have to do is jump in.

#23: Late Of The Pier - Fantasy Black Channel (2008)

1. Hot Tent Blues
2. Broken
3. Space And The Woods
4. The Bears Are Coming
5. Random Firl
6. Heartbeat
7. Whitesnake
8. VW
9. Focker
10. The Enemy Are The Future
11. Mad Dogs And Englishmen
12. Bathroom Gurgle

It's back! But for how long? Nobody knows...

Anyway, here's another potential 'Album Of The Year' nominee. Relax, JoFo and Los Camp haters, it's not another high-energy shouty band - it's Castle Donington electro scamps Late Of The Pier. Ok, so I lied about the high-energy bit. The Enemy aren't the future: These guys are.

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Journalists and music fans alike place bands into pigeonholes, and some were quick to dismiss Late Of The Pier as being a little bit late to jump on the Klaxons bandwagon. They should think again, however as this is not a 'nu-rave' album - that should become abundantly clear within about two seconds of opening track 'Hot Tent Blues'. The opening fanfare of bombastic guitars quickly cedes to 'Broken's bewildering mix of crisscrossing synths and guitars. Mix these with bleary-eyed lyrics about insomnia and a deliberately over-dramatic chorus delivery, and you're somewhere close to an indication of the world Late Of The Pier inhabit. Fasten your seatbelts, we're in for a chaotic ride.

'Space And The Woods' sees the band tipping their caps to Gary Numan as they create a jerky, confident dancefloor stomper: "I'm shit hot, so say what you think about me!" challenges frontman Sam Eastgate, but with tunes like this you daren't say a word. The band then tumble headlong further into insanity, with 'The Bears Are Coming' being a quirky, infectious oddity that combines fenceposts and teacups being used as percussion with burping synths and the soundtrack to Mario Bros. The next two tracks only serve to continue the madness. 'Random Firl' has the band gazing off into space, with twinkly keyboards and a dreamy, starry-eyed coda of "Behind the clouds, it's lovely," while 'Heartbeat' sees them go stratospheric with some very space-age synths and the soaring guitar line of the chorus. And to think that 'Random Firl' was in danger of being removed from the album for being "too normal"...    

One of the best things about Late Of The Pier is whenever you think the band might be getting too serious, there's an injection of humour to counteract it. The pompous, almost metal-esque guitar soloing of 'VW' is quickly defused by a shout of "CABBAGE!", while the vocal histronics and ear-bleeding synths of 'Focker' give way to a guitar solo that's played on a sampler of all things. But the band's oddest moment by far is 'The Enemy Are The Future', a six-minute epic that starts as what appears to be a comical piss-take of the titular band (the title apparently came from one of The Enemy's flyers), before seamlessly morphing into a slick floor-filling funk that even throws Crystal Castles bleepy noises and a bongo solo into the mix. Utter madness, but it's indicative of the sheer creativity on display here.   

By comparison 'Mad Dogs And Englishmen' might seem a little bit ordinary, but in reality it's still an intense and infectious three minutes that provides a brilliant setup for the jewel in Late Of The Pier's crown. I'm talking, of course, about 'Bathroom Gurgle', a song that is simply sublime. From the squelchy bass riff to the infectious vocal hooks, from the eerie synths to the perfectly placed tempo changes, it's one of the best songs that you'll hear on any album released this year, and rounds off what has been a fantastic journey through the minds of one of the most creative bands out there right now.   

In terms of pushing the envelope and creating interesting music, Late Of The Pier stand out as being way ahead of the pack. From the sublime to the ridiculous and then back again, Fantasy Black Channel is a masterful thrill ride that leaves you wanting more. Whatever these guys come up with next, you can be sure that it'll be something that's as far from mundane as is humanly possible.