The 12 Months Of Music: February

February was another busy month for me gig wise with a couple of absolutely phenomenal shows. Not only that but we got the first of the really hyped albums come through, as well as some surprisingly good releases that I myself wasn't expecting. What we ended up with was arguable the best month of album releases this year and my current favourite album of 2011.

Live Shows

The first of the two live shows I'm talking about is Sufjan Stevens at Wellington Opera House. It was a phenomenal show more for the visual aspect of it all (though songs were still great), something I had never seen before. A review of it I did here

A great moment was the closing song which was this one

The other gig which really excited me was the Melvins/High On Fire show, having been a fan of Melvins for a bit I was massively keen to see this show as I could only assume it would be a quality show. It was and being two from the front of Buzz made it easy to take some poor quality it was also a chance to see his overall ability. A review of it here

Albums

One of the most highly anticipated albums of 2011 was released in February and that is the self titled release by electronic musician James Blake. Originally I liked it, then quickly thought it was only decent and until I revisited it months later I truly dug the sound of the album. The marquee song on the album is one that took a while to really enjoy but I guess I like it a lot more now.

An album that hasn't left my top 10 since I have listened is that of Tim Hecker's Ravedeath 1972, the heavy drone and ambient sounds has made it a real gem of 2011.

While it might be forgotten by some, the new Radiohead album King of Limbs is another great release by the band and easily one of the best albums of 2011. The electronic influence on this album is incredible and allows to show a band that continues to move and create trends while never sounding stale and old.

Finally another album which will probably be on a bunch of peoples top 10 is that of the new PJ Harvey album Let England Shake. This album is great and was rewarded with a Mercury award (eat shit Adele), my favourite on the album is Words That Maketh Murder.

Last but not least my current favourite album of this year Nicolas Jaar's Space Is Only Noise, which is still an amazing piece of music. Flows beautifully, the minimalism is superb and it gets me everytime.

Other albums worth a mention was the debut album from Indie rock band Yuck and the new release from Bright Eyes which was one of my favs from early this year not so much now).