Having been proclaimed as one of the most intriguing and unique bands in Sheffield today, Low Duo (brothers Adam and Leigh Greenwood) kick off 2012 with their most enthralling release to date, ‘The EP of Truth and Regret’.

One thing which drew people to Low Duo’s earlier material was its stripped down production. Their one instrument and vocals mantra lent itself beautifully with the pair’s self-deprecating lyrics and haunting vocals, and whilst that chilling innocence remains there is a more refined edge to the EP’s presentation.

Opener ‘Ambulance’ is a devastatingly graphic tale of hopelessness in the face of death, with this being the pair’s best track to date and confirmation of their song writing credentials. Yet, it’s on ‘In Our Little House’ that Leigh’s vocals really show their strength, instantly switching from a childlike whimper to an aggressive rage, and on closing track ‘Waltz With Her’ the lyrics elegantly entwine themselves around Adam’s minimalistic guitar chords.

Now three releases in and with an ever growing reputation as the next big thing in minimalistic folk Low Duo’s ‘The EP of Truth and Regret’ encapsulates everything the brothers have created to date. Blissfully innocent in sound but with brutally honest lyrics this EP is further affirmation of how far the pair can go in the coming years.

On The Big Pink’s second effort the duo have committed a cardinal sin and compromised their sound in search of the critical acclaim they teetered upon when ‘Dominos’ was released back in 2009.

Unlike their more intimate and experimental debut ‘A Brief History of Love’ ‘Future This’ sounds bigger, more immediate but disappointingly safe.

Most of the tracks appear to have formed around big choruses which have been written in hope that it will evoke the kind of commercial success ‘Dominos’ had.

And whilst this strategy works on tracks such as ‘Give It Up’ and ‘13’ it sadly doesn’t work universally.

6.0

NME then sat back and watched as the rest of the press freed up word space asking the question “Who is she?” and “How can she possibly be the coolest person in the world is no one has ever heard of her?”

Well as it turns out the Harlem born rapper has been knocking about for a while.

First featuring on Major Lazer’s ‘Lazers Never Die’ EP she then went on to release one of the best tracks of last year ‘212’ which featured so many profanities that it could turn milk sour.

She now enters 2012 having just released her latest single ‘Liquorice’, currently working on her first full length album and has just lent a verse to Scissor Sisters on their comeback single ‘Shady Love’.

It may be debatable whether or not she’s the coolest person on the planet; however she certainly is set to be one of the year’s busiest and most exciting artists.

20 The Weeknd – House Of Balloons/ Thursday/ Echos Of Silence19 Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

18 Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See

17 Ghostpoet – Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam 

16 Iron And Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean

15 Bon Iver – Bon Iver

14 Tom Vek – Leisure Seizure 

13 Jay Z and Kanye West – Watch The Throne

12 Girls – Father, Son and Holy Ghost

11 Slow Club – Paradise

10 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx – We’re New Here

9 SBTRKT – SBTRKT

8 Los Campesinos! – Hello Sadness

7 Yuck – Yuck

6 Drake – Take Care

5 Summer Camp – Welcome to Condale

Welcome to Condale encapsulates the extremes of teenage love, angst and rebellion. The album is a scrapbook of tales concocted by duo Elizabeth and Jeremy.

A blending of 80’s synth pop melodies, youthful desires and juvenile ramblings combine to make one of the best collections of songs this year.

4 Tune Yards – W H O K I L L 

With lyrics about freedom, war and death, a chaotic array of instruments blending together and Merrill Garbus unmistakable rallying vocals made W H O K I L L one of the year’s most fun records.

Tune Yards second album came out of nowhere and became one of the year’s most beautifully weird and unique records.

3 James Blake – James Blake

With his self-titled debut James Blake managed to separate himself from his earlier down tempo dubstep mixes and create a genre blurring ‘blubstep’ record.

Throughout the album he tears himself apart, eloquently deconstructing his life and this is all surrounded by Blake’s own unique and intriguing sound.

The album’s minimalistic yet perfectly produced sound lends itself perfectly to Blake’s warbling vocals. The year’s best debut from the year’s busiest artist.

2 Metronomy – The English Riviera 

Much like The Horrors and The Maccabees before them Metronomy’s reinvention saw them become the band they were always meant to be.

Their third album ‘The English Riviera’ saw them transport from indie dancefloors to exotic paradises.

Like its predecessors the album still focuses on the isolation and solitude of love however this time it’s drenched in sun kissed melodies.

1 Wild Beasts – Smother

With their third album ‘Smother’, Wild Beasts have refined the sound they began to define on Mercury nominated ‘Two Dancers’.

Overtly sexual, flamboyant, gorgeous wordplay, elegant production and Hayden’s effortless falsetto are just a few reasons why this is my favourite album of the year.

Ice Cream – Battles

Marvins Room – Drake

The Look – Metronomy

At My Heels – Twin Shadow

Wildfire (feat. Little Dragon) – Sbtrkt

NY Is Killing me – Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx

Two Cousins – Slow Club

Yonkers – Tyler, The Creator

Unluck – James Blake

Perth – Bon Iver

Operation – Yuck

Bed Of Nails – Wild Beasts

Live Those Days Tonight – Friendly Fires

That’s Where You’re Wrong – Arctic Monkeys

You Know What I Mean – Cults

Killa – Tune-Yards

Aroused – Tom Vek

Niggas In Paris – The Throne

Get Some – Lykke Li

Endless Blue – The Horrors

Grown Ocean – Fleet Foxes

Honey Bunny – Girls

Stuck On The Puzzle – Alex Turner

Weekend – Smith Westerns

Life Is Simple In The Moonlight- The Strokes

Trust Me – The Streets

Jajune Stars – Bright Eyes

Cruel – St Vincent

Night Air – Jamie Woon

You – TV On The Radio

Nightcall – Kavinsky, Lovefoxxx

Take Me Over – Cut Copy

Intro – M83

I Want You – Summer Camp

My House – Hercules & Love Affair

Reckless (With Your Love) Azari and III

Scratched Eps tracks of 2011

Headliners of the evening Let’s Buy Happiness are a band teetering on the brink of wide success. Already championed by anyone worth their salt on the indie stratosphere their mix of alternative rock melodies and twee pop lyrics draw in the expectant Soyo crowd.

Lead singer Sarah Hall’s voice soars throughout previous singles ‘Fast Fast’ and ‘Six Wolves’ whilst new songs for their upcoming album show a much darker side to the Newcastle five piece.

Their fantastic set culminates in catchy guitar riffs and angelic vocals which leave the audience baying for more. By tonight’s evidence LBH are sure to be one of the most hotly tipped bands around in the coming 12 months.

By the time Blood Sport take to the stage Soyo is packed to the rafters and they begin their impressive set by jerking up against the crowd. Lead singer Nick Potter’s vocals echo around the room as he makes a few impromptu seal impressions. The bands base lines slash like a knife and a 15 minute chaotic instrumental thrash leaves the crowd in awe.

The next band of the evening is The Mexanines who begin their typically uninspired set of generic Kings of Leon, Libertines bullshit which we have all had the misfortune of been exposed to on nights such as this. Only their last song shows any glimmers of promise and even then that’s a pretty mediocre saving grace.

However in a total juxtaposition to the previous band tonight’s headliners Wet Nuns deliver a blistering set of inspired Deep South rock. The duo who have received a lot of recent exposure after Arctic Monkeys Matt Helders remixed their single ‘Don’t Wanna See Your Face No More’ make an astonishing amount of noise for two people yet it never overshadows their bluesy rhythms. Despite coming from Sheffield the paid adopt American accents throughout and insight the crowd on their take on Movember “Are all you women doing Fanuary?” As Wet Nuns set comes to a climax the crammed in audience all leave knowing they have witnessed a band who are sure to go on to great things.

When Los Campesinos! released debut album ‘Hold on Now, Youngster’ many dismissed their twee pop style as nothing more than teen angst against the backdrop of cute duelling boy girl vocals and erratic glockenspiels.

Then with last years ‘Romance Is Boring’ LC! showed they’d developed into a darker, more aggressive and ultimately better band, however the record still lacked focus.

Now with fourth album ‘Hello Sadness’ they have created their most refined and beautifully bleak album to date. Described as a breakup album by songwriter Gareth Campesinos Hello Sadness pulls no punches. Lyrics about burying your ex-girlfriend by the sea and birds scavenging over a lovelorn corpse are aplenty. But don’t let this detract you from the overall album. Despite been devastatingly grim Hello Sadness’ is an album about hope in the midst of despair, an album in which Gareth has torn apart his past relationships and created something rather beautiful from.

Los Campesinos! may have once been a band disregarded by many for their bubble-gum pop lyrics and childish demeanour, however with Hello Sadness they have proven themselves to be one of the most complicated yet intriguing British bands around.

8.9

This week Soyo Live played host to an impressive array of three piece guitar bands, all of which leave their mark on the Sheffield crowd.

First on the bill were Blame who despite been being a relatively new band showed a lot of promise. The fresh faced three piece warmed up the crowd with their pop rock sound, and a highlight of the evening came from their cover of The Beatles ‘Eleanor Rigby’.

Next up were Slow Pines. You wouldn’t traditionally associate lo-fi alternative rock bands to come from Doncaster, however they manage to pull off a fantastic set of heavy garage rock.

The penultimate band of the evening were Silents. Frontman Adam Howarth isn’t lacking in confidence, luckily however the band have a sound to match. With howling choruses and rattling guitars they showcase a great collection of songs during their set.

The final band of the evening were Elephant Keys who have amassed a large Sheffield following which they truly deserve. Primed with big guitar riffs and heavy drum beats, it’s abundantly clear they know what they’re doing. The crowd crams around the band as lead singer Phil Goodwin jerks around the stage. This is a band who are sure to go places.

When James Blake’s debut album came out earlier this year, fans of his earlier downtempo dubstep mixes were divided by his new lyrically heavy and emotionally raw musical direction, which has since been dubbed ‘blubstep’. On new EP Enough Thunder, Blake tries to accommodate both parties – with varied results.

Blake’s ability to project his songwriting ability against the backdrop of guitar feedback and whirling drum machines (as on We Might Feel Unsound) has been something he’s been perfecting since he released his Klavierwerke EP last year. But it isn’t until Fall Creek Boys Choir (a duet with Bon Iver) that his latest EP really begins to shine – it’s a delicate and isolated track which sees both artists capitalising upon their strengths. A piano led cover of Joni Mitchell’s A Case of You seems somewhat misplaced against the rest of the record, but Not Long Now encapsulates exactly what Blake was trying to create in all his early mixes.

Blake is clearly a man not afraid to experiment with the dubstep genre and take it to places no other artist would. Unfortunately, Enough Thunder falls slightly short of the mark in comparison with some of his previous releases. But for someone who has released a constant stream of new material since his career began barely two years ago, a few weaker points in his back catalogue are forgivable.