Things that we love #2: Albums with no gaps

I don’t spend £15 on what is essentially 12 inches of plastic to listen to all the singles I already have with some shitty songs in between (yes The Holloways, I am talking to you). I want to hear a body of work that is presented with artistic intention. Track order, cover images, sleeve notes: these things are all important. The cherry on the proverbial cake, though, are albums where each track is beautifully segued, flowing, songs perfectly juxtaposed with one another. Taking away those couple of seconds of silence between songs can turn an album from a northern line tube to an all night road trip.

Here are some of the best examples:


Debuts are often just lazy demo collections and it often takes a band a follow-up release before they realise what makes an album. But CSS know all about turning a record into art. The first track on their self-titled first attempt is basically just them screaming “CSS Suxx” over and over again. And real highlights are spread across the record so that you aren’t left with all the big tunes at the beginning and some dirgey stuff at the end. And of course there are pumping kick-drums, fuzzed-up guitars and lyrics that should be illegal. But what makes this album so good is that those things go right across the record, each track comes pounding over the previous one so that CSS don’t even leave you time to breath. Plus Lovefoxx is the greatest woman ever made.

Link to free Mp3. Right Click and the Save Target As to Download. Then Buy the record, don't steal.
Music is my hot hot sex - Css



Almost certainly my favourite album of last year, Mystery Jets’ Making Dens is a concept album with bells on. Like CSS they make excellent use of an introduction, opting for an overture of violins and random snippets from across the album crescendoing for opening track You Can’t Fool Me Dennis to come crashing in, all over the noise symphony that has gone before. With a band as schizophrenic as the Mystery Jets, transcending many of the dictates of style and genre that hold other bands back, it’s hard to imagine how they could make an album which feels like one piece of work. Yet Making Dens does exactly that. It lets tracks, that could sound texturally sparse on their own, become part of a rich and insightful album where themes and sounds are carried through from beginning to end. It’s an indie concerto that, like only a handful of other albums released this decade (Silent Alarm, Kid A, We Have Sound: off the top of my head), can stay on your record player for weeks without getting dull.
Link to free Mp3. Right Click and the Save Target As to Download. Then Buy the record, don't steal.
You can't fool me Dennis - Mystery Jets


Ok. This one is sort of cheating because it’s a live album. But if you’re one of those who’ve dismissed Nirvana because they have become a Camden market cliché then I beg you to give From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah a go. It is fucking electrifying and shows what an awesome power the band could be on top form. Shame about that whole suicide thing I suppose...