18. Scout Niblett - Calcination of Scout Niblett (Drag City)

Although in many ways this wasn't a completely new album, a number of the tracks had surfaced in various guises, for instance the opening track and maybe instant standout track Just Do It was previously a B-Side to single Dinosaur Egg, other tracks featured as foreign bonus tracks on other albums. And yet this still remained a precious collection of songs from a very special girl. Capable of sounding sweet as an angel and then as dark black can get.

Many tracks stood out, for me personally the hectic dynamics of both Calcination and Cherry Cheek Bomb made them instant winners alongside the less obvious big muff infected boggy sound of Strip Me Pluto, the dank muddy sound of the guitar was a perfect compliment to her oh so perfect vocals.

I fear that i will never get bored of this girl. A live performance earlier this year only helped to reaffirm that. Certainly one of my proudest discoveries.

Find more artists like scout niblett at Myspace Music

Spoiler : What Boomkat Said:

For her sixth album, Scout Niblett once again teams up with producer Steve Albini, resulting in a series of recordings that's perhaps even more spartan and bold in its arrangements than anything she's done before. Much of the album is pared down to just Niblett's own voice and a skeletal electric guitar accompaniment, but the tactic could hardly be more effective: the likes of 'Just Do It' and 'IBD' are uncannily absorbing, hooking you in with their heavily charged atmospherics. Albini is surely the perfect collaborator for Scout Niblett, keeping her sound pristine but mercilessly free of any sort of conventional post-production traits. Calcination isn't entirely made up from voice and guitar however, and there are plenty of moments where minimal drum parts erupt from the quiet. 'Cherry Cheek Bomb' and 'Ripe With Life' both embrace fuzz-wrenching grungey outbursts while 'Lucy (Lucifer)' ditches guitar altogether, instead shaping a song - at times onomatopoeically - on the thrashing of drums and cymbals. Highly recommended.