02.

Amplifier

The Octopus

Although I got the pre-release in December 2010, an official release date of January 2011 means I think The Octopus qualifies for this year’s list. Having made that determination, I’m still a little baffled as to how this masterpiece isn’t 2011’s number 1. For a long, long time it wasn’t close to being touched, and then towards the end of the year something else swooped in and stole the top spot out from under it. Perhaps the key reason for this – other than the merits of the ultimate number 1 album, of course – is a problem of consistency. The Octopus was made by the band, entirely sans record label. It was self-produced in every sense (including marketing and distribution), making the album an astounding achievement by any measure. It’s by far Amplifier’s biggest seller (their gigs now have actual people at them, not just me) and is also the band’s most complex and technically outstanding work. A three-year labour of love.

When it’s good, it’s so good that it beats anything that any other band can muster, this year or any other. Tracks like ‘Planet Of Insects’, ‘Interstellar’ and ‘The Wave’ are as good as – if not better than – anything on Amplifier’s 2004 debut (which remains my favourite album of all time). There are also new joys, where the band have tried something a bit different: take the operatic, piano-led ‘Minion’s Song’ or the acoustic ‘Oscar Night’. 75% of The Octopus is astoundingly good. The problem is simply one of quality control – with no record company oversight, the final product is a 16 track 2+ hour long behemoth, and ultimately too much of it is waffle (comparatively at least). Amplifier’s waffle is better than most bands’ best ever pancake, of course, but it still feels like an opportunity slightly missed: if this were more streamlined it may even have challenged their debut as my favourite album ever. As it is, it ultimately didn’t even manage top spot in 2011 (ie, it didn’t even win its own category...). Nonetheless, further proof, if proof were needed, that Amplifier are the best band around right now, bar none. Magnificent.