Rock alternativo americano, bom para agitar o ambiente.

Faixas do álbum:

1. In One Ear

2. James Brown

3. Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked

4. Tiny Little Robots

5. Lotus

6. Back Against the Wall

7. Drones in the Valley

8. Judas

9. Back Stabbin’ Betty

10. Soil to the Sun

11. Free Love

LINK – Cage The Elephant

Parece com? The Pigeon Detectives, The Cribs.

Clipe da música In One Ear.

Enjoy o/

Banda inglesa de rock alternativo, o álbum de estréia deles (abaixo) fez muito sucesso no Reino Unido, e realmente é ótimo!

Faixas do álbum:

1. Cash Machine

2. Middle Eastern Holiday

3. Tied up too Tight

4. Gotta Reason

5. Hard to Beat

6. Unnecessary Trouble

7. Move On Now

8. Better do Better

9. Feltham Is Singing Out

10. Living for the Week

11. Stars of CCTV

LINK – Stars of CCTV

Parece com? Razorlight, The Pigeon Detectives.

Clipe da música Cash Machine.

Enjoy o/

Alternative + Indie Rock + Britpop = The Pigeon Detectives.

Faixas:

1. Romantic Type

2. I Found Out

3. Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye

4. Caught In Your Trap

5. Can’t Control Myself

6. I’m not Sorry

7. You Know I Love You

8. Stop And Go

9. You Better Not Look My Way

10. Take Her Back

11. Wait For Me

12. I’m Always Right

13. Untitled

LINK – Waite For Me

Parece com? The Rifles, The Wombats

Clip da música I’m not Sorry

IT HAS MANY BEEPY NOISES!

The Pigeon Detectives firmaron con el sello independiente Dance to the Radio con el que lanzan su álbum de debut, Wait for Me, fue lanzado en CD, vinilo y versión de descarga digital el 28 de mayo de 2007. El álbum, grabado en el otoño de 2006, ha sido producido por Will Jackson y grabado en Leeds, ciudad natal de la banda.

El álbum se filtró a los sitios de descarga de música en internet el 11 de abril de 2007. El álbum nada más salir se posicionó directamente en el puesto # 3 del UK Top 40, alcanzando la condición de Oro poco después del lanzamiento.

Ellos esperan lanzar el segundo material en mayo del así que sería solo un año después de su primer trabajo.

Finalmente sacaron su segundo disco titulado Emergency en mayo de 2008 tan solo un año después del primero. En él, la banda muestra un trabajo mas sobrio y fresco que le ha colocado rápidamente en los primeros lugares de las listas de ventas del Reino Unido.

Myspace

Simian Mobile Disco – Following a string of massive remixes for Muse, The Go! Team, Air and others, SMD cohorts James Ford and Jas Shaw are rather hot property. Indeed, with debut full-length “Attack Decay Sustain Release” wooing all and sundry with its propulsive techno grind, critical acclaim is never far away. “He makes …magic happen,” says Klaxons’ Jamie Reynolds of Ford.”I think he receives outer-planetary signals through his hair and they come out through his eyes.” See for yourselves at Glastonbury. www.myspace.com/simianmobiledisco

The Wombats – The latest band to be catapulted to the brink of stardom through word-of-MySpace, The Wombats currently stake claim to the moniker of ‘best unsigned band in the north’. Certainly, with their Artic Monkey’s yelping and Weezer-tinged melodies that title may not be so far wide of the mark. You’ll find the marsupial trio at Glastonbury and V festival. www.myspace.com/thewombatsuk

The Pigeon Detectives – With a cock-sure attitude and buzz-saw guitars that recall classic Clash, The Pigeon Detectives have already done enough to call Carl Barat and The Kaisers as fans. Last year they were tagged as  “the band most likely to leap to the main stage in 2007” in the NME’s review of Reading Festival, and they would certainly be worthy of further investigation this time around. Check them out at The Carling Weekender and Glastonbury. www.myspace.com/thepigeondetectives

Gallows – Sitting somewhere between the hardcore thrashings of Black Flag and the snide sneering of Johnny Rotten, Gallows are quite possibly the most raucous band to gain major label support in years. Certainly, if their £1 million four-album deal with Warner Bros is anything to go by, there’s good reason to check out the Watford-based quintet. Gallows will be looking to tear up Leeds and Reading at The Carling Weekender. www.myspace.com/gallows 

Late of the Pier – Synonymous with snarling metal bands, Castle Donnington isn’t exactly the first place you’d go looking for a sharp-tailored electro-rock outfit. How fortunate then that Late of the Pier have recently decided to migrate from their East Midlands roots to find fame and fortune in the big smoke of London. With the kind of synthetic tweeting that mashes Kraftwerk with an altogether more acerbic dance beat, even the most hard-nosed scenester won’t be able to resist a quick foot-tap. Dance away at The Carling Weekender and Field Day Festival. www.myspace.com/lateofthepier

Summer 2007

I’M NOT SORRY

They say that Sunday is funday and there was certainly a celebratory air present as sunshine greeted the final day of this years Isle Of White installment, not least due to the heady double bill headlining the main stage that would see Neil Young following the mythic Pixies.

Before that though there was a world of entertainment to be absorbed. Not least the exciting prospect of the Bog Top Stage being curated by Tim Burgess of The Charlatans. The wily old fox has managed to snare an incredible line up of buzz bands including the likes of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, S.C.U.M., The Horrors and topped it all off with a turn from the Charlatans themselves.

Over on the main stage events kick off with the local jazz ensemble Papa Do Plenty, who do enough and feature a spectacular brass section.

One of the highlights of the afternoon is the return of Goldie Lookin Chain who leave the crowd on a feel god high after versions of Your Missus Is A Nutter and rousing closer Your Mother’s Got A Penis. They carry on the frivolity backstage after hijacking several golf buggies to race around at terrifying speeds dangerously close to frank Black.

8 months ago The Script were, they freely admit, playing in shitholes to 40 people who had mostly been forced to come down after the playing of the friends guilt card. However today they walk onto stage to be greeted by 20,000 enthused mid afternoon fans knowing that in the immediate future they will be supporting the likes of U2 and Macca. Breakthrough single ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’ creates one of the moment of the festival with the band declaring “sometimes a song just comes along that’s bigger than you and bigger than the band…”. From the word for word rendition that the crowd hurl back at them they aren’t far off the mark.

Following on from the Script Leeds boys The Pigeon Detectives turn in a blistering set of their octane indie. The band are currently working on their new album and the initial signs are highly promising for fans.
Over in the Big Top Tent The Horrors are proving why they are everybodies new favourite band. New album Primary Colours has been attracting plaudits from every quarter, including the likes of NIN frontman Trent Reznor, and there’s certainly no doubting Farris and Co’s commitment to their new set. They can only be happy that they are in the Big Top and not having to rock the lords of the night look in the blistering sunshine.

Preceeding the Pixies is never anyones idea of easy, but Simple Minds and Jim Kerr roll back the years to deliver a crowd pleasing set.

Taking to the stage to a rapturous response The Pixies deliver on every level. Hearing Frank Black scream “I am the son of a motherfucker!” is as vital as ever. They rip through versions of Debaser, Velouria, Gouge Away and the Kim Deal led Gigantic. There is some friction between Deal and Black which seems to have grown since the refored properly last year, the two baiting each other on stage. Not that it diminishes the power of tracks like ‘Where Is My Mind, and when the cry of ” This Monkey’s Gone To Heaven” goes up across the Isle Of Wight night heaven seems like a place on earth.

Neil Young is almost certainly a living legend. He also seems to have discovered the key to eternal life. Strolling on stage with an acoustic guitar Young doesn’t seem to have changed on iota since the Live Rust era. Kicking off with From Hank To Hendrix Young begins with an acoustic set that includes Heart Of Gold and Old Man before bringing out Old Black and cranking up the volume, breaking out the opening riff to Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black). It’s the start of a raucous set that includes a staggering 15 minute version of Rockin In The Free World, that caps off a 25 minute blast that included Cinnamon Girl and Fuckin Up. Compared to Youngs recent tours it’s a rock heavy set that shows when he wants to he can still wind it up. After pumping out Down by The River Young closes out the night and the festival with a cover of the Beatles Day In The Life. It’s a fitting end to an eclectic and superlative weekend 2010 has a lot to live up to.

Ich hab mir heute neue Musik geholt.

Das Album Emergency von The Pigeon Detectives:

Glanzstück: I’m Not Gonna Take This. Auf einer Skala von 1 bis 10 (10 = ausgezeichnet) bewerte ich das Album mit 7. Es ist gut, aber die Lieder heben sich nicht so voneinander ab.

Und außerdem A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation von The Wombats.

Dieses Album mag ich sehr, sehr gerne. Schon nach dem ersten Hören hat sich Let’s Dance To Joy Division in meine Ohren eingenistet. Ein sehr lustiger Text mit Anspielungen auf das Urgestein Joy Division und Verwendung des Titels eines sehr bekannten Titels dieser Band: Love Will Tear Us Apart:

So let the love tear us apart,
I’ve found the cure for a broken heart,
Let it tear us apart,
let the love tear us apart,
I’ve found the cure for a broken heart…

Ungewöhnlich ist dagegen der “Barbershop” Tales Of Girls, Boys & Marsupials, der mit der Indie Rock-Linie bricht und sehr kurzweilig und schön anzuhören ist. Ich war sehr überrascht und ich hab mich gleich in dieses Lied verliebt, das leider nur knapp über eine Minute dauert. Wahrscheinlich eine Laune der Band, mal was anderes zu machen.

Zu guter Letzt habe ich heute die Macht von Radiohead entdeckt. Jetzt weiß ich, warum diese Band der Vorläufer aller meiner Lieblingsbands ist… (Man höre sich nur mal Just an, ganz zu schweigen vom Meisterwerk Creep)

Und dann wünsch ich noch une bonne nuit. Sleep well, mis amigos y amigas.

Totally brand spanking new mix! Listen to brand new Doves, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Spinerette (of previous Distillers fame), White Lies (hyped to breakthrough in 2009) and Pete Doherty gone solo with Graham Coxon (of Blur fame) on guitar.

Click here to download or click on the album art. (1h19min10sec)

It’s an M4A file that when played through iTunes is capable of fast forwarding to the next chapter. AAC files will play in all iPods. You may also convert it to a single mp3 file within iTunes by going to the ‘Advanced’ tab at the top of the player and selecting ‘Create MP3 Version.’ You may also subscribe to this blog by clicking on the ‘Entries RSS’ and using an aggregator (feed reader), such as Google Reader to get notifications sent to you whenever a new post is made.

Your Biggest Fanclub are supporting Fight Like Apes at Birmingham Barfly this evening.

Midland’s trio, YBFC have already played alongside some huge acts including The Pigeon Detectives and The Young Knives and have recently been given Radio 1, DJ Steve Lamacq’s ‘Band Of The Week’ title.

The noisy pop band will be on around 8pm before  Underground Railroad and headliners Fight Like Apes from Ireland.

I’ve heard only good things about FLA but I’m yet to see them myself, hope to catch them tonight for the first time.

Come with me!

Who wants to know what the best new thing is going to be? It’s about the music, man!

Emmy The Great

Gorgeous voice, intelligent, funny and touching lyrics and some nice musical backing.

My Party Is Better Than Yours, Two Steps Forward (Live)

Myspace

Passion Pit

Catchy dance beats jumpled up with synths, other electro sounds and easy to sing along chorus’.

Better Things, Sleepyhead

Myspace

Danananananakroyd

Take your traditional indie pop and mix in a hardcore punk band. The result; wonderful music. I can’t wait to catch these guys live and participate in a wall of cuddles.

Some Dresses, Hey Giles

Myspace

Astro Firs

Traditional fast-paced indie rock, similar to The Futureheads and The Pigeon Detectives.

What They Say, Backwards

Myspace

Cut Off Your Hands

Super energetic Power pop. I’ve been waiting for this album for ages.

Still Fond, You and I

Myspace

This is it. The real list, plus some albums which missed out.

Worst Albums of 2008 That I Own

Konk – The Kooks

Emergency – The Pigeon Detectives

The Script – The Script

Notable But Not Quite Good Enough

Feed the Animals – Girl Talk

An interesting album, and it’s great you can download it for free, but Girl Talk’s style is too ADHD. He has some incredible ideas, Red Hot Chili Peppers mixed with Lil’ Wayne or Chicago with Quad City DJs to name a few, but he does not stick with any of them. Within twenty seconds he has moved on to Roy Orbison or Kelly Clarkson. Enjoyable, but you will wish your favourite moments lasted longer.

Here’s The Thing

Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

A beautifully crafted album, but I can honetly say I have no idea why everyone likes it enough to make it one of the best albums of the year. It’s gorgeous, but dare I say bland?

Ragged Wood

Glasvegas – Glasvegas

Very emotional, but also quite dull. It doesn’t do anything worth noting, musically. They are a scottish Killers, but with lyrics that actually mean something.

Geraldine

Not Enough Space In The Best of List

Songs on the Rocks -Nôze

Persian Gypsy Jazz thing put to dance beats. A catchy, fun and interesting electronic album.

You Have To Dance

We Brave Bee Stings & All – Thao & The Get Down, Stay Down

Folk and country roots mixed with twee lyrics. Charming.

Violet

Alas, I Cannot Swim – Laura Marling

Another folk female singer (sort of in Noah and the Whale) with her solo album, a soothing, but smart debut.

Failure

Best Albums of 2008

Flight of the Conchords has been a bit of an addiction since I discovered their TV series. I basically downloaded anything I could find from their rather huge collection of music. Of course, I decided to buy their debut. It’s just a shame how it’s not very different from their TV show material. They are at their best when they perform live and since the album is mainly ripped straight from the TV show or  studio versons, I didn’t put it any higher on the list. Still, their material is both funny and really good musically. Mimicking styles ranging from David Bowie to Shaggie, Flight of the Conchords’ album is well worth listening to.

The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)

Buy; amazon, itunes

MGMT don’t prove the formula ”quality of quantity”. With ten tracks on the album, only three proved to be amazingly epic (Time to Pretend, Electric Feel, Kids). The rest is just not very interesting. You can argue it’s all experimental, which is fine, but don’t put it on the album then. It’s a shame, because if they had kept  up the standard of those three, MGMT’s debut would be the best album of the year.

Time To Pretend

Buy; amazon, itunes

Peaceful, The World Lies Me Down, is quite a unique album. It has both witty and clever lyrics, produced by a very unlikely kind of vocalist. It has the beautiful voice of Laura Marling and it has some really nice instrumental work, the violins are particularly memorable. Though, I did not enjoy the slow sections of the album, finding them slightly dull, it is the faster paced tracks, like 2 Atoms In A Molecule and Rocks And Daggers that make Noah  and the Whale’s first album truly great.

Rocks & Daggers

Previous Posts

Buy; amazon, itunes

Dark and strange, Alex Turner’s side project, The Last Shadow Puppets, did not really spark my interest initially. But after a couple of months, I can really appreciate it. Age Of The Understatement sounds like an album made of Bond theme songs, but with a lot more depth  It manages to keep all the grandness even with the slow, acoustic songs. I can’t wait to see what Alex Turner will do next.

Standing Next To Me

Buy; amazon, itunes

The Blood Red Shoes’ album is short, but ferocious, simple, but still fascinating. With just a guitarist and a drummer, it seems like their music might be basic, but this is where you start listening to their impressive debut. Hard and fast drumming, relentless guitar strumming and the  interwoven vocals from Laura and Steven create a great rock record.

You Bring Me Down

Previous Posts

Buy; amazon, itunes

It’s got a huge variety of synth work, amazing guitar solos, sharp drum patterns and impressive vocals from the whole band. Late of the Pier took chip music, rock n’ roll, punk and dance and any other genre you can think of and fused it into a twisting wrything beast of electronica. But that is wrong, because it isn’t really electronica,  it’s rock. Wait no, it’s pop. Whatever it is, it’s amazing.

Focker

Previous Posts

Buy; amazon, itunes

Tokyo Police Club produced a pretty amazing EP last year, and their debut was a bit more gritty, but did not disappoint. Their sound is very Strokes-esque, but with a less harsh (Candian) vocalist and distorted synthesisers, which produces a faster sound, something which might be heard on a dancefloor somewhere.

Your English Is Good

Buy; amazon, itunes

´A flawed, but great album from Foals. It’s a real shame they missed out on Astronauts and All and Hummer, for Heavy Water and Big Big Love (fig. 2). The rest is perfect. In the last three months they have creeped into my Last.fm’s 3rd most listened to artists. Battling guitars, addictive bass lines and unbelievable drum work make an album which everyone should try.  Red Socks Pugie is definitely one of my favourite tracks ever. They also managed to prove themselves as the best band I have ever seen live .

Red Socks Pugie

Previous Posts

Buy amazon, itunes

Lightspeed Champion’s first album is stunning to listen to. With it’s incredibly beautiful melodies, violent and open lyrics, Dev Hynes has created an album where every song is a masterfully created sensation. I don’t need to describe it anyway, because you should already be rushing to get this from the shops or be downloading it right now.

Dry Lips

Previous Posts

Buy from: amazon, itunes

Just an incredibly well-rounded album. There are no flaws, it’s just a barrage of incredible songs. And with a completely different sound, to anything right now, they have a winning formula. From the opening bangs of Mansford Roof, to the simple melody of Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, to the final clash of Walcott, Vampire Weekend’s debut, is a thrill to listen to. You’ve got it anyway, haven’t you?

Walcott

Previous Posts

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The new year is already a week old, about time for me to look back at all the great music the last year brought me. 2008 was almost certainly the year in which I discovered more music than ever before in my life. But, like Oliver Wang of soul sides, most of the music I got to know wasn’t released this year, but rather quite a while, often decades ago. Sure, there was some contemporary stuff I liked but in the end hardly any album released this year was able to excite me as much as some of the old treasures. And like Oliver, I don’t know quite what to think of that. Should I simply embrace my inner 50-year old or make some active effort to get into current music more. I guess we’ll see over the next year.

Here is a fairly comprehensive list of the albums I dug:

Hip Hop, Soul & Funk

Emily King – East Side Story

Discovered through a staff pick at Amoeba music in Los Angeles and slowly but surely got into it. I still think it’s a bit thin vocally at times, but nonetheless very good contemporary R&B overall.

Aretha Franklin – Rare and Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul

Outtakes and hitherto unreleased songs from the golden era of Aretha Franklin who is still to me the the greatest female soul singer of all time.

Donny Hathaway – Live

Donny Hathaway was the musical discovery of the year for me. What a voice! On a few songs he makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up like very few other people can. Definitely check out his version of Lennon’s “Jealous Guy”. It was hands down my favorite song of the year.

The Hot 8 Brass Band – Rock with the Hot 8 Brass Band

A New Orleans brass band that does (mostly) covers of soul and hip hop classics. My whole family is by now rather annoyed by them, but I still dig the dirty brass sound of their “Sexual Healing”

Kylie Auldist – Just Say

The solo debut of the Australian soul singer that already featured prominently on the last two albums by The Bamboos as well as on their recently released third record. There isn’t much that differentiates this from the Bamboo albums but that is not at all a bad thing.

The Sound Providers – Looking Backwards: 2001-1998

Jazzy hip hop that reminds me a lot of Jurassic 5. Which is quite possibly the reason I also enjoy this greatly.

The Sound Stylistics – Play Deep Funk

Instrumental funk.

Kanye West – Graduation

I’m usually not much of a hip-hop fan. Even though I don’t usually listen to song lyrics much, even I can figure out that most hip-hop songs have the lyrical depth of an average high school student. And Kanye West is no different for the most part. But he just kills me as a producer. Many of his songs are just so well-crafted, from the choice and manipulation of samples, to the addition of matching beats, to his excellent taste in other artists to feature on his tracks. Fell in love with ‘Graduation’ only this year but now listen to it all the time. His latest album, sadly, is a huge disappointment

Jazz

Bill Evans – The Complete Live at the Village Vangaurd 1961

This album, or rather the separate albums “Live at the Village Vanguard” and “Waltz for Debbie”, are apparently on every must-have Jazz list ever written. And what can I say, rightly so. This is classic trio jazz at its absolute finest, with a mastery that is almost hard to believe. It’s a delight to listen to these albums carefully and notice the instrumental virtuosity of Evans, Motian and LaFaro (who unfortunately passed away soon after this concert) and the way in which they take and pass subtle cues to play off each other and create one harmonic whole.

Dave Pike Set – Noisy Silence, gentle Noise

My brother derisively calls this elevator music, but I hardly think that does Dave Pike’s vibraphone playing justice. Excellent loungy jazz.

Annamateur & Ihre Gitarristen – Unerotisch

My parents saw these three live a couple of weeks ago and brought home the album raving about the performance. And after listening to it a couple of times I understand why. The best German musical cabaret I’ve heard in quite some time. Fantastic musically and extremely witty lyrically.

Esbjörn Svensson Trio – Good Morning Susie Soho

This Swedish jazz trio was unfortunately ripped apart this year by the tragic diving accident of its front man. After getting tipped off about them by our very own sepalot, I’m still discovering much of their music. I am already, however, bummed I never got a chance to see them live.

Dinah Washington – The Swingin’ Miss “D”

Dinah Washington was another one of my great discoveries of the year, as were many other female jazz vocalists. I stumbled on her through an interview with Amy Winehouse who apparently greatly admires her. I discovered this particular album through a television commercial, quite frankly, which featured “Relax Max”, still my favorite track on the album. All the arrangements on the album are by Quincy Jones, Washington’s husband at the time, so the album has two musical geniuses going for it.

The Rosenberg Trio – Seresta
Titi Winterstein Quintett – The Best Of
Joscho Stephan – Acoustic Live

Three gipsy jazz albums, in the spirit of Django Reinhard, that rival Reinhard’s quality. All three albums are excellent, some adding violin (in the case of Stephan) or accordion (in the case of Titi Winterstein) to the traditional gipsy jazz lineup of percussions, two guitars and standing base. In the future, watch out for Joscho Stephan, a young German who has the potential to become truly great. I saw him in concert at the beginning of the year and was blown away by the ease with which he pulled off even the most intricate guitar moves.

Oscar Peterson – Exclusively for My Friends: The Lost Tapes

Oscar Peterson cannot be missing from the list. He was my first serious jazz crush and still ranks pretty high on my list of favorite pianists. The album is a collection of out-takes from his MPS recording series in which he played for only a select group of friends in the legendary black forrest recording studio of Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer, recordings which he himself later called some of his best ever. And what can I say, the man was right.

The Bad Plus – For all I care

My favorite Jazz album of the year. I was delighted to see the Bad Plus at this year’s North Sea Jazz festival and even more delighted to see that they’d brought along a female vocalist to preview some songs from “For all I care”. All of the deconstructed pop songs are wonderfully arranged and I even think that some of the covers are superior to the originals, something that’s tough to do with e.g. Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”

Folk

Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited

I’ve always had a bit of a difficult relationship with Bob Dylan. On the one hand I thought he was at best a second-rate guitar player, a pretty terrible harmonica player and far from a great singer. And yet many of the people I admire greatly kept referring to Dylan’s genius and covered his songs. And not only that, I loved the covers, from the now legendary Hendrix version of “All Along the Watchtower” to the rather obscure Keith Jarrett Trio take on “My Back Pages”. So clearly there had got to be something I was missing. Discovering Highway 61 Revisited may quite possibly be my point of entry into the World of Bob Dylan.

Sondre Lerche – Dan in Real Life Soundtrack

I’ve liked Sondre Lerche’s poppy Skandinavian folk music for quite a while and in retrospect think letting him write and play out an entire movie soundtrack was a stroke of genius, because it so nicely complements the movie.

Rogriguez – Cold Fact

Folk music that bears a striking resemblance to Bob Dylan. Not quite as much lyrical depth, but Rodriguez compensates by being a much superior instrumentalist and singer.

Luiz Bonfá – Live in Rio

Another one of my great discoveries this year. Found a track of his, the stunningly pretty “Perdido de Amor”, on a music compilation by Jamie Cullum and immediately went to find all his other stuff. And this collection of live recordings of just Bonfá and his acoustic guitar are the ideal music for a relaxing summer evening.

Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

As I wrote in my recent concert review, this is a bit of an acquired taste. I didn’t like the music much the first time I listened to it, but after seeing and most of all hearing them live in Essen a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been listening to them incessantly.

Rock/Indie/Alternative/Whatnot

Air Traffic – Fractured Life

Saw them at the Rheinkultur festival in Bonn and was pleasantly surprised by them, despite the terrible sound mix. Got my hands on their album soon thereafter and they have become a constant presence in my playlists ever since. Unapologetically poppy indie music (that may very well be a contradiction in terms).

Flogging Molly – Drunken Lullabies

I’m usually not one for punk music. Most of it, quite frankly, bores me to tears. But this bit of Celtic punk, my brother’s recommendation, is simply extremely fun music. I would love to see one of their concerts the next time they’re in town.

Janis Joplin – I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland

Nothing particularly obscure, but there’s a reason these two albums are classics of Woodstock-style rock music as I found out while consciously going through major parts of both the Hendrix and Joplin discographies.

The Kooks – Konk

Not quite what I was hoping the successor to the debut “Inside out, outside in” was going to be, but still a very enjoyable album after a few listens.

Lily Allen – Alright, still

Still an underrated singer, starring on another one of those very, very well-produced albums. Mark Ronson really gave it his all with this one. Now very much looking forward to the soon-to-be-released follow-up

The Pigeon Detectives – Emergency

Another fond concert memory. Fun indie rock. Nothing special or particularly innovative, but immensely enjoyable nonetheless.

The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely

The side project of Jack White of the White Stripes and Brendan Benson, a great power-pop (apparently that’s the genre label) singer in his own right. And what a great collaboration. The White Stripes were always a bit too shrill and dissonant for my taste and Benson always a bit too much on the poppy side but I adore their convex combination (math inside reference).

Other

John Mayer – Were the Light is (Live in Los Angeles)

Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that this is incredibly kitschy pop, the kind of music that pimpled 14-year olds listen to, at best one step above the Backstreet Boys or whatever pimpled 14-year olds listen to these days. To which I can only say “meh, so be it!”. I won’t pretend that this is sophisticated music (though I do think that Mayer is a pretty decent guitar player), but the man has a talent for writing songs with very catchy guitar hooks.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals – Cardinology

Ryand Adams back to old form. I don’t enjoy a lot of country music. The mainstream stuff seems to me to have the musical complexity of German carnival music and is equally trivial and corny lyrically. But Ryan Adams and the Cardinals still seem to be able to capture and convey that certain longing, heartache and fragility that draws me to them immensely.

Gonzales – Solo Piano

One of the people behind Feist’s breakthrough album and a bit of a musical polymath. Neither the hip-hoppy electronica of his first two albums nor his most recent effort “Soft Power” are entirely my cup of tea, but this album, 45 minutes of calm self-composed solo piano music is right up my alley.

Monsters of Liedermaching – Sitzpogo

I owe one of the funnest concerts of the year to this German guitar singer-songwriter sextet. Their latest album is possibly their best yet. More than once have I’ve caught myself singing and humming some of their funny lyrics in recent weeks.

So, what was your favorite album of the year? What was the song you kept singing and humming involuntarily all the time? What was your great musical discovery? I would love to hear from you!

As mentioned previously I had the pleasure of shooting The Pigeon Detectives and Supergrass this New Year’s Eve at Cool FM’s Rock The Hall concert. Both were an absolute joy to shoot – Supergrass having an interesting style and put on a superb light show, whilst The Pigeon Detectives were one of the most energetic bands I’ve ever seen. Below are two of my favourite photos from what turned out to be a stellar evening.

Hopefully I’ll get the opportunity to shoot them again in the future.

I’m tired, I’m really quite sore, all over…my left foot particularly so (in tatters thanks to a combination of flight case and metatarsal), and I feel a bit mucky.

…a warm bath will ensue, but for now I’m just sitting, quietly confident of what might happen this year, and importantly, content (for now). 2008 was a big year for me, more than I think, and more than anyone close to me probably is aware of. I wrestled a few demons that reside, still, under my bed (figuratively, although I have toyed with the idea of calling in a specialist). I placed my love and drive in a new direction, and for the first time in years I don’t just feel superficially happy.

As the countdown to the new year rang out, I found myself in an interesting position – I was out working on the 31st, shooting Fighting With Wire at the Rock The Hall concert supported by Cool FM (and run by Belfast Council). Upon turning up, I was asked to shoot the entire lineup, which I must say, I happily took in stride. Cahir and Co were the middle set of a night that saw off Universal Remedy, General Fiasco, The Pigeon Detectives and mid nineties legends, Supergrass…(below are a few preview photos from Wednesday night)

…and the position that I found myself in was, for me, rather memorable, as I don’t usually spend my final seconds of the year sandwiched between several thousand people and on stage fireworks. Strangely though, being in the photo pit whilst everyone around me was cheering (and in many cases indulging in their first embrace of the new year) was oddly calm. I found a great peace during those few moments.

Hopefully 2009, will hold just as many, if not more moments worth remembering.

One of my pet peeves is the number of websites who post their “best of” lists beginning in mid-November.  With albums still being released and still plenty of opportunity to give an album a couple more spins, why rush?  Having said that, I’ve seen the release schedule for the last couple of weeks in December and there’s nothing coming out that has the slightest chance of being on this list.  As I get older, I hate hear my (older) friends say that there isn’t as much good music coming out.  Unfortunately, this year seemed a little sluggish.  The top three on this list would make my list any year, but beyond that I struggled.  Good news is that there are quite a few bands who put out amazing singles (I’m looking at you White Lies and It Hugs Back) and will be releasing great albums in 2009 (not that I’ve heard leaked versions or anything…).

I’ve tried to do something that’ll seperate my list from the masses.  Not only have I posted one video for each of the albums, I’ve tried to steer clear of the “official” video.  This presented challenges since the “live” videos tend to have bad sound quality.  In almost every case I was able to come up with something that is a little special.  Enjoy!

…and with that, here’s the list:

1) The Duke Spirit- Neptune

2) The Virgins- The Virgins

3) Darker My Love- Darker My Love 2

4) Steve Malkmus & The Jicks- Real Emotional Trash

5) The Kooks- Konk

6) The Late Greats- Life Without Balloons

7) The Pigeon Detectives- Emergency

Fujiya & Miyagi- Lightbulbs

9) We Are Scientists- Brain Thrust Mastery

10) The Bronx- The Bronx 3

Jeg har vært på konsert igjen, nemlig. Og selv om dette innlegget handler om nettopp det, vil jeg ikke kalle det I’m The Pigeon Detective eller The Return of the Pigeon Detective. Selv om det garantert er det som beskriver bandet best. Trur eg.

For starters; jeg tro til Hovedstaden alene, da. Jeg trasket (fremdeles alene) gjennom de mørke gatene med alle de skumle menneskene rundt meg (de er egentlig ikke skumle, det er bare T-land som forurenser litt). Og jeg fant fram til John Dee (helt alene!). Den store dørmannen med Crew på ryggen åpnet døren for meg. Jeg fikk tilbake den store delen av billetten min og fikk stempel på hånden. Glede.

I lokalet var det tre stykker. Det var inkludert mannen som solgte T-skjorter og signerte musikkplater og meg selv. Jeg fikk en øyeblikkstanke om at det kanskje ville bli litt stusselig å være på konsert med sweetiesene alene, men det gjorde absolutt ingenting, for plutselig møtte jeg KEE. Og da ble Siri utropstegnsglad! Det er faktisk grunnen til Weird Norwegian People også. Det var nemlig masse teite, norske folk der. Og de blir mobbet litt fordi vi ikke liker dem. Trur eg.

Karl Erik skrev i bloggen sin at Siri ville stå ved gjerdet. Og det ville hun. Hun har nemlig fått fast plass på Pigeon Detectives-konsertene; rett foran bassist Dave, som forresten har en lang pannelugg øynene hans er fiksert på stort sett hele tiden. Bortsett fra når han ser rart på KEE og meg da, selvfølgelig.

Og angående konserten? Det var heaven. Og jeg gjettet riktig på hvilken sang de ville starte med. Dessuten snakket Matt masse fint engelsksnakk. Siri eeeeelsker det. Han sa noe som dette om weird norwegian people-jenter som sang Stop Or Go: “Who invited the singing cats? It’s awful! Have you ever listened to The Kooks? It’s The Kooks, right? Oh no, it’s The Pigeon Detectives..” Flinke engelmennesker, er de. Og jeg forguder det.

KEE snappet forresten tak i setlista fra den kuleste sekkemannen i historien. Det virker praktisk å ha så lange snappearmer.

Siri fikk låne setlisten litt. Og så kjøpte hun signert singel og T-skjorte. Men ikke minst, så fikk hun litt svart tape fra setlisten.

Nå er hun glad.

Noen skal på konsert igjen. Med et søtt band. Igjen.

Noen skal sammen med noen andre ha det evig moro på fjortiskonsert.

For noen syns nemlig engler er fantastisk.

Segunda entrega de las, posiblemente, 25 mejores canciones indie del año.

Mystery Jets – “You Can`t Fool Me Dennis”

The Enemy – “You’re Not Alone”

The Pigeon Detectives – “I Found Out”

The Hoosiers – “Goodbye Mr. A”

The Fratellys – Flathead

Elbow – “Grounds for Divorce”

Death Cab For Cutie – “I Will Possess Your Heart”

The Kooks – “You Can’t Fool Me”

Bloc Party – “I Still Remember”

White Denim – “Shake, Shake, Shake”

We Are Scientists – “Impatience”

GoodBooks – “The Illness”

Scouting For Girls – “Elvis Ain’t Dead”