2007 Review - Albums of the Year

Okay, following on from yesterday's Songs of the Year, here's my list of favourite albums from the past twelve months.

(2006 Winner - Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther)

Best albums of 2007:

1. LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
2. The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
3. Feist - The Reminder
4. New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom
5. Kate Nash - Made Of Bricks
6. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
7. The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America
8. Soulwax - Most Of The Remixes
9. The Sounds - Dying To Say This To You
10. Chungking - Stay Up Forever

Tomorrow: Films of the Year

2007 Review - Songs of the Year

Moving on from yesterday's Gigs of the Year, here's my list of favourite songs from the past twelve months. This year three of the artists in this list have also made it onto my Albums of the Year shortlist, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out who they are!

(2006 Winner - The Automatic - Monster)

Best songs of 2007:

1. Kate Nash - Foundations
2. Asobi Seksu - Thursday
3. The Duke Spirit - Lassoo
4. New Young Pony Club - The Bomb
5. The Shins - Phantom Limb
6. Mason vs. Princess Superstar - Perfect (Exceeder)
7. Duffy - Rockferry
8. Adele - Hometown Glory
9. The Little Ones - Lovers Who Uncover
10. Mark Ronson - Stop Me

Tomorrow: Albums of the Year

2007 Review - Gigs of the Year

It's that time of the year when everyone looks back over the past year and publishes lots of lists, so in keeping with previous years I'm going to start today with my favourite gigs that I've been to this year.

(2006 Winner - The Dandy Warhols at Islington Academy)

Best gigs of 2007:

1. Foo Fighters at Brighton Concorde 2
2. The Shins at The Forum
3. The Sounds at Brighton Pressure Point
4. New Young Pony Club at Brighton Concorde 2
5. The Hold Steady at Resident Records
   

Tomorrow: Songs of the Year

CSS at the Dome

Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong - Brighton Dome

My final gig of the year (unless something unexpected crops up between now and New Year's Eve) saw me at the Dome for the return to Brighton of CSS, the first band that I saw play live this year. First support was the hotly tipped Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong and it's easy to see why - they play confident, spiky art-rock in the same mould as Franz Ferdinand and British Sea Power. With a few more memorable tunes under their belts they should go far in 2008. "I feel old," said a 20-year old guy as we stood watching the band, surrounded by young teens. Thanks mate, think how I must have felt!

CSS - Brighton Dome

Having missed Metronomy, we made it back into the auditorium for CSS and there was a definite party vibe around the place with a glammed up set, Christmas Tree on stage, and balloons in the crowd - they even brought a festive dancer on with them to liven things up. After a few initial problems with the sound, the band found their stride and rattled through some choice cuts from their album alongside a couple of new tunes. Then, just before the encore, some idiot threw a shoe which hit Lovefoxxx smack in the face. Off marched the band, confusion reigned, and then the house lights came on - show over. No encore, no Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above... and definitely no refunds. Well, to be fair, you couldn't blame the band, and it wasn't the venue's fault either. Still, a disappointing end to what had been an enjoyable Christmas show. As I said on the band's MySpace page (later reposted by NME on their news page) it's a shame that one idiot had to spoil the show for everyone else. Tosser!

Play It Cool in December

Not much new music this month, but here's my pick of the discs for December:

• Playgroup - Playgroup (Vital)
• Kosheen - Damage (Moksha)
• Foo Fighters - Echoes Silence Patience & Grace (BMG)
• Roisin Murphy - Overpowered (EMI) single
• The Shins - Wincing The Night Away (Transgressive)
  

Crowded House at Brighton Centre

Crowded House - Brighton Centre

What can I tell you about the newly reformed Crowded House at Brighton Centre then? Well, very little probably as the gig was on Friday and it's now Tuesday, such is my workload at the moment... Anyway, Friday was Dave's last social engagement before f*cking off to Thailand, so it was a very pleasant night out bookended by a few drinks in the Ranelagh and the Waggon. The stage was pretty low key, just a few simple projections onto a backdrop but the band certainly gave good value for money, playing for over two hours. The set spanned the band's career from early hits like Don't Dream It's Over right through to this year's Time On Earth album. Let's be honest, you know what you're going to get with Crowded House and they do what they do very well; two encores, which included Pineapple Head and Weather With You really got the crowd going and the band also took some requests. Of course, one of their great strengths live has always been the lively banter - Neil Finn comes across like Murray from Flight Of The Conchords at times - which is always amusing and makes the show feel much more intimate than the large venue suggests.

Roisin Murphy at the Dome

Roisin Murphy - Brighton Dome

Another night at the Dome and I thought I'd stick around to catch Roisin Murphy as Dave's a fan and was in watching. A good move as it transpired; she put on perhaps the best show I've seen in our venue all year. Now I'm not familiar with her solo work apart from the recent singles and Overpowered was the sole track I recognised - it mattered little. The performance was so professional (good sound, excellent backing band) and full of gusto, it just got better and better with every song. Roisin's penchant for costume changes is her gimmick, but it works - especially with a set of songs ranging from jazz to electro. It was the dance numbers that worked best for me, with Roisin reminding me very much of Goldfrapp's performance here a couple of year's back. At nearly two hours long and with no sign of Moloko's trademark Sing It Back or The Time Is Now this was a very bold and pleasant surprise!

Queens Of The Stone Age at the Dome

Queens Of The Stone Age - Brighton Dome

Queens Of The Stone Age = good, solid, melodic heavy rock 'n' roll. Exactly the sort of thing we should be having at the Dome. I was working, but managed to get in to see the second half of the show and I don't think I've ever seen the standing area quite so heaving - no-one wanted to sit down for this one! I heard Go With The Flow from outside the hall, but was inside by the time they played Little Sister and their fab new single Make It Wit Chu - and of course No One Knows which kicked off a rousing encore. "Is it me or is this really loud?" the question was raised? A unanimous YES was the verdict. A quality 85 mins leaving the audience shouting for more...

The Duke Spirit at 229

The Duke Spirit - 229, London

So I missed the England game last night (perhaps for the best as it turned out) and instead braved the London rain and headed to the city's latest live venue, 229 at 229 Great Portland Street to see The Duke Spirit. Decent place actually - smallish with a high stage which you could see from wherever you stood. I bumped into Louise and John at the bar so chatted to them during the support, then headed right down to the front for TDS. Great view, and no rowdy pushing, even that close - perfect! I loved the band when I saw them last Christmas at the ICA and once again they were fantastic, really powerful. Best of all the new songs spearheaded by recent single Lassoo were every bit as good as their old stuff which bodes well for next year's Neptune album. A brisk hour set with two encores and then it was back into the rain and off to the Phoenix to catch up with Sheena, Paul and Johanna. Much better than staying in watching that England game I expect...

Play It Cool in November

Well, I've dropped the monthly live listings but for the time being my playlist remains, so this is what I've been listening to over the past few weeks:

• Adele - Hometown Glory (Pacemaker) single
• The Duke Spirit - Ex-Voto EP (Vital) single
• Soulwax - Most Of The Remixes (Parlophone)
• Calvin Harris - I Created Disco (Sony BMG)
• The Kissaway Trail - The Kissaway Trail (Bella Union)
  

New Young Pony Club at the Concorde

New Young Pony Club - Brighton Concorde 2

A feeling of deja-vu yesterday with New Young Pony Club returning to the Concorde a mere five months since they last played there. Of course this show was originally due to take place at the Corn Exchange, but then it got moved and rescheduled due to illness - for which Tahita apologised, kudos to her. The band played an hour long set pretty much as expected - all the tracks from Fantastic Playroom plus a B side and two covers - Pump Up The Jam and Take Me I'm Yours. It all sounded great and Tahita did her best to get everyone dancing as if it were a Friday night, but it didn't quite match the atmosphere of the previous gig - mainly because I wasn't right down the front leaping about this time!

The Kissaway Trail at Resident Records

The Kissaway Trail - Resident Records, Brighton

Good old Resident - officially the best record shop in Brighton, in my opinion - had another of their regular instore gigs yesterday evening with The Kissaway Trail turning up for a quick four song acoustic set before their headline show at Audio. I really like their self-titled album which evokes The Flaming Lips and Arcade Fire, and the shared vocals give their songs an extra edge. Their short set featured a couple of songs from the album, including first single Smother + Evil = Hurt, and then they stuck around to chat and sign stuff. Nice!

And yes, my stalker was also there again.

Asobi Seksu at The Barfly

Asobi Seksu - The Barfly, Brighton

It's been quite a while since I was last spotted inside The Gloucester nightclub (apart from the Brakes aftershow late last year) but the building has recently been given a makeover by the Barfly chain and is now building a solid reputation as a compact music venue. Friday night was my first taste of it as Dave, Andy, Bennett and myself rolled up to see Asobi Seksu, some good New York shoe-gazing music via the Japanese vocal talents of dinky singer Yuki. Before the headliners however we had two decent support bands (and it's not often I can say that) in the shape of Kowalski (very Bloc Party sounding) and Scanners (two girl, two boy combo with noisy guitars and keyboards) and I was also amused/nervous to spot my regular stalker in the crowd - quelle surprise. Asobi Seksu sounded good too, playing a selection of tracks from their current album Citrus and their first self-titled album. Singles Thursday and the forthcoming Strawberries in particular sounded excellent alive and amplified. As a venue The Barfly worked fine, although it's not a high stage so you really need to be stood at the front to get the best view. After the bands the place switched back into club mode, leading into a classic student night full of the best indie-dance tunes around... some of us stayed drinking and dancing there until 3am. A successful night then - a toast to The Barfly!

Kate Nash at the Concorde

Kate Nash - Brighton Concorde 2

Last night I was out seeing Kate Nash at the Concorde with Kelly, the third time I've seen her live this year, but the first since she really captured the public's imagination with her Foundations single and subsequent debut album, Made Of Bricks. Appearing in front of a decorative backdrop reflecting the homely artwork of her album, Kate seemed relaxed and at ease in front of her largest Brighton audience to date, but I guess she's used to large crowds now after a long Summer of festival appearances. It was good to see her in a venue with a decent PA system, her songs sounding better than ever properly amplified. The only downside about a bigger venue was the bigger proportion of idiots in the audience - sadly we were stood right in front of a gaggle of young girls who kept phoning their friends to tell them how good it was, rather than actually watching the show, grrrrrr! Anyway, Kate gave a perfunctory performance showcasing most of her album and a scattering of b sides, best of which were Foundations (predictably) and Birds in which she played along on guitar. The final encore of Pumpkin Soup provided a suitably rousing end to the set with Kate giving her keyboard a real workout. Undoubtedly this year's break out pop star, but quite how she adapts her act to further that popularity in the coming months will be interesting to watch.

Adele at The Hope

Adele - The Hope, Brighton

One of the promos I picked up at the Record Fair last weekend was Hometown Glory, the debut single from 19 year old Adele. I love it - I've been playing it all week and think it's one of the strongest songs of the year. So, when I realised that she was playing in Brighton on Friday I decided that I had to try and get a ticket... A crafty bit of blagging later and I was on the guest list. There was a real air of expectation inside The Hope, with no more than about 100 people crammed into the tiny venue - the last time I was there for a gig was probably British Sea Power about five years ago! For her first headline tour she'd decided to play an acoustic set, so we were treated to nine songs, the latter few joined by her friend Ben on guitar. All the plaudits are well deserved, Adele possesses the most amazing soulful voice... all the more surprising when she talks between songs and comes across just like any other excitable teenager. She's both bubbly and down to earth with bags of confidence in her performance, and was really friendly when I caught up with her after the show. I'm sure she'll be a big star by this time next year, and her next tour in February - with a full band - will be one not to miss.

Play It Cool in October

Another month when I haven't bought a lot of new music, so not so much to choose from, but next month ought to have a whole host of brand spanking new tunes as I've just bought a pile of stuff at the Record Fair yesterday... Anyway, here's the pick of my CDs for October:

• The Mummers - Wonderland EP (Izumi)
  
• Princess Superstar - Princess Superstar Is (Rapster)
• Tegan And Sara - The Con (MapleMusic)
• The Duke Spirit - Souvenirs (Loog)
• Caribou - Melody Day (City Slang) single
  

The Dandy Warhols at Camden Electric Ballroom

The Dandy Warhols - Camden Electric Ballroom

I always try and see The Dandy Warhols when they're playing in the UK so this was probably the eighth or ninth time that I've seen them. Sadly it wasn't their best, unlike last year's fantastic performance at the Islington Academy. I'm not quite sure why... maybe it was the venue (the Electric Ballroom is not the most atmospheric venue in London), maybe it was the crowd (too many w*nkers pushing past where I was stood) or maybe it was just over-familiarity. The gig started well enough, with Be In, We Used To Be Friends and Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth making a great triple-whammy to kick things off, but after that it all felt a bit lacklustre - excluding a rip-roaring Bohemian Like You, sounding better than ever - and the band never really got the audience revved up. We did get a handful of new songs which were a mixture of the Dandys two typical styles, ie. singalong choruses or long guitar-heavy wig-outs. Even so, after seventy-five minutes I'd moved to the back of the crowd, and after the finale of Boys Better I didn't even hang around to see if they'd do an encore. For once, underwhelming.

October Live

It's a busy time here in Brighton. The students are back in town and of course October sees the return of the annual Paramount Comedy Festival to our city. So let's get on with it...

02/10 - Not actually in Brighton this one, but it gets a mention anyway since I'm going - The Dandy Warhols are in London for a gig at Camden Electric Ballroom.

04/10 - Our first bit of comedy although not technically part of the Comedy festival - it's Billy Connolly at Brighton Centre for the first of two sold out shows.

05/10 - Always a safe bet for a good comedy show, Aussie Adam Hills is at the Corn Exchange.

06/10 - Another good bet for the Comedy Festival if you're not sure who to see are the Best Of The Fest nights which showcase five different comedians on the same bill. Tonight's show in the Dome is hosted by Russell Howard with Lucy Porter, Adam Hills, Jason Manford and Michael McIntyre making up the rest of the line up. The other two dates are the 12th (hosted by Frankie Boyle) and the 19th (hosted by Ed Byrne).

08/10 - The first of two FREE shows, we have Comedy Blue taking place in the Corn Exchange hosted by Jason Byrne which will be recorded for broadcast on the Paramount Channel.

10/10 - A quick return to Sussex for Richard Herring and his Oh F*** I'm 40! show coming to the Pavilion Theatre.

12/10 - Not long since she played at The Hope, Amy MacDonald is back in Brighton performing at the Pressure Point this time around.

13/10 - Lots of good comedy on tonight - my pick of the day would be Sean Lock at the Corn Exchange (he's also there on the 15th) but you've also got Frankie Boyle (doing the earlier show in the venue) and Ross Noble at the Dome for the first of two nights. If you'd prefer some music then Mercury-nominated Maps are playing at The Barfly.

14/10 - Bit of music tonight perhaps, with We Start Fires playing at Audio or The Mooney Suzuki playing at The Barfly.

15/10 - Fresh from her recent support slot with Aimee Mann, Jenny Owens Young comes to Brighton supporting Jim White at The Barfly. Meanwhile in the Comedy Festival there's Marcus Brigstocke performing in the Corn Exchange.

17/10 - More Comedy Festival stuff with the excellent Stewart Lee playing at the Corn Exchange.

20/10 - Jimmy Carr returns to the Dome for his annual visit, rounding off the Comedy Festival with two more shows.

22/10 - Yet another band joining the myriad of reformed groups this year, it's welcome back to Flowered Up who play at the Concorde. Not quite sure what to expect from them in 2007, but they've got to be worth a look just to hear them play Weekender. Alternatively there's Stephanie Dosen on at The Albert.

24/10 - Gig of the month (for me at least!) should be Kate Nash at the Concorde, hitting the big league since the success of Foundations and her debut album Made Of Bricks.

25/10 - A new one day festival comes to town - this one is called Brighton City Festival and showcases the best in dance music across 10 local venues. 2 Many DJs / Soulwax headline.

26/10 - Another one I'm looking forward to, Asobi Seksu play at The Barfly supporting the release of their excellent current album Citrus.

30/10 - Finally, this month's big gig at the Dome is latest indie-faves The Twang.

Ex-Voto

The Duke Spirit return with a new EP in October and a UK tour in November - I will be going to see them play at the new London venue, 229.

Play It Cool in September

I'll be honest, music has really taken a back seat this month. I didn't even have a music player with me in Toronto... A few of these discs will have appeared in previous months, but that's just the way it is this month. Should be some new stuff next time... Here's my picks then:

• The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Bravery Repetition And Noise (A Records)
• Bat For Lashes - Fur And Gold (One Little Indian)
• The Sounds - Dying To Say This To You (Korova)
• Feist - The Reminder (Polydor)
• Remi Nicole - Fed Up (Island) single