LunchboxOneupmanship

Even better than DiS' Enemy hatchet job the other week. Fish in a barrel maybe, but got to be done.

Fevers & Mirrors was life-changing for me, and then Lifted was even better. Letting Off The Happiness turned out to be a bona fide lo-fi classic, and the EPs and earlier stuff are just unbelievable too. The more recent stuff definitely has its moments as well. Great to see the Desa album getting much love too - cracking stuff.

Embarrassed myself there.

astonishing stuff. The first time I saw Bright Eyes live was supporting Arab Strap in 2001, and they opened with this. Absolutley unforgettable.

an awesome night. The support sets were all incredible, and Daniel was just something else. It was great to see him in such good form. I thought the venue was great, too, which surprised me (though, yep, the bar was expensive etc, etc).

I presume this is the park you're referring to, considering that's where I see him on a worryingly regular basis. His dog tried to slobber over my ankles this morning.

I'm not familiar with Phantom Buffalo, I'm afraid, but I'll hunt them down at my earliest opportunity...

a couple of years ago - he couldn't have been more genial, only too happy to stand and chat. Lovely guy. As well as a musical genius, obvs.

I guess it was mainly the vocals in the opening part of the song that brought Panic! At The Disco to my mind, and I found the comparison with Panic! useful in trying to convey what I meant by "precocious emoting". But on reflection, I guess it was a bit of a sloppy comparison. Apologies and all that.

In response to cat_courtney, though, I certainly defend being able to bring comparisons with other bands into reviews - especially in this case. It's a debut single, so there's a good chance the reader won't have heard Grammatics before, and drawing comparisons with other bands brings in useful points of reference. Surely a band's future potential will only be restricted by this if they choose to slavishly follow the template set by the band they've been compared to, which no band worth their salt would do.

As for the heart measuring up against the head, I didn't say that the heart is especially lacking in this particular song - but the track was enough to suggest to me that they may run the risk of favouring the head too much in future, considering that they seem to place such great emphasis on cerebrality.

Anyway, as I say in the review, a good track from a promising band.

As I say, I'd heard a good deal of promising stuff about Oi Va Voi before I launched into this album - but listening to this, I just think they got their priorities all wrong. Hope you enjoy the gig and the album - do let me know what you think!

I'm not blown away by 'Four Winds', to be honest - it's solid rather than loin-girdingly exciting. I remember how the 'There Is No Beginning To The Story' EP got me all aquiver in anticipation of 'Lifted...', and I'm just not getting that from 'Four Winds'. Mind you, I've not heard the B-sides yet - think my copy of the EP has got lost in the post. I guess it's a matter of taste, and for me, Conor's moving ever further away from the Bright Eyes that I love. It was damn hard to fault 'I'm Wide Awake...', but it's probably the Bright Eyes album I treasure least.

...but here it is anyway.

1. Cat Power
‘The Greatest’
from The Greatest
www.catpowerthegreatest.com

2. Mogwai
‘Wake Up And Go Berzerk’
from Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait - OST
www.mogwai.co.uk

3. Nina Nastasia
‘Why Don’t You Stay Home’
from On Leaving
http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/artistInfo.php?id=108

4. Yo La Tengo
‘Watch Out For Me Ronnie’
from I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
www.yolatengo.com

5. Germlin
‘Death Pixxel’
from Youth Pixxel
www.adaadat.com/artist.php?artist=5

6. Camera Obscura
‘Come Back Margaret’
from Let’s Get Out Of This Country
www.camera-obscura.net

7. Tilly and the Wall
‘The Freest Man’
from Bottoms Of Barrels
www.tillyandthewall.com

8. Two Gallants
‘Age Of Assassins’
from ‘What The Toll Tells’
www.twogallants.com

9. Belle and Sebastian
‘We Are The Sleepyheads’
from The Life Pursuit
www.belleandsebastian.com

10. Grandaddy
‘This Is How It Always Starts’
from Just Like The Fambly Cat
www.grandaddylandscape.com

The Cat Power track’s the best from her album, and works nicely as an opener. I could have picked any of a number of Nina Nastasia and Yo La Tengo songs – these two fit into the mixtape nicely. The Germlin track is sheer genius. Camera Obscura is my album of the year, I think, closely followed by Belle and Sebastian. The Tilly and the Wall track sounds like ’80s Madonna, only, like, good. Two Gallants’ album has some incredible stuff on it, this track included. Thought I’d end on an emotional note with the last track from Grandaddy’s last album.

There were some points where she sounded distinctly West Country to me. But then again, I'm no expert - any regional accent I try ends up as Jim Davidson-style cod-Pakistani.