Yvash

is fuckin' storming. Looking forward to the rest of the album!

is fantastic. But it's not jolly, as deceptive as the first track seems. It is the Little Matchstick Girl of christmas albums. Christmassy, yet almost harrowing. Their cover of Little Drummer Boy heralds the end of times, the music actually fits the theme of the song for once.

that doesn't outstay it's welcome - in fact, it could be faulted for being all too brief. There's some excellent ideas on it and some inspired sampling (dig The Doobie Brothers 'What a Fool Believes' mutilated looping in Laughing Gas!).

Pick of the tracks for me is Mind, Drips - an exceptional synth-funk crossover track with a certified sex-pest bassline lurking under its dreamy miami beach chorus.

for me, at least. I don't harbour any hopes of it being everyone elses or the DiS collective's choice, but with the exception of the everyman-pleasing Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, no other album this year has been so unrelentingly rewarding from the first listen to the umpteenth.

'Seek Magic' is an apt title - on almost every track, there is a transition moment, a trigger that turns something quite lovely into something ecstatic, something magic. It can be as mundane as a tinny 8-bit game sounding synth evoking pure, blood warming nostalgia just jumping into the fore, to a rapturous children's choir whooping with fun, to some of the finest New Order/Cure aping as heard 3 and a half minutes into Bicycle where Hawke unlocks the sonic genome for joy.

I urge people to hit up Hawke's blog to grab hold of the 'bonus CD' track Treeship - it's like a 20 minute mix of all the best bits that didn't make the album proper and to me, it's the true final track. It's incredible.

but it's a dull, dull, dull cover of a great song, by a dull, dull, dull sideproject of a great band.

Love The Knife. Can't stand Fever Ray.

YES FUCKING PLEASE.

Hopefully this will convince the naysayers who never got past PARTY HARD that Andrew W.K. is very far from being a one trick pony. Seriously, one of my favourite people, let alone favourite musicians.

I think somebody close to them should tell them to stop dicking about with their name. Riceboy Sleeps was fine. Jónsi & Alex sounds like a shitty sitcom.

It doesn't help that my adrenalin, shrieking, singing and dancing diminished immune system is now suggesting I have 'flu and I'm sitting here in a fucking winter-grade jumper while typing this to stave off the shivers, but to be totally honest, a lot of those shivers are chest thumping memories of wednesday night.

Mew had a dissapointingly short set and the sound wasn't right for them at all, everything was getting lost into a (albeit magnificent) torrent of reverb, Jonas' voice getting lost into the swirl. Very shoegaze, but somehow not quite Mew, who are a great deal more intricate than the sound allowed them to be. Also, I think I got into the stadium about 2 songs in so I don't know if they played When She Came Home for Christmas, but I was sad not to hear it.

Janes Addiction were a confliction. I'll go right ahead and admit that I only know 'Ritual de lo Habitual' and the odd track like Oceansize flirting around it, but I fully appreciate what an honour it was to have them up on stage over here - a couple of things spring to mind - firstly, it amazes me how Navarro and Farrel are on two trains going in different directions on the traintrack of ageing - Navarro looking almost whelpish (tinged with a touch of Lucifer, of course) in comparison to Farrel's almost creaky glam. Farrel's voice is a whisper, a cracked homage to years of excess, while Navarro remains a bona-fide Guitar God. I danced like a motherfucker but I did feel I was in a minority, sadly.

NIN, on the other hand... I was lucky enough to get standing tickets, and the first 15 minutes of the set were so brutally intense (BROOOOTAAAAAL) that I was almost desperate to get to the side or the seats, but Reznor realised and dropped the tempo a touch, though thankfully lost none of the intensity. After those 15 minutes of panic-attack tinged awesomeness though, everything mellowed out significantly in the crowd and the response to the big hitters of the night was less psychotic, more adoring. The crowd pleasers are obvious if you look at Sean's handy set list, but while they omitted my all-time favourite NIN track (Into the Void) they played it's ambient cousin, La Mer, and transfixed the audience.

The last 5 songs of the set were just mindblowing - wheeling Gary Numan out of nowhere to do a stunning song-swap (and their version of Cars was even more bonecrunching than Fear Factory's amazing cover), but highlight of the night for me was Head Like a Hole - so skullfuckingly intense that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to listen to it on 'Pretty Hate Machine' and its subdued 80s production again and not feel... cheated in some way. That's truly the mark of an amazing live band - to perform their greats with such panache the records seem like a flimsy facsimile afterwards.

10/10

NIN did this already.

was written by the late, great and inimitable Swells. Go check it out again, and remember what a contrary old cunt he was, and smile like a bastard, like I did when I first read that review!

BANG was great. Fucking rubbish magazine industry.

Man, this album has been long overdue. What an arduous journey, so glad to hear that all the time and heartache has paid off. Their first album was a little understated gem, released about a year too early for the shoegaze revivalist rennaisance and criminally overlooked.

Damn near perfection on record. Within two or three seconds of Lisztomania starting up, you know you've spun up something special. Phoenix have always had a production nous to admire but it's never felt so utterly on the money before. Since Wolfgang came out I've also been hitting United, Alphabetical and It's Never Been to remind myself just what a special band Phoenix are, and shake my head in disbelief that they're still so unknown. Hopefully this time round, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix won't just be preaching to the choir.

This is the sound of summer, a 36 minute cure to hayfever.

this is the first Manics album worth buying in 13 years (not counting the Holy Bible 10th anniversary reissue)...?

I'm tempted to buy it from Sainsbury's just to have the assinine censorship sleeve they covered up the *astoundingly beautiful* cover art with. It serves as a nice reminder that a) there are still people out there trying to decide what you can see for you and b) the manics can still court controversy in their dotage.

Seriously though, I'm very torn. I know I haven't been 17 for nearly a whole other lifetime, but I'm not sure how I'd feel if Journal... doesn't live up to these 'true Holy Bible follow-up' claims.

And they still need to remaster Generation Terrorists ffs.

half with the Amina string quartet, Jonssi barefoot on a special rug (just like Richard Ashcroft), and half in darkness to match their new more-evil-than-Mogwai songs – it felt like the building was going to collapse, and wouldn’t that be an awesome way to go...?"

I am not a religious person by any means, but when the two best gigs I've ever been to have both been in the Union Chapel - that very Sigur Ros gig and Sparklehorse's 'Mark's not in a wheelchair any more!' comeback gig; it's become my place of worship of choice.

They're like the electroniquivalent to Queen. Sometimes there's a gem of a long player in them, I personally think Violator is a spectacular album, as do I rate Queen's A Kind of Magic (even if it's technically a soundtrack) and to a lesser extent, Innuendo. But it's always been DM's astounding pop nous with the singles that mark them out. So frankly, this review is not only confusing me but I'm pretty sure it's confused Mr. Lukowski also. Where exactly do you stand?

because as of a few listens so far, it's possibly their weakest album to my ears. There's a serious dearth of SFA grade stand-out melody and a worrying crutch of leaning on a groove that's barely there. The less said about the dischordant duel guitar riffs that pop their unwelcome heads up the better, frankly. That the album is built from some of the remainder tracks from Love Kraft and Hey Venus! isn't terribly surprising to me - several of the better songs on the album sound familiarly like SFA's B-side back catalogue, but in the attempt to sidestep what some people call careerist idiosyncrasy, it feels like their most pedestrian album to date.

Crazy Naked Girls is an initially thrilling then wholly tiresome pastiche that goes on far too long, but saved by Mt. as a followup which is vintage SFA psych-stomp with a great idiot-savant lyric. Moped Eyes takes a while to get into itself and the verses are so sedated you find yourself willing the song to just loop its significantly lovelier chorus.
Inaugural Trams is... I don't know. I want to like it, its bounce is charming, but its lyrics are head-thumpingly fascile and the german rap is willfully odd and out of place and sadly, not in a good way. Certainly wouldn't have been my first choice for a single.

I don't want to just focus on the negative, because despite my reservations, there are moments of pure SFA genius that shine like diamonds in the rough - Cardiff in the Sun would have best served as the outro in my opinion, it feels like a classic SFA slow-build epic album finisher, spacious, caught mid-orbit, struck between the wonder of the earth and the awe of the universe, tumbling over and over.
The Very Best of Neil Diamond (certainly taking 'Best SFA Song Title' of the album) is a definite grower, I was initially unfussed but it has started to win me over, much as I'm still hoping the rest of the album will. Its faintly eastern chord structure, distant train-track clatter percussion and post-rock menacing middle eight mark it out as one of the highlights.
Helium Hearts is so achingly reminiscent of Rings Around the Era b-side goodness that it's more than welcome if brief. It subtley loops into White Socks/Flip Flops, arguably the last straight and memorable track on the album before the muted 3 song finale. There's a fair bit of divided opinion on Bunf-penned SFA tracks, but it's fair to say this is probably his best.

As for the final act, so to speak, while I like how Where Do You Wanna Go? segues into Mwng-era aping Lliwiau Llachar but it's not really a patch on anything from that album. Pric is a misstep for an album finisher, and to be honest I really can't think of where it would belong on the album, what with its bafflingly low in the mix synth wobble fade out.

It's a 6/10 album for me (the lowest mark I've ever given an SFA album), in recognition of the obviously great tracks, but let down by some of the least enthralling songmaking in SFA's ludicrously high-bar setting history. I'll keep listening.

I'd been sold on Sheena is a Parasite two years ago but due to lack of expendable cash at the time I had to pass on Strange House, and it's on a overwhelming list of records I mean to buy when I'm not struggling to meet rent and eat. But I did get the feeling there was more to look forward to in the undertow of the hype. While Sea Within a Sea doesn't set me on fire, I do understand what they're doing with it and I feel it's a grower. But it's a very brave first single and I salute them for it.

I have their debut and I'm not going to rush out for this one. I just really, really dislike the whole 'oh the singer's pretty, that's why they've got a record deal' thing. I liked their first album without ever noticing a picture of Juanita Stein and to be honest I still don't really know what she looks like. And I also remember you chiming in on Mr Yates' peculiar Fields backlash review, an album which has been improbably maligned in a few places yet is spectacular.

Sentiment applies, still. Brilliant album, witless review.

Oh, do fuck off.

Hang on, wait, you're in cahoots with that feckless berk who reviewed Field's debut album in 2007, aren't you? Business as usual then.

Oh, do fuck off.

Hang on, wait, you're in cahoots with that feckless berk who reviewed Field's debut album in 2007, aren't you? Business as usual then.

as The Understanding's cover. I'm rather enjoying this recent spate of album art even Hall & Oates would have rejected!

as I simply haven't been able to get hold of it yet. I've had a few mp3s from it on heavy rotation on my iPod and 'Transformer' is one of the most euphoric 2 minutes of anyone who cares to listen's time.

She does justice to a powerful blend of Sonic Youth style song-writing, 80s rock shredding and the brand of Math Rock that's been doing the rounds over the last few years but isn't so teeth-gratingly 'hip' (read: unlistenable/gimmicky) as stuff like Battles.

Also, who the hell's doing her drumming? It's a very large part of what makes her stuff sound so good.

(Fill this part in)

I'm astonished.

Pleased, extremely pleased, but utterly astonished.

Good call!

how'm I supposed to squeeze Mogwai's Batcat, Sigur Ros' Ara Batur and god knows how many others into that 8?

1: M83 - Graveyard Girl
Everything that is M83 distilled into just under 5 minutes of Shoegaze/New Wave pop perfection, the climax piece from the best John Hughes movie never made.

2: Another Day - Jamie Lidell
More Stevie Wonder than Stevie Wonder's been for 20 odd years, this is the opener and set up for one of the year's best yet oddly overlooked albums.

3: Sebastien Tellier - Divine (DANGER Remix)
Take one daft French bastard. Add another daft French bastard. Blend silly Doo-wop with bone crunching, synapse shattering Electro. Dance like a motherfucker.

4: Elbow - The Lonliness of a Tower Crane Driver
It might not have the loveydoviness of Mirrorball or the Football Crowd chantability of One Day Like This, but ...Tower Crane Driver is the emotional peak of 'The Seldom Seen Kid'.

5: Neon Neon - Dream Cars
A fitting double tribute to both ludicrous 80s car style and Gary Numan's ludicrouly 80s music, a nostalgic blitz from left of centre.

6: Frightened Rabbit - Keep Yourself Warm
"You won't find love in a, won't find love in a hole" - as if Aidan Moffat fronted Idlewild circa 1998.

7: Ost & Kjex - Milano Model (Mungolian Jet Set Remix)
Bouncing joyfully from bizarre a capella oddity to jaunty sea-shanty till finally settling on dirty back-beat bassline sex pest, this was the funk-odyssey of 2008.

8: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Midnight Man
Like The Doors existed in the early 90s and tried to rewrite something off Let Love In. And it's just as great as that sounds.

I think that really makes it both my favourite and obviously the best in my own opinion, conscious or not. Sure, later albums may speak more to me about my life and times and maybe even how I feel about the world, but when I want a little mystery, when I want to feel part of something I can never understand, to remember that I am a speck and an unlikely equation, Murmur provides. 'Old Before their Time' is a good description of early, early R.E.M. - it's unfair to say (or think) they peaked right at the beginning because they do have a formidable back catalogue of superb albums - Life's Rich Pageant, Document, Automatic etc... but sometimes, the first taste is the sweetest.

I don't own a bootleg of the 83 gig and I'd love to hear some decent remastering done to the album proper so this is a definite double dip for me, and one of the most definitive and unequivocal 10/10 albums released (twice) in my lifetime.

as I can't imagine many people will put either of NIN's excellent contributions to this year's music in their lists, Reznor simply not being indie enough, maaaan (despite being indier than pretty much everyone else through his actions).

Secondly, the year's not over. Why do we consistently make these premature lists? Stuff is still being released and I know for a fact my list as it stands would change by New Year's day - there's two albums I haven't heard yet that I'm sure will make the list - Johann Johannson's 'Fordlandia' and Remember Remember's 'Remember Remember' are on my Christmas wishlist.

Still, let's have a go. My #1 will likely stay the same, though.

1. M83 - Saturdays = Youth
2. Jamie Lidell - JIM
3. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!
5. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
6. Errors - It's Not Something But it is Like Whatever
7. Mogwai - Hawk is Howling
8. NIN - The Slip

Good year for music, loads missing off the (well, short) list, including Lambchop, Hot Chip, Sigur Ros, Death Cab for Cutie...

Mogwai, Múm, The Album Leaf and Steve Reich.

And everyone who listens wins!

as my local HMV and Zavvi seem to have seriously dumbed down their selection of music in the last month and something this niche has no chance of getting shelfspace in the buildup to Christmas.

is a million miles away from the pub-rock blandisms the Manics put on record nowadays, you clearly haven't listened to Generation Terrorists properly to dismiss it as 'SHIT'. What that album needs is a remastering. I cite it as the greatest debut album of all time. More passion, power, ideas and politics than most bands put out in a lifetime on one record. Even Gold Against the Soul is only their 3rd best album. Everything after Everything Must Go gets exponentially worse.

Fabulous. Picking this up today, now I've finally got a few quid spare.

the Manics are no longer a band capable of putting it to fitting music.

IBM 1401: A Users Manual was compelling and brilliant and altogether a sonic delight, especially within the context of the history behind the music and his motive for making it. I'd be interested to know if this is in some way a homage to Sibelius, who's Finlandia opus is one of my favourite pieces of classical music.

That you paid full retail price for less than 1/3 of that collection. Technically, in the eyes of the RIAA and EU equivalents, reselling music is illegal too, as is buying it from your local charity shop.

Personally, I've got a CD collection around the £10,000 - £15,000 mark and I still download stuff. I have an 80gb iPod to fill, and I still buy CDs - but these days I find it far sounder, financially, to 'try before I buy'. I download it - I like it - I try to buy it. Can't get it? Not my fault.

Seriously, DiS is near migraine inducing now. If I switch tabs to a darker coloured website I get 'Nam flashbacks.

People finally realise what an odious load of wank The Streets are.

More at 11, after the thrilling conclusion of 'My Balls on Your Chin'.

But I've literally only just spun up OH (Ohio), so I'll have to give it some time. Mind you, I never picked up Damaged. It seemed like Aw C'mon/No You C'mon was barely out five minutes before that.

and a great choice. Hope big things happen for Clement Picon on the back of this.

a mash up of Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and Pigeon Street themetunes, I'll be rather disappointed.

Full on M83 live will blow Kings of Leon out of the water. It'll be like watching two planets collide followed by 'plink plink fizzzzzz'...

is the sound of Mogwai doing something unexpected and the majority of their critics going 'hang on, why are Mogwai doing something unexpected? What am I supposed to complain about now?!'

First impressions: it's slow, it's ponderous, it has some distinctly different instrumentation, and it's quite beautiful without needing to fall back on their old school dynamics. 'Still Waters Run Deep' come to mind.

And yes. Better than Mr. Beast by far, though I enjoyed Mr. Beast for what it was.

and one of the least appreciated, highly talented musicians out there. I fucking love the guy for his positivity, his energy, his life-affirming, no-holds-barred attitude to music making. AWK is a legend, and I will do my utmost to be there.

I will happily claim that The Wolf is the greatest disco-rock album most people have never heard

and it's the Mystery Jet's sophomore. Which, incidentally, I've listened to about twice with the exception of Two Doors Down which is far and away the best thing on it. I don't think I'll be bothering to investigate the other 11 albums, frankly.

Also, album of the year so far: M83's Saturday = Youth

Nothing else I've bought this year has been repeated as often.

Bingo, Greatest Hits collection.

Nothing else they've ever done comes even remotely close. In fact, they're bloody awful these days. A pastiche of themselves.

It was my first Radiohead gig. I've been a fan since I first heard Anyone Can Play Guitar (at the time I hadn't put two and two together with them and Creep, haha) but circumstances always put me elsewhere whenever there should have been an opportunity to see them live. Although this was at a festival-ish setting and I knew I wasn't going to get the ultimate, intimate(ish) live Radiohead experience I craved, I at least had about 9 months to make sure I was actually able to be there this time. That's the one benefit of big open-air jobs - the sheer coordination of them has to be sorted out so far in advance.

As ever, people are the dominant factor in wrecking a gig - but where I and my friends were standing, not only was the sound amazing (no drift, no distortion, just beauty) but the people around us were rapt and respectful and seemed to be loving the rarer songs.

I want to see them again. Hell, I want to see them all the time, past future and present. But next time it'll be indoors, I think.

just flew over the heads of most.

Which is a shame, as it was an honest to goodness great album and revivalist of acts such as Fleetwood Mac and Dire Straights, sounds that just haven't been around for over 20 years and were actually a lot better than we remember.

I mean cold & repetitive in a negative sense.

Much of Iceland is a barren wasteland of cold, hard rock and nothing else.

I absolutely love that. ( ) is a testament to the austere nature of the land, where beauty is simplicity.