another_stage

and a lot of factors that both sides gloss over but I think this ^^ is pretty much on the money.

He was simply fantastic, the sound and the energy of the band on stage was such that it really didn't matter what he played although very glad 'there she goes my beautiful world' got an airing. I only saw three of the other bands listed in the article and agree on the plaudits dished out to the Xx and the vaselines but was dissapointed by Marnie Stern.

Otherwise !!!, Joe Gideon and the Shark and Regina were unforgettable highlights. Black Joe Lewis, Band of Skulls, Blue Roses and Broken Records really impressed. Enjoyed 65days..., Bats for Lashes, Fight Like Apes, The Invisible, Patrick Wolf, Broken Family Band and Alela Diane also.

Non musically Glen Wool, Robin Ince, Dan Atkinson and the Early edition team were very funny (Rufus Hound intermittently so) and I thoroughly enjoyed the poetry of Joshua Idehen and Baba Brinkman (who may or not be the poets 'slammed' in one of the articles above?) a good festival inspite of the fact I basically lived in a pond for four days such was the rain and the shoddiness of my tent!

their version of 'true love will find you in the end', I liked the concept and the art work looked beautiful and intriguing. Ultimately I'm a tad disappointed by the outcome and agree with your comments about 'here before' and that occasionally alela diane's voice can sound a little disinterested but overall I think the album warrants about a 7/10, for the 5 or so strong and memorable tracks it contains.

Also I'm not sure that 'Lightning Dust' is a great counter example as their album last year was a similarly frustrating listen with the beauty of 'listened on' and 'Castles and Caves' highlighting innocuous filler that padded the middle section.

Both are records that should have been great and definitely had the musical components to be (especially vocally) but came up short in either consistency or execution, unfortunately.

1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- More News From Nowhere
2. Team Waterpolo- Letting Go
3. The War on Drugs- Taking the Farm
4. Bon Iver- Skinny Love
5. The Kills- Last Days of Magic
6. Cut Copy- Unforgettable Season
7. i concur- Oblige
8. Johnny Foreigner- Our Bipolar Friends

I may make the trip to manchester but will result in couple of hours on trains and late night maddeningly expensive taxi, think could only justify it if the supports are up to scratch

I really dislike this, nothing postitive to say at all. Kinda shocked at the extent of the love-in.

Truckers of Husk: very promising, a great up and coming prospect
Mars Volta: Mesmerising
Sigur Ros: ...culmination of their set utterly lukewarm in comparison
Go! Team: Enjoyable and fun festival band

Good work

a great intensity. They nearly, but not quite stole the show from twilight sad and youthmovies the last time I saw them. I can imagine it losing something when recorded but I'm still a fan and reckon i'll be buying this cd.

+johnny foreigner and nick cave would be my 5.
Broken Records best EP
and 'taking the farm' by War on drugs my favourite song so far...

For me the really great thing about music in Leeds at the moment is the sheer amount of good (to great) bands playing low cost gigs in nice and varied venues around the city. Personally I'm not a huge fan of any of this et al, duels or grammatics but that's fine I can just go somewhere else or pick and choose bits of great bills and see the likes of: Wintermute, thesemonsters..., that fucking tank, laura groves, Glissando, the pablos, iConcur, the debuts, The Rollercoaster Project, Fran Rodgers, Spodni Pradlo, Napoleon IIIrd, Dinosaur Pile Up, The Rosie Taylor Project and Monster Killed by Lazer.
The music scene has fantastic depth at the minute, although it will be interesting to see who out of these bands make the transition from very enjoyable live band to making a great album.

although I think they have improved live and I am relatively interested in hearing what they come up with album-wise.

I've been a fan of The Twilight Sad, Broken Records and Johnny Foreigner for a little while now so is good to see a continuing support for them. Thanks to these lists I'm glad to have been introduced to Fanfarlo and Glass Candy who both sound a lot of fun. Abe Vigoda and Santogold were worth checking out too. pretty good job all round.

Twilight Sad- Cold Days From the Birdhouse
The National- Brainy
LCD Soundsystem- All my Friends
Adam Gnade and Youthmovies- Honey Slides
Grinderman- No Pussy Blues
My Psychoanalyst- We Disagree
Besnard Lakes- Agent 13
Interpol- Pace is the Trick
Battles- Atlas
Alberta Cross- The Devil is All You Ever Had

nice lyrics but I think his vocals are shockingly crap and other than a couple of little twists it's pretty dull riffery. The asobi sesku track is pretty good as is frightened rabbit.

I reckon

'Slow Club' also already mentioned will hopefully get a bit more recognition for their lovely jangle folky strums.
'My Psychoanalyst' are probably the group that I'm most excited about and would love to hear an album by.

It'd be nice if 'Services' had a bit more success in the new year so that I can actually buy their album over here. They've just toured with 'the faint' in America and a lot better than 99% of the new-indie-dance breed.

Carrie Tree and Sharon Van Etten are two female solo singers with amazing voices who deserve a bit of exposure.

The Debuts are doing lovely things in the Leeds area in the vein of 'the organ' and have lots of potential. I hope 'The Rollercoaster Project' receives enough attention to move further up bills so he doesn't have to keep showing up all those that he supports.

It would be really good to see 'these monsters', 'instruments', 'wintermute' and 'action beat' step up to a similar level as 'youthmovies', 'tired irie','foals' and 'that fucking tank', with those later bands continuing their good progress!

In terms of bands who are on their second album 'My Latest Novel' are going to have a hell of a job trying to live up to their debut but it's going to be great to see what they come up with.

but I do think this is a really decent-if slightly unsurprising record. 'Pretty in Black' is good but I still prefer 'whip it on' and this record seems to make steps towards their older material which I'm happy about.

loved '... dark horse' and this review does describe the album in quite an appealing way, score aside.

was one of my faves of last year. haven't got a ticket for this tour yet because don't think they could ever match it playing in the souless barfly.

Interpol- Turn on the Bright Lights
Saul Williams- s/t
My Morning Jacket- At Dawn
The Arcade Fire- Funeral
TV On The Radio- Desperate Youth...