Sunday, December 30, 2007

Good-bye 2007

I have returned from my Christmas revelries and in mere moments will place my nose on the grindstone once more in preparation for 2008. I hope the diversion of my end-of-year list was tolerable. Here it is in full, including numbers 21-30 but excluding numbers 31-42 which to be honest I just put in order for my own amusement. Yeah I heard that "Neon Bible", it would have made a pretty good 7" single. But no I didn't hear that new Animal Collective "Strawberry Jam" deal, I'm saving it for a slack week.

1 WIDOW CITY - Fiery Furnaces
2 RISE ABOVE - Dirty Projectors
3 NIGHT FALLS OVER KORTEDALA - Jens Lekman
4 MIRRORED - Battles
5 GA GA GA GA GA - Spoon
6 EASY TIGER - Ryan Adams
7 TONES OF TOWN - Field Music
8 FRIEND OPPORTUNITY - Deerhoof
9 SPIRIT IF - Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew
10 THE STAGE NAMES - Okkervil River
11 STICKING FINGERS INTO SOCKETS EP - Los Campesinos!
12 IN RAINBOWS - Radiohead
13 PERSON PITCH - Panda Bear
14 UNDER THE BLACKLIGHT - Rilo Kiley
15 IMAGINE OUR LOVE - Lavender Diamond
16 DYNAMICO - Mitch Easter
17 SCRIBBLE MURAL COMIC JOURNAL - A Sunny Day In Glasgow
18 THE PIRATE GOSPEL - Alela Diane
19 WIZARDS OF AHHHS EP - Black Kids
20 LIKE THE LINEN - Thao Nguyen
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21 A BRIGHTER BEAT - Malcolm Middleton
22 TIME ON EARTH - Crowded House
23 BOXER - The National
24 MOUNT EERIE PTS 6+7 - Mount Eerie
25 23 - Blonde Redhead
26 WINCING THE NIGHT AWAY - The Shins
27 THE STARS AND SUNS SESSIONS - Chikita Violenta
28 WILD MOUNTAIN NATION - Blitzen Trapper
29 ARE THE DARK HORSE - The Besnard Lakes
30 SOMEWHERE, ANYWHERE - New Buffalo

I do have some (very very) modest diversions for Monday and Tuesday, but regular comics resume Wednesday.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Albums not of the year

I spent Saturday compiling my albums of the year for 2007. Shelley has submitted some very thoughtful reviews this year - she's getting very good at this! Well, very good for someone whose thoughts aren't by any means well organised. Look out for them week of December 24.

But this year I heard a lot of records that I had missed on previous annual trawls. I've put an asterisk next to the ones you can get on emusic.com - take advantage of their 50 free tracks new subscriber deals, it's a very good site if you like music on indie labels.

TOP TEN ALBUMS NOT OF THE YEAR

1. THE GLOW PART 2 - The Microphones *
2. EVERCLEAR - American Music Club *
3. SECAUCUS - The Wrens
4. ADELIE LAND - Handsomeboy Technique *
5. 完全な昼間 - Kabbadi Kabbadi Kabbadi Kabbadi
6. DOG PROBLEMS - The Format *
7. SING THE GREYS - Frightened Rabbit *
8. COSMIC THING - The B-52s
9. MEL - East River Pipe *
10. WAITING FOR THE TIME TO BE RIGHT - The Brother Kite *

Now I realise that number 8 is a bit controversial - there was certainly a point in my life when I thought I'd be physically sick if I ever heard "Love Shack" again. It probably coincided with the period of my life where I had a series of "bad pints". But it's such a pretty, overlooked album and you can get it for a pound almost anywhere. LET'S RE-EVALUATE Y'ALL.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Terrible realisations that may cost me a wife

I just realised that when I air-drum at my desk with my Wacom pens (I have so many!), I do the "Meg White head thing". I can't help it, it makes drumming fun! NO ONE MUST EVER SEE THIS.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Experience ought to help you tell but it really doesn't

I have been practising some more with the Cintiq and Manga Studio, with a view to using them for my next side project. I stuck my finger at random in 2003's comics and redrew this one.

Monday, December 03, 2007

No A-loha(n)

I've had word in, it's official: from 12pm today you may now listen to your Christmas albums.