I assume some eedjit at the esteemed Reykjavik Grapevine asked me to provide end-of-year highlights for 2009. It was a fucking great year for many reasons.
Gigs 2009
Lady Gaga at Il Fosos Square Floriana, Malta - July 8
She burst out of a giant egg, stuck her arse in air whilst playing piano and pretty much the entire population of Malta got drunk together in a totally beautiful mediaeval square in 75 degree evening heat. I mean, come on. What more do you want?
Elbow at Oxegen Festival, Punchestown Park, Ireland - July 13
It absolutely shat it down with rain, I mean fucking shat the fuck it down. It was like God had drunk loads of his own lager-piss then projectile-puked it all over the stage for several hours. But when Guy Garvey sang about blue skies and sunshine everyone believed him. Fuck you, God!
Specials, Manchester Apollo, England - May 3
Alrite so there was no Jerry Dammers, but Terry Hall was there looking morose and brilliant and I’d got married the day before and life rarely gets better than that. Also I was drunk.
Hallo… I Love You! – Whitewood Studio, Liverpool, England -May 21
Less than 10 of us there at a pre-gig runthrough of the debut appearance of these sweety-pie pop buggers, in a studio above a venue, no bullshit, no lights, just songs and smiles and that’s all you need innit.
Lionel Ritchie, Manchester MEN Arena, England - March 22
Look, I was a punk bassist and still am but I was a cunt to think as I once did that people like Lionel or Neil Diamond were dinosaur irrelevances. They’re fucking great musicians and make people happy and I am pleased I finally worked out how fundamentally important those things are in life.
Icelandic albums of which I have drunk
Stereo Hypnosis – Hypnogogia
Reminds me of a chill-out room at 4am with this kind of shit playing either inside or outside my head but hard to tell which is which.
Moto Boy – Moto Boy
This album made me question for the first time ever whether I was right to hate Morrissey so much. (I was, but not necessarily for the music).
AFMJ - Itemhljóð og Veinan
The polar opposite to easy listening which is why it’s kinda deftly delivered. Fractured, fucked-up artsy wallowing beat-bleeps.
Egill Sæbjörnsson – Egill S
Nice tunes, a bit of progginess and psychedelia but fundamentally just good proper songs.
Lett A Barunni – Sexi
Dingy, sludgy, deadpan, Stoogesy and a bit Datblygu-ish I thought, but then I don’t know shit about shit.
International albums
Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
Totally pretentious as you’d expect with Richie’s lyrics but really quite stunningly-delivered and the best Manics album for god, a decade?
Future Of The Left – Travels With Myself And Another
The sharpest band on the planet in terms of riffs and lyrics hit home big-style… again.
Bombay Bicycle Club – I Got The Blues But I Shook Them Loose
Intense but accessible and they ain’t shook no blues loose for long.
Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Everyone wondered what would happen to them after a top debut and a glammy and not-entirely satisfying followup – they delivered this, and all was good again.
Aidan Moffat & The Best-Ofs - How To Get To Heaven From Scotland
The answet to the question posed by the title: get drunk and sing about everything from letching at tits to becoming a first-time daddy.
Artists to watch in 2010:
Esmee Denters
Wild Beasts
Jersey Budd
Dananananaykroyd
Ah fuck it can I say Dr Spock? Are they dead yet? Why not? Prison? Also Budam, more please.
TOP 5 ISLANDS
Anglesey
Cuba
Malta
Grand Cayman
Iceland
TOP 5 NUMBERS
1.2
2.5
3.4
4.2
5.3
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