Don't you just love this time of year? All those "best of" best ofs and all those people saying "I hate end of year charts"? Well I certainly don't, I've been sorting this one out for about SIX WEEKS now and I think I've finally come up with some final positions. Coming before the end of the year, my top 10 gigs, my top 10 albums, and my picks for 2006, and that last one gives me a chance to whack up some MP3s too!
Knock me in a cocked hat, you always played with a straight bat? Seeing the Mystery Jets in a venue as small as Chinnery's in Southend was a delight - great stage presence, excellent musicianship and Henry Harrison, 20 years older than everyone else in the band and looking like the live arena is his natural home. Weird and wonderful. Oh and their manager, Milo, is a Sultans of Ping fan too!
2: Bloc Party Banquet
Proof that you don't need a great singer AND great music AND great lyrics to make a classic - because, like most Bloc Party songs, I really don't know what the hell he's going on about.
3: Maximo Park Apply Some Pressure
This is the great pop song of 2005. Singable, shoutable, hookladen, good enough to reach the top 20 on two separate occasions this year, which may not be an impressive statistic for such a good song but have you seen the charts these days …?
4: Robocop Kraus Small Houses Odd Cars
Hard to say why I like the songs on this Nuremburg outfit's 4th album quite so much. Franz Ferdinand is the obvious comparison but they've been around a good 4 or 5 years longer and unusually for Germans, deliver it with much more humour. Apologies for stereotype mode being left on there but just because they're German I don't want you to think they sound like Kraftwerk! This song is the best for my money out of a very good bunch.
5: Futureheads Hounds Of Love
Despite coming out on an album in July 2004, NME made it their "track" of the year (I still prefer "single", even if it wasn't one, see no.4!) It's a brilliant version alright, a very different version of an excellent song which adds nothing or takes nothing away from the original's brilliance. It got the young people rightly interested in KB again too.
6: Others Lackey
I know a lot of people hate the Others, they have a rather too-honest-for-his-own-good spokesperson in the drug-loving The-Man-hating Dominic Masters and the simplicity of their lyrics does leave them open as a pretty easy target. But the gigs are great - can you name a similar band whose fans love them quite so much? - the music is an interesting blend of Cure/80s goth mixed with punk rock guitars, Dominic is a very nice bloke (having met him three times) who talks endlessly about football and the ways that record companies work, and I can't think of a bad thing to say about a song which could have been written by any sixthformer but still comes out sounding great.
7: Young Knives The Decision
I was a difficult child, I was abstract and wild … I'm the Prince of Wales, and if all else fails, I am the Prince of Wales, I am your monarch, your supreme monarch! The horses in the New Forest are running in their Sunday best … oh come on, do I really need to tell you how BRILLIANT this song is? Can't you see the clues? Can you visualise the video - with the singer's head being cooked in a pot? Every time I hear this song end I expect to hear the words "You're listening to BBC Radio 4" in perfect BBC English. Sums up English eccentricity like no other song has done for years.
8: Rakes Retreat
Hard call again to decide which one was the best of the bunch from this band but I think the marching beat of the song sums up the endless cycle of nothingness perfectly. Although I still prefer the video for 22 Grand Job.
9: MJ Hibbett and the Validators Never Going Back To Aldi's
Released for the first time on the BRILLIANT Artists Without Success Christmas compilation - not actually setting a few personal scores in public, the dislike of Aldi is merely down to his increased social status - Waitrose beckons for MJ. A bit of a musical oddity in that he gets a lot of airplay on BBC 6 Music - and Brentwood's only alternative, Phoenix FM - but not much elsewhere. If you get a chance, read his website … just like his single, it is GRATE.
10: Kate Bush Mrs Bartolozzi
The Bush we don't all hate is back. I found King of the Mountain a bit odd for a single release, but at no. 4 it was still her highest charting "hit" in 20 years, and her third-biggest ever. Some of the album has some bewildering lows, but there are also some amazing highs like this song - one piano, one still beautiful voice, one set of highly odd lyrics - and like a number of other tracks on the album, among the best things she's ever done - and that's no mean feat.
11: Data Panik Cubis
Data Panik are the reformed and enlarged Bis, currently releasing songs themselves on their own website, and gigging from time to time, mainly in and around Glasgow but I was fortunate to catch them in London in the summer. They played a set of around 7 songs, all new stuff, all sounding as good as anything that Bis ever did, and this is the best of the lot - half punk, half electronic, all great shouty singalong.
12: Kaiser Chiefs Modern Way
While I've moaned elsewhere about the overplaying of Employment - one of the year's top selling albums, incredibly - this song, with its brilliant tennis ball thing going on in the video, is the most atmospheric and intelligent on their Modern Life Is Rubbish ripoff of an album. Can someone please shoot the singer though!
13: Rulers Of The Planet Backbencher
The last of three songs from my favourite debut album of the year - more mid-tempo and reminiscent of Therapy? in their prime.
14: Arcade Fire Rebellion (Lies)
The highlight of that album everyone is talking and raving about - while this is a fantastic song, I found the whole CD a bit patchy. But if ever I wanted to get dressed up in some kind of American revolutionary gear (it's probably some ironic Canadian statement, isn't it) and walk down the street banging a drum, this is the song I'd do it to.
15: We Are Scientists Great Escape
Extra points for "that dance" in the video - enough said!
16: ¡Forward, Russia! Thirteen
When I interviewed them earlier this year I asked them what their political agenda was - not in a "are you filthy commies" sort of way, but because I was genuinely interested. Oh we don't really have one, they said, which makes me wonder how many other non-political bands would put the word "politburo" in their lyrics as this one does? The midi version of this song is still the best ringtone I've ever had on my phone.
17: Soundtrack Of Our Lives Heading For A Breakdown
Never had a lot of time for the Swedish psychadelic rockers until this year - this song, complete with hilarious manic freak-out video, is a brilliant pop/rock outing.
18: Madness I Chase the Devil AKA Ironshirt
A cover of the Max Romeo song, more recognisable to most as the main tune and refrain from the Prodigy's "Out Of Space". This is a quality ska song though, musically very tight and bodes well for more Madness original material due out in 2006.
19: Gorillaz Dare
First time I heard this song - I didn't realise it was Gorillaz, I thought it was some peculiar fantastic no-sales sad electroclash outfit. Not knowing what it was, I never thought I'd hear it again ... until the next day, when XFM playlisted it. That a fat bloated corporation like D Albarn plc can come up with something so fresh and original after all these years is considerably irritating!
20: Aberdeen City God Is Going To Get Sick Of Me
I've read the lyrics and I still don't know why God is going to get sick of him, but I haven't played this song quite enough times to be sick of it myself.
21: Franz Ferdinand Do You Want To?
Franz-by-numbers debut single from the stupidly titled second album which got better with each and every play, until you actually realised that it was quite a clever song really.
22: Beauty Shop Monster
I think technically it was out in the US last year but it came out for the first time in the UK in September so I am cheating and putting it in as it's the best slab of Americana I've heard in a long time.
23: Test-Icicles Circle Square Triangle
The Millwall of the indie scene in the UK right now - everyone hates them, but they clearly don't care. This is a brilliant spiky and angular (TM - copyright words of the moment 2005) song and I'm just glad not to have seen the farces of their live shows which have been less than impressive!
24: Rakes 22 Grand Job
Every time this video comes on the telly I remind everyone that you shouldn't knock office life as my office is *exactly* like this video. I think everyone is secretly overawed and jealous at the same time, but they don't let on.
25: British Sea Power It Ended On An Oily Stage
I managed to catch the album launch show for Open Season back in April and I think this is still the standout track, maybe because of their insistance of correct English - not many bands would bother to include the word "whilst" when "while" or something more vulgar would do!
26: Cardigans I Need Some Fine Wine, And You, You Need To Be Nicer
An unassuming but beautiful song, a return to form from their career lowpoint of Gran Turismo (only in my humble opinion of course), plus you get to hear Nina Persson bark out orders, what more do you want in a song?
27: Komakino Say Something
I know it was really trendy for "young person band websites" to love this lot (especially since one of them put them out on their own record label) but to me this song has early indies 90 all over it. It could be a B side from Mega City 4, or Thousand Yard Stare, or even early Marion, and that's why I love it!
28: Franz Ferdinand This Boy
The best part of the song is the "beep-beep" in between each line of the verses. I don't think the song would be in my top 100 without it … it's just a work of genius! Actually the rest of the song is pretty good too.
29: Others William
Bah bah bah-bah-bah bah bah, Bah bah bah-bah-bah bah bah, Bah bah bah-bah-bah bah bah! Now I don't actually mind singing this one because I can relate to the lyrics quite well.
30: Art Brut Emily Kane
10 years, 9 months, 3 weeks, 4 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes, 5 seconds .. great lyrics about unrequited and, let's face it, just a bit scarey love.
31: Kooks Sofa Song
Great performance at Cambridge supporting the Subways, this band was one of two top 40 singles in the UK this year, reaching 28 in October.
32: Arcade Fire Power Out
One of two highlights from the Canadian weirdos this year - when the rhythm section's this good, you don't care what the rest of the song is trying to do. (If you're like me, that is).
33: Bloc Party The Pioneers
The song with the weird animated "hmm, not quite finished, we'll make it up as we go along" storyboard of a video.
34: Data Panik Sense Not Sense
Possibly the best B side I've bought since I stopped buying singles! A very different affair to the A side of Cubis - found elsewhere in this chart - a slower moody driving synth-laden outing.
35: Jegsy Dodd and the Original Sinners Grumpy Old Men
Have to confess that I've been a bit of an ignoramus and didn't really know or appreciate this lot until the end of the year when it hit no.1 on OneMusic's Festive 50. However it seems that amazingly no other radio station is giving it the time of day - just the second biggest one in the UK then. Profane, perhaps a little predictable but it's the right accent for the right material and you wonder why no one else thought of it before.
36: Chris T-T A Plague On Both Your Houses
Most of the stuff I tend to listen to is either upbeat or meaningless; I'd pretty much grown out of "message" songs. This one, however, is the standout from the mini-album "9 Red Songs" - quite a sad little number about the Iraqi war, but a haunting song all the same. Chris T-T continues to go from strength to strength and is often cited as the new Billy Bragg (a bit unfair, his voice isn't quite so harsh). Wonder when he'll be going fishing in his 4x4?
37: El Presidente Rocket
Surprise package at the Wireless festival this year - I caught them in the XFM tent and they were fantastic. Whether they sold enough for the majors to give them a second bash is anyone's guess though.
38: Chalets Sexy Mistake
I believe it came out in Ireland last year as a double A side with Theme from Chalets, but yes I am cheating again, as it's on the debut album released in the UK this year.
39: We Are Scientists Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
Debut single from WAS, released in July, and a refreshing change from a lot of the guitar stuff coming out of the states (and the English stuff that copies it).
40: Foo Fighters DOA
I don't have many out-and-out non-indie-weirdness straight down the line rock songs, but the Foo Fighters always seem to come up with at least one song evey album which I find myself subconsciously tapping my foot to from start to finish. Obviously I don't headbang or do air guitar or anything undignified like that.
41: Starsailor In The Crossfire
"Comeback" single which I'm not ashamed to admit I quite like! Didn't quite make the top 20 although they are massive megastars in France at the moment (true!) which I'm sure is some small comfort to them.
42: Rulers Of The Planet Nandrolone
100 mile per hour adrenaline fuelled rock at its best.
43: Nine Black Alps Just Friends
I know they get pigeonholed as all sorts of things (new Manchester grunge?) but there's something very very late 70s punk about the guitars on this song.
44: Futureheads Area
Sunderland's XTC tribute band with a taster from the second album, hopefully due out soon.
45: Be Your Own Pet Fire Department
Shouty teenage American punk (not to be confused with rubbish American punk like Blink 182). Released in July and reached no 59 in the UK.
46: Robocop Kraus After Laughter Comes Tears
Definitely not to be confused with the song of almost the same name by the Wu Tang Clan.
47: Dead 60s The Last Resort
The band's highest charting single, reaching 24 in April.
48: Gorillaz Feel Good Inc
Hard to believe such a good song is so low in my chart - shows what a good year it's been. Still hoping to hear some new Blur with Graham Coxon though, but I don’t think it's going to happen soon!
49: Maximo Park Going Missing
The band's third top 20 hit this year, released in the summer and a bit less frenetic than their other releases.
50: Coldplay Talk
It's taken me a long time to get into X&Y the same way I got into Parachutes and to be honest I don't think I'm going to give it the time when there's too many good albums around elsewhere! This is still a good song though even though it was nicked from Kraftwerk.
51: Rulers of the Planet Jesus Freak
One of three high enery rock songs in my chart this year from the debut album from Cork rock band Rulers of the Planet.
52: Abdoujaparov Ultra Cool
Self-released punk rock EP from Carter USM's Fruitbat, and sounding like he's having as much fun as he ever did.
53: Charlotte Hatherley Bastardo
Breezy poppy funny song about the git that stole her guitar, and I think the "O" on the end of Bastardo just makes it funnier, can anyone explain why this is?
54: Idlewild Love Steals Us From Loneliness
Seems like a long time ago now (March I think) but this song was their fourth UK top 20 hit.
55: Art Brut Good Weekend
The elusive outfit's "feelgood" song, released in October to lower-chart acclaim.
56: Robocop Kraus You Don't Have To Shout
A bizarre but nevertheless highly enjoyable pop/synth song about Matthias Rust's flight into the USSR in the 80s.
57: Jacksonswarehouse Hotel By The Sea
Newly signed to the very small and indie SX Records (Essex, geddit?), Jacksonswarehouse are a band from Basildon who sound nothing like Depeche Mode or Yazoo. And why should they .. they're one of a bunch of indie/guitar driven bands from the area gigging non stop who might make inroads in 2006. The name itself is an in-joke, taken from a shop where everyone in Basildon used to buy their school uniform, causing much hilarity within the town and much puzzlement from outside. Drownedinsound say … "Jacksonswarehouse sound like Gomez and the Doves covering Nirvana songs in a loft owned by Andy Warhol". Well of course they don't. Andy Warhol's fucking loft indeed.
58: Long Blondes Separated By Motorways
And the music press had the nerve to run Elastica out of town. The best bit about this song is the specific mentioning of the A14 and the A1 as the "motorways" doing the separating, which frankly demonstrates a horrific lack of knowledge of the Highway Code.
59: ¡Forward, Russia! Nine
Another mix of unintelligible singing, odd lyrics, more-than-one-bridge, random changes of direction and fantastic guitar work. Definitely more to come from this lot in 2006, and they gig non stop, so not hard to catch them somewhere near you soon.
60: Duke Spirit Lion Rip
Their highest charting song, reaching no 25 in February - hopefully more to come from this lot in 2006.
61: Nine Black Alps Shot Down
Their first single and highest charting one to date, reaching no 25 in March.
62: Arctic Monkeys I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor
It's just Oasis with a Yorkshire accent, isn't it?
63: Sons and Daughters Taste The Last Girl
Scottish countrified electric boogie - great live band too. It's easy to lose yourself in this song; even the bit that sounds like Message In A Bottle.
64: Hybrasil God Bless The Devil
Another track from the We Got Music EP discussing that age-old biblical problem - a musician trying to work out if guitars or synthesizers are going to send him to hell quicker (at least that's the take I've got on it).
65: Bravery An Honest Mistake
Every now and then a band who are clearly overhyped and over-made-up actually come up with a half-decent song. And I am being a bit unfair really, I saw the Bravery in New York this year in a venue much smaller than one they would grace in the UK, and they put in a great live show, even in front of a decidedly "too cool for school" bunch of posers which made up that crowd.
66: Days Of Worth Ladies And Gentlemen
Don't go for a lot of that "emo" but this was a good song from a genuinely nice bunch of guys. Last saw them in August at the often-mentioned TMF in Essex, the band have since split - and the website removed by "the man" they were so often railing against; quite sad to see he had the last laugh!
67: Aberdeen City Sixty Lives
One of two records in my top 100 courtesy to the band's strategy of emailing bloggers such as myself. Very much an early-Radiohead sort of feel - hopefully the hard work they've clearly put in publicising some rather excellent music will translate into record sales and gigs in 2006.
68: Supergrass Low C
One of their lowest charting songs but still good to hear them again. The whole album, Road to Rouen, is lazily atmospheric with a feel that they're looking back on better times, which perhaps adds just a bit more poignancy to this song.
69: Bloc Party Two More Years
By comparison to their other stuff, a bit of a dull outing at first play, but like all BP songs this one has crawled under my skin the more I've heard it.
70: LCD Soundsystem Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
One of the genuinely enjoyable characters in dance music at the moment - seeing him at the Leeds Festival last year was a very enjoyable experience too.
71: Kaiser Chiefs Every Day I Love You Less And Less
Probably would have been higher if everyone (including me) hadn't overplayed this album so much this year.
72: Babyshambles Fuck Forever
Yes, he is a twat of the highest order, and his live performances are shambolic, and I hate his love/hate relationship with the tabloids, especially the Mirror, which I wouldn't wipe my arse on normally, and I really hate those stupid hats that everyone wears, this is not Only Fools and Horses. And if I didn't put this song in my top 100 (I do actually like it) I couldn't get that off my chest, could I?
73: A Rush Song
Not as good as previous offerings from the Sting-soundalike skate-rock outfit (eh?) but made up for with an incendiary live show back in April at my favourite venue, the Metro Club in London.
74: Dead 60s Ghostfaced Killer
What can you say about the Dead 60s that hasn't been said before .. other than that I tipped them last year!
75: Gorillaz Dirty Harry
First heard this song in January when it came out as a white label, and I wasn't overly impressed with it. Funny how a few hundred extra plays can change your opinion.
76: VHS Or Beta Nightwaves
One of the "tighest" bands I've seen this year when I saw them play a sold out show at 93 Feet East in London's Brick Lane (mmm, nice curry that night too). I can't help thinking that they are the 21st century Shakatak repackaged and resold to the young indie crowd, but their album "Night On Fire" is still worth more than a couple of listens. The song I've chosen isn't the title track, released as a single, but the mid-album instrumental.
77: Editors Bullets
I don't usually gorge myself on Joy Division and the bands influenced by them but Editors (not "The Editors") were an exception as this was a highly likeable tune. Good performance on "Later with" this year too.
78: Frank and Walters You Asked Me
One of my favourite bands from the 90s as highlighted many times on this webiste. This is the single release from their B-sides and rarities compilation "Souvenirs" which came out in the autumn on FIFA Records, and to be honest it's not one of my favourites. The album has been shortlisted as one of five for best album on the Irish equivalent of the Brit awards - an astonishing achievement for a band 10 years outside their prime, but then it is a good album!
79: Thrills Irish Keep Gate Crashing
More of where they left off in 2003/4, pleasant enough but not exactly world changing.
80: Clor Love & Pain
A lot of people's favourite of the year - voted no 1 by Playlouder.com. Good song but come on, have you seen *my* top ten .. How can you compare! The video still freaks me out, not least because it seems to have been put together using the very latest state of the art equipment that 1980 has to offer.
81: Hot Hot Heat Goodnight Goodnight
Didn't hit the heights of No Not Now, one of my favourites of the whole century, but not a bad offering.
82: Bloc Party So Here We Are
The Bloc Party song I tried hard not to like, but there you go, couldn't ignore it completely no matter how hard I tried.
83: Beck E-Pro
I can't listen to any of his stuff any more without thinking of his head in a jar playing a harmonica and touring America in the year 3000 - thanks Futurama!
84: Nizlopi JCB Song
Oh come on, it's not *that* bad, is it. Just wait for everyone to leave them room, and say it out loud.
85: Burningpilot You Can't Kid A Kidder
One of the less-well-known tracks released by the ultra-cool-in-2005 Transgressive label. Toby and Tim, who run the label, are two nice guys and don't deserve the highs and lows of the fickle public, so here's hoping the label prospers even more next year!
86: Maximo Park Graffiti
A hammond-fuelled indier version of the theme from Weekend World (I can't be the only person to remember that one).
87: Hybrasil We Got Music
A new band from Ireland - this single reached the Irish top 50 in the summer. Bit of a groovy Kasabian/Mondays style with synths. Debut album hopefully out in 2006 and definitely one to check out.
88: Elbow Forget Myself
Not the usual kind of stuff I listen to but Elbow come out with a killer song just once in a while, and in 2005 it was this song's turn.
89: Doves Black And White Town
Similar to, but not quite as dramatic as There Goes The Fear, but a good record all the same.
90: Subways No Goodbyes
A bit different from the other efforts that came from this band this year. If I could put them higher because they are really nice people (having had free rein to roam around backstage at one of their gigs this year, I can confirm this) then I would.
91: Chemical Brothers Galvanize
A fantastic start - energy bursting out of the first few bars - then by the end you're looking at your watch wondering how many times that refrain's been played. Like all Chemical Brothers songs really.
92: Madness Shame And Scandal
One of two Madness covers in my top 100, this one being a new version of an old Lord Tanamo song, although it could be a follow up to Embarrassment. I was lucky enough to see Madness at the (hot and sweaty) Scala in London in the summer - definitely beats seeing them in Finsbury Park or a hige forest. Released in the summer and made no 38 in the UK.
93: Duke Spirit Cuts Across The Land
Noteworthy for an excellent performance at Essex's TMF festival in the summer.
94: Stereophonics Dakota
Stereophonics in good song shocker! It's not Handbags and Gladrags by any means, and an equally-shocked British public reacted by accidently sending it to no 1 in the singles charts back in March.
95: Jose Gonzalez Hand On Your Heart
He's in some advert or other now isn't he? And he's Swedish, something not instantly recognisable from the name. And this is an Americana cover of the Kylie song. And it's all as good as it sounds. From August's Stay In The Shade EP.
96: 65daysofstatic Drove Through Ghosts To Get Here
I know a lot of people "get" this band, and I quite like the pointless meandering of the music, but I haven't fully got it yet. And let's face it, I may never do so!
97: Soulwax NY Excuse
Released in June, around the time of the Wireless festival, and the record sleeve is as headache-inducing as the backdrop was on the stage that day. Note if they have one next year: don't get your hopes up at seeing all the bands if you're not a (certain mobile phone company) customer.
98: Feeder Shatter
It's not quite Buck Rogers or Just A Day but at least they've speeded things up a bit again.
99: Manic Street Preachers Empty Souls
The lowest selling no.2 record in the UK ever, trivia fans. It sold just 12,573 in its first week of release in January.
100: Boxer Rebellion All You Do Is Talk
Just about passable for a bit of emo I suppose. What a damp squib of a way to end the chart!
Ooh excellent list there. Must say I agree with a fair few of your choices there. Got a good blog going on here! Just noticed your band pics..I was at the Rocket too for Maximo. Judging from your pics I was stood (more like bouncing) fairly near you! I got see them yet again at the Palais along with Clor. Superb night that was. Can't believe I missed Mystery Jets in Southend. I must keep my eye out more...or read this blog more often! Enough of my rambling, enjoy your Christmas and happy new year!
Thanks for the comments fellow Essex person (I'm guessing). Don't tell me you missed the Sultans of Ping in Grays too! I didn't get very close to Maximo Park, there were a lot of young people tightly packed in like sardines in front of me. And it was dark there, really dark. Great show/album though.
Hi Paul, yes indeed an Essex girly here. I hail from South Woodham and my husband DJ's a rock/indie type night in Wickford on a Wednesday. The Rocket did have a surprisingly packed and energetic mosh type thing going on. Well my husband was surprised as he's more of the metal/rock inclination so didn't expect it at the Park. I also saw them at Colchester and Palais..plus aftershows so got to thank Paul and LuKas for the great shows myself. They still have that genuine appreciation for those who come to their shows and I hope they never lose that. Yes I'm afraid I did miss of Sultans of Ping too. Babysitters are hard to come by so I miss alot of gigs. I must see Echelon and The Chorus soon (coming from SWF), Sunshine Underground, Mystery Jets and The Kooks are also on my list to see before I have my baby in April! If that's possible. The Chalets should be doing Colchester soon I believe so may catch that. Ooh Subways fans too? Saw them support Embrace (plus Editors yay, Bullets is in my top 5 for this year) this summer. Excellent fun they were too.
Thanks for the heads up about the Chalets, I will try and make that one! Good luck with the baby, having subjected my eldest son to Sleeper at the Cliffs Pavilion two weeks before he squeezed himself out, I can confirm that loud music has no detrimental effect, but only if it's good ...
2 Others songs and some Madness. How excquisitely untrendy. Thankyou for your whoring of the Sultans of Ping on LKTO this year. I'd dismissed them out of hand as I hate Where's Me Jumper, but you've got me sucked in now. x PS. Alas Agnes is twice as good as You Can't Fool Me Dennis.
Where may I ask are the research? They have released undoubtedly some of the coolest singles of 2005 and are not even in your top 100. Frankly I am dissapointed.....
Oh yes The Research are fab. Great fun. The Chalets are doing Colchester Uni on the 2nd of February I do believe. Last time I went there was the Park and Blood Arm. I love those student bar prices too! I must agree early exposure to good music is beneficial, my 6 year old is currently into Feeder and Arctic Monkeys. Thank goodness i'm not forced to listen to McFly like the other mums are round here! He's started on the gigging already, taking him to a local band event for youngsters. Found a good blog of top videos of the year that you may like.
Thanks for everyone's comments, they're great. I like the untrendy bit, that's me alright, I don't have a clue. I've no idea why the Others are so uncool but they are a great band. The Research are good but I don't think I really heard any of their singles, I only saw them live supporting Maximo Park. That's the great thing about charts though isn't it, every one's different :-)
Thanks for the videos list Tracy, I've wasted a lot of time on there today already, no wonder I don't get time to update this thing. I don't remember that Cardigans video on TV ... does anyone else? That's 100MB of my hard drive put to good use!
1: Mystery Jets
2: Bloc Party
3: Maximo Park
4: Robocop Kraus
5: Futureheads
6: Others
7: Young Knives
8: Rakes
9: MJ Hibbett and the Validators
10: Kate Bush
11: Data Panik
12: Kaiser Chiefs
13: Rulers Of The Planet
14: Arcade Fire
15: We Are Scientists
16: ¡Forward, Russia!
17: Soundtrack Of Our Lives
18: Madness
19: Gorillaz
20: Aberdeen City
21: Franz Ferdinand
22: Beauty Shop
23: Test-Icicles
24: Rakes
25: British Sea Power
26: Cardigans
27: Komakino
28: Franz Ferdinand
29: Others
30: Art Brut
31: Kooks
32: Arcade Fire
33: Bloc Party
34: Data Panik
35: Jegsy Dodd and the Original Sinners
36: Chris T-T
37: El Presidente
38: Chalets
39: We Are Scientists
40: Foo Fighters
41: Starsailor
42: Rulers Of The Planet
43: Nine Black Alps
44: Futureheads
45: Be Your Own Pet
46: Robocop Kraus
47: Dead 60s
48: Gorillaz
49: Maximo Park
50: Coldplay
51: Rulers of the Planet
52: Abdoujaparov
53: Charlotte Hatherley
54: Idlewild
55: Art Brut
56: Robocop Kraus
57: Jacksonswarehouse
58: Long Blondes
59: ¡Forward, Russia!
60: Duke Spirit
61: Nine Black Alps
62: Arctic Monkeys
63: Sons and Daughters
64: Hybrasil
65: Bravery
66: Days Of Worth
67: Aberdeen City
68: Supergrass
69: Bloc Party
70: LCD Soundsystem
71: Kaiser Chiefs
72: Babyshambles
73: A
74: Dead 60s
75: Gorillaz
76: VHS Or Beta
77: Editors
78: Frank and Walters
79: Thrills
80: Clor
81: Hot Hot Heat
82: Bloc Party
83: Beck
84: Nizlopi
85: Burningpilot
86: Maximo Park
87: Hybrasil
88: Elbow
89: Doves
90: Subways
91: Chemical Brothers
92: Madness
93: Duke Spirit
94: Stereophonics
95: Jose Gonzalez
96: 65daysofstatic
97: Soulwax
98: Feeder
99: Manic Street Preachers
100: Boxer Rebellion
Ooh excellent list there. Must say I agree with a fair few of your choices there.
Got a good blog going on here! Just noticed your band pics..I was at the Rocket too for Maximo. Judging from your pics I was stood (more like bouncing) fairly near you! I got see them yet again at the Palais along with Clor. Superb night that was.
Can't believe I missed Mystery Jets in Southend. I must keep my eye out more...or read this blog more often!
Enough of my rambling, enjoy your Christmas and happy new year!
Thanks for the comments fellow Essex person (I'm guessing). Don't tell me you missed the Sultans of Ping in Grays too! I didn't get very close to Maximo Park, there were a lot of young people tightly packed in like sardines in front of me. And it was dark there, really dark. Great show/album though.
HEEY WHERE IS BABYSHAMBLES - DOWN IN ALBION ???
you fool !!
Hi Paul, yes indeed an Essex girly here. I hail from South Woodham and my husband DJ's a rock/indie type night in Wickford on a Wednesday.
The Rocket did have a surprisingly packed and energetic mosh type thing going on. Well my husband was surprised as he's more of the metal/rock inclination so didn't expect it at the Park. I also saw them at Colchester and Palais..plus aftershows so got to thank Paul and LuKas for the great shows myself. They still have that genuine appreciation for those who come to their shows and I hope they never lose that.
Yes I'm afraid I did miss of Sultans of Ping too. Babysitters are hard to come by so I miss alot of gigs. I must see Echelon and The Chorus soon (coming from SWF), Sunshine Underground, Mystery Jets and The Kooks are also on my list to see before I have my baby in April! If that's possible. The Chalets should be doing Colchester soon I believe so may catch that.
Ooh Subways fans too? Saw them support Embrace (plus Editors yay, Bullets is in my top 5 for this year) this summer. Excellent fun they were too.
Thanks for the heads up about the Chalets, I will try and make that one! Good luck with the baby, having subjected my eldest son to Sleeper at the Cliffs Pavilion two weeks before he squeezed himself out, I can confirm that loud music has no detrimental effect, but only if it's good ...
2 Others songs and some Madness. How excquisitely untrendy. Thankyou for your whoring of the Sultans of Ping on LKTO this year. I'd dismissed them out of hand as I hate Where's Me Jumper, but you've got me sucked in now.
x
PS. Alas Agnes is twice as good as You Can't Fool Me Dennis.
Where may I ask are the research? They have released undoubtedly some of the coolest singles of 2005 and are not even in your top 100. Frankly I am dissapointed.....
Oh yes The Research are fab. Great fun.
The Chalets are doing Colchester Uni on the 2nd of February I do believe. Last time I went there was the Park and Blood Arm. I love those student bar prices too! I must agree early exposure to good music is beneficial, my 6 year old is currently into Feeder and Arctic Monkeys. Thank goodness i'm not forced to listen to McFly like the other mums are round here! He's started on the gigging already, taking him to a local band event for youngsters.
Found a good blog of top videos of the year that you may like.
Thanks for everyone's comments, they're great. I like the untrendy bit, that's me alright, I don't have a clue. I've no idea why the Others are so uncool but they are a great band. The Research are good but I don't think I really heard any of their singles, I only saw them live supporting Maximo Park. That's the great thing about charts though isn't it, every one's different :-)
Thanks for the videos list Tracy, I've wasted a lot of time on there today already, no wonder I don't get time to update this thing. I don't remember that Cardigans video on TV ... does anyone else? That's 100MB of my hard drive put to good use!
You're welcome. I'm rather partial to timewasting websites, distracts me from housework!
I have seen The Research on MTV2 a couple of times with C'Mon Chameleon but that was a while ago now. I don't remember that Cardigans one either.
Hooray for the return of the Franks and the Sultans. Wahaaayyy.
USA LOVES BLOC PARTY!!!
*none of the others are too popular here...
Fantastic list... some i'd never heard before, and some i'd forgotten about!
Inspired me to finish (well almost) my top 100 list :-) Great site
http://www.musiclikedirt.com
Hybrasil are simply fab.
And they're much more refined live than their recorded output (so far) would have you believe. Get to see them if you get a chance.
They're playing Dublin at the end of March 2006 and London towards the end of April.