2008...over before it all began, sadly an epic approach to a review of 2008, the Christmas season, seasonal illness, and the day-job have all delayed what ideally could have been read in chunks over Xmas. Still, this was my 2008...

Part One: Singles/Downloads:

I hardly ever buy singles anymore - still protesting at the reduction of running time and tracks instilled about a decade ago, and a death knell in the singles of yore. Despite that, the following appeald...

'Industrial Strength' by Phil Wilson
My favourite e.p. release was former June Bride and former HM Revenue & Customs employee Phil Wilson's 'Industrial Strength' released on Slumberland Records. Here Phil covered tracks by Faust, Kraftwerk, S/T, and Throbbing Gristle - the two Krautock selections being Faust's 'It's a Rainy Day Sunshine Girl' and Kraftwerk's sublime 'Neon Lights'. The former sounded like Beck channelling The Happy Mondays and reminded me how fantastic the original was. The follow-up EPs New Wave and Pop are threatening to be as wonderful...

'What She Doesn't Know' by Nina Nastasia
One of the performances of the year was Nina Nastasia's acoustic performance at The Green Man. A version of 'What She Doesn't Know' made me aware of a 7"/download single that hardly registered on Big Cat at the start of the year. As typically great as her mighty back catalogue it was sad this treasure slipped out unnoticed...

'Batcat' by Mogwai
Mogwai's 'Batcat' was a pleasant companion to their fine The Hawk is Howling and worth the price of entry for 'Devil Rides', a wonderful collaboration with former 13th Floor Elevator and living leg-end Roky Erikson. It would be great to hear Roky work with other thoughtful alternative types with a result such as this...

'Vampire Blues' by Wooden Shjips
Available at their gigs along with their hard-to-find 'Loose Lips' 7" was another great single from San Franciscan psych-outfit Wooden Shjips featuring a cover of Neil Young's 'Vampire Blues'. Irritatingly this and several other rarely seen 7"s didn't find their way onto the Shjips brief Vol. 1 compilation that supposedly collected all their early singles (there is a two-disc version on import if you're eagle-eyed). Sounding like a Krautrock-Doors covering Spacemen 3 has to be a great thing, right?

'Kryptonite Pussy' by Yo Majesty! Yo Majesty's 'Kryptonite Pussy' was a great blend of ESG and electronic dance music pitched somewhere between Squarepusher and a hip London scene I'm probably only mildly aware of.

'Ghosts' by Ladytron
Ladytron's Velocifero was probably too long and designed for the band to tour on the back of, but primary single 'Ghosts' was beguiling pop, blending odd electronic rhythms, Helen Marnie's folky vocals, and a MBV-inspired drone.

'Dream Baby Dream' by Bruce Springsteen
The Suicide covers by artists such as Bruce Springsteen, The Horrors, Julian Cope and Grinderman have all been great thus far and really need to be collected together in one nice place to appreciate the wonder of Rev and Vega.

'Ringer' by Four Tet
Four Tet's 'Ringer' EP paid dividends with further listening, though why does everything get referenced as Krautrock? (we'll ignore my comments above!). A nice companion to Kieran Hebden's other work with One Little Place and Steve Reid and certainly a suggestion that Tangerine Dream will be hip in 2009.

'Strange Overtones' by Eno & Byrne
Eno & Byrne's free download 'Strange Overtones' offered up some fantastic pop to match earlier collaborations, though its parent album was...just alright really!

'Wilco The Song' by Wilco
Wilco performed the one-off 'Wilco the Song' and suggested that their new record might be rather decent; let's hope they haven't completely dropped their Neu! / Television aspirations though!

'Lighten Up, Morrissey' by Sparks
After Lil' Beethoven, the last few Sparks albums have been a bit disappointing, though 'Lighten Up Morrissey' was surely one of the singles of 2009 and proof that is a Mael's Mael's world...

Singles by The Smiths
I didn't buy it, but Rhino reminded me how great The Smiths' singles were, despite releasing an overpriced and back-catalogue exploiting collection of some of their 7"s in a box. This sort of exclusive release seemed the antithesis of the direct and very indie band of the 80s who were there for everyone. Still...The Smiths were fucking great, weren't they? (and I'm not just saying that as Morrissey's new single is a total rabbit pellet!).

'Freakshow' by The Cure Another 80s alternative outfit The Cure returned with four singles preceding their 4:13 Dream album - whilst I found the latter disappointing and mostly business as usual - the singles were all rather splendid. 'The Only One' and 'The Perfect Boy' revisited their jangly perfect pop and lush ballads of the late 80s, but it was the very odd 'Freakshow' and the psychedelic-funk of 'Sleep When I'm Dead' that stood out for me. The former sounds how Franz Ferdinand probably wish their upcoming comeback single should, and the latter is a reminder that Porl Thompson is most definitely back in the band...

Obviously there were undeniable single releases from Last of the Shadow Puppets ('The Age of the Understatement'), Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds ('Dig Lazarus Dig!!!'), TV on the Radio ('The Golden Age'), and Vampire Weekend ('Oxford Comma', which sounded more like The Fall than Paul Simon's Graceland). I wonder if some of these should be guilty pleasures?

Interlude: Those Guilty Pleasures

'Warwick Avenue' by Duffy
I hate the idea of Guilty Pleasures, you should like what you like and not dig things ironically to make other people OK about what they feel isn't hip or something? Played to death I know, but 'Warwick Avenue' by Duffy like the initial single 'Rockferry' was actually quite decent and sounded like McAlmont and Butler colliding with Cilla Black when she tried to go psychedelic. Overplayed to buggery though...

'Kids' by MGMT
As were MGMT, who got lots of exciting press and gushes of arousal from people who can't have listened to the disappointing album. However, two of the singles, 'Kids' and 'Time to Pretend' were quite lovely - though the latter sounded like The Flaming Lips and hardly an evolution in music! Warning: used as link music on TV lots!!

The Stranger by Billy Joel
The Guilty Pleasure reissue of the year is The Stranger by Billy Joel, topping up the pension fund for sure, but the title track, 'Movin' Out,' and the epic 'Scenes from an Italian Restaurant' still sound splendid. A shame more wasn't made of the Billy Joel-as-cool-as-Neil Young argument put in the recent book 'Faking It'!

The Genesis Box Set
The ultimate Guilty Pleasure would be the Genesis box-set, which I haven't bought. They are clearly punk rock before punk rock, playing whatever they felt like and dressing exactly how they wanted to. In their own special way, as unlistenable as Rudimentary Peni or whatever. A band with great, good, bad, and terrible elements, frequently in the same song! Still, the BBC's Prog Rock season makes me feel warm about such silliness and from time to time you can note that Genesis weren't that bad, e.g. the Elbow-influencing 'Entangled' (even Guy Garvey has pointed out its influence on 'Newborn'!), 'Home by the Sea', 'I Know What I Like...', the last 11 minutes of 'Supper's Ready'... Er, I'll get my coat now...

PART 2 COMING SOON...