Well would you look at the time? It's January 2019 AD. How did that happen? Nobody knows. Join me once again for the annual album of the year awards. Last year was a strange one for me, both personally and musically. But all years are like that, aren't they? I didn’t listen to nearly as … Continue reading Best of 2018: Top Five Albums
In 2016 I saw the video for Radiohead's "Burn the Witch", and I was suddenly hooked and decided to buy the album (A Moon Shaped Pool) when it came out. Then for whatever reason, I didn't bother to go through their back catalogue until this year, starting with OK Computer, and then jumping around with no real sense of purpose. It turns out to my very great surprise that I've come to realise that Radiohead are probably the greatest British band of the past 30 years.
I managed to not publish anything to this blog in 2017. That's an odd achievement that I'm not proud of. The truth is that within the past 12 months I've written literally thousands upon thousands of words that I didn't publish. There are many reasons, but primarily, I lost faith in the idea that my writing was really reaching out to anyone. Why publish something effectively no-one will read? In today's dissolving world, what use are my words? They're buried in noise, subsumed in an endless sea of arbitrary distractions.
Okay, so that's not really a great way to start of a post about my favourite music from 2017. But a little context goes a long way, and on that front it's worth mentioning that in 2017, podcasts have squeezed music out of my everyday life. And I was catching up on a lot of music from 2016 (ATCQ, RTJ, De La, etc.)
For those reasons, and others, I've opted to keep this list to six albums I enjoyed this year. No rankings - although Oxbow would take the top spot for sure. So join me, won't you?
I don't always do one of these lists at the end of the year, because I'm old and lazy and I don't think anybody really cares what I think, and all this needless self-deprecation is no-doubt making you sick. The main thing you need to know is that I did one of these this year, and … Continue reading Best of 2016: Top Ten Albums
It was a bit of an odd year for music - and in general. Mind you, I feel like I say that every year. I ended up digging through a lot of old favourites, expanding collections, and showing up late to a lot of old parties. 2015 saw me chewing through classic Beastie Boys, Pogues, clipping., Cave In, Beck's Odelay, … Continue reading Best of 2015: Music
It's mid November (how did that happen?), but as Glasgow residents will know, winter here lasts from October to about March. I like winter - although I prefer it drier than Glasgow's - which has so far plunged the city into a cycle of continuously grey skies, intermittent mild rain, and absurdly violent wind. Thanks to my upcoming … Continue reading Five Songs for Winter
So, it's the end of 2014. Boy, what a nothing year that was for me. Oh well, onward and downward I suppose. It wasn't all bad, there was a ton of cool music to enjoy, so that's something. I took a while working on this list, and there were a couple of late entries. There are a few … Continue reading Best of 2014: Top Ten Albums
Now that I'm finally here, it's weird. What am I going to do with myself, now that I don't have to listen to several Sunn O))) records once in a while and write a bunch of inane gibberish about them, or not about them as seems to have been the case recently? How about literally anything else? Which is … Continue reading Sunn O))) Endurance Runn O))): Part 12
The penultimate episode is here! You know how this works. I write about albums you don't care about, and you don't read it, and it's all just futile anyway. You know what I like about Sunn O))? Nothing. I just pretend to because I'm pretentious. It's all an act. Nobody could like music like this. That's an … Continue reading Sunn O))) Endurance Runn O))): Part 11
It's the final push (not countdown, don't think of that Europe song) men and gentlewomen. Guess what, this took a lot longer than I thought. Not much of an endurance run, with months in between some instalments, but you know how life is: demoralising and boring. No wait, I meant unpredictable. But I guess it's predictably unpredictable, … Continue reading Sunn O))) Endurance Runn O))): Part 10
