2009 - A Year in Music or "They always talk of my Drinking, Never my Thirst"

2009, eh? What was that about? Shit, wasn't it 2007 the other day? Surely one of the fastest years in history, at least in my living memory – or could it be that reaching a quarter of a century means that time speeds up?

Anyways, music. Tons of good shit this year, and for the first time in ages I was able to pick a decent list from records released in the calendar year, without including records from the past I happened to pick up.


Records (well, CDs or dubiously obtained digital downloads), then:

American Steel – Dear Friends & Gentle Hearts
Nothing complicated here – but absolute singalong bangers. One of the only bands on this list to give you the ability to jump over twice your own height while belting out a chorus. Fact.


Banner Pilot – Collapser
Gravelly pop-punk from Minneapolis. Firmly derived from the Dillinger Four/No Idea records lineage, the entire record itself is better than the sum of its parts.


Brand New – Daisy
With Jesse Lacey continuing to look so damn uncomfortable on stage and refusing to play the publicity game, you’ve got to wonder how long the band will continue. No brand new Brand New (hah) would be a shame – there aren’t many people doing this sort of twisted Modest Mouse + Tom Waits influenced rock around these days.


Thursday – Common Existence
Return to form for the New Joisey noiseniks – I personally thought A City By The Light Divided was a huge letdown. Much derided for kicking off the screamo nonsense, songs such as ‘Friends In The Armed Forces’ and ‘Resuscitation of A Dead Man’ shows there aren’t many post-hardcore bands out there that can hold a candle to Thursday.


Teenage Bottlerocket – They Came from The Shadows
Another 14-song slab of Ramones-core pop-punk, with the longest song barely scraping 3 minutes. No nonsense.


Super Furry Animals – Dark Days/Light Years
A crazy album featuring guest raps from members of Franz Ferdinand (in German) and nigh-on Metal breakdowns (on The Very Best of Neil Diamond). Gruff and the boys still tripping the light fantastic, despite this being rather more krautrock than I normally go for. Good to see the return of some songs in Cymraeg in the course of normal SFA albums.

Polar Bear Club – Chasing Hamburg
A couple of months on, I get the impression that this record hasn’t had as much love from the press as it deserves. In my opinion, it’s at least as good as their previous release, and indeed is far more streamlined. Perennial punknews.org favourites, they were always likely to encounter some kind of backlash no matter what they came out with – the song ‘One Hit Back’ being a knowing riposte to the message board warriors. Plus points for being an amazing live act.


The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – S/T
One of this year’s Pitchfork buzz bands. Who cares, the album is great – jangly shoegazish pop isn’t usually my cup of tea, but for some reason I really clicked with this one.


Permanent Bastards – Emerica
How this band hasn’t gone on to greater things I’ll never know. I happened to stumble across a review on the .org, and then checked out the album. OK it’s very easy to detect a Tom Gabel & co influence, but with onetime genre standard bearers Against Me! practically being a modern rock band these days, there aren’t many bands till cracking out this kind of hollering folk-punk (yes OK there is the Plan-It X roster). Hopefully they’ll turn up in Fest next year, as I don’t see them making it over from the Canadian tundra to Cymru Fach anytime soon.


NOFX – Coaster
You know what you get from Fat Mike & the boys – some funny songs, some drinking tunes, a smattering of political songs, and a whole lot about drugs. As Fatty himself acknowledges during the song, in a massive deviation from the script, Coaster includes the sincere tearjerker My Orphan Year. Far stronger overall than Wolves in Wolves Clothing, and even…War on Errorism. It’s worth noting that the Fat Wreck quotient of this list is now up to 4…and counting.


P.O.S – Never Better
More from Midwestern music mecca Minneapolis, this is punk rock put through a hip-hop filter from DoomTree/Rhymesayers Entertainment. Dense and sometimes abrasive, the beats are unlike any hip-hop record I’ve heard in a while, and this features the best production since the last El-P effort. +10 scene points for having a cameo vocal appearance from Jason Schevchuk of Kid Dynamite / None More Black fame. +20 scene points for being a Fugazi-referencing hip-hop album.

Other notable records:

Mariachi El Bronx – S/T (Matt Caughran can do more than scream, dude’s got pipes)
Broadway Calls – Good Views, Bad News (initially dismissed as by-numbers pop-punk, there’s great songsmithery at hand here)
Converge – Axe to Fall (not normally my kind of thing, but amazing in the gym – shit sounds like you’re being chased. All the time. Slow songs sound like Tom Waits carrying a knife)
Against Me! – The Original Cowboy (unreleased demos from As The Eternal Cowboy sessions)
Alexisonfire – Old Crows/Young Cardinals (AoF wheel not pointlessly re-invented, with some punk rock belters added)
Propagandhi – Supporting Caste (and I don’t even like Propagandhi)

EPs

The Menzingers – Hold On Dodge (slow-build masterpiece, in the words of Brendan Kelly)
The Lawrence Arms – Buttsweat & Tears (Shame no full length this year but any Larry Arms whatsoever = much appreciated. 6th and final mention on here for Fat Wreck!)
A Wilhelm Scream – S/T (One word - Shred)
Paint It Black – Surrender/Amnesia (Dr Yemin at his best)


In terms of live music, I was lucky enough to hit two festivals in bizarre localities – Groezrock, Belgium in sunny April (which truly brought to life the Great War poetry of the Somme and Flanders fields), and then The Fest 8 in Gainesville, Florida, where it truly did feel like summer in October. I can personally vouch for D4’s lyrics – I got hit by heatstroke twice. Though I managed to drunkenly catch luminaries such as D4, American Steel, Less Than Jake, and Off With Their Heads, I did miss Polar Bear Club, A Wilhelm Scream and Crime In Stereo – three of the bands I’d gone there to see, due to Pabst Blue Ribbon-related reasons.


I also saw some awesome gigs from the likes of The Bronx (Clwb Ifor, March), Polar Bear Club (Barfly, March), Dillinger Four (Bristol, December), the Super Furry Animals (Coal Exchange, November), Chuck Regan (TJ's, Newport, August) and NOFX (Groezrock & Students Union, April/May). There are probably more which I was too refreshed to remember about. But hey, that’s what I do.

I'm shit at goodbyes. See you later.

G.R.W

The Premier League 2008/09 - An Obituary pt1.

So there it is then. After being forced the agony of watching both my beloved sides lose the F.A Cup Final in consecutive years the season is finally over, and for a brief time at least the Saturday evening sinking feeling that goes with it. You cant say it wasn’t exciting what with Stoke abolishing football from the Premiership, Phil Brown proving that footballers are indeed not made of the same stern and proud granite they once were, and Newcastle United finally granting the wish of millions of neutral football fans across the United Kingdom by relegating themselves as a result of once again choosing cult status over actual football management ability in their hunt for a scapego…sorry messiah…manger, shit sorry. Perhaps the two most shocking revelations of the season though were Everton claiming their inevitable fifth spot despite the use of any fit strikers and Rafael Benitez finally demonstrating that he is a capable manager after all, a fact that he has hidden quite magnificently over the past few years.

We begin our misty-eyed look back, appropriately, with the top two...

Manchester United – It wasn’t always pretty, and in the end wasn’t wholly convincing either. They proved their worth by hauling themselves over both early and late season wobbles to cross the line still valiantly fending off those desperately snapping at their tails.

Star Man: Nemanja Vidic had a colossal first half of the season where he was seemingly peerless at the heart of the United defence. The second half was far less impressive and that sending off at home to Liverpool was just the tip of a decidedly shaky iceberg that showed him horribly susceptible to pace, a flaw that could also have seen him dismissed on several other occasions, not least the moment at St James’ Park where he kicked Obafemi Martins up into the Newcastle night’s sky. Micahel Carrick’s season followed a similar trajectory to that of his Serbian team-mate – sublime for the most part but tailed off terribly towards the end where he descended from being the puppet-master of the whole scary operation into little more than confused bystander culminating in last Wednesday’s sojourn to Rome. Therefore our vote goes to John O’Shea who has quite amazingly made fifty-five appearances this season for United. Of course much of this is down to the fact that both Gary Neville and Wes Brown missed large chunks of the season themselves, yet regardless O’Shea has proved himself time and again an essential cog in the trophy machine that is Ferguson’s United. While the tools to be a top-level performer at anyone position may be questioned, his versatility and desire simply cannot.

Surprise Package: The two hugely important goals netted by Federico Macheda at home to Aston Villa and away at Sunderland should not be ignored and neither should the rejuvenated form of one-time flying winger turned hamstrung cultured midfield maestro Ryan Giggs but, it’s the form of Darren Fletcher that has really stood out for the champions this season. There was a time when Fletcher was considered at best a bit-part player by United fans, at worst he was the undeserved point of scorn for United fans venting at puzzled team-selections. So quite how he has become un-droppable in the centre of an unmistakably expensive United midfield fly’s over our comprehension also. The simple fact is he has.

‘Oh Dear’: Quite how a team as good as United can have so many frustrating average players in their ranks is a mystery. At the moment the combined £30million shelled out on Nani and Anderson seems as dodgy as any of Alex Ferguson’s fairly long list of transfer busts. The problem is that Nani for all the fleeting upside and similarities to a young-er Christiano Ronaldo, he simply isn’t good enough at the stupidly high level of the Premier League. As for Anderson, while he is seemingly in-line to take over Fletcher’s mantle of frustratingly ever-present to deservedly ever-present somewhere down the line, at the moment it doesn’t look likely. That leaves just one surly Bulgarian wizard to discuss then. There’s no denying the talent of Demitar Berbatov there is however, good reason to question his attitude and just where he fits into United’s game-plan. Like the unmitigated disaster that was Juan Seba Veron before him, his relaxed style simply doesn’t suit his surroundings at Old Trafford, worse still it negates everything that’s deadly about United’s break-neck counter-attacking style. Worse still is that ten domestic goals simply isn’t enough return from an investment of £30million plus.


Liverpool – Finally proved themselves both worthy and capable of an extended title push after years of bitter disappointment. At times looked likely to push the eventual champions even further and, but for key injuries to key players at key times in the season, they might well have done so.

Star Man: While many pundits are rightly applauding the efforts of Xabi Alonso in the middle of the Anfield park it’s difficult to over-look the exploits of Steven Gerrard. While the Spaniard’s performances are further amplified by Benitez’s well publicised desire to move him on from Liverpool last summer the drive and mental toughness that Gerrard supplies his club with is both unrivalled in world football and quite simply irreplaceable. There’s no denying that Liverpool are a better team when Alonso is in it, both in terms of ability and to watch as neutral however it’s stone-cold fact that Liverpool are a shoadow of their usual selves when Gerrard doesn’t play. A total of twenty-five goals in all competitions should be unfathomable for a midfielder, for Gerrard it merely levelled his career best haul from two years ago.

Surprise Package: Regardless of how much it seems like it Dirk Kuyt’s sixteen goals this seasons isn’t that much of an increase from his previous two years at Liverpool where he managed twelve and fourteen in all competitions respectively, it’s been the nature of the play that’s signalled the boost in performance. For the first time since hi arrival in England there was a consistent end product to all his much-praised work-rate, not only have there been goals but there has been continual supply from the left-flank – he has looked dangerous. For the first time I am forced to admit that Dirk Kuyt looks worthy of being called a Premier League player and anyone who knows me will know exactly how much that will have hurt to type. Even so, even the golden fleeced one’s performances have been diminished by another of Liverpool’s previously maligned, un-productive wide-men. Yossi Benayoun is the reason that the title race went on as long as it did this season. His goals directly rescued five points for Liverpool in the second-half of this season while a further three set them on the win to important wins. Without his back-to-back strikes against Sunderland and Fulham, United may have been champions by early April, without his double in the eight-goal thriller against Arsenal it almost certainly would have been over that night. That’s also without mentioning the winner away at The Bernabeau which tossed Real Madrid from the Champions League.

‘Oh Dear’: Would it be too easy to pin-point Robbie Keane here? True - it seems that he was brought to Anfield under false pretences. True – It can be argued that he wasn’t given a fair chance with Benitez preferring to pair Torres with Gerrard in an advanced role. True also – He looked bloody awful when he did play. The same goes for Andrea Dossena who despite being Italy’s first choice left-back (seriously!?) and costing a mystifying £7million from Udinese, still looks more like a rugby hooker that a football player, and at times plays more like one too. His first touch is so horrendous I’m still certain he was merely trying to bring the ball down when he lobbed Edwin Van der Saar at Old Trafford back in March. Amazingly there is someone that was even less impressive in a Liverpool shirt this season – hands up Phillipp Degen. Admittedly it’s pretty difficult to impress with only two League Cup appearances under your belt and yes he did struggle with injuries but, for a player who has been capped thirty times for his native Switzerland, looked extremely competent during his three-year stint at Broussia Dortmund, and is a full-back, a position where Liverpool have zero strength in depth anyway…what exactly went wrong?

Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown (because more bands should accurately label their own work)

The Context: First of all let’s set one thing straight, those that claimed Green Day ‘Sold Out’ as a punk band with 2004’s sublime American Idiot album are both talking bullshite and missing the fundamental principles of punk ethos. Rather than rest on their well-honed laurels and spent the rest of their career spawning three minute pop-punk sing-along’s they decided to offer themselves up for severe scrutiny and possible/probable humiliation by releasing an ingenious concept album both musically and in scope. Having taken some much need time off following the furore that surrounded the last release Green Day have returned for another stab at ‘Rock Opera’ glory.

The Opinion: The warning signs were there in the form of lead-off single 'Know Your Enemy' where as 'American Idiot' demanded attention from first listen with its brash bravado and raucous swagger the new single sounded rather bland and ill-fated in comparison. It has all the trademarks of a classic Green Day song yet somehow without any of the energy and urgency that’s usually associated.

Split into three acts of technically six songs apiece the opening salvo is almost an unmitigated disaster that just sounds tired and uninspiring. While American Idiot as an album re-defined the bands sound you'd expect this album to further push the envelope, in fact it sounds much the same without ever reaching its predecessors dizzying heights. There are brief moments of promise early on, however most are hidden beneath a two-minute turgid piano or acoustic introduction - a device that occurs so often that it becomes frustratingly formulaic, the exact musical consequence that their move away standardised pop-punk was supposed to prevent.

Thankfully things improve ten-fold in the second act as the band and the album finally settles into a far more enjoyable groove. 'East Jesus Nowhere' sets it on the right track by aping the baseline and lo-fi vocal middle-eight from early career masterpiece 'Hitchin’ a Ride' while 'Peacemaker' is both playful and inventive, with Billie Joe finally unleashing some of the snarling and witty lyricism which is sorely absent early on. 'Last of the American Girls' is hardly re-inventing the Green Day wheel but it’s a nice track regardless. It's a song that would nestle neatly into the middle of the pack on most of their previous output yet, in a sad indictment of this record as a whole, stands out as easily as one of the highlights. 'Murder City' is a classic no-frills Green Day album track in the fact that it feels like it’s been knocked together in about half an hour and as a result sounds wonderfully refreshing compared to the rest of the albums polished swoonings.

Crushingly just as the album picks up pace and your spirits with it things take a turn for the worse. 'Little Girl'isn’t a bad song per-se it’s just that it sounds dated on the back of My Chemical Romance’s own polka-infused madness 'Mama'. 'Horseshoes and Handgrenades' sounds like The Hives...need I say more – It sounds like the fucking Hives while The Static Age is a hum-drum affair which despite wanting to dislike for both being as bland as fizzy-water and using the repetitive age-old couplet of ‘Radio’ and ‘Video’, I just cant, It’s bloody catchy, but miserably so.

'21 Guns' is very dreary indeed yet could be a huge grower in the brief moment it has before mainstream radio gets its mucky fingers all over it and bleeds it dry, because one things is for sure – it’s going to be a mammoth hit single. The chorus is a decent ditty with a nice delayed vocal melody but the verses in part sees Armstrong lyrically at his cringe-worthy worst. Penultimate track 'American Eulogy' is split into two parts and while the opening salvo falls into the same listen and wince category as the track before the second-half is faultless - A fantastic, thunderous slab of Joe Strummer-esque snotty punk rock that very few bands are capable of writing as well as Green Day.

Joyously the album finishes on a high with the finest moment of the whole show. It’s classic ‘slow-build verse leading to rapturous chorus’ Green Day as guitars swirl and Tre Cool “beats the shit out the drums” as he once proudly pronounced on record.

The Conclusion: The over-whelming feeling is one of frustration, not at how disappointing it sounds as a whole on first listen but because of the brief moments of sheer brilliance that are scattered through it’s running time. With their new found political conscience Green Day are a band that so desperately want to be relevant that it’s had the completely adverse effect on their songs. Each and every line of dialogue reads like a slogan for the ‘Blue Banana’ generation, a bumper-sticker waiting to be printed and as a result the whole thing sounds over-thought and over-wrought and painfully self-important.

The most beleaguering thing is that the album sounds exactly as you expected it would; just half as good and nowhere near as infectious.

3 / 5

A.J

Extractor Fans, Valentine's Day and FatBoy Slim...

I’m being mocked by my bathroom extractor fan. Last night it kept me awake for a full twenty minutes while it held its own private rave without the slightest bit of concern for the fact that I had to be up for work in less than six hours. To be fair it is my own fault for switching the light on in the first place, but I have my reasons. Namely the fact that my sickly rose scented candle that had been illuminating my late-night toilet visits for the last week had burned away to nothing and I didn’t fancy wetting my toes with an aimless release. At the moment it’s kicking out the most amazing noise imaginable, think of a tractor slowly trudging it’s way across a sea of percussion instruments, only it’s actually performed by the choir/orchestra abomination that sound-tracked those Honda adverts where with only their mouths they made the noise of a revving engine, or a windscreen wiper or Chinese water torture.

This morning while I was minding my own business having a shave it took things to a whole new level, it actually 'treated' me an eerily accurate rendition of ‘Rockafella Skank’ by FatBoy Slim – note perfect. Okay, it was only the middle bit where the whole thing slows down and goes "Fuuuuuuunnnnnk Sooooooouul Brrrrrrrooothhhheeeeer!" but it was creepy, and wildly impressive all the same. It was mocking me, and I know why. Two weeks ago after a predictably cat-fight and tear-filled night out I officially retired from attending nightclubs. I just can’t do it anymore, I can’t justify putting myself through the whole torrid experience and nor do I see the point. I’ve never honestly enjoyed frequenting such establishments in the first place, bar for a bizarre six week period a couple of years ago when I tried my hardest to really enjoy myself…and failed miserably. Now I can officially reveal that it’s over, I’m through, I’m too old. At 23 you might think that’s a sad indictment on me as a person but, you’d be wrong, it’s actually a sad indictment on society as a whole, the culture that encapsulates nightclubs and the people that partake in it.

As tomorrow is the day of the Wales Vs England match, Valentines Day has officially been moved forward to today for everyone who calls Wales home. Therefore I get even more of an excuse to rant at what has to be the single most pretentious, detestable date on the whole bloody calendar. I actually couldn’t think of a day to hate quite as much even if I was given free reign to crate a rival – World-Wide Bono Appreciation Day might only manage to draw level, and only on the years it fell on a weekend. What’s more depressing is that even Hollywood Studios have given up entirely in attempting to produce a decent romantic movie for the occasion. The best they can come up with this year is the wonderfully titled She’s Just Not That Into You which from name alone gives you the impression that it’s not going to be the happy love-fest you need on a day when 90% of the population is screaming for a distraction from the fact that their spending the day, and possibly the rest of their lives with someone they pretty much cant stand. I mean last year’s best offerings were P.S I Love You where, and correct me if I’m wrong, but the main love interest was dead from the opening credits, or Definitely Maybe a horribly average film which only worked to focus Hollywood’s inability to produce a genuinely quality romance by the fact that movie critics everywhere swooned over it like a homeless puppy. One laughably even compared it to the works of Woody Allen – Bollocks! Until Hollywood and all its 'talent' remembers what a romantic movie should be, I’ll be at home watching Casablanca on DVD and reminding myself exactly what they should be like, and that’s actually perfectly fine by me.

A.J.

Best Albums of 2008 (GRW)

Coming from where we do, the New Year doesn't properly start until the Six Nations begins. So with Week One and 3 unconscious Scots down then, I thought I'd take this opportunity to post my top 10 albums from 2008.

(Disclaimer: These are my personal recommendations and in no way represent the views of other members of this blog, otherwise there’d be Coldplay records.
Also, I am cracked up on Benylin & Paracetamols due to illness, hopefully going some way to explain why Auto-tune rappers are over-represented)

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Craig Finn and his troupe of weathered rock’n’rollers go even further along their quest to revive the “Unified Scene”. Abandoning Charlemagne, Holly & Gideon for new, unnamed but universal characters might not be an universally popular decision (me included), but will no doubt broaden the appeal of the band even more. As if they’re not appealing enough already - possessing the ability to be everything to everyone, be it bar-room rock ‘n roll to some and highly literate indie rock to others. Also, double-plus points for gang vocals and a Dillinger Four reference on track one “Constructive Summer”. Immense.

Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
Tons of hype surrounding F’ed Up, from the usual culprits (Pitchfork, NME), but that shouldn’t put anyone off this force of nature. Much is made of the intra-band conflict and other nonsense (including Pink Eyes & 10,000 Marbles’ rival blogs), and to be honest the clash of hardcore vox with massively layered guitars and prog-ish song structures shouldn’t work. But it does, see “No Epiphany” for evidence. Of course, this is coming from someone with an aversion to songs that go past 3 minutes.

Dillinger Four - C I V I L W A R
The second band from the Twin Cities on this list (see above), I’ve got to admit I’m a latecomer to the D4 party. I had always dismissed them as a second rate Fat Wreck punk-by-numbers band. Oops. Their previous records are on the whole slightly rawer and more unforgiving than this one, which seems to have acquired a poppier edge due to its 6 year gestation time. The drawback of the new-ish direction being fewer songs featuring the booze-addled gruff vox of bassist Paddy Costello (owner of the famous Triple Rock), though he does pop up on some crackers such as “Parishiltonisametaphor”. Grown-up pop punk at its best.

Gaslight Anthem – The ’59 Sound
One of the biggest successes of last year, the Anthem are the latest punk rock kids to bring in influences outside of the usual box – there isn’t a 1977 year-zero for them. You could call it Springsteencore, with the hints of The Boss’ tales of blue-collar heartbreak & struggle all over this record (including some direct references). However, the “-core” suffix couldn’t be a worse representation of the ’59 Sound – the ‘Anthem have toned down the breakneck punk of their first record for a slower more considered sound, which pays off spectacularly on stand-out tunes such as “Miles Davis & The Cool”.

The Bronx - The Bronx III
Matt Caughthran and the boys are not complicated men. They know what you want, and they give it to you – badass hardcore-influenced punk rock. More of the same, maybe – but when the same is this good, who’s can have an issue with that? Plus, there aren’t any ballads this time (or what I’d personally dub ballads – basically mid-tempo songs over 3:30). Next time – El Bronx and the mariachi record everyone’s been waiting for.

Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak
A divisive album certainly – like Marmite, or Dirk Kuyt. Kanye’s “pop-art” (his words) experiment has no rapping and consists basically of an 808 drum machine, and an Auto-tune enhanced Mr.West crooning over the top. Personally, I think it works – particularly on current single “Heartless” and emo-tastic closer “Coldest Winter”. We should be thankful - another standard Kanye LP could have involved more Coldplay collaborations. And I’d rather listen to Kanye farting the entire Disney back-catalogue through an Autotune machine than that.

Neon Neon – Stainless Style
We all knew Gruff Rhys wasn’t all there, with his track record of awesome but insane albums, including his most recent dalliances with a paper animal from the Kingdom of Candy. His latest sonic adventure, alongside producer Boom Bip, recounts the life of John Delorean, creator of the iconic car of Back to The Future fame and legendary coke fiend, with help from various collaborators including hipster rappers Spank Rock & Yo Majesty. Some tracks aren’t quite there (“Sweat Shop”) but most of them are 80s-style synth bangers, such as the Star Wars-sized chorus of “I Told Her On Alderaan”.

Paint It Black – The New Lexicon
Latest release from melodic hardcore overlord Dan Yemin (of Lifetime and Kid Dynamite fame) featuring production by noise-hop group Dälek. The unsettling layer of electronic noise ever present between the 2 minute bursts of hardcore combine with Yemin’s alternative hip-hop influenced flow to produce a modern hardcore punk album that if not groundbreaking, is definitely cutting edge.

Lil’ Wayne – Tha Carter III
“It ain’t trickin’ if you got it…” Wayne got it – you know that already.
Problem is he also thinks he also gots it on guitar…look out for next year’s rock record. No doubt aided by the sketchy Auto-Tune enhanced howl.

The Loved Ones – Build & Burn
Some more of that Blue-collar influenced punk which seems to be in vogue recently, and indeed the second Fat Wreck band on this list. Songs such as “Sarah’s Game” and “The Bridge” hark back to the more conventional (but awesome) pop-punk of their first record, but sit neatly next to the ol' times chain-gang songs such as “Louisiana”. I'm also a fan of how they keep using "Keep your Heart" as a motif in a few songs, 'cos that shit's cool.

Honourable mentions: Vampire Weekend – S/T; Los Campesinos - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed; Polar Bear Club - Sometimes Things Just Disappear; Cancer Bats – Hail Destroyer.

Records I listened to in 2008 a lot but were out in 2007: A Wilhelm Scream – Career Suicide; New Wave by Against Me!; The Gaslight Anthem - Sink or Swim

G.R.W

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

One every, well not often enough comes along a film which excites you beyond comprehension. This happens more so with high octane blockbusters because, well that’s what promotional campaigns and trailers are intended to do, but very rarely does this occur with smaller genre films. For example as a huge Batman fan it’s fair to say that The Dark Knight had me frothing at the mouth for a good two years before I eventually laid eyes on the gorgeous little beauty in its entirety. For a certain few million the same case could be made for the Transformers movie, and well, to be honest my growing anticipation for Watchmen gets me a tad more rigid with every new poster and T.V spot (too much information?) Anyway back to the point in hand, I cannot remember the last time that I was so damn excited about seeing what’s essentially a drama since…possibly American Beauty which was a full decade ago.

‘Benjamin Button’ is startling in every conceivable way, the script is hypnotising in the way that Eric Roth has crafted a near three hour epic from what was originally a short story and manages to keep you spellbound for the entire running time which flashes by in a heartbeat – never at any stage does it feel like grind or anything close to it. The script is also wonderfully well balanced in the way it tells the sweeping grandiose fairy-tale and wrangles every last bit of emotion out of it and you, from the chokingly touching to the surprisingly, delicate comedy littered throughout.

Visually it’s in an absolute treat if a sedate one, it never dazzles you with anything bordering on stunning, but then it doesn’t need to with such a brilliantly told central story to carry it. David Fincher has done a masterful job without ever needing to tread into flamboyant territory. He has always been a director of awe-inspiring brilliance it just seems it’s taken this film to prove it to the masses -the film simply sparkles like a diamond through the murky waters of his past work. When Panic Room was released it always seemed like a compromise, a straight-forward techno-thriller designed to please a straight-forward mainstream audience, and more importantly the studio. Yet as well-crafted as it was its evident that the success came at the expense of the grimy, unsettling genius that created Seven, Fight Club and (the cruelly under-rated) The Game and set the free on an unsuspecting cinema audience. Fincher has long been considered by his fans to be amongst the very best directors working today and it seems that with ‘Benjamin Button’ he decided to prove it to the rest of the world. From its very inception it seemed like an odd career choice for Fincher yet what’s more baffling is the idea that a David Fincher film has just been nominated for 13 Oscars, but Christ on a bike, does it deserve each an every one.

In some senses it’s clear to see why the comparisons to Forrest Gump have been made yet that does a great disservice to ‘Benjamin Button’. Yes it is a film of immense scope that travels through and past several historical events on its way but, it navigates its complex time-frame with a far more delicate touch than Robert Zemeckis’ film. Ground-breaking events are nothing more than side-notes to the incredible central story of the incredible central character; Fincher brilliantly handles them as subtle nuances interwoven into the tapestry of the epic tale. World War II id dealt with within not much more than a single scene and is still touchingly personal to the protagonist while the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to the Moon Landing is one of the beautiful lasting memories of the whole film.

Watching the film feels like the sort of comforting experience that is garnered from watching a favoured, childhood movie. Even though it’s your first viewing, it feels like you’re watching it for the umpteenth time and gave me the same warm sensation as a screening of The Goonies or Bugsy Malone would – if they released the film on VHS it would come already worn out. More importantly it feels like a classic movie, both in scope and in style which is something that Hollywood no-longer produces enough of. It feels like its come from a time when the ‘Silver Screen’ still existed. When playing cards actually involved card, not simply wiggling a computer mouse. When tobacco didn’t kill you, or at least you didn’t accept that it would. It’s the movie equivalent of curling up under a blanket with someone you love, in your pyjamas, in front of an open fire, with a bottle of wine, Red and with a box of chocolates – which is exactly how it should be viewed when it arrives on DVD.

* * * * * Those be Five Stars!