Halfway through 2005

Now that 2005 is halfway finished, I'll throw out my top five albums for the first part of the year:

1. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (clearly my favorite album this year)
2. Kasabian - Kasabian (I bought this in 2004, but it was released stateside in 2005)
3. Doves - Some Cities (a nice combination of their first two albums)
4. Gorillaz - Demon Days (hearing Shaun Ryder rant incoherently is a wonderful thing)
5. Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger (a nice debut here).

I'll give honorable mentions to New Order, Oasis, and even The Bravery (I really like some of their songs).

My favorite song this year is probably Editors' "Munich," with Hard-Fi's "Hard to Beat" not too far behind. I like a lot of Bloc Party tunes as well.

If I was a Creation band...

I'm Oasis. Not fookin' 'avin it, mate!

(Thanks to the One Louder boys for pointing this quiz out.)



You Are... Oasis.

What you lack in originality you make up for in
sheer determination. You have found a nice
balance between party time and work time. You
have the ability to convince the world of
anything you want them to believe and you
shamelessly do so. You are a purist who has the
tendency to live in the past, which is your
biggest downfall. If you could only learn to
get with the times there's no telling how big
you could be. You are destined to go down in
history.

Familiar to millions?

First of all, I was shocked to hear that the Oasis show at the Garden sold out. Secondly, I was shocked to see that it was actually true and not just a marketing ploy. MSG was loud and on its feet for Oasis last night. I love Oasis, but I'm surprised that they're still relevant for 16,000 New Yorkers.

They put on a great show, even though the song selection could have been better. Liam was on better behaviour than I've seen before and there was the obligatory Noelrock portion of the show. They ran through some Definitely Maybe classics, their US hits, and a lot from Don't Believe the Truth. There were a lot of sing-a-longs from the crowd, and not only for the obligatory "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back." The setlist, which was the same in Tornoto, ran:

Fuckin' In the Bushes/ Turn up the Sun/Lyla/Love Like A Bomb/Bring It on Down/Morning Glory/Cigarettes and Alcohol/ The Importance of Being Idle/Little By Little/A Bell Will Ring/Live Forever/The Meaning of Soul/Mucky Fingers/Champagne Supernova/Rock N Roll Star/ -encore - Songbird/Wonderwall/Don't Look Back in Anger/My Generation

The NY Times liked the show. (The pic above is theirs).

Not a huge fan of seeing concerts at MSG. The sound is never that good. The vocals were turned up but the music could have been louder. This show was good nonetheless.

Finding a cure for The Cure

Although Cure fans have been disappointed recently with the firing of Perry Bamonte and Roger O'Donnell, time to a rejoice. Porl Thompson is rejoining The Cure for their festival shows this summer. So it appears that this will be a keyboard-less lineup, unless they have a tech/roadie playing the keys during the show.

So this means that a stronger The Cure will be playing Benicassim in August!

I'm dying to go back to Benicassim for this year's festival. I think it's too late to plan a trip now - airfare is around $1100. But look at this lineup! The Cure and Oasis headlining (I'll ignore Keane), Doves, LCD Soundsystem and a DFA night, Ladytron, !!!, Radio 4, Kasabian, The Tears, Underworld, Layo and Bushwacka, Kaiser Chiefs, The Wedding Present, Maximo Park. This is ridiculous.

Here Come The Tears

Although you'd think the return of Anderson and Butler would be the greatest thing ever (well, if you're a Suede or Britpop fan I guess), Here Come the Tears by their new band The Tears is just average. It's a watered down version of Suede really. Anderson's voice is so strained - the pain and anguish that used to come out of his mouth is now just a gravely strain. It's a shame really, because Suede was so good back in the day. Pitchfork thought Here Come the Tears was good though.

Sponsored by the letter E

Esthero has a new album coming out - Wikked Little Grrrls - on June 28th and is touring the US this summer. I loved Breath from Another, especially "That Girl," so I'm looking forward to the new album. The lounge-jazz-trip hop princess has been out of action for a while, so I'm surprised that she's playing Irving Plaza when she hits NYC on July 21. That's an agressive venue.

Editors, composers of my favorite song this year - "Munich" - have their debut album, The Back Room, coming out on July 25. They're touring all over the UK and Europe this summer, but no US dates announced yet.

Bloc Party inside Hell

Bloc Party played in Hell last night - that would be Webster Hall. I'm not talking about what a shitty venue it is; rather, I'm talking about the temperature. It was literally 130 degrees in there. I sweated off about 10 pounds. A little a/c or at least some blowing fans would have been nice. (Speaking of fans that blow, I had these jackasses standing next to me the whole time, yelling at Kele to "speak American" when he talked to the crowd, and yelling out, get this, the obligatory "Freebird." They had to leave before the final song to "catch their trains." Figures.)

Nevertheless, Bloc Party ruled, as usual. They're the best live band I've seen in a while. They really put their heart into it. BP ran through almost all of Silent Alarm and played a few off the EP. I was pleased to hear "Price of Gasoline" and "The Marshals are Dead."

I bought these tickets spur of the moment when they were put on sale. I then regretted that decision - I didn't want to go to Webster Hall. But I'm really glad I went. Great show. Wish I was going again tonight.

The Park

Maximo Park put on a good show at a packed Tonic last Friday. I'm a fan of their simple, hook-driven tunes, and they ran through almost every song on A Certain Trigger. The band, and the crowd, seemed to be most into "Postcard of a Painting" and "Apply Some Pressure." I think the lead singer wanted to jump around more, but the small stage limited him to only a couple of flying V kicks. Good times.

Current flavors

At the moment, I'm loving the EP from Every Move a Picture and "Hard To Beat" from Hard-Fi. Every Move a Picture is a electro-punk outfit from San Fran - they have a Killers meet Radio 4 sound and are pretty damn good. And I cannot stop streaming "Hard to Beat" from Hard-Fi's website. It kind of sounds like what would happen if Daft Punk was a rock band, and could be the summer jam for all the indie/Brit rock types. My copy of the single is pre-ordered, as I'm waiting for the June 20 release date. Their album Stars of CCTV comes out on July 4th in the UK.

Tonight is Maximo Park at Tonic. Looking forward to it.

Conclusory statements

I'm continually impressed with Saints and Lovers. Their Tiswas show was really good - weaving atmospheric sounds throughout the room. Both loud and emotionally powerful, their songs really hit you hard. Apparently there are two schools of thought on their music. Some argue that their percussion-less, stripped down tunes are better, while others prefer the harder, in-your-face tunes. I'm more of the latter and I really enjoy the force that the drums bring in. And their cover of "Atmosphere" on Saturday night was great.

After Saints and Lovers, Andy Rourke dj'ed. It was cool to see him, but I didn't think he did a good job of song selection or dj'ing. A lot of empty space between songs. I didn't stay long, so it might have become better after the first 10 songs or so.

And I've been listening to the new Coldplay album, X&Y. A little grandiose and melodramatic, it makes you yearn for the simplicity of Parachutes. And Chris relies on the falsetto a little too much. Don't you think the other band members ever say, "can we rock now?" That being said, it's still good and will most likely sell 5 million copies. I think it pretty much leaves off where A Rush of Blood ended. "Talk" and "Speed of Sound" are probably the best tracks on the album.

Cool locals and one Smith

Tonight, The Go Station will be playing at the poorly-named but cool venue, The Tribeca Rock Club. This is a good space for hearing the guitar-drenched power-pop of The Go Station, so check 'em out.

On Saturday, Saints and Lovers will be headlining Tiswas at Don Hill's. I missed them opening for the Ravonettes at the Mercury Lounge, so I'm making sure I hit this up on Saturday. After the bands, Melody Nelson and Andy Rourke will be dj'ing for the rest of the night. This should make for a great evening.