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OK just call me Jenny Come Lately, but I have a bad enough memory as it is and leaving 2007 to the dogs for the sake of promptness seems a little harsh. This was a year I fell down completely in my record buying duties, fell in love with a few more songs, and saw a little less live music than I would have liked. Given all this, I’m not going to do a simple Album or Gig of the Year list but instead an unrepeatable, inadvisable, thrown-together list of various things that have troubled the musical part of my brain in 2007.
Verily, Stuff of the Year!

A Few Albums of the Year

Cutting Pink with Knives – Populuxxe
Probably one of the most compact albums of the year, with sixteen tracks packed into 24 minutes, Populuxxe is a bit of a thrill ride through genres I know nothing about, but the pop of its title packs a sucker punch to elitism. The songs clatter headlong into one another with all the impact of the injury but none of the resulting ache, indestructible in their format of megatempo Bontempi and a hyperactive orchestra of guitars, samples and spat vocals. CPWK are no strangers to a tune: there’s preprogrammed melodics and crystal clear pop structures, all the better for shattering with sparking fits of unapologetic noise. It’s best in songs like Laser Hannon and You're Late, the sweetness meeting the slap in the face (I feel at this point somewhat like an advert for pre-mixed gin and tonic – the least I can say is that this album is more value for money). Critics could point out that in 26 minutes there’s not much scope to go wrong, but brevity takes bravery and it could all too easily have gone in one ear and out the other.

Simian Mobile Disco – Attack Decay Sustain Release
A pretty exemplary case of Doing a Soulwax in effect, Simian Mobile Disco emerged from their proficient but largely unremarkable tenure as Simian into a world of dancing shoes, disco balls and labels selling body parts for their remixes. They also achieved something rather remarkable for 2007, which was making an entire album that was actually enjoyable to listen to. Where Digitalism, Justice et al failed, ADSR (OK, that’s a bit unlovely) made a summer of rain seem a bit more bright and shiny. Somewhat refreshingly, they decided to leave most of the guitars behind (I heard you sold them to buy turntables, etc.) and concentrated on making a techno pop opus. Wooden effervesces with a sound reminiscent of 808 State, whilst Love is the glory days of Clor come back with an even brighter vision of what pop music should be. All of which isn’t to say that ADSR hasn’t got its own sound, just that it’s not hitched to a hit formula – which is just as well, since twelve Hustlers do not a good album make. This could have been a side thought for an act who make their mark with remixes, but it turned out a genuinely exciting prospect for dance music that might actually give a shit.

The Blood Brothers – Young Machetes
Bring on the h8, but let us speak well of the deceased. This didn’t sound like a swan song to me (apart from, um, Giant Swan) but instead a continuation of what’s always made the Blood Brothers great: attacks on the dancefloor and the world at large, lyrics about the crushing awfulness of modern life coupled with enough energy to say screw it all and shake the mundanity off. Laser Life is equivalent to setting my feet on fire, whilst We Ride Skeletal Lightning is a personal highlight, jagged and squalling like its meteorological namesake leaving a pileup of stricken amplifiers. Frankly, this album is better than my extended metaphors and THAT’S SAYING SOMETHING.

Shocking Pinks – Shocking Pinks
This was the first album I played on moving into my flat this summer in an empty white room, and it still sounds like something new: despite plundering from shoegaze and being an album compiled from two previous efforts, there are still enough quietly beautiful moments to make it stand out. This Aching Deal exemplifies the best moments, filled with that kind of heart-bursting happy/sad thing that Broken Social Scene do so well. Despite the whole inflected coolness from DFA, Shocking Pinks still have the immaturity of real emotion evident in their lyrics, and the air of stumbling upon greatness when it all comes together. Sweet and awkward in its cut and paste way.

Most Well-Remixed Band of the Year
Whilst A Weekend In The City was a largely prosaic affair or at least lacking in the anger that made Silent Alarm so appealing, Bloc Party have remained at the top of my charts this year solely due to the efforts of a few good remixers (and OK, a few plays of that Flux rip with Zane Lowe’s dulcet tones at the end). Tracks gone over by SebastiAn (I Still Remember), Crystal Castles (Hunting for Witches) and RAC (Hunting for Witches again and Song for Clay) showed more ingenuity than in their original guises, a trend following on from MSTRKRFT’s rework of the underwhelming Two More Years back in ’05. So far however the Flux remixes haven’t measured up to the original, which I can only take as a good sign for a band who spent a year propped up by others.

Remixers of the Year
Tough one, what with a Hype Machine toolbar search and exposure to all manner of reimaginings, but I’ll share this prize out between two winners. The aforementioned Crystal Castles haven’t put a foot wrong with work on Liars, HEALTH, GoodBooks and The Little Ones amongst others: it’s not just 8bit or electroclash or whatever, but what the best remixes seem to be able to do in finding the emotional heart of a song, twisting it through a sonic mangle, then sprinkling the result with bleepy magic. Sharing the prize are CFCF mostly on the merit of their mixes of Apache Beat and Health (yes, again). It’s all kinda 80s and Ocean Drive but heck it works, from Justice to Health to Cassie and unlike CC they seem to give the same attention to their original work.

7” of the Year That Was Also a Palindrome
Of course this one was tightly run but Mirror Rim by Effi Briest just about took this accolade. Weird swirling afro-beat/Slits influences with vocals in turn petulant and mesmerising, certainly worth two and a half of my English pounds.

Venue of the Year
After long years in London lamenting the loss of The Garage (dark, sweaty, and intimate) I found my new favourite place in the form of Bardens Boudoir. Particularly a 2007 venue ‘cause I saw the year in by falling onto Max Tundra’s stage, and saw a great deal of fine shows there (largely sterling efforts by Club Motherfucker and Upset the Rhythm). There’s something about not being able to see further than your nose, and performing electrickery in the ladies to get the hand dryer on, that charms me no end. Plus, you get served by these guys!

(stolen from Amelia's Flickr, Barman #2 incidentally wearing T-shirt of the Year: the no-it’s-not-rave one from No Age.)

And so I conclude. All aboard the good ship 2008!

Fri 7 Dec – Dan Deacon, gay against you, No Age, Cutting Pink with Knives, John Maus

Okay so maybe I'm a little swept up in the festive spirit (a heady mix of alcohol, central heating and the sparkly baubles overhanging my monitor), but this gig was the perfect start to my weekend/intro to the Christmas party season.

For starters there were Cutting Pink with Knives showing flagrant disregard for The Dome's 8-ft-high stage setup, and reminding me why Populuxxe is one of my albums of the year (journal to follow when I can be bothered).

gay against you have a special place in my heart and they just cemented it, premiering some next-level shit just when you thought it didn't get no better (yes you can play teleRAD early on and get away with it), and spasming out in fetching furs.

I was way too uncool to have known who John Maus was pre-gig, but his performance under the eaves of Santa's grotto lit only by a string of Woolworth's best Xmas lights was otherworldly - where that world exists in a cavernous black club in North London, with only lo-fi electronics and an echoing vocal narrative to keep you warm. I do like that one of his tags is sounds even better when drunk 'cause OK I took my chances at the bar during his set.

No Age had a tough few acts to follow and a large waiting time, but by this time I was verily dancing to 20 Jazz Funk Greats' between-bands spinning (have a gander at their amaze blog) so nobody's loss. The band finally came on and lived up to the lineup however, sounding remarkably less prosaic than the other times I've seen them. There was a (somewhat orchestrated) stage invasion, the long-delayed gratification of Everybody's Down, and a good-gig smile on my face.

By the time Dan Deacon led the kids into a huddle formation round his glowing green skull like some kind of strange electronic Pied Piper I decided to get the Tube home like the old lady I am, but the best of the night had passed for me anyway and I was sufficiently spaced-out to forget my cardigan by the speaker (later recovered,you'll be glad to know).

Gig that makes me forget about cherished knitwear items = damn fine. AND there were free biscuits and cake. Fun, funner, funnest!

So I made this two-CD compilation about six months ago, and have been meaning to blog about it for almost as long (what with being a staff member, I thought it was high time I had a journal entry with some actual musical content). Anyhow my atrophied little typing fingers have just about got round to posting the run-down of the first CD - so come with me, why don't you, on a journey through my musical mind...

1. Klaxons – Golden Skans
’Cause I like it, right. No need to describe what this sounds like, but it makes for a great opener with its faux-grandiose vocal layering, and it was my favourite from their live set. Plus when I made this part of the mix, I liked the fact that the album field said ‘Unreleased’. Lame-o.

2. DraculaZombieUSA – Thomas Window Paine
Last.fm discovery rockness! I think this was on Neighbour radio one dreary evening, when I was just in need of some more perky kids with a dumb name, making a glorious racket. Shiny pop music falling somewhere between Thunderbirds Are Now! and The Lovely Feathers’ territory, or maybe you’d just like to listen to it and disparage my comparisons afterwards. Full-length previews/free downloads are go. Hurrah!

3. Patrick Wolf – Accident & Emergency
Well knock me down with a feather: this was the first I heard of Mr Wolf, having purposefully avoided him previously. Having expected squeaky whimsy and weedy delivery, I was confronted with exactly the opposite – amazing pop music that needs no forced quirkiness for its sheer ingenuity to shine through. It’s not as cerebral as that sounds, either – I haven’t heard any remixes of this track, but the dancefloor is its spiritual destination.

4. Suburban Lawns – Mom and Dad and God
As someone who likes post punk and new wave in general but has a problem with connecting to it over the length of an album, getting hold of their self-titled work last year was gold. This is the kind of wackiness that is all the more amazing for sounding completely and utterly cool, melting religion, ska and nervy energy together for a perfect 1min53secs.

5. TV on the Radio – Wolf Like Me
Indie disco perfection, I still can’t get into TVotR in general but this song ruled my summer. You can do hand-claps to it! Nuff said.

6. Panthers – Theory Is Famous
An accolade to this song for having the best lyrics of the CD: “Gimme a book, and I’ll read the shit out of it.” No half-measures on this, rock music that slinks its way around but slams hard. Er, against you.

7. Passions – Emergency!
An actual dance track for the mid-section. Has a lovely lady shouting “kaboom!” and all manner of bleepy cutupness. Well-deserving of its exclamation mark – screechy, screwy and a little scary in all the right places.

8. Cutting Pink with Knives – Didi Got Fisted At The Smiths Disco
This track came to my attention first of all because it has possibly the best title ever – and second because what starts out musically unhinged, only goes more doolally. You’re doing your brain a disservice by not listening to this at least once, so I won’t bother explaining it all to you. File under: Synth; Scream; Music to Offend the Neighbours With.

9. The Ghost Frequency – Lips Stitched Tight
The come-down from CPWK, vaguely similar instrumentation for a vastly different result. Good in an unclassifiable way, this is a pretty straight-up example of what synth/electro-handclaps/a bit of emoting can do for YOU. And if that might seem a bit laboured, there’s actually a really sweet tune here which gets it top of my pops.

10. Wolf & Cub – Thousand Cuts
Pretty much a different band to whoever makes those boring lunk-rock anthems, this was the first song I heard by Wolf & Cub, prompting hopes that they were fine young men who’d always play as if each snap at their instruments burnt their hands and created that wonderful yelp and jerky delivery. Apparently they aren’t, but at least I’ve got this track.

11. Elefant – The Clown
I have many, many days in my life when I get completely sick of soulless electro and wish to live out my days listening to no other music than the likes of Elefant: this song a pretty ridiculous whirl round some candyfloss romance story, but oh! the dramatism and ah, the comfort to be had in something so completely overblown. I’d liken this stuff to stellastarr*’s finest offerings in providing an excuse to go completely overboard with the teenage swooning.

12. Situationists – An Old Silent Movie
The kind of indie that deserves to be big: taking on the craft of songsmithery and coming up trumps, instead of bashing you over the head with misplaced pop culture references and stale attitudes (you know who you are). It’s music for people who never got confused as to what was cool: the guitars pile up in a melody crash and the vocals go “woo!” For something much better than my description, go listen to the streamable demo on their Last.fm page.

13. Pocketbooks – Cross the Line
More streamable goodness, full-length previews ahoy. And rightly so: Pocketbooks sound like the kind of polite chaps and chapesses who’d like to spread their sunny indie pop goodness for all to enjoy. This is boy-girl dialogue and lo-fi like they mean it, earning bonus London-centric points for mentioning Oyster card zones. TfL-twee.

14. Justin Timberlake – SexyBack
This seems pretty obvious now, but there still remains the fact that it’s a great, inventive pop song. And no, irony has no place in this: a song’s a song, and a song like this is just a bit too amazing for elitists.

15. Infants – Firetruk
Crazy, crazy, great. I’ve always missed Infants live but if it’s anything like I imagine then sparks fly off the stage and no eardrums in the vicinity are safe. Growled lyrics and a distort-a-thon of instrumentation in a fine dancefloor filler/destroyer? It’s what we like. I strongly advise flailing around to this.

16. Crystal Castles – Magic Spells
Actually me being a little lazy. At over six minutes it’s an epic for CC, and whilst it is good in an early, no-vox quiet-menace way, I think on reflection I could’ve used another track (especially since they seem to make a new one per week). Still, a girl can’t work too hard…

17. Blonde Redhead – Messenger (feat. David Sylvian)
Heartbreak section. Sylvian’s delivery is full of perfect longing for I don’t even know what, the instrumentation so mournful that it doesn’t matter what the lyrics may be, only that they’re there. A kind of antidote to the previous track in being so emotion-soaked you might need a minute to recover before perking up. Which brings us on to…

18. Van She – Kelly
I know so many people who dislike this song, and to them I say “you have given up on life.” Simply the most ecstatically wonderful synth-pop shimmer of a longlonglong time, and to anyone wondering whether the ’80s is played out: this isn’t the ’80s, it was 2006, and you better lose your inhibitions and start dreaming about beach volleyball and wearing super-bouncy hi-tops in order to dance this song’s justice. [Don’t say I’m contradictory. Beach volleyball and hi-tops, much like this song, NEED NO ERA.]

19. Sepp Maier's Gloves – Ambition
The second of the tracks here that I got from the sorely-missed postpunkjunk.com (anyone know what happened there?), I know nothing of the band or the circumstance, but I do know that it does the whole ’80s goth-synth-bop thing with aplomb. I can only think that IMA Robot might be able to sound as good as this if they stopped being so damn self-conscious.

20. Chromatics – Baby
Icy cold Chromatics, so cruel. This doesn’t so much break your heart as freeze it till it shatters (a bit like Wesley Snipes in Demolition Man, should you remember). Blub.

21. gay against you – teleRAD
Electric shockery! There are infectious, bleepy forces at work in this track which will not rest until you’ve lost your mind, found your dancing feet, sweated off half your weight, and become convinced you’re receiving interplanetary DANCE signals. All in one minute fifty-seven, in case you’re short for time. Extra Special Bonus Lovely: Gay Against You were one of the first on Last.fm to take advantage of free downloads, so go get their stuff.

All for now - as near to the eighty-minute mark as I can get, and as much writing about music as I can do before wondering what it's like to actually
hear something. I guess this is what this journal lark is for: go forth! And hear!

There's been a bit of discussion in the Music Department this morning about The Prayer (Hadouken Remix) and the fact that the lyrics seem to say "That's right yeah, I'm unstoppable/ Get in my way, you get kicked like a scrobble." Worthwhile journal fodder, is the gentleman James starting off a Last.fm-themed lyrics explosion? And possibly more to the point, how can you kick a scrobble (and why would you want to)? I know Hadouken! are down with the whole digital coolnezz so maybe Last.fm is the next namedrop of choice, albeit in a rather despicably violent context.

At any rate, it's miles better than "I'm an indie limey/ Yeah, but I like it grimey" (from the ubiquitous That Boy That Girl)

Amazing.

PS Matt's now decided it's "soccer ball" but this journal entry has been written, and soccer is AMERICAN, fool!

I'm already forgetting this year's live music thus far - so hey! Year-long journal GO for the gigs of 2007 (this WILL be an utter mess)

The Refuseniks w/ Dead Pixels @ Halloween Short Film Festival, ICA

The Priscillas w/ Bolt Action Five @ Halloween Short Film Festival, ICA (Jan 10th)

Man Like Me w/ X-ray eyes @ Club Motherfucker, Bardens Boudoir (Jan 13th)

Look Look (Dancing Boys) @ Open Source, SOAS Student Union (Feb 2nd)

Chromeo @ People Are Germs, Old Blue Last (Feb 9th)

Crystal Castles @ Chalk, The Scala (Feb 10th)

Lo-Fi-Fnk, A Human, Friendly Fires and Shy Child, Fabric (Feb 16th)

Look Look (Dancing Boys) w/ Lost Penguin @ Gash, 333 (Feb 17th)

Flosstradamus w/ Kid Sister, A-Trak and DJ Craze @ Since Day One, Cargo (Feb 22nd)

The Gossip w/ The Violets, PRE and Bonde do Role, The Astoria (Feb 24th)

Crystal Castles @ Radical Friends, 333 (March 2nd)

Marvellous Macc Mello @ Club Motherfucker, Bardens Boudoir (March 24th)

TTC and JME @ Chalk, The Scala (March 24th)

The Teenagers w/ The Chap and The Wave Pictures @ Moshi Moshi night, Hoxton Bar and Grill (March 29th)

Metronomy and The Presets @ Modular Easter Rave, The Scala (April 5th)

4 or 5 Magicians, The Windmill (April 6th)

Bis w/ Bolt Action Five, Carling Academy Islington (April 7th)

SebastiAn, Uffie with Feadz, Busy P and Justice @ Ed Banger Warehouse Revue, Canvas (April 14th)

Thunderbirds Are Now! w/ Mower and Favours For Sailors, The Windmill (April 18th)

Matt & Kim w/ Best Fwends, Pacific and PRE @ Moshi Moshi night, Hoxton Bar & Grill (April 26th)

Shy Child w/ Kap Bambino @ Knife the Wife, Corsica Studios (April 28th)

Best Fwends w/ Trouble vs Glue, Look Look (Dancing Boys) and We Smoke Fags @ Club Motherfucker, Barden's Boudoir (April 28th)

Eugene Kelly @ Martin Creed aftershow, Bethnal Green Working Men's Club (May 3rd)

PRE @ Extra Special, Corsica Studios (May 31st)

Adam Kesher and clarky cat @ Dollop, 93 Feet East (June 12th)

KIT w/ No Age and Mika Miko @ Upset the Rhythm 100th Birthday, The Luminaire, Kilburn (June 22nd)

Sweat X @ DZD/Chromeo aftershow, Madam JoJo's (June 27th)

The Tough Alliance w/ The Honeydrips@ Tack!Tack!Tack!, The Heavenly Social (July 2nd)

Mika Miko w/ Look Look (Dancing Boys), Hands On Heads, PRE and No Age @ Upset the Rhythm, Bardens Boudoir (July 3rd)

Late of the Pier w/ Bolt Action Five and Neon Plastix @ Dollop, Old Blue Last (July 12th)

Dananananaykroyd w/ The River Club, The Fly (Aug 2nd)

Lightspeed Champion, Trafalgar, Lost Penguin, Forty Fives and Bolt Action Five @ The 1-2-3-4, Shoreditch Park (Aug 5th)

HEALTH @ Trouble Records vs Rough Trade Party, Rough Trade East (Aug 14th)

Cutting Pink with Knives, Beyond Retro (Aug 18th)

Everyone to the Anderson, Lost Penguin, Agaskodo Teliverek and Mica Levi @ Last.fm Supports The Spitz, The Spitz (Sep 11th)

Digitalism w/ Free Blood @ Durrr, The End (Sep 17th)

Menomena w/ Velofax, Hoxton Bar & Kitchen (Sep 24th)

PRE w/ Look Look (Dancing Boys) and Queen of Swords @ warehouse party, Manor House (Sep 29th)

SSS @ Last.fm/presents, Old Blue Last (October 13th)

4 or 5 Magicians @ Huw Stephens Presents, The Social (Oct 17th)

Apache Beat @ Testcard, Hoxton Bar & Kitchen (Oct 18th)

Les Savy Fav w/ Apache Beat and Graffiti Island @ The Fun, Old Blue Last (Oct 20th)

This Aint Vegas w/ Lovvers, Barden's Boudoir (Nov 2nd)

my device w/ LR Rockets and The Callas @ Artrocker, Buffalo Bar (Nov 6th)

Lucky Soul and Broadcast 2000 @ Last.fm Rooftop Gig, Last.fm office (Nov 15th)

Midnight Juggernauts w/ Bolt Action Five, Hoxton Bar & Kitchen (Nov 21st)

Plastic Little @ Mini Marcha, Old Blue Last (Nov 21st)

Lovvers w/ Graffiti Island, Black Time and [artist ]Cuckoo's Nest @ Manor House Warehouse Party (Nov 24th)

Ipso Facto and Roadside Poppies @ Last.fm/Presents, Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes (Nov 29th)

X-ray eyes @ 13 Monsters, Brighton Barfly (Dec 1st)

Cansei de Ser Sexy w/ Justice, Brixton Academy (Dec 3rd)

No Age, John Maus, gay against you and Cutting Pink with Knives, The Dome (Dec 7th)

ButtonHead, George Pringle and Black Bear @ Last.fm/presents Xmas Party, Bethnal Green Working Men's Club (Dec 12th)

Gowns w/ The Sticks and John Maus, Gramaphone (Dec 17th)

Much to my shame, I've bought hardly any records this year (and those that I have, I've had hardly any time to listen to them). So it's a simple run-down of every single gig/show/party/festival I've been to this year, which is either fascinating or pointless depending on your view. Told you I liked lists...

Kaito w/ Pink Riot and Twisted Charm @ Club Motherfucker/Halloween Short Film Festival, ICA (January 5th)
Frank Turner w/ El Coco @ Halloween Short Film Festival, ICA Bar (January 8th)
Bolt Action Five w/ The Michelles and The Neutrinos, The Chapel Bar (January 14th)
The Roaring Twenties w/ 4 or 5 Magicians @ Dirty Boots, The Engine Room (January 16th)
Clara Clara @ The Do, Core Club (January 20th)
Twisted Charm w/ The Black Tulips, The Freebutt (January 26th)
The Michelles, The Pleasure Unit (January 28th)
The Research w/ Prinzhorn Dance School and Mono Taxi, The Freebutt (January 31st)
Shitdisco @ The Do, Core Club (February 3rd)
The Roaring Twenties w/ Oracle Boy, The Pressure Point (February 5th)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah w/ Doctor Dog, Concorde 2 (February 9th)
David E. Sugar w/ The Ape Drape Escape and Heidi Mortensen @ Club Motherfucker, Upstairs at The Garage (February 11th)
Look Look (Dancing Boys) w/ Rolo Tomassi, Underground Railroad and Suicidal Birds, The Betsey Trotwood (February 12th)
1990s w/ The Mules, Tatty Bogle’s (February 18th)
Severed White, Stupid Club, Wolfie, Dev Test Icicles, Tatty Bogle’s (February 23rd)
Projections w/ Yuchi @ Dirty Boots, The Engine Room (February 27th)
Bolt Action Five w/ The Michelles and Go Go Deceptacons @ The Michelles’ party, Bethnal Green (March 10th)
my device w/ 4 or 5 Magicians @ Dirty Boots, The Engine Room (March 13th)
The Video Nasties w/ hot roddy, Thee Intolerable Kidd and Look Look (Dancing Boys) [missed], The Betsey Trotwood (March 16th)
The Roaring Twenties w/ Catnap, The Total Drop and The Liquor Store @ Snakes and Ladders CD launch, Nambucca (March 20th)
Look Look (Dancing Boys) @ Potty Mouth, Push Bar (March 24th)
Bolt Action Five w/ Fury of the Headteachers @ Artrocker Club, Buffalo Bar (March 28th)
Help She Can't Swim w/ The Retro Spankees and Bearsuit, The Metro (March 30th)
The Maccabees @ Way Out West, Brentford FC (April 15th)
Hawnay Troof w/ Look Look (Dancing Boys) and Silicon Vultures @ Club Motherfucker, Upstairs at The Garage (April 16th)
The Longcut w/ We Start Fires, Manchester Acamdemy 3 (May ??)
Good Shoes at The Roadhouse (May 29th)
Pink Grease @ The Do, Core Club (June 2nd)
Look Look (Dancing Boys), Kate Nash, Peggy Sue and the Pirates, The Bobby McGees, Beauty Skool Dropout @ Antifolk Brighton, The Freebutt (June 10th)
The Young Knives, Audio (June 12th)
Bakelite @ The Do, Core Club (June 16th)
4 or 5 Magicians w/ Mike Lord, Sumo (June 21st)
Look Look (Dancing Boys) w/ Sam Amant, No Bra and Wet Dog @ Potty Mouth, The Spread Eagle (July 2nd)
ack ack ack w/ Yeborobo, The Sticks and Dude War, The Old Blue Last (July 4th)
Pull Tiger Tail w/ Awful Sparks, Catch 22 (July 6th)
Crystal Castles @ Club Motherfucker, Push Bar (July 15th)
586 w/ The Roaring Twenties @ Artrocker Club, Buffalo Bar (July 25th)
Look Look (Dancing Boys)/Lost Penguin w/ Bono Must Die and Boys Of Brazil @ Toy Pirate, The Old Blue Last (July 26th)
Look Look (Dancing Boys) w/ Lost Penguin @ Radio 1 session, Maida Vale Studios (August 2nd)
Trencher w/ Hands On Heads and Art of Burning Water @ White Heat, Madame JoJo’s (August 8th)
Twisted Charm w/ The Ghost Frequency @ Emerge, 333 (August 11th)
The Spinto Band, Fopp Camden (August 14th)
RAT:ATT:AGG w/ Lost Penguin and Boys Of Brazil, Madame JoJo’s (August 16th)
LEEDS FEST: Klaxons, Dizzee Rascal, Semifinalists, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Long Blondes, Broken Social Scene etc etc (August Bank Holiday)
10LEC6 @ The Do, Core Club (September 1st)
Look Look (Dancing Boys) w/ Lost Penguin, Tiger Force and PRE @ White Heat, Madame JoJo’s (September 19th)
These New Puritans w/ Headless @ Toy Pirate, The Old Blue Last (September 28th)
Radio 4 w/ From The Wreckage, The Metro (October 3rd)
RAT:ATT:AGG w/ Deaf Stereo @ Another Bar Another Kitchen, Proud Galleries (October 12th)
Look Look (Dancing Boys) w/ Lets Bitter Cinema, Pull In Emergency and Fear of Flying (missed) @ Transparent, Nambucca (October 14th)
The Presets w/ To My Boy, Midnight Juggernauts and Shitdisco, ULU (October 18th)
kap10kurt w/ Kap Bambino @ Delete Yourself, Barden’s Boudoir (October 20th)
Bolt Action Five w/ Popular Workshop @ Artrocker, Buffalo Bar (October 24th)
Metronomy @ Adventures In The Beetroot Field, Fabric (October 26th)
Midnight Juggernauts, Old Blue Last (October 27th)
Bolt Action Five w/ The Victorian English Gentlemens Club and Metronomy @ No Pain In Pop, Goldsmiths Student Union (October 31st)
Man Like Me @ People Are Germs, 93 Feet East (November 3rd)
Cansei de Ser Sexy @ Frog, Mean Fiddler (November 4th)
Bolt Action Five w/ Levelload @ Rock N Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution, Pool Bar (November 8th)
Psychic Ills @ Upset The Rhythm, Bardens Boudoir (November 11th)
ESG, Dingwalls (November 15th)
Van She, New Young Pony Club, MSTRKRFT @ Modular Party, Canvas (November 18th)
I Love UFO @ Delete Yourself, Bardens Boudoir (November 23rd)
The Young Knives, Lo-Fi-Fnk, Foals, Blood Red Shoes, Roland Shanks, Digitalism @ Insomniacs Ball, SeOne (November 25th)
4 or 5 Magicians w/ The Moi Non Plus, Bardens Boudoir (December 8th)
Ebony Bones @ Styleslut, 93 Feet East (November 8th)
Look Look (Dancing Boys) w/ Collapse, PRE and AIDS Wolf, The Barfly (December 11th)
gay against you @ The Do, Core Club (December 15th)
PRE, Barden’s Boudoir (December 18th)
Shakes and Shy Child, Fabric (December 22nd)
Max Tundra @ Club Motherfucker, Bardens Boudoir (December 31st)

...So there you have it. I'm glad to say I enjoyed a majority of these bands, and I won't do myself a disservice by mentioning who was particularly awful (although there were a couple - use yr imaginations!)

Here's to 2007...

Apparently my favourite artist of the week is [unknown], but it is in fact the dulcet tones of :( I've been listening to. I can see why this could cause some consternation in the tagging world... Let's just change it all to Colon Open Bracket and be done with it.

Damn reckless use of punctuation... in the meantime go smash the alphabet with me

http://www.myspace.com/colonopenbracket