duggup

Well this is it. Time to bugger off for a bit of a Christmas break.

So lets have a quick look at some of my faves for the year (It’s traditional to do a year in review thing. Isnt it?).

These are some of the songs that are still bouncing around on my  MP3 player playlist and keeping my brain entertained. And yes there are a lot guitars featured below. ( I was only going to pick two three, but it turned into three each month… oh well)

• January: Simone Dinnerstein – Bach Goldberg Variations and Black Mountain – Tyrants and  of course Abney Park – Stigmata Martyr
  I have a short playlist with Simone’s paino tracks and the Glenn Gould versions – very weird. Abney Park are truly wonderful
• February:osh10 – Interview and Vampire Weekend – Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa and Okkervil River – Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe
  osh10 were charming to deal with and their music is still intriguing me. It’s a coin toss between Vampire Weekend and Okkervil River. Listen to them both… lots
• March:Yeasayer – 2080 and Papercranes – Treasure and My Morning Jacket
  Yeasayer and My Morning Jacket are both still providing quality soundtracks to my day.
• April:The Benthams – Interview and The Childballads and Ian Bland – Drifter
  The Benthams were great fun to work with, Ian is still suprised that I have large chunks of his album on MP3 player.
• May: Terry Riley – In C and Laura Gibson and Jim Bryson
  Laura Gibson was a surprising find, there is a section in my playlist where Laura and Sara Storer (below) trade consecutive songs. It would make a great little concert.
• June:Sara Storer – Land Cries Out and Beirut and Times New Viking
  Sara Storer or Beirut? Beiruit or Sara Storer? Sara by a smidge.
• July:120 Days – So This is Suicide and Charlie Parr – 1922 and Podington Bear
  Charlie Parr, one of the highlight finds of the year.
• August:Me and the Grownups and Moving Hearts – RTE The Late Session and DragonForce – Through the Fire and Flames
  DragonForce, one of those “how the hell did I miss these guys” finds. Ended up with three of their albums virtually the next day
• September: The Morrighan and Chairlift – Bruises and Fleet Foxes – English House
  Chairlift are managing to survive on the playlist even though every third ad on the teleivision seems to be playing them (Christmas will be over soon) and The Morrighan, Jon X sent a CD for review and I still have half of it on the playlist.
• October:Woodpigeon – Songbook / The Sound Of Us Playing Together and Fruit Bats – Slipping through the Sensors and The Secret Machines
  Fruit Bats and The Secret Machines were both just fabulous finds. Lots of interesting stuff still to come from both acts I suspect.
• November:Susanna And The Magical Orchestra and Richie Havens and The Maybes? – Summertime
  The Maybes because it is summertime here in Australia, but I suspect that Richie Havens will still be on the playlist this time next year
• December:Liz Stringer – You Say So Many Things and Dan Wilson – Breathless and Jun Miyake
  Thank God for Rockwiz, Liz Stringer and Dan Wilson both found on the show and are both still on the playlist

If I was forced to pick one act for the year, it would have to be DragonForce. These guys end up being played at least once a day and I just love the amazing, “understated” guitar work. Just brilliant.

Thank you all for your support, emails (there is a comment thingy at the bottom of each page folks) and Jools and I look forward to continuing next year. There is still a ton of music to be heard out there and more being made every day.

Have a good Christmas and New Year, we will be back in mid January(ish)

thatch is fascinated by guitars, music, guitars, production, silly noises, guitars and used to be a musician. Did I mention the thing about the guitars?
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