It's been a very busy year with real life things. So busy that music has pretty much fallen by the wayside and I've got right out of the habit of writing on here. Both are a shame because I don't feel like someone who writes songs any more, and in years to come I won't be able to look back at what I've done. Maybe I'll try and back fill it, but it won't be detailed enough to be good. Highlights were probably touring with Annie in January, Green Man festival, going to Lanzarote for some relaxation (also going to Timanfaya, which was incredible), the Okkervil River gig the other week.
"Proper" bands I've seen (only seem to be 41, despite going to a festival, though I may have missed something obvious. Normal review rules apply - if I say nothing they were alright to quite good):
Rue Royale, Kirsty McGee (great), Muncie Girls, The Sidekicks, Hop Along (not as good as the record is), Simone Felice, The Front Bottoms, Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar (very good), Gren Bartley, Shooglenifty, Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo, Beck, Keston Cobblers Club, Julia Holter (sounded like Clannad), Phosphorescent (pretty good), The Pastels (charmingly ropey), Edwyn Collins (lovely), Midlake (miss their real singer), Zervas and Pepper, Ellen and the Escapades, Fossil Collective, Rozi Plain, This is The Kit, The Slow Show, Sweet Baboo (lovely), Girls Names, Low (wonderful), Villagers (ruuuubbish), Band of Horses, Woods, Local Natives (terribly dull), Anna von Hausswolff (operatic), Swans (crushing, brutal, so loud, left me feeling weird for a few days), Jeffrey Lewis and Peter Stampfel (needed more Lewis), Alessi's Ark, The Mountain Goats (genius), The Wave Pictures (on top form), Matthew Caws (great), Nadine Shah, Rhodes (from Hitchin), Okkervil River (ridiculously good).
How I did with last years resolutions:
This year's resolutions then:
The current List: Frightened Rabbit, The Gin Blossoms, Bruce Springsteen, Brand New, Say Anything, King Creosote and Jon Hopkins, Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, The Retrospective Soundtrack Players, Torres, The Wrens, Jason Isbell, Courtney Barnett.