Have you ever been stuck behind somebody whilst driving travelling 10 miles below the speed limit on a straight road? How about being tail-gated by an ominous looking blacked out Clio, like a mini knight rider full on imbeciles, on a wet hazardous night? In the real world these are situations we have to encounter every day, so wouldn’t it be great if you could make a parked car explode completely ruining their ride? Not extreme enough you say. OK, how about getting a nearby crane to swing it’s mechanical arm violently across the road swiping everything into oblivion? What! Still not enough. Fine, so say you could summon an air-strike to rain down missiles or make a sky-scraper come crashing down on top of them. Well, if you ever felt the need to do any of these things you are, of course, a homicidal maniac, but you will also get a buzz from Black Rock Studio’s awesome new arcade racing game Split/Second.

Now racing  games have been following the same tired path since Burnout landed with such a bang all those years ago, and then subsequently got less-exciting with every installment. I can’t remember the last time I actually got excited by the thought of photo-releastic digital cars racing round a track, even the likes of Project Gotham Racing 4 and Burnout Paradise, good as they were, just left me hideously bored after a couple of imprecise laps.

So how can they make racing games exciting again you cry? Well if you were to ask BlackRock Studio this they would answer you with a gimmick, albeit a gimmick so ludicrous that it makes Split/Second the most exciting, visceral and just damn fun racing game in years. The gimmick is this – as you race around the track you power up your bar by drafting, drifting and jumping, so far so Burnout. Only instead of using this bar to boost past you opponents (YAWN boosting is so 2001) you can blow up passing cars, buildings, ships, cranes, summon helicopters to fire missile strikes onto the track and open up short-cuts. And this is all in the first half a dozen races. It makes for a game that is incredibly unpredictable, where there is never a dull moment, and you always have to be alert for the nearest obstacle or explosion. Sweaty palms are just the start…..

All this would count for nothing if the actual race mechanics weren’t up to the job. Thankfully, this is another area where Split/Second excels, the handling of the cars feels satisfyingly weighty and the sense of speed amongst the mayhem of the game itself is exhilarating.

The graphics are up for the job too, it all runs at a crisp pace with no slow-down regardless of the amount of racers, or “power plays” (read: explosions) on the screen at one time. What is particularly impressive is the effects used on the cars as you narrowly avoid an upcoming obstacle. The sense of G’s as the track blurs around you and debris stick to your screen as you car bolts violently to the side can only be admired.

It’s no cheap-skate in terms of game modes either, even in single player mode the game never fails to keep things interesting in pure variety stakes. Sure there are the classic racing modes, the elimination ones, but there are also modes where, for one example, you have to dodge missiles from a stalking helicopter in order to build up a score multiplier. Then when any good game includes a score multiplier it has that classic ability of becoming insanely addictive, as you try one more play to beat your high score.

So, any pitfalls? Well the TV show style presentation with, what is now standard in even the most serious racing game, zanny commentary is a little half-hearted. They could have made this into a Running Man style satirical game show, very much like arcade classic Smash TV and given the game a great deal more personality. It would also be nice to build play-lists of your own music, although I’m not sure if this would detract from the racing itself. Anyhow, these are both cosmetic areas that are quickly forgotten about when the engines start roaring.

All in all, this is easily the best racing game in years, breathing life into a genre so usually one-dimensial it has become stale as of late. An awesome spectacle, a whole heap of fun and edge-of-your seat exciting too. Just, don’t go hoping for such events in real life, as the opening disclaimer so alarmingly warns.

Scott: As the summer months draw ever closer I feel myself drawn to the tender strums of an acoustic guitar and anything that can carry you away in the soothing beams of sunlight. Thankfully, It’s been possibly the best month for new music so far this year with releases from personal favourites like Murder by Death, Minus the Bear, The Gaslight Anthem and 65daysofstatic, and some stunning pieces of work from bands that could soon be classed as ‘favourites’, I take a brief look at some below.

Bob: Well, there goes the the wonderful weather that triggered my marathon of beats last month. I don’t know what the hell happened (I blame the Volcano, even if science DOES prove me wrong – but what did science ever do for us, huh?), but the summer vibe is on a hiatus. So, this month seems to have seen me go back to one of my ‘electic female artist’ phases. You can’t beat a bit of quirk.

Scott: The National – High Violet (Album)

The National are a band that get banded about as ‘geniuses’ and true pioneers of modern indie music, and when they make songs, nay albums, as divine as this it’s hard to argue. High Violet is a mature, smoldering piece of music that grows with each listen thanks to it’s perfect pacing and arrangements. It’s not an album where any one musician can simply play along to an overiding melody or just keep a beat, you can hear the input of each member and instrument to each song. So much so it’s one of the few albums where even the  drumming sounds distintive enough to take prevalence over certain tracks.

Bob:  St. Vincent – Actor

I’ve been kicking myself a little for not discovering this album upon its release last year, as it would have easily made it as one of the year’s best by an absolute mile. Annie Clark’s wonderful vocals are the immediate entry point to this great little album, but only moments into opening track ‘The Strangers’, it’s apparent just how much creativity goes into her music. At once both sweetly delicate and viciously oppressive, the album is perhaps best summed up with my personal fav of the bunch, ‘Black Rainbow’, a track built from the most simple of melodies that almost sounds like a lullaby, but like all lullabies has an inherent sinister quality to it, only exemplified in the tracks second half when it ditches the vocals entirely and pulsates with electronic stabs and a string section that becomes so intense it’s almost exhausting to listen to, but thoroughly exhilarating at the same time. Elsewhere her pop sensibilities reveal a playful side, on the  tracks ‘Actor Out Of Work’ and ‘Marrow’. This album has been on near constant rotation for the past month. I think I’d actually kill someone to see this woman at a gig.

Scott: Gavin Clarke & Ted Barnes – Somers Town Soundtrack (EP)

This short and sweet EP is a lazy, melancholic delight, so then the perfect accompaniment to a short-film about two lonely teenage boys with too much time on their hands around London.The Shane Meadows film is made all the richer from this haunting score, but on it’s own the tender acoustic melodies and rich vocals offer a real catharsis away from the poignancy of the film itself.

Bob: Soap & Skin – Lovetune For Vacuum

Anja Plaschg is one of those rare things that the music world throws out at random every once in a while:  someone far too young to be making music this potent, powerful, and mature. At only 18 years of age, this Austrian prodigy has had me mesmerised. So much so that a few weeks ago when a gig of hers I was supposed to be attending was canceled with no apparent reason, I was quite frankly astounded at how disappointed I was. Lovetune For Vacuum is an incredibly hard to describe beast – part Tori Amos’ piano, part Bjork’s otherworldly quality (especially on the almost exclusively squealchy beat-based ‘DDMMYY’), but imitating neither, it’s an incredibly engaging release from someone so young, demonstrated on possibly some of the most beautiful and sad music I may have ever heard (‘Extinguish Me, ‘Cynthia’). Also, upon repeated listens, it has become apparent that this really is the kind of thing that could only come out of Europe.

Scott: Flight of the Conchords – Carol Brown (song)

While Flight of the Conchords make comic music that I’d find hard to enjoy out of the context of the show, the song Carol Brown shows just how good the music these guys make is regardless. Nothing more than a list of ex-girlfriends, who also form a choir and sing the backing harmonies, this is a ridiculously catchy pop song with a killer chorus and some actually really impressive backing singing. Eat. Sleep. Folk.

Bob: Murder By Death – Good Morning, Magpie

Honestly, I’m amazed Scott didn’t write about this one, so I guess it falls to me. Let me get this out of the way first: this album is my least favourite Murder By Death album, but the fact it made it onto the monthly recommendations should hopefully show that I still like it a hell of a lot. On first listens I honestly didn’t know what to make of it, but like all good albums it revealed itself slowly and eventually grew on me. I think my slight problem with it overall is that in a few too many places, the band are going over ground they have already done better on previous albums, both lyrically and thematically – starting over, drinking whiskey, doing ugly things during youth. In fact, the first track proper, ‘As Long as There is Whiskey in The World’, while initially sort of fun on first listen, now downright infuriates me, but then the album quickly finds its feet with ‘On the Dark Streets Below’, and my personal pick of the litter ‘You Don’t Miss Twice (When You’re Shaving With a Knife)’ – think Tom Waits post Asylum era if he’d ever tried to dabble in country music – and the immense closing track ‘The Day’. It’s just a shame that, by Murder By Death’s own standards, it all feels a little inconsistent to me. Still, when all I can think to compare the album to is the bands own material, then really nothing drastic has gone wrong here, there’s just the slight feeling that I’ve heard it before. Still, roll on June 5th when I get to see them back home.

Scott: Minus The Bear – Omni (Album)

This is not something I ever thought I’d call an album but man, this album is one sexy beast. I’d be hard pushed to pinpoint why, maybe it’s the suggestive lyrics, the summery electronica or the down right funky melodies but this is the perfect upbeat summer album and yeh it just sounds dirty with it. It’s all the best bits about Minus The Bear, if you could excuse the pun “Minus the shit”..ah hem, it has the dreamy prog parts, the technical mathy guitars and even the odd dance number only it sounds more streamlined than their last and the song-writing has improved dramatically, although it will still never win any awards. It’s just a shame it’s been released to such little fanfare or press as there’s no reason this couldn’t be huge.

It took me a second viewing to ‘get’ the original Iron Man film, having seen it at cinemas it just left me numb, a forgettable summer superhero movie devoid on any real meat on it’s bones, it was breezy, colourful, charismatic but sorely lacked any of the turmoil or dramatic chops to really cement itself in your mind. Or maybe we’ve all just been spoiled by Nolan’s Batman movies? Anyhow on second viewing I took it for what it was, and I enjoyed it lot more, so much in fact I’ve been eager to catch the sequel since release, confident I’m prepared for it this time.

Well, I left the theatre with the same numbness and minor boredom I felt after seeing the original. In a nutshell it’s fell into the same pitfalls that made Spiderman 3 so messy, in that it’s added too much and ends up a hodgepodge of underdeveloped subplots and characters, suffocating the best characters into minor roles in favour of fan-service plugs. In this case the greedy walking Avengers advert that is Sam L Jackson’s Nick Fury and Scarlett Johanson’s Black Widow. Both of whom show up unexpectedly half-way through like an unwelcome Graham Norton advert during a Doctor Who episode [that ones for you Bob], derailing a film just finding it’s feet.

They should have kept it simple – Sam Rockwell’s sleezey arms dealer looks to cash-in on Tony Stark’s reluctance to donate his Iron Man suit to the military so recruits vengeful, tatooed, Russian scientist Rourke to develop his own suit. Meanwhile Starke battles to find an alternative energy source for the Iron Man suit that is slowly killing him. Instead Favreux is like an over-excited obese man at a buffet giddily ingesting ideas as the mid-section just keeps getting more and more bloated. The biggest casualties of which are Mickey Rourke, who is introduced as a real savage rival to Starke in the films stand out scene only to be forgotten about until the end. Where he shows up wearing the identical suit to Bridges in the original, and is duely dispatched with ease, in what is a dull anticlimax of an ending. And, of course, the eternally underrated Sam Rockwell (who doesn’t even appear on the poster, but has more screen-time than Cheedle, Rourke or Johanson).

Iron Man 2 still struggles by thanks to its vivacious performances, the odd good line and a hell of a lot of effects but it clouds the successful formula of the first and feels hollow as a result, unable to match the expectations set for it.

No. Just, no.

This would not work at all. Honestly, set the scene for yourself. Mario and Princess Peach squaring off against Ryu and Chun-Li. Yoshi and Kirby facing off against Guy and Gen. No.

Just. No.

Nintendo already have their own fighting game with a rabid fanbase anyway, and really, the thought of seeing Capcom cast in a Smash Bros. style game just… disturbs me. Just as much as seeing the Nintendo lot done up in the Capcom style. The two just aren’t compatible, and despite any allegiances you might have to Nintendo, just step back and think about it for a while. Yeah, you know I’m right. Nintendo, bar a few exceptions (notably Metroid and Zelda) are renowned for inoffensive anyone-can-play games. This is not a dig at them in any way, they just have a certain style that they do oh so well, that is at complete odds with the usual kick-ass with more than a dose of a silly side style of Capcom.

The answer then, and the only answer that fits so perfectly for me that I find it incredible that it doesn’t exist already, is this:

SEGA Vs Capcom.

For starters, both companies can do seriousness and playfulness at the same with an almost contemptuous ease. Secondly, SEGA is probably one of the only few companies that quite easily rival Capcom for a list of instantly recognizable, incredibly awesome characters. Heck, they even have their share of obscure ones that still kick ass and will ring a bell somewhere in the back of gamers brains. Both companies have also covered similar ground if you look through their respective histories. Megaman/Vectorman, Final Fight/Streets of Rage, Street Figher/Virtua Fighter (regardless of Virtua’s extra dimension, their principals are frighteningly similar).

Believe me, I’ve put a lot of thought into this. Probably way too much, in fact, and the more and more I’ve thought about it, the more and more it just makes sense to me. I’m at odds as to whether Sonic would actually fit in there, though, as I’m not entirely sure how an anthropomorphic character would fit in amongst a cast of humanoids, but heck, Capcom were able to get away with Viewtiful Joe in Tatsunoko Vs Capcom, and he’s not exactly the most normally proportioned of characters.

My wish list of characters from the SEGA side would probably go something like:

Akira
Pai
Axel
Bayonetta
Shinobi
Beat
Orta
G
Uh-La-La
Tyris Flare
Temjin (Virtual On) – scaled down or colossal size ala Tatsunoko Vs Capcom

And really, I could go on and on here. My character choices would naturally greatly differ to many peoples and the developer alike if it did happen, but representation from several series’ in the above mentioned would be a given, I should think.

Agree with me, or think I’m a total idiot? By all means, please, tell me. I want to know what anyone else wants to see for any possible future ‘Superhero Rave’ games.

Bob: The weather here in Budapest has been incredible for this last week or two. But as I sit here and write this, the skies have opened up and brought rain like you’d expect to see back in England. But, at any rate, today’s slight blip aside, I’ve found my musical listening gradually shifting back  toward the lazy beats that I always seem to enjoy more with the shift into the spring and summer months.

Scott: I’ve always hated the question ‘what type of music do you like?’ during small-talk, as it takes me an hour to answer, by which point the person is bored, and I would imagine, slightly weirded out. Or I just take the easy route and say ‘all types’. It’s a lazy answer that usually means a person has no distinct musical taste. For anybody new to this site, or that doesn’t know me, I mainly like punk music. But what is punk music these days? I would argue it spans into all genres and hopefully during these brief scribblings over the next months, years or maybe even decades I can show just that.

Bob: Bonobo – Black Sands

Bonobo’s latest album couldn’t have got released at a better time. Along with Beck’s Modern Guilt, I listened to Bonobo’s discography almost exclusively for the entire summer of 2008. Repeated listens of his stuff did reveal to me that there was perhaps only one really great album out of the three previous ones, however. Animal Magic does clearly sound the first major attempt, but it has its moments of greatness particularly with closing track Silver. Dial “M” For Monkey was my favorite out the bunch. It built on everything before it from Animal Magic, and added a more jazz infused element to the proceedings. Days To Come initially blew me away, but after a while I found the tracks with vocals eventually got on my nerves a little, and felt somewhat forced. On new album Black Sands, however, Bonobo has found something of an incredible balance between the previous albums, without sounding like he’s going over old ground. The jazz is back in a big way, and boy does it sound smooth. The beats are as lazy and engaging as ever, with even more of a hip hop feel, but this time the tracks featuring vocals are easily some of the standouts. Eyes Down in particular is just divine, with the vocals weaving naturally around the minimal beats. At this point, unless something else remarkable comes along, Bonobo is easily going to be my soundtrack to the summer all over again.

Scott:  Crazy Arm – Born to Ruin

There is no greater joy than turning up to a gig and catching an unbilled support act who really blow you away, this was a joy I encountered at the recent Chuck Ragan/Frank Turner gig where turning up half-way through the set I caught Crazy Arm playing some crazy hybrid of punk rock and country. Now the word ‘Country Music’ is a dirty word for most, conjuring images of cowboy hat clad grizzly gents in tight jeans singing about how Betty Loo walked away, but it’s a form of music that the punk scene has really taken to heart as of late. It’s now not uncommon for bands to have acoustic/folk/roots side projects, especially American bands, but for a British band to incorporate it directly into their music with such success is nothing short of a miracle. Born to Ruin is an album that has folk melodies mixed in with rousing power-chord breakdowns and sounds consistent throughout, and it’s been rocking my ride to work everyday now for a couple of weeks.

Bob: Quantic – The 5th Exotic

Much like Bonobo, Quantic was an artist I absolutely abused a few summers ago. The problem I have with Quantic is that he’s such a busy producer, with no less than four projects active at the same time, that his material can sound pretty unfocused on many albums. But with The 5th Exotic, that’s simply not the case. It’s an old one now, but it still sounds incredibly fresh every time I hear it, and nothing quite accompanies a lazy evening with some booze, the windows wide open, and this album blaring out at full volume…

Scott: Leatherface – The Stormy Petrel

Frankie Stubb’s and co. are a band who are hugely influencial but have never enjoyed any mainstream success or press, this despite ‘Mush’ being regarded as one of the finest punk albums ever, a title it thoroughly deserves. This, their 8th album in 22 years (not counting comps, singles and splits) is on a par with the best work the band has done. Full to the brim of soul, passion and water-tight melodies, it’s an album that feels completely like home to me, one that I could hold up and proclaim this is what good music sounds like to my ears. Stubb’s voice is just such a gem, you can feel his every frustration when he belts out his gravelly tones and his eccentric, witty lyrics never fail to inspire, amuse and most of all pull an emotional response out of the listener.

Bob: Moloko – Statues

I still have trouble when realizing how old this album is already, but man I swear it could have been made last week. While Roisin Murphy went off and explored her ever more increasingly bizarre disco diva image (of which I dig immensely), before Moloko parted ways they sure as hell left one dazzling album with us. Statues is a consistently positive album, with only the title track deviating from the overall mood, and even that’s perfectly suited when taken in the scheme of the album. Familiar Feeling, 100%, Cannot Contain This, and the album centerpiece Forever More never fail to get my juices going.

Scott: Dark Dark Dark – Bright Bright Bright EP

It’s strange how one band can hit such a unique and unexpected note that it shifts your musical taste immediately. This was the case when I first heard Murder by Death, and I’ve been craving dark Americana tinged folk ever since. Dark Dark Dark are one such band that live up to their name by playing accordian, piano, banjo, cello and more regular instruments, well, darkly. It’s a sound that’s deeply atmospheric, bringing to mind smokey bars in Eastern Europe, and the vocals are similarly haunting. I hear these guys also have a full length out, and if it’s anywhere near as good as this it should be hitting this very feature soon.

Bob: The Rock of Travolta – Uluru

Myself and post-rock don’t particularly get on these days. Like my co-writer Scott, I find it all terribly drab and rather uninviting to the listener, bar a few exceptions of course. Mogwai still get my attention when they come out of their own arse from time to time, and MONO never get old for me, but elsewhere most bands really do sound the same. It seems fitting then, that this gem of an album is probably the first post-rock album I heard, and still easily stands as one of the best I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing. Even now, eight years on, it flat out defies the genre, with bursts of creativity on absolutely every track. It’s short, it’s mind-bending in its variations, and it’s ever so much fun. The only track to feature vocals, Everything’s Opened Up, with David Line from Seafood on duty never gets old for me. It really is about time they released another album.

What I loved:

It. Is. FUN – As mentioned above pretty much my entire time spent with this has involved me laughing. Whether I was at the back of the pack hopelessly losing, or jostling violently with the forerunners desperately trying to sneak over the finishing line before them, only for a sneaky hit from a Shunt to send me veering wildly off course, the game has quite clearly been designed with one clear factor in mind: fun.

The weapons – It’s rare to see weapons in a racing game these days that isn’t a kart based game, or the wonderful Wipeout, and the ones on offer here certainly are a diverse and incredibly useful bunch. Shunt acts like the homing missile you’d expect to be here, and Nitro obviously behaves exactly as you’d expect, but elsewhere there are some devious entries into the foray. Barge acts as a kind of 360 degree shotgun blast, knocking any other car trying to overtake you (or indeed, you trying to overtake them) flying. Mine is as you’d expect, but rather than the Wipeout style trail of mines, it acts more like the devastating Bomb from that series, and can also be aimed forwards for anyone refusing to let you pass them. Misplace a forward placed mine, though, and expect to have a massive taste of your own medicine. There is a wonderful array of tactics available with Blur’s weapons, and using them tactfully once the whole ‘OMG press to fire them all!’ thing wears off, the risk/reward setup is immensely satisfying when it pays off.

The handling – Blur strikes a fine balance between the realistic handling of the Project Gotham’s before it, but with a hint of the ridiculous from Burnout. Anyone with a previous knowledge of PGR’s kudos system will be right at home here, albeit with a need to learn Blur’s own exaggerated take on it.

The tracks – The few tracks on offer in the beta are superb, rewarding fine driving skills with cat-like reflexes, and never once feeling unfair with unexpected obstacles bringing you to a standstill. The obstacles that are there are all easily avoided, but the fun comes from using these obstacles to your advantage against the competition.

The ranking/unlock/mod system – Only really teased at in the beta, but clearly displaying the potential for diversity, Blur’s grading system will be a point of major interest in the final release. Behaving more like an FPS in the ranking and perks department, Blur offers superb customization for different play styles. Want to advance in rank more quickly, but don’t care much for outright combat? Then give yourself a ‘Show Off’ set up, but expect to get destroyed if someone does land hits on you. On the other hand, want to go all out, then kit yourself out with extra splash damage for the Barge attack, and give yourself the extra ram damage and nobody is really gonna be arguing with you.

What I didn’t love:

There is simply not enough of it – Yep, it’s a beta, and I shouldn’t complain about getting the chance to play this nearly three months before it hits the shelves, but the game is just so much god damned fun that I want the disc in my 360 right now.

No music! – Nitpicking for sure, but the beta has no music to accompany the onscreen craziness. Bizarre Creations always throw great OST’s together, and having that currently missing does take away a bit of the magic. Still, throw your own high-octane playlist together from your  hard drive or an iPod, and the situation is soon remedied.

I have to wait until the end of May to play the full thing – Balls.

20.

Them Crooked Vultures

Them Crooked Vultures

The term ‘super group’ usually transaltes to self-indulgent tripe but Them Crooked Vultures really broke the trend with their debut. It’s probably about 20 minutes too long and lacks any real stand-out tunes but what is there is solid boogy rock played hard and fast. Still only the second best band either Homme, Growl or Jones has been in but this was a pleasent surprise and grew on me immensely after a few listens.

19.

Mono

Hymn to The Immortal Wind

The genre of post rock is always something I’ve struggled to become immersed in, and this year has dropped out of favour almost completely. It just seems many bands make plundering, dull music that lasts way too long and only serves to frustrate out of repetitive tedium. That said, some bands loosely tagged as post rock just because, ya know, they don’t have vocals do break the mould. One of these bands is Japenese outfit Mono who while being a deafening live band have crafted a work of ambient instrumental beauty on Hymn to the Immortal Wind, the melodies are heart breaking and the ambient parts actually play a part instead of just linking together climaxes. It establishes Mono as Post Rock’s top dogs, simply because the music they play is too hypnotic to be tagged with such a tiresome label.

18.

Placebo

Battle For The Sun

This year the track ‘The Bitter End’ shot me into a phase on listening to nothing but Placebo, leading up to me getting their latest – Battle For the Sun. In many ways the album is Placebo by numbers, but for somebody new to the band that’s not a problem. With tracks like the electronic-driven ‘Julien’ and the anthemic riot ‘Breath Under Water’ you can’t doubt their skill at crafting rock songs with a hint of originalilty and killer choruses all round.

17.

Isis

Waivering Radient

Structurally complexed, with meandering instrumental soundscapes crushing into massive metal breakdowns, this an Isis record alright. Sadly it has a little bit too much meandering, and not enough genuine innovation to push it further up the list. If only all the tracks on the album were as good as ‘Threshold of Transformation’ it could have been special, as it stands even an Isis album with a little too much filler is still better than most other metal bands.

16.

John Frusciante

The Empyrean

John Frusciante’s solo work has always outshone most of what the Chili Peppers put out, and The Empyrean was no exception. Arriving right at the start of the year this takes the listener on a spiritual journey from the start to the end of life, so far so conceptial. The music itself was slightly let down by the poor production, I believe it was recorded in Frusciante’s house, but the virtuoso playing from all the members involved really shines on what is an adventurous, if a little messy, listen.

15.

Regina Spektor

Far

A cynical colleague of mine jokingly once commented ‘…so sad and beautiful’ when I put this on, it would be a fitting comment if not for the intended cynicism as Regina’s rolling piano loveliness fitted with dramatic, eccentric song-writing may sound cliched in the wrong hands, but Regina makes it all sound charmingly unconventional.

14.

Cobra Skulls

American Rubicon

The best straight forward punk release of the year, containing insightful and often funny lyrics and played with a great deal of energy and skill, channelling bands like Against Me! And maybe even Dead Kennedys with a rockabilly rhythm.

13.

Manic Street Preachers

Journal For Plague Lovers

This was a daring album by all accounts, with all lyrics taken from a booklet left to the band by Richey Edwards before he mysteriously disappeared off the face of the earth. It’s a raw, dark album that still retains its accessibility, and the pop sensibilities of previous mid-career Manic’s albums. With lyrics and themes going to show why their lost band member has become such an cult figure in British rock.

12.

The Decemberists

The Hazards of Love

This is a concept album with a particular loony concept (I believe it to be a tale of a woman named Margeret who gets ravaged by shape-shifting animals….. right), is structured like an opera at a lengthy 70 minutes and spans many genres, from folk to metal, even including a children’s choir and more instruments than I can probably name. It’s frequently astounding and only when listening to, as intended, in full does it really shine. A grandeur masterpiece.

11.

Frank Turner

Poetry of the Deed

Shouty Frank Turner had a lot of expectation resting on his shoulders after the underground breakout of “Love, Ire and Song”. Signing to big-name indie Epitaph in America and getting a lot of press it all seemed a bit blown-up for a man who plays simple introspective songs about refusing to grow up when approaching thirty, growing disillusioned with Britain, and struggling against a weight to conform. He’s the new Billy Bragg, a punk heart hiding behind an acoustic guitar and a sensitive demeanour. Unfortunately despite a couple of stand-out tracks (‘the Road’, ‘Try This at Home’, ‘Journey of Magi’) Poetry of the Deed falls a little flat, some songs lack that song-writing spark where his usually shines through and the basic arrangements sag around the middle. However, it’s only a minor disappointment, the new backing band adds a lot on tracks like Our Lady Of the Campfire, and Frank’s heart is still firmly in the right place.

10.

The Twilight Sad

Forget The Night Ahead

When those winter nights roll in there is no better soundtrack than The Twilight Sad’s second full-length. Setting dark introspective instrumentals to a pulsating rhythm section and lyrics that howl with a deep Scottish brogue.

9.

A Death in the Family

Small Town Stories

The sub-genre of bands that sounds like Leatherface is now crowded enough to be labelled as ‘gruff punk’, one band to stand out from the crowd and almost match the masters for growling voiced emotional punk is Australia’s A Death in the Family. Small Town Stories, vaguely a concept album, chuggs by at a rugged mid-tempo, and real adult emotion shines through beneath the growl of the lead man’s voice.

8.

Polar Bear Club

Chasing Hamburg

A definite departure from their debut full-length, this sees Polar Bear Club hone their angular, gruff post-hardcore sound into something a lot more structured and accessible, however, in doing so they lose some of that repeat listening quality that the debut had. It’s an album that grips you on first listen but can become tiresome, not that this detracts from the fact that this is a strong, direct and energetic listen. The closest thing you’ll get to Hot Water Music these days outside of The Draft, only with an eye firmly on making this their breakout album from the underground.

7.

Idlewild

Post Electric Blues

Idlewild are one of the bands that have always threatened to break through to the mainstream and did with album ‘The Remote Part’ for a short time. Now with fan-funded album Post Electric Blues they seem to have stopped thriving for commercial success with grand indie balladry and made their most mature and natural album as a result. It still keeps the bands signature sound with Woomble’s tongue-twisting lyrics are as prevalent as ever, only now instead of making a folk album (Warnings/Promises) or a rock album (Make Another World) they’ve simply made an Idlewild album, as Woomble himself freely admits with lyrics from the title track ‘We’ve gone post electric, I’ve written down the concept”. Now any comparisons to their older work are made superfluous by just being so proud and confident of where they are now. This album also scores points for being decidedly more Scottish than previous outings, tracks like Circles in Stars could be lost Big Country B-Sides, and Woomble’s Scot brogue and sense of home enriches the album even more.

6.

Chuck Ragan

Gold Country

For a long time Chuck Ragan was simply known as the raspy-voiced one in seminal punk band Hot Water Music. He is now responsible for turning thousands of underground punk fans into country music by creating a series of authentic, Western country songs and make them sound credible and entirely natural. With Gold Country, as with all his music, it’s an album that feels very personal, played by friends for friends, and that sense of camaraderie gives the album a warm feeling. It sounds like country music should feel, down to earth, sing-your-heart-out, downtrodden violin-tinged Americana type stuff. Perfectly complemented by Chuck’s distinctive vocals, he’s a man that was made to sing this type of music.

5.

Telekenesis!

Tekekenesis!

Pure hook-laden pop music that urges you to create the perfect sunny afternoon just to play it. Michael Benjamin Learner’s debut channels 60′s pop music and Teenage Fanclub into an album that is instantly familiar, and by the same stone, ridiculously infectious. Clocking in at just under 30 minutes it’s simple, unpretentious fun, sweetly sung and energetically played.

4.

Strung Out

Agents of the Underground

Where as most 90′s skate punk bands have now either disbanded, been dropped by their label or sound way past their sell-by date, somehow veterans Strung Out still seem to keep moving forward. Forever tweeking their sound that now, after some 15 years, they seem to have finally found their comfort zone. This is a blistering listen, thunderous technical punk music, that sounds fresh and modern. Jason Cruz’s now raspy voice sounding more intense than ever, the musicianship is mind-blowing and the choruses soar, it sounds huge. Possibly the defining album of their career, and one that made me feel a fool for ever doubting their ability to evolve and push their sound.

3.

Propagandhi

Supporting Caste

If ever there is a modern punk band that transcends the cliché of 3 chord punk, make-up wearing poseurs and mindless political rhetoric it’s Propagandhi, these guys mean business both through their technical fretboard blistering thrash and their serious, intelligent politics. Supporting Caste was about the most intense record of the year, one that is genuinely horrifying in it’s well-researched political learnings, and one that is played and sang with a sincere anger and ferocity.

2.

Dredg

The Pariah, The Parrott and the Delusion

Dredg are a band that enjoy flirting between straight up alt-rock (Catch Without Arms) and more progressive art rock (El Cielo), and this album saw them combine the two brilliantly. Multi-layered tracks are split up with instrumental and vocal flourishes, and they even manage to squeeze in a power pop ballad or two. It’s an album that feels disjointed at it’s 18 tracks, and that took a lot of listens to click, but it’s also an album of real ambition and scale, one that leaves you exhausted and uplifted. The operatic vocals and some of the breaks are truly epic, the intersection in track ‘Quotes’ is a testament to their power.

1.

The Bouncing Souls

20th Anniversary Series

To celebrate the bands 20^th anniversary this was released as a single per month throughout 2009, as such it has grown throughout the year both as a whole and in my favour. Now with the split-song last single not disappointing it compiles into the Soul’s best and most rounded work to date. Sing-along punk of the tallest order, still as vibrant and heartfelt as they were when they started. Songs crammed full of nostalgia and sentiment, this sees the band on contemplative form in an album that is obviously a big thank you to fans.

In addition the track ‘Ghosts on the Boardwalk’ stands as my favourite track of the year.

EP’s / Singles

John K Samson – City Route 85

The Lawrence Arms – Buttsweat and Tears

Minus The Bear – Into The Mirror

Pulley – Time Insensitive Material

Small Brown Bike – Composite, Volume One

A Wilhelm Scream – S/T

Murder by Death Split Series

The Mountain Goats & John Vanderslice – Moon Colony Bloodbath

Albums that I heard too late to be included

Karen O and The Kids – Where The Wild Things Are

Nothington – Roads, Bridges and Ruins

Maybeshewill – Sing The Word Hope in Four-Part Harmony

In fact, I have to ask myself if it’s even worth bothering talking about gaping plot-holes (of which there were MANY), or whether to just leave them aside. There’s no way that I could do that, though, so excuse me while I rant. Russell T. Davies has been bugging me ever since the third season now, but The End of Time contains everything about his writing style that absolutely infuriates me. For starters, the second return of The Master was total bollocks, if less annoying than the Series Three finale, and it’s a chronic shame. John Simm does a grand job with him when he’s actually allowed to act, but for the most part he’s simply required to laugh like a maniac and/or use his fancy lightning-bolt skills. Where the fuck did they come from? His ‘resurrection’ went wrong, so that means he now has super powers? Or does RTD want to make us think that all Time Lords are able to do this, but have to hold themselves back like some kind of X-Man? Speaking of the Time Lords, too, their return should have been something on an absolutely colossal scale. But what do we get? A bunch of insane twats is what. Their plan was completely ludicrous, which may sound like an odd choice of word considering I’m talking about Doctor Who here, but what exactly were they trying to achieve? I was honestly hoping for them to make a serious return, providing a clean slate for Steven Moffat when his series starts, but no, we once again get RTD completely squandering the potential contained in his episodes. While I’m at it, what was the deal with that Time Lord lady being able to talk to Wilfred as an apparition? Who the bloody hell WAS she? The Doctor’s mother? The Master’s mother? Donna Bloody Noble? No explanation given here at all, other than that she was one of the Time Lords to oppose the vote on their return.

Let’s see, what else… oh yeah! Gallifrey knocking Earth out of its orbit? Can anyone honestly tell me the point of that? Seriously, did the Time Lords stop for one second to think that, if their plan were successful, Gallifrey would in all likelihood be unable to just simply replace the Earth’s orbit around the Sun? I’m no scientist, but isn’t Earth the only planet to actually be able to orbit the Sun at this position? I just don’t know… it was bad enough with Davros’ mental plan last time around, but using planets like marbles I simply could not suspend my disbelief for.

At any rate, much in the tradition of Russell T. Davies that he’s a good character writer, but terrible story writer, there was at least some fine moments of acting, even if the scene’s were pretty much rip-offs from other science fiction. Spock’s farewell from The Wrath of Khan springs to mind, with Wilfred being Kirk here and doing the whole teary speech thing. Even the situation was almost identical. But then, at the same time, why was Tennant’s Doctor so bothered by the whole impending regeneration? Look through Doctor Who history and you’ll spot that regenerations have always been handled rather briefly, even the much-loved Tom Baker’s, so why does David Tennant get to walk around making everyone’s life that little bit better? Because Russell T. Davies is a self-indulgent wanker, that’s why!

At this point, I honestly can’t wait to see what Steven Moffat does when the new series comes around. People are already up in arms over Matt Smith taking the mantle of The Doctor, and in all fairness, I can understand some of it. His introduction last night wasn’t exactly endearing, and if he insists on using ‘Geronimo’ as his catchphrase I may well end up punching the TV, but the trailer for the next series does indeed look rather spiffing. The Moffat episodes in previous seasons were easily some of the best, and while he always seemed more interested in his own additions to the Who universe (Girl in The Fireplace, the weeping angels from Blink where he all but ignored Martha and focused on Sally Sparrow, and even in the library where he was far more interested in River Song than any character that Davies had created) it’s easy to see why in retrospect, and I can only hope they’ve all been fuel for his take on the whole thing.

Sure, I’ll miss David Tennant, but at this point, all I can think is ‘roll on the new series’. I need to get the horrible feeling that I was thoroughly raped by Russell T. Davies out of my system.