Had enough Turkey to last a lifetime? Fed up with tyranny of trash televisual scheduling? Then get your shoulder pads on for an 80's retro spectacular showing of the cult new show STARK DALLAS NAKED starring Jonny Woo, David Mills and your hostess Ms Timberlina!
In case you missed the last episode, Sue-Ellen's still drunk, Pamela is still stupid and JR is just asking to get shot. A sun drenched, Miami-style antidote to the grey Manchester skies and commercial Christmas trash.
A beacon shining out against the dark satanic mills, Mother's Ruin brings you the darling of the avant garde Mr. Jonny Woo, the sensational cabaret Casanova, David Mills and a special northern appearance for the fantastic Jonny Sizzle! Stark Dallas Naked is a cult underground comedy spectacular, uncovering a dastardly plot to ruin the Ewing Empire. Bring your own shoulder pads, but Big Hair will be available on the night!
Dress to impress, bring your friends and enjoy ding dong Texan horse-pitality. Extra Bacardi has been sourced for those with a sensitive disposition!
Plus the (un)usual melange of madness from Ms Timberlina, a Golden Girls Christmas Cabaret, a few extra special treats and of course our fantastic house band, Quartertime!
Sat 19th December, 8pm till late Green Room 54-56 Whitworth St West Manchester M1 5WW
‘How do you ‘consume’ music, when a) music isn’t a thing, and b) it’s still there after you’ve used it - or you think you’ve used it. Just because the industry markets it as a commodity doesn’t mean we have to accept their terms of reference. It’s time people stopped talking about ‘consuming’ art and culture and so on and started thinking of art as an activity, something you do.’
- Robert Walser, Running With The Devil
For all the endless assaults on authenticity, heartfelt songwriting and grassroots talent represented by X Factor and the like, this was in fact the year of Spotify and unprecedented access to music for free. There’s no greater pleasure for a spod like myself than to leaf through Uncut or click through Pitchfork, read an interesting review and listen to an album right then and there without leaving my chair. The worry of course is that bands are never going to make enough of a living this way to give their recording career any kind of longevity and so the temptation to act like a mannequin, sing bad cover versions and get on the telly grows ever stronger. You can always sell your music to McDonald’s, Nike or Victoria’s Secret. Why not? Kim Gordon’s Gap campaign long since killed the notion of ‘selling out’ anyway, and let’s not mention that upsetting Iggy Pop insurance debacle …
What a year for music though, there is/was just too much to choose from, the backlog of unheard material could probably double this modest list of fifty favourites. I’ve quite surprised myself with what tickled the old cochlea this year, from the gutsy buzz/drone of Envy’s grime to the irrepressibly smiley Das Pop to the drowned ambient goth of the Fever Ray album to the mighty Yeah Yeah Yeah’s getting pipped to the post at the last minute for my favourite song and album of the year, it’s all here. And before you say it, I know I've turned into a complete pop-kid, live with it. (Disclaimer, I haven't thoroughly checked if any of these were late 2008, forgive me for rogue entries, I think we're okay though).
So, we may well be fiddling while Rome burns, but what the hell, it gives a lovely light …
Vivian Girls
Das Pop – Underground Kid Cudi – Day 'N' Nite (Crookers Remix) Vivian Girls – Moped Girls Cheryl Cole – Fight For This Love Focus Group – Very Truly Yours
Micachu
Choir Of Young Believers – Action/Reaction Micachu – Turn Me Well The Amazing – Dragon God Help The Girl – Come Monday Night Crystal Stilts – Love Is A Wave
Andrew Bird
Metric – Sick Muse Dananananaykroyd – Black Wax Tinchy Stryder and Amelle – Never Leave You Andrew Bird – Oh No Envy – Set Yourself on Fire
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys – Love etc. Simian Mobile Disco – Audacity Of Huge Florence + The Machine – Cosmic Love MIike Snow – Animal (Fake Blood Remix)
The Hidden Cameras
Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks The Hidden Cameras – Underage Fuck Buttons – Surf Solar Little Boots – New In Town The cocknbullkid – I'm Not Sorry
Fever Ray
Eminem, Dr Dre, 50 Cent – Crack A Bottle Fever Ray – Concrete Walls Camera Obscura – French Navy M. Ward – Hold Time Animal Collective – My Girls
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
The View – 5 Rebbeccas Golden Silvers – Arrows Of Eros Passion Pit – The Reeling (Calvin Harris Remix) The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Come Saturday
Dirty Projectors
Sunset Rubdown – Silver Moons Brakes – Oh! Forever Antony & The Johnsons – Epilepsy Is Dancing Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move The Antlers – Two
… and the Top 12 (because 10 wasn’t quite enough) …
12. Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys - Empire State Of Mind Sweetly plinky-plonky and epic-sounding at once, lyrically Jay-Z managed to be his usual me-me-me self but strangely sentimental and touching with it: ‘Labor Day Parade, rest in peace Bob Marley, Statue of Liberty, long live the World Trade, long live the King, I'm from the Empire State …’. Genuinely touching vocal from Alicia Keys lifts the whole thing from start to finish.
11. Morrissey - I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris 2009 was the year of cancelled dates, health scares, turning fifty and hurled bottles. Years of Refusal split the critics but this slow-burner turned live favourite was the stand-out single. He stumbles into 2010 without a record contract, continuing his against-the-odds career as ageing mayor of Indieland. You’ll miss him when he’s gone, as I’m sure he’s pointed out. He will always, always be King to me.
10. Madonna feat. Lil Wayne - Revolver I was in a happy place when I first heard this. I’m still there and I’m bringing Madge with me. Flyer for the Best Of or Greatest Hits or whatever it was meant to be (get the DVD, forget the CD) this Britney-a-like track got under my skin thanks in part to the characteristically laconic ramblings of Lil Wayne. Crookers rmx any time now please …
9. Bat For Lashes - Daniel The very best bits of the blissful, sexy, sad Two Suns entwined in one song. This is what Florence + The Machine will sound like in 2010 probably. Gorgeous.
8. Everything Everything - My Keys, Your Boyfriend Or ‘MYKZURBF’ for the impatient thumb generation. Least immediate and ultimately finest single so far, the band are this close to surpassing all of their initial point-of-reference peers in a flurry of keyboards and better-than-the-last live appearances. Album of the year 2010? I’d part with money over it.
7. La Roux - In For The Kill You know you’re getting on a bit when popstars are not only too young to remember the eighties but too young to remember the last eighties revival. Hence La Roux seeming out of time in more ways than one, but if being relentlessly po-faced and oblivious permits you to make pop music as crisply finessed as this, it’s worth it.
6. Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension All over the place, and better for it, of course it’s hard not to think of The Strokes while listening to his voice but the New Order guitar-play and disco-synths pull this yummy little melody into new infectious territory.
5. Dizzee Rascal - Bonkers Okay so he’s not the bad boy he once was but would we really have bought the same act six years on? Doubt it. It’s no small thanks to Dizzee that three-minute electronic farts and rattling trashcans can not only chart but can fill dancefloors while sounding cutting-edge and stoopid all at the same time.
4. Lady Gaga - Paparazzi I have been bemused and unmoved by LG since Day One, the disco stick stuff didn’t touch the sides for me but for some reason this has been living all over me ever since it was released. There’s something a little bit touching about it all, in a mental way (‘I’ll follow you until you love me’), the melody has a nod to Berlin’s ‘Take My Breath Away’, plus the line about ‘eyeliner and cigarettes’ gets me every time. Check out this amazing piano version, sounds like Abba:
3. V V Brown - Shark In The Water Love at first hearing for me. I imagine the studio exchange went something like this: ‘I’ve written this song yeah and basically it’s a cross between ‘Put Your Records On’ by Corinne Bailey Rae and ‘Hey Mona’ by Craig McLachlan. Sounds good yeah?’ Ermm … Yeah actually it sounds amazing. The girl done good, tripping over mixed metaphors and vast fringes in three euphoric minutes.
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero It took just a couple of months for ‘Zero’ to establish itself as forever-staple of the indie club dancefloor and this could've gone either way with ‘Heads Will Roll’ of course. Toss a coin. Suitably flawless and breathlessly exhilarating ambassador for what history will come to regard as the finest album to date from the YYYs.
1. Girls - Lust For Life Back in March I didn’t think I would hear a better or more important song all year than ‘Zero’. Then came Girls. Christopher Owens really is a shockingly good songwriter and personal investments (read the lyrics) made this my favourite cut from the brilliant, brilliant album Album. As simple as songs come, when the bass and drums make their arrival fifty seconds in I suddenly feel wide awake and oh so happy to be here. Faith in music intact into 2010.
More end-of-year gubbins … Albums of the year 5. Morrissey – Years Of Refusal 4. V V Brown – Travelling Like The Light 3. Antony & The Johnsons – The Crying Light 2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz! 1. Girls – Album
Girls
Blog of the year Worrapolava http://worrapolava.blogspot.com/ Consistently fun, funny and insightful archaeological dig into music old and new. Brought me the wonderful ‘Wonderful Life’ by Hurts, who only live in my own bloody city don’t they? Remix of the year Special made-up category so I can shoehorn one more song into my faves list. Believe it or not, Arthur Baker’s rework of ‘Wonderful Life’ by Hurts, it’s better than the original, how dare he. http://soundcloud.com/phileastend/wonderful-life-arthur-baker-remix
Gig of the year Bon Iver at the ATP Festival, Minehead Butlins. Time stands still as the bearded beauty closes his eyes under blue light and pulls ‘Lump Sum’ down from God himself. Tear shed.
