Music 2005

Of no interest to anyone bar the me of the future, the year in music.

Arcade Fire (04/05/05 Manchester Academy)
Despite being in the soulless student barn that I usually hate so much, this was just great. I’m not sure I’d even heard the album before me and Jo went, but before even the first song had finished I was feeling guilty about not having brought more people along. The sheer passion and exuberance they brought to playing was hugely infectious, the songs were beautiful and I’m always hugely impressed when people swap instruments about, even if one was a motorcycle helmet.

• Interpol + The Engineers (08/07/05, Manchester Apollo)
• British Sea Power + The Pipettes (20/11/05, Manchester Ritz)
• The Posies (31/07/05, Manchester Academy 3)

• Misty’s Big Adventure

• Editors – Fingers in the factories – Euphoric, pounding finale to a great night. “As the sun goes down on a broken town..” (mp3)

• Aberfeldy
  “We’re not selling enough records to afford drugs so we’ve been making do with impressions [turns to drummer and adopts liverpudlian accent] and we’ve had a lorra, lorra laffs haven’t we?”

• Hayseed Dixie for GreatNightOut-ness, Aberfeldy for ListeningAgainAndAgain-ness and The Tears for being godlike

(Not necessarily a single, not necessarily released this year)

Athlete – Wires
Nearly reduces me to tears every time (Helen can’t even listen to it). Quite strange hearing it live with the chorus (Running down corridors,Through automatic doors, Got to get to you, got to see this through) reduced (?transformed) into a beery festival singalong but still being moving. Just fantastic.

• I Am Kloot – Over my shoulder Just beautiful
• Aberfeldy – Love is an arrow Melts your heart and makes you laugh (Love is a verb and a noun as well, You find it in a dictionary under ‘L’, To give you a description to spell it out, But they don’t say what it’s all about). Vid
• Misty’s Big Adventure – Story of love Brilliant
• Editors – Munich
• Saint Etienne – Milk bottle symphony Especially when Dom plays his imaginary xylophone along with it
• Magic Numbers – Forever lost Pop perfection

(Not necessarily released this year)

Interpol – Turn on the Bright lights
So I was little late to the party with this one, but having finally caught on I listened to little else (bar the follow-up album, Antics) for the first six months of the year and I’m still loving it now – just everything a proper great band should be.

• Hal – Hal Summery 60sy gloriousness.
• Misty’s Big Adventure – The Black Hole
• The Arcade Fire – Funeral

• Kate Rusby – The girl who couldn’t fly
• Aberfeldy – Young forever

Next year
Photos