Blog
Albums of the decade...
21 November 2009, 5:57 pmSo people have been compiling their albums of the decade and asking Oppenheimer to submit our favourites.
I've just scanned through my I-pod/cd /record collection, because in my head, I truly struggled to think of more than 6 albums that I would include in such a list.
Rather than filling out a list to have a round number such as 20, 50 or 100 I included only albums that changed
how I feel about music, that were important to me and that I thought were killer from start to finish,
that were truly great albums, well thought out from start to finish.
There were plenty of albums that contain incredible tracks from people : Jay Z, Idlewild, Jimmy Eat World, Mirwais, All American Rejects, Q and Not U, Mars Volta, Ash, Beulah, Blood Red Shoes, Brunettes, Cursive, Dawn Landes, Frank Turner, Genghis Tron, Grandaddy, Herman Dune, Handsome Family, Her Space Holiday, It's A Musical, KaitO, Life Without Buildings, Lali Puna, Ladytron, M83, Masha Qrella, Mates Of State, Mum, OK Go,
Polyphonic Spree, Quasi, Sigur Ros, Sleater Kinney, Sum 41, Tilly & The Wall, To Rococo Rot and more,
but I didn't love the albums for complete solid tracks and finished items.
I also skipped out albums that I loved for reasons beyond just the album, bands like:
Mosquitos, They Might Be Giants, In Case Of Fire, Olympic Lifts, Math The Band and more!
So here's my list of albums released this decade that I thought I'd put on a list!
01: Ugly Duckling : Taste The Secret
02: The Like Young : So Serious
03: Les Savy Fav: Go Forth
04: Mates Of State: Team Boo
05: Jimmy Eat World : Bleed American
06: Cursive : Happy Hollow
07: The Bronx : Bronx III
08: Volcano I'm Still Excited : s/t
09: The Bronx : Bronx I
10: The Bronx : Bronx II
11: Cursive : The Ugly Organ
12: Nanook Of The North : The Taby Tapes
13: Blink 182 : s/t
14: Hot Rod Circuit : Sorry About Tomorrow
15: Mina : s/t
16: The Chalets : Check In
17: The Anniversary : Designing A Nervous Breakdown
18: Headlights : Kill Them With Kindness
19: Jimmy Eat World : Chase This Light
20:Ted Leo & The Pharmacists : Shake The Sheets
21:The Cardigans : Long Gone Before Daylight
Music
12 November 2009, 3:11 pmIt's nearly the end of 2009 and I'm completely struggling to compile a top 10 of albums that I consider decent.
I'm actually struggling to think of more than one and even then, I thought it was a bit of a let down.
This year for me has been almost a completely disappointing one for being a music fan.
I've seen some of the most awful, depressing gigs, some from bands I've loved, who were just going through the motions, some from bands who offered promises of being my new favourite band, but turned out to be
a stack off hyper-stupid kids who couldn't even play their instruments.
I've been searching my favourite labels, my favourite internet radio stations, my favourite blogs,
but where are these bands?????????
Anybody got anything?
Live shows/more recording
20 October 2009, 1:07 pmThe gigs with Frank Turner and the Belfast City Hall show have been fantastic good fun!
We're really happy that we got the chance to play all new songs (except 2 oldies at city hall)
and that the crowds put up with it and were really encouraging.
Dropping so many songs onto someone at once can make people angry and confused,
but since playing the gigs and feeling how the songs sit in a live set up,
we have a much clearer picture of the album and everything about all the songs.
We have ten songs all but completed with another four to record, which are already demoed
and mapped out, we just need to re-record parts and write a few extra melodies.
It's always really encouraging when we get little emails or messages from people,
who've seen us play somewhere along the way and they just say hello, usually from
some tiny town somewhere in the USA and they remind us of a time when they saw us play
and how they're still listening to our music and checking in with us. It's really encouraging
and exciting, sometimes, especially when you've been in the studio for a while, you forget
that there are people outside the walls of the control room!