Best of 2005

It's that time of the year again. In alphabetical order, these are - in my humble opinion - the best 10 records of 2005. I've put a song from each album in the radio blog.

Arcade Fire - Funeral
'Wake up': even now, when Win Butler screams "I guess we'll just have to adjust" it's still a real hairs on the back of the neck moment. Song of the year?

dEUS - Pocket revolution
Belgium's best export product is back! And it's as brilliant as ever.

Idlewild - Warnings/Promises
As strong as all their other albums. Failed to catch on outside the UK & US. They didn't even tour Europe on the back of this album.

Millionaire - Paradisiac
More Belgian stuff. Produced by Josh Homme. Ex-dEUS and ex-Evil Superstars member Tim Vanhamel releases a bunch of metal weirdness. Are you experienced enough?

Ladytron - Witching hour
This music feels like a warm winterstorm. Children of the electroclash scene.
Their best album so far.

LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
Discoverd by the boys from Soulwax. The Fall meets dance music meets cowbells.

My Morning Jacket - Z
Americana. Their masterwork. An absolute must have.

Nine Inch Nails - With teeth
Not as blistering as 'Broken' and 'The downward spiral' but still yummy stuff. If you have a chance to see them live, don't hesitate.

Queens Of The Stone Age - Lullabies to paralyze
No comment needed.

White Circle Crime Club - Written in black
Hardcore meets Sonic Youth meets krautrock. Their first release sounded a bit too much like At The Drive-In, but this album is a big step forward.

Runners up: Absynthe Minded - New Day, Admiral Freebee - Songs, Anthony & The Johnsons - I am a bird now, Daan - Cinema, Hopewell - The birds of appetite, M83 - Before the dawn heals us, Morrissey - Live at Earls Court, Stephen Malkmus - Face the truth.

Sharko 2

Now that we're on the subject of Sharko and late night pub crawls, here's some excerpts from the Sharko diary. They played a gig in London in July 2004 and met up with some guy called Robin. hmmm

Ed and Robin
Robin Propper Sheppard is the nicest guy I met for a long time. He played in this great band called "God Machine", leads now the amazing "Sophia", runs the label "FlowerShop". We met him in the street in London on last Thursday...
-"What are you boys doing here?"
-"We're playing at 12BarClub, Denmark Street"
-"Ok,I'll be there"
François, our Tourmandaddymotherchief, couldn't believe it, he's a huge fan of Sophia.
Robin just came to the show in this tiny Pub, offered us a lot of beers (London is soooo expensive!), brought Teuk and I to the "hypest" private pub of London, introduced us to his friend Ed Harcourt, who was quite drunk. We stayed at this Pub till they kick us out...London, 3 in the morning, everything's closed, except this weird Latin Bar. The tall guard won't let us in, even if Robin is very polite and persuasive with this short brained Muscle guy:
The guard:"Go away motherfuckers, it's a private party.
Robin:"Ok,thank you.Goodnight Sir"
Ed, to the Muscle Guard:"Fuck off you fuckin' bastard! Do you fucking know who I fucking am!I FUCKING HATE YOUR NOTHINGNESS!"
Teuk and I:"RUN!!!!!"
Julien (Drums)

London, 12 Bar Club, Tom, Robin and Ed. (17/07/04)
Denmark Street, 5pm. Salivating in front of all these expensive vintage guitars. Quick soundcheck, the place is so small, so no need to amplify the guitar and bass. Quick meal, noodle take-away. Tom and Mike arrived, two members of Black Nielson. Robin came with the guitarplayer of his band Sophia. 9.30 Sharko on stage. Short set. No Carwas, sorry Tom. We shake hands with the audience. Julien is asked to play drums with Kathy Carr. She plays keyboard and sings about Dick Turpin. Sounds great. Last whisky-coke. Robin knows a bar in the neighbourhood but...you have to be a member and Robin forgot his card. We try anyway. First 'No Way', Robin blablablaBelgiumblabla, still 'No Way', blablaGoodfriendsblabla...'Ok, just for this time'. 'Hey, Julien, do you still have some money?' Robin knows some people here. 'It's Ed' says Julien. 'Who?' 'Ed! Ed Hartcourt!' Man, this Ed, he speaks loud! Last drinks, where to go now...it's raining...another club...no way to get in...fuck you...yeah, fuck you to. 'Hey look, a casino...'. 'Ok, Jul, let's take a cab...15pounds...noway!...10pounds?...Noway!...Ok, 10pounds! Hotel Shakespeare, 4.30. Room 431.
David (Vocals, bass, guitar)

Robin's Sharko remix

In May 2005 Robin Proper-Sheppard and Kenny Jones went into the studio with SHARKO to rerecord/remix 'Excellent', which is a track from their latest album called 'III'. Sharko is a Belgian band who are sometimes described as a cross between Guided By Voices and The Who.

An MP3 of the track has been exclusively released by Sharko fan site www.kaynoovel.be. You can go to that site to download it or use this direct link (click right to save).

PS For those of you who ignore the Comments on this blog. DO check the comment on this post!