The Irishman Speaks and All Shall Listen

The Not Really Year in Review Post

I know I know...

Where's my best of list? Well, there really isn't one. I simply am too lazy to put one together and remember what albums came out when. So, I'm gonna randomly shoutout some music I've enjoyed over the year... be it old release or current. If this turns into a list of some sort, all the better.

Plans - Death Cab for Cutie - The amazing thing about this one is I only started to listen to it during Christmas vacation. But, that shouldn't make you think I didn't WANT to previously. This album is awesome. Simply Awesome.

How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb - U2 - Wasn't released this year, but they we're touring for it. What can I say Tay, Bono is the coolest guy I've ever known. There, I said it :P Oh yeah, it doesn't hurt that this album really is solid start to finish with some instant "classics". Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own is a brillant song. My personal favourite is the tour version of Love or Peace or Else where Bono goes crazy on a tom tom at the end. Pretty nifty if you haven't seen it.

Vehicles and Animals - Athlete - Well, I really could put their album Tourist here as well. I've just been listening to them a bunch. Doesn't show up on my Last.fm cuz my ipod is screwed and won't update right now. Anyways, like I said, I might not love British people (I don't hate them either), but I do have a tendancy to love their music. Weird...

Songs for Silverman - Ben Folds - Yeah, I had to guts to put it here. Ballad heavy... but good ballads. And he's got piano skills. Good album.

Oh Inverted World - The Shins - Dude, "New Slang" is the world's most catchy song. Much like athlete, this is a representation of all the Shin stuff I've been listening too. I only recently aquired full albums... most of the time I just had random goodness. So I'll pick this album cuz it had most of the songs I was already listening too.

Silert Alarm - Bloc Party - Sure his British accent is sometimes annoying and makes it hard to understand some of it... but do we really need to? " Liak Eaaaatttin' Glaaaaus!" - Gotta love it.

Apologies to the Queen Mary - Wolf Parade - Took me quite a few listens to come up with my opinion. The result: Worth the hype. Solid tracks whoever is lead singing. Maybe the greatest selling point is the fact that keyboardist at the show was one of the funniest dude's to watch on stage. My biggest beef: I don't apologize often, and especially not to a damn Queen. But, we all knew that.

X & Y - Coldplay - What can you say, they're good at what they do. My personal favourite, the not so hidden hidden track, Till Kingdom Come is especially great. Make that ten times greater after watching Live from Austin one Saturday with their set from this year's show. Why? Because Martin said the song was written in dedication to Johnny Cash. How sweet is that? Didn't hurt that they did a pretty good cover of Ring of Fire as well.

The End and The Beginning - Matt Maher - If you don't know him, its because he's a Catholic singer. Good though. Totally some sweet upbeat praise and worship. I had to show Jesus a little musical love!

Cross Movement - House of Representatives - Sticking with the Jesus theme, this is kinda a cowarboration of a bunch of Christian rappers. I know its hard to dispel that campfire cheesy christian image we all have, but I gurantee you can find Christian artists in every genre who are as good or better than their mainstream counterparts. This album is great musically and morally. And for me to put a rap album on here, that's saying alot.

Adoration/ Sacro Song 1 &2 - Fr. Stan Fortuna - This is the rapper priest guy I've mentioned. He's really cool. I think my favourite thing was his performance live. Laying down live tracks was a site to see. Guy got skillz. All three of these Albums are sweet.

Most Dissappointing:
Kanye Kanye Kanye - I mean the album isn't complete crap, but he let it get to his head. The guy has talent, but his second go around is not near as unbelievable as his first one. Shame on you Kanye... shame on black people ?!?! It all went downhill from there....

Franz Ferdinand - Again, not a horrible album. There's still a few catchy songs. But not an entire album full like before. I'm glad I never got crazy hyped about it like all the hardcore 17 year old girls. Well, there's always My Chemical Romance to get us through the tough times...

Well, that's all I got... but no! One more thing... (yes steve, I stole your line)

My Favourite Album of the Year that I listened to .... drum roll..... FUNERAL by ARCADE FIRE. I dare someone to tell me this isn't a great album. Tunnels and Power Out are especially awesome. Doesn't hurt this was my favourite concert of the year as well. Any band that switches instruments between songs and plays on exposed piping in a hallway is cool in my books. Oh, did I mention they're from Montreal... because they are! I dare you not to bop your head while you listen... IMPOSSIBLE!

That's all I got, and that's not BS. Till next time, enjoy this link, it is soon to also be gone the way of iWeb 06 I fear... I'll probably keep it somewhat alive for the memories... it was some goodtimes blogger... but you can't match the power of photos, videos, and podcasts as well. Later All.

-CIG

PS - random artists I just remembered I liked alot this year: Metric and Common. That is all.

posted by The Irishman @ 12:18 p.m.