I think naz will get a kick out of this

Incredible. Liverpool down 3-0 at half time. Liverpool were looking humiliated. A real anti-climax after all that. I was going to walk home. Milan had just turned to shit in Serie A and nearly got turned over by PSV, while Liverpool ripped Juventus apart for 45 minutes and completely stifled Chelsea. So I thought tonight would be close. I complained Benitez (Rafa organizes tho’, I rate him) didn’t know what he was doing playing Kewell and bringing Smicer (Smicer!) on during the break. Liverpool didn’t have a clue really. Milan totally dominated them in the 1st half. On with the 2nd half, then Gerrard scores with a looping header, and then Smicer strikes a shot out of nowhere! 3-2! Game On! Dieter Hamann (who was brought on at half time) is playing a blinder. Then Gerrard gets tripped in the box (he wasn’t really but who cares) and Xabi Alonso steps up to take it. The game was fucking insanity, I tell you. Most Euro Cup finals are dreary and over-cautious affairs, but not this one. The keeper saves it but he smacks in the rebound. 3-3! All 3 goals in 6 minutes! Then Djibril Cisse comes on and it looks like we might get a goal. Baros works hard but isn’t really up to it on his own. Carragher and Hyppia are immense under the Milan pressure after Liverpool’s 3rd goal. It�s mad marvellous madness. The commentator says of Carragher, “he’s got cramp in both groins”. The Man With Two Groins, eh? Dudek makes a terrific double save. How the fuck did he do that?, we all say. Dudek of all keepers. It�s going to penalties. Dudek does some wacky Grobbelaar-style antics.

Serginho shoots wide with Milan�s 1st effort. YES! Liverpool score their peno and Pirlo�s pen is saved by Dudek! Cisse scores his and then Tomasson scores his for Milan. Riise�s denied by a fine save from AC Milan�s Dida but if Smicer scores the next one, Liverpool are champions. And he does. Football never ceases to thrill and amaze me.

2004 kicked ass! Considering I didn’t have any internet usage (well very little) and no money to buy C.D.’s all year, this year has been an embarrassment of riches. There was a few disappointments (Wilco was dreadful, Franz Ferdinand were this years emperor’s new clothes and Eminem gets more like The Fat Boys with each new release) but overall, there was great stuff and still lots I need to hear (Scissor Sisters, Bark Psychosis, Goldie Lookin’ Chain, Drive By Truckers, favela booty beats comp, Snoop Dogg etc.)

Anyway, the best album of 2004 IMO is…

#1. Junior Boys – Last Exit

review here

#2. Dizzee Rascal – Showtime

It didn’t provoke the same jaw-dropping reaction as the debut did but then again, maybe we’ve grown accustomed to what he does now. That said, his rapping is better and he easily surpasses anything America has to offer. The music has gotten more minimal and sparse alike old Run DMC and early electro. ‘Dream’ samples Captain Sensible’s ‘Happy Talk’ of all things and he thanks all 100,000 people who went and bought his first C.D. Aww, bless. Wouldn’t catch Gay-Z doin’ that now would ya?

#3. The Go! Team – Thunder Lightning Strike

Belle And Sebastian and The Avalanches share a 12-skinner on a VW bus to the Monterey Pop Festival

#4. The Walkmen – Bows And Arrows

“The more he talked, the worse he was. With all the dignity of the longtime alcoholic who knows she’s drunk and couldn’t care less because unlike the movies there are worse things in the world, namely everything else in the world, she turned to face him” – ‘Maggie May’ L.B.

#5. The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come For Free

A thousand random Googlers cant be wrong!

#6. Kanye West – College Dropout

Review here

#7. !!! – Louden Up Now

Review here

#8. Superpitcher – Here Comes Love

Review here

#9. Kings Of Leon – Aha Shake Heartbreak

Don’t let the NME hype or the fucking awful haircuts turn you off. You wont hear a simpler, catchier set of songs all year.

#10. Delays – Faded Seaside Glamour

Y’know the sort of melancholy that envelops you at times? Particularly on an autumn Sunday morning, usually brought on by a bout of immense boredom. Its dangerously self-absorbed and vain, yet its precious and you hold it dear to you. Its almost ‘nice’. Delays are on that Byronic unhappiness tip with some gorgeous tunes to boot.

#11. Bobby Conn – The Golden Age

Teenage smalltown faggots high on cocaine dress up as 1920’s sorority girls and slash each others throats while Serge Gainsbourg plays from a shitty, muffled boombox (O.K., its from last year but fuck it, it was overlooked then)

#12. The Hold Steady - Almost Killed Me

Snide indie scenester snorts derisively at other snide indie scenesters while remembering the party daze of poppers, pills and Pepsi over some tasty 70’s hard rock riffage. Everyones a critic and most people are deejays-uh. An indie rock E Street Band fronted by a Minneapolis Mark E Smith.

#13. The Futureheads - The Futureheads

In the same ball park as Franz Ferdinand but far better.

#14. Tussle - Kling Klang

krautrockinpunkfunkinbassboominscreechinandathumpingrooovaliciousbizness

#15. Auburn Lull - Cast From The Platform

Ambient shoegazing loveliness. Aural Calpol. 2004’s beddy-byes album.

#16. The Cure - The Cure

Fairly generic Cure (sounds like a bunch of more rockin’ and muscular versions of older Cure tunes) but still beats seven shades of shite out of all the bands that are rippin em off now.

other stuff: Stereolab ‘Margerine Eclipse’, Felix Da Housecat ‘Devin Dazzle and The Neon Fever’, Andrew Weatherall ‘Fabric 19 mix’, Radio 4 ‘Stealing Of A Nation’, Ghostface ‘Pretty Toney Album’, Michael Mayer ‘Touch’

Phew, anything else I missed??

No, your eyes do not decieve you. Roberto Benigni is making an movie about the Iraq War.

I wasn’t feeling the ‘happy concentration camp fun time’ of his award-winning ‘Life Is Beautiful’ in the first place, but this seems even more misjudged. Not that I’m saying film-makers shouldn’t tackle such topics, just Benigni’s not the kind of director I’d have in mind. That, and the fact he’s not in the least bit funny.

I haven’t been more disturbed since I’ve heard that Joacquin Phoenix is to star as Johnny Cash in a biopic of the man in black himself (biopics are all the rage in Hollywood at the moment, Ray Charles, Peter Sellers and er, a few others I cant think of right now)

This is JackUzi for b00mb0x Entertainment Tonite. Good Night.

Original Pirate Material was fantastic, my favourite album of 2002, and a breath of fresh air, someone detailing life in all its mudanity. Yeah, yeah, I’m sure it’s a shtick in some regards (does he still live with his mum? OPM sold a million copies!), but isn’t every musicians persona? I loved all the grubby detail, you could smell the stale fag smoke, taste the kebab meat, see the two-day old pizza growing fungus under the couch and there were some bittersweet moments that shone through. Some say he couldn’t rap, his beats sucked and he wasn’t ‘real’ hip-hop. Well fuck whatever ‘real’ hip-hop is, Skinner is his own thing and judge him on his own merits.

When I heard Mike Skinner’s ‘difficult’ second album was to be a concept\narrative about a month in the life of a geezer, my first reaction was, “Oh dear, he’s gone lost it”. It’s all gone horribly Pete Tong, as Skinner might mutter. Yet, it works, there’s a whole cast of characters here and what might at first seem a dodgy move ends up being charming. A concept album about broken TV’s, paranoia, fucking up relationships and self pity. It actually excels for this reason and is great for the whole story arc and lyrics that are subtle, sweet, hilarious and poignant.

Without wanting to give too much away, all Skinner’s troubles (romantic, financial) get (somewhat) resolved in the end (the end being the track “Empty Cans”) as he broods in his kitchen and he curses his mates who’ve turned his back on him and his broken T.V. Then the track rewinds halfway to introduce another scenario and things take an optimistic turn. The music gets more cheery but there’s still a sad refrain in the chorus, “It was the end of something I did not want to end / the beginning of hard times to come / but something that was not meant to be is done / and this is the start of what was“. Standout track is the gorgeous, “Dry your Eyes” which was originally meant to be sung by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, believe it or not. It’s a song that will leave you with a lump in your throat and watery eyes.

There’s oodles and oodles of choice lyrics here too that I’m fully convinced Skinner is the best lyricist around at the moment and the comparisons to Ian Dury are well justified. From “Could Well be in”; ”I saw this thing on ITV the other week that said if she plays with her hair she’s probably keen”. “Blinded by the light” is on the “Weak Become Heroes” tip ‘cept here it’s all about being in the heat of the club rather than a wistful remembrance. No-one details an E experience quite like Skinner. “Fit But You Know It” details a lairy night out on the tiles in Spain with a ‘Parklife’ style riff with a touch of Sham 69. A tad different and more ‘Britpop’ than his usual stuff but I think it’s a strong single and more than a cringe of recognition to anyone out there who’s ever done the cheapo package holiday shenanigans.

Well this is the part where I go on about the tracks I don’t particularly like, there’s just a few here that don’t work, “What Is He Thinking?” sounds like something he threw in there to keep the narrative arc going without resembling anything like a tune there at all. Some of the production is slightly clumsy and ham-fisted on a few tracks. “Not Addicted” isn’t much of a tune but I might leave it off for having some decent lines (“I need to rethink the technique of my betting shit/ Maybe change the parameters a little bit/ Instead of betting on to win the football, I bet to lose cricket.”) at least. But forget the nit-picking, get a hold of this especially if you enjoyed his debut. All in all, this is fiendishly clever stuff and a big fat raspberry to all the haters who thought he was just a flash in the pan. Like Skinner says at the start of the track, “everyone wanted this to all go wrong for me from the start”. Heartbreakingly vivid and sweet.

courtesy of leakedalbums.com