My Top Lists 2008

So here I go-my top lists of all things music for the year 2008:


Top 10 Albums:

1. Portishead-Third
2. Bon Iver-For Emma Forever Ago
3. Foals-Antidotes
4. The Notwist- The Devil You and Me
5. Laura Marling-Alas I Cannot Swim
6. TV On The Radio- Dear Science
7. Benga-Diary of an Afro Warrior
8. Elbow-The Seldom Seen Kid
9. Ez3kiel - Battlefield
10. Pivot-O Soundtrack My Heart

Just missed the cut: Kanye West-808s and Heartbreak, Sigur Ros-Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, Late Of The Pier-Fantasy Black Channel, Lisa Hannigan-Sea Sew, M83-Saturdays=Youth, David Holmes-The Holy Pictures


Top 20 Singles:

1. Laura Marling- Night Terror
2. Portishead- Magic Doors
3. Yeasayer- 2080
4. Neon Neon- I Lust U
5. Kanye West- Love Lockdown
6. Elbow-Grounds for Divorce
7. Santogold- L.E.S Artistes
8. The Gutter Twins- Idle Hands
9. Sigur Ros- Gobbledigook
10. TV on the Radio- Family Tree
11. Beck- Walls
12. Lisa Hannigan- Teeth
13. Death Cab For Cutie- I Will Possess Your Heart
14. Grinderman- No Pussy Blues
15. Elbow- Some Riot
16. David Holmes- I Heard Wonders
17. Bon Iver- Flume
18. Kanye West- Welcome To Heartbreak
19. Foals- Olympic Airwaves
20. The Notwist- Boneless


Top 10 Gigs

1. Rage Against the Machine @ Oxegen
2. Radiohead @ Malahide Castle
3. Sigur Ros @ Electric Picnic
4. Kanye West @ NEC Birmingham
5. Lisa Hannigan @ Jean Monnet Theatre UL
6. Underworld @ Electric Picnic
7. The Roots @ Electric Picnic
8. Wiggle @ Life Festival
9. The Prodigy @ Oxegen
10. Mr Scruff @ Trinity Rooms Limerick


A good year on the Irish Front where more innovative and quality artist have been given well deserved (and vital) spotlight such as Lisa Hannigan, Rarely Seen Above Ground etc. etc.

2008 for me was a year of getting my ears around as much as possible....and despite this cold spell we are experiencing outside, my ears are warm and cosy from a year of spectacular sounds filling them.

Franz Ferdinand to play Dolans

Franz Ferdinand will be playing Dolans Warehouse February 28, 2009 according to Jim Carroll!


That is quite a pull to be fair!

Youtubes new search feature...

....above each embedded video-I like very much.

Its the small things isnt it.

What cover artwork this is.....

Live at the Marquee Cork announces first batch of shows already

A batch of acts have been assigned to the Marquee shows in Cork. They seem to have been announced a bit earlier than usual.

The Prodigy in a Marquee would be well worth it:

June 18 – The Prodigy. €59.40, on sale Wednesday December 3

June 20 – Gilbert O’Sullivan. €39.20/€41.70, on sale Tuesday December 2

June 21 – Kasabian. €33.60, on sale Tuesday December 2

June 27 – Christy Moore. €35 – €45, on sale Monday December 1

July 4 – Josh Ritter. €38, Wednesday December 3

July 7 – Rod Stewart. €81.25/€91.25, on sale Monday December 1

Orbital to reform!!!!!!!!

Oh joy! According to NME:

Orbital have reformed after five years and will headline the Big Chill 2009.

The dance duo, whose split after their last gig headlining the Other Stage at Glastonbury in 2004, will head up the line-up for the Eastnor, Herefordshire bash, which will take place on August 7, 8 and 9 next summer.

Speaking about their reformation, Orbital's Phil Hartnoll said in a statement: "It's not an exercise in nostalgia, the time just seems right. Everything just seemed to fall into place.

"We've got 15 years of active service, making song. If you boil that down to a 90-minute festival set you should get something thoroughly exciting from beginning to end. Let's put some fun back into it."

No other acts on the bill have been announced yet. Keep checking NME.COM for ticket details when announced.

Acts including Leonard Cohen, The Mighty Boosh band and Roisin Murphy were on the bill for last August's bash.




Thank god for this as I was very sore with myself for missing their last Irish gig at Oxegen 2004 due to some piss poor timetabling by MCD. I mean what genius decided to have Orbital on the same time as Massive Attack AND the Chemical Brothers. Those MCD heads are a special bunch.


My intuition would lead me to believe they will headline Electric Picnic 2009.

Tune I would most like to wrap up at present....

is "Walls" from Becks latest album "Modern Guilt".

There is such an addictive flow to it...and I need a fix of it every day, just to take the edge of you know

LCD Soundsystem are no more....

Apparently James Murphy has callled it a day for LCD Soundsystem material being created however the personnel ensemble of the group will operate in the near future under a different alias and a possible change in direction musically.

A sad day, but possibly the dawn of a great day....