Monkey Chops’ Best Albums of 2006

Being the unconventional sod that I am, here's my (belated) Top 6 Albums of 2006!

 

6. Lily Allen – Alright Still

Normally, pop music with R'n'B tinges would not qualify this high up in my personal favourites, but Lily Allen's Alright Still is the surprise exception to the rule. I simply could not stop playing this album over the summer. Unlike her numbskull, talentless father, Lily exudes a wit that represents the best British music has to offer. The Streets could never write something like "Smile" because they simply don't have the disarming charm Lily has. It is a remarkably confident debut, much like 'Is This It', and I'd have to say it's quite easily one of the best debuts since 2001.

 

5. Bat For Lashes – Fur And Gold

I've cheated a little bit here. Although I heard 'Fur And Gold' before the end of 2006, I was not entirely impressed. Granted, tracks like 'Prescilla', 'Horse and I' and 'Trophy' were beautiful in that Kate Bush/Björk kind of way. But I didn't feel the album flowed well enough to qualify for my attention. Oh Lord, how wrong I was. I had the pleasure of seeing the band play last Tuesday and now the tracks make perfect sense. This is sensual stuff and Natasha Khan is as much a kitten as Ms Bush was back in the day.

 

4. Thom Yorke – The Eraser

Almost inevitably for a die-hard Radiohead fan, this had to make my top 5. Allow me to defend myself for being so predictable. What we have here is not a collection of songs that Radiohead could have done. It is simply not possible for a band to recreate something so isolated, angry and potent unless they are willing to forfeit any creative input in such a process. Now, some might argue that Kid A is living proof that such a thing is possible, but not I; mainly because I know, for example, that we have Jonny Greenwood to thank for the luscious strings on How To Disappear Completely. But I digress. The work on The Eraser is simply incompatible with anything Radiohead have ever done. Thom's lyrics are still so refreshingly vague, despite the angst he clearly feels at the state of the world, but he also has a lot to say. Things that you imagine had he said with the rest of the band backing him, they'd be forced to apologise for him in the liner notes, nice chaps as they are. No, this is not something that, musically-speaking, Radiohead could work together on. It is therefore not the reason I picked it as a highlight of 2006.

So why is it a highlight? Simple: how many other electronica albums can you name featuring a political edge to their tracks, sung in the most beautiful, heartfelt falsetto known to man? Something new has been brought to the table and I am eternally grateful that Thom Yorke was the one to do it. Are you taking notes, Chris Martin?

 

3. The Knife – Silent Shout

This album got to me very late in the game, mainly due to the fact that I'd been distracted with music from years previous (like the amazing 'Rubber Factory' by Black Keys). Luckily, Fate intervened, and I ended up being subjected to the most refreshing electronica album since Autechre's 'Draft 7.30'. Silent Shout is haunting, occasionally terrifying, but undoubtedly satisfying. I know very little about The Knife, other than they're a brother/sister duo from Sweden, but I don't need to know more. There is an impenetrable mystique surrounding the music, which just adds to the depth. It's unashamedly avant-garde to the degree that it might alienate some listeners – but who cares about them? It allows the rest of us to bask in its digitised glory for many years to come.

 

2. TV On The Radio – Return To Cookie Mountain

Crazy title, crazy-good band. Again, like Silent Shout, I was too distracted by my love for other albums and got to this one a bit late. But I am so glad I got to it eventually. I absolutely love it when bands marry-up digitised production with bog standard guitar-music. I'm pretty much convinced that this is the way forward for rock music, and has been since OK Computer. TV On The Radio reassert my claim without qualification. Thanks, chaps.

 

1. Liars – Drum's Not Dead

My goodness this is a fantastic work of art. By employing the use of an East German broadcast centre, and utilising a different studio for each track, the Liars have essentially paid homage to previous innovators like Can and, heck, even the Beatles. That experimental edge, that innovative spirit, is entirely commendable in and of itself. Yet they don't stop there. It's unusual for a rock/punk band to push rhythm and structure to the forefront of the music, essentially inverting the use of melody as support to the rhythm – but that is exactly what most of the tracks on Drum's Not Dead does. It's an ethic not entirely alien to electronica and for it to work in a drums/bass/guitar/vocals environment is miraculous. Although such an approach could end up a total failure, it is the quality of song-writing which cements the deal. The whole album is captivating. This is hands down the best music I have heard all year.

Nice one, Ian!

One of my best friends was involved in bringing this scumbag to justice.

My Day with Superman and Co

This past week has been phenomenal: Thom Yorke's "The Eraser" came out, "Prey" was finally out on the 360 and, finally, Superman Returns, which topped everything. I'll try to recollect it all here. As is usually the case with me, this might almost appear very stream-of-consciousness to some people.

My friend Chris and I went to Leicester Square on Thursday, to watch the stars arrive for the red carpet premiere of the movie.  We got there around 12-ish and the barriers, red carpet and media slowly appeared before the 6pm start. During that six hour wait, I chatted to a few fans, mostly with a chap named Laurence; got interviewed by The Sun Online and Radio 1 and got two free Superman Returns t-shirts and a special edition of the Evening Standard Lite. Bog-standard fan stuff.

But when the stars turned up, things really, really picked up for Chris and me. The first guy I recognised on the red carpet was one of the X2/Superman Returns' screenwriters, Mike Dougherty. I called him over and he autographed my 'Standard paper. I wasn't entirely sure it was Mike, or his writing partner Dan Harris. So I asked him and he said, "I'm Mike. Dan's around here, somewhere." But that was not to be the last time we spoke.

Later, Brandon Routh came along and autographed my special edition of Empire and the same newspaper Dougherty previously signed. I asked whether he really was a World of Warcraft fan, and it turns out he is, though he doesn't have much time to play it these days (obviously!). I've got the vid of our brief convo on my phone. If I ever figure out how to YouTube it, I'll put a link up.

Not long after that, Kate Bosworth visited us lower mortals to do the autograph thing, but she completely bypassed Chris, Laurence and me. Despite her hearing Laurence say "Kate! Over here!", and despite me saying "Pretty please, with a cherry on top." She buggered off to chat with Colin Murray instead. Damn her.

Then Mike shows up again, waiting on the red carpet for God-knows-who. So I call him over again. He walked over and I shook his hand. I said congrats on the movie and he asked me whether I'd seen it. I said no, but I was confident it was going to be brilliant. I asked him what he planned to do next and I mistakenly thought he said he was going on holiday. But he corrected me. He's writing a horror movie. I asked if it was another Urban Legend, since I remember reading on AICN that he had written one of them. He said it would be something new (I think it might be "I, Lucifer" if imdb is anything to go by).

A few minutes later, Kevin Spacey autographs my Empire magazine and I got a smile from him when I thanked him for scaring the heck out of me in Se7en. I think I've got that on video, too.

So yeah, pretty standard stuff so far, right?

Here's where it gets really interesting.

A little time passes and I see Mike Dougherty once more. This time, I asked him where the hell Dan Harris was and he said he'd gone into the cinema. Cue disgruntled sighs from Chris, Laurence and I. Then Mike asks me how many of us there are in the group. I tell him that it's just me and Chris and that I'd only just met Laurence today. He then handed me two sets of lenticular postcards with the 'S' on the front, and two thinner, glossy cards. I thought they were just souvenir items, so promptly gave Chris one of the postcards and one of the glossed cards, and gave Laurence the lenticular card. Mike stopped me. They were tickets!

I couldn't believe it! I asked Laurence to return the card to me and made sure Chris still had his. Then we headed towards one of the stewards. I was cutting through the crowd, apologising to everyone because I wasn't trying to push in. Some girl yelled "Yes you are!", but I wisely ignored her. I called a steward, indicating that Chris and I had tickets. I remember that girl then saying "How did they get those?!?" I was sooo tempted to just turn to her and go, "HA! In your face, BEEEYAATCH!". But I didn't, because it would have been pointless.

The steward let us through and asked to check our bags. Once that was out of the way, I asked him how we were to get into the cinema and he told us we had to walk the red carpet! So that's what we did. Again, it's on video. I waved at Laurence and the other chaps standing near us. We even got filmed by ITV as Bryan Singer was being interviewed by Colin Murray (again, it's on video).

We get into the cinema and the first thing I need to do is pee. I'd been dying to do so for six hours! After that, I called my mum and told her we were going to see the movie. But I think she didn't understand HOW we managed that and all she said was, "So, you're going to be late, then?" What's more, she said it in a disapproving tone. Unbelievable!

The usher showed us to our seats. Everyone was smartly-dressed, bar Chris and me. I was wearing the freebie white 'Returns t-shirt on top of my white office shirt and blue Superman t-shirt; as was Chris. Total geeks.

We sat next to two Leeds chaps who turned out to be friends with Mike Dougherty since X2. Then, Chris realises something I probably would have overseen until we got home: the lenticular cards we'd been given were invites to the aftershow party being held at the Royal Courts of Justice! Things were just getting better and better!

Following a live feed of the red carpet arrivals and Singer's interview with Murray on the cinema screen, the head of Warner Bros UK comes on-stage and he introduces Routh, Bosworth, Langella, Singer and Spacey to say a few words about the movie to all of us! Routh said a few words about how it seemed apt to hold the premiere after the World Cup. Bosworth said some stuff that I've forgotten, mainly because I haven't forgiven her for bypassing us earlier on. Langella was caught off-guard, because he didn't know he had to say something. Then Spacey said he was happy to be home and that he hoped the children would enjoy the movie enough to then go see his show at the Old Vic. Singer says a few words about how he hoped we like movie, then he calls on Dougherty and Harris to come to the stage as well, because they deserve credit too. Dougherty went to the mic and showed off his "Kneel Before Zod" t-shirt, much to the audience's amusement. I can't remember if Harris said anything.

After that, the movie began. I'm not going to review it here, but suffice to say, if you haven't seen it yet, you're missing out. Singer has raised the bar, yet again.

Once the movie finished, I said goodbye to the chaps we were sitting with, because we had no idea how we were going to get to the party. We exit the cinema, still feeling underdressed. I got accosted by a dude, who coincidentally works for the BBC, asking what we thought of the movie (but it wasn't an interview, he was just a BBC employee, as he had shown me his card, beccause he hoped that could get him into the premiere). I explained how awesome it was and then Chris and I decided to head out to find a taxi. Luckily, however, we spotted a queue of smartly-dressed people getting into coaches and found out they were heading to the party. It looks like the WB had it all planned very nicely. It was 10.45pm.

After a short wait outside the RCJ (I still can't believe they had the party there!), we gave the lenticular cards back and went inside at 11pm. Now, to describe everything I saw is nigh-on impossible. There was an orchestra playing the Superman theme. There were velvet couches in the courtyard. There was an open bar. There were waitresses dressed in classic, 1940s outfits in either entirely red or blue. There were large black pillars spewing fire from the top. It was decadent, but all very tasteful. I remember telling myself "this is not happening" over and over.

Chris and I agreed that we were to find Mike Dougherty to say 'thanks' and, since Chris had to go to work in the morning, we would immediately leave after that was done. We went to the cloakroom to dump our bags and the two pretty cloakroom girls could see from our t-shirts that we were Superman fans (we had removed the white t-shirts, but still had on our blue ones). They asked about the movie and, once again, we explained how we loved it. They wanted to know what time period the movie was set in, because they couldn't understand why they had to wear 1940s' gear! Of course, the movie's look is timeless, thanks to the genius of Singer and the set designers.

Then we wandered around the RCJ until we found Dougherty. Before that happened, some blokes asked us how much we were enjoying our evening. I was still ecstatic. So much so, that one of them had to make their excuses and leave 30 seconds into the conversation! I must have been gushing like a ditzy schoolgirl; even though I'm all man.

When we did find Mike, he actually recognised me straight away. I gave him my thanks and that my week had already been going so well, so this really was the best way to cap it. He asked what we thought of the film. I told him it was "emotional" (because it was!) and easily the best film of the year (because it is!). He laughed. He said that he had a couple of spare tickets and just thought 'what the hell!' and gave them to us. I told him that it was a very kind gesture and won't ever be forgotten. Then he introduced me to the dude who did the podcasts for Bluetights.net and asked whether I went to that site. I told him I did, but that I was more of a Superman Homepage person. He laughed and said to the podcast guy not to tell Justin (the Bluetights webmaster) about me! Then I explained we only came to the party to say thanks and that we had to head back to Oxford before the Tube stations close. He said he was sorry to hear that and suggested we get a few drinks in before we left. I was going to ask to have my photo taken with him, but he went to chat with some other people. Not that I minded. Hell, we were rubbing shoulders with celebs. Hell! We were standing right next to the VIP section during the entire conversation; near Singer, Routh (and possibly Bosworth, but I didn't actually see her).

We took a loo break before heading out. Before that, we walked past Mcfly and Chris noticed them, but since I'm not a fan, I couldn't care less. I'd already spoke to them at the red carpet barrier, because I wanted to know which one made out with Lindsey Lohan (turns out that something might have happened with the dark-haired guitarist guy, but he was denying it when I asked him. He was on the Friday Night Project the week before and I asked him what Mischa Barton was like and he said she was nice. I also said that was a funny show and he agreed, even if he didn't say much in it).

There was just one cloakroom girl when we were leaving. She was telling us to stay because it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and that the party would finish at 2. I was so reluctant to give her the ticket to reclaim my bag so I could stay, but Chris really did have to work the next day and couldn't even take a sickie because it was important he be there. Ah well....

As we head to the exit, Spacey arrives and is being filmed by Eat Cinema (I think). So Chris and I can't leave until Spacey gets out of our way! How often does something like that happen in my life?!?

Anyways, we finally get to the exit and the security guard asked us where we got our blue t-shrits from. I explain that mine was a gift from my cousin in Australia and Chris said he got his from Virgin Megastore. Then I asked one of the stewards if I could take a photo of the lenticular invite to prove to people at home that we had actually been invited. He did one better than that and gave Chris and I our invites back (obviously not the exact same ones we had before, because the one I previously had was number 1274 and Chris had 1275). We went straight to Temple tube station and made our way home, still in complete denial that this actually happened.

But happened it did! And to think, my aim was to get a couple of autographs and to snag a promo-board for the movie like I managed for Batman Begins last year!

Sam's Story

I thought I’d put up a link to this on here:

Jeph Loeb on "Sam's Story"

"I hit the button and escape"

Kind of proud that I can embed vids into the blog; not that it's rocket science or anything!

I sounded worse than a hyena after watching this

BBC Mistakes Cabbie For MP3 Expert and Broadcasts Interview

My God. This is one of the best cases of mistaken identity in recent memory.

"Yeah Yeah Yeah"

I hope this year will be a good year for music.

So far, the two most decent albums I’ve heard are from The Arctic Monkeys and The Flaming Lips and I think The Black Angels' album might be promising.  Combined with the new Radiohead material I’ll be hearing in May, insha’Allah, this year certainly does have potential.

I am seriously tempted to start up my own podcast and inflict my inspiring tastes upon the unsuspecting public, but I don’t think I have the energy to get legal permission from all the record companies before using their tracks; so it’s currently a moot point.  Maybe one day….

Anyways, I’ve finally seen the light and realised how absolutely amazing Bob Dylan’s early work is.  I managed to get copies of “Blonde On Blonde”, “Bringing It All Back Home”, “Highway 61 Revisited” and “Blood On The Tracks” and I think they’re astounding.  He really did have a way with words back in the day.  Not so sure about the more recent material though, truth be told.  I am somewhat angry I didn’t discover his work earlier in life; but better late than never, eh?  Favourite Dylan track: Subterranean Homesick Blues.

Coincidentally, the day I received those Dylan albums was the same day I got hold of the Flaming Lips’ “At War With The Mystics”.  I went home, switched on the TV, and found the Lips doing a parody video of Subterranean Homesick Blues, with cue cards and everything.

It must be fate.

"What happens when the unstoppable force meets the immovable object?"

Grant Morrison is a genius.

I don't know how he does it. I don't know what drugs he takes, but he has written some tremendous Superman stories in All-Star Superman.

This month, Superman gives Lois Lane a liquified version of his superpowers so that when she drinks it, she'll have his powers for a day. It is so Silver Age and I bet that Julius Schwartz must be smiling from his cloud in Heaven. Lois and Superman bump into Samson and Atlas (characters I'm not sure even exists in current DC continuity, or hell, any other continuity) who try to woo Lois and challenge Superman to a set of trials to see who's the man most worthy. I'm not going to spoil it, but let's say it's kind of obvious who that man is.

But my Lord, it is such a beautiful comic. I was absolutely blown away by Morrison's writing and Frank Quitely's wonderful art. This isn't much of a review, admittedly, but I am still in awe of the realization that this could be Morrison's greatest work yet.

I really wish I could write like Morrison, or Alan Moore. Those guys just come up with some insane ideas and make it work.