My Year In Lists

Twelve days overdue, I know, But better late then never. Here was my favourite music of 2008...

>ALBUMS

1. LATE OF THE PIER - FANTASY BLACK CHANNEL
By far my favourite album of the year was and still is Fantasy Black Channel. Its leaks energy, talent and not giving fuck effortlessly in every beat. Inspired by a depthy cross section of bands from Joy Division to Devo (say’s it all really) it’s a really open album. I first caught Late Of The Pier in a pantry-sized room at the top floor of the now deceased Hammersmith Palais during my first year at Uni, even then they were raucous, and now they're tenfold that standard!

2. LAURA MARLING - ALAS, I CANNOT SWIM
On a completely different end of the spectrum, 2008 opened me up to folk a lot more, I'd been waiting for this album for a long time after seeing Laura play some of her earliest material at a tiny bar in Brentford in February, 2006. Two years of myspace clicking paid off and when it was finally released she played an absolutely amazing showcase gig at Union Chapel, for nada! Although the album was propelled by Mercury fame, I love how Alas, I Cannot Swim hasn’t been pulped by the masses, its remained the same, and still raises hairs the same way, its just been given the nod its rightfully owed.

3. FOALS - ANTIDOTES
Yannis promised an album full of "solid drones" and Foals delivered, along with driving studio versions of 'Cassius', 'Baloons', 'Red Socks Pugie', and 'Olympic Airwaves' to demonstrate their danceability and chart credentials. Meanwhile tracks such as 'Electric Bloom’ and 'Two Steps Twice' confirm that Antidotes boasts the bands ability to make an album full of staying power at the same time.

4. BLOC PARTY - INTIMACY

5. LOS CAMPESINOS! – HOLD ON NOW, YOUNGSTER.../WE ARE BEAUTIFUL, WE ARE DOOMED

6. MGMT – ORACULAR SPECTACULAR

7. LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION – FALLING OFF THE LAVENDER BRIDGE

8. VAMPIRE WEEKEND - VAMPIRE WEEKEND

9. METRONOMY - NIGHTS OUT

10.FRIENDLY FIRES - FRIENDLY FIRES

11. THESE NEW PURITANS - BEAT PYRAMID

>GIGS:

*BLACK LIPS/KING KHAN AND BBQ SHOW - HEAVEN - SEPTEMBER 16TH
Hazy rock and roll, a crowd surfer every 8 or 9 seconds (no, really!), pissy security guards, on stage nudity, red stripe. For about an hour it felt like we were in the 60's!

*AFRICA EXPREZ - KOKO - OCTOBER 22ND
7 hours of non-stop African inspired music, most of which improvised, curated heavily by Damon Albarn. I don’t need to say much more.

>DVD:

* JUSTICE - A CROSS THE UNIVERSE
Filmed by Romain Gavras, it follows Justice on tour around the US earlier this year. I wrote a whole fucking essay piece on this movie, I can't really describe it bluntly, maybe I’ll post it soon!

Anant x

Slumdog Millionaire: Rags to Raja

Being my last day at home for a while I ventured out to see Slumdog Millionaire tonight and can honestly say I loved every minute, second, still frame and cell of it. It really has been a day and age since I last felt so gripped by a mainstream cinema piece, let alone a partially Hindi one!

Yet, as I walked home tonight, through the wind and minus figures, although a new ply of frost accumulated on my Fred Perry's with every step, but I couldn't help but feel warm inside (cheesefest, i know). It's a film based on Q&A, a novel by Vikas Swarup, intelligently adapted by Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy.



I want to refrain from hurling out spoilers, so in short, It sees the central character, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel, Skins) treated with suspicion and interrogated by police after he wins the Hindi equivalent of the TV show 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire', and in turn he goes on to explain how he learnt the answers to the questions throughout his skewed and unjust upbringing in the shanty towns of Mumbai, India. Scored by Indian composer A.R. Rahman, who is lended the support of Sri Lankan born refugee M.I.A., Slumdog Millionaire journeys through a brutally compelling story of life in an impoverished India, with light reference to Indian cultural artifacts such as Amitabh Bachchan, Bel Puri, over-capacitated railway systems, and more jarring imagery of vast communities living under layers of corrugated sheet metal.



In honest truth, I walked in expecting a 'feel good epic' that would be rendered 'hyped' and 'passable' with age, but in actual fact I left feeling quite touched as it dealt out a saturated yet first handed and emotional account of life in the slums of India, reflective upon sociopolitical issues such as orphanage, poverty, access to knowledge, the Hindu Caste system, corruption, gang culture and human trafficking. To declare it 'eye opening' only touches on it's foundations, it is definitely worth giving up 120 minutes for.

Anant x

iTunes Cull: Finish

iTunes Cull: Start