Monday 29 December 2008

End Of Year Polls: 2008 Inpress Writers' Poll

INPRESS WRITERS POLL 2008 - James McGalliard

TOP 10 ALBUMS

1. Schoolyard Ghosts - NO-MAN
2. Rest Now Weary Head You Will Get Well Soon - GET WELL SOON
3. Street Horrrsing - FUCK BUTTONS
4. The Midnight Organ Fight - FRIGHTENED RABBIT
5. Love, Ire & Song - FRANK TURNER
6. Neptune - THE DUKE SPIRIT
7. Simple - ANDY YORKE
8. Third - PORTISHEAD
I’m deliberately leaving the last two empty for the great albums from 2008 I won’t hear until sometime in 2009, so sorry to Elbow, Goldfrapp, Secret Shine and others who may otherwise have got a(nother) vote


TOP 5 SINGLES
Umm, it’s me isn’t it? Has downloading killed the single? Or does iTunes make any album track a potential for the combined singles charts? OK, let’s stick to physical releases…
1. Like A Suicide / The Computer Voice – THE EARLY YEARS
2. Grounds For Divorce – ELBOW
3. Century – THE LONG BLONDES
4. Sweet Love For Planet Earth – FUCK BUTTONS
5. Fear Of Opening My Mouth - COLLAPSING CITIES
Just outside: Songs, Nick Cave, Mogwai


TOP 5 ARTISTS OF THE YEAR
1. Frank Turner
2. Fuck Buttons
3. Get Well Soon
4. Frightened Rabbit
5. My Bloody Valentine


TOP 5 INTERNATIONAL ARTIST GIGS
1. Frank Turner + Andy Yorke + Chris TT @ The 100 Club, London
2. Get Well Soon @ Bush Hall, London
3. Fuck Buttons @ The ICA, London
4. Kid Harpoon @ Dingwalls, London
5. Frightened Rabbit @ Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, London
Just outside: My Bloody Valentine, Working For A Nuclear Free City + Epic45


TOP 5 AUSTRALIAN ARTIST GIGS
1. The Wreckery @ Northcote Social Club
All I saw of note from Oz artists this tear. Sorry


TOP 5 RADIO SHOWS
1. Steve Lamacq (BBC 6Music)
2. Adam & Joe (BBC 6Music)
3. Marc Riley (BBC 6Music)
4. John Kennedy (XFM)
5. The Shipping Forecast (BBC Radio 4)


TOP 5 TELEVISION SHOWS
1. Battlestar Galactica
2. Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe
3. Underbelly
4. Sense & Sensibility
5. Doctor Who
Just outside: No Heroics, Peep Show, Top Gear, Have I Got News For You, South Park


TOP 5 ONLINE DESTINATIONS
1. Wikipedia
2. BBC (esp. News)
3. Guardian Unlimited
4. Digital Spy
5. Blogspot


THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES AWARD (MOST OVER-HYPED)
Kings Of Leon
Surely Elbow performing On A Day Like This was the television highlight of Glastonbury, yet it was the headline Pyramid Stage slot of these generic US rockers that made them a #1 artist


HIGHLIGHT(S) OF THE YEAR
Edwyn Collins’s live performance - a difficult yet triumphant return after his strokes; live reunions of My Bloody Valentine and The Wreckery for not being pale imitations of the past; dad’s gong; friends.


QUOTE OF THE YEAR (DON'T FORGET THE SOURCE)
“He fucked your granddaughter” – Jonathon Ross on The Russell Brand Show on BBC Radio 2.
Not the quote itself, but for illustrating that multiplatformed broadcasting allows you to be offended time after time at your own convenience (thanks HIGNFY), and for showing exactly how far the media will go in a witch-hunt.


BEST MEDIA MOMENT
Elbow winning the Mercury Music Prize (I was supposed to say Obama’s victory, wasn’t I?)


WHAT’S THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING SOMEONE WILL BLAME ON THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN DURING 2009?
Exorbitant booking fees for concert tickets / Morrissey failing to get a # 1 album


PREDICTION FOR 2009
C86 slight return, unemployment, celebrity overkill, rise of the right


2008 IN REVIEW (in exactly 150 words)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; except it wasn’t really. It was just a little, er, mediocre. 2008 felt a little like a second series, where assurance had replaced the doubt, but some of the freshness and originality had been lost. There were no truly great albums, few television shows that stopped the heart, little new music likely to cause spontaneous joyous ejaculation. Instead it was all a little downbeat - we talked ourselves into a recession, and looked back at the nostalgic pillar of salt, rather than towards everything before us. Maybe the past just felt more comfortable somehow? Overall things felt less secure, the streets a little less safe, the unknown more of a threat. While the US writers’ strike affected many TV shows, Battlestar Galactica still managed to deliver one of the most stunning endings in the history of the medium.


© James McGalliard 2009