Music never dies... it's always everywhere. It's always on the radio... when there aren't adverts or Chris Moyles talking away it is! It's on our TVs... live music, music quizzes, X-Factor! And everyone has an opinion on it! But this is what music I've been listening to this year, either voluntarily or not!
X Factor
Now, I'm not the biggest fan of The X Factor. 2009's show has been more about making money for Simon Cowell than talent or music. Point in case is "
Jedward", who have no singing ability what-so-ever, remaining in the competition when the rather more talented, and infinitely hotter,
Lucie Jones (looking mighty fine, to the right) was sent home. The show turned into a farce, albeit a farce that raked in the viewers!
It was good to see a singer on there with a more "rock" sound, in
Jamie "Afro" Archer. But he was never destined to win the show. And I didn't care for the final two either. Olly Murs definitely
is like Robbie Williams... not the best singer, but does like to put on a show. Not my cup of tea. And the winner,
Joe McElderry, has quite a bland singing style. He'd be pretty good in musical theatre, maybe, but as a pop artist he doesn't cut it. So much so that
Rage Against the Machine's
infinitely better "
Killing in the Name of" pipped him to the Christmas number 1. Awesome.
My Musical Taste has Progressed
Lovely play on words, that.
This past year, I have been listening to some new bands and (obviously, perfectly legally) downloading a discography or too. Mostly, this has been in the progressive metal genre.
As a fan of progressive metal kings
Dream Theater, who's "
Black Clouds and Silver Linings" triple CD set I got this year, I decided to try some other bands of the genre. The first band I got into was
Porcupine Tree. They are a four-piece from the UK and have only recently been leaning towards progressive metal, having originally been more psychedelic. The first album I got was "
Deadwing", which is a masterpiece concept album, like DT's "
Scenes from a Memory". The album tells a ghost story, which has been planned as a film for ages! The two stand out tracks, "
Arriving Somewhere but Not Here" and "
The Start of Something Beautiful", have been in my car ever since!
The next album, "
Fear of a Blank Planet", is just as good. It's heavier than the previous album and deals a lot with mental illness (which I've been dealing with myself, recently). And the new album, out this year, is the two-CD "The Incident". I've not really got into this as much yet, but I'm sure it won't take long. Check out the band's videos at their website, including "Something Beautiful"'s Tool-esque stop-go animation video!
I have been listening to some other progressive bands. Amongst these are
The Mars Volta,
Stream of Passion and the classic prog band from Canada,
Rush. I've known about Rush for many years, having heard "
Spirit of Radio" in my Mum's car when I was young! But I've obtained their back catalogue and I can hear the influence they had on Dream Theater!
The final band I have mostly been getting into this year is
Anathema. I had one of their songs on a magazine compilation, so I bought the album it came from:
Judgement. Much like Porcupine Tree, the album (or most of it) has been a permanent fixture of my car's CD multi-changer. Click here from the haunting "Parisienne Moonlight" on YouTube.
It's a very atmospheric album with tracks that blend into each other. Some say it's a tad depressing, but then again that's often what I listen to. It's not surprising from a band that started as doom metal! The older music is okay, but not entirely up my street, but their more recent (more progressive, slightly gothic) albums are equally as good as this first CD I have of theirs.
I am looking forward to their next offering, currently titled "
Horizons" and slated for a release this year.
Final mention for the music I've listened to this year is for one of my old favourites,
Guns 'n' Roses. Although it was technically released in 2008, I didn't get "
Chinese Democracy" until last year. It differs a lot from their previous stuff with Slash et al. There's a greater range of sounds and some new twists, all of which I have to say I like. Very catchy and right up there with my favourite albums of the last year (or so).
Dance the Night Away
I have also been listening to non-guitar orientated music this year. As well as new music from The Prodigy and Pendulum, I have been listening to two DJs in particular.
The first has been around for some time and played some of the biggest clubs in the UK. Deadmau5, who usually wears a huge mouse head when playing live, had hit singles featuring vocals from Kaskade and Pendulum's Rob Swire. I haven't quite gotten around to buying his albums yet... really should do that!
The other DJ is an up and coming turntable master from Exeter. Okay, he's my evil twin (Gofer) in DJ form.
RichieB has been playing his dirty funky electro-house since late 2008. His debut gig (I think) was at our joint 30th birthday party last January (less said about that night, the better). Since then he has played many of Exeter's biggest dance event of 2009, with
Pams House/PHunky and Digital Passion with a residency at EX4 and regular slots on the Terrace at the Phoenix Club. Hopefully, 2010 will be an equally big year for him!
And so on to my favourites list, a kind of
Wulfy's Music Awards if you like:
ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Black Clouds and Silver Linings - Dream Theater
NON-ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Lungs - Florence and the Machine
SINGLE/EP OF THE YEAR: Live, Consume, Drive - Sanguine
SONG OF THE YEAR: Stargazer - Dream Theater
NON-ROCK SONG OF THE YEAR: I Remember - Deadmau5
MOST LISTENED TO ALBUM: Judgement - Anathema
MOST LISTENED TO TRACK: Arriving Somewhere but Not Here - Porcupine Tree
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Permanent Waves - Rush
DJ OF THE YEAR: RichieB and Deadmau5 (tied!)
2010
There are a few albums I'm looking forward to this year; I've already mentioned Anathema's new album.
Avenged Sevenfold were to have a new album out too, although it remains to be seen if it does get released soon due to the untimely death of
The Rev. I'm also interested in hearing (possible) new albums from
My Chemical Romance,
Stone Sour,
Rage Against the Machine and
Deftones.
Feel free to add comments regarding your own favourite music of 2009!
