2007: End of year review

I recently contributed to the Drum Media end of year poll in Australia. Here is an alternative version which takes into account the UK as well. Please feel free to add your own lists in the comments section: Top 10 Albums (released in the UK or Australia)
1. Myths of The Near Future - Klaxons
2. Panic Prevention - Jamie T
3. A Book Like This - Angus And Julia Stone (above)
4. Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
5. Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever - The Cribs
6. Because Of The Times - Kings Of Leon
7. Made Of Bricks - Kate Nash
8. Fur And Gold - Bat For Lashes
9. Songs For The Road – David Ford
10. Tonight At The Arizona - The Felice Brothers

Top 10 Tracks (released as part of any single/EP/album)
1. Be Safe – The Cribs
2. Golden Skans – Klaxons
3. Sheila - Jamie T
4. Ballad Of Lou The Welterweight – The Felice Brothers
5. Umbrella - Rihanna
6. Foundations – Kate Nash
7. D.A.N.C.E. – Justice
8. Brown Paper Bag – Bridezilla
9. What’s a Girl To Do? – Bat For Lashes
10. Commercial Breakdown – The Sunshine Underground


Best Gigs in Australia
1. Angus and Julia Stone – The Great Escape Festival
2. Bridezilla - Beach Road Hotel, Bondi (above)
3. Pet Shop Boys – V Festival
4. Lou Reed - The State Theatre
5. Muse – Big Day Out

Best Gigs in the UK
1. Carter USM – Brixton Academy (below)
2. Arcade Fire – The Latitude Festival
3. David Ford – Shepherds Bush Empire
4. Laura Imbruglia – Monkey Chews, Camden
5. Kings Of Leon – Brighton Centre
Top 5 Films
1. Superbad
2. The Science Of Sleep
3. Knocked Up
4. American Gangster
5. Hot Fuzz

Top 5 TV Shows
1. The Mighty Boosh
2. Peep Show
3. The Biggest Loser (Australia)
4. Extreme Makeover
5. America’s Next Top Model

Top 5 Websites
1. Youtube
2. Wikipedia
3. Boudist
4. Myspace
5. WWTDD

Top Podcasts
1. Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s Film Reviews – BBC Radio 5 Live
2. The Ricky Gervais Podcast

The Emperor's New Clothes Award
Facebook. Listen, I haven’t seen you for about 10 years and you didn’t talk to me at school anyway; why would I want to add you as a ‘friend’ now? And stop inviting me to be a vampire.


Best Media Moments
1. The Chaser’s War On Everything getting themselves arrested in the name of comedy (above).
2. Britney Spears’ terrifying ‘comeback’ at the MTV Awards. Yikes.
3. The Biggest Loser, Australian finale.

Highlight Of The Year
The glorious, long overdue ousting of Mr John Winston Howard.

Prediction For 2008
A new buzz band to appear on the scene approximately every 3 days, each with increasingly skinny jeans and ridiculous hair. Same as 2007 then.

Quote Of The Year “Rob Townsend is inane and out of touch.” An angry reader of The Argus writes in to tell it like it is.

A Personal Review of 2007
As with 2006, I was lucky enough to split my year between Australia and England and therefore witnessed the best of Britain in Sydney and vice versa. I saw great shows from English acts such as Jamie T, Plan B, Muse and Lily Allen in Sydney. In London I was delighted to spend some time with the beguiling Angus and Julia Stone as their star continued to ascend, and also caught a couple of Laura Imbruglia’s marvellous shows in London (above). I’m a big fan of Imbruglia, and I hope that 2008 brings her the recognition she deserves as an artist.

In Sydney, my favourite new band, Bridezilla, continued on their inevitable road to greatness. Seeing them grow from unsigned opening act to headliners and festival stars with an EP in the shops gave me great pride, especially as I have been championing them from the very first time I laid ears on them at Candy’s Apartment in 2006. Hopefully, they will take on the world next year. If the reception that fellow Aussie teens Operator Please received is any guide, England will welcome them with open arms if they get the opportunity to head that way.It was a year of festivals for me, as I took in Big Day Out, Laneway, V Festival, The Great Escape, The Essential Festival (in Sydney as opposed to Brighton), Cornbury (where I even took to the stage) and Latitude. Aside from the already listed highlights, there were great performances from Pixies, The Killers (who I saw two days in a row and, surprisingly, loved both times), NYPC (above), Ghostwood, Mercy Arms, Magic Numbers (twice), CSS, Jarvis Cocker (twice), Damien Rice (twice), Erin Marshall, The Young and Restless… the list goes on.

Elsewhere, I queued for 11 hours overnight to see Lou Reed, got a late, late call to review The Pretenders and was lucky enough to be in the front row of The Famous Spiegeltent for M. Ward in the beautiful Sydney summertime.Of the many interviews I was part of this year, my fascinating chat with Dolores O’Riordon (above) in a Sydney hotel is the one I am most proud of. Elsewhere, I swooned like a love-struck schoolboy when speaking down the phone from Melbourne to the exquisite Regina Spektor and laughed heartily with Caleb from Kings of Leon as he regaled me with tales of love and lust. I listened intently to the ambitious and terrifyingly intelligent Perry Farrell and, as always, enjoyed chatting to Klaxons.

I continued to pontificate in my own column in The Sports Argus every week, which continues to be compiled into a book, which will see the light of day this year after a self-imposed postponement.

Roll on 2008.