KarmaTsunami

In fairness, I felt REALLY bad about leaving her off. The only reason was that I came to it later than the others. It could still make my final list for Hercules Moments since it was a three-way tie for Number 10 between Charlie XCX, CHVRCHES and The Haxan Cloak but then I left Charlie off for the stated reason and now I don't even know.

Except the Neko Case album is actually called 'The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You'. I am just being really daft in that I couldn't figure out a way to edit that earlier post?

This was hard because there were about 22 albums I wanted to put in my Top 10. 1. Nils Frahm - Spaces 2. Marnie Stern - The Chronicles of Marnia 3. Paramore - Paramore 4. Speedy Ortiz - Major Arcana 5. Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt 6. PINS - Girls Like Us 7. John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts 8. Julia Holter - Loud City Song 9. Neko Case - The Harder Things Get, The Harder I Fight 10. CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe/The Haxan Cloak - Excavation The last one I still had about 5 albums I really wanted on the list which is why it's a tie. Although I'll need to choose one as I suspect Hercules Moment won't let me cheat like that. I missed off Beyonce because she released her album so late it felt unfair to the others which were shortlisted for a while beforehand. I have a list of honorable mentions as well, including Laura Veirs, 65daysofstatic, Janelle Monae, Charlie XCX, Moonface, DJ Koze, Swearin and Joanna Gruesome.

I'm listening to the Parquet Courts album and admittedly I'm a little tipsy but it makes me want to dance quite a lot.

To stay on topic, the worst thing I've heard this year is Craig Charles presenting the Funk and Soul show on Radio 6. Great songs, but the guys voice just makes my skin crawl. Musically, The Script are the worst. I don't know what that Danny's playing at but he's awful.

Just to put in my tuppence worth, I really like 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' but am not that into 'Yeezus'. I quite like a few of the tracks, 'Black Skinhead' and 'Blood on the Leaves', also 'I Am a God' is a bit of a tune and anyone rapping about croissants will make me smile, but it's not anywhere near to being on my End of Year list.

A lot of people thought she was doing it because she's unhappy with the album. Incorrect. It's pretty fucking good.

Beyonce just surprise dropped a new album. I can't find a video of the track I was listening to, 'Flawless', but I'm downloading the album and it could be a later contender for my Top 10 of 2013 list.

Listened to The Haxan Cloak album today. Genuinely unnerving and sparse at first, it sort of fills out as it goes along and stops sounding like the soundtrack to a horribly scary movie.

Was the FIDLAR album not released last year?

Same. SUCH a good song. I also really like 'You - Ha Ha Ha' and 'So Far Away'

Yeah, I listened to that Charlie XCX album again today. It'll probably end up on my list. I can't believe I forgot the Moonface album though. Definitely on there.

I saw The Smashing Pumpkins tour Machina, post Darcy/pre-breakup but I remember being really disappointed when Billy Corgan chose to do a shitty acoustic version of 'Today' because I was 15 (or 16?) and 'Siamese Dreams' was my favourite album ever at that point. Seeing Deftones at the Barrowlands was a highlight. Having to be dragged out from the front by bouncers after getting squished and my nose about broken wasn't, but when you are about head-height with the barrier... Saw Patti Smith last year and that was ace. Best for me was managing to see Sleater-Kinney in the Oran Mor in 2006 right before the 'hiatus'.

I love poppy music. That CHVRCHES album is great fun. Speaking of pop, I listened to Charlie XCX and Sky Ferraira because of your Pop Thread Paranoid, if I'd had longer with them the Charlie XCX one might have made my list.

I just keep going back to it. Can't put my finger on what keeps drawing me back.

I'm trying to do my 10 for Hercules Moments and it's proving trickier than I initially thought. There's no clear-cut number one, but there were a lot of really good albums this year. I think I'll just pick 10 that are all number one and put them in an arbitrary order. Even then I'm not sure. Some stuff that will probably end up on it: Speedy Ortiz - Major Arcana DJ Koze - Amygdala Julia Holter - Loud City Song Veronica Falls - Waiting for Something to Happen John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts Marnie Stern - The Chronicles of Marnia Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt PINS - Girls Like Us Joanna Gruesome - Weird Sister Laura Veirs - Warp & Weft CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight (this was a grower) Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady (although I don't think I enjoy it as much as I did The Archandroid. Great album though.) and some other stuff I've probably forgotten.

With the PhD out of the way I treated myself to a PS3 earlier this year. I played the shit out of Skyrim first off, and I've completed all the main quest lines that go with the game and most of the DLCs too. I'm kind of pootering through Oblivion but the weird uncanny valley faces of the npcs just freak me out. Besides that I'm catching up on games I've not played but am being recommended to by my girlfriend. So I've played Bioshock and I'm away to play Metal Gear Solid 4. I've got Assassin's Creed and Red Dead Redemption to play too. I've got L.A. Noire on the go too, and is it just me or are half of the cast of Mad Men in it?

I'm looking to either get one with a lot of storage - like 1Tb, or a couple at 60-150gb, whatever is going to be more cost effective. If you've got any lying around that you don't use or don't need any more let me know what you're looking for price-wise.

I've deleted a bunch of messages so I'm PM-able again. This is currently on hold for someone but if they decide not to take it I'll drop you a line.

Oh man! I was going to say hi when I was sitting upstairs beforehand as well but thought you didn't notice me either. Sorry for blanking you later. It was fucking great. I was grinning like a loon the whole set. Guitar-witch indeed. I got the set-list signed. Such a good set-list. Marnie was immense.

Kirstenin at Broadcast in Glasgow for the Marnie Stern gig on Sunday night,

Urgh, every single time one of these old threads appears I just end up cringing. I was only 18. I didn't know what I was doing. Also sweet jesus, that was almost ten years ago? I do remember it being a pretty good night though, although I had to absolutely pelt it for my last bus back to Hillhead.

New Neko Case is due out this year. Delightful!