The Daily Growl

This year was my leanest one for gigs in a very long time, but with good reason. Despite my changed life, I managed to get out about once a month to gigs, so I can still do an end-of-year chart. But it won’t be a top 10, because that would involve me just listing most [...]

Without, further ado here’s my top 10. Unlike 2007, this year had no really obvious stand-outs, well ahead of the pack. What we have here are 10 solid performers, but there’s probably not much to choose between the top five at least. But for better or worse, I’ve ranked them.
10. Lambchop – OH (Ohio) (City [...]

So this year’s list starts here, the distillation of well over 100 albums into a top 20 that’s almost inevitably not quite in the right order even before it’s finished. I mean, just how do you rank them? What sort of criteria do you use? For what follows, mine is fairly simple. These aren’t albums [...]

List season has begun in earnest. A couple of weeks ago, Rough Trade shops were among the first to throw their hat into the ring with their top 50 albums, in what’s always one of the more interesting lists of the year. This year is no different. In addition to the ones you’d expect to [...]