The best of 2008 (part four): teh rand0m
On the miscellaneous tip, then: shouts and awards to football (best sport), HHC's 'The Original', WSC and Smoke (fave writing), Very Nearly Almost and WSC's Shot! archive (best pics), the Beatnik Filmstars' lovingly compiled "Everything Is Relative" (best music DVD), Dave Simpson's "The Fallen" (music non-fiction), E3 (best UK postcode for music, again, edging out E14 and some BS and NG numbers), Cartrain, C215 (graf), The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (just because), Rodney P's "Been A Gunner Since '79" (best random myspace track), BRFC 1883 (*FA Cup quarter-finalists*), top Bristol popsters the Hi-Life Companion's deal to sub Rovers' Jo Kuffour (best indie-pop sponsorship deal), Wimbledon (another promotion season!), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra's Serenade for Strings and LSO's live Sibelius 1&4 (plucked-from-the-hat new classical), the geezer at the Lexington (friendliest bouncer), Tom Harvey's foxes on Highbury Fields (er, best tree sculpture), Cloudberry vs Series Two (best beef) and either Droylsden v Chesterfield or The Great Comet Gain Video Controversy (best soap).
And fond farewells to both the xPQwRtz blog and the ever-industrious indie-mp3 weblog. We can only salute the latter for having posted so much great new music and - presumably - for having to have waded through so much rubbish in order to get there.
A few quick "worst ofs", too: football (worst sport), Snoop's "Sensual Seduction" (worst single, which is saying something given competition like Kings of Leon or the Pigeon Detectives), Portishead (most boring gig), Radiohead (most overlong gig, despite ample opportunities to confuse / annoy people by shouting "Bow E3"), Squarepusher's "Just A Souvenir" (alright, certainly not worst, but surely most overrated album), the Wedding Present's "Back For Good" (most hamfisted cover version), Spoony (worst broadcaster, again), Matthew Bourne's Dorian Gray (worst score), Fulham FC (feeblest ticketing policy), Johnson (worst Mayor of London), the Premier League (just everything). There should probably also be some kind of award for Raekwon's heavily-billed 'contribution' to Geejay's "We Came To Represent", along the lines of "laziest and most obviously-phoned in 'collaboration'".
Whether you like it or not, our albums and singles of '08 are bound to follow one day, no doubt possibly at ungainly and inordinate length, but until then, thank you for reading, and have a brilliant new year.
On the miscellaneous tip, then: shouts and awards to football (best sport), HHC's 'The Original', WSC and Smoke (fave writing), Very Nearly Almost and WSC's Shot! archive (best pics), the Beatnik Filmstars' lovingly compiled "Everything Is Relative" (best music DVD), Dave Simpson's "The Fallen" (music non-fiction), E3 (best UK postcode for music, again, edging out E14 and some BS and NG numbers), Cartrain, C215 (graf), The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (just because), Rodney P's "Been A Gunner Since '79" (best random myspace track), BRFC 1883 (*FA Cup quarter-finalists*), top Bristol popsters the Hi-Life Companion's deal to sub Rovers' Jo Kuffour (best indie-pop sponsorship deal), Wimbledon (another promotion season!), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra's Serenade for Strings and LSO's live Sibelius 1&4 (plucked-from-the-hat new classical), the geezer at the Lexington (friendliest bouncer), Tom Harvey's foxes on Highbury Fields (er, best tree sculpture), Cloudberry vs Series Two (best beef) and either Droylsden v Chesterfield or The Great Comet Gain Video Controversy (best soap).
And fond farewells to both the xPQwRtz blog and the ever-industrious indie-mp3 weblog. We can only salute the latter for having posted so much great new music and - presumably - for having to have waded through so much rubbish in order to get there.
A few quick "worst ofs", too: football (worst sport), Snoop's "Sensual Seduction" (worst single, which is saying something given competition like Kings of Leon or the Pigeon Detectives), Portishead (most boring gig), Radiohead (most overlong gig, despite ample opportunities to confuse / annoy people by shouting "Bow E3"), Squarepusher's "Just A Souvenir" (alright, certainly not worst, but surely most overrated album), the Wedding Present's "Back For Good" (most hamfisted cover version), Spoony (worst broadcaster, again), Matthew Bourne's Dorian Gray (worst score), Fulham FC (feeblest ticketing policy), Johnson (worst Mayor of London), the Premier League (just everything). There should probably also be some kind of award for Raekwon's heavily-billed 'contribution' to Geejay's "We Came To Represent", along the lines of "laziest and most obviously-phoned in 'collaboration'".
Whether you like it or not, our albums and singles of '08 are bound to follow one day, no doubt possibly at ungainly and inordinate length, but until then, thank you for reading, and have a brilliant new year.
