Overview of 2007 (classic blog 2!)

Right – quite amazingly I'm seeing fit to lay a second top 100 MySpace Downloads on yo punk ass. Will anyone from '06 be there? First some ground rules – though I do hate to give you "rules", follow your own path, Man. For inclusion the track must have been downloaded by me in 2007. It may have been up in 2006 unknown to me, it may have been recorded in 1966 – don't care. It may have only been up for an hour at midnight – don't care. This chart is CLEARLY COMPLETELY SUBJECTIVE. These tracks are all somewhere between GOOD and FUCKING EMMENSE. The fact that for a second year I can freely download the work of these artists (and lots I don't like) is worth celebrating. Some of these tracks are here because they showed tremendous promise, some because they showed a band ready to dominate 2008, most somewhere in between. I've also included a few review snippets below the positions – basically to show how great I am! Also below the chart are some high-lights of the year that I couldn't be bothered to order into any sort of chart. Lots of the downloads are still available. If someone I really like isn't here it's because I didn't download them from MySpace in 2007 (even if they had something up, I missed it). Sorry it's horribly scrappy, will try to improve but it took me hours to get them on one line each!

Top 100 MySpace Downloads 2007
Band Track Review Date
100Penny Broadhurst L Jaded Feb 10th
99 Trencher Ode To Exorcist Oct 3rd
98 Euan H (& The Terrapins) Actors And Actresses Mar 22nd
97 The Rapture Romancers Jerome Mar 4th
96 Beaton Track "No Name No.4" Apr 18th
95 Ross Drummond Drink Mar 29th
"You're singing along to Drink before you come to the conclusion it's about drowning yourself."
94 The Isles Flying Under Cheap Kites Mar 13th
93 Ed Mules Moblie Foreign Legion Feb 18th
92 Thom Stone Rats Jan 11th
91 Kissing Cousins We Ran May 21st
90 Odd Socks Stella In The Moonlight Jul 26th
89 Sha La Las Crazy Heartless Girl Feb 18th
88 Working Progress Mystery Mar 4th
87 Spinmaster Plantpot Cheese On The Side Mar 13th
86 Monsters From Mars We Are The Defenders Of Atlantis Dec 24th
85 Bono Must Die Saving Betty Picture Face Jan 11th
"A tabloid whore revolves on the spit in purgatory while the pitchfork wielding goblins drone "be part of the system". I think I'm becoming rather attached to them."
84 Retro Spankees My Sonic Driver Mar 13th
83 Prospect Gardens Amy's Umbrella Mar 22nd
82 The Auxiliaries Luke Feb 10th
81 We Are The Physics Bulimia Sisters Dec 11th
80 The Barker Band Rocking Out The Madness May 6th
79 Swimsuit Issue House Fire May 21st
"Menacing post punk, with death ray guitar."
78 We Smoke Fags Lust Puppets Mar 13th
77 Le Shark Shipwreck May 21st
76 One Trick Band Midnight May 24th
75 Constant State Of Terror Blood Is Blood Jun 22nd
74 It Hugs Back Soft Spot Mar 13th
73 Josh Weller Circus Jun 11th
72 Morgansorange Words From A Long Time Ago Mar 29th
"Anyone influenced by Jimi Hendrix's big cock can't be all bad."
71 The Prostitutes Eject Jun 11th
70 Travlin' Jephson & Cardboard Man Creatures May 6th
69 Julian Donkey-Boy Sunday Jul 1st
68 Burmese Days Early Hours May 24th
67 One Trick Band When Then Dust Has Settled Feb 18th
66 Subliminal Girls Self Obsession Is An Art Form Jul 26th
65 You Had Me At Hello Sorry The Break-up(?) Jun 17th
64 Electricity In Our Homes We Don't Need Honesty May 24th
"First impressions – art project, Residents, aptly named as they are the post punk sounding ffftzzz of the poorly insulated cables behind the wallpaper, Wire (a bit)."
63 Federal Drugs Administration Katie Melua Oct 22nd
62 Ectogram Small Things Crawling Jun 22nd
61 Exile Parade Bicycle Thieves Mar 13th
If the Kings Of Leon were lager louts from Warrington this is quite possibly what they would sound like
60 The Sessions So Wanna Go Nov 14th
59 Johnny Foreiener Suicide Pact Apr 27th
58 Johnny Foreigner Bipolar Friend Apr 27th
57 Spank Rock & Benny Blanco Bootay Sep 24th
56 Idiot Savant Emillone Jul 18th
55 Late Of The Pier A Heartbeat A Flicker Jul 1st
54 Air Cav So Others May Live Jul 26th
53 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring New Favourite Band Feb 18th
52 I Was A Cub Scout Bear Fur Jan 11th
51 Superman Revenge Squad Idiot Food Jan 11th
"They ramble lyrically (quite deliberately) not exactly stream of consciousness, more stream of whiskey consciousness. Disaffected but realistic, he knows how disappointing life can be without entirely giving up on finding Miss Right. They are not bile filled but withering, songs for the lonely or those who all too well remember the isolation of loneliness and how it affects your world view. Every day takes the light at the end of the tunnel a few steps further away. But the songs are far too witty to be depressing, humour tempering the disillusion."
50 It Hugs Back Afterall May 21st
49 Liquid Sunshine Evil Tweetie Feb 10th
"The singer sounds, for no apparent reason Eastern European – the guitar is flanged to fuck – they funk like only white boys funk. It all works marvellously, down to name-checking Evil Tweety – the only worthwhile incarnation of the vile Tweety Pie."
48 Bojangles Medley Three Fingers Johnny Jun 11th
47 The Outdoor Types The Doll Enthusiast Mar 29th
"The cautionary tale of a man who, ahem, really likes dolls it sounds like something Robyn Hitchcock might have knocked up. And that's good."
46 The Teenagers Homecoming Jan 21st
"Surely any song with the chorus "I fucked my American cunt" should be number one for a Bryan Adams amount of time. Behind the rudeness this is a damning expose of the male female divide, where women crave love over sex and men crave sex over everything. Or it may just be an excuse to sing "I fucked my American cunt"."
45 Travlin' Jephson & Cardboard Man Iron Bridge May 6th
44 Lightspeed Champion Scattered Aug 12th
43 Tiny Masters Of Today Sticking It To The Man Jan 29th
42 Pink Mountaintops________________ Single Life______________________ May 6th
41 Pink Mountaintops Sweet Sixty Nine May 6th
40 Pink Mountaintops New Drug May 6th
39 Florence & The Machine Girl With One Eye Aug 12th
"…despite being a Jazzy Folk number is lyrically vindictive enough to please this misanthrope and the performance could give Amy Winehouse a run for her money."
38 The Outsoor Types Jungler Swifteye May 24th
37 Earl Grey & The Legomen Unsettling Time Dec 9th
"What they do sound like is Folk Music for the 21st century, reportage/political lyrics like a modern version of an 18th century broadsheet."
36 Extradition Order Precious Home Sep 24th
35 Pull In Emergency Girl With One Eye (live) Dec 24th
34 Dreamburger Ultimate Shamefest Jan 21st
33 Elle S'appelle Seasaw Dec 11th
32 The Rapture Romancers King Of The Rats Oct 14th
31 Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip Letter From God To Man Jan 21st
30 Rescue Cat 10 Pound Bag Apr 27th
29 The Chapman Family Never Gonna Know Me May 3rd
28 The Chapman Family You Do Something Jan 11th
27 Dash Delete Topman I'm Your Number 1 Fan *
26 Woodys Room Pipe Bucket and Bong July 18th
25 Woodys Room Nancy Knaggs July 18th
24 The Auxiliaries Trench Coat Mafia Jan 11th
23 Bojangles Medley If You Live Long Enough Sep 10th
22 Lo-Fi Culture Scene Catch 22 Sep 19th
21 Lo-Fi Culture Scene Meet Again Sep 19TH<>
20 Dreamburger Apocolypse Wow Feb 10th
"Charlie don't breakdance but he would if he copped an earful of this. Slightly more menacing than the last downloads but still FUN FUN FUN til their Daddy takes the beatbox away. Aah, I love the smell of Rimmel in the morning, marshal beats and shrill, brain-shredding, driller killing."
19 Thomas Function Flowers Oct 14th
18 Actionbeat Hookie Apr 4th
17 King Pest Invisible Ghosts Jul 18th
16 The Vichy Government Luke Haines Is Dead Oct 22nd
15 Bookstore Shotgun Johnny **
14 Los Camposinos Death To Los Camposinos Jan 11th
13 Los Camposinos Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks Jan 11th
12 Glasvegas Flowers And Football Shirts Jan 29th
11 Glasvegas Daddy's Gone Jan 29th
10 Glasvegas I'm Gonna Get Stabbed Jan 29th
09 The Von Erich Family SIMON style="mso-tab-count: 2" Ants Oct 14th
08 The Von Erich Family I'm Not Angry Anymore Oct 14th
07 The Von Erich Family Back Where The Old Folks Roam Oct 14th
06 The Von Erich Family Hey Peter Oct 14th
05 Extradition Order Cromwell Dec 24th
04 Extradition Order Grand Day Out Dec 24th
03 Extradition Order Penetrate Dec 24th
02 Jon Jones & The Beatniks Movement Pushin' Fuckin' Aug 12th
"Pushin' Fuckin' is pure filthy as you like scum rock, as with all the tracks the rhythm section is heavy and underpins the guitarist and singer going off into mad fuck territory. "
01 Glasvegas It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry July 7th
"Title aside this isn't the C&W ballad I might have thought. It builds on the more basic tracks gone before to become something of an anthem (don't worry though, their not encroaching on Keane territory yet). And it's an epic not afraid to be simple (sample lyric "liar, liar"… will he? "pant's on fire"… yes he will). It is on the one hand beautiful with a vocal building to an aching acceptance of the protagonists failings (basically he's full of self loathing for the cuntish, selfish things most men do). On the other, the down to earth but dense lyric (swearing and all) and accent heavy vocal show they're not about to suck the corporate cock yet. 3 listens in a row and it just gets more soaring, I'm not sure if he finds redemption or suicide at the end and that's good. I can picture the black and white crane shot as he falls to his knees on a rain-soaked Glasgow street at midnight for the finale. And…fade to black."
* Originally reviewed September 24th from Demo
** Originally reviewed July 1st from Demo
*** I'm guessing here – I had the Demo so didn't download – but they deserve two entries!
North of the Border romp home as Number One, and as with The Enemy last year the overall quality of all the downloads (not just this one track) make them most likely to breakthrough. On 10th Feb I mentioned first single "Go Square Go" was on Ebay for £1.99 and you should get in quick. It is now about £50 on Ebay. Mind you, I should have followed my own advice – second single "Daddys Gone" is doing about £30 and I missed it!
I'm not inclined to do top 10 singles etc so I'll just mention the tops
Singles – Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip "Thou Shall Always Kill", Ebony Bones "We Know All About You", Bloc Party "Flux". Yeah, I'm all about the beat.
Album – The Enemy "We'll Live And Die In These Towns". No great achievement – I bought about 4 albums released in 2007!
Finally the Top 5 Live Performances Of 2007
Health & Crystal Castles 17th August Rough Trade East, Brick Lane
Health – "They had seen fit to leave a mic accessible to the audience so the person in charge was making random announcements though the first songs ("Cider, the breakfast of women" etc). The set proper featured a fabulous and painful noise, like scalpel sharp feedback used as an instrument, the sort of screech that a combination of cow and abattoir might make. One track of this and the announcements had changed to "I can't hear anything any more, my ears don't work"."

CC – "While the "keyboard player" sets up we are treated to a loop of Rap, bringing it down to the component parts of "fuck" and "nigga". LOUDLY. And for many minutes. This builds atmosphere while keeping a hostile edge. The "keyboard player" (I don't know his name and the MySpace is not forthcoming) does not, throughout this "sound check you can see" look happy. He does not exude jollity and looks unlikely to suffer fools gladly. Things reach the required peak – of volume, anticipation, distain for sound men – and WHAM, Alice is on stage bouncing like a goth pixie tigger (maybe tigga, G) and the most wonderous BIG, DANCE MUTHA FUCKER DANCE electro has exploded and so have the crowd. Alice is in the crowd repeatedly, when not OWNING the stage, standing on the back-line or banging the mic on her head, tongue flicking in and out, fat and poisonous. This is clearly Star Quality. The music is a HUGE pulsing dance brute and you cannot keep still. 3 tracks keep the pressure up, then - bosh - they're gone that's your lot. But when your 3 tracks tear the roof off the sucka, that's all you need."

The Icarus Line 29th May The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch
"They played 1 song that took the roof off, stopped for five minutes while the drummer had a shit fit 'cos his kick drum was slipping. Then got going again, just as hot, really every song was kicking out the jams, dripping with commitment. They clearly believe wholeheartedly in the myths and magic of RnR, one of the bands that come up every few years and keep the pure spirit flame burning. It's not remotely original but when you're in a room with the real deal you know it. This is the sort of thing I would have listened to in the 80s and I did feel a yearning for my cowboy boots, but it was old then, now it's proved timeless. They got through two thirds of Johnny Thunders' Born To Lose before I realised, it fitted in so well and when I left during Up Against… it was the weakest track up to that point. This is the sort of dirt under the finger nails shit that keeps coming back because it's the very life-blood of Rock & Roll, the reason thousands strap on a guitar. It's about getting high, fucking, being alive in the "now", no more no less. And when you feel that alive for half an hour you should be pretty grateful."

Duke Garwood & Josh T Pearson 17th September The MacBeth Hoxton
Duke – "Rather than pluck or strum he seems to pass his hand across the strings in the area you'd strum looking for all the world like a magician coaxing noise from the ether."

Josh – "While he remains playing this size of venue you have the chance to see a real artist at close quarters and hear the stamp of his boot heels before he wanders. "

Exit Calm June 28th Camden Proud Gallery
"The few of us who could be bothered to come in from the (admittedly cool, Alice In Wonderland themed) roof garden got to see a rather brilliant band. It must be said, and let's get it out of the way and move on, they owe a large debt to early Verve. The music is about the heart rather than the head, floating guitar going on to soar and pull you to the skies with it."
Bloody loud too, a couple of weeks after this I had to have my ears syringed for the only time in 27 years of gigging!

Babyshambles in a venue the size of a large living room at the Camden Crawl April 19th (after being delivered there by taxis) – and yes, this one is just to show off!
"They start with Fuck Forever and Pete's straight in the audience. The momentum is lost slightly as his mike packs up for the second track but it matters little to the punters in the thick of it. I'm lead through an upstairs passage to get to the back of the basement where the view is supposed to be better. It isn't but it is cooler. After about 30 minutes the PA is toppled into the audience and Pete lobs out the small drum kit. I walk out the back exit behind Doherty who goes out for quick MTV interviews. He has a photo taken with a fan who, over come by the event AND booze, tells him how important he is. A minder (non burly sort) tries to push him away so PD can get in his motor and an argument starts. Once he's in the car it reverses at speed as Paparazzi, realising where he is, give chase. Another average day for him then. I have to say he didn't seem particularly out of it or difficult at any point I was watching."

Very honourable mentions to Ebony Bones, Jon Jones & The Beatniks Movement and Extradition Order.
The New Year promises a lot of Liverpool bands breaking through, though the current music of that city varies wildly. Whatever – if they don't sound dead 60s I'll listen.