{"id":1811,"date":"2005-12-28T23:47:20","date_gmt":"2005-12-28T23:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sunpig.com\/mt-entry-1811.html"},"modified":"2006-09-23T19:30:11","modified_gmt":"2006-09-23T19:30:11","slug":"2005-in-review-radio-sunpig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/2005\/12\/28\/2005-in-review-radio-sunpig\/","title":{"rendered":"2005 in review: Radio Sunpig"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around Christmas last year I put together a CD to represent what I’d been listening to a lot in 2004<\/a>. It didn’t consist just<\/em> of my absolute favourite tracks of the year–instead, I wanted a slice of them that fit together nicely as a compilation. I’ve done the same this year, and taking a leaf out of Alan’s book<\/a>, here they are with a bit of commentary. (Note that not all of the tracks are actually from<\/em> 2005, but they are all tracks that I heard for the first time this year.)<\/p>\n

\"Radio<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Ash – Orpheus<\/i><\/b>

    \nEver since I bought Ash’s CD Meltdown<\/i>, I knew this song would make a fantastic opener for whatever compilation CD I chose to make for 2005. It’s so full of energy and sunshine that I can’t help smile every time I hear it. It puts the bounce back in my step whenever I’m feeling down.<\/li>\n
  2. Foo Fighters – No Way Back<\/i><\/b>

    \nIn Your Honor<\/i> has so many great rock songs on it, but No Way Back<\/i> meshes well with the opener by Ash: hard and bright, and full of energy.<\/li>\n
  3. Editors – Bullets<\/i><\/b>

    \nIgnore the lyrics, and just feel the way every aspect of the composition pounds<\/em> the song forward. The insistent drums, the looping vocals, the crashing guitars, and the battering bass–pure magic.<\/li>\n
  4. Sondre Lerche – Virtue and Wine<\/i><\/b>

    \nI have no idea what this song is about, but I love its musical richness–the way that every millisecond is filled with layer upon layer of textures and mini-melodies. That, and the killer drums that start off jazzy and end up in a crazy, perpetual solo.     Keith<\/a> told me that Faces Down<\/i> was a better album than Two-Way Monologue<\/i>, and he was right.<\/li>\n
  5. Jason Falkner – Afraid Himself To Be<\/i><\/b>

    \nI’m a great lover of rhythm<\/em>, and there’s a particular vocal technique that gives me a great thrill: it’s when the singer lays down a clear beat<\/em> with their voice that hits a subtly different rhythm than the main melody. The chorus here pushes that button for me. Have a listen for the part that starts, “One-thing-I-know-is-true…”, which is where Jason Falkner’s voice takes the lead, and everything else just follows. This is another find I owe to     Keith<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. System Of A Down – Radio, Video<\/i><\/b>

    \nSpeed metal polka. How can you not love that? Brilliant insanity.<\/li>\n
  7. Glen Phillips – Finally Fading<\/i><\/b>

    \nI love pretty much anything Glen Phillips does. This song is him in full power-pop mode, and it just sounds great.<\/li>\n
  8. Athlete – Tourist<\/i><\/b>

    \nThe album has its ups and downs, I liked the melancholy loneliness of this title track.<\/li>\n
  9. Imogen Heap – Hide And Seek<\/i><\/b>

    \nRarely does a song have the power to completely knock the wind out of me on a first listen, but this one did it. I vividly remember exactly where I was (just passing Dreghorn junction on the Edinburgh bypass) when I first heard it, and I practically had to pull of the road to listen to it properly. It still gives me goosebumps. It’s not a style of music I listen to much, and I was a bit wary about buying the album (Speak For Yourself<\/i>) in case it was all like this, and the rest of the songs didn’t match up. The reality turns out to be a fantastic electro-pop disc that has turned into one of my favourites of the year.<\/li>\n
  10. Queens Of The Stone Age – Broken Box<\/i><\/b>

    \nI liked Lullabies To Paralyze<\/i> a lot, but I don’t think that I really grew to love<\/em> it. Broken Box<\/i> is one of the easier tracks to listen to. It has a strong backbone on which to mount its curious diversions.<\/li>\n
  11. Danger Doom – Old School<\/i><\/b>

    \nI came to Danger Doom via Gorillaz–Danger Mouse co-produced their album Demon Days<\/i>, and MF Doom raps on the track “November Has Come”. Danger Doom is a collaboration between Doom and Danger Mouse. There’s a lot to like on the album (The Mouse and The Mask<\/i>), but this track is my favourite: fun and funky, and exactly as old school as the title suggests.<\/li>\n
  12. Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.<\/i><\/b>

    \nDidn’t like this when I first heard it. I was wrong. It’s awesome.<\/li>\n
  13. Charlotte Hatherley – Bastardo<\/i><\/b>

    \nMad props to anyone who can put the phrase “two-faced lothario” into a catchy power-pop chorus. “Bastardo” is a twisted love story about a girl, a boy, and a guitar. Charlotte Hatherley (guitarist for Ash) is the queen of the “ooh-ooh” backing vocal, and “Bastardo” shows off these talents as much as it does her songwriting skills.<\/li>\n
  14. Maximo Park – Going Missing<\/i><\/b>
    From one of my favourite albums of the year (A Certain Trigger<\/i>) comes an achingly beautiful post-punk anthem about longing, loneliness and desperation.<\/li>\n
  15. Snow Patrol – Spitting Games<\/i><\/b>
    I love Gary Lightbody’s lazy, rounded vocals. When they’re wrapped around a fast pop-rock belter like this one, sparks fly.<\/li>\n
  16. Imogen Heap – Daylight Robbery<\/i><\/b>
    Another song from Imogen Heap, this one a massive electro-pop-rock mash-up, complete with bips and bleeps, synthesizer-mangled vocals, and burning electric guitars. Love it.<\/li>\n
  17. Glen Phillips – Courage<\/i><\/b>
    Glen Phillips again, this time with a gorgeous ballad full of hope and persistence.<\/li>\n
  18. Sondre Lerche – On And Off Again<\/i><\/b>
    As before, even though I know the lyrics by heart, I have no idea<\/em> what Sondre Lerche is singing about. But he does it with such emotion<\/em>, and such a beautiful arrangement that this song regularly gives me a lump in my throat.<\/li>\n
  19. Foo Fighters – Cold Day In The Sun<\/i><\/b>
    The most surprising song from In Your Honor<\/i>. Light and airy, with a touch of Hammond organ in the background, it sounds like a sunny day in the summer.<\/li>\n
  20. Robert Downey, Jr – Broken<\/i><\/b>
    This is the song that plays over the end credits of the film Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang<\/i>. It caught my attention, and I thought it was Dave Matthews until the music credits came up. Wow. This track is from his album The Futurist<\/i>, and its laid back groove provides a perfect ending for the compilation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Around Christmas last year I put together a CD to represent what I’d been listening to a lot in 2004. It didn’t consist just of my absolute favourite tracks of the year–instead, I wanted a slice of them that fit together nicely as a compilation. I’ve done the same this year, and taking a leaf … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “2005 in review: Radio Sunpig”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}