Grooving

Still ill and in shock at the devastation in Asia, but listening to a lot of music. Here are some of my favourite albums that came out this year:

"Musicology" by Prince.
Prince back to his funky, rare groove, sexy best.

"You are the Quarry" by Morrissey.
Lush melodies and vitriolic lyrics from Manchester's most famous miserablist.

"Medulla" by Bjork.
Acapellas, dissonant harmonics, Inuit throat-singers and the awesome Robert Wyatt. Haunting and sublime.

"Antics" by Interpol.
Detached, icy rock. The Psychedelic Furs for the noughties.

"Egypt" by Youssou N'Dour.
Restrained yet lyrical homage to Senegal's Sufi traditions. Mesmerising collection of devotional songs.

"The New Danger" by Mos Def.
Hard-edged mix of rock and blues, hip hop and funk, soul and R&B.

"Bubblegum" by Mark Lanegan Band.
This man sings for the Devil. Dark, dusky and dense rock.

"Franz Ferdinand" by Franz Ferdinand.
Art house cool but with tongues firmly fixed in cheeks.

"Scissor Sisters" by Scissor Sisters.
High camp, vaudevillean, old school disco funk.

"Hot Fuss" by The Killers.
The electronic 80s return. Not as sardonic as the Ferdinands, but a rollicking ride nonetheless.

"Love Angel Music Baby" by Gwen Stefani.
Bubblegum electric funk. Frothy, sultry and fun. In short, perfect pop.

"The Tipping Point" by The Roots.
Back to basics hip hop. Wonderful.

"Love is Hell" by Ryan Adams.

Romantic and world-weary, with a gorgeous version of Wonderwall. The only Adams album I cherish.

Others I loved included: "Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds; "Van Lear Rose" by Loretta Lynn; "Dear Heather" by Leonard Cohen; "To the 5 Boroughs" by the Beastie Boys; "Sonic Nurse" by Sonic Youth; "Fly or Die" by N.E.R.D.; "Funeral" by the Arcade Fire.

Have a happy new year.

Related link:
+ Giant list of lists for 2004, including Best Albums of 2004 from the likes of the New York Times, the NME and The Onion A/V Club, to Best Art, Best Video Games, Best Theatre and Top 100 Science Stories.

Newsflash:
+ Susan Sontag dies at 71

Other links today:
+ The loneliest whale
+ How to be creative
+ Seasons one and two of Northern Exposure is out on Region 1 DVD. I really must get a multi-region player.
+ Colouring books for adults
+ House of Flying Daggers. The crisis of the Hollywood hero is forcing cinema audiences to look east for their superhumans.
+ When you strip away all the pious fiction, what is left of the real Jesus?
+ Paradise is paper, vellum and dust. Libraries will survive the digital revolution because they are places of sensuality and power.
+ The BitTorrent effect. Movie studios hate it. File-swappers love it. Bram Cohen's blazing-fast P2P software has turned the Internet into a universal TiVo. For free video-on-demand, just click here.
+ Quake may have made earth wobble. The deadly Asian earthquake may have permanently accelerated the Earth's rotation - shortening days by a fraction of a second - and caused the planet to wobble on its axis, US scientists said on Tuesday.