Free ticket for Shearwater/The Cave Singers @ Union Chapel

BTA has a free ticket to give away for The Cave Singers and Shearwater tonight at London's lovely Union Chapel. Simply email bridgingtheatlantic@gmail.com to claim it. First come, first served.

Shearwater - Leviathan, Bound
The Cave Singers - Dancing On Our Graves

The Cave Singers - Dancing On Our Graves (Live @ The BBC):

a.m.p.m. favourites of 2008

Squeezing as many songs as possible into 80 minutes in order to summarise the best of a whole year of music is a pretty daunting task involving tough decisions and regrettably obligatory omissions. But after much deliberation, here are my favourite tracks from 2008:
01 Why? - Fatalist Palmistry
02 Amadou and Mariam - Sabali
03 Born Ruffians - Kurt Vonnegut
04 TV on the Radio - Family Tree
05 The Walkmen - In the New Year
06 Titus Andronicus - My Time Outside The Womb
07 Islands - Creeper
08 Laura Marling - The Captain And Hourglass
09 Fleet Foxes - He Doesn't Know Why
10 No Age - Eraser
11 Crystal Castles - Courtship Date
12 Lykke Li - Dance Dance Dance
13 Shearwater - Rooks
14 White Denim - I Can Tell
15 Little Joy - Keep Me In Mind
16 Frightened Rabbit - The Twist
17 Foals - Cassius
18 Love Is All - Wishing Well
19 Times New Viking - Drop-Out
20 Ratatat - Falcon Jab
21 Chad VanGaalen - Willow Tree
22 Grand Archives - Sleepdriving
23 Jay Jay Pistolet - Friend

The whole kit and caboodle: ampm2008mix.zip

Thanks to Andy Gilmore for the cover art.

Friday Five

I can't believe 2008 is almost over. I'm currently compiling my yearly 'best of' mix and the following five tracks might make the final cut, although they face some pretty worthy competition.

Titus Andronicus - My Time Outside the Womb
This year's mix will undoubtedly feature something from New Jersey group Titus Andronicus' debut album The Airing of Grievances. Every track is full-on, joyful, unrestrained rock and roll and 'My Time Outside the Womb' is no exception.

The Decemberists - Days of Elaine
Colin Meloy and the gang are a prolific outfit. On October 14th The Decemberists began releasing singles from a collection called Always the Bridesmaid comprising 5 new tracks and a Velvet Underground cover. The original material is more in the vein of Castaways and Cutouts than the more recent Crane Wife stuff, which is A-OK with me. The band also confirmed that new album Hazards of Love will be released on March 24th of next year.

Shearwater - Rooks
I was a bit slow on the uptake with Shearwater's album Rook. I'm a big fan of Okkervil River so naturally checked Shearwater out some time ago (the band is a side project of Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff from Okkervil River) but failed to give their newest release a proper listen until last month. Better late than never, as they say; it's a fantastic album.

Dosh - Don't Wait for the Needle to Drop
Dosh's album The Lost Take was one of my favourites back in 2006 and this year he produced another gem in Wolves and Wishes. Tracks on the new release feature contributions from Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Andrew Bird, Fog and others but it's still purely electronic pieces like 'Don't Wait for the Needle to Drop' that really get my blood pumping.

The Moondoggies - Changing
Another slice of quality rock, this time from Seattle group The Moondoggies. NPR recently named their album Don't Be A Stranger among the top 11 debut albums of 2008, and with good reason. Check out 'Changing' to see for yourself what all the fuss is about.