End of the Year Lists

The end of 2009 is approaching and I've decided that rather than do more revision, I'd make some lists. I'll probably come back and add more to them over the next couple of days...

20. The Devil Wears Prada - With Roots Above and Branches Below
19. We Came As Romans - To Plant A Seed
18. Imogen Heap - Ellipse
17. Anchor & Braille - Felt
16. 30 Seconds To Mars - This Is War
15. Thrice - Beggars
14. Regina Spektor - Far
13. Deas Vail - Birds & Cages
12.Silversun Pickups- Swoon
11. Barcelona - Absolutes
10. Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything To Nothing
9. The Swell Season - Strict Joy
8. Falling Up - Fangs!
7. There For Tomorrow - A Little Faster
6. Caspian - Tertia
5. Switchfoot - Hello Hurricane
4. Emery - ...In Shallow Seas We Sail
3. Brand New - Daisy
2. Relient K - Forget And Not Slow Down
1. The Dangerous Summer - Reach For The Sun


Very Notable mentions: (In hindsight, I can't help but feel that some of these should really be in the Top 20. Ah well)

As Cities Burn - Hell or High Water
Blessthefall - Witness
The Glorious Unseen- The Hope That Lies In You
mewithoutYou - It's All Crazy! It's All False!...
Mutemath - Armisitice
Owl City - Ocean Eyes



Awesome EPs:

City Escape - Avalanches
The Republic of Wolves - His Old Branches
The Word Alive - Empires



Albums that were generally pretty good: (but were still not as good as they could/should have been. Or just failed to capture my full appreciation)

Oh, Sleeper - Son Of The Morning
All Time Low - Nothing Personal
Saosin - In Search of Solid Ground
Fightstar - Be Human
Taking Back Sunday - New Again


Disappointments of 2009:

Can't really think of any haha . Arguably Saosin should be in here because I had such massive expectations. ISOSG is a decent rock album not really what I was hoping for. May come back to this at a later date. Other than that,I heard an Of Machines song prior to the release of their album and thought they might put out a good album. However when I heard it, musical immaturity, baaad mixing (so compressed) and my ever decreasing fascination with the sing/scream formula meant it wasn't a hit in my books.Enter Shikari probably belong on here too. Whilst Common Dreads is not a bad album (albeit, there are some rocky moments on there), it's not what I was hoping for.

"I'm not afraid to watch you change me anymore"

I don't think any album's lyrics (possibly with the exception of Underoath's Define the Great Line) has hit me as hard as The Dangerous Summer's Reach For The Sun. This album is definitely my favourite album of the 2009. Musically, it's pretty good. The drummer is immense. Some real clever snare work in places. Guitars and bass are decent enough. Some ingenious lead parts are buried far too much by the production. Vocally, I love it. AJ hasn't got the best voice in the world. I make no qualms about that. But it's a normal male voice with a normal male vocal range. I can sing every song without destroying my vocal chords, stretching for insanely high notes. Pretty nice!

However, lyrically, the album is stunning. There isn't much in complex imagery (but where it does appear, it appears brilliantly). It's more about the emotional impact behind the words. It really hits me hard. AJ has clearly been through a lot - he writes about his mum's death, nearly every aspect of relationships and all the problems he's faced being in a band struggling to make a living.

Tonight, whilst I sit in the kitchen on my larry, working on a Ancient History presentation, it's the perfect accompaniment. Whilst almost everyone seems to be out getting wasted and dancing the night away, I'm sat here cosily having my feelings sang back to me from my laptop speakers.

And they sound good. Go listen and then go buy!

The Dangerous Summer – Reach For The Sun


Go check it out!


I promise to blog on the rest of my life very soon. Maybe later tonight. Promise!

Song Of The Moment #1

Such a damn good tune. I've not played a song so often, in a short space of time, for ages. RIYL: U2, Anthems, Good rock music

My first night in Talybont Court consisted of a visit to the Student's Union for a loud dancey ravey event called "Hey Ewe!", followed by the return to our flat and the construction of an Elven fortress (with a hand from Will M). We sat in there till nearly 4am, looking at the stars and discussing life.

It was fun.

Long time, no see! - A general Update

So, 2 months later, I make my second blog entry!

Oops.

I'm at university! In Cardiff. It's great, it's different, it's fun and it's challenging. I feel pretty settled here and am managing to keep the homesickness (and the swine, freshers, man and all the other flu) at bay. I miss my friends but I know this is where I'm meant to be.

My course, so far, is both overwhelming and underwhelming. I'm doing a BA in Ancient History but additionally with Archaeology and Ancient Greek language in the first year. Ancient History itself is brilliant - I know a lot of it already and have very little work to do, which is odd. Archaeology is pretty straightforward too, again not that much work. Ancient Greek, on the other hand, is probably the hardest thing I've ever attempted. Crazy crazy language. I have a vocabulary test on 40 words on Monday. Not looking forward to that!

Today (after awakening at 1pm - the latest lie-in I've ever had), I went to the library from 3pm-7pm and worked. This, for those who know me well, is no small feat! My work ethic is incredibly low and I'm more than prone to apathy and laziness. I'm really hoping (and praying) that I'll be able to kick those natural inclinations whilst I'm here.

Moving to a new city brings the challenge of finding a new spiritual home. I've visited a couple of churches with my friend Jen and have probably found my base for the foreseeable future - Cardiff Vineyard. It's a small church plant from the massive Trent Vineyard (Nottingham), pastored by a great couple in their early 30s. The congregation of about 40 meets in a hotel suite in the city centre - it's an interesting experience! The two services I've been to have been anointed by the Holy Spirit and I've really been able to enter God's presence. The sermon last weekend was really challenging. I could do a whole blog entry on that itself but I'm not sure if time (and my effort levels) will allow. At the end of both services, they set aside a time where they just asked the Holy Spirit to work in people. We stood quietly in the presence of God - no hype, no preamble, no falsity. Those who needed prayer went forward. It was so simple but I could see God really working in people. Words and pictures were shared, people counselled. It's just so refreshing to see a church really grasping the concept of the healing and empowering the Holy Spirit can do, if it's given space!

This is quite a lengthy blog, so I might speak on other matters in separate entries.

Ciao for now!

The Beginning (A Simple Seed)

Congratulations, you've stumbled upon or been sent to my first blog entry! I'm never sure how many people read these things. Over the past few years, I've gone through stages of using various websites as blogs but they were never regularly updated. I hope this one to be more content-full than the others!

This will be a place for random ramblings on life - my thoughts about certain issues, things going on in my life, what God is trying to teach me & I'm trying to my best not to learn, things of a musical nature and probably more.

In regards to now, the month is August. I have recently returned from Finland and had a great time there. I may blog on my experiences there at a later date - just to confuse the chronology. I'm looking ahead to a week in Somerset at Soul Survivor, followed by Salt & Light's 28:18 Springboard conference in Ashburnham Place. I have high hopes for the two events and I'm sure God does to!

More long term (although, in reality, it's not far away - scary!) is my relocation to Cardiff University where, I will be reading Ancient History. I have mixed emotions - excitement is the current winner though - about the move and I'm sure they too will be the subject of a post or two.

So yeah, this is my blog! There may well be more to come tonight, there may not be. If not, I'll post again soon! Promise!