Live: Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds @ Tae Kwon Do (Athens, November 16th, 2017)

"I am transforming, I am vibrating, look at me now!" sings Nick Cave during the climactic finale of "Jubilee Street" and I think these words are the best way to describe his formidable way of commanding the stage and, indeed, the whole of the packed Tae Kwon Do arena on Thursday night.

I had the pleasure of attending numerous Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds gigs over the years and each one has been a unique experience: the noisy chaos on the stage of Club 22 in September 1987, the triumphant return a couple years later at the historic Rodon Club, their first large scale performance in Athens at Lycabettus Theatre in the summer of 1990, their performance right before Nirvana at the muddy Reading Festival of 1992 and several more up to their previous show in Athens in 2008 (see our review here), when "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!" became our Album of the Year.

Given that their return to Athens comes right after the release of the band's most solemn album to date, the mournful "Skeleton Tree", it would be an easy mistake to make if you thought that this was going to be a more introverted, lower key performance. In fact, the presence of seven songs from this album on the set list did add a more melancholic mood in parts of the show, particularly at the beginning with "Anthrocene", "Jesus Alone" and "Magneto" opening the set, but the intensity we've come to expect whenever Nick Cave takes on a stage, gradually started building up by the fourth song, the slow-burning epic "Higgs Boson Blues", and by the time "From Her To Eternity" and "Tupelo" hit us with the force of a tornado, any thoughts of a quiet night out were quickly dismissed.

The balance between dark melody and menacing intensity was exemplary throughout the 15-song main set, which came full circle when tremendously powerful renditions of "Red Right Hand" and "Mercy Seat" led to the soulful "Distant Sky" and the sweet sadness of "Skeleton Tree".

However the best was yet to come. The three song encore started with Nick Cave jumping into the crowd during "The Weeping Song", walking all the way to the back of the crowded arena and ending up on the stands, from where he sang the rest of the song among the lucky fans and conducted the whole stadium to a clap-along!

Even more amazing was the brutal force of "Stagger Lee", with fans being invited to come on stage to participate to the climactic finale of the show, which came to an end with Nick Cave conducting his make-shift choir to the sad and beautiful melody of "Push The Sky Away"; a grand ending for a truly epic concert, the stuff of legends indeed!

Here is the complete set list of the show:

Edit this setlist | More Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds setlists

Check out below Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds performing "Jubilee Street" and "Skeleton Tree" live in Athens, at the Tae Kwon Do arena:

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Jubilee Street (live in Athens)

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree (live in Athens)

New Releases: September 2016

We have already extolled the virtues of Angel Olsen's latest LP here, time to have a look at what else looks interesting in the long list of September's new releases:

Albums

My Woman

ANGEL OLSEN - My Woman
WARPAINT - Heads Up
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS - Skeleton Tree
WOVENHAND - Star Treatment
HAMILTON AND ROSTAM - I Had a Dream You Were Mine
JENNY HVAL - Blood Bitch
TEENAGE FANCLUB - Here
THE WEDDING PRESENT - Going, Going
PREOCCUPATIONS - Preoccupations
BEACH SLANG - A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings
ULTIMATE PAINTING - Dusk
BON IVER - 22, A Million
OKKERVIL RIVER - Away
WILCO - Schmilco
PIXIES - Head Carrier
JACK WHITE - Jack White Acoustic Recordings 1998 - 2016
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - Chapter and Verse
DRIVE BY TRUCKERS - American Band
ALLAH LAS - Calico Review
STILL CORNERS - Dead Blue
LORELLE MEETS THE OBSOLETE - Balance
LVL UP - Return to Love
NOTS - Cosmetic
CYMBALS EAT GUITARS - Pretty Years
SLAVES - Take Control
BOXED IN - Melt
TRENTEMOLLER - Fixion
M.I.A - AIM
DEAP VALLY - Femejism
PUBLIC ACCESS TV - Never Enough
TIM PRESLEY - The Wink
THE WARLOCKS - Songs From The Pale Eclipse
THE WYTCHES - All Your Happy Life
THE HANDSOME FAMILY - Unseen
DEVENDRA BANHART - Ape in Pink Marble
REGINA SPEKTOR - Remember Us to Life
HANNAH PEEL - Awake But Always Dreaming
MERCHANDISE - A Corpse Wired for Sound
NICOLAS JAAR - Sirens
ZOMBY - Ultra
KOOL KEITH - Feature Magnetic
DANNY BROWN - Atrocity Exhibition
DE LA SOUL - And the Anonymous Nobody...
CLIPPING. - Splendor and Misery
VANISHING TWIN - Choose Your Own Adventure
HOW TO DRESS WELL - Care
DAWES - We're All Gonna Die
LOCAL NATIVES - Sunlit Youth
AGAINST ME! - Shape Shift With Me
THE MONOCHROME SET - Cosmonaut
THE GASLAMP KILLER - Instrumentalepathy
ALUNAGEORGE - I Remember

Singles & EPs

100% Or Nothing

PRIMAL SCREAM - 100% Or Nothing
BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE - The Sun Ship
HOPE SANDOVAL AND THE WARM INVENTIONS - Let Me Get There 

BECK - Wow 

SUNFLOWER BEAN - From The Basement EP
ULTIMATE PAINTING - Dust on my Eyes / I Wish I Could Disappear
PETE ASTOR - Do Nothing
NIGHT FLOWERS - Glow In The Dark
KINGS OF LEON - Waste A Moment / Muchacho
THE LIMINANAS - Garden of Love (Andrew Weatherall Remixes)
SLAVES - Spit it Out
THE BIG MOON - Silent Movie Susie
ULRIKA SPACEK - Everything, All The Time
SOFT CANDY - Bixarre Luv Pyramids
DIABLOFURS - Sweet Janine / Flowers To Burn
THE FAT WHITE FAMILY - Breaking into Aldi
BIBIO - The Serious EP
GLASS ANIMALS - Life Itself / Youth
FU MANCHU - Slow Ride / Future Transmitter
FLOWERS MUST DIE - Sista Valsen EP
SOCIETY - Will to Win (A Genuine Primal Scream remix)
MAGGIE8 / CEILING DEMONS - Connected / Lost the Way
ST FRANCIS HOTEL - Mondello
THE LUYAS - Says You

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - I Need You

The Hit List: April 2013

The already long list of April's fine new releases just got longer with yesterday's Record Store Day goodies. Time, then, for a new Hit List including some of our current favorite tracks and, among them, three Record Store Day 2013 releases that stand out:

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Animal X

The one Record Store Day 2013 release that I currently own, the 7" picture disc of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds' new single "Animal X", which, surprisingly, was available in Athens' record shops a week earlier than the rest of the world. The track was recorded in France during the recording sessions for "Push The Sky Away" and it's not on the album, although it's definitely one of the best Bad Seeds tracks of the year.

The Fall - Sir William Wray

Fall fans rejoice! Album number 30, titled "Re-Mit", is on its way and "Sir William Wray" was released as a 7" single on Record Store Day to whet our appetite. The single also includes "Hittite Man", another track from the forthcoming album (both are alternate versions on this release), plus the exclusive "Jetplane", a very good reason to try to track down this limited edition single.

A Place To Bury Strangers - Don't Burn the Fires

A Place To Bury Strangers have released a special EP full of Dead Moon covers for Record Store Day 2013 titled "Strange Moon". "Don't Burn the Fires" is the track that opens the record and if you'd like to find out more about Dead Moon, I would recommend to start with the Sub Pop compilation "Echoes of the Past", which I've been listening to again this week thanks to the APTBS release.

Our April Hit List closes with three excellent singles taken from our current favorite new albums, "Mosquito" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Shaking The Habitual" by The Knife and The Black Angels' "Indigo Meadow". More about them soon...

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Sacrilege
 

The Knife - A Tooth for an Eye

The Black Angels - Don't Play With Guns

Listening Habits 01-02.13

Two of our all-time favorite bands have started 2013 by releasing excellent and long-overdue new records (one considerably more so than the other), so there will be no prize for guessing who’s at the top of our "Best Albums" list for the January-February period.

There is no denying that "mbv"’s impact would have been considerably greater had this record come out when it was supposed to, sometime in the mid-90s. The fact, though, that "mbv" still possesses such a great power two decades down the line since the heyday of shoegaze that My Bloody Valentine have practically invented, is truly a testament to this band’s timeless quality. My Bloody Valentine’s sound is beyond genre and era constraints. "mbv" opens up again the door to another dimension of guitar music that we thought it was closed forever. Welcome back Mr. Shields!

For The Bad Seeds it’s been 5 since their previous work (our 2008 Album of the Year "Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!") but Nick Cave has hardly been away, dividing his time between wreaking havoc with the blues punk stomp of Grinderman, writing screenplays and composing soundtracks with Warren Ellis. Having released so much primal energy with his previous albums (let alone the shootouts he wrote about in his script for "Lawless"), with "Push The Sky Away" it’s time for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to return to a more quiet, contemplative and restrained sound. As usual, Cave’s lyrical dark streak and unique sense of humor can lead the most beautiful melodies to sinister turns and unexpected surprises while The Bad Seeds successfully create the right atmosphere for this new batch of songs by giving an admirably minimal, less-is-more performance.

The sophomore efforts by Foxygen and Veronica Falls as well as Foals third LP complete our Top 5 for January-February. You can read about our stunned reaction upon listening to Foxygen’s excellent "We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic" for the first time here.

Veronica Falls gained our attention immediately with their first singles and debut album. With "Waiting For Something To Happen" the band stays on course, still mining their favorite sounds from the '60s and '80s, while refining their technique and melodic skills. Veronica Falls achieve guitar pop perfection not through innovation, but by staying true to the spirit of the music that has inspired them and by adding their own memorable contributions to the cause.

As for Foals, "Holy Fire" should be the album that will help them move up in the line ups of the summer festivals. Funk influenced dance rock tracks like "My Number" will sound perfect both in clubs and in open fields while the album’s lush production by Flood and Alan Moulder is another asset for the band in their effort to reach the wider audience that they deserve.

Here's the list of our favorite albums and tracks for the start of 2013:

Top 12 Albums

1.   m b v - MY BLOODY VALENTINE
2.   Push The Sky Away - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS
3.   We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic - FOXYGEN
4.   Waiting For Something To Happen - VERONICA FALLS
5.   Holy Fire - FOALS
6.   Fade - YO LA TENGO
7.   World Music - GOAT
8.   Out Of View - THE HISTORY OF APPLE PIE
9.   Wash The Sins Not Only The Face - ESBEN AND THE WITCH
10. Almanac - WIDOWSPEAK
11. Coming Out Of The Fog - ARBOURETUM
12. For Those Who Wish To See The Glass Half Full - SLOWNESS

Top 15 Tracks

1.   San Francisco - FOXYGEN
2.   Full of Fire - THE KNIFE
3.   New You - MY BLOODY VALENTINE
4.   Jubilee Street - NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS
5.   Ohm - YO LA TENGO
6.   Teenage - VERONICA FALLS
7.   My Number - FOALS
8.   Stoned and Starving - PARQUET COURTS
9.   World Split Open - ARBOURETUM
10. Spider X - CALIFORNIA X
11. 2013 - PRIMAL SCREAM
12. Locusts - WIDOWSPEAK
13. When That Head Splits - ESBEN AND THE WITCH
14. See You - THE HISTORY OF APPLE PIE
15. Calm & Dispel - SLOWNESS

5 years on Blogger!

Exactly five years ago Cool Music Central made its debut on Blogger.com with this post. Although C.M.C.’s online presence in one form or another goes all the way back to 1999 (click here for a glimpse of the past - our February 2003 homepage!), I think a little celebration is in order for the occasion.

And what better way to celebrate our blog’s birthday than with the music of the artists that have been featured the most in the 372 posts that we’ve managed since March 6, 2008. At the bottom of the page you can see a cloud of all the labels we have used for our posts. Based on these indisputable facts that reveal our musical infatuations of the past five years, we present you a special playlist with killer tracks from the 12 most blogged about artists and bands in our five year presence on Blogger:

CMC's Cloud Playlist: The first 5 years

1. The Fall (17 posts)

My all-time favorite band, still going strong after 37 years. Album number 30, titled "Re-Mit", will be out in April - expect the post-count to rise even further. By the way, happy birthday to renegade genius Mark E Smith who turned 56 yesterday. Here's "Bury" (the parts 2+4 version) off "Your Future Our Clutter", our 2010 Album of the Year:

The Fall - Bury pts 2+4

2. Dum Dum Girls (16 posts)

If Dum Dum Girls didn't exist, I'd have to invent them myself! The sound, the style, the melodies, the vocals - all the elements of my ideal noise pop group present and correct. "Jail La La" off their debut album "I Will Be" was our 2010 Single of the Year:

 Dum Dum Girls - Jail La La

3. PJ Harvey (14 posts)

"Let England Shake" was the only PJ Harvey album to be released in the past 5 years (not counting the '09 collaboration with John Parish), but not only did it become our Album of the Year for 2011, it also gave us the top single of that year, "The Words That Maketh Murder". Of course, PJ Harvey was also on the top of several other lists we have published here, including Best Album of the '00s for "Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea". As you can understand, this is not a passing fling, this is love...

PJ Harvey - The Words That Maketh Murder

4. Nick Cave (Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds & Grinderman - 6 & 5 posts)

Another long-term relationship of ours going all the way back to the pre-internet era. In the past 5 years we have covered gigs from both Nick Cave outfits and declared the previous Bad Seeds record "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!" as our 2008 Album of the Year. With the recent release of the fine "Push the Sky Away" LP, the number of Nick Cave-related posts has already started to go up.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

5. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (10 posts)

OK, this is more of a fling than the band that I would take home and introduce to the parents. 2011’s "Belong" was a fine record but the main reason for being included in this esteemed company was our infatuation with their near-perfect self-titled debut album from 2009 that took the C-86 indie pop sound and updated it for a new generation.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Young Adult Friction

6. Sonic Youth (9 posts)

I cannot tell if Sonic Youth’s hiatus is permanent or not, but without a doubt this band’s influence on the guitar rock sound will remain eternal. Here’s "Sacred Trickster" off their last studio album, 2009’s "The Eternal":

Sonic Youth - Sacred Trickster

7. A Place To Bury Strangers (8 posts)

One of Sonic Youth’s most talented disciples, true believers of the "plug in and destroy" noise tactics. "To Fix The Gash in Your Head" off their self-titled debut album was the single with which they made their C.M.C. debut.

A Place To Bury Strangers - To Fix The Gash in Your Head

8. Telepathe (8 posts)

Our favorite new band of 2009 that earned Album of the Year with their excellent (and, may I say, criminally underrated in other esteemed publications) debut "Dance Mother". A new, long overdue album is expected this year.

Telepathe - So Fine

9. Anna Calvi (7 posts)

She is one of the most promising new artists to emerge from the UK in recent years and her eponymous debut album was at the top of our 2011 Best Debuts lists.

Anna Calvi - Blackout

10. Mark Lanegan (7 posts)

The magnificent voice of grunge-days favorites Screaming Trees, has been ever-present in recent years thanks to his numerous collaborations. "The Gravedigger's Song", one of our top-rated singles of 2012, is off "Blues Funeral", the record with which Lanegan made his triumphant solo return.

 Mark Lanegan Band - The Gravedigger's Song

11. Cat Power (7 posts)

2012 was the year of the Cat with both Album and Single of the Year going to Chan Marshall. Here's the latter:

Cat Power - Ruin

12. Metric (7 posts)

And finally, with another seven posts dedicated to them, we have Metric who scored Single of the Year in 2009 with "Help I'm Alive" off their awesome fourth album "Fantasies":

Metric - Help I'm Alive

Here's to the next five!

February's hit list, part 1

As I was saying last week, I think 2013 has had a pretty great start with some awesome new singles and albums. We've already highlighted killer tracks by My Bloody Valentine, The Knife, Factory Floor and Foxygen in previous posts. Here are five more tracks to support the theory that the number 13 might turn out to be lucky for new music:

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Jubilee Street

"Push The Sky Away", the 15th studio album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds is currently streaming here and there and sounds very good indeed. The official release date is February 18th and here is the excellent, John Hillcoat directed video for "Jubilee Street" featuring Ray Winstone, one of Nick Cave's favorite actors:

Yo La Tengo - Ohm

"Fade", Yo La Tengo's 13th album, was one of the most played records in C.M.C.'s headquarters during January. Listen here to "Ohm", the track that opens impressively the new album and is yet another addition to a really long list of excellent songs we've got from Hoboken, New Jersey's finest in the last 28 years:

Veronica Falls - Teenage

The second Veronica Falls' album, "Waiting For Something To Happen", was just released this week and all I can say right now is that it sounds even greater than their awesome debut (one of our Top 20 LPs of 2011). More about them soon - meanwhile here's the video for their new single "Teenage":

The History Of Apple Pie - See You

On the same mid-80's, early '90s jangly guitar trip as Veronica Falls but not as accomplished just yet. After releasing a handful of very promising singles, it's time for The History Of Apple Pie to give us their debut album; "Out Of View" came out at the end of January and it certainly delivers on that early promise. "See You" is the London five-piece's latest single, included in the album along with their previous three, now sold-out, 7inch releases ("You’re So Cool", "Do It Wrong" and personal favorite "Mallory"):

Parquet Courts - Stoned and Starving

Parquet Courts’ debut LP "Light Up Gold" got a limited release of 500 vinyl copies last year on their own label, Dull Tools. The album just got re-released and it’s bound to find a wider audience in 2013 thanks to its intoxicating garage punk ditties, somewhere between "Slanted" era Pavement and early Strokes.



More early '13 hits soon...

The Top 20 Albums of the '00s: Number 10

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (2008, Mute)

As the marathon of our daily posts about the best albums of this decade continues, we finally reach the Top 10 where we find a dear old friend and one of the finest works in a long and glorious career. "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!" was the culmination of a particularly fertile period for Nick Cave that started with the excellent double album "Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus" in 2004 and continued with the fire and the fury of Grinderman's debut in 2007 (both of which also deserve a place in the decade's Top 50). Read more about it in this AllMusic review and check out here our 2008 review.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Midnight Man

The rest of the Top 20 so far (read here about the rules of this game):

11. Let’s stay friends - LES SAVY FAV
12. Franz Ferdinand - FRANZ FERDINAND
13. Whatever people say I am, that's what I am not - ARCTIC MONKEYS
14. Good news for people who love bad news - MODEST MOUSE
15. Silent alarm - BLOC PARTY
16. LCD Soundsystem - LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
17. Source tags and codes - …AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
18. Coral fang - THE DISTILLERS
19. Throwing Muses - THROWING MUSES
20. 23 - BLONDE REDHEAD

The relevant posts from all the blogs that participate in voting for the best albums of the year and the decade are aggregated here.

Counting Down The '00s: The Best Of 2008

Ranting 'n' Raving for the 100th time

And with this post, the 100th since starting this blog in March 2008 (hooray!), we approach the culmination of our little tribute to the best music this decade had to offer.

In the "Counting Down The '00s" series of posts we presented the lists of our 30 favorite albums and singles for each year of the '00s (the noughties, the aughts, the two-thousands, the zeroes...why can't we all agree on a name, this is getting ridiculous!) from 2000 to 2008. In December we are going to present our review of 2009 in a manner similar to last year (check out here the relevant posts from last December) culminating with the unveiling of our favorite albums and singles right at the end of the month. In parallel to all this fun stuff, starting tomorrow we'll start revealing our Top 20 Albums of the Decade one by one. In this little game, organized by the All Gone blog, more than 80 other bloggers from this part of the world will be presenting their own picks for the best albums of the decade and the year. You will be able to see the aggregated results here. As I've written before, the Top 20 that we are going to present now is only the prequel to our final full list that is going to appear in Cool Music Database when the time is right. And the right time, contrary to the current media obsession with the subject, I think should be sometime near the end of next year, after we take the time to better evaluate what this year had to offer. Which, of course, means that by then this Top 20 might be slightly different.

Moving on with the subject at hand, the best of 2008 (a year characterized by an abundance of excellent first-time efforts), you can check out below the updated Top 30 Albums and Singles lists and you can read more about them here.

Top 30 Albums of 2008

1. Dig, Lazarus, dig!!! - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS
2. Dear science - TV ON THE RADIO
3. Antidotes - FOALS
4. Neptune - THE DUKE SPIRIT
5. Crystal Castles - CRYSTAL CASTLES
6. Midnight boom - THE KILLS
7. Consolers of the lonely - THE RACONTEURS
8. Saturnalia - THE GUTTER TWINS
9. Third - PORTISHEAD
10. Beat pyramid - THESE NEW PURITANS
11. Oracular spectacular - MGMT
12. A certain feeling - BODIES OF WATER
13. Songs in A&E - SPIRITUALIZED
14. Loyalty to loyalty - COLD WAR KIDS
15. Stay positive - THE HOLD STEADY
16. Box of secrets - BLOOD RED SHOES
17. Vampire Weekend - VAMPIRE WEEKEND
18. Conor Oberst - CONOR OBERST
19. Intimacy - BLOC PARTY
20. Santogold - SANTOGOLD
21. Velocifero - LADYTRON
22. Re-arrange us - MATES OF STATE
23. Imperial wax solvent - THE FALL
24. Beautiful future - PRIMAL SCREAM
25. Saint Dymphna - GANG GANG DANCE
26. Donkey - C.S.S.
27. Partie traumatic - BLACK KIDS
28. The bake sale - THE COOL KIDS
29. Narrow stairs - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
30. Lookout mountain, lookout sea - SILVER JEWS

Top 30 Singles of 2008

1. Idle hands - THE GUTTER TWINS
2. The step and the walk - THE DUKE SPIRIT
3. To fix the gash in your head - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
4. Courtship dating - CRYSTAL CASTLES
5. Machine gun - PORTISHEAD
6. Devil’s trident - TELEPATHE
7. Swords of truth - THESE NEW PURITANS
8. Cheap and cheerful - THE KILLS
9. Paper planes - M.I.A.
10. Time to pretend - MGMT
11. Salute your solution - THE RACONTEURS
12. Dig, Lazarus, dig!!! - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS
13. Cassius - FOALS
14. Can't go back - PRIMAL SCREAM
15. Jigsaw falling into place - RADIOHEAD
16. Nothing ever happened - DEERHUNTER
17. Hit the wall - BRENDAN CANNING
18. Rat is dead (Rage) - C.S.S.
19. L.E.S. artistes - SANTOGOLD
20. 88 - THE COOL KIDS
21. Knickerbocker - FUJIYA & MIYAGI
22. Mercury - BLOC PARTY
23. I will possess your heart - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
24. Sequestered in Memphis - THE HOLD STEADY
25. You lie you cheat - SPIRITUALIZED
26. You bring me down - BLOOD RED SHOES
27. A-Punk - VAMPIRE WEEKEND
28. In a cave - TOKYO POLICE CLUB
29. Something is not right with me - COLD WAR KIDS
30. Hang them all - TAPES ‘N TAPES

Tomorrow, December 1st, you can find out our choice for Album Number 20 for the '00s (as well as a hint of what lies below). Meanwhile, here's a video interview of Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo revealing to The Boston Phoenix his Top 3 albums of the decade, as well as his favorite Sonic Youth release for the aughts (a choice that finds me in agreement):

Counting Down The '00s: The Best Of 2004

Our countdown of the '00s continues with 2004, a year that was particularly good for new bands. Among the top 10 albums of the year we find the debuts of Franz Ferdinand, TV On The Radio and Arcade Fire, three of the best new acts of the decade. Franz Ferdinand's self-titled LP played like a greatest hits compilation, as each and every song on it sounded like a potential number one single in an ideal hit parade. As a result, the album claimed the top spot in our end of the year list and this is what we had to say about it at the time: "...Scotland's Franz Ferdinand offer the latest classic debut of the '00s, following in the footsteps of The Strokes and Interpol before them. 11 songs with hit single potential, taking punk’s energy, '70s glam and '80s new wave and magically transforming them into 21st century power-pop splendor."

The other top album of the year, though, came from a seasoned veteran. Nick Cave started one of the most prolific periods in his illustrious career with the amazing double album "Abattoir blues / The lyre of Orpheus". Other heroes from the past who made triumphant comebacks in '04 included Morrissey (with his best solo effort in ages), Sonic Youth, Mark Lanegan and the Beastie Boys with one of the best hip-hop albums of the '00s, the New York-centric "To the 5 boroughs".

Among the best releases of the year we also find the excellent "Good news for people who love bad news" from the consistently brilliant Modest Mouse (the album that finally gave them some of the commercial success they deserved), "Louden up now", the punk-funk dynamite of !!!, "Pawn shoppe heart", the garage-pop masterpiece of The Von Bondies, "Antics", the sophomore Interpol album that solidified their position as one of the best bands of the decade and "Misery is a butterfly", a magnificent album that hinted that for Blonde Redhead the best was yet to come.

Top 30 Albums of 2004

1. Franz Ferdinand - FRANZ FERDINAND
2. Abattoir blues / The lyre of Orpheus - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS
3. Good news for people who love bad news - MODEST MOUSE
4. Louden up now - !!!
5. Desperate youth, blood thirsty babes - TV ON THE RADIO
6. Pawn shoppe heart - THE VON BONDIES
7. Antics - INTERPOL
8. You are the quarry - MORRISSEY
9. Funeral - THE ARCADE FIRE
10. Sonic nurse - SONIC YOUTH
11. Misery is a butterfly - BLONDE REDHEAD
12. Bubblegum - MARK LANEGAN BAND
13. No cities left - THE DEARS
14. To the 5 boroughs - BEASTIE BOYS
15. Hot fuss - THE KILLERS
16. The power out - ELECTRELANE
17. Bows + arrows - THE WALKMEN
18. You're a woman, I’m a machine - DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979
19. Tyrannosaurus Hives - THE HIVES
20. Uh huh her - P.J. HARVEY
21. More adventurous - RILO KILEY
22. The Concretes - THE CONCRETES
23. Thunder, lightning, strike - THE GO! TEAM
24. The Futureheads - THE FUTUREHEADS
25. The royal society - THE EIGHTIES MATCHBOX B-LINE DISASTER
26. Audit in progress - HOT SNAKES
27. This island - LE TIGRE
28. The college dropout - KANYE WEST
29. American idiot - GREEN DAY
30. Shake the sheets - TED LEO + THE PHARMACISTS

Top 30 Singles of 2004

1. Float on - MODEST MOUSE
2. The rat - THE WALKMEN
3. Staring at the sun - TV ON THE RADIO
4. Take me out - FRANZ FERDINAND
5. Slow hands - INTERPOL
6. C’mon c’mon - THE VON BONDIES
7. Theme from Sparta FC #2 - THE FALL
8. Mono - COURTNEY LOVE
9. Somebody told me - THE KILLERS
10. Lost in the plot - THE DEARS
11. Equus - BLONDE REDHEAD
12. An open letter to NYC - BEASTIE BOYS
13. Irish blood, English heart - MORRISSEY
14. Nature boy - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS
15. Reptilian - THE STROKES
16. Mister mental - THE EIGHTIES MATCHBOX B-LINE DISASTER
17. Johnny Cash - SONS AND DAUGHTERS
18. Single again - THE FIERY FURNACES
19. The letter - P.J. HARVEY
20. Beat your heart out - THE DISTILLERS
21. American idiot - GREEN DAY
22. Good reason - SEAFOOD
23. You can’t hurry love - THE CONCRETES
24. This deed - ELECTRELANE
25. Meantime - THE FUTUREHEADS
26. She’s hearing voices - BLOC PARTY
27. Hello? Is this thing on? - !!!
28. Absolute affirmation - RADIO 4
29. Ladyflash - THE GO! TEAM
30. Come to this - THE SLEEPY JACKSON

Tracks of the Year: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

Nick Cave is on a roll! The wining streak continues in 2008 with "Dig, Lazarus Dig!", hot on the heels of last year's equally awesome Grinderman album.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

Clash of the Titans: Nick Cave vs. Dinosaur Jr. - Live in Athens (June 7, 2008)

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds with Ed Kuepper (Lycabettus Theater, June 7)

"When it rains, it really pours" goes a wise old saying. And this was certainly true for the Athenian rock community on June 7, not because the skies opened up (it was actually a very nice, warm summer night), but because after a particularly poor winter for live music, we were suddenly faced with the impossible task of choosing between Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds playing the Lycabettus Theatre (one of the finest places for summer concerts in Athens, if you don't mind climbing hills) and the very first Dinosaur Jr. Greek gig in Polis Theatre. Your correspondent's choice, not with a light heart mind you, was the Nick Cave gig for 3 simple reasons: a) Cave is currently going through his renaissance period, as proven by his latest albums that are certainly among his best, b) the legendary Ed Kuepper with Jeff Wagener (of The Saints and Laughing Clowns fame) was the support act, and c) I had the pleasure of seeing the reunited Dinosaur Jr. less than a year ago, at 2007's Rock En Seine festival in Paris.

So, it was up the hill for me, for the Aussie rock fest. The Ed & Jeff show warmed us up with a 45-minutes guitar & drums maelstrom (kicking off with the awesome "Honey steel's gold"), followed by a 2 hours plus Bad Seeds extravaganza: four tracks off the latest album ("Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!", "Midnight Man", "Today's Lesson", "More News from Nowhere") and countless classics from the last two decades ("Your funeral my trial", "Tupelo", "Mercy seat", "Deanna", "Papa won't leave you Henry", "Red right hand", "The lyre of Orpheus", "Get ready for love", "Let love in", "Hard on for love" - you name it, they probably played it). For "Stagger Lee" Ed and Jeff joined the Bad Seeds, briefly forming the ultimate Aussie supergroup, for one of the highlights of an already extraordinary night! Here's some exclusive photos from the gig plus video footage for "Wanted Man" (courtesy of our in-house photographer Alegra):

Ed Kuepper & Jeff Wagener (Lycabettus Theater, June 7 2008)

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Wanted Man in Athens City

As for Dinosaur Jr., we shall always have Paris (see picture below). However, if you'd like a small taste of the Polis gig, have a look at the video for "The Wagon", shot on location by our good friend Littlefluffyclouds (of the infamous Plateau blog). Thanks fluffy!

Dinosaur Jr. (Rock En Seine 2007)

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The Wagon