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SIX BY SEVEN 'THE THINGS WE MAKE' - Dark and daunting noise experimentation, brooding malevolence, air-raid sirens and big squalls of nastiness. Perfect. GRANDADDY 'UNDER THE WESTERN FREEWAY' - Country finally catches up with the millennium as the weirdy beardy Californian hicks go a bit strange and bloopy on us while gliding through the most beautiful aching ballads this side of Neil Young. CREEPER LAGOON 'I BECOME SMALL & GO' - All the best bits of Pavement, Guided By Voices and Sebadoh lovingly sprawled over deceptively stark melodies; hard as nails with soft fluffy edges. MASSIVE ATTACK 'MEZZANINE' - Any reports that they'd gone all coffee-table on us were ill-founded as Bristol's masters of dub psychosis poured honey over twisted gothic landscapes. Liz Fraser's vocals on 'Teardrop' surely come from Heaven. PURESSENCE 'ONLY FOREVER' - Symphonic pop, unmatched in its sheer majesty and tenderness this year. At last, pop music that sounds like it was forged on another planet. CATATONIA 'INTERNATIONAL VELVET' - More luscious pure pop, drenched in syrup and ladled out lovingly by the lady with the sexiest singing voice since Clare Grogan. SCALA 'TO YOU IN ALPHA' - Perhaps the strangest album we've come to love this year, kooky, spooky synth-fuzz fizzing, buzzing and generally growling somewhere between Spacemen 3 and Julee Cruise. UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH 'ALMOST HERE' - Sultry, soporific, but strangely uplifting journey through young Andy Yorke's personal trauma. The awesome 'Building' is worth the price of the CD alone. ROBERT POLLARD 'WAVED OUT' - Guided By Voices frontman does the solo side-project thang (helped out by the rest of the band of course) and eclipses his own band with a stunning slice of messed-up rock and roll and impenetrable lyrics. SOLEX 'SOLEX VERSUS THE HITMEISTER' - Dutch lo-fi songstress samples all the very worst bits of unwanted kitsch and creates her own personal universe, populated by pink fluffy clouds, giddy bunny rabbits and something sinister lurking under the stairs. ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION 'RAFI'S REVENGE' - Pumped full of righteous anger and the spirit of prime Public Enemy, Bradford's finest provided the most potent political album for years. If it didn't quite bring the palaces of power tumbling down, it did make for some serious dance action. CORNELIUS 'FANTASMA' - far more than merely the Japanese Beck, Cornelius' blipvert cut and paste collage of samples and kooky melodies made for the most challenging listen of the year. Just trying to keep up with his train of thought was effort enough. Stuff that's made 1998 just that little bit more unpleasant HILLGROVE FARM - Breeding kittens for torture, all in the name of profit. Close it down. Hillgrove owner Chris Brown is going to hell to rot for all eternity. THE WORLD CUP - Never mind the sub-standard footie and epidemic of cheating, this year's tournament was nothing more than an excuse for every sodding advertising agency on the planet to make a mockery of what was once the beautiful game. Scum. THE OXFORD COURIER / JOURNAL - Pointless, free advertising rag. Professional twit Fergus Hewison took every available opportunity to rubbish everyone else's efforts (Radio 1 Sound City, Oxstock) and then nicked our gig guide for his own pathetic ends. HUGH GADSTONE - Bit of a prick basically. OXYGEN FM - Axed the local music show. Again. Junior Radio 4 anyone? Oh, and loads of shameful excuses for bands - SAVAGE GARDEN, JAMIROQUAI, RADIATOR, AEROSMITH, THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH, MOVER, GARBAGE, GLITTERBOX, KULA SHAKER, PRESIDENTS OF THE USA, BERNARD BUTLER, ELECTRASY, SHED SEVEN.... Merry Christmas to the lot of ya. |
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