ell its been a funny year, CD game exchange opened on my doorstep, but DCCD just closed. Whilst I will mourn DCCD's amazing selection of hard to find "indie" CDs, I won't miss the attitude of their staff or their uncanny ability to get a CD I want a month after its U.S. release and just after I had hunted it down somewhere else.

The opening of CD game exchange marked a revolution in my CD purchasing. Before it I would buy a CD a month, or so. Since its appearance I find I can end up with up to 20 CDs a visit. Here are some of my Best Buys, and my thoughts on them:


I have to admit I am a complete sucker for the Rough Trade label. It must stem from hunting down The Smiths singles as a unloveable youth. But I had been looking forward to this album for a while; WOXY had been playing the single "Blood Brothers" for ages. And I fell in love with it instantly. The line "have you ever wondered what its like to be a man, try spending 25 years in a band" completely hooked me. Pitchfork dismissed it as cringe-worthy -- when they become the last bastion of good taste, please kill me!

Anyway the last minute of the song when the vocals come thick and fast with a kind of distorted Strokes -ish feel is one of my favourite music moments of the year. Initially the album was a bit of a disappointment, none of the songs being so instantly gripping as the single, and Darren Rademakers vocals becoming a little too nasal at times. But repeated listenings have left me completely hooked. something about the interplay with the jangly guitars and the plinky synth, harks back to some dreamy mid 80's indie dance night.

Actually some songs are a bit to close to Felt (One of Belle and Sebastians favorite bands). But then Felt had passed me by the first time around and this inspired me to hunt down their recent best of disk: "Stains on a Decade". I think I prefer The Tyde, this album is definitely one of the top 10 of the year for me.



Well I have loved this album for years, but I couldn't resist getting another copy for that price. Suede, I cannot bear to call them by their American name, the London Suede. I still get excited when I see Suede are playing some dive nearby. It always seems to take me minutes to register that its the old woman not the 90's English answer to Bowie (Ed. Note- She's playing The Birchmere on February 28 th ). Perhaps that will pass now the London Suede have finally split up. A somewhat sad end to a band that showed so much promise.

This album still remains their last high for me. During its recording the lead singer, Brett Anderson and the lead guitarist, Bernard Butler, had a bit of a tiff. Butler leaving the band before the album was released. After this, the song-writing magic the duo had appeared mostly lost, neither of them alone achieving the heights they had reached together.

Focusing on the album, well its obvious they had been listening to Bowie and that its production is much better than Suede's eponymous first album. Things start off in great style, "Introducing the Band's" thumping bass is a real attention grabber. “We are the pigs” throwaway lyrics made for a great single. “Heroine”, an ode to Marilyn Monroe, is still a song that I think is written about drugs. With Anderson somewhat famously being addicted to the "H", and with lines like, "aching for my heroine", any other viewpoint is probably somewhat naive.

The album lulls somewhat in the middle. But in a recording full of Epic songs the best is saved for last. “Still Life” for me is Suede's finest moment. Starting slow and quiet and building into a magnificent orchestral crescendo. I can listen to it over and over.



Never trust a band who use numbers, apostrophe's or "altern8" spelling of words in titles!  Actually this is cheesy pop 'tastic. I find it pretty hard to differentiate one track from the next. Actually listening actively to the whole album is a somewhat daunting proposition. I mean how many songs can they spin out of the spelling of B.R.A.S.S.Y.? But when its getting time to go out and I am feeling lethargic, this is just fantastic. If anything this album adds more funk and more guitar sounds to their previous albums formula. But if truth be told, it would take someone far more talented than me to name which of the two Brassy albums I was listening to from any single track. Still the mix of Beastie Boys , meets trip hop, with funk and rapping is a party waiting to happen.



Well I am writing this 367 days after Joe Strummer's death. I guess that knowledge alone marks me out as somewhat of a Strummer fan. This album, released in 1989 is now long out of print and its probably for the best. Copies have been going on ebay and Amazon used for well over $50, but its really only for the completists. The best of the bad bunch here is possibly “Island Hopping”. A song he and the Mescaleros did as an extra encore song when they last played the 9:30 club. It is quieter and its plinky guitar sound escaped the pretty average production of the rockier tracks on the album.

Personally, if I want to listen to Joe, I find myself reaching for “Rock Art and the X-ray Style”. That really is a great record.


Wow! I barely have gotten started. I got almost every Curve CD single for 10 cents a piece. The La's album for $1, The High Strung's , "These Are Good Times” for $2.50, Ash , "Free All Angels” for $1.00. And about 400 hundred others. But I have got to go now and get filled of Christmas spirit........