Mike profile picture

Mike

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

Borderline-obsessive music-reviewer, -photographer and -listener. Here is my life in GIF form:

The excellent .. fanzine I contribute to:

My music photos:

Please let me know what you think of the reviews and photos. I'm open to criticism, though I'd rather it didn't include the word 'faggot'.

My Interests

Fair Trade, Control Arms, Amnesty International, Oxfam and similarly good organisations, saving the world, music, films, writing about music and films, walking around tasteless pound shops with my friends, grammar nazism, really awful horror films, general tomfoolery.

Music:



Albums Of The Year since 2000

2000

1. Radiohead - Kid A
2. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
3. Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
4. The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
5. Elliott Smith - Figure 8 6. The Avalanches - Since I Left You
7. Coldplay - Parachutes
8. Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
9. The Mountain Goats - The Coroner's Gambit
10. The Sea And Cake - Oui

2001

1. Radiohead - Amnesiac
2. Ryan Adams - Gold
3. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
4. of Montreal - Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse
5. The Microphones - The Glow Pt.2
6. Ed Harcourt - Here Be Monsters
7. Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World
8. My Morning Jacket - At Dawn
9. Elbow - Asleep In The Back
10. Mercury Rev - All Is Dream
11. Death Cab For Cutie - The Photo Album
12. Low - Things We Lost In The Fire
13. Broken Social Scene - Feel Good Lost
14. Dntel - Life Is Full Of Possibilities
15. Destroyer - Streethawk: A Seduction

2002

1. The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee
2. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
3. The Decemberists - Castaways And Cutouts
4. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
5. Josh Rouse - Under Cold Blue Stars
6. Brendan Benson - Lapalco
7. Bright Eyes - Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground
8. Sigur Ros - ()
9. The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas
10. Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
11. The Electric Soft Parade - Holes In The Wall
12. Mclusky - Mclusky Do Dallas
13. Spoon - Kill The Moonlight
14. Rilo Kiley - The Execution Of All Things
15. Beck - Sea Change

2003

1. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
2. Nada Surf - Let Go
3. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
4. The Notwist - Neon Golden
5. Explosions In The Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
6. The Postal Service - Give Up
7. Four Tet - Rounds
8. Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan
9. British Sea Power - The Decline Of British Sea Power
10. The New Pornographers - Electric Version
11. Stars - Heart
12. Mogwai - Happy Songs For Happy People
13. Ryan Adams - Love Is Hell Pt.1
14. The Fiery Furnaces - Gallowsbird's Bark
15. Do Make Say Think - Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn
16. Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
17. American Analog Set - Promise Of Love
18. The Rapture - Echoes
19. Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
20. M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts

2004

1. The Arcade Fire - Funeral
2. of Montreal - Satanic Panic In The Attic
3. Ed Harcourt - Strangers
4. The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
5. The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat
6. The Radio Dept. - Lesser Matters
7. Adem - Homesongs
8. The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike!
9. A.C. Newman - The Slow Wonder
10. Elliott Smith - From A Basement On The Hill
11. The Futureheads - The Futureheads
12. Hope Of The States - The Lost Riots
13. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
14. Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
15. The Earlies - These Were The Earlies
16. The Faint - Wet From Birth
17. Kings Of Convenience - Riot On An Empty Street
18. The Mountain Goats - We Shall All Be Healed
19. 65daysofstatic - The Fall Of Math
20. Freezepop - Fancy Ultra-Fresh

2005

1. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
2. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
3. The Decemberists - Picaresque
4. The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
5. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
6. Animal Collective - Feels
7. Stars - Set Yourself On Fire
8. Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary
9. Brakes - Give Blood
10. My Morning Jacket - Z
11. of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twins
12. The National - Alligator
13. Sigur Ros - Takk...
14. Explosions In The Sky - The Rescue
15. Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultues
16. Architecture In Helsinki - In Case We Die
17. Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production Of Eggs
18. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
19. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning

2006

1. Islands - Return To The Sea
2. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
3. Oh No! Oh My! - Oh No! Oh My!
4. Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
5. Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time
6. My Latest Novel - Wolves
7. Hot Chip - The Warning
8. Liars - Drum's Not Dead
9. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
10. Jeremy Warmsley - The Art Of Fiction
11. The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America
12. Fionn Regan - The End Of History
13. M. Ward - Post-War
14. The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
15. The Spinto Band - Nice And Nicely Done
16. Adem - Love And Other Planets
17. Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
18. Peter Bjorn And John - Writer's Block
19. volcano! - Beautiful Seizure
20. Thom Yorke - The Eraser

2007

1. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
2. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
3. The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
4. Feist - The Reminder
5. The New Pornographers - Challengers
6. Do Make Say Think - You, You're A History In Rust
7. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
8. Menomena - Friend And Foe
9. The National - Boxer
10. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

As you can probably tell by that, I am a compulsive reviewer and list-maker. Have a look at my Amazon page for some of my 'work'. You can also see my CD wishlist there. Hint hint.

Movies:

Almost Famous, American Beauty, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, City Of God, Dodgeball, Donnie Darko, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Good Bye Lenin, Goodfellas, Lord Of The Rings, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Rushmore, Shaun Of The Dead, South Park: Bigger Longer And Uncut, Taxi Driver, Team America: World Police, The Edukators, The Motorcycle Diaries, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Station Agent, Toy Story, movies about snakes on planes

Television:

The Mighty Boosh, Family Guy, The Simpsons, Futurama, Black Books, South Park, Spaced, Monkey Dust, The Day Today, Brass Eye, Knowing Me Knowing You, I'm Alan Partridge, Peep Show, Nathan Barley, Little Britain, Father Ted, Look Around You, The Young Ones, The Office, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Robot Chicken, Sealab 2021, 120 Minutes on MTV2, Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement, anything on Challenge TV in the daytime.

Radio: When I'm at university I present Jumping Fences on BURST Radio . Back this October!

Books:

I mostly have to spend my reading time 'engrossed' in history books, but I enjoy a good biography and the odd novel, my favourites being Catch-22 and Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.Read these!:

My Blog

Photos: The Hold Steady

The wonderful Hold Steady at Bristol Academy2 last night:More on Flickr...
Posted by Mike on Sun, 25 Feb 2007 01:46:00 PST

Photos: Hot Chip in Brighton

Photos of Hot Chip in Brighton. They will break your legs.More (plus some of the support bands) on Flickr....
Posted by Mike on Fri, 02 Jun 2006 02:56:00 PST

Broken Social Scene, Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms

A couple of my photos from the amazing Broken Social Scene show in Portsmouth. See the full set here....
Posted by Mike on Mon, 20 Feb 2006 01:22:00 PST

V Fest 2005

Completely forgot to mention that I went to the V Festival. My photos of Joseph Arthur, Polyphonic Spree, Sonic Youth and Super Furry Animals are now up on Flickr. I really like some of them so have...
Posted by Mike on Sun, 02 Oct 2005 01:00:00 PST

Reading 2005

Reading 2005 was unbelievably good. I've covered it in various internet guises, so if you want to read about my experiences, go ahead. General report: my LiveJournal Band reviews: my AudioScrobbler j...
Posted by Mike on Fri, 02 Sep 2005 03:40:00 PST

Reading Festival guide

I wrote this for the webzine God Is In The TV, but forgot (like the idiot I am) that someone else had already written one. So here's my unpublished guide to Reading Festival. Ooh, I can't wait... Even...
Posted by Mike on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST

Civilisation has officially collapsed

A few posts ago, I expressed my disgust at the Crazy Frog releasing a single. Something even worse has happeend. From NME.com: "COLDPLAY look likely to be beaten to the Number One spot this week by...
Posted by Mike on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST

Music meme thing

Last song you heard?Ryan Adams - Sweet IllusionsLast CD you bought?The Notwist - Neon GoldenLast download?The Mountain Goats - This YearLast band you saw live?Brendan BensonFirst band you saw live?Erm...
Posted by Mike on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST

Lies, four-letter vocabulary, flatulence -it's all the work of Satan!

I really don't want to offend you if you are a Christian, but I just find this hilarious. I spent a chunk of this afternoon looking at the Child Care Action Project, in which far-right Christians ...
Posted by Mike on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST

The Crazy Frog (contains even stronger language)

The Fucking Bastard Arsecandle Isanity-Inducing Fucking Crazy Frog is releasing a single. Please, someone kill me. Civilisation is crumbling as I type....
Posted by Mike on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST