Canadian gig crowds are quite different from Irish gig crowds. In Ireland there is always a big group of fans going mental but in Canada it’s a bit more chilled because everyone is so toked out of their heads!

While you could have paid any amount of money you liked for In Rainbows, what you definitely need to pay in full is attention. The album demands it and then rewards you for it. It’s a delectable treat. Dark yet beautiful. Heavy yet ethereal. Real yet dreamy. Lie down and listen to Nude with your eyes closed and you’ll imagine that you’re floating.

You won’t find any choruses to latch on to here among the song structures. Instead the songs just flow naturally along, often leading to a crescendo. I must be on or around my 150th listen of the album and it just seems to get better every time. It’s as good as anything the band has produced before. To pick highlights from it is almost unfair but that’s never stopped me before. Along with the aforementioned Nude, other standouts are Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, All I Need, Videotape and Jigsaw Falling Into Place, which is in the following video. Best band ever.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Edit: I had to add to this post by putting in a couple of live performances which blew my mind. The first is Weird Fishes/Arpeggi (which I now think is their best ever song) and the second is Nude.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The final list:

#1 – “In Rainbows” – Radiohead
#2 – “Boxer” – The National
#3 – “Neon Bible” – The Arcade Fire
#4 – “Sound Of Silver” – LCD Soundsystem
#5 – “Marry Me” – St. Vincent

Other albums that came close to this list include: “In Our Bedroom After The War” by Stars, “The Reminder” by Feist, “Cassadaga” by Bright Eyes, “White Chalk” by PJ Harvey, “Strawberry Jam” by Animal Collective, “23” by Blonde Redhead, “Under The Blacklight” by Rilo Kiley and a host of others that I’ve probably forgotten at the moment. Also, “Carnavas” by Silversun Pickups would have made my top 5, only it’s really a 2006 album (although not released in Europe until 2007).

The National surpassed themselves with their fourth album. Like their previous efforts, Boxer contains the same type of intelligent lyrics delivered with melodic brooding intensity in both the vocals and music but with a close-knit intimacy to it all.

An utterly brilliant band.

Fake Empire live on Letterman:

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The list so far:

#2 – “Boxer” – The National
#3 – “Neon Bible” – Arcade Fire
#4 – “Sound Of Silver” – LCD Soundsystem
#5 – “Marry Me” – St. Vincent

After the immense Funeral, there was a lot of anticipation as to how the Arcade Fire’s sophomore album would fare out. They certainly didn’t let me down with Neon Bible. It’s a typically energetic, frenetic, rousing, theatrical record. You can’t help but get caught up in its anthemic songs, marching drums, lush string sections and swells of brass. They’ve been a breath of fresh air in the  last few years.

The amazing No Cars Go live in Paris:

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The list so far:

#3 – “Neon Bible” – Arcade Fire
#4 – “Sound Of Silver” – LCD Soundsystem
#5 – “Marry Me” – St. Vincent

LCD Soundsystem’s 2005 self-titled debut album was very good. Some people raved about it but I thought it lacked some direction, meandering and wandering a bit too much. A lack of cohesiveness. His 2007 release, Sound Of Silver, can’t face the same accusation. It’s a solid, tightly packed nine tracks of amazing tunes. Dance/rock combo at its best.

The record peaks right in the middle with two fantastic tracks, Someone Great and All My Friends. The latter is built on a simple piano riff repeated over and over, yet you could listen to the song on repeat all day every day. Any time I have about a quarter of an hour spare to listen to some music, I usually stick on these two song. But I prefer playing the whole thing. It’s impossible not to love this album.

All My Friends live:

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The list so far:

#4 – “Sound Of Silver” – LCD Soundsystem
#5 – “Marry Me” – St. Vincent

St. Vincent (real name Annie Clarke) used to play in the backing band of Sufjan Steven and her debut solo album contains some of the same quirky instrumentation and lush orchestration found in Sufjan’s work. But with differences. She shreds a mean electric guitar for one and this juxtaposes with her sweet vocals. The centrepiece of the album is probably Paris Is Burning, an excellently eclectic song which highlights nearly everything that St. Vincent is about. It would serve as a good starting point to anybody new to her. Nevertheless, I’m linking to a different song for your pleasure.

This is a live performance of Now, Now. How hot is she in this?

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So far so good with the Archos. It plays various video formats in good quality and the sound through my earphones is excellent. Of course you need a good pair of earphones to take advantage of this. My trusty Westone UM1s are still going strong and provide fantastic audio separation. After listening to Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’ a few times on my laptop recently, it’s like listening to a whole new album when using my earphones on the Archos.

Not my hands.

I haven’t had time yet to go through all the features on it but so far it seems like an excellent piece of kit.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The gigs themselves were excellent, with the second being slightly better than the first. Mostly because we arrived there early and got pit passes but even more mostly because they improved the setlist a little – dropping Black Wave/Bad Vibrations and adding in both Windowsill and Headlights Look Like Diamonds.

Win heading into the crowd.

This was a terrible quality photo but I attempted to unterriblize it by playing around with some effects. Looks kind of interesting now, I think.

Although both gigs were thoroughly enjoyable, they couldn’t get near their Electric Picnic 2005 performance. That bordered on a spiritual experience!