A God-awful Small Affair

50 - "Into The Murky Water", The Leisure Society It failed to set the world alight as much as their 2009 debut did, but there was still something beautiful about this band and their penchant for full orchestrated songs. 49 - "Suck it and See", The Arctic Monkeys Despite an initial burst of enthusiasm from me, this album has largely dropped off the radar for me. Whether this is out of a fondness for their earlier material, a higher placing for Alex Turner's soundtrack on Submarine or just a whopping lack of tunes is irrelevant - this album wasn't without its charm. 48 - "Mirrors", U.S. Royalty Bold, brash and rather bloody lovely. 47 - "Go Tell Fire to the Mountain", WU LYF The indie press might have raved about them like excitable lunatics, and it's certainly a decent album, but I can't really place it too highly here - again it's something I've loved for a brief period of time and feel little inclination to return to. 46 ...

I'm not sure what or who it was that planted this idea into my head, but I was always, until recently, under the impression that the Beastie Boys were a joke. I reckon my childhood wires might have crossed with New Kids on the Block for some reason. Alas, it's taken me until 2011 to discover them - or Paul's Boutique and License to Ill at least. But then a Youtube I subscribe to pointed me in the direction of 'Too Many Rappers' and my interest was revived. After a couple of health setbacks the Boys are most definitely back. From opener 'Make Some Noise' all potential fears that they'd lost it were blown out of the park - it reminds me a little bit of Pharoahe Monch in that sense of overblown, floorfilling dance presence that provides the perfect backdrop for the trio to go wild to. Do you remember those microphone toys you could buy as a kid and they'd make your voice sound robotic? I think they might be used in 'Nonstop Disco Powerpack', a s...