diskant does seem to have been taking a summer holiday this year but that doesn’t mean we’ve been sitting around doing nothing, oh no.

I thought it might be an idea to catch up with the diskant contributors and find out what they’ve been enjoying recently. So let us tell you what we’ve been listening to, reading, playing and watching this summer…

Records

Raccoo-oo-oon – Is Night People (Release the Bats)
Frequently overwhemling ritual-rock from Iowa City. The layers of feedback, sax, clatter and pure energy here reminded me at first of Animal Collective, but repeated listens have exposed this CD and band to be a very unique thing. Triffic! (Ollie Simpson)

Racoo-oo-oon – The Cave of Spirits Forever (Time-Lag)
Racoo-oo-oon are probably the best new band I’ve heard this year – a raucous and gloopy mix of Sunburned-style doped-out funk jams cross-bred with a rabid punk attitude and unceremoniously rammed headfirst into wigged-out psychedelic consciousness and raga bliss. Songs on their records have a tendency to be hard-cut into each other whilst veering between a huge variety of sound and moods, creating a dizzying and intoxicating gloop of sounds and spirits. Yes, “gloop” is my favourite word for them. “The Cave of Spirits Forever” isn’t much over half an hour long, but is incredibly infectious and uplifting to listen to if you’re prepared to follow the band on such a whacked-out ramble through musical countrysides littered with contrasting moods, approaches and results. Wonderfully loopy and delightfully engaging, this is certainyl my favourite “new” music (actually a re-issue of a self-released CDR from last year) I’ve stumbled across all year. Nice artwork and packaging too; as can always be expected from Time-Lag. (David Stockwell)
www.raccoo-oo-oon.org

Ramnad Krishnan
Most records I’ve bought lately have been ancient vinyls on ebay, the best one in the last couple of weeks being a sweet double LP by a Southern Indian vocalist, Ramnad Krishnan. Homeboy busts out those taans like nobody’s business! His kritis are doing it for me, to say the least. (Joe Luna)

The Pipettes – We Are The Pipettes
The perfect Summer album. This is so ridiculously catchy that I don’t really need to listen to it any more; the whole album is stuck on repeat in my brain. Short sharp-witted pop songs about boys and dancing and, well, boys but with a bittersweet tang that means half of this album makes me want to cry for things long gone and things that will never be. It’s their wonkiness, wistfulness and wit that charms, like Talulah Gosh covering the Supremes. If they get any more glossy and professional I don’t think I’d love them as much. Also, after three years in a boy-led electronic band, don’t I envy their polka dot dresses, red shoes and dance routines. (Marceline Smith)

Hot Chip – The Warning
For a while there Hot Chip were a great live band let down by a lousy first record. Actually, that’s not fair. Their first record is far from lousy, and I played it fairly often after purchasing it, but then made the mistake of seeing them live, and after sampling their fat, eminently dancable live sounds, that album sounds all too anaemic. Since they had been hanging around James Murphy a lot, I reckoned that album #2 would turn out to be a big DFA-produced slab of disco. The Warning isn’t quite that – but I’m far from disappointed. This is an album without compromise, definitely the same band as before, bursting with confidence, but smart enough not to let it get out of hand. (Alex McChesney)

The Dirty Three – Cinder
It’s summer and spring and the beach all in one beautiful album. I picked this one up at the ABC show this winter. With songs like “Flutter” and the stunning Cat Power assisted “Great Waves”..who wouldn’t have a wee glow in the heart for this album? Best enjoyed while travelling at great speeds. I’ve never been to Australia , but I can see it in my mind’s eye as clear as day thanks to the Dirty Three. (Rebecca McChesney)

Double Nickels on the Dime by Minutemen
I imagine my enthusiasm for this album has been rekindled by the release of “We Jam Econo”, a documentary about the band. (Fraser Campbell)

Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Zuma
I feel I only like old records at the moment and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I am open to learning and I don’t reckon I can do that from some young whippersnapper. Which is why it is so damn handy that Uncle Neil is about. There is just something about Zuma that is so FUCK YOU and so defiant. I would love it for the songs anyway as they are mind boggling. But it goes beyond love to admiration – THIS is how you fight a broken heart. THIS is how you tell someone what you think. THIS is how you get on with your life. What a ble ssing Zuma must have been to Neil. And what a blessing it can be to everyone else. (Chris Summerlin)

Books

One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Nothing new or exciting here for anyone else I’m sure, but a few months on and I’m still floored by this one. A sprawling epic that only fully reveals the full extent of its scope in the final couple of pages. Don’t even really know where to start trying to describe how excellent this is, but at three quid in Fopp you literally cannot go wrong. (Ollie Simpson)

British Journal of Ethnomusicology, various issues
Not technically a book, but I’ve been enjoying flicking through these. Picked them up in Cambridge with mild trepidation, as I was wary of the kinds of academic studies of ethnic musics that suck all the power and passion from the music itself and reduce the musicians to anthropological curiosities, but some of the writing was interesting and simply trying to get a better grasp of the workings of great non-western music. Also been trying to read as much as possible about Japan, as I’m going there in about a week and the only thing on my itinerary is to try to find Keiji Haino and get him to tell me the secrets of life, the universe and his fringe. (Joe Luna)

Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Just started this. Every so often I look away from the page and wonder at the effortless way he drifts into another character’s story, shifting and deepening the reader’s view of what’s gone before. (Chris H)

100 Posters, 134 Squirrels – Jay Ryan
I mentioned this on diskant recently but it takes me a long time to tire of looking at fat squirrels. 100 of Jay Ryan’s awesome poster designs full of fat, stupid-looking animals that are really far too great to be advertising indie band shows. More posters should provide lists of hilarious ‘facts’ about wooly mammoths. I’d probably go to a lot more shows if they did. (Marceline Smith)

Never Had It So Good (A History of Britain 1956-63), Dominic Sandbrook
From the Suez Crisis to the formation of the Beatles, Dominic Sandbrook takes us from the end of the post-war depression to the birth of the Sixties in an eminantly readable fashion. My only complaint is that the hardback is far too unwieldy to take on the train. (Alex McChesney)

Tideland – Mitch Cullin
A young girl’s mother OD’s on heroin..the dad isn’t doing so well himself…the girl and father relocate from LA to Texas. The level of detail and painted imaginary in scenes of this book are nothing short of incredible. Upturned rusty old school busses and lightening bugs..scattered conversations with decapitated barbie heads who by the way make perfect companions. Read this..the movie Terry Gilliam made about it may never be released. I’ve left it by the tub, and let me tell you, I’ve become a raisin trying to get through this book. I don’t want it to end. (Rebecca McChesney)

Tales of Ordinary Madness – Charles Bukowski
A collection of short stories by Charles Bukowski. If you want to read some great stories about wishing people would just leave you alone, he’s your man. (Fraser Campbell)

Another Country by James Baldwin
I read this a long while ago and haven’t re-read it because it’s too dense to take in again right now. Baldwin does this thing where he sets up situations that engross the reader and then he flips it all around and makes you see it from his prespective. That perspective is a black man at a time of extreme uncertainty in the USA. I have never lived in the USA, never mind been a black man. I also like to think of myself as being socially aware and at the very least aware of racism and how it can manifest itself but yet Baldwin poses questions I would never have thought of that in turn make me question the way I see the world. Not only that, he phrases it in language so wonderful the effect is gobsmacking. (Chris Summerlin)

Films/DVD

Riki-Oh: The Story of Riki
Cracking early 90s Troma-style kung fu prison flick. Loads of highly entertaining action involving people getting punched through, exploding fists and dogs getting kicked in half. And guts. Most fun I’ve had watching a film in some time. (Ollie Simpson)

Pet Shop Boys – Performance
The DVD of their 1991 tour which was directed, lit and choreographed by theatre professionals and thus a million miles away from your average pop concert. The audience are completely ignored and the Pet Shop Boys merely the main actors in a huge ensemble. Somewhat audaciously Chris Lowe barely plays a note live and there are entire songs that take place with neither Pet Shop Boy singing, playing or even appearing onstage. I remember being gobsmacked when we saw this in Aberdeen as teenagers and it’s still bewilderingly entertaining – full of ridiculous costumes, some stunning set design and a generally incomprehensible plot. You may mock pop music but often it can be more inventive and daring than your experimental artists. (Marceline Smith)

The Kids in the Hall
I’ve just finished watching season 4 of The Kids in the Hall, the show by the terrific Canadian Sketch troupe of the same name. It’s not as consistently good as previous seasons, but still has plenty of hilarious moments. As for films, the recent John Huston season on BBC 2 meant I finally got to see The Asphalt Jungle, which was great. (Fraser Campbell)

‘More’, 1969
A portrait of the slow decline of a bright-eyed hippy into heroin abuse, set in the impressively-shot sunbaked Ibiza countryside, and featuring Pink Floyd noodling/rocking across the soundtrack. The story may be relevant to times gone by, but the film is still absolutely current in its emotional/spiritual kick. (Simon Minter)

Romance and Cigarettes
Something I can recommend wholeheartedly is this movie, which just came out on DVD. It’s written and directed by John Turturro, veteran of quite a few Coen brothers movies. Remember “Nobody fucks with the Jesus” in the Big Lebowski? Him. It’s a kinda indie New York blue-collar musical into which he’s obviously poured a lot of his own memories and experience. The characters do burst into song (pop songs chosen by his mum, apparently) and there are some fairly elaborate dance sequences, but the down-to-earth setting and moments of real emotion balance out the camper excesses. It features Coen regulars James Gandolphini and Steve Buscemi (any movie is worth seeing for his face alone), Susan Sarandon, a wee bit of Eddie Izzard, Christopher Walken stealing the show, and Kate Winslet obliterating any memory of her English rose image, as a foul-mouthed dirty-speaking Liverpudlian. It’s carried by the humour, which is fantastic, but ultimately it is the characters and how real they feel that stay with you, presumably a tribute to their autobiographical origins. Go see it – it’ll have you singing along to Dusty Springfield. (Andrew Bryers)

The Devil & Daniel Johnston
What struck me was that, despite his obvious skills, Daniel shouldn’t be held up on too high a pedestal for his work. I am not sure the film demonstrated that enough but I credit it with at least trying. There is a bullshit notion in popular culture that the art someone makes over rides the suffering that the artist may have gone through or is sill going through. You suffer for your art but that suffering is OK as long as the end result enriches the world. Daniel has enriched the world plenty but one look at his parents and what they have gone through and still will go through is enough to dispell any notion that they are happy with their lot and they wouldn’t prefer that their son was a bank clerk with 2 kids or a double glazing salesman, just anything other than someone with severe bipolar disorder who depends on his parents as he enters his 40s. (Chris Summerlin)

Computer Games

New Super Mario Brothers (DS)
It should be no suprise to anyone that I should bang on about a DS title, though for once it’s not Animal Crossing, but another, more established property of the Nintendo stable. New Super Mario Brothers takes the mustachioed plumber and his lanky bro’ back to their 2D platforming roots, bravely stripping away not just the trappings of their recent 3D outings, but paring back the game even further so that its closest relative, in terms of pure gameplay, is the original Super Mario Brothers on the NES. Nintendo have succeeded in creating a title which feels bright and fresh, while still providing enough nostalgic and respectful nods to the series’ history as to cause pangs of nostalgia in even the toughest Mario-hater. Just don’t be put off by the awful tv commercial that’s on just now, which presents us with a poorly-dubbed square-jawed executive type sitting alone in his huge penthouse apartment playing the game… then ends. (Alex McChesney)

Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
A month with my DS and I have given up on my other games as Animal Crossing takes a grip of my life. Lunchtimes at work see me and my teammate Claire tapping away making squeals of delight and horror as the day’s madness unfolds. There’s really no other game that makes me take enormous enjoyment in paying a poodle 3000 bells for a new hairdo, helping a museum owl to get over his fear of insects, catching fish that are bigger than my character and have me setting my alarm extra early because Tangy (a cat with an orange for a head) has arranged to come and have a look round my house. Oh, I need to go – the fireworks display starts in a minute! (Marceline Smith)

Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
I can’t stop..I need help. Does anyone have cherries? (Rebecca McChesney)

Loco Roco (PSP)
I downloaded a demo for a game called Loco Roco for the PSP – its great fun, very Nintendo-ish and features a fat roly thing called Loco Roco who has been partially eaten by aliens – you have to help find fruit so he/she/it can become fatter. I don’t normally go for platform games, but this is a nice combination of graphics, playability and Japanese daftness. (Fraser Campbell)

Donkey Konga (Gamecube)
I really don’t like computer games but I wasted about 5 hours of my life (admittedly pretty drunk at the time) playing Donkey Konga in Glasgow with Colin Kearney and Neil Johnson. I could see how a man could get into these things. I heard there’s a game for the Playstation where you have to nail the guitar solo to a ZZ Top song on a minature plastic guitar. Keep me away from that one. (Chris Summerlin)

MepisLinux (PC)
Geek that I am, the most useful thing I’ve found for my computer recently is an operating system. MepisLinux is the first variety of GNU/Linux that works well enough for me to switch over completely from Windows. Hardware was setup automatically, audio and video work out of the box. If you want to take a look at Linux, start here (it’s less brown than Ubuntu). (Chris H)
www.mepis.com

Fanzines/Magazines/Comics

Sturgeon White Moss
Excellent comics compendium from the UK-based White Moss Press. Issues so far have included stuff by Mike Diana, Alexander Tucker, Mat Brinkman and Daniel Johnston. Good for people like me who sometimes need a prod in the right direction with things like comics. (Ollie Simpson)
www.whitemosspress.com

Nylon
The only magazine I actively hunt out each month and it can be difficult as Nylon is a New York style magazine. It reminds me a lot of The Face when it was good and I was in art school and we used to devour it each month, stealing all their ideas and sticking half of each issue on our walls. Nylon has a similar look with some brilliantly inventive page layouts but they feature a lot more small-time fashion designers, artists and handmade stuff as well as some fantastic bands. They did a Myspace issue last month which was a work of insane genius. (Marceline Smith)

Chimps
Chimps was an old fanzine and I only owned one issue. It had interviews with Ian MacKaye and Ian Svenonius in it. It was written by Layla who I think was in Skinned Teen. I would say without exaggeration it, if only slightly, changed my life. I lost my copy of it, can someone please give it back or copy another one for me? (Chris Summerlin)

Television

Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace
Proper shit the bed funny stuff from Richard Ayoade and Matthew Holness. Horror writer Marenghi’s 80s opus “Darkplace” is unearthed and shown for the first time on UK terrestrial TV (it had a brief run in Peru), complete with retrospective interviews and Skippy the Eye-Child. Finally due out on DVD some time this Autumn, and it will be the best thing ever. (Ollie Simpson)

Property Ladder / Grand Designs / Top Gear
Don’t watch much TV apart from slight dippings into Hollyoaks when I’m eating my tea. Therefore I only have 3 selections. First is Property Ladder which is fascinating, despite the seemingly shit subject matter of presenter Sarah Beeny following would-be property developers through the process of buying and selling a house for profit. Watching some of these fuckwits navigate the task is frequently enough to keep me in for the evening.

Second is Grand Designs. Presenter Kevin McCloud’s has a unique ability. Over some computer graphics he will read the plan for the project featured. So a 3D computer graphic will take you through a mock up of the finished product as Kevin says “Quentin has designed the interior of this project to feel like an exterior, to completely overwhelm the occupants of the house with a feeling that rather than coming home and locking oneself away, they are in fact opening themselves up to the natural world everytime they come inside their home etc etc”. Your heart races, you love the idea, how can they fail? Then the camera cuts to Kevin on a building site surrounded by mud and 40 hippies that Quentin is paying in soya beans and he cuts the whole thing down to size with a witheringly doubtful comment such as “what the hell is the twat thinking of?”

Lastly is my personal favourite Top Gear. I know, I don’t care. It’s frequently hilarious and it’s made with the viewer in mind. It’s pure entertainment. I read Jeremy Clarkson’s book and it’s alright too. (Chris Summerlin)

Bands

Dinosaur Jr
Having never really considered myself a fan, I saw Mascis & Co. in Barcelona earlier this year, and I haven’t been able to walk in a straight line since. Gave new meaning to the idea of ROCK music with GUITARS. A joyous, cleansing, FUCKING LOUD experience. (Ollie Simpson)

Una Corda
Post-rocktastic and Circle (Finland) prog, metal, rock, experimental something I have no idea..but they were rockin. (Rebecca McChesney)

Bat For Lashes
Well, not strictly a band as such – BFL is one person with others helping provide musical depth. I saw her/them supporting Low recently and it was the first “I have to hear more by this band” moment I’ve had for a long, long time. A joyous combination of Björk and Cat Power, it’s weird but it’s pop, and it’s quiet but it rocks. (Simon Minter)

Excelsior
Now defunct. Described as: Combining the sounds of Black Flag, The Fall, Monorchid, Skull Control, southern boogie, and cigarette fueled alcohol injected sounds. Totally bad-ass amazing riff-laden heavy rock with a guy spitting his balls out in the style of Chris Thomson as a front man. Everything they did is pretty much amazing. I remember saying I was into them to the guys in the band Trans Megetti in Holland in 2001 and they told me they were ‘retarded’. I thought they meant like “sick” dude etc but they meant that they actually are a little…slow. I wouldn’t know, I never saw them. Chris Thrash got me into them after staying with some of them in the US. He informs me they are ‘righteous’ as humans. There’s fuck all about them on the internet. I wish I owned the record they put out in a cloth bag and if anyone has one of their T shirts and wants to trade then let’s do it. (Chris Summerlin)
www.hotdogcityrecords.com/bands.php

Places

The Portland Arms, Cambridge
After years of being a bit rubbish, the last year has seen some smashing gigs at the Portland from the likes of Bilge Pump, That Fucking Tank, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Lords, Chris Corsano, The Evens, and many more. A genuinely friendly, comfortable, great pub venue that I am very happy to have (almost) on my doorstep. You should drop by. (Ollie Simpson)

Lush Bar, Camden Town
I’m in London right now and the other night I went out to this place for Scratch Club Wednesdays! It ruled, the place had a great vibe, the scratching was fast and furious, and to my under-educated ears bordered on the virtuosic at moments, and there was a nice barmaid who gave me a free drink. The place kinda looked like an over-ground version of Po Na Na’s in Oxford, wooden stuff, pillars, couches, that sort of thing. Anyway the only real reason why I liked it was the nice barmaid. Although she made me pay for the next drink, that sucked. (Joe Luna)

The Custard Factory, Birmingham
I visited Birmingham for the first time a couple of weeks ago for the Supersonic festival. As its name suggests, it used to be the source of all the Bird’s Custard consumed by the people of Britain, though since the 90’s it has been a multimedia arts venue. Before arriving I had envisioned a grim brick cube with a couple of dark, sweaty performance spaces and claustrophobic corridors inside. I was pleased to be proven wrong. In fact, the Custard Factory is a small complex of bright, well-lit buildings clustered around a pleasant open courtyard, and as well as performace space features a number of small independant shops, a small cafe-cum-cinema, and various gallery and exhibition spaces. If I lived in Brum, I could see myself spending a lot of time there. (Alex McChesney)
www.custardfactory.com

Aladdin’s Magic Fun Cave
As some of you will know, I don’t get out much anymore what with the nipper and all. This generally means that if I’m out at all, it’s generally to some place called something like “Aladdin’s Magic Fun Cave” or something. I get to play in ball swamps with my little girl and the other week went on a Go-Kart with her. I can’t complain. (Fraser Campbell)

Websites

MuddUp!
DJ \Rupture’s website MuddUp! has links to music (North African, Middle Eastern and “urban”) that I’d not otherwise find. The writing is better observed and more incisive than you’d expect from a DJ, dogma-free and touching on issues of race, identity and culture as they relate to music. (Chris H)
negrophonic.com/words/index.php

Wikipedia
Wikipedia is just about the only website I can get away with accessing when I’m at work (advice: don’t work for an organisation providing services for young children and vulnerable families), so I’ve developed a nasty habit of trawling it for random junk when bored. Though it is a treasure trove of information, my personal highlights have always been stumbling across pages that have yet to be edited for their objectivity; usually because they’re written by vapid self-important trolls who believe that their opinions are so important that they merit reading as fact. You might have heard the scandal about someone editing an American politican’s history to implicate him in the death of JFK last year. My own highlight – unfortunately subsequently removed – was the entry for “St Anns” (a district of Nottingham I live next to) used to read as a personal diatribe about the ease buying guns, pushers trying to force drugs down your neck and the constant threat of gang violence. Its opening gambit ran something along the lines of; “My own experience of St Anns has ruined my life…” – It was great. I was also disappointed to find that the “Guitar Moves” article has now been edited to remove the “Ted Nugent move” of leaning your guitar up against your amp and using a bow to fire an arrow at it from the other side of the stage. (David Stockwell)
en.wikipedia.org

I Was Just Really Very Hungry
I’ve been reading this blog sporadically for the last three years but it’s recently become one of my daily reads (partly thanks to the magic of RSS). A food blog written by a Japanese girl brought up in America and now living in Switzerland it has a wide range of topics – comment on current food trends, advice on hunting out local produce, restaurant reviews and, recently, a glorious series of posts about local markets in rural France. What I love most though are the posts on traditional Japanese food which have helped my understanding of Japanese cookery no end. I love that the internet is making me cook more, experiment and think about what I eat. (Marceline Smith)
www.justhungry.com

YouTube
Get over the crap on here and start searching it in the same way that you used to ‘surf the internet’ – find something of interest, and it’ll lead you down a path of more and more obscure things until you can’t remember what you were looking at first. I’ve found no end of fantastic live footage/old videos on here! (Simon Minter)
www.youtube.com

Flickr
As anyone who has tried to watch a band unobstructed will tell you, everyone owns a camera now. This is a bad thing in a lot of respects but an amazing thing in others and one of those good things is Flickr. Flickr is a delightfully designed site pitched squarely at people with time to kill. It is extremely user-friendly, a breeze to look at and has l oads of little features designed to keep you, well…flicking. (Chris Summerlin)
www.flickr.com

In case you haven’t noticed there’s a new article up with us going on about all the good stuff we’ve been listening to, playing and reading. It’s the diskant Summer Catch-up.

The article was getting a bit long so I left off a few bits and pieces including the following bunch of Flickr links from Chris Summerlin. Make sure you have a couple of hours spare…

Reptile House who, presumably, is some sort of guitar tech hence the gazillions of photos of bands’ equipment up close onstage. For a geek like me, it’s fascinating.They’re also beautiful pictures. Want to know what Franz Ferdinand play through? Want to know how Josh Homme gets his live sound?

Bruce who runs the Mike Watt fan site. He has endless photos of the 1980s SST era of bands like Minutemen, Dinosaur etc etc.

Alison from Southern Records who has some amazing old photos of stuff like The Jesus Lizard at Reading and the funny one of Nation Of Ulysses that I’ve linked…

Daniel Robert Chapman, a man who is always 5 steps behind Bilge Pump with a digital camera with frequently amazing results…

We even have a Damn You! page with lovely photos like this one.

Two of my bands did their final ever shows. Sunnyvale, with diskant’s Mr Simon Minter, reformed for the tenth anniversary of our festival Audioscope, which was a total ball and a delight to play the songs again. And From Light To Sound collapsed after the entire rhythm section left, which felt a bit premature. Have a listen over here if you like, you can download all our stuff for free. Still, got a new band now called Listing Ships, which is kicking off with recording and gigs in January. So hopefully that’ll be my event of 2011… (Stu Fowkes)

Moving to Berlin and making a racket singing Brahms’ Requiem and joining a klezmer band. (Pascal Ansell)

2010 was a big year for me – my third year of self-employment and filled with great things. A few standouts were the release of my own signature line of welly boots courtesy of Plueys (for reals, people are walking around with my name on their footwear!), the Zine Workshop I organised in Glasgow and getting a fold-up bike just in time for Summer! But best of all was returning to Japan for an all too short 10 day trip. We spent some time getting to know Osaka, visited the inspiring Design Festa in Tokyo and I even got my photo taken with a giant pink dancing bunny. Doesn’t get any better than that. (Marceline Smith)

Because we hate sleep, personal freedom and not being covered in someone else’s urine, vomit and faeces, my wife and I had another child.  He’s awesome though, so it’s ok. (Alex McChesney)

There have been too many great things going on this year. My advice: try to do at least one interesting, chat-worthy thing each day. (Simon Minter)

The best films we watched in 2010.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
Hate me now, if you must.  In a universe almost but not exactly identical to ours, I’m disgusted at someone else for liking this film.  Well, I call it a film, but it’s not much more than two hours of rapidly-edited geek wish-fulfillment fantasy.  It cynically manipulated me, and I fucking loved it. (Alex McChesney)

ENTER THE VOID
My jaw literally hit the floor several times over one Friday night when I found myself subjected to Enter The Void. I went in expecting to see something that might blow my socks off but I was expecting to have a headache within a minute after experiencing the most intense opening credits of any movie ever. From here the visuals of the piece stunned me as the main character drifts above the streets of Tokyo for two and a half hours revisiting his life and of those around him and seeing where life is taking everyone. This was transgression to the max via lots of neon lights, bad taste and negative suggestion in a combination of the David Lynch sensibilities of Inland Empire crossed with Peep Show set in Tokyo with plenty of sexy time, an Eraserhead element ultimately looking towards a 2001: A Space Odyssey pay off and finale via copious amounts of hallucinogenic drugs. A film that recurringly smacks the viewer over the head there genuinely were moments in this movie that I never expected to see on screen including a “no he just didn’t” ultimate temptation. The film certainly put me off ever visiting Tokyo. After the viewing I attended director Gaspar Noe did a Q&A where he appeared wholly amused by our shell-shocked expressions. My other favourite movie moment was seeing a double bill of The Warriors and Repo Man at the Prince Charles cinema. (JGRAM)

Another Year by Mike Leigh is a beautiful film. It’s classic Leigh in that it’s slow-moving, nothing happens, it’s full of shots of grim bits of Britain, but it’s got great characters that have time to breathe and develop, and the most amazing undercurrent of sadness running through the whole thing. (Stu Fowkes)

Rinco’s Restaurant
I went back to Japan this year and amongst all the usual kind of blockbuster movies on the flight, I discovered this gem. It’s a Japanese film about a girl called Rinco who loses her voice and starts a restaurant in her mum’s shed, and all the meals she makes change peoples’ lives for the better. That could of course be terrible (the trailer is not entirely awesome) but it’s all very Japanese and charming and very twee. It also has some great stop-motion animation and songs and a flying pig. Do see it if you get the chance! (Marceline Smith)

Land of the Lost
I’ve long been rather frustrated with what I’ve termed the curse of Saturday Night Live: comedians are hilarious on the long-running comedy show and then go on to star in feature films that are complete and utter drivel.  Adam Sandler, for example, was featured in a number of terrific, almost Dada-esque sketches on SNL, then went on to find success with drek like “The Waterboy.” I’ve largely avoided the films of Will Ferrell for this very reason.  And the previews for most of his recent films haven’t really enticed me.  But I did come across the campy remake of classic kids television series “Land of the Lost” recently and you know what?  It wasn’t bad.  Ferrell’s playing his standard character — an overconfident idiot — but he can still mine the archetype for plenty of laughs.  Danny McBride, one of the best things to happen Hollywood comedies, is also along for the ride.  And the movie’s sarcastic sendup of science fiction clichés is solid entertainment.  Plus, “Land of the Lost” has one of the best uses of banjo in a movie theme song ever, surpassing even “Deliverance.” (Wil Forbis)

American Splendor
Cleveland’s Harvey Pekar, writer of bittersweet-mundane comics, died earlier this year. This film about his existentially-challenged 70 years could easily get carried away trying to stuff in persistent meta- perspectives (like the guilty Synecdoche New York) as it involves everyone significant in Harvey’s life as well as actors playing them. Luckily things don’t get too clever for their own good. A moving account of cancer, banality and dissing David Letterman on air. (Pascal Ansell)

Ponyo
I hate you Disney. While Ghibli’s latest animated film came out in the summer of 2008 in Japan, and a year later in the USA, we had to wait until February 2010 for a cinema release. And they wonder why piracy is such a big issue these days! There was also no option to see the original subtitled version but the dubbing was mostly fine (certainly nowhere in the league of Valley Girl Princess Mononoke). As with all the Ghibli movies, I was pretty much sucked in from the start – there’s not a huge amount of plot but it’s all so fun with some glorious scenes like Ponyo running over the waves made by giant fish, and a great mix of the everyday and the unexpected. I suppose it’s a cross between Totoro and Howl’s Moving Castle which is alright by me. (Marceline Smith)

AC/DC at Wembley Stadium
Every song brought something new. They understand that watching a band with 90000 other people requires a lot of attention-getting so every 5 mins you were treated to something extra be it video screens, fireworks, a fucking great big train crashing through the stage and then being ridden by a 100ft high inflatable woman, Angus emerging in the middle of the crowd on a flashing podium etc etc etc. Absolutely value for money. (Chris Summerlin)

Ophibre; Nature; Hunted Creatures; Peace, Loving at Church (Boston, MA)
This was one of the best drone shows I went to all year. It was the first night of a monthly event at Church put on by The Whitehaus. Sadly, they didn’t keep it up for too long. It was great while it lasted though. Review. (Justin Snow)

Lightning Bolt at the Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Being at the front for the whole of their set was a personal achievement, one for grandkids I think. Breaking your phone pales into insignificance at such immensity – I got to speak to Brian Chippendale afterwards – lovely chap! Watch this space. (Pascal Ansell)

Japan
Spending three weeks travelling around Japan was amazing. I am in love with the place. The details are too many to go into, but it was endlessly fascinating, enjoyable, welcoming and intriguing. It’s one of those places where everybody says ‘Ooh, I’d love to go…’ and I’d urge everybody to actually do it. You won’t regret it. (Simon Minter)

Oban
You know, I don’t think I went to a single gig or festival this year. Finances and far too much work left me a bit of a hermit in 2009. I finally gave in to the reforming bands of my youth craze and have a ticket for the Yummy Fur in a few days, which I hope will be awesome, or at least awesomely nostalgic. So, my event of the year was going to Oban for my dad’s birthday in the summer. Family events are not supposed to be this much fun – we spent a week going on ferries and boats and miniature trains to tiny islands and ruined castles, seeing seals and puffins and otters and eating more cake than even I would think is necessary. Good times. Photos here, if you like THE SEA. (Marceline Smith)

Mark Eitzel, St. Giles Church, London, 7 October
I am Jack’s total lack of surprise at this hugely predictable number one. What’s remarkable is that I went into the church thinking this would be the show of the year, and it actually lived up to my own personal brain-hype. I have never seen a performer with the same intensity as Mark Eitzel. He lives every note of his songs, but he’s also wickedly funny and self-deprecating. And to see him accompanied on piano, on his knees in the aisle of a beautiful church singing ‘Johnny Mathis’ Feet’ was the best five minutes of music of 2009. (Stuart Fowkes)

Texas
We moved to Texas from Glasgow in February.  I feel like we only arrived last week.  Adjustment is slow but ongoing… er… y’all. (Alex McChesney)

4 weeks trotting around Europe
Finding out family history and couchsurfing. Visited the city I’ll be living in next year: Berlin!! You can find my every footstep in this blog hyaaa. (Pascal Ansell)

Lord & Karlheinz, Audrey Chen & ID M Theftable, Jajuno Trio at The Piano Factory (Boston, MA)
One of the many truly fantastic shows put on by Semata Productions at The Piano Factory. Lord & Karlheinz fucking destroyed the room with epic noise, Chen & Theftable were just batshit insane, and Jajuno Trio was about as minimal as you can get without copying Cage’s 4’33”. Review (Justin Snow)

Harry Hill’s TV Burp
I can’t select Top Gear for the 10th year running so I’ll opt for Harry Hill’s TV Burp. Laugh out loud funny and genuinely one of the most subversive things on TV. The close-up shot of a pre-vomit Harry with a layer of sweat on his head watching the River Cottage guy cut up a squid in a bath almost put me in hospital. (Chris Summerlin)

Masterchef: The Professionals
Some kind of cookery show, most probably Masterchef: The Professionals, would have to be my choice. Can’t get enough of cookery shows, they fill my head with ideas of recipes and dishes which I will never make. Raymond’s final choice of winner on this year’s The Restaurant was totally wrong, though. (Simon Minter)

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Consistently shows Larry David to be the less repressed, more socially inept Me. Having had a fair bit of attention already on diskant, the latest season is pretty dark and the coincidences coincide too obviously, but this is still classic Curb. With women’s underwear, kiddie lemonade and piss stains on Jesus. (Pascal Ansell)

Entourage
In the last six months I have managed to squeeze out all six seasons of Entourage and I really am in awe of the feel good affect that this show possesses. I guess I allowed the show to pass by me for six seasons due to the fact that for face value the characters are dicks and unlikable but once you get properly introduced to them (and the show) you suddenly realize that you are viewing the same kind of male team dynamic akin to that of Stand By Me, albeit a Hollywood version. There is a surprising amount of depth to this show and truly you begin to learn in great detail about the Hollywood system. Also in Jeremy Piven playing Ari Gold here is another antihero in the same vein as Malcolm Tucker, a character that any sensible reasoning dictates you should dislike but ultimately you secretly want to be like. (JGRAM)

LOST/Fringe/Alias
Clearly, I have been on a JJ Abrams kick this year. S5 of LOST was AMAZING, managing to do time travel in a thrilling and hilarious manner while still making sense and building the mythology to the ultimate point of anticipation. The only thing stopping me from going insane waiting for the final season in February is that, well, it’s the final season and I don’t know what I’ll do without LOST. Fringe has become a reasonable stand-in though, becoming more preposterous by the week (alternate worlds! shapeshifters! Leonard Nimoy!) while John Noble as the mischievous mad scientist Walter Bishop steals every scene. Having been wallowing in Abrams’ previous series Alias recently, I worry that Fringe is going to topple into similar (entertaining) nonsense sometime soon, once they try and make sense of all the crazy cool stuff they’ve just been throwing at it, but we shall see. (Marceline Smith)

Vice Magazine
The film issue of Vice Magazine in September was its best issue in years and served as a rare reminder of how it can be a very good read when it wants to be. Like a mug I paid the £35 for a subscription as issues in shops became rarer and rarer but I don’t think I’ll be renewing it when it runs out. (JGRAM)

Sight & Sound
It’s so densely written that each issue lasts for ages! (Simon Minter)

Classic & Sportscar
I got back into cars with a vengeance this year so I will have to select Classic & Sportscar. I like Classic Cars too but it’s a little dry and although Octane has some good photography the journalism reads like a GCSE project. C&S is still the best and when I want to while away several hours in the bath pondering whether an Alfa 1750GTV would suit me more than a Lancia Fulvia then I know where to turn. (Chris Summerlin)

Burn Collector #14 by Al Burian
I haven’t even read this yet (saving it for my train journey Up North this Christmas) but it’s printed as a tiny book and has extra comics so if it’s not awesome, I will eat my furry bear hat. (Marceline Smith)

Kid 606 – GQ on the EQ
Fantastic twiddling of them electronic nobs – this tune features pretty much one beat that never, ever wants to stay in one place. Cue one of the slickest, sweetest but messiest beats thinkable at 4.30. (Pascal Ansell)

The Knife – Heartbeats
A few years old I know but relevant this year for me (and La Roux too it would seem). I’m a sucker for pop music and especially pop music that uses bizarre composite parts to make a palatable whole and this perfectly sums that up. Every single sound on this single, when isolated, is horrible. From the “pom! pom!” drums to the cruddy synth to her whining vocals it should add up to a sizeable audio turd but instead it hangs together so perfectly and lumbers along so patiently as to warrant immediate replays. (Chris Summerlin)

Annie – I Don’t Like Your Band
Not the best song Annie has done, but it’s good that finally someone has managed to express those difficult emotions of going to see your mate’s new band and discovering they’re terrible. Though Annie’s advice of ditching those tedious guitars for a nice shiny synth is not without flaw – do we really need any more tedious synth bands? One to keep aside for your next passive-aggressive mixtape anyway. (Marceline Smith)

Andrew Douglas Rothbard – Wisely Wasted
Super lush electronic IDM psyche unlike anything else I’ve heard. I could listen to this song over and over again (and let’s face it, I have). The song as a whole is utterly fantastic but the point at about 3:30 where it stutters fucking blows my mind. Every time. (Justin Snow)

Fire by Jimi Hendrix then the Buff Medways then Lupe Fiasco
A few months ago I went through a weird phase where this song in various forms appeared to be following me around. First the original popped up in a pivotal moment in Entourage and with the appearance it blasted its way back into my consciousness. Next I came across a live version by the Buff Medways in the Billy Childish Is Dead documentary which I prompted hunted down on both seven inch studio version and a live XFM Buff Medways album. Then the strangest of all was a day or two later getting in my car to hear a bastardized version of the original on Zane Lowe’s Radio One show. Some rapper was now spitting all over the song and amazingly it didn’t sound awful. That was Lupe Fiasco. If you have never heard “Fire” by Hendrix where have you been? It is a wonderfully pounding and mesmerizing with heart stopping breaks and pauses before a pure swing shoots it off into the outer limits. If only all Hendrix songs had been as good as this. (JGRAM)

Goran Bregovic – Kalashnikov
Balkan madness. Just listen to it, listen to it, listen to it, NOW! (Pascal Ansell)

Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name
Having been comprehensively denounced by pals in the pub last night for not liking Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name’ [or whatever it’s actually called], it would have to be that song. Not because it’s my favourite, but because it’s my favourite use of a mediocre song in a bizarrely misguided herd-following load of cobblers that wasted a lot of everybody’s time at the end of this year. (Simon Minter)

Mix tape by Thurston Moore
An interesting little investigation into the world of the home-recorded mixtape – a quick read perhaps, but a nice looking book with contributions from many interesting people. I like seeing what mixtapes the great and good from music and art have given to eachother, and how they’ve been packaged. Even your favourite supercool rock star has cut and pasted a crappy-looking tape cover together at some point in the past; you’re not the only one. (Simon Minter)

Hardcore – A Tribal History by Steven Blush
Honest and irreverent insight into a self-destructing scene and its glory years dating 1980-3. My prior knowledge of hardcore solely stemmed from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1,2,3 and 4. Blush done learned me. (Pascal Ansell)

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (Translated by Edith Bowman)
1000 initially daunting pages expertly given an accessible modern voice by Bowman.  I’ve still got a long way to go but the adventures of the man of la Mancha and his erstwhile squire are hugely entertaining to this day. (Alex McChesney)

The Death Of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave
No book this year proved as good as Bad Vibes by Luke Haines but that was my summer pick and I don’t want to repeat myself. The other book to leave a mark on me this year was unsurprisingly The Death Of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave. I don’t think I have ever seen a book get so much coverage in this way before and the manner in which it was presented to the public (hardback, seven disc atmospheric audiobook and iPhone application etc) really felt modern. The actual written content of the novel was OK, too self conscious but fun all the same. I’ve read Bukowski and in comparison Bunny Munro was almost a saint. The height of this book for me came when I attended a Q&A and reading hosted by David Peace and afterwards I managed to get Cave to sign my book who amongst other things told me that my old job sounded “fucking depressing.” It was a slice. (JGRAM)

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
Having got bored waiting for George RR Martin to finish the next Fire & Ice book, I found a bunch of these in a charity shop and dug in, not entirely aware that there were 11 books in the series and it wasn’t even finished yet. Or that Robert Jordan had died, leaving notes for someone else to finish it. I’ve found myself enjoying these far too much despite the growing realisation that he could have told the story in at least half the pages, if someone had edited out all the repetition and characters endlessly ruminating on NOTHING. I’m on Book 8 now and about 3 things have happened in 600 pages. It’s your typical ‘farmboy discovers he’s the chosen one and has to save the world from the dark one’ tale, but there’s enough unexpected and cool stuff going (and zero elves and dwarves) on that I keep at it. At the very least, buying a load of these at 1p each from Amazon has saved me a lot of money in proper books this year. (Marceline Smith)

Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
I got this as a gift for my wife. We both loved the movie Everything Is Illuminated (based on the book written by Foer) and when I saw this in a bookstore I thought we should give it a shot. I didn’t know it was one of those “Post 9/11” things. But it was. Is. If I had known that, I might not have bought it. But I got over that pretty quickly. The first two pages of this book are the best opening pages in any book I’ve ever read (read ’em on Amazon). It captures the essence of the book and the main character so fully and it’s absolutely hilarious. It starts on a high note, putting you in a good mood, so that by the time you get to the epically dismal parts you can handle it without turning into a sobbing little baby. What really makes this, though, is Foer’s writing style. His sense of humor and flow and control, even the physical spacing of text on the pages make Extremely Loud instantly one of my favorite books of all time. (Justin Snow)

Inspector Rebus series by Iain Rankin
I’m going to pick a series of books and that’s the Inspector Rebus series by Iain Rankin. I love me a good, easy to read detective novel and I’ve ploughed through about 9 of these in as many weeks. Rankin treads a line between trashy lightness and a genuine multi-layered complexity and it makes for addictive reading. His novels are heavy on characters and seemingly-unconnected plotlines and he reminds me of James Ellroy in that you could often use a character index to remind yourself who is who but it’s gripping stuff. It’s almost irrelevant whodunnit as the ride along the way is so pleasurable. (Chris Summerlin)

The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Incredible thriller from the late Swedish writer deserves the massive attention it gets. Dodgy financial dealings, sinister happenings plus lots and lots of cups of coffee. I miss reading this so much, mostly the little things: the main character’s routine: the constant coffee drinking, the open sandwiches and little walks. There are mind-blowing characters in this one – look out for the film next March! (Pascal Ansell)

Spotify
I’m slowly getting my head around the value of Spotify, and now realise it’s the music/internet of Christmas presents. Things that you might never want to buy for yourself, but that you don’t begrudge having around for entertainment. I’m not sure that I believe it’s so much of a ‘try before you buy’ service, but I don’t think it’s about to stop me buying records. It’s just going to make me listen to more music. (Simon Minter)

televisiontunes.com
Few would deny that the epoch of human culture is the television theme song.  While such tunes have mostly been phased out by revenue hungry TV executives desperate to squeeze a few more seconds for advertising, in the heyday of television music – arguably the 50s to 80s – theme songs were masterworks of musical minimalism, laying out the flavor and narrative of a TV show in a hummable ditty.  And because these songs are the backbone of civilization, one would rightly be concerned that if they were to fade away, society might descend into animalistic savagery.  That’s why we should all be thankful for the website televisiontunes.com which has a vast collection of TV theme songs from popular shows everyone remembers to bizarre obscurities.  (Were you even aware there was a “Weird Al Show”?) Your friends, family and employers may grow frustrated as you whittle away the hours of your life absorbing each of the masterpieces contained within the site, but you’ll be content knowing you have dedicated your life to studying important cultural artefacts. (Wil Forbis)

Answer Me This!
Answer Me This! once again proved one of the most solid and reliably funny podcasts and in July I had the great experience of being at the live recording of the 100th episode which then doubled up as a treat when I got to ask (bobble) the 1000th question of its history. (JGRAM)

Nedroid.com
Sweetly odd comics about the adventures of Beartato.  Part bear, part potato. Link. (Alex McChesney)

What I Wore Today (in Drawings)
A genius idea from illustrator Gemma Correll, basically a Flickr group where shy illustrators can post drawings of their daily outfits. It’s an ace flipside to the sometimes terrifying narcissism of the Wardrobe Remix photo groups – in general it seems illustrators are much more likely to mock themselves, pointing out their ink-stained clothing and unbrushed hair. You can see my submissions here. (Marceline Smith)

Screw the internet!
Get off the internet! (Chris Summerlin)