Golden Pouchcakes: Life Songs: 2005-2009

Oops, been a while, hasn’t it? Okay, here’s the next list. I had a good long think about these...

2005

Bright Eyes — First Day Of My Life — So sweet it plucks the heartstrings.
Broken Social Scene — 7/4 (Shoreline) — Love a complicated signature.
Kate Bush — King Of The Mountain — She came back! And she’s wonderful!
Chemical Brothers — Galvanize — Add strings to something and I automatically love it more.
Daft Punk — Technologic — I have an app on my iPad that lets you remix this song. Cracks me up every time.

Editors — Lights; Munich; Blood; All Sparks; Fingers In The Factories — Great album, what I wanted Interpol to be.
Fiery Furnaces — Here Comes Summer; Single Again; Tropical Iceland — Sweet and summery.
Kaiser Chiefs — I Predict A Riot; Na Na Na Na Naa — Hedonistic.
LCD Soundsystem — Daft Punk Is Playing At My House — I hadn’t heard of this. Then a friend of mine posted the title on a forum, and for a half hour or so I actually thought Daft Punk was playing at his house.
Mercury Rev — In A Funny Way — Dreamy and swirling and beautiful and a bit jangly.
The New Pornographers — Twin Cinema — This popped up, was everywhere, and disappeared again.
They Might Be Giants — E Eats Everything; Go For G!; LMNO; D Is For Drums — Here Come The ABCs may be an album for kids, but I still love it. Totally worth having!

2006

Lily Allen — Smile — A pretty song with a reggae flair about an newly-empowered woman. Video’s fun too.
Amadou & Mariam with Manu Chao — Senegal Fast Food — I’ve never heard this on the radio, only via the website for a festival weekend. Love it.
Belle & Sebastian — White Collar Boy; Sukie In The Graveyard — There are people who don’t like this album, I’m not one of them. Although I have to say I don’t get why Funny Little Frog was their lead single. Saw them on this tour, they performed well but the venue was AWFUL.
Braces Tower — Eleven Twelve — AWESOME remix of the pinball song from Sesame Street — you know, the one sung by the Pointer Sisters?
Camera Obscura — If Looks Could Kill; I Need All The Friends I Can Get — Happy and sunny, this.

Captain — Glorious; Frontline; This Heart Keeps Beating For Me; Western High — This Is Hazelville was an awesome album, my favourite of the year. And I have Russell Brand’s Favourite Bands to thank for turning me on to it!
Gnarls Barkley — Crazy; Gone Daddy Gone — Crazy was ridiculously popular upon its release, still up there too. Took a while for me to decide I really did like it, but I got there. Also, their Violent Femmes cover is fun.
Peter Bjorn And John — Young Folks — Another one of those songs that you couldn’t get away from when it came out, it showed up everywhere. I still love it.
Puppini Sisters — Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (From Company B); Wuthering Heights; In The Mood — How is it that I love this style of music so much? These ladies are the real deal.
Regina Spektor — Fidelity; Better; Edit — Regina Spektor is an odd woman, her music is different from anything else I’m hearing out there. Saw her play at The Phoenix with a friend on this tour and she was lovely.
KT Tunstall — Black Horse And The Cherry Tree; Suddenly I See — Very popular. Like it anyway.
Amy Winehouse — Rehab; You Know I’m No Good; Back To Black; Valerie — She was a hot mess, but what a voice.

2007

Bird And The Bee — Again & Again — Dreamy.
Andrew Bird — Imitosis — Melancholic.
Flight Of The Conchords — Business Time; If You’re Into It — I love these boys. Seriously. They are so much fun. You know when I’m down to just my socks, it’s time for business — that’s why they’re called business socks.

Puppini Sisters — Spooky; Jilted — The first thing I ever heard by them was their cover of Spooky, on an episode of Jonathan Creek. Before the episode was over I’d found them on the internet and downloaded the album.
They Might Be Giants — The Mesopotamians — Sargon, Hammurabi, Ashurbanipal and Gilgamesh!
Vampire Weekend — A-Punk; Oxford Comma — There’s a sweetness there. Plus, how could I not like a song called Oxford Comma?

2008

Captain — Keep An Open Mind — Why didn’t this turn into another album?
Death Cab For Cutie — I Will Possess Your Heart — Long slow buildup (four-and-a-half minutes before Ben even starts singing!), but worth the wait.
Faded Paper Figures — The Persuaded — Never say YouTube surfing doesn’t get you anywhere. I happened across a makeup tutorial video one night and this was the song the user had chosen to back it. Loved it from the first note.

Flight Of The Conchords — Foux Du Fafa; Robots; Boom — I never get tired of this album!
Friendly Fires — On Board — Another song I first heard in a commercial, I think it was for the Wii. Fun.
Gresham Flyers — Everyone Has To Meet Somewhere; Suits; Foolscap; Clockwatching — I come back to Foolscap all the time…
Count & Sinden with Kid Sister — Beeper — A friend of mine wanted me to find this for her. It’s so not my style in anyway, and yet…
Ra Ra Riot — Suspended In Gaffa — Best Kate Bush cover I’ve ever heard.

Santogold — L.E.S. Artistes; Shove It; Say Aha; Creator; Lights Out — She later had to change her name to Santigold, but this was before that. Great album.
Curt Smith — Seven Of Sundays — Beautiful.
The Ting Tings — That’s Not My Name; Shut Up And Let Me Go — Newer loves for me, I might eventually decide I don’t like them anymore (they’re both catchy of the type that seem to come and go), but for now I’m enjoying them.

2009

Lily Allen — Fuck You — How many times have you wanted to say this? Me, I know it’s a daily struggle.
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour — The Golden Age — Another song from a commercial. Might hate it in a couple of years, but right now…
Band of Skulls — I Know What I Am — I never get tired of this. Xognya introduced me to it, forever grateful.
Big Pink — Dominos — It’s got a majestic feel to it.
Andrew Bird — Oh No — Not sure why. I just like this one, it kind of envelops you. It’s like a Sunday afternoon, bright and warm.
Caro Emerald — Back It Up — Another one of those ultra-popular catchy songs, but I have to say there’s something about it that has sticking power.

Flight Of The Conchords — Hurt Feelings; I Told You I Was Freaky; Demon Woman; Too Many Dicks (On The Dance Floor); Friends — The whole album is fantastic. The CD came with a poster, I should put it up.
Franz Ferdinand — Ulysses — Still has that whatever-it-was that made their debut album so infectious.
Lonely Island — I’m On A Boat; Lazy Sunday; Dick In A Box — Yep.
They Might Be Giants — I Am A Paleontologist — That’s who I am!
The Virgins — Rich Girls — Has a ’70s summer feel to me.
Zeus — How Does It Feel; Marching Through Your Head — They opened for Belle & Sebastian at Massey Hall, not bad. A bit to beard-y though.

Golden Pouchcakes