Good Good Times Ahead

Another year comes to a close and unless you were living under a rock, 2007 was a great one for music. Maybe the tunes are actually getting better lately or maybe they're just easier to get at (I sometimes wonder how many great bands were lost during the pre-Internet era).

There are so many bands to be excited about right now, most of which are coming out of the UK courtesy of forebearers like The Arctic Monkeys and The Cribs and now spilling into a new generation of punk/C86 mashers like The Wombats, Los Compesinos, Frightened Rabbit, Tokyo Police Club (I know, they're from Canada; hey, it's a commonwealth), and a few of the ones presented below. And, then there is Glasvegas. Enough said.

The Answering Machine - "Lightbulbs" (buy). "Just shut up, it's not like that; she retracts like a brick wall, but I'm her cracks."

Johnny Foreigner - "The End And Everything After" (buy). Man, this new generation of drummers just gets it. Snare rolls all over the place. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Look See Proof - "Casualty" (buy). Hear any Blink 182 in there? Of course you do. This is a great amalgam of the Atticus boys, emo, and the new school C86/punk sound. So catchy.

Rooney - "When Did Your Heart Go Missing" (buy). OK, change of pace here. Less noise, more classic pop hook. This LA band may be a bit too pretty, but every album they put out comes with at least one monster gem like this that gets stuck in my skull for days. What a hook.

Danny Malone - "Baby Bleu" (buy). The past three weeks have been an insane emotional ride. Without explanation, suffice it to say that I could write novels on sadness, hope, and 'love's easy tears' right now. Being a parent is the greatest and most heart-wrenching thing ever. When your kid isn't feeling right, you aren't feeling right. I sat in my favorite NYC deli last week and ate about 1/4 of my food. I've never been so consumed. "Wishing all day that I could clear my head, yeah wishing all day that I could clear my head, clear my head full of thoughts of you, oh you're all I think about 'baby bleu'".

Merry Christmas.