This is great stuff, got this via Holy Shmoly. The Irish Army are “Stayin’ Alive” in the Lebanon. This video is currently being investigated by the Military police and I hope they have a good laugh about it and then forget about it. This type of behavior should be encouraged! The British Army did a version of “Is This The Way To Amarillo” based on the Peter Kay Comic Relief sketch which sparked this off and I hope it becomes a trend. Imagine a Taliban and Al Qaeda version! This could bring about world peace! Or locally and better still would be an Irish government one to the tune of Abba’s “Money, Money, Money”

From RTE News:

This afternoon, a spokesman for the Defence Forces said the video had first been uploaded while the troops were in Lebanon. It was then taken down but posted again recently. The spokesman said the posting of videos by soldiers on peacekeeping duties was an unwelcome trend and was not at all encouraged by the authorities.

Well lots of people seem to be throwing their top ten albums of last year about in the blogosphere so I guess I will throw my hat in the ring. But I’m not going to write it in any particular order as I couldn’t be that organised about my music tastes! Besides, is the album not dead with the advance of digital music? – Well, no I don’t really believe that, but it is true to say I have been a little bit out of the loop when it comes to keeping up with the latest releases over the last year or two. I’ve been listening to a lot of old stuff and mixes and the like. My Last.Fm quilt here on the side of the blog and profile will give you a better idea of what I’ve been listening to when I have the scrobbling turned on. Meanwhile my vinyl collection has been gathering dust and taking up space, perhaps I might sell it all.

So back to the topic at hand, here’s a few I enjoyed that were released in 2007 :

The Pale – Contents Of A Shipwreck
Sarsparilla – Karahee
Grinderman – Grinderman
Radiohead – In Rainbows
Saul Williams – The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!
Paul Hartnoll – The Ideal Condition
Herv – Flot and Retent
Dan Deacon – Spiderman Of The Rings
Cathy Davey – Tales of Silversleeve
Bjork – Volta
Battles – Mirrored
Chemical Brothers – We Are The Night
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

No need for reviews for the above, they were all (and still are) a joy to my ears!

I also liked Zoid vs The Jazz Musicians of Ireland although technically I only got the CD in 2008, I performed the visuals for the launch in Crawdaddy a few months back and was very impressed by the sounds.

Other music I really like was that which is on the Tara Compilation CD, which is a lovely mix of many types of music, both contemporary and traditional. There is an another one for the Vigil camp also which I don’t have, but by no doubt it is good too and worth checking out. Support the warriors!

On heavy rotation from previous years, there was a whole lotta Serge, Íse, The Clash, Tool, Mouse On Mars, Howie B, Hot Chip, Neutral Milk Hotel, Halfset, Four Tet, MC Paul Barman, Dangerdoom and more in that mixed bag.

As far as mixes are concerned I’ve been kept entertained by the ThinkToy podcast and in recent weeks by offerings from the Freebird (Vinyl Room) crew; Halfdutch, Pasta Masta and Goldy.

I’ve also been listening to a lot of Alan Watts which is music to my ears and I sometimes blend him with some tunes using Djay or by more ad-hoc means!