Just a quicky to alert you all (via the wonders of feedburner) that I’m busy beavering away on a brand new, entirely re-worked site.

Also, I’m going to be switching domains – rossburton.info will still be available, but will redirect to the new site. More info on that very, very soon.

As 2010 draws to a close, its seems like the internet is a seething mass of people scrambling to make lists. Top movies of the year. Favourite sporting moments. Most influential people. The list (geddit?!) goes on. And as much as I wish this post was somehow going to buck that trend, I’m an utter sucker for a good list. So here are my top 5 records of 2010. In reverse order, for dramatic efffect, of course.

5. Sky Larkin – Kaleide (Wichita)

Listen to Kaleide on Spotify

Second records are difficult. Everyone, regardless of whether or not they’ve ever had any actual experience of writing an album, agrees that a band’s second long-player is nearly always a gruelling, testing process which will push the band in every conceivable way. Do you adopt a more commercial sound, try and make this the record which propels you into the mainstream, or do you explore a more experimental sound, and hope that you don’t alienate your growing fanbase? With their second LP, Sky Larkin have decided to do neither of these things. Instead, they’ve written a collection of songs which takes the winning formula from their debut record (2009’s superb The Golden Spike) and polishes it to a gleaming, dazzling sheen of indie-pop beauty. Evolution rather than revolution, certainly, but when the songs are as finely crafted as this, I’m not complaining.

4. LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening (DFA Records)

Listen to This is Happening on Spotify

Imagine you’re James Murphy. With LCD Soundsystem, you’ve written two zeitgeist-defining records. Hipster kids the world over regularly shake their skinny jean wearing arses to the likes of Daft Punk is Playing at My House & All My Friends every weekend. But you’re growing weary of it all. The band and your hometown of New York are both getting you down. What do you do? Why, you set up shop in Los Angeles, and write a near-perfect, sun-drenched, 80s inspired tour de force in the shape of This is Happening. It may well be LCD’s last record, but what a way to go out. In any other year, this would have been my record of the year, hands down. 2010 is not any other year though. But still, I defy anyone not to want to start throwing ridiculous shapes as the squelchy, infectious riff that rips through the second half of Dance Yrself Clean kicks in, or to shout along like a drunken dickhead at a fratparty to the raucous pop genius of Drunk Girls.

3. Les Savy Fav – Root for Ruin (Frenchkiss)

Listen to Root for Ruin on Spotify

Yes, its LSF’s most commercial record to date. Yes, it is missing a little of the anarchy and rawness of their previous albums. And yes, the production is maybe a little more slick than I’d like. But this also happens to be the most cohesive album Les Savy Fav have ever put out. And in tunes like Lips N’ Stuff they’ve shown that they still know how to write a raucous art punk anthem. Stop worrying about what direction they’re heading in, just stick this record on, crank the volume and enjoy the now.

2. Sleigh Bells – Treats (Mom + Pop/N.E.E.T.)

Listen to Treats on Spotify

What would you expect to happen when you if you took a former guitarist from hardcore band Poison the Well, and introduced him to a former member of a teeny bopper pop outfit? In this instance, utterly unexpectedly, you end up with a noise pop masterwork. Other reviews of the record have described it as “genre-swerving”, and I cannot fault this description at all. Fusing hardcore, pop, hiphop, metal, techno and roughly a gazillion other genres, whilst simultaneously sounding like nothing else you’ve ever heard before, Treats is one of the most surprising records of the year. Imagine the most alcohol and narcotic fuelled bender you’ve ever been on, condense it down into little over half an hour and you’re beginning to get to grips with how this record will leave you feeling – hungover, abused, close to death and feeling like you’ve just experienced something utterly incredible. Oh. My. Fuck.

1. Titus Andronicus – The Monitor (XL)

Listen to The Monitor on Spotify

As was noted above, second albums are tough. But whereas Sky Larkin chose to simply concentrate on polishing their song writing skills for their second full length, Titus Andronicus decided to be a little bit more ambitious with their sophomore release. By which I mean they decided to write an indie rock concept album about the American civil War. Yeah. It could have all gone horrificly, cataclysmically wrong. In fact, it really should have. No punk rock band should be able to get away with having a 7-minute album opener, or a further 3 tracks which weigh in on the long side of 8 minutes, especially not in the form of a concept album. Prog is fucking dead, man.

But somehow, against all the odds, this record not only works, but manages to be as tightly wound and cohesive a record as I’ve heard in a long time. The civil war concept isn’t driven home too obviously, with it serving more as a backdrop for Springsteen-esque tales of homesickness and lost loves, and there are enough finger pointing moments and “woah-ohs” to keep the most “up teh punx” mohawk-wearer happy. Yet there’s also a level of lyrical intelligence, musical genius and genuinely punch you in the gut song writing skill that takes this far, far beyond being merely a punk album. “I realised too late I never should have left New Jersey” the band sing on album opener A More Perfect Union. Well thank fuck they did, otherwise we may never have heard this astonishing, bewitching record. Life-affirming.

WANTED: Someone to slap my upside the head next time I manage to go two whole months without updating this site.

Jesus H. Christ, I have been slack. Or busy maybe. But mostly slack. Last time I updated this, the UK didn’t have a government, and everyone was complaining about how grey and miserable the weather was. How much has changed in those two short months; now we have a coalition government for the first time in 274 years (approximately) and everyone is complaining because its too hot. How time flies…

The last two months hasn’t entirely been without incident for me, I’ve managed to turn my crappy temp job into a not-quite-so-crappy-but-nonetheless-still-mostly-dull permanent job, become involved in the Take Back Parliament movement for electoral reform (more about that in future blog entries), become single, got a hair cut, and watched an unhealthy amount of sport on telly. I’ve even thought about maybe actually doing some sport, but lets be honest, its a tad warm for all that rushing about. This is the weather for sitting in the sunshine, sipping ice-cold cider (or the cooling and dehydrating beverage of your choice) and watching bands in a field.

Coincidentally (I’m a frickin’ master at this stuff) I’ll be crewing for the crazy (and alliterative) Kit Kaboodle kids at the excellent Two Thousand Trees festival in (hopefully) sunny Gloucestershire next weekend. They’re running the Greenhouse stage, which will be home to all manner of brilliant acoustic acts, including Aspen Sails, Shoes and Socks Off, and the superlative Every Other Ones, who I’m only plugging because they’re my mates. Oh, and they happen to be absolutely fucking amazing. If you’re at the festival make sure you come and say hi; everyone involved are simply lovely. Drunken, but lovely. Although I’ll probably be more one than the other.

That’ll do for now, but I’m definitely going to make more of an effort to update this regularly from now on. Honestly. Probably. Hit me if I don’t.

It’s not very often that I have a genuine reason to write here (which possibly goes some way to explaining my chronic inability to update this more frequently than once every 4 months). The very fact that I’m writing here today should be an indication that I have news, a grand announcement, or an opinion of such great importance that it simply *must* be shared with the world. This is not the case.

Instead what I have is a new toy. Or more precisely a toy that is new to me, even if the rest of the interweb has been enjoying it’s fruits for a couple of years. Last week I bought an iPhone.

This isn’t exactly shocking news. One of my friends (who shall remain nameless) expressed genuine surprise that I didn’t already own one – I suppose I already had the sanctimonious “I have an app for that” smugness of an iPhone owner anyway, so I didn’t take that as any sort of insult. But I have finally stepped into the 21st century and the promise of the entirety of the Internet at my fingertips 24/7, regardless of where I am has been fulfilled. Am I better for it? Happier, more knowledgable? Or does it just mean I can turn down Facebook invitations to raise virtual barns from the bus?

The honest answer is that it doesn’t even nearly matter. Yes, it’s nice that I can write this from my phone. Yes it’s nice that I can check my email whilst in bed, on a train or indeed whilst sat on the toilet, but ultimately, like all “must have” gadgets, this one is at best a useful tool, and the rest of the time merely a toy – albeit one which I doubt I’ll grow tired of any time soon.

So as I said before, this post has no real purpose. Other than to test the features on my new Wordpress app. Naturally.

OK, so my intention was that once the blog was back up and working again that I’d start actually using it. As you can see, this hasn’t happened. But NEVER FEAR! I am back, and have every intention of getting back to the ultra-important task of ffilling this corner of the interweb with my particular brand of mediocre and poorly thought out “commentary”.

In order to get the ball rolling, here are my thoughts on some of the events of the last few weeks which I would have blogged about, had I actually got around to it:

- Windows 7 is out. This would be ultra exciting were it not for the fact that I’ve been using it happily for months. Woo.

- Nick Griffin looked massively like Nixon on Question Time, IE shifty, gutless, lying and mostly incompetent.

- The Beeb’s big nature documentaries like Life & Planet Earth should be made compulsary viewing for school children. Partly because it will instill in them a desire to do everything they can to protect our planet, but also because everything Attenborough touches turns to gold.

- Jan Moir is a cunt. Thats about it really.

Huzzah! The site is back up and working again! And with a spangly new design to boot! There’s still a few things that I need to tweak with regards to the new site theme, but overall I’m pretty pleased with it. Obviously it would have been nice not to have the whole site die on me to get the motivation to go ahead with the redesign, but its done now. Any comments, suggestions and bugs found please either comment, email or twitter me, all my contact details are available here.