Today, my review of Who Killed Amanda Palmer? (one of my favourite albums of 2008) has been posted.

Who Killed Amanda Palmer? is nothing short of a masterpiece. This disc manages to transcend genres from track to track and still seem like doing so is the most natural thing in the world. It simultaneously builds on her past works and signals a new era of creative output. For our sake, let’s hope it’s a long one.

And jeez, she wasn’t kidding about the video for the latest single Oasis being designed to offend the religious right (but try getting it out of your head):

I’ve also reviewed the new Snow Patrol (which, astoundingly, achieved a remarkably generous Pitchfork rating of 4.9).

In other semi-music-related news, I’m off to a Never Mind the Buzzcocks taping tomorrow night. Hopefully this time we’ll get in…

It was about this time last year that I wrote a journal entry with a preliminary list of my favourite albums of the year and a call for suggestions of albums to check out. It turned out being quite a valuable post, as I discovered phenomenal albums from LCD Soundsystem, Beirut, The National and of Montreal (which ended up being my favourite album from last year). So here I am, trying it again in the hope it’ll be just as successful this time around.

First things first. These are the albums that I’ve fallen in love with so far.

The best of the best

Ben Folds - Way to Normal: A guaranteed inclusion. I would say a return to form, though that’s being a bit tough on Songs for Silverman. After all, a below par Folds record is still miles better than most other things out there.

Favourite songs: Cologne, Bitch Went Nuts, Kylie from Connecticut

Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer: I can safely say that there’s only two artists in my iTunes library that have the genre tag ‘Punk Cabaret’. One is the Dresden Dolls and the other is Amanda Palmer, who happens to be half of the now-on-hiatus Dresden Dolls. This is a stunning solo record that I’ll be listening to for months - possibly years? - to come. Did I mention Ben Folds produced it?
Favourite songs: Astronaut, Ampersand, Oasis

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs: To borrow a technique from Fox News, some people say their earlier stuff was better. I say BS. Plans, to me, remains the ultimate. Narrow Stairs was undeniably solid, with a couple of weak tracks.
Favourite songs: I Will Possess Your Heart, Cath…, Grapevine Fires, Your New Twin Sized Bed

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago: Please Justin, go back to that cabin and write/record some more songs. Nine is just not enough. It’s a break-up album - both of his old band and various relationships - but aren’t all the best records? As good as this is, it takes on a whole new life when performed live. Anyone that can silence the notoriously noisy Shepherds Bush Empire crowd during a soft song has my respect.
Favourite songs: Skinny Love, Blindsided, re:Stacks

The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride: John Darnielle is the new Dylan. Lyrically, most of Darnielle’s work is streets ahead of anyone else in the industry but his voice is likely to discourage newcomers. Thankfully this effort was a tad more upbeat than Get Lonely, an album that if repeated too often is likely to have you impersonating George-Michael Bluth’s Charlie Brown impersonation. The lyrics are as compelling as ever.
Favourite songs: Sax Rohmer #1, San Bernardino, Marduk T-Shirt Men’s Room Incident

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular: Time To Pretend has to be the song of the year. It’s not the only gem of the album, thus it’s a contender.
Favourite songs: Time To Pretend, Electric Feel, Kids Oracular

Tilly and the Wall - O: Not as good as their previous two albums but they were so good that it doesn’t mean ‘O’ is bad. Some tracks seem very un-Tilly - Pot Kettle Black (”Pot Kettle Pot Kettle Black/Talk that talk that smack”) and Too Excited (”Well I say, boo hoo! And I say, fuck you!”), for example - but a fair portion is the same old joyful Tilly, powered by the beat of a… tap dancer. Yep, a tap dancer.
Favourite songs: Tall Tall Grass, Dust Me Off, Cacophony

Other albums in contention (that I can’t be bothered writing about)

Colin Meloy - Colin Meloy Sings Live

Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster… and We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed

Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst

Girl Talk - Feed The Animals

Yet to listen to properly

Glasvegas, of Montreal, Okkervil River, Fleet Foxes, TV on the Radio

Disappointment of the year (so far)

Josh Pyke - Chimney’s Afire: I hope it grows on me. I really do.

First of all, there’s no doubting that Apple design head honcho Jonathan Ive is a total genius. He’s proven that time and time again, and this iteration of the Jesus Phone is no exception. Some have said the plastic back cheapens the feel of the device but I don’t think so - and, from what I’ve heard, the change was necessary in order to ensure maximum 3G reception.

Call quality has been very clear, much moreso than on my Motorola Razr V3i. I should add that I’m writing this review from the perspective of having spent the last few years using this Razr V3i which I’ve come to uncondtionally hate. So it wouldn’t take much to top the experience of using that phone. Thankfully, the iPhone does that (and then some. And then some more).

I’ve used an iPod Touch for a while so was already used to the general UI and Apple applications and wasn’t completely horrible at making use of the on-screen keyboard. I’m getting faster as the days go by but it’s still incredibly frustrating that they haven’t allowed the use of the horizontal keyboard in applications other than Safari.

Let’s face it, the main reason why many were waiting for the second version of the iPhone hardware was the data speed. Having only used the painfully slow GPRS connection with Optus in Australia, I must say 3G is a dream. It makes browsing while on the go a pleasure, coupled with mobile Safari (much better than any mobile browser I’ve used in the past).

What’s the catch with 3G? It sucks battery life like nobody’s business. Compared to just browsing on WiFi (or even just on Edge with the 3G disabled), there’s a pronounced difference in the amount of juice the phone chews through. Add to that fairly regular GPS usage and I can see why the need for external battery boosters may become apparent, especially for businessmen on the go. They’d be the ones using ‘push’ - or whatever Apple is calling it now - the most, too. I’ve found reducing the amount of times the iPhone syncs with the cloud makes an even bigger difference than whether I’m using 3G or not. Push is great in theory but in reality, I’m not sure I can justify the battery cost simply to get instant email notification.

But, as most have said before me, the real potential is in the applications - and the App Store. It’s a game changer, being able to download and install things when out and about. Stuck waiting for public transport? Cough up the dough and you could be playing Super Monkey Ball in no time. There’s some really slick applications already available: Twitterific, Facebook and Last.Fm just to name a few - but the stability of the 2.0 OS means app crashes do happen far too regularly. Add to that some sluggishness with the keyboard and a 5-10 second pause whenever contacts are accessed and you can see why many are hanging out for the 2.1 software revision.

Most of these are minor complaints. It’s both my first ’smart phone’ and ‘3g’ phone - from what others have said, the iPhone is no different to any other phone in both of those categories with regards to poor battery life. There’s no chance of going two or three days without a charge on these devices. The fact is, this kind of device is the future. It makes browsing the web while out and about not only easy but fun too, while eliminating the need for a seperate iPod in your pocket.

If I was doing a lot of multimedia journalism from out of the office, I’m not sure the iPhone would be the best choice. It still hasn’t got MMS, the camera isn’t great compared to the likes of the N95 and there’s no way to shoot video (though an app can’t be far away). But I don’t need my phone to have that sort of functionality at the moment, so I’m very happy with my purchase.

I’d have to give it 4 out of 5 stars, with the potential for that to increase with the 2.1 bug fixes.

As for Mobile Me, the less said about it the better. It’s been woeful. The web applications are buggy, they’ve had way too much downtime over the past week than should be allowed for a paid service and their ‘push’ service has been proven to be a load of BS - and subsequently retitled. In the few years I’ve used Gmail, I can’t remember one single day when I couldn’t access my email. In my Mobile Me testing, it’s happened at least 5 times in two weeks. With the former completely free and the latter a complete rip off, I don’t think I’ll be subscribing when my trial expires. 1 out of 5.

For a more comprehensive (and well structured) review, check out Ryan Block’s thoughts over at Engadget.