Top 5 Songs that feature the Moog synth

I wasn't going to do a top five this week but I had so much fun playing with Google's Doodle to celebrate Robert Moog's 78th birthday the other day I couldn't help but put together a quick list of the best songs to feature a Moog. I'm sure I've missed some cracker's so hit me up with your own suggestions in the comments.

I managed to hack out a basic version of "Oh When The Saints" using the Google version but it seems some people were able to create synth genius such as this oddly hilarious version of Daft Punk's "Aerodynamic".



1. Krafwerk "Autobahn"


2. Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here"


3. Donna Summer - "I Feel Love"


4. Jean Jacques Perry - "E.V.A"


5. Yes - "Starship Trooper"


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Top 5 Music Diary 2012 Stats

A slight return to top fives after a frantic week of recording every piece of music I listened to for seven days as part of the Music Diary 2012 project. Whilst that was interesting as far as it went I felt I needed something a bit more from the process. A big list of songs is all well and good but I needed some sort of scientific analysis of what this all meant. What did this sample of my music taste suggest about me as a person? Where there any unexpected trends I wasn't consciously aware of? I needed some sort of conclusion. Something colourful. Something pretty. Something pie-chart shaped!

I love a good pie chart.

1. Top 5 Bands - The list of bands I listened to was dominated by the two artists I saw play live that week. A combination of both being hot listens for me right now and my ongoing obsession with listing everything I do. To be honest his proved to be the only obvious pattern in my listening habits, other than an excessive use of the iPod shuffle facility. Field Music claimed 3rd thanks to a new album that has 16 songs on it. Efrim of Godspeed got 4th because his album was so good I played it twice in a row. My Bloody Valentine and The Gun Club tied for 5th due to single plays of their albums.



Seeing as Google Docs cut off the rest of my legend here's the list of bands included on the graph. Much as I'm sure you're as keen about completeness as I am I figured I'd spare you the full list of artists by cutting it off at bands who featured less than four times.
Trembling Bells & Bonnie Prince Billy - 29
Laura J Martin - 27
Field Music - 16
Efrim Menuck - 15
My Bloody Valentine - 11
The Gun Club - 11
The Antlers - 10
Trembling Bells - 10
Pegasvs - 9
Pixies - 8
Napoleon IIIrd - 7
Beth Jeans Houghton - 5
Black Lips - 4
The Go! Team - 4
Trembling Bells & Muldoon's Picnic - 4

2. Top 5 Genres - I based this on a fairly broad consideration of the genre of band and tried not to think too hard about whether Trembling Bells are New-Folk or Folk-Rock or Alt-Folk-Rock. I expected Folk to form the largest chunk so was surprised to find how significantly Indie had whooped Folk's arse. I think this is partly due to the vagueness of Indie as a genre (it's a neat container for a lot of guitar led new music) but clearly I'm a bigger Indie-kid than perhaps I might normally admit.



3. Top 5 Locations - So, Work and Home proved to be where I do most of my music listening. This is perhaps a little surprising when you take into account I do most of my music listening on my own. At work I suppose I make the most of the times when I'm on my own, at home I take any chance I can get (and wear headphones a lot).



4. Top 5 Devices - No major surprises here as my iPods provide me with the choice of music I want pretty much wherever I am. I've not had a proper hi-fi set up for over 10 years but I'm no audiophile and the convenience of the Pod is a wondrous thing. In another week the BBC iPlayer may have featured more significantly. The one interesting point is how many different devices enable me to play music. We really are living in the future, jet packs and hoover cars can not be too far round the corner.



5. Top 5 other numbers - Er, I've run out of pretty graphs so here are a few extra numbers to tide you over.

Total songs played = 321
Average songs played per day = 45
Approx time spent listening to music per week* = 21 hours 24 minutes
Approx average time spent listening to music per day = 3 hours 3 minutes
Number of different artists = 138

* based on rough estimate of average 4 minute song length.
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Music Diary 2012 - Day 7

The final day of this year's music diary and whilst I've run out of steam a little trying to think of interesting things to say I've enjoyed the insight tracking my actual music listening has brought. I think it has reflected a pretty average week for me, but if time allows I hope to do a summary post to explore exactly how I got on.

Sunday's have a fairly regular routine at Chez Top Five. Mrs takes the boys out to skif whilst I crack on with some jobs and cook the roast dinner. From 10 until 12 the Cerys Matthews 6music show soundtracked my day (listening variously from the TV upstairs, the radio in the kitchen and the TV in the front room). I was in and out so didn't catch the whole show but the following tracks were the tunes that got my attention. Cerys' show is a fabulously eclectic mix and the perfect soundtrack to a Sunday morning.
"Dust My Broom" Elmore James
"The Way It Goes" Gillian Welch
"The Bravest Man In The Universe" Bobby Womack
"Young Man In America" (Live) Anaïs Mitchell
"Coming Down" (Live) Anaïs Mitchell
"Gloom" Don Cavalli
"Mistreated" The Groundhogs
"Bubble Sex" Tommy Seebach

Around 11.30, with the roast well under way, I had a brief break from the radio to practice the three pathetic chords (D, A & G) I know on my guitar. I've been trying to progress from musical duncehood to being able to play at least one tune. I've selected "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedance Clearwater Revival as the ideal starer song but have been making slow progress.

Once Cerys' show was done I turned the radio off and brought up Spotify on the PC. I played The Gun Club's debut album "Fire of Love" a recent discovery thanks to Marc Riley and The Jim Jones Revue. I'd been vaugely aware of them and Jeffery Lee Pierce for some time but wish I'd made the effort to try them out a lot sooner.
Sex Beat
Preaching the Blues
Promise Me
She's Like Heroin to Me
For the Love of Ivy
Fire Spirit
Ghost on the Highway
Jack on Fire
Black Train
Cool Drink of Water
Goodbye Johnny

In places Pierce's vocals remind me a lot of Frank Black's and this prompted me to play something by the Pixies. I didn't have long before dinner was due so went with their debut E.P. "Come on Pilgrim" and throughly enjoyed hearing an old favourite by a band that had a huge impact on my taste in music.
Caribou
Vamos
Isla de Encanta
Ed Is Dead
The Holiday Song
Nimrod's Son
I've Been Tired
Levitate Me

That may well be it for the day. We ate a hearty roast dinner (if I do say so myself), went for a walk afterwards down to Shepperton Lock and back, arrived home in time to marvel at the drama of the last few minutes of this season's premier league, put together a bedside cabinet from IKEA, got everything ready for work and school, and then collapsed on the sofa to finish my book ("Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" as you asked).

It's now 10:20 and I suspect I won't listen to anymore music. Match of the Day starts in 10 minutes and I'll have to watch that before slipping into bed and starting another week all over again.


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Music Diary 2012 - Day 6

Mrs Top Five was out for the morning doing sporty things with son 1, so I had a list of jobs to get on with whilst looking after son 2. I'd read that quite a few other Music Diarists were listening to the remaster of "Loveless" which is an album I'd not played in a very long time. I never got into My Bloody Valentine at the time and when I did eventually buy a copy of "Loveless" on CD it didn't bowl me over. I fired up Grooveshark on the PC and gave it another go. Still not really my thing, but I think I'll stick a copy on my nano and see if the occasional track via shuffle helps me appreciate it a little more.
"Only Shallow"
"Loomer"
"Touched"
"To Here Knows When"
"When You Sleep"
"I Only Said"
"Come in Alone"
"Sometimes"
"Blown a Wish"
"What You Want"
"Soon"

Next I took a look through my music favourites on Grooveshark and decided on the always listenable Pegasvs, a spanish band I know very little about but have enjoyed a great deal since being recommended them by @Nebuchanezer on Twitter.
"Brillar"
"Atlantico"
"El final de la noche"
"No Volvera"
"La Melodia Del Afilador"
"Inmortal"
"Sobre Las Olas"
"Hasta el Horizonte"
"Sol de Medianoche"

Cleaning up after lunch in the kitchen I stuck the radio on and got a bit of Liz Kershaw's show on 6music.
"Everything Goes My Way" - Metronomy
"Blister In The Sun" - Violent Femmes
"Dark Star" - Polica
"ABC" - Jackson Five
"Night & Day" - Hot Chip
"Comfortably Numb" - Pink Floyd

I had a fairly busy afternoon and didn't get another chance to play music until I cleared up after tea. This time it was the Craig Charles Funk & Soul show on 6music, not my favourite, so I channel hopped for a bit until settling on Planet Rock with Alice Cooper.
"All The Young Dudes" - Mott The Hoople
"Unskinny Bop" - Poison
"Stranglehold" - Ted Nugent
"Bargain" - The Who

While the kids watched the Britain's Got Talent Final upstairs, Mrs Top Five and I watched an old episode of New Tricks. When that was done we flicked through and caught a little of an old Top Of The Pops show which featured Legs & Co. dancing to something dreadful, The Four Tops and Leo Sayer. With nothing else really taking my fancy and Mrs Top Five deciding to reclaim our bed from the boys, I hit the red button and found the Cerys Matthews show from last Sunday. Recently I have found I've been less able to listen live but I do normally catch up some time during the week. This meant I'd missed Trembling Bells & Bonnie Prince Billy play live on the morning that I went to see them at the Union Chapel, so I was keen to hear that at least before the catch-up option disappeared.

I listened to the first couple of tracks but the Bryan Ferry tune was awful so I decided to skip ahead to the second hour of the show.
"Yei Baa Gbe Wo" Hedzoleh Soundz
"You Are My Sunshine" Bryan Ferry

This brought me round in time to hear Toots & The Maytals brilliant version of Louie Louie followed by that live session. I suspect Trembling Bells are proving a little difficult for some Bonnie 'Prince' Billy fans to enjoy, but they sounded pretty amazing to me again. I think I snoozed off sometime after the session (I took the tracklisting from the BBC website) but I'm sure it all made some impact on my sub-concious mind.
"Louie Louie" Toots & The Maytals
"I Can Tell You're Leaving" (Live) Trembling Bells & Bonnie Prince Billy
"My Husband's Got No Courage In Him" (Live) Trembling Bells & Bonnie Prince Billy
"Riding" (Live) Trembling Bells & Bonnie Prince Billy
"I've Been Watching You" Southside Movement
"Just A Closer Walk With Thee" Mahalia Jackson
"He Made A Woman Out Of Me" Bettye LaVette
"St Louis Bound" Kansas City Tin Roof Stompers
"See My Jumper Hanging On The Line" R.L. Burnside
"Tosta Mista" Hooded Fang
"Legend" Huun Hur Tu & Angelite Bulgarian Singers
"Wind Blown Waltz" Giant Giant Sand


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Music Diary 2012 - Day 5

After yesterday's post I wondered if I was taking this Music Diary thing a little too literally. It took me a fair while to list every song I heard, though that was not helped by my excessive use of the shuffle facility. today I'm going try and be a bit more expansive with my comments rather than just blat out a vast list of songs. I also realised that I'd been so wrapped up in my own world I hadn't really got involved with any of the other Music Diary participants. I think one of the aims of the project was to encourage interaction between music fans so, last night and this morning I've taken the time to scan through what other people are up to and it's really interesting to see what other people are listening too and how they've approached reporting it. I'll link to some of those examples over the weekend if I get the time.

This morning got off to my normal start with my iPod on the drive to work. I felt the need to play something a little different this morning and decided to play Efrim Menuck's solo album, "plays High Gospel" which I've had on my nano for some time now but not really listened to from start to finish yet. I'm a big fan of Efrim's previous work with both Godspeed and A Silver Mt Zion but, other than when something new comes out or I've just seen them live, it's not that often I feel the desire to play a whole album. His solo album is an interesting progression from his earlier releases. The 9 minute "a 12-point program for keep on keepin' on" is just a little bit too electronic for my tastes but "august four, year-of-our-lord blues", ""heavy calls & hospitals blues" and "i am no longer a motherless child" are right up there with my favourite Efrim inspired music. I finished listening to the album at work and then replayed it all over again(though I did skip "12 point program ..." second time round). One of the benefits I find with using shuffle so much, particularly with my more "challenging" choices, is that when I eventually go back to playing the complete album I'm more familiar with the songs and am able to enjoy the full length album more than perhaps I might have done on first few listens.

Nearing lunchtime and I had a bit of time to kill so selected something a little easier on the mind. I picked up The Antlers' "Burst Apart" after reading some favourable reviews in last years' end of year summaries. DiS choose it as their album of the year, and thanks to the joy of Spotify I was able to give it a spin before eventually buying it via eMusic. It's an instantly likeable album, probably not the sort of thing I would normally go for, but an album full of songs that make me feel glad to be alive. The guitar sounds are warm and gentle, it's beautifully produced and whilst I can happily get on with other things whilst it's playing there are moments when I can just stop and listen and enjoy a truly marvelous piece of music.

I went to the pub at lunch time but there was no music. That's not a bad thing, I like "old man's pubs" that just sell beer and don't bother with the trappings of modern society like Sky TV and digital juke boxes, but I have noticed recently that the new landlord has decent taste in music and was interested in what he might choose today. That said, it turned out to be sunny enough to sit in the beer garden. Which was nice.

Back to work for the final hour or so (short day today) and I decided to play the new Field Music album "Plumb". I saw them last November at the Memphis Industries 13th anniversary shindig and have been frantically picking up all their stuff ever since. "Plumb" has taken a while to settle in for me but it's definitely growing with every listen and there are one or two songs ("Start The Day Right", "How Many More Times" & "(I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing") that are absolute gems.

At home and while I'd been out the man had been to install a satellite dish & FreeSat box, so I listened to Steve Lamacq on 6music while I tidied up the rooms we'd moved furniture in.
Israelites Desmond Dekker & The Aces
Sound of the Suburbs The Members
Oblivion Grimes
She Sells Sanctuary The Cult
Burning Hey Sholay
Believe Chemical Brothers

Later I went out to take son 1 to Scouts and took my iPod classic for a rare trip. On shuffle again, this threw up an excellent mix of tunes from Jazz to Hardcore to Alt-Country and back to Hardcore.
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood Nina Simone
It Follows Minor Threat
Wayfaring Stranger Neko Case
Theologians Wilco
By You Fugazi

At bedtime Mrs Top Five fell asleep with the TV on whilst I was reading, so I switched it over to Classic FM to provide a bit of background music that wouldn't distract me from my book.

I had planned to try and catch up with a couple of radio shows this week but didn't get the opportunity to listen via iPlayer as much as I'd hoped. I also wanted to give My Bloody Valentine another go, having read that several other Music Diarists were play the Loveless remasters. My weekend opportunities for music listening may be limited by family activities and general chores but we'll see how things pan out.

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Music Diary 2012 - Day 4

After a slow start following a late night due to the gig, I drove into work listening to the rest of "The Marble Downs" album I'd started yesterday.
"Ain't Nothing Wrong With A Little Longing"
"Excursions into Assonance"
"Every Time I Close My Eyes (We're Back There)"
"Love Is A Velvet Noose"

Which I finished off once I was in work.
"My Husband's Got No Courage In Him"
"Riding"
"Lord Bless All"

I then played the whole of Laura J Martin's album “The Hangman Tree” followed by Trembling Bells 2011 release “The Constant Pageant” and “Hot Toast volume 1” by Beth Jeans Houghton and the Hooves of Destiny.

I went for a run over lunch so switched my iPod to random shuffle mode and got an interesting mix of tunes. As Marc Riley often remarks, chalk-cheese, cheese-chalk.
“Stupidity” Solomon Burke
“Tear Ya Down” Motorhead
“The Lie” Black Lips
“Rosabel” Bella Hardy
“One Way Ticket” Aretha Franklin
“Bitter Branches” P.J. Harvey
“Distance by Clockwork” Neil Cowley Trio
“LB” Sweet Baboo
“Burn” The Low Anthem

Then back to work and sticking with the shuffle mode my afternoon flew past without me even realising what the time was. To be honest I think a few of these tunes passed me by as I was concentrating on other things but I particularly enjoyed North Sea Radio Orchestra, Mudhoney and Colourmusic.
“Morpheus Drone” North Sea Radio Orchestra
“Helpless To Turn” Burns Unit
“Rumble” Link Wray
“Heh Sah Lo Ney” Mickey Lee Lane
“It Doesn’t Have To Be Beautiful” Slow Club
“Exhibit #1” Angelfield
“Bust-Out Brigade” The Go! Team
“Apples and Pears” Slow Club
“SSMannkunt” Part Chimp
“Come On Youth” Slow Club
“A lack of Understanding” The Vaccines
“Keep Sakes” Sky Larkin
“Chapter 2” Joy Formidable
“Bone Marrow” The Black Lips
“To Have and to Have Not” Billy Bragg
“Dr Feelgood” Aretha Franklin
“Urban Guerilla” Mudhoney
“England” P.J. Harvey
“Whitby Harbour” Colourmusic
“Fish In The Dish” Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
“Reprise” Pete and the Pirates

Back home, after tea, I listened to a bit of Marc Riley's show live whilst I tidied up in the Kitchen.
Wrecking Ball - Call The Doctor
All I Want - Snatch
Scissor People - Ty Segall & White Fence
Two Kranes - The Liftmen

Finally hit the sack about 11 and put my old iPod classic on for half an hour to help me get to sleep (though I only just about remember the Smiths' track before I was completely sparko).
Funeral song - Sleater Kinney
Easy Money - Nick Cave
Brendan No. 1 -Fugazi
This Charming Man - The Smiths

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Music Diary 2012 - Day 3

Woke up to the radio again and caught a bit of something by The Kinks, but forgot what it was by the time I came round enough to write anything down.

Listened to my Nano on the drive to work. I had Trembling Bells spinning around in my head and felt it was time I took a break from the random shuffle approach, so played "The Marble Downs" album again on the way in to work.
"I Made A Date (With An Open Vein)"
"I Can Tell You're Leaving"
"Ferrari In A Demolition Derby"
"Ain't Nothing Wrong With A Little Longing"

I didn't get another chance to play any music until gone five. I was working late though so once I had the office to myself I played part of Monday's Marc Riley show from 6Music via the BBC iPlayer. I love Marc's show but don't always have enough time to listen to the whole thing so often just check out the live session band.
"Love Is The Drug" Roxy Music
"I Can't Get Around You" Ty Segall & White Fence
"Devastating Bones" Shrag
"Death Wish" Bowerbirds (live session)
(skipped forward to next session track)
"Sea Ferring" Butthole Surfers
"Stitch The Hem" Bowerbirds (live session)
"Jesse James" Laurel Aitken (John Peel Session 28/04/1980)
"Heartbreaker" Metronomy
"Careful" Fiction
"Love Song Without Flute" Caravan

Work done and dusted I headed into town to catch Laura J. Martin play at The Chapel behind The Gallery Cafe in Bethnal Green. A bit of a trek on a wet Wednesday night but thoroughly worth it. The Chapel seats about 50 people so this was a truly intimate show. Support came from Napoleon IIIrd who was playing acoustically for the first time. I wasn't familiar with his work but he impressed with some intresting guitar picking and soaring vocals. James played 7 songs of which I only caught a couple of titles (The Down Stroke and One Of Those Days) but intrigued enough for me to investigate further.

Laura J Martin initially captured my interest thanks to some extensive play from the boy Riley. I saw her a few weeks ago at a sparsely populated 93 Feet East but couldn't resisit another chance to see her play. Laura combines flute, mandolin, keyboards and her vocals to sublime effect and using a loop pedal to build layers of sound as she plays. She deserves a much bigger audience so try and check her out if you get the chance.
Fire Horse
The Lesson
It’s Taken So Long (Cathy Smith cover)
Spy
Tom
Sour Grapes
Red Flag
At The Close Of The Day
Salamander
Encore: Doki Doki


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Music Diary 2012 - Day 2

Tuesday and I'm back to work and back to my normal routine. There is a short burst of music from my clock radio as I wake up but I'm quick to slam the snooze button and turn it off so don't catch what or who it was. My drive into work is accompanied by my iPod on shuffle which throws up the following selection.

"S.T.B." The Godfathers
"Get It Together" The Go! Team
"Tom" Laura J Martin
"Time Capsule" Dananananaykroyd
"New Direction" Black Lips
"ESP" Hooded Fang
"Strange Things Happen" Billy Bragg

When I'm out and about I use my iPod Nano. This only holds 4GB and so generally has a selection of new albums, recent archive purchases or old favourites. I had a late lunch and went for a run about 3:00 in the afternoon. The iPod is on shuffle again. A playlist of songs under 6 minutes (much as I love Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Prog Rock I really don't want to have to trudge the whole two and half miles listening to just one song).

"Panther Dash" The Go! Team
"Sunday" Yuck
"True Confessions" The Undertones
"Another Girl, Another Planet" The Only Ones
"Slims" Neil Cowley Trio
"The Face Of Mount Molehill" Neil Cowley Trio
"Raised Right Men" Tom Waits
"Birth, School, Work, Death" The Godfathers

It's been 4 days since I ran and I struggled a bit at the start, "True Confessions" helped pick up my pace a little, I was comfortably cruising by the back to back Neil Cowley Trio tunes but then ran out of steam as Tom Waits hit my ears. "Birth, School, Work, Death" is one of my favourite Godfathers' tracks and that spurred me on to a decent finish. You can probably work out from the track lengths that I'm not an amazingly quick runner.

Back at work and with the office to myself I plugged the iPod in to a set of speakers and continued the same shuffling playlist.
"How Do I Let A Good Man Down" Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
"Batman Theme" Link Wray
"Saturday Afternoon" Luke Haines
"Lula" Scout Niblett
"A Lover Sings" Billy Bragg
"Your Thins Is A Drag" Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
"Wyth" Y Niwl
"Everything Goes My Way" Metronomy
"Ain't No Way" Aretha Franklin
"Riding" Trembling Bells & Bonnie Prince Billy

And then a bit more on my journey home. I think it's already becoming quite clear how much I rely on the random nature of shuffle to save me having to spend any time thinking about what I want to listen too.
"Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats" Genesis
"Boeing 737" The Low Anthem
"Glory Hallelujah" Frank Turner
"Matador" Sky Larkin
"Start The Day Right" Field Music

After tea, with the rest of the family in bed, I was going to listen to a bit of the Marc Riley show on iPlayer while I read my book but I switched on the TV and realised "Later Live ..." was on so watched that instead. I still watch "Later" religiously as, whatever it's faults, it has a great track record of bringing artists to my attention I may not otherwise have discovered. Tonight's show wasn't a great one though. Plan B kicked things off with a lively performance and Django Django did their post-Beta Band thing but otherwise I found little to get my pulse racing.
"ILL Manors" Plan B
"Open Up Your Arms" Ren Harvieu
"This Girl" Punch Brothers
"Ain't Got No Travelling Shoes" Tom Jones & Jools Holland
"Amalia" Melody Gardot
"Default" Django Django
"Tower of Song" Tom Jones
"Lost My Way" Plan B

Bed time for me now too.

LATE ADDENDUM - Went to sleep listening to my older classic iPod and lasted two songs before I completely sparked out.
"Readers & Writers" Idlewild
"Funeral Song" Sleater Kinney

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Music Diary 2012 - Day 1

Day one of my efforts to track my music listening got off to an interesting start with the Bank Holiday meaning I wasn't following a normal routine. After spending most of the day before doing things I liked (watching Fulham, having a pub dinner, and seeing a band in the evening) Monday was all about the family. We'd agreed an early start (well 9:30 ish which is early for us) to head up to IKEA in Brent Cross and check out furniture for my eldest's birthday bedroom revamp.

An uneasy compromise led to us listening to Absolute Radio in the car on way to IKEA, which meant my music diary got off to the worst possible start. There are very few bands that I actively dislike but The Stereophonics are top of that list and "The Bartender & The Thief" probably my least favourite song of theirs. Things picked up with the Inspirals (I had a little sing-a-long to the chagrin of the rest of the car), and everyone enjoyed The Specials and Iggy Pop.
"The Bartender and the Thief" The Stereophonics
"Sex on fire" Kings of Leon
"This is how it feels" Inspiral Carpets
"Too Much Too Young" The Specials
"Lust for life" Iggy Pop
"We Are Young" Fun

After a fairly quick walk round IKEA, and the obligatory Swedish Meatballs and Mash for lunch we headed home to the sound of Absolute Radio again. A fairly uninspiring mix of tunes though I enjoyed the Biffy Clyro track and "How Soon Is Now" is probably my favourite Smiths tune. My two boys had a moment singing along to the Adele track (clearly both taking after me) and we ended with a bit of classic Radiohead. Which was nice.
"All Star" Smash mouth
"Everybody Changes" Keane
"Animal Nitrate" Suede
"Bubbles" Biffy Clyro
"Love is a Battlefield" Pat Benatar
"If you Tolerate This" Manic Street Preachers
"She Moves In Her Own Way" The Kooks
"How Soon Is Now?" The Smiths
"Rumour Has It" Adele
"Sweet Home Alabama" Lynyrd Skynyrd
"Man of Simple Pleasures" Kasabian
"Street Spirit" Radiohead

After a nice sit down and a cup of tea, Mrs Top Five took the boys out to the park and left me with a list of jobs to get on with. However, I'd been to see Trembling Bells play with Bonnie Prince Billy that night before at the Union Chapel and spent the first hour or so working out what songs they played. I ran through the whole of the new "Marble Downs" album and also their split "Duchess E.P." which also features songs played with tour support Muldoon's Picnic. Trembling Bells are one of my favourite bands right now and "The Marble Downs" a serious contender for my album of the year.
Trembling Bells & Bonnie Prince Billy - "The Marble Downs" album via Spotify
"I Made A Date (With An Open Vein)"
"I Can Tell You're Leaving"
"Ferrari In A Demolition Derby"
"Ain't Nothing Wrong With A Little Longing"
"Excursions Into Assonance"
"Everytime I Close My Eyes"
"Love Is A Velvet Noose"
"My Husband's Got No Courage"
"Riding"
"Lord Bless All"
Trembling Bells & Bonnie Prince Billy - "Duchess" E.P. via Spotify
"Duchess"
"Too Old To Die Young"
"I'll Be Looking Out For Me"
"Tincture Of Tears"
Trembling Bells & Muldoon's Picnic - "Duchess" E.P. via Spotify
"Bells Of Oxford"
"(There's Nothing Nobler Than) Yorkshire In October"
"Tuning Fork Of The Earth"
"Dancing On The Breath Of God"

I then got cracking on the chore list and put my Spotify Local File catalogue on random shuffle. This threw up several tracks I've not played for a very long time.
"Great Grandfather" Thee Headcoats
"I Love You" V.V. Brown
"We'll Make A Lover Of You" Les Savy Fav
"Mean Monsoon" Dan Auerbach
"Little Thoughts" Bloc Party
"Big Black Baby Jesus of Today" Black Lips
"Instant Street" dEUS
"Tanzen Gehn" The Dirtbombs
"Ladyflash" The Go! Team
"I Am Catweasle" Luke Haines
"Rollin' Stone" Muddy Waters
"It's A Long Way Back" Ramones
"Stand Down" Art Brut
"Failure" Laura Marling
"Peter Gunn Theme" The Blues Brothers

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Music Diary 2012

Hello. No new top fives quite yet (I've still not finished that Fulham article I'm supposed to be writing) but thanks to @GuardianMusic I discovered the Music Diary 2012 project. Basically this involves making a list about all the music you listen to in the week from Monday 7th May through to Sunday 13th May. Which couldn't be anymore up my street without buying a house in Shepperton and moving in to the house next door.

Here's how the organiser @Sickymouth explains it.

Music Diary 2012 is an attempt to document, over the course of one week, how we listen to music: when we listen, where we listen, who we're with when we listen, and how we choose what we listen to. Anyone is welcome to join in, as long as you would ordinarily be listening to music in that week or any other week; from music journalists to musicians to serious music geeks and casual music fans.

It's simple. For seven days this spring, from Monday 7 May to Sunday 13 May, anyone who wants to take part will keep a diary of everything they listen to, and publish it online. How detailed that diary is, is up to you. It might be an annotated list drawn from Last.fm scrobbles and put on Tumblr; it might be a tweet or a Facebook status every time you play a new song on your iPod; you might keep a detailed spreadsheet and post it on your blog at the end of the week; you could even keep pencilled notes in a Moleskine, photograph them, and upload them to Flickr. It's up to you.

I'll be taking part and trying to post my daily records on here as well. Why not join in?