Mick Lewis’s Top Ten — May 7

by Mick Lewis
7 May 2006

1. Keane – “Is It Any Wonder?”
   ... that a guitar-less band finds a way to make vintage synths sound like screaming guitars on its great new single? I’ll say it is—new LP due in mid-June!
2. Maximo Park – A Certain Trigger (Warp)
   I’m getting more and more into this remarkable debut.
3. Ray Davies – The World from My Window (Sunday, May 14, Ovation)
   Excellent documentary following Davies’s career from The Kinks through his recently released solo LP. Nice use of talking heads as well—Elvis Costello and Paul Weller are some of those who sing Davies’s praises. This originally aired April 28, but there’s a repeat showing Sunday, May 14 at 3:00 PM E.S.T.
4. Prefab Sprout – Town & Country Club, Leeds 2000; Reading University 1986 (Internet bootleg)
5. Sondre Lerche – Two Way Monologue (Astralwerks)
6. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial – Schoenfeld Theatre (New York) – April 30, 3:00 PM
   Currently in previews, it features a strong performance from Zeljko Ivanek (as Lt. Com. Philip Francis Queeg) and a decent turn by David Schwimmer, although playing a Jewish lawyer doesn’t seem like much of a stretch for the child of two layers.
7. The Go! Team – “Ladyflash”
   I can’t stop playing this song in my head.
8. Dirty on Purpose – Hallelujah Sirens (North Street)
9. Art Brut play Knitting Factory May 17 & 18!
10. Family Guy (Sunday, FOX) as an argument for not resurrecting canceled shows.
    This proudly tasteless show was funny more often than not in its original incarnation; from the bunch of episodes I’ve watched recently, its jokes are now either stale or non-existent, and its tastelessness has been largely inoffensive (I guess that means it’s failing on two levels). No wonder The Simpsons gang has been having a ball with snarky Family Guy references.