"Nothing quite like the feel of something new"

Another lyric that Cheryl might recognise!

A wise man once said "Music was my first love & it will be my last". I totally dig that!
The tunes have always been there for me through thick & thin. They lull me to sleep at night, they make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up & they soundtrack my life.
Right from my earliest memories of Abba, "I lost my heart to a starship trooper" & Joseph & the technicolour dreamcoat I've not been able to function properly without regular doses of tunes.
These days I'm very lucky in that I probably spend more time listening to music than I ever have. I rarely watch TV at home & my I-tunes is always on. At work, particularly on this shift, Humbert feeds me.
Irrespective of how much music I have (and I like to think I have a lot!) I always crave more. New music still appeals now as much as it did when I was 14.
Today has been a fine day for me.
This morning at (really wanted to say 4.50 there!) half past nine Buddy With Boobs came round straight from Tesco armed with "X & Y" by Coldplay (which is getting it's 3rd listen right now as I type) & "Get behind me Satan" by The White Stripes. I gleefully fed them into the computer as I had on Thursday when she brought round Oasis' "Don't believe the truth" album. 3 major new albums in the space of 5 days! Ace!
Then when I got to work, Nice Not Hot had brought me in a copy of New Order's recent "Waiting for the siren's call" album that I hadn't got round to getting yet!
So far 2005 has been a raging success in my book for new albums. And I've recently been listening to not much else than my 2005 smart playlist, so I'm really getting to know them all now.
Let's explore shall we?

American Idiot - Green Day
Now I know this came out in 2004 but I didn't get it till xmas & then didn't really listen to it until January. When I did I was blown away. It has now moved past the addiction stage but my god what a beautiful shock it gave me. Having always written Green Day off has snotty punk chanchers I could not (& sometimes still can't!) believe what I was hearing. Two nine minute epics made up of different segments? That can't work surely? Oh my it can! There is not a single skipper on this, not one. If it had come out 2 months earlier it may well have taken the Flashy from Snow Patrol's "Final straw". It's that bloody good! 10

Tourist - Athlete
I like this album, it's nice & it has some quietly moving moments on it, notably "Yesterday through everything at me" & of course, the wonderful "Wires". That's all it is though; nice. 6

Pushing the senses - Feeder
Feeder, they pretty much do the same thing album after album. Though in it's defence I haven't listened to it much as an album, I have however heard enough to know that it's ok & I'm happy to have it in my world. I wouldn't miss it much if it were to run away though. 5

The Bravery - The Bravery
Hmmm, again I like this, it's ok. No one track particularly gets me going but I do quite enjoy listening to it now & again. They are apparently involved in some sort of feud with The Killers. On musical terms The Killers won't be losing any sleep. 6

Some Cities - Doves
Again I've not really played this as an album much but each time something pops out of Humbert I enjoy it. "Black & white town" & "Walk in fire" (which is so similar to "There goes the fear" it's hard to resist) are my favourites, but it all sounds good. 7

Employment - Kaiser Chiefs
Hailing from Leeds & named after Lucas Radebe's pre-Leeds football team, these boys won favour before I'd heard a note. What I did hear pleased me no end! "I predict a riot" is utterly top notch, "Everyday I love you less & less" brings a smile every time it comes on & "Na na na na naa" is like a sugar rush! A great album that's full of fun, snappy tunes & smart lyrics. A winner. 8

Language. Sex. Violence. Other? - Stereophonics
I had little hope for this offering after the last 2 albums. I used to love this band & their debut album remains one of my very favourites to this day. My hopes were raised dramatically when I heard the lead single; "Dakota". Months on & I still adore that song, it's a good as anything they've done. So with renewed hope I listened & I wasn't disappointed. Though still not up with their first 2 albums, it pisses on the last 2. It rocks, it swaggers & Kelly's voice sounds much better than the affected growl he'd come to use. A return to form & an album I still enjoy hearing. 7

I'm wide awake, it's morning - Bright eyes
Something of a curio this one. I'd never heard of them/him prior to reading a five star review of the album in Q magazine. Q do not hand out 5 stars lightly so I figured it was worthy of investigation. It's taken a while but it's slowly becoming something I could love. It's all a bit country (which is rarely a good thing in my book) & in places I've wanted to kick him up to arse to gee him up a bit. It's insidious though & every listen it burrows it's way into my consciousness. The closing track; "Road to joy" is indeed joyous. 7 (& rising)

Open season - British sea power
I wasn't expecting too much from this. Their first album had a couple of stonkers on it ("Remember me" & "Carrion") but on the whole it didn't do much for me. I have been pleasantly surprised. It's much cleaner sounding than the last effort & is full of good songs. I'm especially keen on "Please stand up" which is catchy as hell without being irritating & "Oh Larsen B" which has a great riff throughout it & is about the singer's favourite Antarctic ice shelf. I wish I could write about stuff like that! 7

Elevator - Hot hot heat
Are Hot hot heat the best thing to come out of Canada since Ka? On the evidence of this they sure are! This is simply chock full of tunes, great tunes. And I know already it's not gonna become grating like the last one. Contains possibly the most aptly titled song ever; "Jingle jangle". 7 and a half

With teeth - Nine inch nails
Still really not sure about this. "The hand that feeds" is chuffing blinding & "Right where it belongs" is hypnotically ace but the rest of it is yet to take a hold on me. Which would be a rum state of affairs with most bands, but with NIN I take nothing for granted. Reckless had to forcefeed me "Pretty hate machine" for weeks before I fell for it. "Broken" hurt my ears & frankly, "The downward spiral" scared me! So the jury is still out on "With teeth".

As it obviously is on Oasis, The White Stripes, Coldplay & New Order.
All that I'm missing at this point are Garbage (with I've not read a good review of yet, so I may not bother) & The Tears (which also came out today & didn't stand a chance, maybe next week).
Any thing you think I've missed out on let me know & tell me what's floated your musical boats so far this year?