I thought I was done with shows for 2005, but a quiet night and an opportunity to see a friend and former bandmate play led me to Rancho Relaxo for one more bout of live music before the calendar expired. My involvement with Lake Holiday pretty much ended over a year ago, but singer/songwriter Brad Davis has been carrying on under the name in both band and solo formats. Last night it was just him with the acoustic guitar, playing old and new songs. I hadn’t seen him play since the last time I was onstage with him, so I was pleasantly surprised to see how much he’s improved as a live performer – more comfortable, confident and just plain sounding better than I recall. The songs sounded really good, too. He played a number of selections from his/our album, This Is How We Say Goodbye, which has been in process for, um, a couple years now. I’ve taken to calling it Chinese Democracy. But at the moment, it looks as though it’ll be out in late Winter/early Spring of ’06, so here’s hoping. I’d really like to hear it. And tangentially, it was quite weird/neat to click over to My Old Kentucky Blog this week and see my own mug and a writeup on Lake Holiday.

The only other act I stayed to see was The Coast, whose name was familiar to me because they were on the bill for the Ukula Bright Lights festival back in November, though I didn’t catch their set. After hearing them last night, I’m not surprised they were on that bill – their sound would have been a natural fit for that distinctly Brit-friendly lineup. The most obvious touchstone would be mid-era New Order (post-Movement, pre-Technique), and judging from their cover of “Face Up”, they know it. What’s impressive is that they manage to pay sonic homage without any of New Order’s trademark sounds – almost no synths, just effected guitars, mostly non-Hooky bass and stripped down drums. Not even any Anglo affectations on the vocals, which were still Sumner-esque but a little raspier. But wholly organic. What they do cop is the upbeat, shimmering pop music that could get folks dancing without a single disco hi-hat. Overall, I found them fresh and impressive, and considering they managed to nearly pack a bar three days after Christmas, I’m not the only one. I was under the impression that an official release of some sort was forthcoming in the near future – I’d like to check that out. In the meantime, there’s some audio on their MySpace page, and a handfull of photos from the show here.

The AV Club compiles a most essential year-end list, tallying up the least-essential releases of 2005. The Toronto weeklies have realized 2005 is over, so both eye and NOW have their year-end summaries up. DoCopenhagen offers up their top 50 videos of 2005, all with linkage. Now are these really their 50 best videos or just the 50 best they could find online? Who cares, it’s awesome. Via Brooklynvegan.

JAM! lists off their years best music interview quotes, with a special focus on Oasis’ Noel Gallagher’s Live 8 rant. I like how it’s acceptable to wrtie “fookin” in a newspaper.

Yay to myself and Zoilus for making eye‘s list of top music blogs for 2005. I don’t know who those other jokers are.

Creator Rob Thomas answers Veronica Mars season two questions for TV Guide. I am under the impression that VM is doing alright in terms of ratings this year – is this correct? It would be so nice for one of the very few shows I watch to not be on the cancellation bubble for a change. Besides 24, anyway. Link via Soaring With Eagles.

np – Spiritualized / The Complete Works Volume 2