Thanks to Coolfer and Repellent's Under The Roundtable happy hour event last night, I went to the Shins show at Webster Hall completely off my face drunk. Usually I'm (mostly) sober at shows - I hate having to miss half the gig standing in line for the bathroom and I like to have some memories to go along with my ringing ears and blurry concert photos.

Memories from last night? Not many, except the Shins sounded great and Webster Hall is a bizarre place. I know, a pretty weak review of a show, so read Rajeev's comments about Sunday night's performance. No photos from me either. What? I couldn't hold my drink and my camera at the same time!

Elsewhere:

This ILM thread has got me thinking about which 2005 albums have disappointed me the most so far. I'm finding it hard to develop a lengthy list as most of the albums I had high expectation for have delivered. For example, I love the new Malkmus and Four Tet records.

Daft Punk's Human After All comes to mind as a disappointment, but I've never been a big DP fan, so it was more fun watching the hate flowing from the band's loyalists over on ILM. My other choices would be Doves' Some Cities and Prefuse 73's Surrounded By Silence. Neither album came close to matching the quality of their predecessors.

Here's my list of albums I've found surprisingly good in the last four months:

1. Man Man - The Man in the Blue Turban With A Face

2. Caribou - The Milk of Human Kindness

3. Gruff Rhys - Yr Atal Genhedlaeth

4. Half-Headed Cloud - Thy is a Word & Feet Needs Lamps

Albums that need further review but didn't impress me much on first listen:

1. Spoon - Gimme Fiction

2. Louis XIV - The Best Little Secrets Are Kept

3. M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us

Albums I'm most wanting to hear:

1. Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock And Roll

2. Edan - Beauty and the Beat

3. Cranebuilders - Sometimes You Hear Through Someone Else

4. Fannypack - See You Next Tuesday

5. Sam Prekop - Who's Your New Professor?