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The Observer: Observer Music Monthly

Sunday 7 December 2008

Editors' picks
'I'm not the show-off you think'

Lily Allen left it late, but in a year dominated by female artists, she's set to eclipse all her rivals, writes Miranda Sawyer
Trés Bon Iver

Video (6min 39sec), Bon Iver, alias 27-year-old Justin Vernon, made For Emma, Forever Ago, Observer Music Monthly's album of the year. We travelled to Wisconsin to hear how he did it, and witness an exclusive acoustic performance of Flume
Justin Hawkins v Rock Band 2

Video (1min 02sec), The former lead singer of The Darkness, now back with his new band Hot Leg, gives his tips on how to get the most out of your Rock Band

Barometer

Uppers and downers
News just in: it's about the tunes

It was an amazing year - if you looked beyond the trendsetters and headline-makers to those who stayed true to themselves, says Miranda Sawyer

Soundtrack of my life: Tom Jones

The voice of the valleys reveals to Will Hodgkinson why sounding 'nice' was never an option for him...

Emails and letters

Smash and grab | Follow that | Where's Bob? | Brand leading the bland | Levi's tears | Vinyl fantasy
The ten ...

... false messiahs. They think they're Jesus. They're not

Personality of the year: 'We partied for a week'

Winning the Mercury Prize? Warming the airwaves? Elbow's Guy Garvey did it all

You'd better watch out

From Newsnight to YouTube: the year's funniest and strangest screen moments

Black beauties

In just 12 months, Glasvegas have escaped dead-end jobs to break into the Top 10, hang out with movie stars and make a Christmas album. In Transylvania. Paul Mardles enjoys a vampire weekend with OMM's favourite new band of 2008

This fret is on fire

It was a great 12 months for bedroom stars – and Rick Astley

They'll live on in the memory

The stars from around the world who passed on this year

Geezer, what are you thinking?

Forget about pop for one minute, and contemplate life's big questions. Mike Skinner of the Streets seeks some answers from philosopher John Gray

50 albums of the year

Household names did their best to deliver, but 2008's best record was made by an obscure figure from backwoods America....

National anthems

The tunes that made us punch the air or head for the dancefloor – sometimes both

From ABBA to rappers

Switch off that rubbish Christmas TV and settle down with some of these instead

Record doctor

In his youth, Sir Michael Parkinson got into fights about jazz. Can Paul Mardles steer him towards something less dangerous?

Live in the present? That'll be the day

Wondering what's in store for music next year? Paul Morley predicts it will all be about the past

Flashback

Putting the moral outrage that greeted 'Relax' and 'Two Tribes' behind them, a more festive Frankie Goes to Hollywood hit No. 1 again, as singer Holly Johnson recalls