It was never as good as it tasted.

A quick note about music this year.

Contrary to what many end of year lists seem to say (and don't they always), i think this year has been a bit on the poor side for music. Don't get me wrong, it's not been downright terrible, but it's not lived up to many recent years. I'm stuggling to pick enough REALLY good albums to make up a top 10, and there hasn't been as many singles that have really managed to grab me as usual. On the plus side, I've been to some great gigs, but often they've been bands who are still touring albums from last year.

Anyway, to prove my point, you just need to look at how many polls LCD Soundsystem are topping. Surely in a great year for music every different critics list would argue for a different album, but this it seems like it's a fact: Sound of Silver was the best album, and All My Friends was the best single. I'd go as far as to say, any polls that say otherwise seem so massively out of touch they border on irrelevant.

Somebody Do Something

As the guardian music section says, “It's almost the end of the year... Let's make lists!”

Let’s indeed.

Traditionally, I have a hard time of naming my favourite songs of the year, not least because I always become embroiled in some kind of argument with myself about whether tracks count that I heard last year, but were only released as singles this year. The world of mp3 blogging doesn’t do anything to help matters, obviously, but the vast ocean of possible tracks to list out there has forced me to impose some kind of rules on myself otherwise I’d still be sitting listing songs in a week’s time.

As ever, the rules are vague, and I’ve discovered after deleting a few false starts of this paragraph, impossible to summarise. Not a lot of help I know. Essentially though, being a good song isn’t enough. It has to have some kind of significance in both the grand scheme of things and my own little world. It has to somehow stand out from the crowd, and have a certain degree of originality. Basically, it needs to stand up for itself devoid of any context- as a perfectly crafted slice of pop music.

Here’s the list, with some choice mp3s.

10. Prinzhorn Dance School- You are the Space Invader -
Buy album from Amazon

9. Diplo- Must be a Devil

8. The Shins- Sealegs

7. The Teenagers- Homecoming -
Buy 7" from Pure Groove (Be quick!)

6. Grinderman- No Pussy Blues -
Buy album from Amazon

5. Rihanna- Umbrella

4. The Rakes- We Danced Together (Sebastian Mix) -

3. Justice- D.A.N.C.E

2. M.I.A- Paper Planes -
Buy album from HMV

1. LCD Soundsystem- All My Friends


I thought I'd get in there quickly before Pitchfork steals all my choices for their countdown. Albums will no doubt follow soon!