Another personal snapshot. These are the bands I have listened to on iTunes the most in 2006, apparently.
1 Long Blondes 2 The Divine Comedy 3 Sultans of Ping F.C. 4 Radiohead 5 The Cardigans 6 Blur 7 The Sugarcubes 8 Art Brut 8 MJ Hibbett & the Validators 10 Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine 11 Kaiser Chiefs 12 Thousand Yard Stare 12 A 14 Coldplay 15 Kate Bush 16 Pizzicato Five 16 Supergrass 16 Salad 16 They Might Be Giants 20 The Clash 20 Fighting Cocks 22 Ned's Atomic Dustbin 22 The Rakes 22 Stereolab 25 Jim's Super Stereoworld 25 Chris T-T 25 Franz Ferdinand 28 The Charlatans 28 Jarvis 28 I'm from Barcelona 28 Pop Will Eat Itself 28 Kenickie 28 Genesis 28 Mystery Jets 28 Keane 36 Pulp 36 Madness 38 Travis 38 Super Furry Animals 38 Mama Shamone 38 Paddy McAloon
Knees Up Mother Brown, Knees Up Mother Brown, under the table, oh it's the sodding Killers and the bleedin' Arctic Monkeys, oh dear
For the second year running I ran a poll on www.kumb.com (West Ham fansite) to vote on the singles and albums of the year. The top 10s were as follows:
SINGLES
1. Killers - When You Were Young 2. Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger 3. Amy Winehouse - Rehab 4. Razorlight - America 5. Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down 6. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy 7. Kasabian - Empire 8. Strokes - You Only Live Once 9. View - Wasted Little DJs 10. Automatic - Monster
ALBUMS
1. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not 2. Killers - Sam's Town 3. Rifles - No Love Lost 4. Muse - Black Holes And Revelations 5. Kooks - Inside In/Inside Out 6. Razorlight - Razorlight 7. Fratellis - Costello Music 8. Kasabian - Empire 9. Young Knives - Voices Of Animals And Men 10. Feeling - Twelve Stops And Home
A lot of the names are perhaps quite predictable but I think the winners of "Punching Above Their Weight" are the Rifles - there's a disproportionate amount of fans among the West Ham faithful. I saw them on the second stage at V and there was a mere scattering of people watching them, but they clearly have a lot of support. Good to see the Young Knives' album up high too, it's one of the genuinely innovative records of the year imho.
And how can a song with Chelsea in the title get so many votes from West Ham fans? I look forward to the Fratellis' next single, a rendition of "Stick Your Blue Flag ..."
Here are the other albums and singles voted for. Some very interesting choices in each top 30 ....
Singles
11. New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream 12. Rifles - Peace and Quiet 13. Art Brut - Nag Nag Nag Nag 14. Bedouin Soundclash - When The Night Feels My Song 15. Hot Chip – Over and Over 16. Midlake - Roscoe 17. Larrikin Love - Happy As Annie 18. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California 19. Primal Scream - Country Girl 20. Nelly Furtado - Promiscous Girl 21. Muse - Supermassive Black Hole 22. Muse - Starlight 23. Fratellis - Whistle For The Choir 24. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Snow (Hey Oh) 25. Kasabian - Shoot The Runner 26. Shakira - Hips Don't Lie 27. Band of Horses - The Funeral 28. Broken Social Scene - It’s All Gonna Break 29. Concretes - Chosen One 30. David Ford - State Of The Union 31. Dears - Gang of Losers 32. Dirty Pretty Things - Bang Bang You're Dead 33. Jack Penate - Second, Minute Or Hour 34. Jarvis - From Auschwitz To Ipswich 35. Kooks - Naïve 36. Lil Chris - Checkin' It Out 37. Milburn - What You Could Have Won 38. Pigeon Detectives - I Found Out 39. Young Knives - The Decision 40. Lily Allen - LDN 41. Editors - All Sparks 42. Howling Bells - Setting Sun 43. Josh Rouse - Quiet Town 44. Killers - Sam's Town 45. Matisyahu – King Without a Crown 46. Metric - Poster Of A Girl 47. Morrissey - You Have Killed Me 48. Strokes - Electricityscape 49. Voxtrot - Raised by Wolves EP 50. Jet - Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 51. Battle - Demons 52. Bromhead's Jacket - Trip To The Golden Arches 53. Guillemots - We're Here 54. Hot Chip - Boys From School 55. Kanye West - Gold Digger 56. Keane - Crystal Ball 57. Killers - Exitlude 58. Klaxons - Gravity's Rainbow 59. Mary J Blige - Be With You 60. Rifles - Local Boy 61. Silver Jews - Tennessee 62. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion 63. Young Knives - Weekends and Bleak Days (Hot Summer) 64. Wolfmother – Dimension 65. Arctic Monkeys - Leave Before The Lights Come On 66. Arctic Monkeys - A Certain Romance 67. Beirut - Postcards from Italy 68. Chris Cornell - You Know My Name 69. Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Goin Down 70. Razorlight – In The Morning 71. Tokyo Police Club - A lesson in Crime EP 72. Angels & Airwaves – The Adventure 73. Cold War Kids - We Used To Vacation 74. Johnny Cash – God’s Gonna Cut You Down 75. Long Blondes - Weekend Without Makeup 76. Maccabees - X Ray 77. Muse - Knights Of Cydonia 78. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - I Am Warm and Powerful 79. Take That - Patience 80. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Warrior 81. Young Knives - She's Attracted To 82. 50 Cent & Mary J Blige - Hate It or Love It (G-Unit remix) 83. Arctic Monkeys - Mardy Bum 84. Brakes - Cease and Desist 85. Charlatans - Blackened Blue Eyes 86. Holloways - Generator 87. Jarvis Cocker - Cunts Are Running The World 88. TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me 89. Belle and Sebastian - Another Sunny Day 90. Long Blondes - Once and Never Again 91. Lostprophets - Can't Catch Tomorrow 92. Pendulum – Slam 93. Raconteurs - Steady As She Goes 94. Rakes - All Too Human 95. Snow Patrol/Martha Wainwright - Set The Fire To The Third Bar 96. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Dudley 97. Zutons - Valerie 98. Adequate 7 – Gotta Stay Focused 99. Arctic Monkeys - The View From the Afternoon 100. Automatic – Recover 101. Cansei De Ser Sexy - Music is My Hot Sex 102. Hot Puppies - The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful 103. Jet - Bring It On Back 104. Kasabian - Me Plus One 105. Killers - Bones 106. Sunshine Underground - Commercial Breakdown 107. Wolfmother - Love Train 108. Cansei De Ser Sexy - Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above 109. Clearlake - No Kind Of Life 110. Damien Rice - 9 Crimes 111. Fedde Le Grand - Put Your Hands Up For Detroit 112. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly – The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager Part One 113. Guillemots - Made-Up Lovesong 43 114. Guillemots - Trains to Brazil 115. James Dean Bradfield - An English Gentleman 116. Future Of The Left – When Fingers Become Thumbs 117. Jarvis - Don't Let Him Waste Your Time 118. Kooks - Ooh La 119. Lemonheads - Become the Enemy 120. Lostprophets – Rooftops 121. Maccabees - First Love 122. MJ Hibbett and the Validators - The Lesson Of The Smiths 123. Primal Scream - Country Girl
Albums
11. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium 12. Bob Dylan - Modern Times 13. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones 14. Long Blondes - Someone To Drive You Home 15. Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time 16. Audioslave - Revelations 17. Morrissey - Ringleader Of The Tormentors 18. Zutons - Tired Of Hanging Around 19. Joanna Newsom - Ys 20. Strokes - First Impressions Of Earth 21. Towers Of London - Blood, Sweat And Towers 22. Islands - Return To The Sea 23. Keane - Under the Iron Sea 24. Wolfmother - Wolfmother 25. Larrikin Love - The Freedom Spark 26. Racontuers - Broken Boy Soldiers 27. Jarvis - Jarvis 28. Milburn - Well, Well, Well 29. Thom Yorke - The Eraser 30. Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam 31. Hot Chip - The Warning 32. Decemberists - The Crane Wife 33. Beatles - Love 34. Brand New - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me 35. Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther 36. And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - So Divided 37. Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon 38. Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics 39. Lambchop - Damaged 40. Primal Scream - Riot City Blues 41. Iron Maiden - A Matter Of Life And Death 42. Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit 43. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager 44. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad Of The Broken Seas 45. Snow Patrol - Eyes Open 46. Guillemots - Through The Window Pane 47. Jet - Shine On 48. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain 49. Brakes - Beatific Visions 50. Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist 51. Placebo - Meds 52. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black 53. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar 54. Bel Auburn - Lullabies in A&C 55. Bloodhag - Hell Bent for Letters 56. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene 57. Bromheads Jacket - Dits To The Communter Belt 58. Bullets And Octane - In The Mouth Of The Young 59. Dirty Rig - Rock Did It 60. Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike 61. Johnny Cash – Personal File 62. Layo & Bushwacka - Feels Closer 63. Like - Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking 64. Lostprophets - Liberation Transmission 65. M Ward - Post War 66. Mastodon - Blood Mountain 67. Mono - You Are There 68. Paul Simon - Surprise 69. Peter, Bjorn and John - Writer's Block 70. Sloan - Never Here the End Of It 71. Tool - 10,000 Days 72. Adequate 7 – Here On Earth 73. Astral Doors - Astralism 74. Dirty Pretty Things - Waterloo To Anywhere 75. DJ Shadow - The Outsider 76. Gnarls Barkley - St Elsewhere 77. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House 78. Holloways - So, This Is Great Britain? 79. James Dean Bradfield - The Great Western 80. Mark Lanegan & Isobel Campbell - Ballad Of The Broken Seas 81. Metric - Live it Out 82. Mogwai - Mr Beast 83. Neil Young - Living with War 84. Pendulum – Hold Your Colour 85. Rum Rebellion - The Ultimate Grog 86. She Wants Revenge - She Wants Revenge 87. Six Organs of Admittance - Sun Awakens 88. Thermals - The Body The Blood The Machine 89. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass 90. Automatic - Not Accepted Anywhere 91. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Etiquette 92. Couse and the Impossible - The World Should Know 93. Hellshock - Shadows of the Afterworld 94. Infadels - We Are Not the Infadels 95. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye 96. Knife - Deep Cuts 97. McClusky – McCluskyism 98. Nebula - Apollo 99. Poisonblack - Lust Stained Despair 100. Serena-Maneesh - Serena-Maneesh 101. Spinto Band - Nice and Nicely Done 102. Stiff Little Fingers - Guitar and Drum 103. Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards 104. Albert Hammond Jr - Yours to Keep 105. Boy Kill Boy - Civilian 106. Cat Power - The Greatest 107. Jewdriver - Hail the Jew Dawn! 108. Jolls Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra - Moving Out To The Country 109. MJ Hibbett and the Validators - We Validate! 110. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped 111. Tim Hecker - Harmony In Ultraviolet 112. White Rose Movement - Kick 113. Corinne Bailey Rae 114. Damien Rice - 9 115. Divine Comedy - Victory For The Common Muse 116. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale 117. Godsmack - IV 118. J Dilla - Donuts 119. Johnny Cash – One Hundred Highways 120. Mogwai - Zidane Soundtrack 121. My Chemical Romace - Welcome To The Black Parade 122. Oh No! Oh My! - Oh No! Oh My! 123. Riot Cop - s/t 124. Trivium - The Crusade 125. Blood Of Christian Children - s/t 126. Brakes - Bad Blood 127. Charlatans - Simpatico 128. Czars - Sorry I Made You Cry 129. Delays - You See Colours 130. Helmet - Monochrome 131. Open - Statues 132. Orson - Bright Idea 133. Scott Matthews- Passing Stranger 134. Seth Lakeman - Freedom Fields 135. Tunng - Comments of the Inner Chorus 136. Archie Bronson Outfit - Derdang Derdang 137. Basement Jaxx - Crazy Itch Radio 138. Bert Jansch - Black Swan 139. Chumbawamba - UNchumbawamba 140. Kill Hannah - Until There's Nothing Left Of Us 141. Mohair - Small Talk 142. Oceansize - Everyone Into Position 143. Others - Inward Parts 144. Slayer - Christ Illusion 145. Sunshine Underground - Raise the Alarm 146. Charalambides - A Vintage Burden 147. Dragonforce - Inhuman Rampage 148. Easy Star All Stars - Radiodread 149. Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control 150. Josh Rouse - Subtitulo 151. Kanye West - Late Registration 152. Mystery Jets - Making Dens 153. Nick Oliveri and the Mondo Generator - Dead Planet: SonicSlowMotionTrails 154. Akron/Family - Meek Warrior 155. Criminal Damage - s/t 156. I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - Fear Is On Our Side 157. Incubus – Light Grenades 158. Lupe Fiasco - Food and Liquor 159. Mark Kozelek - Little Drummer Boy (live) 160. Max Richter - Songs From Before 161. NOFX – Wolves in Wolves' Clothing 162. Ooberman - Carried Away 163. Richard Hawley - Coles Corner 164. Bright Eyes - Noise Floor 165. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country 166. Embrace - This New Day 167. Ginger - Valor Del Corazon 168. Hot Puppies - Under The Crooked Moon 169. Howling Bells - Howling Bells 170. Malory - Not Here, Not Now 171. Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes 172. Scissor Sisters - Ta-Dah
1. Art Brut - Nag Nag Nag Nag MyspaceYoutube If the second album is anything as good as this song, I am going to be quite happy in 2007.
2. Metric - Poster Of A Girl MyspaceYoutube While most people preferred Monster Hospital, I got much more pleasure from this slow building synth classic.
3. Young Knives - Weekends and Bleak Days (Hot Summer) MyspaceYoutube Nothing more to be said about this band that hasn't been covered already … great songs, great lyrics, great haircuts, great suits …
4. New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream MyspaceYoutube Another excellent slab of electronica from London town. The video made me appreciate bright colours and ice cream like never before.
5. Long Blondes - Weekend Without Makeup MyspaceYoutube Obvious comparisons to Pulp and Blondie continue but the debut album definitely didn't disappoint.
6. Charlatans - Blackened Blue Eyes MyspaceYoutube Always found them consistent between the very very good and very mundane. This was a return to form.
7. Rakes - All Too Human MyspaceYoutube Best release yet from the four unfeasably skinny bastards.
8. Hot Puppies - The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful MyspaceYoutube Homage to Mariella Frostrup from the new Catatonia-with-theremins.
9. Cansei De Ser Sexy - Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above MyspaceYoutube Impossible to leave this out of the top ten.
10. MJ Hibbett and the Validators - The Lesson Of The Smiths MyspaceYoutube Morrissey, Marr and Barlow changed my life … one of the best singer songwriters playing to ridiculously small venues everywhere. Possibly the first song ever to use the phrase "cliques of Marxo-Anarchistic sods". Go and see them while you still can.
11. Automatic - Recover MyspaceYoutube I don't watch tons of music videos but sometimes, just sometimes, one comes along which makes you appreciate how great the song is. Of course you had to be around in the 70s to know what I mean.
12. White Rose Movement - Girls In The Back MyspaceYoutube More 80s influenced electronic music - there was a lot of it around this year.
13. Couse and the Impossible - A Celebration Myspace Former A House frontman Dave Couse making his best music for years and years. Still reads a lot of his lyrics on stage out of a book!
14. Feeling - Fill My Little World MyspaceYoutube As much as you want to hate a band like this, you can't deny they write great tunes.
15. Mystery Jets - Diamonds In The Dark MyspaceYoutube Still enjoying the folk/prog indie from one of the more unusual bands around at the moment.
16. Fields - If You Fail We All Fail MyspaceYoutube Other people may interpret this differently but to me this sounds like the perfect fusion of space-rock and two vocalists who sound uncannily like the two singers out of Deacon Blue.
17. Divine Comedy - Lady Of A Certain Age MyspaceYoutube This is Neil Hannon doing the thing he does best - wry observations on parts of life that most of us will just have to take his word on.
18. WigWam - WigWam MyspaceYoutube Not sure why I liked this record so much, perhaps it was the Trigger Happy TV style video? Or maybe the pictures of the ageless Betty Boo on their Myspace?
19. Joan as Police Woman - Christobel MyspaceYoutube Reminiscent of the Cure circa 10.15 Saturday Night, without the bad hair.
20. Grates - 19-20-20 MyspaceYoutube Great indie pop from female-fronted Australian trio.
21. Mama Shamone - Over Myspace This unsigned band should be really big in 2007 if they ever manage to gig somewhere other than Hoxton. Dirty electronic punk with a crazy lead singer.
22. Human Knives - She's Attracted To Myspace This slot would have been occupied by the original until I heard this fantastic 1980s Speak And Spell cover. More in 2007 please!
23. Modern - Industry MyspaceYoutube Not a great year for The Modern - this is the song that sold enough to have broken them as a top 20 act - instead, odd buying patterns (from the band's family it's believed) made the song ineligible, dumped from their label and now trying to relaunch themselves under a new name.
24. Sohodolls - Stripper MyspaceYoutube More electro punk, and a great performance supporting My Life Story at the Astoria earlier this month.
25. Blood Arm - Suspicious Character MyspaceYoutube Placed all the higher for my three year old son who has been singing "I like spider girls, and spider girls like me!" all year.
26. Celeste - Nothing In The Sky (With Diamonds) Myspace Last self-release from this unsigned Romford band who split up after about 8 years shortly afterwards.
27. Long Blondes - Once And Never Again MyspaceYoutube The band recorded an excellent acoustic version of this on 6 Music earlier this year which I prefer to the original.
28. Others - The Truth That Hurts MyspaceYoutube I know everyone hates them because of Dominic Masters' "frank opinions on everything", but their second album showed that they're still capable writing excellent songs, and still are a joy to watch live.
29. Wojtek Godzisz - December Will Be Magic Again Myspace It's not as good as last year's token indie Kate Bush cover, but it's still a great song from the former Symposium member. Maybe because Kate Bush wrote it, but you can't hold that against him.
30. Horrors - Count In Fives MyspaceYoutube Excellent organ-driven rock - and video with sign-language so we can all enjoy the lyrics - from rightly-hyped Southend band.
31. iDou - Perfect Hands For Basketball Myspace Carter USM-esque electronic punk featuring ex-Carter USM guitarist! Highly recommended if you enjoyed their 90s output.
32. Cardigans - Don't Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds) MyspaceYoutube Single release from last year's excellent Super Extra Gravity.
33. Sigur Rós - Hoppípolla MyspaceYoutube The best of a number of good Icelandic bands at the moment - a big, spacey orchestra-driven track.
34. Sugababes - Easy MyspaceYoutube I don't care if it's the Sugababes, it's still going in. And I certainly don't have eye burn from watching their videos too much either …
35. Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger MyspaceYoutube I really really didn't want to even listen to a song with Chelsea in the title, let alone enjoy it. But once it got hold of me I just couldn't let go!
36. Mystery Jets - The Boy Who Ran Away MyspaceYoutube More of the same from the Mystery Jets - more of a psychadelic 60s feel to this one.
37. Muse - Starlight MyspaceYoutube Just when I thought I'd outgrown this band (great though their songs are), this one really grew and grew on me.
38. Peter, Bjorn and John with Victoria Bergstrom - Young Folks MyspaceYoutube Whistling lo-fi fun from Stockholm.
39. Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken MyspaceYoutube More fantastic orchestral pop rekindling my love of C86.
40. Lostprophets - Can't Catch Tomorrow (Good Shoes Won't Save You This Time) MyspaceYoutube Best track of the year from the almost-metal band who are still writing great pop songs.
41. Snow Patrol - You're All I Have MyspaceYoutube Really not a major fan of this band but I just can't resist songs like this.
42. Automatic - Monster MyspaceYoutube Not a bad song to have on in the car when you're driving your kids around Loch Ness in the summer, but the joke soon wore pretty thin …
43. Jarvis - I Will Kill Again MyspaceYoutube Jarvis's album has been a real grower on me, no tracks particularly standout but this is typical of the black humour throughout it.
44. Divine Comedy - To Die A Virgin MyspaceYoutube First release from the excellent Victory For The Comic Muse - a real return to form for the band.
45. Viva Voce - Lesson No 1 Myspace Pyschedelic American indie not too unlike the Breeders.
46. Larrikin Love - Happy As Annie MyspaceYoutube Reminds me of a more fun version of the Levellers, or certainly a cleaner version with less dogs on strings.
47. Nurse Who Loved Me - I'll Pretend I'll Pretend MyspaceYoutube Big big sounding space rock from this Canvey band's debut album.
48. iLiKETRAiNS - Terra Nova MyspaceYoutube Never really wanted to hear this band after seeing the way they spell their name and reading the rave reviews on Drowned in Sound. Changed my mind when I saw the excellent puppet video re-enacting Captain Scott's doomed march to the South Pole.
49. Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames - Signal Noise Myspace Leeds band who may be onto bigger and better things next year. Signed to ¡Forward, Russia!'s label Dance To The Radio.
50. Bluetones - My Neighbour's House MyspaceYoutube Britpop lives! Hounslow's finest still alike and kicking on Cooking Vinyl. Shut your eyes and it's 1995 again.
51. Vatican DC - Wow MyspaceYoutube More Britpop hangovers - guitarist Chris Gentry was in the underrated and awesome Menswe@r.
52. Stereolab - Excursions Into "Oh, A-Oh" MyspaceYoutube Nothing's changed in 15 years - still making excellent space-age loungecore with ridiculous titles.
53. Albert Hammond Jr - 101 MyspaceYoutube This is what I used to like about the Strokes when they first came out - uncomplicated, easy on the ear, no trouble to anyone!
54. Spinto Band - Oh Mandy MyspaceYoutube Mandy obviously being short for Mandolins, which aren't in short supply on this track.
55. Franz Ferdinand - The Fallen MyspaceYoutube Best track on the second album, and a perfect accompaniment to Alex Kapranos's cookbook.
56. LT United - We Are The Winners MyspaceYoutube Lithuanian pop/folk sung by Alexei Sayle's extended family? Forget Lordi, these were the real stars of Eurovision.
57. Be Your Own Pet - Adventure MyspaceYoutube Great song, video and performance at Reading, although a bit too much yellow for my eyes. Extra marks for releasing a song longer than one minute in length.
58. Fields - Song From The Fields MyspaceYoutube Good song turned into a great song by an acoustic version at Fuji Rocks - just voices, guitars and what looked like a Fisher Price xylophone.
59. A-Ha - Analogue MyspaceYoutube I'm really glad I accidently tune into other radio stations from time to time (although I'm not trying to make a habit of it).
60. Pink Grease - Carlights MyspaceYoutube Still going strong (ish) and still flying the flag for good indie glam rock.
61. Justice vs Simian - We Are Your Friends MyspaceYoutube Seems to have been knocking around a long time, a good remix of another long lost band.
62. S*M*A*S*H - All By Myself Myspace Great to see the (very low key) return of this excellent NWONW (whatever that meant) band.
63. Ooberman - Crashing Ellipticals Myspace Surprise album of new material released a few years after they split. In their own words - glorious orchestral pop - and who am I to argue?
64. Howling Bells - Low Happening MyspaceYoutube Stumbled over this lot (not literally) when I was walking round the little tents at Reading.
65. Crimea - Lottery Winners On Acid MyspaceYoutube Number 2 in the first Post-Peel Festive 50, and re-released this year. For such an accolade it's a surprisingly normal sounding song.
66. Polysics - Electric Surfin' Go Go MyspaceYoutube Wouldn't be a complete top 100 without some Japanese electronic punk somewhere.
67. Boy Kill Boy - Suzie MyspaceYoutube Can't resist singalong choruses like this either. From E11, Upton Park's nearest band in the list!
68. Kasabian - Empire MyspaceYoutube Surprisingly good first single from the second album - the spirit of Big Country is alive and well.
69. Data Panik - Rulers and the States Myspace The reformed Bis who released a few good singles but couldn't keep it going to get the album out before they split once again. This is an example of what we're all missing.
70. ¡Forward, Russia! - Twelve MyspaceYoutube Still enjoy seeing them live much more than listening to the recorded output but this is a good song all the same.
71. Subliminal Girls - Burn Koko MyspaceYoutube Definitely a band to watch for 2007, and a sentiment I can easily agree with.
72. Upper Room - All Over This Town MyspaceYoutube Great melodic pop/rock from a band which are sadly history already.
73. Dirty Pretty Things - Wondering MyspaceYoutube Most enjoyable chunk of music yet from the Libertines' spin offs, sounding not unlike mid-90s Blur on this one.
74. Knife - Silent Shout MyspaceYoutube Many years ago I was a big fan of Jean-Michel Jarre. That's obviously coming back to haunt me now.
75. Hybrasil - When I'm Yawning MyspaceYoutube Debut album from the Irish electronic indie pop quintet due out sometime next year.
76. Frank and Walters - Miles and Miles MyspaceYoutube Cork's (second) finest still haven't given it up - they've been churning out indie pop ballads like this for 15 years now.
77. Jim Noir - Key Of C MyspaceYoutube Not the one from the advert during the World Cup.
78. I'm From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona MyspaceYoutube Along with the Cardigans, the second band from Jönköping in Sweden in the list. Unlike the other bands, there's 27 of them playing 60s lounge-tinged pop.
79. Keane - A Bad Dream MyspaceYoutube Best song for me on Crazy Tim's second album.
80. Sparks - Perfume MyspaceYoutube 100 years after their first song and they're still churning out good music.
81. Gnarls Barkley - Smiley Faces MyspaceYoutube This year's token "I really don't like this kind of music normally but this one's pretty good" track.
82. Simple Kid - Serotonin MyspaceYoutube First track from the underrated second album, SK2.
83. controller.controller - PF MyspaceYoutube Know very little about this band from Toronto, other than that they seem to have split up already …
84. Futureheads - Worry About It Later MyspaceYoutube The second album has been a real disappointment to me after the obvious highs of the first one. This is about as good as it gets.
85. Hot Club de Paris - sometimesitsbetter nottostickbitsofeachother ineachother foreachother MyspaceYoutube "Join the Hot Club de Paris Mailing List so we can spam you with a volume of information similar to the ludicrous amount of spam we get in our myspace comments". Well, I had to sign up after that, I'm just too curious for my own good …
86. Rifles - Repeated Offender MyspaceYoutube It's the new Jam … oh yes it is!
87. Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control MyspaceYoutube Good song but not as good as the NME think they are or - according to someone I know who's interviewed - nowhere near as good as *they* think they are.
88. Beck - Cell Phone's Dead MyspaceYoutube It's an obvious Primal Scream rip off and it's nowhere nearer as good as what he was doing 5 or 6 years ago, but here we all are, still in my top 100.
89. Flaming Lips - Yeah Yeah Yeah Song MyspaceYoutube Seems like they've been going for years now.
90. Milk Kan - I'm Going With You Myspace South London anti-folk duo, full of clever lyrics despite their unfortunate location.
91. Belle and Sebastian - Funny Little Frog MyspaceYoutube Most notable for introducing the word "throwat" to the English language.
92. Kooks - Ooh La MyspaceYoutube Another song I hated at first but grew on me as the year went by.
93. Protocol - Where's The Pleasure? MyspaceYoutube Another band owing more than a little bit to Blondie - in this case, Atomic. And another band who split in 2006.
94. Supergrass - Fin Myspace Barely scraping the UK charts at no 111, I thought this might have been the last release, but there is a new album coming out in 2007.
95. Rapture - Whoo! Alright Yeah … Uh Huh (People Don't Dance No More) MyspaceYoutube More funky NYC cowbells (or that's what it sounds like to me).
96. Imogen Heap - Headlock MyspaceYoutube Number of Myspace friends: 259,854 and counting. Not bad for a girl from Romford.
97. Klaxons - Golden Skans MyspaceYoutube I've no idea what new rave is but this is good enough to tell me that 2007 will be a good year for them.
98. Graham Coxon - Standing On My Own Again MyspaceYoutube That's enough reasonable solo albums, can you now go back and fix Blur please?
99. Little Man Tate - Man I Hate Your Band MyspaceYoutube Not everything that came out of Sheffield this year was as boring as the Arctic Monkeys.
100. Grand Paradiso - I Was Running Myspace A slab of Americana from Nuremburg? You have to admit to being a bit curious, surely!
