Things to thank 2007 for.

Panda Bear: Person Pitch -When I played this for the first time I thought about taking the CD back as I was convinced that it was faulty. Then slowly, the strange concoction of loops and echoes worked it’s magic on me. A fabulous unexplainable record.

Cornelius: Sensuous - Another strange, fractured record which doesn’t ease it’s way into your life. On occasions it even veers close to that most depressing of genres the jazz/rock/funk hybrid that sends all sensible folk running for the hills, and yet… It made a perfect counter point to the Panda Bear album, whilst that record felt strangely random and free flowing the Cornelius disc was almost mathematical in it’s slavish devotion to structure and somehow managed to stay interesting.

Richard Hawley: Lady’s Bridge – The king of croon made another record to make you feel that it was fine to be middle-aged. Great songs, great voice and some wonderful guitar playing it’s just a joy.

Jens Lekman: Night Falls Over Kortedala – A brilliant pop record, nobody writes songs which such awkward honesty as Jens. We finally managed to see him in the flesh this year, it was as wonderfully strange and beguiling as we hoped it would be.

The National: Boxer – They just get better with every record, surely they are on the cusp of making the move into the mainstream, then again they don’t wear the right trousers for that, so I guess it won’t happen.

King Creosote: Bombshell – His records get more polished yet still have the ability to rip at the heartstrings one moment and then put the biggest daftest grin on your face the next. A gem.

Iron & Wine: The Shepard’s Dog – A fuller sound from the Sam and the gang, this record contained one of my favourite tracks of the year, the astoundingly beautiful “Carousel”. A song so gorgeous that it can get away with having one of those faintly ridiculous vocoder type effects of it and still conjure the image spending a warm summer evening, sitting on the back porch with a glass single malt in your hand.

Amongst other treats this year are Arcade Fire – Neon Bible, Band Of Horses – Cease to Begin, LCD Soundsytem – Sound of Silver, Beirut – The Flying Club Cup and albums from Stars, Burial, Pinch, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Au Reviour Simone, PJ Harvey, Rufus Wainwright, The Ladybug Transistor, The Coral, Edwyn Collins, Scarlatti Tilt and The Apples In Stereo.

Having said all that my favourite song this year (although I have a nasty feeling that it may have come out in 2006!) is from local band Slow. The title track of their Seeds EP is so simply and perfectly constructed as to be devastating, I think that I could play it on repeat for evermore and still not tire of it.