Tracks of the Year. 12th December
SPRINTS - Something’s Gonna Happen
youtu.be/JTc7DpVLCHk?si…
Lot of bands out there doing This Kind Of Thing at the moment but think SPRINTS really stand out from the crowd. This is a ratcheting, slow build masterclass in dynamics.

Tracks of the Year. 11th December
The Beths - Best Laid Plans
youtu.be/bbfFDcP_bqI?...
Liz Stokes still one of indie’s finest lyricists, but the latest LP found the band pushing in new sonic directions. So many bold and brilliant production choices on this album closer. Killer guitar tone. Bongos!

Tracks of the Year. 10th December
Superchunk - No Hope
youtu.be/f9-C3x3J_Xo?...
From the excellently titled ‘Songs in the Key of Yikes’, the Chapel Hill greats turn nihilism into a rallying cry in the face of another Trump presidency. Mac is just ageless.

Tracks of the Year. 9th December
KEG - Giving Up Fishing
youtu.be/PfNeGxHWw4c?...
A gloriously daft song from the post-punk septet. Their horn section really elevates things. Your internal monologue will now be “I’m buying a Fiat car!” for several days, I’m afraid.

Tracks of the Year. 8th December
Baxter Dury - Return Of The Sharp Heads
youtu.be/kY7S_AVdlmk?...
The Paul Epworth-produced ‘Allbarone’ was a career best. This track features a nightmarishly woozy Blockheads-esque bassline and some of his most vitriolic and downright funny lyrics.

Tracks of the Year. 7th December
Antony Szmierek - Yoga Teacher
youtu.be/iEPHboSL5rc?...
Like a ravier, Manchester Mike Skinner or Kae Tempest, the performance poet and former teacher delivered an album full of familiar or relatable characters and hard-fought human connection.

Tracks of the Year. 6th December
Destroyer - Bologna (feat. Fiver)
youtu.be/LCEqe50p8Bw?...
Dan Bejar’s music as Destroyer is so intensely idiosyncratic. It’s fascinating to hear Fiver’s Simone Schmidt inhabit that same world on this nocturnal cut from the excellent ‘Dan’s Boogie’.

Tracks of the Year. 5th December
Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band - The Simple Joy
youtu.be/oLaBCsRVWU4?si…
Simply put, nobody is doing it like RD right now. Every song is packed with instantly quotable one-liners which, taken together, have beautiful poetry to them. Will Oldham’s BVs! Life-affirming

Tracks of the Years. 4th December
Cass McCombs - Missionary Bell
youtu.be/2j5ipfq1qWE?si…
Been so consistently good for so long now. ‘Interior Live Oak’ was 70+ minutes of exquisite songcraft, nowhere more so than here- a song which sounds like it has always existed, essential.

Tracks of the Year. 3rd December
The Tubs - Strange
youtu.be/ieZ4RYSDp1Q?...
On a uniformly strong second album the self-proclaimed ‘Celtic jangle boyband’ ask the big questions like ‘how do we best honour those we love?’ and ‘what if Richard Thompson had fronted The Go-Betweens?’

Tracks of the Year. 2nd December
Folk Bitch Trio - Hotel TV
youtu.be/L2MYfUBhG1g?...
Loved the production on this album. Gorgeous three-part harmonies. The refrain from this was a big vibe in this year of overwhelm and sleep deprivation!