#25

 

Kate Bush - Wild Man

 

Kate finally returns again and once again fails to disappoint. Not her best work but who could ever match that cannon? Not initially impressive but striking enough to force repeated listening until its charms become irresistable. I'v eposted the edited offical animation rther than the full length just because it actually features her in it. Something sighted less these days than the Yeti which the song concerns

#24

 

The Strokes - Taken For A Fool

 

Another band I feel are massively overrated and mainly on the strength of one decent if unspectacular album released 10 years ago but when they get it right they are brilliant. This may have been largely unnoticed but for some reason it really struck with me.

#23

 

Dead Sara - Weatherman

 

Who? I hear you all cry. Well yes indeed I know next to nothing about them but everything I've heard suggest this band could really go places in 2012. Let's hope so

#22

 

Noah And The Whale - Tonight's The Kind Of Night

 

Not the song everyone else loved this year but the one that grabbed me. Initially because I couldn't figure out where the piano melody in the chorus was stolen from. Then I reaised it was The Who's Baba O'Riley. Not an obvious steal and probably unintentional but it works so well and lyrically I love this track

#21

 

The Primitives - Rattle My Cage

 

Bringing back fond memories of being 16 again The Prims returned and sounded, well... exactly the same really. Tracy clearly also has an aging portrait hidden somewhere in here attic. The girl hasn't aged a day in 20 years!!

#20

 

Professor Green - Read All About It

 

After having thoroughly written him off as pretty rubbish he surprised me with this track. Although it clearly has quite an Eminem influence on this occasion lyrically the song really works and the hook as provided by Emeli Sande really grabs the ear and drags you in

#19

 

Evanescence - What You Want

 

I liked a couple of their early tracks but always felt they got the glory whilst other better bands (Lacuna Coil, Sirenia etc) had done all the hard work in paving the way for them to break through. This shows there's more to them than Bring Me To Life and finally they sounded like they meant business

#18

 

Tribes - Sappho

 

 

Haven't yet liked anything else by them but this got a lot of play on NME TV and wormed it's way into my heart slowly. Sounds like it should have been released in 1993. Not a bad thing.

#17

 

The Duke Spirit - Everybody's Under Your Spell

 

Never will understand why this consistently great band just don't get bigger success. Another strong track from them that instantly clicked with me

#16

 

Sonic Boom Six - Sunny Side Of The Street

 

 

My summer anthem. Despite it's socially relevant lyrical content there's something rather uplifting about this track. A band that really should be getting more attention in the wider press

#17

 

The Duke Spirit - Everybody's Under Your Spell

 

Never will understand why this consistently great band just don't get bigger success. Another strong track from them that instantly clicked with me

 

Saw them supporting White Lies last month, they were very good. Really interesting countdown so far, I'll be checking out all the songs that I don't know :D

#15

 

Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See

 

 

Once again they surprised me with this rather sweet yet funny track. Some great metaphors in there and it's nice to see a band continue to keep up a solid standard after a huge breakthrough and slowly declining public interest

#14

 

The Vaccines - If You Wanna

 

Another entry from is pretty much my band of the year 2011. An album full of little gems that continue to impress listen after listen. They just might be the band to revitalise the British Indie scene after years of the horror of Scouting For Girls and duff Kaiser Chief tracks

#13

 

Misfits - The Devil's Rain

 

 

Misfits return finally afters year away and continue with their trick of taking an old B-Movie film title and making a song up from it. OK so it's not Glen Danzig and they aren't the band they once were but this is still a pretty decent album and a welcome return. Going to see them next month too!

 

Just noticed they're number 13 too. How apt

#12

 

Against Me! - Because Of The Shame

 

 

How come The Gaslight Anthem are big news and these guys aren't ye they've been doing this sort of stuff for years? This could so easily have been written by Brian Fallon. Perhaps it just helps to have influential friends. Perhaps Tom Gabel needs to go for a beer with The Boss sometime

#11

 

Jessie J - Price Tag

 

 

I thought my liking of Do It Like A Dude was going to be a one off. I heard everyone saying how good this was but didn't exactly seek it out. Then once I heard it I had to agree. One of the better number ones of recent years.