Slightly delayed…
[EDIT: no files any more]

Methodology.
OK, here’s what I did: I went to my last.fm page and got the one year rolling chart for ‘tracks’. Then I chose my favourite track by each artist appearing in the chart more than once till I had 10 tracks. Then I gave the tracks a confusing numbering scheme and found some pictures on the internet. Here they are in the traditional order…

10. Christina Aguilera - Candy Man

My worrying penchant for incredibly cheesy pop music in full effect here. This is extremely catchy, kind of in the same retro/musical theatre vain as Madonna’s Dick Tracy soundtrack. In case the previous sentence didn’t tip you off, this is possibly the gayest song ever.

09. Marit Larsen - Don’t Save Me

Also pop, albeit an altogether more tasteful Scandinavian variety, more cardigans, pine and in bed by 11 with a mug of ovaltine. This song has the most obscenely optimistic sounding chorus and the whole thing just sparkles and glimmers with shiny popness. Why it’s not been released in this country is a total mystery.

08. The Eternals - This Beat Is To Original

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that The Eternals seem to be custom designed to appeal to me; just the right proportions of dub, soul and punk mixed together and garnished with a generous sprinkling of analogue synthesizers and weird quasi-mystical lyrics.

07. The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control

Some librarians think that Beth Ditto’s voice is over the top and has too much warbling, not sure about that (though the inclusion of la Aguilera above suggests that it takes quite a bit to over stimulate my warbling receptors). What I am sure about is that the music, brimming with attitude, sexiness and general fuck-you-ness, is exactly what the world needs in the face of the limp and regressive white boy rock that infests the indie/alternative world.

06. Mobb Deep - G.O.D. Part III

Along with an Organized Konfusion album that I picked up cheap the other day this is all about nostalgia for me. I can tell I’ve started to get old as I’m finding myself agreeing with people who think hip hop isn’t as good as it used to be.

05. Missy Elliot - 4 My People

Missy Elliot’s greatest hits album is one of the best greatest hits record ever made (alongside Queen I & II, Prince - The Hits, and Introducing the Minutemen). This is one of the tracks that I’d not heard before. A glitchy paean to ecstasy. More rappers should take ecstasy.

04. Andrew W.K. - She Is Beautiful

It’s the only Andrew W.K. track I can listen to, I really just can’t stand anything else he’s done, but maybe that’s because he’s rendered his continued existence kind of pointless by producing this so early in his career (like 4/5 years ago now?).

03. The Knife - We Share Out Mothers Health

The Knife album, Silent Shout, is easily my favourite record released last year and this is the track that first got its shiny black hooks into me. Folk tales about communism and incest forced through digital filters.

02. Hot Chip - No Fit State

(In all the photos I could find these guys look either dull or infuriatingly kooky, like Voice of the fucking Beehive or something, so they don’t get to have a picture. Nothing personal, I’m sure they’re lovely guys)

Not much to say about this, euphoric melodic dance music. Another band I came late to. No longer can I claim to be down with the kids, or even the mid to late twenty-somethings, who I suspect constitute this bands main audience.

01. Black Mountain - Don’t Run Our Hearts Around

If you haven’t heard this yet, I’m sure the picture tells you quite a bit about what these guys sound like.

From the slow opening, phased guitar filled with grim portent, to the pounding conclusion six minutes later this is pure hairy music. It demands to be listened to at full volume, head banging and jaw clenched, twice as many times as anything else I listened to last year.

BONUS! Bonde Do Role - Ma’quina De Ricota

I also listened to a lot of Reggaton and Rio Baille Funk last year but they don’t show up in the Last FM charts as I tend to consume these genres in the form of hour long mixes (check out Wayne and Wax’s “El Mix Dembow” if you can find it). So this is a bonus track, I don’t know what it’s all about but the presence of the word ‘Ricota’ in the title combined with a prominent “Final Countdown” sample makes me think that it’s something to do with cheese. The years best reinvention of the Bond franchise.