1. Radiohead - Live at Victoria Park, 24th June, London

The first opportunity to hear ‘In Rainbows live on the big stage, they should of course be doing this but Shakin’ Stevens got the call instead, which is funny, right?

2. MGMT - ‘Electric Feel’ single

From one of the finest and definitely most out there albums of the Year, Brooklyn’s baby Flaming Lips pull one of the most accesable tracks from it as a single. There are many journalist cliches out there, the biggest being ‘difficult second album syndrome’ but right next to it is what you’ll hear every journalist with a lack of imagination will put when describing this track. ooooooh, it’s some white guys singing in falsetto - PRINCE. Of course, it never sounds like Prince, Prince only sounds like Prince, it’s just a white dude singing in a falsetto…move on.

3. My Bloody Valentine - Live at The Roundhouse, Camden, London - June 20th

1991 was a fantastic year for music, in the States you had Nirvana taking over the world and The Pixies on a lesser but equally as artistic scale, this side of the pond, Primal Scream, Ride, Teenage Fanclub and My Bloody Valentine all released albums this year, the finest albums of that year, tellingly all on Alan McGee’s legendary Creation label.

My Bloody Valentine were something else, they didn’t just play their instruments, they abused them so much they stopped making the sounds you’d expect to come from them, something totally different came out, something which made their second and so far, last album 1991’s ‘Loveless’ so different from anything before it.

Hearing it then, it stuck out from everything else, nothing sounded like it, some of it was hard going due to the freeform style of the music, when they rocked out, it was a sound so caustic and visceral, live even more so, legend has it that at each of their gigs, people would be vomiting in the corner because of the violent vibrations of the white noise, so powerful it even affected internal organs!

Kevin Shields really has the golden touch, the film ‘Lost in translation’ would be nothing without Shield’s soundtrack and Primal Scream released the finest albums of their career with Shields in the band 1999’s ‘Exterminator’ and 2002’s ‘Evil heat’. With rumour of new material being prepared for release, it’ll be interesting to see if that golden touch remains and with the upcoming Roundhouse gigs, it gives you the opportunity to re-acquaint yourself with such a sweetly violent noise or have your horizons well and truly broadened by a first time experience of your life, a totally essential set of gigs!

4. Santogold - ‘Lights out’ (From ‘Santogold’ album)

This kookly Brooklyn chicks’ debut is awash with styles, dirty electro, punk, ragga, dub and indie pop, of which Light’s out is covered by the latter. A lush naive early 90’s influenced indie pop song with a chorus to die for. Her album is easily one of the finest this year. Wow, the first mention of her that doesn’t mention M.I.A in the same breath, ahh, shit.

5 . MC5 and Primal Scream live at Meltdown , June 24th.

Curated this year by Massive Attack, there are plenty of mouth watering shows one, easily the highlight are these two rock giants playing together before doing their own live sets. Primal Scream have alot of redeeming to do after their ‘Riot City Blues’ album and by what they’ve put out on the net from it so far…this is not the album they’ll do it on so check them out now before they do actually end up as creatively redundant as the band they’ve spent their entire career being compared to….yes, the Stones.

6. Mystery Jets - ‘Two doors down’ (single)

Sneaking into the public’s consciousness is an acceptance for things that were rubbish in the 80s. This jaunty pop tune embraces them in an indie pop tune which could genuinely pass off as being something by Haircut 100 or Orange Juice circa 1982, what ruins it though is the saxophone solo towards the end which of course, there is absolutely no need for.

7. The Charlatans - ‘You cross my path’ album

Yeah you read right, The CHARLATANS. This has been out a while but seeing as I wrote them off as rubbish years ago I hadn’t bothered listening to it. Seriously, this is up there with their 1996 eponymous classic and is their best effort since 2001’s ‘Wonderland’. Fizzing with electro tinged beats and incorporating as much New Order influenced stuff they could do without the lawyers on the phone

8. CSS - ‘ Rat is dead’ (single)

CSS were on the verge of becoming a joke band, one which with each festival appearance became less and less funny. Refreshing to hear that they have returned with extra spike, if you prefered the punkier edged tracks from their debut such as ‘A la la’ rather than the jauntily annoying ‘Alochol’ then rejoice in this superior spiky pop and nonsensical lyrics and more of a nod toward the jagged guitar sound of The Pixies’ Joey Santiago.

9 . The Futureheads - Sale of the Century (From ‘This is not the world’ album)

Apparently they are back on track with their new album. They never lost track, their second album; 2006’s XTC influenced ‘News and tributes’ was one of the best albums of that year, no-one agreed so Warners cleverly dumped them. Back with their recent third and they’ve lost the subtlety of their second album and gone for dump punk thrashers such as this which is a note for note copy of The Groundhogs classic ‘Cherry Red’, top stuff

10. The Subways - Strawberry Blonde (From ‘All or Nothing’ album)

A touch of subtlety on an album of dumb, brash rock. The Subways are morphing into the UKs version of The Vines, just not as good though this could twin itself with The Vine’s classic ‘Country Yard’.

11. Dirty Pretty Things - ‘ Tired of London ‘

After an impressive 2006 debut album; ‘Waterloo to Anywhere’. Carl Barat and his merry men are due to drop another album, this preceeding single is a fine pro-London punky pop tune reminiscent of early era Blur and beats anything Babyshambles have done hands down,shove THAT in yer pipe Doherty, oh…you did.

12. Coldplay - Yes
That’s right, Coldplay, the enemy of all discerning music fans. Their ‘Viva la vida’ album has some listenable tunes on it though with this being the best. Thankfully Chris Martin drops his little choirboy act and sings in a tone appropriate for an adult over a track which starts off all electro style beats culminating in an astonishing three minutes of pure shoegazing white noise…who’d have thought!

13. Black Keys - Attack & Release - album

14. Weezer - Weezer (new album)

15. Black Mountain - In the future - album