Music of the Year

I've been using the brilliant Last.fm service for nearly two years now, during which time it's introduced me to loads of new artists. The best thing about it is its iPod scrobbling, so it keeps track of what I listen to and I can do all sorts of stats on it. As it is that time of year, here's my Last.fm music of the year!

Artist of the Year Winner: Guillemots I absolutely loved the Guillemots new album Red, a solid follow up to their debut and an album that keeps me listening all the way through. I've now been to see them live 9 times! I also saw Feeder live for the first time this year which is why they've shot up the charts, the same goes for Athlete. Bloc Party hardly featured in my list of the year until they released Intimacy, though I'll come to that later. Kings of Leon, Portishead and Metallica also make appearances in the top 20 for the first time after some great albums this year. Sex on Fire is an amazing song that never fails to get me going. BBC Radio 5 is down there because of my religious listening to Mark Kermode's Film Reviews and Fighting Talk podcasts.

Album of the Year

Winner: Athlete - Beyond the Neighborhood Athlete's third album is their true masterpiece. After a stunning debut and a mediocre follow up, the difficult third album didn't set the charts alight. To be honest, first listen I didn't like it either, then I heard it again and I couldn't stop listening to it, hence 400 listens to tracks from the album. It's an absolute triumph and an album that gets better as the album goes on! Very close behind is Guillemots' Red and amazingly, Bloc Party's Intimacy. I don't really understand Intimacy, it's a mish-mash mess of an album that manages to be brilliant every other track. Still, I listen to the crap between the good bits as the tracks I like are amazing. Jimmy Eat World's Chase This Light is just pure fun so I've listened to it a lot. Other notable albums are The Dears's Missiles (Pink Floyd meets Blur) and We Are Scientists With Love and Squalor which has a few great tracks but not enough to carry it up the charts.

Song of the Year Winner: Guillemots - Cockateels Best song on my favorite album of the year. Unfortunately they've never played it live as their shows have been scaled back and they just don't have room for orchestras! Second on the list is Oceansize's Unfamiliar which is a great song from an underrated album and artist. It should be at the top of the list by miles, but it's an 8 minute song so I can't get that many listens in! Note Bloc Party's Talons at the bottom of the list, by the 31st it'll have climbed a few places.

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