A God-awful Small Affair

#50 - "Bumper", Cults #49 - "Towers", Bon Iver #48 - "Buoy", The Joy Formidable #47 - "Best Thing I Never Had", Beyoncé #46 - "Asthma Attack", CockNBullKid #45 - "I'll Be Yours", Those Dancing Days #44 - "White Limo", Foo Fighters #43 - "Ice Cream", Battles #42 - "Lucky Day", Nicola Roberts #41 - "House of Balloons / Glass Table Girls", The Weeknd

#80 - "Parentheses", The Antlers #79 - "End Come Too Soon", Wild Beasts #78 - "Her", Tyler the Creator #77 - "Desire", Anna Calvi #76 - "Futura", Battles #75 - "Sophia", Laura Marling #74 - "Dirt", WU LYF #73 - "Make Some Noise", Beastie Boys #72 - "Lady Luck", Jamie Woon #71 - "Reach A Bit Further", Wild Beasts #70 - "Jealousy", Will Young #69 - "Change", Glasvegas #68 - "Crystalline", Bjork #67 - "For Love I Come", Thundercat #66 - "Machu Picchu", The Strokes #65 - "Grace", The View #64 - "A Dedication", Washed Out #63 - "Still Life", The Horrors #62 - "Hair", Lady GaGa #61 - "We Found Love", Rihanna #60 - "Paradise", Coldplay #59 - "Armistice", Patrick Wolf #58 - "Let England Shake", PJ Harvey #57 - "Super Bass", Nicki Minaj #56 - "No Church

#100 - "Second Chance", Peter Bjorn and John #99 - "She's Thunderstorms", Arctic Monkeys #98 - "Color on the Walls (Don't Stop)", Foster the People #97 - "Dead and Gone", The Black Keys #96 - "Iris", Emmy the Great #95 - "Live Those Days Tonight", Friendly Fires #94 - "Turning Tables", Adele #93 - "Feel So Close", Calvin Harris #92 - "Changing the Rain", The Horrors #91 - "Dear Friends", Elbow #90 - "Americano", Lady GaGa #89 - "Rubber Ball", Cage the Elephant #88 - "Princess of China (feat. Rihanna)", Coldplay #87 - "I Know Places", Lykke Li #86 - "The Ballad of Mona Lisa", Panic! at the Disco #85 - "The Beast", Laura Marling #84 - "I Deserve It", CockNBullKid #83 - "The Shield and the Sword", Clare Maguire #82 - "Observe the Skies", British Sea Power #81 - "Sun of a Gun", Oh Land

#10 - "Gloss Drop", Battles Genuinely one of the most fun records I've heard all year - dizzyingly energetic and full of weird grunts and guest appearances that all mash together to make one gooey, unusual mess (mess can be a good thing, right?) And as usual the drumming is superb. #9 - "Conatus", Zola Jesus For someone to release an album every year is quite admirable, but for them to improve in quality is quite unexpected: her previous two releases, as well as the majority of her extra singles and EPs, have often treaded too close on the line between art and boredom, but Conatus reigns in the hazy edges and polishes them into excellent, beautiful songs. #8 - "Biophilia", Björk In a year where I fell more and more in love with her, this seemed to polarise critics. I'm firmly in the fan camp, though, and Biophilia's thematic backstories and cohesive sense of minimalism made this a really gentle but fascinating experiment. #7 - "The English

#20 - "A Different Kind of Fix", Bombay Bicycle Club This was the year they progressed past the point of a one-hit-wonder in my mind (Always Like This) and this record possesses a great number of hooks and tunes. #19 - "Dye It Blonde", Smith Westerns Richly influenced by David Bowie, T. Rex and, more recently, Suede, it's naturally packed to the brim with a heap of glamrock goodness. #18 - "Zonoscope", Cut Copy Amazing tune after amazing tune. Along with Metronomy they've seen multiple tracks end up on my going-out playlist, and kickstarted summer that little bit earlier. #17 - "Cults", Cults I instantly fell in love with the pair once I heard 'Abducted', and that was just one of a selection of infectious, retro pop songs. #16 - "Smother", Wild Beasts I missed their first two albums entirely and have still yet to investigate them, but this stood out this year for me because of its intimacy, great songwriting and some exc

#30 - "Mirrorwriting", Jamie Woon Fuck James Blake. This was the interesting post-dubstep solo album of early 2011. #29 - "The Big Roar", The Joy Formidable It was just a refreshing surprise to see that Wales actually has good acts. Name me another one. Go on. #28 - "21", Adele The statistics speak for themselves. A few dud tracks but at its best it was painfully and resonantly emotional. #27 - "Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds", Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds I know I worshipped the pants off of it in my review but an enduring love for the top 25 has put this in a surprisingly low position. #26 - "Submarine OST", Alex Turner The only soundtrack placing on my list, Submarine was a small but sweet collection of lovely songs culminating in the excellent Piledriver Waltz (which the full band sadly destroyed) #25 - "Anna Calvi", Anna Calvi It must have been quite frustrating for a breakthrough artist so noticeably si

#40 - "Holy Ghost!", Holy Ghost! If you're going to buy just the one synthpop album from 2011 - this is very much one of the frontrunners. Listen to 'Do It Again' now. #39 - "Twist Again", Bodies of Water I still much prefer the band's outings as 'Music Go Music' but if you're a little afraid of ABBA revivalism and fond of folky nostalgia, this won't disappoint. #38 - "House of Balloons", The Weeknd I didn't review this when it came out because it totally escaped me, but having downloaded it a couple of weeks ago I found it surprising, exciting and basically what Bon Iver might have been had they worked more with Kanye West. #37 - "Veliciraptor!", Kasabian It was totally daft but it's nice to see that at least one British mainstay has retained the ability to put out an album of original tunes *glares at Beady Eye* #36 - "Angles", The Strokes I really wanted to place this higher on accounts of its

50 - "Into The Murky Water", The Leisure Society It failed to set the world alight as much as their 2009 debut did, but there was still something beautiful about this band and their penchant for full orchestrated songs. 49 - "Suck it and See", The Arctic Monkeys Despite an initial burst of enthusiasm from me, this album has largely dropped off the radar for me. Whether this is out of a fondness for their earlier material, a higher placing for Alex Turner's soundtrack on Submarine or just a whopping lack of tunes is irrelevant - this album wasn't without its charm. 48 - "Mirrors", U.S. Royalty Bold, brash and rather bloody lovely. 47 - "Go Tell Fire to the Mountain", WU LYF The indie press might have raved about them like excitable lunatics, and it's certainly a decent album, but I can't really place it too highly here - again it's something I've loved for a brief period of time and feel little inclination to return to. 46

How on Earth did they become the world's biggest rock band overnight? I was quietly slipping into Brothers (I'm aware that sounds vaguely incestuous but I'll leave it) and then BANG! they're on every advert, every video game and every movie soundtrack. They're that rare breed - the band loved by hipsters and rockers alike. They've got the Arctic Monkeys supporting them on tour. The hyperbole just doesn't need to come. And yet, despite putting out an album pretty much every year, the Black Keys haven't lost their spark. Ignore this gaudy album artwork, El Camino is yet another turn of fiery, blustery rock anthems that're bound to thrill just about everyone. Beginning then with single 'Lonely Boy' and its ridiculously funny music video, the track oozes radio potential and endless hooks that the band have been throwing about ever since taking on Danger Mouse as co-producer, really. Twee xylophones and joyous "na-na" chants find their

It doesn't take a lot to make me cry, but upon hearing the news of Amy Winehouse's death last year, I was sent into a fit of tears. The list of musicians who've had that effect on me only contains one other name (Michael Jackson). She was one of the first musicians that really tore me away from pop sensibilities and made me aware of (at least some of) the history of soul and blues music. In amongst all of the spite from the dark corners of the internet (fuelled by thoughtless posts like "this is hardly surprising" as though death should be measured by how jaw-dropping it is), there came some touching tributes, though, and the optimist in me says she'll be remembered as a fantastic talent. The other side to the story, however, and it is a story, because her father keeps insisting on thrusting it into the tabloid-readership's faces, is that Lioness is a rushed, half-arsed cash scheme. There's a saddening lack of dignity displayed by Mitch Winehouse - but