5. Goodbye / Meat (single)
You only get one debut single, so as frustrating as it was as waiting for Goodbye to release something, you can understanding them making sure the time was right. After over a year of waiting, Meat came out at the start of December, packed with shimmering crystalline guitars and emotional vocals. The only way is up for Goodbye

4. Fatboy Slim / Satisfaction Skank (single)
If it felt like a long wait for Goodbye’s first single, it pales into insignificance compared to the length of time from when I first heard Satisfaction Skank to it’s release date last week. In it’s original form Rockafeller Skank came out in June 1998, but the story goes that after about six months Norman Cook had got bored of playing the original so came up with this bootleg. I might have heard it on the dancefloor at the Heavenly Jukebox at Turnmills on 14th November when Norman Cook DJed , or maybe at one of Skint’s nights at The End. I always assumed it would never get released, but this surprise release has made me reshuffle my whole end of year list

3. Van Zon / O Messiah (from All Things, All One, Aglow EP)
There’s an oft quoted line from an old film that goes “Live Fast, Die Young and have a good looking corpse”, and so it is that Van Zon, who took the top spot in our end of year list last year can now only be referred to in the past tense, leaving nothing but one incredible EP and glorious memories from their live performances. What a perfect legacy though, going their separate ways without having put a foot wrong along the way

2. Big Long Sun / Fast Like I Like My Money (from whatever (whatever) album)
Big Long Sun were just listed as the singular Jamie Broughton when they appeared at number nine in last year’s list, but what a journey they’ve had since then. Back then they’d only started playing live as an eight piece for a month or so; Fast forward twelve months and they released second album whatever (whatever) in July, with a third on the way (the first single, the brilliant My Stars Aligning, out last month). Jamie has also managed to release other material under the name between the air as well as being part of Radio Anorak and touring extensively. I’m exhausted just thinking about his output, but he shows no sign of slowing any time soon

1. The New Eves / Highwayman (from The New Eve is Rising album)
Our top pick this year is The New Eves – a band who you can believe in, a band who you can be a fan of before you’ve even heard of their music, a band with a manifesto (committed to record on the opening track of their album). They’re rock, they’re folk, they’re punk, but their music is very much their own. Music this visceral carries you along with it, and I’m happy to have been witness to the journey so far