Introducing

The Christmas decorations are down, Cliff Richard has (hopefully) been banished from the airwaves for another year and the nation is collectively gorging itself on a feast of keep fit DVDs to beat off the Christmas flab.

But before we say goodbye to the seasonal festivities, there’s one more thing that needs to be done. 2006 was another fabulous year for music in the county and it would be remiss not to have a look back at some of the year’s highlights. Here’s ten of the best.

10. Double E - never mind the Arctic Monkeys. If David Cameron wants to truly embrace the hoodie wearing massive, he could do worse than listening to Double E. It’s an imaginative compilation of tracks (the liner notes assure me it’s not an album) that stands out from the usual hip hop and r’n’b crowd. Hey, he even makes a Sting song sound good (see “Blatant Lies”). Stand out track is “The Wake Up”, featuring a sample of the American Beauty theme.

9. Crimson Flight - Crimson Flight are a band with their sights set firmly on the psychedelic love-in of the sixties. If you study them very closely you might notice flowers in their hair. With their passion for songs about nature and colours, Crimson Flight are a sensitive bunch - not that you could tell that from the bloke in the stress position on the back of their EP, mind. Hmm, maybe they’re not that sensitive after all. Stand out track: “The Beholder” (featuring the Piccolo Trumpet last heard on “Penny Lane”.)

8. The Q - Billy Bragg meets The Jam meets The Wedding Present. The Q offered us two tracks in digital form this year: “She” and “Through Your Eyes”. Both are filled with a glorious mod energy so contagious that small children should probably be kept away from it. Stand out track: “Through Your Eyes”

7. JC’s Revenge - the music making machine that is JCs Revenge just keep on churning stuff out. And it’s all good. This year (as one of their songs is called) they provided us with an EP and, more impressively, something of a greatest hits album in the form of “New Adventures of JC’s Revenge”. Their blend of US Punk and Teenage Fanclub subtlety raises them well above their peers. As an MC at one of their gigs once said: “This is probably one of the only bands that play here that I actually quite like”. Fair to middling praise indeed for a band worthy of so much more.

6. Paul Jones - with the single track “Volatile” Paul Jones (not the Manfred Mann front man, I assume) conquered at least my heart and probably more besides with an astoundingly beautiful tenderness. Listen and weep. Stand Out track…..well, that would be stating the obvious, wouldn’t it.

5. Earnest Cox - released on the most romantic day of the year, Earnest Cox’s release this year was far from romantic. Usually for this band that means bitter and twisted, but in the case of “(Look at That) State of That” it was just a celebration of modern life. “Isn’t the Internet Brilliant?” - but of course. Stand out track: “(Look at that) State of That”.

4. Sundae Club - what was the last decent football song you heard? A good footie song is as few and far between as an English World Cup win. There is of course, “Three Lions”, but what else? Well, actually there’s the dual effort of Sundae Club in the form of “Let’s Go to Germany” and “Underdog”. Marvellous, inventive and fun. Stand out track: “Let’s Go to Germany”.

3. Transit Cop - They appeared in the dying minutes of 2005 and took last year’s Top Ten by storm and this year they’re well on their way to doing the same. Last year it was “Boys in the Other Band” that clung to the inside of my brain like some over-determined barnacle. This year it’s the turn of “I Don’t Want to Fade Away”. Trust me TC, you won’t. Stand out track: “I Don’t Want to Fade Away”.

2. Irritant - Progressive Metal or Metallic Prog? You decide. Whatever they are, Irritant are it. And you’ll be delighted to hear they do it very well. Their guitar solos rival Bach Toccatas, contractual obligations compel them to stand with their feet at least forty seven metres apart, but best of all, they refuse to be completely miserable. Marvellous. Stand out track: Old Bones (you can even watch their trouser defying aerobics on DVD).

1. Mutley - If ever the advertising execs of this world decided to bring back Papa and Nicole (and why wouldn’t they?), they would be well advised to employ the services an act that’s named itself after a cartoon dog for the sound track. Mutley offers an array of electronic sounds and acoustic delights with a hint of Gallic shruggery. Lovely. Stand out track: the tragically un-named suave, seedy and swaggering track number six. (“Take a walk on the wild side/ ‘Cos my side is one Hell of a ride.”)

And so that’s it. 2006 is now firmly over and done with. It’s been a fantastic year of music from r’n’b to heavy metal and all stops in between. 2007 will be even better. I can feel it in my old bones. Just you see...

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