If a diamond hangs in every tree and a life is lost for every leaf can a bird still sing...

8. Graham Coxon - The Spinning Top (Transgressive)
For fans of Nick Drake, The Beatles, earlier Coxon

Perhaps overshadowed slightly by the Blur reunion, the guitarist's seventh solo album sees him ditch the electric guitar-led pop songs of his previous two records to return to the acoustic songwriting of the first four. Creeping in with the beautiful buzzy-finger-picking of Look Into the Light and This House, The Spinning Top is a concept album dealing with the entire life of a man from birth through to death and aside from a couple of less-interesting songs at the end, is a success. Highlights include the gorgeous eight-and-a-half minute single In the Morning, Dead Bees' frightening thump and Feel Alright. While my love and loyalty will always lie with The Sky is Too High, The Spinning Top is easily Graham's strongest and most mature work.

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What we really need to do is write something that can be played on radio two...

9. Superman Revenge Squad - Hmmmmm... Meet the all new Superman Revenge Squad (self-released)
For fans of Kind of Like Spitting, Morrissey, Los Campesinos!

"This is my own personal way of dealing with it all / writing songs about things that could never exist / anywhere but inside my head / on a night like this when the pubs are shut and the clubs are overrun / with puddles of vomit and puddles of blood / and you’re gasping for air but you can’t get enough / through the night bus window it’s like sitting in your house / but someone’s stolen the telly and thrown up on the couch!"

More miserable than Morrissey and wittier than Oscar Wilde, if this was a list of the best lyricists of the year this would definitely take first place. 'Hmmmm...' is the second 2009 release from ex-Nosferatu D2 frontman Ben Parker (not including the re-release of their superb album) and while it's only eight tracks, one of them being a cover of Judas Preist's 'Breaking the Law', it is slightly superior to its also-wonderfulpredecessor in that the recordings are better developed with additional violin and carefully considered guitar playing.

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The way we hold each other so tight would look more like a noose if held up to the light...

10. Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances (XL Recordings)
For fans of The Thermals, Desaparecidos

The all important top ten. OK, technically this was released in 2008 but it only got a label release in 2009 and it's damn good so I'm going to include it thankyouverymuch. I've already written about them on this very blog in which I predicted a top ten spot so I won't go into too much detail - think Desaparecidos' Conor Oberst screaming the songs of Bruce Springsteen in a basement with The Thermals. They recently announced the release of a new album in March, The Monitor, which I expect to make its way into my top five of 2010.

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Hate me for what I've done, not for my idiot children...

11. The Cribs - Ignore the Ignorant (Wichita Recordings)
For fans of Comet Gain, Pavement, The Smiths

There were a number of factors stopping me from listening to The Cribs... Ryan Jarman's haircut, positive reviews in NME, Ryan Jarman's haircut, the fact their name reminded me of the MTV show Cribs, Ryan Jarman's haircut, their general popularity, Ryan Jarman's haircut. Indie snobbery really - and boy did I feel like a fool last year when I finally heard them. Men's Needs... is now firmly in my favourite albums of the decade so I was pretty excited about this, especially as The Smiths legend Johnny Marr is now a full-time member. The influence of the new addition to the group is apparent on every song, those dual-leadlines and trademark Marr-isms are all over the record and it's nice to hear them again but Ignore the Ignorant doesn't improve on its predecessor at all. It lacks the energy and passion of songs like Major's Titling Victory and Our Bovine Republic, but is still a very strong album in its own right.

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Our bodies spent among the dust and the microfiche...

12. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - S/T (Fortuna POP!)
For fans of The Jesus and Mary Chain, Trembling Blue Stars, The Cure

Featuring the best song I've ever heard about losing your virginity in a library, I'm suprised this debut album has featured so low in my list. One of the reasons may well be that the three singles (Come Saturday, Young Adult Friction and Everything With You) are so good it almost renders the rest of the album redundant. I could probably listen to those songs on repeat all day and never tire. Despite this, TPOBPAH is actually fantastic and has been played to death since I bought it. There are plenty of other superb ditties - particularly A Teenager in Love and This Love is Fucking Right! - but they're ultimately not as good as the singles. This debut will certainly still be relevant when I look back wistfully at the noughties in ten years time but I have a feeling The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have some even better albums waiting to be written.

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You're inconsistent and wild but I'm glad you're my map...

13. LORD CUT-GLASS - S/T (Chemikal Underground)
For fans of The Delgados, Malcolm Middleton, Belle and Sebastian

Lord-Cut Glass has had nowhere near as much attention as it deserves. Much like the output of his previous band The Delgados, Alun Woodward's new outfit has received much praise but that doesn't seem to have converted into fans. More stripped down than much of his past works and less grande in scope than its most obvious cousin 'Hate', the album's real strength is in the mood it creates. Lyrically it is as humourously scathing and self-deprecating as we've come to expect from Woodward while guitars weave playfully around upright bass, accordion, brass and military drumming.

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She even likes The Smiths but she likes solo Morrissey...

14. MASCOT FIGHT - PANTOMIME HEARSE (Cassette County)
For fans of Pavement, The Shins, Ballboy

I came to learn of Mascot Fight's existence quite randomly. While browsing through the £1 rack in a second hand record store I picked up an EP with a very interesting cover and intriguing songtitles like 'There's Something I Ought to Tell You, Emily' and 'Haha, That's Not Anarchy!'. I didn't really expect much from it, those random purchases rarely work out, so I wasn't prepared for such a fantastic racket to burst forth from my speakers. I wasted no time in ordering Pantomime Hearse from their website and neither should you. Do it!

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I chose a felt tip from the cupboard in the hall...

15. THE LOVELY EGGS - IF YOU WERE FRUIT
For fans of Daniel Johnston, The Moldy Peaches

Whenever I try to describe The Lovely Eggs I find myself struggling to explain what makes them so good. A song that initially sounds like a ukulele-led nursery rhyme will explode into a mess of noise and screeching only to return to the gentle melody from whence it came. Uke-rock, if you like. The superb 'I Like Birds (But I Like Other Animals Too)' was one of my favourite singles last year and is amongst the strongest songs on the record but it's certainly not alone - in 'Have You Ever Heard a Digital Accordion?' they manage to reference and rhyme both Richard Brautigan and beef bourguignon and later on in 'Baulk Cushion' list some very strange things to do on the end of a snooker table. Certainly the most charming and lyrically inventive record I've heard this year.

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Let me hear you scream 'til you can't...

The Gents should probably be featured on a Wednesday but I don't particularly miss them - they didn't release enough material for me to form an attachment - but this single was a real treat. I came to know of their existence after ordering Josephine's (they WILL be featured on a Wednesday very soon) Vinyl Hit 7" in 2002 from their label Lithium Records. In the package they kindly sent me a pre-release copy of The Gents' Marvellous Skies EP, a lovely collection of songs that was indicative of the quality of the music scene in Scotland.

A trip to a local record store provided me with their debut, 'Tamagotchi', a bonkers Super Furry Animals-meets-Sebadoh assault that is very different to Marvellous Skies but equally excellent.

1. Tamagotchi
2. Sore Head
3. The Finest Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band
4. Spain
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There's different coloured pages in the cities and the stars...

You could be forgiven for having never heard Chow Chow. After just two releases for Fantastic Plastic (chow chow chow chow chow chow chow chow chow EP and Dear Francis 7") vocalist Iain Smith tragically died outside a club on June 24th 2007 of a suspected heart attack at the age of 26. Their mini album Colours and Lines was released posthumously and illustrated what an excellent band they were, at times recalling the fists in the air joy of Arcade Fire or Broken Social Scene, the angular chop of Pavement and Sonic Youth and very occasionally the electronic leanings of Primal Scream. Nathan and Stu continue making music as Master & Servant, they describe themselves as pioneers of 'Kraut-Hop'.

[mp3] Suits Like Animals
[mp3] Bright Lights

[buy] Colors and Lines

[myspace] Chow Chow
[myspace] Master & Servant