Over the past twelve months Spotify informs me that I have listened to over 7000 songs. I have selected 240 tracks on my monthly playlists and now is time for the cull. It's a Darwinian survival of the fittest to arrive with the annual top 40. In keeping with the Top 40 Chart Countdowns of old I am reversing the order and saving the best until last. My only essential criteria being a 2017 release date and being awesome.
40) Bless This Acid House by Kasabian
39) Say Something Loving by The xx
38) 2 Black 2 Strong by A.B. Original
37) Do You Wanna Get Into Trouble? by Soulwax
36) We Were Beautiful by Belle & Sebastian
35) Put Me Together by Everything Everything
34) You Deserve This by Men I Trust
33) Strange Or Be Forgotten by Temples
32) Feels Like Summer by Weezer
31) You're In Love With A Psycho by Kasabian
30) Never Let Me Go by Green Buzzard
29) Cloud 9 by Baker Boy
28) Melin Wynt by King Creosote
27) Like Gold by Vance Joy
26) Black Rainbows by Cut Copy
25) Everybody's Hero by Sampa The Great
24) Kids Are Cool by San Cisco
23) Murder To The Mind by Tash Sultana
22) Paint Me Silver by Pond
21) Golden by Kingswood
20) Snow by Angus & Julia Stone
19) All Things Must Pass by The Jesus and Mary Chain
18) Pop Voodoo by Black Grape
17) Put Your Life On It by Kasabian
16) Ubu by Methyl Ethel
15) Holding On by The War On Drugs
14) Everything Now by Arcade Fire
13) Notion by Tash Sultana
12) All I Want by Ride
11) Lay It On Me by Vance Joy
10) Magnificent (She Said) by Elbow
9) Don't Delete The Kisses by Wolf Alice
8) Holy Mountain by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
7) Can't Do by Everything Everything
6) Over Everything by Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile
5) The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness by The National
4) We Got The Power by Gorillaz featuring Jehnny Beth
3) Signs Of Life by Arcade Fire
2) The Two Of Us by The Jesus and Mary Chain featuring Sky Ferreira
1) My Name Is Thunder by Jet & The Bloody Beetroots
July is here and so are twenty new songs carefully handpicked to soundtrack the middle of the year.
Generic Stock Picture Festival 2017
1) Cloud 9 by Baker Boy - Debut release from this awesome Indigenous Aussie rapper from the Northern Territory - looking forward to hearing more.
2) Everything Now by Arcade Fire - It's just too good to be true - can't take my eyes off of you.
3) Notion by Tash Sultana - This song has wormed its way into my head over several months - another extremely talented Aussie.
4) Holding On by The War On Drugs - Two new songs this year so it looks like an album is imminent. At nearly six minutes, this is the shorter of the two. The other is over eleven minutes long. Did these guys never hear of punk rock?
5) Man of War by Radiohead - One of three Radiohead tracks that were culled from OK Computer but are now found on the 20th anniversary re-release of the album.
6) Put Your Life On It by Kasabian - Kasabian's latest album closer builds to a singalong anthem of epic proportions with a gospel vibe akin to Blur's Tender.
7) Paved With Gold by Sampa The Great - Smoothness and dope beats.
8) Jacket Weather by Sam Gellaitry - Cool bleeps produced by this young Scottish DJ.
9) Enter Sandman by Cookin' On 3 Burners - Australian Hammond organ jazz trio provide an instrumental cover of Metallica. Sounds better than it looks on paper - but only just!
10) Blue Sun by Vanilla - It's great when you imagine a genre in your head and then discover it exists and is flourishing. This happened to me recently with Chill-Hop and this is a fine example of what to expect if you want to take a detour in that direction.
11) Chariot by Beach House - Keeping things on a blissed-out trip are Baltimore's Beach House with their first dreamy soundscape for a couple of years.
12) Can't Help Falling In Love by Beck - Taken from the soundtrack of The Man In The High Castle, Beck croons this epic ballad. But when is his new album coming out?
13) Believe (triple j Like A Version Cover) by DMA's - Melbourne's DMA's cover Cher's 1998 disco hit and make it tolerable.
14) Snow by Angus & Julia Stone - Rejoice! Angus and Julia Stone have recorded a fourth album and this is the lead single.
15) How To Boil An Egg by Courtney Barnett - New catchy song from Melbourne's undisputed Queen of Glum.
16) Monkey Disco by The Babe Rainbow - Sixties hippy throwbacks have released their debut album including this funky monkey French disco number.
17) Wall Of Glass by Liam Gallagher - Liam is back singing other people's songs again with a backing band that sounds like Oasis during the excesses of the Be Here Now. Liam brings his trademark attitude but to what end? To shatter a wall of glass? All Surface, No Feeling.
18) Dive by Saint Etienne - Classic St Etienne handbags disco number.
19) Wait (Non Electric) by The Kills - Acoustic version of an album track from their excellent debut album Keep On Your Mean Side originally released back in 2003. Just love her gravelly vocal here.
20) My Name Is Thunder by Jet & The Bloody Beetroots - A collaboration between The Bloody Beetroots and Aussie rockers Jet. Very Acca-Dacca!
