Songs of the year

It has been a rubbish year for music. The quality of new music released has reached a nadir. The obvious highlights that come to mind have been:

• The emergence of Kaiser Chiefs and Magic Numbers, plus a new album from Hot Hot Heat
• I think that I liked Elbow's new single, but as I only heard it played once on the radio (while I was negotiating Sainsbury's car park, so was concentrating on other stuff), it is hard to make a real judgment
• I like Athlete's new album, which was a bit of a surprise, as I wasn't really expecting to like it that much
• Mylo deserves a mention, most notably for "Drop the pressure" (which doesn't qualify as it was released last year), and it's bootleg offspring "Dr Pressure"
• I think The Killers' "Somebody told me" was released this year, but as it was a re-release, it doesn't really qualify (and the best bit is the keyboard segue between the chorus and second verse)
• The band that impressed me the most were the Zutons - I didn't like them that much until I saw them supporting REM at the City Ground in July, and they were really good. I have listened to the album loads since, and really like it!

On a personal note, it was brilliant to see my friend and former musical colleague Chi Taylor enjoying such success with The Go! Team.

I am sure that there is a lot of stuff that I have forgotten about, but off the top of my head, these have been my favourite three singles of the year:

3. Amerie: "One thing"
2. White Stripes: "My doorbell"
1. Chemical Brothers: "Galvanise"

Let me know what you think - leave a comment!