EIGHT

ALBUM

8. Blood Red Shoes - Box of Secrets

Last year this delicious pairing of Steven Ansell and Laura-Mary Carter came storming into my heart like being knived in prison (but good ... if such a thing can be good. No? I need to devise better similes) and gave me my personal favourite song of 2007. And boy, did they deliver. Launching into 11 furious mindswelterers with Doesn't Matter Much, a brilliantly produced album completely captures the essence of their live shows. Highlights include the last minute of probably the slowest song This Is Not For You and some kickass harmonising on Take The Weight. Despite the reworking of It's Getting Boring By The Sea, this album mostly hits all my right notes. And from the sounds of their new live stuff, it can only get better ...

SONGS

16. Los Campesinos! - Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats

ONE! TWO THREE FOUR! ONE! TWO THREE FOUR! ONE! TWO THREE FOUR! nuh nuh nuh ... uhm yeah OK, so this is completely amazing and probably my highlight of Los Camp!'s live sets and the Hold On Now, Youngster album. SO IMAGINE HOW GUTTED I WAS WHEN THEY NEGLECTED TO PLAY IT IN CARDIFF! Terrible. Gareth has some brilliant delivery in this, and then when it's live and then he and Neil (*swoons*) are all over each other ... faints. Yeah, so I've barely discussed the song - it's really rather good. I will never make it as a music journalist. OK yeah, moving on ...

15. Late of the Pier - Space and the Woods

Intergalactic noise welcoming you in to a monster of a beat irresistible to the feet. I guess with this you could also play a game of "which version is he talking about?" seeing as this year the song was re-released for the third time with a fourth newer version of the song, faster and more dangerous than the previous three. There's a reason this song has taken over indie dancefloors all over the country (and apparently my media library seeing as last.fm lists it as my most played song). Is it because of the weird lyrics? Could be. The face-melting space fury beginning at 2:27? Largely. Perhaps just for the fact it's completely fucking awesome. Yeah, that'll be it.