bandwagon-jumping-type end-of-year-roundup thingymajig :: part the fifth

Happy New Year! Well, it's finally 2006, and time to finish off Skye's highlights from last year. Now I have to admit, that I've left off some of my favourite acts; for instance the Kaiser Chiefs' Employment has achieved a near saturation level that would probably drive folk mad. Antony and the Johnsons produced an incredible record that I really should have mentioned. Bloc Party are our official #1 favourite CD. All acts that would be worth talking about today.

And there are of course, honourable mentions to records released in 2005 that didn't quite represent artists at their best; Teenage Fanclub's Man-Made, while good, didn't live up to the standard set by Grand Prix and Songs from Northern Britain. Arab Strap produced a record that was totally over-shadowed by the extra-curricular projects of it's members.

Nonetheless, here are a couple of my final picks from last year.

Madonna - Get Together

Part of the awesometacular trio that kicks off Confessions on a DanceFloor, Hung Up segues into this track with little relent from the dancin' beat. She might have fallen off her horse this year, but that hasn't dented her pop sensibilities, and this is a welcome return to form.

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Kate Bush - Sunset

Now I've only had Ariel since the day before yesterday, and I can't get enough of it. It's great; quirky, full of wonderful melodies, and a sense of the bizarre that exists in the mundane (where else can you hear someone singing 'slooshy slooshy slooshy sloosh! Get that dirty shirty clean' to a washing machine?) Utterly mesmerising, and I say this as someone who's never really been that big a Kate Bush fan. Sunset, like much of the second disk, is particularly captivating.

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Girls Aloud - Biology

I don't care what anyone thinks. Chemistry is a truly great cheese-pop record, definitely the best of the year (maybe with the exception of Take That's greatest hits, but that doesn't really count), and I had to get one in there somewhere. It's trashy, throwaway pop, and Biology and Models are the trashiest tracks in there. Utterly splendid. I guess I really should have posted this yesterday so you could all play it at your Hogmanay parties... stick it on once the hangover's disappeared...

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Gorillaz - Every Planet We Reach is Dead

I'm going to finish up with this cheery number; another hightlight from Demon Days that everyone probably already has. Featuring an insistent guitar line and organ, it's yet another example of Damon Albarn's virtual band striking a huge blow against 'real' musicians, in a sense; particularly those 'real' musicians who are a product of reality TV (sorry, Girls Aloud, but it's true). Blur go back into the studio this year; they're going to have their work cut out for them if they're going to top this (as, it has to be said, will Albarn himself on the solo work he's apparently going to complete this year).

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Okay, so that's many of my favourite records from this year. We've recently posted the Music Slut top ten 2005 albums, based on the opinions of your resident sluts and those of you who've commented and emailed. Obviously, there's a huge number of artists out there who've produced some amazing work, and some of my own top records have gone unmentioned... but still.

2005 was a good year to be a music slut. Here's hoping 2006 will have the same kind of promise!

Megaupload links:
Madonna - Get Together
Kate Bush - Sunset
Girls Aloud - Biology
Gorillaz - Every Planet We Reach is Dead