Yes, it’s the end of the year and time to compile a list of music I’ve liked over the last 12 months. This time, I couldn’t get the number of albums under 75! Sorry about that. It shows that 2010 has been a pretty incredible year for new releases.

Forget the X-Factor! There’s a whole world of tremendous, soulful, forward-thinking music out there waiting for you to investigate. Some of these albums you’ll know, some you won’t – but I’d advise you to hunt down a few of them to liven up any collection.

There’s indie, rock, electronica, pop, hip-hop, folk, punk, jazz, dubstep and almost everything in between, from across Scotland and the World. I hope it inspires you to take the plunge and get those creative juices flowing.

What are your thoughts on the list? Agree? Disagree? What have I left off? The National? JLS? Let me know…

Although the others are in no particular order, I can firmly say that The Phantom Band clinch the top spot. So if there’s one you should get, make it that one.

Enjoy!

Vic xxx

The Phantom Band – The Wants (Chemikal Underground)
Tame Impala – Innerspeaker (Modular)
Silver Columns – Yes, And Dance (Moshi Moshi)
Field Music – Measure (Memphis Industries)
Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks (Fatcat)
Warpaint – The Fool (Rough Trade)
Mitchell Museum – The Peter’s Port Memorial Service (French Electra)
Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest (4AD)
Meursault – All Creatures Will Make Merry (Song, by Toad)
Vampire Weekend – Contra (XL Recordings)
Edwyn Collins – Losing Sleep (Heavenly)
Drums of Death – Generation Hexed (Greco-Roman)
Bear in Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth (Hometapes)
Broken Records – Let Me Come Home (4AD)
LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening (EMI)
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan – Hawk (V2)
The Soft Pack – The Soft Pack (Heavenly)
Errors – Come Down With Me (Rock Action)
Sleigh Bells – Treats (Columbia)
Aberfeldy – Somewhere To Jump From (Tenement)
Yeasayer – Odd Blood (Secretly Canadian)
Steve Mason – Boys Outside (Double Six)
Grinderman – Grinderman 2 (Mute)
North Atlantic Oscillation – Grappling Hooks (KScope)
Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record (City Slang)
The Scottish Enlightenment – St. Thomas (Armellodie)
Broken Bells – Broken Bells (Warners)
The Unwinding Hours – The Unwinding Hours (Chemikal Underground)
Four Tet – There Is Love In You (Domino)
Kid Canaveral – Shouting At Wildlife (Straight to Video)
Black Angels – Phosphene Dream (Blue Horizon)
Teenage Fanclub – Shadows (Pema)
Hot Chip – One Life Stand (EMI)
Admiral Fallow – Boots Met My Face (Lo-Five)
Surfer Blood – Astro Coast (Kanine)
John Knox Sex Club – Blud Rins Cauld (Self Release)
Everything Everything – Man Alive (Geffen)
RM Hubbert – First and Last (Ubisano)
Caribou – Swim (City Slang)
The Xcerts – Scatterbrain (Xtra Mile)
Les Savy Fav – Road for Ruin (Wichita)
Erland & the Carnival – Erland & the Carnival (Full Time Hobby)
First Aid Kit – The Big Black & The Blue (Wichita)
Hidden Orchestra – Night Walks (Tru Thoughts)
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (Warners)
Sexual Objects – Cucumber (Creeping Bent / Aktion & Spass)
Roots Manuva meets Wrongtom – Duppy Writer (Big Dada)
The Vaselines – Sex With An X (Sub Pop)
Pantha du Prince – Black Noise (Rough Trade)
Sparrow & the Workshop – Crystals Fall (Distiller)
Jamie Lidell – Compass (Warp)
Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms (Static Tongue)
MGMT – Congratulations (Columbia)
Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma (Warp)
Pulled Apart By Horses – Pulled Apart By Horses (Transgressive)
Toro y Moi – Causers Of This (Carpark)
The Dead Weather – Sea of Cowards (Third Man)
Wooden Shjips – Vol. 2 (Sick Thirst)
Black Hole – Californian Punk 1977-1980 (Domino)
Tango in the Attic – Bank Place Locomotive Society (Self Release)
The Bees – Every Step Is A Yes (Polydor)
Ratatat – LP4 (XL Recordings)
Emma Pollock – The Law Of Large Numbers (Chemikal Underground)
Middle Class Rut – No Name No Colour (Bright Antenna)
The Jim Jones Review – Burning Your House Down (PIAS)
Woodenbox with a Fistful of Fivers – Home & The Wildhunt (Electric Honey)
Glasser – Ring (True Panther)
Belle and Sebastian – Write About Love (Rough Trade)
Dangermouse & Sparklehorse – Dark Night Of The Soul (Parlophone)
Shutter – Pillars (Self Release)
Male Bonding – Nothing Hurts (Sub Pop)
The Burns Unit – Side Show (Self Release)
Syd Barrett – An Introduction To Syd Barrett (EMI/Harvest)
Over the Wall – Treacherous (Motive Sounds Recordings)
Skream – Outside The Box (Tempa)

Download The Phantom Band, Frightened Rabbit and more in the Dear Scotland Shop:

Frightened Rabbit Live on KEXP October 2010

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjiQHLZimSo