What a strange year we’ve all had with this Covid business destroying our normal life. No gigs, donning masks, lockdowns, tiers and tears, yet shitloads of amazing music. This time round I thought I’d feature 20 of the best tunes of the year voted by our LTW writers with videos, then drop in the playlist of almost 9 hours of great tracks. You may agree or disagree yet it’s the most eclectic bunch of almost 150 tracks that got us all going. It was impossible to do them in any proper order yet the top 10 tracks were voted for more than once, with Bob Vylan breaking the record for most votes this year, with the incendiary We Live Here. If this doesn’t keep you going over this weird festive period I’ll be surprised as fuck…
1. Bob Vylan: We Live Here.
2. The Battery Farm: Excellent Public Speaker.
3. Micko & The Mellotronics: Psychedelic Shirt.
4. The Lovely Eggs: Long Stem Carnation.
5. Sault: Wildfires.
6. Fontaines DC: A Hero’s Death.
7. Gorillaz: Aries.
8. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Automation.
9. Dead Sheeran: Flytippin’.
10. Def Robot: I Am The Weapon.
11. The Cool Greenhouse: Alexa.
12. Strange Bones ft Bob Vylan: Menace.
13. Nancy: 7ft Tall Post-Suicidal Feel Good Blues.
14. Miley Cyrus: Midnight Sky.
15. Working Mens Club: John Cooper Clarke.
16. Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby: Vote That Fucker Out.
17. Kylie Minogue: Say Something.
18. Yard Act: Fixer Upper.
19. Bee Bee Sea: Daily Jobs.
20. The Lathums: I See You Ghost.
Special thanks to all the contributors: John Robb, Nigel Carr, Melanie Smith, Naomi Dryden-Smith, Ged Babey, Nathan Whittle, Neil Hodge, Iain Key, Dan Volohov, Paul Grace, Audrey Golden, Keith Goldhanger, Gordon Rutherford, Ian Canty, Martin Mathews, Tim Cooper, Gus Ironside, Andy Brown and Paul Clarke.
Words by Wayne Carey, Reviews Editor for Louder Than War. His author profile is here
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IAN BROWN LITTLE SEED BIG TREE SONG OF THE YEAR