FM Belfast – Synthia – MP3 (2008)

Only an Icelandic band on a mission to create a musical antidote to three hours of daily sunlight could come up with an electro tune this merry.

Download: FM Belfast – Synthia (Track) – MP3
Buy: FM Belfast – How To Make Friends (Album)

Also on repeat: Tropical, Par Avion, Underwear… the whole album!

Atlas Sound – Sheila – MP3 (2009)

The sort of song Kurt and Courtney might have chosen as a wedding waltz – elegant, Beach Boys-esque pop shot with dirty, hazy guitar and bitter-sweet lyrics.

Download: Atlas Sound – Sheila (Track) – MP3
Buy: Atlas Sound – Logos (Album)

Also on repeat: Atlas Sound – Walkabout (featuring Noah Lennox)

Richard Hawley – As The Dawn Breaks – MP3 (2009)

With its shimmering, orchestral opening and soul-bearing, lucid lyrics, it’s like Johnny Cash guest-starring on 50s Broadway.

Download: Richard Hawley – As The Dawn Breaks (Track) - MP3
Buy: Richard Hawley – Truelove’s Gutter (Album)

Also on repeat: For Your Lover Give Some Time (Track)

Chenard And The Sand – C-Side Girl – MP3 (2006)

If the Avalanches had a weird uncle, he might have made something like this – musical cut-and-paste (catchy, unsettling) as you’ve never quite heard it.

Download: Chenard And The Sand – C-Side Girl (Track) – MP3
Buy: Chenard And The Sand – C-Side (Album) You can’t buy C-Side because it’s free. Its creator, Chenard Walcker, is an anti-copyright cut and paste artist – otherwise known as a plunderphonicist (word of the week!).

Memory Tapes – Plain Material – MP3 (2009)

Begins with nostalgic, closing credit-worthy tremolo guitar and wistful lyrics, then the sentimental mask drops and joyful, Tough Alliance-style playground choruses and handclaps lift the mood from call-a-cab to cut-a-rug.

Download: Memory Tapes – Plain Material (Track) – MP3
Buy: Memory Tapes – Seek Magic (Album)

Also on repeat: Green Knight

The Flaming Lips – Silver Trembling Hands – MP3 (2009)

There’s something about the way Wayne Coyne sings ‘When she’s high’ that makes your stomach flip flop and your elbows tingle – a Yoshimi-esque return to form.

Download: The Flaming Lips – Silver Trembling Hands (Track) – MP3
Buy: The Flaming Lips – Embryonic (Album)

Little Dragon – Feather – MP3 (2009)

Soaring airy synths and a sexy beat conjure the sweaty dance scene (and the permed, natural-bosomed heroine) from classic 80s blockbusters.

Download: Little Dragon – Feather (Track) – MP3
Buy: Little Dragon – Machine Dreams (Album)

Also on repeat: Looking Glass (Track)

Pescado Rabioso – Las Habladurías del Mundo – MP3 (1973)

Does John Lennon have an Argentinean cousin? This superb nugget of classic rock from little-known 70s group Pescado Rabioso (Rabid Fish) bears more than a passing resemblance to Abbey Road’s still-fresh ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’.

Download: Pescado Rabioso – Las Habladurías del Mundo (Track) – MP3
Buy: Pescado Rabioso - Artaud (Album)

Casiokids – Fot I Hose – MP3 (2009)

Think The Chemical Brothers playing at the ice-cream parlour.

Download: Casiokids – Fot I Hose (Track) – MP3
Buy: Casiokids – Verdens Storste Land (EP) 

Also on repeat: Verdens Storste Land (Track)

KID – Hupendi Muziki Wangu (You Don’t Like My Music?) – MP3 (1981/2009)

Ever since spending most of London’s Lovebox Festival in the Horse Meat Disco tent (not just because the weather was shit) I’ve been willing the legendary DJs to release a compilation. There can’t have been more than 40 seconds between the BBC review popping up in iGoogle and me pressing the ‘Download’ button on emusic. This track’s bouncier than a Boney M. afro.

Download: KID – Hupendi Muziki Wangu (You Don’t Like My Music?) (Track) – MP3
Buy: Horse Meat Disco – Horse Meat Disco (Album)