Bullion – God Only Knows – MP3 (2007)

The Beach Boys carved up by one very funky precision butcher.

Download: Bullion – God Only Knows (Track) – MP3
Buy: This track is from Pet Sounds In The Key Of Dee which was released as a free mixtape - Bullion recommends you buy the original LP by the Beach Boys

Also on repeat: Say Goodbye To What You Want

Sin Fang Bous – Catch The Light – MP3 (2009)

Cantering, Dodos-style percussion in the opening bars makes you sit up straight but it’s the fluttery piano when you least expect it that’ll really knock your  mittens off.  One guy from Iceland made this.

 

Download: Sin Fang Bous – Catch The Light (Track) – MP3

Buy: Sin Fang Bous – Clangour (Album)

 

Also on repeat: Melt The Knives, A Fire To Sleep In, Advent in Ives Garden

 

Cass McCombs – You Saved My Life – MP3 (2009)

McCombs’ melancholic slide guitar and heart-on-a plate lyrics are guaranteed to make emotional scars tingle.

Download: Cass McCombs – You Saved My Life (Track) – MP3

Buy: Cass McCombs – Catacombs (Album)

Also on repeat: Dreams Come True Girl (feat. Karen Black)

Keepaway – Yellow Wings – MP3 (2010)

What an anthem sounds like now (you’d be forgiven for thinking it was Animal Collective).

Download: Keepaway – Yellow Wings (Track) – MP3
Buy:  Keepaway are unsigned so there’s nothing to buy just yet

Jesca Hoop – The Kingdom – MP3 (2009)

“Her music is like going swimming in a lake at night”, says ex-boss Tom Waits, whose children she used nanny.

Download: Jesca Hoop – The Kingdom (Track) – MP3
Buy: Jesca Hoop – Hunting My Dress (Album)

Also on repeat: The whole album

Cristina – Things Fall Apart – MP3 (1984)

Spooky disco that sounds just as fresh as anything by Glass Candy a quarter of a century on. Also a serious contender for coolest Christmas song ever. Really.

Download: Cristina – Things Fall Apart (Track) – MP3
Buy: Cristina – Sleep It Off (Album)

The Clientele – I Wonder Who We Are – MP3 (2009)

A seretonin-surger which lifts its ba-ba-da-das from the 60s but wouldn’t sound out of place in a sophisticated future incarnation of Super Mario World.

Download: The Clientele – I Wonder Who We Are (Track) – MP3
Buy: The Clientele – Bonfires On The Heath (Album)

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)