It’s been a really strong year but we’ve managed to whittle down the best releases of the last 12 months to these 20 stunners:

1 Heslop and Stringer – Barghest
2 Jesca Hoop – Hatred Has A Mother
3 Newtown Aces – Song For The Gone
4 Julia Jacklin – Lydia Wears A Cross
5 Deep Throat Choir – Witches
6 Bug Club – It’s Art
7 Johnny Flynn – Through The Misty
8 Black Angels – El Jardin
9 Mush – Group of Death
10 45 – It’s All A Dance
11 Montparnasse Musique – Bonjour
12 The 1975 – Part of the Band
13 The Wombats – I Think My Mind Has Made Up Its Mind
14 Apollo Junction – Perfect Plan
15 Ural Thomas and the Pain – Gimme Some Ice Cream
16 Belle and Sebastian – Unnecessary Drama
17 Nick Toczek and Signia Alpha – Another Shoreline
18 Dropkick Murphys – Two Sixes Upside Down
19 Egon and Thies – Uber Nacht
20 First Ones – Falling Backwards

We’ve unveiled the first part of our annual chart of the top 20 tracks of the year.

Here’s what we played on this week’s show, including numbers 20 to 16:

Staple Singers – Who Took The Merry Out of Christmas?
Damon Albarn – Combustion
Deep Throat Choir – Picturing
Jim Bower – When David Bowie Died
Colin Moulding – The Hardest Battle

Christmas Countdown – part 1:
20 – Parquet Courts – Walking At A Downtown Pace
19 – Warmduscher – Wild Flowers
18 – Newtown Aces – Take Back The Streets
17 – Paul Weller – Cosmic Fringes
16 – This Is the Kit – Was Magician (live)

Radiohead – Follow Me Around
Nell and the Flaming Lips – Red Right Hand
Marsicans – Your Eyes
Mattiel – Jeff Goldblum
The Wombles – Wombling Merry Christmas

Listen again to the show here: https://www.mixcloud.com/BradfordBeat/bradford-beat-2-december-2021/ 

Here’s a recap of our 2020 Christmas Countdown – our favourite 20 tracks of the year:

1 Yard Act – Fixer Upper
2 Deep Throat Choir – Like A Mountain
3 Mura Masa featuring Slowthai – Deal Wiv It
4 Fontaines DC – Televised Mind
5 Mush – Fruits of the Happening
6 BC Camplight – Back To Work
7 Fiona Apple – Shameika
8 Mark Lanegan – Burying Ground
9 Andy Shauf – Thirteen Hours
10 Tina – Golden Rope
11 Talkboy – Over Under
12 Laura Marling – Strange Girl
13 Hotel Lux – Loneliness of The Stage Performer
14 Goa Express – Be My Friend
15 Songhoy Blues – Worry
16 Nick Toczek – Absalom to Zedekiah
17 Pillow Queens – Brothers
18 The Strangerz – Straight Gay Brother
19 Sports Team – Here’s the Thing
20 Maya Kally – Chose To Stay

Here’s the full track listing for our Christmas special, including the top 5 tracks in our Christmas Countdown:

Three Wise Men – Thanks For Christmas
Maria Helena – Autochrome Days
Caro – Form A Line

Christmas Countdown – part 4
5 – Mush – Fruits of the Happening
4 – Fontaines DC – Televised Mind
3 – Mura Masa featuring Slowthai – Deal Wiv It
2 – Deep Throat Choir – Like A Mountain
1 – Yard Act – Fixer Upper

Julia Jacklin – Baby Jesus is Nobody’s Baby Now
Laura Groves – Faking It
Idles – Kill Them With Kindness
Big Big Train – Merry Christmas
Bombay Bicyle Club – Always Like This
Nick Toczek and Thies Marsen – Exit

Listen again to the show here: https://www.mixcloud.com/BradfordBeat/bradford-beat-24-december-2020/

This week saw 5 more song revealed in our chart of the top 20 tracks of the year:

15 Worry – Songhoy Blues
14 Be My Friend – Goa Express
13 Loneliness of The Stage Performer – Hotel Lux
12 Strange Girl – Laura Marling
11 Over Under – Talkboy

And the rest of the tracks we played were:

The Right To Be Forgotten – Memory Drawings
Arabella – Arctic Monkeys
Drei Bruder aus Irland – Thies Marsen
Farewell – Hen Ogledd
Searching For The Stars – Laura Groves
Then Again – Nick Toczek and Thies Marsen
Free Today – Albertine Sarges
Island Mentality – Mush