than to sit and make a audio CD (if you can remember them) that contains all your most wonderlicious musicial moments from the 12 months past.

The idea of the compilation CD is thus: with 16000GB capacity MP3 players giving more music at fingertips than you’ll live long enough to listen to, it’s important to keep it frugal and force yourself to choose only the tastiest selection that will fit on ONE solitary audio CD (80mins or less). MP3 CDs are cheating.

The idea is to create your own CD and post the track listings here, swap CDs with pals and discover new music, or maybe just display disbelief that others have left off a particular song for that band you happen to like.

Make sure all your music selections ARE actually from 2009 (just sort your WinAmp / Media Player / iTunes into ‘year’ order).

Also, only one entry per artist please, but I suppose if someone is part of two groups, then that’s fine.

My 2009 Compilation CD (under 80 mins)

1. Mew – Introducing Palace Players » listen here
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Role » listen here
3. Fever Ray – Triangle Walks » listen here
4. The xx – Islands » listen here
5. Beirut – My Wife, Lost in the Wild » listen here
6. Golden Silvers – True No.9 Blues (True Romance) » listen here
7. St. Vincent – The Party » listen here
8. Why? – Against Me » listen here
9. Blue Roses – I Am Leaving » listen here
10. Memory Tapes – Bicycle » listen here
11. Passion Pit – The Reeling » listen here
12. The Pains of Being Pure of Heart – A Teenager in Love » listen here
13. Bombay Bicycle Club – Dust on the Ground » listen here
14. Grizzly Bear – While You Wait for the Others » listen here
15. White Denim – I Start to Run » listen here
16. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career » listen here
17. Bat For Lashes – Daniel » listen here
18. Sufjan Stevens – You Are The Blood » listen here

What music have you been listening to this yeear? What’s your favourite song? Favourite album? Top 5 songs? What’s on your 2009 CD? Let me know below…

It’s depressing describing the sound of band in the digital age, as by the time you’ve thought of something original or witty, or managed to draw some illustrative and elaborate comparison… the person you’re informing has already been on MySpace, YouTube or last.fm and judged them for themselves. Suffice it to say, they’re worth a million of The View, The Enemy or any other dreary, creatively deficient band Radio 1 or NME have been pedalling of late.

Their sound, if you haven’t heard by now, is most complimented by the fact there aren’t many obvious similarities. You can hear Johnny Marr in some of the jangling guitars, you can hear a whimsical playwright in the lyrics and you can hear a madman in the vocals. The singing – by frontman Hayden Thorpe – is what first grabs, and it fluctuates between fairytale falsetto and guttural screeching. They have song titles such as ‘Vigil for a Fuddy Duddy’ and lyrics such as ‘…take these chips with cheese as an offering of peace.’ They’re difficult not to love.

Originating from Kendal before moving to Leeds in 2005 (a decent live scene and cheapish housing, apparently) Wild Beasts released their excellent debut album Limbo, Panto in 2008 on indie behemoths Domino Records; and have been championed by such luminaries as Marc Riley, Pitchfork, and even The Guardian have shortlisted them for their Best Debut Album of the Year accolade.

Wild Beasts are sincerely one of the most exciting bands I’ve heard in a long time. And I struggle to think of any other recent British bands with both a bucket-load of originality as well as undeniable commercial appeal. The last band to pull this off, perhaps, is label mates Arctic Monkeys. Thankfully though, they sound nothing like.

But anyways, they’re truly great, their album is magic, and they’ll be touring again soon. So go and pour the splendour down your head holes and let me know what you think.

Check out Wild Beasts at: www.myspace.com/wildbeasts