In case you missed it, here’s our 2024 Christmas Countdown in full (essentially our chart of the top 20 tracks of the year):

1 – Gevaudan Dogs – Down The Pathway
2 – The Waeve – You Saw
3 – Punky Muzzle – Bury Me Under The Disco
4 – Sisterly – Racing Snake
5 – Fontaines DC – Starburster
6 – Cowtown – Thru Being Zuul
7 – A Certain Ratio – All Comes Down To This
8 – Idles – Gift Horse
9 – Modern English – Not My Leader
10 – Dan McGlade and the Lords of Misrule – Bring Out Your Dead
11 – Wind-Up Birds – Guards
12 – Terrorvision – Lucifer
13 – Pom Poko – Growing Story
14 – Iron and Wine – Cutting It Close
15 – Mighty Muskrats – Feeling Pretty Stupid
16 – Kim Deal – Crystal Breath
17 – Mdou Moctar – Soussoume Tamacheq
18 – Cornershop – Double Denim
19 – Silverlites – Don’t Go, Don’t Stay
20 – First Ones – Contemplate My Rise

Listen to the whole of our end-of-year special here:

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/