QTheMusic.com

This month's Q comes with a top-drawer free CD, crammed with 15 of the year's essential tracks. Here's what's on it...

1 Chips Ahoy!
The Hold Steady
Minnesota misfits who made the bar band sound noble again. Frontman Craig Finn has the voice of alt-rock hero Bob Mould and lyrical reach of Bruce Springsteen, here turning a woman’s knack for picking winning horses into a cameo of blue-collar American life – assisted by a surging rush of powerhouse guitar riffs and choogling electric organ.
From: Boys And Girls In America (Vagrant)

2 We Used To Vacation
Cold War Kids
One of the year’s unlikely success stories – three of the band met at an evangelical Christian college – the California quartet throw convention to the wind on this fascinating evocation of what happens when the American Dream turns into a nightmare. Angular guitars battle dive-bar piano while Nathan Willett goes inside the mind of a drunken father.
From: Robbers & Cowards (V2)

3 Turn On Me
The Shins
Previously sleepers on the US alternative circuit, this year the New Mexico quartet’s melodic instincts finally paid dividends, their third album gatecrashing the US Top 10 and turning them into standard-bearers for a new wave of tuneful indie acts – helped by sing-along anthems such as this bittersweet reflection on stalled relationships.
From: Wincing The Night Away (Transgressive/Sub Pop)

4 O Valencia!
The Decemberists
Stand-out moment from the major label debut which saw the Portland, Oregon, troupe headed by bespectacled sage Colin Meloy finally fulfill their crossover potential. Showing a deft touch with melody and melancholy, he here conjures a poignant Romeo and Juliet love story from three and a half minutes of sublime Country-tinged folk pop.
From: The Crane Wife (Capitol)

5 Operation
Jamie T
Alongside his equally gobby contemporary Lily Allen, the Wimbledon upstart is one of British pop’s most vital new voices, his blend of ska rhythms and spunky attitude unexpectedly connecting The Specials to the Arctic Monkeys. Edgy, energised and spiked with just the right measure of wit, finally Mike Skinner has some real competition.
From: Panic Prevention (Virgin)

6 The Good, The Bad And The Queen
The Good, The Bad And The Queen
For his first state-of-the-nation address since Parklife, Damon Albarn gathered former Clash bassist Paul Simonon and Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen – an inspired move which added heavyweight basslines and raw funk to his vision of our “stroppy little island”, as on this sprawling evocation of urban chaos and beauty.
From: The Good, The Bad And The Queen (Parlophone)

7 Bank Holiday Monday
Stereophonics
An return to rock’n’roll basics, from the moment Kelly Jones rips into the opening power chords – lifted from the Sex Pistols’ Holidays In The Sun. The lyrics may recall their roots on the pub circuit in Wales, but Jones’s anthemic howl and a power-pop chorus demonstrate why they’re still one of the UK’s biggest rock acts.
From: Pull The Pin (V2)

8 Watch Me Fall Apart
Hard-Fi
The Staines quartet pushed the button marked “epic” for the follow-up to Stars Of CCTV – a bold move which carried them straight to the top of the album chart. This widescreen showstopper finds Richard Archer in soul-searching mood, agonising about “the pain that I have sown” over some uncharacteristically orchestral backing.
From: Once Upon A Time In The West (Necessary/Atlantic)

9 Dull Flame Of Desire
Björk
Thrilling duet from two of the most distinctive – not to say eccentric – voices in popular music, with the Icelandic diva and Antony And The Johnsons singer Antony Hegarty trading lines like “I love your eyes, my dear/Their splendid, sparkling fire” over a spare brass melody and roiling percussion. Totally unlike anything else released this year, it was good to have her back.
From: Volta (One Little Indian)

10 Staralfur
Sigur Ros
Recorded to accompany their visually stunning tour documentary Heima – with its widescreen shots of glaciers and mountains – this unplugged re-reading of the Icelanders’ 1999 classic is the highlight of recent electric/acoustic album Hvarf-Heim. After all, with a string melody as graceful as this, who needs amplifiers and effects pedals?
From: Hvarf-Heim (EMI)

11 Roses
Cherry Ghost
Arctic Monkeys Alex Turner wasn’t the only Northern songwriter to come of age in 2007. From the opposite side of the Pennines came Cherry Ghost’s Simon Aldred, the Bolton newcomer whose debut album proved a revelation, thanks to deceptively plain-speaking songs like this emotive yet unaffected ballad.
From: Thirst For Romance (Heavenly)

12 The Penalty
Beirut
Santa Fe prodigy Zach Condon has apparently been taking inspiration from chanson legends like Jacques Brel, which helps explain the Gallic flavour of this captivating reflection on maladies physical and spiritual powered by gypsy percussion and café accordions. One of the US indie scene’s most exciting new talents, Arcade Fire-like success now beckons.
From: The Flying Club Cup (4AD)

13 Give A Little Love
Rilo Kiley
Timely bid for stardom by Jenny Lewis, now emerging as this decade’s answer to Stevie Nicks – a singer-songwriter capable of delivering troubling emotion with a pop shimmy, here apparent in both the airy synthpop melody and lyrics like “it’s like a battlefield inside”. A star-in-waiting since 2004’s More Adventurous, her moment has surely come.
From: Under The Blacklight (Warners)

14 Fake Empire
The National
Like The Shins and The Hold Steady, this New York-based quintet have breathed new life into “trad” rock, here displaying a depth of feeling and melodic subtlety that’s increasingly rare in 2007 – not to mention what frontman Matt Berninger calls “a strange loneliness”. But there’s a winning vitality, too, not least in an urgent snare drum roll reminiscent of early U2.
From: Boxer (Beggars Banquet)

15 Pioneer To The Falls
Interpol
Majestic highlight from the New Yorkers’ third album, with singer Paul Banks discovering new range and emotion as he contemplates the title’s perilous descent. Yet it’s the richly orchestrated backdrop which resonates most, the nod to great Italian film composer Ennio Morricone setting a new standard for alternative rock acts with ambition.
From: Our Love To Admire (Capitol)

12:17 PM | 01/11/2007