My favourite 50 tracks of 2015

Non-Spotifys:

Favourite 50 tracks of 2014

Don't worry, I'm still alive! What a year for blogging it's been on The Electric Goose. In May, we posted a picture of a street sign; in June, a box of chocolates. It really was a year to remember.

Anyway, here are the 50 songs released in 2014 which I liked. Hope you do too.


Four non-Spotify tracks that probably aren't appearing above and making you think This Guy Can't Do Maths:

The Way We Do It - Jurassic 5
aghast, anew, anon - christian fitness
i am scared of everthing that isn't me - christian fitness
Shake It Off - Taylor Swift

Oh, and this certainly deserves a hat-tip too...

My favourite 50 tracks of 2013

Just in time! Happy New Year from all of the hard-working staff here at The Electric Goose, including the lazy intern who didn't submit his top 10 until 11pm on 30 December and the guy who's actually still listening to The Electric Soft Parade in 2013.

My top 50 tracks of 2012

Warning: it gets quite schmindie in places. Also, I hope you like Regina Spektor...

My top 75 tracks of 2011

Despite the fact that I completed LA Noire on the PS3 this year, I don't really get that Lana Del Rey song. Although I have been a passenger in a car on numerous motorways, I don't really get M83. And even though I thnk vwls r 4 dckhds, I don't really get Sbtrkt. I'M SORRY. And with that very negative introduction out of the way, we at The Electric Goose are delighted to present our top 75 tracks of 2011, as always, in no particular order. Enjoy!

 Click here for the Spotify goodness 

Joan As Police Woman – The Magic
Killer Mike – God In The Building II
Tune-Yards – Powa
Ben Folds Five – Stumblin' Home Winter Blue
Battles – Ice Cream (Featuring Matias Aguayo)
Wild Flag – Romance
Cocknbullkid – Hold On To Your Misery
Cornershop – Topknot
The Decemberists – Calamity Song
Half Man Half Biscuit – Fix It So She Dreams Of Me
TV On The Radio – Will Do
The Vaccines – Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)
Camille – My Man Is Married But Not To Me
Dark Dark Dark – In Your Dreams
Ezra Furman & The Harpoons – Teenage Wasteland
The Feelies – When You Know
Elbow – lippy kids
Lady Gaga – Born This Way
Jay Z – Otis
Dirty Projectors + Björk – On and Ever Onward
Guided By Voices – One, Two, Three, Four
Ghostpoet – Survive It
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Belong
Anna Calvi – Desire
Sons And Daughters – Rose Red
Glee Cast – I Love New York / New York, New York
Tune-Yards – Gangsta
Dutch Uncles – The Ink
The Vaccines – Norgaard
Ezra Furman & The Harpoons – Hard Time in a Terrible Land
The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow
The Drums – Days
Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo – Pause
Akira The Don – Video Highway
Nicki Minaj – Roman's Revenge
Wild Flag – Endless Talk
The Strokes – Taken For A Fool
The Horrors – Still Life
Camille – Ilo Veyou
PJ Harvey – The Glorious Land
Half Man Half Biscuit – RSVP
Killer Mike – Burn
Lady Gaga – You And I
The Electric Soft Parade – If I Can Dream
Hannah Peel – Don't Kiss The Broken One
Generationals – Ten-Twenty-Ten
Foo Fighters – White Limo
Friends – I'm His Girl
Azealia Banks – 212
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Ketamine And Ecstasy
Arctic Monkeys – Black Treacle
Metronomy – Everything Goes My Way
Feist – How Come You Never Go There
Nicola Roberts – Beat Of My Drum
Florence + The Machine – Lover To Lover
The Streets – Going Through Hell
Brett Anderson – Brittle Heart
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Fall Away
Sweet Baboo – Bounce
Hugh Laurie – Let Them Talk
Timber Timbre – Black Water
Laura Marling – Sophia
Wilco – Born Alone
Martin Solveig ft Dragonette – Hello
Wiley – Wise Man and his Words
Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou – A Hill Far, Far Away
The Indelicates – The Road From Houston To Waco
Tyler, The Creator – Yonkers
My Morning Jacket – Outta My System
EMA – California
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – All Over Gently
Aloe Blacc – I Need A Dollar
Stooshe – Betty Woz Gone - Original
Camille – La France
Emmy The Great & Tim Wheeler – Marshmallow World

See also...
Last year's top 50
Top 20 tracks of 2009
Top 25 tracks of 2007 (didn't do one in 2008, for some reason)
Top 25 tracks of 2006
Top 25 tracks of 2005

Top 20 tracks of 2009

I really wanted to be part of the tornado of top 10 lists that nearly took down the internet in December, but it was a busy month. I did this and this, which kind of counts, I guess.

Never mind! About a week too late, here are my top 20 tracks of 2009, with a Spotify link at the bottom so you can listen and, if you like, post a comment about how wrong I am, particularly if your name's Charlie No.4, who will probably pour boiling Lemsip on my trousers for putting Kasabian in there, or if your 'job' title's "Gigwise journalist", who thought Dan Black had one of the worst albums of all 2009 - the worst of all 2009! I'mma have to go into hiding now, like Rushdie. Dunno why I started talking like Kanye, there, he's not in the list.

On a side note, why did everyone ignore the Doves album in the end of year polls? I know they're fucking boring and that, but wasn't it all right? I've stopped giving albums more than one spin, so don't ask me. Nah, s'just I have a special place in my heart for those boys after Jimi Goodwin snapped at me for suggesting Lost Souls sounded a tiny bit different to Sub Sub's 'Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)' in an interview ("If you'd listened to the rest of the album..." snarked he. "Well if you'd sold a few more copies, it'd be up on Spotify..." I should have said, although he probably would have responded by asking what Spotify was and then pointing out that this was the year 2000 and that I didn't even have an email account, and wouldn't have a fucking MySpace login for at least four years).

Anyway here's the list which is, in the words of Dermot O'Leary, in NO PARTICULAR ORDER. Talking to you, Olly Murs.

Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Angela - Jarvis Cocker
The Fear - Lily Allen
Symphonies - Dan Black
Auditorium - Mos Def ft Slick Rick
In for the Kill - La Roux
Magpie to the Morning - Neko Case
Sticks 'n' Stones - Jamie T
Metropes - Orphans and Vandals
Wheatfields - Brett Anderson
The Pharoahs - Neko Case
Fire - Kasabian
Ludlow St. - Julian Casablancas
Sea Within A Sea - The Horrors
Cigarette Pack - Dan Black
This Love is Fucking Right! - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Zorbing - Stornoway
Lifelines - Doves
A Whole Lot Better - Brendan Benson
Remorse Code - Richard Hawley

Click to listen in Spotify


Twenty-five tracks of 2007 (didn't do one last year, for some reason)
Twenty-five tracks of 2006
Twenty-five tracks of 2005

It's a popularity contest

We had my iPod's 20 most-played songs about three years ago on the Goose, but having just understood the beauty of Spotify-iTunes-Last.fm scrobbling (I've just started Last.fm-ing here) and because I could be on the brink of doing an earth-shattering system-wide play count reset, it's clearly time for another list.

This one's completely different to its 2006 counterpart, since the listening game had to effectively begin afresh with the arrival of my new iPod about a year and four months ago. It's odd the songs you accidentally become obsessed with - rather embarrassingly, I've listened to the one at the top of this list 30 times.

1. You Let Your Heart Go Too Fast - Spin Doctors
2. Troublemaker - Weezer
3. Represent - Nas
4. Me in Honey - R.E.M.
5. Leave the Scene Behind - The Wave Pictures
6. Innocent When You Dream (Barroom) - Tom Waits
7. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa - Vampire Weekend
8. Mutha'uckas - Flight Of The Conchords
9. Yesterdays - Guns N' Roses
10. Takeover - Jay-Z
11. Way Down in the Hole - The Blind Boys Of Alabama
12. Devil Tricks For A Bitch - Lightspeed Champion
13. Timothy - Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer
14. Needle In A Haystack - The Velvelettes
15. Let Me Take You There - Betty Boo
16. I Wish That I Could See You Soon - Herman Düne
17. California Girls - The Magnetic Fields
18. 52 Girls - The B-52's
19. MJ - Mystery Jets
20. Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

And, of course, here's that list Spotified for your listening pleasure (minus the Wave Pictures, Mr B. The Gentleman Rhymer and Tom Waits tracks, which you'll find at the other end of the links featured earlier in this sentence).

Playlist #8: January 2008 (for Jared)

Here's January's playlist, better late than never. Which reminds me, Late of the Pier are better than I thought. I take back my cruel comments of December 18.

It's dedicated to one Jared Rhodes, who was born last week, courtesy of my good friends Tom and Dom. Welcome to life, the universe and everything, young man. It's kinda fun.


SeeqPod - Playable Search

Playlist #7: December 2008

Hi! Here are the songs that have been preoccupying me of late. Highlights? Well, Simon Clayton's delivery of the line "without the light of dawn" in The Indelicates' 'Fun is For the Feeble-Minded' - not on their album, for some reason, possibly because it sounds like a mid-'90s Therapy? song; that isolated and amazing harmony on the Vampire Weekend track ("... to see the dawn"), a riff that nags but gets away with it - possibly album of the year, this, but it's still tussling with Santogold and Camille in my head; the Mama Cass tune, which never fails to remind me of the opening of series two of Lost; The Killers' 'You Read My Mind', with that gorgeous B flat passing note on the "you" of "you don't shine" in the chorus (dare I suggest Sam's Town is a better album than Hot Fuss? Dare I?); the wonderfulness of anything the Hidden Cameras do - ah, even if they only have one song, it's still a great song... And so on and so on: i luvs you mewsick!


SeeqPod - Playable Search

Oh, if Seeqpod's being a bitch, try listening in Internet Explorer. It's temperamental. What can I say, I didn't build the thing.

Playlist #6: October 2008

Didn't get round to doing you a playlist last month, so here's an extra special one for you, which features some almost offensively tuneful efforts. Ooh, I've seen five of the bands on it play live in the past month. HIPSTER.


SeeqPod - Playable Search

Playlist #5: August 2008

Oh, SeeqPod has a much larger range of songs than Project Playlist does. Sorry, PP, but that's the dog-eat-dog world of shared online mixtapes for you. Everyone else: here's number five. (The Camille album is probably the best thing I've heard all year.)


SeeqPod - Playable Search

Playlist #4: July 2008

Sorry it's late, the dog ate my HTML. Worth the wait though, featuring, as it does, a couple of awesome bootlegs by mash king Mark Vidler (aka Go Home Productions), some retro ballading from Mssrs Pumpkins and Roses, a Tom Waits cover that's also a TV theme tune, the first Tom Waits song I ever heard (the insanity of his voice confused me, so I hated it; now I love it), the lovely new Annie single and two walls of sound (count 'em!). And more, natch.

Playlist #3: June 2008

A charming and fantastic collection of ter-yoons for you this month, from Rilo Kiley to Wiley to Weezer, taking in Jonathan Richman's second saddest song and Paul McCartney's oddest offering on the way. Press play or forever hold your peace!

Playlist #2: May 2008

Firstly, apologies for the hiatus. It's partly, though not entirely, explained by the fact that I bought an Xbox 360 the other day and have reached the stage where I've started having waking dreams about Halo 3 and twitching anxiously unless I can frag some demons, as the vernacular goes.

But anyway, here's the news: starting in a few days, I'll be embarking on a week of all-American activities. On Thursday, I'm going to New York for a long weekend. Who knows what will happen? On my return, I'm off to see the England football team get annihilated by play USA at Wembley. And then two days later, I'll be down the front (well, maybe in the middle) as Bruce Springsteen comes to London and shows the capital how you really do grizzled.

As eagle-eared listeners will notice, in honour of my imminent trip, this month's playlist has a slight NY tinge.

Playlist #1: April 2008

Mawnin'. Here begins a collection of monthly playlists, each comprising a dozen songs that my ears have been enjoying recently. I'll try and get these out mid-month, so come all ye faithful. Genres may vary, but quality, Insha'Allah, will not.

So without further ado, welcome to April, year of our Lord 2008.

Twenty-five great tracks of 2007

Although this is obviously a list that's going to fluctuate like a broken flux capacitor with every passing second, here are my 25 favourite tracks of the year.

Thanks to the devilry of the internet, you should also be able to listen to each of the songs on the music player below (thanks James), except for the Jim'll's Brain track, because his song is too obscure to be downloadable online (you can, however, listen to it here).

• Paper Planes – MIA
• Intervention – Arcade Fire
• Candylion – Gruff Rhys
• Burning - The Whitest Boy Alive
• Golden Skans – Klaxons
• Soul Singer in a Session Band – Bright Eyes
• North American Scum – LCD Soundsystem
• I Found Out – The Pigeon Detectives
• Back in Black – Amy Winehouse
• All the Old Showstoppers – The New Pornographers
• Your Love Alone Is Not Enough – Manic Street Preachers
• Elephant Gun – Beirut
• Flowers and Football Tops – Glasvegas
• All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem
• Icky Thump – The White Stripes
• That's Not My Name – The Ting Tings
• Grace Kelly – Mika
• Stuck Between Station – The Hold Steady
• Picture in the NME – Jim'll's Brain
• You Broke My Heart – Lavender Diamond
• Ice Cream – New Young Pony Club
• Radio Nowhere – Bruce Springsteen
• Smokers Outside Hospital Doors – Editors
• Boyz – MIA
• 15 Step – Radiohead

Twenty-five tracks of 2006
Twenty-five tracks of 2005