[Shaun]

#40 - "Soft Will" - Smith Westerns
Perfectly lovely - would soundtrack a barbecue or beach party quite nicely. Just... not quite as good as Dye it Blonde.


#39 - "Wondrous Bughouse" - Youth Lagoon
A psychedelic trip from start to finish.


#38 - "One Breath" - Anna Calvi
Bolder, more confident and stronger songwriting than her selftitled debut.


#37 - "Days are Gone" - HAIM
A handful of excellent singles and some others that make me shrug a little bit and wonder what all the fuss was about. An ideal start for the sisters, though, and let's hope the future material is similarly strong from them.


#36 - "New" - Paul McCartney
Someone who doesn't really need to prove themselves in the future is Sir Macca, who made me sit up and think there might be something to his solo material after all.


#35 - "...Like Clockwork" - Queens of the Stone Age
By far their strongest effort in a decade or more - not that that's saying much.


#34 - "Ciara" - Ciara
It'd be nice if it didn't take an artist having to leave their label to make their career-best album. Oh well.


#33 - "Tales of Us" - Goldfrapp
This seemed to leave critics a little underwhelmed and I don't really understand why: it's incredibly hushed, sure, but the songwriting is astounding.


#32 - "This is... Icona Pop" - Icona Pop
A rework of their self-titled Swedish release from last year, Icona Pop briefly set the world alight this summer with their long overdue #1 single. The album inevitably tanked, but at least it was filled to the brim with solid tunes.


#31 - "Tomorrow's Harvest" - Boards of Canada
A track or two chopped off and it'd be perfect. As it stands: a little bit of a chore to listen to. But a lovely chore, like doing the hoovering.