Hee, I love lists, so when Indie Mp3 head honcho Tom asked us all to compile our favourite music-y type stuff from the past year, I couldn't resist rubbing my hands together in glee. What an absolutely fantastic year it has been for music, with some of the best new bands I've heard in ages creeping out of the woodwork, old faves releasing really fresh-sounding new records and, if that wasn’t enough, a clutch of live gigs to knock your socks off.Most importantly though, 2007 has been Year Zero for a kind of friendly musical uprising, for talented bands and singer-songwriters from this country and beyond to inject some much-needed indiepop cool into the MySpace phenonemom. If a DIY ethos is the mainstay of this-here C86 thing, then surely the combination of MySpaceBook and all the fabulous bands I’m about to mention below is the proverbial marriage made in indiepop heaven. Social networking has always existed for these kids, it’s just a bit faster these days - which can only be a good thing!
OK, so here goes - my top things from 2007. Being the childish type that I am, I’ve actually saved the numbered format for my less-than-totally-serious lists at the bottom of this post!
Best Albums
This year has seen some fab newcomer albums released, including A Smile and a Ribbon’s The Boy I Wish I Never Met and Cats on Fire’s The Province Complains. Both bands have put on some great live shows this year, bringing their own special brand of Scandinavian cool to these shores. Neck ties and heart-shaped glasses ahoy! But my personal top of the pops are MJ Hibbett’s A Million Ukleleles, Darren Hayman’s self-titled second album and Euros Child’s Miracle Inn. Hmmm, I do like a side-serving of comedy with my pop songs.Best Singles
This is much, much harder – singles are definitely what indiepop is all about. It’s simply too hard to choose between them so the only way to do this is to write a list of top stuff, in no particular order – Euros Childs’ Horseriding; Scaremongers’ Nodding Dog/ You Can Do Nothing Wrong in My Eyes; Pete Green’s Everything I Do is Gonna Be Sparkly; Girls Aloud’s Sexy! No, No, No (OK, so not indiepop, but great to dance to nonetheless); Roadside Poppies' Cycling and Crying; The School’s All I Wanna Do. The Go Team's Grip Like A Vice..…the list goes on. You'll have to decide which you think is best, because I can’t!
Best Live Events
This is easier- it has to be the two Indietracks festivals in Derbyshire in April and July this year. The finest indiepop sounds, steam trains, girls dressed in prom dresses, matronly station staff and choo-choo sounds - what more could you ask for? I already can’t wait for next year’s festival in July. Kilburn's Luminaire played host to a cluster of great gigs, including the Spiral Scratch all-dayer with Ballboy, a one-off Spearmint gig and Darren Hayman with The Wave Pictures. Kelis and Saint Etienne also put in excellent performances at the RISE: London United Against Racism festival in Finsbury Park. Other special mentions go to Cats on Fire at The Horse and Groom in Shoreditch, Super Furry Animals at Camden Roundhouse, Euros Childs at King’s College and Francois in the Tchai-Ovna tea-shop in Glasgow.
Fun stuff
Being a child of the Smash Hits Poll Winner Party generation, I’m afraid I can’t get by without some slightly less serious lists. All those Sunday afternoons spent waiting to see who would win Most Fanciable Male were clearly not wasted on me.
Coolest Indiepop Poppers of 2007
Coolest Indiepop Poppers of 2007
10.Indie Mp3 of course! Nah, just joking, it’s the Sunny Inside gang, bringing shiny indiepop to the dark corner of the world that is my hometown, Stoke-on-Trent. Keep it up please!
9.Cats on Fire and Wake the President – For jointly making every lady within a 100 metre radius of these hotties wet their knickers with excitement. Phew!
8.Darren Hayman – For services to Live Gigging – he must be exhausted! Not only has he put out and toured a second solo album, but he also continues to gig constantly with Trout, Watkins and Lee and others. A true Renaissance Man, in my opinion.
7.PopArt – For putting on some smashing all-dayers this year, bringing the astounding Mr Solo to our attention and revealing their latent talents as gameshow hosts/comedians.
6.Spiral Scratch and How Does it Feel to be Loved? – For combined time-honoured services to indiepop, electropop and northern soul. Their discos and gigs have filled our year with musical delights and giddy dancing, as well as some serious camera-dodging!
5.Stuart from Indietracks – Whatta guy. Like some kind of indiepop pied piper (try saying that quickly) he single-handledly marshalled kids from across the country for days and nights of fantastic music - on a steam train. Surely in line for some kind of formal honour in the future.
4.MJ Hibbett and Pete Green – Grabbed the Bad Acoustica genre by the scruff of its neck, booted it out of the door, invited it back in, gave it a good telling off and taught it how to have a sense of humour and pop sensibility. (Pete’s “fragile” guitar sticker nearly merited an entry on its own. Genius.)
9.Cats on Fire and Wake the President – For jointly making every lady within a 100 metre radius of these hotties wet their knickers with excitement. Phew!
8.Darren Hayman – For services to Live Gigging – he must be exhausted! Not only has he put out and toured a second solo album, but he also continues to gig constantly with Trout, Watkins and Lee and others. A true Renaissance Man, in my opinion.
7.PopArt – For putting on some smashing all-dayers this year, bringing the astounding Mr Solo to our attention and revealing their latent talents as gameshow hosts/comedians.
6.Spiral Scratch and How Does it Feel to be Loved? – For combined time-honoured services to indiepop, electropop and northern soul. Their discos and gigs have filled our year with musical delights and giddy dancing, as well as some serious camera-dodging!
5.Stuart from Indietracks – Whatta guy. Like some kind of indiepop pied piper (try saying that quickly) he single-handledly marshalled kids from across the country for days and nights of fantastic music - on a steam train. Surely in line for some kind of formal honour in the future.
4.MJ Hibbett and Pete Green – Grabbed the Bad Acoustica genre by the scruff of its neck, booted it out of the door, invited it back in, gave it a good telling off and taught it how to have a sense of humour and pop sensibility. (Pete’s “fragile” guitar sticker nearly merited an entry on its own. Genius.)
3.Mr Solo – Enigmatic. Soulful. Pasty of face. Need I say more? His hand with an eye drawn on it and unexpected jump through a paper sheet in front of a bemused Monica Queen is still one of my comedy highlights of the year.2.Pocketbooks – For nearly causing a health and safety emergency situation at Indietracks by cramming the entire festival crowd into one tiny steam train for an over-excited sing-along, and leading a second after-hours sing-fest which left everyone feeling emotional for weeks afterwards.
1.Euros Childs – Still as bonkers barmy as ever and Miracle Inn is an absolute delight, heart-breaking and hilarious in equal measure. Some may argue he’s not strictly indiepop, but I think he embodies everything that’s best about the genre – inventiveness, romance, a sense of humour, beautiful melodies, resilience and innocence.
Best Indiepop Things 2007
Best Indiepop Things 2007
10.Girls with bowl haircuts – A classic indiepop accessory updated with a 2007 sharp-as-knives bob, and spotted on many a dancefloor. Keep rocking those pudding ‘dos ladies! 
8.Guitar Hero and Singstar – Sadly I own neither, but the briefest of experiences have firmly convinced me that there’s lots of music fun to be had from home game consoles. Gone are the days of slipping into a semi-comatose trance playing Mario Kart.
7.Debating the Mighty Boosh – The issue still rages on. Is the new series any good? Is it worse than the past episodes? Or is it all just a big load of irrelevant, this was ironic-in-1999 rubbish? Let’s have a heated debate! (And Tom, this does count as a music thing, because I’m sure there was some link on the Bowlie forum, or something….)
6.Scrabble – Play it on Facebook, take your fold-up version on the train or simply play it at home with your folks, there’s nowt like it to improve your word power!
5.Changing words in songs to reflect where you’re playing – Make out like you’re on Top of the Pops circa-1995 and prove to everyone you’re playing live!
4.Boys in cardigans – Ooh, just about my favourite thing ever. I currently have a particular penchant for the zip-up kind, but I’ve seen a lot of buttoned-types doing the rounds this year.
3.PopArt’s Indie Win, Lose or Draw – A sure-fire gameshow hit at their all-dayer events earlier this year, complete with memorable catchphrases such as “It’s time to start drawing, it’s time to start scoring”. I really hope I can get away with playing this with The In-Laws this Christmas.
2.Steam trains – Heritage railways of the world unite – now! This was the year of the steam train, basically due to the success of Indietracks. The Kids tell me that Lethal Bizzle filmed his last video in an old-style train carriage, so the trend officially started here.
1.Making the Effort – aka Trying is Good. This has got to be the overall number one thing this year. Simply everyone was making the effort, from fun-packed fanzines and badges at the Spiral Scratch all-dayer and WeePOP! Records' lovingly hand-crafted 3” CDs, to Mr Solo’s PopArt drawing competitions and Pocketbooks’ home-made shakers and songsheets at Indietracks. Making the Effort is definitely top of all indiepop things this year – it’s what makes the everyday unique, and it really marked out some of the most special musical moments over the last 12 months.
So – that’s it – my lists for 2007 – I hope you enjoyed them! Hope you all have a very Happy Christmas and New Year, and let's look forward to an even more music-packed 2008!
Nat xx
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