Top 10 Songs of 2012

I really wasn't sure about including this track on the list. The buzz around Chvrches is a mighty thing to behold; expertly crafted around only 2 songs, their rise to all the end of year lists in the blogosphere has been a PR triumph. But maybe I'm too cynical. This song's great, as is Lies, and I'm including it here because there's no denying that despite my misgivings I really do like it.

Kenny Anderson,a.k.a. KC, has released a trilogy of 12" EPs this year, and this sprawling, epic tour de force came from the second one. KC made the top LPs list last year with his collaboration with Jon Hopkins, but this release marks a return to the real King Creosote sound.

Being both a nut for The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Beethoven, this singer-songwriter had my attention even before I'd heard any of her stuff. What a treat, then, to have high expectations actually exceeded by this stunning record. There's a newer version of Sail that has extra harmonies and tinkly glockenspiel, but this version is my favourite. Sparse and haunting, this is an exercise in reductionism.

Fence Records' Chart Ruse 7" subscription series came out all guns blazing with this fiery single from EbM favorite WH. It's more raucous than previous WH efforts, and I must admit it took a little while for me to come around to the new direction. Once I got it, however, I was hooked, and this has been a staple of my stereo all year.

When I first heard this song I was certain it would feature higher up this list, but there's been a rash of really great songs lately that have pushed this one down the rankings a little. It's still fantastic, though; a mad rush of youthful energy and rock-star attitude, with just the right blend of emo lyrics and anthemic guitars to appeal to my inner teenager (although now the keywords in this post are going to drive precisely the wrong kind of traffic to this site).

I have the BBC's Sound of 2013 poll to thank for this gem, which was a surprise to be sure as if there was ever a poll designed to select music I don't like then the Beeb's is it. It's always good to have your preconceptions challenged, especially when it happens with a track as good as this. I know very little about this track other than that it's awesome and I can't seem to get it off the stereo.

I just love the guitar sound on this 7"; clean, simple, yet devastatingly haunting. It's a really well constructed song, too, which bodes well for the new KH LP next year. His album from this year, Dear..., might yet make the top ten albums list, but it's up against some stiff competition.

Unlike the title track from the EP this song appears on, Boxing Night won't be making it onto the new FR album, Pedestrian Verse, next year. FR have good form when it comes to seudo-christmas songs, and this one sits nicely next to Cheap Gold and It's Christmas So We'll Stop, but actually manages to be better than both of them. You've got to admire a band that can spend a song this good on an EP when they've got an album in the works.

Atmospheric, brooding, and subtle in equal measure, in several drafts of this list this track was at the very top. Ask me in a few weeks and the one and two spots may well have switched again. No matter where I am or how I'm feeling, this track never fails to suck me into its world and hold my attention utterly. Absorbing and fascinating, Your Cover Blown is a masterwork.

As soon as I realised that this track wasn't Metronomy (about 17 seconds in) it was a shoe-in for this list. More than anything else, it's the sheer fun of this record that's lifted it to the top of this selection. A record I have listened to more than any other this year, and I'm still not tired of it. Dan Croll's going to be huge next year, I just know it, but whatever the future holds, music doesn't get any better than this.