Well, it's the end of the year, and here is my roundup of the year in music:

Notable new releases:

- New Buffalo, About Last Night - Probably the best debut EP of the year, from singer-songwriter Sally Russell (with some help from Darren of The Avalanches). Five tracks of dreamlike, introspective vocals, electronic keyboards and lush textures of layered samples and loops. Definitely an act to watch.

- Lush, Ciao! Best of - A retrospective release of tracks from defunct 4AD indie band Lush; contains classics such as 500 (Shake Baby Shake), the gorgeous Desire Lines and, of course, the duet with Jarvis Cocker, Ciao!. Well worth getting if you wish to become acquainted with Lush.

- Radiohead, Amnesiac - The sequel to their challenging album Kid A, and not the return to standard alt-rock form that nervous recording industry types were reassuring the public it was, but even more experimental and alienating. Plus the limited edition came in the form of a book of cryptic and subtly disturbing drawings.

- Spearmint, A Different Lifetime - Classic English indie-pop, with top-notch songwriting, tight grooves and some classy arrangements; a lot of style, with a core of aching sincerity.

- Black Box Recorder, Worst Of - A bracingly bleak release, as one would expect from Black Box Recorder; this release collects their B-sides, and throws some MPEG videos in for good measure.

- Prop, Small Craft, Rough Sea - The debut release from Sydney instrumental five-piece Prop, and it rocks. Playing percussion (including vibraphone and marimba), analogue synths and bass, Prop kick out some amazingly funky grooves.

- Radiohead, I Might Be Wrong Live Recordings - Yes, another Radiohead release on the list.
This is a collection of live recordings, and has some great interpretations of tracks from their last two albums. It's worth getting just for the haunting, piano-based rendition of Like Spinning Plates.

Honourable mentions: Bis, Return to Central, Björk, Vespertine, The Cure, Cut Here/Just Say Yes,Curve, Gift, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson & Sigur Rós, Angels of the Universe soundtrack, Jelinek, Jan, Loop-finding jazz records, Sealifepark, Wildlife Documentary, Swirl, Light Fill My Room,TISM, De Rigeurmortis, Zero 7, Simple Things

Songs/individual tracks of note:
Arling & Cameron, "5th Dimension"
Belle & Sebastian, "I Love My Car"
King of Woolworths, "Bakerloo"
Low's cover of The Smiths' "Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me"
that one by Gloss that doesn't seem to be out locally yet.

Older stuff which I got this year and really liked: Sir, The Night I Met My Second Wife (I think this one's from 2000, though it may be 2001), The Field Mice, Where'd You Learn To Kiss That Way (a compilation of material they recorded before splitting in 1991), Lush, Split