This was originally called 'solo artists', then I found out that Invisible Conga People are a duo and one track is three bloody people. Anyway, here's the line-up, created at 4am at work in a particularly sleepy haze.

Zak Sally, 'My Secret World'
Former bassman from Low moans deep and hard; I hear this guy is a sick Wipers fan but this tune reminds me of the organ my uncle owned that I always wanted, complete with bossa nova setting and everything.

Broadcast ft. Atlas Sound, 'Track 2'
From a summit meeting between England and US pop titans, it would have been nice to have had the best song ever written, but here we have a cool little noise like a toy car breaking down.

Invisible Conga People, 'Cable Dazed'
Don't know these dudes or how I ended up with this track. It's fucking good though.

Jackson, 'Utopia'
Not as good as his M83 remix but I still haven't heard music like this before.

Joseph Hindsight, 'Racist Wolf'
He plays guitar in our band, this is his cover of a song of mine.

Jurgen Paape, 'Mit Dir'
I always thought leider and techno would go well together, here is the proof!

M83, 'Highway of Endless Dreams'
I think the jury has returned on M83 - he is officially actually really quite magical actually.

Ariel Pink, 'Envelopes Another Day'
Still the weirdest musician I ever met

Michael McDonald, 'What A Fool Believes'
A yacht-rock classic to finish off with.

You're in a country other than your own. Your friends got lost somehow, it's late and you're walking, or stumbling back to wherever you lay your head. Cars look different, new sounds are around you at all times. The air is hitting you and mingling with the alcohol in your head and the fog is descending. This is your mix. 24 sound samples in 22 minutes, some songs, snatches of dialogue and field recordings, songs you know mixed with songs you don't.

As Record Store/Shop Day is today, here is a mix to celebrate such a momentous occasion. Also RIP Roadkill Records in Manchester, who closed today in a fit of palpable irony. Support your local record shops, stay indie - don't be a hater.

The Dirty Dozen Band, 'Horn Intro'
Onra, 'The Anthem'
[[telephone call interlude]]
Aix Em Klemm, 'Sophteonal'
Burial, 'Etched Headplate'
Scott Walker, 'The Bridge'
[[sue is trying to split the band]]
Atlas Sound, 'Power Trip Again'
J Dilla, 'Mash'
Jonny Greenwood, 'Prospectors Arrive'
El Guincho, 'Polca Mazurca'
Oscillation, 'Head Hang Low'
Ariel Pink, 'Don't ThInk Twice (Love)'

Thirty minutes of sound from people who are definitely XY = YX if X ≠ Y.

01. Alvin Lucier, 'I Am Sitting In A Room'
A short extract from a lengthy piece of process music, the full version can be found on UBU, have a search. This is the third re-recording of the original statement that makes up the piece; eventually the recordings are recorded until his voice is completely obliterated. Lab conditions + man with stammer + science in action = creepy.

02. Shorty, 'Tomato Kisser'
The band that would later begat the phenomenal U.S. Maple, this is Shorty from an EP they put out on Skin Graft. I got stupidly excited at what would appear to be to most as 'the chorus', where the ride cymbal sounds like he's smacking a bell as everything else goes completely nervy and tight, but as loose and haywire as any free jazz. Also: Al Johnson sings on this, a surefire maniac alert.

03. Quintron, 'Grandfather Time'
Good bit of organ-dance rumble from New Orleans' favourite car-enthusiast-slash-swamp-tech pioneer. One of those dudes who probably never releases a boring record and never does a bad live performance who gets absolutely no love. Here's your love Quintron! I average 40 listens a week!

04. Cabaret Voltaire, 'Nag Nag Nag'
The weird synchronisation that occurred for them to release a seminal dance innovator in the same rubbish city in the same month as The Human League & Clock DVA is pretty crazy in itself, but this song must have pissed SO many people off at the time, especially playing Sheffield's notoriously unfriendly workingmen's clubs. Took me ages to 'get' this song, and I consider myself somewhat open to new stuff!

05. Andrew Dice Clay, 'Laughter vs Comedy'
The absolute most misunderstood comic of all time. His performance art spectacle took on such gross distorted applause from the people he was satirising, he ended up doing Madison Square Gardens. But here he is in his truest form; refusing an audience request to do some of his stock material, heckling a woman until she leaves and prowling around like a sadistic bully.

06. The Chinese Stars, 'Cold Cold Cold'
Bit of a Skin Graft Records fest today (they are a great label though) - these former Arab On Radar menacers are more calculated weird than actual weird, but here's a good slice of US-made square-wave discord.

07. Sparks, 'Lost & Found'
The archdukes of anomaly, the warlords of wtf - here's a suitably batty album track from Kimono My House.

08. Klaus Nomi, 'Nomi Song'
Everything about Klaus Nomi frightens me. His pierrot-meets-Pagliacci visage, the octave spiralling voice and even at repose, he sounds like a submarine commander. Thrust from the same kind of background which spawned Antony & The Johnsons, William Basinski and James Chance - all lofts, casual gay sex and lots and lots of heroin.

09. Feu Therese, 'Les Enfants'
Their first album was something of a flap, trying to hold onto the warped legacy of Fly Pan Am, and struggling for something new. This, from the second, finds that new home - a strange European blend of chanson, driving motorik and cheap-ass keyboards modded to sound like national anthems on benzodiazepenes. Hard for any band to escape the 'post rock' tag that were on Constellation, let alone if they even breathed the same air as a member of GY!BE - but this has a different feel to it. Check out their recent record Ca Va Cogner if you're feeling fruity.

10. Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band, 'Tropical Hot Dog Night'
The song that's been stuck in my head for two weeks now. I described this to a friend as like Van Vliet tackling Afrobeat, Miami funk and tropicalia in one fell swoop. It's just a genuinely great straight-up moment from a man whose stock-in-trade is full-bore weirdcore. Also contains my favourite dodgy lyric - 'I'm playing this music so the young girls will come to meet the monster tonight'. Genius.

thirty minute workout (for the family)

Stereolab, 'Interlock'
Yoko Ono, 'Why'
Captain Beefheart, 'Click Clack'
Deerhunter, 'Language/Violence'
Camberwell Now, 'Working Nights'
The Flaming Lips, 'The Magician vs The Headache'
John Maus, 'Too Much Money'
Foals, 'The French Open'
J Dilla, 'The Diff'rence'

Short songs - 31 songs in 36 minutes - hang onto your hats!

Minutemen, 'The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts'
The Locust, 'The Half-Eaten Sausage Would Like To See You In His Office'
Silver Daggers, 'Displacement'
Trin Train, 'It's A Burn'
Boards of Canada, 'Over The Horizon Radar'
XBXRX, 'Make Force'
The Fall, 'That Man'
Delia Derbyshire, 'Mattachin'
Black Lips, 'Off The Block'
The Planet The, 'Tighten Your Dreams'
The Mae Shi, 'Virgin's Diet, The Hand Of Wolves'
AFX, 'Untitled'
Butthole Surfers, 'Weber'
Project: Venhell, 'My Face Isn't Sally's'
Converge, 'Concubine'
Badly Drawn Boy, 'Bewilder'
Coachwhips, 'HC She'
Frog Eyes, 'I Like Dot Dot Dot'
!!!, 'King's Weed'
Quickspace, '4'
Battles, 'Tras 3'
De La Soul, 'A Little Bit Of Soap'
Guided By Voices, 'Love 1'
Papa M, 'Sorrow Reigns'
Big Black, 'Power Of Independent Trucking'
Caribou, 'Drumheller'
Arthur Russell, 'Tone Bone Kone'
The Microphones, 'I Am Bored'
Ex-Models, 'Kool Killer'
The Desert Fathers, 'Evolution'
The Cramps, 'The Crusher'

Thirteen songs from this island
01. Seefeel, 'Time To Find Me'
Storywise, not the best place to start - I mean, I love this and the band are great, but this was picked more on pace-setting and good song value rather than personal attachment. It's quite womblike, I'm sure I'll grow into it and vice-versa.
FROM: Polyfusia

02. A Great Way Of Life, 'Water Coma'
A Great Way Of Life is, as far as I can tell, Stuart Lamb of Manchester-based promotions organisation Lamb and Wolf, who've put on some awesome shows this year, especially Dan Deacon live on a boat riding up the canal to Salford. Summery evening, people in their flats waving to the boat flashing with 8-bit mentaldisco and lights. Our promo company had some beef with Lamb, we heard that he'd been spreading some shit about one of our lot, that we rip bands off - but it all got settled and all was cool again. I got this record some years back off a mutual friend of mine & Lamb's called Dave, so I nicked it to copy and retained his. I was a burgeoning electro/IDM composer at the time, and his style on this record, especially this particular song, influenced me to the point of plagiarism and then back to the ultimate realisation I should just keep playing guitar. Lovely ripples of electronica, with a great (sampled? live?) drumline.
FROM: A Great Way Of Life CD-R

03. AFX, 'XMD5A'
AFX, Aphex Twin, whatever you want to call him, has become the obvious reference point for 'electronica' that it's become easy to dismiss the guy and look elsewhere. The sheer breadth of his output can also be daunting, from the breathlike spectral elegance of his ambient work, the abrasive headfuck of the stuff on Drukqs with almost every point in between, under various pseudonyms. For me, he's at his best when playing closer to melody and twisting on it and coaxing out seemingly endless variations on a theme, tracks like 'On', '4' and 'Blue Calx'. This track is from his recent Analord series, which was surprisingly accessible acid house in the main, which got some fairly non-plussed reviews - but repeated listens, as ever with Richard D. James, bring out the magic. There's always something else going on.
FROM: Analord 10/Chosen Lords

04. Riton, 'The Hammer of Thor'
A relatively new track on me, I know Riton through his excellent Beats Du Jour and the fact that he used to work in Fat City in the Northern Quarter. Introduced to this chap (musically) over a nice pint of Fruli and dug around my housemate's record collection to find this gem. Nice bit of 'cold electronics', kind of reminds me of a fatter, dancier version of Optimo's excellent (http://www.optimo.co.uk/download.htm) Cold War mix.
FROM: 'The Hammer Of Thor' 12"

05. Quickspace, 'Climbing A Hill'
Presenting all eleven minutes of the centepiece of Quickspace's most recent album from 2000. I'm really interested in how deceptively complex it is, how the voice changes the rhythm, the almost imperceptible shifts from part-to-part. Get stuck into this one, it's rewarding.
FROM: The Death of Quickspace

06. Wild Beasts, 'Sylvie, A Melodrama'
Hailing from Kendal, not even on their first record. I'm quite excited by these at this stage, though they could theoretically end up going down the indie-pop route very easily by ironing out their quirks (the high, coralling vocals and tendency toward vaudeville and structural experimentalism) but could also go the Todd Rundgren/Microphones route and write the best pop songs that never get on the radio. This here reminds a friend and I of some of the experimental stuff Jeff Buckley started doing toward the end of his life. Pretty fantastic, especially considering it's a b-side.
FROM: 'Assembly' 7"

07. Meanwhile, Back In Communist Russia, 'Anatomies'
They timed it all wrong really. The British answers to the behemoths of US/Canadian post-rock were generally all huddling charlatans, trying to get attention and then pretend to recoil - they even aped some of the songs structurally (yes, I look at you Hope of the States) and mostly stole their image (non-image) and their penchant for the over-dramatic song-title and earnest plea for an end to indifference. MBICR were different - they made mistakes by virtue of being first - their songs always seemed like snaps of a personal melodrama rather than some vague gesture toward global failure. Emily Gray's monologues to some are sensual and inviting, and to some they're pretentious. They never could find a drummer who liked their music, so they made do with a drum machine. For a while they were homeless. This, from their Wikipedia entry, says it all - "MBICR featured on 'The Oxford Channel', a terrestrial broadcast within Oxfordshire, to promote the release of My Elixir; My Poison. Due to severe technical problems the band stormed off set in the middle of the live recording, leaving the station furious and refusing to feature live bands ever again." They fucked up. This is a great song.
FROM: My Elixir, My Poison

08. The Durutti Column, 'Sketch For Summer'
I've been told that Vini Reilly (aka The Durutti Column) lives round the corner from me. I've never seen him. This is a great early instrumental from the man.
FROM: The Return Of The Durutti Column

09. Matthew J. Ashworth, 'A Note To'
I feel embarassed saying too much - he's a friend. This is a beautiful ecclesiastical drone piece of unknown musical provenance (organs? voices?). The guy got talent. Check out his myspace or catch him at various times at various free/improv events in Manchester.
FROM: myspace.com slash mjash - the myspace Of Matthew J. Ashworth.

10. Spriritualized, 'No God Only Religion'
I don't like to complain about the media, but I felt faintly embarrassed at the way publications like NME conveniently forgot that they, four years before striking copy gold with The Strokes, had said that Spiritualized were one of the best bands on the planet, and they used to rave about Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space on a weekly basis - and for good reason! It's a masterwork of spiritual, pop, free jazz, blues, gospel and rock'n'roll. Not to mention the long history that Jason Pierce has of being pretty damn good with Spacemen 3 and the earlier Spiritualized work. This instrumental was the first track that really grabbed me, and still retains the same hold now.
FROM: Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

11. The Fall, 'Fit And Working Again'
It's The Fall. What can I say? I really detest Mark E. Smith as a person but I quite like a lot of his music and lyrics. There you go. They were even good both times I saw them.
FROM: Slates 10"

12. Max Tundra, 'A Truce'
One of two songs I have heard by Mr. Tundra (yes, I know it's not his name). Again, he does something I'll always enjoy - he twists popular structures with humour and a hint of ridiculousness - without being self-indulgent (kind of like V/VM). This is a recent track from a comp, with lyrics by current cartoonist/artist du jour David Shrigley. It's fun. Enjoy it.
FROM: Worried Noodles

13. Clearlake, 'Trees In The City'
2002, maybe 2003. In my old house in Hulme. Playing Dave Mirra BMX on the PS1 with my friends Jude and Angie (who had just gotten together) on the couch opposite. A track from this album comes on and they start whining and whining how shit it is. I think one of them said 'if I made this, I'd be embarassed.' In turn, I got embarassed about listening to it and forgot about it for a while. I suppose I probably eventually dug it out, and continued to enjoy it guiltily. After a while I forgot that association until making this mix, oddly. Clearlake always got reviews that commented on their Englishness - all of which comes in the usage of regional accent to sing, rather than any kinship with patriotism or Englishness. The album this is from speaks of quiet malevolence, bitterness and lying to one another. Hardly English at all. Hardly even cricket.
FROM: Cedars

I usually do an end-of-year list of favourite records, a top ten or somesuch. I know haven't heard every release, or even 10% of what comes out (maybe not even 1%, or even 0.1%) but I do listen around as much as I can.

Deerhunter, Cryptograms/Fluorescent Grey EP
Panda Bear, Person Pitch
LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
James Blackshaw, The Cloud of Unknowing
The Field, From Here We Go Sublime
Battles, Mirrored
XBXRX, Wars/Sounds
Stars of the Lid, ...And Their Refinement Of The Decline
The Shins, Wincing The Night Away
Feist, The Reminder

On the surface, a very conservative list, but nothing outta leftfield really knocked me down. However, at the end of this post there will appear a list of artists I also considered alongside the above ten. A quick word on the choices - the top three were just mainstays of the year, Deerhunter winning out through having two amazing releases and having a fairly successful personal interaction with them. The rest just touched me in ways I like - Feist and The Shins are just consistently excellent writers of hooks and lyrics with great voices. XBXRX's slapstick approach to hardcore just ignites something in me, and this record was 100% listenable for once - then they upped the ante with a free improv record that wasn't self-indulgent or derivative. The Field was a classic from the minute I heard it, and I don't really 'understand' minimal tech-house stuff yet. The rest did much the same. Can't fault them in any way that counts at all. I'd be interested in your lists though, or your take on mine.

Anyway, here's a mix (link underneath tracklisting) I made for side 2 for a real compilation for a friend. I'd upload it here but it's unofficial (ie. not specifically designed for here) and I can't be arsed to 'go pro'. 30 mins.

- XBXRX, 'Paradosis' (Komputarbeiter remix)
- Dungen, 'Om Du Vore En Vakthund'
- Deerhunter, 'Activa'
- David Axelrod, 'The Sign'
- Parsley Sound, 'Ease Yourself and Glide'
- Stars of the Lid, 'Apreludes in C# major'
- DNTEL, 'Anywhere Anyone'
- Panda Bear, 'I'm Not'
- James Blackshaw, 'Running To The Ghost'

http://www.mediafire.com - then copy and paste - ?5x89lsxjztj - with a slash after the url. Damn podomatic not letting me link to mediafire.

For anyone still awake, here's a list of people who made good records this year (by no means comprehensive, genres I'm not down on, like jazz/hip-hop/'dance' usually come later) - any recommendations, shout out and I'm all ears.

Animal Collective, Liars, Efterklang, Future Of The Left, Broadcast, Enon, Prinzhorn Dance School, Kemialliset Ystävät, Ted Leo, Black Lips, Sunset Rubdown, The Austerity Programme, Akron/Family, Islaja, Grinderman, Parts and Labor, John Maus, Iron & Wine, Les Savy Fav, Frog Eyes, Kevin Drew, Caribou, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Colleen, Strategy, Silver Daggers, Sir Richard Bishop, Karl Blau, Joanna Newsom, Andrew Bird, M83, Ricardo Villalobos, The Locust, Kurt Elling, Arcade Fire, Fujiya and Miyagi, Modest Mouse, Low, Spoon, Vic Chesnutt, Feu Therese, Beirut, Magnolia Electric Co., Angels Of Light, Radiohead, Dan Deacon, Mt. Eerie, Von Sudenfed.

One thing I've always been into is a good bit of nonsense. This short (>30 minutes) mix collects some of the idiosyncracies I've collected recently (ie. since the last mix). Here's the tracklist;

01. Matthew Broderick, 'National Jewish Centre For Immunology & Respiratory Medicine (voiceover') - one of many celebrity voiceovers for this respected Hebraic organisation I have amassed.
02. Bill Fay, 'I Hear You Calling' - not strictly nonsense, as it's quite beautiful and evocative.
03. Jonathan Richman/Modern Lovers, 'Rockin' Shopping Spree' - nice little Xmas ditty by NYCs third best songwriter of the 70s.
04. Charmer, 'Zombie Jamboree' - Charmer is a former nom de guerre of Louis Farrakhan. This is a tasty little dancehall number from way back.
05. Ris Paul Ric, 'Hanging From The Grapevines' - ex-Q & Not U man, lovely acoustic record that no-one really paid much attention to. Shame.
06. America's At War, 'A Message To Osama' - now, these would be gutted if they were to know they were called novelty. This is a digi-keyboard hellblast report to everyone's favourite Saudi enemy.
07. Rick Moranis, 'I Ain't Going Nowhere' - country/R&R workout by no-one's favourite Canadian comic. Surprisingly good! And recent?
08. Cassius Clay, 'Stand By Me' - yes, that Cassius Clay and that 'Stand By Me'. Honest to goodness, it's brilliant.
09. Li'l Markie, 'Diary Of An Unborn Child' - possibly the most hateful piece of crap song, I apologise to the band Belong for mixing their 'Who Told You This Room Exists?' to take the edge off the putrid pro-life mewling. Truly vile.
10. Deerhunter, 'Heatherwood (acoustic)' - my favourite track off my favourite record of 2007. This version is quieter and more restless.

Made on MixMeister, this 45 seamless minutes that is supposed to evoke the Halloween weekend in 2007 where we hung out before Optimo and had a laugh, along with a couple of other songs for padding. Of course to totally appreciate that you'd need a fuckload of Tennant's lager and some rum and most of your best friends around. But it's still enjoyable to anyone.

Silver Daggers, 'Faithful Unlawful'
Can, 'Mother Sky'
Fujiya & Miyagi, 'Conductor '71'
Neu!, 'Hallogallo'
Broadcast, 'Drums On Fire'
DJ Feadz, 'Split Again'
Charles Manier, 'Change You'
M83, 'Run Into Flowers (Jackson Midnight Fuck Remix)'
Lindstrom, 'I Feel Space'
Justus Kohncke, 'Elan (Prins Thomas Version)'
LCD Soundsystem, 'Beat Connection'
Talking Heads, 'Pull Up The Roots'
Black Devil Disco Club, 'On Just Foot'
Black Ivory, 'Mainline'
Liquid Liquid, Optimo'