SWSL Top 20 Singles Of 2007

Or, rather, not - again, as anticipated.

If anything, I was exposed to even fewer singles last year than in 2006 - and I certainly bought fewer - and so once again don't feel at all qualified to compile any kind of serious list. You'll just have to make do with some brief jumbled reflections instead...

2007 saw The Arcade Fire's blazing return, Neon Bible bulldozing all before it and 'Intervention' in particular evidence of a band pulling out all the stops - quite literally. But even that was trumped by a pair of singles from LCD Soundsystem's Sound Of Silver, the insistent and anthemic 'All My Friends' and the elegant electro lament 'Someone Great' - and that's not to mention the more recognisably Murphyesque 'North American Scum'. But, for me, all four songs work better in the context of the albums themselves than as stand-alone singles.

By contrast, two brilliant singles for which such context didn't matter (because they were so superior to anything else around them) were The Gossip's 'Standing In The Way Of Control' and Battles' 'Atlas', beamed in from a bizarre parallel universe where Gary Glitter has become a mathrock posterboy.

Also deserving of a mention is Malcolm Middleton, not only for recording a song called 'We're All Going To Die' to kick off an album called A Brighter Beat, but for releasing it in December in a bid to be Christmas #1. Sadly it didn't quite make it, pipped by 'When You Believe' by 'X Factor' winner Leon Jackson. The bastard.

Meanwhile, with debut album Hold On Now Youngster due out next month, SWSL faves Los Campesinos! put out no fewer than three great singles in 2007. 'We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives' and 'The International Tweexcore Underground' were both splendid, though - inevitably - 'You! Me! Dancing!' finally receiving a proper release was the highlight. Witnessing them playing it to a hometown crowd the day it hit the shops was something special. But, as the song that topped the pile last year, it would feel wrong to crown it king for a second year running.

Likewise, as regular readers may be aware, I was thrilled by Ringo Deathstarr's amp-blowing take on prime Jesus & Mary Chain sturm-und-drang and shoegazery narco-pop, but as their release was a self-titled five-track EP rather than a single, they aren't eligible either.

All of which means that the title of SWSL Single Of 2007 goes to ... (drum roll) ... CSS's 'Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above' - quite simply a pop song par excellence, the bassline for which burrowed its way into my brain at Glastonbury and refused to leave for more than a month. If only all earworms were as pleasure-inducing...