Feel good hits of the 9th December

1. 'I'm Not Stupid' - Cat's Eyes
2. 'Rolled Together' - The Antlers
3. 'Spazz' - Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
4. 'Alabaster Queen' - Marissa Nadler
5. 'Red Star' - EMA
6. 'The Gravedigger's Song' - The Mark Lanegan Band
7. 'By Your Hand' - Los Campesinos!
8. 'Plenty For All' - Hot Snakes
9. 'Boeing 737' - The Low Anthem
10. 'Lucky' - Holy Fuck

Notes:

1. I've not heard Skying, but I'd be prepared to bet a lot of money that Cat's Eyes is by some distance the best thing that Faris Badwan's been involved in this year.

4. Off to ATP tomorrow, so it's shameful that I'm only now following up on discoveries made at last year's bash. You don't really need to watch the video - it's exactly as the song would have you believe it might be.

6. The first track from forthcoming album Blues Funeral, due to be released in February. Do mine ears deceive me or just might that be Josh Homme playing guitar?

7. So I bowed to old loyalties and bought Hello Sadness, despite having never really got on with Romance Is Boring. And you know what? On first listen it's pretty darned decent and this lead single, which didn't appeal much when I first heard it, has definitely won me round.