Vox Pop

Well, if you're not completely fed up to your gills with people foisting their choices of records of the year upon you, The Independent have entered the fray by asking random music celebs to nominate their favourite albums of 2004. Will Young and the bassist from Stereophonics agree with me about the new Kings Of Leon (I must do something about the company I keep in 2005, you know) while Robert Plant puts his weight behind The Black Keys and Aidan from Arab Strap opts for The Go! Team:

'Thunder, Lightning, Strike is by far the happiest album of the year, and I would defy anyone not to smile when it's on. Its highly illegal sampling lends it a rock 'n' roll attitude and displays a very eclectic palate, too. It's a perfect morning album and a perfect night-out album and it makes me want to jump about and hug people.'

Anyone who's ever listened to an Arab Strap album will no doubt concur with Dead Kenny when he says the prospect of a happy Aidan jumping about and hugging people is a very frightening thought indeed. Slightly less alarming is Ben SWSL's Top 10 Albums of the year in which he fights the corner of, amongst others, Sunderland's The Futureheads. And from beyond the grave (well, from spreadsheet analysis of his show tracklistings, if you must be precise, fact fans) here are John Peel's Most Played Records from 2004 which include tracks from Electrelane and The Delgados.

Merry Xmas to all my long-suffering readers, even those that only came here on the half-chance of gawping at Edith Bowman's breasts. There may well be a fourth annual Parallax View Xmas message in the morning (depending on the scale of my imminent hangover) but my final thought for this Xmas Eve is to be mindful that for many people this proves an exceptionally troubling period of time for a number of reasons: Hollywood actress Natasha Lyonne, for one, is apparently facing a worrying (lack of) future.