Burkhard and Martin have both nominated me to do the ten album fandango... I've been trying to think of an interesting way of doing it (inspired by Alan and his great take on it). As much as I love Marquee Moon and Forever Changes, etc there is only so much nostalgia I can take at the moment... so I'm going to pick ten albums which were all released AFTER 1997, the year I moved to Brighton, met Louise, and had a bit of a fresh start. 

This album is the ground zero for that, still my favourite Oasis album... not everyone's cup of tea I know but there will be another one along shortly... also Alan will correct me that this was released IN 1997, not AFTER 1997, but there you go. 

Superficially this doesn't have much in common with Oasis, but the thread that binds them together is obsession. In 2000 I was working as a buyer at the now sadly defunct Borders Books & Music. "Down at the Khyber" was just one of dozens of promos that came in every week. Little did I realse back then that this album would soundtrack the next twenty years, but there you go. 

This album reminds me of catching the ferry from La Paz to Mazatlan... long Newfoundland nights in The Puffin... hanging out in Dublin... and sitting in the Heart & Hand in Brighton. 

It is *just possible* you are not familiar with the genius that is Joel Plaskett, if that is the case I have a handy introductory Spotify playlist you may enjoy (though I'd equally recommend DATK as a great place to start)...

Another obsession. For whatever reason, a high percentage of my favourite bands only made one album... this lot, World of Twist, The La's and one other which crops up later in this list. 

I think something people often overlook about Life Without Buildings is just how much fun they were, I dunno, it feels like they sometimes get pigeonholed as "difficult" or "challenging," when live they were just an absolute blast. 

If I could snap my fingers and get one band back together again it would be them, no question.

Perhaps my favourite live band, first time I saw them I think was when Stuart put them on at Moray House, Teenage Fanclub supported in what I think was only their second gig? They did not play "It Happens" despite my repeated requests. 

I love all phases of Scream life, jingle jangle, leathers, Screamadelica, Memphis, and of their recent stuff I think "More Light" is greatly underrated. But nothing touches XTRMNTR, especially live with Mani on bass and Kevin Shields on guitar. I remember one great show I went to with Carl when Sahara Hotnights supported, I wonder what happened to them?

Okay, so bear with me on this one. 

It all started on one long Saturday, maybe 2009/10. Louise and I had been in The Captain Kidd and saw that there was a band called Choo Choo Train playing at the George on Commercial Road. Quick tip - if you call your band Choo Choo Train, I will come and see you. 

If you've never been to The George it's quite an experience, and there was generally something odd happening. It was kind of at the periphery of the whole Libertines/Hoxton scene. We were fairly well refreshed by this point and I think I was out in the beer garden when Louise came and grabbed me - "you have to come and see this band." And there were Filthy Boy. It later transpired they were all 17 and this was their first gig, but they sounded and acted a lot older. We were completely hooked. (Choo Choo Train were okay) 

I was a relative latecomer to B&S, "Dog on Wheels" was the first thing I remember really loving, though I'd been aware of Kevin, Keith and a few other people banging on about them. I think, more than any other band, they are a group I associate with pure good times, great people, and a positive outlook. There is Boaty, of course, something I can honestly say changed my life, but even before that, I don't remember any shows where I didn't come away feeling full of genuine emotion and joy. 

Having mentioned Boaty, I should just say that not a day goes by that I don't thank my lucky stars it was last year, before the madness started. I wonder if anything like that will ever happen again? I could have picked one of four or five different B&S albums but I think this one has a special place in my heart. "Stay Loose" is probably still my all-time favourite Belles song, and I remember listening to "I'm A Cuckoo" and just thinking, man, these guys have cracked it. There is a 15-second video of me and Keith dancing to it on the boat which I watch way more often than I should.

I chose this album because I love it, but also because it reminds me of a very specific time and place. There are loads of albums like that, where I can almost tell you the stretch of road I was driving along as it was playing - "Funeral" by Arcade Fire, "Primary Colours" by the Horrors, "True Love Rules" by Dave Marsh, the second Franz Ferdinand album and a whole load more. "Astro Coast" we bought at the airport on our way to Ronda on holiday, and we played it to death. The hotel was this quite cool, arty place which apparently Madonna had stayed in, they did an amazing cooked breakfast every morning and here and there throughout the grounds they had Estrella on tap and wine fridges which you could just help yourself to. We felt it would be rude not to. 

I love Surfer Blood live, I think we've seen them on every UK tour since, and they have a new album coming out soon. Another band, like B&S and Joel Plaskett, where you get the feeling they are enjoying it just as much as you are.

Weirdly this was another airport purchase, this time September 2004 en route to LA and eventually to spend a year in Mexico. When we got to Tita's house we gave it a listen, and just did not get it at all, though she encouraged us to stick with it (while also driving us around to look at an endless procession of second-hand cars, with the patience of a saint). 

Eventually, in a kind of black olive moment, we got it - driving through desert roads past Ensenada and Loreto, climbing through the hills to get to Xilitla, past lakes and volcanoes in Guatemala. This album took on an almost mystical importance to us, all thinks to its initial recommendation from Michael, so thank you, old pal.

Before the madness descended, FF had announced a date later in the year at some Pitchfork thing, so hopefully they'll be back.

I am, for want of a better definition, an "indie kid." Albeit "kid" is now stretching that definition by any margin. You can define indie however you want, as a sound, or an aesthetic or an attitude or whatever, I will be there ready to sign on the line. 

At first listen, "Mysterious Walks" might sound SO indie as to be almost pastiche, primitive rhythms that sound like they were home recordings of someone hitting pots and pans, audible tape hiss, plaintive lyrics, this hits all the marks. But what I found absolutely fascinating about Thomas was that he had no interest in being an "indie artist" at all - in his head, he was creating sweeping, Brian Wilson/Arthur Lee masterpieces which, for whatever reason, weren't cutting through to the mass market audience he felt he deserved. 

He was a real inspiration. The last time I saw him play, at the Borderline, he dedicated "Invitation" from this album to me, probably a spur of the moment thing for him but a memory which I will treasure forever. RIP Thomas.

We went to the first Track and Field night at the Betsey, all those years ago, and missed very few in between. I think we must have stayed with Alan for the first one as we were still living in Brighton. I knew Paul from The Cigarette Club which he ran with Michael, but T&F was something different, something with soul, to coin a phrase. I met too many people to name-check because of the club, and the shows and records were a soundtrack to a decade. Paul and Steven - I salute you, thank you for creating a special kind of magic, and thank you for releasing this incredible album. 

I met Darren (and Brent) in '93, when they were already fully-fledged rock stars - Jem, Tita, Moogi and I saw Further support the Flaming Lips at the Whiskey which was a fairly epic night.