Top 33 of the Year.....Number 1.

Finally, we reach the top of the tree and for those of you who are regular readers of the blog - or who know me personally - the inevitable has finally happened.....

1. The National - High Violet.
The best band in music today produced the goods once again with their fifth full-length record.

From the moment the fuzzy chords of 'Terrible Love' kick off High Violet, you just know this is going to be something special - and I wasn't let down. There was the thrill of seeing this song performed live on US TV shows early in the release process, and it turned from a fine opening to a record to the song that brought their 2010 live sets to a thrilling close.

The record comes across as a hybrid of the insistent brilliance of Alligator, and the more austere, orchestral Boxer, and turned The National into everyone's favourite band. It's a different kind of mainstream record, not the kind of change that overcame R.E.M when they transformed from southern oddities to stadium rock monsters with Green, but The National do share much with Michael Stipe and co. Matt Berninger's brooding vocals and lyrics are as opaque as Stipe's, and the music masterminds of Aaron and Bryce Dessner are frequently as brilliant as - if not better than - Berry, Buck and Mills.

Where to go next? The stately 'Runaway'? The joy of 'Bloodbuzz Ohio'? The worried blues of 'Anyone's Ghost'? The soothing lullaby of 'Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks'? Any one of these songs would show you how brilliant these guys are, but I'll pick 'England' as my highlight:



If you don't like this record, you don't like life, and I don't want to be your friend. I'm joking, possibly......this is the sound of a quite special band, let them into your life.