At the start of 2011 I decided that it would be a good idea to get up to date with music by listening to every new release I could find for the year. It did genuinely seem like a good idea, even though I knew a baby was coming and I’d be working 50-hour-plus weeks. Now the year is over, and the top hundred is compiled, the feeling of relief almost makes the whole project worth it. I am positive that these are the best* tracks released in the last twelve months, in the correct order, though it’s pretty unlikely that anyone else is going to have more than a passing interest in my opinions. At least I hope this is a chance for a handful of people to discover some great songs I’ve dug out, and I’m sure I’ll be coming back to the playlist quite often, after a bit of a break from music.
My method for putting the list together went like this – first I got hold of as many new releases as I could from about ten websites – generally mp3 blogs and singles reviews sites. Then I graded them from 1-10, and deleted anything under a ‘6’. Later I came back and graded the 8s 9s and 10s into new folders by percentage points. Then there was another stage where I put the songs into an exact order, and finally I listened to the list in order a few times and shuffled the songs about. If this is tedious to read then you can imagine what it was like to do – a time-consuming technique which took up a year’s commutes and left me with folders full of around 3000 mp3s (plus 1500+ that were deleted) and notebooks full of now meaningless lists of tracks and numbers. It also left me with a list of 250+ ranked tracks, mainly due to the 87% folder having over 120 tracks in it.
So, here are the tracks ranked from 101-200, presented without comment or links. Numbers 1-100 will be revealed over the next five days, with descriptions, videos and (perhaps) downloads.

200 Tinie Tempah – Wonderman ft. Ellie Goulding (Jacob Plant Remix)
199 Alina Simone – You Fade Away
198 Elephant – Actors
197 IFEEL Studio – Watching Stars Over The Rubicon Beltway
196 Cloud Control – This Is What I Said
195 High Contrast – Fearful Symmetry
194 Blackwater Jukebox – That Voodoo Shit
193 Korallreven – As Young As Yesterday
192 The Kills – Pots and Pans
191 Kunt and the Gang – Amy (It’s A Terrible Shamey)
190 Blawan – Peaches
189 The Men – Night Landing
188 Xander Harris – BloodremixXHVocoder
187 Steve Reich / Kronos Quartet – 9/11/01
186 Thomas Tantrum – Sleep
185 Toddla T & Roots Manuva – Watch Me Dance
184 Estelle ft Rick Ross – Break My Heart
183 Other Lives – For 12
182 Mondkopf – The Song of Shadows
181 Peaking Lights – All The Sun That Shines
180 Lethal Bizzle ft. Grime Allstars – Pow 2011
179 Timariwen – Tenere Taqqim Tossam (Four Tet Remix)
178 Lumpen Nobleman – Scaling the Yablonois
177 K-X-P – 18 Hours (Of Love) – An Optimo (Espacio) mix
176 Katy B – Witches Brew
175 Future Islands – Balance
174 Kode9 – Time Patrol Dub
173 Jay-Z & Kanye West – Otis
172 PBN – Fitteh Moo.
171 Kurt Vile – Jesus Fever
170 Vagina Vangi – Locked Forever
169 Lapalux – Time Spike Jamz
168 Ghosting Season – Far End Of The Graveyard
167 Holy Ghost! – Some Children
166 The Oh Sees – Carrion Crawler
165 Cloud Nothings – No Future / No Past
164 Time Wharp – Cuspcake (Lord Boyd Remix)
163 Crookers / Savage Skulls – Bust ‘Em Up
162 Ding Dong – Badman Forward Badman Pull Up (The Bug Remix)
161 The Caretaker – The Sublime is Disappointingly Elusive
160 The Count & Sinden – Future
159 Vagina Vangi – Goatghosts
158 Destroyer – Suicide Demo For Kara Walker
157 K-X-P – 18 Hours (Of Love)
156 Regina – Jos Et Sä Soita
155 Peter Bjorn and John – Second Chance
154 The Rapture – How Deep Is Your Love?
153 Seahawks – Tramadol Beach
152 Beyoncé – Love On Top
151 Twin Sister – Bad Street
150 Boris – Spoon
149 Future Of The Left – Polymers Are Forever
148 Ghostpoet – Liiines
147 The Advisory Circle – Now Ends The Beginning
146 How To Dress Well – Suicide Dream 2 (Elite Gymnastics Baptism)
145 Lil Wayne – 6 Foot 7 Foot (Feat. Cory Gunz)
144 Wye Oak – Holy Holy
143 Forest Fire – The News
142 The Joy Formidable – Whirring
141 The Chain – Lostwithiel
140 Liz Green – Displacement Song
139 M83 – Intro (ft Zola Jesus)
138 Chains Of Love – Breaking My Heart
137 Feist – How Come You Never Go There?
136 현아 – Bubble Pop!
135 Jonti – Twirligig
134 Skrillex – First of the Year (Equinox)
133 Jay-Z & Kanye West – Murder To Excellence
132 The North – RISE (extended demo)
131 Mogwai – White Noise
130 Washed Out – Soft
129 The Advisory Circle – Beyond The Wychelm
128 Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire – Huzzah! (Remix feat. Despot, Das Racist, Danny Brown & El-P)
127 Orbital – Never
126 Steve Hauschildt – Already Replaced
125 Todd Terje – Snooze 4 Love
124 Holy Ghost! – I Wanted To Tell Her
123 Joris J – Stand Alone Complex
122 Oh Land – Sun of a Gun
121 Ray & The Prisms – Astrograph
120 I Break Horses – Hearts
119 Iceage – IIIIIIII
118 Death Grips – Guillotine
117 65daysofstatic – Come To Me (ft Robert Smith)
116 Real Estate – Green Aisles
115 Oneohtrix Point Never – Sleep Dealer
114 Phantogram – Don’t Move
113 The Chemical Brothers – Escape Wavefold
112 Metronomy – The Look
111 Renaissance Man – What Do You Do When You Do What You Do (Vocal Version)
110 Celia – D D Down
109 Tom Waits – Hell Broke Luce
108 Dauwd – What’s There?
107 Russian Circles – Mladek
106 Kingdom – Stalker Ha
105 Entrepreneurs – Fuck Tactics (feat. FOE & Ghostpoet)
104 DJ Shadow ft African Boy – I’m Excited
103 rRoxymore – Lonelyritournelle
102 Cygnet Wings – Lark
101 Kingdom – Take Me (ft Naomi Allen)

*in my opinion, of course