
All things must pass, and last month I penned my last singles column for The Skinny. It might not be up there with the fall of the Roman Empire or the demise of Communism, but it’s the end of a mini-era for me. No longer will I make a monthly trip to The Skinny HQ and come away weighed down by a bag full of plastic boxes and press releases. The tower of promos in the corner of my room will finally stop threatening to take up all my floorspace, and I’ll have a few more evenings to concentrate on other things. But I’m sure I’ll miss the challenge of fitting 12 reviews into 500 words with any semblance of a line of thought. Or not.
I’m told the singles column will continue, and Ally Brown should be taking up the baton for next month at least, so it’s not game over completely. But in the interests of nerdish archiving I’ve dug up all the winners of the coveted Single of the Month here. I think it’s quite a good selection of names, and I make no apologies for the Scottish imbalance, they really were deserved.
I had one month off this year when Dave let Mastodon do the reviewing honours, and a highlight was the first ‘takeover’, when The Twilight Sad did the honours for June last year. We met them at the Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline before their Tigerfest show, and they were very funny and very cynical, and ended the session by stamping on the CDs. Rock’n’roll.
October 2007: Sons and Daughters – Gilt Complex
November 2007: Rilo Kiley – Breakin’ Up
December 2007: Malcolm Middleton – We’re All Going to Die
January 2008: The Mae Shi – Run To Your Grave
February 2008: Alice and the Majesty – I Could Love You
March 2008: M.I.A. – Paper Planes
April 2008: Lightspeed Champion – Galaxy of the Lost
May 2008: Frightened Rabbit – Fast Blood
June 2008: Lykke Li – I’m Good, I’m Gone
July 2008: Attic Lights – Bring You Down
August 2008: Nacional – Telephone
September 2008: Alex Cornish – Until the Traffic Stops
October 2008: Dananananaykroyd – Pink Sabbath
November 2008: Late of the Pier – Bathroom Gurgle
December 2008: The Notwist – Boneless
January 2009: TV on the Radio – Dancing Choose
February 2009: Crystal Stilts – Departure
March 2009: Animal Collective – My Girls
April 2009: King Creosote – Coast On By
May 2009: We Were Promised Jetpacks – Quiet Little Voices
June 2009: Django Django – Storm
August 2009: Speech Debelle – Better Days
September 2009: The Seventeenth Century – Roses in the Park