Features / Music

For years, music had simply gone without discussion. Nobody would dare say a word about a band, record, or song; with the apprehension that, he or she would be persecuted for their beliefs. We lived in a dark age where freedom of speech applied not to the splendid sonic art … Read more

30. Ted Leo and The Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets (Lookout!) Looking for a good dose of jangling, dancey rock? Look no further than Ted Leo and the Pharmacist's latest, the album poppy-indie kids wet their pants for in October of 2004. Shake the Sheets is a collection of fun, … Read more

It's that time of year again - our year end feature! It's been a long process, but we've totalled up all of the results of our individual staff lists (see later pages for these), to calculate an overall list for the entire staff and site. We use this approach because … Read more

It's that happy time again: Finally, it's here. After months of development and careful planning by SPB staff, the 2006 Year End feature is finally available. Read on with bated breath as you discover Scene Point Blank's top 30 records of 2006. In the meantime, enjoy some helpful graphs which … Read more

Christmas has gone. New Year has passed by. The novelty of the holidays has swept past on its merry way, leaving us contorting in the wake of already-broken resolutions, badly-chosen presents and way too much festive food. What are we left to do but analyse our past? Luckily for you, … Read more

With 2008 firmly behind us, it's time for our top list of the year. Produced in the SPB labs using highly secretive algorithms and formulas, the final list is now available for your perusal. After a year of solid releases from established acts and exciting new sounds from bands we … Read more

With 2009 well and truly over, it's time to look back over a turbulent year and see what was good (and what wasn't) in the world of music. Below is Scene Point Blank's top 30 record list of 2009, split into two halves for your viewing convenience. On the third … Read more

Welcome once again to Scene Point Blank's annual rundown of the best music of the past twelve months. This list is compiled for your viewing pleasure by a carefully-managed democratic process. SPB staff compile individual lists which are then painstakingly compiled into an overall site list. Draws and ties are … Read more

Congratulations! Not only do you have great taste, but you managed to survive into 2012, the year that both the ancient Mayans and fundamentalist Christian groups didn't believe you'd live to see. As a reward for all that hard work of surviving, Scene Point Blank offers you our top 25 … Read more

Well, we're all still here: the year 2012 didn't see the world end, thankfully. And it's just as well -- it's been a brilliant year for music (according to SPB's review data, it's been a return to form after a mildly disappointing 2011). In this roundup of our favorite albums … Read more

Another year, another year-end roundup from SPB. This is the tenth year of our existence and it's perhaps fitting that the album we've voted the best of 2013 is by a band which holds lots of significance for SPB. But no spoilers! Read on to see the list of the … Read more

It's been another strong year for music in 2014 just gone – we've seen comebacks, unexpected debuts, strong follow-ups and soon-to-be classics from old and new bands alike. In this, our annual sitewide list, we've averaged and assembled our individual contributor's best-of-2014 lists into one superlist, amalgamating all of our … Read more

It's that fabled time of year – SPB's favorite albums of the last twelve months. In this list, assembled by combining all of out staff writers' individual lists (no editorialising!), we show you the best music of 2015 including old favorites, new artists and a couple of other twists. Read … Read more

As years go, 2016 was a cruel one. We lost tons of musical heroes: Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Sharon Jones and other iconic performers departed. Before they left us, though, we were treated to a few final pieces of music. Likewise, once-dormant bands returned to prove that their best wasn't … Read more

It's been a strange year. Global turmoil, political unrest, uncertainty and populism dogging every decision and public event. Who knows what 2018 will bring? But political scientists we ain't: what we do know is music. Here's our annual list of the best music to come out of the past twelve … Read more

It's been a great year for music and we're here to tell you what you should have heard in 2018. Fear not – we've diced and sliced the numbers and lists to assemble this, our writers' guide to the best music released during the past twelve months. Read on to … Read more

The end of a year and the end of a decade – 2019 is done and it's over to SPB to tell you about the best albums you heard (or didn't) over the past twelve months. Read on to discover the 25 records our staff collectively voted on as the … Read more

What a year. The (probably apocryphal) curse goes "may you live in interesting times" and we're truly learning what it means to be alive during a period that history will constantly look back on. For all of the struggles the world faced with natural disasters, racial injustice, the global pandemic, … Read more

Pity the bands releasing new records this year, right? Another twelve months of uncertainty: will they be able to tour this album? Can they even get inside a studio? Will Adele's monopolisation of the world's supply of vinyl mean it can't get a 12" release?! But on the other hand: … Read more

Another year crossed off as the planet inches one more step closer to imminent destruction and chaos. We've lost musical heroes and watched Twitter turn into the internet dumpster fire, and from our lofty position at the centre of these two particular crossroads of music and tech, we're uncertain what's … Read more