This is not the top 22

It's 22 songs from 2013 that hark the heralding of an annual CD I foist on ever-wearying friends, some of whom I suspect then give it to enemies in the work Secret Santa.

A 'best of' 2013 would have to include at least one song by Scott & Charlene's Wedding, but they were on last year's compilation. Take this recent conversation:

Ungrateful Bastard: That's a funny name. Maybe I'll see them when they play at your club.
DNC: You should. They're great.
UB: What are they like?
DNC: They were on the compilation I gave you.
UB: Ah, I didn't get that far with it.
DNC: It was the first track.

No, I don't just make compilations and if anyone else likes them it's a bonus. It's one a year. Someone got round to playing 2010's effort this year. Really liked it, too.

Thing is, I'm generally friends with captains of industry who are too busy to listen to new music - even when it's handed to them in some cases - but a few will find something new to love. Or have their prejudices confirmed that the noise made by antipodean wastrels with poor job prospects and questionable hygiene ethics really isn't their thing.

Which is fine. I'm certain that I wouldn't like half of a compilation a friend might make me.

Concessions have been made. I really don't think Follakzoid's Chilean krautrock would tickle the fancy of any recipients, but Follakzoid II really is a tremendously intense and exciting record. And there's nothing from Hacia Dos Veranos' Limay, because everyone I know - and no one else - already has a copy. It'll be recognised as the classic it is in the future.

And, yes, I know the Little Big League single was last year, but it's short and sweet and there wasn't room for the longer songs from their (brilliant) album, These Are Good People.

Anyhow, these 22 songs are an introduction. May a few of them open new doors to old friends:

1. Money - Lady
2. All Over the World - The Prophet Hens
3. Complicate - Trust Fund
4. No More Guns - Mr Benn feat Tenor Fly
5. If I Died… - Sweet Baboo
6. Calendar Days - Dick Diver
7. Cabin Fever - The Steinbecks
8. Turpins Falls - The Stevens
9. You're Not The Target - Clearance
10. Memory Chester Lane - Dog Legs
11. Like Me - Wildhoney
12. Lost Without You - Martha
13. Nothin But Nice - Free Time
14. Fool's Melodies - Web of Sunsets
15. I Won't Wait - The Creases
16. Buried In The Ground - Tyrannosaurus Dead
17. Step Right Up (Pour Yourself Some Wine) - Alex Bleeker and the Freaks
18. St. Johns - Little Big League
19. Walk In My Shoes - Trambeat
20. Avant Gardener - Courtney Barnett
21. Black Sail - Chastity Belt
22. Gust - Georgiana Starlington