I adore this man. A-D-O-R-E. But i seem to be quite alone in doing this outside france. And i can´t figure out why. For my money he (pardon my language)pisses all over katerine, benjamin biolay, divine comedy and louis phillipe etc. In fact the closest description of his music would be if The Divine Comedy came from france. Perhaps Arnaud is the kind of artist that you either go totally nuts about or you don´t get it all. A bit like Prefab Sprout. So, to pick any track is virtually impossible since i love nearly everything he has done but i go for "En vieillisant peut-etre" from his towering masterpiece "Portrait du jeune homme en artiste".

Of all the tropicalias Gil is my main man. I find Caetano Veloso a bit boring and Mutantes enjoyable in small doses but a bit irritating. The incredibly infectous Pega a voga, Cabeludo is taken from Gils 68 album and puts a smile on my face every time i hear it.

R´nb for those who don´t like r´nb. If you want an update of the Michael Jackson sound of the thriller era than look no further than this "should have been a monster hit" off the cruelly neglected Rahsaan pattersons after hours album.Available on e music by the way.

Better than the avalanches. Few other tracks have made me so glad this year than this song from Japans Handsomeboy Technique. It is virtually the same formula as the avalanches; collage pop from soft rock, disco,hip hop, girl groups etc but with much better song structures than the ava. The album adelie land is also recommended.

If the free design had come from greenwich village and opted for a more folk pop approach they could have sounded like the candian siblings Chuck and Mary. Their songs perhaps doesn´t have the same strong song hooks as "the design" but way more make up for it in their timeless sound and magical voices. Especially on this heartrending track which you can find in an orchestrted version on their second album or acoustic on their first.I´d go for the acoustic one.