One of my favourite discoveries of the year has been Night Dials, a five-piece outfit that have been creating a buzz in London in recent months at venues like the Monarch in Camden and St. Moritz on Wardour Street.

I recently interviewed the band for Shindig magazine, where drummer Paul explained that the band met during their college days and were brought together ‘by a mutual love for good music and all things 1960s.’

Certainly that love of garage, psych and a number of West London bands like The Yardbirds is evident in much of their material but there’s some Jesus and Mary Chain in their musical DNA too and the guys also share a fiercely independent attitude to making and releasing music. ‘It’s all homemade and recorded very quickly,’ according to Paul, so think something along the lines of a non perfectionist La’s with William Reid on guitar, covering some forgotten gem by an Eel Pie Island outfit that supported The Rolling Stones in 1966.

During 2015, Night Dials released two double A sided singles. I’ve Done More Things is an incessant slice of pristine garage pop while I’ll Sleep When I Die is a gorgeous lo-fi lullaby. The follow up, Waiting At Your Door/Little Flame is available now on Ciao Ketchup Recordings and here with its drenched in acid-fried colours, swirling patterns and animal head masks is Waiting At Your Door:

 
So here are my final batch of the best singles and album tracks of the year:

Night Dials: Waiting At Your Door
Lola in Slacks: Soirée
Lonelady: Bunkerpop
Low: What Part of Me
Nicolas Godin: Widerstehe Doch Der Sünde
Tuff Love: Duke
New Order: Tutti Frutti
The Fall: Auto Chip 2014-2016
Natalie Pryce: Søren
The Creeping Ivies: The Witch House

The sound of The Creeping Ivies isn’t a million musical miles away from that of Night Dials. Hailing from Glasgow and now signed to fabby local label Flowers in the Dustbin, their recent album Your New Favourite Garage Band rounded up a number of previous releases including the track featured here and another with the enticing title of What Would Joey Ramone Do? Earlier this year, I saw them perform a supercharged set of pared-back rock’n’roll at McChuills, with vaulting vocals from the cool as fuck Becca, feral guitars and some wonderfully noisy drum bashing. Just my kind of night.

This is The Witch House:

 
For more on Night Dials, click here.

For more on The Creeping Ivies, click here.

As for reissues, box sets, compilations and live albums, here’s a list of ten of the best:

The Nectarine No. 9: Saint Jack
The Velvet Underground: Loaded
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Live at Barrowlands
Various Artists: The Odyssey: A Northern Soul Time Capsule
Pre Ubu: Elitism For The People 1975-1978
Jock Scot: My Personal Culloden
Chris Bell: I Am the Cosmos
Various Artists: Marc Bolan Presents the Soul Sessions
Bis: I love bis
Various Artists: Ork Records: New York, New York