With only ten percent of 2006 in front of us, people all around the web are compiling end-of-year lists. It is quite strange to realise that I have no idea what has come out in the past twelve months; that I could force myself to making a top 3 of favourite albums (Pipas, Pipettes, Math & Physics Club), but then these are the only albums I have listened to thoroughly. I think. And really, there are tons of things that I would have done differently, had I been given the chance to live this year again, but at the same time, if I would still be working towards a definitive end-of-year list every day of the year, I probably wouldn’t be in England right now and I would definitely be a lot less happy. So it’s all worth it after all.

Anyway, once a pop geek always a pop geek. The pop geek in me stumbled upon this recently:

• The Happy Couple have released a compilation of early singles on Japanese Quince Records. It includes some unreleased songs as well as the Song For The Troubadour 7″ that was released earlier this year (I had missed that one completely), which has a guest appearance by Stevie Jackson of Belle & Sebastian fame. Listen to some songs at theirspace.

• Ultrasport, who released an album on Quince last year, have a new one out. It’s called False Start City and I remember having read somewhere that it costs as much as one wants to pay for it (which I think is a pretty great idea), but I can’t find that anymore. There isn’t much information on the album at all, so perhaps the release date is postponed. It’s indiepop after all. There are four songs on theirspace though and they sound a bit different from previous recordings, but still pretty great.

• Svensk Indie is a compilation-2cd covering Swedish indie from 1988 to 2006. That is more than just indiepop, so they’ve ‘forgot’ to include the likes of Aerospace, The Tidy-Ups or Nixon. Which is a terrible shame of course, but if you’re still interested in a compilation featuring Jens Lekman, Club 8, SKWBN and Eggstone, then Indie MP3 has the full tracklist for you,

• And then, the Only End-of-year List That Really Matters (with the possible exception of TweeNet’s poll) will never be the same since John Peel’s early death two years ago, but at least some people are trying to keep the thing still going.