Before thoughts turn to further gluttonous over-consumption during the forthcoming New Year’s celebrations (and before you have to wade through acres of tedious ‘Hot Tips For 2011’ articles), how about one final glance back over some of the writing that was on ANBAD, but not directly about a specific new band?

Here, then, are the pick of the various articles written by me and the generous contributors over the course of the year:

A Triple Threat of articles first; a quasi-provocative couplet of articles in the shape of:

The Trouble With Live Gigs [Part One and the even less balanced Part Two], garnered agreement and angry rebuttal, eventually resulting in Peter Marinari’s excellent riposte. A very worthwhile read.

Downloading Is Dead. Discuss // Sample Quote: “The no-ownership situation has come to pass, though perhaps not in the way the labels imagined. Music providers like Spotify make music ownership unnecessary now – and, most importantly, no-one cares.”

The View From gave guest writers the opportunity to let the wider world know about their local scenes. Though mostly, they used it to chunter…

The View from… Kilburn, London // Sample quote: “Kilburn has that smelly old relative appeal, it really should wash more and there’s some food stuck on their face, but you love ‘em all the same.”

The View From… Newcastle-Upon-Tyne // Sample Quote: “The national belief that its grim up North combined with a few too many harrowing BBC two dramas, featuring sallow faced minors and scenes of parochial, small minded vigilantes has done nothing to help…”

The View From… Melbourne // Sample quote: “Think of Melbourne as a less-famous version of the more well-known Sydney; the difference is that Melbourne does not have a ghastly white pointy monstrosity where opera is supposedly performed.”

Phew. And that’s yer lot. Normal ANBAD service will resume in the New Year. Have a great weekend!