Previously at this point in December, it has become the custom for Real Gone to issue a free download containing some of the best underground tracks of the year.  For the past seven or eight years, these downloads have been a popular fixture on the Real Gone calendar, turning people on to all kinds of artists.

With the changing times, we regret to say the era of the free sampler has come to an end.  It seems that people much prefer streaming and with that in mind, we’ve made the decision to highlight some of our favourite tunes in an eighty minute playlist.

We apologise to those listeners without access to Spotify, but in order to get music out to people’s ears, this really was the best option in the modern world.  Putting the old style free download together took months of groundwork, from gaining permissions and the to and fro of hundreds of emails – this way, you get to catch up with new music and all the pieces fall into place much quicker.

Anyway, this covers a lot of genres from quirky indie-pop, full on metal, punk and art-rock — we’re sure most of Real Gone’s faithful audience will find something new to love.

Next week, we’ll present our ten best albums of the year and take a look back at some other highlights.  In the meantime…happy listening.