It's become almost compulsory for a music publication to follow up its end of year retrospective with a list of tips for the New Year.

Eight years ago, No Ripcord editor David Coleman awarded Coldplay's Parachutes the perfect ten. He's never been the same since. As part of his therapy, he bravely dragged himself along to the band's recent Sheffield Arena show.

When I heard about a band that had landed a festival appearance near Düsseldorf courtesy of a chance MySpace encounter, I started thinking the unthinkable: maybe social networking isn't a complete waste of time.

A sleepy, isolated town on the West Cumbrian coast, Whitehaven is probably one of the last places – in England, and possibly the world – where you’d expect to find a thriving indie-pop record label like Letterbox Records. This is the story behind the label’s success.

No Ripcord editor David Coleman was in the audience at two of My Bloody Valentine's recent reunion shows. In fact, he's still excited about the experience a full month later.