Incorporating the recognised, the little known to the downright obscure, here are the most essential 100 tunes to come out of Scotland that became my soundtrack for the year.

It's an eclectic journey through alternative rock, dance, electronica, indie, choral, punk, post-grunge, nu-folk and the truly uncategorizable.  

Part 4 - 25-1

25  Frightened Rabbit - An Otherwise Disappointing Life.   It's Selkirk's greatest dark folksters digging the dirt and finding treasure yet again.

24  Strict Face & TryTryDieDown - All For You​.   An enticingly funky Glasgow-Adelaide nu-disco collaboration. 

23 Bossy Love - Want Some​.   Seductively sultry & classy cut out of the TLC book from the Glasgow R&B duo.

22  Twin Atlantic - No Sleep​.   The Glasgow alterno-rockers are at their best when they let rip... like here.

21  Lists - Autumn​.  A rapturous folk-infused beauty from Arran via Edinburgh.

20  C Duncan - The Midnight Sun​.   Beguiling choral dream pop from the inspired Glasgow bedroom composer.

19  Law Holt - Spit​.   Edinburgh alterno-hiphopster with an acerbically visceral soul epic.

18  Faex Optim - Ennet House [Redux]​.   Edinburgh post-electro whizz takes a psyched-up Boards Of Canada blueprint & explodes.

17  The Twistettes - Suck It!, Fake It!​.  Glasgow sisters Jo & Nicky D'arc explode on a swampy riot girrrl commotion.  

16  Crash Club ft Ian MacKinnon - Pennydrop.  Glasgow/Ayrshire electro-rockers create strutting dancefloor-friendly beauty.

15  Lional - Soul Digger.   Round & round again as Inverness alterno-indie combo create a blistering epic side.

14  Thrift Store Disco - Ivy (Rough Mix).   An anarchically quirky gem from mysterious Edinburgh combo who employ a Sonic Youth-style view of indie-dance.

13  Fvnerals - Where.   Black and melancholic, ghostly and brutal, sombre yet bewitching from deeply melancholic Glasgow-based combo.

12  Big Shamu and Ciaran Mac - Mutiny.   Huge hip hop monster from Glasgow rappers fused by a frenetic sitar.

11  Anna Meredith - Taken.    Off-kilter electro cantanta from South Queensferry's Scottish Album of the Year award winner. 

=10  Blanck Mass - D7-D5.    A powerhouse electro symphony from the Edinburgh half of acclaimed electro-drone band F*** Buttons.

=10  Jo Mango - Wisps of Something.   Glasgow singer-songwriter with a heartwarmingly singalong acoustic gem taken from It Is Something To Have Been,  a split EP featuring four of Olive Grove Records artists.

9  Kathryn Joseph - The Blood.  Last year's Scottish Album of the Year winner with a chillingly devastating standout track that sounds like a Bjork / Anthony Heggarty hybrid.

8  Lists - Millie and Ivor  The debut single of Edinburgh-based folkster aka Ali Milesi from Arran was a wistfully elegant acoustic anthem. It features the haunting cello of Glasgow-based chamber musician and teacher Jackie Baxter.

7  Smash Williams - This One Will Go Down Hard.  Veterans of the Glasgow music scene - Stuart Dougan (French Wives) and Gordon Skene (Frightened Rabbit) - create an irresistibly euphoric, introspective synth anthem. 

6  Bloodlines - Skeletons.  Noise-pop classic from  a four-piece originally from Fort William who were deserved winners of the 2016 Scottish Alternative Music Award's Best Rock/Alterno band gong.

5  Shogun - Vulcan.  Stark, quickfire, brutal and tearjerking street rap poetry from intriguing and unconventional Paisley rapper which incredibly had certain underground US hip hop reviewers try to analyse the gutteral accents for the message.

4  False Hopes - War On Everything.  Corrosively melodic 3.22m of fast and vicious 2016 derision from Glasgow nu-hardcore combo who released a new song every month in the year.  This was October's.

3  Meursault - Simple Is Good.  Edinburgh indie-folksters led by Neil Pennycook returned after two years after disbanding with an emotionally literate classic.

2  Massive Attack and Young Fathers. A trippy hop masterpiece from a masterful collaboration involving Edinburgh's 2014 Mercury Prize winners. 

1  Stanley Odd - It's All Gone To F***.  The seven-year-old Edinburgh alterno-hip hop combo had a quiet year until dropping what most of us thought in 2016 into a killer political rap-rock anthem.  

"I tried in vain the day to keep my eyes on the prize again, but my resolve dies when Beyonce shakes her thighs at me."

Part 1: From Primal Scream to The Bellybuttons.

Part 2: From The Jesus and Mary Chain to Ultras​.

Part 3: From Mairearad Green to Sand​.