by the obscenely talented Laura Marling.

And I don't even do folk...

by the supremely gifted Sir Richard Hawley

And I don't even do Yorkshire...

by Sarabeth Tucek

and I don't even do those albums which are about a sad event (in this case, the death of her father) and should be harrowingly hard listening, but somehow end up as the most upliftingly cathartic beautiful records I've ever heard.

With Our Heads In The Clouds And Our Hearts In The Fields

Mesmerisingly (sp) beautiful Belgian ambient nu folk.

Saw them supporting Low earlier in the year and have played this 2-3 times every week these past 6 months. Leftfield but lovely.

"Butterfly House"

Something For Everybody. A big dumb, thumping rollicking juggernaut of an album.

The Unthanks

Probably played that more than anything.

Don't know. Midlake's The Courage Of Others.

The Imagined Village

You're getting a lot of folk recommendations here, aren't you?

and the 2 cd delux edition of "Animal Instinct" and still come out 5p on top.
Oi,Crowther. Put down that credit card and step away from the computer,you'll thank me later.
http://www.tygersofpantang.com/site/sbscd.php

Janelle Monae - Archandroid
My favourite of the last five years or so.

Let England Shake. A brilliant distillation of a lot of things that have been going on recently.

and I haven't even been completely convinced of the greatness of Tinariwen and Tamikrest, so another Tuareg that has a guitar and will travel was not high on my expectations list.
But this guy knocked me out, I've been playing this album every chance I get lately. Just beautiful, bluesy Northafrican joy.

(But the best of the decade so far is still Joanna Newsoms' Have One On Me, but I realize that she isn't for everyone)

Although its likely to change within the next few minutes, off the top of my head my Top 3 would be....

Silver Seas - Chateau Revenge
Midlake - Courage of Others
Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What

by Nicolas Jaar. It's superb and is an automatic pick. The second one is harder... "Château Revenge" by Silver Seas shades it. It's probably not a coincidence they each clock in at around 45 minutes: no filler, no padding, just start to finish excellence.

Innerspeaker is brill. Think it qualifies - released in 2010 I think.

Cheekily, I could say the Deluxe re-issue of Station to Station. Still better than anything recorded in the following 35 (count em) years

1 Everything Everything-Man Alive
2 Field Music-Measure
3 Owen Pallett- Heartland
4 Dutch Uncles-Cadenza

Despite the lack of back-story about living in his Uncle's garage and subsisting on otters (or something) it is a BEAUTIFUL piece of work.

Mickey Newbury's An American Trilogy. Four CDs at under £20 on Amazon. Where's the flaw?

Not only my favourite jazz album released since 1 Jan 2010, but one of my favourite jazz albums of all time. Bassist Lightcap leads his sextet through an hour of consistently engaging, varied and enjoyable tunes, with Tony Malaby and Chris Cheek duelling away on the twin tenor saxes. Every time I play it, I hear somethig new. In its field, it deserves to be recognised as a standard work for the twenty-first century. If you've ever loved modern jazz, you need this.

If you only buy one album this year, etc.

A work of such spellbinding beauty it's impossible to convey in words. Its only flaws are its relative brevity and the impossibility of listening to the track "Bats In The Attic" without reaching for the Repeat button as soon as it ends.

Underworld - Barking. It's seriously brilliant, under 'return to form' in the dictionary there should be a picture of this album.

Honourable mentions:

Nero - Welcome Reality. Came out last month so it's still a novelty, but I have the feeling this will become a classic.

Daft Punk - Tron Legacy Reconfigured. Remixes that make your hair stand on end.

Queen of Denmark is probably the best, for me. But any regular here will have probably heard it already.

Josh Ritter's So Runs The World Away is up there too, and I'd also second Laura Marling's I Speak Because I can.

"Constant Companion" An LP record to cherish

Erland & The Carnival - Nightingale
Fionn Regan - The Shadow Of An Empire
Steve Mason - Boys Outside

I'm also very taken with Other Lives Tamer Animals which has just come out.

I might not agree with this in a few months but right now I'm intoxicated by the new album by Howling Bells.

Has to be the The Harrow & The Harvest by Dynamic duo Gillian Welch and David Rawlings - Music for the ages.

Orkestra Del Sol, 'Lung Capacity'.

It's just so refreshingly upbeat. I can't help but grin every time I listen to it.

Today's assessment would be (not in order) :

1. Midlake - Courage of others
2. Doomed Bird of Paradise - Will ever pray
3. John Grant - Queen of Denmark (if limited to just one, then it'd be this one)
4. March of Dimes - From those who were there
5. The national - high violet
6. Howlin' Lord - Gold Fury
7. Dungen - Skit I allt
8. Giant Sand - Blurry Blue Mountain
9. The Decemberists - The King is dead
10. Charles Bradley - No time for dreaming.

If you have a FOPP nearby you can probably get 4 of those for £20 :-)

Did you hear me OK?

If upbeat dancey hip-hop delivered by a comic actor is your thing - then you can't do any better than Medicine Babies by No Surrender.

The band feature Crab Man from My Name is Earl & it is my album of the year so far - gets better with every listen;

No Surrender - Young World

How about Have One On Me-Joanna Newsome or Too Long In This Condition-Alistair Roberts & Friends or The Fallen By The Watch Bird-Jane Weaver or if you are feeling adventurous the two Forbidden Planets comps are worth a listen.

becoming a jackal - got me back into new music and ultimately here.

The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
Gill Scott-Heron & Jamie xx - We're New Here
LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
Penguin Cafe Orchestra - A Matter of Life
Stornoway - Beachcomber's Windowsill
Bon Iver - Bon Iver
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine
Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
Nicholas Jaar - Space is Only Noise

and within the last week or so:

Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
Beirut - The Rip Tide

I will be purchasing the new Laura Marling album and the Silver Seas.

ALICE COOPER WELCOME 2 MY NIGHTMARE (his best since the 70's)
THE REDEMPTION OF ZOUNDS
TYRANNOSAURUS ALAN CAMPAIGN
MICHAEL WESTON KING I DIDN'T RASIE MY SON TO BE A SOLIDER
JOHN GRANT QUEEN OF DENMARK
DANGERMOUSE & SPARKLEHORSE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
EMILY PORTMAN THE GLAMOURY
JACKIE LEVEN GOTHIC ROAD

Didn't rate the Queen Of until I saw him live, then it just clicked.

An astonishing album of any genre. It's fearless, full of adventure and genuinely funny. It is revealing hidden depths as I continue to listen.

(Warning - does contain strong language and a questionnable attitude to women. There's no violence as such but Chris Rock does offer to shoot a bootlegger.)

Well I will be anyway. I heard some of Laura Marling's album and thought it sounded like someone trying too hard to be Joni Mitchell. I love Joni of course, but this sounded embarrassing to me, like someone dressing up in Joni-clothes but not bringing anything new to the party. Still, if other people like it fair play to them but she doesn't merit the hype in my little world. Mind you, I don't 'get' Joanna Newsom either so... if we're talking female artists I'd prefer Goldfrapp or Feist meself.

RichardThompson:
'100 Years Of Popular Music'

...but I can only agree with Sheev: if you find you have another spare tenner, investigate Tame Impala. And should that tenner double magically, take a chance on Quintessence 'Rebirth' - you'll thank me later, no really, you will...

and buy two Elliot Smith albums.

XO
Figure 8

Your life will never be the same.

Gonjasufi A Sufi and a Killer

I heard this album up on holidays in Ireland in July. It was dawn, after a fantastic, very large and quite impromptu - apparently this kind of thing is still common in Ireland - outdoor party in some generous soul's field, when someone put this album on. Wow! Fantastic. Downloaded it on return, wondered if it was just the album I fell on love with on holidays but regretted giving my home address. No, it was love, the real thing.
Tracks to look out for - 'The Spooky West', Sweet Sweet Abandon', 'Pop's Last Dance', and 'Take Yourself to The City', which is out there to listen, if you search around on Vimeo or the Tube.
Great thing about this album - the music, the lyrics, the totality of sound, the overall completeness of the work as an album. Start to finish, it plays so well you want to start again as soon as it ends.
I love it - beautiful, intelligent electronica-tinged pop. Vocals sit lightly in a summer-haze of sounds
5 stars and I've invited the album to stay any time it's in my neck of the woods.

might I recommend In Dust by Roll The Dice?

Epic in scale, while avoiding the cliches of the genre. Can be previewed on iTunes.

If I remember correctly, is the only podcast guest willing to fight off robbers because of an album.

Shadows by Teenage Fanclub.

but the 'Into The Wild' soundtrack really has something special

... "The Whole Love" by Wilco (currently being streamed on the NPR Music App) and it sounds OK.

Cashmere If You Can by Chris Difford.

Uncle Nick's The Old Magic has taken permanent residence on the turntable this past week.