The Albums I Listened To Most This Year.

I don't use Last.fm or anything, so this won't be based on anything other than my selective memory, but never mind. In no particular order, I give to you...

Yeasayer - Odd Blood

Mostly for Ampling Alp and O.N.E I'll admit, but this album lived in my kitchen and pretty much sound-tracked all my cooking for a good few months.

Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

I found this slightly underwhelming at first. The first 2 songs are great but the rest of it didn't really do anything, but for some reason I kept going back to it and now I'm completely in love with the whole album. Especially the track 'Anchorage', which starts quite slowly and then explodes into life as it progresses. Deceptively simple.

The National - High Violet

Pretty much a victory lap after Alligator and Boxer. Utterly brilliant nonetheless. Probably the best band in the world.

The Walkmen - Lisbon

Unfortunately they'll probably always be "that band who did The Rat" (I think when they last played Cardiff that was even on the poster), but away from that undoubted 'indie disco' classic they've, in their own way, slowly started to equal The National for that whole 'bruised masculinity / triumph in the face of adversity' thing.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Not quite as good as Funeral (obviously) but a slight refocusing and a move away from the bombast that made Neon Bible a bit overbearing at times. I really like this album.