Intimate, literate and wonderfully executed, Iron & Wine seem to have made one of the albums of the year. Don’t let it pass you by.

Gifted MC loses the run of himself without Mannie Fresh.

Modfather gets his weird on.

Phillips’ vocal style is of the quietly devastated Erin Moran/Aimee Mann school, backlit by Bacharach-and-Wilson-ish arrangements on ‘Another Song’, ‘Little Plastic Life’ and ‘Flower Up’.

Brooklyn's latest greatest deliver heartbreaking concept album.

Middle-aged indie jinks for NYC mainstays.

Veteran hip hop soul princess Erykah Badu's newest creative contribution is ambitious, but lacks the smoothness and cohesive feel of her previous work.

Lurch into odd-ball avant-pop almost pays off for UK eccentrics.

Sprawling America travelogue stays strictly old school.

A tight collection of intelligent numbers that, instead of bombarding us with stale rhyming schemes and plastic beats, groove ever so effectively.

Lovably noisy baltimore scallywags come good with their second effort.

Underwhelming Third outing for nu-gaze duo.

Overpowered is a silvery mirrorball of a record that perfectly illuminates the neon heart of Saturday night.

The record goes some way towards capturing the heaviness of that band’s live performances.

Essentially, the record finds Phoenix doing what they do supremely well – danceable indie-pop with touches of shoegaze guitar and ambient electro.

Q-Tip demonstrates his unique talent in this sleek, soulful, silky-smooth hip-hop album.

A powerful collection of passionate, anthemic rockers that will no doubt please their hardcore following whilst winning new converts to the cause.

Vampire Weekend certainly have one of the best band names I’ve heard in ages, although their music unfortunately proves less exciting than one might have hoped.

Established fans will be glad to hear Elbow’s sound further maturing; newcomers will hopefully realise that this particular seldom-seen-kid should definitely be heard.

But so what if The Magic Position ends up creaking slightly under the weight of its own ambition – surely that’s better than settling for the norm?

NYC art-rockers go in for some ch-ch-changes on excellent third album.

Karin from The Knife makes desolate but inspiring dance record.

New York prepsters stick to their Paul Simon-goes-indie formula on successful second album.

The 'New Springsteen' comes of age.

Mark E. Smith successfully negotiates that difficult 28th album.

Bat For Lashes' debut, Fur And Gold, is an album that delivers the listener from any form of humdrum existence into a deeper realm of dream and dementia.

Will Oldham gets back to the country.

Icelandic eccentrics grasp for greatness.