Whilst the debut got tongues wagging, the follow up is sure to get hearts pounding--a superb collection of tracks that points to a band that knows where it’s going.

This is a more mature, Baroque record, at times reminiscent of the best, new wav-ish tracks from The Posies' 1998 album, Success.

With its innate sun-necked nature and social atmosphere, despite its throbbing introspection, Stay Gold is perfectly poised to knock you for six this summer.

Pop Levi is an oddball, an eccentric in the finest English tradition and a man who evokes the effortless, timeless cool of many and varied heroes of modern music's life and times.

For Drab Majesty to take the next step, with an album that resonates with a larger audience, you feel that more depth is required along with more of the melodic excellence provided a handful of times here. If that happens it could even rival some of the best albums your dusty collection from the 80s boasts, such is the potential here.

Wholly unexpected and majestic, repeated plays will reward tenfold as song after song worms itself under the skin to create a thoroughly rewarding experience.

All of these tracks are elevated considerably by Lattimore’s production chops, as the skilled performances are turned into vast ambient soundscapes and she proves herself to be her best accompanist. If anyone in the alternative electronic world has been unaware of Mary Lattimore up until now, this album is a perfect insight into her creative abilities.

By the time the vocal duet and droning guitars of Chem Trails come around, you'll realise that this is the sound of a band who are going from strength to strength.

Reflektor is not the vintage record the hype would have us believe. But it will, if nothing else, get your feet moving.

C'Mon is a pause for breath, a likeable but slight addition to an impressive back catalogue.

It’s a very special second album that will resonate deeply both with early adopters and the wider audience that Ought will surely capture.

Despite the strength of this first offering, you can’t help but feel Foxygen haven’t quite reached their full potential.

Simultaneously the most-fully-realised of Chan Marshall's seven albums and yet one of missed opportunities.

The results may on occasion be fraught with discomfort, and feel like a caffeine overdose, but in that respect Get To Heaven is an accurate reflection of life today, with its overwhelming tags, mentions, likes, unread messages, stimulants and stress relievers.

Qualities like intelligence, eclecticism and imagination sometimes seem to be in short supply in the music industry - Candylion encapsulates all these qualities and more and deserves a far wider audience than the cult status it will undoubtedly settle into.

Constantly brilliant. White Chalk is an amazing album, racked with beauty, stricken with fragility and haunted with something otherworldly.

This isn't an album that's likely to change anything, but nor does it deserve to just pass by unnoticed.

After such a traumatic few years, it’s a minor miracle that Silberman is now back in The Antlers fold and sounding as good as ever. What’s more, for a band who made their name playing epically sad, often emotionally traumatic songs, Green To Gold sounds positively sunny and mellow in comparison.

At times, you do miss Romy providing the balance to Sim’s vocals, but this is, in its own way, as successful an xx side-project as the In Colour album has been. As an antidote to the long wait until the next album by the full band, this is a must listen.

This is a fine and often beautiful album, full of sensual delights and productions that vary from wafer-thin to chocolate rich. Throughout the focus is on Lanza and her feelings, which are reassuringly human and grounded. Combine that with its underground origins, and you have a record for the everyday listener.

Breaking Kaytabe is without a doubt one of the most impressive releases you'll hear all year, regardless of genre.

This excellent record stands as a testament to the fascinating links and interactions between musical cultures.

The songs effortlessly speak to all classes, to all walks of life, from a songwriter who never sings down to his audience. As always, Richard Hawley is one of us.

Beast Epic is a worthy addition to the Iron And Wine catalogue and an example of an album that improves the more and deeper you listen to it.

The relative brevity and sparseness of the album, allied to the fact that it largely extends ideas laid down earlier in Harris’s career, won’t see Grid Of Points talked of in the same elevated way as some of her other work. But it serves as a timely reminder of her ability to create beautifully slow and contemplative music.

The attention to detail where texture and colour is concerned is the crowning glory with the Engineers.

Deciding which music you listen to in a world that now benefits from so much of it is another tough choice, but in the case of The Jacket, it comfortably feels like it could be a very good fit for many.

Even during the times where her restless experimentation threatens to become a bit self-indulgent, you’re never far away from a blast of feedback to grab your attention again. It all adds up to a welcome return for one of rock music’s true modern icons.

The soundtrack brings together the two phases of Walker, so to speak: the rich, sweeping orchestral one heard from The Walker Brothers and through the solo Scotts 1-4, before morphing into the avant-garde, claustrophobic, doom-laden one from 1995’s Tilt onwards.

Like many of their peers and contemporaries from Bill Callahan to Superchunk, the thrill with a new Mountain Goats record is just how similar it’ll be to your favourite thing they’ve done in the past. And this is, well, pretty close to your favourite (whatever that may be…).

This is possibly her most satisfying album to date; it is, at times, quite spellbinding.

It succeeds by flirting with polished pop sheen while also remaining grounded in bedroom pop roots. It may be a cruel world, but Humberstone’s songs make living in it far more enjoyable.

Over the last few years, she’s become one of America’s finest songwriters, and this album shows her continuing that trajectory.

A leisurely 77 minutes of beautifully orchestrated ballads, electronic experimentation, spoken word interludes and callbacks to previous Del Rey songs. Like the vast majority of her previous albums, there’s almost too much to take in, but you have to admire the sheer bloody-mindedness to do things her own way.

Simply put, When The Cellar Children See The Light Of Day is one of the best albums of the year.

Lush is an album that the devoted will take to their hearts and luxuriate in its sadness. Some may decry the lack of variety on show (there’s a definite template to a Snail Mail song and it’s stuck to rigidly on Lush), but it cannot be denied that this is a debut that promises great things to come.

This is a strong record, and one made with a singular artistic focus. Senni clearly knows what he likes, and he does it incredibly well.

It is inevitably an unfinished work. Studio banter is left in and some songs are mercilessly brief or feel like sketches. Nevertheless, its spacious textures, starkness and the emphasis on Molina’s understated but haunting vocal delivery mean that this music provides a window into Molina’s working process and creates a moving intimacy. It is like listening to the voices of ghosts.

Those who care not to pay much attention to lyrics might just find themselves bawling on the dancefloor without quite knowing why, as these earworm tunes form a perfect delivery system for the heartbreak (and occasionally a little vengeance) contained at their very core.

You won't find a more compelling wall of sound in many other places this year.

Even at 16 tracks (including the little spoken word interludes that scatter the album), it never seems too long or self-indulgent.

If you're willing to put the effort in, then you will be rewarded with an achingly beautiful and immersive album.

It isn’t always the most substantial record, flexing and braggadocio abound, but it’s an enjoyable collection of tracks from the power couple.

Her songs are a beguiling mix of sizzling synth-pop, and for want of a better phrase, Nordic-folk.

Assume Form finds Blake sonically in a state of equilibrium, having found two niches over the course of his career that suit him equally well. They complement each other well, and as the record ends with the soothing but wry Lullaby For My Insomniac.

There was a lot of pressure on Matthew E White to deliver something as good the second time around. Yet the expectation appears to have hardly phased him, as Fresh Blood reaches similar heady heights.

This is an absolute delight for a fan, but hard to recommend for anyone else. Of the entire back catalogue, Side Effects seems like the slightest of their albums, but at least its hottest moments go some way to countering how underdone the whole thing seems.

Following some recent setbacks in his personal life, Luke Abbott has got round to making, for all intensive purposes, his impression of a breakup record, and damn, if it isn’t a total knockout.

There’s blissful harmonies, jangly guitars and choruses that bury inside your head – and yes, while it’s not the most original sound, it’s a gloriously well put together record.

Fresh, inventive and likely to be one of the more promising releases of 2012.

If you don’t pay attention, it’s harmless background fluff, yet if you concentrate there are mysteries and subtleties to discover that demand repeat listens.

Together with the slimmed down line-up, Nature Always Wins feels like the start of a new chapter for Maxïmo Park. They’ve always been better than a ‘landfill indie’ punchline, and they prove it in spades on their seventh album.

This might be blues, it might be doom, but the return of Goatsnake can be nothing other than a good thing.

With Below The Waste, Goat Girl proves they can keep their high standards while trying out new things, and actually manage to pull them off.

There's plenty of pop tunes here, but there's also enough self expression and leftfield rambling to make this an album of real interest.

It all adds up to a very enjoyable record, one that fits in well with the current pop landscape while also working beyond it.

Justin Vernon has succumbed to his most inane impulses – and released a selection of unseasoned, lightly scented pleasantries that neither hit or miss. They just are.

The punkier title track stands out, as does the ferocious No Surrender, both featuring in their breakdowns the standout riffs from the album. But too much of the rest is lost in a barrage of blast beats, bluster, and bludgeon.

Some might wish for more of the pounding drums and hellish vocals of old, others might hope for more of the experimental blasted patchwork of The Beggar Lover (Three), but the album succeeds best through its unwieldy, unmanageable length. They say Swans can break a man’s spirit with just two hours of unstinting grimness.

It may never touch the heights of The Walkmen’s best moments like The Rat or In The New Year, but these sharp, charming love songs show off anther side to Hamilton Leithauser.

Well, in many ways it follows the same tried and trusted formula of their previous three albums - dramatic, emotive and melodic, with guitars very much the centre of attention. Yet this time around the band have progressed to produce a more varied collection of tracks.

A great album full of songs both uplifting and danceable, emotional and cerebral.

A tough collection to make friends with, Denies The Days Demise can infuriate and delight in equal measure, often on the same track.

Like the best Black Keys songs, the band’s tracks hold up independent of their pristine production as examples of how to combine undeniable talent, a love for the past, and a personal story to create a sound that’s simultaneously throwback and unique.

For a debut album, there’s remarkably little filler to be found, and you can’t help thinking that this is just the beginning, and that’s there’s an awful lot more to come from Wishy.

Blanck Mass’ style approaches speedcore in places, but Power ultimately creates music more nuanced and vivid than that genre label ever facilitated, and as such this album is highly recommended for all fans of experimental electronic music, as well as the noise and industrial side of things.

Exai shows they still occupy a special position in the current generation of forward-thinkers, producing music that couldn’t have been made at any other time other than now, unostentatiously trailblazing a path for others to follow in.

Nothing quite prepares you for the sheer beauty of The Magic Numbers' music.

It might not be the explosion many were hoping for, but Progress sees Take That exploring and experimenting.

In trying to make himself standout as an individual, he may have gone too far on his album GOB and scared off any potential mainstream listeners with his far-out style.

This is a brilliantly ambitious, exploratory recording that captures the pure, powerful vibe of a great ensemble.

Strangely enough, as short and freespirited as the tracks are, the album itself is a behemoth that takes some listening dedication to unwrap and to assign meaning to--and it's an effort that's well worth it.

Where Do You Start is, in addition to being a superb showcase of these musicians' technical flair and expressive confidence, a typically thoughtful, informed and intuitive statement.

The riffs are crushing rather than classic, and Andrew Drury’s vocals are full of conviction and spirit but perhaps a little one-dimensional. But for anyone with their toe already dipped in the metal bath, and in danger of selling their soul to the preeners and posers, Baptists might just be their saviour.

Certainly there’s something mystical at work here, but, as with the rest of the album, the real fun is to be found when fully immersed in these hypnotic grooves.

Even though this is her ninth album, she still sounds fresh.

It’s all rather wonderful nonsense--playful, engaging and not always entirely successful.

The Blue Hour has finesse, sensitivity and lightness of touch: all the hallmarks of a great modern classical album. In Federico Albanese, we’ve got a new name to watch out for.

It seems a blinkered record, which can be admired for its defiantly non-commercial stance. It won’t win Fearless any new fans, and may distance Death In Vegas into more of a cult concern. All well and good if that’s the intent; otherwise, perhaps it’s time to draw the curtains, get some vitamin D and thumb through that ‘guest vocalist’ address book.

Splitting I Don’t Care Pt 1 and I Don’t Care Pt 2 into two separate tracks makes sense; one is jerky and aloof, the other stumbling and awkward, and they make nice companion pieces. But putting the two tracks either side of the aimless piano noodling of Hank’s Theme is a mis-step. That said, there are some excellent songs here, like the bristling, melodic Viper Fish, the frenetic Cracker Drool and the brash Country Sleaze.

Bad Contestant is full of strange little pop songs that can delight and subvert in equal measure and makes for a pretty startling debut, all in all.

A thoroughly engaging addition to Willner’s already enviable discography.

Reflect. Time. Loss. achieves its aim handsomely, with many a moment to stop the heart of its listener, in doing so adding another dimension to Maps as a musical outfit.

Memoria is a substantial listen, and could probably be broken down into two shorter LPs of different styles, but its creative verve provides quality as well as quantity.

Unprecedented Sh!t is the sound of an artist with plenty of fire in her belly and with much still to say.

As they sing in the closing track Fresh Meat, “the past is catching up again”, and maybe its that sense of time moving so quickly that makes this chaotic, exhilarating and often perplexing album such a compelling listen.

Highly accomplished, elegantly performed, wonderfully sung, this is an album by a master craftsman using his keen ear to create something beautiful. The man has never missed.

An album that should find favour with listeners from across the broader musical spectrum.

Nevertheless, for fans of searing white noise A Place To Bury Strangers will pretty much seem messianic: anyone of a slightly gentler disposition might want to run the other way.

While some of the guestless songs feel weaker – or at least thinner – than the collaborative works, they still fit the sonic theme and don’t rock the boat too much. Overall, this is another lovely entry into the Gorillaz discography.

Sweep It Into Space is as solid a selection of songs as they’ve ever produced and broadly typifies why they are so beloved.

They may have hit national treasure status a while back, with all the advantages and pitfalls that that can bring, but as long as they carry on producing music with as much soul, heart and beauty that’s contained on The Take Off And Landing Of Everything, Elbow will be with us for some while to come.

While there may not be as many instant hooks as in her earlier days, there’s a case to be made that Creature Of Habit may well be Courtney Barnett’s best album since her debut.

Charli is not the perfect pop album, nor is it a fully developed manifesto for where pop could go, but it is a collection of enjoyable, interesting tracks that don’t sound completely alien, but also don’t sound like anyone involved is selling out.

Overall, Hot Dreams doesn’t quite match up to the trio’s last record--it lacks a comparable number of top notch songs--but it still has some great moments.

This is Suede right near their very best. They remain incurable, helpless romantics, barely able to control their wildest musical thoughts, and Brett Anderson sounds like he depends on them more than ever.

What makes this the best Beabeadoobee record to date is its willingness to explore whatever musical direction takes her fancy. So there’s a delightful little waltz-time on Coming Home, while A Cruel Affair revisits Laus’ love of bossa-nova and embroiders it with some slide guitar

These worries are dressed with music at peace with itself and its surroundings, making as much resourceful use of digital and electronic possibilities in an intimate studio setting as previous album Frontier Man did with an orchestra.