As listeners, as fans of music, we've already hit the lottery here.

The perfect album, albums with no filler, albums that when over, leave you breathless and don't inspire you to want more music from the band, but make you want to listen to the album from the start, all over again; m b v is that album.

Musically and lyrically, The Age of Adz is exhilarating, challenging, and thought-provoking.

This is the best record released so far this year, and there very likely will not be one that can top it.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is exactly as advertised: it's a journey through West's deepest thoughts, showcasing all the facets to his persona (from his bravado to his insecurities) over a pristine collection of all his signature sounds.

No Devolucion is inventive, remarkable, and the first true masterpiece of 2011.

Walker has truly outdone himself with an album that captures all the nuances that made "Letters And Meadows" shine, and extracts them bit by bit to give every individual track its own breath.

Shad's most recent album, 2010's TSOL, builds right where The Old Prince left off, and is even more impressive.

Their talented musicianship signals they are out of step with their peers experimentally as grindcore architects; likewise, Darker Handcraft will trap you easily in frenetic whiplash mode.

In a year that's produced an overwhelming amount of great music, Simple Math is another outstanding painting worth the public's attention.

As the record comes to a close, it's impossible not to note the true creativity exerted throughout the entirety of Codes and Keys.

With their third full-length, The Wonder Years have made a record that's as timeless as they come.

It'll be difficult to find many albums that can top the type of creativity Odd Soul contains, making it one of the essential must-have albums of 2011.

The Maccabees have returned as a highly evolved beast more than ready to be released into the wild world.

This is something that has no expiration date.

It's the bold, adventurous and grandiose album that the Top 40 charts needs right now.

Bigger, badder, and louder than ever, Ex Lives will go down as the definitive Every Time I Die record.

Make Do And Mend has released the best album of their young career and one of the essential, must-have albums of 2012.

Where When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes was safe at times and perhaps slightly predictable, Southern Air keeps listeners intrigued and invested throughout. This is the best pop-punk album of 2012.

The album lives up to its title in every way and should prove essential for old and new fans alike.

This is a truly magnificent record, and I think it’s going to end up being the album for which we remember Vampire Weekend.

Diamond Eyes is full of layers and dimensions, making it an auditory treat that listeners will want to continue to indulge themselves in. This is an album you can blast from my car stereo and then later dissect through headphones.

While Flowers is a bit more reserved in his solo outing, Flamingo still retains a bit the thematic charm of a typical Killers album.

The elements of the band complement each other instead of over-powering, thus making Ø (Disambiguation) brutally beautiful and instantly memorable.

As High As The Highest Heavens And From The Center To The Circumference Of The Earth doesn't just sound good, it grabs hold of every intricate audible sense in your nervous system for the entire journey of the album.

Wasting Light isn't perfect, but its flaws are essential to its being.

It's a take it or leave it, and for arguably the most consistent band in the scene over the last decade, Major/Minor is a triumph. What else and to whom do they need to prove anything anymore anyway?

American Slang takes the best of what the band has shown they can do, and moves it into early '60's Motown, combining it with a rich Springsteen/Strummer sound (which is just how Fallon will always be; it works for him, get over it) over a soulful rhythm section, with sprinkles of Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Smokey Robinson in there for good measure.