While it will inevitably be argued as to whether or not Tomboy is really a work of startling originality or perhaps just a long lost companion to Björk's Vespertine, it's hard to deny positing that we've got one of the best albums of 2011 finally in our hands.

He’s able to craft songs that are touching without becoming seriously over-sensitive.

With one foot rooted in tradition, and the other free to roam where it likes, Asleep on the Floodplain is a quietly great effort.

The album doesn't make the point that Yorke doesn't need his bandmates to make a great record so much as it helps shed light on what each member of the band contributes to the overall equation.

Mogwai’s newest offering, Rave Tapes, is a brooding masterpiece of a record.

One of the band’s finest releases and arguably the most comprehensive statement to date on just where the musicians were coming from, the roads they took to get where they ended up, and even possibly where they were headed.

The songs on this album work together (sometimes roughly, sometimes smoothly) as sketches and vignettes to form an overall artistically thematic picture of the world in which we live. The brothers paint this picture so starkly with gritty hyper-realism that the songs will not and do not appeal to the greater audience of folk music that is still deriving its voice from the love songs of Simon and Garfunkel and Jackson Browne.

Relatively minor misdemeanours aside though, 1,000 Years is a respectable and rejuvenated return to the fray for Corin Tucker's febrile talents.

Dreamy at times (Crawlersout), with shimmering synths and picturesque melodies, there is a haunting beauty, almost terrifying, that surrounds the listener, almost as if one is sitting inside a sonic cocoon while taking it all in.

Whilst sonic variety isn’t perhaps the strongest card pulled out on Split Milk, it does play out with some charming Astor songcraft and insistent hooks.

There is a noticeable but not calamitous chunk of Siesta that doesn’t go enough distance to really justify the extended running time of its fourteen tracks, with ponderous cuts such as “Your Head Your Mind”, “Why It Works Out Fine” and “Closer” being too reliant on meandering jangling. Consequently, this is a clear case where a little less could arguably have meant something more. That said, fans of amorphous Scandi art-pop will still find much to enjoy here.

No matter the speed at which it moves, Go glows brightly with a formidable sense of ambition and hope.

There is a subtle grandeur to George Lewis Jr.'s voice and musical nature.

The opening and closing tracks prove that Conor Oberst is a more reflective and personal venture as both are stripped down affairs, one summoning childhood memories while the other seems to contemplate suicide.

If you acquiesce to its pacing and delivery it’s chantlike mix of chill and warmth can be a springboard to your own thoughts. If you’re not so inclined, I imagine that it would be like a Chinese water torture.

Watch Me Fall, is an exhilarating ride of roaring highs that never let up.

The understated songs are the most memorable here (and the least Why?-like), and it sort of makes me wish the rockier material were shelved so that the whole album could be tailored to this mood of graceful resignation.

Yes it's slower, darker and more pensive, but like the sun that breaks through the clouds to reveal a brisk sunny morning, it shimmers and shines with splendid, polished arrangements and even grander guitar-scapes.

Whilst there are a few archetypal GBV misfires inside Class Clown Spots A UFO – brought about by scattershot recording fidelity and a small imbalance in the quantity over quality ratio – overall it is still a solidly-carved collection.

A melancholy masterpiece.

Overall, the set works as a study in contrasts, with the ornate sampled arrangements always being in danger of disappearing under the sparking electronic beats or Daedelus’ added textures, whether they be synthesized sounds or computer printers.

The Sight Below has crafted a magnificent album and EP to help weather the darker nights and snowy days.

Firmly grounded, it's definitely the band's shining moment so far.

It’s certainly a fine achievement, an awesome collection of music has found its way onto Begone Dull Care, and Junior Boys present everything in such an excellent way.

Destroyer of the Void is a fitting reminder of what’s possible when you already have such a strong catalog of music under your belt: exceptional music that always seems to beautifully connect, no matter how varying the sounds may be.

An album that sounds both familiar and fresh and entirely entertaining.

Another unique and compelling album of mystical indie-rock with shimmering vocals, proving she not only has a voice to be reckoned with, but is a voice to be reckoned with.

This album is as buzz-worthy as other similar acts like the Postal Service.

The album is packed with impressive musicianship, a great attention to detail, melodic lines backed with beautiful harmonies and countless powerful moments.

As a whole this album evokes plenty of 80’s punk/hardcore styles, sex, drugs and rock and roll anthems and the always-welcomed unexpectedness that Moore seems to always supply us with.

You've heard all these elements before, but never quite this way.

This is an album that's tough to love but impossible to ignore.

You still get the beautiful vocal combination of Sparhawk and Parker and the traditional less-is-more approach Low perfected several albums ago. Yet now you get a band that doesn't want to get stuck in the realm of slow-core, trying new things, redefining themselves. And it works beautifully on what is, undoubtedly, a triumph of an album.

It's always great to see a band showcase all of their strengths but when you can take everyone by surprise it's going to require just that much more skill.

Smart Flesh won't grab you with big hooks or infectious grooves, but listen long enough, and it'll sink its teeth right in to you.

Although This Too Will Pass is a very solid effort from a maturing artist, it seems to be missing some of the energy of previous releases.

A solid if not completely earth-shattering act of restitution for loyal Bob-watchers

Spirit Stereo Frequency is an entirely mature album that is not afraid to have fun.

The band's style has clearly altered, but the transition is graceful, making Engine Down another enjoyable release.

Gonzalez bathes us in a sound so big and enveloping that it’s impossible not to bask in its powerful, optimistic glow.

While it may lack the dense orchestrations and insular connotations of previous efforts, Animal Joy packs a powerful punch all of its own, typified by an artfully sequenced set of songs that capture the human condition with panache.

Simplistic, yet imaginative, Similes provides a hypnotic and surreal soundscape suitable for both daydreaming and nightdreaming.

Their soul is in no way hurt by the production but instead, this is one of those many times where Danger Mouse’s production has truly aided in creating a terrific album from start to finish.

If there’s any fault with this album, it’s the predictability in the songs: there are no hidden surprises, lacking any real breathtaking shifts or unexpected twists waiting to throw the unwary listener off-guard.

Sublime.

You will not be able to tear yourself away from this album. This is no daringly outrageous, Kid A-esque “progressive” music that nobody really enjoys listening to. This is rock 'n roll.

Wilco (The Album) is just another wonderful and special reason to know that Wilco, as a band, are an astounding band for all to love-or at least as much as they say they love us.

One or two of the tracks sound a bit forced in their arrangements, and I can only too easliy envisage a studio listing in which individual songs are prefixed by descriptions : (the Polka number, the Dylan number, the BRMC number, the one Tom Waits wrote, etc.) but this doesn't detract from the album, if anything it only enhances it as, with a significant part of the albums production process actually audible, and with the musicianship never less than wholly professional, it's difficult to find actual flaws in the project.

It might take a couple of rotations, but upon spinning Let Us Never Speak of it Again, be prepared to suffer from involuntary dance fits from surfeits of jollity. Asinine lyrics be damned, I’m dancing here.

Allowing their music to be filled with the goodness they inevitably churn out, My Morning Jacket has embraced the electrical currents that connect their music.

The results are pretty rewarding overall, even if the strictly unadorned arrangements might have occasionally benefitted from some counterbalancing extra instrumental layers.

The way Satin Panthers comes at you is definitely much more abbreviated and more focused; whether or not this is due only to the shortness of the EP is quickly dispelled with how well the five songs do ebb and flow.

Somehow all of this organized chaos is put together with clever hooks, resulting in some quite unique and energetic pop/rock tunes.

In the end, all of this makes Say Anything the most mature – as well as the catchiest--record in Say Anything’s already impressive oeuvre.

It won't blow you away the first time, but it eventually will.

Ultimately, Precollection probably isn’t the kind of release to greatly expand its influence over the throngs of the unconverted, but it should be more than a welcome advance for those already convinced of Heasley’s obviously remarkable gifts.

This is one mighty album, one that will tower over others like the green shrubs that tower over the buildings on the cover.

Whilst some hooks aren’t quite high enough in the mix and the gauziness is almost as thickly-spread as on its immediate predecessor, De Facto pushes Lorelle Meets The Obsolete’s world into subtly groovier and wider-screen realms with admirable ambition. It captures a band reaching out whilst remaining true to its belief systems, with very convincing results.

Whilst the front-end and middle of the collection may take some repeat spins to fully earn affection, the two six minute epics that conclude proceedings are unquestionable gems from the first airing.

With absolutely perfect production, the end result is one that’s embracing, textured, warm, and still fun.

For everyone who thought the conceptual excesses of the previous releases went a bit too far or simply didn’t have the patience to tie together all the musical loose ends, this may be the Of Montreal album they’ve been waiting for.

Weaving together themes like mortality, the universality of mankind, and the cyclical eternality of life and not having it all come out as a pretentious mess of self-important prognosticating and vaguely simplistic truisms places Elvrum in the rarified air that few outside of Brian Wilson have ever attempted to reach.

Sarah retains her unshakable poise and British vocal inflection, but her delivery is warmer and more engaging than on her debut, yet still tinged with an edge of melancholy.

It'd be a daunting feat for anyone to furnish a respectable sophomore LP after the hype of a debut like Psychic Chasms, but Alan Palomo succeeds here, blessed with an innate ability to temper previous charms with present provocations.

It’s certainly going to be one of the most, if not the most, fresh sounding electronic albums of the year and it’s only going to get better as time passes.

Unless you demand pure, cutting-edge originality out of your pop music, this is a solid debut effort.

With producer Thavius Beck’s fast-paced beats and the MC’s lively rapping, the two have concocted a worthy listen.

All told, this is undoubtedly one of 2012′s most unexpected pleasures.

Though Suspended Animation boasts 30 tracks, it only runs some 40-odd minutes, and those are some of the most densely packed and bombastic minutes you’re likely to find on a record this year.

It's apparent that great care was taken in the making of this record as the meticulous production radiates through the music on every song.

Although a couple of things don’t quite go the distance--namely the slightly meandering “See High The Hemlock Grows” and the murky slogging “Slow Down”--Quiet And Peace holds together remarkably well for a late-career collection.

Please allow yourself to get lost in its sweeping scope of wonder because it is definitely sprawling. But mostly, we knew he’d be diverse, we just didn’t know it would be this good.

She & Him is the product of folk troubadour M. Ward and actress Zooey Deschanel and the results are a beautiful product.

Amok is a tenaciously rich and strong album that is certainly the work of gifted musicians.

Through its eleven songs Komba is exactly what we all need from time to time: a hopeful rejoicing in life itself.

Heaven is Whenever is not just a vast improvement from their last effort but it's also a fifth album from a band that still sounds surprisingly awesome and it's just another album for a detractor to listen to and hopefully, fall in love with--it's only a matter of time.

Answers is a document of how good instrumentals can be written without walls clearly delineating where the verse ends and the chorus begins.

Them Crooked Vultures is a wonderful introduction to this all-star band.

The remarkably focused and eclectic The Possum In The Driveway.

While Daisy does have its share of issues, it is by no means a bad album. The fact is that it falls beneath Brand New’s lofty standards.

There's no denying that Departing is miles ahead of where the band was a year ago and while die-hards will love Hometowns for a long time to come, Departing is absolutely the band's strongest work to date.

These supposed table scraps left off their previous two albums, Good News… and We Were… respectively, run a gauntlet that finds the band revitalized, lively and tremendously wonderful.

Focusing on the music and what's happening within and around it – enables Hive Mind to deliver a truly excellent aural experience.

Each song is impactful and memorable, with a fantastic approach to songcraft that focuses on minimal gestures, mixed with tremendous layers and layers of sounds.

All of this exceptionally solid music is a remarkably beautiful thing to witness.

With Humbug, they have an album that can be fully enjoyed by anyone willing to give it a fair chance.

The fuzz and drone of Today is the Day is a refreshing look back at the band’s mid-90s, Painful/Electropura era.

Black Lips are able to both faithfully emulate some annoyingly nearly-recognisable sixties and seventies styles while using the one-take demo approach to give their own 3 chord song structures an air of immediacy that prevents the album from sliding too quickly into the pit marked “slavish recreation.”

Everything about Midnight Boom is impeccably executed.

The Moonlight Butterfly won't allow The Sea And Cake to set the world on fire but with its reviving studio craftsmanship and exploratory attitude, it should happily smoulder in the ears of those who needed the band to deliver something just a little to the left of a self-defined centre.

One of the most interesting and rewarding things about hearing the tracks as they appear on this release, is knowing that they are presented here in their earliest incarnations, Earth's chrysalis stage, if you will.

Lost in most of the noise and clutter was Jenn Wasner’s fantastic voice and Andy Stack’s ability as a “wall of sound” creator. On their new album, The Knot, these skills are not only refined but they showcase a wider, more advanced decadence and a band that sounds that much better, because of it.

Trying to isolate moments on PUMPS! proves fairly fruitless, though. It’s a totally immersive experience, best approached with trust and surrender.

There's a definite new feel to an album by Bibio in 2011; while many of the singular trademarks remain, there are choice additions that make for another triumph of a release for the British producer.

This album includes boasts a brilliant storyteller, amazing music, and, most important, beautifully delivered lyrics.

It’s not prog rock. It’s not punk rock. It’s not emo. It’s not indie. It’s just music, and it will incinerate your mind if you let it.

Write About Love may not be remembered as a seminal Belle & Sebastian long-player but its uncomplicated charms still make it an effective ephemeral pleasure.

This album is a feast for the uninitiated.