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

This is the debut record of the year so far, which has effectively raised the bar by which other bands will be judged in the future.

Takk does what Agaetis Byrjun did by burrowing into the consciousness and snuggling down to bed there, purring. Each listen brings out another mood, another thought. It's gorgeous.

Love Kraft is the greatest realisation of the Super Furry vision to date.

It all adds up to the sound of a band developing and maturing nicely, without ever losing sight of what made them so great in the first place.

One of the best albums in North America last year and surely one of the best of 2006 for us; Live It Out is sinister, intelligent music for sinister, intelligent people.

Against all odds, the completed Mezmerize/Hypnotize project is actually greater than the sum of its parts - in fact it quickly becomes impossible to think of it as anything else than one epic piece of work.

A superb album.

Coxon has come up with an album full of raw guitar licks, killer hooks and heartfelt lyrics.

Ringleader Of The Tormentors is the sound a man with a new sense of purpose, and in this extraordinary record he's produced a masterpiece.

The Loon will stand up as one of the best albums of the year, and Tapes 'n Tapes as a jewel in the American music crown.

This is out in the margins, removed from 'pop' and 'alternative' genres by the scale of its reach, its bloody and bold ambition. It is complex, multilayered, densely plotted, wordy. It's also scary, harsh and bruised.

Inspiring and ingenious, this is an album you shouldn't be without.

A monumental, spectacular achievement.

There isn't a duff track to be seen, and you get the feeling the whole thing's been meticulously planned and orchestrated, with a mindset of giving us a record to cherish, something to put on when the chips are down, and that rare thing, one that will almost certainly be loved in equal measure many years down the line.

With Idlewild you get a sumptuous surface that constantly excites, but reveals its secret charms with repeated listenings.

Their best album to date.

This is such a great, great record for so many reasons.

Trail of Dead appear to have dropped the noise, and bought out the tunes.

It's lyrically depressing, but if you're down in the dumps about the ills of the world and frustrated by a lack of personal achievement, there's surely not a better companion piece to have to hand as you wallow.

Overall, Rice has produced a release which equals and perhaps even surpasses his debut, a album that takes you through emotional highs and lows you are unlikely to hear anywhere else this winter.

It's much less forthright and immediate than Inverted or Chutes, but it succeeds in spinning a web that draws you in; once caught you just want to lie back and absorb its gentle bounce.

Taken end to end, Sound Of Silver is a thrilling, exhilarating ride on a fast machine.

One of the freshest, funkiest, tragic and joyous albums in recent times.

It is different in many ways, but never neglects the melodic, vocal and lyrical genius that has established, and will continue to establish, his status as one of the all time greats.

The National were worried that they wouldn't be able to follow up Alligator, that fans would be disappointed. Boxer proves their fears ungrounded - and that Alligator was no one classic wonder.

But for both ["The Heinrich Maneuver" and "Mammoth"], and indeed elsewhere, it's the way in which the elements of the track click into place with a Swiss watchmaker's precision and artistry that really hits home.

Fur and Gold announces Natasha Khan's Bat For Lashes as a talent impossible to ignore and beguiling to behold, an album that, time and again, plucks one away from the mundane and offers a bewitching alternative galaxy of delights.