 | Embryonic by The Flaming Lips
Buy new: £8.98 / Used from: £5.94 Equal parts hypnotic and chaotic, euphoric and psychotic - 'Embryonic' is a wonder to behold. Album of the year. Key Tracks - Watching the Planets, Powerless, Worm Mountain, Gemini Syringes
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 | Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective
Buy new: £4.98 / Used from: £8.93 Pipped at the post by the original freak pop pioneers this still has to go down as an absolute triumph and career high water mark...for now. Key Tracks - Bluish, Guys Eyes, Brother Sport, My Girls
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 | Tarot Sport by Fuck Buttons
Buy new: £7.98 / Used from: £7.49 An electronic/trance album informed by post-rock - it sounds absolutely huge. Key Tracks - Flight of the Feathered Serpent, Olympians, Surf Solar, Space Mountain
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 | Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear
Buy new: £6.48 / Used from: £11.39 The Grizzle up the ante with this complex, genre defying enigma of an album. Key Tracks - Ready Able, Southern Point, Two Weeks, Foreground
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 | Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle by Bill Callahan
Buy new: £9.48 / Used from: £16.66 A quite beautiful record that sounds somewhat like Cohen meets 'Bryter Layter'. Genius string arrangements. Key Tracks - Wind & Dove, My Friend, Ed Cain
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 | Beware by Bonnie Prince Billy
Buy new: £8.98 / Used from: £8.12 The most consistent Will Oldham release since 'Master & Everyone' - this could be his greatest album so far. Key Tracks - Without Work, I Won't Ask Again, You Don't Love Me, Beware Your Only Friend
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 | We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like a River by Richmond Fontaine
Buy new: £7.98 As perfect a Fontaine album as you could hope for - Willy's lyrics pull no punches and the musical backdrop is flawless alt country. Key Tracks - 43, The Boyfriends, The Pull, Two Alone
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 | Farm by Dinosaur Jr.
The true gems on this release are the epics which launch into complete guitar abandon. Key Tracks - All the People, Ocean in the Way, I Don't Wanna Go There
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 | Wilco (the album) by Wilco
Buy new: £9.48 / Used from: £7.50 Wilco (the album) doesn't stand up as the definitive release by the band - more a welcome back to basics collection of consistent quality songs. Key Tracks - One Wing, Bull Black Nova, You & I
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 | The Visitor by Jim O'Rourke
Buy used from: £22.44 O'Rourke forces the listener to engage with his latest creation as a singular whole as it comprises just one lengthy experimental instrumental. It is an absolute delight from start to finish.
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 | All My Friends Are Funeral Singers by Califone
Buy new: £6.98 / Used from: £11.45 Initially doesn't seem as rewarding a listen as 2006's 'Roots & Crowns' but persevere. A grower. Key Tracks - Krill, Giving Away the Bride, Better Angels, Alice Marble Gray
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 | Two Dancers by Wild Beasts
Buy new: £7.98 / Used from: £6.48 Ooooh, get you! You big show offs. You've out Antony'd Antony this year. Key Tracks - The Fun Powder Plot, Hooting & Howling, We Still Got the Taste
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 | Fever Ray
Buy new: £4.49 Exotic solo effort from The Knife singer - sounds like the Bladerunner soundtrack spliced with traditional ceremonial music from the Far East & Africa. Key Tracks - Concrete Walls, Seven, Dry & Dusty
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 | The Crying Light by Antony and the Johnsons
Buy used from: £8.19 Excellent follow up to 'I am a Bird Now' that excercises more restraint and finds Antony looking outside himself for inspiration. Key Tracks - Kiss My Name, Another World, Aeon
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 | Dragonslayer by Sunset Rubdown
Buy new: £6.98 / Used from: £6.55 Spencer strikes gold again after the underwhelming 'At Mount Zoomer' - this is a worthy follow up to 'Random Spirit Lover'. Key Tracks - 'Black Swan', 'You Go On Ahead', 'Idiot Heart'
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 | Given to the Rising by Neurosis
Buy new: £6.98 / Used from: £5.50 The finest metal release of the year. Has there ever been a more sinister sounding band than Neurosis? Key Tracks - Fear & Sickness, To the Wind, Hidden Faces, Given to the Rising
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 | Hymn to the Immortal Wind by Mono
Buy new: £10.08 Highbrow near-classical post-rock with moments of sweeping melancholic beauty. Key Tracks - Ashes in the Snow, Silent Flight, Everlasting Light
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 | Crack the Skye by Mastodon
Buy new: £4.98 / Used from: £4.75 More conventional song writing so less of the peaks and valleys of Blood Mountain. A distinct Sabbath influence in evidence. Key Tracks - The Last Baron, The Czar, Quintessence
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 | Wavering Radiant by Isis
Buy new: £8.98 / Used from: £8.92 I don't think Isis will ever top 'Oceanic' but this is another impressively immersive listen. Key Tracks - Hand of the Host, Hall of the Dead, Threshold of Transformation
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 | Klamath by Mark Eitzel
Buy new: £9.98 / Used from: £7.24 This year's 'hunker down in the cabin' winter classic is provided by the wiley old veteran Mark Eitzel. Key Tracks - Why I'm Bullsh*t, What Do You Got For Me, There's Someone Waiting
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 | Break It Up by Jemina Pearl
Buy new: £13.19 / Used from: £5.91 A few solo teething problems but still some great examples of potty-mouthed punk perfection from ex-Pet Pearl. Key Tracks - After Hours, Heartbeats, Nashville Shores, So Sick!
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 | Kings & Queens by Jamie T
Buy new: £7.98 / Used from: £18.84 Great second album that marks Jamie out as the current king of the scally poets. Key Tracks - Sticks 'n' Stones, Jilly Armeen, Earth, Wind & Fire
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 | Hombre Lobo by Eels
Buy new: £8.48 A concept album of sorts - E reimagines himself as a werewolf on the prowl for 'fresh blood' (of the female persuasion). Seriously. Kinda works. Key Tracks - That Look, Lilac Breeze, My Timing is Off
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 | Hold Time by M. Ward
Buy used from: £10.95 An enjoyably diverse and decidedly laidback collection of folk and country inspired pop songs. Key Tracks - Hold Time, Stars of Leo, Epistemology, Blake's View
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 | Journal for Plague Lovers by Manic Street Preachers
Buy new: £5.78 / Used from: £7.47 Richey's long lost lyrics and Albini's influence as producer combine to help the Manics rediscover their mojo. Key Tracks - Peeled Apples, This Joke Sport Severed, Virginia State Epileptic Colony
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