We’ve entered the time of year where there aren’t really any more new albums coming out that I care about, so here are what I consider the ten best to be released this year.

• and you will know us by the trail of dead . the century of self
• the antlers . hospice
• neko case . middle cyclone
• drummer . feel good together
• the heartless bastards . the mountain
• japandroids . post-nothing
• lightning dust . infinite light
• jay reatard . watch me fall
• the rural alberta advantage . hometowns
• william elliott whitmore . animals in the dark

Those are in alphabetical order, obviously. If I were to pick my favourite of the year I’d probably land on Japandroids or The RAA, but top to bottom that’s a pretty strong lineup, even without the likes of The Dead Weather, Fanfarlo, The Thermals, The Xx or Now, Now Every Children, all of which I quite liked.

And for the bonus round, here are my two favourite albums from past years which I only discovered in the last twelve months:

• the black angels . passover
• the plastiscines / lp1

So…what’d I miss?