Yes, it’s that time of the year again. Time to reflect on some of the truly excellent music that has been released in 2012. There’s nothing I quite like more than making a list (sad I know), this was made harder by the sheer quantity of great albums that have been released over the past 12 months. But, after starting with a shortlist of 88, this has finally been whittled down to 30. Every one of these albums is more than worth your time and hard earned money. This week we unveiled the first half of the list and if you want to check out some of this music there’s a Spotify playlist below with a track from each album. Join me next week as I’ll be counting down from 15-1 (and trust me, there is some stunning music still to come!).

30. Mono – For My Parents
29. Future Of The Left – The Plot Against Common Sense
28. Laurel Halo – Quarantine
27. Julia Holter – Ekstasis
26. Motion Sickness Of Time Travel – MSOTT
25. Four Tet – Pink
24. Dan Deacon – America
23. Mirroring – Foreign Body
22. Meursault – Something For The Weakened
21. Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself
20. Babies – Our House On The Hill
19. Grimes – Visions
18. Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan
17. Lee Ranaldo – Between The Times And Tides
16. Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel

https://open.spotify.com/user/sadballadman/playlist/0kfvnb9Ak9m3gDbv0ezVkr