I considered doing a ‘top albums of the year so far’ but thought it would be too cheap. Happily, not everyone thinks likewise, as the great NPR have created one. As ever with these lists, it’s more the albums that you don’t know on the list that are interesting, than the ones you do. There’s a lot of the usual faces, with Bright Eyes, Bon Iver, James Blake, Tune Yards, Adele among others.

Great to see Donnacha Dennehy get a mention with his album Grá agus Bás (“Love and Death”)

The wonderful Geni put this on her facebook the other day, and I haven’t stopped listening to it since. It is wonderfully haunting, and as ever, I can’t get enough of the scottish accents. Jon Hopkins and King Creosote with Bubble off the album ‘Diamond Mine’.

Wye Oak are a two piece from Baltimore, who produce folk rock, which sounds nice enough. I love the name of the song also! My world.