Then why haven’t I got more money?

The usual ‘is it a shit year for music’ argument has broken out on a music bulletin board I frequent. As usual there are people arguing for both sides of that particular argument. Personally, it’s been a bloody great year for music already – and there’s still the best part of six months to go. This is, as you may already be realising, simply a good excuse for a list.
Already this year I’ve grown to love:

Maximo Park – Our Earthly Pleasures
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Crowded House – Time On Earth
Air Traffic - Fractured Life
Grinderman – Grinderman
The Bees – Octopus
The Aliens - Astronomy For Dogs
Lavender Diamond – Imagine Our Love
The Dials – s/t
Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare
Manic Street Preachers – Send Away The Tigers
Feist - The Reminder
Rufus Wainwright – Release The Stars
B.C. Camplight – Blink Of A Nihilist
Cherry Ghost – Thirst For Romance
Sondre Lerche – Phantom Punch
The Strange Death Of Liberal England – Forward March!
Bjork – Volta
Kings Of Leon – Because Of The Times
Hamfatter – What Part Of Hamfatter Do You Not Understand?
Ash – Twilight Of The Innocents
Editors – An End Has A Start
Mark Ronson – Version
Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger
Gruff Rhys - Candylion
The Cinematic Orchestra – Ma Fleur
Tracey Thorn - Out Of The Woods
Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha

And…
The two stand-outs thus far
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
and
Maps – We Can Create.

Won’t say any more for now, but if you look into even one of those albums, I’ll be pleased.