Schmidt and Kumo - "Axolotl Eyes" (best Can related album since "Movies")
Black Crowes - "Warpaint" (best trad rock album in years. decades possibly)
Erykah Badu - "New Amerykah Part One" (another mainstream genre artist produces the goods and locates her P Funk bone - we should see a lot more of this as those artists who previously worked more or less within the margins start finding their inspiration off the map)
Foxboro Hot Tubs - "Stop Drop & Roll" (fun, tuneful power pop - in the absence of a half decent Matthew Sweet of Wondermints record this is the best of what's available)
Krief - "Kocijani" (Croatian / Hungarian post-punk world rock band much loved by the Folk Police. A shadow of their brilliant live show but well worth hearing)
Laura Marling - "Alas, I Cannot Swim" (best of the very shallow singer- songwriter gene pool)
The Mars Volta - "Bedlam In Goliath" (love them or hate them they continue to release remarkable records with the single mindedness of true obsessives)
Steve Reich - "Daniel Variations" (another artist destined to divide listeners, not his best work but better than most people's peaks)
most disappointing? VdGG - "Trisector" and the new Portishead