Some have been mentioned above but they warrant a mention again,

First Aid Kit – The Lions Roar
Ben Howard – The Burgh Island EP
Of Monsters and Men – My Head Is An Animal
Frightened Rabbit – State Hospital EP
We Are Augustines – Rise Ye Sunken Ships
Tunng – This is Tunng…..Live From The BBC

And a special mention has to go to friends who released brilliant albums of traditional scottish folk music this year :
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8YQUPIlaNc[/video] Linzi Murphy who released her album Medusa earlier on this year – fantastic singer/songwriter with a cracking voice and evil sense of humour.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN4OYZ0YgqY[/video] The Paul McKenna Band, brilliant album that saw the boys take to the USA and Canada for their first tour across the pond to genuine acclaim.

Mutual Friends by BOY
They supported Katie Melua this year and were excellent!!

This.

Soulsavers – The Light The Dead See. Not ‘cool’ but I like it, a lot.

Can only possibly be Purity Ring for me, just amazing, especially after seeing them live this week.

Runners up include Alt-J, Four Tet and Django Django

The XX second album Coexist – it is as good as everyone said the first one was…
Quite like the Egyptian Hip Hop album.

Another here for Battle Born. Loved seeing them at Birmingham and Flowers definitely has a very good voice which sadly let him down at another gig. Definitely gives it his all on stage and can’t wait see them at Wembley next year.

Sheer Genius

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uee_mcxvrw[/video]