Albums of the year (so far)

Well, June is now ending (scary) which means it's officially halfway through the year. This year I have absolutely loved for music so far. I think it's been one of the strongest years for music in a while actually. This year we've had great comebacks and great new talent. I've already found more albums I've loved this year than I did in the whole of 2012. The best part? Not only is there a half a year still to go - I haven't even heard all the albums already released that I want too! But - my albums of the year so far are:

• Jagwar Ma - Howlin (best)
• David Bowie - The Next Day
• Fitz & The Tantrums - More Than Just A Dream
• Disclosure - Settle
• Depeche Mode - Delta Machine
• Capital Cities - In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Mosquito
• Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of The City
• Hurts - Exile
• Little Boots - Nocturnes

At 10 albums, I've been left suitably impressed with this year. In fact, only three albums this year didn't make the list: Palma Violets, Phoenix and Daft Punk's latest offerings. And that's not counting the albums that have been released that I haven't heard yet: OMD, Johnny Marr and Primal Scream for instance. And there's still plenty of new albums to come this year that I can't wait for: Alunageorge, Pet Shop Boys, MIA, Foster The People, Goldfrapp and Nine Inch Nails. I'm still holding out hopes for Friendly Fires too. Not to mention other various musical releases like New Order's live album and Sound System boxset for The Clash. Cannot wait to see how the year progresses musically!

New album I heard today: Capitial Cities debut

Evening all once again from Belfast. It's after midnight here so I'll be shutting my laptop down soon for the night so I can get stuck into Entourage (I've never seen it before). Then it's back to Heavier than Heaven for some reading. With a bit of self discipline I should be able to finish the Kurt Cobin biography this week because I've been so lazy with it. I've also watched a concert and documentary tonight too but they'll have to wait until tomorrow - I'm starting to get tired.

Another thing I've been very lazy this week with also is testing out new albums. You can blame Dexter for that - I've just started the third season but damn that second season was incredible. Remember that list of new releases I needed to check out? I'm still hopelessly behind with them. I'm only going to get more behind too most probably. That aside - I did manage to hear one new album today. That being In A Tidal Wave of Mystery. It's the debut album by indie/synthpop group Capital Cities. I heard of Capital Cities thanks to a good friend of mine, this was a few months ago. I heard their song Patience Gets Us Nowhere Fast and I was looking forward to their debut album. It's a really good album too, and I recommend it. They don't seem to be very big at all, although this album may just change that. A lot of the synthwork echoed Goldrapp's most recent album Head First for me, although the album is a lot quirkier than Head First. They also sound a good bit like Chromeo too. My favourite tracks are Farrah Fawcet Hair, Patience Gets Us Nowhere Fast and I Sold My Bed, But Not My Stereo. Like I said earlier, well worth checking out if you like that indietronica style!

So that's my short and sweet post done. As tomorrow is Sunday (well for me it technically already is), you can expect my usual Sound Of The Week post, plus what I watched today. I also have a post that I drafted earlier which I might post, and I have another two albums I want to start writing about. Until then and as we're now technically into Sunday (in UK) - happy Fathers Day!