US experimental rockers Liars don’t like to repeat themselves and they made their biggest departure yet on their sixth album (it’s pronounced “wish you”), exchanging guitars for electronics with the help of producer Daniel Miller (Depeche Mode). The darkly futuristic new sound proved a perfect foil for Angus Andrew’s emotionally raw vocals. KF Photograph: Zen Sekizawa/Mute
Subtitled “The Colombian Melting Pot 1960-85”, this 32-track compilation is a bounty-laden delight. Disc one documents the hybrids spawned when African music invaded the coastal city of Barranquilla. Disc two concentrates on the better known cumbia, its reggae-like rhythms stewed with accordion and big bands amid much gourd-scraping and yelling. Obscure, intoxicating and beautifully packaged. NS Photograph: PR
In 2011 veteran Manchester DJ/producer Andy Stott released two EPs that won him acclaim beyond the dub-techno scene. His more accessible new album, released in October, deserves even broader recognition. This is hauntingly beautiful headphones music for the darkest hours of the night – comparisons with Burial are not misplaced. KF Photograph: PR
This little-known Brooklyn band distinguished themselves from the vast majority of other Brooklyn bands by expertly channelling the spindly, caffeinated, New York post-punk heritage like the Strokes once did. Snarky, skew-whiff but relentlessly melodic, there’s love here for Jonathan Richman and the Velvet Underground too. Vaccines, eat your heart out. KE Photograph: PR
Byrd, Tallis and Gibbons still haunt liturgical composition today, but their influence was perhaps at its height in the first half of the 20th century, when Vaughan Williams, Finzi, Howells, Harris, Whitlock, Bax, Pearsall and Holst wrote anthems and settings in a gloriously reimagined Tudor landscape, performed so beguilingly here by this vibrant Cambridge choir. SP Photograph: PR
Frank Ocean may have dominated the indie end of R&B in 2012 but this fine album from fellow LA resident Miguel Pimentel scaled similar heights. The focus may be narrower – Miguel plays the suave loverman with nuance and wit – but the production is even more spacious than Ocean’s, reaching a blissed-out high on the title track. KF Photograph: sony music
Does the name Linda Perhacs ring a bell? Then you’ll need this debut album by Jessica Pratt, a San Franciscan folk singer, like you need air. Those who find Joanna Newsom a little wayward will find much succour here too. This sparse, affecting album is one of those mood-perfect collections that makes you check your calendar just to make sure it’s not still 1972. And then hit play again. KE Photograph: PR
He’s a terrific live artist, but so far his albums haven’t broken through. This one really should have done the trick. Forcione’s guitar is quite stupendous, his improvisations are full of life and the style unmistakably his own. Good band, too, with Jenny Adejayan on cello and some great percussionists. DG Photograph: Andy Sheppard/Redferns
Dorset cellist Barney Morse-Brown and guitarist James Garrett may look like extras from a Thomas Hardy movie but they make chamber folk of a distinctly modern hue. Their sound is light but cleverly layered, their songs minimal but resonant. Strings, female voices and electronica drift among moods of gentle melancholia (Set It Down) and quiet transcendence (Picture Box). A charmer. NS Photograph: PR
Goat were not, as the name augured, a black metal tribute to the horned one, but one of the greatest finds of 2012. Sure, the Swedish authors of songs such as Goatman, Goathead and Goatlord did claim to be from a remote village labouring under an ancient curse. But their offerings turned out to be mesmerising grooves that took in West Africa, the near east, the psych-rock underground and some great juju. KE Photograph: PR
Their name is terrible. Their second album was derivative, recalling the Hold Steady and the Replacements. And it wasn’t exactly the most obscure gem of this year either, having been feted on Pitchfork. But Celebration Rock – by Vancouver drum’n’guitar duo Brian King and David Prowse – was one of the year’s most exhilarating rallying calls to rock heroics, a call that became more irresistible as 2012 wore on. KE Photograph: PR
Between early rock’n’roll and the Beatles came the instrumental epoch, an era of twanged guitars, croaking saxophones and shrill organs. This three-CD set covers all bases, from the Ventures’ cool “surf sound” to the furious R&B of Phil Upchurch via demented novelty hits and sonic breakthroughs including Link Wray’s shimmering Rumble. NS Photograph: PR
One of the many cultural legacies of 2012, this lively project commissioned 20 new pieces of the utmost variety, for bells, bands, singing, clapping, ensembles ancient and modern, from some of the best composers of our day [including Mark-Anthony Turnage, above, rehearsing his 20x12 piece] and across the spectrum of styles. A snapshot of our composing times. NK Photograph: Lizzie Coombes/South Bank
Full of mood changes and vivid emotion, this recital includes songs from Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch, Korngold and Mahler. Then Williams and Deutsch pour their hearts into Schumann’s Kerner Lieder to blistering effect. Detailed CD notes by Gavin Plumley convey a real sense of the live performance, which greatly heightens the intensity. FM Photograph: PR
