Most unfortunately slept-on album of the year: Sons & Daughters - This Gift
It felt like 'The Repulsion Box' got some blog attention when it came out a few years back, and their U.S. tour with the Decemberists probably helped, but when S&D's second album was released in January, it barely registered. This is a real pity, since it was a really solid album. Not as gothic and and inward-looking as they were, this was a more concise, harder rocking set of songs from a group that's really finding its sound. The songs are compact, taut, radio-friendly (like the band gives a hoot about that), and like I said, just plain more shit-kickin' than ever. It's still dark - Adele is threadbare on the bathroom floor on the hot-as-hell title track - but this time you can dance to it.
Unsurprisingly enough, given that I'm still only about two stages away from lurking in the hedges outside Adele's house, this'll be featuring in the Aye Tunes award when I get round to finishing writing them.
Quite surprised it hasn't been mentioned more in all the end of year things.