Kim Gillespie sifts through a selection of recommended summer listening, including a few gems from the past 12 months...
So, having received those iTunes vouchers or similar for Christmas, you're still wondering what to spend them on?
Of course musical preference is all in the ear of the beholder, but if
you're open to new things there's a world of great sounds just waiting for you to press play.
And in 2010 if you followed the hype there was often something worthwhile at the other end.
Try Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy on for size, or The Naked and Famous' Passive Me, Aggressive You - both stunning explorations of the power of music.
Alternative rockers The National and Arcade Fire released much-anticipated new albums in 2010 - and while neither quite lived up to earlier efforts, High Violet and The Suburbs were among the year's best.
Closer to the charts, albums from Mumford & Sons (Sigh No More) and Bruno Mars (Doo-Wops & Hooligans) impressed, as did the return of My Chemical Romance with Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.
For those hitting the road, the latter is fantastic driving music, or if you prefer beats to guitars check out the Chemical Brothers' Further.
If you're headed to a music festival this summer you could check out some of the talent in advance: Deerhunter (Halcyon Days) and Warpaint (The Fool) are playing at the Laneway Festival, while Plan B (the terribly underrated The Defamation of Strickland Banks) is on the Big Day Out roster. Also worth a crack: Hot Chip, Die Die Die, Vampire Weekend, Eminem, Disturbed, Puddle of Mudd, Pistol Youth, Ellie Goulding and Eli "Paperboy" Reed. Happy listening.
