There’s almost no doubt that the quintet of roused Australian youngsters that make up Boy & Bear are comprehensively nice.

Your worst fears about ‘Nothing’ are probably right. The late-year, post-album extended-play sounds like the runoff of a few constructions that didn’t make the cut for ‘Dedication’.

Milagres are a Brooklyn-based quintet fronted by a certain Kyle Wilson, whose soaring vocal style sits somewhere between Thom Yorke and Chris Keating of Yeasayer.

On first encounter, ‘Bad Dream Hotline’ is your standard emo-goth release – black on black cover art, tracks called things like ‘A Handsome Stranger Called Death’ and ‘Dance & Weep’.

‘Out of Sight, Out of Town’ is an album that concerns itself, in the main, with casual sex.

When LA Vampires first released ‘So Unreal’ on a limited vinyl run in 2010 it sold out in a flash, perhaps because of its superbly kitsch artwork by Spencer Longo.

Dan Mangan is a husky-voiced, melancholic Canadian singer-songwriter who does all the things you expect husky-voiced, melancholic Canadian singer-songwriters to do.

Favourite Sons is the most recent project of Ken Griffin, formerly of nineties outfits Rollerskate Skinny and Kid Silver.

Synth enthusiasts must have been veritably jumping with joy of late (would a synth enthusiast do that sort of thing?).

A long lasting member of the American garage rock scene since the late Eighties, Mark Sultan has cooked up a hotpot of a new album.

Some very big noises are being made in the mainstream press over this Swedish duo, and their calculated pop sensibilities go a long way to explaining that.

With the most popular (well, in certain circles anyway) brand of IDM/glitch/electronica being made by gloom merchants such as Balam Acab and Pantha du Prince…

The fact that this record was made by a husband/wife radiates through its unified sound makes ‘Save Your Season’ feel like a very tight-knit and cohesive creation.