Here we are again at list time, halfway through 2013 and already there have been a swathe of great albums released. We’ve been listening to an eclectic mix of stuff as usual including dub electronica, skronking freeform saxophone, abrasive art rock, retro-leaning post punk and heartstring americana. These are the records we’ve loved the most from what we’ve heard this year. There will be others from the last six months that we’ll discover as the rest of the year rolls out but we can at least highly recommend these ones – in no particular order…

• Ooga Boogas – Ooga Boogas

• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away

• Bryan Estepa – Heart vs Mind

• Ducktails – The Flower Lane

• Kurt Vile – Wakin On A Pretty Daze

• Protomartyr – No Passion All Technique

• The Phoenix Foundation – Fandango

• Popstrangers – Antipodes

• Kirin J Callinan – Embracism

• Civil Civic – Rules

• Matthew E White – Big Inner

• The Drones – I See Seaweed

• Phosphorescent – Muchacho

• Savages – Silence Yourself

• Fat Freddy’s Drop – Blackbird

• Beastwars – Blood Becomes Fire

• Jason Isbell – Southeastern

• DJ Koze – Amygdala

• Eleanor Friedberger – Personal Record

• Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol 3: To See More Light

• Zomby – With Love