Unrelated, but ugh at a certain mediocre band's frontperson having a whinge about critics. They sound like those kids on Deviantart who cry about constructive criticism.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Good Son
What is it? acoustic/piano ballads
How'd I find it? cheesy tourism ad
Not bad but a bit overrated, maybe. Sometimes an artist will release an "accessible" new album to huge critical acclaim because their old stuff was great but underrated. Also, Australia will freak out about anything that gets acclaim/popularity overseas (e.g. INXS). I think the appeal is the vocal and general "sound", rather than the songwriting/composition. (The Ship Song is ok.)

Muse - Black Holes & Revelations
What is it? Space rock, apparently
How'd I find it? Friends at school liked them
I completely stopped listening to Muse after I went to the concert a few years ago. It's just not the same without the flashy lights and lasers. Critics probably hated this and the albums before it because it's not frail and indie. They'd eat it up now in this age of poptimism, because it is great stupid fun. Hell, I've got thousands of scribbles for them and I'm still having fun now.

Missy Higgins - The Sound Of White 
What is it? female singer songwriter
How'd I find it? Radio
Surely someone else out there has already made a joke about this album's title. I think they call this type of music "Lilith Fair". Which is probably sexist, but really, this album is generic. The only thing it's got going for it is her accent, and maybe The Special Two.

Asami Shimoda - Prism 
What is it? Vocaloid voice actor sings Vocaloid songs
How'd I find it? I don't remember
I like to think of Vocaloid songs as being demos for real singers, but I've never heard a human cover that improves on the original. This is about as close as it gets. The vocal is a fair bit weaker-sounding, and not much more emotive, but if I had to tell someone about one of my favourite jpop songs, I'd probably link them to this instead of the robot version.

Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
What is it? indie pop, female vocalist
How'd I find it? Country Mile was in a fanmix
I first discovered this band when I was still into really basic, mainstream stuff, and I found them difficult back then. I gave them another go when I saw Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken topping a year chart on RYM. Now they just sound like Belle & Sebastian with an incomprehensible female vocalist. Everything's better with incomprehensible female vocalists.

This is so time-consuming.

Crowded House - Crowded House
What is it? pop rock, 80s
How'd I find it? That radio station that plays old music
The fact that they were played on that station, and people I found annoying liked them really put me off this band for a long time. But then I saw a uni friend spamming them on Spotify, so I thought I should give them a go. Thank God for that. Don't Dream It's Over is up there with Wide Open Road and Cattle & Cane, and the rest is pretty good too.

The Go-Betweens - Before Hollywood
What is it? Jangle pop, according to rym
How'd I find it? A bridge in Brisbane
I am so glad that I got into Go-Betweens after high school, and that nobody suggested them to me. It'd be a shame to associate this band with any person who could screw me over at any moment. Plus if nobody knows about this thing they can't say anything bad about it! Cattle & Cane is my number one most favourite song ever. I also quite like Two Steps Step Out and That Way.

Ai Otsuka - LOVE LETTER
What is it? J-pop, female vocalist
How'd I find it? Draw With Me
This might by my favourite mainstream J-pop album. There isn't a single cringey moment on it, except maybe the child saying "koi" on the last track. Rocket Sneaker is another one of those songs I'd want as an anime opening. Also, this album seems to be evidence that Asian pop singers are just putting on the cutesy voice, because there is one fabulous jazzy alto song.

The Dismemberment Plan - Change
What is it? indie rock, kind of emo
How'd I find it? An article about the influence of Pitchfork
Hmm, I used to really like this band. Or maybe I just really liked Emergency & I, I'm not sure. This is okay, not great. There are some good lyrics here (Ellen And Ben) and Time Bomb is a great feel-crap song. Maybe I'm just not feeling this today. I'm more annoyed-angry than sad-angry at the moment.

The National - High Violet
What is it? "sad bastard melodrama", indie rock
How'd I find it? Father heard about it, probably from mX
My father said this was boring. I agreed at first, but after a lot of listens, it eventually grew on me. I was young, impressionable, and more likely to trust reviews. Another factor was that it took forever to even learn the names of the songs, so I had to keep listening through the whole thing to find my favourite ones (Conversation 16 and Bloodbuzz Ohio).

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible 
What is it? Indie rock, strings, organ
How'd I find it? Video of them performing in an elevator
The appeal of Arcade Fire is the overblown melodrama, but this is just a bit too much. Church organ and complaining about religion? No wonder this is their least popular album. I only ever listen to Black Wave/Bad Vibrations, The Well And The Lighthouse, and My Body Is A Cage. That last one ought to be a future classic.

Darren Hanlon - Fingertips and Mountaintops
What is it? Male singer-songwriter, acoustic
How'd I find it? Probably in some list of Australian musicians
Does this count as twee? That's what it makes me think of. I don't have a problem with that, though some people find it annoying. Is that why there isn't much talk about this album? Well, that's a shame, because it's lovely. Lyrics are good enough that I want to grab a physical copy for the liner notes, but I can't find it anywhere.

Catcall - The Warmest Place
What is it? Female vocalist, pop
How'd I find it? Mess+Noise
I remember when it was big deal that Pitchfork gave this a negative review. I'm generally ok with Pitchfork, though I do think sometimes they give good scores to mediocre albums by bands that they've hyped for a long time, and bad scores to things they overlooked. I'd have given this at least a 6. The World Is Ours is fantastic.

cosMo@暴走P - 初音ミクの消失
What is it? Vocaloid, I don't even know
How'd I find it? Brisbane Square Library
Not sure if this album is 100% Vocaloid, but if it is, it's extremely impressive. I'm sure there's a genre tag for this kind of thing, but I know nothing about electronic. Happy hardcore, maybe? There are a few songs that are stupidly fast and cheery. This is one of those albums that I want to make friends listen to just to see their reaction.

Augie March - Strange Bird
What is it? folk, rock
How'd I find it? The ubiquity of One Crowded Hour
Shit, this album is over ten years old. Lots of albums I'm listening to are, but this one just sounds fresh and not dated. Possibly because the mainstream loves folk music at the moment. Come back and ask me about this album in a month's time; I still don't know it well enough to have a strong opinion. I currently like This Train Will Be Taking No Passengers and Addle Brains.

Kanon Wakeshima - Shinsoku Dolce
What is it? Female vocalist, cello, gothic pop?
How'd I find it? Searched the "cello" tag on last.fm
I guess I don't really get the hubbub about Kyary Pamyu Pamyu because I'm used to cute/weird Japanese music with a specific aesthetic. Maybe this isn't as fun or trendy, but I think it's of a similar quality. I remember listening to Ennui Kibun a ridiculous number of times, and Sweet Ticket was the instrumental interlude in a lot of my playlists.

Kirin J Callinan - Embracism
What is it? Man with strong Aus accent sings over noises
How'd I find it? Mess+Noise
So he didn't win the Australian Music Prize. Come on, who actually expects the best album to win? To be completely honest, I think this was a bit overhyped. Not to say that it's bad, but... actually, I don't see anything better on the shortlist. Okay, okay, this is good. I like this kind of distinctive, "ugly" voice. From what I've read, he's probably better live than on record.

The Triffids - Born Sandy Devotional
What is it? Guitar, pop
How'd I find it? Probably one of those best Aus albums lists
I've listened to this album a lot without really "getting it". I had my Australian playlist on shuffle one day, Wide Open Road played, and despite having heard it many times before, I was completely blown away. I have no idea why that happens, but it's enough for me to occasionally give this album another go. It gets better with every listen.

Marina and The Diamonds - Electra Heart
What is it? Dance, electropop, female vocalist
How'd I find it? ONTD
Whenever I hear anything from this album, I think of the time my hipster-in-denial friend complained that hipsters were starting to like it. I don't understand why people were crying that she sold out with this; the first album really didn't sound that indie. At the risk of sounding pretentious, this isn't the kind of music I ever want to hear a whole album of, but some of the songs are fun by themselves. Radioactive is my favourite.

Sarah Blasko - What The Sea Wants The Sea Will Have
What is it? female vocalist, pop,
How'd I find it? Indooroopilly Library
This album has the nicest liner notes I've ever seen. The paper is thick and glossy, and I love the art. I don't know why this is the least popular of her albums, because it's at least as good as As Day Follows Night, if not better. Well, I like it more. Maybe it's this Robert F. Cranny doing it, he also co-wrote/produced parts of The Cat. Highlight is Queen Of Apology.

Oh man, it's the 4th already.

Moumoon - Moumoon
What is it? J-Pop, female vocalist
How'd I find it? This Livejournal comm, I think
Kicking off the morning with an old J-Pop album I used to like, because I'm studying Japanese this semester. This album is completely unremarkable and has a lot of clunky key changes, but I still kinda like it as background music. Thinking something isn't good but still enjoying it is a valid opinion, and it doesn't have to be ironic.

ELECTROCUTICA - REVERSUS
What is it? electronic, idm, Vocaloid
How'd I find it? Vocaloid producer AVTechNo
And now for the complete opposite, Japanese not-quite-pop. The title track is like a futuristic O Fortuna. Most of this is pretty unpredictable, not really songs in the verse-chorus etc. style. Not on this album but by the same producer is iDolla, one of my favourite Vocaloid tracks.

Kimbra - Vows
What is it? female vocalist, pop
How'd I find it? Some people I knew in school were fans
Someone on Facebook posted a song from this on the resident weeaboo's page saying it reminded her of "anime music". I'm kinda hearing it... it's a bit retro, but not to the point that it sounds dated or gimmicky. Lovely first half, second gets a bit flat until the last track, a song that is right up my street. (I don't know why the US/UK version ends with Warrior.)

The Middle East - I Want That You Are Always Happy
What is it? chamber folk
How'd I find it? Nominated for an ARIA a few years back
Here's an album I'm not familiar with. So long, so slow, maybe it's a grower. Definitely will be adding it to my phone for further listening. Really similar to Augie March, but less poppy, more stately and beautiful. Land Of The Bloody Unknown is fantastic. Is that train guard chatter I hear in Sydney To Newcastle? I'm sold.

Nicole Atkins - Neptune City
What is it? Female vocalist, pop
How'd I find it? People compared Lana Del Rey to her on ONTD
I think this is better than Born To Die, even though it's not be as nicely produced and the singer isn't as stylish. Also, the mastering sounds a bit brickwalled, unless I just have a bad copy. I don't know why people describe this as soul, unless that's just a word that means "alto singer". Whatever, it's great to have decent songs that are actually in my range. This version of the title track goes on my phone every time I visit Brisbane.