September: Dum Dum Girls - Bedroom Eyes

"I fear that I'll never sleep again."

This month's choice was a tough call. Lana Del Rey finally released July's rotm and her debut release turned out to be a double A-side, backed with new song 'Blue Jeans'. It will almost certainly end up as my record of the year and in any other month Blue Jeans would have taken the sotm prize on its own.

But having already given lead track 'Video Games' the nod in July - and with the release of the new Dum Dum Girls album 'Only in Dreams', I can't look past the brilliant 'Bedroom Eyes'. It's the kind of indie-girl pop that I'm a total sucker for (and which has been sadly missing since Elastica downed tools).

Pretenders-styled girl guitar bands will usually get my attention. Hot Pretenders-styled guitar bands with great tunes will steal my heart and my money.

August: Sarabeth Tucek - Get Well Soon

"It just takes time."

Sarabeth Tucek's new album 'Get Well Soon' was one of the more depressing but untold stories of the recent London riots.

One of Sony's distribution centres is based in north London and the rioters probably didn't think much of throwing a few firebombs at a major label. Unfortunately, this was also a major distribution centre for many independent labels and artists (165 in total), none of which can afford to have their stock destroyed, and yet found themselves caught up in the crossfire.

'Get Well Soon' was one such album - the promotional work was all done, the cds were pressed and ready for distribution...only for all the hard work to - quite literally - go up in flames. It's a real shame for a number of reasons (quite apart from the cost to the label, Sonic Cathedral, and the artist herself), because this should have been a bit of a breakthrough for Sarabeth. She'd had great press in the UK nationals (ranging from Q to the NME; from the Guardian and Times, even through to the Daily Mirror) and so the timing sucked.

Sympathies aside, 'Get Well Soon' is an excellent album from an excellent and under-exposed artist. The writing is deeply personal - both emotionally and physically - and none more so than on that title track, 'Get Well Soon'.

It's a song that's both easy to hear and difficult to listen to. The melody is undoubtedly easy on the ear, but the lyrics and themes (grief following the loss of her father, as well as mental fragility) are clearly from a harder place.

July: Lana Del Rey - Video Games

"Only worth living if somebody is loving you."

My friend Gab has great taste in music and she occasionally chucks a recommendation my way, so when my little instant messaging box started flashing recently I knew it was either going to be

a) a request for any good new songs I've heard, or

b) a tip in the right direction.

"Have you heard Lana del Rey yet? I think you'll like her."

And so I opened up the link and sat and listened.

It's brilliant.

Moody, sultry, stringy, beatsy, melodic, brilliant. Just a brilliant first single.

Let's see how she goes...

June: Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

"What's my name, what's my station? Oh just tell me what I should do."

The fear I had with the new Fleet Foxes album was that it couldn't live up to either the hype or its predecessor. From the second I heard a leaked copy of the first track, 'Montezuma', I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I'm still not sure if it's quite as magical as the debut was but it's a real good record, nonetheless.

Title track 'Helplessness Blues' is probably my standout. Both lyrically and thematically as well as musically. Is it better to be unique - but alone - "like a snowflake", or just "a functioning cog in some great machinery", with all the communal benefits that brings? As great as the first album certainly is, the existential challenges sure weren't hitting too hard back then.

May: King Creosote and Jon Hopkins - Bats In The Attic

"It's such a waste of all that we had."

It was only a matter of time before personal favourite King Creosote made an appearance. New album 'Diamond Mine' (which he wrote and recorded, on and off, with Jon Hopkins over seven and a bit years) is truly gorgeous stuff, easily an early record of the year contender. The pair complement each other so naturally that you could easily assume they'd been writing together for years. Which they kind of have, given the album's gestation period, I guess.

Picking one track was tough but 'Bats in the Attic' just about won through because of how well I think it shows the two styles meshing. KC's easy melodies play over Hopkins' programmed piano and drum beats. Acerbic lyrics get sweetly whispered, leaving just enough room for doubt as to whether they're a simple lament or more lashing criticism ("How I'll laugh out loud about that when I read your simple novel that uses all our real names").

Regret captured beautifully.

April: Emily Jane White - The Law

"You can peer into the weaknesses and the bleakness in me."

Emily Jane White is someone who I've followed since her 2007 debut 'Dark Undercoat'. She's been making a bit of a name for herself in France without ever having the commercial success in the UK that she really deserves.

'The Law' is probably my favourite thing she's ever done. It starts with a beautifully picked guitar intro and a gentle melody. It's a seemingly light folk song. Just singer and acoustic, with little hint of the darker turn that the song will soon take once EJW sings of being able to "peer into the weaknesses and bleakness in me".

A piano suddenly thumps menacingly away. The volume slowly rises. She's "seen a glimpse of mortal hell". She wasn't joking when she admitted in an interview that "It isn't my job to write happy songs...and I'm ok with that".

Her French label, the excellent Talitres Records, are offering the song free as a download when you sign up to her mailing list, here.