The Musical Advent Calendar - Door Number Twenty-One

Who needs an intro? There are No. 4 albums of the class to learn about.Pranam MahavalliGonjasufi - A Sufi And A Killer (Warp)Track - Suzie QFor the first few months of the class I couldn`t get plenty of this record. Is it rock? Is it hip-hop? Is it dance? I don`t really care! It`s utterly distinctive and had me trawling Google to find the numerous samples it uses.

Sumach Ecks (aka Gonjasufi) has a unique sound which this record stretches in improbable directions. My only criticism - his melodies are occasionally a little samey, but for a debut of this quality, this is only a minor quibble. Turn the dial up and hit play below for a piece of proto-Stooges meets Tom Waits rock action.John SkilbeckShrag - Life! Death! Prizes! (Where It's At Is Where You Are)Track - The Habit CreepBrighton`s Shrag ripped their LP`s title from the front cover of a women`s weekly and critics might fight their phone is not entirely original either: a feeling of Comet Gain poignancy here, a lap of Bikini Kill unruliness there. Such influences nevertheless stand up to close scrutiny. And so too did the 2nd album from the two-girl, three-boy line-up who, fed up with being asked to define their sound, have tagged themselves a `post-lunch` outfit. Following their self-titled debut, Shrag lost drummer Leigh-Ann to an injury-enforced rock-and-roll retirement and brought in a replacement, Andy Pyne, who arrived with a distinguished krautrock past and looks to have fortified the band. Rabbit Kids was a boisterous single, and Tights In August delighted with its twin perspectives on a relationship: "I find something deep inside"/"I feel slightly petrified". L!D!P! comes highly recommended - Marc Riley is a big fan, as am I - and The Habit Creep is one of its highlights.Steve PillThe National - High Violet (4AD)Track - SorrowBruce Springsteen has the market covered for blue collar rock & roll but could the Subject be the low white collar guitar band? High Violet is a man weary, intellectual record, battered by the pressures of modern middle class life and complete for a faceless commute across the city. Unlike their career-best, Alligator, this latest set won`t have you ballerina-ing on the coffee table, cock in hand. However, what it lacks in dynamics, it more than makes up for in creeping atmospherics and warm, repeated melodies. And that violin kills me every time.Matt CollinsLarsen B - Musketeer (Old Radio Tunes)Track - StitchHertfordshire`s Larsen B were described by Uncut as "conjuring up memories of the most dazzling 60's pop". This doesn`t do such a gloriously technicolour album the judge it deserves. Creating an album chock full of melodies that you are certain you have heard somewhere before (a house of sensation rather than plagiarism) means you have written an indie classic, singles Marilyn and Stitch the finest examples.Andy WelchThe Coral - Butterfly House (Deltasonic)Track - More Than A LoverIn my eyes The Coral are one of Britain`s most criminally underrated bands. I can all see why, mind; they`re not glamorous, there`s no `story` behind them, and their live shows, while flawless, do largely consist of the band walking on heads down, playing the songs - albeit brilliantly - and walk off again. I love Butterfly House in a way I used to love albums when I was 15; I`ve listened to it on repeat for years at a sentence and live every word to each song. The unpredictable time signatures and tempo changes of their debut may have gone, but they give up for that excitement in other ways; the belief that the most magnificent of middle eights or bridges is only bars away, for instance. To me, Butterfly House is the voice of a lot at the top of their game, understanding exactly what they`re doing. Guy AtkinsonThe Foals - Total Life Forever (Warner Bros)Track - Black GoldThe Foals' debut record polarised opinion, with musos deriding its 'math rock' (blurgh) stylings as a hipster fad, while the Facebook kids heralded it as a beacon of originality and invention (we'll dismiss the fact that Minus the Support and Q and Not U had through it all before). There's been no such variance with this second effort, which is brimming with heart swelling tunes, introspective lyrics and typically spine-tingling denouements. Who's the muso now, boi?Dom FarrellBeach House - Teen Dream (Bella Union)Track - NorwayTeen Dream, Beach House's third full-lengther but the initiative to hold do to my attention, is a truly spellbinding piece of work. This is lo-fi pop delivered with widescreen ambition. The highlights are numerous as drum loops and keyboards cascade around each other, with understated guitar lines and melody shimmering over the top. Here's hoping the back catalogue makes an appearance in my Christmas stocking.Ian ParkerAdmiral Fallow - Boots Met My Face (Lo-Five)Track - Dead Against SmokingSometimes an album comes from absolutely nowhere to get hold. In the subject of Admiral Fallow, it came, rather innocently, through the postbox as they sought the attentions of the For Folk's Sake New Bands Panel (shameless plug here) for a review. From the instant I stuck it on, I didn't need to grow it off. Louis Abbott's heartwarming vocals are beautifully set off by a wonderful mix of instrumentation. Although it soundtracked much of my summer, I'd have to say this is an album best heard in the coldness of winter. Rory DollardThe National - High Violet (4AD)Track - RunawayThe National are the definitive slow-burners. They do slow-burning singles, albums, choruses, lyrics. I`ve yet to see any National branded candles but I think they`d last you a lifetime. When High Violet hit, I sort of liked it but not as often as 2007`s Boxer, which I initially kind of liked, but not as often as 2005`s Alligator. Now, of course, I know the lot. Each time I hear to High Violet I appear to discover something else lovingly stashed down there in the brush of the mixing desk and the attack of the English winter seemed to send the whole matter in its aptest context.Ali MasonMountain Man - Made The Harbor (Bella Union)Track - BuffaloFans of complex instrumentation, look out now. This one`s not for you. Don`t expect drums or keyboards or deep or banjos from their debut album, Made the Harbor. All you`re going to get here is three voices, the occasional strum of a guitar - and loads and lots of the most beautiful harmonies you`ll have heard this year. It`s pure Americana - there`s no way this band could be from anywhere else, their bluegrass-tinged folk songs bringing to head the vast sweeping landscapes of the United States, from the New England hills through the Rockies and the Deep South and beyond, as they sing about buffalos and herons and rivers and bees. What marks it out more than the complex, three-part harmonies which flit so gracefully on the air is the smell of stillness and calm which pervades. It`s the target of a band totally in command of their trade.