I usually find out my favourites of the year long after it's been and gone. Mo' powah to the guys swooping up every new release and filtering out the good from the bad, but I'm pretty finicky about not subjecting myself to too much stuff I probably won't like. It's far easier (and safer, I guess) to only hear the gems in retrospect. The "right now is the place and time" element doesn't interest me too much, either. That said, I do listen to a fair bit of new stuff all the same.

Here's a rough Top 10, in no particular order:

Big Blood - Dark Country Magic
Won James Won - Corpus Unhearmeticum
Hamid Drake & Bindu - Reggaeology
Lil B - Rain in England
Circle - Rautatie
Little Women - Throat
Gigi - Maintenant
Kemialliset Ystävät - Ullakkopalo
Prince Rama of Ayodhya & The Great Valley - Divine/Journey
Tsigoti - Private Poverty Speaks to the People of the Party
Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid
Pan Sonic & Keiji Haino - Synergy Between Mercy and Self-Annihilation Overturned
Midori - Shinsekai