We'll do albums of the first quarter of 2012 next week but seeing as anything that is technically 'out' before the end of March is most likely already streaming, I thought it might an idea to kick this thread off today. You can either do it now or think about it over the next week or so and add your picks as you wish (hell, if you wanna do a song a day 12-day countdown, that's cool too!).

Here are my 12 favourite songs of the first quarter (not really in any particular order beyond how fit together/'flow'). Playlist: http://open.spotify.com/user/seaninsound/playlist/4SKoGJqsT41co9XGggabTD

POLIÇA – Lay Your Cards Out
Properly obsessed with this album, which is out in the UK in a few weeks. The skittering drums (from double drummers!) toward the end of this are my idea of utter bliss. If you've somehow not heard this track, I've just posted it on http://www.thisismyjam.com/seaninsound

Phantogram – Don't Move
The band who made the toe-tap-friendly Eyelid Movies appear to have been drinking some psychedelic koolaid, and the result is Summer 2012's party anthem.
http://drownedinsound.com/news/4144575-five-for-friday--phantogram-moses-gold-ghosting-season-eight-and-a-half-julia-holter

School Of Seven Bells – The Night
Think I said all there is to say about the majesty of SVIIB's third record, right here (includes stream) http://drownedinsound.com/releases/16748/reviews/4144516

Eight And a Half - Go Ego
Some of the chaps from The Stills return under a new filmic guise. They take that Lynchian, Blade Runnery, Drive-vibe and create a glorious melancholic pop in a whole new dimension of widescreen. Rave reviews from the likes of Spin poured out after their SXSW shows, so I can't wait to finally see them at Great Escape (on the DiS stage!)
http://drownedinsound.com/news/4144575-five-for-friday--phantogram-moses-gold-ghosting-season-eight-and-a-half-julia-holter

NZCA/LINES – Okinawa Channels
Sometimes an entire album sounds like a band taking aim and showing how they concocted the elixir for that one perfect song. Sounding like what Metronomy coulda done after Nights Out, this is bedroom 'pop' at its finest.
http://soundcloud.com/brilliantlydifferent/nzca-lines-okinawa-channels

Chairlift – I Belong In Your Arms
Really wasn't expecting Chairlift to return with one of the albums of the year, and it's hard to pick a favourite track. This track sits somewhere between a guilty pleasure power ballad and the giddiest song that Cyndi Lauper coulda-shoulda written after Time After Time. Hope they make a video for it that's just end credits for an 80s movie.
http://soundcloud.com/chairlift/i-belong-in-your-arms
http://drownedinsound.com/releases/16781/reviews/4144382 - dom gourlay's review

Halls – Lifeblood
Breathtaking, there's no other word for it.
http://soundcloud.com/thesoundsofsweetnothing/sets/halls-fragile-ep/

Sharon Van Etten – Serpents
I'd always written her off as one of those artists that other people whose taste I usually agree with like but that I just didn't 'get'. And then I heard this, with Aaron from The National at the helm (also on this track is his brother Bryce Dessner, Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner, the Walkmen's Matt Barrick, and Doveman's Thomas Bartlett), turning her lo-fi Cat Power-y sadness into a headline-justifying storm.
http://drownedinsound.com/news/4144554-the-dis-digest--february-2012s-must-hears-and-most-read
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYgyQ20TJAs

The Shins – Simple Song
James Mercer can do no wrong. Perhaps the standout track of Port of Morrow.
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/the-shins-takeover

Django Django – Default
Brother of Beta Band man out Beta Band's his brother.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDjpOrlfh0Y

Errors – Pleasure Palaces
A treat. Headlining the DiS stage at Great Escape and our gig on a Roller Skate rink in Sheffield in May!
http://drownedinsound.com/news/4144344-watch--errors-pleasure-palaces

John Talabot – Destiny feat. Pional
We didn't get this record for review (we'll mop that up and rectify in due course) but this is a graceful moment of wonder that is sure to etch itself into the very core of 2012.
http://soundcloud.com/john-talabot/destiny-feat-pional

Your turn...