I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. Love them or hate them, the closing days and weeks of recent years see a lot of people giving a new traditional gift: their thoughts on the best moments of the year.

Whether or not these people know what they're talking about is a separate (and, unfortunately, unexciting) discussion, but with the right medium, it's a perfect time to get a lot of people's attention. In particular, when magazines and blogs start sharing their thoughts on the best albums (or movies, celebrity breakups, whatever) of the year, it can carry a lot of influence.

I can't personally imagine what my favourite records of the last year would be; there have thankfully been a lot. I did think it interesting to see what a lot of other people are saying on the matter, so I checked in on a few publications to see what they liked.

Rolling Stone Magazine (rollingstone.com) lists their top three as: (3) Elton John and Leon Russell, The Union; (2) The Black Keys, Brothers; and (1) Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Hannah Georgas, in an exclusive to ExploreMusic.com, lists her three favourites as: (3) Robyn, Body Talk; (2) Spoon, Transference; and (1) The National, High Violet.

The Indie Machine (theindiemachine. com), a music blog, list their favourites as: (3) Houses, All Night; (2) The Arcade Fire, Suburbs; and (1) Wild Nothing, Gemini.

Obviously, everyone has different tastes in music, and to find neutral ground can be a tough gig, so it always seems that these sorts of lists should always be taken with a grain of salt and a gentle reminder that they are composed primarily of opinion (and truly little else). That said, there are few opportunities as great as these to find new artists and albums that you may like.

A year ago, I wrote about the way I foresaw the music world shaping in 2010; I wrote of the underwhelming presence of rock music and big acts, saying in so many words that it was going to be a terrible year for popular music. I would argue that I was right.

Sure, the Katy Perrys and Ushers and Bruno Marses of the world kept us awake, but it felt as though there was only really a couple of hours' worth of music around, leaving everyone bored and hungry for something genuinely interesting.

Fitting that I used indie music as an example, as there was really no other genre that shone as brightly in 2010, able to step into the light of the mainstream thanks to a lack of any other real substance or form. And as indie goes, there were quality releases nearly every week.

I hate to disappoint, but 2011 is going to be an even more difficult year to call. Despite the fact that some interesting trends are emerging in music (more on this later, no spoiler here), the fact is that the coming year is wide open to artists the world over, and is up for grabs by whichever artist out there is feeling ballsy enough to take the throne.

In case you're looking for some hope, I've had my ear to the ground both online and off, and there is some pretty high-profile buzz in terms of new music this year (February is going to be a particularly big month). Many acts are known to be actively working on new material — Foo Fighters, Marianas Trench, Lady Gaga, Tenacious D, The Shins, Yellowcard and Death Cab For Cutie among them.

Further, here are a few releases you can expect this month:

January 11 — CAKE, Showroom Of Compassion; Cage The Elephant, Thank You Happy Birthday

January 18 — The Decemberists, The King Is Dead; Smith Westerns, Dye It Blonde; The Script, Science & Faith

January 25 — Say Hi, Um, Uh Oh; Iron and Wine, Kiss Each Other Clean; Amos Lee, Mission Bell

As always, stay tuned to the Music Recommendations thread on our FSU social network, or follow (@FSU_Bobbyisms) on Twitter for all the latest in music news, views and downloads — this is bound to be a great new year for music.

Welcome back, Fanshawe. I'm out of words.