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One of the busiest months on record for fine new releases, September 2010 provided plenty of reasons to part with the pennies in exchange for long-players of no little excellence. Breaking the period down to just a handful of picks here was pretty tough, so do scan the reviews archive for the full picture of four weeks bursting with brilliant albums.

This month I'm introducing a top pick of the period, too. So if you only spend your hard-earned on one new album right now, you could certainly do worse than make it this one.

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Editor's Album of the Month

Aloe Blacc - Good Things
(Stone's Throw, released 27 September)
Recommended by: Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show, Gilles Peterson

"Inspired by the recession biting both sides of the Atlantic, Good Things is no mere beatnik projecting: Californian vocalist Blacc was among thousands who saw their day jobs cut short by redundancy when the downturn hit. But the uplifting manner in which he sets about detailing hardship is striking. This second album is sufficiently accomplished, in fact, to temporarily banish the clouds of financial doom and gloom to the horizon."

Read the full review and listen to previews

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Aloe Blacc - I Need a Dollar

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The Best of the Rest

Manic Street Preachers - Postcards from a Young Man
(Columbia, released 20 September)
Recommended by (among others): Radcliffe & Maconie, Steve Lamacq, Dermot O'Leary

"From the waltzing strings on (It's Not War) Just the End of Love onwards, Postcards From a Young Man is packed with screamed-from-the-terraces pop moments bankrolled by James Dean Bradfield's syllable-munching holy yelp and a few kitchen sinks' worth of gospel choirs, choppy riffs, power chords and string sections."

Read the full review and listen to previews
Read our Album Reviews Q&A with Manic Street Preachers

Bilal - Airtight's Revenge
(Plug Research, released 13 September)
Recommended by (among others): Rob da Bank, Benji B, Gilles Peterson

"The results are often experimental, albeit still steeped in the history of jazz and soul. Cake and Eat It Too cuts a stoned Sly Stone groove, a half-speed jam with languid funk guitars, and the intriguing Levels, a co-production with Shafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra, emerges from a fog of bubbling stand-up bass and sunken piano before Bilal leads the music to soft-rocking climaxes."

Read the full review and listen to previews
Read our Album Reviews Q&A with Bilal

Smoke Fairies - Through Low Light and Trees
Cooperative Music, released 6 September)
Recommended by: Jarvis Cocker

"With a name like that it would ill behove the Sussex duo of Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies (who are Smoke Fairies) to deal in anything but ethereal, folk-tinged melancholy and wistful, wonderstruck song craft. Right enough, that's pretty much exactly what they deliver on this, their debut album proper of dreamy, timeless music."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Grinderman - Grinderman 2
(Mute, released 13 September)
Recommended by: Marc Riley, Jarvis Cocker, 6 Music Album of the Day

"Veteran producer Nick Launay has helped Nick Cave & Co embrace a bigger, fuller sound, influenced as much by 60s garage punk and droning Krautrock as the blues. A slew of stunning guitar moves are unleashed, sometimes erecting a wall of psychedelic sound, sometimes bucking and rearing out of the murk like some wounded animal at the end of its cattle-prod tether."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Robyn - Body Talk Pt. 2
(Konichiwa, released 13 September)
Recommended by: Annie Mac, Nick Grimshaw, Fearne Cotton

"A brief, brilliant record that showcases the gleeful ease with which Robyn flits between genres, Body Talk Pt. 2 is the latest evidence that the Swedish singer is probably the best, most versatile pop star currently at work. If the next part even half as good, such an accolade will be proven beyond doubt."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
(4AD, released 27 September)
Recommended by: Marc Riley

"Across the entirety of this fourth album proper lies a sense of warm experimentation that should feel familiar to fans of Deerhunter's unique brand of ambience-loving indie-rock. Halcyon Digest is simply another solid entry in the discography of a mighty band. A band whose accomplishments to date have made any questions about diminishing returns completely irrelevant."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Glasser - Ring
(True Panther Sounds, released 27 September)

"Apparently, Ring was inspired by the symmetrical order outlined in Ö÷²¥´óÐãr's poem Odyssey, the idea that any structure doesn't necessarily have to abide by a beginning, middle or end. Presumably this is why when succulent-lullaby Clamour completes the cycle you'll want to return to the start once more."

Read the full review and listen to previews

El Guincho - Pop Negro
(Young Turks, released 13 September)

"It's when the ceaseless forward momentum of old hijacks Pop Negro's new structural nous that the most rewarding moments arrive here, the likes of Soca Del Eclipse, Ghetto Facil and Muerte Midi highlights of an album that's among the year's best, and that, while immediately enchanting, will take years to unravel."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Röyksopp - Senior
(Wall of Sound, released 13 September)
Recommended by: Rob da Bank, Nick Grimshaw, 6 Music Album of the Day

"The duo describes the album in the pre-publicity as the equivalent of a drug trip. But, in truth, Senior is more likely to get you addicted to motorways than Class As. This dreamy, optimistic yet pulsing sound is pure autobahn, reviving memories of Kraftwerk, obviously, but also the rapturous electro travelogues of early Simple Minds."

Read the full review and listen to previews