Various

Rough Trade Shops Counter Culture 11 Co-Op****

Here's the annual reminder that some record shops will survive and thrive because they know what they're doing. Every year the staff at Rough Trade's shops curate a compilation of those tunes that have received a lot of love and attention in-store over the previous year. Given thesize, scope and scale of non- mainstream musical tastes, the annual release is a handy filter for what received broad support among those highly promiscuous musical subcultures. Even in this micro-world, you have big hitters such as Zomby, Kurt Vile, Azari & III, Josh T Pearson, The Decemberists, Drive-By Truckers, SBTRKT and Richmond Fontaine. There's also room for newer acts, including hip-hop scientist Clams Casino, the thrilling Fatima Al Qadiri, otherwordly Nicolas Jaar, Denmark's talented Iceage, and Kraut-thumpers Factory Floor. roughtrade.com

Download tracks: Factory Floor, A Wooden Box;Iceage, You're Blessed;Clams Casino, Natural