All in all, Crawler is a return to form for IDLES, albeit with a handful of sub-par offerings. There’s still more than enough here for them to be rabble-rousing festival headliners, but also some tracks that offer up new ideas that they could carry forward.

What starts out as a great Woods record unfortunately peters out towards the end. Regardless, Woods have assembled a worthy “comeback” album of sorts, one that highlights all of their best moments, and even some of their more forgettable ideas.

This music is fast and hard, but there are fewer risks than it might at first seem. Those hoping for the band to push themselves in a new direction are going to be slightly disappointed, while those who have vibed with this collective since day one will likely appreciate ULTRAPOP for what it is – another album by The Armed.

Fans will be glad to accept this triplet and know that the creation of this style of music in his plans.

Javelin’s sound has in fact undergone distilled changes, but the result is still a fun album that once again brings up the question of what could be next for the duo.

Overall, their 2010 self-titled CD remains the best starting point for new listeners, but Occupied With The Unspoken nonetheless makes for a fine addition to the Thrill Jockey catalog.

There's no filler, no fat to be trimmed, simply four solid pop songs and a brief instrumental introduction tied together in a neat fashion.

Even if Texis fails to reposition Sleigh Bells as a noise act to be reckoned with, it does succeed in giving us a glimpse into what could have been if the duo had stayed the course. It may be a few years late, but it’s the best the band have sounded in quite some time, and it’s nice to have Sleigh Bells back where they belong.

The album shows Danilova making a conscious and admirable effort to try take another step in the right direction and for the most part it's hard to fault her.

For 11 songs and 39 minutes, Tweedy creates a landscape of autumnal beauty and warm layers of guitars, which oscillate between experimental, almost distorted ambience and clear, saccharine folk melodies. There’s a few straight country tracks here, but for the most part, it’s minimalist genre-revisionism.

They’re still capable of brilliance (particularly on the opening and closing tracks), but too much of Mosquito is bogged down by tongue-in-cheek frivolity.

The be all and end all for In The Pit Of The Stomach is that, despite a few new experiments, it's like all their material: good music that you don't have to think about.

The version the band have made is still a solid, if not rather good, Kaiser Chiefs album. [Review of UK release The Future Is Medieval]

Blush is, in its gentle and pleasant way, a strong debut collection of country and folk songs.

Intriguingly, in a game where we’re consistently told that remaining hungry is a necessity, the most enjoyable moments of King’s Disease II come when Nas is simply stating his satisfaction.

So while the stylistic homogeneity erodes its high points, and it sometimes feels like one giant song, Within and Without harbours some rich, emotive sounds under its monochrome canopy.

At times, Malone’s “magic eye” seems elusive. Other times, it comes gloriously into focus, shimmering like an elegant mirage.

Though album’s influences go as far back as Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You” (“Deeper”), the overall tone is suitably compressed and claustrophobic. The taut paranoia and confusion that belied Prince & The Revolution’s 1999 and Purple Rain forms a touchstone, modernised when the tenor shifts to Rhye.

Allen’s songwriting is the sole thing that needs to be focused on; the impressiveness comes from the variety of sounds and the subtle details. It would be truly surprising if someone were able to use this as background music.

Most often, it delivers what you get on Departing: an enjoyable but still not entirely satisfying collection of songs that don't really work as well together as they do apart.

The thematic and musical revamping is impressive, even for a band that seems to enjoy turning itself inside out on a regular basis, but it isn't quite matched by the execution.

Past Life Regression doesn’t craft any new formulas for Papercuts, but it’s still consistent with what people have come to expect from the band.

Yes, The Ballad of Darren is Dad Rock. Fairly enjoyable Dad Rock, true, and still a record hundreds of bands can only dream of making, but one that would likely fall by the wayside if anyone else had made it. Is this bad? Not really, and if anything, it proves that Blur can transition gracefully into old age.

If V betrays decadence, it doesn’t manifest itself as sprawl or poor editing – much less a notional narrative. Its languidness is actually its charm, a direct contrast to almost anything in UMO’s fidgety catalog save “Jello And Juggernauts” from the 2011 debut.

It’s messy, it’s funny, it’s occasionally shallow, but it’s also thrilling, because it dares to treat those qualities as virtues. Carpenter knows the heartbreak is real, but the laughter is what keeps you alive long enough to sing about it.

Although not obscenely long, thirteen tracks of relatively similar-sounding music can at times grate. There are undoubtedly some excellent songs here, including the title track, that overlaps vocals nicely between the members, and the technical ability of the band is clearly one of its greatest assets.

Ternion is a greatly entertaining album with plenty of replay value, especially in those stand out tracks.

Where at their best, Gardens & Villa may recall the harmonies of Local Natives and the hazy qualities of The Walkmen, they are clearly not (yet) at the level of either of those bands.