Another impressive feather in one of the most versatile caps in Parisian pop music.

Cheeky, subversive ‘I Saw The Truth Undressing’ seems to sum up this wonderful, enlightening record.

Although 'Elephant In The Room' is not quite as diverse as his 2018 effort 'Pieces Of A Man' or as fresh as his breakout tape 'Wave[s]', there's a lot to love about the album, and it's likely to one that ages gracefully over time.

All one can do is let the album play through again, though, is indicative of the great power this exhibition of completely engrossing, electrifyingly ambitious avant-dance(hall) possesses.

This preference for impulsiveness and reaction off of one another when making their music comes through in the warm, emotive feel of the whole record.

‘Lux’ is endearingly insistent on taking you away from the lethargy of modern life and transporting you to a surround sound, meta-textual dimension. It’s hard-won, but oh so worth it.

‘Invisible Forces’ is a complicated album, but not cluttered. James Heather’s elegant runs, and elegant is the only real word to describe his playing, are thought-provoking and moving. Throughout the pianist delivers emotion-heavy music that is oddly catchy.

Beautifully accomplished, ‘Weather Alive’ stands as an imposing career-high by a fine, fine songwriter.

‘Stay Close To Music’ is, in all sincerity, a masterpiece that seeks to amplify the voices that have been pushed aside for far too long.

With ‘Songs Of A Lost World,’ The Cure has not only produced something worth the wait but added another classic to their already sterling catalogue. This is a late-career gem from one of the world’s most idiosyncratic acts.

This record feels like the perfect summation of Childish Gambino’s always-on, internet-driven data-overload experimentation. It’s a work of maturity and vision, out-pacing his peers to deliver something vital, and true to himself.

A very welcome return.

Does ‘ten days’ elevate the modern dance album? It unequivocally does. It’s built from connection and collaboration. It explores the contours of the dancefloor whilst never forgoing its gushy, human centre.

‘12’ is not an album to take lightly. It is an album to listen to intently as often as you can. With each listen you learn something about what it takes to be a great artist, Ryuichi Sakamoto is a great artist, but it also teaches us not to take things too seriously because one day it could all be over.

This one will grow and reward with every new listen, as you get to know the troubled character behind the barbed words.

‘For Those I Love’ is a truly exquisite achievement in which the redemptive hope that love and friendship provide is never allowed to sink beneath the waters.

‘Fever Dreams’ is very possibly Villagers’ most ambitious and endearing record to date.

Deftly striking a balance between brutal and graceful, it’s a welcome reminder that Deftones are still more than capable of delivering the goods while showing us something new and vital.

He has fateful serenity tangling with rudebwoy pluck through crackly pirate radio reception, smuggling in head-scratching interludes - field recordings seemingly from the club's toilets/smoking section - and one '70s synthesizer pitstop.

A powerful and truly wonderful return from The Twilight Sad.

Deeply cohesive, conceptual and considered. Controlled while still being unexpected. Comforting within confines, placing a new level of distance and boundaries between her personal life and her fans as she focusses on feelings over stories.

It’s rare that an artist peaks twice in their career, but ‘Virgin’ accelerates to equal climaxes which it was widely, and wrongly, assumed only fan favourite album ‘Melodrama’ could reach.

This is an album that further cements their legacy and feels like it captures elements from across their 20-year career into something wholly new and exciting.

Although the album is full of brilliance, album opener ‘Marina’ stands headstrong above the others in terms of scope and grandeur, a dirty distorted guitar solo coupled with an African style instrumental and tribal chorusing sees ‘Fever’ go from commendable to a masterpiece.

The great just gets greater.

This album, though, is not a story of what might have been but never was; it is a picturesque view of what happens when a monumental level of care and attention is put into a project. It is a wonderfully constructed success.

On Shangri La he has captured everything cleanly and sparsely to really let Jake’s storytelling shine. The resulting exposure makes for a mature and remarkable album.

Some of the riffs are quite incredible ('A More Perfect Union'), and the general effect of the whole album is that the listener will want to weep and dance simultaneously. Simply brilliant.

By working with a producer who sought him out and by letting the songs lead the way, he has delivered a timeless album.

Tthese songs are as focussed, refined and honed as anything Spencer has ever done, yielding some of his most infectious guitar lines and arguably some of the finest tracks of his lengthy career.

Every track gives you something new and exciting, while holding tightly on to Emilíana’s flawless voice and melodies.

Heavy is the Head absolutely hits it out of the park. It’s the same winning mix of grime bangers and radio friendly singing as last time, but, crucially, it’s better at making sure they work together on the same project. 16 tracks might seem like a lot, but when almost every one is a classic, it’s so hard to care.

Passion is a puzzling thing, expressed in myriad manners. But it can never be fabricated, and Ought’s heated brand of it is amongst the most bracing sounds anyone can encounter in 2014.

V is the record that has finally given The Horrors a set identity. Perfecting every element they did so well on their four previous records, V is a pure and unadulterated celebration of The Horrors.

Not only is ‘I Came From Love’ the best album that Okumu has released but it’s one of the finest albums of the year so far.

A commanding and sincerely fascinating listen that stands tall in a catalogue already awash with magic.

This is a record that, fittingly, rewards the repeat listener as its impact evolves.

Ultimately 'Under~Between' is the work of an artist serious about his music without being a Serious Musician.

This sophomore LP does a bit of everything, but this time around feels more refined, consistent and polished: exactly what a follow up should be. And on a label roster saturated with enormous amounts of talent, Rina Sawayama is making a pretty good claim to being the ruler.

‘Living Human Treasure’ is a wonderfully exciting and enjoyable album. Italia 90 have and axe to grind and grind it they do.

It’s not clear if this is to be the last instalment of the man on the moon franchise, but what is clear is that Kid Cudi is back on track, and with this release, has made his best solo album to date.

This music really doesn't need any window dressing because it's as good a collection of songs as she has put her name to in ten years.

'R.I.P.' is both an update on the bass explorations of restless Britain and perhaps a timeless thesaurus of blistered tones and ideas that younger producers will beg, borrow and steal from for years to come.

‘Melt My Eyez See The Future’ finds Denzel Curry sitting in a lane of his own. A unique, unified experience, it’s a boundary-less work of endless fascination.

An enchanting listen, her world-building remains absolutely undimmed on this triumphant, bewitching project.

DIIV have refined their brooding vibe and produced as gorgeous a record as you’ll hear this year.

It doesn’t challenge expectation, but equally it does nothing, puts nary a single step wrong, to risk their reputation as a preeminent act of their kind, and of our times.

It’s Buzzcocks-goes-Daniel Johnston, with a little Guided By Voices on the side, erudite and desperate, and everything mentioned above and yet a lot, lot more. And it’s a pleasure to share it, and them, with you.

This newly three dimensional Little Simz--vulnerable and reflective, while spiky and hard--has produced a crafted project, and it’s one of her best to date.

What could so nearly have been overbearing or desperate to be loved is, in actual fact, sincerely captivating and euphorically playful.

Dornik has come out of leftfield to release one of the best quality and most addictive pop records of recent times.

It isn’t entirely comprehensive, lacking the fabled Witmark demos (which have already been collated in the Bootleg Series). What ‘Through The Open Window, 1956-1963’ supplies, though, is wonderful curatorial nous, one that gives it a palpable narrative thrust. You’re pulled through time to the streets of New York in the early 60s, and behind each door lies tantalising secrets.

All Hell’ is the quintessential Los Campesinos! album. Big, bold and brash, whilst at the same time succeeding in retaining the band’s politics and indeed their humility. .... The band have bared their guts once again, and never, ever has it sounded so good.

‘As The Love Continues’ is Mogwai at their best, and is possibly their most consistent record since 2006's ‘Mr Beast’. Their mums should be proud.

An album of stunning ambition and outright defiance, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1 rips apart everything you know about Foals, a bold transformative work, as inspiring as it is urgent.

Confessional yet cathartic, ‘Metalhorse’ is an emotionally resonant piece of work that is vital, vivid and showcases why Billy NoMates is an undisputed ‘Tor’ de force.

Best listened to with the context of Part 1, the way Part 2 rounds the 'Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost' era off makes for the argument that this is Foals' most accomplished body of work to date.

This is not just West's best album, it's a keen contender for the most ambitious LP in hip-hop history. West side story!

With Screen Memories, Maus once again welcomes all that dare enter into his all-consuming, oddball world.

The impact of his earlier existence as a jazz player also noticeably infuses tracks ‘Betelgeuse’s Endless Bamboo Oceans’ and ‘Ode to The Pleiades’, attaching another rich dimension to this record.

Lemonade is Beyoncé at her most benevolent, and her most unadulterated. Treating her blackness not as an affliction but a celebratory beacon, Lemonade is a long overdue, cathartic retribution.

‘3AM (LA LA LA)’ is Confidence Man at their raviest, their naughtiest, their most confident.

A mix that has 2017 in its pocket.

‘SABLE, fABLE’ is a record of rare beauty and hope that fits neatly into the catalogue of an outfit that has never failed to deliver something extraordinary.

It’s not easy to write an album about yourself without seeming egotistical, and it’s also not easy to write one which touches on themes of gang violence and poverty without falling into braggadocio or morbidity. On this album, Vince Staples has pulled off both. It may be a short album, but it’s an incredibly deep one.

It’s one of the most disturbing, hilarious, and unexpectedly touching records of the year.

Clairo is clearer now on who she is and who she wants to be. On ‘Sling’ there is the sense that Clairo is in flight, except this time she isn’t running away from her little ghosts. On this record she runs towards them, even dances with them a little.

The Baltimore duo have somehow gifted us their masterpiece, and though the rain outside has now stopped, new heavens have opened.

A breathless, breathtaking achievement, Chris is a fascinating, infectious, endlessly suggestive work, an ode to 80s pop bombast that uses those splinters to build and then de-construct countless glimpses of Héloïse Letissier. Somewhere in amongst these myriad of definitions is Christine And The Queens, a shape-shifting pop entity perpetually aiming for something greater.

Despite the elongated nature of its creation, Black Messiah is a fluid, confidently cool piece.... A real showcase of his incredible talent.

And so it brilliantly goes. ... These are classic Sparks moments, full of comedy, clever wordplay, deft explorations of all the myriad issues of the world, with arrangements that sound as current and fresh as a dew-soaked spring daisy.

Young Fathers possess that which makes the best British acts truly special: a singular identity born of multinational mixology.

A collage of trip-hop, screeching guitars, and anguished vocals, ‘Evangelic Girl Is A Gun’ is a truly complete project, a series of vivid portraits well worthy of their own gallery.

‘STARFACE’ has the confidence of an artist with far more renown like (dare I say!) Bowie or Prince. There isn’t much filler here, as each song leaps into 4D with a psychedelic, soulful soundscape that’ll take you to space.

With both these lyrical and sonic accomplishments, Foals have created a fine record with a very solidified sound that will be the soundtrack for the summer.

A potent debut album. Succinct yet packed with stunning detail, it refuses to take the easy way out, and that stubbornness may see Squid outstrip their peers in a head-long race towards a re-engaged future.

Smother does exactly what it suggests but with a poetic fragility and an exacting panache that enthrals and entices like never before. An essential album.

This band is having a ball, that much is plain. It’s a danceable album, upbeat in tone basically all the way through. On ‘Zero Sum’ especially, it all starts to pop off – savour the evergreen treat that is Thom Yorke being a snarky little so-and-so over a raging fucking bop. You love to see it. The slow number, ‘Tiptoe’, is absolutely gorgeous.

‘Serfs Up!’ is initially impenetrable, but persistence is rewarding as the band sucks you deeper into their tilted netherworld with each listen. It’s by far their most interesting work to date.

With a solid foundation of beats, introspective lyricism and a sharp pen at his disposal, Nas might be the only rapper to have two releases in the best albums of the 2021 conversation. Magic.

Miss Universe is an intimate record full of personal fears and emotions, but these are of wider, universal relevance. They should resonate with us all.

Subversive, non-conformist and melodious, this record has the credentials of a classic rock and roll album. The decision to take a radical approach only works for the few, the possession of ammunition that’s needed to master such a challenge is not for anyone. Fontaines D.C. have it.

An unconventional masterpiece.

What is disarming about ‘ICONOCLASTS’ then is this level of earnestness, von Hausswolff’s cutting self-exploration. Here, she doesn’t hide behind imposing aural architecture or bookish mythology (though, there’s still plenty of both). Instead, she wrestles with loss, faith, and love – mature, deeply universal themes that her earlier oeuvre sometimes obscured.

The record is the most realised and singularly minded vision yet from the Moor Mother project, a documentation of venomous rage, yes, but also one in search of a means of escape, one found through the redemptive power of community.

A sensational record, ‘for you who are the wronged’ burns with a fire though quiet is righteously undimmed; poetic, and explicitly emotional, it’s a challenging yet enriching experience.

The invisible presence of Donna Summer, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Diana Ross, and other goliaths of the so-called Motown sound is felt in every track here, in every scratch of the tape. Yet, Cottrill managed to completely rebuild these genres for herself, almost inventing a new one.

After the delicate beauty of previous albums, this is the sound of an artist unleashed.

Boarding House Reach is easily one of the most layered and compelling releases of 2018, which furthers White’s legacy as one of the few remaining mavericks in music.

An early contender for album of the year.

These songs may be scorched with an unavoidable yearning quality, but they find her standing at a new creative peak: ‘The Gypsy Faerie Queen’, co-written with Nick Cave, might rank among the best songs either have written, while ‘Born To Live’, her piano-led paean to departed lifelong friend Anita Pallenberg, speaks of our corporeal impermanence with a calm but unswervingly frank honesty.

If there are fans who aren’t into this solo album, that’s OK, you still have his 2006 ‘Solo Guitar’ album to listen to, but for those of us who are into ‘White Roses, My God’ there is plenty to engage with. Grief has never sounded so captivating.

For most of its running time, you won’t want to move anywhere, either. Maybe don’t stay that way forever, but frequent returns to Ruins in the coming years are guaranteed.

On the strength of this ballsy behemoth of sound, they're easily holding onto that crown while adding yet another shining jewel. 'Hushed And Grim' is a reminder of what makes the band so beloved while boldly stepping into a new chapter. They've never sounded so good.

Jazz-heavy, experimental but rooted in beats, Migration plays with your emotions in a way that befits a post-break up period--and is yet another fine offering from the Ninja Tune mainstay.

Fiona Apple on a career of highs might just have produced her finest work yet. An album that we will surely look to as a cultural text, with its cutting commentary of contemporary culture and its feminist narratives.

It's predictably brilliant; another display of Dear's dazzling musical imagination.

Raw artistry paired with rich heritage makes for a magnificent, spine-tingling first album for Rina Sawayama.