On ‘Irreversible,’ Brigitte Calls Me Baby has emerged with a maturity that encapsulates the timelessness they have been honing all along.

While one of her least immediate records, it stands as one of her most rewarding.

The rawness to his vocals add grit to a sound definitely polished, but not sanitised. ‘Some Nights I Dream of Doors’ may shed the crudity that helped build intrigue around Obongjayar, but there’s enough here to excite the faithfuls and attract new members to ‘OB Dream Corp’.

The sound of a band pushing forwards, ‘Endless Arcade’ points to a bright future for a much-loved institution.

This marvellous studio-recorded successor [to his debut album] is more expansive but no less affecting.

It is captivating. What is more, we’re listening to every note and hanging on every word.

Rich, warm and deeply immersive, ‘Datura’ is brooding proof of a band refined.

An engaging album devoid of stagnancy.

Sheer, unabashed stadium sonics delivered with a heart of gold, ‘Imploding The Mirage’ finds The Killers providing one of the biggest – in both a sonic and emotional sense – albums of their career. It’s a propulsive achievement, pushing their songwriting to the limit in a thrilling, Devil-may-care manner.

For those who weren’t able to attend or for those who wanted a cheeky throwback to watching the gig that night, ‘blur Live at Wembley Stadium’ is an exhilarating celebration of the band’s barnstorming gig on the Sunday night.

The result is an album of intimacy, introspection and incredible beauty; a communion with the sands.

No one has travelled further than the band themselves. Yet it’s a journey worth savouring, with the renewed duo seemingly capable of soaking up all that life can throw at them.

Beginning and ending on a high note, Hardwired miraculously leaves the listener hungry for more, following an all-out binge on some of Metallica’s strongest work since 1991.

On the surface, a hyperpop post-punk album should never work. But somehow, by some distorted miracle, Courting pulls it off – in the best way imaginable. In a landscape of so many albums regurgitating overbaked sounds, Courting have redefined guitar music. Instead of using the guitar as a songwriting tool, they use it as a weapon.

This is an album about growth, however messy and non-linear it may be.

Analog Africa has created a compilation that’s less esoteric than some previous releases and more focused feeling. It’s a fascinating time capsule into not only the artists and studios of the time but the cities themselves and the Congolese spirit as a whole—another must-buy for those who get a kick of uncovering long-lost musical treasures.

Futurology is the Manics doing what they do best, with added Krautrock, Georgia Ruth and Green Gartside.

A strutting, assured 42 minutes of funky indie-pop indulgence born out of the ashes of a pretty stagnant indie rock band. Proof everyone deserves a second-chance.

Undoubtedly their best record to date, it finds Palace asserting themselves in ways they’ve always suggested were possible.

Despite the dark aesthetic of ‘Reborn’, the album shines bright with promise for the futuristic vista of Kavinsky.

Despite the more upbeat sound to 'Bite Mark' TRAAMS ensure they still pack enough punch to really sink their teeth into their slightly frenzied and disheveled (but completely hooked) listeners.

Succinct yet packed with information, ‘Now Would Be A Good Time’ finds three musicians who are bold enough to let the pieces fall where they may. Folk Bitch Trio refuse to over-think the arrangements, and this lends their music an understated intensity.

An endlessly engrossing record.

A vital, thrilling affair, it ranks amongst the best of his solo work.

Snotty, minimal, sparky; so much more than worth the wait. [Jun 2024, p.81]

These are gloriously creative songs.

The result defies expectations in the best possible way.

There’s a lot to like about this summer soundtrack packed to the left of your luggage.

The biting nostalgia of middle age runs throughout the lyrics and the band’s desire to produce something akin to ‘Automatic For The People’ is largely fulfilled.

This is a record that showcases Tyler, the Creator’s continued refusal to be caged in by any set sound or genre, with references to his earlier style alongside tracks that sound completely new. Defying expectations, Tyler, the Creator continues to rise.

These 10 tracks comprise a head-and-shoulders-above collection that immediately imprints itself as one of the best hip-hop records of 2013 so far.

The end product is another outstanding record, executed with fearlessness and grace.

As Herbie Hancock so rightly put it, “jazz is about being in the moment” and jazz weaves through Nubya Garcia’s ‘Odyssey’. So, press play and sit back – close your eyes and soak it in.

Sleigh Bells' novelty though, lies in a tingling barrage of granular guitar distortion and overdriven, over-compressed girl-pop squall.

The strengths of My Name Is My Name vastly outweigh its minor faults, and Pusha’s studio debut finds itself easily nestled into the year’s top five rap releases.

Don't be surprised if Ghostpoet is on Mercury minds once more with this excellent effort.

This mini album sees Wire once again looking askance at modernity via cryptic cynicism, bassist Graham Lewis's obtuse lyrics reaching new levels of vexatious impenetrability.

A bold work of evolution, ‘EVERYBODY CAN’T GO’ utilises some fantastic production – notably from Hit-Boy – to piece together a seamless record, one that hauls his sound forwards into a fresh era.

Slender and carefully defined, it’s the work of someone unafraid to take chances – it’s good to have him back.

Le Bon’s finest moments bypass rational analysis in favour of radiant gestures. We should welcome them during these colder days.

Concise and packed with intention, SLAYYYYTER’s new album is forceful and focussed.

This is music that stretches from the decaying rain-lashed estates of their home to the stars.

A record that focuses on fleeting glimpses, on liminal evenings and burgeoning mornings, it’s imbued with sublime melodic flair and a lingering atmosphere that echoes after the final note has been plucked gracefully from Bibio’s well-served guitar.

It’s a record stacked with an adeptness of touch from a production standpoint, a modern tapestry that weaves in and out of genres defined by black artists of past.

With the success of his previous albums, Apollo could have easily stayed in the mainstream bedroom-pop genre, but the vulnerability and experimentation displayed on this album makes for an impressive, mature step forward in his career.

It's classic Americana rock at its best, combining musical echoes of Springsteen and Dylan but crafted with a poet's eye for detail. Dreamy, infectious, and full of hope. A powerful antidote to all those who say the best days of American classic rock are well over.

The final result is a debut album brimming with confidence, confidence not only in Lipa’s own voice and her eye for a chorus, but in the emotive quality of her lyrics.

‘How Did I Get Here?’ finds its strength in cohesion, shaped by an artist confident enough to sit with complexity rather than rush toward resolution, and who understands that growth can be quiet, deliberate, and deeply personal.

He might ramble sometimes, but his ramblings are like the songs of angels.

Snõõper have succeeded in creating an album that celebrates the joy of live music, while not sacrificing any of their energy, originality or fun in the process.

Tycho never loses sight of what he is known for: the skillful mastery of crafting brilliant ambient soundscapes from bare computer programs. And believe it or not, his sound here is that much more captivating.

Fans of Depeche Mode can be happy to receive the band’s best offering of this century (though don’t get it twisted, ‘Playing The Angel’ is still a great record) but it’s unlikely they’ll change the minds of non-listeners, as foolish as such people are. The same ground is tread here, just in new shoes.

Unified and complex, ‘Octane’ bolsters the aspects that drove him to Billboard heights, while also teasing out fresh ideas.

A radiant and eminently danceable album, it’s a necessary salve to put on this year.

It’s great fun, and clearly a Bay Area attempt at the big league. Like hip-hop used to sound. Praise be.

2009 has seen the emergence and critical success of other techno-pop bands, including The xx and Fever Ray, and Pantha du Prince plays into exactly this sort of intelligent, thoughtful, and in many ways uplifting music.

Sonically and lyrically, Shura is at her most urgent and incisive.

This album is purposely ambiguous. By omitting such boundaries, it offers a storyline recognisable to everyone. Love is universal!

With ‘The Spiral’ acting as a key moment, a fusion of individual voice and collective endeavour, it’s clear that his journey has only just started.

The focus from all concerned makes the convincingly grisly fiction a lot of fun.

This open-ended offering brilliantly entices you to extrapolate meaning from it, to attach it to a time and space before letting it fully unfurl.

There are no bounds. ‘Exotico’ let’s go of control, so remarkable things can happen. It’s the closest Temples have been to releasing a masterpiece, and that’s saying something.

Romare sets out to bring in elements of his distinct sound from across his career always combining it with something fresh and invigorating. The fact that all of these elements come together into such an approachable and restrained album is quite impressive.

A striking, fantastically original work, this is an album that taps into animalistic emotion.

One of the songwriter’s most overtly gorgeous works, it finds Panda Bear easing into new ground while maintaining his near effortless melodic touch.

Expectations for CMAT’s second album were sky-high, but she’s managed to reach new musical heights with ease and style. ‘Crazymad, For Me’ is another smash hit from a showstopper vocalist that really puts the fun back in pop music.

As You As You Were already feels like a festival anthem in waiting. Stunningly good music.

UNIVERSITY have given us themselves on their debut album, and we thank them for the glorious noise, chaos, mayhem and moments of calm which takes us to another world completely.

Taught and lean, bold and mean, Blood Red Shoes are fighting fit and Fire Like This might just be their knock-out punch.

The Murder Capital offer authenticity, honesty and truth aplenty, it has already become difficult, if not impossible, to imagine a vibrant music scene without them and there is a sense that this album is only the beginning of their compulsive journey.

‘Belong’ has an easy-on-ear feel that is combined to a rich audio quality. But it’s more than just studio magic – Jay Som has rarely written with more confidence, rarely expressed herself with more bravery.

Life is about growth, and with this bold, brave project Loski matures as both an artist and a man.

Woolford fends off critics of unoriginality by contributing to/completing bass music’s circle of life. Good tidings of Thunder and Joy.

Seven deeply moving songs teetering deliciously on the brink of collapse. It was a long time in the making, but now, at the age of 27, Minus feels alarmingly close to the album Blumberg was always supposed to write.

Boasting 17 tracks and 78 minutes of music, ‘STAR LINE’ is a feast from start to finish. A record that points to his breadth, certain aspects – the torpid ‘Tree’ featuring an out-of-form Lil Wayne – don’t quite resonate. That’s fine, though: there’s more than enough here to drown out the noise.

If there’s a lack of truly revelatory alternative takes, then Anthology 4 makes up for this by shining a light on The Beatles as people, and as studio musicians.

Viagra Boys have a deep well of emotional intelligence hidden underneath their aggressively ignorant façade.

Albarn on Britain is a proven formula, but Simonon, Allen and Simon Tong combine to craft curious twenty-first century folk about curious twenty-first century folk.

There is a ‘fine line’ between plain pop music and good pop music that’s interesting to listen to. On this album, Harry Styles definitely falls into the latter category.

There’s an unpredictable feeling to the way a lot of the songs unfurl and from a purely musical standpoint, they’ve never sounded more confident or finely tuned as a unit.

There’s a stunning candour to the lyrics, though it gets a little stodgy in the mid-section and, at 80+ minutes, is a little more verbiage than the typical album. Yet we’re dealing with an untypical songwriter, and the last two tracks are among the best he’s ever written.

These sounds are heavier and Miller flows naturally in this element.

There are times when the producers’ imaginations seem to be tearing at the seams a little, pulling as they are in so many different directions at once. But these are minor critiques in an album which does so much so successfully, and whose ambitions soar so high above so many of its influences, that it more than makes up for the four-year wait.

Almost every track on ‘Magdalene’ is built upwards from a simple piano line, hammering home the impression of someone delicately yet decisively knitting themselves back together after coming undone.

All the changes made to beloved tracks like ‘You Belong With Me’ and ‘Love Story’, simply make them shinier. Throughout the whole album, banjos are crisper, guitars are fuller, drums are heavier, and Taylor’s strong 31-year-old voice leads the music. Clearly taking care to not step over her 19-year-old self, all the changes feel totally natural, like they should’ve been that way to start with.

‘Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 2023’ might not appeal to many non-fans of this shirtless icon, but what it does provide is proof that you can A) Still sound ridiculously vital and feral in your 70s and B) that one James Newell Osterberg Jr. aka Iggy Pop was bringing his a-game right till the end. Look no further if you’re looking for a slab of good old-fashioned, authority-hating, boredom-detesting noise to start your 2025.

Starmaker is a joy from start to finish. Together, each song on this debut album supports Honey Harper’s ambition to bring his cosmic country into a wider setting and he does it with currency and aesthetics.

Pleasingly self-referential, ‘Household Name’ is a joyous selection, a record that melds together its alt-rock influences to locate a distinctive voice, pitting intricate instrumentation against some killer pop hooks. Looks like we may just have found our summer soundtrack.

The disorientating utopian ride you take when listening to this album in full will no doubt bring you glee, and maybe some weird dreams if you think about being a prawn too much.

He seems to explore his craft, experimenting with electronic instruments throughout each track, yet stays close to home.

‘C O S M’ is the first dramatic reduction in pace, but proves to be only temporary respite, as the album’s second half builds to a glorious finale. Hopkins remains in ascension, and no one is on his level right now.

It probably won’t satisfy those who still yearn for a return to their ‘90s alt-rock beginnings but it’s a good starting point for newcomers. For the rest of us though, what this all amounts to, in the end, is another fantastic Radiohead album.

The concept of ‘Cottilions’ definitely deserves some applause. It’s a big, brave project for anyone to take on, and rather than disappoint or fail, it impresses, and in some places, it shines.

Having listened from beginning to end scores of times, it always retains its singular charm.

Without it being a slight on Wood’s performance, it also adds to a beneficiary mix of vocal viewpoints, aimed at tightening the Orchestra’s hold over main stages and secret, more intimate tents out back.

Dutch Interior’s new album lives up to the hype that surrounds them in a wonderful blend of country, folk, grunge and so much more. It’s hard to categorise them but there is a thrill in seeing such an ambitious debut that lands its audacious swings.

Another ambitious statement from a band that has made a habit of reinventing themselves at every stage, while still, somehow, sounding uniquely like Liars.

Bolt on an undeniably zealous execution, a set of simple yet well-written songs, add an element of confident adventure via some experimentation and diversity and the rebirth of indie may just have found its leading protagonists.