Not every track is as strong as ‘Black Skin Girls’. ‘The Lion King: The Gift’ showcases what Beyoncé can do at her best and most creative, yet consistency is an issue with this eclectic album.

Each song presents itself as a story-in-miniature; a perfectly crafted beginning, middle, end (albeit sometimes the artistry of the track makes the listening experience more middle, end, beginning).

It is a very enjoyable, incomparable album, with moments of extraordinary depth.

The first four tracks and ‘Take It Back’ are some of his strongest so far. It’s a gratifying epilogue to last year’s effort. He’s clearly sitting on a lot of good stuff, which we’ll have to hear soon.

It’s a worthy project, one that demonstrates to the listener just how much METZ crushed from day one before reminding them that they haven’t stopped crushing it since.

Designed as much for the dance floor as smoke-filled bedrooms, this album is a window into the mind of a producer refusing to be defined by, or reduced to, a singular style.

Overall, No 6 Collaborations Project is an eclectic mix of songs, some familiar, some forgotten after the first listen and some deeply impactful.

This record is about living, even as it is shaped by loss. They make the tiny changes, as the grieving do. Re-frame what is left, and keep him alive within.

III is definitely a progression for her as an artist. The more upbeat tracks are interspersed among softer, more delicate, heartfelt ones that represent the duality of her personality and also increase its replay value.

The album as a whole is smooth, straightforward, and well-ordered, and bears lyrics that are an ode to both Goswell’s and Clarke’s musical genius.

Some of the tracks are so light and delicate, you worry they might blow away in the breeze. But the pace occasionally picks up, as on ‘Highway Blue’ which whistles along on a jaunty groove, while a punchy horn section on ‘Good Ol Night’ adds further colour.

GoldLink refuses to be one-dimensional here, offering up his dynamic and improved flow, as well as the vulnerability and edgy appeal that bubbles up throughout this project.

The process seemingly thrived on capturing ideas when they were half-finished, and this ruptured, fragmented approach gives ANIMA its character--tearing down productions, reigniting processes, this is a wild, careering feast of sound.

Madlib continues to provide the backing that allows Freddie Gibbs to shine, choosing to predominantly stick to slower, authentically instrumental led soundscapes across the LP.

With a low-fi high-five feel, The Black Keys appear to gentrify the rock’n’roll rodeo with an album of carefully poised tunes adhering to the rock-pop formula they spent their golden years trying to avoid.

The album’s snappy 10 track run-list positively invites further plays, perpetuating this desire to keep the cycle going.

Everything about it works, from the lo-fi artwork, to the lingering samples, measured basslines and sedate beats, but there is a feeling of urgency and gravity to these tracks.

Whilst the album could do without a cover of Billy Joel's ‘Just The Way You Are’, it doesn't detract from the overall feeling of warmth threading through this project.

An arresting, astonishing experience, Schlagenheim is a vital, stunning, puzzling album, one that demands to be heard.

Shea Butter Baby manages to meld contemporary R&B with other sounds like soul, funk, and blues, all while introducing us to the Ari Lennox of today – and the inspirations that guide her every move.

Picking up exactly where they left off, The Raconteurs’ denim-clad early ‘70s reference points are in check, delivered in gleeful, exuberant, electrifying fashion.

Ronson’s ability to tap into each artist’s strengths and dig out their particular prowess allows each voice to shine through and own each individual track. This is what elevates the record to a guaranteed award winner and a truly empowering listen.

The result is their lushest sounding project yet.

Jinx isn’t really a narrative anyway, more a fine assemblage in which a slightly eldritch weirdness is balanced with pop nous. It certainly feels like Crumb are on the cusp of something here.

The three piece are as creative and alluring than ever before, and it solidifies the band’s place at the top of their game. Through wide-eyed vulnerability and reflective song writing, False Alarm is a game-changing record for the future of indie-rock.

Even as the production’s impact dips in the midst of playtime, when the final note of ‘The Seed’ plays what’s left in one’s memory is only the good, and for that Aurora’s latest album succeeds.

While it isn’t as immediate as ‘Everybody Down’ or as viscerally brutal as ‘Brand New Ancients’, there is a new maturity here. Tempest is baring her soul, and scars, for the world to see – she doesn’t need to rage to get her point across. There is a powerful understatement to this album that yields more secrets with every listen.

Nostalgic, melancholic, worrisome and finally joyful, Doom Days is a production that leaves you with optimism for a better tomorrow.

Experimental production combines with soulful pop here, as we see Jordan Rakei is at his brightest and boldest.

Madame X isn’t just an album (if it is that at all) – it’s an opera, or a comedy of errors. It’ll make you feel confusion, frustration, happiness and maybe joy, but it will definitely make you feel.

Western Stars is an understated triumph, righting the wrongs of his last few releases and more than emphasises the fact that Springsteen is still brilliant enough to be invested in.

A return to a more DIY approach delivers plentiful psychedelic sounds and heady hooks, emanating joyful warmth in spite of a seething thread of cynicism amid troubling political times.

With plenty to digest, there’s no lack of ideas, if maybe a lack of focus. Stripping this back to a leaner, focused synth set might have injected a bit more punch. That said, Office Politics finds the underrated genius as acerbic and creatively inspired as ever.

The end result is a rewardingly eclectic mix, if not slightly discombobulating.

ZUU is an experience that transports the listener to a specific time and place. ZUU is further proof that Denzel Curry is one of hip-hop's most interesting and progressive MCs.

On Ignorance Is Bliss, Skepta is back with a renewed hunger and sense of purpose, overcoming a new set of challenges and proving once again why he is a grime mainstay.

Sacred Paws feel like they have figured out how people listen to music ie. as part of playlists rather than albums, and have set out to write a collection of songs that will fit perfectly into the popular picks in your three minute indie summery vibe playlist, a place where a fair few will nestle in nicely.

Right now it sits near the top of 2019’s jazz releases. However, if things continue in this fashion it might not even make the top ten by the end of the year, which is an exciting prospect to say the least.

The ambition behind Apollo XXI was already easily perceptible on singles like ‘Playground’, whose energy could best be termed ‘Yung Prince’, and becomes clearer still over the course of its other 11 songs.

Sule Skerry is a hymn to the sea, and it certainly feels that way in places: there’s a gentle ebb and flow to its ambient pieces which rarely threaten storm’s break, save perhaps the more urgent arpeggios of ‘Lump O’ Sea’.

Diviner is a brave album and Thorpe should be commended for it. It challenges what masculinity should be and that you don’t have to shout to get your message across.

Not without its faults, In Plain Sight sees Honeyblood explore new avenues and break-out of any box they were previously placed in, with a genre-less collection of honest, futuristic-sounding songs.

More than once, in fact, the album surprises with moments of rock gusto. Wilson’s trademark balladry is still in full force, but musically this is a much rawer affair than anything previous album ‘There Are No Saints’ could have foretold.

High doses of intricacy and complexity are contained on Reward. It is a record that signals an attempt to find and hold on to meaning in life. Intimate and personal, it is also one where mumbling is the order of the day, and where a lack of clarity is desired, intended and legit.

Amyl and the Sniffers is a thumping, screaming, wailing magnet for misfits, losers, and outcasts, a clarion call for rejects and mis-shapes that is also an obscenely, outrageously good time.

Flamagra reminds us just how good Flying Lotus sounds when soundtracking transcendence.

An odd but beautiful and often remarkable album, Atlanta Millionaires Club has a depth of feeling that is difficult to shake off. Material that evidently emerged from a dark point in her life, this should represent the point Faye Webster steps out into the light.

Rammstein have resurrected to bring us their seventh studio album. And boy is it the record we’ve all been waiting for.

Third Avenue feels like a transitional project for Fredo, from his grittier street mixtapes to hopefully something more expansive. His inability to escape from his street-focused comfort zone is sometimes frustrating, especially when the project improves after he opens up later on in the album. But he gives us glimpses of a great project further down the line.

This compelling and provocative record is a haunting echo of a seemingly hopeless vignette of Britain today, where slowthai offers the slightest glimmer of optimism for a potentially brighter future.

The trademark visceral beats, scathing lyrics and the general feeling of anger and aggression that peppered his previous albums have been replaced with slower beats and irresistible soul hooks. At first this change in tone, and pace, is jarring and you are waiting for it to kick off, but as the album progresses you get into it and dig this new Tyler.

With new voices, new avenues of exploration and new lyrical viewpoints, The National, alongside producer-director Mike Mills, once again show their ability to reinvent themselves to produce something that is more than just an album.

The album has immense scale, wonderfully indulgent soundscapes and limitless sing-alongs.

Dedicated is a joyride of anthemic melodies and fist-pumping bangers that see Jepsen at the top of her game. Revolving in a shimmering cloud of ‘80s synth, bouncy bass and progressive percussion, she has certified herself as a serious contender in the pop arena.

The album is full of anticipation. At times it’s ugly and overblown. But it’s a collective vision, one that reflects back on our own inputs into the dataset as well as at our folk stories of survival and resistance.

Through seeking comfort in the analogue, HÆLOS are breaking rich, new ground.

At first listen the slower pace may not appeal to everybody, and that’s fine, but at a time where everything seems so unsettled, it works great as a listenable stress ball.

Emotion and passion are apparent in every word, key and chord throughout this project, boldly asserting Jamila’s second offering as a brilliant new addition to her own legacy, rather than a mere follow up to 2016’s ‘HEAVN’.

YU is a swagger drenched, masterful treatise from a woman with a new perspective, new weapons, and the confidence to use them.

As a whole Hurts 2B Human is not perfect. It is full of emotion and passion in certain parts, and yet devoid of it in others.

An absorbing, mystical voyage that lingers in the memory long after morning has broken and the celestial observer has vanished.

His lyrics are blunt yet honest, taking personal demons and harnessing them to stadium-ready anthems like ‘Anxiety’ and ‘Angel Wings’, all the while avoiding self-parody.

As a collection, Father of the Bride holds together remarkably well. This is not some grand tome where these indie vets try and break new sonic territory every track for better or worse. Here we see a bunch of thirty-somethings letting go of some past anxieties and leaning into newfound securities. It's a relaxed record happily borrowing from the modern American songbook, a little Fleetwood Mac here, a little Paul Simon there.

Designer is a striking return, pursuing solitary aesthetic goals in a fashion both unrelenting and admirable. It perhaps lacks a little of the indefinable magic that made 2017’s ‘Party’ such a gripping experience, but in its ability to conjure bold, riveting songwriting it underlines Aldous Harding’s position as a truly remarkable artist.

Love is where the album falls short of delivering--containing most of the pre-release singles and the mainstream Clean Bandit collaboration ‘Baby’--there are few moments where it feels like the signature Marina. ... The Fear half of the album is riddled with concern and confusion about life itself and the darker emotions that come with it. Opener ‘Believe In Love’ sits near the top of Marina’s most captivating songs.

The heart of the matter on this record carries so much weight and substance, but it is presented in light playful ways and therein lies its appeal and beauty. It has light and shade.

The most impressive thing about In League With Dragons is that it’s the 17th Mountain Goats album, and Darnielle shows no signs of running on empty. This is an album that should excite existing fans of the band. ... It also works well as a gateway for new fans as the songs are catchy, the music is well balanced and when the band hit that sweet groove its glorious.

In an age of hostile austerity manufactured by moral panic-inducing powers, Ezra Collective’s debut effort is a polyrhythmic balm for disillusioned youth seeking a dose of musical dopamine.

Oh My God is Kevin Morby’s attempt at crafting his own post-modern American Songbook. The sound of a succinct vision--executed precisely as intended.

Allowing each artist to dominate the tracks in their own way, Girl Unit has curated a project so personal and progressive it’s no wonder he’s made us wait so long.

An album pieced together by a band in mourning, with the sweet sadness of O'Riordan‘s voice layered over, makes it cruder, rawer yet ultimately more truthful and hard-hitting, evoking the charged vulnerability of their very first releases.

Blood is a work that speaks for itself, an album that’s boundless, and restlessly pursues the ideas of its creator.

She’s now surpassed [her debut release] on its follow up Grim Town, which continues the themes of her debut, but with a new emotional growth.

A valiant and partly successful attempt from K-pop’s biggest band to move forward in their music. While they undeniably remain a success, the recycled sonics and multiple references to past music makes it hard for old listeners to let go of past glory and for the new to connect with their current music.

It is a tremendous debut and the quality is beyond question.

He’s managed to successfully replicate the feeling of genuine emotion and human connection that drew listeners to him and his music on his first album, with his second likely to be just as prosperous.

Offering up a mix of pop, hip-hop, R&B and a sprinkling of trap and neo soul for good measure, Lizzo covers all bases and serves the perfect introduction to her world for mainstream audiences.

This album won’t please the fans who wanted ‘Malibu’ again because, simply put, it isn’t. But for those who are excited by an artist unafraid to reinvent and experiment, then look no further.

‘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.

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.

Dublin in the rain belongs to Fontaines D.C., and rather than being too real this album is just right, it is a ragged delivery. The trick lies in the seemingly un-filtered rawness combined with its stark poetic reality. The three components help secure this album’s position as an example of authenticity; authenticity in its most concentrated and truest form and expression.

Three decades after forming, hitting the reset button has unleashed this iconic duo afresh, demonstrating an insatiable ability to forge the perfect dance track, whatever the era. Go get your rave on.

At times this record appears confused and lackluster but its solid moments show GIRLI’s capability at being a rebellious and riotous pop star--qualities that were so prominent on her early singles.

Dusty Notes is an easy listen, but a Meat Puppets album shouldn’t be easy--it should be a hot mess. Somewhere along the way the Kirkwood brothers lost the ramshackle charm that made them everyone’s favourite musician’s favourite musician.

Bold, immersive, and not easy to pin down, Interview Music affords Idlewild the space to find renewal in new ideas, a record driven by conviction, collaboration and the urge towards communication.

With Love Keeps Kicking Martha have delivered 11 brilliant sketches on modern life and all the bullshit that comes with it. Sure, some days are hard, but there's still plenty to celebrate. Like an old mate lending a sympathetic ear, it's a record that helps remind you we're all in this together.

Titanic Rising harnesses convention and refashions it into something singular. At once a document of this “wild time to be alive” and an escape from it, it’s often remarkably good.

It's a more mature record, one that keeps the energy of its predecessor and filters it through new sonic filters. Thanks to its subtle mix of styles there's a timeless quality, the sound of freethinkers finding their feet in a very weird time. Get on it.

Cosmic Wind still manages to set a mood, languorous and lush, perfect on a capital’s rooftop, cocktail in hand, the last sunrays hitting perfectly. But you can all too easily imagine this slotting into some Spotify algorithm, a mood playlist titled “Summer Vibezz”.

This is space tourism, flying first class.

What Peck provides on Pony is music framed in that mould, and in doing so offers a brilliant palate cleanser to the vast majority of overblown, raucous and vapid compositions that have taken over the genre over the course of the last three decades or so.

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is a brave and fortuitous debut album from the LA teen, capturing the hopes, fears and vulnerabilities of an entire generation. The genius in this record is its unaffected relatability.

Badbea is a key part in Edwyn Collins’ remarkable solo career, one that has defied critics and doctors to wilfully do its own thing. A rich, vastly creative experience, it’s a further sign that Edwyn’s work remains something to treasure.

The lush arrangements highlight his sophistication as a songwriter--‘Impossible’ comes on like ABBA gone synthwave--if sometimes verging towards the saccharine with repeated exposure. Yet this latest collection finds C Duncan in rude health.

Whilst for the most part this jam-session approach results in captivating instrumentals and intriguing points of sonic experimentation, at times it can become rather muddled, confusing and drawn-out.

The Road is at once the antithesis of quick-fire culture and the very embodiment of it: a mixtape, picking and choosing the best bits and distilling them into one heady brew. Bring on Part III.

Live in London see as duo with chemistry stronger than ever. Let's just hope their busy schedules make room for the long-rumoured movie. If their past work is anything to go on, it will be gold.

In these trying times, it’d benefit from being a whole lot more confrontational.