With this new album Wallace proves himself as a complex and multifaceted producer and this makes us even more excited to see what he’ll come out with next.

A record that raises as many smiles as it does questions, The Courtneys channel more wit, fun, humour, and intelligence into The Courtneys II than most bands manage in their entire discography. Go seek it out.

It’s about love and life and happiness and positivity without being the slightest bit sloppy. It’s the perfect accompaniment to bashing away the January blues and starting 2015 with a smile on your face.

Confident, strident guitar music, it’s a record that blends hugely effective songwriting with wicked production values, granting their work a crisp 90s-adjacent sheen that refuses to sacrifice their raw live endeavours.

They know how to tackle them [cover songs], so they still sound as vibrant and exciting as the original but add that something extra so they sound, and feel, like a Xiu Xiu song.

This is a gem of an album. Personal, honest and highly emotive, it tackles big questions; but most of all, it dares to be vulnerable.

Eurgh! is, dare we say, unashamedly millennial, and implicit in its pissed-off puerility. This is why it triumphs, because there’s no room for subtlety in times like these.

The result of two years of head-down studio time, the Brighton-based producer has laced this debut with heart-racing drums that trip over each other and dark-hued synth rollers.

It's impossible to shake the notion that here is an album that might just prove to have longevity--to be a loved collection of stunningly written and presented pop songs.

It all adds up to a set of hallucinogenic songs that sound like they were spat out of another dimension. A truly special record from a band you need to keep your eye on.

Yet American Football sounds like nothing that’s come in the last 16 years, or the last two for that matter.

Our Love is a record that feels distinctly his own, accessible yet containing minute touches that you’ll need to listen to many times to appreciate.

Belief is a truly remarkable record; hermetic and idiosyncratic, the work of a stubborn maverick pursuing his own lone path.

A tense but rewarding debut--one that fits in nicely with the Clinic canon, while also giving Sherwood a starring role.

Big Fish Theory is a record that not only sees Vince taking risks and progressing forward as an artist, but also another astounding example of what hip-hop should and can be in 2017.

Youth is full of uncertainty, but one thing’s for sure: this four-piece have an impressive body of work to share with you.

Engrossing, dark and irresistible, ‘Stray’ is a grandiose effort from an adventurous group, who just keep getting better all the time. Bambara remain a genuine force.

Inji is a good album. It's one of the best albums to have been released this year, which says a lot about Dust's ability as a composer.

Everybody’s Everything is a well-rounded tribute showcasing every aspect of Lil Peep. Not only highlighting an upsetting loss in the music industry but setting the bar for emo-trap; a sound that can often come across as gimmicky, this album exceeds our expectations and is a righteous example of Lil Peep’s art.

Bleeds isn’t a flawless album, but it is diverse and imaginative.

The lack of pristine sound quality also gives the songs something they might have otherwise lost. They, and Neil Young himself, sound more vulnerable. I’ve never heard ‘Ambulance Blues’ sound so urgent. Which, considering some of the other songs, is very impressive.

While no single track quite matches Four Tet's 'Love Cry', it's as good overall as his contemporary's recent 'There Is Love In You'.

The long-time drummer may be walking hesitantly into the spotlight, but the record carries a softly-spoken sense of confidence. An enriching song cycle, we sincerely hope this is only the start.

HWTD has dug himself a neat, little songbird alcove and it's one only he can reach.

While it’d be difficult to proclaim it her finest work, ‘She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She’ is certainly Wolfe’s most ambitious and careful-constructed album. Deliciously-dramatic in its nocturnal flair, it cracks open a whole new set of tantalising sonic possibilities for Wolfe’s and her collaborators’ future.

Richly melodic and possessing a classicist pop sensibility, this is rock music with soul.

An album with novelistic depth, when ‘30’ turns once more for its London-rooted conclusion, Adele seems to reach a new level in her stratospheric career.

Ash serves as a stirring, reflective statement in uncertain times. Russell’s production throughout is outstanding too.

The album title ‘Transparent Things’ proves cohesive with its contents; storytelling lyrics that on their surface level fixate the listener before drawing them to see through Ford’s fictional-narrative muses and reflect on their compatibilities with them, all against the back drop of a strong indie-rock soundtrack.

Greep’s love of music – from Brazilian legends Egberto Gismonti and Naná Vasconcelos to the avant-rock ventures of his former band and Brixton brethren – strikes out of the album with an incredible force.

This is an impressive and well-rounded collection of work from the hard-working Australians.

Intense and claustrophobic, it's a surprisingly revelatory record that captures the highs and lows of human experience and existence.

Twilight techno at its most haunted.

This is the sound of a questing spirit pushing at the parameters of unlimited freedom, a hand reaching out to grasp infinity and not falling far short.

‘Different Kinds Of Light’ shows Bird navigating melody and emotion with impressive command, a musician in all senses of the word. Continuing to colour outside the lines on future material could make Bird a household name for years to come.

Made on an iPad during the band's autumn tour of America, this hastily constructed, bleepy sketchbook of a record is a delight.

Authoritatively potent, bitterly bleak and beautiful, this record is an unexpected but essential punch in the face.

Ultimately, ‘Midnight Sun’ is Zara Larsson honing in on what she does best with laser focus: starry-eyed, joyous Scandi-pop built to ignite dancefloors as easily as festival sing-alongs.

As an ode to the pleasures of the dancefloor, Kylie has delivered her most unashamedly fun record in almost a decade.

You might think punk bands berating the patriarchy is uninspired, but The Spook School do so with spirit, vibrancy and clever honesty, demonstrating how candid discussions of gender and sexuality in pop culture is still worryingly subversive.

If it’s a stopgap between albums, so be it, but I’d wager Blue And Lonesome will stand out as more honest, more rousing and more representative of The Rolling Stones as septuagenarians than anything that might follow.

Neil Young is also isn’t accompanied by anyone. He’s just has his guitar between himself and the audience. Its wonderful to hear. And this is why ‘Royce Hall 1971’ is a remarkable album. Yes, we’ve heard all the songs before, but not quite like this.

A songwriter who would thrive in any setting, his work thrives due to its simple poetry and emotional impact. A love letter to another time, ‘Promenade Blue’ is also resolutely, unashamedly now.

It’s a more grounded and less airbrushed exploration of identity than we might be used to from Hannah Diamond, but one that counteracts an era increasingly obsessed with the perfect image and the false promise of forever.

A powerful album, confirming Home Video as another exquisite offering from Lucy Dacus.

For Smith, though, she doesn’t need loud dynamics in order to submerge the listener; and for much of her latest record the command of her machines is such that the mind is easily able to wander, and forget that they’re there at all.

Melodic, melancholic, at moments almost celestial, it's simply stunning work.

That the new Daphne & Celeste album is not just good, but great may seem absurd, but that’s the only way to describe it. It’s full of moments of sublime pop genius, thrilling electronica, unexpected warmth, DGAF attitude and good humour.

It doesn’t disappoint. Unapologetically heavy, with some spell-binding riffs and addictive hooks, ‘Below’ takes us across twelve gritty tunes all reflective of the turbulence of fourteen months spent in isolation.

Stimulating, surprising and supreme, ‘The Glow’ is a remarkable outcome, a place where guitars receive as warm a reception as sequencing, drum looping and synths.

‘Ramona Park…’ was a bravura work of therapy, a rap bildungsroman that crafted an entire world. More insular, ‘Dark Times’ is in many ways less accessible; that said, it refuses to let the quality dim, it’s endless stream of ideas enticing and perplexing in equal fashion. In emphatic style, rap’s foremost outlier demands your attention all over again.

If you’re after blunted beats and wordplay that reaffirms your belief in rap as urban folk music, then you’re in for a shock. But for anyone looking for a mind-expanding trip to the outer edges of the solar system, these rap futurists are your guides.

A hugely effective partnership, Curren$y’s raps – weed, women, the trappings of fame – don’t dwell on subtlety, but it’s the manner in which they are presented that affords ‘Continuance’ its depth.

A young super-group who are growing at a fast pace, their third album is glorious, ambitious and fulfilling, and it can take the band to new places and...loving spaces.

The Magic Gang’s debut is all you could wish for. ... Though it’s been a long time coming, The Magic Gang is still an ambitious release, that offers hopefulness and heartbreak in a 60s tinged wrapping.

'Your Hero Is Not Dead' is essential listening for anyone at odds with themselves or the current state of society, which really should be just about everyone at this point.

With fluidity and ease aplenty, the ten songs on ‘The Universal Want’ render a soulful, elevated journey visiting outer and inner locations, providing the listener with a sense of fulfilment.

Alternative Light Source is a worthy successor to 'Rhythm & Stealth', not as sparse or hard hitting but brimming with energy, ideas and familiar Leftfield diaphragm-rattling bass.

His incorporation of lo-fi house and cosmic techno uplifts through the smallest dosage, and induces a powerful stupor until you're out the other side, perching on a Balearic mountaintop.

Warm On A Cold Night is essentially a pick-up line delivered in Andy’s charmingly unfinished croak, wrapped in sensual synths and slick basslines.

Even what Jordan already excelled at – her vocal and lyrical expression, as well as her skill with guitar –does not stagnate, resulting in a fantastic example of how a second album should be.

Distinct from his 2022 debut ‘Rave & Roses’, this feels uncompromising, and new. ‘HEIS’ is the work of an artist emboldened, and undimmed.

‘Covers’ feels refreshing and invigorated.

Blending elements of footwork, noise, broken beat, neo-classical and experimental, the Indiana artist has crafted the sound of a far out utopia, inhabited with fear, euphoria, bliss and anxiety.

Revenge is Sweet almost feels like a compilation full of singles – quite a few tracks are Top 10 contenders – and it’s a welcome return for a pair of South London’s finest.

As a document of four years of on-off collaboration it is fascinating, and for fans of either artist it's pretty much essential.

The three work well as a collective: Chip provides the cut-throat and fresh bars, Adz comes with the melody and Skepta is free to experiment throughout. The beats stand up too, consonantly switching patterns and breaks and bringing the best out of each artist.

Each track will find its moment to shine, granting the ability to grow and evolve over the seasons. Skimming just under the forty-minute mark, Khruangbin conclude with a focused and consistent body of work, making their long-awaited homecoming.

My Morning Jacket should be celebrated as a band that tirelessly deliver value for money--there's enough in here to keep you listening for months on end, and loving every minute of it.

While some greatest hits collections can feel like cheap cash grabs, this feels like a reminder of why fans fell in love with Hot Chip in the first place. If you’re looking for an album of synth floor fillers, this will certainly do the job and some.

Apocalyptic, transcendental and drenched in a sense of pure epic-ness, here we get that wonderful rarity of a soundtrack that doesn’t just match the artist’s usual output but one that stands as some of its best. Grab your space boots and take the ride.

This is power pop at its purest--not doing anything new, granted, but packed full of melodies so thrilling and uplifting that it’s difficult to even begin to give a damn.

Turn to Clear View, takes everything that made ‘Starting Today’ playful and fun while ramping up the captivating melodies, and guest spots, to create something that feels like an instant classic.

Tha Carter V was never going to be flawlessly executed--the odds were too stacked against it--but it certainly gives the audience the thrill we were hoping for. It’s a return to form, and a triumphant return for one of the greatest of all time.

With the warm, organic production allowing his songs to reach their full potential, ‘For The First Time, Again’ deserves to be a slow-burn success.

It finds Fontaines D.C. moving ever outward into a realm of their own. Powerful and probing, ‘Skinty Fia’ is a record that relishes tough challenges, and refuses simple answers.

All performed with good, non-satirical heart.

For all the album’s deliberate obscurity, there are small certainties and simple candours. She charts the emotional weather contained within four walls (Pale Interiors), the blue sky that sparkles above Kelso. How a lover’s skin can become a causeway, then a canyon.

Smith delivers a record that combines sonic punch with a nuanced and wide-ranging sound palette.

This album is an entirely immersive wall of sound that deserves to be listened to time and time again.

If Hynes had truly wanted to create an album about black identity as opposed to his own identity, he would have included the powerful ‘Sandra’s Smile’ and focused on the matter across all 17 tracks. He would have made a record dedicated to togetherness rather than individuality and it would have been equally excellent. Instead it becomes an underdeveloped aspect of what is otherwise an expertly tailored and politically-charged work of pop.

More in keeping with the spirit of indie rock iconoclasts bar italia, say, than Autechre, it nonetheless feels wholly deserving of its place in the Warp Records catalogue – questing, free, and dissonant, it’s the work of a group who remain steadfast in their ability to challenge themselves.

Often heavy in terms of lyrical context, in turn comes equal measures of humour: it’s difficult not to hark back to the tear away trousers with golden booty shorts underneath which Steen dons live onstage: ‘Cutthroat’ feels equally cheeky and to the point.

After listening to ‘The Future Is Your Past’, and last year’s ‘Fire Doesn’t Grow on Trees’ they feel like the start of a golden age of The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

A slow burn of an album, Broken Politics artfully cuts through a turbulent, noisy world.

The thematic string throughout ‘WEEDKILLER’ is extremely present, the messages bold whilst never sacrificing the integrity and quality of the tracks.

It’s so heart-rending you could keep yourself wrapped inside its comfort for hours and not come out. To all those troubled minds and torn hearts clinging to the past, this is utterly heavenly.

Stripped back and unapologetic, Florence Welch’s fourth record as Florence + the Machine carries a sense of nakedness never seen before--it’s self-aware, remorseless, and raw.

A crisp, often emotional, pop experience, it’s a break with the past while remaining utterly true to the precepts that Wolf Alice forged their success by.

With ‘Essex Honey’, Hynes doesn’t offer immediate catharsis or easy answers. Instead, he provides something equally valuable: an honest documentation of processing grief with such sophistication that his individual journey becomes widely resonant. It’s Blood Orange at his most complex, vulnerable, and accomplished.

An intense, heady listen nudging the continuum that little bit further.

Blossoms have produced an album of perfectly structured songs accompanied by strong lyrics that tell many tales to the large cult they seem to have already acquired.

‘Don’t Look Down’ is a bold, bruised, and beautifully messy project. It captures an artist still climbing, but refusing to ignore the vertigo.

‘Fatal Optimist’ is, despite the content matter, enticing on first listen and a record that yields further dividends with repeated ones. Here her voice has space to breathe in a way does not always on her preceding albums.

There are some very distinct new heights on ‘Variables’. ... ‘Variables’ gently pushes Alfa Mist in a newer direction, there are glimpses of his usual evocative and bassy tones, but overall the project is almost absent of his vocal presence. This comes across as a very considered move, however, indicative of a need to show rather than tell this time.

It’s not an album made for background listening, it’s made for losing yourself in completely, and, in that, it succeeds perfectly.

Forged at the intersection between positive and negative, romances and crumbling relationships, ‘Vices’ is a celebratory collection of a real-life instances represented in song - and it is as perfectly imperfect as real life itself.

‘Oh No’ is the strongest album since 2012’s ‘Always’. This definitely is beautiful music for hard times.