M.I.A. stands alone in her own world of pop firing out her mercurial messages, which are as complex as they are captivating. MAYA is a towering work that makes a mockery of rivals and genres.

Amongst the army of incredible contributors, all unified by melancholic production drawn from the ether of another age, David Lynch's star shimmers brightest.

The Eel Pie Islanders' sees the band mature as songwriters, which should attract the mainstream attention that's so overdue them.

For all its forward thinking, the combination of shoe-gaze and synthy electronica leads the record inevitably back to the 1980s, mirroring the haunting sound that M83 have perfected so well.

Whilst each track delivers exactly what is to be expected from an IAK album it is a little disappointing that there seems to have been no development from the previous outing.

It's all very "nice" but only sporadically truly vital.

Although the album is an exercise in euphoric clubland dreaming, tracks Closer and Everything Is Beautiful remind us there is perhaps a more sincere side to Kylie that is often overlooked.

Acolyte may infuriate dance purists with its naive inflections but for more pop orientated people it's a fun, if somewhat formulaic start to the decade.

Wasted Daylight, a sugary, ambient number, offers a particularly sublime performance from Millan, as does He Dreams He's Awake, of Campbell. However, these two are the fairly obvious highlights in an otherwise misfired effort.

Total Life Forever is a massive leap forward for the band. The music writhes with a renewed ambition, capable of moving from near ambient strains of electronica to propulsive African funk in a drum break.

The good tracks on 'Body Talk' are of such a high quality that it definitely makes it worthwhile to check this album out but you are soon left with a feeling that the subsequent releases in this series will cobble together one amazing album and one really bad one.

It's less immediate than previous material, but nevertheless absorbs the magic of the world, distilling it into ten slices of trembling, impassioned rock 'n' roll.

Shadows returns to the lush, meticulously crafted sound of previous albums.

Again, like their previous work, 'Champ' is a short and sweet affair - but not one to miss or forget.

Over the course of twelve tracks the dual female vocals transport and transcend into beautiful plateaus of heartbreak and hoedowns with a gritty edge unrivalled by their peers.

Lean, mean and as uncompromisingly focused as its maker, this is an album for everyone's collection, and whilst Weller is perhaps not the man he once was, the man he is now is most definitely still a force to be reckoned with.

An ever present Gang of Four musical demeanor, and the untiring pace of Fugazi makes 'The Chaos' quite aptly relentless.

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.

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

Their alt.folk stylings are ideal for unwinding to at the end of a long day as it calms and soothes the senses.

Marina describes the album as “intricately produced” and that’s where the problem lies. Such attention to detail leaves some of the songs feeling pretty sterile and, as a result, it’s a frustrating listen.

Suffused with an indefinable sense of melancholy, the likes of ‘I Can Change’, ‘Home’ and ‘Dance Yrself Clean’ instil the rubbery electro with a tangible soul - whilst ‘Drunk Girls’ delivers a giddy hit of bony post-punk.

Infinite Arms is their strongest album yet, perfecting their instantly recognisable sound with Bridwell in fine voice throughout.

More Waitrose advert than classic Wrigley’s; the Black Keys’ raw power’s been polished. Some things are meant to stay rough around the edges.

A curious state of affairs on the surface, this is no empty exercise in muso accomplishment. Lidell’s voice is a thing of wonder, a match for or indeed bettering many of R‘n’B’s mainstream performers.

‘Long White Dress’ and ‘Singles Bar’, subject matter made clear from the off, are highlights; the former is mellow and wistful, with a delightfully lilting chorus, while the latter radiates the fatigued disenchantment of somebody lacking motivation in the unfulfilled pursuit of love.

Drawing on a cast of helpers, most notably Madness' Suggs and Mike Barson, the album boasts their usual eclectic mash of styles, all held together under the Audio Bullys flag.

Never bettered, this is the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band’s crowning triumph. Own this!

Bleak as you like, but strangely cathartic in many places, it's absolutely the worst album to soundtrack your Christmas lottery win. For the rest of us dour wageslaves, it's perfect.

Still in place is their frenetic rushes of sonic trickery, but most notably the band have relaxed a little and even got a little funky.

At turns utterly beautiful and thoroughly frustrating, there is no doubting the tarnished grandeur on display albeit tempered by some unnecessary navel gazing.

The tricky second album phase has been completed and it’s an excellent product. The future’s bright.

Dense and obtuse it may be but those who follow this most intense sonic explorer will be rewarded the greatest.

This album might not carry the sub-woof weight of its predecessor but it carries the icy menace of producers at the peak of their powers. Cooler than a liquid nitrogen drip.

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'.

Never one to hide his emotions previously, Rufus Wainwright offers a sparse but staggeringly heartfelt collection of songs for voice and piano, influenced, at least in part, by the long-term illness and recent passing of his mother.

Sprawling LA collective Ozomatli return with Fire Away, their fifth full-length to date, and offer another rich dose of positive energy and musical diversity.

The Wild Hunt, the second release from Swedish guitar-twanging folksy master The Tallest Man On Earth, is a graceful and beautiful advancement of form, and matures just the way a second album really ought to.

First spewed forth in 1973 this blend of Iggy's guttural moanings and James Williamson's precise spiky guitars is rightly regarded as one of the most seminal, ferocious, uncompromising, crude, sleazy, nihilistic rock albums of all time.

Her second album is an enchanting collection of beautifully raw songs, the faint trace of tape-hiss in the quieter moments combined with the rootsy feel of songs.

As his main band disappears into "indefinite hiatus", console yourself with the knowledge that Birgisson has just made the best record of his career.

This first true-solo effort sees the man responsible for some of rock's most iconic riffery joining forces with the friends he met on the way (including The Cult's Ian Astbury, Lemmy and Iggy Pop) and is a rocking riot from the off.

A lot of Seasick Steve’s appeal comes from this good bloke aura, a bearded Buddha of the dustbowl, drawing in fans who might otherwise run a mile from his basic, grizzled music but there’s no denying the wonderful simplicity yet wholly enveloping of his music.

So, whilst ‘Animal’ endangered no creative boundaries, there’s no denying that autoKratz track the footsteps of their predecessors with great panache.

With production by Richard Goettehrer, who has worked with Blondie, the Go-Gos and others, sees the Dum Dum Girls sound achieve an authentic, balanced sound, deliberately lo-fi and tinny yet listenable and intoxicating.

‘Sea Change’ is as epic as anything that came later, Knights’ vocal supplemented by a rich seam of orchestration, but much of the material here could have been lifted from those early recordings, where skeletal fret work frames angelic vocals. A return to the source.

Taking his muse from the voyeuristic photographs of Man Ray, each note drips with sex and death.

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.

Best when he’s corralling others into out-of-their-comfort-zone creativity, it’s the Albarn-sung tracks on the second half of the album where the attention wanders and the album opening Snoop Dogg cameo seems a million miles away. Of course, there’s alot here to take in and maybe it just needs a fair few listens to fully digest it - the sign of any album worth its salt.

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.

Their third album in as many years, JJ continue to gather a pace and 'No.3' will surely propel them further into hearts and minds.

His drawled, out of focus mumblings drawing you in unavoidably to the patchwork sonics, and though the album can be a little overwhelming on first listen, repeated plays reveal an irresistible talent.

With a more complex sonic palette than his debut, Mark The Hard Earth contains a number of absolute gems.

Showing clear progression and monumental ambition, TNP have crafted a stark and dense knockout performance.

The endless experimentation can grate but ‘Fight Softly’ is a bold attempt to further stretch pop music.

From the monasteric vocal and Union of Knives-esque menace of ‘The Infinites’ to the shades of Hot Chip (‘Price On Your Head’) and Ladytron (‘Boy Girl’), ‘Back To Light’ is another early marker in what’s shaping up to be a stellar year for dance music.

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

The band’s expertly realized fusion of organic and electronic instruments remains, bolstered by their extensive tour diary that’s also seen them open for Underworld.

Big layers of instruments dual with and complement each other via weird time signatures, and inspired, complex riffs that sound like they’re scoring a car chase from a cult Seventies film, mixed with bursts of electronic futurism--perhaps best displayed on the album’s title track--a manic, brilliant piece of instrumental songwriting that shows Jaga Jazzist to be at the top of their game.

Meiburg’s voice is a wonder throughout, wonderfully fragile on ‘Hidden Lakes’, tearing it up on ‘Corridors’. A wonderful album.

Paired down to their essence, this distilled Efterklang is premium strength stuff.

As always the songs veer wildly from ambient interludes, funky Beta Band-esque workouts to fierce garage rockers. Looking at the material here though, they remain a band to be reckoned with. Their lo-fi, experimental psych rock is as potent as ever with Newcombe a character to be cherished.

Falling Down A Mountain marks the return of a bolder spirit and, as a result, there is another truly great Tindersticks album to add to your collection.

A solid second record with tinges of brilliance, it’s another fine piece of work from the busiest man around.

With echoes of Lou Reed in many of the tracks, including ‘What Makes Him Act So Bad’ and ‘Cigarette Burns Forever’, and faint hints of Green’s previous work with the Peaches in others - ‘Oh Shucks’ - ‘Minor Love’ sees Green marry his roots with the new directions he’s taking, and comparison to the tape recorder fodder of old isn’t so hard make anymore.

Freed from self-imposed musical constraints, ‘Field Music (Measure)’ is big, bold and beautiful.

The witty words about awkward relationships come straight from Art Brut but 'Fixin' The Charts' is also a response to classic American pop songs, with modern sequels to Motown, Dylan and, er, Kanye. The downside is that the songs are so melodic they make it sound like Argos is doing karaoke.

It’s an unabashed pop record that anyone should be proud to play at full volume.

So yes, different to "Made In The Dark" but a more cohesive and more heartfelt effort too. One Life Stand sees Hot Chip let us into their hearts as well as their thoughts.

Returning from a six-year long wilderness of soundtrack work and greatest hits, ‘Heligoland’ sees the duo back at the top of their game.

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.

On their way to maturity, YSP!WSD! lost some of the punkiness that made them exciting, but they still have hooks and groovy synths, so the growth is graceful.

It’s a fully realised, sprightly rocking album that proves that sometimes musicians are best left alone to do what they do best.

'The Courage Of Others' is a suitable album for today’s perma-frost Britain, what we’ll make of it when the Sun comes out I’m not sure.

The Sun seems to have come out over The Album Leaf’s glacial landscape with some songs here edging towards a kind of elegant, and very pretty, pop.

Romance Is Boring is another step up for the Cardiff seven-piece; avoiding the shoutier, brattier elements of debut ‘Hold On Now, Youngster...’, the band bring to their latest effort a much darker atmosphere, with similarly desperate lyrics.

Many have already been drawn into the melancholy whirlpools of their past two albums; yet more will surely be drawn by the warmer embrace of Legrand and Scally’s latest statement, a stronger, rhythmic definition offering a hand through the ether, beckoning the listener into their fluid tapestry.

If you love the ambiguous crossover between half-step London sounds and crushed and warped 4/4 peddled by the likes of Martyn, Burial or Joy Orbison, then the love in you will find this album.

It’s a refreshing diversion from yer average psych-noise fare that’ll hopefully be explored further on future offerings.

You can see how some might dismiss ‘Dream Get Together’ as irrelevant noodling (oh yes, there are solos herein), but if you are unphased by such concepts then you will enjoy this album a lot.

End Times may be a tunnel with no light at the end of it, but the bleakness is beautiful.

Clocking in at less than 33 minutes to ensure your left gagging for more, Sweet Heart Rodeo is a near faultless blend of Landes’ country roots and the urban savvy of her Brooklyn base.

There isn’t much of a sense of flow to the album; the songs stand on their own as the poems were meant to stand on their own.

With a mix of frantic and scrappy pop songs alongside blankets of processed peacefulness Contra is a fun and always intriguing listen.

Bursting with promise, OK are more than their name suggests.

Starting with offbeat rhythms and minor key vocals the album is not as accessible as "Has A Good Home" and less adventurous than "He Poos Clouds"--yet there’s something that draws you into Heartland.

The album showcases Veirs’ warm vocals, deft guitar picking and country-inflected songwriting. It’s not all so stripped down as to be dull, however, and songs like the title track are intricately woven tapestries of strings, woodwind and cooing backing vocals.

This debut album from the Manchester trio is a captivating Gothic Americana creation.

Angie Stone’s fifth album, is her strongest to date, as she delivers an LP that effortlessly combines the finest elements of Neo Soul with old-skool R&B.

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

Tribal chanting and desert parties meet drum machines and electrifying guitar riffs in an album that is consistently inventive, mesmerising and incredibly danceable.