This year’s Pinned is its well-made product that checks all the boxes, successfully imitating the late ‘80s feel--the highest compliment in this line of work.

Whilst the album is overflowing with strong tracks, not all are up to par, with ‘The Night I Kidnapped Remo Drive’ slipping below the bar.

Through intensely personal storytelling, Black has created something that is undeniably relatable. Whether through shared experience or a basic recognition of the feelings on show, there is a sincere universality in his music.

Unsettling at times, with moments of quiet intensity – ‘Geist’ is the vulnerable soundtrack to a person’s self-discovery during a period of long, hard reflection.

A succinct, focussed return, ‘Phantom Birds’ makes a neat soundtrack to the final days of the English summer.

It’s sometimes a little scratchy around the edges, but mostly honest, tender and wonderful.

Dream Wife’s self-titled debut is a satisfying and infectious trip of lo-fi indie pop that starts 2018 off with a much needed shot of adrenaline.

And my sixteen-year-old-self waits with baited-breath, wracked with the same nervous excitement I had a decade ago except this time, there's anticipation and expectation, justification, even, for an album I've waited almost half my life for.

Off-kilter energy, and their trademark honesty abound, LIFE - who received accolades such an ‘Album Of The Year’ listing from BBC Radio 1- prove with their second album that they are a quality band capable of making stand-out records more than once.

There's a wild-eyed energy that pulsates throughout Nozinja Lodge's 45-minute length and, while this may be an acquired taste, it captures shangaan electro's kaleidoscopic nature perfectly.

While this sonic nonchalance means it can lack singularity and impact, Parallels feels like an organic and necessary evolution for Chung, his affinity for dense, hazy, dreamlike production still as mind-altering as ever.

This is a debut with lots to love, abundant in experimentation and overall pop accessibility--and not many comparable collections can claim those qualities.

As a whole, the album seems to rally against the instant gratification which is a main feature in so much contemporary music—this was definitely not made with TikTok in mind. Instead, it encourages stillness and contemplation, rewarding deep listening with rhythmic undercurrents that lure you into a meditative state.

It’s romantic, existential, frantic, and disorganised, and that ultimately strange mix of tones, genres, and production all adds into a singular esthetic. Nonetheless, it’s hard to ignore its shortcomings, and it is all too easy to rue what might have been, as there are moments of brilliance here that are too often cut short by an unnecessary lull in artistic reinvention.

‘Born Pink’ gifts fans a mixture of commanding hip-hop tracks, satisfying pop tracks and affecting piano ballads.

While Live at the Troxy does a good job of trying to capture and recontextualise the Fever Ray live experience, it doesn’t quite pull it off. This is down to trying to capture a 3D, 360 degree experience in mere audio: you get an idea of how good the gig was, but it doesn’t quite do it justice without visuals. However, Dreijer and her vocals – their clarity, and her charisma – are still the stars of the show.

‘Who Made The Sunshine?’ feels like a fresh slate for the Buffalo artist. Drawing on the weight of his experience to carve out fresh opportunity, it’s a record that – only at moments, mind you – contains some of his best work.

Deaths is punchy and economical, written under the pressure of looming deadlines. But even then, it doesn’t abandon the literary and experimental sensibilities developed on the band’s previous records.

Dissolve is a fine album for the time being, but it has a built-in sell by date and TUSKS may well want to diversify before the tide changes and she's left gasping on the shore.

To take influences from so many places, whilst still being as focused as 'Skin' is no mean feat and while it can be hard to define the line between the worlds the band traverse, no one else out there is walking that line right now as well as they do.

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.

Heartfelt, impassioned and sincere, Mona are reaching for the skies--and taking you with them!

Admittedly it’s hardly a new approach of lyricism, but when something classic is done well it’s hard to discredit.

It’s not a perfect album, though. The vocals effects on ‘Kick You When You’re Down’ are more than a little grating, while ‘No Man’s Land’ feels stodgy, at times even like a chore. That being said, there is quite simply no other group on the planet who can match AC/DC at their best.

The album not only delivers O’Connor's signature use of bubbly synths, electric pianos and programmed beats that instantly make you feel good, but it also serves as a lesson on learning how to heal and move on.

Shorn of that album’s [Forever Blue] voluminous post-rock textures, Williams’ deft playing provides a delicate yet ornate framework for her voice to soar, lending new tenderness to erstwhile grandiose rockers by Deftones and Smashing Pumpkins, while squeezing even more pathos from The Cure’s mighty ‘Lovesong’.

Recorded across Paris and London, the blend of cultures bleeds into the debut’s roots, lacing bilingual lines with effortless Parisian confidence and the harder-edged energy of London’s clubbing scene.

Although vibrant and adventurous, the end result is too overcrowded on ‘Silver’ – some trimming, and there’s a classic here.