‘i/o’ takes us on a journey… of life and all of its experiences and is set to be one of Peter Gabriel’s greatest solo albums to date.

For the most part, ‘Addison’ is a fun, delicious ride, soundtracking a movie where a small-town girl wins the lottery and parties it up in New York City.

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

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

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.

The intuitive, steady flow of writing in the studio means that the record can lack form. And yet, despite some generic meandering, none of the productions come across as derivative.

What Clipping have done on ‘There Existed An Addiction To Blood’ is show that hip-hop doesn’t need to keep to convention to be gripping and visceral; refusing to be placed in stasis for the sake of chart success, the group deserve all the plaudits that will come their way.

A gorgeous album, ‘Big Sigh’ is a winter treat for the long January nights.

A shift away from the sampling of his debut, Underneath The Pine keeps things sweet and traditional, leaving you lazily grinning from ear to ear.

The songwriting leged could easily be rehashing old songs and playing it safe, but instead he’s written an album full of catchy songs, searing riffs about hope for the future, rather than dwelling on the past.

It won’t be for the faint-hearted, but if the primal throb of Neneh Cherry’s ‘Blank Project’ ensnared you in the early months of 2014--and it’s hard to imagine how it wouldn’t have--then there is similar pleasure to be found in the utterly absorbing company of Rhythm.

‘Violet’ is a bold and ambitious leap forward, but it definitely works in the band’s favour.

Refusing to be hemmed in, it’s a record of real ambition, an example mirroring fan-pleasing tendencies with actual artistic growth. Sometimes the sequels really are better.

Intensely relaxing, wonderfully addictive, and ultra-mellow, ‘Moredechai’ is this summer’s sunset record.

A project with literally no skips, ‘Fire’ seems to lay down a marker for his peers – The Bug is back, and the bar has been raised yet again.

Kind is a heartfelt, fully realised collection of songs, embedded with optimism providing a much needed hope for our challenging times.

It looks to be a strong move in his transition to adulthood and proves there's far more to him than being a pretty face for schoolgirls to swoon over.

Together, this project might rank as a career high, a work of breathless yet intoxicatingly accessible complexity.

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.

It's brutally honest, yet comforting and displays the freedom and catharsis she felt via making it. A compelling new chapter for old fans and a thrilling set for fresh ones.

It’s the honest messaging that makes ‘WORLD WIDE WHACK’ her bravest work to date. This is music to get lost in. Whack seems to have lost herself and found herself within it too.

Haiku Salut use instruments as a tool to tell stories, and the band’s emotional gravitas is symptomatic of how this type of music can triumph against all the odds.

Moving with intention, embracing emotion, it’s often strikingly autobiographical, paired to music that is rich in her melodic gifts, while quietly evolutionary.

Taken in one sitting, ‘A Firmer Hand’ is a dense and often heavy album that nevertheless contains depths of melodicism, wit and meaning that only become apparent with repeated listens.

Once again, by mixing pounding dance beats with a feminist essence through a punk lens, Peaches continues the legacy of her image as the antithesis of conservatism.

A record composed of experimental dissonance and slick pop bravery, ‘PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE’ ranks as the boldest aspect of his career to date. A project that searches for honesty, it places Christine and the Queens in a quite singular lane of alt-pop abstraction.

Viagra Boys stamp a great big watermark over this album as they engrave their aesthetic right down to its core. ‘Cave World’ sees them bounce back with another grandiose LP just a year after their last – true miracle workers.

Overall, ‘The End, So Far’ is a remarkable punch of sharp, sobering heavy metal. Slipknot yet again thrive in their signature darkness – however, there it no doubt that this album would be elevated by more cohesion.