An urgency and classic rock vibe, noticeably missing from recent atmospheric releases, is back in full swing here, and it works to their advantage.

‘Being’ is the most enjoyable album Maal has released to date.

It’s a functional entry in Chlöe’s already-impressive pantheon of works. Here’s hoping this release frees her up to lean more zealously into her production quirks when the next solo experiment beckons.

‘The Price Of Progress’ is a perfectly functional Hold Steady record, no more and no less.

Opening your debut LP with its three least engaging tracks is a bold move that almost capsizes the whole project. ... Fortunately, bar a scattering of clunky lines (“I don’t want to die / That’s a lie”), the rest of ‘the record’ manages to successfully scale the vertiginous heights set by the eight solo albums preceding it.

This is an easy album to lose yourself in, but a difficult project to truly grasp. 19 songs, almost a full hour of music, a glimpse into a psyche that is frequently dominated by darkness; ‘Since I Have A Lover’ is 6LACK’s crowning statement.

A nerve-jangling experience, it could well rank as their masterpiece.

An album that leaves you in a different environment than where you entered it, ‘YIAN’ will surely rank as one of 2023’s most impressive British debuts.

Fans of Depeche Mode can be happy to receive the band’s best offering of this century (though don’t get it twisted, ‘Playing The Angel’ is still a great record) but it’s unlikely they’ll change the minds of non-listeners, as foolish as such people are. The same ground is tread here, just in new shoes.

‘So Much (For) Stardust’s main takeaway is that the five-year wait was more than worth it and Fall Out Boy are finally back, bigger and better than ever.

The record swells and retreats at will as the group flex their musical dexterity.

Amid the glitz, the hype, the online intrusion, Don Toliver still locates a space to call his own – and that’s what makes ‘Love Sick’ so thrilling.

Framed by twin poles of classicism and experimentation, ‘Did you know…’ never truly succumbs to either. An often-unsettling river of song, it finds Lana Del Rey discussing uncomfortable truths, while denying the use of easy answers. What she chooses to reveal is profound, occasionally disquieting, and never dull.

Cinematic splashes with honest lyricism feature in the twelve-track production and there is one thing this writer can tell about ‘A Fistful Of Peaches. It’s all about escaping the war in the mind, something that helps make Black Honey a band to admire.

As a double album, ‘V’ is a hefty commitment and is therefore unlikely to win many new fans for Unknown Mortal Orchestra, but it’s a coherent and mature piece of work which will be worth the wait for this well-established act.

It’s a touching journey reflecting on how the four boys changed into men and changed the world through the power of music at the same time.

‘10,000 gecs’ is a sub-thirty-minute blast of the duo at their best, creating some truly bonkers music and refusing to ever conform.

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.

While it may not be the East Atlanta rapper’s best, it still stands as a solid successor to ‘EA Monster’.

Courtesy of the blandly produced, overly-compressed vocal deliveries and guitar riffs from Jonas Brothers’ producer John Fields, the act all too easily fall into the inevitable trap of highly-structured song progressions backed by half-baked guitar solos on ‘Same Language’ and underwhelming chorus chants on ‘Kool’.

This release feels like she is fully embodying her own skin – this is a release that aims for timelessness in its own right, allowing the true, unfiltered Miley Cyrus to step into the sunlight.

Lyrically, the album represents one of Shana Cleveland’s most daring and open song cycles.

Instinctual, acerbic and erudite, ‘UK GRIM’ is stark and enthralling all in one.

This is a thoughtful and sensitively crafted project showcasing an awe-inspiring collection of carefully-crafted tracks. It is a touching tribute to this special musical partnership and demonstrates their musicality, artistry, and emotive storytelling.

On ‘Ignore Grief’ they’ve done it again as the album is the most powerful and uncompromising album they’ve ever released. It’s also one of their most playable. This is down to the dense music. Every time you listen you hear something new that gives the song a different context. This is the mark of a, and I use this word properly, class.

‘Red Moon In Venus’ solidifies Kali Uchis’ appeal as both a fringe artist leaning fully into her idiosyncrasies, and a crossover one executing universal easy-listening with élan.

A bold attempt to embrace his contradictions, this is a project held together by the brutal strength of slowthai’s performances.

On ‘Brothers And Sisters’ he sounds like he feels comfortable being in his skin and writing uplifting music that doesn’t have a massive political message, though one is there. It doesn’t have a massively personal message, though it is there. Instead, he’s written an album for everyone.