All in all, this is a good album. While it has some magnificent moments, it doesn't quite come together enough to make a for a completely stellar ride.

The closest ‘Quadra’ comes to breaking new ground and entering unclaimed territory is the dramatic metamorphosis of Green’s voice during the nostalgic nu-metal hymn ‘Agony of Defeat’, not to mention the superb acoustic intro and the profane chorus of ‘Guardians of Earth’. More crucially, the samba drum-kit of ‘Capital Enslavement’ and the syncopated beat on ‘Raging Void’ shows that the idea of exploring percussive possibilities is slowly growing on them.

Subtitled ‘An Electro Revival’, Richard’s sixth album is nonetheless a sprawling affair; R&B, house and trap jostle alongside curios such as ‘Le Petit Morte (a lude)’ [sic], a break-up jam unexpectedly belted out over Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’.

With its Krautrock-tinged rhythm, backwards guitar and soaring chorus, it suggests that this rested and revitalised incarnation of The Coral still has plenty to offer. Having grown tired, their enthusiasm is audibly restored.

Swanlights is less straightforward than his other records and more operatic. It's still astonishingly beautiful.

A comforting, cathartic playground for disco, funk and cross-genre collabs, Sophie Ellis-Bextor comes into her own on ‘Perimenopop’.

It’s a record that at first curiously struggles to find its footing, before an assured mid-section guides Cardi B to the next level of her career.

This is West’s most polarizing record to date, yet the discussion surrounding it gives a healthy charge to a rap game saturated with the same ol’ same ol’. So no, Yeezus isn’t a great record, but it doesn’t have to be.

The withdrawals into ambient cusps test something of a pleasure-pain theory, and to Shed's credit the bombshells rarely follow the same pattern - a four-by-four here, a hop and skip there, seeing him scooping up arenas with a tremendously powerful iron fist.

The result is something that sounds mechanical and generally detached from emotion.

This release feels infused with self-assurance and pride, merging know-how and passion with a strong vision that only seems to get bolder with each release.

While never quite holding together as a set, NIN continues to admirably cover new ground while doing what they do best, namely reflecting humanity’s worst impulses.

Where Bodega do succeed is in serving up an entertaining, intellectual and heartfelt riposte to the broken systems that have engulfed our culture, albeit in a slightly less successful fashion than before.

At times the production is marred by brevity and unevenness, which can make ‘BUBBA’ sound more like a mixtape in places. Thankfully, these moments are outnumbered by others where Kaytranada is well and truly back on form.

Daniel Avery’s DJ-Kicks does nothing ground breaking and for a listener familiar with his productions and sets, will excite only for the new material it contains.

The tracks ebb and flow, never stopping in a static moment but chasing a thought, an ideal and holding out hope.

Largely Uyai stands as a genre meshing oddity which, thanks to its pure groove and spirituality, will appeal to those who haunt the dance floor as well as their own dimly lit bedrooms.

This is a punchy record sure to spark some vital debates, as well as having a solid slew of crowd-pleasers.

‘Caos’ is an arresting, if imperfect, scream from the heart.

But for all its merits, much of the chaos on MASSEDUCTION tends to move rapidly in one ear and out the other, making it a pleasant but somewhat faceless affair.

Last Place is an occasionally misty-eyed but very welcome return. A broken but pretty mess.

Ultimately, the album’s highlights are those songs where the voice and sentiment we hear is truly her own, the enthralling, stirring, emotion- manipulating voice that’s threaded its way through every album since her 2006 debut, not the voice that leans too close to what the pop music machine demands.

Highlights ‘Voice’ and ‘Sonic 8’ will be a surefire test for any club or festival sound system to really prove its worth, and the cold, menacing techno of ‘Release’ sounds a bit like the insides of a power station working really hard to keep a city warm. That said, if you don’t have the huge rig needed to do these tunes justice, and with the days outside just getting warmer, it might be a tough sell to sit at home and curl up with ‘LP. 8’.

In choosing to move down a more percussive path, the Phoenix Foundation set themselves a challenge quite different than those they had previously faced. 80-minute double albums are usually tough to follow, but they've chosen to reconnect with the spirit of the band rather than try to top 'Fandango' in a self-conscious manner, and in doing so have redefined themselves.

The lyrics can spill into the realm of over-earnestness at points, but overall this is slick and dancefloor-ready.

Sure, it’s certainly not his best long-player, but the highlights stacked here--the truly awesome ‘The Introduction’, established heaters like ‘Fuck The Police’ (sequenced perfectly here towards the climax)--ensure The Diary is, in the end, a solid addition to the J Dilla catalogue.

As a whole, ‘Sogolo’ stands as a less cohesive package than 2023’s ‘Zango’, but it’s a braver, more energetic, and forward-thinking LP.

‘Stay Alive’ has a sense of quiet intensity running across its 13 tracks, material that uses points of inspiration gathered across the previous two year international tour. There’s a real vitality to the work, from the bare bones recording style so evocative of Albini’s work through to Laura’s powerful, trenchant vocals, erupting out of the speakers.