HDWGSD is so DTF it's practically humping the furniture, making it one of the most genuine works of rock 'n' roll since Elvis weaponised his pelvis.

Some listeners may find fault in the looseness with which the mix is put together and the unexpected results that the track pairings create (see the transition from the heavy rhythms of ‘Nocturne’ to the Craig David-sounding vocal samples of ‘So It Seems’, or the unashamed ‘70s funk of ‘Vs’), yet it is in these very moments that Snaith’s creative bravery and vision come to the fore, subverting t

Unfortunately, with much of the record polished to a dull gleam, there’s little else that succeeds in rising above a pleasant but otherwise unremarkable album.

At the heart of this record overriding percussive elements claw their way to the forefront and this matched with Ditto’s smooth but commanding voice is a winning formula.

The double album structure adds texture to the record’s length, avoiding monotony. Goldie clearly still owns his sound and endows it with a unique vision on The Journey Man.

Both immediately hook-filled and intellectually deep at the same time, God First has already earned its place as one of the most exciting and unexpected releases of 2017.

As the songs start to slow in the second half of the album, the focus starts to wander. The songs aren’t bad, The Drums have put out a lot worse, they just drop the thrilling momentum of the earlier half.

Although at times the sound experiments can feel too inward-looking, Howard balances the darkness and lightness of his palette with relative ease, producing a record of imaginative depth and danceable surface.

It’s reality music, and while obviously tailored around the life and times of Shawn Carter, offers so many narratives that the common man can relate to in astounding measures.

This is an album that deserves big headphones and large sweeping views of grey coastal days.

All of this means that, in spite of the anguished self-interrogation that went into its making, this still sounds exactly how a Toro y Moi album should sound. However, Boo Boo feels like what we might call a coming-of-age album.

In aping the sounds that made early rave great--hardcore, breaks and hard house--Vibert has sucked the soul from the genre leaving just a smattering of style. If this is an ode to rave, then it is a hollow one.

Bottling up teenage emotions and expressing it in effervescent electronica and wistful melodies, their self-titled debut is 16 tracks of minimalistic and clean compositions overridden with Paul Klein’s lovestruck lyrics.

The band’s approach to music-making has always been as eclectic as their references, but generally they’ve stuck to one approach per album. Unfortunately this is where Home Counties comes a bit unstuck. There’s quite a lot going on.

The majority of Grateful is forgettable at best.

Although littered with incandescent beams of hyper-melody--extending a hand to the youth of 2013’s ‘Days Are Gone’, Something To Tell You is patient and moves at its own, night-unending pace, where Californian sister act Este, Danielle, and Alana surf some kind of strange paradise between love and loss.

Without the visuals and context, the record can become excessively meditative at times, yet at its finest moments it re-forms the uninhabitable vastness of the desert-space as a blank canvas in the listener’s imagination, to be filled with inspiration of their own.

For the most part, the record warrants its own expansiveness as themes of self-doubt, isolation and faith slowly supernova among dazzling ambient instrumentals, careening string sections and Sufjan’s warped vocals that bring harmony, hope and futurism to the cold, dense expanse of space.

Featuring savage and often heartfelt, diary-like ruminations, CTRL pushes against the borders of convention lyrically and sonically, placing it on the upper echelons of potential ‘Best Of ’17’ lists.

While it doesn’t quite have the same urgency as ‘Based on a T.R.U. Story’ or ’T.R.U. REALigion', Pretty Girls Like Trap Music is perfectly positioned to be a 2017 favourite catering to both fans of this generation’s trap music and those that were knee deep in trap during its late ‘90s/early ‘00s inception.

Big Fish Theory is a record that not only sees Vince taking risks and progressing forward as an artist, but also another astounding example of what hip-hop should and can be in 2017.

If you’re looking for a 3am club techno sound, then this record probably isn’t for you; its delicacy makes rather for an introspective experience.

If 'Fleet Foxes' was an unbroken hike up from the foothills into the peaks of the Appalachians, 'Crack-Up' is more like the winding train ride home.

As an album, though still swinging from one place to another with glee, The Underside Of Power feels important, and very, very serious, as a body of work. It is one of the year’s very best albums, and sets out Algiers as one of the decade’s very best bands.

To hear tracks like ‘Dizzy Dizzy’ or ‘Halleluwah’ hacked down to mere Can-ettes for the humble 7” format feels a little like trying to make sense of a vast painted canvass simply by focusing on, say, the top left corner. Once you get over that, with singles typically being the most accessible or marketable moments in a band’s trajectory, this collection represents a superb introduction to the Can catalogue for anyone lacking the willpower or patience to trawl their albums or the goldmine of material presented on 2012’s essential ‘The Can Tapes.’

An intense, ingenious and utterly insane listen, Murder Of The Universe is another brilliant addition to King Gizzard's already stellar and ever-expanding discography.

Songhoy Blues have once again produced an album for all. The small-minded stamp of ‘world music’ does not apply here (or should anywhere really). This is quite simply a record for anyone ready to get down to some beautiful rhythms.

With a plethora of guest spots adding some serious variety to the already sonically multifarious album, hearing Big Boi go back and forth with the likes of Kurupt, Snoop Dogg, Eric Bellinger, and even Adam Levine of Maroon 5, makes it all the more fun.