With Fade, they’ve come across ten songs that all sound tight and of course, refreshing, against the backdrop of what might be their most consistent album to date.

A career-defining work.

One of the most surprising, challenging, and important albums of the year.

This is a magnificent debut, filled with endless melodies, memorable hooks and plenty of toe-tapping moments.

Wild Mountain Nation keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time and it’s a fine piece of music.

Whilst long-time fans may still understandably prefer the more complex and organic ilk of 2007’s The Rook or 2010’s The Golden Archipelago, Jet Plane And Oxbow enjoyably expands Shearwater’s widescreen reach without losing what can make the band so special.

The first two songs eclipse any other songs on the album, but I'm not saying the rest of the material is weak.

Crafted with a strong presence in realizing the sequencing and tracking through it all, it unquestionably rewards with repeated listens.

This new EP is a terrific welcoming of fresh, new thriving music from one of electronic music's leading men.

What is truly magical on Silent Alarm is how it astutely grafts the accoutrements of wiry post-punk austerity to pop hooks fortified with soulful melodic intent.

So if you can make it to track six - the lush “Only Love Can Set You Free” - Love Songs For Patriots becomes far more palatable from then on in.

It is an ambitious effort, and it could very well leave your brain hurting by the time all of the songs have wrapped themselves around you, because there is so much going on and so much to digest.

A transitional yet still solid standalone long-player in short.

Everything is here: melody, harmony, great lyrics, smart instrumentation and pure emotion. It’s book ended by two of the best songs of the year and everything in between is music gold.

Hadreas is one of the strongest songwriters we've seen develop this year, and Learning puts that on display beautifully.

Overgrown continues to build on a fantastic reputation: one that much like his music is aided by layer and layer of calculated additions that all together showcases one of music’s most gifted composers.

Ultimately, Silence Yourself is eleven songs of balanced, well-constructed rock music.

Springsteen does more than just an adequate job; it’s difficult not to get swept along by the infectious energy of his performance.

The National seems to have settled into a fine balance between the hungover brooding of Leonard Cohen and the more mellifluous tendencies of Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen.

The compositions, the choice of songs, the sequencing, his spoken word--the entire package--is a firm reminder of the immense talent Antony is; Cut the World remains another worthy release to take hold of.

The listener gets acoustic ballads, guitar-driven rock exercises, poppy refrains, and jazz-inflected asides in a single package, and at no point does it really feel that the Scottish quartet is overextending itself or sacrificing the vitality of its work for the ability to slap the name of another sonic digression on the board.

Unfortunately, the mere manufacture of unique sounds isn’t enough to rescue them on La Forêt.

Although this record reeks of Matador Records looking to score capital off Fucked Up, it’s not a bad way to go. Couple Tracks would be great for someone who wants the Fucked Up experience.

There are a lot of moments that gently wash away, against the pushing drive of the other songs on the album. Segall mostly attempts to create different spaces of time and is able to make many of them work to his direct advantage.

As much as one would assume that times have changed, Vile is able to supplement his strengths with newfound diversity and very simply, delivers a formidable sophomore album.

In an era when few can truly be said to be following their own unique aesthetic, Sixteen Horsepower continue to pad their resume as one of America’s greatest reinterpretors of the American folk tradition.

A dark, moody, hypnotic monumental masterpiece with songs that unfold subtlety from one elaborate texture to the next so that you almost don't notice the marvelous hooks until they have dug their way beneath your skin and buried themselves in your soul.

Nothing much is different with their latest triumph, It’s Blitz!, a sprawling, eclectic set of dazzling new music.