In its final form, Wilsen’s debut is big and bright, melodic guitar lines sprinkled across the whole thing.

Peckham three-piece Little Cub make electronic music with a human heart, Dominic Gore’s observant lyrics adding depth to the analogue synth lines and snapping beats that propel them.

It’s a confident release from a seasoned band still harbouring the energies of youth. Somewhat paradoxically however, it’s also a considered record, one that muses on the transient and a reminder of the importance of being able to appreciate what we’ve got, while we’ve got it.

From the hyperactive ‘Momentz’, which sees De La Soul returning to the fold once more, to the creepy, intense Grace Jones-featuring ‘Charger’, Humanz is by far the weirdest Gorillaz album ever released, and a struggle to get through in one sitting. There’s a certain cohesion here though, largely focused around dissatisfaction and rallying together.

While it’s not always the easiest of listens, the raw emotional honesty and potency of her arrangements makes it truly a pleasure to have Leslie Feist back.

Ultimately, though, it’s Pulido’s steady hand that brings an assured, if occasionally slight, album together where there was so much potential for these heavyweights to step on each other’s toes.

Bolder, brighter and better than ever, Waiting A Lifetime is the sound of a band having fun being free.

He’s created an admittedly imperfect but nonetheless loving ode to some of the greatest milestones in electronic music.

As a lyrical and moral experiment it’s touching and does what it sets out to; as an auditory experience... not so much.

They’ve created a huge, rich, brilliant documentation of youth, one which will last for years.

Overall, Write In shows that, beneath their more leftfield influences, Happyness have it in them to be classic songwriters of considerable skill.

L.A. Divine is simply too rigid for Willett to shine. Joe Plummer, while undeniably talented, is a less subtle drummer than Matt Aveiro and locks Willett into predictable, percussive grids that give his voice a jarringly artificial, almost showtune quality.

A lot of the record shows a lack of streamlining, or a singular focus. If album four sees San Fermin filtering through the bucketloads of promise on show here, there’s something really special on the horizon.

On all the evidence here, The Big Moon have succeeded in unearthing the secret to a fire debut.

Dry wit and effortless elegance run throughout, which makes cinematic, poetic wonderment out of eye rolls and humongous sighs.

Whiteout Conditions is a consistently engaging and occasionally irresistible collection of pop songs, carried off with the unmistakable assurance of old hands.

Sincerely, Future Pollution is in some ways a perfect representation of our conflicted, uncertain times, but it also makes the record a challenging, uncompromising listen.

She hasn’t managed to effectively distill her many ideas into something that sounds cohesive After seven years away, that feels like a bit of a let-down.

On The Far Field Future Islands have captured their humanity in all its sparkling, chaotic glory.

Packed with wit, super-sharp song-writing, and charged with Diet Cig’s now-distinctive personality, Swear I’m Good At This should probably be called ‘Swear I’m Fucking Ace At This’ instead for higher accuracy levels.

It’s verbose and it aims high and it’s not a record you can stick on in the background while you play Candy Crush. But unplug from this modern game of life just for a little while and it’s a very, very special reward indeed.

A innovative, inventive joy, Crawl Space is a bold first album from an artist likely to stick around for the long haul.

This is a record dedicated to every band who’ve had to scrape together every last penny just to stay alive, and the result is an album that yearns to be heard.

Silver/Lead is an accomplished record from a band who continue to challenge their audience.

There’s a minimalism in places here that even ardent fans might find a touch disappointing given how predisposed she normally is to extrapolating on her ideas. In fairness, though, the whole point of Documents is to capture the sound of a band, still hot from the road, bringing that energy to the studio. In the Same Room delivers.

Will and Alison will probably shift gears again on their next album, but Silver Eye is likely to become a standout record in their ever-morphing canon.

The eight-minute sprawl of ‘Don’t Blame Yourself’, too, is wildly self-indulgent and could have had at least a couple of minutes lopped off. Ultimately, though, he sounds rejuvenated on Star Stuff, and that bodes well for whatever he has lined up next.

Ending with the sprawling ‘Alone Piano’, the record catapults to spheres beyond. Standing open-armed and resolute for whatever might follow, Let The Dancers Inherit The Earth is an echoing cry for a bright tomorrow.

Unfortunately, that sense of immediacy isn’t always present. Sometimes it shows that From Deewee was rehearsed many times and things get a little bit too mechanical in the middle. It’s still easy to find yourself getting wrapped up in it though and, when it hits, it’s easy to hear why Soulwax are hailed as such innovators.

Formation’s greatest achievement is not just in making a floorfiller record with genuine variety and depth, but that All The Powerful People sounds entirely, only like them.

Their sound may have matured, and may be more accustomed to a laconic calmness, but Damage and Joy still burns with purpose and when it throws its punches it lands them with ease.

‘Raising The Dead’ is a hopeful and tender ode to finding attributes of his late father in his newborn daughter. ‘Wandering Aengus’, meanwhile, is a Yeats-inspired piece of trumpet-covered beauty that sums up the record perfectly--peaceful, lush and well worth the wait.

This collection is his most fully-realised to date, with hooks as the glittering vehicle for tales of a blighted American Midwest.

A planned dalliance, Hot Thoughts reveals its irony: a well-thought rush of blood, a planned frisson. It’s a turn on with limits.

The album’s most engaging moment arrives in ‘A Portrait Of’. Giving voice to anxieties and doubts only to shatter through them with a screaming crescendo of steadfast resolve, this is the sound of Sorority Noise at their strongest.

In Mind is classic laid-back Real Estate, and while there is comfort in the familiar, at times it can feel a little lax.

Releasing two similar albums in such close proximity might seem like a cynical attempt to double-down on the success of the first, but rather than feel like a re-release thrown together by label execs, these were the tracks as they should be; rich, nuanced, and steeped in major key melodies.

They’re not boasting rock and roll’s supermodel aesthetic for sure, but it doesn’t mean a lot of people wont fall in love with that scruffy rock band next door.

Raging at full throttle, IDLES’ debut is as dirty as it is messy. An exhilarating escape along frenzied rhythms and powerhouse rhythms with a ferocious commentary for guidance, Brutalism is as vital as it is volatile.

This latest effort from Australian trio Methyl Ethel is a lithe, sinewy creature, by turns weighted and buoyant, half darkness and half shimmering light.

There are a few duds thrown into the pack--closing pair ‘Into The Sun’ and ‘Walk Out Music’ offer little of interest and ensure the record goes out with something of a whimper--but there’s enough on With You Tonight to suggest Summer Moon might gather something of a cult following.

At its best, Youngish American exists at the nexus of day-job classics ‘Giving Up the Gun’ and ‘Unbelievers’, offering glimpse of Chris’ massive potential to be an engaging solo star.

Cameron may drench his songs in luscious, sweeping strings, but this is more akin to a gritty neo-noir thriller with numerous femme fatales haunting him at every turn.

While Circa Waves are stepping up, they’re just as confident in stripping things back.

The separate successes of ‘Turn Into’ and ‘Everybody Works’ cement that Jay Som is absolutely a name to know, and this LP in particular proves that in addition to consistent, honest, attention-worthy output she’s also willing to poke around the margins of her comfort zone.

Laura Marling crafts yet another hard-to-pin, experimental, statement. A shape-shifting artist who never pauses, the record patters quietly away in a flurry of footsteps and birdsong, as the elusive morning finally arrives.

While opener ‘Name For You’ is catchy, and album highlight ‘Rubber Ballz’ is a foot-stomping earworm, Heartworms largely represents a loss of ambition.

If Skepta’s ‘Konnichiwa’ was grime’s breakthrough, Gang Signs & Prayer is its blockbuster--an all-encompassing ride through human experience that’ll stand tall for decades.

The lyrics across the course of the record feel less politicised, the characters less personal, resulting in a record that feels both wholly more developed, and ultimately more accessible than the EP it follows.

For better or for worse though, Moh Lhean mostly moves to the beat of its own, strangely laid-back drums. It just would have been nice to have a little more variation buried within those meditative vibes.

If Temples needed to prove that they were more than talented revivalists, then Volcano should silence the doubters. Sure, you’re unlikely to find a Stormzy sample buried within its midst, but Temples’ second statement shows that innovation and notable progress can still sound classic.

There’s a sense that nobody’s heart was quite in it which sometimes means proceedings drag on, refusing to invent, refusing to accept that Granddady can be a band who make it. It’s heart-breaking and at times powerfully so, but it also shuns the listener, forcing them to a place where Grandaddy risk drifting once more into obscurity.

Unfortunately, these [familiar touches] are huddled together rather than woven throughout the album, breaking the illusion of a perpetual contrast. When Solide Mirage eventually hits its mark though, it’s impossible not buy into Marry’s idea of a changeable album that dreams of unity and addressing frustrations through as many channels as possible.

It’s an engaging listen and a jarring template that perfectly captures a disquietened and uneasy era.

A witty, succinct debut album.

While Sick Scenes is a record that questions its authors places in the world in tandem, it’s also one that shows that, for as long as they’re here, Los Campesinos! will always be able to express a certain character type better than most.

Rich, imaginative, and more than a little strange.

The Tourist isn’t ‘the worst’, but it’s far from the journey its designer hopes it to be.

Why Love Now truly comes to life when the band uses their punishing sound to explore the absurdity of modern masculinity.

Dave Longstreth conjures up something resembling a clear picture from all the record’s wildly disparate elements, and ‘Dirty Projectors’ serves to unify his most experimental moments with the door-opening impact of ‘Bitte Orca’.

Dumb Blood’ is an ambitious record too--and best of all, on every single count, VANT have nailed it.

The Incessant marks a turning point, as Meat Wave tackle their demons head on.

Sure, there’s fewer marimbas on offer here, but Dutch Uncles have still served up a finger-lickin’ feast.

After a difficult few years, Snowdonia proves that a steady hand and a playful surf-rock riff has seen Surfer Blood through the darkness and out the other side.

Sampha’s journey to now has developed a wonderfully versatile artist, and on Process he succeeds in tying these strands of his musicianship together into a record that’s concise and focused.

While Japandroids have always walked a tightrope between classic rock and straight-up punk, Near To The Wild Heart Of Life finds their footing wobbling for the first time.

This stripped-back, honest approach exposes the inconsistencies and vulnerabilities of the man, while also bringing to the exterior the charisma and charm of a laissez-faire psych icon.

It’s a bit like listening to someone attempting to fit a round peg into a square hole. But while he might have occasionally bitten off a little more than he can chew, there’s still undeniably some moments with serious bite here.

Tourist In This Town’s strengths are also its weaknesses though. The visceral, in-the-moment recording at times gives the record a life and character that feels charming and personal, but elsewhere feels a little too rushed, and being a little heavy-handed in the use of synths and backing results in sensory overload and slightly jarring instrumental clashes.

Life Without Sound feels more confident, the songs themselves coming from a more positive position.

Letting endless threads unravel, in vivid detail, this album might creep up on you at first, but make no mistake, its creativity and poetry will floor you.

You’d hope there’d be more new ideas injected in to Simon’s music. As it is however, Migration feels disappointingly close to home.

Lemon Memory shows a band unencumbered by the constraints of genre or even their own musical history.

In short, the Canadian four-piece’s third LP is a terrific fusion of indie, new-wave and house that demands attention.

With Not Even Happiness she takes the listener on a beautiful, thoughtful journey.

Frequent changes in instrumentation and tone ultimately make Oczy Mlody feel unfocused, and without any of the band’s signature flamboyance to fall back on, it makes for a dull listen.

The refocusing of his songwriting has led to undoubted growth in SOHN’s work, but that stunted sense of adventure leaves moments that fall between the cracks.

There’s an awful lot of promise housed in Graveyard Of Good Times, but its scale and constant shape-shifting makes it difficult to consume and process. Some refinement though, and the future’s bright for Brandon.

All three members are now capable of operating on a different standing, and when I See You strikes best, it’s when these level-ups lock limbs.

In equal parts an unequivocal call to arms and an excitable ode to a wonderful friendship, even in the company it keeps. RTJ3 shines.

Not The Actual Events serves as an excellent primer for what is to come. But more importantly, and more pressingly, it asks more questions and takes more risks than any welcome back should. It’s not a postcard of a legendary past, its a battlecry for something truly epic to come.

A little bit cocky at times, sure, but with the tightness to back it up, Night People feels like the band’s most natural and accomplished step so far.

This is a record made for the cavernous expanse of Brixton Academy, fancy light show in tow, chant-a-long choruses guaranteed.

Echolocation is a bleak affair, but it does have a number of impressive melodies and a clear sense of the liberation that music elicits in the band itself.

It’s a record swathed in simple but effective neo-soul melodies, echoing Chance, but also early 00s R&B with its gentle pianos and smattering of light hi-hats and percussion. Warner’s own languid style of delivery only adds to the lilting nature.

There are very few moments on Harlequin that don’t click either sonically or thematically. Izenberg has established himself as a gifted songwriter with a firm grasp on the strange side of things, and his beguiling debut plays like the nexus of Mac DeMarco and Anna Meredith.

Colourful, brilliantly messy, and a fully committed hodge-podge of psych and spacecake croons, ‘Awaken, My Love!’ is unlikely to shed further light on exactly what Childish Gambino is at heart, but by now, Glover’s erratic approach is surely part of his central appeal.

Doherty’s latest solo effort sounds very much like a solid Peter solo album; rambling studio chat snippets, mentions of Arcadia and all. You know how it goes.

It’s hard to overstate how aggravating it is to hear somebody who once stood as the dictionary definition of “less is more” fly so flagrantly in the face of the mantra that made him.

They channel the essence of previous decades. Throughout, the band use a variety of vintage synth tones and guitar and basslines that even Nile Rodgers would kill for.

Justice’s sound is still huge, still bludgeoningly and pleasingly direct.

Backed up by lyrical content that has never been more potent and relevant, this album is proof that A Tribe Called Quest never really left.

The big floor-filling moments are in there, particularly on the gripping one-two of ‘Staring at All This Handle’ and ‘Face to Face with Spoon’, but they feel incongruous in the thick of what is otherwise a woozy comedown of an album that fails to cover a great deal of new ground.

In less capable hands, this record might come across as an weighty topic checklist. Sad13, however, doesn’t just raise these discussions, she presents them as a bundle of sexy, glitter-soaked fun.

Energising Sleigh Bells with rocket-fuel, Jessica Rabbit stands up as the band’s most consistent record since ‘Treats’.

There’s a great and clear leap forward this time around, but this still has all the cornerstones of what drove so much attention: the ability to lull listeners through power pop or be taken in dreamlike trances, lyrics that take you on new journeys with every listen.

For the most part, Honeyblood’s second outing is a delicious face-punch of a record, running amok in the best way possible with everything they’ve learned since first time around.

On their third LP, Two Vines, the band continues to make glossy retro-futurist pop, creating a world of synthesizers and keyboards that feels both primeval and modern at once.