‘Social Lubrication’ sees the trio loosening up and letting go, resulting in a record that’s both a progression, and that shows off wonderfully just what made them so exciting to begin with.

It paints a deeply personal portrait of romance and intimacy, underpinned by an ever-present sense of fun, not least on lead single ‘Daddy’ or the piano-led ‘Please Be Friends’.

Its most immediate moment may come via the El-P featuring ‘Don’t Let The Devil’, with its musical bombast and Mike as most have heard him until now, but this is a sonically rich record that is likely to reveal yet more on each listen.

Though lyrics are undoubtedly Lambrini Girls’ prime weapon of choice, with Phoebe also spitting home truths about police corruption (‘Bad Apple’), workplace misogyny (‘Company Culture’), industry inequality (‘Filthy Rich Nepo Baby’) and more, the record’s instrumentals nevertheless hold the weight of her words with ease; cleaner, more ambitious, and more diverse than the arrangements on 2023 EP ‘You’re Welcome’, they cement the duo as natural successors to modern punk rock greats like Green Day, SOFT PLAY and Amyl and The Sniffers.

Bob Vylan still have a lot to be furious about, but ‘Humble As The Sun’ is a winning exercise in shifting focus; after all, as the old saying goes, the best revenge is living well.

A punch drunk brawler with a heart, it's the pay off to a perfect evolution.

Coxon's most accomplished solo album to date.

‘Sorry For The Late Reply’ is an album that’s taken the playful spark of their debut and refined it into a bolder beast.

Alex Kapranos is on typically droll, playful lyrical form, too, grounding the record in Franz tradition, but the sound of ‘The Human Fear’ suggests a band still brimming with ambition.

His most cohesive work to date, finding parity in both its nostalgia and its modernity, and yes, through its forward-thinking and innovative collaborators. It’s a dance-pop album in parts, and a creative powerhouse in others.

‘Saint Cloud’ is the rousing of a regenerated spirit that chronicles not just the journey but the revelations of love, life and death that comes with it. A very special album indeed.

It’s Ghetts’ ability to paint rich scenes and his breadth of unabashed honesty that animates his comeback into a fully-fledged triumph. Although meticulously crafted under Ghetts’ famed perfectionist nature, it’s pure; neither shunning the light or the dark across the 16 tracks. He lets it all show.

Powerful, but in an entirely different way to its predecessor, it’s a record which further proves that the strength of Hayley Williams - as a songwriter, a vocalist, a woman - is still awe-inspiring.

With its Ramones-via-The Golden State garage punk, it's brilliantly noisy in all the best places ('White On White', 'Wait For The Man') and yet not afraid to tone down on occasion ('Gimme Something').

A definitive debut.

Yes, Squid have travelled the world, but they have also returned home with a sense of self that’s stronger than ever, as sharp as a razor dripping with freshly drawn blood.

A record that couldn’t be more consistently him. It paints this, his seventh studio album, as a compendium of his best parts, and perhaps his first to truly do so.

It’s an album that feels lived in, drawing listeners into its world while leaving room for their own experiences to settle between the lines. In the tension between euphoria and comedown, connection and isolation, Arlo Parks delivers her most vividly realised and affecting body of work to date.

For a record born of fatigue and exhaustion, she imbues a renewing sense of urgency to each bar she delivers.

If her 2008 debut ‘Lungs’ was the deep breath of plunging into the depths, ‘Everybody Scream’ is the resounding, cathartic exhalation of finally reaching the surface once more.

Many albums will undoubtedly be written about the fractured world in which we live right now, but few are likely to be quite as slick and potent as this one.

Warm and opening yet still dazzlingly inventive.

‘Generations’’ best trick is in its variety: if Will is undoubtedly a curious, enthusiastic sort, then that curiosity stretches across propulsive, vitriolic riffs (‘Bethlehem’), idiosyncratic, stripped-back synths (‘Hide It Away’), Randy Newman-esque piano send-offs (‘Fine’) and more. What unites the record, however, is an urgent, anxious sense of unrest.

‘Food For Worms’ bulges with high-octane surprise. This is the sound of a band performing at the peak of their powers.

It’s clear that these songs have a real and sincere heart, designed to both stir and soothe the soul in one fell swoop.

This is an album to intently listen to every single line and every single syllable. There is a strange kind of hope and joy to the album's warmest moments that belie the, at times, dark themes.

Until The Quiet Comes is an album that is celebratory and desolate, dense and sparse, dark and colourful--a trippy, fantastical ride that only he could create a path for.

An utterly evocative, disarming full-length that’ll haunt listeners long after its reached its conclusion.

Sharp, vivid songwriting is central to Samia’s craft, and with ‘Bloodless’, her superpower lies in her curiosity for the unknown, and an ability to turn herself inside out, facing the raw, uncomfortable, and deeply human parts of herself head on.

The narrative drawn by Marling throughout is at times heart-stopping, segues and recurrent motifs creating effortless enjambment.

All in all, it is as engrossing as it is innocently delightful.

The beauty of The Raconteurs is in the timeless joy of hearing two world-class songwriters, cut from two very different sides of a similar cloth, come together to make something if not greater, then at least as good as the sum of their considerable parts. And in that sense, Help Us Stranger succeeds, and then some.

If ‘Carrie & Lowell’ is set to remain as Sufjan Stevens’ best, ‘Javelin’ takes a confident stride back into personal territory and certainly gives 2015 a run for its money.

Two Door Cinema Club have learnt how to harness their mainstream power while taking creative risks. They pay off almost every time.

Where ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ was a bold move to reforge their identity and rejuvenate their dedication for the band, it’s with ‘Truth Decay’ that they seem to have found their sweet spot.

What 'TOY' lacks in originality, it more than makes up for with an incredibly rich dot-to-dot of psychedelia laced musical education, and this album is, to coin an awful new musical genre, Nu-new-wave at its very best.

Scattered takes of pop, gruff-punk and sun-kissed melodies underpin these tales of despondency to cement a whole new style for a band near two decades in, a sound that Joyce Manor have yet to have presented but one that fits them perfectly, and a masterful progression of all that has come before.

Her signature sound is still there, yet on her latest offering, we can witness a more matured snapshot of an artist that is already wise beyond her years.

‘Empty Hands’ feels defiant in its ambition but never disingenuous or forced. An album unafraid to continue reaching towards the huge spaces not often reserved for this genre.

An undoubtedly influential album.

‘Turn The World On’ is classic, sparkling Bombay, whereas ‘Rural Radio Predicts The Future’’s two-minute instrumental concludes with almost hyperpop bleeps; the Albarn-featuring ‘Heaven’ is loose and trip-hoppy, while highlight ‘Meditate’ (with Nilüfer Yanya) climbs the guitar scales into a twisted climax. A triumph.

It paints a picture of a leading songwriter with even more to come, one that can piece together exceptional art from personal turbulence and insecurity, effortlessly reaffirming her position at the top of UK pop… if we can even call it that.

This is very much the most mature Sharon Van Etten offering to date - and perhaps the most musically accomplished, too.

Forest Swords’ debut long-player is electronic mastery at its very finest, because Engravings manages to make electronic music feel tactile, organic, and alive.

Ultimately ‘MAYHEM’ blurs the line between the two [Lady Gaga and Stefani Germanotta], in its sheer pop-filled joy offering the fresh conclusion that they are by all accounts the very same; perfectly unsubtle and all-out fun.

This third outing is so impeccably paced, with its twists and turns and frequent 180-degree sonic shifts, that it somehow makes the outfit’s already fiery flame burn yet brighter.

If there was a sense that Natasha had perhaps lost her way slightly on the conceptual likes of ‘The Bride’ and ‘Lost Girls’, she finds her feet again magnificently here, with simplicity key; the lyrics, the melodies, the gorgeous intertwining of piano and synth.

Be Your Own Pet have retained the vitality of their youth while leaving behind the baggage.

A truly seminal record, ‘Ultra Truth’ is a radiant voyage for Daniel Avery, and for everyone who dares join him for the experience.

A poignant, thought-provoking record on so many levels.

‘Double Infinity’ is a gloriously satisfying record on which it feels like everything is in its right place; an album that on some songs features up to twelve players, but feels consistently intimate and laid-back.

His debut also conjures the rabble rousing of early Blur through a Peaches-meets-xcx lens. As a whole, ‘What’s Wrong With New York?’ is a beaming and brilliant moment for both The Dare and its inspired take on historical noughties pop.

Ultimately an exercise in Sunflower Bean showing off that they can do just about everything well.

This is a second album that builds upon the foundations they’ve laid so far and opens up their world to all manner of possibilities. If ‘Dogrel’ promised that Fontaines DC were gonna be big, it’s with ‘A Hero’s Death’ that they prove they were worth the hype all along.

In short, ‘Self Titled’ is a glorious piece of work, easily Tempest’s best and most unforgettable work to date.

‘Lament’ packs a truly heavy punch. There’s a crispness to the production that highlights every drum beat and crashing riff, providing the backdrop to Jeremy’s introspective lyrics.

What makes ‘A Picture of Good Health’ so vital is the unshakable sense that the gestation of LIFE’s firebrand formula has run parallel to the country’s political spiral. Now, they’re hitting their stride just as the Brexit void looms. Accordingly, this record is indispensable.

Bobby is a jack of all trades when it comes to surmising his subject matter while balancing the line of fact, fun, and fierce emotion. It makes for one of the year’s most essential records yet.

As insatiably catchy as it is disarming, the album marries its two sides perfectly.

‘Dirt Femme’ sees her juxtapose elements ingeniously. If she’s singing in a straightforward manner, on a more direct number, then the music is twisting and turning in offbeat ways.

There’s a slight irony in the fact that an album so jam-packed is entitled ‘Silence Is Loud’, but the remarkable feat of Nia Archives’ debut is that it somehow never feels too much or too choppy; for all its referential nods and sonic variation, this is still a project that is cohesively, distinctly her.

Confidence and swagger flows through the album as a whole, with every twist and turn adding another colour to its extraordinary palette. The sound of an artist hitting their stride and then some, ‘That! Feels Good’ really does live up to its name.

‘Fear of The Dawn’ is very much like the kind of party where you’re hoping daylight stays away for some time yet.

As Biffy-ish as ever, with its cranked-up guitars and stadium-sized hooks, it’s also a deliciously unusual listen, shifting gears from the dub-flecked ‘Instant History’ to the unhinged scorcher of ‘Cop Syrup’. And while ‘A Celebration of Endings’ does explore the current frustrations felt by the band, both political and personal (“We’re fighting an ugly war / And it’s no good to freak out,” sings Simon Neil on ‘Weird Leisure’) it also offers up a brand of gut-wrenching, defiant hope.

‘Song For Our Daughter’ presents a poignant snapshot of the complexities of femininity - both ones imposed by society and ones engrained in Laura’s past. Some moments are remarkably candid.

Infectious, exciting and even a little hedonistic during some of the most confusing of modern times, now’s never been a better time to get lost in this new destination.

'Shrines' is a joy from start to finish, with a sticking power that so many others seem to lack.... It would be no surprise to see Purity Ring top the end of year round-ups.

An album that does absolute justice to her status as a new, genre-defying voice in rock. From the drum and bass drive of ‘Sex Metal’, through to the more bubblegum pop of ‘Sugar Rush’, via the reflective epic of ‘Over It’, these fourteen tracks swerve through different iterations of the genre with confidence and ease.

‘Dragon New…’ is largely an epic of intimate, stripped-back proportions. Put simply, it’s a masterpiece.

Simple, catchy, and ruthlessly energetic, it’s an irresistible mix, and refreshing to hear a band oozing with such raw passion.

Fontaines DC have crafted a clear, unedited picture of who they are and what they’re made of. It’s a joy to witness.

A pristine collection that’s at once the past’s idea of the future as it is the here and now.

On ‘Chloë and the Next 20th Century’, Father John Misty is transporting himself to a different world; it sounds pretty damn sweet over there.

It’s when the pattern deviates somewhat from the expected that ‘The Night The Zombies Came’ is at its most exciting: the ’50s sonic cues that peppered ‘Doggerel’ remain, but the spite doesn’t.

At every moment ‘Home Video’ presents a vivid snapshot into an upbringing that fundamentally defines Lucy Dacus’ adulthood. In each tale she finds both loss and hope, a musical representation of the intricate jigsaw of life.

It should go without saying but it needs to said: this is an intricate, jarring and complicated piece of work and is undeniably brilliant.

A record that perfectly shows her growth as an artist - and a collaborator - ‘Belong’ proves to be more than worth the wait.


‘Night Network’, far from being the exercise in kicking and screaming that it might have been, is instead a study in elegance in the face of adversity. The Cribs are back.

Sorry have somehow managed to mould something immediate and accessible but undeniably in their own image. It’s a truly special debut, one that makes strange magic at every turn.

It’s comprehensive in its variations of electronica, dance, Scandi-pop and R&B, creating a colourful body of work. Its forward-thinking, lush alive-ness cements Zara as a largely-overlooked genre VIP.

This is a gorgeous album of soundscapes that are able to stand up alone.

An album that makes no bones about delving headfirst into the terror, anger and fatigue of our present day, it may not be the most lighthearted of listens, but it’s a fiercely potent and important one.

Lonerism is an absolutely amazing and inspiring record.

A bright and inviting pop album that brilliantly captures the emotional snapshots of life.

This fourth album is undoubtedly a return to something: full of raw, barely restrained bite, it’s as if they’ve taken all the sparky, unself-conscious vigour of their 2018 debut and, in their relative maturity, learned to wield it even more potently. Ever the rabble-rousing ringleader, Charlie Steen is on vintage lyrical form.

As a first collection of work from the band this is a stunning release, bursting with life and creativity and fully deserving of the attention and praise that is bound to come its way.

It’s early to say, and its bold for sure, but there are a fair few legendary bands out there that were never quite as good as The Murder Capital are right now.

The Center Won’t Hold is by far their most stylised, radio-friendly work to date; produced by St Vincent, Annie Clark’s icy sheen and dark seduction is all over the record.

Far surpassing ‘Let Her Burn’ in scope, quality, ambition and vision, ‘SALVATION’ proves Rebecca Black’s got guts, and that it’s time she got her flowers.

There’s a power that comes from laying fears and anxieties out, admitting that answers can’t be immediately found. Cannily similar to the progression of The Japanese House’s music over the past few years, this exact approach has led her to a magical debut.

There is a genuine timelessness to the thirteen tracks of ‘Everything Harmony.

The shifts are subtle but notable, providing another brilliant backdrop for Jeremy’s largely pained candour.

‘I Love You Jennifer B’ feels like everything that’s come before has just been a trial run. It’s bolder, more rewarding, and so much more cohesive.

Much like what has come before, it’s in this melancholic in-between that ‘Little Oblivions’ finds its voice; a soundtrack for those searching for hope in difficult times, particularly when the wider world has removed easy distraction from the pain.

Throughout this 21-track pop odyssey, Lauv shows just why he’s considered one of the finest pop writers around.

Succeeds through the sheer brilliance of its songwriting and the trio’s palpable love of their craft. While perfectly capturing the zeitgeist, HAIM carry the passion, creativity and joy to also cement ‘Women In Music Pt. III’ as a timeless classic.

Ghetts secured his place in the conversation around the greatest UK rappers years ago; ‘On Purpose, With Purpose’ sets the bar higher once again.

Surpassing the hour mark with some space yet to go, the record provides an expansive canvas for Sufjan to critique the flaws of humanity, at the same time finding room for the inward focus that made his previous offering so compelling.