The first five tracks all clock in at under 2-and-a-half minutes and are almost all punchy, ferocious and crunchy. It’s bold and uncompromising, but often buries the singer-songwriter’s voice both literally and metaphorically in an overbearing soundscape. ... The record’s second half sees Indigo let loose, switching up her formula: songs are longer, more expansive, and it’s all the better for it.

The most complete result of his vision he’s committed to record thus far.

Ex Lives just sounds like a band going through the motions.

This opening statement from a band emerging as one of Britain’s most inspired and uncompromising, could just be a strong starting step in a vivid and unconventional journey.

While some moments are clearly domain of a single entity, the truth is that the six-headed monster don’t always make it that easy, instead opting to blur their sensibilities into a playful, dance rock smear.

Although initially self-released, Alvvays' lap of honour is about as road-tripping, beach-friendly and lazy day-appropriate as any album comes.

A racing sense fun propels much of The Julie Ruin’s latest, and it’s a more refined step forward from the debut.

Loma Vista is a ultimately an immediately enjoyable, if easily forgettable album, far too one-sided for its own good, and more a showcase of a band who are capable of writing a handful of very good pop songs, but not an album worthy of any longevity.

What Duologue should be most proud of in Song & Dance is the variety and the consistently high quality.

Nothing quite matches 'This Is What It Feels Like', but that alone is enough to give genuine reason to BANKS' mighty cause.

They follow through with their gaudy intentions perfectly, and like an outdated sci-fi film filled with dodgy costumes and flaky green-screen, ‘Man It Feels Like Space Again’ manifests itself in bold, kitschy, and psychedelic appeal from start to finish.

At only four tracks in length, Cheatahs’ contemporaries will struggle to compete with a record twice as long.

Hessler has returned a man, sounding free of obstacles and matured by the events in his life. This doesn’t just come across in his lyricism, but sonically also.

Trick is a record that feels like a trip back into what he once was, only with all his senses heightened. ‘Grudge’ was polished; this is as rough and ready as it gets.

While Ken is more accessible than its predecessor it seems unlikely to affect the Vancouver musician’s cult name status.

Overall The Moral Crossing reveals an evolution for the Leeds five-piece. A more textured album than their first which sees them juxtapose the darkness with the light, both through cathartic lyricism but also through a higher confidence and ability to experiment which the freedom of your own studio must bring.

They’ve crafted a terrific out-and-out rock record.

Students of jazz, but with a love of avant-garde art punk and West African music, Pom Poko bring something chaotic to the table. ... But this is their bread and butter; the kaleidoscopic realm in which they thrive.

The band’s strongest assets - three fantastic vocalists in Rebecca Hawley, Emily Lansley and Lucy Mercer, and a focus on tight bass-and-drum grooves - are ever present, but there’s enough sugar in ‘Big Wows’ to make even the sweetest tooth ache.

Playful, weird and genuinely experimental, The S.L.P. is a ride worth getting on.

The Leeds-based group’s long-delayed debut might not offer much in variety (in short, if you’re into a combination of those groups’ [Gengahr, Bombay Bicycle Club or alt-J] sounds, you’re going to love it), but in our current long, dark winter nights there’s a nostalgic tint to the songs on offer, whether the bassy synths of the title track, or folky ‘Smorgasbord’ that hits right in the warm and fuzzies.

‘Sticky’ is music for living life in full colour, and until you listen, you won’t know how much you needed it.

He combines whispering brush patterns and flecks of industrial glitch in the cerebral ‘Foreplay’ yet writes the perfect neo-soul pop song in ‘The Loop’, exemplifying his cross-disciplinary skill, and ability to marry fluid performance with tonal nuance.

‘GULP!’ isn’t Sports Team’s number one-scoring album (that could well be still to come). What it does offer is a heft of new ammo for pint-flinging, moshpitting chaos on the dancefloor.

The witching hour is here, and ‘Miss Power’ is mesmerising.

There is a surety to ‘Permanent Damage’, however, in the sheer force of lyricism at play. With soulful, silk-like vocals, Joesef weaves this narrative, deftly dealing the blows of this world in absolute destruction, before showing that ultimately, some marks never fade and that’s OK.

Undeniably ‘WEEDKILLER’ is a funneling of rage - a quest to rediscover autonomy and cement identity - but despite the darkness is ridiculously fun, too. It’s a triumphant debut - one that changes the game like a live wire in water.

The sheer number of curtain-drop moments is remarkable, somehow never overused or superfluous. There’s a mastery in the songwriting, too: simultaneously gut-wrenching and incredibly cathartic, continuing a thread that has underpinned the band’s material this far.